STRANGER
by Simon Clark

“There was another question, too. A weird, twisty one. One that lurked in the background but seemed every bit as sinister as the rest. What had gone wrong with that human head we found tangled up in the branch? How could it bud an extra pair of eyes?”

GENRE:

Horror Fiction, Adventure Fiction

DESCRIPTORS:

Plagues, Isolation, Survivalists, Government Installations, Drugs, Psychological Warfare, Mutations, Evolution, Hive Minds, Collapse of Civilizations

SUMMARY:

The world as we know it is gone, destroyed in just a few months by a highly contagious plague called Gantose Syndrome (nicknamed Jumpy) which causes uncontrollable fear and results in deadly murderous rage. People who haven’t contracted it are targeted to be killed or captured by those who have it.

The town of Sullivan is curiously unaffected by it, being isolated by the fact that it sits in the middle of a lake on a peninsula. They’ve further isolated themselves from the tattered remnants of the outside world and protected by a former stranger named Greg Valdiva. Valdiva instinctively senses any new arrival who is afflicted with Jumpy — even if they aren’t showing any symptoms — and kills them in a murderous rage beyond his control.

However, the paranoia and fear that grips the town has begun eating at its moral core and forces Greg and his friend Ben to leave quickly or risk capital punishment. They flee to a nearby dead city named Lewis. There they encounter the hornets, people enthralled by something hideous to procure food for it, especially if it means hunting and killing.

In the outside world, they are befriended by Michaela and her ragtag band of survivors. In their search for a safe haven they stumble into a government underground bunker; one designed for scientific and medical research in the time of crisis. It is a bunker run by the enigmatic Phoenix. Slowly they discover the full and terrifying nature of Jumpy: The evolution of mankind into something terrible.

APPEAL:

This story starts with the horror already present. The world is already dead. People with a scary infection exist. There is build up because from that very bad point you watch things get worse for the protagonists as they find out more about the plague that destroyed civilization.

Clark uses a moderate pacing with lost of description interspersed between bouts of explosive action. Only a few characters like Greg, Ben and Michaela are developed over time into fully fleshed out people. There is a single plotline with a few flashbacks. The story is told in 1st person past tense, limited omniscience. It is Greg’s narration of events. He clearly makes out when he is going into flashback.

The focus is on several lives intertwined by fate. The reader is seduced into a slow identification with the protagonist, Greg Valdiva. Greg is usually a level headed, sane individual who is given to explosive murderous rages when he gets near someone with the plague. Then you begin to find out the truth about the plague which begins to cast an uncomfortable light on Greg.

Simon Clark writes about a place somewhere in America. The characters are American. However, sometimes he slips and uses a British turn of phrase.

NOTES:

Simon Clark is a British horror writer.

On Sunday, October 12, 2008 at 7:00pm eastern standard time, The Writer’s Chatroom will host a chat with author Mary SanGiovanni. A door prize will be awarded to one lucky participant.

To attend, go to http://www.writerschatroom.com/Enter.htm. Then scroll down to the Java box. It may take a moment to load. Type in the name you wish to be known by, and click Login. You do not need a password. The Writer’s Chatroom is hosted by: Audrey Shaffer, Renee Barnes, Kim Richards, and Lisa Haselton.

Mary has published two novels: The Hollower and its sequel Found You. Both were originally published by Leisure Books in mass market format. Found You came out late last month. She is currently working on a ghost story.

Over the years, she has published a lot of short stories many of which have been collected in Under Cover of Night by Flesh and Blood Press.

Mary SanGiovanni recently edited an anthology with horror author Gary Frank called Dark Territories published by Garden State Horror Writers. She is a member of the Garden State Horror Writers. She received a Masters in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hall University in 2007. She lives in New Jersey with her son.

If you’ve never had a chance to read anything by Mary SanGiovanni, she has made a short story of hers available for free on her website:

Letting Go

Please understand: This story has been posted for you to read for free but Ms. SanGiovanni still holds the copyright to them. Please do not steal them. Don’t repost them elsewhere without first obtaining her permission. This is a kind gift and we shouldn’t abuse it.

For further information check out the Mary SanGiovanni Author Page. You can also visit Mary SanGiovanni’s Web Site and Where the Wild Things Are: Mary SanGiovanni’s MySpace page.

“From the start, I should confess to the urgency with which I write, for I am about to die, this I predict.”

