#Blogtour Ragman by J.G. Faherty

 It’s my turn on the BlogTour Ragman by J.G. Faherty.

About the Author

A life-long resident of New York’s haunted Hudson Valley, JG Faherty has been a finalist for both the Bram Stoker Award® (The Cure, Ghosts of Coronado Bay) and ITW Thriller Award (The Burning Time), and he is the author of 8 novels, 11 novellas, and more than 75 short stories. He writes adult and YA horror, science fiction, paranormal romance, and urban fantasy. He grew up enthralled with the horror movies and books of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, and as a child his favourite playground was a 17th-century cemetery. Which explains a lot. Follow @jgfaherty on Twitter, @jgfaherty/ on Instagram or visit jgfaherty.com

About the book

If you love a great horror tale with ancient mummies, a deluded priest and two oddball cops, then you’re in for a treat…

In 1882, a group of British soldiers plunder an Egyptian temple and kill the high priest. The priest vows revenge, and is finally revived in the present day. 

He finds the great-grandson of the man who killed him, but they form an uneasy partnership to get back all the stolen artefacts and send all the descendants of the other soldiers to the Underworld. 

Two police officers, former partners who had a falling out, must put aside their differences as they go from trying to solve gruesome, unexplained murders to risking their lives to stop the supernatural mummy the priest has called forth.

Review

Probably should think twice about crossing a priest, they can get a bit cross, especially when it comes to stealing from the church. They can wreak havoc over generations. Kill and create killers to do their dirty work – all in the name of the gods they serve.

Is it just me or is there something extra creepy about calling this book Ragman? Probably is just me, but it gives it another layer than just reading about an awakened ancient mummy, which is more than enough to creep anyone out. 

Old school horror comes a calling with a modern angle, but a very much typical grudge bearing enemy who is willing to wait a very long time to get their revenge. If not the man he seeks, then a direct relative will do. It’s certainly been a while since a mummy took centre stage in a modern day horror tale.

I do wonder if the read will be slightly different for those of us who grew up with monster movies, features that have a tongue-in-cheek feel about them. The fun with the scare.

Buy Ragman at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Flame Tree Press, pub date 10 Jan. 2023. Buy at Amazon com. Buy via Flame Tree Press.

#BlogTour Mestiza Blood by V. Castro

It is an absolute pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Mestiza Blood by V. Castro.

About the Author

Violet Castro is a Mexican American writer originally from Texas now residing in the UK with her family. When not caring for her three children, she dedicates her time to writing. Follow @vlatinalondon on Twitter, @vlatinalondon on Instagram

About the book

From the lauded author of The Queen of the Cicadas (which picked up starred reviews from PW, Kirkus and Booklist who called her “a dynamic and innovative voice”) comes a short story collection of nightmares, dreams, desire and visions focused on the Chicana experience. 

V.Castro weaves urban legend, folklore, life experience and heartache in this personal journey beginning in south Texas: a bar where a devil dances the night away; a street fight in a neighborhood that may not have been a fight after all; a vengeful chola at the beginning of the apocalypse; mind swapping in the not so far future; satan who falls and finds herself in a brothel in Amsterdam; the keys to Mictlan given to a woman after she dies during a pandemic. 

The collection finishes with two longer tales: The Final Porn Star is a twist on the final girl trope and slasher, with a creature from Mexican folklore; and Truck Stop is an erotic horror romance with two hearts: a video store and a truck stop.

Review

I find with short stories that it is often quite hard to pick a few to review, especially when they are all equally compelling. These are all stories that stand out from the crowd – each one of them thought provoking.

From the dead with a hunger for vengeance, the world of flesh reduced to commodity, the devil and a simple night out on the town.

Castro is bold, brash and a force to be reckoned with. Her inner rage, although one could argue that it is less inner and more in your face, and emotions collide with her creative energy to create powerful stories. Stories born from fact, truth, folklore, myth, fiction and the dark recesses of her imagination. 

Her novel Queen of the Cicidas is slightly tempered in comparison to the often brutally frank, crude ventures into the world of death, vengeance, reflection and a violence on a variety of levels, in these stories.

This an author to watch, a scribe with a unique style of storytelling, and said stories are infused with the pain and reality of life. The cruelty of humanity laid bare for all to experience. No secrets, just a following of absolute truth, which can be tumultuous and deadly at times. 

