After many years, life changes and unexpected mid-section rewrite, Ruler is is finally complete. If you’ve been waiting until the final chapter had been been posted to go on this pitch-dark adventure with Mills and Keel, you’re wait is over. Dive on in at Wattpad!
GROUP HEX Vol. 1 available now from Amazon
The illustrated horror anthology GROUP HEX VOL. 1 is available now from Amazon!
It features an excerpt from my upcoming YA vampire novel BLEEDER, plus horror stories from Kelley Armstrong, John R. Little, Nancy Kilpatrick, Sephera Giron, Andrew Robertson, Karen Dales, Julianne Snow, Stephen B. Pearl, Christine J. Whitlock, Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, Suzanne Church, Crystal Bourque, and many more.
Get it at https://www.amazon.com/Group-Hex-Vol-1/dp/1539643867
Need more convincing? Here’s the official teaser:
The Great Lakes Horror Company presents this collection of 19 new and previously published horror stories from some of the best writers lurking on the chilling shores of the wild and wicked north. Cannibals, zombies, vampires, vengeful gods, psychotics and the supernatural are just a few of the terrifying things waiting for you in this collection featuring members of the Horror Writer’s Association Ontario Chapter. Gathered here are award-winning best-selling authors, bold and bloody newcomers, and more than a few unhinged souls telling tales that will make your blood run cold. Illustrated by celebrated genre artists, Group Hex Vol. 1 transports you to the hungry shores of future worlds, to the heart of mystical planes, and to the rooms of what seem like perfectly normal suburban houses…but they aren’t. And after reading these tales, you may never be the same again.
Join Alys Arden, me and more for MONSTERS, MYTHS & MAYHEM tomorrow
Earlier this fall, in Rue Morgue #160, I interviewed the super-talented Alys Arden about the journey her genre novel, THE CASQUETTE GIRLS, underwent from online serial to indie release to its mainstream mass-market re-release by Amazon imprint Skyscape. Now, she’s asked me to take part in a panel discussion on MONSTERS, MYTHS & MAYHEM for her online book release party. The Live-to-YouTube panel will take place tomorrow (Saturday, November 21 at 4:00pm EST) and will also feature Arden and authors Lindsey Clarke (Playing Dead), Emma Leech (The Dark Prince) and Stormy Smith (Bound by Prophecy).
The public party page for the event on YouTube can be found at: https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/c8n1hrjau26rcmth6gs5pn94hrs
Visit the official Facebook event page for the launch party (at https://www.facebook.com/events/938765242839779) for a complete schedule of Saturday’s festivities, which also include a young adult panel discussion, the chance to win many books and book-related prizes and much, much more.
BLEEDER now a Featured Story on Wattpad (and novel update)
It’s been a very exciting week in the BLEEDERverse. As of today, BLEEDER is a Featured Story on Wattpad.com. This is tremendously exciting and a wonderful of culmination of three-and-a-half years of work. A huge thank you to everyone who has offered support and feedback on the book along the way, you have helped to shape and polish this novel in more ways than you can imagine.
In other BLEEDER news – and the big reason there hasn’t been a RULER Chapter 9 yet – the novel edit goes off to its editor this coming Monday. Meaning, it’s about to get one gigantic step closer to being a book you can hold in your hands. If I’m to be honest, I’m nervous, but also super excited.
After Monday, I’ll be back into RULER for the rest of the summer.
And that’s all the news that’s fit to print.
Sprucing
It’s been over a year since I updated this site. In that time, I had a baby, I nearly died, I had my heart broken and I got to scratch one more thing off my bucket list. That’s a lot of living and feeling and doing for thirteen months. My absence from here, however, was mostly about the baby. She’s awesome. Now, I have returned and some much needed sprucing is commencing. Consider yourselves warned.
So Much Wrong Here
There is so much wrong with this dismissive, judgmental article about people’s reading tastes/habits that it’s hard to know where to start, so it’s time for a list!
1) A good story is a good story, regardless if it is written for a child, a teenager or an adult; powerful themes/narratives transcend age/demographics.
2) The quick and blunt dismissal of genre fiction as “trashy” is woefully misguided (as someone who ekes out a living intelligently writing about and investigating horror, this makes me want to sit this journalist down and give ’em a literary lesson or two).
3) Books take us on adventures: sometimes they take us back in time to our younger, more naive years; sometimes they take us to places in the world (or on other worlds) we have no chance of ever experiencing; sometimes they guide us through tragedies and traumas we may never have to face first-hand. By limiting the scope of what we read, we are limiting our experiences and our ability to think/perceive/imagine things outside of our immediate reality, gender, age, creed, etc.
4) We should honestly be happy (and celebrate the fact) that some people still love books.
5) As an adult, it’s not particular mature to put down other adults’ interests and tastes. That’s petty grade school playground stuff.