Look out! Katie’s gone retro!
It’s true, I have. This month I’ve been watching and reading things that have brought me enjoyment in the past. On the home screen, I have been watching retro TV, including Kolchak: The Night Stalker with Darren McGavin from 1974, and the excellent but all-too-short reboot of the series in 2006 with Stuart Townsend. As many of you may know, Kolchak: The Night Stalker was the inspiration for Jeff Rice’s The X-Files, and is also one of the reasons behind my writing Lively Deadmarsh’s ABANDONED series, since I always loved the weird and unsolved mysteries that Carl Kolchak encountered in the TV show each week.
In movies, I have been watching Quatermass and the Pit (or 5 Million Years to Earth in North America). This film was terrifying to me as a youngster when I caught it on late-night TV. It still holds up today, with some great concepts and practical effects that were amazing for the time. Another favourite is Chuck Heston in Soylent Green (1973), a great retro sci-fi movie with a horrific portrayal of what our future (the year 2022) might be. The way things are going, in another ten years or so, it might not be that far-fetched after all. And I also caught The Valley of Gwangi, another excellent Ray Harryhausen epic starring the handsome and heroic James Franciscus trying to wrangle up some amazing-looking stop-motion dinosaurs in the old west.
Continuing with the retro theme, I am also an avid retro-gamer with a particular affinity for racing games. I have been going back and playing some arcade and console favourites from yesteryear, such as Outrun, the Burnout Series on PS2 and XBOX 360, Metal Slug, Boulder Dash and some of the ultra classic, M.U.L.E. And in addition to all that, I have managed to squeeze in some reading as well, enjoying some of the EC Comics archives that you can purchase on Amazon. I have bought several now, including The Vault of Horror, Tales from the Crypt, Weird Fantasy, The Haunt of Fear and more. I’ve been lucky to pick up many of them at sale prices between six and eight dollars rather than the twenty to thirty dollars they cost regularly.
In writing news, things are still progressing nicely on CLAW Emergence Book 2: Into Daylight. I am still looking at an end-of-May release and from all indicators, things are right on track for that date. If anything happens to change that in the meantime, I will let you know.
As you may have noticed. I have been having a lot of fun posting the ‘Angus goes…’ picture series on Facebook and Instagram. In keeping with that vein, I thought I might put a little question to all of you and ask, what are some of your favourite scenes from my novels? Send me a quick email to katie@katieberry.ca and suggest a scene you would like me to bring to life, so to speak, through AI art. I will create several of the most intriguing ones and post them for all to enjoy on a special fan page on my website next month.
I won’t keep you too long this month since you probably want to get back out and enjoy some of the lovely spring weather (which you are also hopefully having). The days are getting warmer, the leaves are finally starting to appear on the trees and the dandelions are in full bloom on my front lawn once more (I don’t mind them, since I enjoy seeing the splash of colour they provide after a drab and dreary winter).
On to our winners of the monthly prize draws. Our winner of the audiobook this month is: jmwilson311@xxxxxx.com. And the winner of the autographed paperback is tuttifruitti1046@xxxxxx.com. Congratulations to you both!
And a huge thank you to everyone for your continuing support, it really means so much.
Good health and great reads to you all,
-Katie Berry
P.S.- If you’re not a Katie Berry Books Insider Subscriber, you’re missing out. If you’d like to have a monthly chance to win an audiobook or an autographed copy of one of my novels, why not join here: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/322821/79749587124880887/share