The Night Library

I am very pleased to announce that The Night Library, an anthology of 21 of my spookiest and best stories will see print by the end of next week and should be available as an kindle e-book in the next few days. I will update the blog with links as soon as they go live. Here's the back cover blurb:

Searching these sinister stacks you will find:

A church picnic at a haunted reservoir where only a twelve year-old boy is aware that something waits in the water...

A burnt-out teacher finds a friend... in his cancer...

The secret to surviving the zombie apocalypse...

An inoculation for Lycanthropy which may be more horrible than the disease...

Young lovers, that on the eve of World War II, partake of a most forbidden fruit...

A haunted carnival ride that delivers its passengers into the unexpected...

21 tales of night terror, night madness, nightmares, night woe and night wonder...

Welcome to The Night Library

Be warned: the late fees are killer!

Big things to come...

1. I wrote a weird horror story the other night and sent it into what is shaping up to be a killer anthology. I don't know if I'll make it in, but I'll still be happy. I like the story a lot, and it will fit in nicely with my new anthology, which I will self-publish very soon, which contains all of my best published and unpublished horror and weird tales. I will update as soon as I am done editing.

2. I am currently editing my latest novel: The Wardmaster. This one has werewolves, vampires, zombies, ghouls, mutant monsters, witches, jedi-like warriors, inter-dimensional cross-overs and motorcycle mamas. Yeah, it is a big sprawling epic, and I'm sure it will find a home soon.

3. The Vale of Shade should be done the editing process by the end of the month. Then hopefully it will be a hop, skip and a jump to publication. This is the sequel and the final volume of the Jotunheim saga which began with Test of a Prince.

4. Still waiting to find out where we stand with Hairy Bromance. I am very excited for folks to read this horror comedy road trip buddy extravaganza about a sasquatch and a werewolf. The novel is contracted, were just waiting for the editing...

5. I wrote a middle-grade book about twins separated by death, but brought back together again when they find The Door to Halloween. This is a heartbreaking fantasy, that for whatever reason I've shelved for some time. I plan to dust this baby off, give it a polish and see what the world thinks of this one, soon...

Work progresses...

My car broke down yesterday. I enjoyed the day quite thoroughly. That's how weird I am. The house was silent and still, I couldn't get to work so I wrote my heart out. Wrote more than 8k words and Wardmaster reached 83k. I am really looking forward to writing during vacation next week. I hope to have the novel finished by the end. Honestly, what I am looking forward to the most is seeing how it will all (or not) work out for my beset heroes. This one has everything, and I believe people are going to love it. My biggest issue right now is paying for editing and a cover.

Update

Hi, everyone. If you haven't checked out my new novel, Test of a Prince, please head on over to Amazon.com (link to the right) and read a few chapters. I guarantee you'll be hooked.

I have been working on a new dark fantasy epic, The Wardmaster. This is approaching 80K, and I should have the book done by the end of the month. This one has psychic knights, zombies, ghouls, vampires, mutants, evil carnival freaks, werewolves, and more. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to publish this monstrous adventure, but I'm leaning toward self-publication, which means it will be available soon (by June, if all works out).

I have been collecting my short published (and some unpublished) dark fiction for a killer anthology which will definitely be available for the kindle by April or May. I already have a cover. My very talented artist friend, Curtis Hale, has given me permission to use one of his paintings for it. I am very excited to have people read these twisted stories that saw print in some very obscure but wonderful publications.

I'm still waiting to hear about the progress in editing with my sequel to Test of a Prince, The Vale of Shade. I'm also biting my nails to the quick (actually I have never bit my nails) waiting to hear when Hairy Bromance, a horror-comedy road trip odyssey. When I know more, you'll know more.

After these projects, what, you may ask, will I turn my imagination toward?

Well, I have always loved superheroes, and find that as I'd like to read good superhero fiction (it's pretty rare) then I think I'd love to write it. I have a world I've been developing for a few years now. I believe this summer will be a good time to crank out a tale of heroes, villains and people in funny costumes. We'll see.

In any case, thanks for reading, and buy my book, read it, and write a review on Amazon. I will be most appreciative.

Take Care,
Trav

Review of Rain by Craig Saunders

Rain is a book that could only be written by an Englishman. John Marsh is a bookseller tormented by the tragic accident that enfeebled his wife and left her in a semi-vegetative state in a home. When an old patron leaves a message for him, little does he know his life is about to change; because the rain is coming. Rain is a dark, disturbing, and violent supernatural horror novel with superb moments of suspense and terror. The characters are memorable and dynamic, faced with a power that is truly terrible and unremitting. Any fan of Stephen King will love this dark jaunt. Normally, I'd give four stars to a novel that so thoroughly frightened me and gave me a glimpse at the dark side of reality, but there is a real reason why I would give any novel five stars: the book marked me. At its core, Mr. Saunders has intuitively placed a metaphor that resonates throughout the darkness and despair of the work: Rain. Bad times, like rain happen to each of us. Why? Sometimes, it is just because we were there. Tragedy strikes us, we were born to the wrong parents, or old age creeps up upon us. It is what seems elemental about our existence and the evil in the novel. The characters navigate this inner and outer-darkness to persevere, survive, and turn their eyes to the hope that the rain will pass, and that a new day will dawn. Such is all our hope, and it is a rare thing to read a book that reminds us of this in such a way that we truly taste the depth of human suffering and also the human hope that, also, seems elemental to our existence. Rain is a great first novel, from a writer who, one senses, has tasted that darkness, and reaches out to guide us through it in a novel with real literary merit.

The Scholomance on Spring Street

My short vampire tale about necromancy, evil, and kids up to no good, will be printed in Norgus Press's Re-Vamping A Classic Tale. A couple of years ago I had this image of kids in a club house doing some pretty weird things. The idea lingered and grew, and now, as I am sick with a fever, I get the good news that somebody liked it, and hopefully more folks will get to read it. That's the dream anyway.

Thanks for reading,
Trav

Review of Silas by Robert J. Duperre

First off, I'm not a dog lover. A couple of really naughty poodles have spoiled that experience for me, but I used to be. Reading, Mr. Duperre's fantastic novel of suspense and psychological drama has brought back a glimmer of what I used to love about our four-legged companions. But, don't get me wrong, this is not just a love letter to the canine order, this book is so much more. If anything, I might give this book a 4.5, because the casual reader might not know what they are getting into when they start the novel. There is so much genre overlap in this book, that it is hard to describe. In the middle of the novel the reader might be very confused and lost in the mix of sci-fi, suspense, fantasy, horror, and yes, poignant psychological drama of a man caught in a very nasty mid-life crisis. Then, you would be dragged right into the very experience of the narrator, thus revealing the book to be a genius piece of writing. The way that Robert Duperre explores the narrator's pain and anguish, is fully detailed and truly sympathetic. His mystical journey essentially creates the perfect metaphor for what happens to any of us psychologically who enter this dark realm of the soul. I would say that the truly frightening "monsters" of this novel are not half as scary as the ennui and depression that the main character suffers in the first quarter of the novel. There is also the promise of more, as it becomes evident that Duperre is creating a rich cosmology from which, hopefully, he will be pulling more threads into the skein of his stories. Disturbing, hopeful, and rewarding, Silas is a wonderful achievement.