HIBBS, THE BEAR WITH TWO SHADOWS

 

 

Looking back through the years, the memory flows into seasons of mist.

Rolling clouds of blankness obscures the past, parting sporatically, seemingly without rhyme or reason

{although Freud would dispute that}

to reveal images blurred by shadows of regret, loss, or yearning.

But those vistas shape the inner landscape of our soul and of our mind.

Angels of lightning and storm,

these memories fly from our past to sweep over our heads and under our radar to propel us along paths we only partially understand.

We dream, awake, and forget.

But not so our unconscious mind.

It remembers, murmuring to take this road and not another.

 We think we choose rationally.

But do we?

What is illusion, what is sure in the actions we take?

Doubts sleep, love burns, and fears howl. There is no refuge for the storms in our soul.

We hear in the voices of the wind the lost dreams of childhood.

If we are fortunate, those voices lead us back onto the path we only thought we had lost.

If we are brave, we will walk it anew with wiser heads.

All of which leads me back to those bleak Detroit winter days as my mother opened a world of wonder as I lay shivering under my blankets,

the coughing from my double pneumonia growing worse and worse.

I think I know why I wrote down those tales she told me, filtered through my own memories and imagination.

It is my kiss to the winds to her spirit and to her love.

But I believe it is also my desire to spin my own tales told in the darkness of the written page, to open the healing world of wonder to some other soul in the cold.

I wrote THE BEAR WITH TWO SHADOWS to be read aloud, so it is fitting that it is now an audio book.

Here are the first few words of my tale:

THE BEAR WITH TWO SHADOWS

CHAPTER ONE

THE TURQUOISE WOMAN
"Keep me away from the wisdom that does not cry,
the philosophy that does not laugh, and the greatness
that does not bow before children."
- Kahlil Gibran.

The face of shadows gazed down upon the young bear from a bright full moon. Hers was a face that few had seen and fewer still had lived to describe.

Her ghostly features were terrible and beautiful beyond any singing of them. A haunted melancholy clung to them.

Like a windmill, her memory slowly turned through the fleeting lives that had been born upon her shores to walk prayer-soft across her grass only to fade away into the blood-rimmed eye of the sunset.
 

To listen to this audio sample, please install Adobe Flash Player version 9.0 or higher. Close http://www.amazon.com/The-Bear-with-Two-Shadows/dp/B00CW9O1NY/ref=tmm_aud_title_0

WHEN EVERY CHOICE LEADS TO PAIN

There are moments in life when you stand at a crossroads. 

Many times there seems no path that will not lead to pain ... no path that leads out of the darkness

 What do you do then?

This is an excerpt from NEW ORLEANS ARABESQUE:


Her eyes were dark with more than the night.

Yes, Meilori’s eyes were jade quarter moons waiting to rise. But what made them dark was her soul steeped in hate … for me.

“Standish,” she husked, “what does it take to kill you?”

Why did all my enemies ask me that? As if I would tell them. A bloody Captain Sam had a trembling arm around her bruised shoulder. He was leaning heavily upon her.

The two of them escaped her sister’s trap by the skin of their teeth. They both looked ready to fall.

I was dribbling a bit of blood myself. They wouldn’t have made it if Alice and I hadn’t fought off Maija’s reinforcements. Captain Sam looked uneasily from her to me and back to her.

I sighed. Losing Meilori for 7 years to Maija’s deceit had almost gutted him. To lose her now after just being reunited would destroy him.

I felt my face go tight. Sometimes to save the ones you loved, you had to lose them. It wasn't fair, but then life and fair didn't seem to be traveling companions.

Did I love Captain Sam?  I nodded.  Then, I would make the hard ... the right choice.  I would choose his happiness over mine.  I sighed.  I always knew that alone was my destiny.

I turned to walk away.

“Time to surf the waves in California.” I whispered.

Alice cried out to Meilori, “Oh, Lady Shinseen, do not do this to yourself!”

Meilori frowned, "Myself?"

"Yes, yourself.  Some things once done cannot be undone.  No matter if you rid yourself of ... Victor ... should you plant this bitter root, it is your life that will be forever stained with it."

Alice sobbed, "This will destroy Victor."

I arched an eyebrow, and Alice said, "Not today, not tomorrow ... but day by day, you will die a little more ... until the laughing Victor I love will be no more."

