Did You Know?

Did you know about whatsmyipaddress.com where you can find out instantly what your I.P. address is?

How about downforeveryoneorjustme.com? You can plug in any web address and find out if the website is down or if it's your connection or internet provider that is preventing you from getting to that website.

And hidemyass.com -- did you know you could use this free web proxy to travel the internet with your identity hidden?

How did I find out about these websites?

Well, I run several websites using Godaddy.com hosting services. This morning as I was working on Horror Books with the Undead Rat, the browser suddenly couldn't access the website at all. It looked as if the entire site had crashed.

When my wife called GoDaddy, they had her use whatsmyipaddress.com to find out what I.P. Address we had.

Then he had her use downforeveryoneorjustme.com to see if Intent was actually down or if it was something that prevented us from seeing it. The website told us that Intent was still up and running -- which was a great relief to me.

Finally we used hidemyass.com to verify that the website was up and that for some reason we were being blocked from seeing it. Sure enough I was able to see and interact with my website about horror books.

Minutes later, GoDaddy had fixed the problem and I could access Intent without a proxy. Happiness is restored.

And I learned about three great websites in the process.

Why I missed a couple day's posts

I took Wednesday off to take my autistic/albino son to the eye doctors. It was actually a whole family affair. It was a long drawn out affair because my son hates the eye drops that dilate the eyes and was uncooperative from that moment on.

The next day my wife and daughter were sick. My daughter got a morning appointment and we discovered she has pneumonia. That is a nasty illness to have at seven years. When I got home with Little Miss Sickness, I had to turn around and fetch my son from school as he was covered in spots and the school nurse was certain he had scarlet fever.

My wife had the next doctor's appointment. I was worried she'd have pneumonia because her symptoms seemed to mirror my daughter's. Well she only had strep throat. Not good but not the big P, either. Finally I took my son to the doctor. To my relief he did not have scarlet fever. He was having an allergic reaction to the Amoxicillian that was prescribed last week to fight the strep that both kids had.

Afterward I had to get medicine from a pharmacy that had never heard of the benefits of good customer service. I wasted a lot of time waiting for meds.

By the time I got home I was too beat and too miffed to focus on writing a post. So I let it slide. I am sorry I posted nothing (except for a pre-made post in Buy Books the Holidays) until today. However I felt no post was more desirable than a post of poor quality.

So let me ask you, did I make the right call?

Down with the Sickness

Once again my family is sick -- except for me. My son ran a fever of 102 and my daughter is about to cough up a lung or two. My wife, always dealing with chronic pain on the best of days, seems to be coming down with the fever-sickness that led to strep in both my kids.

Me? I seem to be untouchable.

I have sinus problems -- always have and I have a good system for keeping them in check. Beyond that, the only sickness I seem to get is self-inflicted -- such as the inability to fall asleep before 4:00am and having to wake up at 7:00am.

Obviously its that good old undead constitution. Not much viruses can do with reanimated tissue. Except . . . maybe become undead themselves?

And if they're undead, can antibiotics even slow them down any more?

Is that what is laying low my family for the past few weeks?

Been Busy

This has been a pretty busy week.

I added blogging duties at Buying Books for the Holidays to my list of things to do -- not because I have the time but because I really believe in the message of that particular blog. So I'm making time for it.

Amy gave the best expression of what BBFH is all about here.

Some of the material I contribute will be reprints from The Lair and With Intent but some will be new stuff. When I asked Amy of My Friend Amy what she'd like me to do for BBFH, she said graphic novels. So I'll be giving you bunches of lists of graphic novels.

Beyond that, I'm getting ready to make massive changes to the library blogs (You can see most of them here.) The library is purchasing a new theme which will allow more flexibility in how the blogs look. I'm looking forward to it but it will be a lot of work for me in the start of the new year.

I guess you can call that job security.

Buy Books for the Holidays

Because I haven't quite taken on enough work to fill a full 36 hours of my 24 hour day, I am now posting at the Buy Books for the Holidays blog which was started by Amy of My Friend Amy and several of her book blogger friends. My first post will probably go up either tonight or tomorrow.

Do you have questions about finding books to buy for a loved one this holiday season? Stop by Buy Books for the Holidays and ask out legion of experts. We'll help you help the book publishing and book selling industry out.

Happy Thanksgiving

On this national day of giving thanks, it is nice to take a moment to pause and reflect on all the wonderful things you have.

So many in this great country have lost so much and in the last few months their numbers, sadly, have increased. And the coming year may test us even further . . .

Still I have so much to be thankful for. My family -- my wife and children, a house I can call my own, a job that offers me security and has taught me so much, the internet which allows me to reach out and help people find books, my love of reading and the wonderful authors eager to write their stories for me to read.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Outta Gas

The last few days have been very busy and taxing. We undead rats have such delicate constitutions that a few doctor trips, grocery trips all over (looking for the cheapest prices) and cleaning house for the holidays has really thrown me off.

