Gossamer’s release

I’m self publishing my standalone novel GOSSAMER: A STORY OF LOVE AND TRAGEDY. The superb Dani Serra is doing the cover and I’ll share it as soon as it’s ready! 

Here’s a short synopsis:

An ancient witch, Dorothy Good, has lost everything to the vampire who has blown in on the hot desert wind and lain waste to her soul and her town. When a young family arrives at the end of a two week battle, she sees a chance to end the bloodshed and possibly regain a portion of what was stolen.

But they’re heavily outnumbered and night is falling…

You can check it out on Smashwords (I’ll add it to Amazon once I have the cover.) 

And make sure to add it on Goodreads.

Plus tell anybody you think might like it. Why let them miss out, eh? 

Hope everybody is doing well. 

The Rapist by Les Edgerton is out!

I read this novella pre-publication and it is one wickedly good story. Can’t recommend it enough. Grab a copy on Amazon!

I’ve been very busy writing the first Julian Vaughn novel. It’s going to knock people’s socks off. Also been reading a lot. Hope everybody is well!

A fun interview and news on a pen name

Happy to see the Kindle edition of Shock Totem #6 is out. Paperback will be following shortly and as soon as I get my copies I’ll mail copies to winners of the recent giveaway. This issue is special because it has an interview with me and I’m an egotistical asshole. So check it out!

Also happy to hear that the first novel I’ve written as Thomas Morgan (THE LESSER PEOPLE) is, or will be soon, out for perusal to publishers via that fantastic cat and super agent Chip MacGregor. The Lesser People is probably my favorite novel so far. I like the real-life novels because I get to pour so much of my life and the lives of people I love and hate into the stories. I also talked to Chip on the phone about the next two Thomas Morgan novels (A Savage Autumn, and Broken Boy Soldiers). It was a lot of fun to run the opening ideas, and what each novel will be about, by him.  As soon as I finish this novel I’m working on now I’ll hit A Savage Autumn while I do the research I need for Broken Boy Soldiers. Fun times. Meanwhile I’m excited that he’s pitching The Lesser People to publishers. Thanks Chip!

I also got to talk about THE LESSER PEOPLE in that Shock Totem #6 interview so if you want an inside scoop, go snag a copy.

This past week I’ve submitted the novel GOSSAMER: A STORY OF LOVE AND TRAGEDY to Darkfuse. It was fun to write and I think the whole point of it (and I should know since I wrote it) is to make mothers think of their daughters and to make daughters think of their mothers. Everything boils down to relationships with ourselves and those in our lives. Usually when I read book that I think sucks it’s because there is barely any journey at all for the characters. It’s all flash and no substance. I might be a little pretentious to think that a story should matter at least on one level, and if so, I’m pretentious.

Speaking of that which I’ve been reading…

Here are some of the best novels I’ve read the past week or two:

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott

A Morning for Flamingos by James Lee Burke

Just Like That by Les Edgerton

The Cypress House by Michael Koryta.

And now I’m hard at work on the first novel I’ll write as Julian Vaughn, roughly 20,000 words into it. I’m setting it where I grew up, which dredges up a lot of memories I’d rather forget, but hey, it’s good for the fiction. I’m eager to make this novel remarkable.

What good things are happening in your life?

Shock Totem #6 Winners

I’ve drawn the five winners for the Shock Totem #6 giveaway! Thanks to all who spread the word and entered! I will let the winners know once I receive the copies I ordered, and when I have them in the mail on their way to recipients.

The winners are: Nancy, Amanda Lyons, Bill, Kelly Stiles, and Keith Chartier. I will email you to get your addresses within the next week! Thanks, all!

Also saw a blistering new review of WHEN WE JOIN JESUS IN HELL that’s on the Preliminary Ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards. Thanks to Gabino Iglesias. You can read the review here.

Recent Book Purchases…

I went on a little book spending spree since there are a bunch I want to read over the next few months. I might not be online much.

1. Books 3-16 of James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series

2. Shock Totem #6 (issues for the giveaway and for me and my pre-readers)

3. The Drop by Michael Connelly (Reading now)

4. The Affair by Lee Child (Read yesterday, my favorite Reacher so far)

5. Mystery; In the Night Room; and The Throat by Peter Straub

6. Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson

7. The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy

8. The Wrath of Angels by John Connolly

9. That Which Should Not Be by Brett Talley

10. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

11. The End of Everything by Megan Abbott

12. The Cyrpress House by Michael Koryta

13. Winners copies of A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley  

And I have a bunch of books lined up to buy my next go round once I finish all of these and what I have in my TBR mountain. It’s going to be an awesome year!

My Short Story Collection (Free Jan. 25-29th)

I threw together a short story collection in thanks to fans for all their support. It’ll be free through Amazon from Jan. 25-29th so make sure to download it and to spread the word! Has a bunch of my favorites and I’ll keep the price low on this even after the free promotional period. My buddy Sandy DeLuca made me a cover for it. Thanks Sandy! I’ll try to get it listed on Goodreads this weekend too. 

