Deluged under projects, news and reviews, we interrupt this broadcast to mention a few weird things circling overhead at the moment – such as Maniac Gods by Rich Hawkins; a review of Ed Erdelac’s Terovolas, to mark a new release of his; a historical novel concerning William the Conqueror; a brand new horror anthology from Crystal Lake, and a sale about to start at a small press. Yes, it’s one of our Mid-Week Medleys, but on the wrong day. Huzzah!
It’s admittedly a bit of a boys bash today, author-wise, but that’s how the dice fell (only J A Ironside of the ‘Oath & Crown’ saga holds the female fort below). However, we’re going to be covering the forthcoming debut novel from Gwendolyn Kiste, The Rust Maidens, later in the summer, and work from lots of other stonking women writers. We just need to read faster.
DISEASE & DISORDER IN DEVON
And in quite a few other lovely English places as well. We interviewed the rare, nocturnal West Country author Rich Hawkins on greydogtales a while back, but he kept writing despite that experience. Rich, known for his bleak landscapes of threat, horror and infection, has a new novella out, Maniac Gods. This is his latest incursion into the realm of cosmic horror and the Weird, where gods and monsters lurk in the thin places and await the call of their disciples.
From the British Fantasy Award nominated writer of BLACK STAR BLACK SUN and THE LAST PLAGUE…
One rainy night in Penbrook, Albie Samways’ family disappeared along with the rest of the village’s population, spirited away by unknown forces. In those abandoned streets and houses he encountered hellish creatures, madness and death, ending in a confrontation with the sadistic Doctor Ridings and his cultists.
He barely made it out alive.
Five years later, he lives in a squalid bedsit, miserable and heartbroken, suffering from nightmares and visions of monstrous things. He mourns. He mourns for his daughter, Milly, most of all.
Then one day she returns. However she is not the same girl he once knew, and tells him about terrible places, thin places, where gods and monsters reside in the darkness, waiting to enter our world.
But there is worse to come. Doctor Ridings and his followers are back, and they have plans for her. Horrific plans of black magic and sacrifice.
With no other option, Albie and Milly are forced to go on the run, beginning an epic chase across the country. He is all that stands between the monsters and his little girl.’
Our interview with Rich can be found here: http://greydogtales.com/blog/the-last-writer-an-interview-with-rich-hawkins/
THOSE DARNED NORMANS
If you think fiction is weird and scary, try real history. Last year saw the release of the first part of ‘Oath and Crown’, a two book set covering the build up to the Norman invasion of England in 1066 and the event itself, led by Guillaume the Bastard, often called William the Conqueror.
An Argument of Blood (Penmore Press 2017) set the scene for the fate of England. Now writers Matt Willis and J A Ironside are back with the guile and bloodshed of the consequences, in their new novel entitled A Black Matter for the King. Not fantasy, but as gripping as most imagined dynastic struggles (and better than some of those, let’s be honest).
‘The ambitions of two powerful men will decide the fates of rival cultures in a single battle at Hastings that will change England, Europe, and the world in this compelling conclusion to the ‘Oath & Crown’ series on the life and battles of William the Conqueror.’
RIDES IN THE WEIRD WEST…
Edward M Erdelac has re-released the first collection of his popular Merkabah Rider tales, with extra material.
‘A Hasidic gunslinger tracks the renegade teacher who betrayed his mystic Jewish order of astral travelers across the demon haunted American Southwest of 1879.
‘In this acclaimed first volume, four sequential novellas and one bonus short story chronicle the weird adventures of THE MERKABAH RIDER. This new edition includes the previously uncollected tale ‘The Shomer Express’. On a midnight train crossing the desert, a corpse turns up desecrated. Someone stalking the cars has assumed its shape, and only The Rider can stop it.’
As we were talking of Ed’s work, and had Matt ‘A Black Matter for the King’ Willis with us, we had Matt review Ed’s earlier Weird West book Terovolas for greydogtales as well. Good trick, eh?
Terovolas, by Edward M Erdelac
JournalStone, 2012
“I was somewhat familiar with Ed M Erdelac through his exciting and fun John Conquer stories published in Occult Detective Quarterly. These are a combination of Blaxploitation tropes and the supernatural and thoroughly enjoyable, so I was very happy to receive a review copy of that author’s Terovolas, which throws together characters from Bram Stoker’s Dracula against a different supernatural (or is it?) antagonist in a Western setting. Here’s the blurb:
The personal papers of the enigmatic Professor Abraham Van Helsing are collected and presented for the first time by his longtime colleague and defender, Dr. John Seward. Texas, 1891 Following the defeat of Count Dracula, Abraham Van Helsing – suffering from violent recurring fantasies – checks himself into Jack Seward’s Purfleet Asylum. Once discharged, he volunteers to return the ashes and personal effects of the late Quincey P. Morris (the American adventurer who died in battle with the nefarious Count) home to the Morris family ranch in Sorefoot, Texas. Van Helsing arrives to find Quincey’s brother, Cole Morris, embroiled in an escalating land dispute with a group of neighboring Norwegian ranchers led by the enigmatic Sig Skoll. When cattle and men start turning up slaughtered, the locals suspect a wild animal, but Van Helsing thinks a preternatural culprit is afoot. Is a shapeshifter stalking the Texas plains, or are the phantasms of his previously disordered mind returning? The intrepid professor must decide soon, for the life of Skoll’s beautiful new bride may hang in the balance.
