old skool R+B/Funk (think O'Jays, George Clinton w/Parliament, Bootsy Collins, Earth Wind+Fire, Chaka Khan w/Rufus), neo-soul (think Floetry, Musiq, Kindred, Jill Scott, Hil St Soul), jazz (think Will Downing, Rachell Farrell, Gerald Albright), some soft rock/easy listening (think Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Sarah McLachlan)
Listen to some smooth sounds:
Featured Tunes
Movies
Instead of listing the endless compilation of movies I like, occasionally I'll feature movies that I've recently seen that have stood out above the rest.
Since I haven't gotten to the movies lately (a little too pricey for me right now), I'm going to revisit one of my past favorites, 28 Days Later.
A sleeper when first released, 28 Days Later quickly became a critical and popular success with its reworking of the zombie mythology in modern-day London, despite not having (or maybe because of not having) a major American star at the helm. Unlike the zombies - well, actually ghouls - from Romero's Dead series, who are reanimated through radiation, the zombies in 28 Days Later are the victims of a bioengineered virus that is released into the populace through the stupid actions of a few zealous animal activists attempting to save some infected chimpanzees. The unwitting activists don't know that within seconds, the virus can turn sane human beings into mindless, raging creatures bent on killing and passing on the virus (thus the name Rage). Of course, the activists are the first victims and quickly spread the disease to those around them. Within 28 days, all of London and most of the world, actually, are ghost towns full of dead bodies and hungry zombies.
The hero, Jim, awakens in a hospital room to the devastation, having been in a coma when the infection first hit. He wanders out of the hospital, alone and confused and is almost killed by a band of zombies, saved in the nick of time by a couple of survivors that include a young woman named Selena. Selena is a no-prisoner-taking, machete-wielding sister who kills in the blink of an eye, which her former companion unfortunately finds out when he becomes infected. Eventually Jim and Selena happen upon another survivor and his teenage daughter, and all four set out to find out how many humans are left. Unfortunately for them, they think they have found salvation when they catch a taped broadcast on their radio purporting to be from an outpost of military survivors claiming to have the cure for the virus. They set off cross country to find the outpost and the "cure."
This is where the movie breaks with the traditional monster myth as the audience, and eventually the protagonists, soon come to realize that although the zombies pose an obvious danger, there is a more immediate threat when man de-evolves into a lawless breed intent upon their own satisfaction at the expense of other's right to freedom and life. In this case, the soldiers decide they want to keep the women as forced concubines, and when Jim protests and tries to help the women escape the makeshift barricade, all hell breaks out.
For those of you who haven't seen the movie, I'm not going to divulge the story further than this, only to say that ironically in the end, it is one lone zombie who is the salvation for the survivors.
Television
Buffy, Angel, Charmed, Roswell, Carnivale, X-Files, Six Feet Under (all cancelled); Eureka, Monk, Cold Case, My Name is Earl, True Blood, CSI (original); almost every incarnation of Star Trek; and Twilight Zone (original)
Clips from some favs
Eureka (alive and well)
Buffy (unfortunately cancelled)
Six Feet Under Finale
True Blood
Books
anything by Octavia Butler, Tananarive Due, Gary Braunbeck, Douglas Preston/Lincoln Childs, Guy Gavriel Kay, mostly sci-fi/fantasy, some horror, some romance
Kay (The Last Light of the Sun) departs from his usual historical fantasies to connect the ancient, violent history of France to the present day in this entrancing contemporary fantasy. Fifteen-year-old Canadian Ned Marriner accompanies his famous photographer father, Edward, on a shoot at Aix-en-Provence's Saint-Saveur Cathedral while his physician mother, Meghan, braves the civil war zone in Sudan with Doctors Without Borders. As Ned explores the old cathedral, he meets Kate Wenger, a geeky but attractive American girl who's a walking encyclopedia of history. In the ancient baptistry, the pair are surprised by a mysterious, scarred man wielding a knife who warns that they've "blundered into a corner of a very old story. It is no place for children." But Ned and Kate can't avoid becoming dangerously entangled in a 2,500-year-old love triangle among mythic figures. Kay also weaves in a secondary mystery about Ned's family and his mother's motivation behind her risky, noble work. The author's historical detail, evocative writing and fascinating characters—both ancient and modern—will enthrall mainstream as well as fantasy readers.
