Tag Archives: New England Horror Writers

Oct 17 2012

Pictures from Rock and Shock, Part III

Authors Kristi Petersen Schoonover, T.J. May, and Trisha Wooldridge at Vive Bene. Photo by Jason Harris.

NEHW members Kelli Jones and Matt Bechtel. Photo by Jason Harris.

NEHW members Sarah Gomes, K. Allen Wood, and L.L. Soares. Photo by Jason Harris.

Authors K. Allen Wood, L.L. Soares, and Mike Arruda. Photo by Jason Harris.

Authors K. Allen Wood, L.L. Soares, Mike Arruda, and Tracy Carbone. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Deb Eskie. Photo by Jason Harris.

NEHW Director of Events Scott Goudsward. Photo by Jason Harris.

The woman on the left is a friend of author Chris Denmead (middle) who is talking to author Scott Goudsward (right). Photo by Jason Harris.

Don’t Ask. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Trisha Wooldridge taking a trip back in time. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author T.J. May. Photo by Jason Harris.

NEHW members Trisha Wooldridge and Kristi Petersen Schoonover. Photo by Jason Harris.

Ryan Convery, director of Mourning Wood. Photo by Jason Harris.

Actor Sid Haig with NEHW member Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.

Oct 17 2012

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.

Oct 16 2012

Pictures from Rock and Shock 2012, Part 1

Author Trisha Wooldridge talking with author Jack Ketchum. Photo by Jason Harris.

From left to right: NEHW Co-chair Tracy Carbone, actor Sean Whalen, and NEHW Co-chair Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.

Actor Sean Whalen and NEHW Director of Publicity Jason Harris. Photo by Stacey Longo.

The Women of Horror panel: (from left to right) actress Heather Langenkamp, author Tracy Carbone, author Stacey Longo, author Trisha Wooldridge, and actress Lisa Marie. Photo by Jason Harris.

The Women of Horror panel: (from left to right) actress Heather Langenkamp, author Tracy Carbone, author Stacey Longo, author Trisha Wooldridge, and actress Lisa Marie. Photo by Jason Harris.

The Women of Horror after the panel. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Kristi Petersen Schoonover helps fellow author Trisha Wooldridge with her corset for Rock and Shock. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Bracken MacLeod is so excited to be at Rock and Shock; his left hand can’t stop moving. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Jack Haringa. Photo by Jason Harris.

From left to right: NEHW members Stacey Longo, K. Allen Wood, and Sarah Gomes. Photo by Jason Harris.

Authors Adam Cesare (holding a box of books) and Scott Goudsward. Photo by Jason Harris.

Authors Rob Watts and Kristi Petersen Schoonover talking at Rock and Shock. Photo by Jason Harris.

Candyman actor Tony Todd. Photo by Jason Harris.

Brian Anderson, of Waltham, MA., as zombie stormtrooper and Ghostbuster Travis Smith, of Providence, RI. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Rob Watts talking with author Stacey Longo in the NEHW booth at Rock and Shock. Photo by Jason Harris.

The other table in the NEHW booth. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Kristi Petersen Schoonover talks to Dr. Chris. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.

Oct 14 2012

Rock and Shock 2012

My Experience at Rock and Shock 2012

by Jason Harris

Another Rock and Shock has come and gone. The New England Horror Writers were there once again. We have been there for the past four years. This year saw less atttendees then last year, but last year’s guest line-up included Robert Englund, whose line went on forever and never seemed to get any shorter, and Ace Frehley, former lead guitarist of KISS. This year had Heather Langenkamp, of Nightmare on Elm Street fame, Anthony Michael Hall, of televison series The Dead Zone and movies The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, and another former KISS member, Peter Criss.

Before getting to Rock and Shock, the wife and I went to fellow NEHW member Trisha Wooldridge’s house, where we were staying over the weekend. We were also going to be joined by another NEHW member Kristi Petersen Schoonover, who would be arriving later that night. It’s always a party when the NEHW members get together.

After leaving Trisha’s house, we drove to Annie’s Book Stop in Worcester to talk to the owner about her bookstore. The wife and I were picking her brain since we’re opening our own bookstore called Books and Boos in Colchester, CT. It was a very informative 40 minutes.

I was there the entire weekend and Saturday was the busiest day. Friday started off with Breakin’ into the Biz panel, which included myself, T.J. May, Matt Bechtel, and Kristi Petersen Schoonover, who ended up as moderator since there wasn’t anyone from Fangoria magazine there to do the job like there were for the other panels during the weekend. The panel went well and there were a lot of suggestions and advice given to the people in the audience.