Meilori murmured, “You are better off without the gutter rat.”

Alice sobbed, “I will die without him.”

I kept walking, but Captain Sam called out, “Victor, no!”

Meilori snapped, “Samuel, he is your son not mine!”

I turned around. Uh, oh. Mother, the Angel of Death, was materializing beside a startled Alice. Sfumato!

There were a billion ways for this to go wrong. I didn’t think there was a single one for it to go right.

Mother smiled a thing of nightmares. “No, Ningyo. He is my son.”

Meilori smiled back. “Go ahead. Strike me down. Samuel will never forgive you. And I will have my revenge.”

A new path, another choice occurred to me, and I started clapping. Meilori turned furious to me. I smiled my skull smile.

“No, Your Brittleness. Your sister, Maija, will have her revenge on you. You will die. I will die. Sam will die inside. Alice will live an eternal Hell. And Mother will be denied us all after leading us to that bright light.”

I sighed, “All of Maija’s most hated enemies will die or be in torment.”

Meilori husked, “Maija is dead.”

“Really?” I sighed. “That would be a first. All my enemies, Maija included, are like damn cockroaches. You can never seem to kill them. Besides, Maija knows you. She knew what would happen when she set all this into motion.”

Meilori frowned, “What do you suggest I do, gutter rat? Learn to love you?”

I shrugged, “I’ll settle for tolerate me and love Captain Sam. That last will tie Maija’s panties in a knot even if she is dead.”

Meilori fought a smile and turned to Captain Sam. “I can do the last with all my heart"

Her slanted, cold eyes flicked my way.  "You live … for tonight.”

I smiled as if it were a raw wound. She talked as if my enemies weren’t going to kill me long before Christmas. Alice squeezed my hand.

I squeezed back. The trick was to live each moment until that last breath. Alice smiled with trembling lips as if thinking the same thing.

Three more weeks until Thanksgiving.

No. That last thought had been wrong.  I was holding the hand of my Thanksgiving right now.

{Exquisite art courtesy of Leonora Roy.}

To listen to this audio sample, please install Adobe Flash Player version 9.0 or higher. Close http://www.amazon.com/The-Bear-with-Two-Shadows/dp/B00CW9O1NY/ref=tmm_aud_title_0

WHAT WILL THE NEW KINDLE FIRE 3 BE LIKE?

September is but four short months away, and that is the month Amazon usually does its announcements.

Amazon will go big with a 10-inch class tablet, according to DisplaySearch

(Credit: Amazon)

Like an Oak, the Kindle Fire started small and has gone progressively larger.

Amazon is expected to bring out a bigger version of the Kindle Fire, as it gradually grows the size of its tablets.

Amazon arguably started the small tablet fad when it launched the 7-inch Kindle Fire in November of 2011.

And it followed that with 8.9-inch model, announced in September 2012.

Now it's moving up to the 10-inch class, Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, told CNET.   http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57582844-94/amazon-kindle-fire-to-go-10-inch/

The biggest Kindle Fire yet will sport a stunning 2,560x1,600-pixel density 10.1-inch display, according to Shim.

That's about 300 pixels per inch (PPI), considerably denser than Apple's Retina iPad 4 with 264 PPI.

And that matches the 2,560x1,600 10-inch screen on Google's Nexus 10, touted as the highest-resolution tablet yet.

How low will Amazon’s tablets go?

Sarah Perez of Tech Crunch ( http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/20/amazon-rumored-to-be-working-on-a-99-kindle-fire-hd-7/ )

is now hearing that a $99 Kindle Fire 7″ tablet is in production, and will be shipping this year.

At a price that low, the Kindle Fire would be able to more easily compete at the tail end of the Android-based tablet market –

an area which is today dominated by low-cost tablets out of China, often sold at the sub-$100 price point.

According to what Sarah heard, the $99 Kindle Fire HD will also still sport a TI processor like the rest of the lineup, and will have a 1280×800 resolution, like today’s Kindle Fire HD 7″ does.

So if the game is becoming “how low can you go?”,

Amazon is in a good position to compete here, as it’s historically been a low-margin business. It doesn’t care what it makes from tablets right now –

it’s about getting consumers a device which connects them back to the Amazon ecosystem, where they will spend on other Amazon products and services.

