Kristopher Rufty’s Latest Thriller – DESOLATION
I’m a pretty lucky guy. Kristopher Rufty is not only my friend, he’s also one of my favorite authors. We share a publisher and an agent, so he can’t shake me even if he wants to. Last year, he floored me with Jagger and Bigfoot Beach. He’s already kicking off 2016 with a new book from Samhain, Desolation. The cover it flipping awesome, and I know the contents will be even better.
Today I hand the wheel over to Krist as he takes you on Desolation’s journey. Ever wondered where writers get their ideas? Well, Hellions, read on. And don’t forget to enter the giveaway at the end of the post. He’s giving away the store. Man, I gotta up my giveaway game.
Highway to Desolation
Desolation has been around for ten years. That’s a long time for an idea to be brewing. But when it was first conceived, it was meant to be my first attempt at writing a novel, but then it was changed into a script that I thought could be shot for a very low budget during a very short shooting schedule. I still think so, actually.
The original idea came to me in a dream. Is that laughter I hear? I’m being serious! In this dream I had way back in 2006, I was watching a movie. The scene that was transpiring on my dream screen was the opening: a man trapped in a car, his injured wife bleeding profusely beside him. He kicks his way out of the car, wanting to find his son. A strange man appears, seemingly out of nowhere, to help him search. As they look, the DVD begins skipping. I didn’t get to see what happened, for the movie jumped ahead several scenes to show me an intruder invading somebody’s home, armed with a crowbar, and using the tool to bash heads. I tried to figure out who was in the home, who the intruder was, and was becoming increasingly frustrated because I had no idea what was going on.
Then I woke up.
It was just after three in the morning, and I was now wide awake. I smoked cigarettes back then and snuck outside to have one. It was the middle of winter, and I was standing on our porch, shivering as I replayed those scenes over and over in my head. I wondered what had caused the accident at the beginning, and why, obviously later in the dream movie, was somebody invading someone’s home.
Before I had finished smoking the cigarette, the entire premise had come together: A man, horribly wronged by another man. This man who caused so much harm is not a bad man. He’s a good person at heart, though he’s made many mistakes and this wrong is something that is felt not only by him, or the other man, but by their families. I wanted it clear that Grant is not evil; he’s not vindictive, though he’s used to getting his way. He’s just a guy, somebody that messed up. But I also wanted it be clear that Dennis is also a good person, driven to deplorable actions by Grant’s mistake.
That premise has stuck with me for a long time. In the original script, I wrote it as a straightforward exploitation-style horror movie. At one point, David Hess (of Last House on the Left fame) had agreed to play Grant and possibly write the music, with Trent Haaga set to play Dennis. The script floated around for years, with many people being attached on as actors, producers, composers, and FX artists.
It came back to me in 2013 for the last time. I decided to just put it in the drawer and leave it be.
A year or so later, I told my agent about the idea. She liked it a lot and told me not to forget about it. I didn’t. With the idea fresh in my brain again, I reread the script, cringing a bit. I still really liked the premise, but not the execution. I thought, If I were to rewrite this, I think this needs to be changed, and this, and this…”
Then another idea hit. I remembered after my father passed away, somebody suggested I write him letters. Just take a blank notebook and write him a letter every day until I felt I didn’t need to do that anymore. They said it would help me in my grieving. I tried. I hated it. It seemed to make me hurt worse, knowing he’d never read them.
And I stopped writing them.
But the idea I had was this: What if Dennis is writing letters to his deceased wife and as we read them, we see his mental wall chipping away a piece at a time. While this is happening, Grant is off trying to take his already crumbled existence, and plaster it all back together. Then the two worlds collide and complete chaos happens.
I had to write the book.
Took ten years, but I finally wrote the novel that I had originally hoped would have been my debut. I’m glad I did not try to write this book all those years ago. And even with the years of disappointment from the movie not being made, I’m very relieved it wasn’t. Had it been, this book would have never been written.
Desolation, Synopsis
Samhain Horror
PAGES: 266
ISBN: 978-1-619233-09-6 Trade Paperback (List: $15.95)
There’s no escaping your past. Especially when it wants revenge.
Grant Marlowe hoped taking his family to their mountain cabin for Christmas would reunite them after his alcoholic past had torn them apart, but it only puts them into a life and death struggle. On Christmas Eve, a stranger from Grant’s past invades the vacation home and takes his wife and children hostage. His agenda is simple—make Grant suffer the same torment that Grant’s drunken antics have caused him. Now Grant must confront his demons head on and fight for his family’s lives. Because this man has nothing left to lose. The only thing keeping him alive is misery—Grant’s misery.
