Woman of the Hour
I’m sorry, but this is extraordinary and I never knew anything about it until I saw this review of the latest Anna Kendrick film Woman of the Hour – a thriller (Kendrick’s directorial debut) about the time a known serial killer was an invited contestant on the 1970s reality TV show The Dating Game.
Rodney Alcala – conclusively linked to and convicted for eight murders of girls and women between 1971 and 1979 – was admitted onto the show in 1978, right in the middle of his murder spree. Yes, even after he was added to the FBI Most Wanted list in 1971, after he had served two terms of imprisonment for sexual assault and attempted murder, and after he was interviewed by members of the Hillside Strangler task force as part of their investigation into known sex offenders, Alcala was permitted onto the show after filling out an application.
Not only was he a contestant – he won the show.
The host of The Dating Game, Jim Lange, introduced Alcala as “a successful photographer…Between takes you might find him skydiving or motorcycling” – Alcala was later revealed to have an extensive collection of explicit photos of hundreds of young women and boys, some of which were released by the police in 2010 in the hope of identifying additional murder victims.
Alcala won The Dating Game, and a date with the show’s bachelorette, Cheryl Bradshaw – who subsequently declined to go out with him (good instincts, Cheryl). Other contestants on the show thought he was ‘creepy’. It was later discovered that he murdered at least three more women after his appearance on the show.
Like Ted Bundy – another serial killer who got away with way too much for way too long – Alcala was conventionally attractive, highly intelligent, and used multiple aliases. Also like Bundy, he defended himself in court on a number of occasions.
Alcala was finally arrested (again) in July 1979, went on trial for the rape and murder of a 12yo girl, and was sentenced to death in California in 1980. Legal screw-ups resulted in a series of protracted court battles and transfers to additional court jurisdictions, but Alcala was finally indicted and convicted on DNA evidence related to additional cases in New York. Authorities believe he could have been linked to as many as 130 homicides and assaults.
Think of this case next time you watch an episode of MAFS or Love Island or The Bachelorette…and maybe consider what a case like this says about the world of straight dating, TV shows, and what traits appear to make a man socially attractive?
Then think about what it means that one of the most popular reality TV shows of the 1970s gave a platform to a serial killer…👀
Then, feel free to draw some links between the 1970s Alcala case, and the 2009 Ryan Jenkins reality TV show case, or the current case of Danny Masterson, former actor on That 70s Show, and recently convicted for the brutal rapes of two women, who was nonetheless supported by his cast members on the show.
Then…shake your head and wonder what the hell kinda world we live in.
What I’m doing
Sorry to beat you up immediately on arrival with bizarre and scary details about serial rapists and murderers, and how easily they seem to make the system work in their favour! Yeah, that stuff spins my head around sometimes.
But I guess sharing ‘wtf?’ oddments of crime cases is one of the things I do in this newsletter. I’ve also been thinking a lot about crimes that affect women and girls, and how victims are routinely ignored by authorities when they sound the alarm, because I’ve been writing a book about teenage girls confronted by a monster.
That book is the adult horror one I told you about last time – and I finally finished it! I mean, trying to write the final 90 pages of the book in the week before deadline nearly killed me, but I got it done. That book is currently on submission – meaning, it’s been sent out to editors at various publishers for consideration – so please cross your fingers for me! The book was my hardest piece of work to date, and has been a wild ride overall, and I’d really love to see it go to release.
The week before deadline, I was touring schools for Book Week (hello to students and teachers I met while doing events, you were all fantastic 😊).
August itself was a really busy month, and I was juggling a lot. Trying to complete a book manuscript during August turned out to be a bad idea, who would’ve thunk it! But that’s the way things go sometimes – all the things happening all at once. I’m sure you know how it is, right?
After I finished Book Week month and writing the new book, I just flopped in bed for a while, because I was completely exhausted. There were also some sick days in August, and some days when members of my household were sick, and household cars breaking down, and other kinds of whatnot… It never rains but it pours, amiright? But seriously: why, August, why.
Anyway – the book is finished, so I am celebrating! (albeit in a more subdued and tired way) And friends, if you love me, please remind me never to schedule a deadline during Book Week month again. Phew.
What I’m doing next
Next? That’s easy – I’m writing Book 3 of the None Shall Sleep Sequence, of course 😊
The Killing Code – award listed
I’m very delighted to share that The Killing Code has made the longlist for the ARA CYA Historical Fiction Prize. This is really a big deal, and a genuine honour. I really hope my little book makes the shortlist, but there are some excellent books there, so we’ll see – fingers crossed!
