Welcome to the HWA COS chapter’s monthly round-up of member news. We invite you to scroll through our publication announcements and see what our members are up to this month: new releases, book signings, readings, conventions, and more!
Shannon Lawrence is pleased to announce the release of her holiday-themed short fiction collection Happy Ghoulidays. (Book Launch Nov. 9-19.)
Family time can lead to murder and mayhem, especially during the holidays. A turkey with a tale to tell, elves under attack, sorority sisters putting on a killer party, a woman’s desperation to save her family, and a stranger ringing in the New Year. These and other tales of woe await you beneath the mistletoe.
Be careful who you offer a kiss. It may be your last.
Marie Whittaker is thrilled to announce the release of Betsy and the Time Ship, the third book in the Shadowgate Tales.
Sam isn’t sure what to make of Betsy, the woman from another time, far ahead of his own. But he needs her and her time ship Mabeline to complete his mission. The Order of the Terminers faces unknown terrors, back in 1872, at Shadowgate Stonehenge. To complete their mission, they must exterminate a family of witches. Will Sam be able to complete the task?
Marie Whittaker also published There’s a New Kid, Lola Hopscotch!, book three in The Adventures of Lola Hopscotch—a book series dedicated to helping children fight and overcome bullying.
A favorite wintertime read-out-loud story for kids! Lola Hopscotch makes a new friend at school, and helps the new kid feel comfortable with others in this exciting new book in The Adventures of Lola Hopscotch picture book series for children.
Carina Bissett’s humorous horror story “The Stages of Monster Grief: A Guide for Middle-Aged Vampires” was recently released in Coffin Blossoms. an anthology published by Jolly Horror Press in October 2020. She read this piece at the inaugural Bloody Valentine event in Colorado Springs.
Coffin Blossoms. A reminder that hope does spring eternal. In death itself there is often beauty, life, and on rare occasions even humor. The twenty-four stories in this anthology straddle the line between humor and horror in unique ways.
Claire L. Fishback is pleased to announce that her second short story collection, The Doll Room and Other Stories was published by Dark Doorways Press in October 2020.
A room with many small doors, a dream hitchhiker, furniture that moves by itself. A middle-aged housewife who desperately wants to be noticed. A child who collects macabre items. In these pages you’ll find strange encounters, dolls with secrets, and creepy children. Haunted ears. A long-lost daughter come home. Nightmares come true.
Angela Sylvaine’s short story “Here We Come A Caroling” was released in October in Gothic Blue Book VI: A Krampus Carol.
A collection of short horror stories and poems resurrect the spirit of the Gothic Blue Book. Gothic Blue Books were short Gothic fictions popular in the 18th and 19th century. Burial Day Books presents its sixth Gothic Blue Book, A Krampus Carol — a celebration of folklore and myth around Christmas, Yule, the cold winter months and Santa Claus’ opposite, Krampus.
In other news, Angela Sylvaine‘s story “Antifreeze and Sweet Peas” was included in the highly-anticipated anthology Not All Monsters: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women of Horror, edited by Sarah Tantlinger.
M. H. Boroson released The Girl with No Face, the second novel in The Daoshi Chronicles. The adventures of Li-lin, a Daoist priestess with the unique ability to see the spirit world, continue in the thrilling follow-up to the critically-acclaimed historical urban fantasy The Girl with Ghost Eyes. The novel won First Prize in the Colorado Authors League Award, Science Fiction and Fantasy Category.
With hard historical realism and meticulously researched depictions of Chinese monsters and magic that have never been written about in the English language, The Girl with No Face draws from the action-packed cinema of Hong Kong to create a compelling and unforgettable tale of historical fantasy and Chinese lore.
Sam Knight’s story “Shattered Piece of Heaven” was recently released in the anthology Castle of Horror Anthology Volume 4: Women Running from Houses.
The theme is Gothic– the horror of Gothic romance. Throughout the mid-century, paperback Gothic romance books dominated the shelves, always featuring a woman running away from a house. Gothic romances tended to tell stories of women coming into conflict with old families, old houses and old traditions. So we’ve asked a bevy of best-selling writers to celebrate the movement with their own horrific takes on gothic. Run from the house with us!
In other news, Sam Knight‘s story “Leaving Dry Gulch on the Midnight Train” was published in the anthology Six Guns Straight From Hell 3: Horror & Dark Fantasy From the Weird Weird West, edited by David R. Riley and J. A. Campbell.
Saddle up for a wild ride through the weird, weird west. As you ride our trails you’ll want to keep one eye on the path ahead and one over your shoulder cause there’s a bushwhacking monster creeping up behind you.
Rick Duffy is thrilled to announce his new novel, The Sigil Masters, a young adult fantasy adventure. The novel won the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Gold.
Strange magics, a secret history, and new friends await him on his desperate quest to unravel the mystery of his curse. If he’s caught, his mind will be ripped open and corrected, changing how he thinks and feels and remembers. But he’s hunted by a power-hungry madman who believes the curse holds the key to ushering in a new paradise—or plunging the lands into darkness and war.
Fleeing the very shadows of death, forced to choose between fate and friendship, can the ill-fated boy find a light to save them all?
In other news, Rick Duffy‘s short story, “Castles in the Sky” was recently released in WILD: Uncivilized Tales from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.
Fearless or feral? Liberating or life-threatening? The wild side of life takes many forms. It seeps through the cracks of our world in the form of stray cats, tenacious weeds, oppressive relationships, and haunting memories. These fourteen stories by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers explore the wildness that lives inside all of us—and what happens when we let it out.
It Came from the Multiplex: 80s Midnight Chillers, edited by Joshua Viola and published by Hex Publishers, contains 14 cinema-inspired stories by such notable writers as Angie Hodapp, Kevin J. Anderson, Stephen Graham Jones, Warren Hammond, and Steve Rasnic Tem.
“The universally well-paced, imaginative selections sizzle with energy, delivering an intoxicating blend of spine-tingling chills and 80s nostalgia.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, STARRED REVIEW
In other news, the Hex Publishers’ anthology Psi-Wars: Classified Cases of Psychic Phenomena, also edited by Joshua Viola, has received rave reviews. You can read an excerpt from the story “Cradle to Grave” by Angie Hodapp at Tor.com.
From Atlantis to the Third Reich and beyond, these thirteen original tales of cerebral science fiction and horror explore the evils that abound when humanity wields extraordinary minds as weapons, whether to wage war or prevent it. Steeped in psychic savagery, telekinetic combat, and extrasensory espionage, PSI-WARS imagines corrupt governments and daring operatives, gods and soldiers and hackers and spies. The authors don’t flinch when they peer around the darkest, most violent corners of the human psyche. Will you?
Dakota Brown recently released Siren’s Catch: A Reverse Harem Tale (Ocean Enchantment Book 1).
Sirens destroyed everything I loved. My family, our offshore fishing business, and my life. I swore revenge and made it my mission to take everything they had taken from me, killing them one by one until there was nothing left but blood in the water. Cue Poseidon, god of the sea, livid that I’d killed off the protectors of his domain.
This book is intended for mature audiences. 18+ readers only! It contains language and sexual situations. This is mermaid themed medium burn reverse harem where the girl gets all the guys. Why Choose?
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