Ends: April 17th
Open to humans (and human-like entities)
in the USA and the UK.
This giveaway is brought to you by DEAD ROSES: FIVE DARK TALES OF TWISTED LOVE
Available Now in Paperback and eBook!
(40% off for release week!)
Sunday, March 22, 2015
The Riggle Twins Audio Book Booklikes Giveaway
Monday, March 16, 2015
Dead Roses - Released!
This is a horror anthology of all new tales from the same people who brought you last year's Bad Apples: Five Slices of Halloween Horror. My contribution to this one is a novella(!) entitled Loving the Goat.
Well, here's a little more about all the stories in the book:
When Father Stuart McKenzie finds a disfigured girl abandoned on the steps of his church, he decides the child is a blessing from God and raises her as his own. But the special needs of Eleanor demand more from Stuart than a father can give.
LOVE LIES IN EYES, by Evans Light
Nathan falls for a beautiful girl from across a crowded room, but she disappears before he can muster his courage. Obsessed with getting a second chance, he's about to learn that true love isn't only hard to find...it can be hard to lose.
PANACEA, by Adam Light
Decades of marriage haven't tarnished Rob's affection towards his dear wife Molly one bit, and he's not about to let cancer snatch her away, no matter the cost. But every medication has its side effects, some more than others.
CINDER BLOCK, by Edward Lorn
Toby's dad may have hit the road long ago, but his mother still loves him - along with every other man in town, that is. But after the beautiful Lauren shines a light into his dreary world, he realizes just how crazy love can get.
LOVING THE GOAT, by Gregor Xane
Embattled comic book artist and notorious animal lover Bill Capra is willing to do anything (literally) to get his dirty paws on the fabled object of his desire, even if it means his own destruction.
(This book contains adult content and is suitable for mature readers only.)
Order a copy of Dead Roses now!
(40% off for release week!)
Saturday, February 28, 2015
We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory
This piece is dark and creepy and humorous when appropriate. I'd like to read more about these misfits. And, as it turns out, I suppose I'll get to read more about at least one of them in a forthcoming novel, Harrison Squared, a prequel to this story. This seems like a weird way to go about things, since this novella seems to have neatly encapsulated the events of that forthcoming novel. In effect, nearly cancelling out any need to read it.
But after being thus far impressed with everything I've read by Mr. Gregory, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and pick that one up, too.
Recommended.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
We're giving away Dead Roses!
Enter a Booklikes Giveaway to win 1 of 3 eBook copies of Dead Roses: Five Dark Tales of Twisted Love. Ends: March 9, 2015
Or click here for a chance to win 1 of 2 paperback copies of Dead Roses. Ends: March 15, 2015
And, if you've not already read Bad Apples: Five Slices of Halloween Horror, you can enter a giveaway to win 1 of 3 paperback copies of that, as well. Ends: March 1, 2015
Best of luck to all who enter!
Dead Roses: Five Dark Tales of Twisted Love will be released on March 16, 2015.
Signed Limited Edition hardcovers and paperbacks are available for pre-order here.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Kiss Me, Judas by Will Christopher Baer
But I've long been a sucker for this oft-told tale and all of its variations, so I must admit this was a large part of why I picked this thing up.
Even still, I was a bit apprehensive. This is advertised as kind of a literary noir type of read and I fully expected our hero with the missing kidney to delve into a hellish underworld to track down the organ thieves and exact a most terrible revenge. But only after much suffering, of course, and double-crosses, and horrifying revelations.
But, man, was I happy to find that this is NOT what I got. This book, this story, turned out to be something altogether different.
This thing is really good.
And I'm not going to tell you any more about it.
I'll just leave you with this list of things that may turn off potential readers:
1) It's told in first person, present tense by an unreliable narrator.
2) There are no heroes or anti-heroes in this book.
3) There are no quotation marks to be found in any of the dialogue.
4) Nearly every character is reprehensible and/or commits reprehensible acts.
This is crime/noir at its darkest.
You've been warned.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Bubba Ho-Tep by Joe R. Lansdale
Sadder still are the heroes of this story, two old men who may have taken on the personalities of celebrities to overcompensate for their overwhelming feelings of uselessness and inconsequence. It's better for them, it seems, to go to their graves as JFK and Elvis than to die as the men they were, men even their families have long forgotten.
Oh, and there's a mummy sneaking into the retirement home in the middle of the night to kill elderly folks and steal their souls.
