HELLNOTES

Odd Passenger

Dave — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:07:47 +0000

Here’s the third webisode of Dean Koontz’s Odd Passenger …

Tags: Dean Koontz, Horror Author News, Odd Hours, Odd Thomas

Dean Koontz, Horror Author News, Odd Hours, Odd Thomas

Monster Behind The Wheel

Dave — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:27:33 +0000

Just announced is the next Corrosion Press title, Monster Behind The Wheel by Mark McLaughlin and Michael McCarty. Only 150 copies are being produced as a signed, limited edition hardcover and they’re already down to their last 40 copies for pre-order.

Description: As a child, young Texan Jeremy Carmichael fell from a Ferris wheel at a carnival. He landed on a beautiful young woman and his fall was broken. Unfortunately, so was the woman’s spine.

Years later, Jeremy is injured in a car accident while delivering pizzas. The accident opens the gates between the worlds of the living and the dead, awakening a malevolent supernatural presence – the spirit of cruel Frank Edmonson. Frank had been the policeman who’d arrived at the scene of the carnival accident, years earlier. The woman who’d died had been Frank’s lover.

Frank wants revenge on Jeremy and wishes to re-enter the world of the living by taking over the young man’s body. Jeremy finds himself visiting the realm of the dead in dreams and visions. But is that Frank’s doing, or is there another reason…? In his dreams, Jeremy is repeatedly drawn to the River of Time, which flows through the land of the dead.

Frank has a cunning master plan which involves a sleek, deadly muscle-car called Monster. Frank uses the car to gain control over Jeremy’s life. But what Frank doesn’t know is that Jeremy isn’t your average pizza delivery boy….

Soon all Hell breaks loose – literally. This novel is a surreal helter-skelter ride of thrills, humor, lust, gut-wrenching horror, and cosmic awe.

To learn more and/or pre-order: Monster Behind The Wheel

Tags: Bookstore News, Mark Mclaughlin, Michael McCarty

Bookstore News, Mark Mclaughlin, Michael McCarty

Odd Passenger - Part Two

Dave — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:06:27 +0000

Dean Koontz and his beloved fry cook, Odd Thomas, are back. Want to know what’s been happening to Oddie? Watch Part Two of “Odd Passenger,” a four-part mini-movie exclusively on the web. This original Odd Thomas story, set in the time between the ending of Brother Odd and start of Odd Hours (on sale in hardcover May 20th). We previously brought you Part One, and we hope you enjoy this follow up …

Tags: Dean Koontz, Horror Author News, Odd Hours, Odd Thomas

Dean Koontz, Horror Author News, Odd Hours, Odd Thomas

LBF Books - Market Report

Dave — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:19:28 +0000

The following market report on the anthology, Robots Beyond, as well as the follow-up interview are courtesy of Market Scoops by D.L. Snell.

The Market

Publisher: LBF Books
Editor: Jodi Lee
Pay Rate: 10% gross print sales; 40% gross eSales
Response Time: 3-5 months
Description (from the editor): LBF Books, an imprint of Lachesis Publishing, is a royalty-paying publisher of fiction works by authors, new or previously published. We are a print and an ebook publisher offering our reading public the very best titles via direct download or overnight shipping from our website store. For more: Complete Submission Guidelines

Note: Horror author D.L. Snell conducted the following interview to give writers a better idea of what the editors of this specific market are seeking; however, most editors are open to ideas outside of the preferences discussed here, as long as they fit the basic submission guidelines.

The Scoop

1. What authors do you enjoy and what is it about their writing that captivates you?
It’d be hard to nail it down to a few, and I read from so many different genres. King is the obvious first choice, mostly for his not-always-flawless way of bringing so much into a story, and still keeping it real. Or unreal, depending on which story you’ve got going. I read The Stand at least once a year.

Clegg, Keene, Lee (Edward), David Wong – all from the horror genre. Probably all for the similarities as much as the differences in style. Outside of that, I read a M.R. Sellars book every year. I practically hold my breath from November to October, waiting for the next book; Sellars brings the reader closer to the fire with his tales, serving hot chocolate and cookies while he’s at it. It’s at the end, when he twists your mind into a ball of mush and tosses you out the door until the next time, that makes me come back. That, and he’s a great guy. I read a lot of sci-fi shorts (obviously, as an Apex Slushie) but no one will surpass Isaac Asimov in my opinion. The man was a god. I have a thing for William Nolan, too.

