Signed Copy Giveaway and the Latest Updates
First, I want to thank everyone who has come to this blog, FB, Twitter, offered words of encouragement, bought my book or helped get the word out. Sales have been great and as of today, I’m still haunting the top spot with my publisher. Your support and responses have truly made my heart grow 3 sizes.
Since the NFL playoffs are going to be starting soon and I still have to get the beer for the day’s festivities, I’ll make this quick. My debut novel with Samhain, Forest of Shadows, is now available as a trade paperback. I’m all for the whole e-book thing. I 
know it’s the wave of the future…or more like the reality of the present. I even have a Kindle (as does one daughter, with wifey owning the lone Nook in the house). But man, there is nothing like the feel and smell of a new book. I know I’m not the only one who takes a good long whiff as I flip through the pages for the first time. Come on, you can tell ‘ol Uncle Hunter.
To celebrate the print release of Forest of Shadows, I’m giving away 2 signed copies to random folks who comment on this blog post. It’s that easy. “But what should I say in my comment?” Well, anything that comes to mind. Let ‘er rip, or be short and sweet. Winners will be announced Monday night, 1/16/12.
In other news, I finished the first draft of the sequel to Forest of Shadows, tentatively titled Double Walker. For those of you who already read FOS, I leave it to you to guess which character the follow up will focus on. We’re just 5 months away from the relase of my next book, Evil Eternal. Guaranteed to blow your mind. Last but not least, a short story of mine, Commandment Eleven, has been picked up by Dark Moon Books and will be unveiled in time for the World Horror Convention.
Okay, enough of Mr. Big Mouth. Comment away and good luck!
5 Monsters the World Has Forgotten
I’m holding out hope that I’m not the only person left who remembers some of these lesser movie beasts. I’ve always had a special fondness for monsters, be they ugly or mean or downright murderous. Think of it. If you looked half as ghastly as them, wouldn’t you be a bit on the irritable side, if not downright homicidal? Everyone knows about Jason and Godzilla and Frankenstein, but there are so many others out there that just came and went. Here are 5 that left an impression on my warped little brain over the years. Please seek them out, but don’t put your fingers in their cage!
I rememeber seeing this in the drive in when I was a kid. The thing about this mad beast that really got to me was the piercing scream he’d let out every ten minutes, turning my little bladder to ice. In the late 80’s, I rented this at a video store and was accused of never giving it back, so this movie really sticks in my head. You can’t beat the synopsis I found at IMDB. “Woman is raped at cocktail party. Years later, her son grows up to be a big hairy murderous monster who stalks a group of teens shipwrecked on his island.”
This has a great cast of Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas. While on a train to God-remembers-where, a monster thaws from its icy prison and begins to murder the passengers. What scared the spaghettios out of me at the time was this dude’s face. Seriously, out of all the horror movies I’d watched as a kid, this face is the one that haunted me right through adulthood. Let’s just call him scary-red-eyed-Jesus. And he’s not even the monster that took over the train!
Think a bunch of maneating, shambling plants can’t be scary? Guess again, sucker. These things moved with the slow, measured assurance of a Michael Meyers decades before he donned his William Shatner mask. This is an all time great, but sadly forgotten monster movie. Check out the book that inspired it. Both are excellent.
4. FROM BEYOND
This gem is from the mid 80’s by the same team that brought us Reanimator. This was another loosely adapted Loevcraft story where a mad scientist (score!) develops a machine that lets us see into other dimensions. Unfortunately, they can come into ours as well, and some things are just not meant to be, like Justin Bieber’s career. What the crazy doctor eventually becomes is nothing short of awesome.
5. CREEP
I’ll end with a relatively recent movie that very few people ever bring up. The creep in this fantastic British flick is a deformed man living in the tunnels and passageways of London’s underground. He wails like a rat and looks like all kinds of hell, plus he has some wicked strength, despite the seeping infections all over his flaky, gnarled body. If I stumbled across him in a subway, I’d probably drop dead immediately.
Those are my 5. I know there are tons more out there. Which ones did I miss that you love and remember, in a twsited kinda way? Let me know so I can include them in a future post!
To see the monsters I lived with in Forest of Shadows, click here.
The Thing Review and Halloween Contest
Fellow Monster Man Jack and I took one for the team and spent our hard earned money to see The Thing. Here’s our first ever quick video review, shot right outside the theater moments after the final credits.
We’re also rolling out our first Halloween contest. We already have some great pics and can’t wait to see more! Get yours in to be included in our post-Halloween episode.
Lunch with a Chupacabra
Let me start by saying that I was having lunch at a beach/park in southern Connecticut, not a hotbed for all things chupacabra. However, the legendary “goat sucker” did roll around in the dirt by my bench. At first, I thought it was just a cat getting some sun. The more I looked, the more I felt it was a dog. Then it stood up, and I thought, is it a fox? I followed it around the park for 5 minutes, was at times just a few feet away, and I cannot tell you what the hell it was. In my opnion, it was a diseased dog or fox or some mutated cross breed. It looked very much like the way people describe a chupacabra and even had the same run/hop kind of gait.