Buy Mestiza Blood at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Buy at Amazon com. At Flame Tree Press.

#BlogTour Sins of the Father by J.G. Faherty

Today it’s my turn on the BlogTour Sins of the Father by J.G. Faherty.

About the Author

JG Faherty is the author of 6 novels, 9 novellas, and more than 60 short stories. His latest novel is Hellrider. He has been a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award® and the ITW Thriller Award.

Follow @jgfaherty on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, Visit jgfaherty.com, Buy Sins of a Father

About the book

Henry Gilman has spent years trying to separate himself from his father’s legacy of murder and insanity. Now he has the chance – all he has to do is figure out who’s been killing people in Innsmouth. Then he’ll be a hero and win the heart of the woman he loves, Flora Marsh. But soon he’s caught in a web of danger, with the undead stalking the streets at night, a terrible monster lurking below the city, and a prophecy of destruction about to come true. In the process, his actions cause unwanted consequences and to save Flora he has to do the very thing he’s spent his life trying to avoid: follow his father’s footsteps into madness.

Review

Innsmouth has become a city where the dead are stalking the living. The police are on the hunt for a vicious murderer, but it isn’t until Henry stumbles upon a killing in process that he realises there is something more nefarious happening.

Unfortunately it reminds him all too much of the atrocities his father committed, but his inside knowledge also gives him a better idea of what is going on. Simultaneously his love for Flora, and the underlying jealousy he feels because she favours another man, drives him deeper into the evil that lurks in the town.

What he eventually finds or is drawn to makes him question everything he knows about his father and indeed the concept of evil, whether the eyes of the beholder are a true measure and comprehension of what the world understands it to be.

One of the threads of the story I found quite fascinating was the evolution, or is is the devolution of Henry? Is his path a result of nature or nurture, perhaps a combination of both, despite the fact he tries to resist said path. A self-fulfilling prophecy driven by fear of rejection, failure or enhanced by the expectation given his relationship to the man who raised and influenced him. His resistance to the public opinion of himself runs alongside his actions and decisions.

And the question of who judges what is evil, and whether that judgement is more a case of those in charge dictating and choosing the people or groups to be placed under the category of ‘evil’ depending on the era. Evil now, the norm in the future. Evil in the past and now the norm.

Faherty plays with the perspective and concept of good and what society deems unacceptable. When does science and invention cross boundaries or is it just crossing a boundary because it’s not the norm?

It’s a horror with a gothic vibe that draws inspiration from Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Buy Sins of the Father at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Flame Tree Press; pub date 11 Aug. 2020. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Boy in the Box Marc E. Fitch

Today it’s my turn on the BlogTour Boy in the Box by Marc E. Fitch.

About the Author

Marc E. Fitch is the author of the novels Old Boone Blood, Paradise Burns and Dirty Water,as well as the books Paranormal Nation: Why America Needs Ghosts, UFOs and Bigfoot and Shmexperts: How Power Politics and Ideology are Disguised as Science. His short fiction has appeared in numerous publications and anthologies, including Best Horror of the Year vol 10.

Marc received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Western Connecticut State University and has worked as a bartender, psychiatric technician for inpatient behavioral health hospitals, and most recently as an investigative reporter for a public-policy organization. He was the recipient of the 2014

Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship and the Leslie Leeds Poetry Prize. He is the father of four children and lives and works in Connecticut.

Follow @fitch_marc on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Visit marcfitch.com, Buy Boy in the Box

About the book

Ten years ago a mysterious and tragic hunting accident deep in the Adirondack Mountains left a boy buried in a storied piece of land known as Coombs’ Gulch and four friends with a terrible secret.

Now, Jonathan Hollis and brothers Michael and Conner Braddick must return to the place that changed their lives forever in order to keep their secret buried. What they don’t realize is that they are walking into a trap — one set decades earlier by a supernatural being who is not confined by time or place:a demon that demands a sacrifice.

Review

When Gene, Jonathan, Conner and his brother Michael travel up to an isolated cabin in the Adirondack Mountains to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of one of them, the plan is to hunt and spend his last moments of single freedom with his mates and doing manly things without any distractions.

