http://hellnotes.com Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:07:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:16:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2233 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=will-eisner-comic-industry-awards http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:28:39 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2231 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=damnation-books-announces-initial-titles http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:16:08 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2229 Blanket of White - Horror Novel length Short Story Collection - Christian Saunders - Apartment 14F: an Oriental Ghost Story - Paranormal/Horror Novella - Collette Thomas - Deadly Games Book 1 in Todd Hollow Series - Thriller/Erotica Novel - Cory Cramer - Symptoms of a Broken Heart - Horror/Erotica Novella - Ed Erdelac - Dubaku - Horror Novella - Edward P. McDermott - "On the Lake Where the Loons Cry" - Thriller Short story - Mark Edward Hall - The Haunting of Sam Cabot - Horror/Psychological Novella - Geoff Chaucer - "Concubine" - Horror/Erotica Short story - James Dorr - The Garden - Science Fiction Novella - Jason Kahn - "The Killer Within" - Thriller Short story - Joel Arnold - "The Siege" - Science Fiction/Paranormal Short Story - John B. Rosenman - "Green in Our Souls" - Science Fiction Short story - John W. Podgursky - The One-Percenters - Psychological/Thriller novella - Lawrence Dagstine - "Visitation Rights" - Paranormal Short Story - Lily - Eden Fell - Dark psychology/philosophy Novella - Michael McLarnon - Dark Isle - Horror Novel - Noel Hynd - The Prodigy "Author's Revised Edition" - Thriller Novel - Robert Appleton - "Val and Tyne" - Horror Short Story - Alan Spencer - The Body Cartel - Thriller/Horror Novel - S. A. Bolich - "Who Mourns for the Hangman?" - Dark Fantasy Short Story - Ted Kehoe - "Trip Trap" - Horror Short Story - Tim Marquitz - Armageddon Bound - Urban Fantasy Novel - Yolanda Sfetsos - Faithless Book 1 - Erotica Novella - The Zombie Cookbook - Horror/Comedy Anthology - Contributing authors include: Lisa Haselton, Cinsearae Santiago, Becca Butcher, Carla Girtman, Scott Virtes, Karina Fabian, Dawn Marshallsay, Lin Neiswender, & Kate Sender. Damnation Books publishes dark fiction: horror, dark fantasy, thrillers, paranormals, science fiction and erotica in dark settings. The company focuses on ebooks and digital books but will offer novel and novella length titles in trade paperback.]]> http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:08:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2227 The House of Lost Souls F.G. Cottam Thomas Dunne Books Hardcover, 352 pages, .99 Review by Sheila Merritt It requires a bit of magic to effectively concoct an evil edifice. In The House of Lost Souls, author F.G. Cottam does a splendid job of conjuring. He stirs his cauldron of satanic ritual, adds unquiet spirits, and mixes in some nasty non-fiction dabblers in the occult. The result is a creepy and complicated multi-layered novel that demands attention in its vivid depictions of the ghastly and ghostly. Fischer House has a reputation as a malevolent mansion. In 1995, a group of four female college students cross its threshold. One subsequently commits suicide and the remaining trio is left severely psychologically impaired. The event triggers the need for the experience of Paul Seaton, who in the 1980s, went inside the house and survived its terrors. "Survived" in the sense that he is alive; the mental wounds are profoundly deep; he was institutionalized as a result of his trauma. As a young journalist, Paul was motivated to investigate the property by his girlfriend. She was writing a paper on 1930s photographer Pandora Gibson-Hoare, but reached a dead end in her research. Paul becomes obsessed with Pandora: She was beautiful, wealthy, talented, and drawn to the dark arts. Dennis Wheatley, writer of supernatural suspense, and the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley were members of her social circle -- and coven. The integration of these two real life figures within the story line is extremely well done. It prompts the reader to want to find out more about the duo and their involvement with the uncanny. This rather parallels the protagonist's fascination with the tragic Pandora; a desire to dig deeper for information. Paul's fixation on the photographer leads him to his first horrific exploration of Fischer House. The experience of encountering evil prompts an epiphany: "His perceptions would never be the same and he knew that dread would always follow him now, would be with him like some grave medical condition newly and devastatingly diagnosed. He'd been very ignorant about the world. And already, he felt an intense nostalgia for the bliss of the ignorance he had so recently lost." The House of Lost Souls is packed with loads of detail, and thus requires lots of patience in between the chilling, excellent scenes of phantoms and devil worship. There is also an understandable laxity about "facts" in the use of historical figures in the plot. Author Cottam has loosely used the personas of Wheatley and Crowley, and a few other real people, and plays upon their reputations rather than on any depth of character. This first novel is brilliantly rendered and exquisitely eerie. It won't work as a quick fix jolt of horror in your face; the story calls for reflection and analysis. There are many layers to the book: It is easy to wonder if Fischer House isn't a reference to the character Benjamin Fischer from Richard Matheson's Hell House, or to speculate about the influence Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out has on the narrative. Intellectually stimulating as it is, the novel also has an emotional poignancy; it recalls lost opportunities, loved ones who pass on, and the knowledge that certain experiences will never allow a return to comfort or safety. F.G. Cottam ties it all together in one scary, thoughtful, and touching novel.]]