Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #183 (Haven part 5a)

Haven is set to return on October 8th for its final season. You may not have time to catch up on the 13 episodes that make up Season 5A, so this is a synopsis of events that I hope you’ll find helpful. If you want to read my posts about the characters and previous seasons, you can start here and work your way back. I’ll be updating the Who’s Who with info from Season 5A in due course, and I’ll have a sneak peak of Season 5B for you soon: I’ve already seen the first two episodes. Stay tuned. The game is changing in many different ways.Continue Reading

OUT TODAY! Dark Screams: Volume Five Featuring Mick Garris, J. Kenner, Kealan Patrick Burke, Del James, and Bentley Little

As you might remember, Richard Chizmar and Brian James Freeman have joined forces with the cutting edge team at Hydra, a division of Random House, to launch a series of horror eBook anthologies called Dark Screams that feature the best horror authors working in the business today. Volumes One, Two, Three, and Four have all been very well received, and Dark Screams: Volume Five is now available for download for just $2.99!

About the Book:
Dark Screams 5
Mick Garris, J. Kenner, Kealan Patrick Burke, Del James, and Bentley Little pry open a sarcophagus of horror and dread in Dark Screams: Volume Five, from Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar of the esteemed Cemetery Dance Publications.

EVERYTHING YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED by Mick Garris
It was supposed to be the night of his life: a celebration of his one hit slasher flick. But the price of admission is higher than this has-been filmmaker ever could have imagined.

THE ONE AND ONLY by J. Kenner
When he was seven, Will Underwood’s nanny told him she had the Sight. Years later, a broken heart sends him to New Orleans . . . but it’s fate that leads him to Madame Darkling’s Voodoo Emporium.

THE LAND OF SUNSHINE by Kealan Patrick Burke
Although she was mute long before the affair that nearly wrecked their marriage, her silence has tortured her husband ever since. Now he will seek out what he has lost—or be driven mad by remorse.

MECHANICAL GRATITUDE by Del James
Arnold loves his ’68 Camaro almost as much as he loves his wife, and he’s willing to do anything to protect them both—especially after hearing strange noises coming from his garage.

THE PLAYHOUSE by Bentley Little
A real-estate agent is drawn into a children’s playhouse behind an abandoned property she’s trying to sell—and finds herself strangely reluctant to leave.

Purchase the eBook:
Amazon.com • Amazon.ca • Amazon.co.uk • Barnes & Noble • iBookstore • Kobo

Purchase the Audiobook:
Amazon.com

Reviews & Praise:
“Freeman and Chizmar’s fifth horror anthology runs the gamut from throwback horror to lyrical and heartbreaking tales… The crown jewel is Kealan Patrick Burke’s luminous ‘The Land of Sunshine,’ about a husband guilty of infidelity who gives the ultimate gift to win his wife’s forgiveness. Another standout is Mick Garris’s gonzo ‘Everything You’ve Always Wanted,’ a gory, darkly funny tale about a has-been movie director who meets the woman of his dreams at a horror convention, with disastrous results… Loosely tied together with themes of broken hearts and wayward love, this collection will satisfy most horror fans.”
— Publishers Weekly

“I feel I’m beginning to sound redundant with these Dark Screams reviews, but I cannot help showering praise on every single installment in this ongoing series, with this latest being no exception. I suppose it’s no surprise given the editors Richard Chizmar and Brian James Freeman, who have certainly proven their merit as publishers of quality horror fiction with Cemetery Dance Publications over the years. And yet, the consistency of said quality contained within these digital pages never ceases to amaze.”
— Christopher Shultz, LitReactor

Dark Screams Volume Five

 

Paper Cuts: You Can’t Argue with Our Definitive List of Cinema’s Best Monsters

PaperCuts-web

Paper (n): material manufactured in thin sheets from the pulp of wood or other fibrous substances, used for writing, drawing, or printing on.
 

Cut (v): make (a movie) into a coherent whole by removing parts or placing them in a different order.

You Can’t Argue with Our Definitive List of Cinema’s Best Monsters

Special Guest: Orrin Grey

The title story in Orrin Grey’s upcoming collection, Painted Monsters, is prefaced by maybe my favorite epigraph of all time:

“For you, the living, this mash was meant too…”
— Bobby “Boris” Pickett

And then I realize that title of the story and collection — which sounded so familiar on first hearing — is actually a reference to one of Boris Karloff’s lines in Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets, one of the best horror films of all time, in my opinion.

