R.I.P. (In Three’s)

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

In alittle over a week, the horror genre has been hit hard by three greats passing away. First, David B. Silva, moved into the afterlife early last week. Then there was James Herbert’s passing, yesterday. Then, today, it was Rick Hautala. They say things come in three’s. Well, if this is any indication of the theory of three’s, I, for one, have had enough.

I knew Dave Silva relatively well. In fact, he asked me questions for my first ever interview in December 2008 on Hellnotes. Then came my column on Hellnotes ‘Ty-ing Up the Genre’ which ran from February 2010 – April 2011. The column featured guest authors/publishers/editors each month and discussed writing and publishing in the horror genre on Hellnotes. (A little known fact: Dave is the one who came up with the column’s name). Since that time, I routingly sent him news of my current releases to post on Hellnotes. He also offered constructive criticism on my novellas The Fields and DININ’ before they were ever released. I think they ended up better because of his straight forward, but kind words. Dave was possibly best known for being the founder and editor of Hellnotes and The Horror Show. However, he was also a great short story writer and novelist. The winner of the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award, his books included Come Thirteen, Through Shattered Glass, The Disappeared, All the Lonely People, and Walk the Sky (with Robert Swartwood).

I must admit, I didn’t know James Herbert personally. However, his body of work speaks for itself. Herbert wrote more than twenty novels. In total, his books have sold over 42 million copies which included: The Rats, The Fog, The Dark, Fluke, The Ghosts of Sleath and The Secret of Crickley Hall. He was an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and a former Grand Master of the World Horror Convention. Herbert was also the winner of the World Fantasy Award and many others.

Then there is today’s passing of Rick Hautala. I have to admit, this one hits me the hardest. I had corresponded with Rick for a few years now. I had actually mailed him the ARC of my zombie novella, The Fields, for a possible blurb, but his ever-busy writing schedule prevented him from giving it a read. Below is Rick’s bio straight from his website:

Rick Hautala has more than thirty published books to his credit, including the million copy, international best-seller Nightstone, as well as Twilight Time, Little Brothers, Cold Whisper, Impulse, and The Wildman. He has also published four novels—The White Room, Looking Glass, Unbroken, and Follow—using the pseudonym A. J. Matthews. His more than sixty published short stories have appeared in national and international anthologies and magazines. His short story collection Bedbugs was selected as one of the best horror books of the year in 2003.

A novella titled Reunion was published by PS Publications in December, 2009; and Occasional Demons, a short story collection, is due in 2010 from CD Publications. He wrote the screenplays for several short films, including the multiple award-winning The Ugly Film, based on the short story by Ed Gorman, as well as Peekers, based on a short story by Kealan Patrick Burke, and Dead @ 17, based on the graphic novel by Josh Howard.

A graduate of the University of Maine in Orono with a Master of Art in English Literature (Renaissance and Medieval Literature), Hautala lives in southern Maine with author Holly Newstein. His three sons have all grown up and (mostly) moved out of the house. He served terms as Vice President and Trustee for the Horror Writers Association.

An interesting note: About a year ago, I had approached Rick about joining a new imprint who was going to publish a novel of mine. We chatted for a bit about it and he decided it was time for The Wildman to be reprinted. This fantastic novel came out once again in October 2012.

Even though I only knew two of these three writers, and even more so great human beings, they will all be sorely missed, and never forgotten.

For their work will live on forevermore.

March Plug #8 — Melissa Starr

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

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Phoenix Elite series by Melissa Starr

Phoenix (Phoenix Elite #1)

Elora Rae Gannon believes her life is over. On her sixteenth birthday she receives news that she is a mythical monster of hellish proportions and if that’s not bad enough, she receives this information in the form of a letter from her dead mother who also informs her that she must become part of an elite secret society of others like herself or die. Sucky birthday, huh? And just when she thinks she’s got it all figured out, her new-found family in the Elite forces her to break ties with her human BFF shortly before her BFF just up and vanishes. With her world in utter upheaval, Elora makes the move to a new school- Marlind Prep, with full intentions of finding out exactly what is going on behind the scenes and why her best friend has vanished- all while trying to figure out how to successfully make out with her boyfriend without sucking the very life out of him

Ruhk’s Rising (Phoenix Elite #2)

Elora’s days at Marlind Prep are anything but safe or boring. She receives news of her BFF’s death not long after she disappears and is certain the Phoenix Elite are responsible. While searching for stability, Elora is stripped of her strength and sanity by the ancient Ruhk, Isaac, who continues to infiltrate her mind. Adding icing to the cake, she finds herself at odds with her mate/advisor, Ezra, leaving her vulnerable to the new guy, who just happens to find her on the verge of a nervous breakdown. What dangers await Elora among her own in RUHK’S RISING?