"Wake up, sir. We're here." It's a simple enough opening line--although not many would have guessed back in 1991 that this would lead to one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comics of the second half of the century.
In Preludes and Nocturnes, Neil Gaiman weaves the story of a man interested in capturing the physical manifestation of Death but who instead captures the King of Dreams. By Gaiman's own admission there's a lot in this first collection that is awkward and ungainly--which is not to say there are not frequent moments of greatness here. The chapter "24 Hours" is worth the price of the book alone; it stands as one of the most chilling examples of horror in comics. And let's not underestimate Gaiman's achievement of personifying Death as a perky, overly cheery, cute goth girl! All in all, I greatly prefer the roguish breaking of new ground in this book to the often dull precision of the concluding volumes of the Sandman series. --Jim Pascoe
Heroes
All of those who got chased down by dogs, assaulted with firehoses, pelted with rocks, repeatedly jailed, stood up and marched or laid down their lives so that I can have the freedoms I have as a woman, a transplanted African and an American. So here's much respect to every freedom fighter in every country whose heads are bloodied but unbowed.
I'm a woman still in the process of growing up, hoping never to grow old. Just about hitting my mid-life crisis, which I plan to ride out with all kinds of cool. In the meantime, gonna be reading, writing, traveling and hopefully living and loving to the fullest. (Click pic for full bio)
Currently, I write paranormal romance, horror and mysteries. Below are some of my works, including a short story featured in horror anthology Masques V (cover illustration by Clive Barker):
"Chilling, mysterious, and endlessly sensual."
—best-selling author Shannon McKenna
"Again is chilling and deliciously erotic by turns, an absorbing roller coaster ride of a book."
—best-selling author Angela Knight
"A thought-provoking romance…fascinating characters."
—Romantic Times
"While the pacing is good, Cullars’ beautiful language is even better. At times exquisite and lyrical, it made the book lovely to read."
—The Romance Reader
Praise for OBJECT OF LOVE:
"The spellbinding story of love and deception spans a lifetime and spills over into the ever-after. Readers will be spooked by the ghost, haunted by his past, and uncertain about his future. Sympathy pours out for the grieving mother who works through in a most erotic way."
—Romantic Times
Praise for BAD BOYS WITH RED ROSES:
"This anthology has a trio of love stories in which three couples overcome relationships gone awry and take hold of their second chances. Denison starts the book with a sexy, swift-moving story of reunited high school sweethearts, and Donahue keeps the pace with sexual tension. But it's Cullars who really shines by adding a touch of danger and a paranormal presence."
—Romantic Times
Supine at his altar
the adherent genuflects,
adoration stirring in vast thighs,
need blazing in ample breasts.
While upward in fixed rapture
her eyes look toward the mast,
the idolatry of her worship
her sustenance, first and last.
And he stands reverently,
bestows benevolent grace,
feeding her unctuous desire,
gently strokes her upturned face.
Deist, deity - their roles
a symbiosis unplanned,
worshipper, this night
christened woman;
godhead, for tonight
this man.
HER
She reminds you of
ribtips, greens,
fried catfish,
a bucket of chicken wings,
a sweaty can of Budweiser
sitting on worn Formica,
waiting to be grabbed.
She laughs without subtlety,
and her ample hips
brook no space
as they sway unself-consciously
around ever-diminishing areas.
You look at her and think of
too long hours
at the beauty parlor,
at the nail salon,
of raucous card games around
a rickety TV table,
surrounded by chairs
with peeling vinyl covers.
Hers is a life too fast,
too hard,
too slow, too easy,
settling for earth over air,
and you say to yourself,
‘she’d never fit in with the
cheese and wine set,’
realizing as you do
that she’s more comfortable
in her skin than you’ll ever be,
and that the ‘wine and cheese set’
have a problem with you, too.
