New Release – A Host of Shadows

A Host of Shadows

Author: Harry Shannon

Publisher: Dark Regions Press

Release Date: May 1st, 2010

ISBN-10: 1888993820
ISBN-13: 978-1888993820

Author Website

“Everyone carries a shadow,” wrote analyst Carl Jung, “and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”

Few of us see the shadow with any clarity. Turn around for a peek, it slips away. Our violent, sexually-tinged fantasies are indulged regularly in darkened theaters, savored in eerie prose, celebrated in song, sometimes reluctantly encountered within the depths of a reoccurring nightmare. When we do look hard at one, long enough to recognize it as our own, the experience can challenge reality. We can then choose to become wiser as a result — or spin totally out of control…

How many fragments of a shattered mirror could you examine and still survive?

In this collection, his first in nearly ten years, award winning author Harry Shannon gives us twenty three short stories, some published here for the first time.

Whispers about the work of Harry Shannon…

“Master craftsmanship.” – Cemetery Dance

“A literary muscle rarely seen in the horror field these days; in fact, the last time I can remember reading novels that were both this action-packed and this smart was in the heyday of Robert McCammon. Shannon is a writer of incredible energy who never blinks his eye for detail.” – Gary A. Braunbeck, author of Far Dark Fields and Coffin County

“Shannon is a writer who is not afraid to walk into the shadows and drag the things living there kicking and screaming into the light.” – Brian Keene, author of Urban Gothic and Darkness on the Edge of Town

Book Trailer…

New Release – Evolve: Vampire Stories of the Undead

Evolve: Vampire Stories of the Undead

Editor: Nancy Kilpatrick

Publisher: Edge SF&F Publishing

Release Date: September 15th, 2010

ISBN-10: 1894063333
ISBN-13: 978-1894063333

Anthology Website

New Vampires have evolved, and they are coming for you! Kelley Armstrong, Tanya Huff and twenty-two other dark fantasy and horror writers come together to re-imagine the future of vampires in this new collection of all-original short fiction – one of the most unusual and original vampire anthologies ever assembled.

Contributors:

• Kelley Armstrong
• Tanya Huff
• Claude Lalumiere
• Mary E. Choo
• Sandra Kasturi
• Bradley Somer
• Kevin Cockie
• Rebecca Bradley
• Heather Clitheroe
• Colleen Anderson
• Sandra Wickham
• Rhea Rose
• Ronald Hore
• Bev Vincent
• Jennifer Greylyn
• Steve Vernon
• Michael Skeet
• Kevin Nunn
• Victoria Fisher
• Rio Youers
• Gemma Files
• Natasha Beaulieu
• Claude Bolduc
• Jerome Stueart
• Cover Art by John Kaiine

Book Trailer…

New Release – When the Night Comes Down

When the Night Comes Down

Authors: Joseph D’Lacey, Bev Vincent, Robert E. Weinberg and Nate Kenyon

Publisher: Dark Arts Books

Release Date: March 18th, 2010

ISBN-10: 0977968650
ISBN-13: 978-0977968657

Anthology Website

Murder, death – and things worse than death – are all waiting for you When the Night Comes Down.

Trapped within the twilight…

Call it what you like: dusk, twilight, sunset. It’s that magical moment between daylight and darkness when anything is possible — the evening ahead promises untold enchantment…or nameless dread.

Within are 16 tales of the oncoming blackness, including more than the usual cast of characters.

There are shapeshifters and gravediggers, but also supernatural private detectives and – perhaps most terrifying of all – beautiful creatures that prey on…horror writers. Murder, death – and things worse than death – are all waiting for you When the Night Comes Down.

Our sixth four-author anthology features more of the great stories that are a hallmark of Dark Arts Books’ selections.

Table of Contents:

JOSEPH D’LACEY

• The Unwrapping of Alastair Perry
• Etoile’s Tree
• Introscopy
• Morag’s Fungus
• The Quiet Ones

BEV VINCENT

• Silvery Moon
• Knock ‘Em Dead
• Something In Store
• Purgatory Noir

ROBERT E. WEINBERG

• Elevator Girls
• The One Answer That Really Matters
• Maze

NATE KENYON

• Breeding The Demons
• Gravedigger
• One With The Music
• The Buzz of a Thousand Wings

 Whispers about When the Night Comes Down…

“D’Lacey rocks!” – Stephen King, author of Under the Dome and Just Before Sunset

“Vincent proves himself a master…” – Publishers Weekly

“Weinberg is a writer-guy who really writes!” – J.N. Williamson, author of The Haunt and Affinity

“[Kenyon] delivers the scares in spades!” – Rue Morgue Magazine

New Release – Unbound & Other Tales

Unbound & Other Tales

Author: David Dunwoody

Publisher: Library of Horror Press

Release Date: March 1st, 2010

ISBN-10: 1451511582
ISBN-13: 978-1451511581

Author Website

A collection of weird horror tales, comprised of a novel, Unbound, and eight short stories.