Biography, Kristopher Rufty
Kristopher Rufty lives in North Carolina with his wife, three children, and the zoo they call their pets. He’s written various books, including The Vampire of Plainfield, Jagger, The Lurkers, The Lurking Season, The Skin Show, Pillowface, Proud Parents, and more, plus a slew of horror screenplays. He has also written and directed the independent horror films Psycho Holocaust, Rags, and Wicked Wood. If he goes more than two days without writing, he becomes very irritable and hard to be around, which is why he’s sent to his desk without supper often.
Praise for Kristopher Rufty
“Kristopher Rufty is the demented reincarnation of Richard Laymon!” –Jeff Strand
“A Dark Autumn is a wild gender role reversal of ‘I Spit On Your Grave,’ with gonzo nods to Norman Bates and ‘Friday The 13th’ thrown in for good measure. Kristopher Rufty delivers the goods yet again.” –Bryan Smith, author of Kayla Undead and The Late Night Horror Show
“A creepy, gripping tale of horror. And it’s got one of the best death scenes I’ve read in a long time!” –Jeff Strand, author of Pressure and Dweller
“A powerhouse debut novel. Rufty’s prose will suck you in and hold you prisoner!” –Ronald Malfi, author of Floating Staircase and Snow
“An occult thriller with a new twist. Rufty juggles captivating characters, breakneck suspense, and insidious horror in a macabre story that will leave you feeling possessed by the end of it. Next time you think about taking that old Ouija board out…forget it!” –Edward Lee, author of Lucifer’s Lottery and City Infernal
Purchase Links
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Desolation-Kristopher-Rufty/dp/1619233096/
Barnes & Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/desolation-kristopher-rufty/1122582601?ean=9781619233096
Samhain
https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5684/desolation
Giveaway
We have a lot of books to giveaway from Krist! We have two audio books, Oak Hollow and Pillowface in one link. In the second link we have a signed print copy of The Lurking Season and two e-books, Vampire of Plainfield and Bigfoot Beach. Winners are chosen random via rafflecopter and are given choice of prize of order pulled. Any questions on raffle, please e-mail Erin Al-Mehairi, publicist, at hookofabook@hotmail.com
Link for audio book giveaway:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/MjMxYWEzMGI1ZDE2MGYyYTgzYjk4NzVhYzhmMTdmOjI5/?
Link for print/e-book giveaway:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/MjMxYWEzMGI1ZDE2MGYyYTgzYjk4NzVhYzhmMTdmOjMw/?
Top 10 Horror Reads of 2015
Howdy there, Hunter’s Hellions! I figured I had to call you all something. I think Hellions fits.
Looking back, I managed to read over 80 books last year. Any time I can get in over 75 books, I’m happy. I’m envious of folks who can speed read books yet still retain everything. I’m no tortoise, but I’m no hare, either.
Coming up with a top 10 horror books list was no easy task because I read so many damn good books. I’ve gotten pretty good at spotting a clunker from a mile off, so if I sit down to read a book, it’s usually good.
Now, some of these books didn’t come out in 2015. All that matters is that I read them in 2015. I’m hoping this can help you discover some titles you might have missed over the past couple of years. So, without further ado, here are my 10 favorite horror reads of last year (in no particular order, because I was fracturing my brain trying to do it), plus some honorable mentions…
10. THE HAUNTED by Bentley Little
Little has always been one of my favorite authors. He takes all of the everyday insanity we’ve surrounded ourselves with in America and injects it with pure evil. The Haunted is one of the best he’s written in years.
The Perry family’s new house is perfect-except for the weird behavior of the neighbors, and that odd smell coming from a dark corner in the basement. Pity no one warned the family about the house. Now it’s too late. Because the darkness at the bottom of the basement stairs is rising.
9. VIDEO NIGHT by Adam Cesare
Oh man, this book reminded me of all the great horror flicks of the 80s. Adam is one of the best new writers out there, and Video Night is a great place to start!
Who knows more about fighting a monster invasion than a group of teenage horror fans?
Billy Rile is smart, adept at Nintendo and has a killer Hi-Fi setup. Life is good. But he has no idea that an alien life form has infected his town, a creature that overtakes and transforms its host.
8. DARKNESS RISING by Brian Moreland
Hands down the best novella of 2015. Brian Moreland always kicks ass…and I mean always. This is now my favorite of his books. Tender yet terrifying.
t’s all fun and games until…Marty Weaver, an emotionally scarred poet, has been bullied his entire life. When he drives out to the lake to tell an old friend that he’s fallen in love with a girl named Jennifer, Marty encounters three sadistic killers who have some twisted games in store for him. But Marty has dark secrets of his own buried deep inside him.
7. LITTLE GIRLS by Ron Malfi
This is classic horror in the vein of Peter Straub and Stephen King at their best. This is sure to go down as a classic. I know it’s one I’ll read again and again. I was extra proud to be his Kensington Publishing brother in 2015.
