Cover Art by Thomas A. Erb
Coming later this month from Dark Quest Books.
As many of you know, the massive and incredibly awesome work of the late great Richard Laymon is what inspired me to start writing. Because of this; last year I started what has now become an annual event – The Richard Laymon Book Contest. In fact, this is the second time this year I’ll be giving away a book. You can read about the origins of the contest here. As always, many thanks to Ann Laymon, who graciously donated what you’ll see up for grabs.
So without further ado…I bring you the next book that you can enter to win.
The Traveling Vampire Show
Publisher: Cemetery Dance
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 252
Pub Date: August 2000
Condition: Brand new/Never been read
About the Novel:
Though gloomy with clouds, it is a hot, August morning in the summer of 1963. All over the rural town of Grandville, tacked to power poles and trees, taped to store windows, blowing along the sidewalks, fliers have appeared announcing the mysterious one-night-only performance of The Traveling Vampire Show.
The show will feature Valeria, the only known vampire in captivity. According to the fliers, she is a gorgeous, stunning beauty. In the course of the performance, she will stalk volunteers from the audience, sink her teeth into their necks and drink their blood!
For three local teenagers who see the fliers, this is a show they don’t want to miss.
But they may have to.
Though they can probably scrape up the price of admission, other obstacles stand in the way. One problem, nobody under 18 years of age is allowed into the show. Dwight, Rusty, and Slim are only 16. Another problem, the show begins at midnight and the three teens always have to be home by then. If that weren’t bad enough, the show is to take place at Janks Field — a desolate patch of ground with a nasty history — that has been declared off limits by their parents.
The situation appears hopeless.
Though Dwight and his friends fear they won’t be able to attend the actual performance of the Traveling Vampire Show, they do have the entire day to themselves. Why not hike out to Janks Field and take a look around? With any luck, they might be able to watch the crew make preparations for tonight’s performance. If they’re really lucky, maybe they’ll get a peek at Valeria, the gorgeous vampire.
And so the three friends set off on foot for Janks Field…
Dwight is a solid, honest kid, long on common sense and loyalty to his friends. He always tries to do what’s right.
Rusty is a husky guy who relishes trouble.
Slim, their long-time pal, is the brains of the outfit, a voracious reader of novels, an aspiring writer, and a girl. Also, she is sometimes too brave for her own good.
The Traveling Vampire Show is the tale, told in Dwight’s own words, of what happened to him, Rusty and Slim on that hot summer day they hiked to Janks Field. It’s the story of their friendship and love, their temptations, their betrayals, and their courage as they went where they shouldn’t go, did what they shouldn’t do… and ran into big trouble.
This is the Unsigned Second Edition Hardcover featuring the same production values as the Limited Edition but without a signature sheet. It was originally priced at $40.00 but now you have the opportunity to get it for FREE.
How to enter:
In the past I had everyone enter via email. Not so this time around. This time I’m making it easier. All you have to do is post a comment, any comment, under this contest post and you’ll be entered automatically.
Your entry must be posted by Midnight on Friday, December 17th. The lucky winner will then be announced as a comment by me under this post by Sunday, December 19th. At that time I will provide instructions on how to contact me in order to claim your prize – which you have 24 hours to do so. If you don’t email me by that time, I’ll post the next random winner and so on and so forth. Which means; make sure to check back sometime on 12/19 to see if you’ve won. And, yes, there is a method to this madness at entering. Please, only one entry per person – though you might receive bonus points (and another free book perhaps?) by commenting elsewhere on my site. This doesn’t mean spamming the site. If you do this, I’ll be forced to send an evil garden gnome to wipe out your vegetable garden come spring.
That’s it. Good Luck!
I figured it was time for an update on what I have coming out between next month and 2012 (I say, 2012, as I don’t have any releases after that, at least not as of right now). Below you will find novellas, collections, anthologies and a short-short story. Not included in the list are 3 books that will definitely come out before the end of 2012 and 2, well, 2 that I’m still shopping around (these two – a monster novel and an occult novella – were actually written before I made the switch from writing and blindly submitting everywhere to having a signed contract first – which, if I might add, is a hell of a lot better if you can pull it off). I can’t mention the 3 that aren’t included in the list, but are scheduled for release, because there is still some business stuff to be worked out first (but, boy, oh boy, will you be glad I kept you in suspense). Anyway, here is the list.
Novellas
Dinin’ (tentative title), Bad Moon Books, Early 2012.
Taxi Ride (tentative title), Severed Press, Early 3rdQ 2011.
