Wednesday Briefs: Dracula #33(7.3)

 Good morning and Happy Hump Day! If it's Wednesday, then it must be time for more flash fiction from the Wednesday Briefers! We're a group of authors who bring you our finest flash fiction every week, 500 to 1000 words, inspired by one of our prompts.

A storm is brewing and Dracula is anxious to be on his way. But will things work out as he wishes just because he wishes them to? See what's happening in this week's chapter of Dracula. Don't forget to visit the other Briefers and see what's up with them. Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!

Dracula #33(7.3)

Relief swept through Avram at the sight of the wagon. Andrei’s arrival was a timely one. Avram was grateful that he did not have to try to explain to Dracula why it would be unwise to steal the smuggler’s boat, when neither one of them could operate the craft and neither were they familiar with the route they would need to take to reach the Danube. Prior to this, their travels had always been accomplished over land, not water.  Not to mention that Andrei’s cousin would not be happy with them for abandoning his relative/business partner and would probably refuse to take them to Vienna. That in itself would only lead to problems as the vampire was not good at being told no when it came to getting what he wanted. And they were in no position to do anything else at the moment, having no alternatives. No prudent ones, anyway.

Avram was not surprised to see that Andre was not alone. Beside him on the driver’s seat was another man, no doubt the owner of the wagon. Avram didn’t recognize him but assumed he was one of those involved with Andrei in his smuggling activities. Andrei was yelling at the horses to go faster, no doubt due to the impending storm. As if to accentuate the need for urgency, a blue-white flash of lightning arced across the sky in a sideways fashion, immediately followed by a thunderclap and the first drops of rain.

Andrei pulled up the horses at the sight of Avram and Dracula. “Hurry and get in!” he shouted above the rising wind. “We have to hurry and get the cargo loaded and below deck before the storm breaks.”

Avram held his breath, expecting either a refusal or some sort of sarcasm from Nico. But, to his surprise, the vampire leapt onto the back of the wagon without a word, then turned and held out a hand for Avram.

That was unexpected.

Not wishing to look a gift horse in the mouth, Avram took Nico’s hand and the vampire pulled him into the wagon with ease, which then began to roll away immediately. He balanced himself precariously between Nico and the side of the wagon, holding tightly to both lest he fall off. An assortment of boxes and barrels lay in the bed of the wagon. He could understand the necessity to get everything out of the rain before it was ruined.

They quickly reached the point where the boat had been tied up and began to schlep the contents of the wagon into the hold of the boat.  Not surprisingly—at least not to Avram—Dracula was stronger than they were and carried his burdens effortlessly. Perhaps that was a mistake, but they had no time to worry about that now, not with the storm about to break over their heads as it was. They managed to stow everything with a minimum of water damage, to Andrei’s relief. His companion thanked him and quickly drove back the way he’d come.

Andrei glanced uncertainly between Avram and Dracula, as if he wanted to say something but thought better of it. “We should take cover,” he said instead, shouting over the cacophony of the storm.

“We should go,” the vampire insisted. He crossed both arms over his chest stubbornly, clearly expecting to be obeyed. “Now.”

Lord have mercy.

“Are you mad?” Andrei waved his arms to indicate the tumult around them. “We have to let this pass and then we’ll go.”

“Go now.” Dracula stood firm, refusing to capitulate. “The storm will cause no harm.”

“It’s coming from behind us. We can’t outrun us.” He had to yell to make himself heard.

Despite being buffeted by rough winds, Avram stumbled across the deck to place himself between Nico and Andrei, forestalling a possible fight as the two men glared at one another. This was neither the time nor the place, especially under the circumstances. They were becoming more and more drenched by the second, thunder rolling above them in clamorous waves

Dracula took a step toward Andrei, who took a reciprocal step. Avram braced himself as he sought to catch Nico’s eye, silently plead with him for forbearance. At the same time, he stretched an arm toward Andrei to prevent him from doing anything foolish… such as attacking a vampire.

Nico’s gaze was no longer fixed on Andrei, it seemed to encompass the chaos about them—the wind, the rain, the roiling waters of the river. Avram watched him in fascination tempered with horror. Was he really going to do this in front of the smuggler?

Apparently so.

to be continued

Now go see what's up with the other Briefers!

Cia Nordwell

J Ray Lamb

 

 

Saturday is Horror Day #191 - Trap

 Trap

Cooper (Josh Hartnett) is the kind of father teen-aged girls dream of when he gets tickets for them to the concert Riley (Ariel Donoghue) is dying to see! She's had issues at school recently with being bullied by a group of girls she thought were her friends, and Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan) is her very favorite performer.  Riley knows the words to all her songs (although she doesn't sing them very well) as well as her dance moves.