I don’t really have a favorite in the romance genre, but if we skip into paranormal thriller/adventure – Sherrilyn Kenyon steals the show. She has created worlds that just stick around. I also have a handful of non-fiction authors that I read regularly: D.J. Conway, Patricia Telesco, Scott Cunningham – mostly in the alternative religions/alternative healing areas.

See? Hard to nail it down. Particularly when I’ve been known to read medical textbooks or obscure design mags. I like anything if it’s well written.

2. What are your favorite genres? Which of these genres would you like to see incorporated into submissions to this market?
My absolute favorite would have to be horror, followed closely by paranormal thriller and police procedurals. I even slip into romance once in a while. If someone could write a truly wonderful novel and combine all of those, I’d be floored.

Sci-fi and fantasy follow close behind. At LBF we publish the range of genres, so a writer’s best bet would be to query, or take a look at the website and see what we’ve been putting out there. I do like anything with a twist!

(more…)

Tags: D.L. Snell, Jodi Lee, Writing Markets

D.L. Snell, Jodi Lee, Writing Markets

Subterranean Press Production Updates

Dave — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:15:40 +0000

Subterranean Press is reporting that they’ve sent off a whole slew of books to the printers. The titles include:

The Jack Vance Reader (Jack Vance)
Kull: Exile of Atlantis (Robert E. Howard)
Project Moonbase and Others (Robert A. Heinlein)
What the Mouse Found (Charles de Lint)
Haggopian and Other Stories (Brian Lumley)
Interworld (Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves)
Black & White (Lewis Shiner)

This week, Subterranean’s two deluxe chapbooks will be at the printer as well:

Skeletons (Ray Bradbury)
Yellow Dog (Charles de Lint)

You can keep up with it all at their website: Subterranean Press

Tags: Charles de Lint, Lewis Shiner, Neil Gaiman, Publisher News, Ray Bradbury

Charles de Lint, Lewis Shiner, Neil Gaiman, Publisher News, Ray Bradbury

John Scalzi Shareware Chapbook

Dave — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:14:08 +0000

John Scalzi has posted a shareware chapbook to his website, “How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story.” The story was originally published as a chapbook to accompany the hardcover of issue four of Subterranean magazine. Half of what John takes in is going toward Lupus research. So please, check out the Scalzi story, send him a few bucks via the methods he has set up, have a grand old read, and help a very worthy cause in the process. It’s all happening here: An Alien Sex Story

Tags: Horror Author News, How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story

Horror Author News, How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story

Delirium Books Update

Dave — Fri, 09 May 2008 06:34:25 +0000

Beginning in January ‘09, Delirium Books will begin a set publication release schedule as follows:

One original first edition novel will be published per month in limited edition HC and trade paperback. These editions will be published simultaneously. The trade paperback will be covered under the book club subscription through Horror Mall.

Beginning in August, all book club featured titles will be first edition originals from this month forward. No reprints or books that are about to be reprinted in mass market will be scheduled as book club selections.

Here is the forthcoming schedule from August through December:

August 2008: Dead and Gone by Harry Shannon
September 2008: Passenger by Ronald Damien Malfi
October 2008: TBA [Original novel from Greg F. Gifune]
November 2008: Blood Alchemy by Kurt Newton
December 2008: Manhattan Grimoire by Sandy DeLuca

Tags: Harry Shannon, Kurt Newton, Publisher News, Sandy DeLuca

Harry Shannon, Kurt Newton, Publisher News, Sandy DeLuca

Ramsey Campbell’s Thieving Fear

Dave — Fri, 09 May 2008 06:32:40 +0000

PS Publishing has announced the arrival of Ramsey Campbell’s new horror novel, Thieving Fear. There are two editions: the unjacketed trade hardcover signed by the author (£20 / $40) and a slipcased and jacketed hardcover (£50 / $100) signed additionally by Kim Newman, who wrote the Introduction. Campbell just keeps on getting better. He could almost be forgiven at this stage for coasting a while, rattling off an occasional novel that was okay but maybe not much more than that. Instead, however, with each new book-length outing he continues to surpass the last one. And he’s been doing it for more than thirty years!

