Feb 2022 Book Crawl Reading Stephen B. Pearl and Elisabeth Hirst

Readings at the Group Hex Vol. #1 Book Launch. Episode # 6 reading by Se...

Readings at the Group Hex Vol. #1 Book Launch. Episode # 5 reading by Ju...

Readings at the Group Hex Vol. #1 Book Launch. Episode # 4 reading by St...

Brian F.H. Clement reads at the Group Hex Vol#1. Launch

The author
readings recorded at the Group Hex Vol. #1 Book launch held on January 12, 2017

Group Hex is a
horror / paranormal anthology.

Part three: Featuring Brian F.H. Clement: www.facebook.com/frontlinefilms

Please share this
post.

Other Authors Featured:

Stephen B. Pearl: www.amazon.com/author/stephenpearl

Sephera Giron: www.amazon.ca/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_3?ie=UTF8&text=Sephera+Giron&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Sephera+Giron&sort=relevancerank

Stephanie Bedwell-Grime: www.feralmartian.com

Crystal Bourque: www.facebook.com/crystal.bourque.10

Brian F.H. Clement: www.facebook.com/frontlinefilms

Julianne Snow: www.amazon.ca/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_4?ie=UTF8&text=Julianne+Snow&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Julianne+Snow&sort=relevancerank

Lou Rera: www.amazon.com/Lou-Rera/e/B008MFKN5W

Special thanks to:

Event organizer
(anthology contributor and editor): Andrew Robertson: https://bloodybookish.wordpress.com/2016/12/28/spotlight-on-andrew-robertson/

Great Lakes Horror
Company: www.facebook.com/GreatLakesHorrorCompany

MC : Allysin
Chaynes : www.facebook.com/SHUT.YOUR.DIRTY.SLUT.MOUTH

Venue : www.facebook.com/GladDay/?fref=hovercard

Catering: Cardinal
Rule Catering: http://cardinalrulerestaurant.com/

Videographer:
Stephen B. Pearl: www.stephenpearl.com

Music by: www.bensound.com/royaltyfreemusic

Also in Group Hex
Vol. #1

 Andrew
Robertson: www.amazon.ca/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&text=Andrew+Robertson&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Andrew+Robertson&sort=relevancerank

John
R. Little: www.amazon.ca/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_2?ie=UTF8&text=John+R.+Little&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=John+R.+Little&sort=relevancerank

Kelley
Armstrong: www.kelleyarmstrong.com/books/

Nancy
Kilpatrick : www.google.ca/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=zpd6WMegMqvM8AeYuobABw&gws_rd=ssl#q=nancy+kilpatrick+books

Suzanne Church: http://suzannechurch.com/wordpress/

Douglas Smith : www.smithwriter.com

Bill Snider: www.facebook.com/ZombieZak.ZZ

Monica S. Kuebler:
www.deathofcool.org

Christine J. Whitlock:
www.facebook.com/christine.whitlock.3

Karen Dales: www.amazon.com/Karen-Dales/e/B004TG6U1Y

Shebat Legion: www.amazon.com/Shebat-Legion/e/B00BUARZAM/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1484432746&sr=1-2-ent

Jonathan Woodrow: www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Woodrow/e/B0165M40E8/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1484432824&sr=1-2-ent

Readings from the Group Hex Vol. #1 Book Launch. Episode # 1

Collaboration Station Art Crawl

Author Stephen B. Pearl will be exhibiting at this event in Hamilton Ontario. For more about Stephen and his works visit: www.stephenpearl.com

The Dark Carnival approaches

Dark Carnival: www.darkcarnivalexpo.com

HWA Ontario: http://lovehorror.biz/hwa/

Stephen B. Pearl: www.stephenpearl.com

More on Monsters

Ok, I know I write fantasy and a lot of leeway has to be given, but let’s play with making a monster real for a moment. I’ll take the Giant Spider because I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this one. Hay, I’m not slamming your hobbies, am I? :-)

Actually, I spent a lot of time thinking of how to up-scale anthropoids when I wrote War of the Worlds 2030 since the alien invaders used genetically modified earth life forms as their troops.

