“Thirst” — Optioned for Film

Michael Yurinko and I have known each other since October 2012. So it’s only fitting that after almost eight years to the day of trying to figure out something to work together on, we can finally announce a very exciting project that’s still in the very beginning stages. 

Back in June of this year we started chatting again about what to work on together. Michael told me he was looking for an atypical lycan tale. I was more than happy to send him the short story “Thirst” (Originally published in Werewolf Magazine, Issue #9, January 2009. Reprinted in For After Midnight, October 2011 and then again in Escaping Lucidity, June 2015). I also sent him my novella Grave Intentions (coming in mid-2021 from Crossroad Press). There is a passage in both (because the novella is based on the short story) that gives a flashback scene. This imagery and dialog must have struck a cord in Michael because he told me this specific part of the story was exactly what he was looking for. After I gave my permission to use some of “Thirst”, Michael wrote a first, then a second draft of what would be named, WHEN NOVEMBER ENDS.

Fast forward a few months and Michael let me know a few days ago that the screenplay for WHEN NOVEMBER ENDS has made an official selection of the Creepy Tree Film Festival

There is obviously still a long road ahead before any potential filming would begin, but let me tell you, if, or better yet, WHEN, it does happen, you aren’t going to want to miss it.

This will be, and already is, a truly special project that’s in the works.

Stay tuned!

WNE creepy tree official selection pic

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Grave Intentions — Coming 2021

I am extremely pleased to announce that in mid-2021 Crossroad Press will be releasing my atypical werewolf novella, Grave Intentions, in TPB and eBook.

Synopsis:

Rodney’s life started to spiral out of control after the untimely death of his beloved wife. He ended up on the rough streets: fighting for his sanity and looking for his next fix. But it was his hunger for getting high and trying to forget his former life that was the hardest for him to control. Or at least he thought. Then came the night when he and another junkie walked into Parkside Cemetery, dug up a body and…and took a drink.

That’s when Rodney’s life really changed. 

Derrick, Craig, Joan and Stacy were the best of friends, if not a little more at times. Late one night before their impending first days of college, they decided to have a liquid-picnic in their local cemetery. It was supposed to be a night of laughs, booze and sex. Until Derrick came running back to his three friends, scared half to death. He started babbling about seeing something that looked like a werewolf. 

Now the three friends must escape from the cemetery before the werewolf finds them and chomps them into little pieces. 

Will all four friends survive? Or will the bloodline of the werewolf win the night?

Only the deepest bonds of friendship and something even greater holds the answer.

Stick around for more details coming soon!

House Call — Novella + Screenplay

I am beyond excited to announce that Journalstone has picked up House Call for publication in February 2021. The even cooler part, this won’t just be the novella, it will also contain the screenplay written by Shannon Casto of Little Oak Film Group.

Novella Synopsis:

Mariam thought it was going to be a weekend of relaxation. She had her little sister to take care of but knew she could that handle that without much of a problem. That all changed when Jessica got sick and Mariam had no other choice but to call the family doctor.

John and Nick decide tonight is perfect to burglarize a house. They stake the place out and are delighted to find the only people inside are two young girls – an easy in-and-out job.

Or so they thought.

What ensues is a battle between the girls that are home alone and the two bad men.

Little do any of them know someone else plans to make a house call of their own.

Stay tuned for more details coming soon!

House Call — Film Distribution News

In 2013, my at the time unpublished (though it would be finally published in 2014 in my non-fiction book, The Death of a Horror Writer) novella, House Call, was optioned and adapted into a feature-length film by Texas-based Little Oak Film Group. It was subsequently released solely on DVD and available only on Amazon.

So, after seven years, Little Oak and myself are extremely proud to announce that House Call has been picked up for worldwide distribution via DVD and VOD with Summer Hill Entertainment.

The tentative release date, which will include all new cover artwork (below are the originals), along with a bunch of other fun stuff, is tentatively set within the next 6 months.

Stay tuned for more information coming soon!

House Call_movie poster1House Call Cast & Crew

DININ’

I am pleased to announce, in the most vauge booking way possible, that DININ’ (originally published by Bad Moon Books in 2012) has been picked up for re-release by a “major/well-respected/long-established genre press”. I’ll be able to give more details at some point in the near future.

