Guest post and Contest with Traci L. Slatton

Let's all show some love for author Traci L. Slatton, who is here today to talk about her favorite paranormal shows. I love her choices and have very fond memories of watching X files each week, starved for the truth that I was so sure would be revealed and never really was. I didn't care much for the movies but I attribute that to my overly high expectations at the time. The show was the first television show that I remember talking about with friends, testing theories and plotting possibilities. And Mulder was so hot!

My current favs are Bedlam, Supernatural and Dr. Who. What about you? Leave a comment and you could win a copy of Fallen! This contest is open to US/Canada only. The winner will be chosen at random next week. Good Luck!






My Favorite Paranormal TV Show
By Traci L. Slatton,
Author of Fallen

This question posed a dilemma: do I choose The venerable X Files, because of Fox Mulder's dry, noble passion for the truth, so beautifully counterbalanced by Dr. Scully's crystalline, analytical braininess? Or do I vote for Torchwood, charmed as I was by Captain Jack's lusciousness, and the wacky humor that often made me giggle through my shivers of fear?

Unforgettable images abound in The X Files: remember the slimy fluke man, with his gaping, fanged mouth? Those remorseless, unslaked, sucking prongs still show up in my nightmares. And Eugene Tooms, slithering through the narrowest openings to feast on human livers. But then there's the pterodactyl flying around the Torchwood hub, and the malignant weevils slipping through the rift to torment the citizens of Earth. The episode "Immortal Sins" featured a brain parasite that caused insanity and intended to make Nazi Germany victorious.

In terms of setting, there's the question of Cardiff vs. Vancouver, which I personally think is six of one and half-dozen of another. Neither of those shows depended on place so much as they did on inventiveness, originality, spookiness--and well-drawn characters. In The X Files, Mulder had his heart-rending back story: the abducted sister, his guilt, his anguish over his parents' possible complicity, and his determination and frustration. Scully wrestled with the evidence her own eyes kept showing her, evidence that repeatedly contradicted the scientific paradigm that stood at the heart of her life mission. And how was she to integrate her own abduction by extraterrestrials? In Torchwood, Captain Jack was immortal, warm-hearted, dutiful, and pan-sexual. He fell in love easily but lost his paramours. Police constable Gwen Cooper agonized over what and how much to tell her fiance. She is humane and grounded, leading the life of an ordinary house-holder while fiercely battling the supernatural elements that attack our very existence. She leads a double life, and it takes its toll.

Alas, I shall have to ramble along both roads at once, and name two favorite paranormal shows.

Author Bio

Traci L. Slatton, author of Fallen, is a graduate of Yale and Columbia, and she also attended the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, sculptor Sabin Howard, whose classical figures and love for Renaissance Italy inspired her historical novel Immortal and her contemporary vampire art history mystery The Botticelli Affair. Fallen is the first in a romantic trilogy set during the end times.

For more information please visit http://www.tracilslatton.com and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter

It's Bedlam around here!

One of the best things about having a DVR box for cable is being able to record shows that you otherwise might not have time for or aren't able to watch on a given evening. The last few weeks I have been recording many a BBC America show: Dr. Who for me and monster #2, Luther, Whitechapel, and Bedlam. While avoiding housework, homework and all other responsible things this past weekend I lounged on my cozy couch in my cozy PJ's and watched my shows. Lazy? You betcha! It's a well deserved break. And it wasn't just me either. Flyboy sat around for an entire day playing Arkham City, which is a fabulous game by the way and Batman kicks ass.

Back to Bedlam...I am totally obsessed with this show! I'm only on episode 3, but I love how the ghost stories are mixed in with the lives of these people. Making it out like Jed has a mental illness that causes him to see ghosts was an excellent bit of writing. Kate is a bitchy thing but she has cool mates so I'm guessing that most of that is a rich girl front. It's like a supernatural soap opera, a guilty pleasure that you want to share with all your friends. So great. Theo James (Jed) is a hottie and I heard he might be in the new Underworld movie. Just sayin'.

Here's the official pitch from the BBC website:

Bedlam is a ghostly series set around Bedlam Heights -- a hip, newly renovated apartment building. Those who live there think they have the best address in the world, but little do they know their new home has a harrowing past.

The conversion of Bedlam Heights from a former insane asylum has awakened the ghosts of its dark and violent past. These spirits wish to reclaim what's theirs and seek revenge on those who have wronged them.

Kate (Charlotte Salt, The Tudors), a direct descendant of the people who ran the former asylum for generations, lives and works in Bedlam Heights. Her father, Warren (Hugo Speer, Skins), still owns the old family property, and Kate is helping him fill the remaining vacant apartments. She shares her apartment with roommates Ryan (Will Young, Skins) and Molly (Ashley Madekwe, Secret Diary of a Call Girl), but only with the unexpected arrival of Kate's adopted cousin, Jed (Theo James, Downton Abbey) -- a troubled man with a history of mental illness who sees ghosts and visions of the past -- are they able to uncover the terrifying secrets of Bedlam Heights. The hauntings that follow prove that sometimes when you scratch away the surface, things aren't always what they seem.

Written and created by Neil Jones (Blue Murder), David Allison (Boy Meets Girl) and Chris Parker (EastEnders).