Bugs make good monsters in large part because of their psychological effect on humans. They seem almost like aliens on our own world with their body plan and exoskeleton.

A lot more goes into making a giant spider viable than just upsizing it though. First you hit the oxygen transfer limit. Anthropoids breathe through their skin as such they can’t get too large and still supply the oxygen needs of their body cores. If you want to upscale a spider, an arachnid, part of the anthropoid group, you have to deal with this. More oxygen in the atmosphere is one way, which was the case in the Devonian period, adding some kind of a lung or blow through vents to the body is another.

Next you run into the limitations of an exoskeleton. An exoskeleton may be built in armour, but it is not as useful for supporting a creature structurally as the solid pole construction of an endoskeleton. So if you want a giant spider you must A – reinforce the material of the skeleton. This process is useful in fantasy because it makes a more powerful beast. Or B – add an endoskeleton. This would make cutting off limbs even harder.

You might want to look at adding additional hearts when you upscale a spider as well to keep the blood flowing.

In the Fate of the Norns Ragnarok gaming system the giant spider is highly intelligent, which means a large, complex brain. The thing to keep in mind is that for life on earth the size of the brain is less important that the ratio of brain size to body size.

A T-Rex had a fairly large brain, but in relationship to its body size it wasn’t that impressive.

This is only a start. When making monsters for fantasy and books a little understanding of biology coupled with a lot of imagination and problem solving is a very useful mix for getting it right. One thing that often bugs me on the show Face Off, I really enjoy the show but nothing is perfect, is some one will be tasked with making an alien or monster and what they come up with seems to have no relationship to any conceivable environment. Evolution trims away the superfluous, go back to the T-Rex and the stubby arms, and keeps the useful. A pragmatic approach to survival in an ecological niche is, in my opinion, the best place to start when designing a monster. Undead are a notable exception to this as they operate under rules that may step outside the natural environment. Then again the Draugar in the Fate of the Norns cannon are fairly straight forward as they are corpses possessed by a spirit and juiced up with extra power.

Until next time.

Buy links:  http://www.amazon.com/Stephen-B.-Pearl/e/B00FEOLLIC/

The Dead Haunt the Northlands

This is a link to a reading I recorded at the Milton Pirate Fest it is from Distant Early Warning by Elizabeth Hirst.

About Distant Early Warning:

Because redemption is a place... All they need to do is find the right co-ordinates. Canada is in crisis. Global warming has taken hold, and amid the flooding and the super storms, another horror has risen, more devastating than the rest. The dead begin rising from the ground at night, screaming out strange gibberish songs that terrify and entrance anyone who hears them. With people dying and fleeing all around, the north quickly becomes a wild west, without the west. Felicia "Denny" Dennigan lives far from the crisis, with a good job at the university and a roof over her head, but her life is far from perfect. A perpetual loner, she relies on sporadic visits from her Dad as her only lifeline to friends or family. So, when Dad doesn't return one fall day, and his dog, Geoff, shows up without him, Denny is concerned for his safety. The last postcard he sent her was from Sudbury, on the edge of the chaos up North... Denny's worst fears are confirmed when she sees Dad on TV, dead, and screaming. Desperate to end his suffering, Denny gives up her job, buys supplies, and heads out with Geoff to discover the truth behind her father's death, but truth always comes with a cost. What Denny discovers in the wilds of Northern Ontario will shatter all of her assumptions about her life, and what lies beyond

Vidio Link: https://youtu.be/t5jnxXjkvbs

Buy link: http://www.amazon.ca/Distant-Early-Warning-Elizabeth-Hirst/dp/1502460807/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1442267282&sr=8-5&keywords=Distant+Early+Warning

Author link: https://popseagullpublishing.wordpress.com/about/

Milton Pirate Festival: http://www.thepiratefestival.com/

Stephen B. Pearl on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC14QVfS9kiuc6sK7P3-yOmg