As they make their way to their seats, Cooper can't help but notice a massive police presence in the venue, far more than a mere concert would warrant. He quickly figures out they are searching for him, everything is a trap, and he has to find a way to safely himself and his daughter out of this place.

I don't consider it a spoiler to reveal that Cooper is the serial killer the police are searching for, hence the title of the film. You can see this much from watching the trailer. Unfortunately, the trailer is more interesting than the film. We watch Cooper continually leaving his daughter alone as he tries to find his way out, which entailing a lot of perfect coincidences falling into place and everything going his way, including getting Lady Raven to choose his daughter as her Dream Girl.  Honestly, I felt as though he sleepwalked through is performance, and I do like Josh Hartnett. The girl playing his daughter was okay, but she needs more acting lessons. And Saleka Shyamalan does too. I wonder if she would have been cast if she weren't the director's daughter.

I watched this movie despite thinking Shyamalan hasn't done anything good since The Sixth Sense, and I won't watch anything else after seeing this. It's rather predictable, not very interesting, despite hopeful moments I thought might lead to something interesting... but they didn't. The twist at the end was not even logical and rather ambiguous. There is a small extra scene during the credits, if you make it that far. I had high hopes for this but those were dashed. Lackluster all the way around. I'll give this film 2.5 Stars.

On a side note, look for Hayley Mills as a police profiler. Nice to see her again. Sorry it was in this film.

Wednesday Briefs: Dracula #33(7.3)

 Good morning and Happy Hump Day! If it's Wednesday, then it must be time for more flash fiction from the Wednesday Briefers! We're a group of authors who bring you our finest flash fiction every week, 500 to 1000 words, inspired by one of our prompts.

A storm is brewing and Dracula is anxious to be on his way. But will things work out as he wishes just because he wishes them to? See what's happening in this week's chapter of Dracula. Don't forget to visit the other Briefers and see what's up with them. Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!

Dracula #33(7.3)

Relief swept through Avram at the sight of the wagon. Andrei’s arrival was a timely one. Avram was grateful that he did not have to try to explain to Dracula why it would be unwise to steal the smuggler’s boat, when neither one of them could operate the craft and neither were they familiar with the route they would need to take to reach the Danube. Prior to this, their travels had always been accomplished over land, not water.  Not to mention that Andrei’s cousin would not be happy with them for abandoning his relative/business partner and would probably refuse to take them to Vienna. That in itself would only lead to problems as the vampire was not good at being told no when it came to getting what he wanted. And they were in no position to do anything else at the moment, having no alternatives. No prudent ones, anyway.

Avram was not surprised to see that Andre was not alone. Beside him on the driver’s seat was another man, no doubt the owner of the wagon. Avram didn’t recognize him but assumed he was one of those involved with Andrei in his smuggling activities. Andrei was yelling at the horses to go faster, no doubt due to the impending storm. As if to accentuate the need for urgency, a blue-white flash of lightning arced across the sky in a sideways fashion, immediately followed by a thunderclap and the first drops of rain.

Andrei pulled up the horses at the sight of Avram and Dracula. “Hurry and get in!” he shouted above the rising wind. “We have to hurry and get the cargo loaded and below deck before the storm breaks.”

Avram held his breath, expecting either a refusal or some sort of sarcasm from Nico. But, to his surprise, the vampire leapt onto the back of the wagon without a word, then turned and held out a hand for Avram.

That was unexpected.

Not wishing to look a gift horse in the mouth, Avram took Nico’s hand and the vampire pulled him into the wagon with ease, which then began to roll away immediately. He balanced himself precariously between Nico and the side of the wagon, holding tightly to both lest he fall off. An assortment of boxes and barrels lay in the bed of the wagon. He could understand the necessity to get everything out of the rain before it was ruined.

They quickly reached the point where the boat had been tied up and began to schlep the contents of the wagon into the hold of the boat.  Not surprisingly—at least not to Avram—Dracula was stronger than they were and carried his burdens effortlessly. Perhaps that was a mistake, but they had no time to worry about that now, not with the storm about to break over their heads as it was. They managed to stow everything with a minimum of water damage, to Andrei’s relief. His companion thanked him and quickly drove back the way he’d come.

Andrei glanced uncertainly between Avram and Dracula, as if he wanted to say something but thought better of it. “We should take cover,” he said instead, shouting over the cacophony of the storm.

“We should go,” the vampire insisted. He crossed both arms over his chest stubbornly, clearly expecting to be obeyed. “Now.”

Lord have mercy.

