The Best Pumpkin Beer For #Horrortober And Everything In Between
Sometimes as a Monster Man, you just have to bite the bullet for the greater good. Fall is here and the shelves are bursting with dozens of different seasonal pumpkin beers to choose from. Jack and I ponied up to the bar and did some taste tests to let you know what to run out and buy and what to avoid. Let me tell you, it was a way better experience than our monster wine taste test. Find out who rules #Horrortober!
Naturally, this is my favorite month, the time when I have all the irons in the fire and surround myself with all things horrific. I’m watching at least 1 horror movie a day and posting them on Twitter with the hashtag #Horrortober. I’m also posting some quick reviews on what I’m watching and reading over at The Monster Men blog.
Two of my books, SWAMP MONSTER MASSACRE and THE MONTAUK MONSTER, were just named in Horror Novel Reviews 100 Scariest Books of All Time. If you’re a horror reader, check out the list and see how many you’ve got under your belt.
Speaking of Swampy, a review of the audiobook was just posted at Reading Between the Wines (my favorite way to read!). I think they dug it. I mean, who doesn’t love a good, murderous skunk ape tale?
There’s a new review of my terror-filled western, HELL HOLE, over at the blog for Lindsey R. Loucks. We also did a fun, unique Q&A. Interviewers take note! She was truly original. I have a special I’ll be running for Hell Hole next week, so stay tuned.
Last but far from least, I was also happy to be on the return episode of POD OF HORROR, where we talked about The Montauk Monster and some of my upcoming projects. An awesome podcast that you should be checking out. Plus, they love Jonathan Janz, so they’re my kind of peeps.
Now, if you’ve made it this far, you should be properly rewarded. For those living in the US, send me an email at huntershea1@gmail.com with the subject : 100 Scary Books. Let me know the scariest book you ever read. I’ll pick 2 people at random to win a signed copy of The Montauk Monster.
I’m In Jim Harold’s Campfire 3 Book!
Over the years listening to Jim Harold’s Paranormal Podcast and becoming a subscriber to his Plus club where I can feed my paranomral addiciton daily, I’ve become a bit of a fanboy. I told him recently that’s he’s become the Leonard Nimoy (ala In Search of…) of the modern day.
A few years ago, I was on his Campfire Tales podcast, talking about the strange haunting I’ve been experiencing over the years. Well, you can imagine how thrilled I was when Jim emailed me saying he’d like to include it in his latest book, TRUE GHOST STORIES : JIM HAROLD’S CAMPFIRE 3.
You can get a copy of Campfire 3 on your e-reader for just $2.99 – that’s less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks. In it, you’ll get 70 chilling tales of ghosts and high strangeness, as told by the people who experienced the unknown. You can also get it in paperback. Guess what I’m giving out to the trick or treaters this year!
And while you’re at it, check out his FREE Paranormal Podcast. And if you’ve had a ghostly encounter, send him an email and be part of his Campfire Tales show. You just may end up in a future edition.
A Two-Part Interview with Horror Meister – Jonathan Janz
To say we here at Monster Men central have been working hard to have legend-in-the-making author Johnathan Janz on the show is putting it mildly. So we figured once we had our claws in him, we weren’t letting go until we had enough for two episodes! In part 1, we talk about his latest horror thriller, EXORCIST ROAD, as well as everything else in the Janz growing library. JJ is the goods and also one of the nicest guys in the biz. I have to admit, he’s my writer brother from another mother. Here’s a great chance to see and hear the man behind the tales of terror. I do believe this may be the first video interview with the man who likes to spin our nightmares.
In part 2, we focus on vampires, both in books and movies. His spring release, DUST DEVILS, is one of the best vampire books to mosey along the Ponderosa and naturally made us gravitate toward the bloodsuckers. We know how much you all dig your vamps. Enjoy!
#Horrortober Reading List for 2014
Oh, it’s that time of year again, my dead little friends (you know, you shouldn’t play with dead things). I can finally tear into all of the books and movies and podcasts and TV shows I’ve been saving all year for Horrortober. Now, you all know that I watch at least 1 horror movie a day in October and rate them on Twitter using my Mummy inspired system of 9 tana leaves.
