Yesterday the first of DC Comics’ New Wave series came out, a crossover book starring Batman (the gun-toting Batman of the early ‘40s) and the legendary Man of Bronze, Doc Savage. Given as the writer, Brian Azzarello, was one I had never warmed up to, I didn’t expect much from the book…so I guess you could say I wasn’t disappointed. I, and Doc fans—and there are more of them than the callous comments of the writer indicated in an online interview he did... Read Full Story

How many times have you wished you could be in two locations at the same time? Well, apparently some mystics, monks and other holy folks contend they have the ability to do just that. It’s called “Bilocation.” Talk about multi-tasking. Reckon Microsoft could learn a thing or two from them.Bilocation is simply the appearance of an individual in two distinct places at once. Prevailing theory suggests that this doppelganger is a projection, or type of out of body experience.In... Read Full Story

I’ve talked a few times about blending other genres with the Western; namely, horror. Horror goes well with westerns for there is a long-standing tradition of ghost stories told ‘round the campfire.But another genre blends especially well with the Western, and that is Science Fiction. It’s been said that Science Fiction is nothing more than cowboys and Indians in outer space and to a degree that’s spot on. One can draw many parallels with hard or fantasy driven Science... Read Full Story

It’s Terror Tuesday time here again on Dark Bits. Time to grab your goblin and…ah, nevermind. Grabbing your goblin is never good. In public, I mean.Screened: Village of the Damned. Hadn’t seen this since I was a kid but it’s still a creepy little movie. Little blond kids scare me anyway. This is the original 1960 film, not the remake, which I have not seen.Ghost Whisperer has been improving this season, after the first disjointed episode. Well, Jennifer Love Hewitt was... Read Full Story

It’s another Western Wednesday here on Dark Bits—Do you know where your horse is?There’s no doubt the Western is on the trail to a comeback. I hope a major comeback. The Western Writers of America, in a recent issue of their superb member magazine, Roundup, cited the increase in percentage of Westerns being published over the past few years. In comic books, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, and Jonah Hex as well as others have brought the genre successfully back to four-color panel fo... Read Full Story

I’ve decided I haven’t had enough of Halloween and Horror Month. I’m not big on Thanksgiving—though at least we’ve got a Charlie Brown Turkey Day special, thank goodness—so I am dubbing this month Haunted November here on Dark Bits. Any horror writers, supernatural enthusiasts or folks who’ve experienced any sort of paranormal activity are invited to write a guest blog.November is a month I’ve never much liked. It’s the Dead Month. The br... Read Full Story

As they say on It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, “Well, another Halloween has come and gone,” and Horror Month here on Dark Bits comes to an end. And while I don’t sit freezing my ass off for nothing in a sincere pumpkin patch all night like poor Linus, I always feel a bit melancholic the morning after Halloween. And suffering from Peanut Butter Cup hangover and a raw tongue from too many salted roasted pumpkin seeds.Last night the weather here in southern Maine ... Read Full Story

For an author, few things—except, perhaps, that first story or novel acceptance, or the first time you pluck your bright shiny first-published book from the box—can compare to having one’s words, one’s imagination, translated into pictures or onto film. A bit back, I was lucky enough to experience both with one of my short stories, Strangler.Strangler was originally written as kind of a throw-away piece, designed to entertain with an O. Henryish type twist ending with... Read Full Story

What if your thoughts could be made real? What if all reality were nothing more than notion given substance? Remember the adage: If you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it? Is that nothing more than pseudo psychology clap-trap, or might our thoughts possess considerably more power than we, well, think?In many Eastern philosophies and faiths, the ability of thought to create substance is a given. Tibetan Buddhists (as well as western occultists) consider thought much more than ... Read Full Story

INT. WRITER'S OFFICE - UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, 1943 A grubby, tiny space. A beleaguered SCREENWRITER is hunched over a Royal typewriter. The phone RINGS. The Writer lights his hundredth Camel of the day as he lifts up the receiver to hear a PRODUCER barking:PRODUCER: Okay genius, here's the set-up: We got Lon Chaney and Evie Ankers. He's a scientist and she's his secretary. She loves him but he's got the hots for Aquanetta, who keeps turnin' into a gorilla at night. Rondo Hatton's the assistant, ... Read Full Story