Contact! (again)

It's been a hot minute. My latest short story, "Red Cold Front," will soon be available.

The setting for the story is Archangel, 1919.  The story is fiction, the setting is real. It isn't alternate history. It's a forgotten war. The US and the Allies sent expeditionary forces into Russia, and yes, they battled with the Reds.

The Kindle edition of Contact 3: War Is Hell is available for pre-order now. If you want the paperback, it should be going live at the end of the month.

CONTACT 2: BLOOD & STEEL available now

 The Kindle edition of CONTACT 2: BLOOD & STEEL went live today. Hoping print soon follows.

My story, "Misery Hill," is historical, set during the end days of the Spanish-American war.

Coming soon .. soonish .. Blood & Steel

Screaming Banshee Press gave the go-ahead to share the cover of their next release, a military horror anthology; CONTACT 2: BLOOD & STEEL. Hoping to have it out late summer. I have a story under "& More" ;)

I will, of course, update when book is released and available.

LONELY HOLLOWS

It's been awhile! I am, once again, appearing in an anthology! This time the stories are folk horror.

LONELY HOLLOWS by Pavane Press.

My story, "The Cellar Man," is in excellent company!

The paperback and hardcover editions dropped early, and can be ordered now. The Kindle edition is on pre-order, still slated for May 21st delivery.

Blood on the Blade, anthology coming in November!

Via Flinch Books' Facebook page;

This November, Flinch Books unleashes an all new pulp fiction anthology on an unsuspecting world, their first fantastic foray into the realm of Sword & Sorcery!

BLOOD ON THE BLADE boasts of ten tales of slashing swords and sinister sorcery brought to you by master pulp scribes Cliff Biggers, Adrian Cole, Anne Marie Lutz, Paul R. McNamee, James A. Moore, Dave Ritzlin, Charles R Rutledge, Frank Schildiner, Steven L. Shrewsbury, and James Ray Tuck Jr. It’s a feast of fantasy you won’t soon forget!

Conceived and edited by Jim Beard and John Bruening. Cover by Mark Wheatley.

My tale features my stalwart heroes of spear and spirit, Lono & Makani, once again riding the ocean waves of adventure.

new short story in AN UNHOLY THIRST

Pavane Press (Cliff Biggers & Charles R. Rutledge) have released their latest anthology, AN UNHOLY THIRST. As you might infer from the title, the theme is vampires.

My story "The Wreck of the Black Swan" features my occult hero Doran Coyle, last seen in WEIRDBOOK #40.

Created in Hero Forge®

 The cover art by Lynne Hansen knocks it right out of the park!

The Lost Empire of Sol, sword-&-planet anthology

This anthology of sword-&-planet stories has been a long time in the making. I won't bore you with details. It started, floundered, picked up, floundered again. Jason Waltz finally grabbed the project for his refurbished Rogue Blades Foundation/ Rogue Blades Entertainment effort.

So, here we are. THE LOST EMPIRE OF SOL, available for pre-order. (includes my story, "A Gate In Darkness.")

Press release and ordering information can be found here;

https://rbe-rbf.wixsite.com/rogueblades/post/rb-foundation-title-release-alert-the-lost-empire-of-sol-an-anthology-of-sword-and-planet-tales 

 

 

WICKED WEIRD available now!

 

 

WICKED WEIRD is here!

(Well, kind of. The Kindle edition is available for pre-order. It appears the print edition can be ordered now.)

WICKED WEIRD

Though contracts have not gone out, the official t.o.c. was announced for WICKED WEIRD.

WICKED WEIRD is the next anthology produced by the New England Horror Writers group, following on WICKED SEASONS, WICKED TALES, WICKED WITCHES, and WICKED HAUNTED.

The original plan was to launch the book this August at Necronomicon Providence 2019. I don't know if that is still the plan, or if it will slip to their traditional October launch.

As you might guess from the title and launch plan, the theme this time around is 'weird' and 'cosmic' horror. My story, "The Painted Girl," is among the nineteen. Some intriguing titles and good writers here. I'm happy to be included.

