Interview with Author Russell James
The great thing about being part of the new Samhain Horror family has been meeting some of the new and seasoned authors that they have brought together. Russell James is one of those cool dudes in a loose mood. He has a chilling new novel out, Dark Inspiration. If you want to read a book that will actually make you sleep with the light on, look no further. This is classic horror at its best. Russell was nice enough to sit down for an interview with yours truly. Enjoy!
1. Your novel, Dark Inspiration, is right in my personal sweet spot. It
has a haunted house, creepy old cemetery and sinister secrets. Tell us a
little more about the book, especially something that will put chill down
our spines!
Doug and Laura Lock try to fulfill many couples’ fantasy. They quit their
jobs and move to a country dream house and hope to re-fire their personal
and professional lives. But Doug finds a hidden attic full of some creepy
taxidermy left by a deceased former resident and starts doing some twisted
experimentation. You experience Doug’s personal descent from inside his
head, and it’s not pretty. His plans for his wife are…well, you’ve got to
read it. 
Laura is influenced by the spirits of two twin girls and Doug encounters
the spirit of their uncle. Neither of them shares their experiences with
the other and so start living parallel, secret lives. When the lives
finally intersect, it goes off the rails. Way off. Honestly, the two of
them could have used some paranormal advice from John Backman from your
Forest of Shadows.
2. What was the aha moment in your life when you decided you wanted to
become a writer?
I remember having a short story published in a junior high literary
journal and thought that was the coolest thing ever. But the idea of
seriously writing and having other people want to read it was so daunting
a task, I never considered trying.
I would tell my wife stories I thought up when we went on long drives in
the car. She kept bugging me to write them down. Tired of my lame
excuses not to, and knowing I worshipped at the paperback altar of Stephen
King, she bought me his On Writing for Christmas a few years ago. Reading
that made me realize that I could write something, if I applied myself.
3. Every writer has a special journey to publication. How did you come
about having your book published by Samhain?
Again, credit goes to the wife. The next Christmas after On Writing
arrived, she got me an online writing course at Gotham Writer’s Workshop.
Two short stories I worked on there ended up getting published.
Nice start, but several unsold novel manuscripts later, success wasn’t
knocking. I took an advanced Gotham class to see what I skills I was
missing. During that class, the instructor alerted us that Samhain was
having the equivalent of open auditions for horror books. I had Dark
Inspiration fresh off a tour of publisher and agent rejections, so I sent
it in. In a million-to-one-shot, Don D’Auria bought it.
Trust me, I wake up every morning thankful for the stroke of luck that got
me here today.
4. What book have you read that really scared you and made you want to
sleep with the light on?
I really like reading collections of true ghost stories. A personal
experience when I was kid made me a true believer.
There are times I’ll read about an event and both arms go to goose pimples
and my heart skips a beat. That’s the good stuff.
5. OK, suppose you had to hire a monster as a contract killer. Out of
Jason, Michael Meyers, Freddie and Pinhead, who would you choose and why?
I have to send Freddy Krueger. He can kill someone in their dreams
without a trace. Plus in his free time I can have him Edward Scissorhands
my backyard shrubbery.
6. In three sentences or less, describe what you’re currently working on.
I have a short story coming out in December on a podcast called Tales of
Old. It’s historical fiction about a World War I fighter pilot. So you
can read it on the website or download and listen to it.
The next novel is called Sacrifice and will be out sometime in 2012. A
group of kids destroy an evil demon in 1980, but thirty years later find
out they may not have finished the job. They return home to confront the
demon, their own aging, their past mistakes. The demon isn’t going to go
quietly, and this time has friends.
Visit Russell James’s website to learn more and order a copy for the holidays!
And if you want even more reasons to be afraid of the dark, check out Forest of Shadows.
Interview with Author J.C. Martin
If you’ve ever wondered to yourself if Twitter is worth the time and effort, I have good news. Thanks to my trawling around the land o tweets, I happily stumbled upon writer J.C. Martin and picked up a copy of her story, The Doll. I became an instant fan. Luckily, she agreed to be interviewed for this old blog and chain. J.C. is so cool, she also interviewed me for her blog and has a giveaway for my book as well. So, thanks to Twitter, two complete strangers have become friends, at least in this nutty online world.
J.C. Martin has some pretty finely tuned writing chops and has made whole books available for free on her website. You can’t beat that with a stick with a nail on the end. My one piece of advice for you, the reader: get on the bandwagon now, while there’s still room.
1. Your story, The Doll, just blew me away. It’s set on the very real Island of Dolls in Mexico. What inspired you to write The Doll and have you ever been to that creepy island?
