Reanimating a Monster Kid!

J. Travis Grundon and Horror Icon, Clive Barker


I was starting to lose my love of horror. Horror and I had talked about seeing other people. After a slew of crap released and called horror films I just lost interest and hope in the genre. Only a few folks helped keep that love alive and I want to thank them for reminding me why I am a Monster Kid!

I took a year off from horror cons and only stayed on the outer rim of being a horror fan by watching The Walking Dead. To me, The Walking Dead is horror and zombie fiction done right. I was hooked for the first episode, but between seasons and mid-season breaks I was out. I considered myself a zombie fan. I wasn't sure I could still call myself a horror fan, because I skipped my old favorites and everything else that came out.

Special thanks go to Director Joshua Hull. When Josh approached me about writing TERMS I hadn't even watched a horror movie in nearly a year, not even on Halloween. I wanted to write TERMS and I loved the idea enough to dive back into horror, but I needed to get myself in the right mindset. I watched a lot of crappy horror movies and I was getting more inspiration out of things like Bellflower and Girl, Interrupted.

It wasn't until I watched the Scott Glosserman film Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon that I got my head right. I owe Mr. Glosserman a big thank you for making that movie and for just being the right movie at the right time. I really hope things work out for this movie to see a sequel.

You can check out more on this and help out here: http://www.freddyinspace.com/2012/03/without-our-help-leslie-vernon-will-be.html

Once I got my head right I finally watched Battle Royale, a movie I had only seen parts of. I could kick my own ass for not seeing it sooner, but it is not an easy movie to find in the area I live in. It also was never cheap when I found it at conventions, but now that I've seen it, it is already in my top 10 favorite films and I will be watching it again and again. I love it.

Now my love for horror is rejuvenated and I'm back to my old self.

Thanks also go to Brandon Bennett for feeding me movie after movie to keep me interested. He has turned me onto a lot of lower budget movies like Incest Death Squad I would have otherwise avoided, but now I love them. IDS is a must see for fans of strange horror.

I owe Brandon also because he and I also started talking about WOTLD. That made me revisit my old zombie love and charged me to go back to old favorites like 28 Days Later, Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead and both versions of Night of the Living Dead.

Reconnecting with these favorites brought back my love for other greats like Lake Placid, Repo: The Genetic Opera, They Live, Monster Squad, 30 Days of Night and the original Halloween.

I'm happy to have a healthy relationship with horror again. I can enjoy newer films like Super 8, The Dead, Doghouse and other horror flicks I've missed. I'm doing a lot of catch up. I only recently watched Beverly Lane, and loved it.

The rejuvenated love timing is perfect because El Monstro Del Mar, a movie I loved over a year ago at The Dark Carnival Film Fest, is now available on DVD in the US. The timing also works well because Dead Hooker in a Trunk is also finally available in the US. I haven't seen it, but I can't wait.

So...Thanks to Joshua Hull, Brandon Bennett, Scott Glosserman and everyone who brought me back to horror, but beware: I have a few more horror stories of my own. I can't wait to get back out in the horror convention circuit and I look forward to what horrors are ahead.

Maybe one day TERMS or WOTLD will be on someones list of favorite horror films.



-Travis

Get the Happy Hour Blues!

Just in case you don't follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Goodreads...Happy Hour Blues is now available from Amazon and other fine retailers!

Check out the link below or click on the picture of the cover to the right!

http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Hour-Blues-Travis-Grundon/dp/1469901846/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_t_4

I'm very excited about the release of this book. I think that it is a collection of my best work so far and I am also happy about the release party.

The release party will be Saturday, Feb. 25th @ 7pm, at Governor's Hall, located on the Vincennes University campus.

Guest authors will include B.C. Brown and John F. D. Taff. Brown and Taff will be talking about their stories in Fracas: A Collection of Short Friction and their new books, due out later this year.

It's going to be a good time, but if you can't make it to the release party, I hope you will order a copy from the comfort of your own home!

- Travis

Release delay and party news

Due to a series of last minute edits, Happy Hour Blues will not be available by Feb. 14th. The fine folks at Glorious Bastards Press are working hard to have it available as soon as possible. I will make an announcement, as soon as the book is available. This is not the first time I've had a release date pushed back. I'm sad, but I should have books in time for the release party.

The Happy Hour BLues Release Party will be on Feb. 25th, at Governor's Hall, located on the Vincennes University campus.

I will have copies of the new book, in addition to copies of Eclectic Collection, Fracas: A Collection of Short Friction, and possibly even more previously published work.

There will also be a few other authors at this event with their books. Those authors will be announced as they RSVP. At this time B.C. Brown and James M. Bowers will be in attendance. They will both b signing copes of Fracas, and Brown will have copies of her book, A Touch of Darkness: An Abigail St. Michael Novel.

This event will also be holding a half pot drawing to benefit Blessings for Bri, and a portion of the profits from this event will go to this cause as well.

http://www.facebook.com/BlessingsforBri

I will be doing at least one reading and fielding questions during a Q&A.

There will be an after party following this event. Details on the after party will be announced at the book release. You have to be there to be invited!

This book release party is free and open to the public, but it would be cool if you bought a book. All books will be $8 and signed for free. Spread the word and we hope to see you there!