Heather Langenkamp, Tracy Carbone, Stacey Longo, Trisha Wooldridge, and Lisa Marie on the Women in Horror panel. Photo by Jason Harris

The audience grew a little bit for the Women in Horror panel, but that was to be expected since Langenkamp and Lisa Marie (Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!) joined NEHW members Tracy Carbone, Stacey Longo, and Trisha Wooldridge. This panel had Jack from Fangoria, moderating the panel. One thing surprised me was that the audience didn’t asked two many questions when that time came. Four questions were asked of people on the panel and two of those questions came from me. I asked Heather how was it working on Just the Ten of Us and if she would do another television show. She said, she would love to do another tv series. It was also nice to hear that she will be in the next Star Trek movie titled Star Trek into Darkness, but she couldn’t say what character she’s playing. It was also great talking to her and Lisa Marie when the panel was over.

Tracy Carbone, Sean Whalen, and Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.

On Friday, it was great talking with Sean Whalen who was in The People Under the Stairs and Twister, and many other movies. Check out his credits on the Internet Movie Database by clicking here. He gave Carbone, Longo, and myself some good ideas.

I introduced myself to Doug Bradley, who portrayed Pinhead in most of the Hellraiser movies except the last one, since I conducted a phone interview with him a few weeks ago. You can read the article here.

I was hoping to interview Hall on Sunday since that was the day his manager, John Boitano, said would be the best day since it’s the slowest of the convention. On Friday, I had the feeling it wouldn’t happen since there was a sign on Hall’s table stating he wouldn’t be at the convention until 2 p.m. on Saturday. When Saturday came, he didn’t show up at his table until 3 p.m. Later on Saturday evening, he took a break and a sign said he would be back at 5:45 p.m. He didn’t get back from his break until 6:15 p.m. Seeing those signs, physical and figuratively, told me that Hall wasn’t going to keep an interview with me on Sunday. It would have been cool to interview him, but it wasn’t disappointing. I did interview another filmmaker, Ryan Convery, on Sunday about his movie Mourning Wood, which is about “humping zombies.” There will be an article and a movie review coming in the near future.

It was great meeting Tony Todd (Candyman), Brian O’Halloran (Clerks), and Sig Haig (House of 1000 Corpses) this weekend. I won’t get autographs since I am not paying $20 or more for an autograph unless they are selling a movie or a book. I will shake their hands and tell them I love their work.

There was a Horror in the Movies panel on Sunday, which Rob Watts, Bracken Macleod, myself, and Stacey Longo were on. Longo ended up being the moderator when Jack from Fangoria couldn’t do it since he had to do something else. It was attended by a good number of people.

There will be another post with pictures tomorrow.

Oct 7 2012

The Birth of ‘Dark Discussions’

The Birth of Dark Discussions

By Philip Perron

If you miss your favorite ESPN show, go get it on a podcast. If you want to hear news from some of the biggest news agencies in the world, you can get it through a podcast and listen to it a day later. Podcasting has been a spectacular if not largely known medium that provides programming for those folks who prefer to listen to their favorite topics when they want and wherever they want.

Though satellite radio has been a great phenomenon where folks are able to listen to an eclectic mix of shows on books, movies, sports, news, finance, and even cooking, niche audiences still may not be fulfilled with what they really want to listen to. What about themes such as video games, gardening, or even something as specific as horror movies? This is where podcasting really has promise. Not only is it free, it requires nothing more than an audio digital device, a laptop, or even a smart phone.

As an avid fan of the arts, specifically books and movies, I was always visiting websites to read about the production of Martin Scorcese’s latest film or the progress of the next Stephen King novel. Then one day I came across an audio review on the film Cloverfield as well as an audio round table discussion about the film No Country for Old Men. Afterwards, I saw that these audio files were also being streamed from Apple’s iTune’s store for free.

Getting programs on my little iPod was a convenient way to listen to programs I wanted to listen to while doing my daily walks in the woods or working out or commuting to work. And with the wide variety of programming available I was able to search for shows discussing upcoming books and movies. And yet even more specifically books and movies within the horror and techno genres.

The interesting thing was that many of the podcasts I listened to were done by amateurs or simply people who did them for fun. Their shows were filled on topics they were passionate about. The discussions were probably the same ones they’d be talking about over a round of beers. They weren’t making any money, they weren’t making any inroads towards a more promising career, they were doing it simply because they loved talking about their focused topic.

Early 2011, I figured I could do it myself. While grabbing burgers with a few guys, I noticed our discussions focused around either sports or genre fiction which included horror, science fiction, fantasy, thriller, techno-thriller, and mystery. And having added a number of genre themed podcasts as part of my weekly listen to-do list, I did my research and started putting together the idea. What resulted was a genre themed topical podcast entitled Dark Discussions Podcast.