> http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:07:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://hellnotes.com Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:07:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:16:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2233 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=will-eisner-comic-industry-awards http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:28:39 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2231 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=damnation-books-announces-initial-titles http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:16:08 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2229 Blanket of White - Horror Novel length Short Story Collection - Christian Saunders - Apartment 14F: an Oriental Ghost Story - Paranormal/Horror Novella - Collette Thomas - Deadly Games Book 1 in Todd Hollow Series - Thriller/Erotica Novel - Cory Cramer - Symptoms of a Broken Heart - Horror/Erotica Novella - Ed Erdelac - Dubaku - Horror Novella - Edward P. McDermott - "On the Lake Where the Loons Cry" - Thriller Short story - Mark Edward Hall - The Haunting of Sam Cabot - Horror/Psychological Novella - Geoff Chaucer - "Concubine" - Horror/Erotica Short story - James Dorr - The Garden - Science Fiction Novella - Jason Kahn - "The Killer Within" - Thriller Short story - Joel Arnold - "The Siege" - Science Fiction/Paranormal Short Story - John B. Rosenman - "Green in Our Souls" - Science Fiction Short story - John W. Podgursky - The One-Percenters - Psychological/Thriller novella - Lawrence Dagstine - "Visitation Rights" - Paranormal Short Story - Lily - Eden Fell - Dark psychology/philosophy Novella - Michael McLarnon - Dark Isle - Horror Novel - Noel Hynd - The Prodigy "Author's Revised Edition" - Thriller Novel - Robert Appleton - "Val and Tyne" - Horror Short Story - Alan Spencer - The Body Cartel - Thriller/Horror Novel - S. A. Bolich - "Who Mourns for the Hangman?" - Dark Fantasy Short Story - Ted Kehoe - "Trip Trap" - Horror Short Story - Tim Marquitz - Armageddon Bound - Urban Fantasy Novel - Yolanda Sfetsos - Faithless Book 1 - Erotica Novella - The Zombie Cookbook - Horror/Comedy Anthology - Contributing authors include: Lisa Haselton, Cinsearae Santiago, Becca Butcher, Carla Girtman, Scott Virtes, Karina Fabian, Dawn Marshallsay, Lin Neiswender, & Kate Sender. Damnation Books publishes dark fiction: horror, dark fantasy, thrillers, paranormals, science fiction and erotica in dark settings. The company focuses on ebooks and digital books but will offer novel and novella length titles in trade paperback.]]> http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:08:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2227 The House of Lost Souls F.G. Cottam Thomas Dunne Books Hardcover, 352 pages, .99 Review by Sheila Merritt It requires a bit of magic to effectively concoct an evil edifice. In The House of Lost Souls, author F.G. Cottam does a splendid job of conjuring. He stirs his cauldron of satanic ritual, adds unquiet spirits, and mixes in some nasty non-fiction dabblers in the occult. The result is a creepy and complicated multi-layered novel that demands attention in its vivid depictions of the ghastly and ghostly. Fischer House has a reputation as a malevolent mansion. In 1995, a group of four female college students cross its threshold. One subsequently commits suicide and the remaining trio is left severely psychologically impaired. The event triggers the need for the experience of Paul Seaton, who in the 1980s, went inside the house and survived its terrors. "Survived" in the sense that he is alive; the mental wounds are profoundly deep; he was institutionalized as a result of his trauma. As a young journalist, Paul was motivated to investigate the property by his girlfriend. She was writing a paper on 1930s photographer Pandora Gibson-Hoare, but reached a dead end in her research. Paul becomes obsessed with Pandora: She was beautiful, wealthy, talented, and drawn to the dark arts. Dennis Wheatley, writer of supernatural suspense, and the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley were members of her social circle -- and coven. The integration of these two real life figures within the story line is extremely well done. It prompts the reader to want to find out more about the duo and their involvement with the uncanny. This rather parallels the protagonist's fascination with the tragic Pandora; a desire to dig deeper for information. Paul's fixation on the photographer leads him to his first horrific exploration of Fischer House. The experience of encountering evil prompts an epiphany: "His perceptions would never be the same and he knew that dread would always follow him now, would be with him like some grave medical condition newly and devastatingly diagnosed. He'd been very ignorant about the world. And already, he felt an intense nostalgia for the bliss of the ignorance he had so recently lost." The House of Lost Souls is packed with loads of detail, and