Things don’t go exactly as planned and the four of them leave with the kind of secret that burdens the soul and psyche. Killing a child and burying him in the forest isn’t really something you can just get over, right? Well, some of them seem to deal with it better than others.

It becomes necessary to return to the forest to remove the clues of their crime, which thrusts the men back into the nightmare that has been following them around for years.

It’s a tense horror read that creeps and swirls like a malignant fog.

Fitch lets the more sinister side of this story seep in gradually, as if the demon were playing a game of distraction. Is this a story about a murder, about deviants trying to kidnap children or something more nefarious? The misdirection is actually what makes the story so compelling, because you don’t actually put all of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together until the end.

Talking of the end – it throws up this horrific moral dilemma, which gives the book and the reader this last hefty slap of evil. It’s an interesting walk on a very fine line between the instability of minds burdened by guilt, the supernatural and a darkness that exists all around us.

Buy Boy in the Box at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Flame Tree Press; pub date 23 April 2020. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour The Tower by Anne-Marie Ormsby

Today it’s my turn on the BlogTour The Tower by Anne-Marie Ormsby.

About the Author

Anne Marie grew up on the Essex coast with her parents and six siblings in a house that was full of books and movies and set the scene for her lifelong love of both.

She began writing short stories when she was still at primary school after reading the book The October Country by Ray Bradbury. He was and still is her favourite author and the reason she decided at age 9 that she too would be a writer someday.

In her teens she continued to write short stories and branched out into poetry, publishing a few in her late teens. In her early twenties she began committing herself to writing a novel and wrote one by the age of 20 that she then put away, fearing it was too weird for publication.

She wrote Purgatory Hotel over several years, but again kept it aside after several rejections from publishers. Luckily for her, she found a home for her twisted tale with Crooked Cat Books.

Her favourite authors include Ray Bradbury, Jack Kerouac, Stephen King, Denis Lehane and Douglas Coupland. She also takes great inspiration from music and movies, her favourite artists being Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Johnny Cash, Interpol, David Lynch and David Fincher.

After ten years living in London, Anne-Marie moved to Margate where she lives with her husband and their daughter.

Follow @AMOrmsby on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Visit annemarieormsby.com, Buy The Tower

About the book

Sometimes the dead come back. And sometimes all they want is to hurt you.

When residents on an east London housing estate start dying in gruesome ways, housing manager Ada begins to worry that her past is coming back to haunt her.

Once a powerful medium, able to talk to the dead with amazing ease, she became more comfortable with the afterlife than real life, and with that openness she attracted something dark from the other side. Terrified by the experience she swore she would never communicate with the dead again.

Ten years later at the scene of an apparent suicide, her long closed-down connection to the dead is reopened, and she begins to receive information she shouldn’t know about the victims’ final moments.

Stalked in her dreams and in waking life by an angry male presence, Ada begins to relive the dark days when something from the other side wanted her to end her life.

But as the bodies stack up and the visions intensify, Ada realises that in order to stop more people from dying she has to let the dead back in to find out the truth of what is driving her residents to violent acts – and face up to her own ghosts.

Review

Ada is a housing manager, who is called to one of the apartments only to find one of the tenants dead. Brutally murdered or suicide? Or is there something else going on. As the deaths pile up she struggles with visions that seem to suggest she has the power of foresight.

With the help of a local detective she tries to comprehend why she is seeing images of the deaths. Brutal, bloody images that haunt her days and nights. Sometimes she blacks out completely, which isn’t as bad as being at the mercy of someone from the other side of the veil. A man who wants to harm her.

The dead are speaking to her, whispering, reaching and yet there is one that brings evil. He stalks Ada at night and during the day – determined to get his message through to her, whether she wants to hear it or not.

It’s crime fiction with a horror and paranormal vibe. A ghostly nightmare that turns into something quite unexpected.

Ormsby uses a paranormal element to create a story that appears to be a crime read, but in reality it is a dark read that wanders into layers of guilt, conscience and horror. What could be more insidious than the manifestation of something that comes to not only haunt, but also to kill for you or because of you?

I have to hand it to the author for the ending, which brings the plot together nicely, and opens up a whole different interpretation of the plot.

