This will be the last edition in which the original set of columns remains from the Volume II’s first launch. Beginning next week, expect these changes:
The Vampires will have a bit of a shift in characterizations;
Calamity on Cinema will come to reside exclusively on Letterboxd;
Classic Horror is moving to Thursdays, to replace the Calamity on Cinema column; and
House will come to reside right here on the Backstage Pass!
We’re all very excited about these changes, as they will streamline operations in some ways (moving Cinema out), and create space for new stories to take shape right here, Backstage (moving House in). We hope you come to love the changes!
In the meantime, we still have our usual columns ready and waiting for your perusal. Edgar is preparing for something—though it’s unclear what—and Isabelle is just rolling with it; you can catch up with the two vampires in this week’s A Vampire’s Vengeance. Curiosity rarely ever ends well in horror stories, and this week’s classic horror story does not disappoint, in The Shadow on the Moor. We ride with Ti West through his rambunctious X trilogy in Calamity on Cinema. And of course, Bus Driver rolls in with a new installment!
Come along, my highly esteemed guests →
It is rather funny how writing has often less to do with the act of writing and more to do with planning, thinking, shaping, editing, and a host of other things. For example, I mentioned in the prior edition—and here as well—of the changing of the temperaments and characters of our vampires in A Vampire’s Vengeance. With so many stories in progress—eleven to date!—it is often easier to just start writing the damn thing and fill in the details later than to take notes and sit on the damn thing and then never come back around to it.
Thus, A Vampire’s Vengeance was started and is now at a point where I’m recognizing a number of changes can be made to make the progression and the characters far more interesting. Also, there could be a lot more blood. Granted, at the current state of the story, there’s really no place for it just yet, but lots of blood was planned for later in the narrative, and even in its ethereal existence, it isn’t enough. So the story’s going to get a lot more bloody, and it starts by making the vampires a lot more hungry.
Since we left off writing House on Threads, there has not been any progress in the book. Which is fine. It’s at the point where a few decisions have to be made about the direction it will head, and this lull has been perfect to chew on those decisions. With the restructuring of our messy backstage, we’ll be returning to the story beginning in the next edtion, though we’ll just start from the beginning.
In other backstage news, a utility plugin was submitted to the Obsidian community which will bring the network plugin in progress just a little closer to being completed. Once that’s done, we should, hopefully, see stories being scaffolded with precision, and at lightning speed.
Okay, perhaps not lightning speed. Writing takes time, and I don’t see a stupid plugin changing that. Operations, however, will be streamlined and those may see a significant boost in completion rates, which will be nice.
Edgar’s up to something. But what? Is this all part of the investigation into the disappearance of his coven? Catch up with the latest installment of A Vampire’s Vengeance before the vampires … change …
There isn’t much left to say about this week’s classic horror pulp fiction that hasn’t been said in the editorial, the stories sub-header, and the prologue, so we’ll just say “have fun!” Dive into The Shadow on the Moor, and keep your head about you:
This week in Calamity on Cinema, we take a casual stroll through Ti West’s X trilogy. This will be the last installment of Calamity on Cinema, here, Backstage. Calamity on Cinema, however, will continue on Letterboxd. Come follow along! New lists will continue to drop every Thursday.
on sale now
The gift of time is, for many, an incredible gift indeed. Unless, of course, it is not a gift at all and arrives with a cost in excess of what one may be willing to pay …A tale from the Odds ‘n’ Endings Boutique.
Are you all caught up and ready to dive into the latest from the bus driver? When last we were on the bus, it was beginning to roll through Victorville after a rather explosive greeting, and we were left hauling away from … what? Whatever it is, it must be absolutely horrendous to have brought out the terrifying reactions of the passengers. You can catch up with Part XI here. Shall we see how this all transpires? Will the monster catch up and take the bus down? Or will the bus driver manage to keep the bus out of its grasp?