Bio

Melissa Starr is the up and coming paranormal/romance author of Phoenix (Phoenix Elite #1) & Ruhk’s Rising (Phoenix Elite #2) and future release and final installment in the Phoenix Elite series, Angel I Am Not. Novels are available in both ebook and print format. Starr is also working on a hot new project (and shush…if she told you she’d have to kill you) in the young adult/paranormal/romance genre.

Starr is a small town, country gal from deep in southern Oklahoma. Born in Altus and raised in Frederick, it only seemed right to put down roots there with her own family; a husband, two sons and two daughters. She resides and writes from her home where she frequently lets her inner child come out and play (if she behaves that is) long enough to spin colorful words into novels. Claims the # 13 as her unlucky lucky number and has a serious phobia of scorpions, and ironically- she is a Scorpio.

Melissa is also a freelance photographer who enjoys camping and riding ATV’s when the weather permits and snapping a million and one pictures of her family and friends against much protest. *Smiles*

You can learn more about Starr and her books via the below links:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Phoenix~ Fire & Ice
Ruhk’s Rising~ Fire & Ice
Blog
Facebook

March Plug #7 — Lydia Peever

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

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Pray Lied Eve by Lydia Peever

Synopsis

Kaia is haunted by fingerprints marring the basement door. No matter how hard she scrubs, they return over and over. The only things in the cellar are old Halloween decorations, and she double checks, everyday. 

Connor has sighted the most miraculous and mysterious thing in his life. Either no one else can see them, or no one believes it. Ice balls larger than a fist smash to the ground regularly. When the church bells ring just right, another one falls. 

Laurel knows animals can talk. Sometimes they ask her to do things. One will explain why they have always been drawn to her. By that time, she has grown and so have they; into hideous demons with terrible demands.

Bio

Lydia Peever is a journalist and horror author living in Ottawa. With articles in some newspapers and a few magazines, she is currently working on the sequel to her violent vampire novel, Nightface published by Post Mortem Press.

With too many hobbies and diverse interests, you may find her researching genealogy in a dusty library, profiling artists for ottawahorror.com, or taking photos at a punk show. By day, she haunts trendy cafés, tends poison flowerbeds, and photographs roadkill.

You can find her short fiction Crocodile Rot in Dark Moon Digest #10, Thicker Than in For When the Veil Drops from West Pigeon Press, and The Tapestry in the forthcoming Postscripts to Darkness IV.

The final story in Pray Lied Eve, ‘Bad Shepherd’ has been read by fellow author Nelson W. Pyles for The Wicked Library horror podcast. You can listen here.

You can learn more about Lydia’s work on her website.

You can purchase the Trade Paperback or Kindle on Amazon.

March Plug #6 — J. Thorn

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

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Preta’s Realm by J. Thorn

Synopsis

Drew works hard, pays his taxes, and loves his family. But when a visit from the spirit of his deceased grandfather coincides with the violent murder of two co-workers, Drew falls into a desperate spiral of delusion and betrayal as the demons of the past drag him into Preta’s Realm.

Bio

J. Thorn believes in the imaginative power of the horror novel and the escape from reality it provides. He knows that embracing the entire spectrum of human emotion, even its dark realms, makes for a more meaningful and authentic life. You can learn more on his website.

Available in Trade Paperback and Kindle on Amazon.

 

Jacob’s Mind

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

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“Jacob’s Mind” is the March ’12 for 12′ short story Kindle release by T Allen Press.

Description:

Jacob’s Mind is a 4,200 word short story about a man of the same name living and working in Tarfaya, Morocco. Jacob makes good money, lives in a beautiful beach front condo, and while not at work, has ample time to lie out in front of the ocean and drink beer. A lot of beer.Jacob’s life is seemingly perfect…

Except for bizarre blackouts he starts to experience on a regular basis.