The Fields, The Zombie Feed (Imprint of Apex Publications), 1st Q 2011.
Last Night Out, part of Twisted Tales from the Torchlight Inn (a 3-novella collection by Thomas A. Erb, Dean Harrison & Myself), Wicked East Press, February 2011.
Collections
On Dark, Lonely Nights (short story collection), Wicked East Press, Late 2011/Early 2012.
For After Midnight (short story collection), Dark Quest Books, December 2010.
Anthologies
Relics & Remains (Editor), TBA, March 2011.
Fell Beasts (Editor), Dark Quest Books, December 2010.
Short Stories
‘Urban Monsoon’, Cup of Joe, Coffee House Flash Fiction (Anthology), December 2010.
As previously mentioned, Twisted Tales from the Torchlight Inn, is a 3-author, 3-novella collection (containing stories by: Thomas A. Erb, Dean Harrison & Myself) coming out in February 2011. But until the book is available for purchase; we thought you might like to get your bar-type swag on by picking up one of the following items from Devious Designz.
Enjoy!
I’m pleased to announce that The Zombie Feed, an Imprint of Apex Publications, has picked up my zombie novella, The Fields.
A little on me writing about zombies…
This is my first zombie story and I’m very pleased how it came out. In fact, I think this might be the most insightful, deeply rooted and perhaps the best written tale I’ve ever done. The truth of the matter is; I’ve always wanted to write about zombies, but didn’t want to just rehash what’s been done a hundred times before. I wanted something different or I wasn’t going to write about the undead at all. So, when Jason Sizemore at Apex told me about his new Imprint, The Zombie Feed, and the fact that we’d been trying to figure out something for me to write for him for quite some time, the timing seemed perfect…and away I went to write a 25k story that is based in the middle 1800s, right after slavery ended, about a young farmer that is trying to do the right thing and take care of the land that belonged to his father – his now dead father – a land owner that would mistreat (which is putting it mildly) the slaves he owned. This is not your run-of-the-mill zombie story. Oh no. This one touches on racism, a son’s love that’s mixed with a hatred for his still-dead father, the son dealing with a stranger that wanders onto the plantation one morning and…well, I guess I better not give anything else away or it might spoil the fun that I’m positive you’ll have while reading it.
The Fields is slated for publication during the 1stQ 2011. It will be released in Trade Paperback and more than likely in ebook format.
Since there has been some changes to the original list of contributing authors for the Fell Beasts anthology, coming in December of this year, so I thought I would provide you all with an update. See below.
R. Scott McCoy
Timothy Moore
Jason Sizemore
Thomas A. Erb
Gord Rollo
Robert Ford
Dean Harrison
Michael West
Adam P. Lewis
Brady Allen
John Everson
I’ll also be posting the cover art for the anthology once it’s available.
This month, ‘Ty-ing Up the Genre’ on Hellnotes dot com, brought in Elizabeth Massie to write a guest article – ‘My Own Ghosts and Why I Love (All But One Of) Them’.
Click here to read it.
Daily Flashes of Erotica Quarterly #1 (Anthology), which contains my short-short sexy, but deadly vampire story, ‘Hunger’, is now available for purchase.
You can pick up a copy from the Publisher here.
Is now available.
Click here to check it out.
Dark Things II, the anthology I’m sole Editor on, is now available for purchase.
Product Description:
Embrace your dark side with this eclectic collection of horror stories. Murderers, haunted houses and a dabbling of the occult; devilish creatures, scuttling spiders and evil incarnate. Giddy doses of dark terror are spilled onto each page. Drenched in the dark and dreary, this volume contains the following short stories: You’re Gonna Die by Derek Muk, Death Twitches by Indy McDaniel, The Weeper by Tim Lewis, The Devil’s Footprints by Jack Horne, Polarity by David W. Landrum, R.F. by Mel Clayton, The Old Man of Weevil Creek by Adrian Ludens, Doll’s House by Lisa J. Marcado, A Strange Turn of Events by John Grover, The Chevalier Sisters: A Tale of Voodoo by C.J. Sully, “ROT-ROT-ROT” by A.J. French, Now Playing by George Wilhite, Bug Boy by Matt Kurtz, Dummies by Sean Graham, The Interview Nobody Wants by Scott M. Sandridge, Delicious Morsels by Piper Morgan, The Welcoming by Shane McKenzie, Doubt by Matthue Roth, J.P. Gilman by Adam P. Lewis, Cutting Class by Thomas A. Erb, Yesterday’s Sins by Joseph Mulak & Pale in the Night by Kurt M. Criscione.