Finding two wonderful folks online through various genre themed forums, myself along with Eric Webster, of Ann Arbor, Michigan and Michael Darwin, of Hudson Valley, New York came together and put together a weekly show on topics that anyone from the New England Horror Writer’s group would be familiar with. Not to be tagged as specifically horror, the tag line “Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that’s fantastic” seemed to fit.

The podcast basically focused at first on themed discussions or specific movies. Topics such as a retrospective of the director and screenwriter Frank Darabont as well as the franchise of the Planet of the Apes were some of the early weekly episodes. But also films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and John Huston’s Moby Dick have been a focus. It’s true, we are no experts but our perspectives as fans of genre fiction were as well thought out as some of the genre websites and magazines available. And at the worst, we provide another voice on both obscure works and genre classics.

Some of the inventive ways the podcast has expanded were by being contacted by some folks for reviews and promotion. Horror Realm, a convention every September in Pittsburgh, emailed and offered the podcast passes to their convention. M.J. Preston, the author of The Equinox, asked if we’d be interested in a free copy of his novel to review. However, it was co-host Darwin who really got it. While attending Horror Realm 2011 as press, he not only interviewed the film stars of some of horror fans favorite films, but he started interviewing the vendors and independent talent. What resulted was Dark Discussions Podcast helping out folks who need promotion of some really fantastic works that anyone who enjoys horror should know about.

This is where Dark Discussions Podcast in a sense merges with the NEHW group. After Horror Realm 2011, Dark Discussions contacted the folks at both the Rock and Shock and Anthocon conventions and received press passes to attend and promote their events. This is where our podcast became what some would call an unofficial promoter of the folks we met specifically at Anthocon and therefore NEHW. We interviewed such NEHW members as Charles Day, Gregory Norris, and Inanna Arthen. Small presses as Evil Jester Press and By Light Unseen Media, which had tables at Anthocon were also focused on.

So after a year and a half, the podcast keeps going. The listenership grows. And topics as wide ranging as modern novels as Scott Sigler’s Infected and independent cinema as Simon Rumley’s Red, White, and Blue are featured. As an inspiring writer, I know the work folks go through juggling their everyday lives with writing. With Horror Realm come and gone and Rock and Shock and Anthocon coming up, Dark Discussions looks forward to seeing everyone and helping you promote your new and wonderful works. As an inspiring writer, I know the work folks go through juggling their everyday lives with writing.

Oct 7 2012

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.

Oct 6 2012

The Good and Bad of the 2012 NEIBA Fall Conference

The Good and Bad of the 2012 NEIBA Fall Conference

By Jason Harris

The New England Independent Booksellers Association 39thAnnual Conference took place from Oct. 3 through 5 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island.

I will start with the good first. I went to the first day of the conference on Wednesday. I was looking forward to the panel “Social Media 2.0: Beyond the Basics: Using Social Media to Drive Sales and Customer Engagement.” As the NEHW Director of Publicity and Webmaster and Marketing Director and co-owner of Books and Boos, a bookstore, I knew I could learn something from this panel. The panelists were Sarah Rettger, of Newtonville Books in Newton, MA., Mary Allen, of Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, VT., Kirsten Hess, of R.J. Julia in Madison, CT, and Ann Kingman of Random House.

The panelists mentioned there are ups and downs when using social media. One downside is that you have to use it five times a day, Hess mentioned.

One thing I was surprised to hear was the fact that the panelists don’t like Hootsuite, which could help with having to be on social media five times a day. The reason is it’s not genuine and people know it from seeing where the message is from. “Voice is important” when posting in social media, Hess said.

Hess also mentioned that people should be looking at other Facebook business pages, not just look at the book business.

Allen mentioned that people love photographs and live pictures of things with authors. She wasn’t talking about pictures of authors reading from their books either. She’s talking about a picture of them making a funny face or something behind the scenes before they become professional to do their reading.

Hess said customers want to see the people who sell them their books.

If you own a bookstore or any type of business, a good word to keep in mind is “partnerships” with other businesses in your community, Allen said.

Rettger said you should do what’s best for you and not to force it.

The other panel I checked out was “It’s All About Customer Service: Strengthening the Brick and Mortar Advantage.” This one wasn’t has interesting to me as the Social Media one, but it did contain some good ideas. The panelists were Susan Mercier, of Edgartown Books in Edgartown, MA., Ann Carmichael, of Kennebunk, ME, Michael Kanter, owner of Cambridge Naturals in Cambridge, MA., and Karen Corvello, of Baker & Taylor.

Kantor said that customer is all and everything. Stores should be kept cleaned and stocked, he said.

“My goal is for customers to leave the store and say ‘wow’ that was an amazing experience,” Kantor said.