Sadly, I’ve never had the chance (yet) to visit Mexico. I discovered the Island of the Dolls while researching backdrops for a planned collection of short horror stories. Initially, I was thinking along the lines of a geographic theme for the anthology: terror across the globe, or something like that. I Googled “scariest places in the world,” and the Island of the Dolls (unsurprisingly) popped up repeatedly. There were some pretty gruesome and atmospheric photos of the dolls, and because I’ve recently read about the South American religion of Santeria, and its darker cousin, Palo Mayombe, the idea of a cursed doll crafted from black magic came to me naturally! 
And if you are wondering, yes, I am still working on said horror story collection, which is why I released The Doll as a teaser, and as a way to gauge response.
2. I see that you speak 3 languages. Is there one language that is easier for you to write in, or does it not matter since you’re so fluent in all?
Heavens, I wish! I am by far most fluent in English. My grasp on the other languages have deteriorated from lack of use. I can still read, speak and understand most stuff OK in Chinese and Malay, but I probably have a writing age of about 6 in them!
And I always like to boast that, although they are technically not different languages, I can speak four Chinese dialects: Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka and Hokkien. 🙂
3. The Doll is very much a horror story, but you also write in other genres. Which is your absolute favorite to write in, and which is your favorite to read?
I don’t start out a story by pigeon-holing them into a genre, but oddly most of my short stories evolve into horror. A handful are more general, or literary, fiction. For longer works, both my novels — one I’m actively querying, and one I’m currently plotting — are crime fiction, but definitely dark crime fiction.
4. When you’re not writing, you also teach martial arts. What school of martial arts do you teach and what level are you at? Does the discipline you have to master in martial arts help you with your writing? How so?
I teach Wing Chun kung fu, a traditional Chinese martial art, as a 2nd Degree (equivalent to a 2nd Dan black belt). The discipline, perseverance and focus mastered in Wing Chun definitely helps keep my butt in the chair and my eyes on the computer screen (I have a full interview on my martial arts experiences and how they influence my writing HERE). Furthermore, it’s been immensely useful when writing fight scenes! I can be my own fight choreographer! (I’ve also written a post on writing action scenes HERE.)
5. What’s your favorite movie, book and song?
Movie – Kung Fu Panda! 1 AND 2! Combines my love of kung fu and cuddly animals with my love for a good storyline! (not the most obvious choice for a dark fiction writer, I know!)
Book – This is difficult. I have loads, but one that really stood out for me: one is Boris Starling’s Messiah. It was the first crime novel that blew me away, not just with an intricate plot, but tightly paced writing that kept me going and going. The final revelation made me go “OMG!”, and it is now the gold standard of crime fiction I aspire to.
Song – I’m a sucker for Disney music, but my current favourite is In This Life by the late Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, whose awesome music I’ve just discovered. We played this for our first dance, at our wedding in August. 🙂
6. Tell us a little about what you’re currently working on.
Apart from the short story collection now tentatively titled Everyday Horrors, I’m planning my crime novel currently called Labyirinth, in which I hope to capture the spookiness of the old, disused stations of the London Underground.
7. If you could live anywhere in the world and be anything you want, where and what would you be?
I would be a full-time writer (what else?) working from my beach house, on an idyllic Malaysian island overlooking the Andaman Sea.
8. Mind telling the world a little something that most people don’t know about you?
I have pretty severe trypanophobia, and have not had a needle pierce my skin for over 7 years now. Seriously, when the doctor took my blood pressure once before drawing blood for a blood test, he wondered if I had hypertension, in my late teens! When he took it again after blood was drawn, my b.p. returned to normal.
I have refused travel vaccinations, blood tests, and a jab for the swine ‘flu that hit the UK a couple of years back. I ended up catching the ‘flu, but it was well worth not having the injection!
To learn more about J.C., visit her website at http://jc-martin.com/fighterwriter/about/
Need more horror? Click here.
An Interview with Author/Director Frazer Lee
I’ve gotten to know Frazer Lee thanks to our being in the same horror fraternity, Samhain Tau Chi. He’s definitely on my “To Have A Beer With” list, but until we meet at some remote bar, I thought it would be a good idea to have a little chat with him about his amazing new book, The Lamplighters, horror in general, his deepest secrets (ok, maybe not deepest) and Halloween. So sit back, have a nice bottle of chianti and some fava beans and enjoy…
1. Your latest book, ‘The Lamplighters’, will be out with Samhain Publishing’s horror line this November. Can you tell us what a lamplighter exactly is and what drew you to make them the subject of your book?