When Laurie was a little girl, she was forbidden to enter the room at the top of the stairs. It was one of many rules imposed by her cold, distant father. Now, in a final act of desperation, her father has exorcised his demons. But when Laurie returns to claim the estate with her husband and ten-year-old daughter, it’s as if the past refuses to die.
6. THE BORDER by Robert McCammon
The master returns to the genre that he defined! It doesn’t get any better than that. I’ve long said McCammon is the best who ever scribbled a tale of terror. The man hasn’t lost a step.
World Fantasy award-winning, bestselling author Robert McCammon makes a triumphant return to the epic horror and apocalyptic tone reminiscent of his books Swan Song and Stinger in this gripping new novel, The Border, a saga of an Earth devastated by a war between two marauding alien civilizations.
But it is not just the living ships of the monstrous Gorgons or the motion-blurred shock troops of the armored Cyphers that endanger the holdouts in the human bastion of Panther Ridge. The world itself has turned against the handful of survivors, as one by one they succumb to despair and suicide or, even worse, are transformed by otherworldly pollution into hideous Gray Men, cannibalistic mutants driven by insatiable hunger.
5. MR. MERCEDES & FINDERS KEEPERS by Stephen King
I got up to Maine a week after King was signing copies of Finders Keepers. My timing sucks. The first 2 books of his trilogy are as different from one another as they are engaging. I can’t wait for book 3 to come out!
In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, hundreds of desperate unemployed folks are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver plows through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up, and charging again. Eight people are killed; fifteen are wounded. The killer escapes.
In another part of town, months later, a retired cop named Bill Hodges is still haunted by the unsolved crime. When he gets a crazed letter from someone who self-identifies as the “perk” and threatens an even more diabolical attack, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing another tragedy.
4. PRISONER 489 by Joe R Lansdale
Lansdale should be a household name. Every book he writes is gold. Prisoner 489 is a terrific novella that centers around one of my favorite horror tropes. I won’t spoil it for you. Get the book, now!
On an island with a prison for the most evil and powerful criminals in the world, a new prisoner is strapped to the electric chair for execution. After multiple surges of electricity and nearly knocking out power to the entire island, the prisoner is finally dead. The staff buries him in the prison graveyard with a simple marker baring three numbers: 489.
After the body is buried, a violent storm rocks the islands and a staff member goes missing. The crew rushes into the storm, searching for their lost comrade. They find that the burial site of prisoner 489 has been unearthed, and the body that was inside has gone missing.
3. LORDS OF TWILIGHT by Greg Gifune
You all know I’m a sucker for anything that deals with aliens. In fact, another alien book is part of the honorable mention crew. This is one of the most terrifying ones I’ve read in a while. Loved it.
Strange things are happening in the small, isolated town of Edgar, Maine. Mysterious lights dot the night skies. A local farmer is found dead at the summit of a hill with no evidence as to how his body got there. Livestock is disappearing, only to be discovered later, dead and mutilated with precision-like wounds. And despite the coming of an enormous winter storm, odd men identifying themselves simply as ‘federal agents’ have converged on Edgar in government vehicles as if in anticipation of some greater event.
2. JAGGER by Kristopher Rufty
Cujo on meth. That’s the best way I can describe this. Once again, Rufty populates his novel with sketchy characters doing terrible things. I couldn’t put it down.
Other than the trailer park left to her by her deceased daddy, Amy’s favorite treasure is Jagger, her 180-pound bull mastiff. One day while she is away, Clayton, her best friend’s scumbag boyfriend sneaks into her yard and takes the dog. His prize fighting pit bull was killed during its last match, costing a lot of bad people a lot of money. To make up for his dog’s losses, and to save his own life, Clayton enlists the help of a medical student dropout to turn Jagger into a killing machine by pumping him full of experimental drugs and muscle enhancers. Now Jagger is a monster, a beast that can’t feel pain, with an unquenchable thirst for blood. He quickly breaks out of his pen and starts making his way home, tearing apart anyone in his path on his way to the one he feels has betrayed him the most—Amy.
- THE HUNGER SERIES by Jason Brant
I ate this trilogy up like they were White Castle and I was fresh off a 2 day bender. This is a post apocalypse world bursting with beasties that would make the walkers in The Walking Dead shit themselves, if they had working colons. I highly recommend them. The books, not the shitting zombies.
Day One: A series of terrorist attacks spread a cloud of noxious gas over highly populated areas.
Day Two: Higher brain function erodes in those exposed to the gas. Their bodies begin to distort, faces distending, skin sallowing, teeth elongating.
Day Three: The infected disappear into the shadows, fleeing the harsh daylight which has begun to sear their flesh.
Day Four: The world is DEVOURED.
And now for the honorable mentions. All of them could easily have made my top 10. It was that close! Get these books as fast as you can.
Q ISLAND by Russell James (apocalyptic goodness!)
