My friend Richard Gavin, the talented author of Omens (which I praised in a review for Dead Reckonings) and The Darkly Splendid Realm (which is drawing praise from all quarters), has written an enthusuastic review of my Dark Awakenings. A couple of pertinent excerpts: To be genuinely inspired by a work of Horror is a…
Category: Arts & Entertainment
Praise for the music
I’ve just received some excellent praise for my “Curse of the Daimon” album from Sanford Allen. In addition to being a cool-cat Texas author of horror and dark fantasy, Sanford is a long-time guitarist/vocalist for Boxcar Satan, the “three-piece band from San Antonio, Texas, that deconstructs American roots music and pours a particularly venomous brand…
Report: ArmadilloCon 32
Well, I’m back from ArmadilloCon 32, having spent the entire weekend down in Austin at the lovely Renaissance Hotel (which was home to the World Fantasy Convention in 2006). This was my third time to attend ArmadilloCon, and it was, as expected, an excellent event all around. Two themes dominated the weekend for me. The…
Reviews of my stories in ‘Cthulhu’s Reign’ and ‘Dark Faith’
Here’s some new Internet chatter about my recently published stories. ABOUT “THE NEW PAULINE CORPUS” IN CTHULHU’S REIGN [The anthology’s premise] leaves the contributors with a fairly broad territory to explore, which they do to greater or lesser effect, and sometimes with stunning originality. . . . Matt Cardin’s “The New Pauline Corpus” plays with…
It’s the Most Tentacled Time of the Year: Happy 120th Birthday, H.P. Lovecraft
Nobody would have been more surprised than Howard Phillips Lovecraft himself at his posthumous ascent to the twin positions of international entertainment culture icon and canonical American literary figure. Today is his 120th birthday. He was born on August 20, 1890 (only four days (plus 80 years) before my own birthday, I gleefully note). He…
Lovecraft, Christian Horror, and Weird Fiction
Christian pastor and writer Mike Duran recently published a fascinating and provocative blog post titled “On ‘Christian Horror’ and Atheist Dread” in which he argues that Christian horror — which, by implication, he views as a valid form of fiction — is categorically distinct from what he calls “atheist horror.” He offers Lovecraft’s work as…
A New Golden Age of Horror Fiction?
We just may be living through a new golden age of horror fiction. That’s my diagnosis as I survey the range of wonderful books that have recently appeared, and that have been appearing for the past few years, and that are set to appear in coming months. I make this claim in full awareness that…
The value of good books and films to human souls and societies
I want to versify the following words, set them to music, and print them in hymnals to be sung in churches. Either that, or have them accompany the national anthem at school assemblies and baseball games. [W]here does one go, exactly, to cultivate âthe capacity of imaginationâ and âthe exercise of imaginationâ? Where, in other…
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos actually *gets* books and their value
I’ve been quite enthusiastic about the Kindle and the e-reading revolution ever since buying a Kindle DX last year. I’ve also been pleased at the way Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos continues to say things that demonstrate his authentic commitment to positioning the Kindle as a device that doesn’t destroy the reading experience but instead preserves…
New interview at Dystopia Press
Just published: “Meet the Author: Matt Cardin” This is an interview with me at the blog for Dystopia Press, a new publisher of apocalyptic and dystopian fiction (founded in late 2009). Dystopia Press is run by Mark Long, who also created and runs TSTC Publishing, the official press of the Texas State Technical College system….