Buy The Tower at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: darkstroke books: pub date 10 Jan. 2020. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Blackwood by Michael Farris Smith

Today it’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Blackwood by Michael Farris Smith.

About the Author

Michael Farris Smith is the author of Blackwood (2020), The Fighter, Desperation Road, Rivers, and The Hands of Strangers. His novels have appeared on Best of the Year lists with Esquire, Southern Living, Book Riot, and numerous others, and have been named Indie Next, Barnes & Noble Discover, and Amazon Best of the Month selections. His essays have appeared with The New York Times, Bitter Southerner, Writer’s Bone, and more. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife and daughters.

Follow @michael_f_smith on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads,  Visit michaelfarrissmith.com, Buy Blackwood

About the book

In this timeless, mythical tale of unforgiving justice and elusive grace, rural Mississippi townsfolk shoulder the pain of generations as something dangerous lurks in the enigmatic kudzu of the woods.

The town of Red Bluff, Mississippi, has seen better days, though those who’ve held on have little memory of when that was. Myer, the county’s aged, sardonic lawman, still thinks it can prove itself — when confronted by a strange family of drifters, the sheriff believes that the people of Red Bluff can be accepting, rational, even good.

The opposite is true: this is a landscape of fear and ghosts — of regret and violence — transformed by the kudzu vines that have enveloped the hills around it, swallowing homes, cars, rivers, and hiding a terrible secret deeper still.

Colburn, a junkyard sculptor who’s returned to Red Bluff, knows this pain all too well, though he too is willing to hope for more when he meets and falls in love with Celia, the local bar owner. The Deep South gives these noble, broken, and driven folks the gift of human connection while bestowing upon them the crippling weight of generations. With broken histories and vagabond hearts, the townsfolk wrestle with the evil in the woods — and the wickedness that lurks in each and every one of us.

Review

This story is driven in various directions with a rural Mississippi town and its people in the midst of it all. Townspeople that live off the myths, the gossip and the paranoia of the darkness that consumes their town and the surrounding area.

The drifter family who wander in and play a pivotal part in the story are perhaps the most interesting, because the author never deems it necessary to name them, almost as if a name makes them real and gives them a better hold in the events that happen. It’s just the woman, the man and the boy.

Then there is Colburn, a man who has never truly been able to escape the darkness and pain of his childhood. Is coming back a way to face his inner demons and guilt head on?

It’s hard to pin this down, perhaps because it mixes multiple darker genres together. It has a noirish vibe, often the charm of a Southern gothic, but ultimately for me this was bordering on horror. No matter how much it had a pinky inclined tea-drinking feel to it – it always came back to creepy, mysterious and disturbing. A kind of Twin Peaksesque sense of plotting, which is thrown into disarray with the reality of things that go bump in the night.  The horror behind the mask of small town normality.

I think it’s fairly easy to visualise where the author was going with the story, but in all fairness I can see why some readers might feel as if they aren’t being given enough information. The kind of story that works well with imagery, as opposed to many words. It’s appears to be a style thing. The author wants images to override the words. Feel the clinging darkness of the kudzu, the claustrophobic nature of the wet earth in the dank oppressive cave.

Buy Blackwood at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: No Exit Press; pub date 19 Mar. 2020. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Tale of the What the F*ck by D.A. Watson

It’s my turn on the BlogTour Tale of the What the F*ck by D.A. Watson.About the Author

D.A. Watson was halfway through a music and media degree at the University of Glasgow and planning on being a teacher when he discovered he was actually a better writer than musician. He unleashed his debut novel In the Devil’s Name on an unsuspecting public in the summer of 2012, and plans of a stable career in education left firmly in the dust, later gained his masters in Creative Writing from the University of Stirling.

He has since published two more novels; The Wolves of Langabhat and Cuttin’ Heads, a collection of short fiction and poetry, Tales of the What the F*ck, and several acclaimed articles, poems and stories, including Durty Diana, which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in the US in 2016, and the Burns parody Tam O’ Shatner, prizewinner at the Falkirk Storytelling Festival and Dunedin Burns Poetry Competition, and nominated for the People’s Book Prize in 2018.

