Category Archives: General

Five Years of Horror with Devil’s Elbow: Sweepstakes

By Wing | Published 1 January 2018

This one’s limited to the USA. Recappers ineligible. Full rules available below. One winner will receive one copy each of The Stepsister by R. L. Stine and The Chase by L. J. Smith. Copies are used and provided as is.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Posted in General | Tagged five years of horror, sweepstakes

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Happy 5th Anniversary!

By Wing | Published 1 January 2018

2018 brings the fifth anniversary for Devil’s Elbow. I can’t believe we’ve been recapping here for so long, and that you keep coming along for this ridiculous, terrible, wonderful ride. We’re bringing all the regular series recaps you’ve come to love (or loathe; we certainly have a love-hate relationship with a lot of what we recap), as well as some fun surprises throughout the year.

Keep an eye on this space for a couple of contests with fun prizes, lots of celebratory posts, some special events revisiting old recaps, and a whole lot more.

Thanks for five years of cheesy YA horror fun. You guys are the best part of it by far.

Posted in General | Tagged anniversary, five years of horror

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Coming Soon: Nostalgic Bookshelf

By Wing | Published 1 December 2017

In January 2018, Devil’s Elbow celebrates its 5th anniversary and Sweet Valley Online its 1st. We’ve had a blast recapping, podcasting, and connecting with all of you over the years. We’ve had readers tell us it’s like one big, opinionated book club, and that’s part of the joy for us too.

Devil’s Elbow and Sweet Valley Online will be holding their own celebrations in January, but we want to announce our next big venture: Nostalgic Bookshelf (www.nostalgicbookshelf.com). We’re expanding the recap empire, and boy do we have some fun things in store for you.

Both Devil’s Elbow and Sweet Valley Online will continue with their current schedules, but we’re adding additional content and new recappers. In January 2018, Nostalgic Bookshelf will launch. In addition to the ongoing content at Devil’s Elbow and Sweet Valley Online, we will be recapping and discussing the Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin, the Making Out series by Katherine Applegate, the world of Enid Blyton, and the Game Box, which will include Choose Your Own Adventure books and games, tabletop games, and classic console and computer games.

There will be many more surprises to come, and more information as we get closer to our January launch.

We’ll introduce the new recappers with their first recaps, and we know you’re going to love them.

(If you have ever wanted to be a part of this nostalgic recapping, podcasting, and discussions, or if you have any comments or questions, email us at management@nostalgicbookshelf.com. We’re open to nostalgic media from at least 10 years ago or earlier.)

We’ve had a great time building this community with you, and we hope you’ll enjoy the additional content and new areas of nostalgia. Be sure to tell your friends!

Posted in General | Tagged announcements, nostalgic bookshelf

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Halloween Extravaganza: Atypical Halloween Films

By bat | Published 27 October 2017

I, for one, welcome our new overlord: the Great Pumpkin!

It’s October! It’s Fall! It’s the best season of the year!

Each year about this time, there’s always the general consensus list post of “Halloween” films – among them Halloween, Friday the 13th, the Universal Monsters movies, Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Halloweentown (and its three sequels, though that fourth film is purely awful) – and there are the staples that several generations have grown up on, i.e. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!, which is the one film that still airs on a major network every year (or twice in the same month, some years.)

I don’t want to write one of those lists.

So, instead, I decided to pick some of my favorite spooky and/or horror-themed films that always seem to put me in the mood for Fall and its haunted delights. Join me and check this list of atypical not-exactly-Halloween films you should check out for the Fall season! Spookiness, ahoy!

It meeeeeeeeee!

Posted in General | Tagged ACTUAL WEREWOLVES!, halloween, halloween extravaganza, questionable medical experiments, science gone wrong, VAMPIRES, witches, witchy movies

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Recap #97: Graveyard School #5: Revenge of the Dinosaurs, a.k.a. “Cretaceous Park”

By Jude Deluca | Published 21 October 2017

Title: Graveyard School #5 – Revenge of the Dinosaurs

Author: Tom B. Stone, a.k.a. Nola Thacker, a.k.a. D.E. Athkins

Cover Artist: Barry Jackson

Tagline: N/A/

Summary: They’re Back!

“Dino-head.” That’s what David Pike calls his little brother, Richie. This kid eats, sleeps, and breathes dinosaurs. Richie even keeps a terrarium filled with plastic dinosaur figures, and he treats them like they’re real. He feeds them, talks to them, and claims they’re growing!

When Richie says that his Tyrannosaurus rex has escaped, David decides his little brother has finally gone over the edge. It can’t be true that dinosaurs are back and on the loose… Can it?

Initial Thoughts

Guys I am really sorry this was delayed. I was really busy the past few weeks with work at the stadium and the store, and then New York Comic Con. Staying home today because of my flu was the best decision I could’ve made for focusing on finishing my writing.

This is the first and practically only book in the series to be a science fiction story instead of a supernatural horror tale. It’s admittedly one of the books I rarely re-read until I began reviewing for this website.

We’ve got another sibling tag team in the form of David and Richie, and by the end of this post I’m sure you’ll agree with me Richie is by far the greatest threat in the entire series and more dangerous than all of the other monsters and villains combined.

