Writer of Horror Fiction

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Cover to “Zombies Gone Wild” Anthology released!

I’ve wanted to show off this wacky cover for some time, but it just became official.  I don’t really have a good explanation for this anthology, as far as all the types of stories it includes, but I know that my story, “What’s Eating You?” is a pretty twisted and darkly comedic zombie tale not for the faint of heart or squeamish.  So my guess is that since the publisher indicated that my tale was just the type they were looking for that this book is filled with a plethora of twisted and darkly comedic zombie tales.  Well, you can look at the cover and see that much, right?

More details to come, as the table of contents should be released fairly soon for Zombies Gone Wild.

 

Posted by  |  June 16, 2012 | Categories: The Shorts | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Review of Craig DiLouie’s “The Killing Floor”

Craig DiLouie took the traditional infected/zombie tale and expanded upon it (and turned it on its ear) with his release of The Infection.  The Killing Floor, the second book in this series, carries on where the last book left off, with surviving characters trying to comprehend the costly victory they had at the bridge, where they prevented a flood of infected from crossing the Ohio River and tearing through the refugee camp in nearby Defiance, where over 100,000 survivors live.  Ray, one of the survivors from the battle, has been infected but has yet to turn.  He is given a mercy by Anne, who allows him to crawl off to die on his own instead of getting a bullet in the head.  But Ray doesn’t become your typical infected, instead turning into something like a Typhoid Mary, or a carrier of the infection, instead.  This is the centerpiece of this book, with Ray trying to understand what his purpose is as the military and the militia, led by Anne, race to find him with the hope that his blood may hold the cure or to kill him, even as his new found capabilities make him even more dangerous than even the monsters or the infected.

We are introduced to two main new characters: Dr. Price, who is one of the only scientists that believes the infection is not manmade.  He manages to escape the White House and is hidden in an underground bunker, but as the story unfolds is given the opportunity to go after Ray and perhaps find a vaccine or cure for infection.  Rod, the other new character, is a soldier in the field working to clear out Washington D.C. of the infected when he and his men are assigned the task of bringing Ray in, dead or alive.  Along with the remaining cast from the first book, we are given an impressive slew of characters whose stories intersect and come together for the exciting conclusion.

As the second book in what is likely a trilogy, the actual novelty of the infected are has worn off a bit, meaning we get to delve even deeper into the characters here and focus less on the different creatures that have come about with the advent of this plague.  Even with some of the secondary characters there is plenty to sink your teeth into, as most of them do not come off as hollow cannon fodder, but real people.  The author also does an excellent job of making the military aspects of this story believable without overdoing the jargon and technical areas of the story.  The writing is crisp, sharp, and the story itself is intriguing-it does not rely on the unique nature of the infection (with its wide array of different life forms that appear to have the goal of not just running amok but its apparent lust to wipe out all other life forms) to carry the story forward, but the characters who give the tale its terrific depth.

The Killing Floor is a well-crafted follow up to The Infection and has me anxiously awaiting the third chapter in this saga.

The Killing Floor can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Killing-Floor-novel-Infection/dp/1618680757/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1339807021&sr=8-3&keywords=the+killing+floor

Posted by  |  June 15, 2012 | Categories: Other folk's stuff... | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

A cool website to check out.

Just a quick note here on a website a friend and fellow author, Pat Douglas, has put together.  He gets a lot of traffic there because he puts up interesting articles and all kinds of cool stuff, along with promoting his own writing, naturally.  An article I wrote will be appearing there tomorrow, and I hope any new or aspiring writers find it interesting.  Just a few thoughts on the writing world in general and promotion in particular.  You can check out articles from plenty of different folks in the writing world there.  Just hit the link and mark it as one of your favorites: http://indie-inside.com/

Posted by  |  June 15, 2012 | Categories: My Writing Experiences, Other folk's stuff... | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Review of David Houchins and Scot Thomas’ Zombie Apocalypse Preparation: How to Survive in an Undead World and Have Fun Doing It!