WICKED WEIRD

Editors - Amber Fallon, Scott Goudsward and David Price

(In Random order - Not book order:)

Jeffrey Thomas - Your Emergency Response Guide
Lauran L. Soares - The Sweetness and the Psychic
Ken Vaughan - A Long Walk to the Ocean
John Goodrich - The Promised Death of Zebediah Dewey
Matthew M. Bartlett - Strange Haze
Barry Lee Dejasu - The Night and all its Visitors
Morgan Sylvia - Salt Cave
Errick Nunnally - A Song of War and Death
Jason Parent - Starry Night
William Carl - Reclaimed
Frank Raymond Michaels - Please Stay Dead, Aunt Marnie
Paul McNamee - The Painted Girl
Peter Dudar - Perfect Parent
Victoria Dalpe - Those beneath, devour
Steve Van Samson - A Feast of Flies
Rob Smales - Pet Shop of the Gods
John Buja - Lost Mine of St. Eloi
Trisha Wooldridge - The Mass of the Greatest Sin
Steven LaCroix - Better Late than Never

There you have it 19 original stories - 93K (pre-edits etc)

PICKMAN'S GALLERY available now (print edition)

Today is the anniversary of the birth of H. P. Lovecraft.

I re-read "The Dunwich Horror" yesterday.

Also in celebration, Ulthar Press have released PICKMAN'S GALLERY in print. Ebook to follow. (EDIT: Kindle version is now available)

One of the most popular and enduring characters created by H. P. Lovecraft is the mad artist, Richard Upton Pickman. Introduced in the short story, “Pickman’s Model”, Pickman made another appearance in Lovecraft’s fantasy novel, THE DREAM-QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH but was that the end of Pickman’s story? What untold horrors awaited? In this brand new collection of seventeen stories, some of weird fiction’s best authors present their versions of Pickman’s life and after-life. Join Peter Rawlik, Paul McNamee, Joshua Reynolds, Robert Price and more in this excursion into the dark side of art. Once you visit Pickman’s Gallery, you will never see the world the same way again!

Currently, the listing lacks a "Look Inside" preview. But thanks to having a proof copy, I can let you in on the table-of-contents.

• Introduction by Matthew Carpenter (editor)
• "One Night South of the Border" by Paul R. McNamee
• "The Studies of Dr. Reid" by Peter Rawlik
• "The Ghulistan Affair" by Sam Inabinet
• "Pigman" by Dave Haendler
• "A Creak in the Floor" by Victoria Dalpe
• "Pickman's Model" by Maurice Lane
• "For Susannah" by Tom Lynch
• "The Ghoul's Portrait" by Joshua Reynolds
• "A Pickman Original" by Logan Noble
• "Pickman's Muse" by Kenneth Heard
• "Eigenspace X" by Mike Chinn
• "The Medium and the Message" by LC Von Hessen
• "Beyond the Veil of Pretty Pink Lies" by Rebecca Allred
• "Pickman's Model Kit" by Cliff Biggers
• "The Pickman Revival" by Steven Vance
• "The Cleaner's Tale" by Tom Johnstone
• "A Photograph from Life" by Robert M. Price

THE MIGHTY WARRIORS

Last year, I posted about being accepted to the sword-&-sorcery anthology, THE MIGHTY WARRIORS.

Well, sometimes things in publishing take awhile. But good things come to those who wait, right?

THE MIGHTY WARRIORS is out in paperback now from Ulthar Press. Kindle eBook to follow.(edit: Kindle version now available)

And my-oh-my, just dig that risque art by the one and only Bruce Timm!

(You might want to order soon in case Amazon has an issue with the cover.. could be a collector's item .. just sayin' ;) )

The Amazon listing is sparse. Fortunately I have the means to let you see the table of contents.

 "Know, O Prince: An Introduction" by Robert M. Price
 "Spawn of the Sea God" by Adrian Cole
 "The Corpse's Crusade" by Cody Goodfellow
 "Thongor in the Valley of Demons" By Robert M. Price
 "The Shadow of Dia-Sust" by David C. Smith
 "Amudu's Bargain" by Charles R. Saunders
 "The Secret of Nephren-Ka" by Robert M. Price
 "The Temple of Light" by Milton J. Davis
 "Kiss of the Succubus" by Charles R. Rutledge
 "The Living Wind" by Ken Asamtsu, translated by Edward Lipsett
 "The Last Temple of Balsoth" by Cliff Biggers
 "Lono and the Pit of Punhaki" by Paul R. McNamee

This is an incredible lineup of authors and heroes - classic and new. Not only is Robert M. Price delivering a Thongor story, Adrian Cole is tackling Henry Kuttner's Elak of Atlantis, again. (I covered Cole's first foray in this post last year.) And the incomparable Imaro appears from the pen of Charles R. Saunders himself!

