F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Spooky

Cemetery Art

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By Robin from Kraków, Poland (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)
By Robin from Kraków, Poland (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

You know, one might well ask, what the hell, Frank? Why are you so fascinated with cemeteries?

Fair question.

I’m fascinated with life…and life involves transitions. Part of those transitions…is death.

Death…cemeteries.

I posted my query to myself on this same question, in my post Cemetery Dance, where I attempt to answer this question. But, since I’ve gotten onto Pinterest, I found something else that piques my interest about cemeteries: all the really cool cemetery art. Yes, art. The stuff is incredible. It’s art that rarely seems to get the time of day. Sure, some of it is creepy, but to someone, like myself, who’s interested in the paranormal and supernatural, wow, it’s some of the neatest art out there! A real-life Night Gallery of sculptures! And what they reveal in their composition can be quite stunning. The love and caring that went into their creation, the expression of their love for the dear departed over which they now reign can be downright striking.

So, rather than post all kinds of Pinterest photos here (if that’s even legal…), please take a look at some of my collection. I’ve only recently gotten onto Pinterest, so I don’t have a ton of material, but I do add to it kinda frequently, so please, feel free to stop by off and on, during your travels! Hope you find them as fascinating as I do!

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The Unmaking of a Psychic….

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I am back at work hot and heavy in my next novel-for-release, and as I’ve previously alluded, it’s givin’ me a run for my money!

The novel is currently titled Psychic. It’s a follow on to Sleepwalkers (reviewed here, by Marc Schuster, a truly fabulous writer! Catch his novel, The Grievers, and his other work), and details the origins to The Man With No Name (or, “MWNN,” as I call him). It’s more action/adventure than Sleepwalkers, all conspiracy theory, and gritty. Yeah, there’s nasty stuff in it, but when you’re dealing with government conspiracies, it ain’t no ride in the park…unless someone gets offed…and many get offed in this book. I’m billing it as “the ultimate conspiracy,” and you’ll just have to read it to see why. Can such things happen? Stranger things have happened…like the creation of a real government group of psychics, called remote viewers. For real. Years ago, I became aware of the program through the book, Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America’s Psychic Spies. Anyway, more on all that, later.

But, wow, my writing has really improved since I began work on Psychic, back in 2000 (and if you really wanna go back in time, I actually began the groundwork for the novel in 1994…), and that is most likely why the reworking of it has become so time consuming…because I’ve gotten better over all these years, so, I’m naturally gonna find things I can improve, and improve, and, well, rework the hell out of.

But, it’s fun.

Yes, fun!

It’s a great story, a crazy one, and I love the characters. Can’t wait to bring it out into the public…but I seriously think I have at least a couple, maybe several months of work yet to do. Several have already read it, and a couple years ago, a friend of mine, Dave Lirette, even gave me an idea I simply had to incorporate. I did, and it simply caps the entire story—I know I’ve said this to you before, Dave, but thanks a billion for that idea!

Anyway, here are some comments from a couple of people who have already read it.

“Psychic…is a page turner…full of mind-numbing worry and questions….”

Madelon Rose Logue

Editor/Publisher The Black Sheep

F. P. Dorchak, author of Sleepwalkers, has upped the game. His new novel, Psychic, is a ground-breaking, reality bending, mind expanding metaphysical mystery and action thriller that had me hooked from the very beginning. There are passages in the work that describe the nature of existence as beautifully as those in the Seth material, but are uniquely his own. I loved Sleepwalkers…Psychic blew me away.

Joyce Combs

Creator of the Seth Deck

Uninvited Blurbs Reinstated to Paperback

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The Uninvited, © 2013, F. P. Dorchak and Duvall Design
The Uninvited, © 2013, F. P. Dorchak and Duvall Design

I just received and approved the physical proof of The Uninvited, with the blurbs reinstated to the front matter. This updated version may be immediately purchased at the CreateSpace site, or in about 5-7 days, at Amazon.com and other outlets:

  • Amazon.com: 5-7 Business Days (the original novel is already here, this is just the updated version)
  • Amazon Europe: 5-7 Business Days (the original novel is already here, this is just the updated version)
  • Expanded Distribution channels: 6-8 Weeks (the original novel is already here, this is just the updated version)

Remember, if you’d like an autographed copy, please send me your book(s), with appropriate return postage, to the following address, and I’ll sign them! F. P. Dorchak, P. O. Box 49393, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80949.

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Happy Hallowe’en!

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Well, here we are—my favorite holiday!

And what does this holiday mean to me? Is it about candy or Jack-o’-lanterns or horror films or atmosphere? The hollow winds that blow through the trees?

Ghosts?

Well, yeaaahhh, kinda!

