Cover for Live and Let Undead revealed.
Well, I was going to wait until the official wrap around cover was released, but I decided I didn’t want to. There will be a few more tweaks to this one, but I love the artwork, and love my story that appears within its pages. The title of the book is Live and Let Undead, and as the back cover describes, it is a bit of a different take on the traditional zombie apocalypse story telling. More details to come on this anthology, and my short story “Legacy” as it gets closer to a release date.
The Zombie-pocalypse is real! Loved ones are returning from the grave in search of flesh and brains! Humans are running scared!
Aren’t they?
Here, rather than shooting them in the head, eighteen talented authors have figured out how to put the Undead to work. Zombies can now be contributing members to society once more.
Looking for some customer service help? “Operators” from AM Burns, has just the call center crew for you. Need road repairs? Check out the workers in Mike Baretta’s “Memorial Day.” How about a solution for all those bombs, drugs, and other nasty stuff crossing through our seaports? Matt Adams’ Sparky can take care of it in “Sparky Save The World.”
These stories, and others, from authors-
Rebecca Snow
Keith Gouveia
Barry Rosenberg
Suzanne Robb
Patrick D’Orazio
Janet Tait
JW Schnarr
Brian Johnson
Steve Ruthenbeck
Daniel Robichaud
Brook Fabian
Jeff Chitty
HE Roulo
Peter Giglio
and
Eric Juneau
-will have you wishing for a zombie of your own.
Maybe…
A double whammy of anthology covers!
While I would typically try to promote two different books I am going to be in with separate posts, I believe that will come later, when the two of these books are released at different times. For now, I was made aware of the covers of each book within the last couple of days, and as such, it is time for me to promote them both, side by side. So, without further ado and in no specific order, here are two anthologies that short stories of mine will be appearing in. As to the projected release dates, that remains to be seen, but as always, once they are released, you will receive notice here on them from me, and I will share links on where to buy them as well.
The first book is being released by Norgus press, and is entitled: Look What I Found!
My short story, VRZ, will appear in this book. Here is the description from the back cover:
We spend our lives going through places surrounded by things of magic and mystery, but sometimes choose not to open our eyes to see them. The world around us still has places that are yet to be discovered. There are people that we pass on the street that are not what they seem to be. There are objects with untold powers that are only waiting to be found. We train ourselves to look at the norm. The stories within this anthology examine those mysteries and the excitement of discovery that awaits those who dare to tread. The members of society that look a little deeper. Those who long to say, “Look What I Found!”
The other anthology is from Wicked East Press and I am actually in the process of writing up my short story for this one, so I don’t even have an official title as of yet, but fear not, there shall be one soon enough. This one is entitled Read The End First. 24 Apocalyptic Tales. 24 Time Zones.
Here is a description:
Ever wonder how the world would end if you could decide?
This anthology takes the concept of the Apocalypse a step further.
24 authors pick their own time zone to destroy, and leave you wondering if the prophecies they speak of are true.
The premise here is simple: each of the authors were given a time zone and they are expected to have a story that starts at midnight that speaks of a unique ending to the world. Combined, there will be twenty four time zones of annihilation and doom when all is said and done. I am pretty excited to be a part of this project. My own little bit of destruction will hopefully be quite interesting. But no hints as to what time zone I have or what demise I have chosen for you all. I will just say that no zombies will be harmed in the making this short story, heh. More details to come later.
I am pretty proud of the twisted tale, “VRZ” in Look What I Found!, which involves a trip into virtual reality…but it almost seems too real for the character taking the trip. And I am working hard to make the story for Read the End First one I am just as proud of. I will definitely be letting everyone know more about them around their release times, for certain!
Cover of “A Glitch In The Continuum”, a new time travel anthology coming out soon!
I am pretty excited about this one. I wrote a time travel story a while back entitled “Intervention”, which Wayne Goodchild was gracious enough to accept into his time travel anthology. But this isn’t just stories about time travel, but stories about when time travel goes wonky and things get screwed up, both now and then, or is that then and now? I’m not quite sure, but it was certainly fun thinking up the consequences behind manipulating the time streams. I was pretty proud of my little story and was thrilled to find out that it would appear in the book, and first in the table of contents no less. The cover has just been revealed and the book should probably be released later this summer. It is a bit of a departure from my traditional horror story M.O., I know, but I was excited to stretch myself a bit with a twisty little tale of the present and future colliding.
Without further ado, here is the wrap around cover!
