2011 was a good year for Deadite Press. In the aftermath of their Dorchester coup, they published 24 titles, including books by myself, Bryan Smith, J.F. Gonzalez, Edward Lee, Robert Devereaux, Wrath James White, and Nate Southard. Carlton Mellick posted a retrospective of all 24 titles here. It makes a handy gift-buying guide for this holiday season. To the left is the cover for the Deadite reissue of Dark Hollow, which will be available in just a few short weeks (along with Ghoul and The Cage).
Speaking of Ghoul, things are happening behind the scenes. I am forbidden by my masters at NBC – Universal – Chiller – Moderncine to say anything or post any details online. For example, if the premiere was going to happen at a certain film festival in Park City, Utah on a weekend in January 2012, I wouldn’t be able to tell you that. And if it were going to debut on television during the first quarter of 2012, I wouldn’t be able to tell you that, either. But things are certainly happening behind the scenes…
Things are happening behind the scenes in the HWA, as well. A friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, writes via email: “There is a discussion on the HWA message board about whether or not Stephen King’s 11/22/63 should be eligible for a Bram Stoker Award because it isn’t horror. Of course, the subtext is: If King is eligible then *I* (various people represented by “I”) don’t stand a chance.” This is a case of people not knowing their genre’s history (something which I spoke about at length last month). A portion of HWA members feel that Stephen King’s new novel should be ineligible for the Bram Stoker Award because it’s not horror. Well, if that’s the case, then what about works which were eligible in the past? What about Douglas E. Winter’s Run, Robert R. McCammon’s Mine, Bruce Boston’s The Guardener’s Tale, Paul Tremblay’s The Little Sleep, or Thomas Harris’s Silence of the Lambs? All of these were in the running for or won a Bram Stoker Award. None of them were horror. Boston’s novel was dystopian sci-fi, and the rest were solid crime-thrillers. I could see not nominating a novel such as The Help, but King’s new novel features several genre staples and is clearly part of the overall weird fiction canon.
In other news, Kim at Camelot Books reports that Is There A Demon In You? is more than halfway sold out. You can get a copy here. This new anthology features four demonic possession novellas by four different authors. My contribution is The Witching Tree, a novella featuring Levi Stoltzfus (the occult detective from Ghost Walk and A Gathering of Crows). You don’t need to have read those books to enjoy this story, but if you have, you should know that The Witching Tree bridges the gap between A Gathering of Crows and the next Levi novel, Bad Ground, which should come out in early 2013. If you order the book from the link above, you also get one of four free chapbooks — one of which is by me and is called Fast Zombies Suck. Makes a nice holiday gift.
Been enjoying a creative windfall over the last week, with energy levels not experienced since the heart attack. The scripts for The Last Zombie: Neverland #1, 2, and 3 are finished, as is a story for an anthology Christopher Golden is putting together (just needs one final polish). This week, I’ll be focusing my full attention on The Lost Level.
You may have noticed that I’ve changed the storefront here, splitting it into two sections: BOOKS and COMICS. Feel free to browse, and certainly feel free to buy something. You may also have noticed that I’m back on Facebook. Previously, I’d deactivated my private profile and left Jeff Heimbuch in charge of the fan page. However, in order for me to make changes to the fan page, Facebook forced me to reactivate my private profile. Please feel free to “Like” the fan page, but please withhold friend requests to my private profile, unless we are somehow related.
That discussion’s really happening? Ridiculous. Reminds me of when several org members argued that Cormac McCarthy’s The Road shouldn’t be eligible because the tale of a father and son trying to survive a brutal wasteland full of cannibals and child rapists was cleary science fiction. Ah, well. I’m sure McCarthy doesn’t care. He’s got that Pulitzer, after all.
The inmate is no longer running the asylum!
Glad to NOT hear about the film festival premiere!
Deadite Rocks!
Congratulations, my friend. Can’t wait to see the movie. Glad to hear more of your books are coming back into print. Keep in touch.