He has noticed that in many bookstores employees are indifferent.

It was mentioned that every customer should be greeted as they come into the store.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Carmichael said. She also said that customer service begins on the sidewalk before the customer even comes inside. This means that the landscaping to the windows to the building itself has to be in the best shape possible.

Now we come to the bad of NEIBA. I had a couple of assignments on Thursday, which kept me away from the conference. I was able to attend on Friday and I wish I didn’t. The main reason I was going to go on Friday was to attend the panel, “Think Tank Round Tables – New ideas for New Business.” This is how the program guide described the panel: “Whenever booksellers get together the room seems to fill with new ideas. This 45-minute ‘think tank’ is an opportunity to gather – at tables organized by small, mid and larger-sized stores – and talk with each other about what exciting things you’ve done in your store in the past year and what things you’ve learned at the Fall Conference you’re going to do. We hope this will be a useful and focused way to wrap up the educational offerings of the Conference.”

When I got to the convention center, I found out that the trade show exhibit room was already shut down and packed up. It only went on one day this year and that day was Thursday. I didn’t realize this would happen from the program guide. I figured it would go on the entire conference. This was the first year they only had it for one day I was told. NEIBA was trying something new this year. Hopefully, they will go back to having it open all three days next year.

After being disappointed about the trade show, I went to the room where my panel was going to be held. I was about twenty minutes early so I waited outside the room. As it started getting closer to the 11 a.m. start time I wanted to the door. Once it got to 10:55 a.m., I was leaning against the doorway and started to worry. When I heard Steve Fischer, of NEIBA tell Neil Strandberg of the American Booksellers Association to continue talking and that he had plenty of time and it was around 11:10 a.m., I started getting upset. Later on, Fischer said that Strandberg could continue until 11:30 a.m. The last twenty minutes of the supposed panel I went to see was used to continue the discussion of the Kobo e-reading program, which was the subject of the previous panel. I had made a two hour and fifty minute round trip from Connecticut for nothing and I wasn’t happy about this. If NEIBA wasn’t going to have the panel they promoted in its program then they should have gotten the word out. Instead of still promoting it, by having the panel’s name and description listed on the wall outside the convention center’s conference room.

Oct 1 2012

The Epitaph, Issue 24 (Septemeber 2012)

Issue #24 (Sept. 2012)

The Epitaph

Journal of the New England Horror Writers (NEHW)

The NEHW Board of Directors:

Tracy L. Carbone – Co-Chair
Stacey Longo – Co-Chair
Dan Keohane – Treasurer
Jason Harris – Director of Publicity/Webmaster
K. Allen Wood – Director of Publications
Scott Goudsward – Director of Events
David Price
Tim Deal (alternate)
T.J. May (alternate)                       

NEHW SIGNINGS AND READINGS:

Rock and Shock

The NEHW will have its usual table this years Rock and Shock (www.rockandshock.com) convention in Worcester, MA from 10/12 – 10/14 – a lot of the details are on our FB page.

We will be going to dinner at Viva Bene’s Saturday night at 7:30.

If you plan on selling at the booth or coming to dinner, Scott Goudsward needs to know ASAP. Email him at screaming602@gmail.com. An email chain will start soon with the details of attendance and panels. If your name does not get on the list then you will not be able to get in. Email Scott for questions and details.

The NEHW will be taking place in panels this year, Women in Horror, Small Press Publishing and Breaking into the Business  – if you would like to volunteer to be on one of them (and there’s space) email Scott.

Oct. 28 Reading/Signing Event

There are plans in the works for a NEHW reading/signing event on Sunday, Oct. 28 in Billerica, MA from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. There will be a table where your books can be sold too. Please email Jason Harris at dudley228@gmail.com if you are interested in participating in this event.

Rhode Island Comic Con

The NEHW will be at Rhode Island Comic Con on November 3 and 4. The cost will be $25 per member to participate. Space is limited to six people. This event is now full.

Anthocon

The NEHW will have a table at Anthocon (www.anthocon.com) from Nov. 9 through 11. Participation is $10. Email Scott Goudsward at screaming602@gmail.com for details and to reserve a spot at the table to sell your books.

Tantasqua’s Holiday Craft Fair

The NEHW will have tables at the Tantasqua’s Holiday Craft Fair at the Tantasqua Regional Sr. High School in Fiskdale, MA from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on December 1. It’s $10 to participate. Contact Jason Harris at dudley228@gmail.com to be at the table.

Want to Give Back to the NEHW?

The NEHW has been asked by the Barnes & Noble in Manchester, CT to man its gift wrapping table. There will be a jar set-up for donations, which will go to our organization. We will be there on Dec. 9, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The table sits three people comfortably. There will be shifts. After gift wrapping ends, we can go out to eat at a local restaurant.

