LAST NIGHT OUT by Ty Schwamberger: Gabe, Alan, and Erin thought one last night out on the town before their junior year of college came to an end would be fitting. They were the best of friends, and not seeing each other for an entire summer vacation wasn’t something they were looking forward to. So they did what they always did on a Friday night—they went to a bar. Only this time they decided to try someplace new—the Torchlight Inn…
TONES OF HOME by Thomas A. Erb: Ashley and Maurice are in love. The two of them are headed to her hometown for the holidays to share the good news with her family. Those two things would drive any young man to drink, but add the fact that he’s from the South and an African-American, and they’re headed to the rural upstate town of Arcadia Falls, NY, where the reputation of toothless and inbred rednecks even scares the streetwise kid from North Carolina. Nevertheless, they’re truly in love, and Maurice is sure he’s encountered more dangerous things on the gang-filled streets of Durham…
OFF LIMITS by Dean Harrison: For spring break, Ellen Campbell isn’t going to party at the beach—she’s taking her new boyfriend, Shawn Farris, home to Miller Falls to meet her parents for the first time. She’s very excited about it, but also nervous as to how her father, a famous crime writer, will take to Shawn, her very first boyfriend…
Plus three extra shots of twisted horror for your drinking and reading pleasure!
The paperback version of this book includes a free electronic copy of the same book. You will be provided with the download link once you have completed the purchase process.
Shipping, handling and all applicable sales taxes are included in the overall price listed. Shipping charges are for the domestic United States only. For all other shipping costs please contact christophercpayne@journalstone.com.
Product Details:
Authors: Ty Schwamberger, Thomas A. Erb. and Dean Harrison
Publication Date: October 22, 2021
Price:
Paperback: $15.95 plus $3.00 shipping, handling and sales tax. Total price: $18.95
Electronic: $6.95
Print Length: 210 pages
Publisher: JournalStone
YOU CAN ORDER THE TRADE PAPERBACK OR DIGITAL EDITON VIA JOURNALSTONE.
One of three original illustrations for “House Call” in THE DEATH OF A HORROR WRITER. Artwork by Ade Barrett
Below is an excerpt from Chapter Eleven of THE DEATH OF A HORROR WRITER.
In late 2009, Adam Lewis and I met online. At that point we were both up-and-comers and looking for new story ideas. We started talking and eventually came up with an idea for a 3-novella collection. Each story contained in the book would have a common theme: A doctor would make a “house call” and then some really bad stuff would happen. I entitled my story “House Call” and would lead off the collection. Below is the synopsis of my story.
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 extremely sick and Mariam had no other choice but to call the family doctor to make a house call.
John and Nick decide tonight is perfect to burglarize a house. They stake out the place and are delighted to find the only people inside are two young girls. It was going to be easy to pull off.
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.
Adam called his story “The Torturing Pestilence”. We then started discussing who else to bring into the mix. At that point neither of us had many contacts in the genre so we didn’t have many options. Fortunately, around the time same, I had started writing book reviews for the now defunct Withersin Magazine and got to know the owner Misty Gersley fairly well. Misty was into publishing some twisted and strange stuff in her magazine so it only made sense to invite her to be the third writer for the collection. And away we went. Adam and I finished ours in a few months. But, that’s when things hit a roadblock. Misty had some things come up in her life (as we all do) and was struggling to finish her novella in time for our self-imposed deadline. So Adam and I waited, and waited, then waited some more. After a few months, Misty informed us she wouldn’t be able to complete her story. We thanked her for her efforts and moved on. But at that point “moving on” was the problem. I don’t recall the details now, but I believe we attempted to invite another person or two to write the third story of the collection. Nothing. Nada. Nobody. That’s when the project died. Adam and I decided we would take our stories and do with whatever we pleased. I submitted my novella to tons of publishers, but it was never picked up for publication. I know Adam tried a few times as well, but mostly wanted to retool the novella before trying to get it published somewhere.