It made me realize how easy it is to assign monster status to something that is probably more mundane than you can imagine. At least it made my lunch hour more interesting. I managed to take a couple of pics with my crappy blackberry. Here’s the best one. Hard to see what it really looked like. I feel bad for it, because it seemed like it needed a good meal and a home, no matter how bizarre and ugly.
Suffering for my craft
I’ve been feeling celebratory, now that my book Forest of Shadows is just weeks away from being released (and it’s available now for pre-order). So, what better way to revel in my happiness than subject myself to a tattoo? Actually, the pain isn’t bad at all. Reflexology is far more painful. I swear. It’s horrendous.
It took me a while to come up with something ‘writerly’ themed, and my wife pointed out words I had recently used myself to put under the image; Never Give Up. So true. I’m a firm believer in the Cool Hand Luke theory of life. If you want to do something, just do the damn thing and never, ever quit.
Huge thanks to Darren at Rising Dragon Tattoos in NYC. He has a great shop and is a damn good artist. He now has a customer for life and I urge anyone in the area looking to get ink to go there.
The Captain America shield has been sitting on my arm for years and didn’t even get me a free ticket to the movie.
I have a question for anyone reading this. How many times do you get ‘stabbed’ by a tattoo needle per hour of work? Just curious. Hit the comment bubble to send in your guess, informed or otherwise.
Also, what kind of ink do you have?
Best Surprise Ever…I’m a Monster!
So I was in Barnes and Noble yesterday perusing the magazine rack when I spied the latest issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland. Now, when I was a kid, this was the greatest damn magazine ever. I didn’t get every issue that hit the newstands, but I treasured every single one that came into my possession. I still remember the cover with King Kong’s big ape face (the original, not the one with The Dude). That one held a special place amidst my comic book collection.
Imagine my surprise when I flip open the cover and see an ad with my book cover in it. I know that Samhain is going balls out to let the world know that they are the new place to get your horror fix, but I didn’t know I would ever see anything in a magazine that is nothing short of iconic for me and I’m sure loads of other guys my age (you know, kids of the 70s and early 80s). The little kid inside me has been smiling non-stop. This is the same kid who spent nights putting together glow in the dark Frankenstein and Dracula models, listening to reruns of spooky radio plays, and sneaking downstairs to watch Chiller Theatre.
Best of all, for those of you interested in being the first wave of readers of Samhain horror, and hopefully my book, Forest of Shadows, you can order now and get a 30% discount.
I just had to share. 
My October Book Release
Samhain Publishing has finally announced their October lineup of releases for their new horror line. My book, Forest of Shadows, is in some pretty esteemed company. Can you say Leisure Horror, part 2? Excuse me while I do the happy watusi for the rest of the day.
Lord, I Love Me Some Elvira
From HorrorSociety.com, great news about my favorite queeen of the undead. I met her a couple of years ago and she couldn’t have been any nicer…
For those readers who may be unaware, Elvira’s Movie Macabre returned in October 2010. While her show is mostly screening old fan favorites, a few new titles from the 70s and 80s have been added to the list. More importantly, all the introductions, breaks, hosting, and shenanigans are brand new. This is a special treat for Elvira fans who have been waiting for her return to horror hosting. New episodes of Elvira’s Movie Macabre are airing in over 100 of the biggest cities in America. Check here to see if it is airing in your city: Elvira\’s Movie Macabre Listings. This week’s pick is Werewolf of Washington. Tune in if you want to see Elvira parody Sarah Palin.
Elvira’s Movie Macabre originally aired from 1981 to 1986. It consisted of 5 seasons and showed over 130 B-movie horror films. Her horror hosting show made her an instant celebrity. Since 1981 she has had three video games, two pin ball machines, her own brand of beer, the #1 women’s Halloween costume, two films, one reality show, one theme park ride, appeared in numerous other films and television shows outside of her character, appeared on the cover of multiple magazines including Playboy, 2 music videos, recorded two Cd’s, and multiple commercials. At age 59, Cassandra Peterson shows no sign of stopping her career.
The Rebirth of Horror
Like most people, I was devastated, angry and temporarily lost when Leisure Books (Dorchester Publishing) completely imploded last year. In just one month, they stopped printing paperbacks, lost most of their treasured authors and parted ways with their editor, Don D’Auria, the man responsible for keeping horror not only alive, but an important and valuable genre in the publishing industry.
After over a decade of trying to break into Leisure, Don had accepted my novel just a little over a month before it all fell apart. It was kind of like getting that pony you always wished for on Christmas, only to watch in horror as dad backed his SUV over it in the driveway.
I thought all was lost and I was truly ready to throw in the towel. I’m glad I didn’t (and big thanks to my agent Louise Fury for that). I know this was announced in January, but not everyone is aware that hope has arrived. (The following from sfscope.com)
Don D’Auria lands at Samhain |
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| By Ian Randal Strock | |
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Don D’Auria has joined Samhain Publishing as Executive Editor. He will oversee the company’s new horror line, which will launch in October. Previously D’Auria was executive editor for Leisure Books at Dorchester Publishing.
Samhain is looking for supernatural or non-supernatural, contemporary or historical horror novels from new or experienced authors (agented or un-agented). “Content can range from subtle and unsettling to gory and shocking. The writing is what counts.” |
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Hunter Shea 