horror genre

All posts tagged horror genre

Hi everyone! I’m back from Killercon 2012 and it seriously kicked ass. Made a lot of new friends and really pushed my career forward (when you get back from a writing convention, all you really want to do is work harder and write) and now I am back on the balls… um, er, I mean ball. So well I get these partials in shape to submit, here are some really great books I’ve read recently and my thoughts on’em. Click on the book covers to purchase them.

Enjoy.

CHOURS OF DUST by Justin Paul Walters

Chorus of Dust Justin Paul Walters writes a jarring story. Chorus of Dust was ethereal and the theme was one of longing and belief and confronting your fears.
The story follows a man named Adem Comeauxa. When his grandfather dies, he returns to the family farm after a mysterious absence to recollect his past and mend his relationship with his sister Sam (Of course with much trepidation). As Adem does this, he uncovers an evil on his grandfather’s cotton farm… an evil that will force Adem to test his beliefs and eventually come to a horrible truth.
Do yourself a favor and read this one. Chorus of Dust is really a great, solid story and I cannot recommend it enough.
Buy it at www.darkfuse.com in the eBook format of your choice for $4.99.

THE RAIN DANCERS by Greg F. Gifune

The Rain DancersGreg F. Gifune is in fine form with The Rain Dancers. Greg’s work is dark, psychological, emotional and moody. It makes you think and reflect and if that isn’t enough, in The Rain Dancers, we have creeps, spooks and surprises abound.
A couple, Will and Betty Colby, return to Betty’s old hometown to settle some business about her father’s passing. But then, one rainy night, a mysterious man named Bob Laurent shows up on the couple’s doorstep.
He claims to be a family friend yet he seems unfamiliar to Betty, and he knows things… things about Betty, her father, and even personal things about Will and as the night goes on and the storm rages, an ultimate secret is revealed, one that drives Will and Betty to the edge of darkness.
If you have never read Gifune before, you should start with this one. I really think it might be his best yet.
The Rain Dancers is available from darkfuse.com for $4.99 and comes in the eBook format of your choice.

THE DARK ONES by Brian Smith

The Dark Ones is a great read. It has all the elements that make an exciting horror tale: demons, sex, gore, blood by the buckets and most important of all, a great story.
A group of teenagers called the dark ones accidently release a demon upon a small town. The demon unleashes a foul and unholy wrath and only the dark ones know how to stop it.
It’s as simple as that.
Simple, yet you can’t stop thinking about it once you are done reading it.
I am an absolute fan of Bryan Smith and he didn’t let me down with this one. The thing I like best about Smith’s writing is that he knows how to set up a page turner and I’m always a sucker for stories like those.
The one I read was the Deadite Press edition, a much cooler cover by far, and Deadite Press pays their authors so why not go down to Amazon.com or Deaditepress.com tonight and nab it for $12.95.
Worth every penny and you’ll have a fun time to boot!

THE DROPPER by Ron McLarty

The DropperRon McLarty has written an  awesome book here. The dropper is a rich and deep read and every chapter reads like a short story all its own. While the story itself keeps a slow pace all throughout the book, you should stick with it till the end because The Dropper is satisfying.
It fills you up and you think about it even when you’re done turning the last page.
I know I did.
I was having trouble describing this fantastic book so I’ll just paste from the Cemetery Dance Website:
“Gutsy 17-year-old Albert “Shoe” Horn is an apprentice plumber and part-time boxer in England in 1922, but when his mother dies, he finds himself responsible for an abusive, alcoholic father and a younger brother with special needs.
This marvelous novel follows the indomitable Shoe’s day-to-day survival with poetic grit, cynical genius, respect, and deep affection as he navigates a world full of very real characters: the gentle giant McAvy, his slave-driving boss, the Irish louts that resurrect his temper, the tempting ladies who seek him out, his hilarious plumbing clients, and the formidable “Dropper,” who Shoe fears will take away the most true thing in his life, his brother.”
I haven’t read a book like this in a long time. Reminds me of Hemmingway’s or Fitzgerald Style. It has big, bold paragraphs that dance with each other creating a close and personal atmosphere and I think in time that this one will be a classic. Grab it from Cemetery Dance Publications when you can. $25 for the trade hardcover.

In the late 1990′s Brian Keene edited and published a horror genre newsletter called Jobs in Hell. It had many staff writers and contributors and covered a range of topics and news bits from around the horror genre. It was geared towards writers and readers alike and from what I have read, was very popular and off the charts on the rad meter.

Unfortunately, I didn’t catch much of it the first time around but never fear, Jobs in Hell is back and rolling like a boss under the new and improved title of Jobs in Hell v. 3.0! If you are serious about your craft, you owe it to yourself to get a daily helping of writing goodness at Brian’s site.

Check it out here —> http://briankeene.tumblr.com/   Remember to check it daily!

As for me, I got my upcoming novel The Dread Ride to go over and the final editing of my chapbook Disembodied Secrets to square away so that it will all be ready in time for Killer Con in Las Vegas, NV from September 20th – 23rd. The finalized cover artwork for Disembodied Secrets is up in my BOOKS section of this site and I should be getting The Dread Ride Artwork any day now from my artist buddy Leo the Fox. If you never heard of Leo or his artwork, click here and give him a howdy for me.