‘The Lamplighters’ are essentially caretakers. In the world of my novel, these lucky young people are hired by a consortium of billionaires to look after their glamorous island homes. It’s a dream job because all they have to do is turn on a few lights (hence the name) and cook and clean in order for the rich employers to maintain their residency status (and tax breaks). If the concept of a lamplighter sounds far fetched, I assure you these people really exist in places such as Monaco where the super-rich go out to play. And while I was working on the novel, a news story broke about a contest looking for a caretaker to look after a lush tropical island, proving fact is often stranger than fiction! In essence the lamplighters formed the basis of the book because they embody that “be careful what you wish for” vibe – which is what The Lamplighters’ particular horror premise is all about. 
2. What did you enjoy most about writing ‘The Lamplighters’?
I also work as a screenwriter/script doctor so I have to say I most enjoyed not having any budgetary constraints to deal with! If I wanted to include explosions, underwater sequences, multiple (expensive) locations and “visual FX” they could all go in to ‘The Lamplighters’ with no-one from production getting all hot-under-the-collar about it. (Laughs) Aside from that I really enjoyed getting to know Marla and The Skin Mechanic and all the other characters. I enjoyed the surprises and discoveries they sometimes threw my way as the story revealed itself through them.
3. The horror genre is new to Samhain. What drew you to them as a publisher and how has the experience been?
I first heard Samhain was branching out into horror via Brian Keene’s website, around the time I was finishing up work on editing the manuscript of ‘The Lamplighters’. Like you Hunter, I admired editor Don D’Auria from his work with Leisure/Dorchester. I’d submitted my full manuscript to Leisure on request after Don saw the synopsis and first three chapters. The shizzle then hit the fan over at Leisure, so I followed up with Don over at Samhain. I’m glad I did because a few weeks later I got a very flattering email from Don inviting me to publish with them. The experience has a been a pleasure, really, from having input into the cover design to working on the final text. It’s been bloody exciting to see the marketing around the new line with banners and flyers at events like Comic Con, and ads in Fangoria and Famous Monsters. There is a real buzz for the new line, with authors and horror fans alike Blogging and Tweeting and Facebooking about the titles. I also like the fact Samhain offers ebooks and paperbacks so people can choose depending on their preference. Likewise I think it’s a smart move for the line to offer some familiar names like Ramsey Campbell, who is one of my absolute faves, along with new blood like us guys. It’s an honor to be in such esteemed company and I’m excited to be part of the first wave of Samhain Horror authors.
4. The popularity of horror books comes and goes in waves, though the tsunami of bad horror films just keeps on smashing onto our shores. Where do you think horror literature stands today and what’s your prognosis for the future?
I kind of wish you hadn’t asked me this, because I feel a slight rant coming on! I don’t know, I think the good stuff bubbles to the surface regardless of any tidal waves of trash that poison our shores.
You mentioned bad horror films. Now, one thing that really gets my goat is that independent filmmakers are now jumping on the bandwagon and remaking existing movies. The studios – you expect them to churn out remakes because their business model is minimum risk/maximum return, after all. And if audiences didn’t pay to go see these things, they wouldn’t make them and spend millions marketing them – but they make gazillions of dollars back, so someone is out there watching them! True, a bona fide visionary filmmaker can bring something fresh, new and amazing to a remake (John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’) but visionaries like him are few and far between.
Indie-kids remaking horror classics? That sucks, really, because the low-to-no budget world is where the real IDEAS should be coming from. The indies should be the source of the studio remakes and the franchises of tomorrow, see? Homage is great and all, and nothing exists in a vacuum, every creation has its influences of course. But if you’re an independent filmmaker and if for whatever reason all you can dream up is homage and replication of someone else’s work, that just makes you a fucking hack in my book. I truly believe it is the duty – the DUTY – of indie horror filmmakers to at least try and create something original and brave. Sorry, I said this would be a rant! (Laughs)
Now, in the case of horror literature, I actually think the remake culture in horror cinema right now is positive for horror authors. Many folks are just exhausted seeing so many of their favorites being rehashed, exploited and toned down for a quick buck that they may turn to outlets like Samhain Horror to try something fresh. And there’s a crossover happening there between books and films. A couple of my recent film favorites, ‘Pontypool’ and ‘Let The Right One In’ were both sourced from fantastic novels, both very fresh takes on very established sub-genres. Who knows, maybe some of the new Samhain horror novels could be the new horror movies of tomorrow?
Popularity is cyclical, I agree, but the underlying fanbase for all things horror is certainly solid and loyal. And dare I say it, whatever your poison – insatiable.
5. You write and you direct films. Which gives you the greatest satisfaction? On a side note, what was it like to work with Pinhead (Doug Bradley for those of you who aren’t aware that Cenobites are not real)?
