As some of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook know, Jenny and I have started a new website, Pop Army. This is in addition to our own websites, as well as Jenny’s awesome kid website, Kid Wonderful. Why so many websites, you ask?

Simple. We’re building a network.

All of these websites will soon fall under the Double J Media label, with more to be added later. The point of all this? To write content we enjoy, while monetizing our efforts. You’ll see that all of our websites (except Jenny’s for the moment) have ads on them. Ads are how we make money, bottom line. No one is paying us, so we have to make cash somehow, right?

Our latest effort, Pop Army, is an entertainment website complete with movie, television, Hollywood and celebrity news, photo galleries and videos. The whole works. We’ve both written for these types of websites before, enjoy making the content, and are having a hell of a lot of fun doing Pop Army. Together with our Managing Editor, Nicole Ireland, and contributing writers, we hope to build a website that will be fun for people to visit and interact with, while providing our own spin on things.

So check out Pop Army, stay awhile and be sure to leave some comments to let us know what you think. You can follow Pop Army on Twitter, Facebook and Digg to stay up to date, as well as subscribe to the RSS feed.

It’s just another step forward in putting the power back in our own hands, while building a brand we love.

~James Melzer

As many of you have noticed, I haven’t been around much these days. I mean, I’ve been here, just not around in those social media circles we get so attached to. Not that there’s anything wrong with that (okay, for some people it is, but I won’t go there).

So I guess the question isn’t, “Where have I been?” so much as it is, “What have I been up to?”

I’m not going to lie, becoming unemployed was a big kick in the teeth. It brought my moral down to negative 32, and for a while I wasn’t doing much of anything except laying around with Jenny (who also became unemployed) and complaining. I wasn’t writing, podcasting, or reading. I did eat lots of chocolate and ice cream though, I remember that much.

Then a spark came. A glimmer of hope to make some sort of income. You see, Jenny and I had been freelancing for a company that built websites geared toward specific niches. We wrote content for these sites, saw how they made their money, and thought, “Hey, that’s pretty easy.” With new found determination we picked ourselves up and started building a couple of websites. The result is Jenny’s amazing website, KidWonderful.com. I went in another direction, and created something that is completely separate from the James Melzer you know and love. Therefore, I cannot tell you what or where it is, since it’s something that is for me, and me alone. How am I going to make money off of it? Trust me, I am. We have another one in the works, but mum’s the word on that for now.

So once we got those off the ground and running, I turned my attention back to freelancing. I am still unemployed, but have been doing some side work for the same company I got laid off from (with the hopes to return someday), and I have a consultation tomorrow morning with another company that will hopefully reap some sort of benefit.

Through it all, we have been supported by amazing friends like you, who have graciously donated your time and money to help us continue on with our journey to get married. You have done stuff that has amazed us, made us cry, and made us stay up until the early hours of the morning eating English muffins and talking about what amazing people you are. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Now, on the writing front. Many of you are wondering where Hull’s Landing is. It’s coming back very soon. I started writing it and releasing podcast episodes on my website. Then it appeared on Podiobooks.com. From there I got to thinking about how I could get it to as many ears as possible. Most people podcast their novels on their website and Podiobooks, but I wanted to do something different. I enlisted the help of Paul E. Cooley who agreed to put it in his feed on Shadowpublications.com. What’s that you say? Two podcasters working together to spread content that appeals to both parties listeners? Yeah, go figure. Anyway, he started releasing episodes on a weekly basis and was a bit behind everyone else. Now that he’s all caught up, I can begin releasing new episodes again so that everyone will be in sync with one another. Got it? Good.

I have also begun receiving edits on Escape: A Zombie Chronicles Novel from Simon & Schuster. These are BIG edits. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on the manuscript which is going to make it better. In fact, it will be so different from the podcasted version of the novel that I may just have to podcast it again when it’s finished.

So that’s where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing. I’m not gone. Not dead. Not buried. On the contrary. I’m ready to refocus my efforts on doing the things that are most profitable for me. If that means I’m not around Twitter or Facebook as much, so be it. There will still be stories, podcasts, and content for you to read here, but to be honest with you – I’ve kind of enjoyed the break from social media, so I don’t know if I’ll ever come back and use it the way I did in the past.

As always, you’re all amazing, and thanks for your continued support!

Welcome back to another episode of Podcaturday. I don’t have much to say, except we may have found a EVP on the file, then Jenny erased it, so technically you won’t get to hear it yet. We may post it next week, or whenever we get around to it. Lord knows we have so much time on our hands now. NOT!

Regardless, you should still go and visit Jenny this week, along with these fine folks:

Acadia

KidWonderful

HOPPS

Welcome back to another episode of Podcaturday. This week the hilarity ensues as we talk about time traveling cameras, Adolf Hitler, and dinosaurs. Sound good? You’re right. It is.

In case you’d like to answer the question we posed to all of you, call 206-888-1710, or not. I don’t care. Just as long as you listen. That’s the main thing.

Visit Jenny and Acadia this week, as I’m sure they had lots more to say than I did.

Welcome back to another edition of Podcaturday bitches! I’ve been absent as of late from most social media, but have no fear – Melzer is here. For about an hour, anyway.

We welcome a special guest this week in the way of JW. He and Acadia are best buds, or something like that. Anyway, he went and canceled all his cable with the reasoning that he doesn’t need it. He can just watch shit on the Internet. Good idea, JW. Good. I. Dea.

If you have any suggestions for stuff that JW should be watching, call the hotline at 206-888-1710.

Here’s your link of the week. See you all on the flip side!

Jenny Beans

Acadia Einstein

Special Guest JW

If your name’s not listed it’s because I’m too damn tired and I’m trying to find a job. PEACE!

Ok so here’s another episode of Podcaturday. It’s been a really shitty week, so I don’t have to much to say except thanks to the friends that I have that have been supporting Jenny and I through it all. You guys ROCK!

This week’s episode features Cheerleaders, True Blood, Reincarnation, and Haven. It’s good stuff and you should listen to it. I will do links tomorrow. I’m tired and I wanna go to bed. I had a little drink about an hour ago and it went right to my head…

I can’t preface this blog post any other way than by saying what happened last night sucked. This blog post is not a happy one. It’s depressing as hell, really. Okay, maybe not hell, since I imagine that’s much more depressing than this. I digress…

As some of you reading this may know, Jenny and I have been working for the same company for the last 10 months as writers of various blog content. Heck, she’s gotten some of you jobs, so what happened last night affects a multitude of people. Not just us. Anyway, we were told that there’s cutbacks, so our services are no longer needed. Jenny’s still are to a certain degree, but mine have gone the way of the dodo bird. This is only the second time I have been out of a job since I started busting my ass at 15 years of age. It wouldn’t be so bad except…

Jenny and I are in the process of trying to get married. We’ve been going through all the proper channels, filling out immigration forms, paying the various fees. I think we’ve spent about $700 or so dollars so far. Now that we’re out of work though, it looks like the worst has happened and things might be put on hold for a while. This coming just a week or so after I got my package from immigration informing me of all the necessary steps I have to take to move on to the final process.

The only problem is, the final process costs around $5,000.

Shit. We’re just two people that want to get married for crying out loud.

Now I don’t know what we’re going to do. I have a soon-to-be-stepdaughter. My roommate in Toronto is moving out and since I can’t relocate to the United States until I get the Visa crap sorted out, I have to keep my apartment at $1000/month somehow. It’s just one thing on top of another, you know?

This is not a blog post looking for sympathy. I’m just telling you how it is. People lose their jobs everyday, and I’m just another victim of the system, I guess. Somehow we’ll get through it. We’ve each been through worse in our lives separately, and now we’re going through something shitty together. We stayed up until 3 am last night trying to figure it all out. It’s scary – terrifying even – but we have each other. What did the Beatles say about needing love?

Anyway, that’s where we’re at right now. In love and limbo all at once. It sucks, it’s depressing, it’s frightening, and I’m scared shitless.

I’m setting up a Chip In widget below should any of you want to help us continue on in our journey to get married and start our lives together. We’ll still do it even if no one contributes a dime, but it’s going to take a hell of a lot longer now. Maybe a year or more, instead of the few months we were hoping for.

I can’t offer anything tangible in return, unfortunately. All I can do is keep writing words, podcasting them for your enjoyment, and hope like hell things work out in the interim while I look for work.

It’s been a hell of a week. How are you?

~JM

Two weeks ago I told you all about my debut book, Escape: A Zombie Chronicles Novel, being available to pre-order in print. Well now I’m back to tell you that it is also available to pre-order for your Amazon Kindle as well!

There’s no product description there yet, and no cover, so if you’re unfamiliar with the book, check out this page. That should tell you everything you need to know.

While I haven’t been pushing it that hard yet, I do hope some of you will consider pre-ordering either the print of Kindle version of Escape, and yes, you can enter the ESCAPE from your LIFE contest if you buy the book in advance on Kindle, as well as in print. Sound good?

So what are you waiting for? Go pre-order yourself a copy of Escape in print, or now for your Amazon Kindle!

~JM

Well, well, well. Here we are again for another episode of Hull’s Landing. You guys and gals enjoying it so far? Good. You want to know something you can do for me? Head on over to Podiobooks.com, register for FREE if you don’t already have an account, and then visit the Hull’s Landing page over there to comment and rate it. It’s that easy. It debuted on Friday the 16th of July over there, and it’s been #1 on the daily charts ever since Friday afternoon. Good stuff.

Quick tidbit – ESCAPE: A ZOMBIE CHRONICLES NOVEL (which is now available to preorder, by the way), also debut on Podiobooks on the 16th, only it was in October. I thought it was neat, anyway.

On with this weeks episode!

Tired from the days events, Rita ends up falling asleep and having a dream that may be more telling than she realizes. Chief Bobby Walker decides that it’s time to assert himself once again, while the man in the tennis shoes is paid a visit by the woman in white, and Henry foils his plans by doing the unthinkable.