The roller coaster ride continues. I’m ecstatic that Ghoul is almost upon us, but sick that I’m cash poor and going to miss out on The Witching Tree, but then there’s the thrill of anticipation for Bad Ground… Damn it. Keep this up, Brian, and I’ll be the one with heart problems.
At first glance I had wondered about why King’s new novel had been put on the list of contenders, but two things immediately sprang to mind: 1) It’s Stephen King; 2) the nominated books from previous years that aren’t strictly horror.
Great to Deadite is doing well. I must do some Christmas shopping there and pick out a book or two. They’ve got Darkness on the Edge of Town, don’t they?
One of my favorite things about Deadite are the covers. They aren’t poorly, done-in-five mock-ups like a lot of book covers. Anyway, here’s to a great 2012, Brian.
Posting this here since the site no longer has a message board (which I still mourn)…glad to hear you are ok and I am very, very, very excited to finally be able to complete my Keene collection in 2012 when the old titles are re-published. I just finished Kill Whitey, by the way, and it was an awesome read. Short, brutal and to the point. And, in my opinion, it would also make an excellent short film in the Masters of Horror tradition.
Also extremely excited about Ghoul.
Thanks, folks!
Why did Message Boards become a thing of the past? I’m just wondering.
Ok. So I changed my mind about coming here. A woman’s prerogative, or at least that’s what I’m calling it, b/c it sounds better than bounced back and forth thinking about it, then finally settled on coming here.
I came here, b/c it’s the only place I know to come where I’ll be on topic when I talk about Ghostwalk. Well, slightly on topic, anyway. Ghostwalk is part of Dark Hollow isn’t it?
I think Ghostwalk is just about the best book I’ve ever read, besides ‘Darkness On the Edge of Town.’
I’m still REALLY upset that I spilled a clear drink (Sprite) all over ‘Darkness,’ and the book hasn’t been the same since.
I was reading it at work and, unfortunately, I’ve never gotten used to the alarm that signals an emergency and, when it went off, I practically came out of my skin. I managed to save my skin, but it was at the cost of knocking the can over and spilling a large quantity of it right down the middle of the book.
And I couldn’t clean it up, b/c every second you delay in an emergency counts against you, not to mention the patient. I had to wait until after the call to attend to something like that.
So I’ll be getting another copy of ‘Darkness On the Edge of Town.’
That’s the first time that’s ever happened, and I’m really glad I owned the darn book, b/c I would have hated to do that to a library book.
Vicki B: Yep, Ghost Walk is a direct sequel to Dark Hollow. Don’t spill soda on it, though!
I can’t find the paragraph in which you talk about Levi, but I want to talk about him, b/c I just finished Ghost Walk and am almost finished reading Dark Hollow.
Maybe the revelation that Adam Senft “wasn’t completely innocent” is yet to come but, from what I’ve read so far, he’s no guiltier than any other person who comes complete with good and bad qualities.
It seems like he found, by accident of misfortune, a bad situation. I’m not sure I understand how that qualifies him to be the sacrifice that stops Nodens from destroying the world, but I could be missing the logic.
I’ve never been accused of having vast logic, and I’ve known other people (especially after working around Medical Doctor’s) who have a lot more logical and analytical mind than I have.
I just get the impression that Adam Senft was forced into the situation that he’s having to deal with. It feels the same as when I was forced into a situation in 2001 that I’ll probably be “dealing with,” in one way or another, until I’m called home.
Incidentally, those two books helped me in ways I never expected, and those ways were more positive than negative. I guess that’s why I like those two books so much.
That and how imaginative the story was is why I love those two books.
Levi knowingly and willingly sacrificed Adam in order to stop Nodens. It’s one of those shades of gray situations. In order to stop Nodens, a sacrifice had to be made. That’s why Levi feels the weight and guilt at the end (and it’s suggested that this wasn’t the first time he’s had to make such a choice).