Zombie Apocalypse Preparation: How to Survive in an Undead World and Have Fun Doing It! is sort of the goofy alter ego of Max Brook’s Zombie Survival Guide, which kept a straight face throughout its overview of weaponry, tactics, location scouting, and other related areas of interest when dealing with the inevitable outbreak of zombie mayhem.  These days, with people getting their faces eaten off, children rising up out of their coffins, and a veritable cornucopia of other events happening that hint at a possible zombie apocalypse, checking out a guide or two on undead preparedness is not a bad idea.  ZAP, as this guide is called for short, provides an amusing approach to taking the steps necessary to insure you survive the end of the world not only with the goal of making it through alive, but making it through alive in style and with a smile on your face.

Parts of this book are fairly routine survivors fare, covering the topics of weapons, shelters, locations, vehicles, etc.  But the author’s snappy commentary adds entertainment value to the routine evaluations of different options you have available.  Pop culture references abound and while not all of them will resonate with everyone in their audience, many of them brought a smile to my face.

One of the key elements of this book that does stand out as different is the final section, where the authors have come up with a wide array of zombie-related games to pass the time for those bored with the everyday routine of survival during the undead apocalypse.  The detailed drawings add punch to the outrageous descriptions given.  I won’t spoil the fun by listing out these different pastimes, but suffice it to say that they take traditional games and some new and unique ideas for games and make versions that will keep you on your toes…with risk to that part of your anatomy as well as many others if you decide to play them with actual zombies.

Overall, this is an entertaining survival guide.  I thought the comedy was a little light in certain sections, and the use of some references got a little redundant after a while, but overall, a well done, fun read for the dedicated and not-so-dedicated zombie fan alike.

Zombie Apocalypse Preparation: How to Survive in an Undead World and Have Fun Doing It!  can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Apocalypse-Preparation-Survive-Undead/dp/1618680269/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339221769&sr=1-1

Posted by  |  June 9, 2012 | Categories: Other folk's stuff... | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Review of Patrick and Chris William’s “Dead Meat”

Dead Meat is a zombie apocalypse tale told from the perspective of Gavin, a young man living in River’s Edge when an outbreak of what the media claims is rabies spread by rats has already overtaken the town.  The military has been called in and at the start of the story it’s clear that this is no normal case of rabies.  Gavin meets Benny, who is hiding out on the roof of a convenience store, a couple of days into the mess the ‘bees’ (what Gavin dubs the undead/biters, because they tend to swarm together when they attack) have created.  Together, they try to make their way to Gavin’s sister and parents who live in another town, but naturally there are a tremendous amount of obstacles in their way, including the military, who are exterminating the living along with the undead with extreme prejudice in an attempt to control the plague.

While this story is in the traditional Romero mold with slow moving undead, this first person, present tense tale takes a different tact than many stories I’ve seen.  You would expect this story to be about survival, which it is, and about dealing with human drama, which it also is about, but it really burrows down deep into issues of trust and how being a survivor changes a person much more than most.  We go deep into Gavin’s paranoia and trust issues, as well as how tortured he is by what he is forced to witness and do to stay alive.  While the story is about Gavin, it is Benny’s tale too, along with Rickett, an old recluse they happen upon, and Henry (Henrietta) a girl they also find during their trip.  But the dynamic between Gavin and Benny is the highlight here-how difficult and ugly it is for them to gain one another’s trust and yet still not trust each other, how it seems that they’re at each other’s throats most of the time while still having to rely upon one another.  It is a complex relationship and one that I was intrigued by from start to finish.  The key element with this story is how each of the characters feels real, not limiting stereotypes with no depth, or even a meager attempt at giving them depth.  Gavin is the main character but that doesn’t make him extremely the hero of the tale-his paranoia tends to get annoying at points, as does his mistrust of almost everyone around him.  Benny seems to be an unapologetic sociopath at times, while at other times it’s clear that he hasn’t lost his humanity despite all the inhumane things he has been forced to do and seems to revel in.  This story is as much a character study of these two as it is a saga of the zombie apocalypse.  We see it all through Gavin’s eyes and so the outside elements are limited-we know nothing of the military except for his limited perspective, nothing about what is going on outside of narrow sphere of his experiences, and as such a lot of minor details slip to the wayside while the dynamics of his relationship with Benny, Rickett, and Henry are explored in tremendous detail.

