Ethan Parke Author Blog

 As kid, I enjoyed Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories books, especially during Halloween. I had a friend in my cub scout den, who would often pick one of the stories to tell at the end of the meeting. Due to the nostalgia, I was pleased to see a movie was coming. Though the main characters were bland, I still enjoyed it. When it referenced the books, it was superb. There is a sequel in development, and I hope it does not take too long to make. That was one of my first story telling experiences, and it gave me ideas for books. If you are interested in them, click on the link.  smashwords.com

I never played Five Nights at Freddy's, but I enjoyed the movie. It was fun for the Halloween season, and fun to conclude it. Critics did not like it, but I heard people who played it as I was leaving the theater, it was one of the best game adaptions they had ever seen, so I recommend it.  

There is no exact consensus on when The Simpsons peak years ended. Most TV historians and fans say it was 1990 to 1995. I say 1990 to 1998, but that is debatable. It gave me many ideas for comic relief in my stories. Though the show's quality has declined in recent years, I say mainly since 2002, due to comedy that would have been funnier a year or so earlier when it was written, and don't take as big risks. The Halloween episodes are still always the best. They are now the only new Simpsons episode I have to watch, each year. Those are the most up to date and take the most risks. I do not stream the latest Halloween episode until it is a available on Disney Plus and though it was a year late, the last Halloween was one of the best in years. I like how Maggie fought a possessed Marge, the anime horror spoof, and the multiverse about how long it has been on the air. It is now only another year until I see the next episode I have to watch.  

I have gone on record many times saying Lord of the Rings is my favorite story ever written, and what is great about it is it works on every holiday. The reason it works on Halloween is because of the Ringwraiths orcs, demons, and monsters. You can also dress up as the characters, and that is one of the things I am trying to do with my work. If you are interested, click on the link.  Smashwords.com

 A lot of people are getting tired of comic book movies, but I am not. I know they will never conclude and cease to be popular, but I agree cinema needs more variety. I personally would rather watch an average superhero movie, than the majority of what came out between 1996 and 2001. That said, I am pleased to see that there is more variety in movies coming, and Killers of the Flower Moon showed it. It is the harrowing story of the F.B.I.'s investigation of murders on the Osage Reservation, over oil. The three-and-a-half hour runtime was jarring, but it did not annoy me. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro were an excellent team. There was not a lot of action, the thing I look for most in movies, but it was more realistic and historically accurate, and I would highly recommend it.  It gave me ideas for future books, like just about anything I see, and with The Primal Realm almost complete, here's the link to see where things started for The Covert Militia in The Penitent Warri...

I did not read a lot of Stephen King's books, but I did see many of the movies based on them. There are some that are good on paper but not on the screen. Every October the Nostalgia Critic reviews something based on one of his stories.  That said, I thought the first chapter of the It remake was good, and the second was good but not as good as the first one. Maybe if they made another that took place the same year or if Chapter II just focused on the group as adults, it would not have been so bad. Either way, it is a lot of Halloween fun, maybe not something I would watch every Halloween, but every other Halloween. A lot of it is about the coming of age and young adults going on adventures, and doing the same when they grow up, which is what I write about and if you are interested in reading them, here's the link.  smashwords.com  

 I've only seen the first and third Exorcist movie, but I found The Believer OK, even if most critics hated it. I knew from the trailer one of the scariest scenes in the movie would be when the possessed girl comes into the church during communion and keeps saying, "the body and the blood." I see why a lot of critics did not like it and I am not surprised. The thing that compelled me is they talk about what makes people evil and the hope that there will be good to overcome it. That is what I write about in my books, and if you are interested in reading them, click on the link.  Smashwords.com  

Every October, I always watch movies that can be associated with Halloween. They do not have to be horror, they just have to have such things as ghosts, monsters, ETC, in them. Some of them only have to have characters you can dress up as. A lot of that can include Star Wars and superhero movies, and the superhero movies I often watch are the Batman movies. That said, you can also dress up as any of Batman's enemies, not just the Joker, but also the Scarecrow, the Penguin, Two-Face, Catwoman, the Riddler, and Bane. Many of these characters also influenced the enemies Jack Stamper fights in his campaigns with The Covert Militia. It is obvious that Lord Janus was influenced by Two-Face, but you can also see elements of the Joker, particularly the way Heath Ledger portrayed him in the Dark Knight. There is no telling if he was born that way, or if the trauma experienced during the Persian Gulf War made him that way, or even if that latter story actually happened. It seems like he can...

 The Creator is one of the few movies in recent years that has an appropriate title. The premise of having body enhancements was nothing new. It was unique in having it be about a man who thought his he was in love but was betrayed. He wanted a family, and in a way gained a daughter, he had to protect, and then prevent her from being used as a weapon. I plan to write stories like that in the future, and that said, if you are interested in reading any of my books, one which I am almost finished with, here is the link to click on.  smashwords.com