In mid-2011, while online I met Michelle Henderson and Shannon Casto of Texas based Little Oak Film Group. I believe I messaged them first after seeing one of their independent films on DVD. Me, always looking to expand, brought up the idea of them adapting one of my stories for film. I believe I sent them two stories, one of which was House Call. They ended up liking it and wanted to make it into a feature-length film. Shannon would write the screenplay, while Michelle would direct the film. I was ecstatic. At that point I only had one other story (Cake Batter) that had been made into a short film, so I was extremely excited to see one of my tales made into a feature-length. It was decided that Little Oak would handle the production side of things, while I would handle the marketing side once the film was finished. And away we went. Shannon finished the screenplay in only a few months and sent it onto me to read and make any suggestions. Before reading it, she did warn me that two things were changed from the original story: The main character’s sister was now a brother and a graphic rape scene towards the end of the story had been removed. I told Shannon I understood and didn’t have a problem with the changes. I then read and approved the script. Filming started mid-2012 and the film (1 hour, 20 minutes) was eventually released on DVD in early 2012.
Below is the synopsis for the film version of my story.
Mariam thought it was going to be a weekend of relaxation. She had her little brother to take care of, but knew that wouldn’t be a problem. That all changed when Vince got sick and Mariam had no other choice but to call the family doctor to make a house call.
John and Nick decide it’s a perfect night to burglarize a house. They stake out the place and are delighted to find the only people inside are two kids – an easy in-and-out job.
Or so they thought.
What ensues is a battle between the kids 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.
And that’s when the curse of “House Call” started all over again. As much as I tried to promote, provide contacts of film distributors to Little Oak (who, from what I understand from one person that was interested in distributing the DVD, they didn’t use the right quality of film equipment and editing software, so it wasn’t of good enough quality to mass-produce and distribute), and inquire with folks to review the film, it ended up being all for not. While the DVD was (and still is) available on Amazon to order, Little Oak never entered the film in any contests or festivals to help get the word out. I was surprised to find this wasn’t part of their normal practice after making a movie: TO PROMOTE IT! When asked, Shannon told me it was expensive to enter films in festivals (to Little Oak’s credit, they did take and sell some copies of the DVD to Texas Frightmare Weekend in 2012) and such. Which, of course, I understood, but what the hell? Really? What’s the point of spending money (even a $2,000 production budget) on making something, then not do anything with it? In fact, Shannon actually accused me of not doing my job to promote and sell more copies. Really?
In any event, I think the film itself came out great. The actors and actresses did a fantastic job and the film itself was very much in line with my original story (which is always a plus for a writer).
I suppose sometimes you just have to realize that things are what they are and move on.
Interesting enough, out of everything I’ve written since I started out in 2008, House Call is the only story that was never published. I’m not sure why, as I think it’s a fun, creepy and brutal little tale.
So, I decided to include it in this tome.
Besides, don’t all writers have a tale that’s released postmortem?
This is mine.
Hope you enjoy!
There are still a few of the original number of 125 signed, limited edition hardcover copies left. But, you better hurry. Click one of the below links to Pre-Order my first non-fiction book (with a little bit of fiction thrown in for good taste).
You might remember me posting a few years ago about editing an anthology entitled, Relics & Remains. After dozens of emails, talking with various publishers and basically never thinking this incredibly awesome anthology would dig itself out of its grave, I’m pleased to announce Relics & Remains has been picked up by E-Volve Books (Naked Snake Press). Below are the almost, long-forgotten details.
Table of Contents
Good For What Ails Ya by Mike Oliveri
Many Faces by Wrath James White
Centuries of Torment by Adam P. Lewis
The Black Diamond by Michael Laimo
Caroline’s Playhouse by Dean Harrison
The Painter by Deborah LeBlanc
Rachel Alhazred’s Tablet by Steven L. Shrewsbury
Adrift by Dora Machado
Monkey Paw 2.0 by Tim Deal
Pickin’ & Grinin’ by Thomas A. Erb
Whispers at the End of Creation by Maurice Broaddus
Nailed by John Everson
“Chomp” A Cautionary Tale by Jeff Strand
Synopsis
People have always been fascinated about the past. Some even going to great lengths to uncover what’s taken place long ago. But sometimes when people venture into locations that aren’t suitable for the living, bad things can happen.
That’s when these self-proclaimed explorers start to unearth strange looking, ancient artifacts and the cursed remains of the once-living.
They think they’re going to be rich and famous.
But, that might just be the furthest from the truth.