Since I tend to favor zombie tales that devote most of their energy to the human relationships in them and how people are twisted and changed in a survivor tale, I found this story to be a highly entertaining entry into the zombieverse.  It also has plenty of violence and action to spread around, making this something for pretty much all zombie fans to enjoy.

Dead Meat can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Meat-Patrick-Williams/dp/1618680242/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339033247&sr=8-1

Posted by  |  June 6, 2012 | Categories: Other folk's stuff... | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Review of Tonia Brown’s “The Cold Beneath”

The Cold Beneath is a tale of doomed high adventure, written from the perspective of the last survivor of a journey, sharing what came to pass in his diary shortly before he plans on willingly embracing his own death at the hands of the tormented crew who traveled with him.

Philip Syntax is a British inventor who has relegated himself to the American south in the latter half of the nineteenth century as a form of self-imposed exile after an invention of his was credited to his former mentor.  Arriving at his estate with a proposal for a great journey is Gideon Lightbridge, a former U.S. Colonel and a great explorer who has need of Philip because he is using the very invention Philip had stolen from him years before-a pair clockwork legs that serve the amputee better than his original ones did.  Lightbridge wants Philip to maintain the legs in sub-zero temperatures because he plans being the first explorer to make it to the North Pole.  They will be traveling in a helium Airship called The Northern Fancy.

Philip regales the reader with the story of his journey, leading up to his ultimate fate at the hands of the crew who were possessed by a strange and nightmarish sickness in the Arctic Northern extremes.

The Cold Beneath is a very entertaining steam punk tale tinged with the flavor of a seaborne mystery.  While the crew guides the ship upon the air, it felt almost as if they were on the high seas, though the seas in this book are the frozen wastes of the far north.  This is a zombie tale, and much of the fun of this story lies in the creative usage of the undead here, which are blue tinged nightmares that are somewhat Frankenstein-ish in appearance and actions.  This is also classic Gothic type horror told in diary form.  It would be easy to imagine this story being turned into an old Hammer classic, with devious deeds and plenty of dark mysteries afoot throughout.   There is also romance in this story, though even that is intriguing and riddled with twists and turns.  The author blends all these different styles together flawlessly and makes them all fit together nicely.

Tonia Brown has created a terrific voice for her narrator that puts the reader in the story and made me appreciate every crisp detail as it is revealed.  Philip Syntax is a thoroughly realized character, as are the other members of the crew of The Northern Fancy who play a major part in this tale such as Lightbridge, Albert, the Chief Mechanic, and Geraldine Goode, a former flame of Philip’s and the doctor on board the air ship.

If there is any sort of failing with this tale, perhaps it lies within the diary format.  By nature, things are revealed in advance of a full description and the reader knows things, such as the ultimate fate of the crew from the very beginning.  Still, surprises abound and as with any good mystery, I found myself guessing at the answers that reveal themselves in a highly satisfactory way within the last few pages of the book.

The Cold Beneath is a great bet for anyone who enjoys Gothic horror, mysteries, steam punk, or intense zombie action.  The characters are colorful, the pace is excellent, and the undead are some of the creepiest I’ve seen in quite some time.

The Cold Beneath can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Beneath-steampunk-zombie-ebook/dp/B0086VRXY6/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338389299&sr=1-4

Posted by  |  May 30, 2012 | Categories: Other folk's stuff... | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Review of Dean Giles “Alien Apocalypse: Genesis”