I love that on this day (and the month thereof, actually) people think a little more about their mortality, their origins. About…what may lie beyond the incredibly and insanely thin veil that separates us from…the unseen. The unknown. The paranormal and supernatural. I love it that one night of the year people of all cloths go door-to-door—at night!—announcing themselves, getting to know and meet their neighbors, all for a little fun and confection. I love it when people talk about the costumes they’re gonna wear. The candy they’re gonna serve, the parties they’re gonna attend or throw.

Set out carved and lit pumpkins.

And I especially love walking through cemeteries in the month of October.

It’s not some weird death fetish, instead it’s about a cool LIFE  appreciation!

Of course, I’m not into all the real death and decay in the grounds beneath our feet (>ick<), but I am into where those souls came from and to where they’ve departed. What is after death…before it? Surrounding it? What structure supports the lives we live. I think Hallowe’en—at least for me—highlights the paranormal in our lives, and in our physical world…it deals with life and death, where people are born and die. And that fascinates us all, because, sooner or later, we’ll all understand, in no uncertain terms, the well-worn phrase, “As you are now so once was I.” Maybe…maybe…it’s even that portion of us that is beyond our earthly veil, while we’re over here, and that is ever whispering to us that death is not the end….

I also love the atmosphere of Hallowe’en!

The playfulness, the “trick or treating”! Ghosts! I don’t usually dress up, but I love that others do! Take themselves a little less seriously on this one day of the year (I do this every day, so it’s interesting to see others try it)! Take their kids out to continue the tradition. I love to see what kids choose to dress up as, as they go house to house, begging for candy! The origins of trick-or-treating date back to the Celtic festival of Samhain, but it’s popularity didn’t soar in the US until after WWII, when sugar rationing was lifted. Many parents at the time opposed it, because they felt it encouraged begging and extortion! Oh, the horror!

And…I love horror movies!

Not the gory stuff that is the norm these days, but the more subtle and psychological ones. The older films that left much to the imagination. Now, of course, given the genre in general, you will and must have some gore (and boobs and blood, as fellow blogger Wendy writes about in her timely post!). A dead body or three. Again, it’s just what’s available in our physical existence to “play” off of, but there are avenues, like the Twilight Zone, that attack[ed] the subject beautifully, with more subtlety and class, like fellow blogger Paul writes about, and shows no gore. I grew up on both Hammer Films and Twilight Zone, not to mention everything in between. Some of my favorite movies have a little gore, and some don’t. Perhaps it has to do with a fascination with our physical forms…or the “fleeting physicality” of corporeal life, itself…but that fascination (as funneled through our physical brains which gives an “anchor” for our mind…) takes on the form it does, seems to like to show gore-laden bodies up on silver screens.  And people (mainly the young) flock to that. It’s a fascination. In any event, it’s just a hard thing to get away from gore in the genre…but what most all have, is atmosphere.

And I love atmosphere.

A lot.

So, Hallowe’en means many things to me, but it means fun, introspection, and atmosphere, and—along with Christmas—ranks as my favorite holiday. So, I hope you all enjoy the day and night, and have fun with it!

I also love lit Jack-o’-lanterns set out all over the place! This demure little fella happens to be ours.

Happy Hallowe’en, everyone!

Happy Hallowe'en!

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Well, here we are—my favorite holiday!

And what does this holiday mean to me? Is it about candy or Jack-o’-lanterns or horror films or atmosphere? The hollow winds that blow through the trees?

Ghosts?

Well, yeaaahhh, kinda!

I love that on this day (and the month thereof, actually) people think a little more about their mortality, their origins. About…what may lie beyond the incredibly and insanely thin veil that separates us from…the unseen. The unknown. The paranormal and supernatural. I love it that one night of the year people of all cloths go door-to-door—at night!—announcing themselves, getting to know and meet their neighbors, all for a little fun and confection. I love it when people talk about the costumes they’re gonna wear. The candy they’re gonna serve, the parties they’re gonna attend or throw.

Set out carved and lit pumpkins.

And I especially love walking through cemeteries in the month of October.

It’s not some weird death fetish, instead it’s about a cool LIFE  appreciation!

Of course, I’m not into all the real death and decay in the grounds beneath our feet (>ick<), but I am into where those souls came from and to where they’ve departed. What is after death…before it? Surrounding it? What structure supports the lives we live. I think Hallowe’en—at least for me—highlights the paranormal in our lives, and in our physical world…it deals with life and death, where people are born and die. And that fascinates us all, because, sooner or later, we’ll all understand, in no uncertain terms, the well-worn phrase, “As you are now so once was I.” Maybe…maybe…it’s even that portion of us that is beyond our earthly veil, while we’re over here, and that is ever whispering to us that death is not the end….

I also love the atmosphere of Hallowe’en!

The playfulness, the “trick or treating”! Ghosts! I don’t usually dress up, but I love that others do! Take themselves a little less seriously on this one day of the year (I do this every day, so it’s interesting to see others try it)! Take their kids out to continue the tradition. I love to see what kids choose to dress up as, as they go house to house, begging for candy! The origins of trick-or-treating date back to the Celtic festival of Samhain, but it’s popularity didn’t soar in the US until after WWII, when sugar rationing was lifted. Many parents at the time opposed it, because they felt it encouraged begging and extortion! Oh, the horror!