thus requires lots of patience in between the chilling, excellent scenes of phantoms and devil worship. There is also an understandable laxity about "facts" in the use of historical figures in the plot. Author Cottam has loosely used the personas of Wheatley and Crowley, and a few other real people, and plays upon their reputations rather than on any depth of character. This first novel is brilliantly rendered and exquisitely eerie. It won't work as a quick fix jolt of horror in your face; the story calls for reflection and analysis. There are many layers to the book: It is easy to wonder if Fischer House isn't a reference to the character Benjamin Fischer from Richard Matheson's Hell House, or to speculate about the influence Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out has on the narrative. Intellectually stimulating as it is, the novel also has an emotional poignancy; it recalls lost opportunities, loved ones who pass on, and the knowledge that certain experiences will never allow a return to comfort or safety. F.G. Cottam ties it all together in one scary, thoughtful, and touching novel.]]> http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:16:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2233 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:07:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:16:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2233 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=will-eisner-comic-industry-awards http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:28:39 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2231 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=damnation-books-announces-initial-titles http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:16:08 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2229 Blanket of White - Horror Novel length Short Story Collection - Christian Saunders - Apartment 14F: an Oriental Ghost Story - Paranormal/Horror Novella - Collette Thomas - Deadly Games Book 1 in Todd Hollow Series - Thriller/Erotica Novel - Cory Cramer - Symptoms of a Broken Heart - Horror/Erotica Novella - Ed Erdelac - Dubaku - Horror Novella - Edward P. McDermott - "On the Lake Where the Loons Cry" - Thriller Short story - Mark Edward Hall - The Haunting of Sam Cabot - Horror/Psychological Novella - Geoff Chaucer - "Concubine" - Horror/Erotica Short story - James Dorr - The Garden - Science Fiction Novella - Jason Kahn - "The Killer Within" - Thriller Short story - Joel Arnold - "The Siege" - Science Fiction/Paranormal Short Story - John B. Rosenman - "Green in Our Souls" - Science Fiction Short story - John W. Podgursky - The One-Percenters - Psychological/Thriller novella - Lawrence Dagstine - "Visitation Rights" - Paranormal Short Story - Lily - Eden Fell - Dark psychology/philosophy Novella - Michael McLarnon - Dark Isle - Horror Novel - Noel Hynd - The Prodigy "Author's Revised Edition" - Thriller Novel - Robert Appleton - "Val and Tyne" - Horror Short Story - Alan Spencer - The Body Cartel - Thriller/Horror Novel - S. A. Bolich - "Who Mourns for the Hangman?" - Dark Fantasy Short Story - Ted Kehoe - "Trip Trap" - Horror Short Story - Tim Marquitz - Armageddon Bound - Urban Fantasy Novel - Yolanda Sfetsos - Faithless Book 1 - Erotica Novella - The Zombie Cookbook - Horror/Comedy Anthology - Contributing authors include: Lisa Haselton, Cinsearae Santiago, Becca Butcher, Carla Girtman, Scott Virtes, Karina Fabian, Dawn Marshallsay, Lin Neiswender, & Kate Sender. Damnation Books publishes dark fiction: horror, dark fantasy, thrillers, paranormals, science fiction and erotica in dark settings. The company focuses on ebooks and digital books but will offer novel and novella length titles in trade paperback.]]> http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:08:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2227 The House of Lost Souls F.G. Cottam Thomas Dunne Books Hardcover, 352 pages, .99 Review by Sheila Merritt It requires a bit of magic to effectively concoct an evil edifice. In The House of Lost Souls, author F.G. Cottam does a splendid job of conjuring. He stirs his cauldron of satanic ritual, adds unquiet spirits, and mixes in some nasty non-fiction dabblers in the occult. The result is a creepy and complicated multi-layered novel that demands attention in its vivid depictions of the ghastly and ghostly. Fischer House has a reputation as a malevolent mansion. In 1995, a group of four female college students cross its threshold. One subsequently commits suicide and the remaining trio is left severely psychologically impaired. The event triggers the need for the experience of Paul Seaton, who in the 1980s, went inside the house and survived its terrors. "Survived" in the sense that he is alive; the mental wounds are profoundly deep; he was institutionalized as a result of his trauma. As a young journalist, Paul was motivated to investigate the property by his girlfriend. She was writing a paper on 1930s photographer Pandora Gibson-Hoare, but reached a dead end in her research. Paul becomes obsessed with Pandora: She was beautiful, wealthy, talented, and drawn to the dark arts. Dennis Wheatley, writer of supernatural suspense, and the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley were members of her social circle -- and coven. The integration of these two real life figures within the story line is extremely well done. It prompts the reader to want to find out more about the duo and their involvement with the uncanny. This rather parallels the protagonist's fascination