Dean Giles has crafted what amounts to a serial production of an alien invasion, releasing it as short stories with two installations thus far, along with a brief prequel that is included with Alien Apocalypse: Genesis.  The story is about Leon, a father imprisoned for manslaughter after he kills his wife’s murderer, and Elliot, his son, who has to live with his aunt and uncle on their farm until his father’s four year sentence is complete.  Nearing the end of his term of imprisonment, Leon has to deal with a comet that is passing close to Earth’s atmosphere and the fact that an alien presence that has hitched a ride on the comet has invaded earth, devouring virtually everything in its path and wiping out everyone in his prison except for him and a couple of other people.  The first short story, Alien Apocalypse: The Storm, tells the tale of his efforts to find Elliot and figure out how they can escape the encroaching alien growth, which has the ability to transform itself into a wide array of genetic hybrids that are capable of tearing apart just about anything to get to the human flesh it craves.  Leon and Elliot discover that the only thing that seems able to stop the alien assault is oil, which keeps the alien growth at bay.  In this chapter of the saga, Leon and his son make their way to an oil refinery, which seems like the safest place given the alien’s weakness and might provide them with a weapon to fight back.  Upon arrival at the refinery, they discover other survivors who have taken over and have enslaved several other people.  Leon and Elliot work to free these prisoners but only manage to provide an escape for one of them, a woman who has lost her memory who they dub Isabella until she can tell them her real name.  The author also shares insights into the alien hive mind and how it thinks throughout the story, letting the reader know what its plans are for the human race.

Alien Apocalypse is an entertaining sci fi outing that, so far, has me intrigued.  I am interested in where things go from here, with genetic replicas being created of human beings that, when separated from the hive mind, seem to have desires and yearnings of their own that tend to contradict the ancient alien they came from.  I for one am very interested in seeing where this story leads and look forward to the next chapter.

Alien Apocalypse: Genesis can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Apocalypse-Genesis-ebook/dp/B007EG96WQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338336404&sr=1-1

Posted by  |  May 29, 2012 | Categories: Other folk's stuff..., The Shorts | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Review of Steven Pajak’s “Mad Swine: The Beginning”

Mad Swine: The Beginning is a first person zombie apocalypse tale that takes place during the initial days of infection and the downfall of civilization.  It begins in the city of Chicago and the moves out into the suburbs where the main character, a University Administrator and former military man, takes charge of the people in his neighborhood to defend against both the infected and the living.  The zombies in this tale are actually not the living dead, but more accurately infected/still living, though the author essentially turns them into zombies by applying the same rule as you have with undead: you can shoot them repeatedly, but unless you get them in the head, they won’t go down.  There is an interesting slant in that they still sleep, which makes for some interesting situations when the characters come across a few snoozing undead.

The story moves at a fast clip, with very little build up before the introduction of panic and mayhem enters the main character’s life after he has reported to work one morning.  The infected are fast movers, so the infection, which seems to come out of nowhere, spreads like wildfire and makes the first few chapters an adrenaline soaked nightmare for Matt, our main character.  It doesn’t take long for the reality of this uprising to hit home with personal loss which carries over for him as he manages to make it back home to the suburbs.  He discovers that several communities have banded together to protect one another from the “crazies”, as Matt has dubbed them, and given his military background he is called upon to take the lead in his own gated community.  Matt comes prepared, with a veritable arsenal and a brother who lives with him who also has military experience.  Together they take charge and plan for the well being and safety of their people.  Mad Swine: The Beginning takes place within the first few days after the apocalypse.  It reads fast and easy and while much of the zombie action takes place prior to Matt’s transition to suburban leader from urban refugee, the focus on human confrontations is a priority from then on.  I enjoyed some of the confrontations that offer up hints as to what is to be expected in the next book of the saga, including the clashes between the different neighborhoods and how they are forced to deal with one another.

Overall, this was a fun, entertaining zombie read.  It doesn’t necessarily bring much new to the table with the zombies or the setting, but the main character is solidly developed and his story made for an interesting ride.  While the book cuts off abruptly, the closing chapters set the stage for some potentially interesting developments in the second book of this saga.

I do my best to point out any concerns I have with each story I read and as is the case with every book, there were things I took exception to with Mad Swine.  My main concern here has to do with what I would dub the chaos and the calm.  By the chaos, I mean that the infection happens so quickly and spreads with such vigor that the world falls apart entirely around Matt in what seems like minutes.  Things are such a blur at first that there is virtually no appearance by either the police or military in this story.  The city falls to pieces almost immediately and the crazies rule the streets within hours.  And by the calm, I mean how dramatically different it is within the suburban conclaves where Matt and most of the other characters in this book live.  Everyone there seems to be on the same page, willing to fall in line with the new regime that Matt creates without questioning it or anything for that matter.  Certainly, there is conflict between different neighborhoods, but it is limited and (at least in this book) fairly civil, all things considered.  The transition from the chaos of the first part of the book to the calm of the latter portion is abrupt and would have made more sense had the chaos Matt sees in the city bled over into the ‘burbs a bit more.  While Matt, would seem like a natural choice as a leader for his neighborhood with his military experience and rather excessive arsenal, the fact that everyone within his gated community goes along with that decision without question or any who appears to be reluctant about such an idea seemed a stretch to me.