To them, taking that risk is what it’s all about…until things start to go wrong.
So, for those of you into ‘finding’ strange things, here’s some words of advice…
Proceed with caution when digging up someone else’s Relics & Remains.
Relics & Remains will be released around Halloween 2012 in Trade Paperback and eBook.
The below flash piece, ‘Future Fall-of-Famer’, was originally published in Daily Flash 2011: 365 Days of Flash Fiction in October 2010. But I figured since baseball season is now in full swing, I’d provide it to you here for free. Hope you enjoy.
‘Future Hall-of-Famer’
Adam Evans knew his time was coming. His manager, Dean, would get the call first, hail him into his cramped minor league office, and tell him that he had just been called up to the big leagues. It would be a glorious day.
Adam dug his cleats into the soft dirt in the batters’ box, took a few practice swings and then lifted his bat above his right ear. He narrowed his eyes and stared back at the one pitcher that ever really gave him trouble – Sonny Erb. Erb had a goatee, a mean stare and a cannon of an arm. The truth of the matter was there weren’t many people that Erb had trouble with. Though, maybe he just enjoyed toying with Evans a bit more than the average bear.
The first pitch was a screamer. It took only a split-second for the ball to go from Erb’s hand to buzzing Evans’ ear. He spun backwards and tripped. A plume of dust came up from where he hit the dirt. Evans stood up and glared back at Erb. The smug pitcher just smiled back.
You sonofabitch, Evans said to himself, dusting himself off and climbing back into the batters’ box. That’s the last time you make a fool out of me, Erb. The last time.
Evans did his ritual and readied himself for the next pitch.
Outside. Ball two.
Trying to make me reach there, aren’t ya?
The count got up to 3-2.
Here it comes.
A fastball.
Right over the plate.
Just where Evans knew it would be.
CRACK!
A deep fly ball to center field.
Evans took off out of the box like a rocket. It was well-known around the league that he was a complete player – he could run, throw, catch and hit.
The man.
He rounded second and headed to third.
Evans looked over and noticed a visibly stunned Erb.
Evans glanced over his right shoulder and saw the players fielding the ball.
In the Park, baby! Evans thought to himself, really pouring on the speed.
His right foot came down on the bag as his left foot started towards home.
Evans felt his ankle give and then heard a loud POP!
He cried out and crumbled to the ground.
Through his tears, Evans saw his manager and two trainers come running from the dugout.
And then there was Erb standing over him, smiling.
Just like the smug son-of-a-bitch that he was.
In his hand he had the ball that Evans had just crushed to the centerfield fence.
Erb bent down and tapped Evans’ chest with the ball.
The future slugger turned his head to one side and wept as the trainers started to work on his shattered ankle.
The worse part about it was; Evans was not only beat once again by Erb, but knew from the blistering pain radiating up his leg from his ankle, that his season was over.
And his dream of being called up to the show anytime soon.
If you were thinking about writing a short story for my upcoming anthology, Fem-Fangs, you should probably start now. The anthology is about 1/3 full at this point. The anthology is still considered Open Until Filled, but I would suggest sending your story in as soon as possible for consideration.
To enroll in the horror writing class I’ll begin teaching next Tuesday at the University of Akron (Ohio). For details on the class, cost, how to enroll, etc, click here.
My short-short story, ‘Future Hall-of-Famer’, was recently picked up to be included in the upcoming Anthology – Daily Flash 2011: 365 Days of Flash Fiction.
The expected release date of the Anthology is December 2010.
Cake Batter has officially been released. If you were one of the fortunate ones to Pre-Order the DVD prior to 5/13, your order will ship as soon as you pay for it. For those of you that have yet to order the DVD ($10.00 + shipping), you can do so by clicking here. Shadetree Films will begin shipping all orders, soon.
Jessy Marie Roberts and Myself will be Co-Editors of an upcoming Anthology that will be published through Pill Hill Press during Fall 2010.
Fem-Fangs is an anthology of short stories (1k-7k words), allowing readers to delve into the alluring lore of the female vampire.
To read more about the project and/or to submit a story for consideration, you can check out the official Call For Submissions on Pill Hill’s website or by visiting the posting on Duotrope.
Ty Schwamberger 