#TheNewBeginning
#imback

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The New Beginning (Take Two)

I’ve always been a huge fan of horror. I was born in 1977, so I grew up during the 80s horror boom. I wrote my first short horror story in 6th grade. Fast forward to 2007 – that’s when I picked up by first book by Richard Laymon. I was hooked! That’s when I said to myself, “Hey, I can write some twisted stuff too!” In early 2008 I started writing my own material – three months later I had pounded out 100k words. It was subsequently published in late 2008. It wasn’t written very well, but that’s what began my journey in the horror genre. Through the years I was fortunate enough to have a bunch of short stories published, a novel, several novellas, editor in several anthologies, audio books, and even had two of my stories adapted into film (House Call & Cake Batter). I also ran two imprints over the years. I made a ton of contacts, and even more importantly, friends in the horror community. But then in late 2013 something happened. I had just spent nearly 12 months pitching an anthology to one of the Big 5 publishing houses. I obviously can’t tell you ‘who’ would have been part of it, but sometimes pitching a project to one of the ‘King’ publishers, can be the pits. After so much promise and work it was finally shot down by one of the publishers at the company. I was devastated to say the least. I thought to myself, if I can’t get ‘this’ project picked up by one of the Big 5, then what the hell am I wasting my time doing all this writing, marketing, etc, etc, etc for. 

In 2014, SST Publications put out my homage to Richard Laymon’s A Writer’s Tale (I’m fortunate enough to own a copy. I’ve always called it ‘my writing Bible’.). I entitled my first non-fiction work, The Death of a Horror Writer. I even had Richard’s wife, Ann, write the Introduction. It just made sense. I wasn’t trying to copy Laymon’s book, but instead, told my account of what it was like coming up in the horror genre. I wasn’t being winey or a bitch by ‘retiring’ from writing because of this or that happening or not happening, but instead my psyche just couldn’t take it any longer. I was worn out and needed a break. On a single page at the end of that book I wrote, ‘The End is the New Beginning’. I didn’t know at the time what I meant by that, but knew it had to be in the finished book.

Fast forward to one month ago. After 6 years of not writing (or even reading!) I picked up a Laymon book. I read for about an hour or so that first night. The next morning when I awoke, I knew something had changed. I said to my wife, “I think I’m ready to get back into writing again.” I was jittery, full of nervous energy for the craft I had given up so many years before.

So, why do I want to get back into the fray now? Well, unfortunately, there’s no deep answer I can give you. Sometimes you just know when it’s time. 

Time to get going again.

To get back out there and wreak some havoc.

Time for…

The New Beginning.

The Killing Club

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WILDSIDE PRESS IS PROUD TO PRESENT:

THE KILLING CLUB BY TY SCHWAMBERGER

Introduction by John Everson & Foreword by Paul Kane

Synopsis:

Kristen always wanted to be part of the “in crowd.” Her social worries intensified after transferring from a small, public school to private, upscale Smithshire Academy in the middle of her high school career. She wanted so badly to be part of the social network in her new school, she didn’t think twice, when one of the existing members of the popular girl’s group, The K-Club, invited her over one night for a sleepover. Where all the girls whose names started with the letter “K” are going to be.

Kristen’s self-doubt allows her to be pulled into the group on one condition… She must first go through the initiation process that the other girls have set forth before her.

What ensues is a group of popular high school girls practicing in the occult, Kristen going over to a stranger’s house to “scare” them and sacrifices to secure Kristen’s spot in high school legend. Will all Kristen’s work be enough to appease the girls of The Killing Club and the great God of high school popularity to let her into the group? The extent of blood that Kristen wishes to get on her hands will hold the answer.

You can pick up the Trade Paperback via Amazon.

THE FIELDS

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SST PUBLICATIONS IS PROUD TO PRESENT:

THE FIELDS BY TY SCHWAMBERGER

Synopsis:

Billy Fletcher learned to farm the family’s tobacco fields—and beat slaves—by the hands of his father. Now, his father is dead, the slaves have long since been freed, and the once-lush fields are dying. Salvation by the name of Abraham knocks on the farmhouse door, bringing wild ideas. He can help Billy save the plantation and return the fields to their former glory . . . by raising his father’s slaves from the dead.

Can the resurrected slaves breathe life back into the Fletcher farm? Having brought the slaves back from graves that his father sent them to, can Billy be the kind master his father wasn’t? Is keeping the farm worth denying the men the freedom they earned with death?

Billy’s conscience holds the key to those mysteries, but not the biggest one: what does Abraham really want from the former slave owner’s son?

Welcome to The Fields.

