The 71st Delusion
What? I was nominated for an award?
So last week I posted a surprise newsletter about how feel concerning awards and contests. It was a piece that had been sitting in my drafts folder since last year. I randomly chose to post it only to find out, a few days later, that my novella Master of Bodies has been nominated for a Splatterpunk Award. What the actual fuck? I don’t know why things work out this way, but they do sometimes. It was serendipitous. Check out the full list of nominees HERE.
I’m thankful to all the fans of my work and my readers who have been gunning for me and championing my books. I have no idea how the hell Master of Bodies made the ballot. I mentioned in my post about awards and contests that they wouldn’t mean a thing if I had to lobby for them, and let me tell you, this came as a total surprise. I’m not the guy to gets nominations for awards. I published my first book in 2012, and this is the first time anything I’ve written has seen so much as a nomination. For this, I am truly beside myself with excitement. So thank you again to everyone who dug the book and has been rooting for me.
I was recently on Another Goddamn Horror Podcast, namely a spinoff called Bloody Books. We talked Disco Rice, depth of story within extreme horror, early influences, and all kinds of fun stuff. It was a great interview and I’m glad to kick off this new series as the first guest. The second episode is Daniel Volpe and that one was fantastic. I’m excited to see who’s next!
Disco Rice hits 50 reviews on Amazon! This is only my third to book to reach this milestone. I know, I know, The ‘Zon is the enemy, but sadly that’s where I sell books. That’s where most people know to get books. Yes, there’s Godless, my Big Cartel store, and going wide, but I don’t do nearly as well with any of those platforms. For now, Amazon is working to get attention on my books so I’m putting my focus there until something better comes along . . . if something better comes along.
“This story descends into the vilest depravity and insanity. This one will stay with you, wriggle deep into the very fibers of your soul and rot there. Powerful and grotesque but kinda beautiful and fascinating, and sad too.” —No Remorse Reviews
I revealed the cover for my new book The Traveling Movie Show last week, so here it is if you missed it. Art by the talented Don Noble.
It’s been said there’s no such thing as bad publicity, so when a man is murdered at the premiere of their debut film, Death Obsession, a small group of young filmmakers decide to make the best of a bad situation.
The Traveling Movie Show is a cross-country tour of the last drive-in theaters in America. A way to build buzz for a new horror film. But murder is close on their tails and fear of the tour being shut down has caused this misfit group to take fate into their own hands.
As they cover up each new death in each new town, they begin to turn on one another, wondering who the killer is. In the blistering heat of summer as they travel across the Midwest, they find out that some secrets weren’t meant to be kept. And sometimes killers are born of celluloid, dreams, and blood money.
I will be an attending author at Book and Brews 2.0 this year on August 2nd in Noblesville, Indiana. There’s a Kickstarter going up soon where you can get an anthology with stories by many of the attending authors, myself included. It will be a good one to grab, especially if you’re going to the event, because you’ll be able to get all the authors to sign it. My story is called “Regulars”. It was inspired by two dive bars I used to live nearby in San Diego. I was never a big bar person, but I’d gone to both a few times, enough to know that bars have their regulars. Especially dive bars. For more info on Books and Brews, check out the Facebook page.
So, Gina's sister goes missing and Gina has nightmares that her sister is being tortured. She runs into an old flame who knows a group of witches who can help. Holding circles and using the painting Gina painted of her nightmare, they locate the missing sister as well as an evil entity trying to block the witches as they attempt to save the sister.
Torture Tomb by C. Dean Anderson is everything you would expect from an 80s horror boom tome. It's pretty violent for a 1987 release. Reminded me a lot of J F Gonzalez' Survivor, only that book is WAY better.
The torture scenes were kind of repetitive, so it was nice to have the witch plot as a palate cleanser. There was a chapter where Gina finds out her ex is into some kinky shit--he likes watching videos of women being tortured but only because he knows it's not real--that seemed shoehorned in to add an unnecessary layer to the plot, considering they're searching for her sister who's being tortured.
I enjoyed the story well enough, but I wouldn't pay the amounts this book sells for online just to read it. Read Survivor for a much better story.
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Thank you for spending a few minutes reading my newsletter. I will be back in two weeks with another one. Until then, read horror and tell the world about it!
Congratulations! I saw on Facebook that you were nominated. That’s great. Your cartel bookstore is way better than Amazon!! People need to use it. 💕📚 I’m voting for you.