Unbound & Other Tales is an excursion into the most bizarre corners of author David Dunwoody’s imagination. The titular novel and eight short stories that follow present strange horrors from every walk of life — and beyond. Insects imprinted with human rage, gleeful heralds of the apocalypse, ghosts who take the living for joyrides, and a fictional villain come to life wait within.

Here are nine tales of the weird and the obscene…of things that should not be, and things that shall. From the depths of the mind to the corridors of Purgatory to the streets of small-town USA, the warped nightmares of these pages know no limits. They know no end. They are UNBOUND.

Table of Contents:

• Unbound
• “Voice”
• “Saligia”
• “Ministry”
• “Clowns”
• “Peelin’ Ernie”
• “Exhibit”
• “Mother Tree”
• “The Devil’s Due”

Whispers About Unbound & Other Tales…

“Simply put, David Dunwoody is one of the most imaginative dark fantasy writers working today. His stories are endlessly inventive, and he never fails to cut new paths through our collective nightmare landscape. It’s been too long since a book raised the hairs on the back of my neck, but the stories in Unbound did just that. A truly outstanding collection.” – Joe McKinney, author of Dead City and Quarantined

“David Dunwoody possesses a fascinating imagination…you’ll find some delightfully intriguing tales here. There is an uncanny eeriness to David Dunwoody’s stories. He uses the five senses effectively to mess with the reader’s mind, creating a creeping dread you want to laugh off, but you still might end up checking behind your shower curtain.” – Louise Bohmer, author of The Black Act

New Release – Tails of Wonder and Imagination

Tails of Wonder and Imagination

Editor: Ellen Datlow

Publisher: Night Shade

Release Date: February 15th, 2010

ISBN-10: 1597801704
ISBN-13: 978-1597801706

Editor Website

What is it about the cat that captivates the creative imagination? No other creature has inspired so many authors to take pen to page. Mystery, horror, science fiction, and fantasy stories have all been written about cats.

From legendary editor Ellen Datlow comes Tails of Wonder and Imagination, showcasing forty cat tales by some of today’s most popular authors. With uncollected stories by Stephen King, Carol Emshwiller, Tanith Lee, Peter S. Beagle, Elizabeth Hand, Dennis Danvers, and Theodora Goss and a previously unpublished story by Susanna Clarke, plus feline-centric fiction by Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link, George R. R. Martin, Lucius Shepard, Joyce Carol Oates, Graham Joyce, Catherynne M. Valente, Michael Marshall Smith, and many others.

Tails of Wonder and Imagination features more than 200,000 words of stories in which cats are heroes and stories in which they’re villains; tales of domestic cats, tigers, lions, mythical part-cat beings, people transformed into cats, cats transformed into people. And yes, even a few cute cats.

Table of Contents:

• Through the Looking Glass (excerpt) – Lewis Carroll
• No Heaven Will Not Ever Heaven Be… – A. R. Morlan
• The Price – Neil Gaiman
• Dark Eyes, Faith, and Devotion – Charles de Lint
• Not Waving – Michael Marshall Smith
• Catch – Ray Vukcevich
• The Manticore Spell – Jeffrey Ford
• Catskin – Kelly Link
• Mieze Corrects an Incomplete Representation of Reality – Michaela Roessner
• Guardians – George R. R. Martin
• Life Regarded as a Jigsaw Puzzle of Highly Lustrous Cats – Michael Bishop
• Gordon, the Self-Made Cat – Peter S. Beagle
• The Jaguar Hunter – Lucius Shepard
• Arthur’s Lion – Tanith Lee
• Pride – Mary A. Turzillo
• The Burglar Takes a Cat – Lawrence Block
• The White Cat – Joyce Carol Oates
• Returns – Jack Ketchum
• Puss-Cat – Reggie Oliver
• Cat in Glass – Nancy Etchemendy
• Coyote Peyote – Carole Nelson Douglas
• The Poet and the Inkmaker’s Daughter – Elizabeth Hand
• The Night of the Tiger – Stephen King
• Every Angel is Terrifying – John Kessel
• Candia – Graham Joyce
• Mbo – Nicholas Royle
• Bean Bag Cats(R) – Edward Bryant
• Antiquities – John Crowley
• The Manticore’s Tale – Catherynne M. Valente
• In Carnation – Nancy Springer
• Old Foss is the Name of His Cat – David Sandner
• A Safe Place to Be – Carol Emshwiller
• Nine Lives to Live – Sharyn McCrumb
• Tiger Kill – Kaaron Warren
• Something Better than Death – Lucy Sussex
• Dominion – Christine Lucas
• Tiger in the Snow – Daniel Wynn Barber
• The Dweller in High Places – Susanna Clarke
• Healing – Benjamin Dennis Danvers
• The Puma – Theodora Goss

