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)