New spooky story alert! As is practical of late, I broke it down into a couple of social media-ready images, but it’s ultimately just a short story… I think? I experimented with alternating between poetry and prose, in a manner not unlike the verse-and-chorus structure of a song. It’s a little bit Junji Ito, a little bit Death Stranding (iykyk), and a little bit me working through my perspective on some family stuff of late. 💀🪦
In January of 2024, I was invited to a board of directors retreat at a lavish, modern resort cabin in beautiful Suncadia, Washington… but because I got there early/am a weirdo, I also made this. All that’s missing is a prodigious locked door and some allegorical flesh monsters!
For the second year in a row, I made a submission to the annual “253 Film Competition” put on by The Grand Cinema in Tacoma… but this time, I collaborated with my brother, Kyle! Like much of my favorite media, it’s funny, spooky, set in Washington State, and riffs on social media celebrities. Hope you enjoy!
As usual, entrants had 72 hours to make a film no longer than 253 seconds, containing four common elements not revealed until the metaphorical starting pistol went off — this time around, that was:
1) An election or vote
2) The phrase “break a leg”
3) Something you can’t see
4) A flag
A horror artists Discord server I’m a part of — which is what’s been the impetus for most of my creative output this year so far — does semi-biweekly prompts. One recently was “SLEEPLESS,” so I made… whatever this is, capitalizing on my oddly specific (but, I think, reasonable) fear of things that shouldn’t have human eyes but do.
I like poetry, horror, and mysterious images… I think I’m getting the hang of combining them like this!
Wrote a new short spooky story for ya! In a relative first for me, this one’s based on a true story… well, the first half or so is, at least.
Like many of my recent pieces, I decided to present this one in image form, but I also thought a video instead of just a still would be an ideal complement. So, since I also figured I’d want to narrate it anyway, there’s not only the above (looping) YouTube version but also a classic still image version:
So I’ve had this really creepy plastic baseball bat for years, from my grandparents’ old Halloween decorations collection… it looks neat, no doubt, but what’s its story, I wondered? I could probably just Google the punny name on its hilt (“Ghouliville Slugger”), but where’s the fun in that? I’d rather do what I do best: pop on some Photoshop and then essentially just write a lore entry for a nonexistent horror game!
So, “two-sentence horror stories” — that’s still a thing, right? There’s a pretty popular subreddit, and they made a whole show out of it? I dunno, I’m increasingly out of the loop. In any event, as someone with both a love of unnerving short fiction and experimenting with new formats, I was surprised to realize that I’d never actually taken a crack at one myself! So when a certain creepy couplet popped into my head, I decided to not just leave it as lines on the screen but give a bit more of a… visual flourish:
Notes&Sketches 