The NEHW at Rock and Shock

The New England Horror Writers will be appearing at Rock and Shock this weekend. There will be plenty of members manning the booth all weekend. They will be selling and signing their books.Epitaphs is one book in particular which will be on hand. It’s the first anthology produced by the NEHW. This Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of this collection being published. Here are the authors who have stories in Epitaphs that will be at the convention this weekend: Mike Arruda, Scott Goudsward, Stacey Longo, Paul McMahon, Kurt Newton, L.L. Soares, K. Allen Wood, and Trisha Wooldridge. Tracy L. Carbone, the editor of the anthology, will also be on-hand.

Other NEHW members, who will be at the convention, are Ashleigh Homon, Adam Cesare, Bracken Macleod, David Price, Gene Munson, Jason Harris, Jack Haringa, Jan Kozlowski, Kelli Jones, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Matt Bechtel, Patrick Rahall, Rebekah Murphy, Rob Watts, T.J. May, Paul Tremblay, Bob Booth, and Jennifer Yarter-Polmatier.

They will also be four panels that the NEHW members will be involved in. This is the second year the organization has been on different panels. This year on the Women in Horror panel members , Carbone, Longo, and Wooldridge will be joined by Heather Langenkamp of Nightmare on Elm Street fame and Lisa Marie of Sleepy Hollow and Mars Attacks! fame.

The other panels will be “Breaking into the Biz” with Harris, May, Bechtel, and Schoonover, and “Horror in the Movies” with Harris, Longo, Soares, and Macleod.

NEIBA Fall Conference Begins Tomorrow

The New England Independent Booksellers Association Fall Conference happens at the Rhode Island Convention Center at 1 Sabin Street in Providence, Rhode Island from Wednesday through Friday.

During the three-day conference, there will be exhibitors, lunch with booksellers, wholesalers and reps, panels, and plenty of other activities. You can check out the entire schedule by clicking here.

Some of the panels taking place during the conference include Best of Both Worlds: Understanding the Young Adult and Adult Crossover Market, Social Media 2.0: Beyond the Basics: Using Social Media to Drive Sales and Customer Engagement, Meeting the Literacy Needs in Your Community and ABA – E-book Solution.

There will also be autograph sessions with a number of authors inlcuding Joe Hill (Heart-Shaped Box), Nancy DiFabbio (Midnight Magic: Be Careful What You Wish For) and Kristy McKay (Undead) throughout the three-day event.

The 2012 Independent Spirit Awards will also be given out on Friday.

If you want to support NEIBA member stores in any of the New England states, click here.

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.”

‘A Good Turnout’ for ‘Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye’ Reading

‘A Good Turnout’ for Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye Reading

by Barry Dejasu

Author Paul Tremblay reading from Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye. Photo by Barry Dejasu.

About 15 people attended author and NEHW member Paul Tremblay’s reading of his newest book, Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye, at the Brown University Bookstore Wednesday evening.

Tremblay mentioned to his listeners that his book’s title came from a song by Neutral Milk. While writing Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye, he didn’t limit himself to any particular direction for the book, but rather let the story unfold on its own.

During the Q & A, there were a number of questions about his craft, both for his current novel and for his writing in general. Two of the questions asked of him if he intentionally took inspiration for certain characters and plot devices from works by Pynchon and Flannery O’Connor, which he hadn’t.

At one point, Tremblay talked about how he is drawn to creating empathetic characters, rather than sympathetic ones, which incited a projected conversation with some would-be naysayers.

“I didn’t like that book, because I didn’t like the main character, ” one naysayer said before ending their statement with an expletive.

There were several other authors in attendance including Paul DiFilippo, Jack Haringa, and John Harvey to support Tremblay.

A number of his books sold including No Sleep ‘Till Wonderland.

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.

Pictures from Friday and Saturday at the Hebron Harvest Fair

Author Kurt Newton reads to a group of people at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

Artist Cheryl Normandie standing next to her work at the Hebron Harvest Fair.. Photo by Jason Harris.

The above picture is just one of many that will be in this post. If any pictures catch your eye, feel free to call Normandie, who lives in Brooklyn, Connecticut, at (860) 779-0827. All photos of her artwork were taken by Jason Harris.

Some of Normandie’s witches. Photo by Jason Harris.

A young fan enjoying the children’s book, Pookie and the Lost and Found Friend. Photo by Stacey Longo.

Author G. Elmer Munson signing a copy of his novel, Stripped. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author G. Elmer Munson signing a copy of his novel, Stripped. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Stacey Longo taking time out to get her picture taken with a cow. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Alan S. Kessler signing a copy of Satan Carol. Photo by Stacey Longo

Author Alan S. Kessler signing a copy of Satan Carol. Photo by Stacey Longo.

Author Rob Watts hanging out with some young fans. Photo by Stacey Longo.

Author Rob Watts getting a stern warning from Vernon Post Captain Austin Agnew for talking with some young fans. Photo by Stacey Longo.

Author Stacey Longo with Senator Richard Blumenthal at the NEHW booth at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Stacey Longo with Senator Richard Blumenthal at the NEHW booth at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author G. Elmer Munson eating some chocolate covered bacon. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Stacey Longo modeling a cane carved by a member of the Mystic Woodcarvers Club. Photo by Jason Harris.

Work by the Mystic Woodcarvers Club at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

More work by the Mystic Woodcarvers Club. Photo by Jason Harris.

The NEHW table at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

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.