Watson’s writing has appeared in several anthologies and collections including 404 Ink, Dark Eclipse, Speculative Books, Haunted Voices and The Flexible Persona, and he is also a regular spoken word performer, with past gigs at Bloody Scotland, Tamfest, Sonnet Youth, Express Yourself, Clusterf*ck Circus, and the Burnsfest festival in 2018, where he appeared on the main stage as the warm up act for the one and only Chesney Hawkes, a personal milestone and career highlight.

His fourth novel Adonias Low will be released by Stirling Pubishing in 2021. He lives with his family in a witch infested village on the west coast of Scotland, and continues to write some seriously weird sh*t.

Follow @davewatsonbooks on Twitter, on Facebook, on Amazon, on Goodreads, Buy Tales of the What the F*ck

About the book

Billionaire terminal cancer patient John Longmire’s going to die today, and he’s going out in style in the classiest euthanasia clinic in the world. But the strange nurse with the clipboard and the look of a goddess is spoiling the mood, with all her irksome questions about how he’s lived his life.

Recent retiree Gerald loves his wife Barbara and he loves his garden, but Barbara hates the garden. Because the garden’s taking Gerald over, and Barbara says he has to stop before he has another ‘incident’.

Bullied, ridiculed and unloved, moustachioed schoolgirl “Hairy” Mhairi Barry has never had any friends but the ones she finds on the shelves of the library where she’s spent most of her lonely childhood. But tonight, she’s going to a party with all the cool kids, to show them what she’s learned in all those books.

A suspicious smelling smorgasbord of lovelorn psychopaths, vengeful mugging victims, pawn shop philosophers and rhyming Glaswegian alien abduction, Tales of the What the Fuck is a dark, touching, horrific and hilarious collection of short stories, flash fiction and epic poetry from People’s Book Prize nominated author D.A. Watson. Things are about to get weird.

Review

This is a collection of short stories, flash fiction and poetry. What they all have in common is murder, mayhem, revenge and fear – not necessarily in that order of course.

Included in the book: Durty Diana, Coming Home, Mhairi, Wasted, Succubus, Catharsis, The Wee man, John, Coasters Music, Tales of a Scorched earth: Afterburn, The Cravin, Sex Tape, Lisa and Me, The Night Afore Xmas, Deep red, Tech Support, The Ones You Love, John Longmire’s Last Day, Tam O’Shatner, Rusalka, Love and Cabbage and AaaHHH! Zombies.

I’m just going to pick out two to talk about in my review:

The Wee Man – I enjoyed this one in particular, perhaps because the roots are buried in fairytales and childhood. The essence of original fairytales wasn’t to calm or make the reader happy. Instead the tales were grounded in myth and folklore, known as harbingers of threats and death. The adult in this story becomes the child again, as his own childhood fears rise up and threaten to swallow him whole.

Tales of a Scorched Earth: Afterburn – The general assumption, especially when it comes to those who believe in divine intervention and that sinners will eventually get their just desserts, is that true evil will be punished by an eternity in hell. What if that eternity were merely a continuation of their pleasure?

It’s a collection of murder, vengeance and hidden desires in the form of short stories, flash fiction and poetry. Watson spins a good tale no matter in which form.

Expect no comfortable tale to embrace you or cotton candy, unicorns and happy endings. Well, then again they might be considered happy endings if you enjoy your stories gory, scary and slightly horrific or score highly on the psychopathic traits test.

Buy Tales of the What the F*ck at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Wild Wolf Publishing; pub date 7 Oct. 2019. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Dust Devils by Jonathan Janz

Today it’s my turn on the BlogTour Dust Devils by Jonathan Janz. It’s a western and horror combined with paranormal fantasy.

About the Author

Jonathan Janz grew up between a dark forest and a graveyard, which explains everything. Brian Keene named his debut novel The Sorrows “the best horror novel of 2012.”The Library Journal deemed his follow-up, House of Skin,” reminiscent of ShirleyJackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Peter Straub’s Ghost Story.”

Since then Jonathan’s work has been lauded by writers like Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, Tim Waggoner, Bryan Smith,and Ronald Kelly. Novels like The Nightmare Girl, Wolf Land, Savage Species,and Dust Devils prompted Thunderstorm Books to sign Jonathan to an eleven-book deal and to give him his own imprint, Jonathan Janz’s Shadow Side.

