These are strange times. The economy is stumbling and looking like it might take a leap off a ledge. The publishing industry is going through a technological transition that will eventually change the way we access and read printed matter. The unfolding social media structure is making communication to strangers easier than ever and making it more difficult than ever to talk to people face to face.

It’s all scary.

As the unknown often is.

But this is a time to be grateful for all the good things in our lives. We’re fortunate to live in a country where we can create our own lives, even in the tough times. We’re fortunate that people are still reading and that accessing books is easier than ever. We’re fortunate that we have more ways of keeping in touch with those we love than we’ve had before.

Take this day to be grateful for the little things in your life, for your family, the food in your stomach, the morning sunrise, the unlimited possibilities that today and tomorrow and the day after might bring.

Thank you for all the time you spend on this site. I hope you feel it’s time well spent. I hope we’re entertaining you, informing you, and making the genre ever more accessible for you. And I hope you won’t hesitate to drop us a note and let us know how we do an even better job.

Thank you for your loyalty to Hellnotes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dave

Please take note of the publishing companies that help support Hellnotes. This blog is provided for free due to the support these publishers lend it. In return, we hope you’re supporting them.

These are uncertain times in the publishing and book marketing industries. There are new shifts occurring all the time and no one has a clear picture of how everything is going to play out. However, many people believe small press publishers will play an important role in providing high quality hardcovers and paperbacks in the future, long after the New York publishers have disappeared.

Support our publishers today so they can continue to deliver the best of horror in the future.

 
Bad Moon Books

 
Dark Regions Press

 
JournalStone Publishing

Jared Sandman’s Blogbuster Tour 2011 runs from July 1st through August 31st. His novels include Leviathan, The Wild Hunt and Dreamland, all of which are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. His latest book, The Shadow Wolves, has just been released. Follow him on Twitter (@JaredSandman) and be entered to win one of several $25 Amazon gift cards. See rules at Jared Sandman for eligibility.

My second book, The Wild Hunt, is a holiday horror novel, which for the average person may sound like an oxymoron. After all, isn’t Christmas a period for sharing and caring? But if one peeks under the tinsel and trappings that modern society has placed on the holiday, one finds darker roots. Strip away Jesus, Santa and the rest to reveal its pagan origins. Long ago the yuletide was a time of darkness and ghosts, when the deceased returned to visit loved ones from beyond the grave.

Obviously this is fertile territory for terror and gave me the opportunity to combine my love of the cursed-town-with-a-dark-secret story with my interest in mythology, specifically Nordic and Germanic. When I first came across the notion of a spectral hunting party, I saw its potential to be used for horror.

The Wild Hunt itself is led by the Lord of the Hunt, a fearsome figure who commands the Furious Host, a murderous posse of the dead and the damned. These ghoulish horsemen are only allowed entrance to our world during the twelve nights of the yule, from Christmas Day through the fifth of January. While the Lord of the Hunt has been utilized before in a few high fantasy books, no author had yet used the Wild Hunt or the Furious Host as malevolent antagonists in a horror novel.

I weaved personal Christmas traditions into the narrative as well. When I was growing up, each Christmas Eve my family gathered for dipapegreta. At midnight we partook a pauper’s feast of stale bread and a modest hunk of meat. This was to remind us of those less fortunate around the world who needed the help and charity of strangers like us. As I researched the book, I couldn’t find anything about this particular custom. While not certain of the spelling, I’ve started to suspect it’s not a European practice at all.

At its heart The Wild Hunt is about secrets, both those we wish to keep from others and those we try to hide from ourselves. And though we can evade them for a time, no one’s able to outrun his or her sins and secrets forever. History has a way of catching up with people, and nowhere is that truth more evident than in the Minnesota town of Wodanfield.

Christmas horror novels have been written before, from over-the-top (Robert Devereaux’s Santa Steps Out) to tongue-in-cheek (Jo Gibson’s Slay Bells). One of my all-time favorite stories, A Christmas Carol, epitomizes the holiday. Dickens’s classic has become the yardstick by which all other Christmas books are measured. While his is a heartwarming ghost story of redemption, mine showcases homicidal revenants for whom there’s no chance of salvation.

Just a reminder. The Summer Scares Book Review Project is up and running. Originally proposed by Dylan at Monster Librarian (he’s the one who keeps it going), the book review project teams up a handful of horror related web sites all offering a variety of horror book reviews for readers to enjoy for free.

This time out, our very own Sheila M. Merritt reviews The Prodigy by Noel Hynd. Rolf Geiger is a rock star among classical musicians: young, handsome, gifted and possessed by genius and in love with a beautiful woman. But when Isador Rabinowitz, the greatest concert pianist of the 20th Century passes away, his ghost lingers long enough to threaten everything Rolf has ever loved or ever wanted to be.

Below the review, you’ll find links to other reviews provided by other horror web sites. All for your reading enjoyment.

Here’s where to get started: The Prodigy

Our apologies for our recent absence. It’s been a crazy week, but everything’s been worked out and we’re back again. We’ll make a couple of new posts tonight and be back to our regular scheduled tomorrow.

Thank you for your patience.