Lucky me! #Stokercon Reading!

 

 As I've never been (and maybe I'll get to go if they have StokerCon in Chicago or Milwaukee someday,) but a nice Facebook friend Valerie offered up an extra program for free and I was lucky enough to get my name in early!

Expected a small booklet like most cons, but this is a hefty 326+ pages and has lots of short stories, interviews, and more, so really looking forward to reading this! 

Now I'll somehow have to get that special StokerCon Weird Tales edition No.369 with stories by past winners. I'm usually writing some kind of horror, so it pays to read what the better-known authors are writing! There are so many good anthologies coming out (horror and mystery, but I just can't buy them all. Sadly, not all are in the library, either. Maybe the library will have the Weird Tales edition so I'll do some checking!)

Somnium Book Tour

 Looking for something eerie to read? 

Deidre Swinden is the author of Somnium, where Gillian Hardie experiences nightmares so intense they threaten her very existence, thanks to a glitch in Somnium Corporation's groundbreaking dream advertising technology. Every night, her sleep unleashes monsters that her body reacts to as if they were real, pushing her to the edge of despair.

Armed with her lucid dreaming skills, Gillian battles these horrors, but when an accident traps her in a perpetual dream state, she must rely on Nathan Keller, a nightmare warrior, and Dex Cooper, an Operator, to navigate this nightmarish reality. With her darkest fears manifesting like never before, Gillian faces a race against time to survive a threat that could unleash unimaginable horrors from the depths of her mind.

Dive into a story that explores the shadowy boundaries of fear and technology. For fans of cutting-edge psychological thrillers and high-stakes survival horror, this novel promises a journey through the darkest corridors of the human psyche, where the next dream could be your last. Join Gillian in her fight against the darkest corners of her mind—before it’s too late. - Get it at Amazon.

** Hear more - see Author Interview on YouTube.

About the Author: A successful writer/editor in the corporate world for more than two decades, Deirdre Swinden is currently living and writing in North Carolina. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Arcadia University and has published short stories in Griffel Literary Magazine and Grim & Gilded. Early in her writing career, she won the Popular Short Story Contest at the 2000 Philadelphia Writers’ Conference with her short work, “Shooting Televisions." Find her at https://deirdreswindenauthor.com - X/TWITTER - @DeirdreSwinden - FACEBOOK – https://www.facebook.com/deirdre.swinden5.

**********************

 

New story & Horror Anthology Coming!

 I've been remiss on posting here so I'll add details I shared on the other blog.

Any news can be regularly found at my website, cverstraete.com.

My story, "Blink!", will be coming soon in the Shadows II horror anthology from Inkd Publishing. (See their Facebook page.) The story is a bit gruesome, but not gorey. It's more creepy-weird-Twilight Zoneish. This one was fun to write!

*** There will be a Kickstarter for the anthology starting in July. Check out the page here and sign up to get in on some cool stuff! 

Winter of Zombie Begins! Books-authors

 I joined this event originated by authors Armand Rosamilia and the late Jay Wilburn way back when Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter first came out. So, it's good to go home again!

All kinds of events, videos and such will be going on all this month - AND you'll have a chance to win a whopping stack of 13 books from the participants. Wow, that's some amazing reading!!

You'll need to be in two groups on Facebook for the events. I'm featured on two days, Jan 6th and the 21st.

Here's the schedule of authors and the daily book videos  that'll be in the Facebook group. Also be sure to join the Reader's Group for author posts each day. Be sure to check them all out to play and learn more about their fantastic zombie books! I've included the featured  books below. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jan. 1st Welcome - See Giveaway

** Be sure to check the Reader's Group each day for the featured post! **

 2nd- Courtney Konstantin and 17th

Prepared, Sundown Series Book 1

3rd- Jessica Gomez and 18th

Infected, The Infected Series Book 1

4th- Scott Baker and 19th

Nurse Alissa vs. the Zombies

5th- Armand Rosamilia and 20th

The Dead Shall Rise: Zombie Zombie Zombie (Dark Tide Horror Novellas Book 10)

6th- C A Christine Verstraete and 21st

Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter and Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter 2: The Axe Will Fall

7th- Cal Brett and 22nd

Worse than Dead: Survival in the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 1 of 2

8th- Ben Black and 23rd

Death's Aria , The Black Undeath Series

9th- Gillian Zane and 24th

Run, NOLA Series Book 1 of 5

10th- Baileigh Higgins and 25th

Trial by Fire, Heroes of the Apocalypse, Book 1 of 6

11th- A.M. Geever, Author and 26th

Undead Menagerie, Steel City Apocalypse Book 1 of 2

12th- Naomi Ault and 27th

Chew, Season 1 of 2

13th- Alathia Morgan and 28th

Infected Waters: A Titanic Disaster (Infected History Series Book 1 of 3)

14th- Kate L. Mary and 29th

Broken World, A Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Novel

15th- Erin Louis

The Dead Shall Rise: Zombie ZombZombie (Dark Tide Horror Novellas Book 10)

16th- Recap- post about giveaway

31st- Wrap up post- Winner of giveaway

Wow, what a month! Hope you enjoyed all the posts and found some great new zombie reads!!

