Do you ever feeling like someone is watching you?
I do.
All the time.
But perhaps there's a good reason for it. (Click to see video)
It could just be the more than two dozen skulls in my office.
The side effect of being a horror author I guess.
Showing posts with label skulls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label skulls. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Recipe: Skull Burger Patties
The other day the Skull Cakelet Pan from Nordic Ware arrived in our home.
I ordered it after drolling over the cool pizza skull recipe video that I kept seeing online.
While I haven't yet made the pizza skulls (or skull calzones) have been having fun experimenting with ways to use it.
The first night, Liz made some delicious skull scones to accompany a delicious trout and rice dinner.
The next day, I used a package oatmeal muffin mix to make oatmeal skull muffins.
And then yesterday I thought I'd keep experimenting.
And I came up with a recipe that I call Skull Burger Patties - or maybe Spicy Burger Patties (or, more accurately, Slightly Spicy Burger Patties).
They were delicious.
Here is the recipe.
Ingredients:
Makes 6 Skull Burger Patties.
Procedure:
They turned out delicious.
I had the burgers without buns and a side salad that included sweet-hot peppers. I added ketchup and President's Choice Smokin' Stampede Beer and Chipotle BBQ sauce to the eyes and the nose for fun effect. But these burgers didn't really need any condoments.
I suppose I could have sliced dill pickles and placed them across one another beneath each skull to make a skull and crossbones effect.
As I said, the burgers were delicious. But perhaps not as spicy as I would normally like. (I can handle really hot food).
Next time I might use the Dorito "Flaming Hot" chips to give some nice punch. Or, stick with a regular less painful Dorito flavour, and add in sliced jalapeno or some additional hot dried spice to the mix.
I might also try adding in grated cheese. Maybe by pressing the hamburger meat into the bottom of the pan and a bit up the sides then inserted grated cheese inside, then topping the "back of the skull head" with a layer of meat so the cheese cooks inside.
So many fun possibilities.
 |
| The "Haunted" Skull Cakelet Pan from Nordic Ware |
I ordered it after drolling over the cool pizza skull recipe video that I kept seeing online.
While I haven't yet made the pizza skulls (or skull calzones) have been having fun experimenting with ways to use it.
The first night, Liz made some delicious skull scones to accompany a delicious trout and rice dinner.
 |
| Skull scones |
The next day, I used a package oatmeal muffin mix to make oatmeal skull muffins.
 |
| Oatmeal skull muffins go best in the morning with a skull coffee mug |
And I came up with a recipe that I call Skull Burger Patties - or maybe Spicy Burger Patties (or, more accurately, Slightly Spicy Burger Patties).
 |
| Skull Burger Patties |
Here is the recipe.
Ingredients:
- 700g extra lean hamburger meat (approx 1.5 lb)
- 2 eggs
- 2 garlic cloves (minced, sliced into tiny chunks) (or garlic powder)
- 3/4 cup of crushed Dorito BOLD BBQ tortilla chips (approx 1/2 a family sized bag)
- 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs
- Montreal steak spice
Makes 6 Skull Burger Patties.
Procedure:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray inside of Nordic Ware Skull Cakelet Pan with cooking spray.
- Crush down 1/3 to 1/2 a bag of Dorito BOLD BBQ tortilla chips. (Easy to do this in a sealed sandwich baggy. Crush by hand or use a roller. Heck, play catch with it, step on them, whatever turns your crank) You'll want to end up with about 3/4 a cup of broken Dorito tortilla chips - some fine chunks, some slightly larger ones will be in the mix
- Mix hamburger meat with 2 eggs, breadcrumbs and Dorito BOLD BBQ.
- Add minced garlic and Montreal steak spice and ensure hamburger is mixed well
- Press mixed hamburger mixture into the skull pan. (Each one will be about 3/4 full, or less than a centimeter from the top.
- Cook in center of pre-heated oven for approximately 20 minutes. (Depending on your stove, you might want to check the meat about 18 minutes in. It could be done, or it might take longer than 20 minutes.
 |
| Skull Burgers hot out of the oven. |
They turned out delicious.