TITLE:

IN THE SHADOW OF EDGAR ALLEN POE

WRITER:

by Jonathon Scott Fuqua

ARTISTS:

by Steven Parke (digital illustration)
and Stephen John Phillips (photography)

PUBLISHER:

DC Comics/Vertigo Inprint

GENRE:

Graphic Novel (collection), Horror, Gothic Horror

DESCRIPTORS:

Edgar Allan Poe, Death, Insanity, Pact with a Ghost, Ghosts, Demons, Alcoholism, Drug Use, Creativity

SUMMARY:

Sterling Tuttle was once a leading scholar specializing in Edgar Allan Poe studies at Johns Hopkins University and recently forced to go on sabbatical. His reputation is in some disrepute and he has suffered a loss that has set him drinking. It is late at night when he opens a diary that was sent to him which purports to be an account of Edgar Allan Poe’s life written by him while hospitalized in the last weeks of his life.

The diary details the pact Edgar made with the ghost of his biological father offering literary brilliance in exchange for harboring the ghosts and demons within his body. Edgar accepts. It turns out to be an ill-considered agreement for while he does write brilliantly, the fame and money he assumed would accompany brilliance eludes him. Nor does his writing career quell his passion for his kindly paternal aunt and the growing desire for her young daughter (his niece) who is soon to come of age.

In a bid for a better life, Edgar moves to Richmond — safely out of the range of the spirits who can no longer reside in him and therefore can’t hurt him — or so he thinks. However, they withdraw their gift of literary brilliance and soon begin to target the people he cares most about, his aunt and niece, to teach him the errors of his ways.

Can he save the people he loves or has he just doomed his world?

APPEAL:

This is a very memorable book.

The pacing is leisurely as the tale chronicles the downfall of Poe over a period of years. It is carried by the suspense, the brooding characterization and the stunning digital photography artwork.

Fuqua’s intense characterization of Edgar Allan Poe, a man undone by ghostly demons, his own self-doubt and avarice is superb. Less characterization for Maria, Virginia, and Sterling but they do stand out as unique people.

Told in first person past tense, Poe is the narrator as it is his written diary that we are reading, except when we break to Sterling and his disturbed thoughts about the diary, his life and loss. The narration and dialogue are in free-floating captions that sometimes make it a little hard to read. Look carefully for quotation marks to denote dialogue.

Sterling’s life hints at having many uncomfortable parallels to Poe’s life. The diary narrative and the dialogue of Poe and his contemporaries attempt to adhere to Poe’s literary style. The photo art depict old Baltimore and Richmond beautifully.

READALIKES:

Okay, I have to admit that I can’t think of any readalikes for this graphic novel. It has digitally enhanced photographic art and a gothic sensibility to the story

This week on DearReader.com’s Horror Club, we are getting the first section of a book called Edgaewise by Graham Masterton.

Edgewise	Edgewise Author: Masterton, Graham Format: Mass Market Paperback Page Count: 326pp. Pub. Date: May 2007 Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester Original Pub: October 10, 2006 (Hardcover — Severn House) Links: The Official Graham Masterton Web Site.
A vengeful Sioux spirit wreaks havoc in Minneapolis - When her children are kidnapped, in desperation Lily Blake seeks the services of a Sioux shaman, who summons up the Indian spirit, Wendigo, to find them. The price for this service is a spit of land that Lily’s firm is selling for development land that once belonged to the Sioux. Lily is soon drawn into the destructive world of the Wendigo and learns to the detriment of those closest to her that you should never underestimate the power of a spirit betrayed . . .

Interested in The Taken?

It’s not too late to sign up for the DearReader.com’s Horror Club, and get this week’s e-mails with the first section of Edgewise. Read the beginning for free and decide for yourself if you like it. And if you’re joining in the middle of the week, you can click on this link to get the first e-mails you missed or look at the top of your very first e-mail for instructions.

If you find you want to read more of The Taken, you can check with your local bookstore, library or purchase it on-line through one of the links provided above.

Brian Keene is the author of the Bram Stoker Award winning novel The Rising and its sequel City of the Dead. He has also written The Rising: Selected Scenes From The End of the World and an unrelated zombie novel called Dead Sea.

Sure he’s written a lot of other terrific horror novels that have not hide nor hair of a hungry undead zombie in them but lets face it folks — how could you not want another zombie story from Brian Keene? In fact, how could you resist forcing the undead claw of cosmic unjustice from forcing one more zombie story out of Brian Keene’s pen?

C’mon, you know you want to. You’d do anything to get another zombie novel including devouring the brains of your next door neighbors. Well, you don’t have to work that hard! I’ll let the man tell you himself what you have to do:

As you may know, my novel TERMINAL has been optioned for a feature film. The producers have created an official MySpace page for the upcoming movie. It will include news and updates as things progress. Fans of the book will be grateful to know that the screenwriters and producers are big fans of the book, as well, and have treated the source material with dignity and respect. They are doing everything that every author who has ever had a book optioned for film prays for.