Foreword by Joe McKinney

Introduction by Jonathan Maberry

Afterword by Ty Schwamberger

Here are the details of our limited hardcover edition (also available in Trade Hardcover):

Signed by Ty Schwamberger, Ben Baldwin & Tara Bush
Limited to only 100 copies worldwide
Each copy is numbered by hand
Four-colour laminated dust jacket
Exclusive book board cover design
Printed on acid-free paper

Extras:
Original edition cover art as the title page artwork by Thomas A. Erb
Interior illustrations exclusively for the Signed Limited Edition by Tara Bush
Features exclusive Dust Jacket artwork

Blurbs:

“[The Fields] . . . is part horror story in the classic sense—misdeeds from the past coming back to haunt the present. It’s part zombie story. It’s part adventure. And it’s part social satire in its darkest sense . . . The story starts with a bite and before you know it, you’ll be participating in a delicious and imaginative feast. Bon appétit!”
—From the Introduction by Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Patient Zero, Zombie CSU, Rot & Ruin and Dead of Night

The Fields is a merciless, pitchfork-to-the-face, homespun zombie adventure. Schwamberger offers up a shotgun blast of graphic undead action in this unique take on the genre.”
Shroud Magazine

“Ty Schwamberger knocks it out of the park with his novella, The Fields. No sooner do you begin to read, than you realize that the story is much bigger than the words on the page. The setting is timeless, and the horror depicted much more than ghoul and gore. The Fields is a story you don’t want to miss, and Ty Schwamberger is an author to watch, for he just may be headed for the major leagues.”
—Deborah LeBlanc, author of The Wolven

“If Nathaniel Hawthorne had known anything about zombies, this is the kind of story he’d have written. I’m not joking. This is some genuine old school horror. With The Fields, Ty Schwamberger has given us a crime so horrendous it’s impossible to look away. The sins of the father. A deal with the devil. It’s all here. And Schwamberger makes it look so frustratingly easy. This is one hell of a good story.”
—Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award winner, author of Dead City and Apocalypse of the Dead

“With The Fields, Ty Schwamberger did the near-impossible: made zombies interesting to me again. Not only interesting, but frightening, as well. Throw in more than a dash of scathing social commentary, a pace that never stops to catch its breath, and a sly bit of gallows humor, and you’ve got a winner. Kick yourself if you miss this one.”
—Gary A. Braunbeck, Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild Award winner, author of To Each Their Darkness and A Cracked and Broken Path

“Ty Schwamberger’s The Fields is an original zombie tale that will satisfy lovers of grisly fiction and well told stories. Good characters, cool twists and great writing make this a story that grabs one by the scalp early on. Anything with a Southern vein and the specters that can invoke gets my slash of approval.”
—Steven L. Shrewsbury, author of Thrall, Bad Magick and Hawg

“An intelligent zombie morality tale, unlike anything you’ve ever read before.”
Morpheus Tales Magazine

“The walking dead, a post-Civil War setting, and a sinister Lincoln-esque figure add up to a fresh new take on the zombie mythos.”
—Tim Waggoner, author of Nekropolis, Broken Shadows and Darkness Wakes

“Creepy and atmospheric, The Fields is a tale that will keep you reading till the wee hours of the night.”
—Ronald Malfi, author of Floating Staircase

“I’m not a big fan of zombie stories, but Ty Schwamberger’s The Fields isn’t your typical zombie story. It’s Ambrose Bierce meets Brian Keene; a brutal yet thought-provoking tale about resurrecting past horrors, and fulfilling one nightmare of a destiny. Visceral, fast-paced and original. Just when you thought there couldn’t be a new twist on the zombie story, Ty Schwamberger proves you wrong with The Fields. Dead wrong.”
—Dean Harrison, author of These Unquiet Bones

The Fields is indeed a strange tale. One professional reviewer called it merciless. Another said it was dark. It is both these things . . . and more. A finely worked, barbed tale of morality and zombies. Something you almost don’t want to read, but as with all truly horrific things, you just can’t look away. Old school horror brought bang up to date and given a shot in the arm!”
—Sean T. Page, author of The Official Zombie Handbook, War against the Walking Dead and Haynes Zombie Survival Manual

 

You can order directly from the publisher SST Publications or via Amazon.

Deep Dark Woods

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(English Edition)

VOODOO PRESS IS PROUD TO PRESENT:

DEEP DARK WOODS BY TY SCHWAMBERGER

Synopsis:

Jake Jennings thought a camping trip would be a great way to reconnect with his family. But when he mysteriously disappears after heading off in search of firewood, his wife, Samantha, and daughter, Alexis, are left all alone in the woods, searching, hoping, and for the time being, surviving.

Four college friends are on their way to spend a weekend in the woods for a college research project and, of course, a little partying. But as they near their destination, they are run off the road by another car. After losing one of their numbers in the crash, the friends must find a way back to the sanctuary of their school.

Park Ranger Carl Stevens has been on the job for eight long years, through good times and bad. Just when he thinks it couldn’t get any worse, his tedious life is turned upside down when he almost hits a girl, running from the woods and into the middle of the road. But that’s the least of his worries, especially once he hears what she’s been running from.

Can an everyday Park Ranger save the girl, find the missing family, and stay alive long enough to celebrate?

Because not everyone survives what’s lurking inside the deep dark woods…

You can pick up the 285 page Trade Paperback or the Kindle edition on Amazon.