with the tragic Pandora; a desire to dig deeper for information. Paul's fixation on the photographer leads him to his first horrific exploration of Fischer House. The experience of encountering evil prompts an epiphany: "His perceptions would never be the same and he knew that dread would always follow him now, would be with him like some grave medical condition newly and devastatingly diagnosed. He'd been very ignorant about the world. And already, he felt an intense nostalgia for the bliss of the ignorance he had so recently lost." The House of Lost Souls is packed with loads of detail, and thus requires lots of patience in between the chilling, excellent scenes of phantoms and devil worship. There is also an understandable laxity about "facts" in the use of historical figures in the plot. Author Cottam has loosely used the personas of Wheatley and Crowley, and a few other real people, and plays upon their reputations rather than on any depth of character. This first novel is brilliantly rendered and exquisitely eerie. It won't work as a quick fix jolt of horror in your face; the story calls for reflection and analysis. There are many layers to the book: It is easy to wonder if Fischer House isn't a reference to the character Benjamin Fischer from Richard Matheson's Hell House, or to speculate about the influence Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out has on the narrative. Intellectually stimulating as it is, the novel also has an emotional poignancy; it recalls lost opportunities, loved ones who pass on, and the knowledge that certain experiences will never allow a return to comfort or safety. F.G. Cottam ties it all together in one scary, thoughtful, and touching novel.]]> http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=will-eisner-comic-industry-awards http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:28:39 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2231 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:07:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:16:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2233 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=will-eisner-comic-industry-awards http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:28:39 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2231 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=damnation-books-announces-initial-titles http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:16:08 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2229 Blanket of White - Horror Novel length Short Story Collection - Christian Saunders - Apartment 14F: an Oriental Ghost Story - Paranormal/Horror Novella - Collette Thomas - Deadly Games Book 1 in Todd Hollow Series - Thriller/Erotica Novel - Cory Cramer - Symptoms of a Broken Heart - Horror/Erotica Novella - Ed Erdelac - Dubaku - Horror Novella - Edward P. McDermott - "On the Lake Where the Loons Cry" - Thriller Short story - Mark Edward Hall - The Haunting of Sam Cabot - Horror/Psychological Novella - Geoff Chaucer - "Concubine" - Horror/Erotica Short story - James Dorr - The Garden - Science Fiction Novella - Jason Kahn - "The Killer Within" - Thriller Short story - Joel Arnold - "The Siege" - Science Fiction/Paranormal Short Story - John B. Rosenman - "Green in Our Souls" - Science Fiction Short story - John W. Podgursky - The One-Percenters - Psychological/Thriller novella - Lawrence Dagstine - "Visitation Rights" - Paranormal Short Story - Lily - Eden Fell - Dark psychology/philosophy Novella - Michael McLarnon - Dark Isle - Horror Novel - Noel Hynd - The Prodigy "Author's Revised Edition" - Thriller Novel - Robert Appleton - "Val and Tyne" - Horror Short Story - Alan Spencer - The Body Cartel - Thriller/Horror Novel - S. A. Bolich - "Who Mourns for the Hangman?" - Dark Fantasy Short Story - Ted Kehoe - "Trip Trap" - Horror Short Story - Tim Marquitz - Armageddon Bound - Urban Fantasy Novel - Yolanda Sfetsos - Faithless Book 1 - Erotica Novella - The Zombie Cookbook - Horror/Comedy Anthology - Contributing authors include: Lisa Haselton, Cinsearae Santiago, Becca Butcher, Carla Girtman, Scott Virtes, Karina Fabian, Dawn Marshallsay, Lin Neiswender, & Kate Sender. Damnation Books publishes dark fiction: horror, dark fantasy, thrillers, paranormals, science fiction and erotica in dark settings. The company focuses on ebooks and digital books but will offer novel and novella length titles in trade paperback.]]> http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:08:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2227 The House of Lost Souls F.G. Cottam Thomas Dunne Books Hardcover, 352 pages, .99 Review by Sheila Merritt It requires a bit of magic to effectively concoct an evil edifice. In The House of Lost Souls, author F.G. Cottam does a splendid job of conjuring. He stirs his cauldron of satanic ritual, adds unquiet spirits, and mixes in some nasty non-fiction dabblers in the occult. The result is a creepy and complicated multi-layered novel that demands attention in its vivid depictions of the ghastly and ghostly. Fischer House has a reputation as a malevolent mansion. In 1995, a group of four female college students cross its threshold. One subsequently commits suicide and the remaining trio is left severely psychologically impaired. The event triggers the need for the experience of Paul Seaton, who in the 1980s, went inside the house and survived its terrors. "Survived" in the sense that he is alive; the mental wounds are profoundly deep; he was institutionalized as a result of his trauma. As