When I’m writing, I love to direct. And when I’m directing, I love to write. (Laughs) Both keep me on my tippy-toes in different ways and neither ever fully satisfies me as there’s always something more to learn, always somewhere further to go. That’s, I guess, what keeps me doing both. Of late the balance has tipped more in the favor of writing, but writing is one helluva enjoyable way to scratch a living so I am not complaining! On that side note of yours, it has been a real pleasure to work with Doug Bradley. He is a true professional and good friend who brought so much to the film projects we worked on together. We keep regular contact and I’d work with him again in a (hellbound) heartbeat.
6. Why does it appear so difficult to get great horror books to translate into great horror movies?
I believe it only ever works if an adaptation is just that – a truly adapted work. Because the mechanics of novels and movies are so vastly different a movie of a book can only really succeed to my mind if it stops trying to be a book and just focuses on being a movie already! Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ is a great example – while not to everyone’s taste (including it seems, the author’s!), it is an adaptation of the novel into film form in the truest sense. The Shining is a novel by a visionary writer and The Shining is also a film by a visionary filmmaker – ‘and never the twain shall meet’. Be honest, how many movie adaptations have you watched and thought to yourself, “they could’ve cut that part” or “they could’ve shown that in a visual way rather than telling it in reams of dialogue lifted straight from the book”? Adaptation is far more bloody difficult than many people seem to perceive it to be, it’s a fine art. Add to that the complexity of fans of the book wanting the movie version to be word-for-word what they saw in their head when they were reading it – it’s never gonna happen. In my experience, take 10 different filmmakers reading the same source material, screenplay, whatever, and you’d get 10 very different movies as an end result. The trouble is, if we’re already fans of a book we’re ‘making the movie’ in our heads at least as we read it – so our expectations of any subsequent movie version are rarely, if ever, going to be met. And interestingly, the translation of movie screenplays into movie novelizations can be just as difficult a task, although the inclusion of “8 pages of color photos from the film” can sweeten the pill somewhat!
7. What’s one secret you could reveal about yourself that would surprise people the most?
To those who know of my enthusiasm for splatter and gore, it may surprise them to learn I have been a vegetarian for 21 years (although I started eating fish again a couple of years ago so I guess that makes me pescatarian now). Anyone who REALLY knows me will not be in the least bit surprised to know I prefer the taste of human flesh… (Winks)
8. As many people will know, Samhain Publishing is named for the ancient tradition that became every horrorhead’s favorite festival of Halloween. What would make for your best ever Samhain celebration?
Oh Halloween is my favorite time of year, hands down. Best ever celebration would be the same thing I enjoy doing every year… Carve some pumpkins with the family, cook up and devour a batch of pumpkin soup and some tasty ‘dead man’s fingers’. And then, when the little monsters are tucked up in bed, kick back and watch John Carpenter’s classic ‘Halloween’. Aside from that, maybe a game of ‘wake the dead’ at the Horror Stars’ Cemetery in which Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasance and other dear departed f(r)iends wake up and come out to play for just one more night… A happy Samhain for one and all!
Q&A With Author Brian Moreland
Brian Moreland is a damn good author with a damn good book out through Samhain Publishing’s new horror line. The book is called Dead of Winter and I was so curious about the man behind the book that I had to find him and pick his brain. Enjoy the pickins!
1. Your latest book, ‘Dead of Winter”, will be out with Samhain Publishing’s horror line this October. It’s set in the dead of winter in Ontario in the 1870’s at Fort Pendleton. Tell us a little about the book and the amount of research that went into making it so historically authentic.
My latest horror novel is a historical story based partly on true events and an old Algonquin Indian legend that still haunts the Great Lakes tribes to this day. It’s also a detective mystery and even has a couple of love triangles thrown in for fun. The story takes place near the end of the 19th Century at an isolated fur-trading fort deep in the Ontario wilderness. The main character is Inspector Tom Hatcher, a troubled detective from Montreal who had recently captured an infamous serial killer, Gustav Meraux, known as the Cannery Cannibal. Gustav is Jack-the-the-Ripper meets Hannibal Lecter. Even though the cannibal is behind bars, Tom is still haunted from the case, so he decides to move himself and his rebellious teenage son out to the wilderness. At the beginning of the story, Tom has taken a job at Fort Pendleton to solve a case of strange murders that are happening to the fur traders that involve another cannibal, one more savage than Gustav Meraux. Some predator in the woods surrounding the fort is attacking colonists and spreading a gruesome plague—the victims turn into ravenous cannibals with an unending hunger for human flesh. In Tom’s search for answers, he discovers that the Jesuits know something about this plague. My second main character is Father Xavier, an exorcist from Montreal who is ordered by the Vatican to travel to Ontario to help Tom battle the killer causing the outbreak.