For Horror Books with the Undead Rat I was a day late with the gift for the horror writer post and late with the re-post of the After Dark Horrorfest movie.

On The Lair of the Undead Rat I got the Spotlight post done on time but I totally missed the Monday Movie post. Part of the reason is that I'm still not sure if I want to move away from horror movies and do the other stuff I've been watching like Iron Man or Speed Racer. If I did that, I'd move the horror movies to With Intent which is already comfortable with the horror theme.

What do you think I should do? Keep Horror Books with the Undead Rat just horror literature or branch out into horror movies?

I'm Claiming Myself on Technorati

Hello there ladies and germs.

As part of my effort to integrate my Blogger account into the Undead Rat Family of Products (or whatever it is that I'm doing), I'm claiming this blog on Technorati. To do that I have to publish this page for their bots to scan. This page has to have this code:

Technorati Profile

Go figure.

I don't pretend to understand it I just jump through the hoops.

Thank you for your indulgence.

Begin Again

The last few months have been a time of transition for me. First by re-tasking The Lair of the Undead Rat and then re-vamping ...With Intent to Commit Horror, its taken weeks to begin to put the pieces into place.

Now I'm left with a Blogger, Vox and LiveJournal accounts which used to be just reprints of the horror blog. Although the occasional cross post or reprint won't hurt me, I've recently been told that Google doesn't like cross posting all over the place. So what do I do with these accounts?

I'm not sure what I'll do with the Vox account but I'll keep the LiveJournal account which is displaying a feed of the horror blog and will soon, hopefully, add a feed for The Lair.

Blogger, however will be The Undead Rat's personal journal. I've changed the template, added some gadgets and starting with this post I'll be adding new content that you can't get anywhere else.

We'll see how well this works.

A Serialized Novella: In Seeing

This month Gary A. Braunbeck, an Ohio based horror writer, teams up with Horrorworld to make a special limited time presentation just for you. The novella called In Seeing: A Story of Cedar Hill will be serialized in three installments this month.



In Seeing: A Story of Cedar Hill
Click here to read it at Horrorworld

• Part One runs from July 1-11.


• Part Two runs from July 11-21.


• Part Three runs from July 21-31.

As the next part is published on the website, the last part is archived if you're a johnny-come-lately, you can still read the entire story between the 21st and August 1st when it disappears.

Yes, that's right, after July 31, it all goes away, possibly for good! At this moment there is no word about future publication of this story. That decision seems to rest with Horrorworld owner and manager Nanci Kalanta. I'm sure a strong showing on the website (i.e., a lot of people drop by and read it) will improve its chances to see print publication.

What is Cedar Hill?

Cedar Hill is Gary Braunbeck's the fictionalized Ohio town based loosely on Newark, Ohio and a few other places where he lived. It is a town where the economy is depressed, industries are failing and "getting out" is almost an impossibility.

It's also a town where the supernaturally weird happens . . . a lot. Some people live their lives surrounded by the weird. Others find themselves catastrophically touched by it only once -- but once is enough. Many people fall between the extremes.

Gary has over a hundred short stories and novellas as well as four novels set in Cedar Hill. His novel Keepers introduces you to the mysterious bowler hat wearing people (are they people?) called the Keepers, which you meet in the first installment of In Seeing.

The latest novel Coffin County is the story about how the supernatural came to Cedar Hill. The next novel, slated for publication in 2009, promises to be the story of the final fate Cedar Hill and the supernatural forces that inhabit it.

In the meantime, read and enjoy In Seeing and pop over to the Cedar Hill Story Cycle List on the sister-website ... With Intent to Commit Horror for a list of the books that chronicle Gary's beleaguered town.

(Cross-posted on . . . With Intent to Commit Horror and OhioWriters.net and The Lair of the Undead Rat)

Sample The Taken for Free

This week on DearReader.com's Horror Club, we are getting the first section of a book called The Taken by Sarah Pinborough.



The Taken
Author: Pinborough, Sarah
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Type: Novel
Page Count: 323pp.
Pub. Date: April 3, 2007
Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester
Links: Sarah Pinborough: Author of Supernatural and Horror Fiction
Book List for Sarah Pinborough

She's a beautiful little girl, only ten years old with pretty blond curls. Why, then, does she strike such terror into all who see her? Because she died thirty years ago -- a horrible, agonizing death in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. Tonight the storm has returned . . . and so has she.

She has returned from a shadowy realm unseen by the living to exact revenge on those responsible for her death. One by one she will make them pay. There is nowhere to hide, no way to escape. It is only a matter of time before her ghastly vengeance is complete . . .

Interested in The Taken?

It's not too late to sign up for the DearReader.com's Horror Club, and get this week's e-mails with the first section of The Taken. Read the beginning for free and decide for yourself if you like it. And if you're joining in the middle of the week, you can click on this link to get the first e-mails you missed or look at the top of your very first e-mail for instructions.