What would be VERY helpful in getting this film greenlighted is if we could show Hollywood that there’s a demand for it. And that’s where you come in. If all 3,310 of you would kindly take a moment to add the MySpace page as your friend, it would certainly demonstrate the demand.

Here’s the link: http://www.myspace.com/terminalfeaturefilm

On behalf of the producers and myself, I really hope you’ll take a moment to send them a friend request. If you do, you’ll have my sincere gratitude and appreciation.

Let’s show them the power of the F.U.K.U. If all of you will do this one, small thing, I promise that I’ll write another zombie novel.
:>)

Thanks,
Brian

For more information check out Brian’s blog here.

How Do I Send a Friend Request?

If you have a MySpace account, click on the link above, click on add to friends link below the book cover picture and log in. Once you log in, you’ll be able to complete the add to friends transaction and you’re one. The world will be one body closer to a new Keene zombie novel.

If you don’t have a MySpace account, click on the link above and then click on the sign up link in the upper right hand corner of the Termainalfeaturefilm MySpace page, answer a few questions, make a quick new MySpace account and then return to the Termainalfeaturefilm MySpace page and click on add to friends link below the book cover picture to add your second friend (Tom is always your first friend — even though you don’t know him.)

It’s that easy. And then you too can join the over 3,000 people seeking to make horror writer Brian Keene dance to our undead tune!

Mwa mwua hah hah!

On Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 7:00pm eastern standard time, The Writer’s Chatroom will host a chat with award winning horror author John Everson. A door prize will be awarded to one lucky participant.

To attend, go to http://www.writerschatroom.com/Enter.htm. Then scroll down to the Java box. It may take a moment to load. Type in the name you wish to be known by, and click Login. You do not need a password. The Writer’s Chatroom is hosted by: Audrey Shaffer, Renee Barnes, Kim Richards, and Lisa Haselton.

John has published two novels: Convenant and its sequel Sacrifice. Both were originally published by Delirium Books where Convenant won the 2004 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Recently Convenant was republished by Leisure Books in mass market format and Sacrifice is scheduled to be released by Leisure in 2009.

Over the years, he has published a lot of short stories many of which have been collected in Needles and Sins by Necro Books, Vigilantes of Love by Twilight Tales, and Cage of Bones and Other Deadly Obsessions by Delirium Books.

In his spare time, John Everson has edited a number of anthologies, co-founded Dark Arts Books, he designs book covers and music.

If you’ve never had a chance to read anything by John Everson, he has made several of his short stories available for free on his website.

Pumpkin Head

Why Do You Stay With Him?

Hard Heart

Tomatoes

Vigilantes of Love

Only Believe

Christmas, The Hard Way

Please understand: The stories have been posted for you to read for free but Mr. Everson still holds the copyright to them. Please do not steal them. Don’t repost them elsewhere without first obtaining Mr. Everson’s permission. This is a kind gift and we shouldn’t abuse it.

For further information check out the John Everson Author Page.

Horror author Douglas Clegg is doing something interesting this Halloween season — He is offering a free, limited time on-line access to his novel Afterlife (Cemetery Dance edition).

As if making the book available for free wasn’t enough, Douglas Clegg has added an additional incentive: if 10,000 people or more drop in and read Afterlife before October 31st — Halloween — we’ll get treated to a free serialized new novel for 2009.

As of this writing the number count was over 9,000.

What is Afterlife you ask?

Afterlife	Afterlife Author: Clegg, Douglas Format: Hardcover Type: Novel Page Count: 356pp. Pub. Date: September 2008 Publisher: Cemetery Dance
Afterlife	Afterlife Author: Clegg, Douglas Format: Mass Market Paperback Type: Novel Page Count: 272pp. Pub. Date: December 7, 2004 Publisher: Onyx/Penguin
In the years past, there was a special school for children with psychic ability. Called the Daylight Project, it was shut down after a horrific murder. Today, grieving widow Julie Hutchinson gets the news that someone is out there . . . her husband’s murderer . . . someone who very much wants to find her. In a Manhattan brownstone, a psychic dreams of blood and lost souls . . . and an innocent young girl has become host for uninvited voices of the dead. Their paths are about to intersect. His name is Michael Diamond. He harbors unspeakable secrets. And he’s prepared to do anything in this life — or the afterlife — to keep them buried forever.

