NEHW Members at Rhode Island Comic Con this Weekend

The Rhode Island Comic Con happens this weekend in Providence at the Convention Center and members of the New England Horror Writers will be there.

Author Don Franklin, who has his own table at the convention, will have his first novel, Reaper’s Walk: Hellstone, on hand and will be autographing copies.

According to Grayhart Press, the book’s publisher, “follow The Reaper’s Walk series of supernatural thrillers as Lita and her family —  descendants of a dark witch from the 18th century —  form fragile alliances and fight desperate battles with demons, werewolves, witches, and vampires in an attempt to capture the Circle of Stones and escape their doom … because after waiting 10 generations, the Reaper is coming to collect his due.”
The books official launch was Oct. 31 and it will be available through Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, iTunes and other booksellers in a few weeks, the publisher has told Franklin.

Authors at the Official NEHW Table

The other NEHW members, who will be at Comic Con, are Stacey Longo (Epitaphs, Pookie and the Lost and Found Friend) Rob Watts (Huldufolk), Kristi Petersen Schoonover (Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole, Bad Apple) and Scott Goudsward (Epitaphs, Call of Lovecraft).

Check out the convention’s website here and see what celebrites are going to be signing during the weekend. After getting celebrity autographs, don’t forget to come on by and say hello to all the NEHW members at the convention.

The convention center is located at 1 Sabin Street in Providence, Rhode Island.

Two Authors to Appear at Marlborough Shop this Saturday

Two Authors to Appear at Marlborough Shop this Saturday

By Jason Harris

This Saturday, authors Stacey Longo and Catherine Grant will be appearing at The Shops at the Marlborough Barn in Marlborough, which is located in Marlborough, Connecticut. They will be reading and signing from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Longo will read from her story, “Private Beach,” which is in Epitaphs, the first anthology created by the NEHW. This collection will be on sale at the event. Longo is the Co-chair of the NEHW, a former columnist for the Block Island Times and the co-owner of Books and Boos, a bookstore.

Grant will read from her story, “Three Fat Guy Soap.” Along with being a NEHW member and writing fiction, she also runs a writing critique group, Central Connecticut Writers Group.

The Shops at the Marlborough Barn is located at 45 North Main Street in Marlborough.

Pictures from Rock and Shock, Part II

NEHW member Sarah Gomes. Photo by Jason Harris.

From left to right: NEHW members Chris Irvin, David Price, and Scott Goudsward. Photo by Jason Harris.

NEHW members Trisha Wooldridge and Kelli Jones. Photo by Jason Harris.

A birdeating spider being sold at Rock and Shock. Photo by Jason Harris.

Snakes being sold at Rock and Shock. Photo by Jason Harris.

A Rock and Shock attendee at the NEHW booth. Photo by Jason Harris.

Actor Eric Roberts talks with a fan. Photo by Jason Harris.

NEHW members Chris Irvin and David Price. Photo by Jason Harris.

A horror fan visiting the NEHW booth at Rock and Shock. Photo by Jason Harris.

Josh Letourneau, of Ridgefield, New Hampshire, and Jason Campbell, of South Florida, were at the convention with Fright Kingdom. Photo by Jason Harris.

Authors Trisha Wooldridge and Kristi Petersen Schoonover at the back of the NEHW booth. Photo by Jason Harris.

Tina Blamire, of Lynn, MA. in the Predator costume with Meg and her daughter, Fiona, both of Bradford, MA. They were with the vendor, Fiona’s Fright Shoppe. Photo by Jason Harris.

NEHW members Trisha Wooldridge and Kelli Jones at Viva Bene in Worcester. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Tracy Carbone with actor Anthony Michael Hall. Photo by Stacey Longo.

NEHW members Tracy Carbone, Deb Eskie, and David Price. Photo by Jason Harris.

NEHW member Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.

Chat with a NEHW Co-chair

Author and New England Horror Writer Co-chair Stacey Longo will be on the Writer’s Chatroom (http://writerschatroom.com) on Sunday at 7 p.m. (EST). The chat will be moderated by NEHW member Lisa Haselton.

A lucky chatter can win a copy of Dark Things IV, which contains a story by Longo. You have to be present in the chatroom to win. To log into the chatroom, click here.

Longo will also be at Rock and Shock next weekend where she will be on the Women in Horror panel with Heather Langenkamp at 7 p.m. and on the Horrors in the Movies panel on Sunday at 12 p.m.

Shock Totem Publications to Release Short Story Collection

This Saturday Shock Totem will have on hand at its table at the fourth annual Killercon convention 50 paperback copies of Mercedes M. Yardley’s collection of 27 short stories, Beautiful Sorrows. This will be people’s chance to purchase a copy weeks before it’s official release.