What I look forward to the most are the books and stories I’ve been collecting. This year, I plan to take on a heavy load, but it will be worth it. If you’re looking for a spooky to read, whether it be fiction or true tales of the unexplained, I hope you find something on this list to whet your bloody appetite! Get ready, this is gonna be a big one (insert crude remark here).
NOVELLAS
There are 3 novellas I can’t wait to read from my fellow Samhain Horror authors. You can download any one of them yourself for just a few sheckles (and I won’t stop you from picking up my true haunting tale, THE WAITING).
JONATHAN JANZ – EXORCIST ROAD
Possessed by a demon…or by the urge to kill?
Chicago is gripped by terror. “The Sweet Sixteen Killer” is brutally murdering sixteen-year-old girls, and the authorities are baffled.
A seemingly normal fourteen-year-old boy has attacked his entire family and had to be chained to his bed. His uncle, police officer Danny Hartman, is convinced his nephew is possessed by a demon. Danny has sent his partner, Jack, to fetch the only priest in Chicago who has ever performed an exorcism.
But Jack has other plans tonight. He believes the boy isn’t possessed by a demon, but instead by an insatiable homicidal urge. Jack believes the boy is the Sweet Sixteen Killer. And he aims to end the reign of terror before another girl dies.
BRIAN MORELAND – THE VAGRANTS
Journalist Daniel Finley is determined to save the impoverished of the world. But the abandoned part of humanity has a dark side too. While living under a bridge with the homeless for six months, Daniel witnessed something terrifying. Something that nearly cost him his sanity.
Now, two years later, he’s published a book that exposes a deadly underground cult and its charismatic leader. And Daniel fears the vagrants are after him because of it. At the same time, his father is being terrorized by vicious mobsters. As he desperately tries to help his father, Daniel gets caught up in the middle of a war between the Irish-American mafia and a deranged cult of homeless people who are preparing to shed blood on the streets of Boston.
DAVID BERNSTEIN – APARTMENT 7C
Sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands.
Eighty-two-year-old Beth Baker can hear the cop in apartment 7C beating his wife. Again. She’s also having dreams—or are they visitations—of her dead daughter, Alice, who was killed fifty years ago by an abusive husband.
The message is clear—Beth has to take care of the cop. But he’s a decorated detective and over two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle, so what’s a little old lady like her going to do? When things turn ugly and the cop threatens Beth’s own life, she realizes she needs to resort to extreme measures. Blood must be shed.
NOVELS
KEITH ROMMEL – THE SINFUL MAN
Headaches. Hunger. Pain.
Leo needs something . . . his stomach growls, but it can wait. That’s not hunger he must feed. He has to get to his next high, but without money he knows he can’t buy what he needs to sate the voice inside telling him to get more, get more.
Voices. Visions. Addiction.
No luck asking his father. His mother is in no position to help. After failing to steal the money he desperately needs, Leo must appeal to his dealer, the dangerous and infamous Saint Nick—despite the inevitable beating he’ll take for showing up empty-handed. Still, anything to keep the voices and flashbacks at bay . . .
Demons. Addiction. Death.
GLENN ROLFE – THE HAUNTED HALLS
TRUE TALES OF THE PARANORMAL
THE LEE AVENUE HAUNTING –
DONNA PARISH-BISCHOFF
The Cranmers seemed fated to own the house at 3406 Brownsville Road. As a young boy, Bob had been drawn to the property, and, just when the family decided to move back to Brentwood, it went up for sale. Without a second thought, they purchased the house that Bob had always dreamed of owning.But soon, the family began experiencing strange phenomena—objects moving on their own, ghostly footsteps, unsettling moaning sounds—that gradually increased in violence, escalating to physical assaults and, most disturbingly, bleeding walls. Bob, Lesa, and their four children were under attack from a malicious demon that was conjuring up terrifying manifestations to destroy their tight-knit household. They had two choices: leave or draw on their unwavering faith to exorcise the malicious fiend who haunted their home.
Win A Signed Copy Of My Horror-Western, HELL HOLE
A big thank you to Matt Molgaard and the folks at HORROR NOVEL REVIEWS for running a special giveaway for my latest novel, HELL HOLE. I’m telling you, if true, terror-inducing horror and wild adventure are your thing, HELL HOLE was written with you in mind.