As I Embrace My Jagged Edges (and Other Thorns) ToC:

1. We Run Races with Goblin Troopers
2. Beneath the Weeping Willow (A Division Mythos Story)
3. Daddy Screamed with Us (A Division Mythos Story)
4. Crooked Stick Figures (A Division Mythos Story)
5. When Crows Sing Sweetly Bitter Music
6. Crawl
7. A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky
8. Sorrow’s Breast
9. The Weight of All These Years (A Division Mythos Story)
10. Boys without Faces
11. As I Embrace My Jagged Edges (A Division Mythos Story)

Shock Totem #6 Giveaway

Very excited that Shock Totem #6 will be out soon and I have just ordered 5 paperback copies to give away to some lucky buggers. 

All you’ll have to do is share this giveaway on FB, or Twitter, Google +, Goodreads, or wherever, and paste the link of where you shared it in the comments section down below.

Easy. I’ll run this Giveaway for two weeks and then pick the five winners.

Very excited about  sharing pages again with one of my heroes (Jack Ketchum). Plus Shock Totem is super fine and I love those guys. The interview I did for this was a blast. You can check out the table of contents here.

Thanks to anybody who spreads the word and enters!

On the Bram Stoker Award’s Preliminary Ballot

Pleased to see my novella WHEN WE JOIN JESUS IN HELL on the Bram Stoker Preliminary Ballot for Superior Achievement in the Long Fiction category. 

I think the Final Ballot comes out Feb. 23rd. I don’t know if I’ll make the cut but I’m going to have a beer anyway. 

I’m really happy with how this novella has been received. A big thanks to my pre-readers Shaun, Kevin, Chris, and Charlene. And to my publisher Shane Staley and his crew. And to all the wonderful readers who make “going there” worth it. I get a lot of help. 

Nice to see a bunch of Delirium titles on there as well, and a few of my lady buddies *Waving at Sandy DeLuca and Mercedes Yardley!* who I hope win in their categories.

Here’s a link to the Stoker Award page: *Click Me and be great in bed*

Review in Black Static

Very happy to see the latest review of WHEN WE JOIN JESUS IN HELL in the super awesome Black Static Magazine. Thanks to Peter Tennant for the read and time! Here’s a snippet of what he said:

With its central concept of a once violent man who has been domesticated, but is prompted by circumstances to get back in touch with his inner beast, this novella reminded me of nothing so much as the Cronenberg film A History of Violence, though in the touches of arch-weirdness that litter the text – Fist trundling the corpses of his loved ones around in a shopping trolley, talking to them and pet lizard Bianca, his conversation with an artist who works with bodies – there is also more than a hint of the Lynch of Blue Velvet… At the heart of the story are questions about the nature of violence and how far we go before crossing a line. Fist’s dilemma underlines the failure of both society and the justice system, leaving a man to do what a man has got to do, if I’m allowed a cliché or two. It’s a powerful and affecting story…

You can check out Black Static here…

Also had a first recently when WHEN WE JOIN JESUS IN HELL got mentioned in another book’s review on HorrorTalk. Pretty neat. Here’s a snippet.

Not too long ago I was blown away by Lee Thompson’s When We Join Jesus in Hell. What fully impressed me was not just Thompson’s amazing skill, but the fact that I truly enjoyed a style of writing that I tend to avoid. Normally, I’m a meat a potatoes type of guy and don’t have a lot of a time for…I don’t know, “pretty” words? But Thompson didn’t care about likes, he just said read it and like it, which I did. I’m thinking J.R. Hamantaschen went to the same school as Thompson, because he pulled the same shit on me with his You Shall Never Know Security, a collection of his short stories.

Also answered interview questions for Shock Totem #6, which will be out soon with a story by me and others, including that sexy mothereffer Jack Ketchum. Looking forward to when that issue hits the stands (and ereaders). 

Not the Final Cover

And if you’re of a mind, swing by to participate in the discussion on Horror Aficionados where I’m guest author for January! We’re having fun and you should too!

My Vampire Novel

My buddy Sandy DeLuca’s novel MANHATTAN GRIMOIRE is free on Amazon right now. Grab it while you can! She’s incredibly talented. 

And if you missed me interviewing Noir Master Les Edgerton go here to grow enlightened!

We’re also having a blast on the Goodread’s Group Horror Aficionados discussing my brutal novella WHEN WE JOIN JESUS IN HELL for the month of January. It’s a blast. Come join the party!

I hope everybody’s 2013 is off to an amazing start!

I’m working on the ending of GOSSAMER: A STORY of LOVE and TRAGEDY. I think it’s going to be the most unique story with vampires that you’ve ever read. It’s fun too because I get to tip my hat to Ray Bradbury, Clive Barker and Stephen King, all in different ways. The climax kills me. I can’t wait until I have it in shape enough to send to my readers. Probably by the end of next week.