Whispers about Tails of Wonder and Imagination…

“… an assortment of 40 stories by authors who are for the most part willing to take cats on their own ground. Datlow avoids the trap of a too-narrow premise: though there appears to be a slight bias toward horror, the stories are various within that field, from Jack Ketchum’s ghost story “Returns to Michaela”, Roessner’s highly scientific “Mieze Corrects an Incomplete Representation of Reality” and Edward Bryant’s brilliantly repellent “Bean Bag Cat”. Other tales are amusing, like Lawrence Block’s “The Burglar Takes a Cat”, or gently sentimental, like Dennis Danvers’s “Healing Benjamin”. This is that rarity of rarities: an anthology of cat stories worth reading.” — Publishers Weekly

New Release – Hellfire & Damnation

Hellfire and Damnation

Author: Connie Corcoran-Wilson

Publisher: Sam’s Dot Publishing

Release Date: February 1st, 2010

ISBN-10: Not Provided
ISBN-13: 978-1935590071

Author Website

Hellfire & Damnation takes readers on a journey through the Nine Circles of Hell described in Dante’s Inferno via a remarkable series of tales, many based on true stories, which describe the progressively painful downward spiral to the nethermost regions of Hell. With an Introduction by William F. Nolan and 15 stories that detail the sins punished at each level, the stories and locations are varied.

Table of Contents:

• “Hotter than Hell”
• “Rachel and David”
• “Love Never Dies”
• “Konerak”
• “Effie, We Hardly Knew Ye!”
• “Amazing Andy, the Wonder Chicken”
• “The Lemp Mansion Curse”
• “Queen Bee”
• “The Ghost Girl of Howard ‘Pappy’ Litch Park”
• “Hell to Pay”
• “On Eagles’ Wings”
• “Going Through Hell”
• “Living in Hell”
• “Confessions of an Apotemnophile”
• “An American Girl”

Whispers about Hellfire & Damnation…

“Connie Wilson’s debut collection, Hellfire & Damnation, marks her not so much as a writer to wtach but one to watch out for…Never have the 9 Circles of Hell been so much fun. I had a blast following Wilson on her tour of the Inferno, and you will, as well.” – Gary A. Braunbeck, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Coffin County and Far Dark Fields

“Connie Corcoran Wilson’s impressive collection Hellfire & Damnation is a series of remarkable tales, some based on true stories, organized around a brilliant and unifying theme…These riveting stories are vivid, disturbing accounts of the many opportunities evil uses to claw its way into our world and settle into our daylight psyches…and our nightmares. Wilson’s harrowing work will stay with you long after you finish the final page.” – Lisa Mannetti, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Gentling Box

“A terrifying collection, guaranteed to keep you awake at night.” – Dark Scribe Magazine

“In horror fiction, as in most any other sort, true originality is an increasingly rare commodity. But it does exist, as proven by Connie Wilson’s Hellfire & Damnation, an anthology that is genuinely, blazingly original. You won’t find another collection like this one…It fulfills most every expectation one might have for a horror anthology, being readable, entertaining, and deeply unsettling in a manner unique to itself.” – Fright.com

Book Trailer…

New Release – In the Closet, Under the Bed

In the Closet, Under the Bed

Author: Lee Thomas

Publisher: Dark Scribe Press, LLC

Release Date: December 31st, 2009

ISBN-10: 0981863213
ISBN-13: 978-0981863214

Author Website

A breathtaking collection of literary dark fiction that will force you to face the terror lurking…in the closet and under the bed.

In this collection of fifteen tales, award-winning author Lee Thomas casts light on the shadows in our closets and explores the fear of boogeymen and beasts we sense lying in wait under our beds. Featuring nine original tales and six acclaimed short stories gathered together in one volume for the first time anywhere, In the Closet, Under the Bed reminds us that sometimes the most terrifying aspects of the human condition come from within.