“Are you mad?” Andrei waved his arms to indicate the tumult around them. “We have to let this pass and then we’ll go.”

“Go now.” Dracula stood firm, refusing to capitulate. “The storm will cause no harm.”

“It’s coming from behind us. We can’t outrun us.” He had to yell to make himself heard.

Despite being buffeted by rough winds, Avram stumbled across the deck to place himself between Nico and Andrei, forestalling a possible fight as the two men glared at one another. This was neither the time nor the place, especially under the circumstances. They were becoming more and more drenched by the second, thunder rolling above them in clamorous waves

Dracula took a step toward Andrei, who took a reciprocal step. Avram braced himself as he sought to catch Nico’s eye, silently plead with him for forbearance. At the same time, he stretched an arm toward Andrei to prevent him from doing anything foolish… such as attacking a vampire.

Nico’s gaze was no longer fixed on Andrei, it seemed to encompass the chaos about them—the wind, the rain, the roiling waters of the river. Avram watched him in fascination tempered with horror. Was he really going to do this in front of the smuggler?

Apparently so.

to be continued

Now go see what's up with the other Briefers!

Cia Nordwell

J Ray Lamb

 

 

 

Saturday is Horror Day #190 - Unhinged

 Unhinged

Rachel (Caren Pistorius) thinks she has problems, between her ex-husband, being behind on bills, and then losing her job. But she's about to learn things can get a whole lot worse... and they do. While attempting to get her son Kyle (Gabriel Bateman) to school on time, because she overslept, she gets behind a truck with a driver who sits through one green arrow. She honks at him then angrily passes him. But she's picked the wrong man to upset, as this man (Russell Crowe) has just killed two people and isn't in the best of humor himself. He catches up with her and calmly requests an apology. She refuses, and now the game is on.

Russell Crowe gives new meaning to the term road rage. Of course, Rachel doesn't know this when she 

 confronts him, but she quickly discovers just how unhinged he is. What makes this movie scary, in my opinion, is that I can see this happening. Road rage is real and becoming more and more common, unfortunately. Crowe's character escalates it to a degree that is terrifying, and the people in Rachel's life suffer for her actions. This sort of things could happen to anyone. My advice is to keep calm, no matter what, and consider that the person you are honking at might be a potential homicidal maniac if you push the right buttons. I found it amusing that Rachel threw her boss under the bus in order to save herself and her son. Wonder what happened when that came out? Definitely worth a watch. I thought Russell Crowe did a good job as the man, while I had little sympathy for Rachel. She was whiny and made bad choices.  I give this film 3.5 Stars.

Wednesday Briefs: Dracula #33(7.3)

 Good morning and Happy Hump Day! If it's Wednesday, then it must be time for more flash fiction from the Wednesday Briefers! We're a group of authors who bring you our finest flash fiction every week, 500 to 1000 words, inspired by one of our prompts.

A storm is brewing and Dracula is anxious to be on his way. But will things work out as he wishes just because he wishes them to? See what's happening in this week's chapter of Dracula. Don't forget to visit the other Briefers and see what's up with them. Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!

Dracula #33(7.3)

Relief swept through Avram at the sight of the wagon. Andrei’s arrival was a timely one. Avram was grateful that he did not have to try to explain to Dracula why it would be unwise to steal the smuggler’s boat, when neither one of them could operate the craft and neither were they familiar with the route they would need to take to reach the Danube. Prior to this, their travels had always been accomplished over land, not water.  Not to mention that Andrei’s cousin would not be happy with them for abandoning his relative/business partner and would probably refuse to take them to Vienna. That in itself would only lead to problems as the vampire was not good at being told no when it came to getting what he wanted. And they were in no position to do anything else at the moment, having no alternatives. No prudent ones, anyway.

Avram was not surprised to see that Andre was not alone. Beside him on the driver’s seat was another man, no doubt the owner of the wagon. Avram didn’t recognize him but assumed he was one of those involved with Andrei in his smuggling activities. Andrei was yelling at the horses to go faster, no doubt due to the impending storm. As if to accentuate the need for urgency, a blue-white flash of lightning arced across the sky in a sideways fashion, immediately followed by a thunderclap and the first drops of rain.

Andrei pulled up the horses at the sight of Avram and Dracula. “Hurry and get in!” he shouted above the rising wind. “We have to hurry and get the cargo loaded and below deck before the storm breaks.”

Avram held his breath, expecting either a refusal or some sort of sarcasm from Nico. But, to his surprise, the vampire leapt onto the back of the wagon without a word, then turned and held out a hand for Avram.

That was unexpected.

