Round-Up: ALIENS Cookie Jar, Bram Stoker Bronze Bust, BLUE EEL Excerpt, MANIA Screenings

2015/11/28 15:13:40 +00:00 | Tamika Jones

Thanks to the fine folks at The Toyark, we have a look at the new Aliens cookie jar courtesy of Diamond Select Toys. Also: details on Bryan Moore's bust of Bram Stoker, an excerpt from Lorne Dixon's Blue Eel, and screening dates for Jessica Cameron's Mania.

Aliens Cookie Jar: From Diamond Select Toys: "Cookie thieves mostly come out at night, mostly, so make sure your cookies are safe with this detailed ceramic cookie jar in the shape of a ferocious Alien Warrior from the sci-fi classic Aliens!

Even if it doesn’t instantly send thieves running from the room, no one will dare lift the jar’s removable skullcap to get at the sweet, sweet cookies inside – there are way too many nasty things inside a xenomorph to take the risk! This approximately 12” tall cookie jar comes packaged in a full-color box. Sculpted by Paul Harding!

Estimated availability: Winter 2015/2016 - $44.99."

Image via The Toyark:

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Bram Stoker Bronze Bust: Press Release: "Following the enormous success of the H.P. Lovecraft Bronze Bust Project and the Edgar Allan Poe Bronze Bust Project, sculptor Bryan Moore has set his sights on the third icon of horror literature: Bram Stoker.

Since its publication in 1897, Bram Stoker's "Dracula" has set the standard for the vampire in art, literature, music and film. It's influence cannot be denied. Scholars have labored over its implications since the Victorian era. Fans, like Moore, have simply enjoyed it for what it is: classic horror at its most potent.

"The character of Count Dracula embodies what we'd all like to be" Moore states. "Sexy, immortal, wise from centuries of lost l'amour, status hard won and enduring to the last. The undead Count represents everything timeless and deathless that never goes out of style throughout the romantic ages."

As with the Lovecraft and Poe busts, Stoker will be immortalized in bronze to the city of his birth, Dublin, Ireland.

"Fans across the globe helped me to place busts of Lovecraft in Providence, Rhode Island and Poe to Boston, Massachusetts. It seemed only fitting that Bram Stoker should return to the Emerald Isle and will be donated to the Dublin Writers Museum in Parnell Square."

“Placing a bust of Stoker here puts emphasis not only on his personality but also on his nationality,” said Robert Nicholson, Curator of the Dublin Writers Museum. “Being born and bred a Dubliner was just as important to Stoker’s genius as it was to that of his contemporary and acquaintance, Oscar Wilde, and to many other writers born here on the cultural faultline.”

Joining Moore in his literary quest of honoring Stoker is no less than Bram's great grand-nephew DacreStoker, who manages the Estate of Bram Stoker as well as co-author of both the sequel to "Dracula" entitled "Dracula; the Un-Dead" and the non-fiction “The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker”. Dacre travels the world presenting his informative and entertaining lecture "Stoker on Stoker" to Dracula fans eager to learn more about their favorite author.

"The Bram Stoker Estate is very pleased to endorse the Bram Stoker Bronze Bust Project. The Stoker family would ultimately like to see a statue of Bram displayed in a prominent location in Dublin. A bronze bust is certainly a fitting tribute and this effort by Bryan Moore is to be commended and is worthy of our family's support."

Also on board is noted Dracula scholar, author and filmmaker David J. Skal, whose book "Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Screen" paved the way for his much-anticipated biography, "Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker", to be published by Liveright next year.

"Bram Stoker and his extraordinary novel have received serious critical attention only in recent decades," Skal said. "It's attention long overdue and this wonderful tribute at an important literary institution will help solidify Stoker's reputation as one of the most influential imaginative writers of all time."

Skal will also join Moore at the bust unveiling on May 26th, 2016, the anniversary of "Dracula's" original publication in 1897. He will also present his first public reading anywhere of passages from "Something in the Blood."

As with the Lovecraft and Poe projects, Moore will be launching a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the costs of the bust as well as personally making a financial donation to Children's Books Ireland, a local organization that promotes children's literacy.

"It's an incredible amount of work for many months to plan and launch these bust projects with the project team, but also incredibly rewarding," says Moore. "So many fellow fans from across the world rally to the cause and help me turn this vision into a reality, which is to celebrate these legendary authors of works that mean so much to the public consciousness and to pop culture. It's about time that the authors of these classics of horror literature were seen as legitimate scribes of something really special that never becomes dated. Horror will outlast us all."