But, when a beautiful woman comes into his life, things start to get more strange than Jacob would have ever imagined.

 
Available for Kindle on:

Amazon (US)

Amazon (UK)

March Plug #5 — Jonathan Maberry

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

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Extinction Machine by Jonathan Maberry

Synopsis

The President of the United States vanishes from the White House.

A top-secret prototype stealth fighter is destroyed during a test flight.  Witnesses on the ground say that it was shot down by a craft that immediately vanished at impossible speeds. All over the world reports of UFOs are increasing at an alarming rate. And in a remote fossil dig in China dinosaur hunters have found something that is definitely not of this earth. There are rumors of alien-human hybrids living among us. Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences  rush headlong into the heat of the world’s strangest and deadliest arms race, because the global race to recover and retro-engineer alien technologies has just hit a snag. Someone—or something–wants that technology back.
 
Bio
 
Jonathan Maberry is a NY Times bestselling author, multiple Bram Stoker Award winner, and freelancer for Marvel Comics. His novels include EXTINCTION MACHINE, FLESH & BONE, GHOST ROAD BLUES, Dust & Decay, Patient Zero, The Wolfman, and many others include a new mystery-thriller YA series, WATCH OVER ME, scheduled to debut in 2014. His nonfiction books include ULTIMATE JUJUTSU, THE CRYPTOPEDIA, Zombie CSU, Wanted Undead or Alive, and others. Jonathan’s award-winning teen novel, ROT & RUIN, is now in development for film.  He’s the editor/co-author of V-WARS, a vampire-themed anthology, and he’ll be editing an anthology of YA horror for the Horror Writers Association. He was a featured expert on The History Channel special ZOMBIES: A LIVING HISTORY. Since 1978 he’s sold more than 1200 magazine feature articles, 3000 columns, two plays, greeting cards, song lyrics, and poetry. His comics include CAPTAIN AMERICA: HAIL HYDRA, DOOMWAR, MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN and MARVEL UNIVERSE VS THE AVENGERS. He teaches the Experimental Writing for Teens class, is the founder of the Writers Coffeehouse, and co-founder of The Liars Club. Jonathan lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his wife, Sara Jo and a fierce little dog named Rosie. Learn more about Jonathan’s work on his website.
 
Available in trade paperback, eBook and audio wherever books are sold.
 
 

March Plug #4 — Steve Byrne

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

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Phoenix by Steve Byrne

Synopsis

Vietnam 1967.

Something monstrous has risen from the ashes of war…

When the US marines enter the hidden village of Mau Giang, they unleash an ancient darkness from within its temple walls. A fearful secret kept for generations by the native Montagnard tribespeople.

Abraham Curtis travels to Vietnam to visit his sister Jenny, an aid worker in Saigon. Together they join a humanitarian convoy into the Central Highlands, where Jenny is to adopt a child orphaned by the conflict.

But the influence of the breached temple is spreading its contagion across the combat zones of Vietnam like gangrene through flesh, and soon it will destroy Bram’s world. Pursued by a bloodthirsty cult, he must search for his missing sister through the war-torn wastelands, his only companions deserters, rebel soldiers and a woman who may not be quite human.

Across the world, protestors line the streets. The battle lines are drawn – war and peace, hawk or dove. Is this the apocalyptic coming of the Man of Blood, prophesised by Nostradamus? On panic filled streets, during the Fall of Saigon, Bram will find his answer.

Bio

Steve Byrne has an obsession with all things horror that led him to begin writing novels . Many years ago he had some short stories published in various small press magazines, and was hawking four books around various publishers. But then the bottom dropped out of both the horror market, and Steve’s world. He didn’t write for a long while. But now he’s back, with an axe to grind. You’d better take cover – ‘cause it ain’t gonna be pretty! You can learn more about Steve on his website.

You can download the Kindle edition on Amazon US or Amazon UK. The Trade Paperback will be available soon.

March Plug #3 — Dean Harrison

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

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These Unquiet Bones by Dean Harrison

Synopsis

Trying to get behind the truth of her mother’s death, Amy Snow unleashes the skeletons lurking in the dark of her father’s closet, and learns a terrible, twisted truth about her family tree. Meanwhile, a man named Adam is on a mission to restore Paradise to its former glory. To accomplish this, he must find “The Lost One”, a girl he calls Eve, and sacrifice her to the god she betrayed the day a talking serpent slithered into the Garden of Eden.