Remember folks, this podcast novella is Rated R for strong language, adult themes, and situations.

You may remember back in the day I interviewed the talented filmmaker, Emily Hagins, on an episode of Unleashed. We talked about what it was like making her film Pathogen, and I came to realize that she’s a hell of a young lady. Well, Emily is back making another film, and she needs your help.

She’s raising funds for ‘My Sucky Teen Romance’ on Indiegogo.com. The goal is $8,000, and at the time of writing this, she has collected $5,040 with 19 days left to go.

I want to encourage all of you to give what you can. Not only does Emily deserve to get this film made, but she’s about to graduate high school, so this would be one for the memory books.

Hear her pitch below (which sounds awesome if I do say so myself), visit Indiegogo.com, and donate what you can.

~JM

My Sucky Video Pitch from Emily Hagins on Vimeo.

Folks, the long awaited sequel to J.L Bourne’s Day By Day Armageddon is now available, and it is lighting up the charts! When I woke up this morning, DBDA 2: Beyond Exile was #56 in books on Amazon.com, and #5 in horror. Sandwiched right between Charlaine Harris and Stephen King. Not a bad place to be.

If you’re unfamiliar of Bourne’s work, all you have to know that it is some of the best zombie fiction I’ve ever read. Seriously. It’s got action, plot, gore, engaging characters, and of course lots of zombie goodness. He began giving the first book away for free on his website years ago, got picked up by Permuted Press, where it has been their #1 seller forever, and became part of the co-publishing venture between Permuted and Simon & Schuster (which I am also a part of). Armageddon is now in it’s 3rd printing I believe, and there’s already talks about sending DBDA 2 into an early second printing as well, since it’s so damn hot.

I highly recommend both books, and I hope you’ll check them out. Oh, and while you’re there, why not preorder ESCAPE and enter the ‘ESCAPE from your LIFE‘ contest.

It’s Sunday, and that means it’s time for your weekly dose of podcast fiction with another episode of Hull’s Landing. In case you missed it, HL has made its was into the feed over at Shadowpublications.com thanks to my buddy Paul E. Cooley, who is a hell of a writer, and a great guy. Things are really starting to get interesting for this little novella of ours. It will be making its debut over on Podiobooks.com soon, too. We’ll have to see where this goes. Without further babbling though, here’s this week’s episode:

The man in the tennis shoes brings Henry to the basement, which is quite the surprise for Wayne Leiland. Rita confronts Chief Walker, but doesn’t get a whole lot out of him. He suspects she knows something, though, and that doesn’t bode well for her. Henry’s purpose is revealed in the plot, as he is faced with a horrible task.

Remember folks, this this podcast novella is Rated R for strong language, adult themes, and situations.

Welcome back to another edition of Podcaturday. My brain is still not functioning since I just woke up from a nap. I dreamed about a genetically engineered wild boar made with synthetic blood. I shot its head off but the damn thing grew back and started chasing me again. What the fuck, pig? Anyway, congrats to the winner of the Braveheart DVD from last week. This week we’re giving away Zombie Strippers. Call the hotline (206-888-1710), or leave a comment to be entered to win. You guys are awesome.

Here’s the links for this week, and their genetically engineered counterparts:

The Beans – Faerie/Minx

Acadia – Eeor/Oscar the Grouch

Dr. Nob – Love bird/Turtle

Nikki – Ferret/Kitten

Patrick – Bulldog/Hamster

Podcaturday after the trailer and the shameless self-promotion of my book.

P.S. – Bionic Garlic Bread sucks this week because she didn’t call in.

As many of you know, my debut book ESCAPE: A ZOMBIE CHRONICLES NOVEL is now available to preorder online. It hits bookstores nation wide on March 15, 2011, but to entice some of you into ordering early, I’m giving you the chance to win some cool swag that will help you escape the mundane, including an AMAZON KINDLE!

Here’s what you have to do to enter the ESCAPE from your LIFE contest:

Preorder ESCAPE: A ZOMBIE CHRONICLES NOVEL from any of these fine retailers:

Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Indigo.ca
Borders.com

*more to be added later

Then, send your receipt to EscapeNovel @ gmail.com and you’re in! It’s that simple. Plus – the more copies you buy, the more chances you have to enter. Meaning that if your receipt says that you preordered 2 books, you’re entered twice. 4 books? You receive 4 entries into the contest. Preorder a book this month, send your receipt, preorder again next month and again send your receipt, and you’re entered twice!

You dig? Good! Want to know more about ESCAPE? Click HERE.

What’s some of the other cool stuff you can win besides the Amazon Kindle? Books!

• Rot & Ruin by New York Times bestseller Jonathan Maberry
• The Rookie – Signed and Numbered Limited Edition by New York Times bestseller Scott Sigler
• The Starter – Signed and Numbered Limited Edition by New York Times bestseller Scott Sigler
• Fated by S.G. Browne
• Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament by S.G. Browne (Signed by the author)
• 7th Son: Descent by J.C. Hutchins
• Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines (Signed by the author)
• Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter by Brian P. Easton
• Domain of the Dead by Iain McKinnon
• Valley of the Dead by Kim Paffenroth
• Kings of the Dead by Tony Faville (Signed by the author)
• FLU by Wayne Simmons (Signed by the author)
• Geist by Philippa Ballantine (Signed by the author)
• Chasing the Bard by Philippa Ballantine (Signed by the author)
• Digital Magic by Philippa Ballantine (Signed by the author)

You’ll also be entered to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card as well, so when you get your new AMAZON KINDLE you can start loading it up with eBooks right away!

Want more? Okay, fine. All the winners will also receive a signed, stamped, numbered, complete with certificate of authenticity copy of ESCAPE as well.

The best part? This is an ongoing prize pack. Meaning that MORE PRIZES will be added as we get closer to the release of ESCAPE: A ZOMBIE CHRONICLES NOVEL on March 15, 2011. You’ll have to stay tuned to find out just what the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize winners will receive. You dig?

Now all this sounds well and good, right? I should let you all know that there is more, but I can’t quite give you the details of that one just yet. All I can tell you is that there will be something very special coming soon for EVERY SINGLE PERSON who preorders ESCAPE: A ZOMBIE CHRONICLES NOVEL and sends in their receipt. Therefore, you can preorder to win the awesome prizes above, but know that even if you don’t win, you’ll still be getting one hell of a gift later on this year – FOR FREE! Cool?

Awesome! So spread the word wherever you roam: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, your website, blog – hell, you can write it in the sky for all I care! Just tell everyone!

Remember, the more you preorder, the better your chances are of winning.

Preorder today to enter the ESCAPE from your LIFE contest and WIN!

** CONTEST RUNS FROM THE TIME YOU FINISH READING THIS UNTIL MARCH 14, 2011 AT 12 PM EST **

There’s no cover, no description – hell there isn’t even a ranking for it yet, but that’s not stopping me from letting you all know that my debut book, ESCAPE: A ZOMBIE CHRONICLES NOVEL which releases March 15, 2011, is now available to preorder!

It’s been a long time coming, as most of you know. It started as a free podcast back in September of 2008. Then in November of that same year I signed a 3-book deal with Permuted Press to bring the entire trilogy to print. After that, it looked like ESCAPE would be coming to print in the Fall of ’09. Then in July I announced that ESCAPE would be published by the Simon & Schuster imprint, Galley Books, as part of a 7-book deal with Permuted, further delaying its publication until 2011.

Well the wait is now over, and it’s time to kick things into overdrive!

Unfamiliar with ESCAPE: A ZOMBIE CHRONICLES NOVEL? Here’s the lowdown:

“After an asteroid passes by our planet and leaves a trail of death in its wake, a quarter of the population have become the living dead.

Twenty-five years later the zombies are under the control of the government. Citizens are chosen to participate in Project Mirror, a cloning project in which their “mirrors” are used as food for the undead. When one man discovers that something in his blood is being used to create an army of super-zombies, he decides to help his mirror escape. In doing so he uncovers a secret so guarded that the powers that be will stop at nothing to eliminate him and all those that he loves.”

Sound exciting? It is! Here’s what others have to say about it:

“This is the 1984 of zombie novels.”
- Scott Sigler, New York Times bestselling author of Infected, Contagious, and Ancestor

“Just when you think you know where it’s going, Melzer kicks you in the balls and turns everything on its head. ESCAPE will take you to the edge and leave you wanting more.”
- David Moody, author of Hater, Dog Blood, and Autumn

“The title of this book is completely misleading — there is no escape from Escape. James Melzer masterfully blurs the line between sci-fi and horror in this stellar debut. It’s raucous, and gritty … and gripping. Keep the light on when you read this one.”
- J.C. Hutchins, author of Personal Effects: Dark Art and 7th Son: Descent

“I love it when a book surprises me- but Escape: A Zombie Chronicles Novel plain slapped me upside the head. The world James Melzer has effortlessly created will entice those who love zombie horror, cloning thrillers, and government conspiracies. This does everything a horror book is supposed to do and more.”
- Mur Lafferty, author of Playing for Keeps and the Heaven series

Currently, ESCAPE: A ZOMBIE CHRONICLES NOVEL is listed at the following online retailers to preorder:

Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Indigo.ca
Borders.com

*more to come soon

Like I said, there’s no cover art, no ranking, and no description, but you already have all the info you need to get you started. Oh, and by the way, you can still listen to all the FREE audio episodes of the original podcast, which comprise the entire first draft of the novel.

This is just the beginning folks. We have about 8 months to spread the word and help make this book a success. For those that preorder early, there will be something special for you coming down the pipeline, so be sure to hang on to your receipts, or better yet, email them to me at ‘jjmelzer @ gmail.com’ to get in on all the action. Trust me, you’re not going to want to miss what I have in store for all you early buyers. Oh, and since a lot of you have already heard the free podcast version, don’t be stingy with those early reviews, either. The more the merrier!

Beware the Ides of March? I don’t think so! On March 15, 2011 – BEWARE THE ZOMBIES!