More details to follow. I hope plenty of you will be interested in checking this one out.
The Dark Trilogy is now on Kindle!
Just a brief while after it hit smashwords, my trilogy is now on the kindle! I am pretty thrilled about this one because it is FINALLY on the kindle, without the errors that the faced the original release of Comes The Dark that led to my publisher and I agreeing not to do any more kindle releases until the entire trilogy was ready to go. And now, it is ready to go!
Here is the description:
Patrick D’Orazio’s Dark Zombie Trilogy (Comes The Dark, Into The Dark, and Beyond The Dark), was originally released on the Kindle in an unedited form under the first book’s title, Comes The Dark. It is being re-released with the entire trilogy as it was meant to be read: edited and expanded, with additional chapters not appearing in the original Kindle version, along with the Dark Stories that have appeared in the author’s blog that provide a full fourth book of additional stories about many of the secondary characters appearing in the trilogy, including Megan, George, Jason, Michael, and Ben. The Dark Trilogy, Revised, Expanded, and with Additional Stories is over 250,000 words of an intense saga of the zombie apocalypse.
The end came with a whimper, not a bang. The mysterious virus came out of nowhere and engulfed the world in a matter of days. Everyone who was infected seemed to die…and rise again. Governments collapsed, armies disappeared, and entire civilizations turned to dust as the human race tore itself to pieces. Jeff Blaine had a good life: a beautiful wife, adorable children, and a nice house in the suburbs. He liked his job, loved his family, and spent his lazy suburban Sundays out on the deck, barbecuing with the neighbors. Things were perfect until everything fell apart. And no matter how hard Jeff tried, he could not spare his family from the horrors scratching at the door. Now, with his family gone, his life in ruins, the only thing left is raw anger and pain. As the world continues to sink into darkness, Jeff does as well. So he ventures out into the desolation with no better plan than to destroy as many of the monsters that stole his life away before they destroy him as well. But soon Jeff will discover other survivors unwilling to give up. They will force him to decide whether or not to give in to the venom that gnaws at his soul. Should he continue to fight to survive, or succumb to the things in the darkness?
Just click on the picture below and it will send you on over to Amazon so you can pick up a copy:
Cover and Table of Contents for a new anthology coming soon! Zombidays
Another anthology one of my short stories will be in has a cover and the Table of Contents to show off, so I wanted to share them here with you.
The Anthology is entitled: Zombidays, Festivities of The Flesheaters. Each story is shaped around a different holiday, done up Zombie style. My story is entitled “What a Fool Believes” and is about, you guessed it, April Fool’s Day.
More details to come when this bad boy is ready for release. For now, check out the cover and the TOC, which includes holidays celebrated around the world!
Table of Contents
Richard Marsden – “Revolucion de los Muertos” – Day of the Dead
Stephanie Kincaid – “Zombie’s First Christmas” – Christmas
B. M. Kezar – “Inhuman Resources” – Thanksgiving & Black Friday
Tonia Brown – “Caveat Emptor” – Father’s Day
Nic Brown – “A Grave St. Patrick’s Day” – St Patrick’s Day
Deborah Walker – “Burn Bright and Bide” – Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night
Bryan Hall – “Reduce, Reuse, Reanimate” – Earth Day
Patrick D ‘ Orazio – “What a Fool Believes” – April Fools’ Day
Lee Pletzers – “He iwi tahi tatso” – Waitangi Day
Carey Burns – “Time To Eat” – 4th of July/Independence Day
Derek J. Goodman – “If a Tree Falls in a Forest” – Arbor Day
Stacey Longo – “Zombie Mama” – Mother’s Day
Keith Gouveia – “Dead Souls” – Valentine’s Day
Rob Rosen – “Kill Phil” – Groundhog Day
Christin Haws – “Land of the Voting Dead” – Election Day
Morris L. Crisp – “Bush Country” – Inauguratiion Day
Michael C. Lea – “Best Day Ever” – New Year’s Day
William Wood – “Lest We Forget” – Veterans Day
Beyond the Dark is now on Createspace!
I am excited to announce that Beyond the Dark has made its way over to Createspace! That means that in about a week or so, it will be up and running on Amazon. I don’t have a locked down date on the trilogy coming out on Kindle and Smashwords, but that too will be occurring soon.
So if you are anxious to snag the last book of my trilogy in paperback, head on over to Createspace and check it out. Just click on the picture below and it will take you right over there. Of course, if you want to wait for it to hit Amazon, I will be posting here as soon as it is up and running over there as well.