THE PENDLE CURSE by Catherine Caendish (witches & time travel – yes!)
BLOOD AND RAIN by Glenn Rolfe (restored my faith in werewolf tales)
BEHIND THE DARKNESS by Robert Dunn (aliens done right – scary)
GOBLINS by David Bernstein (cryptids – what more can I say?)
OK, there you have it, my top 10 (really 15) horror tales for 2015. I could had added so many more, but I have to get out of the house.
Have you read any of the books I listed? What would make your top 10? What do you think I should be reading in 2016?
Keep flying the horror flag, my Hellions!
Book Release Day – THEY RISE!
It’s a new year, which means it’s time for some new books for all you horror monster fans! First up for 2016 is my sea monster novella, THEY RISE.
The Chimaera Fish are coming to get you Barbara!
The monster fish in They Rise are real, though not as large as I make them out to be. When I was searching for a sea monster to terrorize the ocean, I wanted to find something old and ugly. I knew I found my beastie when I came upon this photo of a chimaera fish –
Talk about a face only a mother could love. Turns out, chimaera fish are an offshoot of the shark family tree. They’re even nicknamed ghost sharks. They’ve been around for hundreds of millions of years. These bottom dwellers have spiny protrusions laced with venom for protection. I know if I pulled one up on a hook, I might throw the pole back into the ocean.
Now, in reality, they’re only a couple of feet long. I had to make my chimaera fish in They Rise much, much larger, so the sea creatures in the book are prehistoric chimaera fish that have been trapped in methane ice for millions of years. Once they get out, they’re mean and ugly and hungry. Kinda like me in the morning.
The book opens with a pair of older brothers out on a fishing party boat off the coast of Miami. The 70+ year-old men, Richie and Eddie, were based on my grandfather and his brother. I used to go fishing with them every summer when I was a kid down at Sheepshead Bay. They’ve been gone 20 years now, but the beauty of being a writer is the power to resurrect the ones you loved and lost, even if only for a chapter or two.
In the book, Eddie’s hooked something awful powerful on his line. His days of fighting big ocean fish are well behind him…at least that’s what he thought. Things are about to get a wee tad intense, as long as Eddie and the ship’s mate can haul in the catch of the day.
Of all the things I’ve written over the past several years, that opening chapter is the one that has meant the most to me. It gave me a chance to fish with Grandpa and Uncle Eddie, or as everyone called him, Okie Dokie, one more time. I’m glad that we only caught fluke and occasional sea robins back in the day. Hell, if I was going to write a fish tale, I had to start it with the men who taught me all about fish tales.
Want a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card? Follow the publicity tour put together by the fab Erin at Hook of a Book Publicity. Sign up for my newsletter to be eligible. You’ll also be part of the giveaway fun I have all throughout the year.
Happy New Year – Let The Top 10 Lists Begin
I hope you’re all planning to have an irresponsible…I mean safe and chaste…new year’s eve. For guys like me, you know, north of forty with a family, the amateur nights of NYE hustling from drunken party to drunken party are behind me. Now, I force myself to stay awake just so I can watch the start of The Honeymooners marathon. The day after, I switch between that and The Twilight Zone, sprinkling in some Odd Couple here and there.
This year we’re doing something different. A couple of families are going to an immense indoor water park and resort. I packed my bathing suit and a bottle of Fireball. I think that’s all I need. Looking forward to hitting the water slides.
And speaking of looking forward, this time of year is also about looking backward, which is why you see so many top 10 lists. When I get back, I’ll not only publish my annual Top 13 horror films of 2015, but a top TV shows and top reads of the past year as well.
Until then, here are links to some other top lists. The reason I include these particular lists is because one of my books is on each. I know, sly dog. But there are some incredible books on each list, more than enough to satisfy your thirst for quality horror. So here they be…
Top 10 Horror Novels by Horror Novel Reviews (you’ll find THE DOVER DEMON there on one of the most prestigious horror review sites out there)
The Mouths of Madness 2015 Best-Of Books! (featuring ISLAND OF THE FORBIDDEN and TORTURES OF THE DAMNED…ZDubbz gives you not only the best, but what he’s looking forward to in 2016)
Super Author Glenn Rolfe’s Top 10 (ISLAND OF THE FORBIDDEN makes another list, which makes me think I have to write another Jessica and Eddie book soon!)
I’m sure there are plenty more lists to come. I’d stay and write longer, but I have to get the car ready, stop at the store, and try to wake 2 teenage daughters up. No easy task.
Have a Happy New Year and stay thirsty, my fiends!
Cover Reveal – THE JERSEY DEVIL
Are you all ho-ho-hoed out yet? I know I am. The fat man is back in his icy lair, and things can get back to normal.
