Author Takes You ‘Behind the Wheel’

Author and New England Horror Writers’ member Erin Thorne’s latest book, Behind the Wheel, released last month features stories in the horror and fantasy genres. Here is a brief synopsis from the back cover of the different tales inside: A family discovers who’s really in charge when they buy a car that drives itself. The characters from a well-known fairy tale live on after their story is over. A docile species of farm animal transforms into a pack of ruthless creatures, bent on the destruction of humankind. A werewolf stalks a young girl’s backyard. Tiny pets, rescued from certain destruction, are not what they seem. Enter a land of fantasy, and learn more about the hidden side of the world you take for granted.

Click here if you would like to order the book through Amazon.

20121224-084149.jpg
Thorne will be appearing at Seek Books in West Roxbury, MA. on Jan. 12 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., at Tatnuck Bookseller in Westborough, MA. on Jan. 26 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and at Books & Boos located in Colchester, CT on Feb. 23 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. She will be reading from and signing Behind the Wheel.

For more information about Thorne, check out her Facebook page and Amazon author page.

‘Shock Totem’ to Publish First Book

In May, Shock Totem Publications will be releasing its first non-magazine related product. The company is re-releasing a book, The Wicked by James Newman.

An ode to 1980s horror, The Wicked is Newman’s second book, which was originally published in 2007 in limited edition hardcover. The new version features revised text, a new foreword by Mark Allan Gunnells, a new afterword by Newman, and brilliant new artwork and illustrations by Jesse David Young (with additional cover layout by Yannick Bouchard). Also included is a brand new, exclusive tie-in short story the author wrote specifically for this release.

The Wicked will be released in paperback and e-book formats.

Newman is the author of the critically-acclaimed Midnight Rain and Animosity, the short-story collection People Are Strange, and the novellas The Forum, Revenge Flick! and Olden.

Praise for the novel:

The Wicked is a good old-fashioned, unabashed horror novel. James Newman remembers when horror used to be fun, and he’s recaptured it here in all of its gory glory. A terrifying page-turner in the tradition of Graham Masterton, J.N. Williamson, and Richard Laymon. WICKEDly good reading from of horror’s new heirs!”

Brian Keene, author of The Rising, City of the Dead and Ghoul said, “Demons, depravity and despair, oh my! Reminiscent of the best of 80’s horror and Bentley Little at his most grotesque and unrelenting, The Wicked is the kind of horror we don’t see enough of anymore. This is one wild and bloody ride, and in the capable hands of James Newman, it’s one worth taking.”

From Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Turtle Boy and Kin: The Wicked will be released in paperback and e-book formats. More details will follow closer to release. If you have any questions, please let us know.”

Author’s New Book Available for Pre-order

Author and NEHW member Kurt Newton’s new sci-fi/horror novel, Powerlines, is now available for pre-order through Gallows Press. It will be available on Amazon on April 17.

Plot description:

“After his beloved brother is killed in Iraq, Ethan decides to take a weekend hike to clear his head and to get in touch with nature. His destination is a stretch of power lines that run deep into the forests of Connecticut. His journey will bring him through a reclusive area surrounded by mysteries and strange legends. Kissing his beloved and patient girlfriend, Lindsey, goodbye, Ethan sets off on his adventure.

It doesn’t take Ethan long to discover that the stories are true … something strange and insidious is hidden in the Connecticut countryside.

Something deadly.

When Ethan fails to show up at their rendezvous point, she knows that something is horribly wrong. Finding local law enforcement to be uncooperative, she partners up with an unlikely friend as she enters the woods in search of her lover.

As they follow the power lines deep into the woods, they have no idea what awaits.”

Book details: 278 pages, trade paperback, retail price $12.99, special pre-order price $11.00.

Newton also has a story in the anthology, The Gallows, which is also available for pre-order through the Gallows Press site.

Book description:

From Gallows Press comes a collection of 11 tales showcasing the narrative talents of the Gallows authors. The Gallows anthology is the perfect book for readers looking to sample what our talented storytellers have to offer.

Contents:

“Pigs” by Erik Williams
“The Pit” by Kurt Newton
“China” by Gene O’Neill
“Jam” by Mark Allan Gunnells
“Craving Soul Food” by Sam W. Anderson
“Mirror World” by Liam Davies
“Rotting Love” by T.G. Arsenault
“Unknown Causes” by Frank Duffy
“He’s Just a Baby” by Shane McKenzie
“Writer’s Block” by Chris Hedges
“Children of Filth” by Brian Knight

Book details: 228 pages, trade paperback, retail price $8.99, special pre-order price $7.99.