If you find you want to read more of The Taken, you can check with your local bookstore, library or purchase it on-line by clicking on the book cover.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

Freakshow and Come Closer on DearReader

I'm behind on my e-mail and weeks are going by without tracking. I've been involved in a big project -- which has caused me to draw heavily upon everything I've learned in the last two years or so. And this project that I'm spear-heading is but one part of a major overhaul in the way my library interacts with the internet. I hope to have a big announcement about that soon.

In the meantime I missed the last DearReader.com book and we're over half way through this week's book. However, as always, if you're interested in a book and you want to join -- your first e-mail will have a link that will allow you to get missed copies of this week's book AND the last book as well.

This week, DearReader.com's Horror Club features The Freakshow by Bryan Smith. Interested? Take a look:


The Freakshow

The Freakshow
Author: Smith, Bryan
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Type: Novel
Page Count: 324pp.
Pub. Date: February 27, 2007
Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester
Links: Bryan Smith's MySpace
Book List for Bryan Smith

Once the Flaherty Brothers Traveling Carnivale and Freakshow rolls into Pleasant Hills, Tennessee, the quiet little town will never be the same. In fact, much of the town won't survive. At first glance the freakshow looks like so many others -- lurid, run-down, decrepit. But this freakshow is definitely one of a kind . . .

The townspeople can't resist the lure of the tawdry spectacle. The main attractions are living nightmares, the acts center on torture and slaughter -- and the stars of the show are the unsuspecting customers themselves.



If you sign up for the DearReader.com horror book club you can still get the last featured book which was Come Closer by Sara Gran.


Come Closer

Come Closer
Author: Gran, Sara
Format: Trade Paperback
Type: Novel
Page Count: 192pp.
Pub. Date: May 2, 2006
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Original Pub: August 2003 (Hardcover -- Soho Press)
Links: Sara Gran: Writer, Detective, Palm Reader

From the Editors of Barnes and Noble:
Sara Gran's Come Closer -- a categorically creepy novel about a young architect named Amanda whose life spirals out of control as she loses possession of her body and mind to a demon -- is comparable to horror classics like Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby (1967) and William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist (1971).

Amanda's life is progressing as planned. She is happily married, has a good job, and is making a name for herself as an up-and-coming architect. But then her meticulously cultivated existence begins to unravel. She begins hearing strange noises; experiencing blackouts, evil compulsions, and violent outbursts; and she dreams of being with a beautiful black-haired woman on the shores of a crimson beach by a blood-red sea. When Amanda accidentally receives a book in the mail (Demonic Possession Past and Present), she takes a quiz at the back of the book -- "Are You Possessed by a Demon?" -- only to find out that she should seek a spiritual counselor for assistance. But nothing helps; and the more the demon Naamah embeds itself into Amanda, the more people she comes in contact with end up dead -- or worse. The brilliance of Come Closer resides in its chillingly intimate, hauntingly poetic, and eerily disconnected narrative. Without reverting to lurid violence or Lovecraftian monstrosities, Gran has created a truly unforgettable tale of demonic possession that will linger in readers' subconscious minds for days and weeks afterward. Come Closer is nothing short of a dark literary masterwork -- and anyone who disagrees should consult their nearest spiritual counselor immediately.
--Paul Goat Allen



Click on this link to start your free e-mail subscription to DearReader.com's Horror Club. Act now and you can even enter a contest to win fifty books by writing a Dear Reader column to be used while Suzanne Beecher enjoys her vacation.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

The Wovel and Kealan Patrick Burke

Last Thursday saw the launch of a new small press publisher entering the field of horror. Underland Press books' website went live on May 29th.

Underland Press itself has several authors already under contract with the first book expected in the winter of 2009. However, you don't want to wait until then before you visit their website because, if you hurry, you just might catch the first chapter of their wovel.

Yes, I said wovel.

"What is a wovel?"

"Well it's . . . different. Yeah, it is different. It's a web-novel."

Ohio author Kealan Patrick Burke is the author of a very different kind of undead story titled The Living. Each week he delivers an installment of the novel and at the end of the installment, we get to vote on what happens next.

It's like the old choose your own adventure stories. Whatever we vote for, we're stuck with and so is Kealan. He has to take the result and write the next leg of the story. For more information on this exciting project, check out their information page.

I read the first installment of The Living and cast my vote.

The first vote looks like a simple decision but it makes a profound impact on the wovel and on the main character. I can't say more without spoiling the story but trust me when I say it took me fifteen minutes to make my decision.

Once I cast my vote I got to see which choice was winning and by how much. Wanna know who's winning? You'll have to read the installment and vote if you want to find out -- I'm not giving anything away here. Underland Press is extending the vote, until July 16th, to give people a chance to discover the wovel.

Go. Read The Living. Vote. You'll be glad you did.