Of course, normal for me means being surrounded by all sorts of monsters and beasties and ghosts. With the new year just around the corner, I’m gearing up for my 3 new releases in 2016. I just got the cover to what will be my third Pinnacle novel, THE JERSEY DEVIL, and it’s a doozy. From the Pine Barrens to your eyeballs, with love! The book comes out everywhere on August 30th.
I hope the state of New Jersey lets me in to promote The Jersey Devil next fall. I’d love to find a way to host a special event deep in the Pine Barrens. Luckily, I have 8 months to figure it out.
Hope you all like the cover. More on what’s inside to come. If you loved The Montauk Monster, you’ll really dig The Jersey Devil. No cryptid is safe from me. Any suggestions on which one I should tackle next?
Time to Pre-Order THEY RISE – A DEEP SEA THRILLER!
I’m super excited to announce my new home – SEVERED PRESS– along with my first ever sea monster book, THEY RISE! If you think the baddies I created in The Montauk Monster were sinister, you’re in for a wild ride on the open seas this time around.
You know, before I became infatuated with Bigfoot, I was the kid going from library to library searching for every book that dealt with the Loch Ness Monster, giant squids and mysterious beasts from the deep. Needless to say, there wasn’t much out there in the late 1970s, but I did devour each book I managed to get my hands on.
The Chimaera Fish are coming to get you Barbara!
So, when Severed Press approached me about writing a novella about sea creatures gone mad, I jumped at the chance. THEY RISE is just the first of what I hope are many more to come with the wonderful folks at SP.
The book comes out January 4th, but you can pre-order the ebook over at Amazon for just $3.99 – or free for you Prime members. The trade paperback will be available on the release date. Order now and be one of the first to experience a sea tale that’ll make you reconsider that cruise you’ve been dreaming about.
Here’s the synopsis for THEY RISE –
Some call them ghost sharks, the oldest and strangest looking creatures in the sea.
Marine biologist Brad Whitley has studied chimaera fish all his life. He thought he knew everything about them. He was wrong. Warming ocean temperatures free legions of prehistoric chimaera fish from their methane ice suspended animation. Now, in a corner of the Bermuda Triangle, the ocean waters run red. The 400 million year old massive killing machines know no mercy, destroying everything in their path. It will take Whitley, his climatologist ex-wife and the entire US Navy to stop them in the bloodiest battle ever seen on the high seas.
I’ve always felt that the novella format is the best for horror, and THEY RISE fits that mold. The fun is packing as much action and terror into a tiny package as possible (though it’s not sooo tiny at 151 pages).
So grab your fishing gear and a bazooka and join me in the Atlantic Ocean for a hell of a trip!
Deck The Halls With Christmas Horror
Gather round the Christmas tree, boys and girls! Regular contributor Spencer Mitchell is back, this time with a bag full of some of the best holiday horror movies to come down the chimney. Ho Ho Ho and all that claptrap!
Top Naughty & Not So Nice Horror Films for the Holidays
The “feel good” cheery holidays, like Christmas, are upon us and if you’re like me you enjoy the sugary sweetness for the first week or two, and then you’re itching for something a little more… menacing. Sure, the holidays are a time of joy, but it can also bring some sadness for horror fans – after all, the Halloween terror was so abruptly taken away with the arrival of November and yuletide cheer.
But thankfully there’s a special little genre set aside for this time of year. For all you horror fans who’re looking for year round terror and blood, check out this short list of the best scary holiday movies and embrace the season of Santa (which is oddly close to Satan ~Hunter)
Black Christmas (1974)
Home invasion movies are always the scariest; we’re supposed to feel safe in our own homes, and when we see that level of comfort invaded it makes us second guess our own safety. So, when a sorority house is terrorized by creepy perverted phone calls, in classic slasher fashion, the police turn out to assist them. But the true terror of Black Christmas begins when a young girl’s father, played by James Edmond, visits the campus when his daughter turns up missing along with a little high schooler who is found dead in the park nearby. Jessica (Olivia Hussey), the girl’s friend, must fight for her life and her friends’ when the attacker comes after her. Things are not always as they seem, and the bodies pile high in this holiday horror film (on Netflix) as killers are misidentified and safety is nowhere in sight.
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
When his parents are murdered by Santa Claus, Billy (Robert Wilson) is forever haunted by the memories of Christmas past. Sent to an orphanage where he’s abused by the head nun and cared for by Sister Margaret (Gilmer McCormick), kindred spirits who seem to find themselves scolded frequently. When he turns 18 he leaves, desperate for a normal life, but Christmas rears its ugly head when he’s forced, by his employer, to put on a Santa suit and dress up for the children. He snaps and goes on a killer rampage leaving a trail of bodies back to the orphanage for revenge in true Michael Myers style. Followed up by a slew of sequels and a loose remake years later, none quite match the gruesome terror of the original bad Santa.