And…I love horror movies!

Not the gory stuff that is the norm these days, but the more subtle and psychological ones. The older films that left much to the imagination. Now, of course, given the genre in general, you will and must have some gore (and boobs and blood, as fellow blogger Wendy writes about in her timely post!). A dead body or three. Again, it’s just what’s available in our physical existence to “play” off of, but there are avenues, like the Twilight Zone, that attack[ed] the subject beautifully, with more subtlety and class, like fellow blogger Paul writes about, and shows no gore. I grew up on both Hammer Films and Twilight Zone, not to mention everything in between. Some of my favorite movies have a little gore, and some don’t. Perhaps it has to do with a fascination with our physical forms…or the “fleeting physicality” of corporeal life, itself…but that fascination (as funneled through our physical brains which gives an “anchor” for our mind…) takes on the form it does, seems to like to show gore-laden bodies up on silver screens.  And people (mainly the young) flock to that. It’s a fascination. In any event, it’s just a hard thing to get away from gore in the genre…but what most all have, is atmosphere.

And I love atmosphere.

A lot.

So, Hallowe’en means many things to me, but it means fun, introspection, and atmosphere, and—along with Christmas—ranks as my favorite holiday. So, I hope you all enjoy the day and night, and have fun with it!

I also love lit Jack-o’-lanterns set out all over the place! This demure little fella happens to be ours.

Happy Hallowe’en, everyone!

The Mummy (1932)

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Sir Joseph Whemple: [translating inscription on Scroll of Thoth box] “Death…eternal punishment…for…anyone…who…opens…this…casket. In the name…of Amon-Ra…the king of the gods. Good heavens, what a terrible curse!

Ralph Norton: [eagerly] Well, let’s see what’s inside!

I love this movie!

The above clip is my favorite scene in the entire film…I love the absolute subtly of it! The slow, weary opening of the mummy’s eyes as it’s

English: The Mummy (1932) film poster.
English: The Mummy (1932) film poster. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

being summoned back to life (the eye is opened sooo slow!)…the movement of the hands away from the chest…the dessicated hand entering the scene to touch the scroll…the sloughing away into the darkness by only showing the trailing mummy wrappings (and at a mummy’s gait!)…and the gone-mad stare and laughter from our forever traumatized “Oxford chap” archeologist, Ralph Norton (Bramwell Fletcher)!

“He went for a little  walk! You should have seen his face!”

I love the whole black-and-white atmosphere, the story partially inspired by the real Tutankhamun (or -amen) discovery in 1922. I love how much is left to the imagination through use of light and dark…shadows. Implication.

And then there’s the line uttered by Zita Johann and made famous by a Rob Zombie song: “Do you have to open graves to find girls to fall in love with?”

Ah, the eternal question for some!

Click here for some additional The Mummy info.

The above link mentioned there was a reincarnational scene deleted from the movie. The slideshow creator (see “Reincarnation Deleted Scense” slideshow video, below) said there had been downright animosity between the director, Carl Freund and Zita Johann (who played Helen Grosvenor), hinting that might have played a part in the removal of the scenes. I wonder if it may have taken movie goers “out” of the movie, the “mummy atmosphere” that had already been created. There is also a scene where David Manners (Frank Whemple character) tells Zita/Helen, in the scene where Zita is brought to the elder Whemple’s home and couch that there was something about “her head” (“I say…now, I know what it is about you…there was something about her head…”) and the head of the discovered mummy of Princess Anck-es-en-Amon…implying she’s got the same body (and head…face…) as the ancient Egyptian princess…while in the deleted scenes there are different actresses playing some of her different reincarnations. I know about the ideas of reincarnation for both the souls taking on new bodies, but also keeping various “versions” of their previous bodies (and every variant in between)…but it could have been a problematic issue, just the same. Anyway, for me, watching this slideshow had a “weird feel” to it, perhaps it was the contemporary video composer’s composition…including music and included contemporary slides to complete the deleted tale…but I’m not sure it would have lent anything “more” to the movie. Who knows….

In any event, here is the slideshow, showing some of those deleted scenes (again, intermixed with more contemporary scenes for “completeness” sake, I can only assume):

The only drawback (and it’s a minor one) I can find to the movie is that there aren’t many mummy-in-wraps scenes beyond the opening (minus the flashback). However, in direct contrast to that statement, I do love how the film transcends the mummy-ness into a character who interacts with the living, beyond deadly brute force! So, there lies the dichotomy. There are other mummy movies I love, like the Christopher Lee version, where he stays-as-mummy and terrorizes, but this 1932 film, with its “intelligent” script, remains at the top of my list!

And, lastly, enjoy this 1957 Boris Karloff, This Is Your Life, interview:

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