Here’s a little snippet of the HNR post :
There is absolutely no refuting Hunter Shea’s position in the horror world. He’s an extremely active author who puts his fiction at the front of the life line, and it’s paid major dividends. His knack for creating jaw dropping monsters has not let me down a single time, and that’s why I’ll campaign for this stud’s work Any. Time. Whatsover!
Simply put, I’m a fan who will stand by Hunter as long as Hunter is creating new stories.
He’s doing just that.
Hell Hole, Hunter’s latest, is a promising amalgamation of insanity and unconventional obstacles. And it sounds damn scary!
Now, how do you get in on the action? Hop on over to HORROR NOVEL REVIEWS by clicking here. They’ll tell you the exceedingly simple steps to enter the giveaway. They’ve come up with a great way to not only have a contest for the book, but to also get you in the Halloween mood! Good luck, pardners!
Come See Me This Friday In NJ – Talking Real Montauk Monsters!
Hey, if you’re in the New York tri-state area this Friday, Sept 19th, I hope you can come to the Well Read Bookstore in Hawthorne, New Jersey. I’ve been invited by the Science Fiction Society of Northern New Jersey to talk about the facts within the fiction of my book, The Montauk Monster. The fun begins at 7pm. I promise to make it an interesting night. I even have my own technical team on hand to make sure nothing breaks! That’s right, this author is head of the AV club.
Author Keith Rommel On His Latest Novel And Upcoming Movie
The Monster Men sucked Keith Rommel right back into our madness to kick off our series of interviews that will be posted through (and probably past) the Halloween season.
Now, you all know his first book, The Cursed Man, is being made into a movie (well, you do if you watched our previous interview with Keith). Aside from that, he’s released 2 more books this year – The Lurking Man & Among the People, and has big, big plans for the future. There’s also an invitation for a future project that, if it happens, you can all say you were there when the seed was planted!
Watch on, little brothers and sisters and remember to turn the lights off…
New Cover Reveal for Island of the Forbidden
I just got the cover art for my January release, ISLAND OF THE FORBIDDEN, this weekend and I couldn’t wait to share it with you. This is the much anticipated sequel to SINISTER ENTITY, and like the previous 2 books in the series, it can be read as a standalone story. I have to say, this is the best cover I’ve gotten so far and it perfectly captures the nature of the book. Whaddya think?
Here’s a little tease about the book itself :
Sometimes, the dead are best left in peace.
Three painful years after her terrifying encounter with a doppelganger, Jessica Backman is called to help a strange family living on a haunted island in Charleston Harbor. Ormsby Island was the site of a brutal massacre two decades ago. The mysterious Harper family needs someone to exorcise the ghosts that still call it home.
But something far more insidious is living on the island. Dozens of phantoms walk the halls and roam the surrounding forest. What sort of evil lives and seethes on Ormsby Island? And why was Jessica chosen as the only one who could plumb its dark depths? Reunited with uber-psychic Eddie Home, whose own abilities have been shattered, Jessica must face crimes so taboo, no one will ever be the same.
More to come!
Come Play With Us
I think Jack and I as the girls from THE SHINING may be creepier than the movie itself. So starts the official countdown to #Horrortober, culminating in what is going to be an epic Halloween!
Huge thanks to honorary Monster Man Jerry Mulcahy for whipping this disturbing pic up. 🙂
Forest of Shadows Coming to Audio
Great news. I was just informed that Forest of Shadows, the book that started it all, will be made into an audiobook! It will be available in 2015 – no definite date set yet. For you ghost fanatics out there, this is where the legend of ghost hunter Jessica Backman begins – a tale about her father staring into the abyss, searching for truths better left unsaid. This led to Sinister Entity and next year’s Island of the Forbidden.
I wish I could be the one to select who does the narration. Here are my top choices :
- Christopher Walken
- William Shatner
- Jef Bridges
- The Aflac duck
Who would you like to hear narrate the book?
If audio’s not your thing but you want to stock up on some spooky reading for Halloween, here’s what Forest of Shadows has in store for you –
The dead still hate!
John Backman specializes in inexplicable phenomena. The weirder the better. So when he gets a letter from a terrified man describing an old log home with odd whisperings, shadows that come alive, and rooms that disappear, he can’t resist the call. But the violence only escalates as soon as John arrives in the remote Alaskan village of Shida. Something dreadful happened there. Something monstrous. The shadows are closing in…and they’re out for blood.
Hunter Shea 