Afterwards check out the The Underland Press mission statement and then take a look at the first books they've got lined up for publication. And visit Kealan Patrick Burke at his website: Kealan Patrick Burke.com.

(Based on a post in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

What's New for May

Each month I list the new booklists that have been added to my website . . . With Intent to Commit Horror.

Another challenging month as I lost a lot of work and have to reconstruct many partially finished pages and posts (like this one). Furthermore I discovered that all my theme booklists are gone so I am trying to update the copies I have and post them as quickly as possible.

New Booklists for May:

Authors:
L. A. Banks
Gerard D. Houarner
Tosca Lee
Weston Ochse

Series:
The Crimson Moon Series
The Dead Cat Series
The Dresden Files
Max the Assassin Series
The Vampire Huntress Legend Series
Vegas Bites Anthology Series
Voice of the Blood Series

Themes:
(The book information is present in all lists, some don't have the bookcovers and some links are broken.)
African-Americans Writing Horror
Alien Horror — You're So Strange
Back From the Dead
Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad Science
Cursing Curses What Curse At Midnight
Demon Ex Machina
Dying to be Immortal
Horror All Too Human
Horror Most Human
It’s the End of the World

Updated Booklists for May:

Authors:
Jemiah Jefferson

Series:
There were no updated series pages this month.

Horror Web Resources for May:
Horror Authors' Fan Web Sites
Horror Authors' Web Resources
Horror Book Review Web Resources
Horror E-Zine Web Resources
Horror Fiction Lists Web Resources
Horror Publishers' Web Resources
Horror Writing Web Resources
Ohio Fear Master's Web Resources

So, how am I doing so far?


(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

My First Months of Leisure December

I wanted to give you a peek at the books I've gotten through the Leisure Horror Book Club. Today we'll cover December 2007.

The next two books I got from the Dorchester Horror Book Club were The Deluge by Mark Morris and Demon Eyes by L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims.


The Deluge

The Deluge
Author: Morris, Mark
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Type: Novel
Page Count: 342pp.
Pub. Date: November 27, 2007
Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester Publishing
Extra: Special Article
Links: Mark Morris -- Horror and Thriller Writer

It came from nowhere. The only warning was the endless rumbling of a growing earthquake. Then the water came -- crashing, rushing water, covering everything. Destroying everything. When it stopped, all that was left was the gentle lapping of waves against the few remaining buildings rising above the surface of the sea.

Will the isolated survivors be able to rebuild their lives, their civilization, when nearly all they knew has been wiped out? It seems hopeless. But what lurks beneath the swirling water, waiting to emerge, is far worse. When the floodwaters finally recede, the true horror will be revealed.




Demon Eyes

Demon Eyes
Author: Maynard, L.H. and Sims, M.P.N.
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Page Count: 338pp.
Pub. Date: November 27, 2007
Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester
Extra: First Chapter
Extra: Special Article
Links: The Official Website of Maynard-Sims
Links: Demon Eyes: The Official Website

Emma had just started her new job as personal assistant to Alex Keltner, the charismatic and powerful head of Keltner Industries. So when he asked her to attend a party he was throwing that weekend at his secluded estate, she knew better than to refuse. It would be her first party amid the extremely wealthy and powerful elite . . .

It will be a party she'll never forget . . . if she survives. At first it will be simply odd. Mysterious warnings. Strange, seductive guests. An atmosphere of lust and sexuality. Video cameras in the rooms. But as the weekend progresses, Emma will slowly learn the true nature of the guests and her mysterious host -- and the real, grotesque purpose of the party.


Evaluation of December's Selection

I fell victim to the very malaise I set this website up to combat. Because I didn't know of Mark Morris and I only know of Maynard and Sims as anthology editors, I assumed this month's offering would be the weakest of the lot. In truth, I knew nothing about these books and I judged them based on my lack of information.

In putting together this post, I did a little research and I learned some very interesting things.

Mark Morris is far from a novice author, he is a British author who has many books to his credit including two published at Dorchester/Leisure. On Dorchester's "special Feature" page, Mr. Morris has an essay about his love of the BBC television show called Survivors. He explained what the show was about and that he loved it for its unflinching depiction of "the harsh realities of life". He explained how it was those kinds of qualities he brought to The Deluge but with fewer resources and more dangers than the community on Survivors had. This is exactly what I look for in my post-apocalyptic fiction. Instead of shunning the book, I should have put it on my "to read" list.

Then I checked out L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims. They are more than just anthology editors. You can visit their website and send for a free PDF file called "Ghostly Voices and Demon Eyes" on CD with a book excerpt and over 35 stories. One way to get to know a writer or writing team is to read some of their short stories. They give you an opportunity to do just that for free. On Dorchester's "Special Feature" page for Demon Eyes they write about their philosophy of writing and how this book got started. The more I read about this book, the more I wanted to read it. Once again, add another book to my "to read" list.