Very happy to see this project come to fruition!

recent read; Weirdbook #38

Weirdbook #38

I've been acquiring magazines (electronic and print) in addition to books and I should start reading more of them. And by magazines, of course, I mean anthology fiction magazines.

I should also review the newer titles to support the 'zines out there now that are delivering the kind of stuff I enjoy reading. Weirdbook is certainly one of those titles.

#38 is a good mix and like every anthology, some stories appealed more than others. I should think any pulp fan would enjoy it for the most part. The content is truly a "Weird" mix with fantasy, sword-&-sorcery, and horror (including Lovecraftian horror.) There are poems in the mix, too.

All of the current run of Weirdbook helmed by Douglas Draa are available - even cheaply for Kindle if you want. (this issue is currently the least expensive in eformat.)

Because I want to support them, I feel a little conflict of interest reviewing this magazine for the following reason; I must now publicly disclaim that I am scheduled to appear in Weirdbook #40.

This is also why I am giving a high-level simple review. I don't want to review each story or pick out favorites.

So, all the more selfish reason for me to ask you to keep these 'zines going!

recent read; MAMA TRIED

MAMA TRIED, edited by James R. Tuck
Down & Out Books, 2016

(I'd originally written this review for my blog but decided to pass it along to Jim Cornelius for FRONTIER PARTISANS)

Joe Lansdale prefaced one of his most famous stories with a note that is was "a story that does not flinch."

Although Lansdale is not in this anthology, I think that concept and spirit permeate this anthology. These stories do not flinch. They dig into criminal worlds, telling taut stories that kept me engaged throughout.

For more details, please visit the post at Frontier Partisans.

The Twisted Book of Shadows

This is some exciting, hopeful news!

Christopher Golden and James A. Moore are taking the plunge - they want to start a horror anthology with blind, open submissions.

Anthologies were a vital, formative part of our development as writers — and as readers. We look back with love and wonder at the efforts of the legendary Charles L. Grant to bring the cream of the horror crop into readers’ hands. His eleven-volume SHADOWS series contained familiar names, but every installment also presented us with the unfamiliar, and often the brand-new. Other Grant anthologies — TERRORS, NIGHTMARES, MIDNIGHT, the quartet of GREYSTONE BAY books — provided the same. Charlie Grant helped move unknown writers into the horror community’s conversation.

There were other anthologies that contributed to the trend. Thomas F. Monteleone’s BORDERLANDS series. Kathryn Ptacek’s WOMEN OF DARKNESS. Stuart David Schiff’s WHISPERS series. Kirby McCauley’s legendary DARK FORCES. Skipp & Spector’s milestone BOOK OF THE DEAD. David J. Schow’s SILVER SCREAM. And on and on…

But those books were published during horror literature’s glory days. In the years since, it has grown more and more difficult to persuade publishers to invest in horror anthologies (or anthologies of any sort, really). If Golden wants to pitch an anthology to a mainstream publisher, it’s necessary to compile a list of contributors first. Which means that there’s little opportunity to bring in unknown writers.

Yet those memories remain. We have talked for years about the desire to present an anthology that is open to anyone...

They have chosen to go with GoFundMe on this, rather than Kickstarter.

...we’re doing this as a GoFundMe instead of a Kickstarter because we want to focus on paying the writers. No gimmicks, no fancy prizes … nothing like that. No incentives other than a great reading experience and a level playing field for authors. We believe that there are enough people out there who believe in this project that we’ll be able to meet our goal

Needless to say, an open horror anthology piloted by these two guys will be a huge opportunity, both for writers (obviously) but also readers who want to discover new authors and read top-notch horror tales.

They will be working with John McIlveen's Haverhill House to publish the book.

Please give their project details a complete read-through and contribute if you feel this a worthy endeavor. (There are no reward tiers but a $25 donation will get you a digital copy of the book.) Link below.

THE TWISTED BOOK OF SHADOWS campaign

 

WICKED HAUNTED is here!

WICKED HAUNTED officially launches today!