a young journalist, Paul was motivated to investigate the property by his girlfriend. She was writing a paper on 1930s photographer Pandora Gibson-Hoare, but reached a dead end in her research. Paul becomes obsessed with Pandora: She was beautiful, wealthy, talented, and drawn to the dark arts. Dennis Wheatley, writer of supernatural suspense, and the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley were members of her social circle -- and coven. The integration of these two real life figures within the story line is extremely well done. It prompts the reader to want to find out more about the duo and their involvement with the uncanny. This rather parallels the protagonist's fascination with the tragic Pandora; a desire to dig deeper for information. Paul's fixation on the photographer leads him to his first horrific exploration of Fischer House. The experience of encountering evil prompts an epiphany: "His perceptions would never be the same and he knew that dread would always follow him now, would be with him like some grave medical condition newly and devastatingly diagnosed. He'd been very ignorant about the world. And already, he felt an intense nostalgia for the bliss of the ignorance he had so recently lost." The House of Lost Souls is packed with loads of detail, and thus requires lots of patience in between the chilling, excellent scenes of phantoms and devil worship. There is also an understandable laxity about "facts" in the use of historical figures in the plot. Author Cottam has loosely used the personas of Wheatley and Crowley, and a few other real people, and plays upon their reputations rather than on any depth of character. This first novel is brilliantly rendered and exquisitely eerie. It won't work as a quick fix jolt of horror in your face; the story calls for reflection and analysis. There are many layers to the book: It is easy to wonder if Fischer House isn't a reference to the character Benjamin Fischer from Richard Matheson's Hell House, or to speculate about the influence Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out has on the narrative. Intellectually stimulating as it is, the novel also has an emotional poignancy; it recalls lost opportunities, loved ones who pass on, and the knowledge that certain experiences will never allow a return to comfort or safety. F.G. Cottam ties it all together in one scary, thoughtful, and touching novel.]]> http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=damnation-books-announces-initial-titles http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:16:08 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2229 Blanket of White - Horror Novel length Short Story Collection - Christian Saunders - Apartment 14F: an Oriental Ghost Story - Paranormal/Horror Novella - Collette Thomas - Deadly Games Book 1 in Todd Hollow Series - Thriller/Erotica Novel - Cory Cramer - Symptoms of a Broken Heart - Horror/Erotica Novella - Ed Erdelac - Dubaku - Horror Novella - Edward P. McDermott - "On the Lake Where the Loons Cry" - Thriller Short story - Mark Edward Hall - The Haunting of Sam Cabot - Horror/Psychological Novella - Geoff Chaucer - "Concubine" - Horror/Erotica Short story - James Dorr - The Garden - Science Fiction Novella - Jason Kahn - "The Killer Within" - Thriller Short story - Joel Arnold - "The Siege" - Science Fiction/Paranormal Short Story - John B. Rosenman - "Green in Our Souls" - Science Fiction Short story - John W. Podgursky - The One-Percenters - Psychological/Thriller novella - Lawrence Dagstine - "Visitation Rights" - Paranormal Short Story - Lily - Eden Fell - Dark psychology/philosophy Novella - Michael McLarnon - Dark Isle - Horror Novel - Noel Hynd - The Prodigy "Author's Revised Edition" - Thriller Novel - Robert Appleton - "Val and Tyne" - Horror Short Story - Alan Spencer - The Body Cartel - Thriller/Horror Novel - S. A. Bolich - "Who Mourns for the Hangman?" - Dark Fantasy Short Story - Ted Kehoe - "Trip Trap" - Horror Short Story - Tim Marquitz - Armageddon Bound - Urban Fantasy Novel - Yolanda Sfetsos - Faithless Book 1 - Erotica Novella - The Zombie Cookbook - Horror/Comedy Anthology - Contributing authors include: Lisa Haselton, Cinsearae Santiago, Becca Butcher, Carla Girtman, Scott Virtes, Karina Fabian, Dawn Marshallsay, Lin Neiswender, & Kate Sender. Damnation Books publishes dark fiction: horror, dark fantasy, thrillers, paranormals, science fiction and erotica in dark settings. The company focuses on ebooks and digital books but will offer novel and novella length titles in trade paperback.]]> http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:07:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:16:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2233 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=will-eisner-comic-industry-awards http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:28:39 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2231 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=damnation-books-announces-initial-titles http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:16:08 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2229 Blanket of White - Horror Novel length Short Story Collection - Christian Saunders - Apartment 14F: an Oriental Ghost Story - Paranormal/Horror Novella - Collette Thomas - Deadly Games Book 1 in Todd Hollow Series - Thriller/Erotica Novel - Cory Cramer - Symptoms of a Broken Heart - Horror/Erotica Novella - Ed Erdelac - Dubaku - Horror Novella - Edward P. McDermott - "On the Lake Where the Loons Cry" - Thriller