Gremlins (1984)
Many seem to forget that Gremlins is technically a Christmas movie. After all, it’s around Christmas when Billy, played by Zach Galligan, gets the strange furry creature called a Mogwai as a gift. While seemingly cute and adorable at first, these things quickly multiply and run wild. They drink and gamble and even flash the bartender throughout their rampage. Having Gremlins around is a lot like being terrorized by your pet or stuffed animals, but the scene where Lynn Peltzer (Frances McCain) kills a few gremlins with various household objects is amusingly akin to the typical panic of slasher films. The story continued in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (streaming info here) where the gremlin army threatens New York City, and there are rumors the third sequel could even feature a Godzilla-sized gremlin making the jump over to terrorize Europe.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
This movie’s not as scary if you only take it for face value. The true terror lies in the imaginative story Tim Burton brings to the film. What’s more horrifying than having the most joyous holiday of the year hijacked by the nightmarish creatures of Halloween or having your toys attack you? Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon), bored with his role as the Pumpkin King, becomes intrigued and inspired by Christmas’ strange customs and leader, Sandy Claws. So, he decides to take on Christmas himself. After kidnapping Sandy Claws and throwing him into the merciless hands of Oogie Boogie (Ken Page) Jack begins his sleigh ride. However, he soon realizes he should’ve stuck to his own holiday when he becomes sorely unwelcome. With amazing musical tracks The Nightmare Before Christmas is a true classic, family-friendly, and suitable for both Christmas and Halloween!
Jack Frost (1997)
Starting off simple, yet still a tad gruesome, Jack Frost is full of ridiculous death scenes and simpleminded humor. It’s very reminiscent of old slasher films in that regard. Scott MacDonald plays the murderous Jack Frost, an inmate who, while on the way to his execution, narrowly escapes a car accident, only to be mutated and turned into a snowman. With a second chance to exact his revenge, Frost goes after the one who locked him up, Sam Tiler (Christopher Allport), the sheriff of the small fictional town. Tiler must team up with arrogant FBI agents to take down Frost – with a little creative use of antifreeze!
So, there you have it: five holiday horror movies to hopefully get those carols out of your head, at least for a little while. Who says Christmas is a time for only joyous, mushy, feelings? It’s great to see this little genre getting recognition as the years go on – especially with Krampus, based on the folklore of Santa’s murderous helper, coming to theaters in December. It’s sure to leave a lasting impression on the kids.
Robert E Dunn’s Highway To Hell – THE RED HIGHWAY
I first became acquainted with Robert E. Dunn when I read his alien novel, BEHIND THE DARKNESS. You know I’m a sucker for anything that deals with aliens, especially nasty ETs. Since then, we’ve spoken quite often, becoming pen pals of sorts. I was very fortunate to get an early read of his brand new release, THE RED HIGHWAY, a road trip to hell and redemption and other dark and light places.
Well, Robert’s here today to talk a little about the wiring of a horror writer and to give you a peek of THE RED HIGHWAY. Buckle up, baby!
Horror Writer? How Weird Do You Have To Be?
I have a lot of people in my life, friends and family, strangers at the supermarket, and the occasional random e-mail ranter/fan, that ask me how do I write a novel. The subtext of this is usually, how do I write the novels I do-scary, weird, gory, and sometimes a bit desperate. Most of my characters seem to have a bit of desperation in them and they look at me, a regular guy kind of guy, and wonder about the secrets in my basement. I’ll tell you this, no one goes into my basement. Don’t even ask. What I’ll tell you about writing my books is that I have my own way of doing things and my own love of the macabre.
To tell you the truth, I think most people would be disappointed to meet a horror author. We’re the normal guys. Genre writers in general, I think, are the grounded ones. It’s the unique individuals that write In Cold Blood or Catcher in the Rye. Our basic normality comes from a life-long love of the kind of stories we end up writing. I grew up loving the old Universal horror movies and reading Tales From the Crypt. When I discovered Vampirella I turned my hand to art trying to draw beautiful vampires in skimpy costumes. My drawing skills never really improved that much but the stories and art that inspired me stuck. Monsters and weirdness infected my mind while at the same time inoculating me against the petty poisons of the real world.
Looking back, it was the same way with the kids that had a love of cowboy culture, literary readers, math geeks, jocks, drama kids…etc. Young people that have something to love, to inspire, have a framework that is both refuge and community. That makes for strong, healthy people.
Something that the rest of the world is just beginning to realize, is that almost all culture, is geek culture. We’re all geeks about something and it’s normal to be passionate about the things that give us understanding of who we are in the world. A guy who paints his body to attend a football game is no different from a gamer girl that cosplays at a ComicCon. We’re all normal and I think it’s in large part due to our connections to touchstones that speak to us.