~JM

Greetings! Welcome back to another episode of the podcast novella, Hull’s Landing. A short episode today since it’s the fourth of July and I know there’s lots going on. Hell, I have two parties to go to later today. I hope you’ve all been enjoying the novella up to this point. Now, without further blabbing on my part, let’s get to this week’s episode.

Henry’s connection to the man in tennis shoes is revealed, and Chief Bobby Walker gets an unwanted message. Rita is stunned when she discovers what happened to Melinda Wilmott.

Remember, folks – this podcast novella is Rated R for strong language, adult themes, and situations.

Welcome back to yes another edition of Podcaturday, you’re weekly dose of insanity.

Thank you to those who called the Litterbox last week. All 5 of you. This week there’s an extra incentive to call and comment on all the Podcaturday posts, since we’re giving away stuff now. The first prize? A copy of Braveheart. You know, the movie Mel “I’m a fucking loony toon” Gibson won an academy award for? Yeah. That one. So listen to find out what you have to do to win.

Podcaturday has been a roaring (or as Acadia would say, “Raaring”) success, so again, thank you to all of you who listen each and every week. You ROCK!

Now here’s this week’s links. Podcaturday after the trailer.

Jenny “We’re done professionally” Beans

Acadia “Get your stinkin paws off me you damn dirty ape” Einstein

Nicole “Suck my dick” Ireland

Nobilis “Tell me about it stud” Reed

David “Your mother had it comin” Sobkowiak

Laura “That’s not a knife this is a knife” Frechette

Welcome back to another episode of UNLEASHED. We’re sponsored by the fine folks at Permuted Press…and when I say “we’re” I mean me.

Lots of cool stuff on this episode, not the least of which is an interview with Robert R. Best, who is the author of the zombie novel, Lakewood Memorial, as well as its upcoming sequels. A really great guy, and I think you guys are going to enjoy this one.

Without further hesitation then, here’s the rundown for the show:

• 00:00:01 – Introduction
• 00:00:50 – Don’t forget to preorder your copy of Beyond Exile: Day By Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne. Available everywhere July 13!
• 00:02:25 – UNLEASHED has been nominated for a Parsec Award in the category of Best Podcast About Speculative Fiction Content Creation. Thanks to everyone who has ever been involved with the show for making it happen!
• 00:03:47 – My new novella, Hull’s Landing, is being released right now!
• 00:05:42 – Corey Graham returns with Twisting the Blade. This month Corey reviews HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, not House of the Dead, as I called it. Oops. My bad. Watch the trailer HERE.
• 00:12:17 – Promo: The Ballad of Iron Percy by Edward Clark and read by Veronica Giguere
• 00:13:17 – Interview with Robert R. Best
• 00:33:24 – Info about Horror Realm 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Pittsburgh
• 00:34:15 – Jennifer Hudock is absent with her From the Shelf Book Report this month. She’s hard at work finishing edits on FROM THE DARK SIDE, a charity anthology, where all the proceeds are going to The Office of Letters and Light.
• 00:36:17 – Adios muchachos!

Hope you guys enjoy the episode. Drop me a line at jjmelzer@gmail.com if you want to provide written feedback, or you can call the voicemail line at 206-888-1710. Till next month!

Welcome back to another episode of my new podcast novella, Hull’s Landing. I’ve been really enjoying bringing this to you guys, and hope you’re digging it as well. Should you feel the need to leave me some feedback, email me at jjmelzer@gmail.com, or call the voicemail line at 206-888-1710. On with the show…

The encounter with Sam is still fresh in Rita’s mind, and as she sits down to have a talk with her neighbor, more about the town is revealed until a scream penetrates the conversation. Chief Walker and the man in the tennis shoes have a nice sit down, and we learn what happened to Danny Wilmott.

Remember, folks – this podcast novella is Rated R for strong language, adult themes, and situations.

We’re back for another episode of Podcaturday. I have to say that I think this is the best one yet, as we talk about everything from time travel to alien conspiracies to *SPOILER ALERT* Shutter Island. Suck that, James Cameron!

There may or may not be the drone of a fan in the background. Why? Because it’s really freakin’ hot out and I didn’t feel like turning it off just to appease you people. Deal with it. Either the fan goes, or I go! Wait, maybe I shouldn’t put that to a vote.

Here’s the links to this week’s crew, with their new nicknames as chosen by me.

The “Jelly” Beans

Acadia “Bionic Frankenstein” Einstein

Martin “I Like the Mob” Scorsese

Laura “Garlic Bread” Frechette

Nobilis “Stop Telling Me How to Pronounce My Name” Reed

Corey “Don’t You Dare Call Me Cracker” Graham

Oh, and here’s the trailer for Uwe Boll’s RAMPAGE, which I talked about in the episode. Doesn’t it look great?

Last year I attended my first ever convention. Horror Realm, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I sold some wears, participated in an author reading where I read from my forthcoming debut novel, Escape, and signed some autographs. Well, I am pleased to say that this year I’ll be doing almost all of it again.

Horror Realm is taking place from September 17 to 19, 2010, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Pittsburgh South. Guests include Ken Foree, Tiffany Shepis, Robyn Griggs, and Scarlet Salem, and many great authors and artists will also be in attendance as well. Folks like Joel Robinson, Kim Paffenroth, and of course, me. You never know who you might run into, too. Last year I got to hook up with Tom Savini for a bit, and Tony Todd banged on our door at midnight looking for Ken Foree. There was also a great room party I attended with the likes of S.G. Browne, Doctor Pus, and the dude who got his head chopped off by a helicopter in Dawn of the Dead (he brought us ice). So all-in-all, Horror Realm is a hell of a fun weekend with lots of great people, in a great hotel.

This year I’ll be there celebrating not only the soon-to-be-released novel, but also my marriage. Jenny and I are getting hitched the weekend before, so we’ll be in good spirits for sure. Yes, Jenny will be there too with me. You know her, right? I’ll be giving a reading late Saturday afternoon, and partying it up all through the night with you fine folks. I might even have a few surprises for you as well.

So join me, September 17 to the 19 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for Horror Realm 2010!

**The following footage was shot at Horror Realm 2009 by author Z.A. Recht (Feb 4, 1983 – Dec. 10, 2009). You are greatly missed, Z.**

Let’s say you’re in the woods camping with some friends. You’re having a good time, drinking and laughing it up. Maybe even smoking a bit of weed. Ah to be young again. Everything’s going great, then you and your girl decide to have some sex. Damn, you’re dead.

That simple premise launched one of the biggest horror franchises of all time in the way of Friday the 13th, and one of the most iconic horror monsters ever. Jason Voorhees.

ki-ki-ki-ma-ma-ma…yes, that Jason Voorhees.

Sporting a hockey mask and wielding a knife Paul Hogan would be jealous of, Jason Voorhees slashed his way into our hearts beginning in 1981 with Part 2 of the series (Pamela Voorhees was the killer in the first one, remember?). There have been a total of 12 films in the franchise so far, and Big J has racked up a body count of more than 150 people. Using not only his knife, but spears, sleeping bags, wire, an axe, and I could go on and on but I won’t.

The only thing you need to know is that Jason Voorhees is one bad mofo. Like Michael Myers, Voorhees stalks his victims slowly, but unlike Myers, Voorhees isn’t out to mess with your head, or play with you. He’s out to slaughter your ass, spilling as much of your blood as possible. You can run, but he will find you, and no matter what you do to him, he will not die. You can blow him to Kingdom Come, and some how, some way, he’ll find a way to come back. Even if nanobots have to put him back together like Humpty Dumpty.

One of the things that makes Jason unique though, is that most people actually find themselves cheering for him. They can’t wait to see how he is going to kill his next victim. Of course, that’s probably because the kids are so dumb and stupid that you can’t wait for them to bite it, but that’s besides the point. He has gone beyond being a mere monster, to almost being the hero. Something that is rare in the horror genre. Make no mistake though, Voorhees is a monster, and he will stop at nothing to kill you. He’s the Terminator of horror movies.

We salute you, Jason Voorhees, for all that you have contributed to our nightmares, to our midnight walks, and to the game of hockey. You may be a monster, but you’re our monster.

You’ve been listening to the free, serialized podcast of my new novella, Hull’s Landing, and now you can bring the experience of serialized fiction to your e-reader for just $0.99 cents.

Starting with ‘White Robes and Tennis Shoes,’ Hull’s Landing is going to be offered in serialized form on Smashwords and in the Amazon Kindle Store for $0.99 cents a pop. The novella will be broken down into chunks, each running around 5,000 words or so, and released once a month, over a period of about six months. You can best be sure that each serialized e-part of Hull’s Landing will end on a cliffhanger as well. Hey, I gotta keep you guys coming back somehow, right?

Unfamiliar with Hull’s Landing? Here’s the lowdown…

Nestled deep in the heart of Pennsylvania is the small town of Hull’s Landing. While it may seem like just an ordinary place, The Landing holds a secret so dark, that there are those who will do anything to protect it.

For decades, young girls have been disappearing like clockwork. While some have their suspicions, the entire town lives in fear; and for good reason. When Rita Clemens, a former member of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, decides to make her new home in Hull’s Landing, she begins to uncover what the locals have tried to keep hidden for so long.

As the race against time begins, Rita will have to do everything she can to protect herself, and to save a child’s life, before one of the world’s oldest evils can be unleashed.

Hull’s Landing is an original novella from the author of ESCAPE, and is Rated R for violence, adult situations, and language.

Sound good? It is. So for those of you that don’t like podcasts, or want to experience the novella in a whole new way, grab your copy of the first segment of Hull’s Landing, titled ‘White Robes and Tennis Shoes.’

Available now on Smashwords, and in the Amazon Kindle Store for just $0.99 cents!

BOOM! Another edition of Podcaturday is upon you, featuring talk about Acadia’s broken back, Jenny’s disdain of Charlaine Harris, and my love of Ouija boards. I think there’s some World Cup talk in the somewhere, too. It might have been cut out. My Ouija talk may have been cut out as well. I don’t know. I should really start doing these posts after the episode is edited instead of trying to get everything ready ahead of time. My bad.