And many of you remember the advantages of the Kindle Fire

that Victor Standish and his ghoul friend, Alice, took with them on their Caribbean vacation:

http://rolandyeomans.blogspot.com/2012/06/kindle-fire-on-vacation-with-victor.html

And speaking of Amazon reminds me of their offshoot, Audible, and my audio adventure:

Think THE HOBBIT meets THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS meets Native American Myth. 

You will not listen to another book like it!

The Bear with Two Shadows Audiobook | Roland Yeomans | Audible.com

http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=det_gplsone?asin=B00CUMK31W#__sid=0

 Stressed out? Watch this video.

AN UNEXPECTED SURPRISE

I have TweetDeck, and I drop in when life eases up and lets me.

And what did I find last evening?

http://www.amazon.com/BLOOD-WILL-TELL-ebook/dp/B0050219BW

BLOOD WILL TELL by: Roland Yeomansjoinbunch.com/post/117926/?t…#books

And what did I find when I followed the link?

BLOOD WILL TELL
by: Roland Yeomans

Amazon lists this one at 62 pages. Maybe I read quickly but it certainly felt more like 40. Not that it was lacking in anything for the experience. Presently this novella is being listed at $0.99.

Blood will Tell, no I don’t want to keep using all capitals, even if that is how the author wanted it.

Things like that hurt my brain.

Anyway, this is a sci-fi/horror experience that really sort of sidelines you. It’s amazing and I found it to be something that I couldn’t put down.

The main character works at a blood bank, likes his job and co-workers well enough too. Life is uneventful save for the occasional delivery that he makes which is usually a race against time to get the needed blood to someone in the hospital.

But then one day people around him begin to act strangely. Somehow they aren’t themselves, losing their personalities and much of their humor. They become more efficient and he doesn’t know how to cope with what may or may not be happening.

How does one fight an alien invasion that comes from within?

My final judgment:

Totally worth the money. Pick it up and give it a read. If you don’t like aliens, blood, or the idea of an interspecies(xenos) relationship, then this isn’t for you.
My rating: 8 out of 10 stars 
-  AmyD

That happened to be one of the nicest surprises Twitter has ever given me. 

How about you?  Have you had a pleasant surprise on Twitter?  Facebook?

HIBBS ROARS ONTO AUDIO!

http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B00CUMK31W&qid=1369061100&sr=1-1

 

Hibbs finds his voice.

 

Help him find his audience!

 

{The Turquoise Woman courtesy of Orietta Rossi}

 

The Turquoise Woman requests that if you could mention it on your blogs or even do a post on her beloved Hibbs, she would be most appreciative.    

 

And since she controls the weather and earthquakes ....

 

Just saying is all.

 

Right now, THE BEAR WITH TWO SHADOWS is available on Audible --

soon it will be on Amazon and iTunes.

 

Try AUDIBLE for 30 days and GET A FREE AUDIO BOOK!

http://www.audible.com/t1/30trial_at?

 

Audible Free Trial Details
        

*Get an audiobook of your choice, free, with a 30-day trial. 

 

With your membership, you will receive one credit every month, good for any audiobook on Audible.

 

Cancel anytime, effective the next monthly billing cycle.

 

Cancel before your trial ends and you will not be charged. ($14.95)

 

How cool is that? Hibbs just coughed suggestively hoping your free audio book will be his.

 

WHAT IS THE BEAR WITH TWO SHADOWS?

 

Think THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS meets LORD OF THE RINGS meets Native American myth.

 

You will never listen to another book like it.

 

Like VICTOR'S stories?    His mother is in it.

 

Like SAMUEL McCORD?   ELU is a major character in it, contesting with Victor's mother and with the Sidhe in mystic Avalon ... that's right an Apache diyi taking on fae!

 

{Oyggia courtesy of Leonora Roy.}

 

And then ELU battles MAIJA!

 

Like THE LAST SHAMAN?     THE TURQUOISE WOMAN is a central character, sparking the adventures with an unwise fit of temper.

 

Like THE LAST FAE?      FALLEN is in it repeatedly, granting Hibbs the mysterious Staff of Sacrifice. 

 

And wait until you meet Hibbs and his two brothers: the Thunderbird and Surt, fated destroyer of all nine worlds!

