Frank Ladd

I am looking for an agent who will champion my strangely human novel about inhuman things. While I'm waiting, I made this immersive preview to give a sense of the atmosphere and writing. Harold Schechter saw it and gave me a great blurb! frankladdauthor.com/excerpts?genre…

@rogfoc @JoyceCarolOates I'm following her now. Thanks. It seems simple, but when I originally searched for her name, all that came up was:

@frankladd @JoyceCarolOates She's using a super secret account titled "joycecaroloates.bsky.social"

not sure if anyone is at Bluesky. when I visit the site all is calm, unchanging; I have not had a single new follower in many months; exchanges are always interesting & intelligent but relatively few. Bluesky exudes the air of an upscale mall, beautifully maintained, hushed. one will likely not be mobbed or mugged here but one will likely not feel a quickening of the heart, a jab of adrenaline. Twitter may be a "cesspool"-- at least in some quarters--but I think of it as lively like the old Madison Square Garden: raucous, unpredictable, obnoxious, good fun, surprises.

@TheLeadCNN @jaketapper Hahaha. Regurgitating thin gruel propaganda.

A former USAID official based in the Democratic Republic of Congo tells @jaketapper that the response to the new Ebola outbreak was likely delayed weeks because of Trump's elimination of USAID.

The final screen from my literary crime and horror novel's interactive mood board is a repurposing of my query letter (minus the agent personalization, blurb, comps, and bio). On looking it over, worried that the middle paragraph descends into queryspeak. frankladdauthor.com/excerpts/

@lhallwriter Thanks, Lee. I have a general author site, but made this dark and moody interactive preview for my debut literary crime/horror genre blend currently being queried. frankladdauthor.com/excerpts/

Writers, do you have a website or blog? Drop your links below and I will happily repost some 👇 (no book links, just websites)

@StefanDz11 I've never seen Night Has a Thousand Eyes as a paperback. Positioning it as a Gothic novel is a clever repackaging of the horror of fate.

Of course. “Invasion of” was tacked onto Finney’s original title, “The Body Snatchers,” to capitalize on the popularity of the film. Book differs from its more dramatic film treatments, but it has become a cultural touchstone, as much as Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead.”

@ramseycampbell1 @StefanDz11 More than a few, but I thought I'd be brown-nosing if I mentioned you. 😇

@frankladd @StefanDz11 I’ve had a few goes at equivocal ambiguity myself.

Tourneur reportedly did not want the "demon" (a cinematic contrivance) to be visualized explicitly--but the studio had final cut. Still a powerful film that introduced many of us to the M. R. James source code, "Casting the Runes."

Without the explicit demon (and for most of the story), it captures that overlap where the horror of the mind bleeds into the horror of the world, where the demon is real enough to those who die but the Paul Tremblay trick of equivocal ambiguity remains. The scenes at the birthday party and the scene in the hotel hall are visually and subtly brilliant.

@StefanDz11 My favourite horror film.

A few additions to my author page: 1) my article on CrimeReads about Ed Gein and cultural mythology (in reaction to the exploitative Netflix series), 2) a link to a dark and moody interactive preview of my literary horror/crime hybrid novel, and 3) a preview of my second novel in progress. frankladdauthor.com

@davidhalesmith @bradluttrell Does Webelos count?

@bradluttrell Excellent post, Brad. 🫡Scouting memories are some of my favorites. I made Eagle Scout just in time for 18th birthday. Time w kids / as parents gets better + better even though it ebbs + flows. I just got home from 2 weeks traveling international w my 80+ parents!

I'm having a parental short circuit moment. Or something. This weekend notched my last Cub Scout campout with my son. He's moving over to Boy Scouts, and I officially wrap 5 years of being a den leader. As I prepare for our last Cub Scout Achievement, it hit me that this was it. I hope to keep camping with my boy, but we've had this twice a year that was on the calendar, had to happen. I've taught him / watched him learn so much: • How to setup camp • Whittling • Cooking • Fishing for bass, not just bluegill • Leave no trace mentality • Learn to shoot a boom stick and archery (and he went on to join the team / go to state, nationals and next is worlds) • First aid And more. It's a strange feeling when you real-time realize how much you're going to miss something as you're doing it. I actually think realizing you're in the best days of your life is a real gift. Appreciating the kids, not just stressed by them (the spring sports season has stressed me plenty, though). I didn't get emotional when leading the boys' final lesson, but I think they could feel that I meant it when I said I was proud of them for sticking with it, and for their growth. I know parenting isn't for everyone, but it's one of the greatest joys I've had. I am simultaneously loving who my kids are becoming, but also wishing I could stop time. I can't, so I just have to try and soak in the good times. I had a friend text me recently to tease me about missing out on a turkey hunt with some guys (love ya Mike, Derek and Chuck). But I had to tell them I'm not missing out at all. I'm right where I need to be. (Picture of just me from fishing with my dude because I don't post pics of my kids on social)

@HorrorCarnival One of the greatest horror films ever made. The scene with the wind at the birthday party is immortal. Jacques Tourneur created a masterpiece.

Night of the Demon (Curse of the Demon) (1957) The film's curse concept is genuinely chilling; a simple yet brutally effective premise where a demon comes for you on a specific date unless passed on. You can see its DNA in later films like The Ring and It Follows—that same inescapable, ticking-clock dread.

@HorrorCarnival She seems nice.

In the 2022 horror film "X", the lighting shifts dramatically as Pearl stabs RJ. As blood splatters across the van's headlights, the scene transitions from natural darkness into a saturated, deep red. This "Argento-adjacent" shift—a nod to giallo director Dario Argento—transforms the violence into something stylistically grotesque and visually striking.

What reading GEIN is like:

@walterkirn ...but to an increasingly smaller audience capable of recognizing it? The power of indoctrination and diminishing education is strong. Standards lower.

We must thank LLMs and AI for showing us what is reproducible and fungible in human culture so that we can focus now on what is not.

@alecdshane But in a good way.

I've been completely messed up in the head ever since

@boardsofcanada Hypnotic, nostalgic, terrifying, meditative, oddly comforting, and sad.

@Steve_Curran Ha! I asked AI and they sent me to this clip: youtube.com/watch?v=MvC6KY…

@frankladd I forget what comedian used to do Charles Bronson impression and say “I dug 15 tunnels with this face”

To be a voice-over artist in the 60’s, it was required that you smoke 3 packs a day of lung darts, preferably Pall Mall.

Since X insists on turning the preview image into a gray box postage stamp thumbnail, here is a static image of the front page. The immersive writing inside is even better!

I am looking for an agent who will champion my strangely human novel about inhuman things. While I'm waiting, I made this immersive preview to give a sense of the atmosphere and writing. Harold Schechter saw it and gave me a great blurb! frankladdauthor.com/excerpts?genre…

@CorylusB Cool. As an author querying my literary horror manuscript, I am interested in how novels attract attention. This is a nice atmospheric video trailer. I just created a moody interactive trailer for my (unpublished) novel on Ed Gein. You might be interested: frankladdauthor.com/excerpts?genre…

We're at work on the latest from the brilliant Sólveig Pálsdóttir – working title, Ice Bears. Sólveig's readers won't be disappointed – and if you're new to this author, there's time to catch up with her backlist. Look out for Ice Bears later this year...! amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G3638BJF