“The danger in writing this kind of novel is that it comes off as a pastiche, feeling more like a caricature of the influencing elements than fully inhabiting them. I needn’t have worried, as Terovolas transports the Dracula ‘universe’ to the American Old West with care and respect and I felt instantly immersed in the world Erdelac paints. The voice of Van Helsing, with all his self-doubt and eccentricity was utterly convincing, and the Professor was surrounded by a cast of sympathetically drawn and authentic characters that could have come straight out of any Alan Le May or Zane Grey novel. These included a stoic rancher struggling to emerge from the shadow of his father and brother (Dracula’s Quincy P Morris), a nervy newspaperman, a world-weary Tonkawa native American, a mysterious and threatening Nordic newcomer, and his even more mysterious bride, the titular Callisto Terovolas.
“The narrative style of Dracula is also transported, which is to say a variation on the traditional epistolary format wherein the narrative is composed of a series of accounts written by the protagonists. This leaves no hiding place when it comes to command of the voice of a range of characters, but I found that each of the journal entries, letters and occasional editorial notes fitted together seamlessly and kept me fully engaged with the world of the novel.
“Something is preying on local livestock, and then local people. At the same time, the arrival of Sigmund Skoll with a group of taciturn ‘Norgies’ upsets the balance of the community in Sorefoot, Texas, where Van Helsing has travelled to bring the mortal remains of Quincy Morris back to the family home. Are the two factors connected? Is the cause of the slaughter supernatural or something more concrete (if no less threatening)? Is Van Helsing’s damaged mind up to the challenge? Or is his presence making a bad situation worse?
“Without giving too much away, Erdelac adeptly keeps the reader guessing as to the nature of the threat until the final denouement, and presents that rare thing, a worthy sequel to Dracula – though Terovolas is far more than simply a follow-up to Bram Stoker’s 1987 novel. I highly recommend Terovolas to anyone who enjoys their fiction fast-paced, amid thoroughly authentic historical settings. with a dash or more of weird.”
Matthew Willis
AUTHOR-Y NOTE: Ed Erdelac’s character John Conquer returns soon in the brand new ODQ Presents anthology, coming out over summer 2018, and Matt Willis provides the opening tale for the Hell’s Empire anthology, due later this year.
…AND WEIRD RIDES IN THE WEST
Finally for books today, out on 20th July is a new anthology from Crystal Lake Publishing – Lost Highways, edited by D Alexander Ward.
‘The highways, byways and backroads of America are teeming day and night with regular folks. Moms and dads making long commutes. Teenagers headed to the beach. Bands on their way to the next gig. Truckers pulling long hauls. Families driving cross country to visit their kin.
‘But there are others, too. The desperate and the lost. The cruel and the criminal.
‘Theirs is a world of roadside honky-tonks, truck stops, motels, and the empty miles between destinations. The unseen spaces. And there are even stranger things. Places that aren’t on any map. Wayfaring terrors and haunted legends about which seasoned and road-weary travelers only whisper.
‘But those are just stories. Aren’t they? Find out for yourself as you get behind the wheel with some of today’s finest authors of the dark and horrific as they bring you these harrowing tales from the road. Tales that could only be spawned by the endless miles of America’s lost highways.’
- doungjai gam & Ed Kurtz — “Crossroads of Opportunity”
- Matt Hayward — “Where the Wild Winds Blow”
- Joe R. Lansdale — “Not from Detroit”
- Kristi DeMeester — “A Life That is Not Mine”
- Robert Ford — “Mr. Hugsy”
- Lisa Kröger — “Swamp Dog”
- Orrin Grey — “No Exit”
- Michael Bailey — “The Long White Line”
- Kelli Owen — “Jim’s Meats”
- Bracken MacLeod — “Back Seat”
- Jess Landry — “The Heart Stops at the End of Laurel Lane”
- Jonathan Janz — “Titan, Tyger”
- Nick Kolakowski — “Your Pound of Flesh”
- Richard Thomas — “Requital”
- Damien Angelica Walters — “That Pilgrims’ Hands Do Touch”
- Cullen Bunn — “Outrunning the End”
- Christopher Buehlman — “Motel Nine”
- Rachel Autumn Deering — “Dew Upon the Wing”
- Josh Malerman — “Room 4 at the Haymaker”
- Rio Youers — “The Widow”
Amazon: http://getbook.at/LostHighways
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40609864-lost-highways
Webpage/press release: http://www.crystallakepub.com/losthighways/
HOW TO SPEND THAT SHILLING FROM GRANNY
And as we slam this together we note that there’s a sale on at Gehenna and Hinnom, from 20th to 27th July 2018, allowing you to delve into their weird fiction magazine and other publications on the cheap. Which is always good.