2. The story, though fantastical, seems, in other ways, so real. How much is based on fact? Were there any actual odd occurrences at Fort Pendleton at that time?
While indeed a work of fiction, I wanted this book to feel real. Throughout the story I interweave several facts I pulled from history books and an interview I did with a descendent from a Canadian Ojibwa tribe. During my research, I came across some unexplained stories that the Ojibwa and Algonquin tribes all around the Great Lakes region, including Ontario, Quebec, Michigan, and Minnesota, feared a supernatural creature that lives in the woods and stalks people every winter. They migrated every year because of this superstition. This legend also spooked the white fur traders, like the Hudson’s Bay Company, who lived in isolated forts all across Canada and traded with the Indians. Fort Pendleton is a fictitious fort named after one my characters, a tycoon by the name of Master Avery Pendleton. When the mysterious killings start plaguing the colonists living within his fort, Pendleton hires Tom Hatcher to solve the case. Tom teams up with an Ojibwa tracker and shaman, Anika Moonblood. She doesn’t believe the killer is a man or animal, but something much more terrifying. In the book, everyone in the neighboring Ojibwa tribe is spooked by the stalker out in the woods.
As I researched this legendary evil spirit even deeper, I discovered an article about a real isolated fort in Quebec where all the colonists went crazy and turned cannibal. In the late 1700s, a Jesuit priest who visited this fort documented the case in his journal, describing the deranged colonists as possessed by the devil. This is all factual and documented by the Catholic Church. I also did extensive research on the history of frontier life in Canada in the 1800s. During the long winter months out in the wilderness, cannibalism became a way of survival for isolated villages that ran out of food. And sometimes soldiers would arrive at a fort to find that everyone was dead except one man, who survived by eating the others.
3. What did you enjoy most about writing ‘Dead of Winter’?
There are so many things. I had such a great time writing this one. My imagination was running wild at the time. I real love the cast of characters. While Tom is the protagonist, with Father Xavier being a second main character with his own story line, I also enjoyed writing the supporting characters, many of which have subplots that intertwine with Tom’s story. It’s a very complex book. I also enjoyed seeing the mystery unfold. When I write, I never know how a book is going to play out. I have a general idea that gets me started writing, but most of the time I’m trying to solve the riddle right alongside my detective. I also love writing scenes that have action and suspense and this novel has plenty of them. I wanted DEAD OF WINTER to be the scariest book that I could write, I didn’t hold back.
4. The horror genre is new to Samhain. What drew you to them as a publisher and how has the experience been?
My agent and I were trying to find a good fit for my new book. I had finished DEAD OF WINTER in November of 2009 and was eager to sell it to a publisher right away. That’s how I feel after finishing a novel. I just can’t wait to share it with readers. But in 2009, publishing houses were shuffling their editors like Vegas dealer shuffling cards. My agent was afraid my book would get bought up and then lost in the chaos, so she told me let’s wait it out. It was tough to do, but we held out from submitting my book for over a year. I’m glad we did, because was were ready and waiting for the right opportunity. And then in January of this year my agent told me that Leisure Books was dissolving their horror line and that their editor, Don D’Auria had moved over to Samhain Publishing to start up a brand new horror line called Samhain Horror. Don wanted to start the line in October 2011 and was looking for submissions. We submitted my book within about two weeks of Don starting his new job. My agent sold me on Don, saying he was a legend in the horror business. I hadn’t heard of him, but I did a little research and discovered that he had been the editor for many of my favorite authors—Brian Keene, Richard Laymon, Ronald Malfi, and Jack Ketchum, to name a few. On his blog, Brian Keene wrote a post about how much he loved working with Don D’Auria. I flipped through a dozen books by Leisure authors and read the Acknowledgements. Again and again, I kept seeing Don’s name being praised, many describing him as the nicest editor to work with. That sold me, so I told my agent let’s submit DEAD OF WINTER to Don at Samhain. Less than 30 days later in February, my agent called back and said that Don loves my book and wants it to be one of the first books to release in October. I was so excited. My first novel I had to wait over a year to see my book in print. With Samhain, my novel released eight months after we concluded the book deal. And working with Don has been a dream. Like everyone says, he is the nicest guy and very diplomatic in his style of editing. He made some great suggestions on how to improve my novel while keeping most of the book in tact. With Don and Samhain, I definitely feel like I’ve found a home to publish my future books as well.
5. Full time writers, especially in the horror genre, are few and far between. What do you do to pay the bills when you’re not tapping away at your keyboard? Do you envision leaving the 9-5 world behind in the future?