Continue Reading

Review: 'Blood Feud' #1 by Cullen Bunn, Drew Moss and Nick Filardi

blood-feud-1Blood Feud #1 by Cullen Bunn (W), Drew Moss (A), and Nick Filardi (C)
Oni Press (October 7, 2015)
$3.99
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

A lot of people are going to look at the variant cover of Blood Feud #1 – the one modeled after the poster for the original Friday the 13th movie – and assume it’s a slasher series. I know I did. And while it’s definitely a horror book, there’s a lot more going on than a psycho stalker in a mask.Continue Reading

Dark Screams 5 Featuring Mick Garris, Kealan Patrick Burke, Del James, J. Kenner, and Bentley Little coming soon!

Dark Screams: Volume Five
Featuring Mick Garris, Kealan Patrick Burke, Del James, J. Kenner, and Bentley Little!

Just $2.99 and Available For Preorder Now!

Hi Folks!

As you might remember, Richard Chizmar and Brian James Freeman of Cemetery Dance Publications have joined forces with the cutting edge team at Hydra, a division of Random House, to launch a series of horror eBook anthologies called Dark Screams that features the best horror authors working in the business today!

Dark Screams: Volume Five is now available for preorder and we hope you’ll check it out! (Dark Screams: Volume One, Dark Screams: Volume Two, Dark Screams: Volume Three, and Dark Screams: Volume Four are also still available!)

Dark Screams 5About Volume Five:
Mick Garris, Kealan Patrick Burke, Del James, J. Kenner, and Bentley Little pry open a sarcophagus of horror and dread in Dark Screams: Volume Five, from Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar of the esteemed Cemetery Dance Publications.

EVERYTHING YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED by Mick Garris
It was supposed to be the night of his life: a celebration of his one hit slasher flick. But the price of admission is higher than this has-been filmmaker ever could have imagined.

THE LAND OF SUNSHINE by Kealan Patrick Burke
Although she was mute long before the affair that nearly wrecked their marriage, her silence has tortured her husband ever since. Now he will seek out what he has lost—or be driven mad by remorse.

MECHANICAL GRATITUDE by Del James
Arnold loves his ’68 Camaro almost as much as he loves his wife, and he’s willing to do anything to protect them both—especially after hearing strange noises coming from his garage.

THE ONE AND ONLY by J. Kenner
When he was seven, Will Underwood’s nanny told him she had The Sight. Years later, a broken heart sends him to New Orleans… but it’s fate that leads him to Madame Darkling’s Voodoo Emporium.

THE PLAYHOUSE by Bentley Little
A real-estate agent is drawn into a children’s playhouse behind an abandoned property she’s trying to sell—and finds herself strangely reluctant to leave.

Download from Amazon (US)Download from Amazon (Canada)Download from Amazon (UK) Download for the Nook Download from the iBookstore Download from Kobo

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and enthusiasm!

Review: 'The Stephen King Companion: Four Decades of Fear from the Master of Horror' by George Beahm

The Stephen King Companion: Four Decades of Fear from the Master of Horror by George Beahm
St. Martin’s Griffin (October 6, 2015)
624 pages, e-book $11.99, paperback $18.05
Reviewed by Kevin Quigley

SKCompanionDiscovering George Beahm’s first Stephen King Companion in 1989 was a revelation.  Even then, there had been plenty of books written on the subject, starting off with Douglas Winter’s prescient The Art of Darkness; since, most books on King had tended toward the academic or the hyperbolic, with little in the way of a middle ground for readers who wanted to know more but didn’t necessarily want to take an American Lit class. The Stephen King Companion filled that gap, offering plenty of background information on King and the books, transcripts of important talks King had given, statistics on limited editions and insights into the books and stories that made up the bulk of interest on King. Continue Reading

What I Learned from Stephen King: The Hero in 'The Dead Zone'

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The Hero in The Dead Zone

deadzonepicWhen we think of the great many characters conjured by the imagination of Stephen King, we most likely think of Carrie White, Annie Wilkes, Jack Torrance or Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Few authors in history have known how to construct such a vast array of multidimensional villains and villainesses. As a result, what gets lost in King’s sea of personalities are his heroes — the most interesting of whom is arguably one Johnny Smith, the main man of The Dead Zone who awakens from a four-and-a-half year coma with a startling new mental capacity to see both people’s past and their future. It’s a power he doesn’t know quite how to control, and one that isn’t without its flaws. Continue Reading