His novel Children of the Dark received a starred review in Booklistand was chosen by their board as one of the Top Ten Horror Books of the Year (August 2015-September 2016). Children of the Dark will soon be translated into German and has been championed by the Library Journal, the School

Library Journal,and Cemetery Dance. In early 2017, his novel Exorcist Falls was released to critical acclaim.

Jonathan’s primary interests are his wonderful wife and his three amazing children,and though he realizes that every author’s wife and children are wonderful and amazing, in this case the cliché happens to be true.

Follow @JonathanJanz and @flametreepress on Twitter, Follow Janz On Instagram, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Visit jonathanjanz.com

Buy Dust DevilsAbout the book

It is 1885 in the wilds of New Mexico and Cody Wilson and Willet Black are bent on revenge after their loved ones are slaughtered by a group of traveling actors, but neither of them suspects what they’re really up against.

For the actors are vampires. Their thirst for human blood is insatiable. The two must battle the vampires—alone—or die trying.

Review

Janz has been making a name for himself in the horror genre. It’s fair to say he tries to mix it up and redefine it by combining old favourites and modern ideas. This time it’s a western meets paranormal fantasy extravaganza.

The relationship between Cody and Willet is one of the highlights of the book. The two of them bond over the fact the vampires have taken loved ones from them. Cody becomes almost paternal towards Willet, perhaps the boy represents the future he has lost.

Some of the scenes are quite graphic, especially the violent and sexual ones. Janz can be a bit of a shock jock at times. A bit of a ‘let me lull you with the intricately woven relationships and my writing, then when you least expect it a wet kipper will whack you round the face’ kind of storyteller. The violence or the more graphic details creates a sense of unease and keeps the reader on their toes, which I think is intentional. Janz doesn’t want his readers getting too comfortable.

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I think readers who know Janz are aware of his style and hey the genre is known for being extreme and bending the boundaries. I think there has to be a nice balance, so it doesn’t appear to be gratuitous. Sometimes less is more, especially when it comes to the sexual element.

It’s a western and horror combined with paranormal fantasy. Cowboys vs Vampires, which is far more politically correct and results in some interesting scenarios. It’s a blood-drenched read.

What I can say without a doubt is that Janz enjoys evoking a strong emotional response in readers, regardless of whether they are feeling sympathy, disgust or anger.

Buy Dust Devils at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Flame Tree Press; pub date 27 Jun. 2019. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Flame Tree.

Read my review of The Sorrows by Jonathan Janz.

#BlogTour Ghost Mine by Hunter Shea

Today it’s my turn on the BlogTour Ghost Mine by Hunter Shea. It’s horror meets western and and a wee bit of historical fiction.About the Author

Hunter Shea is the author of over20 books, with a specialization in cryptozoological horror that includes The Jersey Devil, The Dover Demon,Loch Ness Revenge and many others. His novel The Montauk Monster, was named one of the best reads of the summer by Publishers Weekly. A trip to the International Cryptozoology Museum will find several of his cryptid books among the fascinating displays. Living in a true haunted house inspired his Jessica Backman: Death in the Afterlife series (Forest of Shadows, Sinister Entityand Island of the Forbidden). He was selected to be part of the launch of Samhain Publishing’s new horror line in 2011 alongside legendary author Ramsey Campbell. When he’s not writing thrillers and horror, he also spins tall tales for middle grade readers on Amazon’s highly regarded Rapids reading app.

An avid podcaster, he can be seen and heard on Monster Men, one of the longest running video horror podcasts in the world,and Final Guys, focusing on weekly movie and book reviews. His nostalgic column about the magic of 80s horror, Video Visions, is featured monthly at Cemetery Dance Online.

You can find his short stories in a number of anthologies, including Chopping Block Party, The Body Horror Book and Fearful Fathoms II. Living with his crazy and supportive family and two cats, he’s happy to be close enough to New York City to see the skyline without having to pay New York rent. You can follow his travails at www.huntershea.com.

Follow @huntershea1 on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon,

Buy Ghost Mine

About the book

Nat Blackburn is given an offer he can’t refuse by President Roosevelt. Tales of gold in the abandoned mining town of Hecla bound. The only problem those who go seeking their fortune never return. Black-eyed children, strange lights and ferocious wild men venture from the deep, dark ghost mine…as well as a sinister force hungry for fresh souls.