Socials: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BramStokerBronzeBustProject/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BramStokerBust

Tumblr: http://bramstokerbronzebustproject.tumblr.com/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/bramstokerbronzebustproject/"

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Blue Eel: "Long suspected of guilt in his daughter Madeline's disappearance, Branson Turaco takes an abrupt turn in his life when a lock of Madeline's hair is found in a child predator's home. Branson buys an unlicensed handgun, enlists the help of a disgraced filmmaker and a desperate intern, and heads out onto the open road.

Clinging to the dim hope that his daughter might still be alive, Branson finds himself pursued by a team of post-human assassins with glowing skin and a symbiotic relationship with a mysterious species of eel. Lost in a psychedelic world of uncontrollable substances and bizarre evolutions, he must decide how much he is willing to sacrifice in order to unravel the mystery of Madeline's disappearance."

To learn more about Lorne Dixon's novel Blue Eel, which will be released on November 30th, visit:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0170TZGZ2

Excerpt from “Blue Eel” by Lorne Dixon

Not for the first time, as Branson dialed, he thought how much of a disaster his life had become. Any man who needed to first dial an area code just to speak with his wife was damaged beyond repair. Wife. The word felt like a lie, even though it wasn’t, not in the strict, legal sense. Candice never bothered to divorce him, not even after she moved to Arizona with her boyfriend. A call from a pre-paid cell phone was all the notice she’d given him; she’d started her new life.

She told him she’d stopped wearing their wedding ring the day her home pregnancy test came up positive. As Branson waited for Candice to pick up, he imagined the pale band of skin on her finger steadily darkening. He wondered how long it’d take for it to disappear completely. And whether she’d ever bother answering his calls after it did.
“I already know.” There was no How are you Bran? Not even a hello.

“She called?” he asked.

“Who, the chick cop?” Candice sounded mildly annoyed, as if he’d interrupted something. “No, it was a guy. Sounded like an old beat cop.”

Branson lost track of what he’d meant to say, his rehearsed speech vanishing, leaving behind only jagged fragments of ideas that he couldn’t puzzle-piece back into coherent shape. “I just wanted to make sure you knew.”

“And I do.” Her sharp voice cut him off. “Is that it?”

No, that wasn’t it. He wanted to inform the mother of his child that he’d not let Madeline’s fate go unresolved, that he intended to get answers. Branson would never give up, especially not now there was the chance, however slight, that their daughter might still be alive somewhere. At the very least, he’d bring home a body to bury. Telling Candice all this had seemed important to Branson. More important than anything had ever been in his life, but the words just weren’t there.

“Yeah. I guess that’s it.”

“Okay then.”

He closed the phone.

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Mania: Press Release: "Jessica Cameron's sophomore film Mania continues to rack up festival awards and screenings with three new dates announced.

Jessica Cameron's first film Truth or Dare won 34 awards throughout the course of a long and successful festival run. Mania is still fresh off its September launch at The Arizona Underground Film Festival, but it's already snagged two best picture awards at Arizona and The RIP Film Festival in Hollywood, and a best actress award at RIP for Ellie Church. Mania is set to receive its fourth award at The Los Angeles International Underground Film Festival when it wins the best narrative feature at the end of November.

If you are in Los Angeles on Thanksgiving weekend, make sure to check out Mania's second LA screening at the Los Angeles International Underground Film Festival. Mania had its L.A. premiere on Halloween night at the RIP Film Festival to a large and enthusiastic crowd. Mania screens at the LAUFF Saturday, November 28th at The Complex Theater, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90036. Get your tickets here: http://laufilmfest.com/Tickets.html

Then on December 5th, Mania is set to have its Sydney premiere at the Dendy Cinema Newtown as part of A Night of Horror Film Festival, the longest running horror film festival in Australia. If you are going to be in Sydney early December, you can buy your tickets here: http://www.anightofhorror.com/2015program#/mania/

Finally, Mania is set to screen at The Portland Underground Film Festival December 4th at 8:00. A full festival pass is only $30, and there are a lot of other great films playing as well as Mania. Get you tickets for The Portland Underground Film Festival here: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/pdxtreme-fest-tickets- 1 (865)985-3123

Mania is produced by Mem Ferda, who also brought us Jessica Cameron's first film Truth or Dare, which shocked audiences worldwide with its extreme, relentless violence. Mania is just as uncompromising as its predecessor, but the violence of Cameron's first film is replaced with a lesbian sexuality that is just as relentless, and just as shocking as Truth or Dare's extreme gore. Viewer discretion is advised."