New Mystery-Crime Story Coming!

 (Photo: Pixabay.com)

Happy to say my story, "Wildfire," will be in the anthology, (I Just) Died In Your Arms: Crime Fiction Inspired by One-Hit Wonders, Volume I. Should be coming out in December.

Always loved this sad song, so I tried to give it justice. Thrilled about this.

The stories included will be a treat to read and are fun, too! Definitely some memorable choices. (I love It's Raining Men! and The Rapper always makes me think of a certain time period. I like 96 Tears, too.) 

UPDATE: 

Cover  - Pre-order:  * Pre-order here! (If any problems, use main link here.) Paperback only $10! (Note: the link may change so I'll indicate if it has.) * Pre-order now available on Kindle and at Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo - UK, Kobo - US 

Included are: 

Christine Verstraete: Wildfire

Song: “Wildfire” by Michael Martin Murphey (1975)

 

Barb Goffman: Teenage Dirtbag

Song: Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus (2000)

 

Leone Ciporin: Life in a Northern Town

Song: Life in a Northern Town by Dream Academy (1985)

 

Adam Gorgoni: Bitch

Song: Bitch by Meredith Brooks (1997)

 

Bev Vincent: Somebody’s Watching

Song: Somebody’s Watching Me by Rockwell (1984)

 

Wendy Harrison: It’s Raining Men

Song: It’s Raining Men by The Weather Girls (1983)

 

Josh Pachter: The Rapper

Song: The Rapper by The Jaggerz (1970)

 

Sandra Murphy: Pigeon Talk

Song: 867-5309/Jenny) by Tommy Tutone

 

Joseph S. Walker: Come On Eileen

Song: Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners (1982)

 

Jeanne DuBois: Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

Song: Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye by Steam

 

Vinnie Hansen: 96 Tears

Song: 96 Tears by Question Mark and the Mysterians (1966)

 

J. M. Taylor: It’s Hard to Die

Song: Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks (1974)

Stephen King's Holly: Review

 Yes, I'm a Stephen King fan, let's say a "Constant Reader," since way back when. The Stand is still a long-time favorite, both in book and the first mini-series/film. 

I loved The Shining, too, so I was happy when the sequel novel, Dr. Sleep came out, which was so much fun to revisit. I have tended to lean more toward his horror novels, but his foray in recent years to mystery/crime, often with tinges of horror, has been equally satisfying.

Now I admit I didn't finish the whole Mr. Mercedes trilogy as I still have one or two I think yet to read. I loved his last book, Fairy Tale, too, though, it was more a strange fantasy but with a gripping storyline. But I couldn't resist this latest book, Holly. With good reason.

Wow. Marvelous. Grisly, yes, but no one like Stephen King can plumb the evils of man in such a fascinating way that makes perfect, if awful, sense. He has really gotten better and better. His last few books, I think maybe since Billy Summers (I'd have to look at the order again) have been superb, with no extra padding/filler as in the past. Even the author's note at the end had some interesting tidbits. I sure hope Holly takes on another case, too.

Post Apocalyptic Scavenger Hunt!

 

Read for a chance to win great prizes!

POST-APOC BOOK SCAVENGER HUNT

With 20 different authors, 20 of their hand-picked titles, and a bunch of great prizes to be won!

Here's how it'll work - each author has a question about their book that only somebody who has read it will be able to answer

---The first 10 readers to answer all 20 questions correctly will each win a prize!

As a bonus, we're also giving away a brand new Kindle Paperwhite for the grand prize winner!

We want this to be as accessible as possible, so all of the books will be available in KU, and we have prizes available for international readers as well

And don't worry if you haven't read ALL the books yet - we'll start accepting everybody's answers in the first week of March so that everyone has a chance to win!

** Join the Written Apocalypse group on Facebook for info.

To make things easy, I've put together the list with book links for all of our participants, plus the list of questions so that you can play along as you go:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/writtenapocalypse/permalink/5605266899598235/

So let's get some new books on our TBR piles and start celebrating the end of the world (on paper)

LET THE HUNT BEGIN!!