Review

Blackburn is asked by the President himself, Teddy Roosevelt, to investigate the disappearance of his troops, who were sent to a rural isolated town to find out if there is any truth to the rumours of a huge gold deposit in the area. There is no trace of them or of any other of the townspeople. Something strange is going on in the town of Hecla.

It’s getting a bit of a reputation, which is why other local townspeople are unwilling to set foot in the area. The question is whether it is all just folklore, paranoia or is there really something more nefarious going on. Perhaps they should steer clear of the creepy gold mine.

I really enjoyed the way Shea gave the story a cheeky western nuance, and the relationship between Teta and Blackburn is absolutely what makes this more than just a horror read.

The two of them have a camaraderie, they are brothers in arms and they have each others backs no matter what comes their way. The author gives the setting an old school two cowboys and their horses go on an adventures feel to it. Their relationship sets the tone for the rest of the story.

In fact I actually think it will entice more non-horror readers to read the genre. The author draws readers into the read by hooking them with the rambunctious, devil may care attitude of the two main characters. Then once he has lulled readers into a false sense of security the horror starts trickling in.

It’s horror meets western and a wee bit of historical fiction. On a side note, I would love to read more about Teta and Nat in the context of their previous experiences and adventures.

Buy Ghost Mine at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Flame Tree Press; Paperback pub date 30 May 2019. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Stoker’s Wilde by Steven Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi

Today it’s my turn on the BlogTour Stoker’s Wilde by Steven Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi. It’s horror meets urban fantasy with a nod at historical fiction.About the Author

Steven Hopstaken was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he spent his formative years watching and reading science fiction and horror. He has a degree in journalism from Northern Michigan University and spends his free time traveling; writing screenplays, short stories and novels;and practicing photography.

Melissa Prusi was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (often mistaken for Canada), and studied video and film production at Northern Michigan University and the University of Michigan. She’s been a video editor,a semi-professional film reviewer,a three-time champion on the quiz show Jeopardy!,and a Guinness world record holder (1990 edition, for directing the longest live television show).

They met in a college screenwriting class and married three years later. They spent a brief time in Los Angeles, where they both worked for Warner Bros. television. They eventually ended up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where they love the arts scene but dread the winters. While they both currently make a living as website content managers, they have sold two screenplays, which have been lost to development hell.

They’ve indulged their fascination with Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde through trips to Dublin and London to research their lives and visit sites mentioned in Stoker’s Wilde.

They live in St.Louis Park, Minnesota with their two cats. If they’re not writing, you can usually find them at a movie, local theater production, improv show or pub quiz.

Follow @StokersWilde on Twitter

Buy Stoker’s WildeAbout the book

Years before either becomes a literary legend, Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde must overcome their disdain for one another to battle the Black Bishop,a madman wielding supernatural forces to bend the British Empire to his will.Review

What a wonderful way to combine two very important writers of the 19th century, and a wee bit of horror and the supernatural. Hopstaken and Prusi, the writing duo behind Stoker’s Wilde, have melded the creativity of both men to create an entertaining read.

The result is a band of merry werewolf and vampire slaying men. It reminded me of old classic horror stories and films. However it still manages to weave the oppressive morality laws and the way society seeks to conform individuals to their own set of standards, into the story. This defined Wilde’s writing and thought processes, which of course should have a place in his letters.

The book is set up with diary form and journal entries placed intermittently throughout, which have been collected and are held by The White Worm Society. Oscar writes to Florence Balcombe, his wife and later also his literary executor. There are also extracts from Stoker’s journal relating his version of the events. It gives the story an air of historical fiction, of someone wading in a piece of written history, and yet at the same time it has the exuberance of an urban fantasy plot.

It works because the writers know their stuff and have done their research. It’s important, when using a real historical figure in a fictional setting, to get the facts right, especially when it comes to being able to portray them realistically.

I came away from this read with a sense of nostalgia, despite the fang-toothed bloodsuckers and the furry moon-stalkers. With a need to pick up and read Wilde and Stoker and embrace their words. It’s horror meets urban fantasy with a nod to historical fiction.

Buy Stoker’s Wilde at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Flame Tree Press; Paperback pub date 30 May 2019. Buy at Amazon com.