Email Jason Harris at dudley228@gmail.com if you like to help gift wrap.

NEHW WRITING OPPORTUNITIES:

From Trisha Wooldridge:

Doorways to Extra Time, a short story anthology, is now accepting submissions.

In our busy world of meetings and microwaves, car radios and cell phones, people always wish they could get an extra hour in the day. What if they could? Doorways to Extra Time is an anthology that explores ways to get extra time (be it an hour, a day, or a decade) and the impact it would have (whether upon a single life, a family or an entire world).We’re looking for stories with a touch of the fantastic—whether mystical, magical, mechanical, or just plain mysterious—but they can be set in any time or any genre: contemporary or historical, science fiction or fantasy, horror or magic realism. We could even find a place for a nonfiction essay if it was truly exceptional. In short, show us something show-stopping, and we’ll make time for you.

Suggested Length: full stories (from 3,000 to 7,000 words) and flash fiction (preferred under 1,000 words). We will accept good stories up to 10,000 words but longer lengths are a harder sell.

Due Date: Oct. 15, 2012

Editors: Anthony Francis and Trisha J. Wooldridge

Submission Guidelines: Please email your submissions to anthology@spencerhillpress.com. Put your story in the BODY of the email (no attachments) and put “DOORWAYS TO EXTRA TIME” in the subject line along with the title.

And now the boring bits: We can only accept previously unpublished stories. Please don’t use characters or material to which you do not own the copyright so Disney doesn’t come sue us—this is not a fan-fiction anthology. Contributor payment will be an advance of $10, a contributor copy of the print edition, and an equal share of the contributors’ portion of the royalties. Please make your work appropriate for a PG-13 audience and avoid gratuitous sex, violence, politics and puns.

For accepted submissions, Spencer Hill Press will take first print and electronic publishing rights, which are exclusive publishing rights for as long as the anthology remains in print. This means that authors will not be able sell or publish their stories elsewhere, and when the rights revert to the authors after the anthology is no longer in print, they will only be able to market the story as a reprint, which in nearly all cases is a harder sell and has a lower pay rate than first print. We at Spencer Hill Press hope that the anthology will have strong sales that will result in healthy royalty payments, but we want authors to go into this with eyes open, knowing how acceptance to one anthology limits the marketing of the same story down the road.

She hasn’t gotten anything from her NEHW colleagues and would really love more horror!!!

NEHW MEMBER NEWS:

From Jan Kozlowski:

Kozlowski’s novel, Die, You Bastard! Die!, edited by the legendary John Skipp, is now out in paperback! http://t.co/5eGWiXgE.

From Stacey Longo:

Longo will be the guest author on The Writer’s Chatroom on Oct. 7 from 7 – 9 p.m. (EST) for dark fiction month. TWC is a 5-time winner of Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers. Longo will be raffling off a copy of Dark Things IV during the intermission at 8 p.m.

The chat is completely online, so be sure to visit http://writerschatroom.com on Sunday.

From Robert Heske:

I’m writing to let you know about Blessid.

Here’s the pitch:

A disturbed young pregnant woman searching for the will to live meets an enigmatic immortal that has moved in next door. He’s seen everything…but can he help her to survive her past?

Blessid is an indie film that is dark, funny, violent and ultimately uplifting. It’s a story about tragedy, guilt, survival and forgiveness.

I know you’ve heard from many, many people asking you to help fund their film project. What makes Blessid unique? Glad you asked!

Beyond a great script and a story that’s not been told before, we have an energetic, experienced director and crew who have collectively worked on the biggest feature films that have come to Boston in the past decade. Our producer had a short film accepted into Sundance this year. And the camera package we are shooting on is the same one that was used to film the summer blockbuster Prometheus. We have an unbelievable blend of New England and LA-based actors … and some exciting news to come. We believe so much in this project we are funding a good percentage of it ourselves. But every contribution helps and gets us closer.
Take a moment to check it out on Indiegogo and also share it with your friends. All the tools are there. Get perks, make a contribution, or simply follow updates. If enough of us get behind it, we can make Blessid happen.
http://www.indiegogo.com/blessidthemovie?a=933605&i=emal

From L.L. Soares:

Soares’ debut novel, Life Rage, came out from Nightscape Press on Sept. 21 and should be available soon afterwards on Amazon and the usual places. It’s also available for Kindle and Nook.

Soares’ second novel, Rock ‘N’ Roll, comes out in October from Gallows Press. He hopes to have copies at this year’s Rock and Shock Convention in Worcester.