‘Ghoul’ Arises Back in Print and on Film

Two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author Brian Keene’s Ghoul has recently been released with a new edition by Deadite Press. It tells the story of Timmy Graco and his two friends who risk their lives to stop a rash of disappearances in town, happening in the town in the summer of 1984.  It’s a great novel that is hard to put down. It will make you nostalgic for the songs and toys Keene mentions that were popular during that time.

Ghoul cover (courtesy of Brian Keene's website)

The movie based on the novel premieres at the Slamdance Film Festival on Jan. 22 at 4 p.m. and Keene will be in attendance. It will also be shown at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie is directed by Greg Wilson (The Girl Next Door) and the screenplay was written by William M. Miller (Headspace).

The movie comes to the Chiller channel in April.

Find out more about Keene on his website.

Young Adult Novel to Debut at Anthocon

Author Tracy L. Carbone will be debuting her young adult novel, The Soul Collector, at Anthocon this weekend.

The novel tells the story of Abby McNabb, a typical sixth grader who hates her hair, thinks her mom is too strict, envies her best friend…Oh, and Abby’s father is crazy. Andy, Abby’s father, is a famous author known for his investigations of aliens, ghosts and all things paranormal. This embarrasses Abby to no end, until the day he takes her on one of his learning adventures  … and for the first time in her life, she sees a ghost, too.

The ghost needs Abby’s help to make Andy remember his birthplace: a star named Gibeon, which crashed to earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. As Abby, along with her friend Claudia and cousin, Chase, work to uncover the truth about her father’s past and his future, she is faced with losing him forever when destiny pushes him toward his forgotten life.

The NEHW Presents Epitaphs this Saturday

Before the mass signing of NEHW’s inaugural anthology, Epitaphs, there will be a panel “The NEHW presents Its Inaugural Anthology and Introduces Some Contributors” at 4 p.m. this Saturday during Anthocon. After the panel, there will be a mass signing with most of the authors in the anthology.

The Epitaphs’ authors on the panel are Tony Tremblay, Kurt Newton, Trisha Wooldridge, Gard Goldsmith, David North Martino, Roxanne Dent, Christopher Golden, Stacey Longo, and Jeffrey C. Pettengill. Editor Tracy L. Carbone will be moderating the panel.

Here is the list of the authors who will be at the signing:

Brian Adrian White

Tony Tremblay

Kurt Newton

Steven Withrow

Christopher Golden

Paul McMahon

Dave Goudsward

Trisha Wooldridge

Gard Goldsmith

David North Martino

Steve Dorato

Roxanne Dent

John Grover

Holly Newstein

Scott Goudsward

Rick Hautula

Peter N. Dudar

K. Allen Wood

John Goodrich

John McIlveen

Stacey Longo

Jeffrey C. Pettengill

LL Soares

Mike Arruda

Editor Tracy L. Carbone will also be on hand to sign the collection.

The anthology was available on Amazon, but has been pulled for the time being for some technical changes. Stay tuned here for the announcement when it returns to Amazon.

Necon E-Books will be at Anthocon

Bob Booth and Matt Bechtel, of Necon E-books, will be at the New England Horror Writers’ table at Anthocon this coming weekend. Check out the convention’s website and read previous articles about Anthocon on this site just click on the “Anthocon” category.

Along with digital copies of the individual titles they sell, the company also offers print editions. Necon E-books will soon be offering the Complete Short Fiction of Charles L. Grant. There will be eight volumes in this series. Volume 1: Nightmare Seasons, Volume 2: The Orchard, Volume 3: Dialing the Wind, Volume 4: The Black Carousel, Volume 5: The Collected Oxrun Stories, Part 1, Volume 6: The Collected Oxrun Stories, Part 2, Volume 7: The Collected Horror Stories, and Volume 8: The Collected Science Fiction Stories.

Volume 1 through 4 will be coming out this year. Volume 5 though 8 will be released in 2012.

Grant’s novel, The Hour of the Oxrun Dead, is now available for $4.99. According to the site, “The Hour of the Oxrun Dead was a breakthrough novel for Charles L. Grant. It was the first of many books dealing with Oxrun Station, his invented, cursed locale that is probably only surpassed by Lovecraft’s Arkham and King’s Castle Rock in the minds of horror fans. First appearing in 1977, it helped usher in the golden age of horror fiction in the 1980s.”

The site said the novel is “character-driven and emotionally wrenching, The Hour of the Oxrun Dead’s subtlety stands in sharp contrast to the “gore galore” style that would come to dominate horror fiction.

Check out Necon E-Books blog which has an entry written about Brian Keene, a guest at Anthocon, by Booth. There are also entries written by authors James A. Moore and Jeff Strand.