Short story - Mark Edward Hall - The Haunting of Sam Cabot - Horror/Psychological Novella - Geoff Chaucer - "Concubine" - Horror/Erotica Short story - James Dorr - The Garden - Science Fiction Novella - Jason Kahn - "The Killer Within" - Thriller Short story - Joel Arnold - "The Siege" - Science Fiction/Paranormal Short Story - John B. Rosenman - "Green in Our Souls" - Science Fiction Short story - John W. Podgursky - The One-Percenters - Psychological/Thriller novella - Lawrence Dagstine - "Visitation Rights" - Paranormal Short Story - Lily - Eden Fell - Dark psychology/philosophy Novella - Michael McLarnon - Dark Isle - Horror Novel - Noel Hynd - The Prodigy "Author's Revised Edition" - Thriller Novel - Robert Appleton - "Val and Tyne" - Horror Short Story - Alan Spencer - The Body Cartel - Thriller/Horror Novel - S. A. Bolich - "Who Mourns for the Hangman?" - Dark Fantasy Short Story - Ted Kehoe - "Trip Trap" - Horror Short Story - Tim Marquitz - Armageddon Bound - Urban Fantasy Novel - Yolanda Sfetsos - Faithless Book 1 - Erotica Novella - The Zombie Cookbook - Horror/Comedy Anthology - Contributing authors include: Lisa Haselton, Cinsearae Santiago, Becca Butcher, Carla Girtman, Scott Virtes, Karina Fabian, Dawn Marshallsay, Lin Neiswender, & Kate Sender. Damnation Books publishes dark fiction: horror, dark fantasy, thrillers, paranormals, science fiction and erotica in dark settings. The company focuses on ebooks and digital books but will offer novel and novella length titles in trade paperback.]]> http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:08:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2227 The House of Lost Souls F.G. Cottam Thomas Dunne Books Hardcover, 352 pages, .99 Review by Sheila Merritt It requires a bit of magic to effectively concoct an evil edifice. In The House of Lost Souls, author F.G. Cottam does a splendid job of conjuring. He stirs his cauldron of satanic ritual, adds unquiet spirits, and mixes in some nasty non-fiction dabblers in the occult. The result is a creepy and complicated multi-layered novel that demands attention in its vivid depictions of the ghastly and ghostly. Fischer House has a reputation as a malevolent mansion. In 1995, a group of four female college students cross its threshold. One subsequently commits suicide and the remaining trio is left severely psychologically impaired. The event triggers the need for the experience of Paul Seaton, who in the 1980s, went inside the house and survived its terrors. "Survived" in the sense that he is alive; the mental wounds are profoundly deep; he was institutionalized as a result of his trauma. As a young journalist, Paul was motivated to investigate the property by his girlfriend. She was writing a paper on 1930s photographer Pandora Gibson-Hoare, but reached a dead end in her research. Paul becomes obsessed with Pandora: She was beautiful, wealthy, talented, and drawn to the dark arts. Dennis Wheatley, writer of supernatural suspense, and the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley were members of her social circle -- and coven. The integration of these two real life figures within the story line is extremely well done. It prompts the reader to want to find out more about the duo and their involvement with the uncanny. This rather parallels the protagonist's fascination with the tragic Pandora; a desire to dig deeper for information. Paul's fixation on the photographer leads him to his first horrific exploration of Fischer House. The experience of encountering evil prompts an epiphany: "His perceptions would never be the same and he knew that dread would always follow him now, would be with him like some grave medical condition newly and devastatingly diagnosed. He'd been very ignorant about the world. And already, he felt an intense nostalgia for the bliss of the ignorance he had so recently lost." The House of Lost Souls is packed with loads of detail, and thus requires lots of patience in between the chilling, excellent scenes of phantoms and devil worship. There is also an understandable laxity about "facts" in the use of historical figures in the plot. Author Cottam has loosely used the personas of Wheatley and Crowley, and a few other real people, and plays upon their reputations rather than on any depth of character. This first novel is brilliantly rendered and exquisitely eerie. It won't work as a quick fix jolt of horror in your face; the story calls for reflection and analysis. There are many layers to the book: It is easy to wonder if Fischer House isn't a reference to the character Benjamin Fischer from Richard Matheson's Hell House, or to speculate about the influence Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out has on the narrative. Intellectually stimulating as it is, the novel also has an emotional poignancy; it recalls lost opportunities, loved ones who pass on, and the knowledge that certain experiences will never allow a return to comfort or safety. F.G. Cottam ties it all together in one scary, thoughtful, and touching novel.]]