Here is a description of the book from the Shock Totem website, “there is a place where sorrows pile up like snow and rest in your hair like cherry blossoms. Boys have wings, monsters fall in love, women fade into nothingness, and the bones of small children snap like twigs. Darkness will surely devour you—but it will be exquisitely lovely while doing so. Mercedes M. Yardley’s Beautiful Sorrows is an ephemeral collection encompassing twenty-seven short tales full of devastation, death, longing, and the shining ribbon of hope that binds them all together.”

The entire Shock Totem team, as well as some of their extended staff, will be on hand at the convention, and Yardley will be autographing and reading from her new collection.

According to Shock Totem’s editor K. Allen Wood, this Saturday will be nearly four years to the day that Yardley first submitted to the magazine. Since that day, Yardley has been a contributor to different issues of Shock Totem.

Killercon 4 happens in Las Vegas from Sept. 20 through 23.

If you can’t make it to Killercon, you can preorder the paperback version of Yardley’s collection on the Shock Totem website by clicking here. The site also states “it will be available in limited edition hardcover, paperback and e-book format.”

Pictures from the Last Day at the Hebron Harvest Fair

The vendor pass we received on Thursday. Photo by Jason Harris.

A new set-up for the NEHW booth on Sunday at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

The sign promoting Sunday’s authors. Photo by Jason Harris.

Alec Wallman, winner of last year’s NEHW raffle at the 2011 Hebron Harvest Fair, stopped by to say, “hello,” and to purchase 52 Stitches. Author Stacey Longo is in the background. Photo by Jason Harris.

NEHW member books on the table. Photo by Jason Harris.

A different view of the NEHW table. Photo by Jason Harris.

A front view of the NEHW table at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

A front view of the NEHW table at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Reading at The Brown University Bookstore

Author and New England Horror Writer member Paul Tremblay will be reading from his newest novel, Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye, this Wednesday at the Brown University Bookstore.

Tremblay’ Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye was published last month by Chizine Publications. According to Cinema Knife Fight writer Barry Lee Dejasu, who also works in customer service at the Brown University Bookstore,  describes Tremblay’s book as a “strange, dystopian novel, [where] a man fulfilling his six-year time at Farm learns that his mother has dropped out of contact back in City and he begins a personal journey to try and find out just what happened to her.”

According to Amazon, “join Farm today! It’s only six years of your life! Farm is the mega-conglomerate food supplier for City, populated with rabidly bureaucratic superiors, antagonistic and sexually deviant tour guides dressed in chicken and duck suits, and farm animals illegally engineered for silence. City is sprawling, technocratic, and rests hundreds of feet above the coastline on the creaking shoulders of a giant wooden pier. When the narrator’s single mother, whom he left behind in City, falls out of contact, he fears the worst: his mother is homeless and subsequently to be deported under City to the Pier. On his desperate search to find his mother, he encounters ecoterrorists wearing plush animal suits, an election that hangs in the balance as the City’s all-powerful Mayor is infatuated with magic refrigerators and outlaw campaigns, and a wise-cracking, over-sexed priest who may or may not have ESP, but who is most certainly his deadbeat dad. Whether rebelling against the regimented and ridiculous nature of Farm life, exploring the all-too-familiar and consumer-obsessed world of City, experiencing the all-too-real suffering of the homeless in Pier, or confronting the secrets of his own childhood, Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye’s narrator is a hilarious, neurotic, and rage-filled Quixote searching for his mother, his own dignity, and the meaning of humanity.”

Tremblay, who lives outside of Boston, is the author of the novels The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland. He has also authored the short story collections Compositions for the Young and Old and In the Mean Time, two novellas, and his essays and short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Times,  Five Chapters.com, and Best American Fantasy 3. He is the co-editor of four anthologies including Creatures: Thirty Years of Monster Stories (with John Langan).

Check out Tremblay’s website by clicking here.

The reading starts at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 12, at The Brown University Bookstore, which is located at 244 Thayer Street in Providence, RI  02912. The store’s phone number is  (401) 863-3168 if you have any questions.

The NEHW Appearing at the Hebron Harvest Fair for the Second Time

The New England Horror Writers’ Association will be appearing at the Hebron Harvest Fair for the second year in a row.

Seven New England authors are scheduled to appear at the fair from Sept. 6 through 9 to do readings, perform skits, and autograph books.

Author Stacey Longo will be at the fair all four days, with copies of her children’s book Pookie and the Lost & Found Friend, which was just published in July 2012. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, including the Stoker-nominated Epitaphs, which will also be available at the NEHW booth.

Also appearing will be Kurt Newton, author of The Brainpan Concerto, Ultimate PerVERSEities, and Powerlines, among other titles. He will be at the fair on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

G. Elmer Munson will be on hand on Saturday to sign copies of his novel, Stripped.

Robert Duperre, author of seven novels including The Fall and Silas, will be at the NEHW booth on Saturday.

Rob Watts, author of Huldufolk, will be at the fair Saturday. Huldufolk is an Icelandic fantasy/horror novella that comes with a free CD of music compiled by the fictional band in the story.

