compiled by Nickolas Cook and Steven M. Duarte
In Book News...
Of course, the biggest news we have this month is that the currently largest of the NYC Publishers Row companies that still produce horror novels has decided to go trade paperback and electronic only on most of their genre titles, including their horror titles. For details and some nifty corp-speak, see here.
So what does this mean for horror fiction fans?
Well, essentially Dorchester finally came the same realization that most of us came to a few years ago, when they began to publish mostly shite books that were poorly written and poorly promoted: the small press is basically the only real avenue print horror fans can go to these days for quality fiction.
It looks as if the cost of putting so many books into production and into distribution has pretty much driven Dorchester to the point of bankruptcy. This move feels like one of desperation and may very well spell the end of at least their horror line of books.
We'll see.
I've been wrong before. After all, I was the one that said the Abyss line of books from Dell Publishing would be the greatest horror line ever produced.
Meanwhile, from our good friends at Northern Frights Publishing several new titles and new author signings
NFP to publish Wormfood Island by Ken La Salle
Northern Frights Publishing has signed a contract with Author Ken La Salle to publish his Zombie/Romance novel Wormfood Island slated for Summer 2011. This marks NFP's first foray into single author projects.
Wormfood Island is the story of a family on the verge of collapse who win a trip to a hedonism resort. Hoping for a chance to save their marriage, they instead must deal with an infestation of parasitic worms that cause the infected to gain monstrous sexual appetites...which quickly turns to an appetite for living flesh.
According to author Ken La Salle, part of the reason the book was written was to add to the origins of zombie literature.
"One thing that always bugged me about zombie stories was how the infection was spread," said La Salle. "It’s usually explained as a type of viral infection or sometimes a curse. Outside of movies like 28 Days Later, which had a great disease to explain it with, it gets pretty vague. So, what I wanted to bring to the genre was a new zombie “origin” while respecting such elements as Romero’s zombie logic."
While Wormfood Island has something new to fans of zombie fiction, it also has a load of great action, gore, and suspense that are hallmarks of the survival horror genre. It is a zombie book that has a little something for everyone.
"The best zombie tales use the plague as a backdrop for a larger story and, I think, Wormfood Island does this very well," said La Salle. "It takes the story of a family on the brink of survival, the connection between a father and son, and what it means to have to fight for that. Wormfood Island brings a great combination of action, gore, and sex. In Wormfood Island, people spread the infection like an STD and it ramps up their appetites until they are feasting on human flesh."
The book will be released in summer 2011, in hardcover, trade paperback, and digitally. Wormfood Island is part of NFP's move from an anthology-only press in its first year to a more robust product line in its second.
"I’m obviously very excited to sign with Northern Frights Publishing for publication of Wormfood Island," said La Salle."It’s a strange irony that in the present economical situation everyone faces, I’ve found this opportunity to bring this passion that I’ve followed for that past thirty years to the next level."
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Ken La Salle is an author from Anaheim, California. His blog can be seen here: http://kenlasalle.blogspot.com/
Vince Churchill Signs Two Book Deal with Northern Frights Publishing
Northern Frights Publishing has announced a two-book deal with noted Indie horror writer Vince Churchill. NFP will be re-releasing Churchill's The Blackest Heart in 2011 and then the highly anticipated sequel Pandora later that year.
The Blackest Heart is a space western hybrid tale that follows a man named Marshall Thane Bishop as he seeks revenge against the most brutal gang of hoods in the galaxy. Pandora will continue the story of Thane Bishop in a brand new adventure involving a faceless lunatic corporation and their monstrous experiments.
"With The Blackest Heart, readers can expect a dark, revenge driven western set in outer space," said Churchill. "The book is my ode to High Plains Drifter, Spawn, and The Crow. A retired Star Marshal is murdered and his family brutalized by the galaxies' most notorious criminals, Yardon Wrath and The Plague. But Marshal Thane Bishop is resurrected by an otherworld entity and given a chance for revenge. When a man returns from the grave there's no limit to what he is willing to do to even the score."
In Pandora, Thane Bishop returns to do battle with a corrupt corporation creating monsters for the sake of their own evil agenda.
"Where The Blackest Heart is very dark western populated with a villain and his vicious gang, Pandora is a monster book," said Churchill. "The sequel sets a lawless corporation and freakish genetic experiments against the fastest gun in the galaxy. On the planet Pandora, humans are at the bottom of the food chain. Can Thane Bishop's powers of darkness save an entire colony? With both books readers are going to get adult themed action starring a flawed hero and villains equal to the task of destroying him. Thane Bishop is the Wyatt Warp of a far flung future who doesn't need a Doc Holiday to stand at his side."