The company also has books by Christopher Golden and Rick Hautala available. These two authors will also be at Anthocon this weekend. They also both have stories in Epitaphs, the first anthology by the NEHW, which is published by Shroud Publishing. There is going to be a book release party for this inaugural anthology at the convention and most of the authors in the collection will be on hand to sign the book.

NEHW’s First Anthology Now Available and the Planned Book Release Party

The first NEHW anthology, Epitaphs, is now available at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0982727593/ref=ox_ya_os_product). The price is $12.99 plus $3.99 for shipping and handling.

The cover of NEHW

Amazon states, “the New England Horror Writers Association, in partnership with Shroud Publishing, are proud to debut its inaugural anthology, Epitaphs. The anthology is a compilation of some of the best dark fiction from both best-selling authors and up-and- coming writers throughout New England. Contributors include Christopher Golden, Rick Hautala, Holly Newstein & Glenn Chadbourne, LL Soares, Trisha Wooldridge, Kurt Newton, and more. The anthology features 26 stories and poems from the delightfully scary to the deeply macabre.

Epitaphs was edited by author Tracy L. Carbone and includes an introduction by award-winning author and publisher Peter Crowther, as well as a cover by Danny Evarts.

The table of contents in this chilling anthology is as follows:

Jeffrey C. Pettengill “To Sleep, Perchance to Die”
Paul McMahon “The Christopher Chair”
Kurt Newton “A Case of the Quiets”
Scott T. Goudsward “Build-a-Zombie”
John Goodrich “Not an Ulcer”
B. Adrian White “The Possesor Worm”
John M. McIlveen “Make a Choice”
Michael Allen Todd “The Death Room”
Rick Hautala “Perfect Witness”
Holly Newstein and Glenn Chadbourne “Stoney’s Boneyard”
Trisha J. Wooldridge “Kali’s Promise”
David Bernard “The Sequel”
David North-Martino “Malfeasance”
Stacey Longo “Private Beach”
Christopher Golden “All Aboard”
L.L. Soares “Holiday House”
Steven Withrow “Lines at a Wake”
K. Allen Wood “A Deeper kind of Cold”
P. Gardner Goldsmith “Alone”
Roxanne Dent “Pandora’s Box”
Michael Arruda “Chuck the Magic Man Says I Can”
T.T. Zuma “Burial Board”
John Grover “Windblown Shutter”
Stephen Dorato “Cheryl Takes a Trip”
Philip Roberts “The Legend of Wormley Farm”
Peter N. Dudar “Church of Thunder and Lightning”

Carbone, a New England native, has published several horror and literary short stories in magazines and anthologies in the U.S. and Canada. Her YA horror novel, The Soul Collector, will be released by Shadowfall Publications in late fall 2011. She is Co-Chair of the New England Horror Writers (NEHW) and a member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA).

There will be a book release party for Epitaphs and a panel with a few of the authors from the anthology at AnthoCon, Nov. 11 through 13. There will be a special table for the anthology at the convention as well. Throughout the weekend, most of the authors in Epitaphs will be available to sign copies.

Presented by Shroud Publishing, The Anthology 2011 Conference will “showcase the imaginative talent in speculative fiction and art, with an additional focus on the convergence of images and literature,” according to the AnthoCon website (http://anthocon.com/).

The NEHW will also have a table where members can sell their books and other items at the convention.

The cover of Shroud issue #11

Like other cons, well-known writers will be on hand, among them Christopher Golden (Of Saints and Shadows), who will offer a reading and signing; Jonathan Maberry, who read from one of his new novels; and Jennifer Pelland, who will read from her debut novel, Machine. There will be an extensive dealer area which will feature books, films, artwork, comics, and more. There will also be a Juried Art Exhibit to include such shelf familiars as Ogmios (The Witches’ Almanac), Morbideus Goodell (Apex Digest, Maberry’s Vampire and Cryptopaedia), and Michael Bailey (who is also the editor of Pellucid Lunacy, an anthology of psychological horror and several novels).

“[AnthoCon] has some amazing authors, publishers and film people attending,” said Tracy L. Carbone, editor of Epitaphs, New England Horror Writers Association’s first official anthology. “It should prove to be the best new Con for horror folks out there.”

Jonathan Maberry (photo courtesy of the Anthocon website)

But what makes AnthoCon unique is its focus on the nine panels’ concentration on education for both writers and horror fans. For example, Reaching through the Veil will examine the channeling of myth, religion, spirituality and the collective unconscious in imaginative fiction; Getting Your Short Story Published with the Small Press will offer insight on finding, submitting, and selling your short story; Evil Jester Press Presents “Help! Wanted: Tales of On-The-Job Terror” will dissect the process of producing an anthology. Horror names Brian Keene, Rick Hautala, Cat Valente, Maberry, Joseph

Nassise, Pelland, and Golden will present I’ve Made It This Far, Now What?, using their paths to literary success to illumine what the process could be like for those in attendance.

