Got home from KillerCon yesterday afternoon, after a very quick 24-hour trip. Wish I could have stayed longer, but was glad for the time I had, particularly time spent with decades-long friends Carlton, Rose, Adam, Shane, Cargill, Ryan, Christine, Michael, and Jason.
The Splatterpunk Award winners for this year, as announced on Saturday night, are:
BEST NOVEL: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga)
BEST NOVELLA: Strange Stones, Edward Lee & Mary SanGiovanni (Clash)
BEST SHORT STORY: “The Tripps”, Wrath James White (The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand)
BEST COLLECTION: This Is Splatterpunk: The John Skipp Primer, John Skipp (Fungasm)
BEST ANTHOLOGY: Stories From The Motel Sick, Michael Allen Rose, ed. (RoShamBo)
J. F. GONZALEZ LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Ryan Harding and Christine Morgan
That was my last public appearance for the year. Thanks to everyone who came to all the signings, speeches, conventions, and charity fundraisers this past year. I ended up doing far more of them than I had planned, but you guys made them worth it, every time.
~
Women In Horror Year: Day 139
In The End, Only Darkness by Monica J. O’Rourke
"If you're a fan of extreme horror, you're going to love this." -Hellnotes
"O'Rourke writes with rare confidence and style. Though undoubtedly disturbing and sometimes brutal, still her work has something quite rare and special-heart." -Tim Lebbon, author of Echo City
Raw, brutal, and unapologetic, this collection features the twisted and shocking world of Monica J. O'Rourke. Turn back now if you are faint of heart, or be prepared to encounter the consequences of a gynecological visit gone horribly wrong, discover a unique form of circumcision, fear the roving packs of homicidal cannibal babies that come out at night, and worship genital mutilation as art.
In the tradition of writers such as Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee, and movies such as Saw and Hostel-In the End, Only Darkness is a visceral collection of horror that explores the pain possible in the human heart and body. O'Rourke demonstrates once again that she is one of the most vicious and disturbing writers of extreme fiction.
Monica J. O’Rourke’s third short story collection — In The End, Only Darkness — was originally published by Deadite Press. As such, the marketing copy and the original back cover synopsis only extolled the extreme horror offerings therein. Now, granted, a lot of the book is indeed extreme horror, and Wrath James White provided the Introduction, so readers could be forgiven for going in with certain expectations.
But regardless, Monica then blows those expectations down like houses built from straw. In The End, Only Darkness isn’t just a collection of her extreme horror. It is a wide-ranging, diverse showcase of Monica’s full abilities as a writer, including quiet horror, contemplative thought-peices, poetry, and yes, some of the most white-knuckled, stomach-wrenching extreme horror stories ever written.
In The End, Only Darkness is available in eBook from Crossroad Press. The Deadite Press paperback is out of print but still readily available on the secondary market, including used copies on Amazon for almost cover price.