 

Listen to the sample and pick it up AND TELL HIBB'S STORY ON YOUR BLOGS:

 

http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B00CUMK31W&qid=1369061100&sr=1-1

 

3 SURE FIRE WAYS TO DRAW ATTENTION TO YOUR BOOK and even better info

Victor is getting depressed. He needs more votes.

A new chapter:
DIDN'T YOU WANT TO KILL THE KID?
is now up to read and to vote for:
https://www.jukepopserials.com/home/read/857/?chapter=3&sl=951

Alice is getting depressed, too.  Not good!  Save my typing fingers.  Vote now!

I was browsing the web with Empress Theodora while waiting for a hospital to call back with needed information ...

{Empress Theodora and Maxine's Eyes below courtesy of Leonora Roy}

and I saw the title:

3 SURE FIRE WAYS TO DRAW ATTENTION TO YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON.
http://www.eroticromancepublishers.com/2013/05/three-sure-fire-ways-draw-attention-to.html


That sounded promising, and this is the totality of the post by Emily Veinglory (a great name for this article):

 

1. Randomly apply boldface to some of the words.
2. Make a big deal about how CONTROVERSIAL it is.
3. Mention right in the title how mind-blowing your book is.

      (This is brilliant; why did nobody else think of it!)

Obviously, Emily was being tongue-in-cheek about the linked books.  But it occured to me to ask ... 

ARE THERE GOOD WAYS TO GET YOUR BOOK NOTICED or REVIEWED ON AMAZON?

 

 

 

When Keith Donohue’s novel, The Stolen Child," came out, the critics weren’t impressed, even though his publisher was Nan Talese at Doubleday.

 

In fact, not a single major newspaper reviewed the book. Ask any big publisher, and they’ll tell you:

 

A novel stiffed by the critics has little chance of becoming a bestseller.

But the story wasn’t over.

 

 

 

A review copy ended up in the hands of Linda Porco, Amazon.com’s merchandising director.

 

She passed it around in the office and everyone loved it.

 

So Porco tried something new.

 

 

 

She got more copies of the book and mailed them to Amazon’s most active customer reviewers, the ones who review books on the site as a hobby.

Within weeks, all but one of those Amazon Top Reviewers posted a rave review.

 

Promptly, Stolen Child became Amazon’s bestselling fiction book, and it reached No. 26 on the New York Times extended bestseller list,

 

an unbelievable climb for a novel with no big newspaper or trade reviews.

 

Now the book is in its eighth printing and the story is being shopped to Hollywood. And ... now Stolen Child has plenty of professional reviews.

But Amazon is now restricting communications between authors and readers, and not all Amazon Friends invitations have been going through.

 

But what the hey, nothing ventured nothing gained:

 

 

 

Many Top reviewers review several books a week:

 

sometimes at the invitation of an author or publisher, but usually by just following their personal interests.

 

Despite receiving no payment, they compete furiously to climb the rankings ladder.

Clicking on a top reviewer’s pen name takes you to the reviewer’s Amazon profile.

 

 Some reviewers use their profiles to explain what types of books they prefer and whether they accept unsolicited books.

 

 Some provide postal or e-mail addresses. Try Googling the Amazon reviewer's name, which will often point you toward their Facebook page.

A soft-sell approach works best with Top Reviewers.

 

 

 

Offer a complimentary book in return for their considering it for review -- no obligation.

 

Carefully screen out reviewers whose profile indicates they won’t be interested in your book.

And please don’t ask reviewers to return the copy you send.

Here’s a sample script you might use to approach Amazon Top Reviewers:

Dear Jane Doe:

I got your name from the list of Amazon Top Reviewers. I’ve written a book, “How to Grow Self-Aware Strawberries.” I noticed from your Amazon profile that you frequently review gardening books. If you think you might be interested in reading my book and posting an honest review of it on Amazon, I’ll gladly send a complimentary copy if you’ll reply with your postal mailing address. There is no obligation, of course.

Best Regards,

Victor Frankenstein

 

Don't limit yourself to Amazon's Top Reviewers. Other good potential reviewers are:

* acquaintances and colleagues interested in your book’s topic.

* participants in Internet discussion boards and mailing lists relevant to your book.

* visitors who registered on your Web site and people who read your blog.