Don’t forget, you can leave a message in The Litterbox for us to play on the show. Feel free to bitch about what ever you’d like. Bitching at us increases your chances of getting played on Podcaturday. That number to call again is 206-888-1710.

Here’s who you should go and visit this week and what their last name isn’t.

Jennifer whose last name is not Lopez

Acadia whose last name is not Einstein

Corey whose last name is not Haim

Permuted Press who doesn’t have a last name for obvious reasons

Veronica whose last name is not Mars

Nicole whose last name is not Scherzinger

Here is Acadia’s very beautiful Power Point presentation about the Picture Perfect contest that he worked so hard on with Vange, who rocks and rolls all day long, sweet Suzie!

Ah 1986. Hands Across America, the Challenger disaster, the Iran Contra Affair, Madonna singing “Papa Don’t Preach,” and of course, Tawny Kitaen. Mmm…Tawny Kitaen. Who could ever forget her in movies like Bachelor Party and Instant Justice? Perhaps one of her best known roles though, was as Linda Brewster in the film Witchboard. You all remember that movie, right?

Last night as I was thinking of a film to focus on today, we broke out the Ouija board for some fun and it hit me, “Witchboard. Of course!” This is perhaps one of my most loved 80s horror films, as it had all the right elements for a good scary flick. Possession, things moving all on their own, cheesy music, and yes, Tawny Kitaen. Oh, and it also had Stephen Nichols in it. You may remember him as Steve ‘Patch’ Johnson from the daytime soap, Days of Our Lives. What? Am I the only horror author that ever watched that stuff? I doubt it.

Witchboard, as I recall, was my first encounter with a film about Ouija boards. Up until that point, I had only heard about them briefly, not really quite sure what they were. I knew it had something to do with ghosts and whatnot, but man, after seeing that film, I was intrigued. The bad mojo of the movie didn’t scare me away, quite the contrary. I was more determined than ever to get my hands on one to see what evil I could conjure up. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on which side you’re on), I never did get to play with one until a few years later, when my brother and his girlfriend scared the crap out of me during a session with ol’ Ouija. Regardless, it didn’t deter me from trying it again later on in life, hence the fun last night.

While Witchboard may have been trying to send the message of, “Don’t fuck with the dead,” I think it had the opposite affect on most people, causing them to be more and more curious about things they don’t truly understand. At least, that’s the affect it had on me.

If you’ve never seen it, or if it’s been a while since you had a viewing of this film, I suggest you go out and grab yourself a copy. It’s dated in many ways, but is still good for a few jump scares. And yes, Tawny Kitaen is just as hot as you remembered her to be in it.

I have a confession to make. Are you ready? Here it goes…I am not a huge Neil Gaiman fan.

There. I said it.

As a teen, while all my friends were drooling over The Sandman, I had no interest. I tried reading a few issues but never got into it. As an adult, I read American Gods, Anansi Boys, and Smoke and Mirrors, all in that order. I was not too impressed. I mean, they were good, don’t get me wrong. I just never saw the appeal of Neil Gaiman’s style.

Then I read Neverwhere.

WOW!

Something about that book just blew me away, and all of a sudden I found myself telling everyone to read it. Most of the responses I got were, “I already have.” Seems I missed the boat on that one, but I didn’t care. I still shouted it from the rooftops that everyone should read Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

The story is simple enough: man meets mysterious girl, man’s life falls apart, and then man goes on an adventure with said girl in London’s underground. There is so much more to it than that, though. Oh so much more. The characters Gaiman created in Neverwhere were rich, with quirks, traits, and backstory’s all their own that propelled you into their world. You found yourself laughing at the follies of Richard Mayhew, cheering for Door, and wondering about Hunter. Croup and Vandemar are delightful villains, and in a world where it seems anything can happen, and does, the story captivates you until the very end. Which, by the way, concludes spectacularly.

I’ve read Neverwhere twice, and on the second go around I found myself discovering little nuggets that I missed the first time, which made it a pleasure to read again. It only reaffirmed by belief that everyone should read Neverwhere. Again and again and again.

So here I am, feeling like a broken record, telling you to read Neverwhere. I’m sure I’ll get a lot of the same responses I did before, and that’s okay. If just one of you looking at this has not yet read it, and are convinced to do so now, then I have done my job.

Now that my secret is out there that I’m not a huge Neil Gaiman fan, I’m sure I’ll take a lot of ribbing, and I’m okay with that. Rib away. It’s all in good fun. Just remember that there’s authors I like that I’m sure you have no interest in…but if you were as passionate about their work as I am about Neverwhere, I’d listen.

Okay, so things didn’t exactly work out as I planned this week. Last night on Twitter I mentioned that today’s post would feature an old family photo of a ghost hand. It does, but the quality isn’t as great as I was hoping. See, I had the pic all ready to go, pulled out of the family album, and went to scan it. Low and behold, some rabbits chewed through my scanner cord, rendering it inoperable. Seriously, my roommate has two rabbits. A white one and a black one. You can’t make this shit up, folks.

Anyway, I grabbed Jenny’s BlackBerry and took a picture of the picture, because I’m a man of my word and wanted to show you all this. As you may know, though, BB cameras aren’t exactly the greatest. Still…it worked.

You can see in the picture my mother and aunt. Beside my aunt is what looks to be a hand getting ready to tap her on the shoulder. See it? Click on the picture to enlarge it. Now, this pic has been in my family for over 40 years, and I’ve had it taken to folks to see if it was altered in any way. It wasn’t.

So there you have it, the mysterious ghost hand in the picture. What do you guys think? You can’t see it very well in this reprint, but you can actually make out bones in the hand. The index finger is pointing up, ready to tap my aunt on the shoulder. I’ll repost it once I get a new cord for my scanner of course, so you can see it better.

That’s it. That’s all I got. A fuzzy ghost hand in a fuzzy picture that wouldn’t scan because some rabbits chewed my cord. Man, you’d think I was snapping a pic of Bigfoot or something…

You have to give major props to a myth that can penetrate the culture so much so that it has its own NHL team. What? You thought the New Jersey Devils were named after Satan? He should be so lucky.

First showing up on the 1800′s, the Jersey Devil has been credited with killing livestock, leaving tracks, and even making strange noises in the night. In the middle of the 20th century, merchants around Camden, New Jersey, offered $10,000 to anyone who could capture the creature, and even offered to build a private zoo for J.D.

Alas, the reward went uncollected.

While you may have your doubts, I can’t help but think that there has to be some amount of truth to the existence of the Jersey Devil. I mean, it’s been talked about for so long, reportedly been sighted, and with some degree of evidence being left behind, it’s hard not to imagine the possibility that a strange creature could be inhabiting the Pine Barrens. No?

As far as pop culture goes, I mentioned the NHL team, but the mysterious creature has also found its way into episodes of The X-Files, Animal Planet, Scariest Places on Earth, Paranormal State, and Destination Truth. Hell, Bruce Springsteen even wrote a song about it. A Night With the Jersey Devil, anyone? Its been featured in video games, in pro wrestling, and also has a motorcycle club named after it.

So, where do you stand on this one? Is there a Jersey Devil, and if so, have you ever heard stories about it?

Let me know what you think in the comments below. C’mon, I know I’m not the only one who believes.

If you’ve been following the daily content that has been popping up here for the past three weeks, you’ll recognize a change to Monday’s. They were formally known as ‘Maniac Monday,’ wherein we would look at a different serial killer each week. That is no more. Realize that all this stuff is still in the initial phase, so I might be trying out different things to see what works. ‘Maniac Monday’ was not working.

Therefore, I present to you…MONSTER MONDAY! I’ll be sharing my thoughts on different monsters from either film or literature every week, until I see fit to change it. Something tells me, though, that you guys will dig it.

On with the show…

When I was a kid, one of the first horror films I ever remember watching was Halloween. To this day it remains my #1 favorite horror film of all time. When I got a VCR, Halloween was the first film I bought. Same with when I got a DVD player, and I’m sure it will be the same when I make the switch to BluRay (I know, I’m a bit behind the times).

Michael Myers is one of those monsters that leaves a lasting impression on a kid. He’s dressed in black, so it’s easy for him to hide in your closet. He’s silent, never making a sound as he stalks his victims, so you can never be sure if he might be following you to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Most frightening of all, though, is that he carries one hell of a kitchen knife, and he’s not using it to chop lettuce, either.

Myers gets inside your head, toying with you as he pursues you at a pace that would make a snail envious. He doesn’t run, he don’t jog. He walks. Slowly, with confidence. Knowing that no matter where you try and hide, he will find you. This separates him from all the other other slasher film killers, in my opinion. He’s not just out for blood and guts. He’s out to play, and he knows full well what he is doing. Remember the tombstone of Judith Myers at the head of the bed, with Annie’s dead body laid out before it? Tell me that wasn’t planned, and I’ll tell you that I just back from having lunch with Stephen King.

Even today, as an adult, I still think about Michael Myers when I stroll the streets late at night. Walking through the graveyard that is across the street from me here in Toronto. Sometimes, I keep expecting to see him peeking out from behind a tombstone. His white mask exposed by the light of the moon.

I don’t know about you, but Halloween still gives me the creeps to this day. Every time I watch it, the lights have to be turned off, and I have to be near a pillow, because I know that sooner or later I’m going to need it to hide my face in.

Ten films, 136 kills, and a legend that will live on in cinematic films for years to come, Michael Myers truly is one of the greatest fictional monsters of out time.

Welcome back to Sunday! Bloody! Sunday! and another episode of the new podcast novella, Hull’s Landing.

Now, last week was the debut episode, but in all honesty, I had some problems with the feed. Some of you may have gotten the episode twice, or not at all. If you’re one of those people that never got it, be sure to go back and download it from the website HERE.