From Dale T. Phillips:

Phillips will be one of the featured writers at the New England Author’s Expo on Nov. 11th, at the Danversport (MA) Yacht Club.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS:

Sue Schuler (MA)
Elaine Pascale (MA)
Rona Gofstein (MA)

– Jason Harris, Editor, the Epitaph: Journal of NEHW
– Stacey Longo, Assistant Editor, the Epitaph: Journal of NEHW

Sep 17 2012

Author’s First Novel to Debut at Killercon

Author and New England Horror Writer member L.L. Soares first novel, Life Rage, will debut at Killercon in Las Vegas, happening from September 20 through 23. The novel is being published by Nightscape Press.

From the publisher’s website, “Sam Wayne is a psychologist who specializes in anger management. He’s very good at his job. Almost too good. In fact, he considers himself something of a miracle worker. A mad man is on the loose, ripping people apart with his bare hands. The police have no clues. Those who see him and survive never seem to make out his face. All except for one … Colleen has led a wasted life, bringing home a new man to her bed every night. Until that night. Witnessing her friend torn to pieces right before her eyes, she sees the murderer’s face clearly. She manages to escape, traumatized by what she’s seen, and keeps running until she falls into the arms of Jeremy Rust. An ex Hollywood playboy, Jeremy now hides out in a secluded beach house with his mysterious roommate, Viv. Viv has an insatiable hunger. Like Colleen, Viv never stays long with one partner. Because those who sleep with Viv never manage to live very long, once she finds the key to their soul. The number of murders keeps growing, until an eruption of rage begins to spread like an epidemic. Everywhere, crowds of people mindlessly rip each other apart. An event that will tie all these characters together in a final showdown of supernatural forces. But not everyone will survive the explosive fury of Life Rage!”

Life Rage will be available in trade paperback, and as an e-book for Nook and Kindle.

Sep 3 2012

The Epitaph, Issue 23 (August 2012)

Issue #23 (Aug 2012)

The Epitaph

Journal of the New England Horror Writers (NEHW)

The NEHW Board of Directors:

Tracy L. Carbone – Co-Chair
Stacey Longo – Co-Chair
Dan Keohane – Treasurer
Jason Harris – Director of Publicity/Webmaster
K. Allen Wood – Director of Publications
Scott Goudsward – Director of Events
Danny Evarts – Art Director
Tim Deal (alternate)
T.J. May (alternate)

NEHW SIGNINGS AND READINGS:

Hebron Harvest Fair

The NEHW will once again have a booth at this four day fair. It runs from Sept. 6 through 9.

Rhode Island Comic Con

The NEHW will be at Rhode Island Comic Con on November 3 and 4.

Anthocon

The NEHW will have a table at Anthocon (www.anthocon.com) from Nov. 9 through 11.

Tantasqua’s Holiday Craft Fair

The NEHW will have tables at the Tantasqua’s Holiday Craft Fair at the Tantasqua Regional Sr. High School in Fiskdale, MA from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on December 1.

Want to Give Back to the NEHW?

The NEHW has been asked by the Barnes & Noble in Manchester, CT to man its gift wrapping table. There will be a jar set-up for donations, which will go to our organization. We will be there on Dec. 9, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The table sits three people comfortably. There will be shifts. After gift wrapping ends, we can go out to eat at a local restaurant.

Email Jason Harris at dudley228@gmail.com if you like to help gift wrap.

NEHW WRITING OPPORTUNITIES

From Charles Day:

Evil Jester Press is looking for comic book/graphic novel artists to submit samples of their work for our new 6 issue series. Please send a couple pages to David C. Hayes, Executive Editor at: eviljesterpresentscomics@gmail.com

From Trisha Wooldridge:

Doorways to Extra Time, a short story anthology, is now accepting submissions.

In our busy world of meetings and microwaves, car radios and cell phones, people always wish they could get an extra hour in the day. What if they could? Doorways to Extra Time is an anthology that explores ways to get extra time (be it an hour, a day, or a decade) and the impact it would have (whether upon a single life, a family or an entire world).We’re looking for stories with a touch of the fantastic—whether mystical, magical, mechanical, or just plain mysterious—but they can be set in any time or any genre: contemporary or historical, science fiction or fantasy, horror or magic realism. We could even find a place for a nonfiction essay if it was truly exceptional. In short, show us something show-stopping, and we’ll make time for you.

Suggested Length: full stories (from 3,000 to 7,000 words) and flash fiction (preferred under 1,000 words). We will accept good stories up to 10,000 words but longer lengths are a harder sell.

Due Date: Oct. 15, 2012

Editors: Anthony Francis and Trisha J. Wooldridge

Submission Guidelines: Please email your submissions to anthology@spencerhillpress.com. Put your story in the BODY of the email (no attachments) and put “DOORWAYS TO EXTRA TIME” in the subject line along with the title.