Not wishing to look a gift horse in the mouth, Avram took Nico’s hand and the vampire pulled him into the wagon with ease, which then began to roll away immediately. He balanced himself precariously between Nico and the side of the wagon, holding tightly to both lest he fall off. An assortment of boxes and barrels lay in the bed of the wagon. He could understand the necessity to get everything out of the rain before it was ruined.

They quickly reached the point where the boat had been tied up and began to schlep the contents of the wagon into the hold of the boat.  Not surprisingly—at least not to Avram—Dracula was stronger than they were and carried his burdens effortlessly. Perhaps that was a mistake, but they had no time to worry about that now, not with the storm about to break over their heads as it was. They managed to stow everything with a minimum of water damage, to Andrei’s relief. His companion thanked him and quickly drove back the way he’d come.

Andrei glanced uncertainly between Avram and Dracula, as if he wanted to say something but thought better of it. “We should take cover,” he said instead, shouting over the cacophony of the storm.

“We should go,” the vampire insisted. He crossed both arms over his chest stubbornly, clearly expecting to be obeyed. “Now.”

Lord have mercy.

“Are you mad?” Andrei waved his arms to indicate the tumult around them. “We have to let this pass and then we’ll go.”

“Go now.” Dracula stood firm, refusing to capitulate. “The storm will cause no harm.”

“It’s coming from behind us. We can’t outrun us.” He had to yell to make himself heard.

Despite being buffeted by rough winds, Avram stumbled across the deck to place himself between Nico and Andrei, forestalling a possible fight as the two men glared at one another. This was neither the time nor the place, especially under the circumstances. They were becoming more and more drenched by the second, thunder rolling above them in clamorous waves

Dracula took a step toward Andrei, who took a reciprocal step. Avram braced himself as he sought to catch Nico’s eye, silently plead with him for forbearance. At the same time, he stretched an arm toward Andrei to prevent him from doing anything foolish… such as attacking a vampire.

Nico’s gaze was no longer fixed on Andrei, it seemed to encompass the chaos about them—the wind, the rain, the roiling waters of the river. Avram watched him in fascination tempered with horror. Was he really going to do this in front of the smuggler?

Apparently so.

to be continued

Now go see what's up with the other Briefers!

Cia Nordwell

J Ray Lamb

 

 

 

Saturday is Horror Day #189 - Sharknado 2: The Second One, Fright Night(1985)

 Sharknado 2: The Second One

Having successfully defeated the Sharknado in LA, Fin(Ian Ziering) and ex-wife April (Tara Reid) head to New York City for some family time with Fin's sister Ellen (Kari Wuhrer) and her husband Martin (Mark McGrath) and their children Mora (Courtney Baxter) and Vaughn (Dante Palminteri). Despite having been close friends at one time, Fin and Martin are barely on speaking terms now. On the plane to New York, a freak occurrence happens in the form of another Sharknado! In the course of fighting if off, in order to save the plane and its passengers, Fin is forced to fly the plane and April ends up losing a hand.

They arrive in New York safely. The original plan is for April to join Ellen and Mora for some girl time, 

while Fin joins Martin and Vaughn for a Mets game. But plans change, due to April's injury. As if this wasn't bad enough, strange weather patterns are emerging - an arctic front from the north, which is bringing snow to NYC in July! And a warm Gulf stream bearing sharks from the South., which are feared will form into Sharnados. Al Roker and Matt Lauer follow the action for their viewers on The Today Show as Fin finds himself having to go to Met Stadium to rescue his brother-in-law and nephew and hopefully meeting Ellen and Mora at their agreed upon rendezvous point. Meanwhile, April refuses to lie quietly in the hospital when there is work to be done.

The second Sharknado film is actually funnier and more interesting than the first one as it doesn't even pretend to take itself seriously. There are a number of Easter eggs, and I'm sure I didn't get them all. For example the Airplane references in the airplane they take to New York, including Robert Hays as the pilot. They end up in a taxi driven by.... Judd Hirsch. Andy Dick plays a cop, Richard Kind a one time baseball great, Robert Klein is the mayor, and so on. Vivica A. Fox plans an old wanna-be girlfriend of Ziering and she kicks major add in this. Some I didn't realize were there until I saw the credits include Billy Ray Cyrus and Kelly Osborne.

Great moments in filmmaking? No, it's not. Fun to watch? Yeah, I thought so. And I plan to keep watching them. I'll give this film 3 Stars.