Review: 'The Silent End' by Samuel Sattin

SilentEndCoverThe Silent End by Samuel Sattin
Ragnorak Publishing (September 2015)
524 pages; $20.95 paperback/$4.99 ebook
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Samuel Sattin makes his home in Oakland, California and has been writing for some time now. His prior novel was titled League of Somebodies which boldly combines comic book storytelling into a traditional novel format. The Silent End is his first novel with Ragnarok Publications and if I had to pigeonhole this work I would call it YA Horror.Continue Reading

Review: 'A Head Full of Ghosts' by Paul Tremblay

HeadFullGhostsCoverA Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
William Morrow (June 2015)
304 pages; $14.58 paperback/$12.99 ebook
Reviewed by Michael Wilson

Paul Tremblay’s fiction has been gracing bookstores and bookshelves for well over a decade. No stranger to horror, Paul’s picked up three Stoker Award nominations – including First Novel for The Little Sleep – and has been on the Board of Directors for the Shirley Jackson Award since it was founded in 2007. In spite of all his accolades, A Head Full of Ghosts has put him on the horror map more than anything he’s released or achieved previously. It’s the horror novel of 2015 that everyone’s talking about. Even Stephen King took to Twitter to give his approval, declaring, “A Head Full of Ghosts, by Paul Tremblay: Scared the living hell out of me, and I’m pretty hard to scare.” But is such unadulterated admiration really warranted or are we dealing with over-hyped and under-delivered horror art? Continue Reading

NEW BOOK: Dark Hallows: Ten Halloween Haunts

Dark Hallows: Ten Halloween Haunts
A surprise new Halloween anthology featuring well-known authors and up-and-coming new voices!

Dark HallowsHi Folks!

We’re pleased to be the first to announce DARK HALLOWS, a surprise new value-priced trade paperback Halloween anthology coming next month from Scarlet Galleon Publications!

Edited by Mark Parker, this book is a bargain and features stories by Richard Chizmar, Brian James Freeman, Norman Partridge, Robert Morrish, Al Sarrantonio, Ronald Malfi, Aaron Dries, Adam Cesare, Mark Parker, and Lisa Morton!

About the Book:
Some treats are better than tricks!

As summer turns to autumn, Scarlet Galleon Publications, publisher of the Amazon #1 bestselling horror anthology, DEAD HARVEST: A Collection of Dark Tales, offers readers a collection of Halloween tales to help celebrate the season in a chillingly unforgettable way.
10 authors. 10 haunting tales. 1 incredible anthology.

DARK HALLOWS will have you leaving the lights on, just to make sure you’re really alone.

Featuring NEW fiction from Cemetery Dance founder and publisher, Richard Chizmar. With original artwork by Aaron Dries.

Also included are stories from:

Brian James Freeman, Norman Partridge, Robert Morrish, Al Sarrantonio, Ronald Malfi, Aaron Dries, Adam Cesare, Mark Parker, and Lisa Morton

Read more on our website or place your order while supplies last!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and enthusiasm!

 

Review: 'The Girl in the Maze' by R.K. Jackson

GirlMazeThe Girl in the Maze by R. K. Jackson
Alilbi: A Division of Random House (September 2015)
292 pages; $2.99 ebook
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

The Girl In the Maze is a genre-crushing story that’s part mystery, part thriller, with elements of horror. The result is a terribly entertaining novel about Martha Covington, a schizophrenic, who with treatment is making her way back into the workplace.Continue Reading

Review: 'Where We Live and Die' by Brian Keene

WhereWhere We Live and Die by Brian Keene
Lazy Fascist Press (August 2015)
162 pages; $12.95 paperback/$5.95 ebook
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

If you’ve ever read anything by Brian Keene, then you’ve read something
about Brian Keene. I say this because the man doesn’t just pour himself
into his work; he tears pieces of himself away and fuses them into his
fiction. Check out his podcast and look for the “Secret Origins” episodes, and you’ll see what I mean.

Or, read his new collection from Lazy Fascist Press, Where We Live and Die.Continue Reading