Table of Contents:

• Foreword | David Thomas Lord
• All the Faces Change New
• An Apiary of White Bees
• Healer
• Dislocation New
• They Would Say She Danced
• Shelter New
• The Good and Gone
• Appetite of the Cyber Tribes New
• Crack Smokin’ Grandpa New
• Anthem of the Estranged
• I Know You’re There New
• Down to Sleep New
• I’m Your Violence
• Tears to Rust New
• The Tattered Boy New
• Afterword | Michael Rowe

Whispers about In the Closet, Under the Bed…

“From lyrical to poignant to funny to beautifully grotesque and back again, this smart, gleefully original collection showcases Lee Thomas’ Herculean talent. What I love most though, is that Thomas gets the purpose of horror: to cast light on the darkness, so that we readers recognize what is good, what is obscene, and what our society has confused between the two.” - Sarah Langan, Award-Winning Author of The Missing and Audrey’s Door

“Lee Thomas’ stories always start as a come-on, with silky smooth prose that draws you into a comfortable world so effortlessly you fail to see the razor-sharp teeth before it’s too late. This is horror at its best, guaranteed to leave you with the shivers, whether you wanted them or not.” - David Wellington, author of Monster Island and 23 Hours

“Lee Thomas brings to the writing of queer horror fiction a versatile sense of genre and a fierce emotional agenda. Here is a man with issues, as well as back issues. This intense and dynamic collection includes dark psychological narratives, grim physical horror, visionary fantasy, crime and science fiction. You will find fifteen stories in which the multicolored threads of horror and queer sexuality are woven together – but which are, first and foremost, stories about human nature.” - Joel Lane, British Fantasy Award-winning author of The Lost District and The Terrible Changes

Book Trailer…

New Release – Kaiki: Uncanny Tales from Japan/Volume One: Tales of Old Edo

Kaiki: Uncanny Tales from Japan/Volume One: Tales of Old Edo

Author: Various (Multi-Author Anthology)

Publisher: Kurodahan Press

Release Date: November 1st, 2009

ISBN-10: 4902075083
ISBN-13: 978-4902075083

Anthology Website

The first volume in our Kaiki series introducing the world of Japanese weird and supernatural literature, Tales of Old Edo presents a selection of outstanding works drawn from centuries of creativity in the field, with an in-depth introduction to the genre by recognized authority Higashi Masao.

Table of Contents:

• Robert Weinberg / Preface: “An Ordinary World, Interrupted”
• Higashi Masao / Introduction: “The Origins of Japanese Weird Fiction”
• Lafcadio Hearn / “The Value of the Supernatural in Fiction” (1898) and “In a Cup of Tea” (1902)
• Ueda Akinari / “The Chrysanthemum Pledge” (1776）
• Kyogoku Natsuhiko / “Three Old Tales of Terror” (2005)
• Miyabe Miyuki / “The Futon Room” (2000)
• Okamoto Kido / “Here Lies a Flute” (1925）
• Tanaka Kotaro / “The Face in the Hearth” (1928）
• Koda Rohan / “The Pointer” (1938）
• Inagaki Taruho / “The Ino Residence, Or, The Competition with a Ghost” (1972）
• Yamamoto Shugoro / “Through the Wooden Gate” (1959）
• Sugiura Hinako (manga) / “Three Eerie Tales of Dark Nights” (1993）

Whispers about Kaiki: Uncanny Tales from Japan/Volume One: Tales of Old Edo…

“Kaiki will cater to a clear gap in the market. Japanese supernatural fiction (in contrast to film and manga) is little known in the English language world. A whole new experience―yet one sometimes strangely familiar―is out there and waiting.” - John Howard, Wormwood No. 13

New Release – Ghostly Tales of Route 66: From Arkansas to Arizona

Ghostly Tales of Route 66: From Arkansas to Arizona

Author: Connie Corcoran-Wilson

Publisher: Quixote Press

Release Date: October 2nd, 2009

ISBN-10: 1571665684
ISBN-13: 1571665684

Author Website

This second volume picks up where the first left off, in Oklahoma, and stops in Arizona. At 2,448 miles long, Route 66 is more than just a road; it is Americana. Along the many stops, there are plenty of ghost stories worth retelling and photographs that add authenticity.