Saturday, February 25, 2012
7:00pm until 10:00pm


Vincennes University Governor's Hall - Vincennes, IN.

http://www.facebook.com/events/350437018312671/

- Travis

Good News For Bad People

I have finally finished the script for my rakishly clever zombie film, Wedding of the Living Dead, for Well Hung Pictures.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, WOTLD is slated to be directed Brandon S. Bennett, of Indie Film Revue fame. Bennett has worked on Steve Balderson's STUCK! He also worked on The 100 Years of Monster Movie production, in addition to his cameo role in Darkrider Studios contribution to The Collective Vol. 1, Meateater.

Bennett and I started brain storming movie ideas about two years ago, and this is the third thing I have written for WHP. Due to budget, equipment and casting problems, neither of those other projects made it off of the ground. This time is already different.

I am really excited about this script and I can't to get moving on this thing.

In other news I have seen the proof copies of Happy Hour Blues and I am really happy with them and I look forward to fans, friends and new readers enjoying this book. It is my best so far.

Happy Hour Blues will be released everywhere February 14th, and I will be posting information about the book release party as soon as everything is finalized!

Last, but not least, I am running two contest on my J. Travis Grundon – Author/Screenwriter Facebook page. All you have to do do to enter is go “Like” the page and I'm giving away a copy of Happy Hour Blues when I reach 101 “likes.”

http://www.facebook.com/pages/J-Travis-Grundon-AuthorScreenwriter/208233652548159

The other contest involves leaving a comment on the page, and I'm going to pick 3 people to be characters in one of my books or stories. It's that easy. Who wouldn't want to be immortalized in a work of crazy fiction.

I will have more information very soon!

- Travis

Nowhere Man

One question I get asked the most is where I'm from. I've been told that it's hard to tell from the way I talk and I don't don't talk about where I live much either. It might be because I don't really live anywhere that cool, but it's also because I don't think everyone needs to know where I live.

I have moved around a lot in my life. I've lived in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and a couple other places. I've also traveled and been lucky enough to enjoy several places I'd like to live, like Austin, L.A., Pittsburgh, Bloomington, Illinois and Bloomington, Indiana.

The truth is that I live in the middle of nowhere and I don't claim any place as my hometown. My mailing address is a Vincennes address, but I don't call Vincennes home.

After my bookstore closed and I moved away, I decided that no city is my home. My home is truly where my heart is. As long as I have my daughter and the people I love around me, I'm happy and I'm at home.

At one stage in my life, I was proud to be called a local Vincennes author, but Vincennes has enough authors, like my friends B.C. Brown, Molly Daniels, Floyd Root, Benjamin Martinson and others. Unlike the "Author" and plagiarist, David Boyer, that Vincennes is noted for, these other authors are great people and have a fine mix of styles. They have a writing group, that I was once a member of, and they are people that the city can be proud of.

I am not someone the city can parade around and promote. We tried. It didn't work.

My style is too crass and I don't have a love for Vincennes.

Some people might think that I'm being an asshole with these statements, but if that is the case, I'm fine with that. Those people are either missing my point or only looking at the negative aspects of it. Nothing changes either way.

I'm not the best at anything. I'm not even that cool. I'm J. Travis Grundon. I'm from the middle of nowhere and I write stories full of bad words and bad people, but I love what I do and I'm happy.

I think having my heart broken, dealing with jerks and being an asshole at times has helped my writing. I am able to write from all sides of the friendship and romantic relationship spectrum with conviction. I know what it feels like to be the bad guy and the guy with a broken heart.

Not every character can be a brash bad-ass or a hopeless romantic. I have been told to write what I know, and I think it helps to write believable characters, even if the situations are unbelievable.

“Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.” ~ Gloria Steinem

*NOTE: This is not an anti Vincennes blog. I don't hate any city and I don't hate anybody. It's just an answer to a question. Vincennes has just as much good as it does bad. I just have a lot of bad memories and unhappy feelings when I think about it.

- Travis

I can't sleep...

TERMS casting is moving along. Happy Hour Blues is about ready for its Valentines Day release and I am a happy guy. I don't really know what else to say.

I hope everyone will go check out the TERMSmovie Facebook page. We are giving out a lot of prizes and the buzz surrounding this film is just getting bigger and better. I really think people are going to be talking abut this movie.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/TERMSmovie/230711477001693


I would also like to take this opportunity to suggest that all of you check out the movie Bellflower. This is the first movie to hit me with such impact since Fight Club or KIDS. It is unbelievably incredible. It has easily made my Top 10 and may break my Top 5 favorite films of all time.



Fans of my work will love this movie, and the other way around...I hope.

I should also mention that I am really enjoying this season of Californication, despite my previous trepidation about this season. It has had some really great lines and the characters are really evolving. I look for silly things like that in a television series.

One of my new favorite quotes:

"If you break my daughter's heart,being stomped on by a bunch of gangbangers is going to seem like a play-date compared to the can of rape-ass I will open up on your...ass." Hank Moody, Californication

I hope I get to announce some of the really great news I'm hording next week!

- Travis

Singing legend dies at 73

Etta James
1938 - 2012

An incredible song by an incredible woman! She will be missed. The songs will last forever.