Fright Night(1985)

Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) is a typical teen with the usual things on his mind - having sex with his girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse) and watching late night horror shows such as Fright Night, hosted by premiere vampire killer Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowell). But he quickly becomes more interested in what's going on next door when he sees two men carry what looks like a coffin into a newly sold house. He learns from his mother Judy (Dorothy Fielding) that the house has indeed been sold. While looking out his window, Charley spies a pretty young woman in the window next door, next to a man who unexpectedly bares what appear to be fangs, before drawing the shade on whatever is happening. The next day, Charlie learns of another murder of a young woman in their city, and he knows it was the woman he saw, and his next door neighbor is a vampire!

 Neither Charley's best friend Evil Ed (Stephen Geoffreys) nor Amy believe him. Charley tries to 

involve the police, but ends up looking foolish. Desperate, he doesn't know where to turn until he remembers Peter Vincent and turns to him, unaware the actor has just been fired and is in rather desperate straits himself. But even the vampire killer doesn't want to help Charley. What's a boy to do?

Charley thinks he has the answer because Ed tells  him a vampire can't enter your home unless he is invited, but that plan fails when his mom calls him down to meet their new neighbor, Jerry (Chris Sarandon), whom she has invited over. The vampire lets Charley know he is on to him and has unpleasant things in store for him. Charley has to find a way to contain Jerry and keep him continuing to kill the residents of his town.

Before I watched this, I saw the 2011 version and I wasn't sure what to expect from the original, or how closely the two films resemble one another. The answer is they do have the same characters and basic plots. And the original was actually pretty good. I was afraid it would be a cheesy 80s flick but it wasn't. It's usually fun to watch actors in their younger days, and this is true here. I remember William Ragsdale, who plays Charley, in a series which I enjoyed called Herman's Head, while Amanda Bearse/Amy is best known for playing Marcy Darcy in Married With Children. Roddy McDowell is famous for many things, but if you want to see him do more horror, watch the comedy horror film Arnold and a segment of Night Gallery called The Cemetery, both of which I enjoyed

I liked Fright Night, and I plan to look for the sequel. Not sure if I want to see the modern sequel, since it looks like none of the original actors came back. This version is enjoyable. And I have to say the dance sequence between Jerry and Amy was rather seductive. I give this film 4 Stars.

Book Review: One Piece: Shokugeki no Sanji

 

One Piece: Shokugeki no Sanji       

Author: Yuto Tsukuda

Publisher: Viz Media

American release date: March 12, 2024

Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/Manga/Action Adventure/232 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

 

When a famous gourmand, known as “the tongue that spans the seas”, arrives at the Baratie, she is instantly disdainful of all that she sees and questions how good the food can possibly be. She makes ridiculous assumptions concerning the head chef as well as Sanji and the others. Sanji offers to make a dish for her, but under one condition – if she is pleased by what he cooks, she must clean her plate. Game on!

The crew of the Go Merry run across a castaway adrift on the ocean and bring him aboard, although he is less than thrilled and feels they should have left him. Finding a wedding invitation, Sanji surmises that the man is a chef from a nearby island whose only daughter is getting married and he has gone in search of some special seafood he could make for the occasion, but after catching the Draconic Super-fillet salmon, he got caught in a squall. However the weather is the least of his concerns – once he has the beautiful fish, he is unable to properly filet it! Sanji offers to help, but will this task prove to be beyond even his amazing culinary skills?

In the kingdom of Alabasta, a feast is being held to honor the heroes who saved the kingdom! But with Luffy’s enormous appetite and the chef’s staff being temporarily short-handed, a problem is about to arise. Sanji wants to help, but he doesn’t want to intrude. So he introduces himself and says he wants to see how such a large kitchen works, and he is willing to do anything, such as peel potatoes. They quickly take advantage of his generosity!

Sanji finds himself a hostage of the inhabitants of Kamabakka Queendom – an island comprised of drag queens! They challenge him to earn the rights to the 99 recipes of attack cuisine. But this will be no easy task. Challenge accepted!

Sanji – who now goes by Sangoro – is looking for a powerful samurai to join his crew, so decides to use his culinary skills to attract candidates. But as he and Usopp brainstorm, he discovers a soba noodle vendor who seems to have the market cornered. Sanji is never one to resist a challenge, so he challenges them, but soon learns they do have a monopoly on the best buckwheat flour. Can Sanji work around such a problem?

This volume takes the character of Sanji from Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece and features him in his own set of stories taken from various points in the original manga. It’s not hard to see that these stories were done by the creators of Food Wars, as the style is unmistakable.  I love Sanji, so buying this was inevitable. They did a wonderful job with five interesting stories featuring Sanji, as well as a bonus story. If you love One Piece, particularly Sanji, as well as Food Wars, this book is for you.