You’ll get more than just your kicks on Route 66. You’ll get plenty of frightening, true tales of World War II POWs housed at Fort El Reno, of a young girl and her mother struggling to survive, of a doomed Commandant at Fort El Reno who took his own life. Learn more about the true stories of the Mother Road in this slim volume from Quixote Books.

Join the author as she travels the Mother Road, Route 66, boldly going where (a) few women have gone before, not unlike John Cusack’s character Mike Enslin in the film 1408. It’s not the Dolphin Hotel’s Room 1408 (from Stephen King’s short story), but there are plenty of suitable candidates to contend with that scary location. Lots of haunted theaters, homes, abandoned buildings, military installations, cemeteries, and playgrounds are haunted, according to the locals, who were only too happy to share their stories and personal interactions with the ghosts haunting the places where they live and work along Route 66.

Ghostly Tales of Route 66: From Arkansas to Arizona [the second volume in a planned trilogy] also includes a worthy story from Fort Smith, Arkansas — a route that was a precursor of the Mother Road.

This newly-published volume takes readers through Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico and all the way to the Arizona border. There are stories from the Cadillac Ranch (Amarillo, TX), a chilling tale from McClean, Texas, and several stories that recreate the history and hauntings of Fort El Reno, Oklahoma, gathered during an actual ghost tour on the grounds, November 15, 2008. All the stories are accompanied by actual photographs of the sites.

Whispers about Ghostly Tales of Route 66: From Arkansas to Arizona…

“An unusual way of telling these tales is what sets this book [Volume I] apart from others of its kind; there is a journalistic approach to the facts as they are known, along with a sort of recreation of them akin to an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. It’s easy to see the appeal they can give to the stories when one sees the texture it provides.” - Cemetery Dance Magazine

“I attended the First Annual Route 66 Festival at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis October 3, 2008 and one of the vendors was Connie Wilson. I picked up the book Ghostly Tales of Route 66 and, after starting the book, I couldn’t put it down! I read it through in one sitting! The tales of hauntings and ghosts along Route 66 are very interesting. They keep your attention. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in hauntings and paranormal subjects (and Volume II has actual photos to add to the enjoyment). In addition to being a great read, Ghostly Tales of Route 66: From Arkansa to Arizona opens up a broader choice of places to explore while traveling Route 66.” – Old Route 66 Blog

New Release – Shades of Blood and Shadow

Shades of Blood and Shadow

Author: Angeline Hawkes

Publisher: Dark Regions Press

Release Date: August 30th, 2009

ISBN-10: 1888993685
ISBN-13: 978-1888993684

Author Website

The palette of history and horror mingle in the hues of crimson blood and blackest death. The ghosts of the past mourn for lives unfinished, vengeance unfulfilled, and loves lost. The heart beats in a cacophony of anticipation and fear, echoing with the memory of those that once were, once danced, once believed. Hues of fear, of woe and dying, shades of death, of blood and shadow. Fallen women, queens, and angels. Angry men, ghosts, and devils. Life is woven in a tapestry of joy and sorrow; painted in the colors of pain, and triumph, and love. What artistry is found within the soul every man – some perfection, some wretched – painted words and pictures of things glorious and of things unspeakable.

Shades of Blood and Shadows by Angeline Hawkes is the second book in the New Voices of Horror series and represents an excellent short story collection from this Bram Stoker Award nominated writer. From ancient Mayans to the horrors at Chernobyl, she pulls you into the hearts and minds of fiendish creatures and tortured man. History offers up the wayward and monstrous in this collection of ghoulish hues.

Table of Contents:

• Samhain
• The Relic: Father Santiago’s Bones
• All Becomes As Wormwood
• The Heir
• Opportunity
• The Highwayman of Epping Forest
• Last Breath
• Incident Beside the Striped Tent: What the Fruit Seller Saw
• The Piper of Glamis Hill
• El Reptil Rey
• The Tour Guide
• The Woeful Tale of Fiona MacLean
• Fallen

Whispers about Shades of Blood and Shadow…

“…every story is unique, and every story works. Angeline Hawke’s writing is sharp, elegant and satisfying in the most deliciously dark way.” - Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Zombie CSU and Patient Zero

“Angeline Hawkes writes with the fatalistic poetry of unstoppable history gone disturbingly wrong.” - John Everson, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Covenant, Sacrifice, and The 13th

“…Angeline Hawkes conducts an orchestra of creatures that are both bloody and sexy. You won’t forget this tour through historical horror; it’s sumptuous smorgasbord for beasts craving variety.” - Gregory Lamberson, author of Johnny Gruesome and Personal Demons