Do you see now why a little knowledge can be a delightful thing?


(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)


This Monday I introduce the two other horror book clubs which will launch a monthly series examining the books I get from each club. See it in in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror

My First Months of Leisure November

I wanted to give you a peek at the books I've gotten through the Leisure Horror Book Club. Today we'll cover November 2007.

The next two books I got from the Leisure Horror Book Club were This Rage of Echoes by Simon Clark and Savage by Richard Laymon.


This Rage of Echoes

This Rage of Echoes
Author: Clark, Simon
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Type: Novel
Page Count: 342pp.
Pub. Date: October 30, 2007
Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester Publishing
Also Pub: March 31, 2008 (Hardcover -- Robert Hale, UK)
Links: Simon Clark: Nailed by the Heart


You know the monster's face . . .

The future looked good for Mason until the night he was attacked . . . by someone who looked exactly like him. Soon he will understand that something monstrous is happening -- something that transforms ordinary people into replicas of him, duplicates driven by irresistible bloodlust.

It's the one in your mirror.

As the body count rises, Mason fights to keep one step ahead of the Echomen, the duplicates who hunt not only him but also his family and friends, and who perform gruesome experiments on their own kind. But the attacks are not as mindless as they seem. The killers have an unimaginable agenda, one straight from a fevered nightmare.




Savage


Savage
Author: Laymon, Richard
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Page Count: 448pp.
Pub. Date: October 30, 2007
Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester
Original Pub: January 1993 (Trade Paperback -- Headline, UK)
Original Pub: January 1994 (Hardcover -- St Martins Press, US)
Extra: The First Chapter


Original Title: Savage: From Whitechapel to the Wild West on the Track of Jack the Ripper.

Whitechapel, November 1888: Jack the Ripper is hard at work. He's safe behind locked doors in a one-room hovel with his unfortunate victim, Mary Kelly. With no need to hurry for once, he takes his time gleefully eviscerating the young woman. He doesn't know that a fifteen-year-old boy is cowering under Mary's bed. . . .

Trevor Bentley's life would never be the same after that night. What he saw and heard would have driven many men mad. But for Trevor it was the beginning of a quest, an obsession to stop the most notorious murderer in history. The killer's trail of blood will lead Trevor from the fog-shrouded alleys of London to the streets of New York and beyond. But Trevor will not stop until he comes face to face with the ultimate horror.


Evaluation of November's Selection

Leisure Books started reprinting older classic Laymon works last year (or maybe earlier but I noticed it last year when they reprinted the ever-so-hard-to-get book The Cellar) and Savage continues that series. Richard Laymon was an American writer who had more popularity in the United Kingdom than in the United States. Simon Clark is a British writer who is publishing on both continents and gaining a following. Most of his books seem to have been published in the UK first and then later in the US but This Rage of Echoes is an exception. The US paperback came out in November while the UK hardcover was only published last month.

Richard Laymon passed away a few years ago but the website dedicated to him has been kept running next to horror writer Steve Gerlach's website. When I went to visit it, an advertisement popped up and crashed my browser. Until I find out what's going on I'm not going to add the URL for the website Richard Laymon Kills. If someone can enlighten me, please leave a comment.

In the meantime, this was an interesting month. I've read Simon Clark and enjoyed his work. This one looks particularly interesting to me. I'm not as familiar with Richard Laymon as I should be, although he was a major personality in the horror writer community and helped many fledgling writers out. He deserves a better reception in his home country and a better reception from me.



(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)


This Monday I introduce the two other horror book clubs which will launch a monthly series examining the books I get from each club. See it in in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror

My First Months of Leisure October

I wanted to give you a peek at the books I've gotten through the Leisure Horror Book Club. Today we'll cover October 2007.

The next two books I got from the Leisure Horror Book Club were Halloweenland by Al Sarrantonio and House Infernal by Edward Lee.


Halloweenland

Halloweenland (The Orangefield Cycle #3)
Author: Sarrantonio, Al
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Type: Novel
Page Count: 307pp.
Pub. Date: October 2, 2007
Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester Publishing
Original Pub: October 2006 (Hardcover -- Cemetery Dance)
Original Title: The Baby
Extra: The First Chapter
Links: The Official Website of Al Sarrantonio

In Orangefield, Halloween is never normal -- and this year is no exception. For Orangefield is now the home of Halloweenland, a bizarre carnival run by the mysterious Mr. Dickens. No one who sees the carnival doubts that it's a very strange place, but its real secrets can hardly be imagined. Orangefield is also the home of Detective Bill Grant, who thinks he's seen it all. He's on the trail of an odd little girl, a girl who could hold the end of the universe in her hand. The trail leads Grant to Ireland, the ancient home of the Lord of the Dead, then back to Orangefield, where, on what may be the last Halloween, the ultimate battle between Life and Death takes place.