I had the burgers without buns and a side salad that included sweet-hot peppers. I added ketchup and President's Choice Smokin' Stampede Beer and Chipotle BBQ sauce to the eyes and the nose for fun effect. But these burgers didn't really need any condoments.
I suppose I could have sliced dill pickles and placed them across one another beneath each skull to make a skull and crossbones effect.
 |
| Skull Burgers and Salad |
As I said, the burgers were delicious. But perhaps not as spicy as I would normally like. (I can handle really hot food).
Next time I might use the Dorito "Flaming Hot" chips to give some nice punch. Or, stick with a regular less painful Dorito flavour, and add in sliced jalapeno or some additional hot dried spice to the mix.
I might also try adding in grated cheese. Maybe by pressing the hamburger meat into the bottom of the pan and a bit up the sides then inserted grated cheese inside, then topping the "back of the skull head" with a layer of meat so the cheese cooks inside.
So many fun possibilities.
Friday, April 13, 2018
Friday the 13th: The SUPER Superstition
There are plenty of things in western culture that we
associate with superstitions and luck.
A broken mirror brings seven years of bad luck. Don’t let a
black cat cross your path. Walking under a ladder also brings bad luck. But of
all the superstitious beliefs even those who are skeptic regularly acknowledge,
the superstition surrounding the fear of Friday the 13th is compiled
up an intriguing selection of different fears and beliefs which form a recipe
for a super superstition, if you will.
According to Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained,
it has been estimated that as many as 8 percent of Americans actually suffer
from the crippling fear of the day Friday the 13th, known in phobia
terminology, as paraskevidekatriaphobia. Say that one five times really fast!
Let’s take a look at the two main ingredients that
helped to create the commonly dreaded day of Friday the 13th.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Author Branding
I do a lot of talks for authors at conferences in various different cities. One of the things that I share is the importance of the author brand. I ask authors to consider who their target audience might be for their writing and whether or not they have a distinctive author brand that might click with such an audience.
I typically use concepts such as my own use of Barnaby Bones, the "mascot" who attends various author events with me. Barnaby is my personal example of an author brand. I write horror - therefore, the props of tombstones and skulls and a life-sized skeleton create an instantly recognizable and classifiable "brand" that speaks of "Mark Leslie"
And just a few days ago, I took the "author branding" to a more literal level.
I branded myself - my skin - with something quite appropriate for a horror author, when I finally got a tattoo.
It all stems back to the early 1990's when I remember sitting at my desk when I lived on Craig Street in Ottawa. I should have been studying, but instead, I was looking at three things on my desk -- the pencil cup on the edge of my desk, the coffee mug in front of me, and a cool drawing of an eerie skull with flesh melting off of it from one of the small press horror magazines that I was either published in or had ordered a sample copy of/
I ended up combining the skull, the mug and the pencil cup into a single sketch that I quite liked. I later inked the sketch in, enjoying the feel of the piece.
But I didn't know what to do with it. When I released my self-published short story collection One Hand Screaming in 2004, I considered using that sketch for the front cover. But my buddy Steve who designed the cover for me, did something much better - so I went with that.
The skull cup sketch sat, like many stories often do, in a drawer.
And it wasn't until I had decided to get a tattoo earlier this year that I realized I could use this. (And it took me several hours of digging around in boxes of my misc creative and writing files to find it)
So this past Friday, I had the tattoo done at Skinners in Hamilton.
My appointment was for 2 PM on a Friday - I arrived for the appointment on a bright and sunny afternoon. I was delighted to learn that, should I ever change my mind, there was an easy way to remove the tattoo.
The artist began by shaving my arm with a little Lady Bic razor and then rubbing my arm done with some sort of warm liquid then transferring a stencil from my sketch onto my arm.
That was pretty cool and also quite painless.
Then the actual tattooing began. It felt, basically, like a simple and relatively painless needle going into my arm (which, I suppose, is exactly what it is - a needle that is injecting ink into the skin) - the second that it was out, the pain was over. Only, it was followed by another relatively mild pin prick sensation, then another, then another.