> http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:08:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2227 The House of Lost Souls F.G. Cottam Thomas Dunne Books Hardcover, 352 pages, $24.99 Review by Sheila Merritt It requires a bit of magic to effectively concoct an evil edifice. In The House of Lost Souls, author F.G. Cottam does a splendid job of conjuring. He stirs his cauldron of satanic ritual, adds unquiet spirits, and mixes in some nasty non-fiction dabblers in the occult. The result is a creepy and complicated multi-layered novel that demands attention in its vivid depictions of the ghastly and ghostly. Fischer House has a reputation as a malevolent mansion. In 1995, a group of four female college students cross its threshold. One subsequently commits suicide and the remaining trio is left severely psychologically impaired. The event triggers the need for the experience of Paul Seaton, who in the 1980s, went inside the house and survived its terrors. "Survived" in the sense that he is alive; the mental wounds are profoundly deep; he was institutionalized as a result of his trauma. As a young journalist, Paul was motivated to investigate the property by his girlfriend. She was writing a paper on 1930s photographer Pandora Gibson-Hoare, but reached a dead end in her research. Paul becomes obsessed with Pandora: She was beautiful, wealthy, talented, and drawn to the dark arts. Dennis Wheatley, writer of supernatural suspense, and the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley were members of her social circle -- and coven. The integration of these two real life figures within the story line is extremely well done. It prompts the reader to want to find out more about the duo and their involvement with the uncanny. This rather parallels the protagonist's fascination with the tragic Pandora; a desire to dig deeper for information. Paul's fixation on the photographer leads him to his first horrific exploration of Fischer House. The experience of encountering evil prompts an epiphany: "His perceptions would never be the same and he knew that dread would always follow him now, would be with him like some grave medical condition newly and devastatingly diagnosed. He'd been very ignorant about the world. And already, he felt an intense nostalgia for the bliss of the ignorance he had so recently lost." The House of Lost Souls is packed with loads of detail, and thus requires lots of patience in between the chilling, excellent scenes of phantoms and devil worship. There is also an understandable laxity about "facts" in the use of historical figures in the plot. Author Cottam has loosely used the personas of Wheatley and Crowley, and a few other real people, and plays upon their reputations rather than on any depth of character. This first novel is brilliantly rendered and exquisitely eerie. It won't work as a quick fix jolt of horror in your face; the story calls for reflection and analysis. There are many layers to the book: It is easy to wonder if Fischer House isn't a reference to the character Benjamin Fischer from Richard Matheson's Hell House, or to speculate about the influence Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out has on the narrative. Intellectually stimulating as it is, the novel also has an emotional poignancy; it recalls lost opportunities, loved ones who pass on, and the knowledge that certain experiences will never allow a return to comfort or safety. F.G. Cottam ties it all together in one scary, thoughtful, and touching novel.]]> http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:07:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:16:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2233 http://hellnotes.com/pittsburgh-zombies-reclaim-world-record/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=will-eisner-comic-industry-awards http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:28:39 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2231 http://hellnotes.com/will-eisner-comic-industry-awards/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=damnation-books-announces-initial-titles http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:16:08 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2229 Blanket of White - Horror Novel length Short Story Collection - Christian Saunders - Apartment 14F: an Oriental Ghost Story - Paranormal/Horror Novella - Collette Thomas - Deadly Games Book 1 in Todd Hollow Series - Thriller/Erotica Novel - Cory Cramer - Symptoms of a Broken Heart - Horror/Erotica Novella - Ed Erdelac - Dubaku - Horror Novella - Edward P. McDermott - "On the Lake Where the Loons Cry" - Thriller Short story - Mark Edward Hall - The Haunting of Sam Cabot - Horror/Psychological Novella - Geoff Chaucer - "Concubine" - Horror/Erotica Short story - James Dorr - The Garden - Science Fiction Novella - Jason Kahn - "The Killer Within" - Thriller Short story - Joel Arnold - "The Siege" - Science Fiction/Paranormal Short Story - John B. Rosenman - "Green in Our Souls" - Science Fiction Short story - John W. Podgursky - The One-Percenters - Psychological/Thriller novella - Lawrence Dagstine - "Visitation Rights" - Paranormal Short Story - Lily - Eden Fell - Dark psychology/philosophy Novella - Michael McLarnon - Dark Isle - Horror Novel - Noel Hynd - The Prodigy "Author's Revised Edition" - Thriller Novel - Robert Appleton - "Val and Tyne" - Horror Short Story - Alan Spencer - The Body Cartel - Thriller/Horror Novel - S. A. Bolich - "Who Mourns for the Hangman?" - Dark Fantasy Short Story - Ted Kehoe - "Trip Trap" - Horror Short Story - Tim Marquitz - Armageddon Bound - Urban Fantasy Novel - Yolanda Sfetsos - Faithless Book 1 - Erotica Novella - The Zombie Cookbook - Horror/Comedy Anthology - Contributing authors include: Lisa Haselton, Cinsearae Santiago, Becca Butcher, Carla Girtman, Scott Virtes, Karina Fabian, Dawn Marshallsay, Lin Neiswender, & Kate Sender. Damnation Books publishes dark fiction: horror, dark fantasy, thrillers, paranormals, science fiction and erotica in dark settings. The company focuses on ebooks and digital books but will offer novel and novella length titles in trade paperback.]]