It slithers towards the light, from Beyond The Darkness…it is almost here!
Well folks, the short delay on Beyond The Dark is almost at an end, with the formatting being completed tonight on the book, there is very little else to do but to put the cover and back cover together and wrap it around a proof, make sure it looks like it should, and then get it out there!
In addition to the final book of my trilogy being released very soon, the Kindle and other ebook form of the entire trilogy will also be released. It will be entitled The Dark Trilogy: Revised, Expanded, and with Additional Stories. I know it is a mouthful, but just call it The Dark Trilogy, for short, heh. My publisher and I have discussed price points for this electronic release and agreed upon $4.99, which will be for over 250,000 words, including the three books plus every last story that appears in the Dark Stories page of this blog…and another little one that doesn’t appear here as well. 250,000 words is a hefty sum, so that price should be a pretty decent one for the zombie fans out there who have e-readers.
I would say that Beyond The Dark should be ready for createspace within the next couple of weeks (and I think perhaps sooner), and then amazon maybe a week or so later. The kindle version should also be available very soon.
For any of you good folks reading this who haven’t checked out any of my trilogy, check out the first three chapters of Comes The Dark, which I have moved to its own separate page for easy access. It will give you a taste before you buy. And then, feel free to hit up my bio page and you can click on the links showing both Comes The Dark and Into The Dark, with Beyond The Dark to soon be joining them.
For now, here are copies of the front cover of Beyond The Dark and a rough up of the back cover as well. Stay tuned, more will be coming soon as the release happens!
HorrorHound Indianapolis 2011 review
This past weekend, I took part in HorrorHound Indianapolis. Like the event in Cincinnati, it is three days of organized chaos, with tons of horror fans running around in costumes and makeup checking out vendor booths and getting autographs from some of the more famous (and infamous) stars of the horror genre. This was their tenth anniversary show and it was jam packed all weekend long. I got to sit between Tony Schaab of G.O.R.E. Score fame and Dr. Pus’s (aka The Library of the Living Dead) table, which had Doc, Michelle Linhart, and Rich Dalzotto manning the stations. Also in attendance from the Library of the Living Dead crew were Rob and Laura Best. We got to see plenty of folks we know from the facebook and the industry, which was a blast, including the folks from Night of the Living Podcast, who were kind enough to post a review of Into The Dark on one of their recent episodes after reviewing Comes The Dark after HorrorHound Cincinnati back in November.
I sold a few books, got to talk about the third book of my trilogy, Beyond The Dark, hung out with some great folks, and took a few pictures of the event. This was truly a great con and a lot of fun. I definitely hope I have the opportunity to attend next year as well!
Here are a few of the pics I took at the show. Forgive the blur-they were taken with my cellphone camera.
Tony Schaab and his brother-in-law Tom, who is also the graphic designer for the covers of his G.O.R.E. Score books.
Rob and Laura Best
Dr. Pus, my publisher, sitting alongside Michelle Linhart and Rich Dalzotto (sorry you can’t see much of them!)
Just a sample of one of the more wild costumes at HorrorHound this year.
…and another wild costume.
In this picture is the famous “Kitty Zombie”, who has his back to the camera. He is the one with the goggles, armor, and the bald head. He is a pretty remarkable character, and funny as hell without saying a single intelligible word.
Well, that’s about it for now. The rest of the pictures I took were sort of blurry or didn’t show anything specifically of interest. Again, the convention was a lot of fun, and I only wish I could attend more of them after the fun I’ve had at the one in Indy as well as Cinci.
Sneak peak of the cover for Beyond The Dark
Next month, the final book in my dark zombie trilogy will be released. The editing is complete and all the book really needs is the introduction, then it is off to be formatted. Naturally, one of the most importance pieces of the puzzle is the cover of the book. All the text and logos haven’t been added as of yet, but the inimitable Philip R. Rogers has done yet another incredible job with the artwork here. In my humble estimation, this is the best cover of the three, though I love them all. Now it is up to me to make sure the words inside the book stack up to the incredible images that Philip has created. Given how wonderful his artwork is, that is a tremendous challenge.
So check it out:
Doomology: The Dawning of Disasters is live on Amazon!
Another one of the anthologies that I have a story in is now available on Amazon. Doomology: The Dawning of Disasters from the Library of Science Fiction, has a pretty self-explanatory title. Each of the stories in this one are tales of both natural and man-made disasters. My story, “You Only Die Twice” is sort of a spy/adventure story with a twist. So click on the picture below to head on over to Amazon and check it out. This sucker is almost 500 pages of mayhem at the end of the world. Consider it a prep manual for when the world comes to an end in 2012! 😉
Strange Tales of Horror is now on Amazon!