Then, once the outlining of the tattoo was completed, the "filling in" of the shadowing and the eyes and nose, etc began. (There was a good 5 minute break while the artist was attending to some other customers - and it gave me a good chance to move my arm around and get the feeling back into my hand - for the procedure, I had to sit with my arm danging straight down and my hand went to sleep being in that position for so long)
Admittedly, the series of pin-pricks that accompanied the "filling in" of the "black space" was quite intense - but again, it was just a pin prick, following by another, and another, and another, and another, and another, etc, etc, etc. To be honest, the numbing feeling of my hand falling asleep was more painful than the tattoo itself. And there was a TV on and which I amused myself by watching from the multiple mirrors set up in the shop, likely for just that purpose.
Then, I was coated in a cream, a bandage was applied and I was given instructions on how to treat it for the next couple of weeks. (Basically, applying a Vitamin A/Vitamin E cream, keeping from submersing it in water for 2 weeks, keeping it out of the sun and keeping the skin lubricated while I go through the process of scabbing and flaking and healing.
I was a bit surprised when I got home to see that there was quite a bit of blood leaking out from the bandage. But the next day, when I removed the bandage, it was starting to look good. (Although, sure, there's still a lot of redness around the tat -- and the feeling is more like some sort of sunburn)
In any case, I'm now going through the process of applying the vitamin A/ vitamin E cream multiple times a day and, of course, showing the tattoo off.
But I have to say that this is quite the appropriate tattoo for a horror writer to spot, which the brilliant horror author Jason Brant pointed out in a tweet that day. (Quick side note for horror fans, if you haven't yet checked out Jason's writing, do yourself a favour and go buy one NOW.....you'll be sorry if you don't)
As Jason says, I'm taking author branding to the extreme.
I suppose I might use some of this in my next "author branding" example.
I typically use concepts such as my own use of Barnaby Bones, the "mascot" who attends various author events with me. Barnaby is my personal example of an author brand. I write horror - therefore, the props of tombstones and skulls and a life-sized skeleton create an instantly recognizable and classifiable "brand" that speaks of "Mark Leslie"
And just a few days ago, I took the "author branding" to a more literal level.
I branded myself - my skin - with something quite appropriate for a horror author, when I finally got a tattoo.
It all stems back to the early 1990's when I remember sitting at my desk when I lived on Craig Street in Ottawa. I should have been studying, but instead, I was looking at three things on my desk -- the pencil cup on the edge of my desk, the coffee mug in front of me, and a cool drawing of an eerie skull with flesh melting off of it from one of the small press horror magazines that I was either published in or had ordered a sample copy of/
I ended up combining the skull, the mug and the pencil cup into a single sketch that I quite liked. I later inked the sketch in, enjoying the feel of the piece.
 |
| A copy of the original "Skull cup" sketch I had created |
The skull cup sketch sat, like many stories often do, in a drawer.
And it wasn't until I had decided to get a tattoo earlier this year that I realized I could use this. (And it took me several hours of digging around in boxes of my misc creative and writing files to find it)
So this past Friday, I had the tattoo done at Skinners in Hamilton.
 |
| I was relieved to learn the tattoo could easily be removed should I change my mind |
My appointment was for 2 PM on a Friday - I arrived for the appointment on a bright and sunny afternoon. I was delighted to learn that, should I ever change my mind, there was an easy way to remove the tattoo.
The artist began by shaving my arm with a little Lady Bic razor and then rubbing my arm done with some sort of warm liquid then transferring a stencil from my sketch onto my arm.
 |
| The stencil is on. "Look Ma, no pain!" |
That was pretty cool and also quite painless.
Then the actual tattooing began. It felt, basically, like a simple and relatively painless needle going into my arm (which, I suppose, is exactly what it is - a needle that is injecting ink into the skin) - the second that it was out, the pain was over. Only, it was followed by another relatively mild pin prick sensation, then another, then another.
 |
| Here is the Tattoo outline as completed |
 |
| The tattoo as complete - is all that red part of the design or just irritated skin? |
Admittedly, the series of pin-pricks that accompanied the "filling in" of the "black space" was quite intense - but again, it was just a pin prick, following by another, and another, and another, and another, and another, etc, etc, etc. To be honest, the numbing feeling of my hand falling asleep was more painful than the tattoo itself. And there was a TV on and which I amused myself by watching from the multiple mirrors set up in the shop, likely for just that purpose.