Brian Keene (photo courtesy of Anthocon website)

Topics also go deeper with Writing Programs: from the MFA to Private Workshops. And Eric Red (The Hitcher, Near Dark) will present a lecture and workshop The Elements of Writing Horror and Thrillers for Films.

Aside from guests, vendors, and panelists, the event promises to draw a unique crowd to include film and book reviewers and magazine editors—like Peter Schwotzer, the man at the helm of Literary Mayhem (http://literarymayhem.com/) who also reviews anthologies, lit-zines and books for Famous Monsters of Filmland and IMDB.

“I’m going mainly to meet a lot of authors I’ve met over the past couple of years in person. We correspond by e-mails, phone, Twitter, Facebook, etc., but it will be nice to meet face to face,” Schwotzer said. “All of the authors have been so kind and generous to me, it still boggles my mind that I actually correspond with my literary heroes.”

With so much to offer that seems to be different from what’s offered at other cons, this promises to be a great inauguration with long-lasting recurring potential—writer or fan, artist or reviewer, don’t miss out.

AnthoCon 2011 will be held at the Best Western Wynwood Hotel & Suites at 580 US Route 1 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from Friday, Nov. 11 through Sunday, Nov. 13. For complete information on AnthoCon, including schedules, costs, and who will be there, visit www.anthocon.com.

Author’s Poe Inspired Story Available Now

Author Kristi Petersen Schoonover’s short story “Vanity,” which was inspired by Poe’s “The Oval Portrait” is now available in Dark Opus Press’ In Poe’s Shadow.

In this anthology, which should be part of any Poe-lover’s collection, each piece is inspired by one of Poe’s, and they’re grouped as such. If you’re a fan of “The Fall of the House of Usher,” there’s Sorrel Wood’s “De’Atherton House;” if you’re a fan of “The Masque of the Red Death” there’s S.S. Hampton, Sr.’s “The Mumbai Malaise;” if you’re a fan of “The Premature Burial,” there’s Dorian Dawes’ “Loving the Dead.”

You can order your copy of In Poe’s Shadow here: http://amzn.to/InPoesShadow.

The Poe inspired collection will be available at the NEHW table at Rock and Shock (www.rockandshock.com) this weekend and at the Middletown, Connecticut Open Air Market on Oct. 23. Schoonover will be at both events to sign her story.

Author Writes about His New Collection

20111002-083023.jpg

From author Wrath James White’s blog, Words of Wrath (http://wordsofwrath.blogspot.com/2011/09/like-porno-for-psychos.html)

Like Porno For Psychos

When I first started writing short stories again, after more than a decade of only writing poetry, my first efforts were in the realm of pornography. It was pornography with a strong supernatural or thriller element, but pornography nonetheless. Its sole purpose was to arouse unto the point of orgasm. I even sold a couple to Hustler Magazine. Later, I rewrote many of these short stories, pumping up the speculative fiction elements, and removing much of the sex (or so I thought.) I then resold these stories to horror magazines. I was quickly labeled an “Erotic Horror Author”. Years later, when I reread these tales, I realized that I had not removed nearly as much of the sex as I had thought. A couple of these stories, like Fly, about a guy who tosses women off balconies after having sex with them, ended up in The Book Of A Thousand Sins. The rest of them have been collected here, in my latest short story collection available now from Deadite Books.

Like Porno For Psychos includes some of my most lascivious writings. These stories drip with body fluids. There is a story about a cure for AIDS that spawns a world-wide orgy resulting in the erosion of society, a story about a woman with a fetish for lions, a story about a pimp who sees the power of creation in the vaginas of his whore’s, a story about a prostitute from hell and the right-wing conservative politician who can’t get enough of him. There are less salacious fare as well. A story about the neighbor who owns the dog that is really the thousand-year-old demon that once commanded David Berkowitz to kill, a story about a woman so obsessed with losing weight that she will go to any lengths. There are even a couple of erotic poems.

After reading this short collection of pornographic terrors, you might be left with the impression that Wrath really likes sex. This impression would be correct. There are few things I enjoy that I can’t either fuck, fight, or eat. If you don’t also like sex, violence, death, and horror then this is not the read for you. As the title implies, this is not a book for prudes. This is erotic horror with a strong emphasis on the erotic. Ever read a horror book with one hand? Well, this would be the one to start with. Enjoy.

You can order this little book of horror porn here:
http://deaditepress.com/2011/09/12/like-porno-for-psychos-by-wrath-james-white/

Sent from my iPhone