House Infernal

House Infernal (The City Infernal Saga #3)
Author: Lee, Edward
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Page Count: 369pp
Pub. Date: October 2, 2007
Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester
Also Pub: February 2008 (Hardcover -- Cemetery Dance)
Extra: Author's Essay
Links: The domain of Edward Lee

A city, built with blood and bones . . .

Three things are about to join a crypt in Hell with a house on Earth . . . Nuns molested and drained of blood. A virginal student seduced by the perverse and taunted by things worse than ghosts. And six Angels, imprisoned in Hell and made pregnant by God knows what . . .

A house, built for the church, but designed by Satan . . .

When Venetia Barlow begins work at St. John's Prior House, she expects a quiet summer of drudgery and boredom. But soon she's haunted by lurid desires and visions of a city full of monsters . . . and the monsters know her name. Is the house really a place of meditation and worship, or is it a temple of abomination and the most evil secrets? Venetia will only find out, when the voice of a long-dead priest comes into her head and gives her a an unspeakable message from the howling, blood-drenched streets of Hell . . .

Horror master Edward Lee dares you to take another tour through the City of the Abyss, and to walk with him though a house of horror, a house of graves . . .

A House Infernal

Evaluation of October's Selection

Halloweenland belongs to a cycle of stories which I've found called variously The Orangefield Cycle and The Halloween Cycle. I've chosen to go with The Orangefield Cycle until and unless I find out that the official title is different.

Part One of Halloweenland is a reworking of Cemetery Dance's The Baby. Included in Halloweenland is a brief essay on the origin of the novella The Baby and how it also gave rise to the full novel Halloweenland. Writers especially will enjoy reading both to see how the story changes because due to the dictates of the length.

I have to confess, I've been collecting The City Infernal Saga and the Leisure published editions of The Orangefield Cycle so these were two books I would have sought out even without the book club. However, it was nice to have them come to me.


(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

My First Months of Leisure September

I wanted to give you a peek at the books I've gotten through the Leisure Horror Book Club. Today we'll cover September 2007.

The first two books I got from the Leisure Horror Book Club were The Long Last Call by John Skipp and The Hollower by Mary SanGiovanni.




The Hollower
Author: SanGiovanni, Mary
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Type: Novel
Page Count: 368pp.
Pub. Date: August 28, 2007
Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester Publishing
Book List for Mary SanGiovanni
Links: Mary SanGiovanni's Web Site

Nominated for the 2007 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel.

What is the Hollower? At times it can look like a man in a black coat and a black hat. But it's definitely not a man. It's not human at all. Its sole purpose is to stalk, to torment and to drive its victims to their deaths. It can sense each victim's weaknesses, change its appearance and strike however it will hurt the most, physically . . . and mentally. Dave Kohlar is a man racked with guilt, doubt and worry. The perfect prey. He's about to learn exactly what the Hollower is -- and how it feeds.






The Long Last Call
Author: Skipp, John
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Page Count: 305pp
Pub. Date: August 28, 2007
Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester
Extra: The First Chapter
Original Pub: October 31, 2006 (Hardcover -- Cemetery Dance)

It was closing time at the strip club. The bartender was cleaning up, and the girls were looking forward to calling it a night. Then he came in, a well-dressed stranger with a lot of cash to spend. A briefcase full, in fact. But this is no normal customer, and his money is a bit unusual too. Every dollar he spends stirs up a bit more hatred, a little more repressed rage in whoever he gives it to. As the night passes, the pressure builds . . . and builds, and the stranger just smiles. He knows what will come. He knows he only has to wait to see all of his blood-drenched plans fulfilled.



Evaluation of September's Selection

Horror World has a page titled The Horror World Library which has a 39 page excerpt of The Hollower among its many other goodies. You can read Brian Keene's Introduction to the book and the first part of the story. There is enough there to help you decide if The Hollower is your next "must read" or not.

Extra: Trailer for The Long Last Call

When Cemetery Dance first published a hardcover edition of The Long Last Call, they did a rather insightful interview that peaked my interest in reading the book. I'd recommend checking it out and you can also take a peak at Cemetery Dance's cover, too. John Skipp: Looking for Trouble?

All in all it was a great start for a club membership. What do you think?

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

My First Book Club

About six months ago I joined the Leisure Horror Book Club. I'd just gone to three local big chain bookstores trying to find Mr. Hands by Gary Braunbeck and Dead Sea by Brian Keene with no luck. These were huge stores and they didn't have a copy of the two books, newly published, that I wanted to read most. Because I had visited the Leisure website, I knew that they were that month's featured books on the Horror Book Club. I figured it was too late to get Dead Sea and Mr. Hands through the book club but it wasn't too late to prevent other really great books from slipping through my hands.

I joined Dorchester Publishing's Horror Book Club by filling out the online application on their website. It was easy. The waiting for the first shipment? Not so much. But finally the books arrived and I ripped open the box to find a pair of thrillers. I'd gotten the wrong shipment. I was disappointed.

