We're happy to help Meerkat Press support the release of their latest title The Merry Dredgers by participating in their blog tour. And if you're at all into winning free stuff, they're running a giveaway where you can potentially win a $50 book shopping spree.
Author Jeremy C. Shipp has whipped up a cool Top Five list for us today to help us celebrate the release of their amazing new novel!
Jeremy C. Shipp’s Top Five Favorite Films
Set in Amusement Parks
My
new novel The Merry Dredgers is set in a once-abandoned theme park
swarming with animatronic goblins and bizarre carnival games and psychedelic
dark rides. I chose this setting in part because the cultists in the book are
focused on cultivating joy and honoring their inner child. My other reason for
choosing this setting is because I like amusement parks.
One
of my favorite childhood memories is visiting our local, third-rate theme park
and riding the ghost train. I remember sitting in the dilapidated train car,
zooming past rubber bats and plastic skeletons and monsters painted on plywood.
I remember the tinny calliope music and the staticky sound effects and the
flashing crimson lights.
Since
I’m such a big theme park nerd, I thought I would share with you my purely
subjective, top five favorite movies set in amusement parks.
1.
Carnival of Souls
This movie has everything. A road race, an abandoned carnival, eerie organ music, pasty-looking ghosts. What more do you need? Personally, I think Carnival of Souls is underrated and underappreciated, so if you’ve never seen this melancholic cult classic, maybe give it a try.
2.
Jurassic Park
If this film series has taught me anything, it’s that if humans ever decided to bring giant man-eating carnivores back to life at a theme park with weak security measures, this is only a mistake we would make five or six times. Maybe seven.
3.
The Funhouse
Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse follows a group of teenagers fighting to survive the night as they’re trapped in a dark ride and hunted by a murderous carnival worker. This film isn’t as brilliant as Hooper’s Poltergeist or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but it's fun and weird and atmospheric. The makeup and practical effects alone are worth the price of admission to this dark ride.
4.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
This 1920 German Expressionist silent film is about a hypnotist and somnambulist who work at a sideshow attraction. The tale explores myriad themes such as authority, brutality, conditioning, and the subjective nature of reality. If you haven’t yet explored the wonderful world of silent horror films, this is a good place to start. I’d also recommend Häxan, Nosferatu, Vampyr, The Phantom Carriage, The Phantom of the Opera, Faust, The Man Who Laughs, The Fall of the House of Usher, Frankenstein, The Golem, The Infernal Cauldron, and The Hands of Orlac.
5.
Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny
You might be thinking, “Hey, isn’t this a horribly tedious, brain-melting film that shouldn’t be viewed by anyone ever?” Well, yes, you’re right. On the other hand, I’m a fan of bad movies, and this is one of those films that's "so bad it's good. OK, not good, but funny. Sometimes. Maybe." According to what I’ve gleaned from my not very thorough research, this “film” was created to be exhibited at the Pirates World theme park in Dania, Florida. The plot, if you want to call it that, concerns Santa as he attempts to free his sleigh from the sand using a man in a gorilla suit and other animals. You’ll also encounter Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Thumbelina, and an antique fire truck being driven by an eldritch creature known as the ice cream bunny. What's not to love?
Dark Fantasy | Horror
Seraphina Ramon will stop at nothing to find out the truth about why her sister Eff is in a coma after a very suspicious "accident." Even if it means infiltrating the last place Seraphina knows Eff was alive: a once-abandoned amusement park now populated by a community of cultists.
Follow Seraphina through the mouth of the Goblin: To the left, a wolf-themed roller coaster rests on the blackened earth, curled up like a dead snake. To the right, an animatronic Humpty Dumpty falls off a concrete castle and shatters on the ground, only to reform itself moments later. Up ahead, cultists giggle as they meditate in a hall of mirrors. This is the last place in the world Seraphina wants to be, but the best way to investigate this bizarre cult, is to join them.
BUY LINKS: Meerkat Press | Amazon | Bookshop.org
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Yowsers! I wasn't prepared for how much I was going to like this book. I mean, I love everything that Meerkat Press puts out, but dayumn! This was just soooo good.
Phina is a rent-me-by-the-party princess living her best life with her grouchy sidekick cat Heracles, until she receives a series of postcards from her sister Eff who appears to have joined a community that's definitely not a cult. She asks Phina to check on her ex-boyfriend because she's had visions that someone from the retreat-thats-not-a-cult may have hurt him and typically what Eff sees tends to come to pass. Phina does some sleuthing and discovers that, yup, the dude was banged up pretty good in a hit and run, and relays this back to her sister. A few days later, Phina receives a call that Eff is in a coma in the hospital due to bad fall that took place just outside the retreat's grounds.
Head spinning with all sorts of worst-case-scenarios, Phina decides to locate and inflitrate this community-thats-not-a-cult's retreat in order to figure out what sort of nefarious and life threatening things this group is up to.
Set in an abandoned goblin themed amusement park and run by a rich guy who appears to want to relive his childhood to its fullest, Phina must hide her true identify and befriend as many of these odd characters as possible to uncover the truth about Eff's accident, but can she get to the bottom of things before they realize what she's up to?
It's incredibly voice driven and was an absolute blast to read. I started it last night and ended up finishing today in practically one sitting. It sucked me right in and I have no doubt you will be too.
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