I will still be posting what book reviews I can for Deadite press and Darkfuse.com but they will have to take a back seat to the deadline demon that’s knocking on my door with a switchblade in one hand and a brass knuckle in the other! (He’s actually a nice guy once you get to know him.)

And finally,  for those of you who care, follow me on twitter and on goodreads.com.

Allright, I’m off to work. Till I post again!

This week, I review two Deadite Press books. GHOUL by two time Bram Stoker award winner Brian Keene and “ZOMBIES AND SHIT” by the bonkers, bizzaro king of mean, Carlton Mellick III.

 GHOUL by Brian Keene

The story of Ghoul follows the lives of three young boy’s set in an area of Pennsylvania where farm country meets factories.  Timmy Graco, a twelve year old boy who collects comic books and one time pissed on an electric fence, is the protagonist who along with his two best friends, Doug and Barry, live their lives out like all kids do… making secret hideouts in cemeteries and playing among the dead. All is well and good until people start disappearing alive and turning up dead and not to mention the Ghoul munching that takes place. Needless to say, the ghoul is a problem for the town and there is no way a monster or anyone else is going to foul and smash the dreams of a 12 year old boy and his buddies.

 Sounds cool right? Well, it is.

 I won’t tell anymore about GHOUL, because that would ruin it, but I will say that there is much more to the story then three boys and a ghoul eating people. There is an underpinning of something greater within the pages, a terrible secret, and the fact that GHOUL  is also part of Keene’s ongoing mythos that he calls The Labyrinth (Got to be a fan to catch and connect it).  Keene creates believable characters and I always feel bad when one, or more, of the characters get hurt, eviscerated, killed, ect. But this is exactly why his work is so good, and I have no reservations in recommending GHOUL or Keene’s other works to anyone. The ending of GHOUL was some of the best, truthful, honest writing I have ever read (these are other qualities I admire and enjoy from Keene), and will have you thinking the same way too. Ghoul has a strong plot, complex characters and classic monster mashing…err… melting, what could be better?

 Ghoul is set in the 1980’s and, while some say it is a coming of age story with elements of the horror genre just “thrown” in, I disagree with the second part, and feel that it was more of a solid classic horror trip that takes you through a plethora of characters and one crazy ass monster legacy.

  Re-released by Deadite Press (One of my new favorite presses ), this edition is of excellent quality and is well worth the read and the best part of all, coming from Deadite press, you can pick up the trade paperback for only $11 bucks!  Ghoul was a retro pleasure to read and like I said, it’s a terror filled joyride that will burn your fingers as you turn the pages and it will catch your mind afire. Congratulations Mr. Keene, another excellent book. Buy it hear. Also, look out for the film adaptation of Ghoul coming later this year! Click here for more info on that.

 Zombies and Shit by Carlton Mellick III

 Carlton Mellick III (hereafter known as CM3, for space purposes) is a strange man, and I wouldn’t have it another way. If you’re not used to this genre called bizzaro, the let me tell you something… Either you get the humor or you don’t. Nay Sayers and people who just don’t understand aside (no one really cares about them anyways), let me state that I am now a complete fan of CM3 and Zombies And Shit was the book that started me on the path to his fandom.

Zombies and Shit ( Hereafter known as ZnS) has a simple premise: Twenty people wake up to find that they are in an abandoned building, in the middle of the zombie post apocalyptic, mad max world. To top everything off, they are contestants in a battle royal for a game show called Zombie Survival! Each contestant is given a backpack of supplies and a unique weapon. The catch? There is only one seat…for one person… that means everyone else must DIE!!!

 ZnS is filled with some of the most dirty, raunchiest, punk filled characters that would make even G.G. Allin throw up. Still, I loved every minute of the carnage and chaos that ensued between these pages. My favorite part of the whole book is when the T-2000 shows up. You will laugh your ass off, or at least crack a smile once you find out who or what T-2000 is. I won’t spoil it. You must read it for yourself.

 CM3 writing is like on one else and for some strange reason, when I’m deep in his prose, I can’t help but feel like the story is being told to me by a horney teenage boy!  And I would know, trust me on that. I can tell CM3 has a lot of fun writing these books and it shows big time.

 But what about the voice, the plot, the structure?

  I say whattaboutem? Because when the writing and story is as good as it is in ZnS, nothing else matters. You will be glued to this book and it will entertain you.

 And if it doesn’t entertain you, then you just don’t get it. Go read a romance novel, Nancy. (No offense meant to those names Nancy. It’s a very pretty name.)

 ZnS is available from Deadite press and you can order it here for the low, low price of $12.95 for the paperback and 7.95 for the kindle edition.

Next week I will review some Edward Lee! Also, Dark Fuse  has some excellent titles avilable for ebook or Hardcover and I will get around to some reviews of APARTMENT SEVEN by Greg Gefune and BACK FROM THE DEAD by J.F. Gonzales.

Hugh news here. Historic, in fact. Join me on Horrors new forum. The Slaughterhouse ! Join NOW by clicking here!