It’s been over ten years since I had a typical 9-5 job, but I still have to work on client projects to pay the bills. I’ve been working as a freelance video editor for a handful of clients. I mostly edit documentaries, TV commercials, and corporate videos. For two straight years I got to travel with the USO and Tostitos to military bases in Baghdad, Iraq. We filmed the troops the playing a football game with celebrity football players. That was a cool experience. You can see photos from my trip at my blog (http://brianmoreland.blogspot.com/2010/01/traveling-to-iraq.html). In addition to video editing, I also have done some ghostwriting and edited and designed books for other authors. As I see more frequent financial success from my novels, I envision working fewer client projects and writing all these novels I have inside my head like caged beasts clawing to get out.
6. What made you want to become a writer, and why horror? 
I’ve always loved monsters and the adrenaline rush from being scared. I grew up watching double-feature horror movies that aired on TV every Saturday. I collected monster toys and read lots of comic books. As I got into my teens, my reading turned to novels by Stephen King and other horror authors. I had an active imagination and, at age 19, I decided to try my hand writing and wrote my first horror novel. I discovered that creating my own fictitious worlds and characters was even more fun than watching movies or reading books. I can’t explain why I write horror, only that I write what I love to read. I just write and scary stuff happens.
7. You’re on a small boat fishing with Stephen King, Richard Matheson and Brian Keene. What do you ask each of them and who will be the best to share a beer with when the fish ain’t biting?
I would love to go fishing with such legendary authors. To Richard Matheson I was ask about how he came up with I Am Legend, one of my all-time favorite stories. Because I like to know how people achieve success, I’d ask how he got started on his path to being published and how he made a name for himself. This year I got to meet Brian Keene—a super nice guy by the way—and take one of his seminars. Sitting next to him at a conference table for four hours, I asked him all kinds of questions about the business and learned many of his success secrets. I would love to go fishing with Brian and just get to know him better as a person. With Stephen King, I would love to share a beer and as what his secrets are to being so prolific. I’ve read his book On Writing and that was the closest I’ve gotten to learning his secrets to being an author. But there’s something about hanging out and talking with someone in person that has a deeper impact. I’ve gotten to hang out with James Rollins and John Saul for greater lengths of time, and they both had a huge impact on how I approach my career as an author.
8. As many people will know, Samhain Publishing is named for the ancient tradition that became every horrorhead’s favorite festival of Halloween. What would make for your best ever Samhain celebration?
First, I’d have to have a killer costume. Ever year I struggle on what to dress up as. Then it’s all about the party. I’d go with my girlfriend and a group of friends to some exotic place that throws a great Samhain celebration like the French Quarter in New Orleans or Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Two years ago I was living on Maui, and a group of us went to a beach town called Lahaina. They blocked off the main street for a mega Halloween party and every bar was packed. I saw some of the craziest costumes and a lot of risqué ones too, where people are half-naked. Now that was a party to remember. What I’m really looking forward to doing in the future is meeting up with fellow Samhain Horror authors at a horror convention and celebrating the success of our books.
Brian Moreland writes novels and short stories of horror and supernatural suspense. He loves hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, and dancing. Brian lives in Dallas, Texas where he is diligently writing his next horror novel. You can communicate with him online at http://brianmoreland.com/ or on Twitter @BrianMoreland.
Brian’s Horror Fiction blog: http://www.brianmoreland.blogspot.com 
Coaching for Writers blog: http://www.coachingforwriters.blogspot.com
Sample Chapter from Author Kristopher Rufty’s Book, Angel Board
Kristopher’s debut horror novel, Angel Board, is part of Samhain Publishing’s new horror lineup that unleashed on the world yesterday. Here’s a sample chapter from his book. Enjoy it…then pick up your copy!
Tonight David Barker planned to kill himself.
As he stood in the bathroom, gawking into the fingerprint-smudged, toothpaste-dotted mirror, his reflection gazed back through eyes a vacant shell of white. He didn’t recognize this person. The haggard, soundless face inside the glass showed signs of a soul suffering, and not the wholesome thirty-year-old man he was—or used to be.
That wasn’t David in there, not anymore.
Who was that guy?
The October wind gusted outside, causing the old apartment to creak and pop. He slowly exhaled through his nostrils, fogging up a small patch on the mirror. He wiped it away with a finger.
A few months earlier, he couldn’t have been happier. Things changed drastically in a short span of time. He’d gone from being in love with life, and a special girl like Samantha Corben, to hating everything affiliated with all of it. Being stuck in the same miserable routine day in and day out, not doing anything about it, had only made his condition worse. Drained him. Put him in front of this mirror, giving himself once last look at the pathetic inflammation he’d become before cashing in his chips.