HOT, SUMMER DAYS
These things she remembers clearly:
the taste of sweat beads
on a tall, cold glass of
iced tea while sitting under
the looming shade of the old willow;
the attar of fragrant dogwoods
mixing with the scent of her own sweat,
earthy, langorous and sweet;
not caring about anything,
but the conversation going on
between the magpie and the crickets
and whether there would be rain
to moisten the soil;
cooling breezes that tangled her hair,
and molded her dress
to her sweat-moist body;
and the way he smiled at her
as he told her that there
was nothing sweeter
than seeing, smelling, tasting her
on a hot, summer day.
TEMPTATION
Oh, how am I to pass this day
and not give in to the compelling sway
of all that would pass my lips
and make their home my abundant hips?
Though try I do to ignore their call
and just be strong and toss them all,
each chocolate-covered, each fat-swathed bite,
teases my tongue and brings such delight
That my mouth bids them all to stay awhile
and let the decadence of each defile
the righteousness of my inner will
that damns my appetite to just be still.
But my stomach hails them and says "come in"
and speaks to me, "what is life without sin"?
And again I succumb to temptation's pleasure
whose pounds and inches I am loathe to measure.
BEAUTY REGIMEN
Waiting to be
pressed, relaxed
nouveau waved,
braided, weaved,
or processed,
the women sit in stages
of hair disrepair,
hoping to be beautified
into magazine glamor,
praying to ameliorate
or just plain obliterate
the strains of
neglect and wear
to their bodies and souls.
Like someone once said:
"It's all in the hair, 'cause
a sista can be down and out,
abused and used,
one paycheck away from the streets,
but if her hair looks good,
she's got it going on!"
So like patient souls in line
to be baptized into
the Church of Pulchritude,
the sistas read the good word
as expounded by the scriptures
of Essence or Black Hair,
exclaiming the virtues
of the glorified adherents
of righteous style.
And they sit cremed,
towelled,
dripping wet,
hair crackling to the tune
of the sizzling comb,
or faces half entombed
by heat-blasting sarcophi,
as they exchange the latest
on Luke and Laura,
Erica Kane,
or Vicky and Dorian --
heads bobbing to the music
blasting from V103,
laughing and just being,
inhaling the melange
of chemicals and mixtures
that hold the secrets of Black Beauty.
And for six hours, at least
they escape the world outside
Alley Reflections
The surface doesn’t tell much,
reflecting up only what the rain gives,
its myriad cracks and fissures
drowning in detritus
delivered by irreverant bodies.
The neon strobe inhales, exhales
ambient light,
bathing her
as she finds solace
against the wet brick,
contemplating
his words.
She knows the smell
of this alley,
its summer haze,
its winter chill,
knows how hard the wall is
when he’s in his throes
and forgets that she is soft.
She’ll remember
this night
when she’s old,
the reeking garbage,
the teasing smell of
moo gai pan
from the restaurant next door,
the putrifying death
of desire
in a wet alley.
Hi! Just wanted to make sure all my friends know that my 2nd horror novel SACRIFICE is now in stores everywhere, including Amazon.com! I hope you'll check out this debauched and demonic horror ride! Here are a couple reviews it's gotten so far:
“SACRIFICE is a full frontal assault on your senses. It is a dark, brutal, bloody and terribly frightening book. Everson went deep into some dark abyss to bring this book to the light of day.... I highly recommend SACRIFICE.” —Famous Monsters of Filmland
“John Everson manages in SACRIFICE to dispense buckets of blood, provide edgy perversity, and walk the tenuous tightrope of horror and sex without falling: It’s rather an amazing feat.” –Hell Notes
A killer’s obsession could destroy their second chance for love. Hello! I hope everyone is gearing up for a fun-filled and relaxing summer. I wanted to let you know that my romantic suspense, Obsession, is now available and I’m very excited to announce that it is currently #6 on Samhain Publishing’s bestseller list! Buy Link Do you need some reading material for the hot summer months? Then don’t miss out on a great contest that some of Samhain’s biggest and brightest authors put together. 50 books, 50 authors, 50 winners. You can enter the contest by clicking here. Have a great summer!
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Hi! Just wanted to make sure all my friends know that my 2nd horror novel 