 

What do you think are some neat ways to draw attention to your book?  To garner reviews?
 

SERIALS ... THE NEXT BIG THING?

{Image of Ry'leth Courtesy of Leonora Roy}

 

REMEMBER TO VOTE for BOTH CHAPTERS of the new Victor Standish adventure:

 

LOVE IN THE TIME OF THE UNDEAD:

http://www.jukepopserials.com/

 

SYNOPSIS:

We want a simple life. It is not. The world is more than the eye sees. There is a world in the shadows that waits for the unwary.

The street orphan, Victor Standish, has been on his own since the age of seven. He has seen that the supernatural is not confined to the movie screen. It is all too real. 

Now, twelve, Victor finds that the Earth is being invaded from Beyond. A Carnival of the Damned grants him dangerous refuge. Now, Victor must ally himself with Evil to defend the world that has always preyed on him.

With horrors from beyond the stars before him and ancient evil at his back, Victor Standish has only his wits and his knowledge of parkour to find some way out of this nightmare.


Back to my title:

Are Serials the NEXT BIG THING IN PUBLISHING?

Amazon is betting so with its Kindle Serials.  Serials have a grand tradition dating back to Charles Dickens and Alexandre Dumas.

Hoping to make novels as habit-forming as appointment television, a handful of publishers and several new digital-publishing upstarts are experimenting with the same type of short, episodic fiction that weekly or monthly periodicals published in the 19th century.

St. Martin's Press has published five serial novels in the past year, ranging from historical fiction to erotic romance, and has three more in the works.

Penguin's digital romance imprint, InterMix, is testing serialized romance and erotica, and has released three titles so far, with several others on the way.

The science-fiction and fantasy publisher Tor recently published a science-fiction epic by John Scalzi in 13 weekly episodes.

Amazon, which is leading the way with the format, has released 30 serialized novels through its new Kindle Serials program and is adding a new series every week.

Readers pay $1.99 for an entire series, and new installments update automatically. Like a TV show, the episodes are designed to be devoured in a single sitting and end with a cliffhanger.

"The Charles Dickens model actually fits better now than ever because people want bite-sized content,"

says writer Sean Platt, who has co-authored six digital serial novels.

The serial model could be a boon for publishers and booksellers. Breaking up a longer work enables them to charge readers slightly more for it.

Authors and publishers can also use a gradual digital release to test new series and characters in a relatively low-risk way, and build buzz for upcoming print titles.

But digital serials could also be bad for business if they eat away at future print profits—still the biggest revenue source for most publishers.

Publishers and writers are now wrestling with the format, trying to figure out the best price, length, and intervals between installments.

What do you guys think? 

Oh, and drop by Juke Pop Serials
http://www.jukepopserials.com/home/read/857

and vote for both chapters of LOVE IN THE TIME OF THE UNDEAD

Its latest chapters:

 

OF OPEN GRAVES AND JOB OPPORTUNITIES

and

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING

BEWARE YOUR THOUGHTS BEFORE SLEEP

Don't miss CHAPTER ONE of Victor's new adventure --

"OF OPEN GRAVES AND JOB OPPORTUNITIES"

https://www.jukepopserials.com/home/read/857

"Science says the first word on everything, and the last word on nothing"  – Victor Hugo

What thoughts do you habitually think before sleep claims you?  Do you keep track of such things?

Science does but the conclusions are conflicting

so you can pretty much believe what you want on such matters with some scientist's blessings.

Last night, I was mulling over Robert Frost's evocative poem about the winter wind and a lovely window flower.

She a window flower,
And he a winter breeze.

When the frosty window veil
Was melted down at noon,
And the caged yellow bird
Hung over her in tune,

He marked her through the pane,
He could not help but mark,
And only passed her by,
To come again at dark.He was a winter wind,
Concerned with ice and snow,
Dead weeds and unmated birds,
And little of love could know.

Before the rest of the poem could murmur within my sleepy brain, a thin, reedy voice spoke to my right.

My ghost cat, Gypsy, yowled her "I am the only friggin' ghost allowed here tonight" yowl.

"All literature begins with geography."

I pried lead-heavy eyelids reluctantly open.

Gypsy shoved her tiny head under my pillow, grumbling low. Robert Frost smiled at her from his ghost chair by my bed.