I posted about this anthology in August when my story, "East Boston Relief Station," was accepted.

Note that the Kindle edition is at a launch sale price for the next week, $2.99! (regular e-price will be $4.99) Or, feel free to buy a print edition. Or both! ;)

Get yourself some groovy ghost stories!

WICKED HAUNTED - "East Boston Relief Station"

I am proud and pleased that my short story, "East Boston Relief Station," was accepted for inclusion in the anthology WICKED HAUNTED. The book is edited by Scott Goudsward, David Price & Dan Keohane, who read and chose the entries from members of the New England Horror Writers.

The theme of the anthology is ghost stories.

Amazing table of contents! I'm honored to be included with all these authors!

Bracken MacLeod - "Lost Boy"
James A. Moore - "Pulped"
Remy Flagg - "Murmur"
Doungjai Gam Bepko - "We're All Haunted Here"
Emma Jane Shaw Gibbon - "Ghost Maker"
Kenneth Vaughan - "And They Too Want to be Remembered"
Peter Dudar - "The Thing With No Face"
GD Dearborn - "Triumph of the Spirit"
Nick Manzolillo - "My Work is Not Yet Completed"
Paul McNamee - "East Boston Relief Station"
Trisha Wooldridge - "Ghosts In Their Eyes"
Curtis M. Lawson - "Everything Smells like Smoke Again"
Renee Mulhare - "Stranding Off Schroodic Point"
Tom Deady - "Turn Up the Old Victrola"
Dan Szczesny - "Boy on the Red Tricycle"
Dan Foley - "They Come With the Storm"
Barry Lee Dejasu - "Tripping the Ghost"
Rob Smales - "Road to Gallway"
Paul McMahon - "The Pick Apart"
Morgan Sylvia - "The Thin Place"
Matt Bechtel - "The Walking Man"
Larissa Glasser - "The Mouse"
Patricia Gomes - "Scrying Through Torn Screens"

Without giving anything away, I will say my story was inspired by some personal experiences and some family history I discovered.

Thanks to my alpha reader, Charles Rutledge.

The editors are still deciding the cover art. They plan to have the book published and ready for Halloween this year.

recent read; Planet of the Apes: Tales From The Forbidden Zone

Planet of the Apes: Tales From The Forbidden Zone

This is the book apocalyptic apes dream of.

It's hard to be unbiased about this book because I am an ApeHead since childhood. Anything new in the Planet of the Apes realm is like a nostalgia life preserver. I discussed that recently.

Tales from the Forbidden Zone gives us sixteen tales set across the various Planet of the Apes classic universes. Meaning - the original five movies, television series and Saturday morning cartoon. It does not include the 2001 movie or the recent movies.

The stories are enjoyable. I preferred some more than others but that is the nature of anthologies. Rather than delineate all sixteen, I will mention a few of my favorites. Your mileage may vary.

"Unfired" by Dan Abnett starts off the book with a bang, focusing on a group of underground mutants (Beneath the Planet of the Apes) making a daring pilgrimage across the open wilderness.

"The Unknown Ape" by Andrew E.C. Gaska starts in the cartoon universe (Return to the Planet of the Apes,) but we soon learn that Planet of the Apes time travel also creates the ability to cross dimensions into the other Apes realities. This is a fun crossover.

"Message in a Bottle" by Dayton Ward is an intriguing story in the television series setting. It almost serves as the first step in a 'season two' arc, bringing the astronauts' story back to its science fiction roots and away from "The Fugitive with Apes" rut the show quickly fell into. As a fan who wished for exactly that in regards to the show, this story really stood out.

"Milo's Tale" by Ty Templeton explains how Cornelius and Zira met Milo and came to be on the spaceship (Escape from the Planet of the Apes.) It also delivers a convincing backstory for Milo, explaining how he was such a knowledgeable ape given the primitiveness of the society presented in the original Planet of the Apes.

Finally, Jonathan Maberry closes out the tome with "Banana Republic," exploring the political machinations and alliances of ape society, coupled with the discovery of an ancient place of evil.

Tales from the Forbidden Zone is a welcome addition to the Planet of the Apes universe. If you enjoy that universe, you'll enjoy this book. Perhaps if it performs well, there could be another volume. So, buy yours today and go ape!

It's a mad house! Go ape!

