Stressed by Taxes? Vinewood's Got it Worse!

SINKHOLE SHAKES UP VINEWOOD RESIDENTS Vinewood, GA — A sinkhole that appeared without warning in the middle of Main Street has the residents of Vinewood up in arms. It has already claimed one life, that of local man Calvin Hull, when it opened up under his car while he was driving. Local pharmacist George “Doc” Taggert attributes Hull’s to pure bad luck — simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. “It could’ve been any one of us,” Taggert said. “But it just happened to be Calvin on that very spot when the earth fell out from under him. Can you imagine what that must’ve been like? Tooling along Main Street in your new car, then boom. The street falls away and the earth swallows you up.” The sinkhole is currently roped off with yellow “Caution!” tape, and through-traffic is blocked by yellow-and-black saw horses affixed with battery-operated flashers. But one man thinks that is not enough to protect the town....

Read the rest of “Sinkhole Shakes Up Vinewood Residents” over at the Acid Grave Press blog.

Bad Juju: a little something for the weekend

• First off, Bad Juju is available from the Amazon Kindle store this weekend, January 21 and 22, for free! If you were hesitant to try it out, now's the time.
  
• Also, Walt Hicks, the publisher of the original paperback edition, reminisces about Bad Juju in his review of Randy Chandler's latest novel, Daemon of the Dark Wood:

  It's hard to believe that almost exactly a decade ago I was searching high and low for that perfect first novel for HellBound Books Publishing. Looking for something original with a fresh voice, but also a real page-turner, I sifted through over a hundred 'first three chapter/synopsis' packages, many quite well-written, most of them starring ghosts, zombies, werewolves, and other auld beasties; the vast majority showcasing hordes of vampires in every conceivable shape, stripe and configuration.
  
  One day, I opened an e-mail, quickly buzzed through the cover note, started the chapters, and ... wait. I think I may have something here. Quickly followed by: How the hell is this NOT published already? I immediately fired off an e-mail request for the complete manuscript. Within a few days' time, I knew I had that elusive first novel for HellBound: Bad Juju by Randy Chandler.

  Read the rest of the review over at Hellbound Times.
  

My Latest Project

For the last several months, I and my colleague at Acid Grave Press, David T. Wilbanks, have been working steadily on getting a new edition of Randy Chandler's novel Bad Juju ready for publication. And now it's out on Amazon. (Other stores will follow.)

More info at the Acid Grave Press blog.

Author Patrick D'Orazio reviews Living After Midnight

Patrick D'Orazio is the author of two novels (Comes the Dark and Into the Dark), with a third coming to complete his Dark trilogy. He has also written several short stories.

About Living After Midnight, he had to say:

"Each of these stories had their own magic to them, and given the theme, it allowed each other to tinker around and come up with something different at each turn. Demons and devils and angels and mythological creatures abound, along with good old fashion monsters. This is a good variety pack of scary stories for someone looking for just that — a wide assortment of horror with a supernatural bent, which almost all these tales have. I plowed through this book inside of a few hours — it was an easy read, and a satisfying one as well."

Read the rest of the review at his blog.

Another great review of Living After Midnight

We've got another great review for Living After Midnight: Hard and Heavy Stories, this time from Ginger Nuts of Horror.

He uses the phrase "heavy metal horror heaven," which is pure heaven for this co-editor. And he says "the hit rate is just perfect," and that he found it hard to single out favorites.

He calls Steven L. Shrewsbury's "Black Sabbath" an example of "how zombie stories should be written"; says "Spooky Tooth" by Randy Chandler is "excellent"; and especially lauds Kent Gowran's "Motorhead" as a "hard fast paced balls to the wall story," with a note that Kent's presence on a book's table of contents will guarantee future purchases.

I'm really glad to see that readers are responding to these Hard and Heavy Stories the way my co-editor Dave and I did when we first read them. It is my hope that the book inspires readers to check out more from these terrific authors.

Just as a reminder, Living After Midnight is still available for only $2.99 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Diesel, Kobo, Sony, and Smashwords.

Living After Midnight: Hard and Heavy Stories, edited by David T. Wilbanks and Craig Clarke (hard rock and heavy metal inspired anthology of dark fantasy and horror stories)

I am very proud to say that my first book is now available — a project nearly two years in the making! See more below, beginning with Carrie Gowran's utterly awesome cover art, which perfectly encompasses the anthology's hard-rock and dark-fiction aspects.



Living After Midnight: Hard and Heavy Stories
Edited by David T. Wilbanks and Craig Clarke
—A Hard-Rockin' Horror and Dark-Fantasy Anthology—

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HEAVY MUSIC INSPIRES DARK FICTION?

Living After Midnight: Hard and Heavy Stories consists of six horror and dark-fantasy stories inspired by some of the greatest hard-rock and heavy-metal bands in that music’s long and influential history. Each author was invited to submit a short story or novella inspired by the band of his choice.

You're sure to be impressed by the half-dozen diverse tales they came up with. The set list is as follows:

“Spooky Tooth” by Randy Chandler
“Iron Maiden” by Matthew Fryer
“Black Sabbath” by Steven L. Shrewsbury
“Judas Priest” by David T. Wilbanks
“Motorhead” by Kent Gowran
“Slayer” by L.L. Soares

An original lineup indeed. Grab a copy now for only $2.99 because you’ll not want to pass up the chance to read six of the sharpest, savviest, hardest, and heaviest stories published this year.

Reviews:

"One of the things that make having an e-reader worthwhile." — Dead in the South

"Heavy metal horror heaven." — Ginger Nuts of Horror

"A good variety pack of scary stories ... an easy read, and a satisfying one." — Patrick D'Orazio

Now available on:
Amazon
Diesel
Sony
Smashwords.