[Wing: Dinosaurs. Not documented here quite as often as my werewolf love, but I have a deep and a biding love of dinosaurs, and I’m thrilled to have this book come up immediately after last month’s werewolf book.]

Posted in General |

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Halloween Extravaganza: Favorite Horror and Creepy Podcasts

By Wing | Published 20 October 2017

Welcome to October, my favorite month of the year! Marching band competitions are in full swing, the air here is crisp, the night sky bright with moon and stars, leaves change color and fall and crunch when you walk through them, horror movies are everywhere, and Halloween is coming. Here at Devil’s Elbow, we love horror and scary stories and Halloween (…obviously), and to celebrate, we have a month of bonus posts to go along with our regular recaps.

Sit back with a cup of hot apple cider(1) (liberally dosed with the alcohol of your choice; I recommend rum or vodka) and celebrate the season with us.

Posted in General | Tagged halloween extravaganza

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Halloween Extravaganza: Jude’s NYCC 2017 Goosebumps and YA Horror Sketches

By Jude Deluca | Published 18 October 2017

New York Comic Con is my second favorite time of the year, next to Christmas/my birthday. I spend all four days walking around adding more pieces to my already large collection of art commissions and sketches. This year I was only able to do three days, as I was called into work at the stadium on Sunday. That being said, I realized since I would be working and thus earning more money, I decided to splurge the next two days. And thankfully I was smart enough to set up a few pieces in advance of the show.

For the last couple of years I’ve been devoting NYCC towards a sort of horror theme and have been trying to add additions to my Goosebumps-related artwork, as well as other YA horror related art, and added these fine pieces to my collection.

Posted in General | Tagged art, halloween extravaganza

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Halloween Extravaganza: How to Re-Halloween When You’ve Un-Halloweened Halloween (aka Donna’s list of Halloween feels)

By Donna | Published 11 October 2017

I was born and raised in Connecticut. The only way I could get more New England is if I pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd. Which I don’t. I don’t paRk my caR anywhere near HaRvaRd YaRd because I always avoided driving in Massachusetts as much as possible. At least in the eastern portion of the state.

I’m used to four seasons even though I absolutely despised one of them and was allergic to another. Humidity always sucked but it was always a thing and I reveled in those days when the humidity dropped to like 50% and it didn’t feel like I was choking on my own lungs in the summer.

And then came September. One: The Big E. It’s the state fair to end all state fairs. Technically it’s a multi-state fair and you can eat your way through that states. And your pants. It’s glorious. Two: Autumn.

OMFG I love autumn. For about five weeks, from September through Halloween the weather is divine. Mid-70s to 60s during the day, 50s at night. Perfect for jeans and sweatshirts, drinking apple cider and eating apple everything and maybe a little bit of pumpkin (I’m not part of that cult). I put out Halloween decorations and carved the shit out of some pumpkins. I burned all the pumpkin spice Yankee Candles (I AM part of that cult) and I absolutely loved cuddling in on those crisp autumn nights and watching scary movies. It was all so perfect.

Posted in General | Tagged halloween, halloween extravaganza, movies

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Halloween Extravaganza: Jude’s Favorite Horror Flick Heroines and Villainesses

By Jude Deluca | Published 7 October 2017

It’s time to put the WEEEEEEE back in HalloWEEEEEEEEN, so I’ve constructed a special article where I get to gush about my favorite heroines, villains, and secondary characters from horror films (including animated ones).

Why? Because I felt like it. I wanted to do something special for the holiday and I relish any chance I get to gush about why I love these characters the way I do. Plus it gives me a chance to show off some of my other commissions I wouldn’t normally get the chance to include in this website.

Some of the characters I get really in-depth on while others I only briefly discuss.

For the month, I will include 31 entries in this list. Some are shared by two or three characters, though, so I’m gonna cheat a little.

These are all characters who left an impact on me in some form or another, and on my writing and views of fiction in general. Admittedly, a lot of them are mothers and motherly figures. I guess I have a type.

Posted in General | Tagged halloween extravaganza, movies

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Halloween Extravaganza: The children of the night. What music they make.

By Wing | Published 1 October 2017

Welcome to October! This month (my favourite month) we’re going to celebrate Halloween (my favourite holiday) while some of us, at least, enjoy gorgeous autumn weather (my favourite season, though I hate being cold). What better way to kick it off than with Wing’s Werewolf Playlist (at least as of this very moment).

I’ve put together a list of some of my favourite werewolf (or werewolf adjacent) music? Note: I interpret “werewolf adjacent” fairly loosely; mostly, if it makes me think of werewolves, it’ll probably make a werewolf playlist at some point. For the most part, I’ve only included one version, though for more than a couple, I love many, many cover versions, but I couldn’t help make one exception.

Tell me your favourite werewolf or monster or horror songs in the comments.

Amanda Siefried – Little Red Riding Hood (cover)

Blind Black – Black Dog Blues

Bowling for Soup – Little Red Riding Hood (cover)

The Pack A.D. – Wolves and Werewolves

Rainbow – Run with the Wolf

Robert Johnson – Hellhound on My Trail

Shakira – She Wolf

Skillet – Monster

I listened to Skillet’s music for a long damn time before I learned they’re a Christian rock band. Let me tell you, Christian rock has changed a hell of a lot since I was a kid!