On to this week’s episode…

It’s revealed who is behind the kidnapping of Zoe…or is it? We also get to learn more about the trapped girl, and just where the source of her strength really comes from. There’s a great shift coming in Hull’s Landing, and as Chief Bobby Walker sits down to eat, he’s greeted by the force that is going to bring about the change.

Remember, folks – this podcast novella is Rated R for strong language, adult themes, and situations.

You’ve been warned!

Welcome back to another episode of Podcaturday! This week, you’re going to hear lots of stuff, not the least of which are birds chirping in the background. That’s because I felt like recording outside. Deal with it.

Jenny and I are going on a Great Canadian Adventure later today, so you’ll hear about that. Plus, we’re taking some voicemail. Listen and gawk as a cat calls the hotline, as well as Nobilis Reed. Jenny and I may record some clips from the road to play on a future episode of Podcaturday, we’re still not sure. One thing we are sure about though, is that next week’s episode will be Canadian made, baby! Oooh, exciting!

Here’s the people you should visit this week, and what they would be if they were a bird.

Jenny Beans – Swallow

Acadia – Dodo Bird

Nobilis Reed – Woodpecker

Veronica – Hummingbird

Nicole – Pink Flamingo

Corey Graham – Bald Eagle

Enjoy the show!

What can I say about George C. Scott? The man was a brilliant actor, and his performance in this 1980 flick was one of the creepiest you’ll ever see.

This movie haunted me for years, not because I was frightened of it, but because I could never seem to get my damn hands on it. Everywhere I went in the 80s, people kept saying to me, “Have you seen The Changeling? Have you seen The Changeling?” Sadly, my response was always, “No, I haven’t.”

That lasted till sometimes in the 90s, when I finally got my grubby little hands on a copy of it. So I sat, in the dark (as you should with all haunted house movies), and proceeded to have the shit scared out of me for the next 115 minutes. Of course, it’s pretty tame by today’s standards, but The Changeling is one of those films that scares you on a whole other level. It’s not gory, it’s not disgusting, it’s just…creepy.

Here’s the lowdown from Wikipedia:

Scott stars as Dr. John Russell, a composer living in New York City, who moves cross-country to Washington state following the tragic deaths of his wife and daughter in a traffic accident while on a winter vacation in upstate New York. In suburban Seattle, Russell rents a large, old, and eerie-looking Victorian-era mansion and begins piecing his life back together.

However, Dr. Russell soon discovers that he has unexpected company in his new home when a poltergeist, the ghost of a murdered child, haunts the house. It shatters windows, abruptly opens and shuts doors, and manifests itself during a seance. Russell investigates and finds that the mystery is linked to a powerful local family, the heir of whom is a wealthy US senator.

Sound scary? It is!

The Changeling has everything you need for a good ghost story: a big old haunted mansion, a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown, atmosphere, and of course, a poltergeist.

If you haven’t seen it, check it out. You might not find it to be the scariest movie you’ve ever seen, but I’ll bet that after watching it, you’ll be walking around with the lights on for a few nights afterward.

Hey gang, listen up. My boy Corey Graham is holding a zombie flash fiction contest in conjunction with two of the best authors of the genre right now, Eric S. Brown and David Dunwoody. They’ve both been UNLEASHED (Eric’s been on 3 times) before, so you should know who I’m talking about.

Here’s what you gotta do:

They want a zombie story from you. It has to be completely original, and be no longer than 500 words. Here’s a good article to help get you familiarized with flash fiction if you’re new to it.

Type it up, put it into the body of an email message (along with your name), and send it to: corey AT midnightcorey DOT com. Please put “Zombie Flash Fiction Contest” in the subject line. (DO NOT SEND IT TO ME, JAMES MELZER. IF YOU DO, I WILL LAUGH RIDICULOUSLY BEFORE DELETING IT)

All the entries will be read by Eric S. Brown and David Dunwoody, and they will decide on the top three stories.

The prizes:

• First Place: Bigfoot War by Eric S. Brown; Empire (first edition, signed) by David Dunwoody
• Second Place: How the West Went to Hell (signed) by Eric S. Brown; UNBOUND & Other Tales (signed) by David Dunwoody
• Third Place: Kinberra Down (signed) by Eric S. Brown and Jessy Marie Roberts

The three winners will also be read on an upcoming episode of Midnight Corey’s podcast. (NOT UNLEASHED)

The deadline:

Your entries must be received by 11:59pm on July 4, 2010. Say happy birthday to America by writing a 500-word zombie gorefest!

The contest has officially begun, so start writing! Multiple submissions are allowed (in separate emails, please), but please limit to 3 entries per person.

For the record, I’ll be reading one of the winning entries, so get writing, get submitting, and if you’re lucky, GET WINNING!

Before I begin this week’s Textbook Thursday, I just want to thank everyone for spreading the word about last week’s post on Swan Song by Robert McCammon. It got such a huge response that it is now one of the most popular posts I’ve ever written for the website, and it even got the attention of Robert McCammon himself. So thanks to everyone for doing what you do best, and that’s spreading the word about my work. YOU ROCK!

Now, on to this week’s Textbook Thursday…

I don’t remember how or why I came to reading Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin, but I’m glad I did. It’s one of those books that is so simple, yet creepy, that it keeps you guessing all the way through. I had seen the movie years before I ever read the book, and honestly, I don’t think I liked it very much, but decided to give the novel a shot anyway.

From just a few pages in I was hooked. Levin did such a good job of describing Rosemary and Guy’s life that it was impossible not to like them as characters. Like Rosemary, I wanted to see Guy get a job, and was cheering right along with her. When the Castavet’s from next door made an appearance, I knew there was something not right about them. You see, even though I had seen the movie before, I somehow managed to put all of it out of my mind when I read the book, so yes, I was a little surprised at some of the things that happened.

Rosemary’s Baby was one of those books that made me want to become a writer. I read it over and over, and enjoyed it so much so, that one day I decided I was going to write a sequel to it. Keep in mind that I was young, and had no idea about Copyright. Anyway, I set out by grabbing a couple of maps of New York City, a place that was completely alien to me, going through the novel and writing down every single character that made an appearance in it, even blueprinting Guy and Rosemary’s apartment so I had it just right. Those maps were stuck to my wall with pins through all the places that were mentioned in Rosemary’s Baby so I could take a mental stroll through their life. I came to the conclusion that my sequel was going to happen right after the events in the first one, after Rosemary had the spawn of Satan and named him Andrew.

I wrote the first five chapters and then Ira Levin beat me to the punch.

Walking by a bookstore one day I saw it sitting there on the shelf. Son of Rosemary. I picked it up, flipped though it, bought it, read it, and hated every word of it. Mine was far more superior, of course. How could he do this to me? Of course, now I realize how foolish I was being, but like I said, I was young and stupid and had no idea how the world worked. Now I can see that Son of Rosemary was a great sequel, and say that I did enjoy it the second time through years later.

Back to Rosemary’s Baby, though. It truly was a great book. If you’ve never read it, I suggest you go out and grab yourself a copy. It’s not gory, it’s not horrific in the sense of the word today, but for 1967 I can see how it would scare the pants off of most people. The characters, the setting, and most of all – the plot, will keep you interested all the way through. And if you don’t get angry at what happens to Hutch, I’ll eat my hat!

Since none of you have taken me up on my offer to share this space with your weird, paranormal tales, I’m going to gush for a bit, okay?

I had never heard of the book that is shaping up to be the “summer blockbuster” until yesterday. Hell, up until yesterday I had never heard of the author, Justin Cronin. Now though, I am eagerly awaiting getting my hands on a copy of his book, The Passage, and it’s all thanks to a recommendation from Stephen King.

Let’s face it, for myself as well as thousands of other horror writers across the country, Stephen King is a God. He’ll deny it till the day he dies, I’m sure, because that’s the kind of God he is, but the fact still remains that if there was ever a person who should respond, “Yes,” to the question, “Are you a God?” it’s him.

King is the reason I started putting words down on a page so many years ago. IT was the first horror novel I ever read, and while there have been others that have come after it by different authors that I liked much more, it still has a place in my heart as the book that turned me on to the genre. Since first reading the book way back in ’87 or ’88 (I can’t remember which), I have wanted nothing more than to share my stories with the world, the way Stephen King does.

I have followed his career as a writer ever since, and while I haven’t liked every single book he’s ever written, I have no shame in admitting that I love the man. I love him for the writer he is, the person he is, the life he has led and had the courage to share with us, and the ordinary monsters he has created on top of the supernatural ones. No other writer, in my mind, even comes close to having the affect on my life that Stephen King has.

I’ve had the pleasure of hearing King talk in person twice. Both times in Toronto, Canada. The first was when he was accepting an award given to him by the Canadian Booksellers Association (that ceremony also featured Clive Barker and Margaret Atwood), and the second time was when he was promoting Under The Dome. He captivated me, made me laugh, and inspired the hell out of me. I have the poster from the CBA night next to a poster of the cover art for my own novel coming out in 2011, and while I will not even pretend to be on the same level as the man, I will say that it is my dream to one day be written about in blog posts such as this, because of the life I have led, and the words I have written.

As I watch this video of Justin Cronin on Good Morning America, I can’t help but think how lucky he is to have gotten the phone call he did. I can see the shock, and pleasure, on his face, and it makes me smile, because I know exactly how he must feel. I feel it, too, every night as I lay my head down on my pillow, and dream about the day I too, can get a phone call from Stephen King.

Today we’re going all the way to Stafford, Virginia, with a tale that comes to us from one of my co-workers, Sara Welsh. Here’s the email she sent me:

Hey James!

I grew up (mainly) in Aquia Harbor, part of Stafford,VA.  Right outside of Aquia Harbor is Aquia Episcopal Church, a rather lovely old brick building in a nice wooded area that’s been there since the 1700s.  It was used as a military hospital during the Civil War but that’s not the origin of the “tall tale.”