All of that raging normalcy allowed me to write THE RED HIGHWAY, a novel about how a homeless drunk, a porn star, a foul-mouthed dwarf, two preachers, and a reporter save themselves and a burning city from an ancient evil. I’m telling you it takes a sane person to write about monsters that demand sacrifice and imagine a world where ghosts can forgive us.
All of that being said-stay out of my basement.
Now I’d like to give you a little synopsis of THE RED HIGHWAY and invite you into the weirdness.
In January of 1992, the fading life of Paul Souther, a homeless veteran, is changed by two events. He witnesses a murder committed by a big black man who, for a moment, seemed to have wings. And, as Paul hides from the man in a XXX theater, Mary Prince, the adult actress on screen, begins to speak directly to him.
On the other side of the country, the real Mary encounters the same big man when she visits the site of the Rodney King beating. He infests her life and her mind then traps her in a mental health ward, impossibly, pregnant.
In LA, two other black men, a tabloid reporter, and a celebrity TV preacher, are on the trail of the same mysterious man. They follow the tracks of rage and race leading throughout the city. At every hot spot the man is seen pulling strings and spreading the message of race war.
Paul and a mix of outcasts is called to Mary’s side just as the baby is born. None of them have any idea that the city of LA is sitting on a ticking bomb of anger. As riots explode, the big man, who now claims to be a god, reveals himself to be an ancient, dark power using the rage of the people to stoke his own, literal, fires. He demands the child as sacrifice to keep the city, and perhaps the nation from burning. It falls to Paul, a faithless man, and a drunk with blood on his own hands, to make the impossible choice between a child or a city and to save the people he has come to care about.
Twenty years later, as the grown child is spreading her own message of practical faith, as protesters picket and shout a new hate, a mysterious man shows up in the new crowds. This time his message is, God Hates Fags.
The Red Highway, Synopsis
Necro Publications/Bedlam Press
PAGES: 282
ISBN: 978-1-939065-82-7 Trade Paperback (List: $12.95)
Distribution: Trade Paperback: Amazon, LSI and CreateSpace eBook: Kindle, Smashwords, Baker & Taylor, Nook, LSI, Apple, Kobo, Sony and others.
In 1992, as Los Angeles begins to simmer in the heat of racial injustices, one dark man appears everywhere, spreading his message of race war. At the same time, Paul Souther, a homeless drunk, joins a strange group of outsiders. Some black and some white, they all carry the weight of broken lives and lost faith. They are all drawn to LA, for the arrival of a child, impossibly carried by Mary Prince, a sterile porn star.
Through back roads and freeways everyone is pulled into LA and Mary’s side just as the baby is born. None of them have any idea that the city is a ticking bomb of anger. As riots explode, the mysterious man reveals himself to be an ancient, dark spirit using the rage of the people to stoke his own, literal, fires. He demands Mary’s child as sacrifice to keep the city, and perhaps the nation from burning. It falls to Paul, a faithless man, and a drunk with blood on his own hands, to make the impossible choice between the child and the city, and to save the people he has come to care about.
Biography, Robert E. Dunn
Robert E. Dunn was born an army brat and grew up in the Missouri Ozarks. He wrote his first book at age eleven, stealing, or novelizing, as he called it at the time, the storyline of a Jack Kirby comic book.
His college course of study, philosophy, religion, theatre, and film/TV communications, left him qualified only to be a televangelist. When that didn’t work out, he turned to them mostly, honest work of video production. Over several years he produced everything from documentaries, to training films and his favorite, travelogues. Still always writing for the joy of it he returned to writing horror and fantasy fiction for publication after the turn of the century. It seemed like a good time for change even if the changes were not always his choice.
He lives in Kansas City with three daughters, a young grandson, and an old dog. He tweets sometimes as @WritingDead but makes no promises how interesting those little posts will be.
Praise for The Red Highway
“The Red Highway is not one of the best books that I’ve read so far this year, or that I’ve read in a long time…it’s one of the best books that I’ve ever read! It was an incredible read, one that has so many layers that I was completely enthralled with the story.” –2 Book Lovers Reviews
“A thoroughly gripping read. Dunn is a writer with guts and the chops to grab his readers by the eyeballs and dare them to look away.” –Hunter Shea, Author of Tortures of the Damned
Purchase Links
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/The-Red-Highway-Robert-Dunn-ebook/dp/B0158WMEOE
Barnes & Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-red-highway-robert-e-dunn/1122623132
Necro Publications
Giveaway!!!
Enter for your chance to win either a copy of The Red Highway, Behind the Darkness, or a print of the beautiful cover artwork from The Red Highway done by Erik Wilson! You can do multiple things each day to gain more entries! Just click the rafflecopter link. Forward any questions to Erin Al-Mehairi, publicist, at hookofabook@hotmail.com.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/MjMxYWEzMGI1ZDE2MGYyYTgzYjk4NzVhYzhmMTdmOjI3/?