David Barker is clocking out for the last time.
He glanced up at the brown splotches sprinkled across the ceiling and shook his head. Sam had been right all along. The bathroom really was in desperate need of a makeover. The paint that hadn’t peeled was fading fast. The floor was warped; the boards were loose and springy and sunk under each step. He often imagined himself one day crashing through the rotting wood and landing somewhere in the apartment below.
Sam had been after him for months to either fix up the place or move. She tried convincing him he could do much better. As she would sheepishly say—shack up with her, but when she’d discovered he wasn’t ready for that obligation just yet, she’d argued that if he was going to remain in that clammy apartment, he should at least make it livable. Sam had even gotten the landlord’s permission to do just that. The old man had agreed with all her grievances, going so far as to promise that if she kept the receipts he’d deduct it from the rent and also added an extra bit of news. He was planning to remodel the entire structure anyhow. So David had more than just his permission to revamp the apartment, he had his blessing.
What had stopped him? 
Everything. And nothing. He’d never seen the point in fixing the place up because he hadn’t planned to be there long enough to enjoy the refashion. At the time, he was planning to move on to a better job, a bigger place, and a healthier life for the two of them. Now he realized it was a form of premonition, foreshadowing what he was meant to do.
Die, he thought, and felt the misting in his eyes.
David stepped away from the mirror and over to the bathtub. Much like the rest of the place, a cleaning was in order. Mildew lined the tile of the shower walls, and mold caked in the corners. It wasn’t quite an infestation yet, but was getting close. Leaning over the tub, he gripped the knob labeled Hot. It felt cold and clammy in his palm. He turned it. Water erupted from the faucet, the pipes groaning from inside the walls as they heated.
Almost immediately, the water was scorching. He twisted the Cold dial to help adjust the temperature to his liking. Why he was taking these extra measures, he had no idea, but it felt like the right thing to do. Finding the right balance, he stoppered the drain. Briskly, the water began to rise.
He stood up, flicking the excess water off his fingers. On his way back to the mirror, he removed his jacket and winced at the haggard appearance he saw in the reflective glass.
“That is the mug of a looker, ladies and gentlemen,” he muttered.
Dangling his jacket in front of him, he searched the pockets for his cigarettes. He found them in the left pocket, then tossed the jacket on the toilet. It slid across the lid, falling on the floor between the commode and wall. He cringed. His favorite jacket, a black, zippered hood, had landed in the dreaded pee spot. The area his streams would wildly spray while he tried to find the bowl in his groggy, middle of the night bathroom trips.
Not like he’d ever wear it again.
Hope to God I’m not buried in it, he thought. Buried in a jacket that smells like old piss.
Someone would wash it first, they’d have to. Then he realized how ridiculous it was to consider he could actually be buried in that old jacket, anyway. It is my favorite. He’d heard of people being buried in sports-themed coffins, old school jerseys, so the idea he could be buried in a jacket he liked to wear wasn’t too farfetched. Oh well, someone would surely smell that stench and toss it in a washer first.
Hopefully.
Bio: 
Kristopher Rufty has written and directed the independent horror movies: Psycho Holocaust, Rags, and Wicked Wood. Angel Board is his first horror novel. He is married to his high school sweetheart and is the father of two maniacal children. He resides in North Carolina, where he is at work on his next novel.
“A powerhouse debut novel. Rufty’s prose will suck you in and hold you prisoner!”
–Ronald Malfi, author of Floating Staircase and Snow
“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
3 Must Read Novellas
I was recently at the Horrorfind convention and got to meet a ton of great authors. I picked up 3 small novellas put out by Thunderstorm Books (and when I say small, I mean the physcial books were actually tiny, about the size of my hand).
All are excellent, and each one is quite unique.
Here’s what you’ll get, in a very small nutshell.
For Emmy is poignant and creepy as hell.
Samson and Denial is gritty, outrageous and fun.
The Neighborhood peels back the epidermis of a neighborhood that holds more secrets than a mob informant.
Click on the cover images to read more and order a copy. You can thank me later.
Interview with new author, Scott Doornbosch
This is a wonderful interview with a new author who is facing some very tough times right in the midst of the excitement of publishing his first novel. Please read his interview, conducted by author Joe Konrath, and support the book! If his story doesn’t touch your heart, nothing else will.
