Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week …
Eight Cylinders, the new release from Jason Parent and Crystal Lake Publishing, out today
Sebastian “Seb” McAlister has run out of luck in Vegas. Cornered by a trigger-happy gang and shot through the stomach, he makes a desperate escape in his supercharged Hellcat. Fate guides Seb safely out of Sin City and into the desert, but as his wheels fade into the horizon, he fades into darkness. He awakes among a tiny community in the middle of nowhere. A mountain range circles the hodgepodge of shacks like prison walls looming high. And the warden that resides in those mountains is big, ugly, and deadly—a creature straight out of a Lovecraftian nightmare. If Seb hopes to escape that wayward way station, he’ll need enough cunning to outwit a force beyond comprehension… and a fast car. With a little luck and a ragtag group of would-be monster mashers racing alongside him, Seb just might have a shot of making it through the mountains alive. Available in paperback and eBook formats, you can pick up your copy right now, here.
A haunted priest confronts an apocalypse of his sins … The last days of a doomed conquistador … An impossible realm of painted nightmares … These are but glimpses into the world of Beyond the Book of Eibon, a literary tribute to the mind-boggling terrors and bizarre atmospheres of the maestro of Italian horror film Lucio Fulci with a bounty of original short fiction. Taking inspiration from the horrors and atmospheres of Fulci’s works, fifteen established and up-and-coming weird fiction authors including Adam Cesare (Clown in a Cornfield), Gemma Files (Experimental Film), Christopher Slatsky (The Immeasurable Corpse of Nature), and Matt Serafini (Rites of Extinction) have put together their own spine-tingling stories taking cues from all sides of Fulci’s career, from his infamous cosmic-splatter films to his outré exercises in dark fantasy and gothic westerns. Additionally, the book will contain a forward by Kier-La Janisse, whose landmark House of Psychotic Women helped redefine the critical approach to exploitation films in the 2010s. For fuller information and the chance to back the project for one of a number of exciting perks, check out the kickstarter page, here.
In a world where the rules of death suddenly no longer apply, thirty-something Lee Callows, prepares for the greatest day of his largely uneventful life: promotion to the first rung of middle management. However, his (after) life takes an unexpected turn when he is involved in a fatal road traffic accident on his way to work. Yet his death is the least of his problems! Disowned by an unsympathetic wife, shunned by his apathetic brother, and fired from his job (employment law doesn’t apply to the deceased) Lee, now homeless, alone and struggling to accept his death, seeks solace in the back alleys of Wisterbury. It is there that he encounters Meryl, and Harry ‘The Head’ Buckley. Meryl, (a student turned stripper, who earlier that morning had been shot dead by an overzealous admirer) too has been made homeless, her housemates less than enthusiastic about sharing their home with a walking corpse. She explains how she came across Harry, who having already died once, had attempted suicide by throwing himself in front of an HGV. The attempt had been unsuccessful, and the sight of Harry’s severed head mouthing silent obscenities in the gutter had been too much for Meryl to ignore. Together, the three of them attempt to come to terms with their newfound undead status, in a city that has little time for the living, let alone the dead! Initially available in eBook, with a paperback to follow soon, you can pick up your copy here, now.
What if a victimized woman decided to be a silent guardian angel for other women and turn the tables on predatory men? What if she stumbled into the hunting grounds of a cocky serial killer while looking for her own private murder den? What if a confident killer met his match in the form of a jean-clad, whiskey-swigging stranger in an hour glass-shaped package—and she made him want things—things he’s far too superior to want? When predator meets predator, the only question is: Is the attraction they feel to bed one another . . . or kill one another? Meg isn’t expecting to catch Jack red-handed with his most recent victim. Jack isn’t expecting Meg to come busting through his front door while chasing her current prey. Now that each recognizes a fellow killer, what urge will win—kiss or kill? Available in paperback and eBook editions, you can pick up your copy right now, here.
Richard Thomas’ Storyville Studio to offer his Contemporary Dark Fiction course in a European time window for the first time
Are you ready to take your writing to the next level? It’s important to not only write and read on a regular basis, but to understand the genres that you write in, and how you fit in. This class will talk at length about many different genres that contribute to the current dark fiction landscape (fantasy, science fiction, horror, Southern gothic, crime, neo-noir, transgressive, magical realism, and literary fiction) while simultaneously learning techniques, mechanics, structure, and essential elements that can be applied to ALL writing. Richard Thomas, the multiple award-winning author of Breaker, Disintegration and many more titles will be offering his incredible Contemporary Dark Fiction course on a European time schedule for the first time ever in summer 2021. Thomas says: “This is the first time I’ve ever offered a class specifically for those in the UK and Europe. Usually our Skype calls are at 8 PM Central in the US, so it makes it difficult for my European students, peers, friends, and fans to take this class. It’s only offered May-August of 2021, and I don’t know if I’ll do it again, so sign up now. 16 weeks of craft, weekly columns, weekly exercises, weekly Skype calls, stories to read, novels to read, and we workshop one of your stories every month. With only eight spots this will sell out fast. Use code TIHORROR10 to save 10%!” You can sign up for this unique opportunity here, now.
of short fiction by author Damascus Mincemeyer, out now from Deadman’s Tome
There is a place at the end of every road, after each song has finished and all tales have been told, where the sun dims and the shadows take hold. Few who have ventured to that darkened realm return to tell what they’ve witnessed, but in these eighteen harrowing stories those that have recount the horror and the hope, the desire and the despair that lies Where the Last Light Dies. Available in paperback and eBook formats, from Deadman’s Tome, you can pick up your copy right now, here.
KEV HARRISON