Then, I was coated in a cream, a bandage was applied and I was given instructions on how to treat it for the next couple of weeks. (Basically, applying a Vitamin A/Vitamin E cream, keeping from submersing it in water for 2 weeks, keeping it out of the sun and keeping the skin lubricated while I go through the process of scabbing and flaking and healing.
 |
| Oh no! Blood! ;) |
I was a bit surprised when I got home to see that there was quite a bit of blood leaking out from the bandage. But the next day, when I removed the bandage, it was starting to look good. (Although, sure, there's still a lot of redness around the tat -- and the feeling is more like some sort of sunburn)
 |
| The day after tattoo look |
In any case, I'm now going through the process of applying the vitamin A/ vitamin E cream multiple times a day and, of course, showing the tattoo off.
But I have to say that this is quite the appropriate tattoo for a horror writer to spot, which the brilliant horror author Jason Brant pointed out in a tweet that day. (Quick side note for horror fans, if you haven't yet checked out Jason's writing, do yourself a favour and go buy one NOW.....you'll be sorry if you don't)
 |
| Tweet by horror author Jason Brant |
As Jason says, I'm taking author branding to the extreme.
I suppose I might use some of this in my next "author branding" example.
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Fifty Shades of Hamilton
Yes, Fifty Shades of Grey has been overwhelmingly popular for several months now. Authors and publishers have been scrambling to take advantage of this huge wave of demand for, well, for literary porn and creating all kinds of interesting spins from the original books by E. L. James. And there are more knock-offs of this popular series than you can shake a pair of sweaty handcuffs at.
So why should I not try to take advantage of the trend?
Thus, I present: Fifty Shades of Hamilton (or 50 Shades of Hamilton if you prefer)
First, let me explain the use of the word shade and how it applies here. One of the definitions of the word is ghost. Thus, fifty shades = fifty ghosts.
Shade: A disembodied spirit; a ghost. (Synonym: apparition, phantom, spirit)
So without further adieu, here are the Fifty Shades of Hamilton that appear in my book Haunted Hamilton (complete with references to the page numbers where these appear)
How is THAT for attempting to hitch my ride to a trend . . . ?
In any case, if you want to learn more about these 50 shades (and a few others that didn't make it to the list -- because, hey, I had to round the number down to the correct figure, didn't I?), check out my book Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle & Other Steeltown Shivers.
So why should I not try to take advantage of the trend?
Thus, I present: Fifty Shades of Hamilton (or 50 Shades of Hamilton if you prefer)
First, let me explain the use of the word shade and how it applies here. One of the definitions of the word is ghost. Thus, fifty shades = fifty ghosts.
Shade: A disembodied spirit; a ghost. (Synonym: apparition, phantom, spirit)
So without further adieu, here are the Fifty Shades of Hamilton that appear in my book Haunted Hamilton (complete with references to the page numbers where these appear)
1) The Dark Lady of Customs House (page 25)
2) & 3) Two little boys - Customs House (page 30)
4) Young woman - Customs House (page 30)
5) Fifteen men (unidentified because they were transients) buried alive in tunnel between Customs House & railway tracks (page 30)
6) Mary Stuart McNab - Dundurn Castle (page 36)
7) Sophia McNab as the wedding guest - Dundurn Castle (page 37)
8) 11 men hung for treason - Dundurn Castle (page 38)
9) The woman with blazing red hair - Bellevue Mansion (page 44)
10) The man and little girl of the front lawn - Bellevue Mansion (page 44)
11) Ghostly soliders moving quietly through Battlefield Park - (page 51)
12) Sara Gage - Battlefield House Museum - (page 52)
13) William Black - The Hermitage Ruins - (page 61)
14) The mysterious two figures of the Hermitage Ruins - (page 62)
15) Alma Dick Lauder - The Hermitage Ruins - (page 66)
16) Strange little girl of Auchmar House - (page 73)
17) Woman in the basement of Auchmar House - (page 73)