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/06/interview-with-scott-doornbosch.html
Great Novels Not By King or Koontz – Scott Nicholson’s They Hunger
If you’re not reading Scott Nicholson’s books, go to Amazon, B&N, wherever, and rectify that. You can’t be a fan of modern horror if you don’t have a few Nicholson books under your belt. A good place to start is They Hunger. Set in the Appalachian Mountains, several groups of strangers come face to face along the rapids with unadulterated evil. It’s a very sleek twist on the vampire mythology and must be pretty damn good for me to recommend, because like most grown ups, I’m pretty sick of vampires. 
The vampires in They Hunger, thankfully, are mindless, merciless beasts driven solely by a need to feed. And feed they must! The great turn here is that the “helpless” human prey in their sights may have darker souls than the creatures gobbling them up like popcorn. You have an abortion clinic bomber who thinks he’s a prophet, a failed FBI agent, a drug addicted Native American, a complete A-hole jock and a whole host of fully formed, damaged individuals. It’s up to you, the reader, to decide who is truly evil : the flawed prey who have the ability to choose between right and wrong, or the hell bent hunters who have only one mission in life.
They Hunger is a great read, as are all of Scott Nicholson’s books. Also highly recommended are The Harvest and The Home. You can’t go wrong. Check out his website for a full listing of his work. If you have a Nook or Kindle, you can start reading in minutes!
Great Novels Not By King or Koontz – Warm Bodies
I decided to use this month’s column to devote to one book. I was recently given a chance to take a sneak peek at the latest zombie book, Warm Bodies, this one by newcomer Isaac Marion. At first, I was both excited and reluctant to read it. I love a good zombie story, don’t get me wrong here. It’s just that it seems the zombie wave has crested and is heading back out to sea. It all started, as far as I’m concerned, with Brian Keene’s master work, The Rising, in tandem with 28 Days Later (and the even better,28 Weeks Later). Life was good. Great new minds had picked up where George Romero left off and the horror hound public was better for it.
Then came the deluge. Over the past 3 years, it seems like every other horror movie is about zombies and there are enough awfully written undead books out there to stoke a mountain sized furnace. Granted, there are still some gems (Dead Snow, and World War Z come to mind), but I, like so many others, had grown weary and leery of the genre.
So while I was away on a quick vacation a couple of weeks ago, I decided, what the hell, let’s give this Warm Bodies a shot. If anything, it will be the gravemarker on the genre for me. Two pages in made me realize just how wrong I was.
Warm Bodies is the story of R, a zombie experiencing a sort of mid-death crisis. R lives in an abandoned jet at an airport with his zombie wife and kids. A council of older, more intelligent zombies assigned the makeshift family of the dead to him. During a raid for food (you know, the human kind) in the city, R comes across a beautiful young girl, Julie. After ripping her boyfriend to pieces, he inexplicably saves her from the sloppy zombie feast and brings her back to his home/jet.
Sounds crazy? You’re damn straight, it does. But here’s the best part. The writing is beautiful. I can honestly say, this is the first literary treatment of the zombie genre. Want to hear something even crazier? It’s a love story. That’s right, a love story between a zombie and a living girl. It may be the most poignant, heartbreaking, uplifting love story you read all year. Wow, that even looks crazy when I read it.
Isaac Marion has managed to do the impossible, breathe new, original life into the dessicated lungs of a genre that’s drying faster than Norman Bates’s mother. It’s a book about love, transformation, fear and triumph over the numbness of our souls. It’s already being made into a movie that should be out next year.
I’m giving Warm Bodies two meat clevers up and adding Isaac Marion to my Must Read list!
Great Horror Novels Not by King or Koontz
Don’t get me wrong, Stephen King and Dean Koontz are great writers and I’ve read dozens of their books. But there are so many other excellent authors out there that most people have never heard of. So, I feel it’s my duty to spread the word about these captains of the horror world and some of their better books. Every month I’ll post 3 different books so you have time to pick them up and read them. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
1. The Store, by Bentley Little. — Bentley is a master at exposing the dark fears hidden behind every day people, places and events. He’s arguably the best in the biz now. The Store is a twisted story of a Walmart-ish superstore run by the worst that hell has to offer. Clean up in aisle 666! 
2. Necroscope, by Brian Lumley. This is the first in a series of vampire books that Lumley wrote in the 80’s. After all the crap we’ve seen about vampires, this should purge the sparkle from them. These beasts are otherwordly and downright savage. Possibly one of the best horor series ever written. 
3. The Magic Cottage, by James Herbert. Not many folks in the US know about his work. Basically, James Herbert is the Stephen King of the UK. And this book is one of his best. Thanks to my pal Karl the Welsh Dragon for turning me on to him.
So now the question is, what books do you think should go on this list?
Need more horror? Brave enough to enter the Forest of Shadows?
What are some of your favorite horror novels? It’s always great to discover new authors and books.
Hunter Shea 