Land of Bliss and Shadow

 

 THE POND OF DOOM A flamingo sunset spreads over the Everglades. Walter sings with happiness and wiggles his toes on the wet lilypad that gently floats in his home pond. Mating season is here! He can feel it in the balmy air. Taking a deep breath, he puffs up and sings as loudly and as enticingly as he can, for there is a female on a nearby lilypad that he has fixed his sights on. She is a beauty, with a green-gold slimy hue and shining golden eyes so enticing he can barely contain himself. But how can he reach her safely? The deceptively tranquil pond is full of nocturnal perils below, above, and all around. Friends and rivals have disappeared one by one, mysteriously and not always silently; sometimes with a scream or a gurgle cut short, then silence. Once, he saw part of a leg much too like his own floating past him, bodiless. Just yesterday – Walter shudders at the memory – a familiar blue eyeball bobbed in the water trailing sinew and gore, turning black and dull as he looke...

 Just a little something for fun; the timeline isn't exactly canon. Photo credit:  Pinterest

I recently wrote my first Shakespearean sonnet as a submission to James Aquilone's Shakespeare Unleashed horror anthology, whose Kickstarter campaign I donated to.  Sadly it was rejected, but you can't win them all.  It probably wasn't horror-ible enough.  I look forward to reading the anthology when it is published.  I know it will be fantastic. This sonnet is based on Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Richard III, proposal to Lady Anne, and is inspired by Jonathan Frid's timeless portrayal of the vampire Barnabas Collins on the original Dark Shadows TV series.  Frid portrayed Richard III in the 1965 Penn State University Summer Festival of Professional Theater, and has said it was his favorite role. Publicity picture, Jonathan Frid as Richard III Summer Festival of  Professional Theater, July 1965

  Yes, this is an ABC made-for-TV movie with rather obvious clues throughout, but there are several things that I like about it: -A couple of the lines that Shelley Winters delivers are real gems, and she's suitably creepy. -The way that mirrors were used.  One scene in particular I loved where Lilith and Diane were talking in her apartment, and you could see Mr. Howard's private reactions to what they were saying in the coat rack mirror between them.  You could almost hear what he was thinking from his expressions alone. -Jonathan Frid's performance as Mr. Howard was completely masterful.  With only his expressions and body language as his acting tools, he imparted a whole world of meaning, pathos, and mystery.  His intense and complex interpretation of the character changed what could have been a minor character into a rich and compelling piece of the story's puzzle, expanding the whole to make it more than it would have been otherwise.  He made me want t...

  Chapter 11 sketch: Just some Fall oak branches blowing in the wind and rain.  Though Maine was known for the stout oak trees that were used to build revolutionary war-era sailing ships and grand homes like Collinwood, there didn't seem to be a lot of oak trees in the forest outside of the Great House.  At least not as many as the deadly nightshade shrubs that Angelique was quick to find. Chapter 12 heading sketch: It was hard to catch an un-fuzzy view of these candlesticks that graced the Old House's parlor mantlepiece, so some creative license was in order.  This is my favorite sketch of the bunch. Chapter 12 end sketch: The pattern of the grand entrance doors to Seaview Terrace (Carey Mansion), reimagined on the studio set of the  Collinwood foyer.