He gazed off into the darkness and murmured one of the last lines he ever wrote while alive:

"Unless I'm wrong
I but obey
The urge of a song
I'm—bound—away!

And I may return
If dissatisfied
With what I learn
From having died."

He turned his eyes back to me.
"As it turned out, I was quite satisfied with what I learned. But Elinor has chased me out of our celestial farm tonight."

He rubbed his chin ruefully.
"She says I always get insufferable on this day."

Gypsy pulled her head out from under the pillow and yowled. Robert Frost shook his head and answered my cat.

"Upon this day in 1963 I learned that my "In the Clearing" collection had won the Bollingen Prize for best book of American verse, 1962. It oddly pleased me to no end for some reason."

I tried to blink some clarity to the fog of my awakening mind. "Ah, Mr. Frost ...."

"Rob, please."

"Uh, Rob, do you really think all literature begins with geography?"

He laughed.
"Starting with absolute pronouncements is an old teaching trick, Roland.

You were a teacher as was I. You know that. It is human nature to rail against them, to kick holes in them, thus thinking through your own beliefs in the meantime."

He pursed his lips like a troubled librarian for a moment.
"But geography certainly shaped my own poetry. You could call these places "Frost Country":

San Francisco, Lawrence, Derry, England, Franconia, Shaftsbury, Ripton and Bennington. These are the literary time capsules of my beliefs and will enrich your enjoyment of my poetry."

Gypsy angrily muttered under her feline breath, and Robert Frost chuckled, "No that is not the reason I disturbed your sleep, ghost-cat."

He patted his knees.
"I wanted to tell you, Roland, to persevere. You, and all your blog friends, have more talent than you believe, and this new year will bring fresh harvests."

He rose slowly, smiling ruefully.
"By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day."

He started to fade like a dream upon awakening.
"No great wisdom from beyond I'm afraid. In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."

He tapped my shoulder with all-but-invisible hand.
"Forgive me my nonsense, as I also forgive the nonsense of those that think they talk sense."

The last thing I saw was his faint smile.
"Now, back home to Elinor. Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

And he was gone.

So? Do you have any tricks you use when you want to make your readers think?

And do you think Rob was right? Does all literature begin with geography? Do the important places in your life affect how and what you write?

What thoughts do you usually mull over as you drift off to sleep?
**

WORST/BEST MOVIE REMAKE merges with MAY MONSTER MADNESS!

{Cover Art Courtesy of Leonora Roy}

 

THIS JUST IN!

 

LOVE IN THE TIME OF THE UNDEAD

has just gone live (within the hour) on

JukePop Serials:

www.jukepopserials.com/

 

Vote for Victor!

Alice might get mad otherwise. :-)

 

 

The Worst Remake:

 'Psycho' (1998)

© Universal Studios Home Entertainment

 

It's okay - and rather cute - when a bunch of 12 year olds decide to do a shot-by-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

But what on earth could have possessed award-winning Indie director Gus Van Sant to direct a shot-by-shot, color remake of Alfred Hitchcock's seminal black and white horror film Psycho?

 

This cinematic exercise ranks as the worst remake of all time.

 

RUNNER UP:

 'Godzilla' (1998)

© Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

 

Toho Studios wisely forbade the Hollywood remake of Godzilla from using anything that remotely looked like their Japanese monster.

 

Fans of Japan's Godzilla (known as Gojira there) hated the design for the American Godzilla so much that they called it "GINO" - Godzilla in Name Only.

 

The planned sequels to the American Godzilla were scrapped when the film tanked.

 

 

Best Remake:

 

BEST: The Thing (1982)

Original: The Thing From Another World (1951)

John Carpenter’s cult classic closely resembled Howard Hawks’ Cold War-era masterpiece, but gruesome special effects helped add a welcome dose of horror to the original’s eerie paranoia.

I love to imagine the terrified moviegoer who mistakenly wandered into The Thing instead of E.T., which ironically opened to wider acclaim two weeks earlier.

 

Runner Up:

 

 

 

BEST: Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Original: Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Director Zack Snyder turned George A. Romero’s fun but low-tech frightfest into a glossy Hollywood thrill-ride that delivered even more chills than the original.

(Plus, Retro-Jeremy can no longer listen to Johnny Cash’s "The Man Comes Around” without craving brains.)