And now the boring bits: We can only accept previously unpublished stories. Please don’t use characters or material to which you do not own the copyright so Disney doesn’t come sue us—this is not a fan-fiction anthology. Contributor payment will be an advance of $10, a contributor copy of the print edition, and an equal share of the contributors’ portion of the royalties. Please make your work appropriate for a PG-13 audience and avoid gratuitous sex, violence, politics and puns.

For accepted submissions, Spencer Hill Press will take first print and electronic publishing rights, which are exclusive publishing rights for as long as the anthology remains in print. This means that authors will not be able sell or publish their stories elsewhere, and when the rights revert to the authors after the anthology is no longer in print, they will only be able to market the story as a reprint, which in nearly all cases is a harder sell and has a lower pay rate than first print. We at Spencer Hill Press hope that the anthology will have strong sales that will result in healthy royalty payments, but we want authors to go into this with eyes open, knowing how acceptance to one anthology limits the marketing of the same story down the road.

NEHW MEMBER NEWS:

From Erin Underwood:

Underwood sold her short story “The Foam Born” to Ticonderoga Press for their new anthology Bloodstones, edited by Amanda Pillar, which will be released in October 2012.

From Bob Sterns:

Stearns released his first e-book novella, The Harvester, on Amazon. It is a dark fantasy/horror/sci-fi adventure story and fully illustrated. Here’s the link, http://www.amazon.com/TheHarvesterebook/dp/B008SGZKXU/ref=sr_1_5?s=digitaltext&ie=UTF8&qid=1344562146&sr=1-5&keywords=the+harvester

From K.H. Vaughan:

Vaughan’s story, “Love and Rocket at the Siege of Peking,” will appear in the steampunk-wuxia anthology Shanghai Steam, due this November from Absolute Xpress.

From Robert Heske:

Heske’s graphic novel, The Night Projectionist, was reviewed by ComicsGrinder.com (http://comicsgrinder.com/2012/08/05/how-to-tell-a-good-vampire-story-the-night-projectionist-tpb-review/) and on HorrorNews.net (http://horrornews.net/55250/book-review-the-night-projectionist-author-robert-heske/).

He also did a follow-up interview with Henry Chamberlain at ComicsGrinder about The Night Projectionist and his other work, including his upcoming indie film Blessid (http://comicsgrinder.com/2012/08/14/robert-heske-interview-screenplays-and-comics/).

He reports that initial filming will begin on Blessid in September with a 2-day shoot, with the balance occurring in November. Here are links to “Like”, Follow and Fund Heske’s film: www.facebook.com/BlessidTheMovie, www.twitter.com/blessidthemovie, and www.indiegogo.com/blessidthemovie.

From Dave Goudsward:

Goudsward is proud to announce one of the top Lovecraftian scholars, Kenneth Faig, Jr., will be writing the foreword to his book H.P. Lovecraft in the Merrimack Valley, which explores the region’s ties to the Amateur Journalism movement that served as an incubator to Lovecraft’s writing, and the influence of later visits on HPL’s work.

From K. A. Laity:

Laity has the cover art for Weird Noir, the forthcoming collection she’s editing for Fox Spirit Books (foxspirit.co.uk), out this November.

Recent publications include:

The Price. Short story. Tales of the Nun and Dragon (http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/?page_id=82). Ed. Adele Wearing. Fox Spirit Books. August 2012.

ASBO Bambi. Flash fiction. Pulp Metal Magazine (http://pulpmetalmagazine.wordpress.com/2012/08/04/asbo-bambi-by-k-a-laity/).

Aug. 4, 2012.

The Claddagh Icon. Short story. Atlantis eBooks/Lite Editions (http://atlantis.lite-editions.com/ebook.php?c&p=28). July, 21 2012. [English/Italian language editions]

Her dark story collection, Unquiet Dreams, will be released Oct. 4 from Tirgearr Publishing.

From Eric Stanway:

Emu Books will be releasing two new anthologies by Stanway, a New Hampshire author, whose previous books include “Vintage Blood,” “The Old Rindge House,” and “Madame Sherri,” on September 21, for the Halloween season.

Stanway has edited the anthology, The Blood is the Life, a collection of classic vampire stories, by such literary luminaries as F. Marion Crawford, F. G. Loring, E. F. Benson and Nikolai Vasilivich Gogol. This collection also includes the story “The Vampyre” by John Polidori, which holds the distinction of being the first vampire tale in modern literature.