Our Fascination With The End Of The World
I know that post-apocalypse fiction and movies are all the rage now, but when you think about it, this is really nothing new. Ever since crackpots have held up signs proclaiming THE END IS NEAR, human beings have been both intrigued and terrified by the concept of a complete upheaval of our world. In modern culture, just look at the success of books and movies like On the Beach, The Stand, The Day After, Testament, Miracle Mile, Swan Song and the slew of zombie fare we’ve been inundated with. Whether it’s by the hands of a returned Christ, nuclear annihilation, undead hordes or pandemic, witnessing the downfall of all we have built and seeing how the few will survive is more addicting than reality TV (and fare more fulfilling).
Of course, when we read or watch these scenarios, we always imagine ourselves as managing to scramble out from under the rubble. I mean, what’s the point if I don’t carry on? I’m smart. I’m crafty. I can turn a blind eye to establishes mores in order to survive. So why not me?
When I was a wee one, I saw the original Dawn of the Dead at the movies. (Too late to call social services on my dad!) I came out of there obsessed – not with zombies – but wondering what I would do when the world went to shit. I made lists of stores I would go to in order to gather supplies. First stop was the sports store by me where I would load up on rifles, bow and arrows and other gear to make me a force to be reckoned with. Food and water would come later. Everywhere I went, I pictured how I would fortify that location so I turn it into a safe haven.
I’m an adult now – at least that’s what it says on my license – and I still think about these things. Except now I have to make plans that include my family. Hell, I’m so obsessed with it, I wrote a book about it, Tortures of the Damned.
Why does this attract us? Is it because an apocalypse presents a cleaning of the slate, a total do-over, a chance to ‘be a real man’ and not a pencil pushing geek who stops at traffic lights and pays his taxes? Yeah, I think that’s part of it.
We’re not far removed from being pioneers, settlers, survivors. I think a part of us still craves the adventure. So we fantasize about the end times, testing ourselves against impossible odds. We want to see if we measure up to the generations before us that seemed to know how to do everything, whereas we can’t even tell you how anything we use every day really works.
On the Monster Men, we recently talked about our apocalyptic obsession with author Russell James, whose latest book, Q Island, tears apart Long Island, NY in a very unique way. The start of the end is possibly the most original way to date, and most frighteningly, is being played out right now in real life. Kinda gives me the shivers.
Living so close to New York City, I have to prepare for the worst. We here know it’s a matter of when, not if. The hope is that it’s nothing like people like me and Russell and many other have written.
But I’ll be loaded for bear, just in case.
Plotting and Planning World Domination
That’s a pretty lofty title for this post. This coming from a guy who keeps telling the lovely ladies of the Shea abode that I’m king of the castle to peels of laughter. But anyway…
Now that the dust has settled with the whole Samhain madness, I’ve been taking some time to sit back and look over the landscape, considering my options for the future. Writing has taken a back seat to quiet contemplation, as well as talking to other publishers about new opportunities. This actually came at a good time. I was getting so bogged down, I couldn’t tell my ass from my elbow. Sometimes you don’t know how deep in the reeds you’ve wandered until you’ve been pulled out of them. Writing has become a full time job, in addition to my other full time job, and handling a family that counts two disabled people among the four. Being able to go in my room and write has always been my escape, my refuge, my sanity. The shock of Samhain’s news when they let my friend and editor go got me out of that room for a spell, which has freed me up to attend to other pressing matters that needed my attention desperately.
Lupus has become a big part of our lives, and I’m working with the Lupus Foundation to find the best doctors for my wife. We still need to get to the bottom of my youngest daughter’s illness. And my oldest is about to get her license while applying for colleges. Huge milestones! God, I feel old. I love the family I’ve created. Their health and happiness is always my top priority, and right now, they need me more than ever.
So even though I haven’t written a word this month, I have been busy reorganizing the old to-do and wish lists. We all need a break from time to time, even from the things we love. One thing I am doing now is editing a middle grade book I wrote a few years ago. That baby needs a spit shine so my agent can shop it around. I’m also putting together ideas for other books in non-horror genres, as well as getting the bones together for a short story called DASH GIRL I’ll publish in 2016. I already have the cover. Gotta get the guts together. (I feel like I’m living the Ed Wood movie!)
I do have some exciting news about new books that will be out in 2016 that I plan to announce soon. Anyone who joins my Dark Hunter Newsletter now will hear it first, as well as be eligible to win free books. Trust me, you want in on this news.
My main man Jack will be coming to the studio to film our Monster Men Christmas special, and we have loads of interviews lined up. Any beer suggestions for when we film?
So what’s the point of all this? I guess it’s just to let other writers know that it’s perfectly fine not to write. And to tell you that bigger and better things are on the way. 2016 is going to be amazing.