"Weaponized nostalgia." - Chuck Wendig

The world has gone ape. Yes, in more ways than one. I'll stick with the non-political one.

My childhood crossed the 1970s-80s. I was a child in the 70s, teenager in the early 80s.

In hindsight, my first fandom was PLANET OF THE APES. I was an ApeHead.

What also surprised me, in hindsight, is how much of the fandom marketing machine I missed. It's also a bit of a shock to remember how much merchandise was available. It really was the first franchise merchandise blitz out of Hollywood. Sure other movies and shows had toys and a few coloring books, but POTA really went ape.

I watched the movies, the short-lived television show, and the short-lived cartoon. I had the action figures. I had activity books. I had the Topps trading cards of the t.v. series.

But I never knew about the novelizations. I spotted one in the library during junior-high years later. I never knew a thing about the comics, either, surprisingly enough.

Now, Titan Books are allowing me to relive my childhood and then some.

First, they've released an anthology of new stories set in all three universes - movies, t.v., cartoon.

 But wait! There's more!

Two omnibuses collecting the original movie novelizations are coming, too.

 
Wait. Not done. They are also publishing an omnibus of the original television episode novelizations.

Nope. Still not done. Not yet available but listed in Tales from the Forbidden Zone (and personally confirmed for me) a fourth omnibus with the original novelizations of the cartoon series.

Stop the presses.

Nope, can't.

Also rumored - perhaps a collection of the comics.

Tangent to Titan Books - The Topps Trading Cards book.

I knew the t.v. cards, I had those. I didn't know there had been cards from the original movie, too.

Last night, I picked up the new #1 of the PLANET OF THE APES / GREEN LANTERN cross-over comic.

Yeah. Combining the Apes with Green Lantern with the old Mego action figures packaging for the artwork.

Talk about weaponized nostalgia!

If nothing else, it will be a great year to be an ApeHead!

recent read; Best New Horror: Volume 25 edited by Stephen Jones

It's hard to go wrong with any of these The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror anthologies from Stephen Jones.

This volume came out in 2014, and contains stories from 2013. It also includes a dense "Introduction: Horror in 2013" which informs about all manner of publications in the horror field for 2013. The only drawback is that titles are embedded in the prose. You'll need to distill your own list, if you are interested in following up on any of the mentioned books.

The stories are all quality, I don't need to review each one. A few weren't to my taste, which is nearly always a given with any anthology. Some of my favorites were "Click-clack the Rattlebag" by Neil Gaiman, "The Middle Park" by Michael Chislett, "Into The Water" by Simon Kurt Unsworth (an Innsmouthian tale,) and "The Sixteenth Step" by Robert Shearman.

The volume also includes the entire novella, "Whitstable" by Stephen Volk, featuring a fictionalized account of Peter Cushing's off-screen life as he deals with a real life monster. Well done and worth the read.

The thick volume ends with "Necrology: 2013," which, sadly, is an "in memoriam" essay. Many people were lost to the horror field in 2013.

As I said at the top, you can't really go wrong with any of these. Worth having. Worth reading.

p.s.; Jones has been republishing earlier volumes through PS Publishing for e-book editions. New ones are e-book and hardcover. (Dropping the The Mammoth Book Of... moniker.) They have new EC Comic style covers, too.

Reading all over the map

Summer isn't quite done, but I'm anxious for autumn. Mostly, I want to get in the right (write) mood for drafting horror and ghost stories. Sure, I can do it anytime, but atmosphere helps.

I signed up (i.e.; spent money) and joined Audible, so any full novel 'reads' I do for a while will be in that manner. I've already been through James A. Moore's THE SILENT ARMY, the first Sherlock Holmes, A STUDY IN SCARLET and I just finished THE BEASTS OF TARZAN.

For real reading, I'm jumping around various anthologies and collections, mostly horror. Algernon Blackwood's ANCIENT SORCERIES. THE BEST OF NEW HORROR Vol. 25.  Reading my co-authors in CARNACKI: THE LOST CASES.

Plus some comics. Got in the mood for Iron Man last night, so started on IRON MAN, ESSENTIAL VOL 2.

Oh, and going back to my Weird New England roots - also reading about THE GREAT NEW ENGLAND SEA SERPENT. (blame that one on the whale watch we went on last week)