I just wanted to pass along that the latest anthology that I am a part of has made its way over to Amazon. As I have mentioned before, this one has a great table of contents and I am pleased that my story, VRZ, appears among its pages. This one contains short stories, flash fiction, and even some poetry. And of course, it also has one of the most wicked book covers of anything I have been associated with. I think this one is going to do very well. Click on the picture to head on over to Amazon and place your order for this one. I myself can’t wait to get my hands on it!
Check out these cool Library of the Living Dead Calendars!
Hey all! I had to post about the cool calendars that are being sold over at Cafe Press that were put together by some pretty killer artists for The Library of the Living Dead. There are two different calendars and each contains zombified pictures of various authors whose work appears in either Library anthologies or novels. Yours truly is in one of the two calendars and I do have to say that both really kick some major butt!
Give them both a looksee if you get the chance, at this link: http://www.cafepress.com/DrPus?CMP=CJ-CLICK-10461796&tid=skim673X607971&sid=skim673X607971&cjpid=3641109&PID=7532081&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=none&utm_source=cj
And then pick up one or both for yourself and get a few for the zombie lover you know and want to pleasantly surprise for Christmas!
Daily Bites of Flesh 2011 is up on Amazon!
Hey folks, just to let you know, Daily Bites of Flesh is now available on Amazon. It does look like it is out of stock right now, but my guess is that it just will need a day or two for them to have some inventory. It is a very hefty book, with over 500 pages of horror-rific flash fiction for you to check out. And it is the perfect time of year to get someone that calendar that will give them a spine tingling tale once every day. Nothing can beat that for the horror fan!
Hit the picture to head on over to Amazon to get your copy!
Zombiality, another anthology my work appears in, is now available on Amazon!
I had mentioned this book a while back and posted the cover art for it. It is now available on Amazon, so check it out. I am very proud to be a part of this one and hope that many of the folks out there read this one. One of my favorite short stories that I have written is in it, “Humans Being Human.”
Hit the picture and it will take you over to Amazon. Thanks!
Into The Dark now available on Smashwords!
The paperback version of Into The Dark will be going live in the next day or so, but the Smashwords version of it has been posted already! And at the low, low cost of just $2.99, it is a great deal for all you e-book fans out there.
As mentioned in the prior post on this blog, there will not be a kindle version of book 2 or 3 by themselves, but due to the unedited version of the entire trilogy being on the kindle for the past few months, we will be re-releasing the entire trilogy on Kindle in March, along with another book-sized volume of short stories related to the world of the Dark Trilogy.
More details to follow on the paperback version of Into The Dark, but for now, here is the link where you can get the electronic version on Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/31068
Check it out, and feel free to drop a review on Smashwords or Amazon, your blog, your website, or where ever you like. I hope you all enjoy the second installment in my trilogy!
You can click on the picture and follow the link to Smashwords as well. Thanks.
Houdini Gut Punch is now on Amazon!
For those folks who prefer to get their books from Amazon instead of Createspace, I am happy to announce that Houdini Gut Punch is available on Amazon!
So check it out. My story, “Consumer’s Paradise” appears amongst it pages. If you dig bizarro, don’t miss this tome of disturbing stories and odd tales.
Hit the picture to go straight to Amazon so you can pick up a copy today.
Houdini Gut Punch now available on Createspace-soon on Amazon!
Well boys and girls, my foray into bizarro has become real. Houdini Gut Punch, with my short story “Consumer’s Paradise,” is now on sale over at Createspace and shall soon be available over on Amazon and in other locales. I am pretty proud of my first foray into bizarro and have received a few compliments on my story, so I am pretty jazzed up about seeing it in print. So give it a look see!
https://www.createspace.com/3498329
Cover for a new anthology I will be in revealed: Zombiality
Another anthology that I have a story in has a cover that has been revealed, and it is an antho that I am quite proud that I made the cut for. There are a lot of zombie anthologies out there that have given me the chance to stretch my capabilities as a novice writer, but I think that writing something for this anthology forced me to really think about what I was writing, who I was writing for, and what message I wanted to present with my story. I think the results are something I can be proud of and the editor seemed to be quite pleased with my story, and said that he liked its message. I hope that folks out there will give this one a shot and check it out-I realize that there will be folks who won’t, for many reasons, and that is okay. But for me, the bottom line is that I am proud to be a part of this anthology and do hope that my friends, family, and those of you who have enjoyed anything else I have written give this one a look see. Thanks!