Don't forget about the mummy.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
THE RIGGLE TWINS is FREE on Amazon!
The Riggle Twins first appeared in last year's Bad Apples: Five Slices of Halloween Horror. Yesterday, it was announced that the same people who brought you that thing are putting out another thing next month called Dead Roses: Five Dark Tales of Twisted Love. So, if you're interested in either anthology, this story should give you the flavor of these books.
If you grab it, I do hope you enjoy it.
Get The Riggle Twins FREE from Amazon!
Saturday, February 14, 2015
From the Creators of Bad Apples: Dead Roses: Five Dark Tales of Twisted Love
I am pleased to announce that my newest novella, Loving the Goat, will be appear in forthcoming horror anthology Dead Roses: Five Dark Tales of Twisted Love.
Check out the complete table of contents below:
Love Lies In Eyes by Evans Light
Cinder Block by Edward Lorn
Eleanor by Jason Parent
Panacea by Adam Light
Loving the Goat by Gregor Xane
Release Date for hardcover, paperback, and eBook editions: March 16, 2015
Signed limited edition hardcover and paperback editions are now available for pre-order. Signed edition orders include the eBook.
Pre-Order a Signed Edition of Dead Roses: Five Dark Tales of Twisted Love!
Saturday, February 7, 2015
The Cipher by Kathe Koja
If you don't like reading books where that's the question you're left with after turning the final page, this might not be the thing for you.
This book is like a Rorschach splatter, and I'm not telling you what I think it all meant to me. I'd be embarrassed, I think, to expand on the matter with anyone other than a close friend.
It's dark. It's nasty. The only good people in this story are on the periphery.
If you like body horror. If you like art house films that shove the camera into the mess of humanity, then you'll likely enjoy the ever-loving shit out of this book.
Negatives? I think it would have worked better as a novella. And the OCR transition to eBook wasn't quality-checked as well as it could have been. There were some twisted fits of textual weirdness here and there throughout.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
I'm on the 2014 Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot!
This doesn't make me or my story a nominee. To claim that distinction, "The Riggle Twins" will have to be voted on to the final ballot by Horror Writers Association (HWA) lifetime/active members.
At this time I'd like to congratulate everyone listed on the preliminary ballot. Best of luck to all!
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Double Feature by Owen King
The father is a lovable asshole and the son is an unlikable asshole. This story is about their respective journeys toward not being such huge assholes.
This is a big messy book. The author throws everything he's got at this one. And most of it sticks.
Owen King is a hell of a writer. His dad (Stephen King) and his brother (Joe Hill) are great entertainers, tellers of tales designed for stadium seating, whereas Owen King is more of a writer's writer. The stuff Owen accomplishes (or tries to accomplish) in this book is impressive, page after page of death-defying feats of writerly derring-do. As a writer, you can't help but to read this and think "Huh, I wouldn't have tried that", "I can't believe he pulled that off!", "How'd he do that?", "Good one" and "Oh, wow!"
This book has touching scenes, hilarious scenes, bigger than life characters, real people, and wild, imaginative visions.
It also has a fucking Seinfeld routine grafted onto a sequence in an art house film the main character is filming. This happens early on and I nearly put down the book after reading it. The cheapness, the obviousness of this gag nettled me. It was beneath the author to use it, and even beneath the pathetic writer/director character in the book who penned it in this fictional world.
There are a number of minor low points in this book, but this 'Seinfeld' thing is the worst. But, because Owen tosses in everything, there will be scenes and lines and characters that detract. It's almost to be expected with a book like this. But believe me when I say the good far outweighs the bad in this book. And there are elements, many elements, that are truly great.
Booth, for instance. If there is one reason to read this book, it is to experience this ingenious character portrait.
I loved Booth.
The story engine used here is the farce and this novel has many of the goofy trappings of the farce. But I'm not sure that it needed any of that. Some of it worked, some was eye roll-inducing. So, if you're one who can't handle improbable situations, coincidences, broad physical humor, juvenile sight gags, and dick jokes, you might want to steer clear.
Oh, also, if you think this is a horror novel because Stephen King's son wrote it, don't even bother picking it up.
This is not a horror novel.
This is not a horror novel.
This is not a horror novel.
But Owen does throw in an absolutely grand tribute to one of his dad's favorite books, The Great God Pan. So, even though this one's not horror, I just know Owen's pop was smiling from ear to ear while reading this thing. Man, it's that good.
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