Back when the church was relatively new, there was a married woman who’s husband caught her in the arms of another man. After killing her lover, the husband chased the woman into the church and murdered her in the bell tower.  He was a mason and apparently bricked her body up in the tower before killing himself.  Rumor has it that when they broke through the brick years later, they found a skeleton with her golden hair still attached (of course we know this is impossible but it’s a cool story aspect).

Aquia Episcopal is actually in books as one of the most haunted churches in VA.  The woman is supposedly still there, forever tormented by her jealous, angry husband.  It’s rumored that while the church was being used as a hospital, the ghost of the woman woke up the confederate soldiers who were hiding so they could get out (the Yankees were right on top of them).  If you go into the choir loft you can see what looks like stained, dripping blood coming from the ceiling down the walls, it’s usually frigid in the church, and voices are heard often.

It’s a great church with a really creepy, old cemetery and as horror enthusiasts it sounds like you and Jenny would get a kick out of seeing it.  It’s about a five hour drive from where I live now, so it would have to be a weekend trip if y’all wanted to see.

Well that does sound like quite the tall tale, so of course I had to do some digging for myself, and not only did I find the stories Sarah was talking about (with some minor variations), but I came across some others as well.

One of them talked about a woman who became fascinated with the church in the 1920s. No one would go in with her, so she recruited two ghost hunters of the time. When she entered the church, she felt an unseen hand slap her across the face. The two men searched and searched, but found no one else inside. The mark stayed on the woman’s face for days afterward.

Another story I found had to do with a dare. Some guys, messing around, you know how boys get. One of them bet he could climb the bell tower, and to prove it, he would drive a nail into the wall with a hammer, so they knew he had been there. When he didn’t return, his friends went looking for him. They found him allright! He was still in the bell tower. Dead. Apparently he had driven the nail through his jacket and died of fright, thinking he was trapped by a ghost. Now I don’t know about that, but it’s still a pretty cool story.

Thanks to Sara for helping out with this week’s Tall Tale Tuesday. If you have something you’d like to share, send it along in an email to: jjmelzer@gmail.com.

Last week we took a trip to Canada to visit Clifford Olson. I liked it so much there that I decided to stay. This week, then, we’ll be looking at another Canadian serial killer who had the distinct pleasure(?) of being called, “The Vampire Rapist.”

Wayne Boden was raised near where I used to call home, Toronto, in Dundas, Ontario, just outside of Hamilton. During the period between 1969 and 1971, Boden claimed the lives of four women. He didn’t just kill them, though. Oh no. That would have been too easy. He raped, strangled, and bit the breasts of his victims, often mutilating them, drinking their blood for his own pleasure. The sick puppy earned “The Vampire Rapist” moniker because of that.

Even though Wayne Boden was raised in Ontario, his first three victims, Shirley Audette, Marielle Archambault, and Jean Wray, were all killed in the city of Montreal, which is in the province of Quebec. That’s one province over from Ontario, for you geographically-challenged folk.

Upon sensing that the fuzz were on to him, Boden skipped town and province, trucked 2,500 miles and landed in Calgary, Alberta. It was there that his last victim would be claimed. Elizabeth Anne Porteous. A 33-year old high school teacher.

With tips from two of her colleagues, police were able to nail Wayne Boden after staking out the car he was driving at the time. A blue Mercedes with with a bull-shaped decal in the rear window. Bull-shaped? Really, Wayne? Nothing like standing out in a crowd. Of course, this is Calgary we are talking about, so who knows.

After obtaining casts of his teeth from local orthodontist, Gordon Swann, Boden was convicted as “The Vampire Rapist.” He was sentenced to three consecutive life terms in Kingston, Ontario, and began serving his punishment on February 16, 1972.

Here’s the kicker: While in jail, American Express (Don’t leave home without it!) issued Wayne Bowden a credit card. So what does he do? He escapes while on a day pass (what?) and uses the frickin’ thing to go have a few snacks. Unbelievable. Thankfully, he was recaptured 36 hours later, and remained in prison ever since his death on March 27, 2006.

Man, what a story. “The Vampire Rapist,” eh? There’s just something so brutal about the way Boden disposed of his victims, that I don’t think there’s anything vampire about it. At least, not in the classic sense of the word. No romanticism, no mystic lore surrounding him. He was just a dude that bit some breasts and drank a bit of blood. Regardless, he was actually one of the first serial killers ever to be labeled with that stigma. Since then, there have been many other “vampire” serial killers, but Wayne Boden will always go down in the books as one of the first on record.

Wow, talk about making mama proud.

Nestled deep in the heart of Pennsylvania is the small borough of Hull’s Landing. While it may seem like just an ordinary place, The Landing holds a secret so dark, that there are those who will do anything to protect it.

For decades, young girls have been disappearing like clockwork. While some have their suspicions, the entire town lives in fear; and for good reason. When Rita Clemens, a former member of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, decides to make her new home in Hull’s, she begins to uncover what the locals have tried to keep hidden for so long.

As the race against time begins, Rita will have to do everything she can to protect herself, and to save a child’s life, before one of the world’s oldest evils can be unleashed.

Hull’s Landing is an original novella from the author of ESCAPE, and is Rated R for violence, adult situations, and language.

You’ve been warned!

Welcome back to another edition of Podcaturday, suckers! This week The Beans, Acadia, and I talk about cooking, 80′s movies, and Judd Nelson.

There’s some echo in this one, due to the fact that we recorded it at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I bet Acadia that I could drink a case of lager and then fill it with my piss, but I lost. Them the breaks.

There’s a voicemail line you can call, which we forgot to mention, and last week someone actually did call, which we forgot to play. Should you want to be left out of next episode, feel free to leave us a message in The Litterbox at 206-888-1710.

Here’s who you should check out this week, and they’re favorite dish.

The Beans – Hamburgers with horseradish.

Acadia – Mac and Cheese with ketchup.

Nicole – Cookie dough.

Gordon Ramsay – Whatever he cooks.

Judd Nelson – Cream of sumyungguy.

Corey Graham – Fillet of Cthulhu.

Veronica – Peanut butter and mayonnaise.

Ah yes, Friday. A day of the week that actually means something to me now that I am no longer shackled to the weekends of retail. How glorious. It’s also a day to talk about the movies that have had a great impact on my life. From horror and suspense, to action and (dare I say) romance. Gasp! Today’s film has all of these qualities, but not in the way you might expect. In fact, nothing about this movie is what you expect, and that’s what makes it work so damn well.

I’m talking about Frailty, the 2001 flick directed by, and starring, Bill Paxton. I swear on my mothers life, if you have never seen this movie, add it to whatever list you are keeping, then move it to the top, okay?

Written by Brent Hanley, Frailty is told from the perspective of Fenton Meeks, who comes forward to the FBI and confesses that his brother, Adam, may be a serial killer known as ‘The God’s Hands Killer.’ Using flashbacks to show the lives of the two brothers growing up, it mainly focuses on their father, who believed that he was on a mission from God to destroy demons that inhabit the bodies of humans. Fenton saw his dad as evil, but Adam adored him, and would do anything to please him.

Don’t let the religious undertones of the movie scare you off. They work so subtly well that you look right past them and into the eyes of the father, played diabolically by Paxton. Through it all, you witness how one man’s sickness affects his children when they grow up. It’s an extremely well told story, and one that will resonate with you long after the credits have rolled.

I can remember shutting this one off after it was over and sitting there in awe at it. Up until that point, I don’t think a movie had impressed me to the point of me wanting to scream it from the rooftops that everyone should see it. Years later, while working at Blockbuster, whenever someone asked me for a recommendation, I put Frailty in their hands whether they wanted it or not, and they always came back and thanked me for it.

So check it out, and see for yourself how a good story is told. There’s no doubt in my mind that you’ll enjoy it.

UPDATE

After a few days of silence from the person who calls herself Zoe, I received another disturbing email last night. I don’t know what kind of game she is playing, if any, but I’ve just about had it up to here. These letters continue to get freakier and freakier each time. Either she is in trouble and this is the only way she knows how to call out for help, or it’s some kind of sick game she is playing with me. Regardless, I am seriously considering going to the authorities after this last one. What do you guys think? Should I wash my hands of Zoe and give it over to the professionals? Read on and let me know.

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When it comes to books about the apocalypse, Stephen King’s The Stand ranks up there pretty high among fans of the genre. Not for me, though. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Stand, but if you were to ask me what my favorite end of the world novel is, there’s no doubt in my mind that I would say Swan Song by Robert McCammon.

While I can’t quite remember how I stumbled across this book (it may have been in some back alley pawn shop), I do remember what I was going through at the time I read it. I had just been diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, and was having a pretty rough go of things. I found Swan Song though, and it allowed me to escape for a while. A long while. At 864 pages, it took me a good couple of months to sip it back. The funny thing is, just as I was getting to the ending, I had to go in the hospital for some testing. The kind of tests where they knock you out. So while waiting for everything to begin, I finished the book with a tear in my eye. Upon my return home, I was drugged up pretty good and my mom was leading me in to the lobby of our apartment. With me not being in my right state of mind, I turned to the group of old ladies that were sitting down gabbing, held up Swan Song, and proclaimed, “This is a very good book,” in a medicated slur. They looked at me funny, and life went on.

When the drugs wore off, I couldn’t remember what happened at the end of the book, and had to go back and read the last 100 pages.It was a pleasure to do so.

I will spare you a detailed synopsis of the book. All you have to know is that it is a big, sprawling epic about good versus evil after a nuclear apocalypse. It was first published in 1987, when nuclear war was all the rage, so don’t hate on its dated plot tool. The story, the characters, the supernatural aspects of it all still ring true today, and make it one of the best books I have ever read.

So go ahead, brag all you want about how much you loved Stephen King’s The Stand as the ultimate book about the apocalypse, I’ll be sitting in the corner reading Swan Song by Robert McCammon for the umpteenth time with a big smile on my face knowing something that you don’t.

