Category: Contests/Giveaways

This is truly a special contest.  Let me explain.

As many of you know (or can tell) my favorite horror author of all time is the late, great Richard Laymon.  You can visit the Richard Laymon Kills website, by clicking here.  His books inspired me to start writing, again.  Sure, I dabbled with a poem or a short story here and there throughout the years, but didn’t become serious about being an author until I read my first Laymon book.  From that point, I knew I wanted to ultimately write for a living (still working on that part) and that I wanted to read every peice of work that he ever wrote (to which I own almost all of his novels).

Because of my admiration for his work, in April of 2008 I contacted his wife, Ann, and told her how much I enjoyed his books and that I considered myself I lifelong fan, after the first book I read of his.  Since that time, Ann and I have stayed in contact.  She is kind as can be and has wished me luck with my own writing a number of times.

Having said that.  About a month ago, Ann and I started discussing the idea of a ‘Richard Laymon book contest’.  One of the ideas behind the contest was, of course, to bring new fans to my site.  But, more importantly, it was a way to give back. 

As I said, it was Richard’s work that made me want to really buckle down and start writing, again.  So, I figured, if it helped me, why wouldn’t it work for someone else, as well. 

So, the idea was born.

A ‘Richard Laymon book contest’ that would not only bring new readers to my work, but also to his as well.  Perhaps a new horror fan that hasn’t heard of Laymon before and but reading one of his books, will want to go out and…buy them all! 

Basically, the contest works as follows.

Every so often I will post a ‘new’ contest featuring a book that Ann was so gracious to send me.  I will tell you alittle about the book and untimately how to win it. 

So, having said that…here is the current contest.

YOU COULD WIN…  The Richard Laymon Collection, Volume 18.  Which is a double-book containing The Glory Bus (published as Into The Fire here in the U.S.) and Friday Night in Beast House.  This was published by Headline (in the U.K.) in July 2008.

The description of the double-book is below.

THE GLORY BUS

One moment Pamela is a contented newly-wed with a loving husband. The next, she’s the prisoner of a repulsive killer who has lusted after her since high school.Somehow college kid Norman finds himself in a car with hell-raiser Duke and a strange hyper-sexed hitchhiker who tags along for the ride. Together the lawless pair take him on a wild journey that soon becomes a living nightmare.

FRIDAY NIGHT IN BEAST HOUSE

The last novel in the Laymon’s BEAST HOUSE series. Michael would do anything to get a date with Alison. She has just one condition he has to spend a night with her in the legendary Beast House. To Michael a night alone with Alison is a chance of a lifetime but if the stories about the Beast House are true it may also be a chance to die…

 

As you can imagine with Headline being a company based in the U.K. these books are extremely hard to come by.

So, how do you win, you ask?  Simple.

Send me an email (ty_schwamberger@yahoo.com) with the subject line, ‘Richard Laymon Book Contest’ and include your name, mailing address and why you love the horror genre.

One lucky winner will be chosen at random on (entries must be received by midnight on May 13th) May 15th from all entries received.  The lucky winner will be notified via email.  Please, only one entry per person.

Good Luck!

I mentioned here about the ‘Name The Title’ Contest that is currently going on until the 15th.

I mention this again, because I received a request yesterday from someone asking me if it were possible for me to post the names of the short stories that will be in the collection.  I thought about it for a bit and decided that it might help some of you that are already sending me title proposals for the ‘short story collection.’

Below you will find the names of the stories that have already been written and a few words on what they are about.  Please note, these are the stories that will be sent to the publisher for the collection.  Although, there may or may not be additional titles and/or some of the below titles might be removed at the publishers discretion.  In addition, if you see a ‘*’ by a title, this means it’s a previously published story which will still be part of the collection, but you can read them now either online or by buying the magazine in which it appeared.

Below are the story’s current titles in no particular order.

‘Rebirth : The Rise of Pharaoh Masika’ (about a mummy brought back to life)

‘The 7th House’ * (haunted house attraction)

‘The Legend of Johnston’s Creek’ (creepy story about a creature that lives in a local town’s creek)

‘Cake Batter’ (a wife’s revenge)

‘Gnomus’ * (evil garden gnome)

‘Jacob’s Mind’ * (monster story)

‘The Ringmaster’ (about a circus where some creepy stuff happens)

‘Thirst’ * (werewolf story)

‘Web Blog’ (about the main female character in Night School)

‘One Brew Too Many?’ (the consequences of underage drinking & driving and premarital sex)

‘All In The Line of Duty’ (cop/zombie story)

That’s about it.  If you are interested in learning more or wish to enter the contest, click here.

I mentioned here that I’m currently working on some short stories that will ultimately become a ‘short story collection.’   As of right now, I’m almost done with the second to last story (it has grown to a long-short-story with over 10K words) that I want to include in the collection.  Of course, after I am done with this one, I’ll still have one left to write.

Authors take great pride with the content of their work, whether it’s a novel, story story or a collection of shorts.  Along with the stories themselves, authors enjoy coming up with a suitable title that not only the publisher will like, but for their fans, as well.

This is where you, the fans, come in.

The gist of this contest is as follows.

–  Come up with a title (never seen before) that is suitable for a ‘short story collection.’  Try to stay away from common titles, such as, ’13 tales of terror’ ‘a collection of scary tales’ and the like.  Delve into new territory, experiment, see what you can come up with.  Remember, this will be a collection of shorts dealing with all aspects of horror (monsters, madmen, strange events, etc), so the title should be something that will grab the readers eye when it’s sitting on the book self.

What will you win, you ask?

–  The person that comes up with the best ‘title’ for the collection will win a starring role in the last short I will write for the collection.  Yup, that’s right, you’re full name (or only your first if you choose) will appear as the main character in the story.  The only thing is, I can’t guarantee ‘you’ will still be alive at the end…

–  You will be mentioned in the acknowledgements in the front of the book

–  You will receive a copy of the book, free of charge, once it’s published and released

Sound good?  It should.  This is your chance to make a contribution to the genre that you love and possibly have a wild ride in the process – but only in the story.  🙂 

How to enter and rules:

– Email me with your full name (first, last), email address and one or two ‘titles’ (please don’t list a whole slew of them, one or two is fine), by April 15, 2009.  

– The suject line of your email should read, exactly: ‘Contest Entry for Short Story Collection’  If it doesn’t have this suject line, I can’t guarantee you that it will be read.

– One entry (email) per person, only. 

– If your chosen the winner, you will be notified by email on or before April 30, 2009.  So, if you don’t receive an email by the end of this day, you’re not the winner.

Good Luck!

 

As a side note…if you haven’t yet checked out the book trailer for Night School click here.  Then go to the Storefront and buy the book!