Blurbs

“Dean Harrison’s These Unquiet Bones takes the reader on a unique and well-crafted roller coaster ride of horror and suspense. You won’t be able to put this one down until you’ve finished it. His characters are as creepy as any I have read in a long time. Keep your eye on this writer; this book is unforgettable.” ~T. M. Wright

“Dean Harrison takes the reader on one helluva ride from the first blood-soaked page to the last in These Unquiet Bones. Get ready… ‘cause Paradise isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be! Harrison is definitely a true up-and-comer in the genre!” ~Ty Schwamberger, author of The Fields, DININ’ and Last Night Out

Amazon Reviews

Click here to read the current reviews posted on Amazon.

Bio

Dean Harrison is a longtime fan of horror fiction. Though he’s spent time in the “real world” working as a shoe salesman, a security guard, an investigator, a loss prevention detective and a journalist, he’s consistently returned to what he loves doing most—writing horror stories. His published work can be found in the anthologies FEM-FANGS, FELL BEASTS, RELICS & REMAINS, CHRISTMAS IN HELL and TWISTED TALES FROM THE TORCHLIGHT INN. More is to come. He lives with his family in his hometown of Mobile, Alabama, a city rich in ghost stories. You can learn more on his website.

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

March Plug #2 — Vincenzo Bilof

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

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Necropolis Now: Zombie Ascension by Vincenzo Bilof

Synopsis

Detroit has become a war zone. Slow, shambling corpses feast upon the living while fire consumes the city. Amparo Vega, a haunted mercenary, fights through streets that are choked with the dead. Her mission: extract the legendary soldier, Jim Traverse, who holds the terrifying secret behind the zombie epidemic. While the bullets fly, Traverse befriends a group of survivors whose fates are forever linked to his: an infamous arms dealer, a young lawyer, and a former detective struggle against the zombies together.  Can Vega’s elite cadre of mercenaries find Traverse before the epidemic becomes global?  

Includes an introduction by Mark Tufo, author of the Zombie Fallout series.

Blurbs

“The moral high ground is shattered in this teeth gritting apocalyptic thrill ride. Necropolis is a drop to the bottom with just enough time to surface for air. Highly recommended.” ~P. A. Douglas, author of Epidemic of the Undead

“A violent femme fatale mercenary, a burning city and a war hero – when Bilof does zombies, he does ’em good. Another slick, fast-moving zombie thriller, with an edge which might just cut you if you don’t turn the pages ever so carefully…” ~Sean T. Page, author of Meta-Horde

Bio

From Detroit, Michigan, Vincenzo Bilof is the recipient of SNM Horror Magazine’s Literary Achievement award in 2011. Vincenzo is the author of the zombie novels “Nightmare of the Dead” and “Necropolis Now,” the first book in the Zombie Ascension series. Both are available from Severed Press.

When he’s not chasing his kids around the house or watching bad horror films, he reads and reviews horror fiction. His current writing project includes the new serial, “Japanese Werewolf Apocalypse;” the first episode is available from Severed Press.

You can learn more about Bilof on his website.

You can purchase the Trade Paperback or Kindle edition on Amazon US or Amazon UK.

March Plug #1 — Joseph Mulak

Posted on by Ty Schwamberger

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Haunted Whispers by Joseph Mulak

Synopsis

A university student doing a thesis on fear takes his research too far…A man learns he’s next in line to be the Grim Reaper, but doesn’t want to give up his life…An angel forces a man to relive his worst memory…A former Nazi hiding in Canada is haunted by more than just his past…A couple haunted by an unspeakable act committed with the best intentions, with dire consequences. People haunted by whispers of the past, trying to forget and move on. No matter how hard they try, how far they run, it waits for them. And just when they think they’re safe, the whispers begin again…

Bio

Joseph Mulak is the author of several short stories which have appeared in such anthologies as Masters of Horror: The Anthology, Dark Things II and Death Be Not Proud. Most of these have been reprinted in his new collection, Haunted Whispers. He is currently working on a collection of two novellas entitled Angel Dust and a young adult fantasy, Serena’s Lullaby. He currently lives in North Bay, Ontario with his four children and can be contacted through his website.

You can purchase the Trade Paperback or Kindle edition on Amazon.