And here is Afterlife, to read for free this month, hosted by Scribd. If you find you want to read more, click on the box in the upper right hand corner to expand the scribd box making it easier to read. Or click on this link to go to the Scribd page with the book to read it and view the comments: Afterlife by Douglas Clegg.

Enjoy!

I’m sorry it has taken me so long to get With Intent to Commit Horror back online.

September has been an awful month. A wallet was stolen, credit cards lost, access to money restricted, a computer damaged by one of the kids and the laptop shuts off after 15 minutes. Not to mention a host of medical problems. Family matters took up most of my time.

I am still not where I wanted to be at this time but I’m going to go ahead and try to pull it off because . . .

This is October.

Halloween season.

The month of ghosts and ghouls and jack ‘o lanterns.

To celebrate I’m having a special event I call The 31 Days of Halloween.

31 days of posts – at least one post a day.

31 days to complete the new look of With Intent to Commit Horror.

31 days to create the first drafts of 3 white papers.

31 days to celebrate the holiday of playful horror — Halloween!

In the confusion of pre-convention hustle and the post convention exhaustion I made an embarrassing mistake. I mistook an e-mail notifying me of a LiveJournal friend’s birthday for an e-mail notifying me of Mary SanGiovanni’s birthday. Rather than take down the post I decided to switch the birthday well-wishing to Mary’s new book Found You. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go clean some egg off my face.

In all the hustle and bustle of Context 21 (a literary science fiction/fantasy/horror convention), I forgot to wish horror writer Mary SanGiovanni’s new book a happy birthday. So now, a couple of days late, I say to Found You: “Happy belated birthday!”

Stop by Where the Wild Things Are: Mary SanGiovanni’s MySpace and congratulate Mary on her new book.

As my present to her, I will create a series page for her Hollower novels in …With Intent to Commit Horror. Just as soon as I get some sleep — I’m suffering from acute convention fatigue.

Don’t know Mary? You should. She’s a very pretty lady who is the author of your nightmares — literally — she created The Hollowers:

The Hollower	The Hollower (The Hollower Series #1) Author: SanGiovanni, Mary Format: Mass Market Paperback Type: Novel Page Count: 368pp. Pub. Date: August 28, 2007 Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester Publishing Extra: B&N Features: Read the First Chapter
Nominated for the 2007 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. What is the Hollower? At times it can look like a man in a black coat and a black hat. But it’s definitely not a man. It’s not human at all. Its sole purpose is to stalk, to torment and to drive its victims to their deaths. It can sense each victim’s weaknesses, change its appearance and strike however it will hurt the most, physically . . . and mentally. Dave Kohlar is a man racked with guilt, doubt and worry. The perfect prey. He’s about to learn exactly what the Hollower is — and how it feeds.
Found You	Found You (The Hollower Series #2) Author: SanGiovanni, Mary Format: Mass Market Paperback Type: Novel Page Count: 368pp. Pub. Date: September 30, 2008 Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester Publishing Extra: Read the First Chapter Extra: Essay on Found You by Mary SanGiovanni
“Found you.” Those two simple words were like a death sentence to Sally. She recognized the voice, straight from her nightmares. The grotesque thing without a face, the creature that thrived on fear and guilt, had nearly killed her, like it had so many others. But it was dead . . . wasn’t it? Sally is about to find out that nightmares can become real, that your deepest secrets can prey on you, and that there’s nowhere to hide . . . for long. In the small town of Lakehaven something has arrived that can’t see you, hear you or touch you, but it can find you just the same. And when it does, your fears will have a name.

DearReader.com’s Horror Club features Cathy McDavid’s Night Hunter. Interested? Take a look:

Night Hunter

Night Hunter Author: McDavid, Cathy Format: Mass Market Paperback Type: Novel Page Count: 326pp. Pub. Date: July 2007 Publisher: Dorchester Publishing

Every twenty-five years the cycle begins anew — alegendary creature reawakens and preys upon the innocent. The police refuse to believe such a monster exists. But Gillian knows it’s real. When she was seven, she watched in horror as it killed her mother. Now the beast is back . . . for her. As the chosen Hunter, Nick is the only one who can destroy the creature. Yet a gorgeous psychology professor keeps pushing her way into his investigation — and into his most intimate fantasies. For her own protection, Nick’s determined to stay by Gillian’s side, every day and each delicious night. And meanwhile, the monster bides its time . . .

If you sign up for the DearReader.com horror book club you can still get get this week’s e-mails. At the very top of each e-mail is a link you can use to request earlier e-mails or even the last book selection The Price by Alexandra Sokoloff.

Click on this link to start your free e-mail subscription to DearReader.com’s Horror Club.