Despite this concern that I had with the story, it remains a solid, action filled apocalyptic saga with interesting characters and a storyline that has me intrigued and curious about what happens next.  I look forward to checking out the next book in the series when it becomes available.

Mad Swine: The Beginning can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Swine-Beginning-Steven-Pajak/dp/1618680013/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338266426&sr=1-1

Posted by  |  May 29, 2012 | Categories: Other folk's stuff... | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Review of Mandy DeGeit’s “She Makes Me Smile”

She Makes Me Smile has gotten a lot of press based on what a particular publisher did under the guise of editing this work, which originally appeared in an anthology.  I won’t get into details of this here, because there are plenty of explanations out there, including one from the author included with this story.  Suffice it to say, I am happy that the author has had the chance to reveal her story to the public without the adornments installed by others who sought to change her work into something completely different.

She Makes Me Smile is a story told in first person about two people, one of which is bound and gagged and sitting on a couch while the other puzzles over why they have done this horrible act to their one and only friend.  There is confusion on their part, though emotions in general are something they don’t really experience…at least not until the urge to tie up their friend and do even worse things to them occurs.  That is where the title of the story comes in to play.

This is a simple story, unencumbered by complex details.  While the past of the character who narrates is touched upon, no depth of detail yields explanation as to why they’ve crossed the line.  And while their victim is definitely female, we don’t know if the main character is a man or a woman, so it is also impossible for us to interpret things based on perceived gender roles.  The simple elements of this story make it work, and made me curious.  We readers tend to want to fill in the blanks on a tale-anything an author leaves out.  Mandy DeGeit has given us a very sparsely drawn on canvas here, which allowed the dark avenues of my own mind to fill in all the gaps.  Simple, sparse, and yet effectively disturbing.

You can find She Makes Me Smile here: http://www.amazon.com/She-Makes-Me-Smile-ebook/dp/B0085KMVAO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338051843&sr=8-1

Posted by  |  May 26, 2012 | Categories: Other folk's stuff..., The Shorts | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

My big publishing announcement!

Well, it hasn’t been too long since I mentioned that I got the rights back to my trilogy of novels: Comes The Dark, Into The Dark, and Beyond The Dark.  Now I can reveal where those books are heading, and I couldn’t be more excited.  I have just signed the contracts to have them re-released via Permuted Press starting in early 2013!

Each book will have the “Dark Stories” as I dubbed them, that belong with each book, rather than in a separate book that only appears in the electronic version, like what happened in the past.  So tales related to all the characters that I originally wrote into the trilogy will be back where they belong, as bonus material in each printed book and e-book version.  I’m thrilled that everyone who reads these versions of the books will have the opportunity to get the full story on characters such as George, Megan, and Michael and everyone else.   Of note is that one of the Dark Stories that will appear at the end of Beyond The Dark is brand new, and another one of them is expanded beyond its rather short length to a full-sized short story.  So there will be a good amount of brand new content that no one has seen before as well.

The schedule of releases hasn’t been set as of yet, but I wanted to make an additional announcement at this time as well.  As I have babbled in the past, my plan has always been to produce two more novels that follow up the Dark trilogy, and my intention is to get rolling with those immediately after I have completed this last Dark story I am presently working on.  It will be my goal to complete the fourth book before the end of this year, and dive right into the fifth and final book of the saga after that.  So my hope is that they will find their way to market not long after the release of the final book in the trilogy.  Nothing else is for certain at this time, but I hope to be providing updates on this project as it goes forward, so as always, stay tuned!

Posted by  |  May 21, 2012 | Categories: Beyond The Dark, Comes The Dark, Into The Dark, My Writing Experiences | Tags: , , , , , , | 6 Comments