I opened this space up last week to anyone who wanted to submit to me their tales of brushes with the strange and unusual, but since no one took me up on that offer, I’ll just talk about myself for a couple of minutes.

I love anything to do with the strange and unusual. I really do. Ghost stores, UFO’s, folklore, urban legends. I eat it all up like candy. A lot of folks look at me like I’m weird sometimes when I make obscure references to places or things they’ve never heard of during everyday conversation, but I say that they are the one’s who are weird. How can you go through life never having heard of The Jersey Devil? Or something as basic as a banshee? I mean, what gives? Are people’s minds so closed off that when something like that does come up, they have no desire to further investigate the matter, and would rather just pass it off as pure quackery? I don’t know.

Maybe it’s something embedded in my DNA, because from an early age I was fascinated with horror stories that had to deal with ghosts coming out of the mirror to claw out your eyes, poltergeists haunting houses, and monsters gobbling up unsuspecting sea merchants. Is it possible that this is the case? I don’t remember my mother ever teaching me anything about the strange and unusual happenings that take place in our world. No dinnertime conversation about parallel universes or shadow people or Mothman. Quite the contrary. Even she passed off my fascination with such things as nothing more than a phase. Oh how she was wrong.

As I get older, I find that my interest in the subject deepens to the point of wanting to understand things on a more personal level. I want to experience them for myself, rather than just read or hear about them secondhand. I want to go on a ghost hunt, I want to fly into the Bermuda Triangle, and yes, I’d even like to buy the Amityville Horror house and live there with my family.

So is it just me, or do you guys love this stuff too, and if not, why?

And please, if you have kids, be sure to teach them well by educating yourself on more than just Survivor and American Idol, okay?

Seeing as how I’m going to be permanently relocating from Toronto, Canada to Pennsylvania in a couple of months, I thought that this week I’d take a look at one of the legends of the area which I’ll be moving to.

Word has it that the Mosquito Valley Cemetery, between Duboisville and South Williamsport, is home to a young woman who served in Europe during the war. On her way home, the plane she was on went down, but when rescuers got there, it was too late. The body of ‘Allison’ was discovered, and it was missing the head! The corpse was flown back home and put to rest, but the head was never found. Yikes!

Two legends go along with this story. The first is that you can see the headless ghost of ‘Allison’ spooking the grounds, looking for her beloved noggin. The spirit is most prevalent around Halloween (of course). The second one is that if you visit the grave at night and see a shadow passing across Allison’s grave, something terrible will befall you before you can even get across the stone bridge that takes you to where she is buried. Most people have reported crashing into a ditch, or having other car problems which keep them around in the cemetery for a lot longer than they expected to be there. Not the most terrible of things, I guess, but I don’t know if I’d want to be stranded in that place at night. How about you?

I’m intrigued by this one because not only am I moving just around the corner from Allison’s Grave, but also because I love a good ghost story. Whether it’s true or not, I don’t know. HOPPS (Heart of Pennsylvania Paranormal Society) did an investigation there and found the cemetery to be nice and peaceful, but we all know ghosts never show up when you want them to, right? Regardless, one of these nights I may just have to brave the tales and go find out for myself just what the heck is going on out there. I’ll be sure to take my camera and microphone. Who knows, maybe I’ll catch some pics of the headless corpse, or even an EVP of her saying hello.

Now that would be freaky!

Author J.A. Konrath has an interesting experiment going on, and in the interest of science, I’m going to participate by sharing one of his ebooks with you all.

The experiment is to see if ebook piracy hurts sales. Personally, I don’t think it does, but there are a lot of people out there who do. So Konrath is giving away his ebook, Jack Daniels Stories as a .zip file with versions of the book in HTML, epub, PDF, .doc, and .prc, and tracking his sales versus pirated copies of the book for a month to see what happens. He’ll be compiling the numbers from free downloads, Kindle sales, PayPal donations, and his rankings on Amazon and Barnes and Noble for the next 30 days, all of which at the end he is hoping to prove that ebook piracy doesn’t hurt an authors sales.

He’s encouraging people to share the free ebook, put it on torrent sites, and just do whatever you can to get it out there. So that’s what I’m doing here. Putting it in my feed, to share with you all. While I already know what the outcome will probably be, it’s still fun to see someone doing this, and tracking their numbers.

So go ahead, steal this ebook!

And for the record, I have read Konrath’s work, and it is fantastic!

Serial killers aren’t just limited to the United States, you know. Clifford Olson is a born and bred Canadian who killed 11 kids between 1980 and 1981 in British Columbia, making him one of Canada’s notorious killers.

Now, usually I’d be making wise cracks up the yin-yang here, but when dealing with the murders of children, even I recognize the sensitivity of this one. However, I will not spare you the grizzly details of the case, which revealed that Olson had raped and strangled both girls and boys, ranging from 12 to 18 years of age. His last victim, Louise Chartrand, was killed on July 30, 1981.

When I think back over the details of this case, I realize that I was just 4 years old when all this was taking place. While I was located in a different part of the country, that still doesn’t stop me from getting chills, knowing that there are more sick fucks out there just like Clifford Olson who are abducting and killing kids all across North America.

Olson was captured on August 12, 1981, and amazingly enough, authorities agreed to his terms that would see him confess to the 11 murders. Get this, in order for him to confess, Olson wanted $10,000 paid to his wife for each victim he admitted to killing. His wife was paid $100,000, and Clifford showed cops where the bodies were buried. He was sentenced to 11 consecutive life sentences in Canada’s super-maximum prison in Sainte-Annes-des-Plaines, Quebec. Listed as a dangerous offender (no shit, Sherlock), Olson has virtually no chance to ever be paroled under any circumstances.

On a side note, I once owned a collection of The Bachman Books by Stephen King that belonged to Clifford Olson. No lie. I purchased it in a used book store when I was a kid growing up in the Ottawa Valley, which is as close to Quebec as you can get. I’m guessing it was one he owned while in prison? I don’t know. All I remember about it is the pencil inscription it had inside the front cover. “I think you’ll enjoy this one very much. I did – Clifford Olson.” I didn’t know who Olson was at the time, so it didn’t really hit me until much later after the book had left my possession, when I stopped in my tracks and went, “Holy shit.”

Creepy, eh?

Welcome back to another edition of Podcaturday, suckers!

We have a new voice mail line for you to call and leave random messages or just yell at us. We don’t care. The number to bitch at is 206-888-1710. Once again, that number is 206-888-1710. You’re responsible for your own damn charges.

This week we welcome a special guest in the way of Mike Arcand, who is my boss at the company I do freelance work for. Normally I would be afraid to say bad things about my boss, but not this time. The only problem is that I can’t think of crappy things to say about Mike. I think he likes popcorn, which is pretty bad, but whatever. It’s not as bad as slapping a lady, or putting a baby in a blender. Oh yeah, and Jenny sounds like she’s drunk, but really, she’s not. I was just poking her brain with a stick trying to figure out where my keys were.

Here’s who you should visit this week and why:

Frickin’ crop circles – Which you should read cause it’s frickin’ crop circles!

Jennifer Hudock – Who you should visit because she lets me touch her boobies sometimes and likes to do it on my computer.

Acadia Einstein – Who you should visit because he hates Canada, and so do I.

Corey Graham – Who you should visit because stickers that fall off suck!

Ziggy Kinsella – Who you should visit because he’s got a cool accent.

Karate Kid Pinball – Which you should play because you have nothing better to do anyway.

I just got word on Twitter that actor Dennis Hopper has passed away. Normally I shy away from doing posts on celebrity deaths, but man, I’ve been a fan of this man since I was a kid. Everything from Easy Rider and Land of the Dead, to the TV show 24 and Apocalypse Now. Hell, I even remember him in Super Mario Bros. which would have completely sucked ass if not for him. Instead I give it a 2 out of 10.

Take that, Bob Hoskins!

The impact Dennis Hopper had on my life, and on the lives of others will surely be felt for years to come. He contributed so much to film and television, with a body of work spanning 56 years. 56 YEARS man, that’s a lot of years to be doing something you love. I only hope that I can be writing for that long.

Rest in peace, Mr. Hopper. You will be greatly missed!

Today’s debut segment of Friday Flix deals with a horror film that is by no means great. It isn’t a classic is the sense that, “OMG! You have to see this,” but it is one that is near and dear to my heart. If you’ve never seen it, then I suggest you put it on your list, regardless. It’s one of those films that’s so bad, it’s good.

I’m talking about the 1976 cult-classic, Squirm.

After a powerful electrical storm rips through the small town of Fly Creek, millions of killer earthworms are brought to the surface to wreck havoc on the town’s inhabitants. Simple enough, right? What makes Squirm work isn’t the acting, isn’t the cinematography, it’s the damn worms. And the kills, of course.

Imagine that you’re standing in the shower. You turn on the water expecting to get clean after a hot and sweaty day, but instead of water coming out of the head, worms creep their way out and land on your head, your skin, and at your feet. They eat through your face, get under your flesh, and squirm their way into your internal organs. Oh man, that’s gold baby. Gold!

I remember first watching this film when I was a young boy, and it grossed me out so much that the image of the woman in the shower stayed with me for years and years. So much so, that a few months ago I tracked down the DVD because I became obsessed with seeing this movie again. I did, and after sitting through it late one night I realized that although Squirm isn’t exactly one of those movies that stands the test of time, it is still a hell of a lot of fun, makes me cringe, and yes, makes me, “Gah,” at the TV screen every damn time.

So if you’re like me and you like a little cheese with your horror, grab a copy of Squirm and prepare to be grossed the hell out. If you’ve seen it, let me know in the comments below what you thought. I’d love to get your take on it.