Here is the cover art for it:
Into The Dark Cover revealed
Well, here is a finalized version of the cover for Into The Dark, along with the rough up of the back cover. Now it is all in my publisher’s hands-the formatting is complete and has been sent off to him and now the final cover has as well. Once again, a huge thank you goes out to Philip R. Rogers, artist extraordinaire, who created this masterpiece. His art can be found at philipr.deviantart.com/gallery/. Check it out and see how talented this guy is.
As you can guess, I am pretty dang thrilled about this and am excited to get this book out there to continue the story. More updates to come as I get them!
New Anthology I will be in-Strange Tales of Horror-cover revealed!
I had the privilege of being a part of May December’s first anthology release and I get that same privilege with NorGus, which is releasing Strange Tales of Horror and have revealed a rough of the cover art and the Table of Contents. My story, “VRZ” is in this book and I couldn’t be more excited about it. This is a anthology that covers a wide spectrum of strange horror tales and I am looking forward to checking out everyone else’s offerings.
Here is the cover:
Here is the Table of Contents:
Forward by Jeff Angus
Back Cover Description for the sequel to Comes The Dark and some other news.
I just wanted to pass on my first update on the sequel to Comes The Dark. The original plan was to release it in January, but with sales for Comes The Dark going as well as the have been, the publisher wants to strike while the iron is hot and push up the release of the next book to somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was flattered by this, as it is a major vote of confidence in my trilogy. Given that the final edits are complete on the manuscript and I am about to send the book off to be formatted, once we have a cover, the book will be ready to go. So for now, it looks like we might have an early December release, just in time for Christmas! I feel all retail-y and stuff with having the book ready by then!
It is also about time that I revealed the name to the sequel to the second book in the trilogy, since I haven’t officially mentioned it before. Heck, I can reveal the title of the third book as well, while I am at it. Again, the entire trilogy is already written, so while I currently don’t have a firm date for the third book’s release (because we bumped up the second book’s release date), but my guess is that it will be in late spring of 2011, best estimate.
So here they are. The second book will be entitled: Into The Dark and the third book will be called Beyond The Dark. The artwork for all three covers is being done by the incredible Philip R. Rogers and the second and third cover will retain the same feel as the first one, though I am not exactly sure what either will look like. I think I will know pretty soon about the second cover-at least a rough sketch, and I am excited about checking that out. Philip’s work is awesome and if you ever need an artist, check out his work at philipr.deviantart.com/gallery/.
Okay, so here is the back cover description for Into The Dark:
Six weeks ago, the mysterious virus came out of nowhere and engulfed the world. Everyone infected seemed to die … then rise again.
Jeff Blaine did his best to hold his family together and to protect them from the horrors scratching at their door, but in the end, they were ripped away from him like everything else that ever mattered.
Lost and alone, Jeff decided his only option was to destroy as many of the monsters that stole his life away before they destroy him as well. But when he discovers Megan, George, and Jason, three other survivors not interested in giving up just yet, he reluctantly accepts that there might still be a reason to fight and live to see another day.
Traveling through the blasted landscape their world has become, the quartet discovers that the living dead aren’t the only danger with which they must cope. Even other survivors who promise safety and security from the hordes of ghouls roaming the wastelands will test loyalties and their faith in humankind.
Jeff and his small band of newfound friends must forge a semblance of life in the newly blighted world. And they will have only the light of their own humanity by which to navigate as everything around them descends into the dark.
Again, the book should be released sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am already getting excited about it!
My interview on Blog Talk Radio
My interview with Sonar 4 tonight, for those who didn’t get the chance to check it out live.
Lori Titus and Tonia Brown did a great job and it was a lot of fun talking about Comes The Dark, some of my short stories, and the absolutely horrendous book I wrote back in high school that remains locked away forever.
Check it out!
Cover for “Eye Witness: Zombie” Anthology
I am quite excited about this anthology from May December Publications. It is being released soon and contains a story of mine that is derived from the same world as Comes The Dark. I won’t reveal the connection, but suffice it to say, there are a couple of characters that appear in my trilogy that also appear in my story, “A Soldier’s Lament.”
This one should be out in the next month or so, and my copy is on its way from the publisher. I can’t wait to get my hands on it!
Patrick D'Orazio's Blog 