> http://hellnotes.com/damnation-books-announces-initial-titles/feed 1 http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:08:00 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2227 The House of Lost Souls F.G. Cottam Thomas Dunne Books Hardcover, 352 pages, .99 Review by Sheila Merritt It requires a bit of magic to effectively concoct an evil edifice. In The House of Lost Souls, author F.G. Cottam does a splendid job of conjuring. He stirs his cauldron of satanic ritual, adds unquiet spirits, and mixes in some nasty non-fiction dabblers in the occult. The result is a creepy and complicated multi-layered novel that demands attention in its vivid depictions of the ghastly and ghostly. Fischer House has a reputation as a malevolent mansion. In 1995, a group of four female college students cross its threshold. One subsequently commits suicide and the remaining trio is left severely psychologically impaired. The event triggers the need for the experience of Paul Seaton, who in the 1980s, went inside the house and survived its terrors. "Survived" in the sense that he is alive; the mental wounds are profoundly deep; he was institutionalized as a result of his trauma. As a young journalist, Paul was motivated to investigate the property by his girlfriend. She was writing a paper on 1930s photographer Pandora Gibson-Hoare, but reached a dead end in her research. Paul becomes obsessed with Pandora: She was beautiful, wealthy, talented, and drawn to the dark arts. Dennis Wheatley, writer of supernatural suspense, and the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley were members of her social circle -- and coven. The integration of these two real life figures within the story line is extremely well done. It prompts the reader to want to find out more about the duo and their involvement with the uncanny. This rather parallels the protagonist's fascination with the tragic Pandora; a desire to dig deeper for information. Paul's fixation on the photographer leads him to his first horrific exploration of Fischer House. The experience of encountering evil prompts an epiphany: "His perceptions would never be the same and he knew that dread would always follow him now, would be with him like some grave medical condition newly and devastatingly diagnosed. He'd been very ignorant about the world. And already, he felt an intense nostalgia for the bliss of the ignorance he had so recently lost." The House of Lost Souls is packed with loads of detail, and thus requires lots of patience in between the chilling, excellent scenes of phantoms and devil worship. There is also an understandable laxity about "facts" in the use of historical figures in the plot. Author Cottam has loosely used the personas of Wheatley and Crowley, and a few other real people, and plays upon their reputations rather than on any depth of character. This first novel is brilliantly rendered and exquisitely eerie. It won't work as a quick fix jolt of horror in your face; the story calls for reflection and analysis. There are many layers to the book: It is easy to wonder if Fischer House isn't a reference to the character Benjamin Fischer from Richard Matheson's Hell House, or to speculate about the influence Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out has on the narrative. Intellectually stimulating as it is, the novel also has an emotional poignancy; it recalls lost opportunities, loved ones who pass on, and the knowledge that certain experiences will never allow a return to comfort or safety. F.G. Cottam ties it all together in one scary, thoughtful, and touching novel.]]> http://hellnotes.com/the-house-of-lost-souls-book-review/feed 0 http://hellnotes.com/futile-flame-available?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=futile-flame-available http://hellnotes.com/futile-flame-available#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:52:08 +0000 Dave http://hellnotes.com/?p=2225 Futile Flame, the second volume in Sam Stone's Vampire Gene trilogy of novels is now available for bookstore order. Published by the UK small press, The House of Murky Depths, the novel follows the life of Lucrezia Borgia as she struggles with love, incest, betrayal and vampirism in sixteenth Century Italy. Description: The quest for the origin of the Vampire Gene continues ... Gabriele searches out Lucrezia, who reveals to him the horrors of her teenage years in the house of the Borgias in the sixteenth century, and the possessive obession of her brother Caesare who cannot accept that his love for her is unrequited. Her transformation as a vampire gives her freedom to escape for a short time, but leads to the terrifying world of the Allucians; throwing her back into the arms of her now much stronger and powerful brother, two centuries later. Gabriele discovers that Lucrezia is just as much a victim of her past as he is. Author and poet Sam Stone's first novel, Gabriele Caccini – The Vampire Gene Book 1 (as Paigan Stone), was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Like all good authors she drew on her own knowledge and passions to write it. The novel won ForeWord Magazine's silver award for Best Horror Novel 2007. In September 2008 Gabriele Caccini was re-edited and republished by The House of Murky Depths as Killing Kiss. Stone has recently sold a couple of short stories and is working on a film treatment for Killing Kiss as well as a new urban fantasy series for young adults.]]> http://hellnotes.com/futile-flame-available/feed 0