Vince Churchill has three published novels to his credit. His first novel, The Dead Shall Inherit the Earth, was featured in Xbox Magazine's ZOMBIES! Collector's Edition as one of the 37 Greatest Zombie Triumphs. He is the second author to sign on with Northern Frights Publishing as they move from an anthology-only press in its first year to a more robust product line in its second.
"Signing with Northern Frights offers a great opportunity with a wonderful up and coming press. JW [Schnarr] has demonstrated a great eye for projects, and I'm really jazzed to be a part of Northern Frights [Publishing's] future. I was looking for a publisher who shared the same level of passion and commitment, and I couldn't have found a better home for my books. Can't wait to get this party started!"
"And I'm very excited to see both The Blackest Heart and Pandora share the same publishing year," he added. "2011 is going to serious fun!"
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Vince Churchill has three published novels: The Dead Shall Inherit The Earth, The Blackest Heart, and The Butcher Bride. The Dead Shall Inherit The Earth was featured in XBOX Magazine’s ZOMBIES! Collector’s Edition as one of The 37 Greatest Zombie Triumphs.
Vince has a bi-weekly column in The Source newspaper, and his “Splatter Pattern” column appears regularly for The Hacker’s Source magazine. His short fiction has appeared in anthologies such as The Undead, The Undead II, The Horror Library - Volume One, The Beast Within, and the recent Midnight Walk. He was also a list contributor in the Book of Lists: Horror. Vince’s latest novella, “Condemned”, anchors the Butcher Shop Quartet II anthology published by Cutting Block Press.
Vince has two books in the works: an end-of-the world thriller, Good Night, My Sweet, and a dark superhero project called Open Casket. He invites you to visit his website: www.vincechurchill.com.
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From Uninvited Books, a new release from the old masters of literary horror:
“To think of shadows is a serious thing.”
~ Victor Hugo
SHADOWS: Supernatural Tales by Masters of Modern Literature, edited and with an introduction by Robert Dunbar, features terrifying explorations of the dark by D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, E. M. Forster, Edith Wharton, Henry James, Willa Cather and many of the other great writers who revolutionized dark fiction. These may be the finest, most evocative ghost stories ever written.
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow.
~ T. S. Eliot
From the Introduction by Robert Dunbar:
Abandoned houses seldom turn out to be as empty as they appear. Voices fade, but echoes linger in the dimness, and sometimes figures emerge from those shadows, if only in dreams. What could be more profoundly idiosyncratic than a nightmare? Always, there has been something intensely personal about ghost stories. How surprising can it be that so many concern writers in torment? With styles gravitating toward the ambiguous and the existential, the artists who revolutionized Gothic horror did so by bringing it into the modern world, away from all those castle battlements and dreary moors, replacing superstitious dread with psychological sophistication ...
“Life itself is but the shadow of death,
and souls departed but the shadows of the living.”
~ Thomas Browne
SHADOWS
In paperback ~ available for preorder at the Horror Mall.
Release Date: October, 18, 2010
320 pages, $14.95
https://www.horror-mall.com/uninvitedbooks/product.php?productid=21106&cat=0&page=2
For more information, visit www.UninvitedBooks.com
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Coscom Entertainment
Coscom Entertainment Signs on with Hughes Capital Entertainment to Develop its Properties to TV, Film and Video Games
Winnipeg, MB: Indie monster and superhero publisher Coscom Entertainment signs on with LA-based firm to develop its line of monster and superhero books to TV, film and video games
Leading independent horror, zombie mash up and superhero fiction publisher, Coscom Entertainment (www.coscomentertainment.com) has signed a Management and Production Deal with Hughes Capital Entertainment and newly formed, Management Period. The focus of the relationship is to integrate the Canadian-based Publishing company into mainstream entertainment via motion picture, interactive/videogame, and television mediums. Some of Coscom’s flagship titles such as The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies by H.G Wells and Eric S. Brown and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim by Mark Twain and W. Bill Czolgosz are coming out under Simon and Schuster’s Gallery Books imprint later this fall. Standout titles like Alice in Zombieland and World War of the Dead will be the immediate focus of the HCE development team.
Hughes Capital Entertainment is currently negotiating a DVD deal for some of the titles, developing some as larger features, and focusing on top seller Zombie Fight Night as the break out video game title. “What’s better than playing a first person fighter where zombies, werewolves, vampires, samurai, kick boxers, robots, and superheroes like Axiom-man all battle it out to the death?” says HCE President/Producer Patrick Hughes.
Coscom joins HCE and Management Period’s already impressive talent and corporate list of clients which includes best-selling authors, top screenwriters, show creators, top musicians, and directors.