Authors Alan S. Kessler (A Satan Carol) and Dan Foley will be appearing on Saturday and author David Price (Tales from the Grave: An Anthology of True Ghost Stories) will be appearing on Sunday.

The NEHW was formed in 2001 to promote writers and illustrators of dark fiction within and outside the association. They offer writing workshops, discussion forums, social events, and appearance opportunities to their members.

Click here to find out about the Hebron Harvest Fair.

Pictures from the Middletown Open Air Market and Festival

Pictures from the Middletown Open Air Market and Festival

by Jason Harris and Stacey Longo

The NEHW booth at the Middletown Open Air Market and Festival. Photo by Jason Harris

The NEHW booth at the Middletown Open Air Market and Festival. Photo by Jason Harris

Author Alan Kessler at the NEHW booth. Photo by Jason Harris

Author Alan Kessler at the NEHW booth. Photo by Jason Harris.

The Middletown Symphonic Band performing at the Middletown Open Air Market and Festival. Photo by Jason Harris.

The Middletown Symphonic Band performing at the Middletown Open Air Market and Festival. Photo by Jason Harris.

Authors Rob Watts and Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.

Authors Rob Watts and Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.

The Middletown Open Air Market and Festival at the Wadsworth Mansion. Photo by Jason Harris.

The Middletown Open Air Market and Festival at the Wadsworth Mansion. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author G. Elmer Munson signing an autograph for a fan. Photo by Stacey Longo.

Author G. Elmer Munson signing an autograph for a fan. Photo by Stacey Longo.

authors Alan Kessler and Robert Duperre and Duperre's daughter. Photo by Jason Harris

From left to right: authors Alan Kessler and Robert Duperre and Duperre’s daughter. Photo by Jason Harris.

The Buttonwood Tree booth at the Open Air Market and Festival. Photo by Jason Harris.

The Buttonwood Tree booth at the Open Air Market and Festival. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author David Price autographing his book for a fan. Photo by Jason Harris

Author David Price autographing his book for a fan. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author G. Elmer Munson. Photo by Stacey Longo.

Author G. Elmer Munson. Photo by Stacey Longo.

Author Alan Kessler signing his book for a young fan. Photo by Stacey Longo.

Author Alan Kessler signing his book for a young fan. Photo by Stacey Longo.

Connor and Lily Duperre, siblings, posing with their freshly painted faces. Photo by Jason Harris.

The other NEHW table at the Middletown Open Air Market. Photo by Jason Harris.

The other NEHW table at the Middletown Open Air Market. Photo by Jason Harris.

Another shot of the table. Photo by Jason Harris.

Another shot of the table. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Rob Watts signing his book. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Rob Watts signing his book. Photo by Jason Harris.

The Balleks Garden Center booth at the Open Air Market. Photo by Jason Harris.

The Balleks Garden Center booth at the Open Air Market. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Rob Watts. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Rob Watts. Photo by Jason Harris.

The NEHW members' books at the Open Air Market. Photo by Jason Harris.

The NEHW members’ books at the Open Air Market. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Alan Kessler handing his novel to the mother of a young fan. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Alan Kessler handing his novel to the mother of a young fan. Photo by Stacey Longo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Author’s First Publicity Event

An Author’s First Publicity Event

by G. Elmer Munson

G. Elmer Munson signing a book for a fan. Photo by Stacey Longo.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending my first event with the New England Horror Writers.  It all started out like a dream I’d once had: The lights came on as we all gathered backstage in anticipation.  The crowd chanted “N-E-H-W! N-E-H-W!” as they stomped their feet in the soft grass of the Wadsworth Mansion.  Out of nowhere, someone screamed “Let’s get ready to rumble” and the crowd went wild.  We all ran out to the sound of Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” and Apollo Creed gave us all high fives.

Okay, I may have embellished a bit there.  What actually happened was no less awesome but much more low-key.  I simply walked up to the booth full of people I’d never actually met and said, “hi,” and it was all cool.  I met Robert J. Dupree, Jason Harris, Alan Kessler, Stacey Longo, David Price, and Rob Watts and immediately felt welcome.  I was glad I’d decided against wearing my werewolf costume, and not just because it would have been life-threateningly hot.

After finding a home for my books, I sat down and we talked about movies and stories and other normal things that people discuss.  It was very relaxed and very cool. The day was perfect (a bit of sun never did any harm … well, not much) and the place was pretty well packed.  We spoke with a lot of different people and everyone sold some books.  Quite a few people stood in the sun for a while just to talk to us about books, their favorite authors, and dark fiction in general. It was a great day to hang out, talk to people, and share our work with the world.

I left feeling great.  I left looking forward to Hebron and events beyond.  I also left inspired.  On the drive home, I thought of the greatest story in the world.  Unfortunately, I had forgotten it by the time I got home.

I couldn’t remember the greatest song in the world, so this blog is just a tribute.

Yes, I stole that from the D.