He also edited Mad Ghosts and Englishmen, a treasury of classic British Ghost stories by such renowned authors as M. R. James, Bram Stoker and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

Each book is lavishly illustrated with period engravings, and is 267 pages. They will retail for $14.95 apiece, and are available at Amazon.com and all good bookstores.

For more information or interviews, interested parties can call the author at (603 585-6820 or email eric.stanway@yahoo.com. Visit EricStanway.com for more details.

From L.L. Soares: 

L.L. Soares’s novel, Life Rage, will be making its debut at Killercon in Las Vegas the weekend of September 20 – 23.

From Dan Foley:

Foley sold a short story, “I Will Make You Beautiful,” to Scarlet River Press for the anthology, Rigorous Mortis – A Mortician’s Tale Anthology.

From John Grover:

Grover is very excited to announce the release of his first full-length novel, If God Doesn’t Show, co-written with R. Thomas Riley and published by Permuted Press. It’s the apocalypse and the dead are rising, shadow creatures are on the loose, Cthulhu has returned and only two men can stop the madness and they’ve never even met.

Available in all formats and reading devices, but you can start with Amazon and B&N: http://www.amazon.com/Doesnt-Show-Cthulhu-Mythos-Novel/dp/1618680560 and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/if-god-doesnt-show-r-thomas-riley/1112297347?ean=2940015024272

Grover’s first Zombie book is now available on Kindle and Nook. Frozen Stiff: A Zombie Novella is a horror adventure set in the Canadian Arctic. A horror colder than the snowy landscape awaits a military search and rescue team and their civilian survivors in this original chiller of the zombie apocalypse. Get it for Kindle or Nook: http://www.amazon.com/Frozen-Stiff-Zombie-Novella-ebook/dp/B008XRUSGS or http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/frozen-stiff-john-grover/1112550486?ean=2940014899239

Finally not quite horror, but for those who enjoy fantasy, the second installment of Grover’s dark fantasy series Song of the Ancestors II: The Human Condition is now available exclusively on Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Human-Condition-Song-Ancestors-ebook/dp/B008ITKUAK

From Charles Day and Evil Jester Press:

I am delighted to announce that after a few months of brainstorming and talking with some members of the HWA board, James Chambers and I are now excited to be co-chairing the HWA NY/LI Chapter. We are looking to hold our first meeting early October, possibly in the NYC area, near the Javitt’s Center if possible. A few of us HWA members will be attending the NY Comic book Convention (COMIC-CON) and this would be a great time to gather up some people.

Day’s also excited to be hanging out with the NEHW at the Rhode Island Comic-Con this coming Nov 3 and 4. He’ll be signing copies of my Legend of the Pumpkin Thief and the newly released Tales of Terror & Mayhem from Deep Within the Box.

Nov 9-11: The evil little jester and his jesterly minions will be arriving at ANTHOCON in New Hampshire. Our booth is registered and we hope to see many of you there. I’ll be signing copies of my books, and we will have other authors at the table and around the conference to sign copies. We hope to also have Joe McKinney’s Inheritance released by this time. Looking forward to seeing everyone again. Last year was such a blast.

If any of you are active members with the HWA and would like to participate in the HWA Mentoring Program, please get in touch with me. I’ve been filling all the slots, and could use more professional writers to share their knowledge to aspiring writers. My email address is cday3067@hotmail.com.

From Dale Phillips:

Phillips is on the radio, talking about writing, as a guest on David Tierney’s show on 91.5, WUML. Listen via radio or on www.wuml.org. He will be on Monday mornings from 9:50 to 10:10 (approximately).

From E.F. Schraeder:

Schraeder’s short story “Stacked” appeared in the Summer 2012 Dark Gothic Resurrected magazine.  Two other stories were also selected for upcoming anthologies.   “Employee of the Month” was selected for Carnival of the Damned anthology edited by Henry Snider and David C. Hayes from Evil Jester Press, and “The Hopeful Doctor” was included in Dark Moon Books’ upcoming alternate history horror anthology, Zombie Jesus and Other True Stories, edited by Lori Michelle, Max Booth III, and Stan Swanson.

From Scott Goudsward:

Goudsward has sold “Ghost Lights” to Evil Jester Press’ Carnival of the Damned.

Once Upon an Apocalypse is still taking submissions for another month. www.onceuponanapocalypse.com

From Errick Nunnally:

Nunnally sold a short story, “Who Bears the Lathe?” to eFiction’s inaugural genre magazine. The magazine’s first issue will be published in early September 2012.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS:
 
Georgina Morales (CT)
Heather Randolph (MA)
Joe Mirabello (MA)
Barbara Farrow (MA)

– Jason Harris, Editor, the Epitaph: Journal of NEHW
– Stacey Longo, Assistant Editor, the Epitaph: Journal of NEHW