18) John Heslop - Woodend - (page 78)
19) Spectral orbs of Burkholder Cemetery - (page 80)
20) Wife of Thomas McQueston's brother - (page 84)
21) The man in grey - Whitehern - (page 85)
22) Jane Riley - Mount Albion Falls - (page 87)
23) The ghostly figure of 1897 - Mount Albion Falls - (page 88)
24) The banging & crashing ghosts - Dundas District School - (page 100)
25) Russell the prankster custodian - Dundas District School - (page 101)
26) Two angry spirits of the Hamilton Armoury Museum - (page 108)
27) Victor the regimental cat - Hamilton Armouries - (page 109)
28) The ghost horse - Hamilton Armouries - (page 110)
29) Ghostly barks of a drill sergeant - Hamilton Armouries - (page 110)
30) Spiked helmet ghost - Hamilton Armouries - (page 110)
31) Semi-transparent soliders on the balcony - Hamilton Armouries - (page 110)
32) Waterdown Wraith - (page 113)
33) The haunted elevator of Waterdown library - (page 116)
34) Prospero's Ghost - McMaster - (page 119)
35) Disappearing spirit of the basement - McMaster / Keg Mansion - (page 120)
36) Lillian's maid - McMaster / Keg Mansion - (page 122)
37) Phantom footsteps of children - McMaster / Keg Mansion - (page 122)
38) Shadows and voices heard in Downtown Centre basement - McMaster - (page 122)
39) Anthony B. Percy of Wallingford Hall - McMaster - (page 123)
40) Victorian "homeless" ghost of the Tivoli - Tivoli Theatre - (page 130)
41) Spirit of the 1920's Woman - Tivoli Theatre - (page 131)
42) Loren Liberman's doberman & the locked doors - Tivoli Theatre (page 132)
43) Distressed spirit of the boy near Caesar statue - Tivoli Theatre - (page 133)
44) Gus's ghost of 1920 - (page 137)
45) The Tombstone Ghost - (page 145) - read entire chapter online
46) The Westdale Ghost - (page 147)
47) Harvey the friendly ghost - Haunted Pubs - (page 153)
48) The Top-hat ghost of the Winking Judge - Haunted Pubs (page 155)
49) Another ghost of a cat - Haunted Pubs - (page155)
50) Ghost in the Green Overalls - Haunted Pubs - (page 159)
How is THAT for attempting to hitch my ride to a trend . . . ?
In any case, if you want to learn more about these 50 shades (and a few others that didn't make it to the list -- because, hey, I had to round the number down to the correct figure, didn't I?), check out my book Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle & Other Steeltown Shivers.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
I Got A New Skull
Yesterday, as part of a themed series of gifts from Francine (she loves to do fun themes that she knows I'll love), I received this great skull.
It's a bowl - we'll likely use it as a candy dish for Halloween - but I'll want to use it when I do book signings - particularly when I do them during the Halloween season. You fill the bowl with some free treats and it often brings people a little bit closer to your lonely store-front table . . . it's also a fun conversation piece.
Okay, who am I kidding? I'll want to keep this thing out year, round. I could eat popcorn out of it. Wouldn't that be a great popcorn bowl when you're watching horror movies? I could perhaps find a spot on the end of my desk to keep this on, fill it with tiny chocolate bars so that when I'm in the throes of an all-day writing marathon I don't need to stop for sustenance - I simply reach over and keep myself fueled.
Hmm - I wonder if they have a similarly sized skull coffee mug?
It's a bowl - we'll likely use it as a candy dish for Halloween - but I'll want to use it when I do book signings - particularly when I do them during the Halloween season. You fill the bowl with some free treats and it often brings people a little bit closer to your lonely store-front table . . . it's also a fun conversation piece.
Okay, who am I kidding? I'll want to keep this thing out year, round. I could eat popcorn out of it. Wouldn't that be a great popcorn bowl when you're watching horror movies? I could perhaps find a spot on the end of my desk to keep this on, fill it with tiny chocolate bars so that when I'm in the throes of an all-day writing marathon I don't need to stop for sustenance - I simply reach over and keep myself fueled.
Hmm - I wonder if they have a similarly sized skull coffee mug?
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