What I’m reading
Because of all the busy-ness, I haven’t had a ton of time for reading, but I did get a couple of things read.
The Elementals by Michael McDowell is an amazing Southern gothic haunted house story from 1981. It’s about a wealthy Southern family who – after a family death – return to Beldame, their vacation spot on the Gulf Coast, where three Victorian holiday homes squat on an isolated wedge of beach – and one of the houses is slowly being consumed by the sand, and possibly by the ghosts within…
McDowell is probably most famous for penning the screenplay to the film Beetlejuice (Tim Burton), but this book was really worth the price of admission: it’s incredibly well-written, the characters are awesome, and the dialogue is perfection. I suspect McDowell strongly influenced the book We Were Liars by E Lockhart – there were many resemblances and similarities, so if you liked that book, you might also enjoy this one. The Elementals has a few dated tropes (the Magical Negro housekeeper is most glaring), but overall the book is very good - it’s full of texture, and it’s genuinely scary. I read this on digital, but it was so good I’m planning to find myself a hardcopy – I’m also planning to read McDowell’s Blackwater series now, which comes highly recommended.
Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon is my current read, and if you like folk horror, The Wicker Man, Midsommar, or even a show like Midnight Mass, then I suspect you’ll like this book.
First published in 1973, the book is about Ned and Beth Constantine and their young daughter Kate, who abandon the filthy city (there was a lot of white flight from NYC in the 1970s!) for a new life in the quiet backwoods town of Cornwall Coombe, where a mysterious corn festival seems to control a lot of what the local villagers do… You probably know where this one is going, right? Well, this could well be the book that created the trope. It gives real Children of the Corn vibes, but there’s a very different style of writing here: the language is lush and old-fashioned (much like the village itself) and the characters are meticulously drawn. It’s a slow burn book, but I’m really enjoying it so far, and it’s considered a bit of an underrated horror classic.
Also my copy of the Bram Stoker-winning Paperbacks from Hell (Grady Hendrix) arrived in the post, and it is delightful. If you ever read and enjoyed Danse Macabre by Stephen King, this is a worthy successor – I rec it!
Events
This month I’m visiting Mildura, to give some talks at a large school there, so I’ve packed my bags and I’m ready to go 😊
I’m also going to be at Book Fair Australia in Sydney on 14-15 October, and here’s the link for tix. Along with authors like CS Pacat, Vanessa Len, Candice Fox, Nat Amoore, and Leanne Yong, I’ll be doing a panel or two, and selling/signing books at my table across the entire weekend, so if you’re planning to go to Book Fair, please do come say hi!
Finally, I’m running a self-publishing bootcamp in Melbourne through Writers Victoria in October across three weekends from 28 October to 25 November – I’m pretty sure there’s still space, if you’re interested in joining in, so you can find tickets here.
LoveOzYAbookclub
This month we have a new title for September – Eleanor Jones is Not A Murderer is the YA debut by Amy Doaks. If you’d like to drop by bookclub and check us out, you can find us on our Instagram page anytime.
What I’m excited for
October – Halloween is coming! I’ve never been a big trick-or-treater (never really grew up with it?) but I love the spooky month because there’s always a ton of fantastic book recs, film recs, and murder-and-mayhem promotions going on in October (I may actually run a Homicidal Halloween promotion of my own – what do you reckon?)
Plus, here in south-eastern Australia, we’re bound to get some nicer weather in October, which means…kayaking is back, baby!
That’s about it for this month! I already have my work planned out for the months ahead – writing Book 3 – but now, while I’ve got a book on submission, is also an excellent time to be thinking about what I’m going to write next…
I’m not sure what that will be! I have a book on my shelf called the ‘Someday Maybe’ Book, which holds the collected random ideas that come to me at different times – stuff I think up on the fly, images from dreams, things I’ve jotted down from newspaper clippings etc. Not all of these are good ideas, but occasionally one of them has legs (the book I just wrote, for instance, came directly from the Someday Maybe Book).
I guess my first act, while brainstorming new book concepts, will be to leaf through the Someday Maybe Book and see if there’s anything in there that’s really resonating. We shall see… Once I’ve started work on a new thing, I’ll let you know what’s going on.
Until then, I hope you have a truly excellent month of September, happy reading, and stay cool 😊
xxEllie
see you at Book Fair!