I sent an e-mail to the book club's customer service and got back a response the next day: They apologized for the mistake, put the correct shipment of that month's horror books in the mail and told me I could keep the thrillers. They were very nice. And less than a week later my first batch of horror books arrived.

I've been happy with Dorchester Publishing's book club ever since.

Dorchester's Leisure imprint has been reprinting former small press novels (which are often expensive or hard to get) and brand new tales by other new and established horror authors. If you are serious about your horror and you like the idea of getting a wide variety of stories then this may be a worth while investment.

If you harbor some doubt, hang with me for a while. Over the course of this year I'll let you know what books I get. It is my hope that this series of articles will help you decide if a book club subscription is right for you and, if so, which one or ones to get.

We'll be examining the Dorchester/Leisure Horror Book Club, the Cemetery Dance Book Club and the Delirium Books Book Club -- the later I recently signed up for.


(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

This Week on Dear Reader

DearReader.Com's Horror Club is offering a new title this week, one that I hadn't heard of before now, called The Mad Cook Of Pymatuning by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt. Interested? Take a look:


The Mad Cook Of Pymatuning
Author: Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 320pp.
Pub. Date: September 20, 2005
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

In this chilling novel about a 1950s boys' summer camp gone awry, the former New York Times literary critic has created a brilliant coming-of-age story with undertones reminiscent of Lord of the Flies.

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt's novel is at once a fantasy, a barbed portrait of boyhood in the dawning of the Eisenhower era, and a no-holds-barred story of terror of the sort that won him praise for his previous novel, A Crooked Man.

Jerry Muller has been a regular at Camp Seneca for years. Now that he's a teenager and counselor, things don't seem quite right at his traditional summer haunt. As Jerry plunges into the mysteries around him, he finds himself growing up fast -- maybe too fast.


He's attracted to T.J., a pretty girl who might have a boyfriend but who flirts anyway, and he's shocked by the truth about his friend Oz, who's more interested in Jerry than in the likes of T.J. He sees something is strangely amiss with the husband and wife who own the camp. But above all, he's scared of the cruel game masterminded by Buck.

Of Seneca ancestry, Buck is a sinister, bigger-than-life expert on Indian lore. He is also an organizer of scary games who may just possibly be a psychopath and a killer, and in whose hands the camp's make-believe, designed to scare the kids, becomes first a savage and brutal test of strength, then, by small steps, genuinely dangerous.

As Jerry unravels the mysteries surrounding the ordinary-looking camp, he struggles to understand how "the Forbidden Woods," which have always been off-limits to campers as a kind of game and dare, have somehow become genuinely frightening -- all the more reason to discover the secrets that lie behind Camp Seneca's facade.

The story reaches its climax in a shocking scene that neither Jerry nor the reader is likely to forget. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt's new novel is a wicked, suspenseful, and deeply original tale.

It is not too late to sign up for the Dear Reader.com horror book club and get this week's e-mails with the first section of The Mad Cook Of Pymatuning. That way you can read the beginning for free and decide for yourself if you like it. And if you're joining in the middle of the week, the very first e-mail you get has instructions on how to get the e-mails you missed.

What have you got to lose? Except some sleep.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

Confession is Good for the Undead Soul

My name is Greg Fisher and I am the Undead Rat. And as the Undead Rat, I get to explore the world of horror fiction and share what I'm learning with people over the internet and in person. Horror is a great literary passion of mine.

But . . . (here is the confession)

Horror is not the only literary passion I have. I have two others: one is a passion for Cleveland and Ohio authors. The other is a passion for comics and graphic novels.

Those of you who may remember earlier incarnations of . . . With Intent to Commit Horror will probably recall that I had pages dedicated to graphic novel series and to a couple of Cleveland authors who did not write horror novels.

In this latest version, I left out graphic novels and Ohio authors for fear of muddying the waters and I think it was a good choice. But lately I've felt the urge to talk about them.

This last Easter my lovely wife purchased a pair of domains for me to play with. . . . With Intent to Commit Horror will be my primary site and a place to find new horror fiction. However now you can drop by The Sequential Rat for a comic book and graphic novel fix or hit Ohio Writers.net for information about writers and their books in my great state of . . . wait for it . . . Ohio!

This does not mean I'll now be known as The Sequential Rat or the Ohio Rat. I'm still only The Undead Rat. I just have two more homes in which to wreck havoc.

For horror fiction use: . . . With Intent to Commit Horror

For comics and graphic novels use: The Sequential Rat

For Ohio authors use: Ohio Writers.net

For fantasy fiction use: Bestiary Dreams

Say, did I mention that I'm helping out at Bestiary Dreams too?


(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

What's New for April

Each month I list the new booklists that have been added to my website . . . With Intent to Commit Horror.

