Assistance- Dark Comedy Short Film by John Doherty

Hello, everyone, this is just your Horrormadam again bringing you another great short film this time by John Doherty a rising Irish filmmaker. I really enjoyed his directorial debut about the real struggles we face when faced with the question of whether or not life on life-support is any life at all and the grappling dilemma of how to go on. This dark comedy was extremely well crafted and edited. The music by KILKELLY was perfectly orchestrated in conjunction with the film. I have had to deal with this topic on a personal level twice. Once with my mother when I was young and just this February when my brother was in the hospital. When does life really end and when are we just holding on for our own selfish desires. This film was fun and also alarming how the brothers handled their own situation with their father. I hope you will check it out!

 

 

Synopsis:

Absence of life doesn’t necessarily mean death…or does it? Two brothers struggle to come to terms with their father’s terminal illness. Sometimes the rational thing to do is not always that easy. A dark comedy that asks big questions.

Lead actor: Stuart Forbes
Dentist: Shawn Harsh
Music: Kilkelly

I want to thank John very much for bringing this to me, and so look forward to all future works!

 

 

 

 

Dark Divinations-Horror Anthology Review

Hello everyone! This is your Horrormadam here bringing you a great new Anthology of short horror stories called Dark Divinations. This was brought to me by Jon O’Bergh the amazing author who brought us “The Shatter Point.”

I really enjoyed every one of the stories and was fascinated to see how each gave me insight into my own writing which also deals with fortune-telling and how any prophetic warning usually has two sides to it. The stories are extremely well written and very engaging, though I will say that Jon O’Berghs short “The Bell” was the most disturbing to me. The book was edited by the amazing Naching T. Kassa. Naching T. Kassa is a member of the Horror Writers Association, Head of Publishing for Horroraddicts.net, and an Intern for Crystal Lake Publishing with a slew of great writings available here on her Amazon page

https://www.amazon.com/Naching-T-Kassa

So read on and get excited to read a collection of unnerving, captivating, and spine-tingling horror short stories!

It’s the height of Queen Victoria’s rule. Fog swirls in the gas-lit streets, while in the parlor, hands are linked. Pale and expectant faces gaze upon a woman, her eyes closed and shoulders slumped. The medium speaks, her tone hollow and inhuman. The séance has begun.
Can the reading of tea leaves influence the future? Can dreams keep a soldier from death in the Crimea? Can a pocket watch foretell a deadly family curse? From entrail reading and fortunetelling machines to prophetic spiders and voodoo spells, sometimes the future is better-left unknown.
Choose your fate. Choose your DARK DIVINATION.

 

Join us as we explore fourteen frightening tales of Victorian horror, each centered around a method of divination.

“Power and Shadow” by Hannah Hulbert A young woman, with the power to manipulate the future using tea leaves, teaches her friend a lesson at her mother’s behest.
“Copper and Cordite” by Ash Hartwell On the eve of her fiance’s departure for the Crimea, a young Englishwoman discovers the power which lies in dreams. Can she use it to save him?
“Damnation in Venice” by Joe L. Murr When a roguish fortuneteller counsels an aging writer, he ends up in danger of damning his own soul.
“The Pocket Watch” by Emerian Rich When a young American bride returns to her husband’s English estate, she receives a present from his deceased mother that can foretell a deadly family curse.
“They Wound Like Worms” by Naching T. Kassa A man writes his sister concerning a method of divination which reveals his true love. But, as his obsession grows, the method grows bloodier.
“Miroir de Vaugnac” by Michael Fassbender A widowed seer, augmenting her skills through an antique scrying bowl, faces grim choices when she learns she is not fully in control of its power.
“The Bell” by Jon O’Bergh A physical medium, who earned his fortune faking necromancy, finds he’s buried in a coffin and must call upon his powers to save himself.
“Romany Rose” by Stephanie Ellis A penny gaff mysteriously appears outside a London shop, awaking a spirit with a terrible agenda.
“Miss Mae’s Prayers” by H.R.R. Gorman A preacher seeks to rebuke an Appalachian witch for her use of the Bible to divine the future but ignoring her warnings leads to dire consequences
“Broken Crystal” by Rie Sheridan Rose A young, Irish fortuneteller discovers her true fate when she reads for a dangerous man who won’t accept her prophecy.
“Breaking Bread” by R.L. Merrill A wife, suspecting her husband of infidelity, tests him with a magic loaf of bread, but her quest for knowledge might be more trouble than she asked for.
“The Ghost of St. John Lane” by Daphne Strasert While conducting a seance to contact her dead husband, a woman discovers a girl with strange gifts and provokes a man who seeks to destroy her.
“The Moat House Cob” by Alan Fisher In a tower of fortune-telling animals, a spider spins a web over London. What ominous force may be headed their way?
“Of Blood and Bones” by Jeremy Megargee When a woman throws the bones in search of her sister’s murderer, she finds an unimaginable evil. Will she avenge her sister’s death? Or share her fate?
Available now at Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087LBPBNS
Or order the special edition, signed copy with hand-painted tarot cards at HorrorAddicts.net

http://horroraddicts.net/

The Desire Card by Lee Matthew Goldberg- Fahrenheit-Press- Review

Hello readers! Just your Horrormadam here to give you my review of Lee Matthew Goldbergs book The Desire Card for the Blackthorn Book Tour, a book tour service provider dedicated to dark fiction.

 

First, let me tell you a little bit about this amazing author…

Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of the novels SLOW DOWN and THE MENTOR from St. Martin’s Press. He has been published in multiple languages and nominated for the 2018 Prix du Polar. The first book in an international thriller series, THE DESIRE CARD, is out from Fahrenheit Press and the second book in the series PREY NO MORE will be forthcoming in 2020. Lee is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series, which features readings from emerging and established authors.

I give the book The Desire Card a 4 out of 5 stars. It was very well written and thoroughly engrossing. The protagonist Harrison Stockton is morally broken and looking to escape his fate. The only problem I had was that when reading about the things that happen to Harry, the only story that came to mind to compare it too was The Book of Job from the bible. Bad things continually happen to Harry but unlike Job, it wasn’t a problem with faith but with ego. The only problem I found was that I had to keep reading to see what would finally happen for Harry, which would normally be a good thing but soooo many bad things happen to him that it was like reading a literal trainwreck.

You all know I am a huge fan of the dark and macabre and this is definitely dark and it also flows so nicely that I do recommend it, just be prepared for Murphy’s Law to take over much of the protagonist’s plans. Like the idiom says “Be careful what you most desire for ultimately you will have to pay the price.”

 

Blackthorn Book Tours

http://www.leematthewgoldberg.com/