Description: Charlotte Nolan and her cousins may not have ended up in the jobs they hoped to have when they were teenagers, but they’ve made their way in life. Charlotte works for a London publisher, Ellen cares for the elderly, Hugh has left teaching to work in a supermarket while his brother Rory is a controversial artist. Then more than their jobs begin to go wrong as something reaches out of the past for them. What has it to do with the summer night they spent on Thursaston Common? If the dreams they had that night are catching up with them, how is the Victorian occultist Arthur Pendemon involved? Before the nightmare ends more than one of them will have to enter what remains of Pendemon’s house and confront what still lives there in the dark.

To learn more and/or order: Thieving Fear

Tags: PS Publishing< Kim Newman, Publisher News

PS Publishing< Kim Newman, Publisher News

The Good Guy

Dave — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:55:37 +0000

The Bantam Dell Publishing Group has a great program called Booked For Breakfast. Once you sign up (which is a free process), every Monday they’ll introduce you to a different Bantam Dell author and title from their mystery and thriller line. Then each weekday morning you’ll be served (via e-mail) a portion of that book. It only takes five minutes to read the day’s selection and by the end of the week you’ll have sampled two to three chapters.

This week, the program is offering sample excerpts from Dean Koontz’s The Good Guy. We’ve included the first day’s excerpt below, but you’ll want to sign up in order to receive the rest of this week’s excerpts as well as future sample chapters from other books. Here’s the sign-up link: Booked For Breakfast

And here’s the first Chapter One excerpt from The Good Guy …

Sometimes a mayfly skates across a pond, leaving a brief wake as thin as spider silk, and by staying low avoids those birds and bats that feed in flight.

At six feet three, weighing two hundred ten pounds, with big hands and bigger feet, Timothy Carrier could not maintain a profile as low as that of a skating mayfly, but he tried.

Shod in heavy work boots, with a John Wayne walk that came naturally to him and that he could not change, he nevertheless entered the Lamplighter Tavern and proceeded to the farther end of the room without drawing attention to himself. None of the three men near the door, at the short length of the “L”-shaped bar, glanced at him.

Neither did the couples in two of the booths.

When he sat on the end stool, in shadows beyond the last of the downlights that polished the molasses-colored mahogany bar, he sighed with contentment. From the perspective of the front door, he was the smallest man in the room.

If the forward end of the Lamplighter was the driver’s deck of the locomotive, this was the caboose. Those who chose to sit here on a slow Monday evening would most likely be quiet company.

Liam Rooney–who was the owner and, tonight, the only barkeep–drew a draft beer from the tap and put it in front of Tim.

“Some night you’ll walk in here with a date,” Rooney said, “and the shock will kill me.”

“Why would I bring a date to this dump?”

“What else do you know but this dump?”

“I’ve also got a favorite doughnut shop.”

“Yeah. After the two of you scarf down a dozen glazed, you could take her to a big expensive restaurant in Newport Beach, sit on the curb, and watch the valets park all the fancy cars.”

Tim sipped his beer, and Rooney wiped the bar though it was clean, and Tim said, “You got lucky, finding Michelle. They don’t make them like her anymore.”

“Michelle’s thirty, same age as us. If they don’t make ‘em like her anymore, where’d she come from?”

“It’s a mystery.”

“To be a winner, you gotta be in the game,” Rooney said.

(more…)

Tags: Bantam, Booked For Breakfast, Dean Koontz, Publisher News

Bantam, Booked For Breakfast, Dean Koontz, Publisher News

The Gingerbread Girl

Dave — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:53:08 +0000

Would you like to win a signed audiobook copy of Stephen King’s The Gingerbread Girl?

Originally published in Esquire magazine The Gingerbread Girl is available exclusively as an audiobook on CD and for download. Narrated to perfection by Academy Award nominee Mare Winningham, The Gingerbread Girl follows the story of Em, who after suffering a devastating loss, starts running. Soon Em runs from her husband and her home all the way to the airport. Looking for solace, Em’s running takes her to the Florida Gulf where she settles into the loneliest stretch of Vermillion Key. Once there Em keeps up her running until one day she makes the mistake of looking into the driveway of a man named Pickering. Pickering also enjoys the privacy of Vermillion Key, but the young women he brings there suffer the consequences. Will Em be next?

Simon & Schuster Audio is giving fans a chance to win one of 5 signed audiobook copies. You can enter here: The Gingerbread Girl

Tags: audiobook, Contests, Stephen King

audiobook, Contests, Stephen King