Due to some unfortunate problems with book covers disappearing, I had to fix almost every page on the website. Then I completely changed the navigation to the author and series pages because the website was growing beyond my expectations of a year ago. So every page got updated. However, the pages listed below in the Updated Booklists for April also had significant content added to them.

Booklists for April:

Authors:

John Paul Allen

Raven Bower

Tananarive Due

Jemiah Jefferson

Brandon R. Massey



Series:

The African Immortals Series
The Apparitions Series

The Dark Dreams Anthology
The Joe Kieran Series

The Laura Caxton Series

Masques Anthology Series




Themes:
I didn't get to the theme lists last month.



Updated Booklists for April:

Authors:

Brian Keene

Michael Laimo

Richard Montanari

Vicki Pettersson

Tim Waggoner

Wrath James White


Series:

Detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano Thrillers

The Dresden Files
Signs of the Zodiac Series

Timmy Quinn Series

Unto Dust: Tales of Apocalypse



Horror Web Resources for April:
I didn't work on the Horror Web Resources last month



So, how am I doing so far?

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

Stoker Awards Broadcast Live Tonight

Each year the Horror Writers Association awards the Bram Stoker Award to horror fiction published in the previous year in multiple categories (best novel, first novel, short story, anthology, collection etc.). This is a prestigious award and this year, for the first time ever, the award ceremony is being broadcast through the internet to those of us unable to attend.

The broadcast is tonight (Saturday March 29, 2008) at 11:00pm Eastern Standard Time (at 9:00 Salt Lake City, Utah time - which is where the awards are being held)

Before the awards go to http://www.iscifi.tv/live/ to download the latest Shockwave Flash browser plug-in to make sure your computer is up-to-date and ready to roll. Then at 11:00, return to http://www.iscifi.tv/live/ to watch the festivities.

If watching a Flash production on your computer isn't your bag, you can check out Horror Fiction News Network's live blogging of the awards ceremony and find out who won in "real time".

To get a list of the nominees (so you can decide who to root for), check out the HWA's website.

I want to give a big "Thank you" to Gary A. Braunbeck for the tip about the iScifi broadcast and another big "Thank you" to Paul Puglisi and HFNN for posting the Stoker Awards again this year.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

What's New for March

I’m sorry this is late. I’ve fallen behind in my work and I can’t catch up. Each month I list the new booklists that have been added to my website . . . With Intent to Commit Horror.

Booklists for December:

Authors:
Tosca Lee

Vicki Pettersson

Alexandra Sokoloff



Series:

The Dresden Files

The Signs of the Zodiac Series

The Smoke Trilogy



Themes:
I didn't get to the theme lists last month.

Updated Booklists for December:

Authors:

Kim Harrison

Brian Keene



Series:

The Best of Hail Saten

The Hollows

The Rising Series

Horror Web Resources for December:

I didn't work on the Horror Web Resources last month



So, how am I doing so far?

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

Freakangels Countdown

Warren Ellis, author of many comic books, a couple of novels and winner of the International Horror Guild Award has teamed up with Paul Duffield to bring to the internet -- and to you -- a brand spanking new comic called Freakangels.

The countdown begins now:

Meanwhile you can visit:

Warren Ellis's Website

Paul Duffield's Online Portfolio

and Whitechapel the online community in support of Freakangels.

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)

What's New for January

Each month I list the new booklists that have been added to my website . . . With Intent to Commit Horror.

This month has been a very busy month with weekend visitors, holidays and sickness.

Twice a year I get sick for several weeks when the weather changes. This is because my sinuses are trying to kill me off. Each time the weather makes a dramatic change, they get blocked up and try their best to get infected. So I use sinus mediation which makes me lethargic or puts me to sleep altogether. And with Cleveland weather, the change of seasons can take 4 to 6 weeks flipping back and forth between autumn and blisteringly cold winter.

If you look below, it seems like I've been busy this month. But really most of these were half done or almost all done at the end of November. Nonetheless, they were finished and posted last month. Take a look at them and see if you can find some books here to read.

Booklists for January:

Authors:

Jenna Black

Matthew Cook

Jeaniene Frost

Deborah Grabien

Alan McElroy

Richelle Mead

Bryan Smith

Jeanne C. Stein

Steven A. Swiniarski

Kristy Tallman


Series:

Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles

The Ballad of Kirin Widowmaker

The Cleveland Undead Series

Curse of the Spawn

The Georgina Kincaid Series

The Guardians of the Night Series

The Haunted Ballad Series

The Kline Maxwell Series

Morgan Kingsley, Exorcist

Night Huntress

Vampire Academy


Updated Booklists for January:

Authors:

Kelley Armstrong

Kealan Patrick Burke

Kim Harrison

Teri A. Jacobs

Lucy A. Snyder

Carrie Vaughn


Series:

The Hollows

The Kitty Norville Series

The Timmy Quinn Series

The Women of the Otherworld Series


What do you think?

(Originally posted in . . . With Intent to Commit Horror)