See you there.

2011 was not the most productive year of my life. I’ve had better years, really, but at least I met some goals; submitted 6 short stories (various e-zines and publishers), sold one of them, gave the rest away, worked on projects and made much progress and finally, built a pretty solid writing platform online. Point is, I could have done better and worked harder at my writing career. Will I do better in 2012? Of course I will, and besides, im not in this for the money, I do it because I love to write and the Horror genre is where my heart lies. (Other than with my wife, just in case she is reading this)

Ok… Truth time.

A large amount of the small successes that didn’t happen to me in 2011 were due to my lack of trying harder. I know that I had to deal with the usual stuff: two jobs, college, family and life, but despite all that, I believe I have done decent with the time I had. And hopefully you have too. This year though, I threw out all the planners and New Years resolutions and just made a choice, treating my writing career like a deadline, so to speak. A cold, hard choice to work on my writing and grow as an author. I’m sure many of you have been in this boat before and heard this rant as well and maybe, if you already have not, you will make your own solid decision about your own life.

Well, that’s  it for the inspiration section, now on to the good stuff! The year in review in Horror! Or otherwise titled, “What I Thought Was Interesting!”

In 2011, Dark Regions Press had a hell of a year. I ordered a lot of books from them and their author list has grown considerably. Also, they are a Bram Stoker award winning press and trust me folks, the HWA doesn’t just hand those things out for nothing. Please check them out and do your self a favor and buy some trade paperbacks!

“What about a Horror genre forum?”, Well yhea, Shocklines has been gone and dead, Horror drive in is a good place to vent in a forum, or so I hear because I don’t personally know, somehow I have been denied from joining their forums, or maybe they don’t check their email, either way one of the questions of 2011 was where do I find a place to connect with my fellow heroes and peers in the genre? I propose that we make Horrorworld.org our new official horror forum. If you haven’t already heard of their Podcast, aptly names, “Pod Of Horror” (Available from iTunes for free) then I recommend that you download all their past episodes. Not only is it a great primer for those who are uninitiated into this wonderful genre but it is a seriously kick ass show.

I have read close to 64 books, novellas, books on tapes ect., last year in 2011. I thought I would share my top ten. They are in no particular order and some are older and some are new.

10. The Face That Must Die by Ramsey Campbell- I have loved Campbell’s stuff since I can remember and this one was one of my favorites. I got it here, and its part of a great line of e-books release by the people that bring us NECON every year! Good stuff.

9. “In Laymon’s Terms” Edited by Kelly Laymon, Steve Gerlach and Richard Chizmar- Man, I love Dick Laymon! Always  have and always will, to me he will always be the king of the mountain. But why, Chuck? Because through reading all his books, he taught me my very first important lesson about writing…Write what you want because  no one else writes like you. This man taught me, post  mortem, to be fearless and this beautiful book is a wonderful dedication to the man. It has remembrances to Laymon, stories in his honor and even family pictures. Kelly laymon should be proud of this book. Buy it here, you won’t regret it.

8. PAIN by Harry Shannon- I have never read Harry Shannon but now I am part of the fan club. This novella is different from other zombie stories in that it isn’t actually a zombie story. Jonathan Mayberry explains it better than I ever could. An awesome,  quick read.  So nice, I read it twice. Available  here from Dark Regions Press.

7. BLINDSPOT by Michael McBride- Great Novella! It’s like Tom Clancy had a love child with Satan. Really fast pace and loads of fun! Available  here  from Bad Moon Books.

6. Gleefully Macabre Tales by Jeff Strand- Why does this guy not have a Stoker award yet?? This is a collection of short stories about, well macabre tales. Trust me, you will laugh, you will cry… you will DIE! Grab it here, if you dare.

5. Boys Life by Robert R. McCammon- Wow! this is a powerful, freighting book. I like everything that McCammon puts out and this one is a classic. even though it was released years ago it still should be a must read for any young kid and adult alike. Pick up this one and all his other back novels here!

4. Miranda by John R. Little- this was a haunting book, very cool and despite the quick read it sticks with me till this day. Pick it up here.

3. Creekers by Edward Lee- SICK, SICK, SICK!! And yet Lee’s writing has always been top notch in my book. I love it, I admit it and it doesn’t get any better than the master of splat, Ed Lee. Dig it up here.

2. The Dark At The End by F. Paul Wilson- F. Paul Wilson is one fantastic writer and I have read every one of his repair man jack novels so when this came out last October, I pre-ordered and devoured it. it is, as always, excellent. Get all the Repair Man Jack novels here.

1. 11/22/63 by Stephen King- I will go on record right now and say that I think this is Stephen Kings Best Work to date. Yes, Its a big book but the quality of the work is incredible. It’s not just a book about time travel, in fact, that is just one part of the story. The characters are classic King, deep, interesting and real and the ending will have you in tears. It shook me up a bit and it was worth the reading investment it took to get through it. Highly Recommended. Buy it here.

Well, that about does it . Thank you to all my readers, new and old, for being so patient with getting this blog off the ground, and I look forward to hearing from you throughout the year.

Chuck Rios