More from Coscom:
Leading independent horror, zombie mash up and superhero fiction publisher, Coscom Entertainment (www.coscomentertainment.com) has signed a Management and Production Deal with Hughes Capital Entertainment and newly formed, Management Period. The focus of the relationship is to integrate the Canadian-based Publishing company into mainstream entertainment via motion picture, interactive/videogame, and television mediums. Some of Coscom’s flagship titles such as The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies by H.G Wells and Eric S. Brown and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim by Mark Twain and W. Bill Czolgosz are coming out under Simon and Schuster’s Gallery Books imprint later this fall. Standout titles like Alice in Zombieland and World War of the Dead will be the immediate focus of the HCE development team.
Hughes Capital Entertainment is currently negotiating a DVD deal for some of the titles, developing some as larger features, and focusing on top seller Zombie Fight Night as the break out video game title. “What’s better than playing a first person fighter where zombies, werewolves, vampires, samurai, kick boxers, robots, and superheroes like Axiom-man all battle it out to the death?” says HCE President/Producer Patrick Hughes.
Coscom joins HCE and Management Period’s already impressive talent and corporate list of clients which includes best-selling authors, top screenwriters, show creators, top musicians, and directors.
A.P. Fuchs
Publisher and Author
Coscom Entertainment
www.coscomentertainment.com
www.twitter.com/mrcoscom
* Zombie, Werewolf, Vampire, Mashup and Superhero Kindle Books for Under $3 - http://amzn.to/clSeuG
* Andrew has what he calls "The Power of Resurrection," and he wields it like a toy wand. In another part of the country, Lindy possesses a power that threatens both her health and her sanity. Year by year, each child becomes more aware of the other and the inevitable confrontation that is approaching, especially when the dead begin to walk. Who will honor the living, and who will Praise the Dead? Find out in this new novel by underground favorite, Gina Ranalli.
* The Magic Man can heal your broken heart and make your dreams come true . . . for a price. Who is he? Where did he come from? Why must your payment be in blood? A.P. Fuchs brings you over 15 chilling tales of nightmares, monsters, torture and mayhem in his new book, Magic Man Plus 15 Tales of Terror. Go here to read the collection 10 years in the making.
* Bigfoot lives in Eric S. Brown's new sasquatch book, BIGFOOT WAR. The small town of Babble Creek fights for its life as a tribe of sasquatches descend from the forests and hills into the streets, filling them with blood. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1926712498/themaniworlof-20
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KINDLE GIVEAWAY BLOG TOUR
Author Scott Nicholson and Amazon are giving away two Kindles as part of his fall book blog tour from September through November. A Kindle DX will be given away through the participating blogs, and a Kindle 3 will be given away through the tour newsletter at scottsinnercircle-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. A Pandora's Box of free ebooks will be given away through Nicholson's hauntedcomputer Twitter
account.
Nicholson is author of 12 novels, including The Skull Ring and Speed Dating with the Dead, as well as five story collections, four comics series, and six screenplays. A freelance editor and journalist, he lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
As a bonus, if Nicholson hits the Top 100 in the U.S. or U.K. Kindle Store during the tour between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30, he will give away an extra Kindle 3 through the blogs. No purchase necessary, and the contest is international. Co-sponsored by Kindle Nation Daily and Dellaster Design. Details at www.hauntedcomputer.com.
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An exciting announcement from StarCostumes.com. They've recently offered some lucky student a chance at the 1st Star Costumes Horror Scholarship. It is a $1,000 scholarship for students who are going to school for a career in the horror movie industry. More details can be found here
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In Film News...
Pretty slow month for horror movies but that will be corrected next month when a slew of horror films hits the big screen, just in time for Halloween.
Machete
Release date: Sept 3, 2010
Starring: Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez
That awesome faux movie trailer from the Grindhouse double feature is now finally a reality. Robert Rodriguez is bringing the fans what they want with Machete. This star filled cast includes such notable names as Robert De Niro and Jessica Alba. The crazy babysitter twins are back as well.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: See our review here)
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Release date: Sept 10, 2010
Starring: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, Sergio Peris-Mencheta
The fourth installement in the Resident Evil movie series the film is shot entirely in 3D. Not a surprise since majority of new films are in 3D now. This film includes elements from the newer Resident Evil games such as the executioner from Resident Evil 5 and the split open mouth zombies that Resident Evil 4 made famous.
Devil
Release date: Sept 17, 2010
Starring: Chris Messina, Geoffrey Arend, Logan Marshall-Green, Bojana Novakovic, Jenny O'Hara
People stuck in an elevator and apparently one of them is the actual devil. Could be good, but then I noticed M. Night Shyamalan was involved in its production which left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
--Steven M. Duarte