UPDATE

On Tuesday evening I received a mysterious email from someone named ‘Zoe Bee,’ and posted it in the Wednesday Wildcard post for all of you to see. I was hoping to get some reaction to this as to how I should proceed, and many of you seem to think it’s some kind of hoax, or someone soliciting me for a story idea. I didn’t know what to believe, so I replied to the email, asking what was going on. After a day of silence, I received another one Thursday evening from Zoe. She thanks me for posting her last email, so I’m inclined to do the same here. Folks, if you know anything about this, please let me know. Zoe cold be real, or she could be fake. If it’s true, then this girl is in some serious trouble. Her parents might not know she has internet access, or a phone with her, or whatever. I’m not sure how she’s getting these letters across. Read this next one and please, give me some feedback here, okay?

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I had heard about this fine novel all through my teen years, but was never able to snag a copy of it either because it was out of print, or no book store I visited ever carried it on the shelf. Either way, I finally got a copy of it in hand late in the 20th century after seeing it on the shelf at a used book store. It could have been priced at $100, and I still would have bought it. The hype I had built this thing up to be in my head would have well been worth it.

For any fan of the horror genre who realizes that horror isn’t about blood and gore, but about feeling fear deep within your soul, Ghost Story is one of those books that will leave you in shock and awe, and disappointed that it ever ended. I’m not here to write my own personal review of it, just tell you that it had a great impact on me when I first read that original, worn and torn paperback that I bought so many years ago.

So what’s it about? I’m glad you asked.

Ghost Story tells the tale of four elderly men who are members of what they call ‘The Chowder Society.’ For the past fifty years they have gathered together on a regular basis to tell each other stories. At one time, though, just a year earlier, their group consisted of five members, but the fifth was killed; being found with such a look of horror on his face that it appears he was frightened to death. Why? Well it turns out that the group is hiding a secret, and it becomes apparent that someone, or something, has come back to haunt them. With the help of the dead members nephew, they embark on a journey of discovery that will lead them down one of the darkest paths of all.

It sounds like a typical horror novel, but Peter Straub weaves an intricate tale of fright so well, that it almost transcends the genre. Ghost Story is not a gore fest. In fact, there’s very little blood in it at all. It’s about the characters, the town of Milburn, and keeping secrets. While there is a supernatural element to the story, it blends in so well with the world that has been created that you believe something like that could exist. Maybe it does?

That’s my two cents on one of the novels that I hold near and dear to my heart. While at a Borders in Pennsylvania recently, I saw a copy of Ghost Story on the shelf with a brand new cover, so I bought it. I still have the original, but it’s nice to know that I can pick it up and read it again without having to worry about the pages falling out.

Oh, and by the way, Ghost Story was turned into a flick back in 1981. Check out the trailer. It may not live up to the novel (which movie does?), but it’s still a pretty creepy movie.

Got this wicked-cool piece of art in my inbox today from Jeff Millies (@abovocipher on Twitter), which portrays one of the super-zombies getting loose in the first book of The Zombie Chronicles trilogy, Escape.

I really dig this pic, so be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter and tell him how much you dig it too, and also check out his website. If you have some art you’d like to send me, I’ll post it here, too, and start a “Fan Art” section on the website. Drop it in my email: jjmelzer@gmail.com.

Don’t forget, ESCAPE hits shelves everywhere in March, 2011!

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As part of the new daily content here on the website, Wednesday Wildcard is a segment that will include my ramblings, tales, or anything else I find interesting, and man, do I find this tidbit interesting.

You guys remember The Amityville Horror, right? That book by Jay Anson that was turned into a movie starring James Brolin and a remake starring Ryan Reynolds? Yeah, that one. It was based on the true story of George and Kathy Lutz who moved into the Long Island home only to flee 28 days later, leaving all their possessions behind after reporting that the house was, well, possessed.

The famed house is now up for sale with a price tag of $1.15 million bucks. Now, I don’t know about you, but I swear to Cthulhu that if I had the money, I would buy that sucker in a heartbeat. After the Lutz’s tucked-tail and run, the new owners reported absolutely nothing disturbing about the house, so I don’t know if it’s haunted or not. Regardless, imagine living in the home where Ronald DaFeo Jr. shot and killed all six members of his family after hearing voices that told him to do so. The home that went nuts and spewed crap from the walls and almost made George Lutz do the same thing to his family. THE Amityville House. It almost makes me want to take out a loan. Jenny agrees, I think.

George and Kathleen Lutz have since passed away, but their legacy lives on, if you can call it that. I have a great interview from the Coast to Coast AM radio program with Art Bell hosting Mr. Lutz for a full three hours, and it is just fascinating. If you’ve never read the book, I suggest picking it up. It’ll scare you, if not intrigue you, into seeing things from my point of view.

Whether you believe in the supernatural or not, there’s no denying that the Amityville home is a ghost lovers dream, be it haunted or not, and I for one think the $1.15 million dollar price-tag is damned reasonable. Think of the money you could make offering tours of that sucker!

UPDATE

Last night I received a pretty unsettling email in my inbox. I made mention of it on Twitter and Facebook and said that I would post it today for everyone to see, regardless of its validity. You should know that I have responded to this person and am waiting to hear back from them before I make any other decisions regarding going to the police, etc. I have taken a screen capture of the email, blurring out the address to protect this person. Read it, and you tell me what you think.

Tomorrow begins Wednesday Wildcard here on the website, part of the new and improved daily content segments. Awe yeah! So here’s the lowdown:

I write horror and tales of the supernatural. It’s what I’m hardwired to do. I like to tell those kinds of stories. Chances are, if you’re visiting this website, you enjoy reading them. Wednesday Wildcard is where I pretty much just ramble on about something to do with the unknown, either a website I found, a story I heard, or something that happened to me in my own personal life that may have to do with the paranormal.

I know, though, that there are lots of you out there that have your own stories to tell, but perhaps you have no way to do it, or no one to listen to you. Well have no fear, your Master of Disaster is here to help. I want your weird tales of paranormal experiences or brushes with the supernatural. Ghosts, psychics, UFO’s, poltergeists, voodoo mediums; whatever you got. I’ll take ‘em, and showcase them here each and every Wednesday for the Wildcard segment. You’ll get a link back to your website (if you have one), or you can post your cell phone number so people can call you and tell you how certifiably nuts you are. Yeah, like your mother doesn’t tell you that enough.

Tales should be between 200-500 words, because people don’t come here to read a book you know, they come here to listen to one. Big difference. Email them to me here: jjmelzer@gmail.com and put Weird Tale in the subject line so I know I’m not opening up some mail that’s going to take me to BoobsGalore.com and infect me with a virus, you sly little fucker, you. You know know how much I like boobies, don’t you?

So that’s it. Wednesday Wildcard will debut tomorrow with my own thoughts on the Amityville Horror house going up for sale, and also feature a freaky email I got tonight, but in the future it could feature YOU!

Growing up, I think the Bloody Mary urban legend had to be my favorite one of them all. I mean, what other UL could you actually invite your friends over to try, and then have all of you get the pee scared out of your wee-wee? It was an interactive legend, and I think that’s what makes it so strong, and keeps it going amongst kids today.

You all know the story, right? Well, the basics of it anyway.

Close the door in the bathroom, shut off all the lights, maybe light a few candles (or not, depending on the version you heard), look in the mirror and say, “Bloody Mary,” three or five times (again, depending on which one you heard), and wait for the gruesome ghost of Mary to come and scratch your eyes out, or your shoulders, or whatever.

I used to think it was a demonic version of the Virgin Mary that was going to come out and get me. I guess that’s what happens when you grow up as a holiday Catholic. It wasn’t until my later years that I heard it was the ghost of little girl. In one of the legends anyway. There are so many variations floating around that it’s hard to pinpoint where it really began. Seriously, there are so many twists to this thing. In some you have to turn on the water, spin around, chant the words at midnight, or even rub your eyes.

The legend has become so popular that it has been featured in movies (Candyman is probably my favorite turn on the story), television, books, hell, even in video games.

If you’ve never had the joy of trying this one for yourself, go do it now. Maybe, just maybe, yours might be the one that works. C’mon, what are you afraid of? Go in the bathroom, turn out all the lights, and stare into the mirror. Then, say it five times. “Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody……” Yeah, I can’t do it either.

I don’t know about you, but when I clean out my fridge I’m usually pretty disgusted by the stuff I find hiding at the back in long forgotten containers. Most times I don’t even chance a look inside, I just throw the whole damn thing away, not wanting to observe the horror inside.

Not Jeffrey Dahmer, though. Dude kept human heads in his fridge, right beside the mustard and next to the deli meat. Mmmmm, anyone up for a snack?

One of the most notorious serial killers of our time, Dahmer is credited with 17 known kills. His passions included gay sex, decomposing bodies, keeping skulls as souvenirs, drilling holes in peoples skulls and pouring hydrochloric acid into their brains, and of course – dismemberment.

Arrested on July 22, 1991, his case made worldwide headlines after police discovered rotting corpses in acid-filled vats, human skulls hiding in his closet, severed hands and penises, as well as human remains in the fridge. It was later discovered that ol’ Jeff practiced the timeless art of cannibalism and necrophilia as well.

Yes, boys and girls, Jeffrey Dahmer really was one sick puppy. It’s hard to believe that he was actually human after hearing of all the disgusting things he did. As a fiction horror writer, I have a hard enough time wrapping my brain around new and creative ways to kill off my characters on paper without thinking of myself as crazy. I wonder what was going through his head when he was chomping on limbs at the dinner table?

Thankfully, Dahmer’s life came to an end on November 24, 1994, after he and another prison inmate were beaten with a bar from a weight machine while they were on work detail in the prison gym. He was rushed to the hospital, but died in the ambulance on the way there. Oddly enough, his brain was kept for scientific research. Hmm, there’s a story in there somewhere.

Dahmer may be gone, but he is anything but forgotten. Books have been written, and movies have been produced, all trying to capture the essence of what made him a madman. You can have all that though, I gave up on trying to figure that one out a long time ago. Go ahead and try, I’ll be in the back cleaning out the fridge.

Note: While reading up on Dahmer’s story, I came across some gruesome crime scene photos which I was this close to sharing here, but decided not to. You’re welcome.

In an effort to bring more regularity to the website, and not in a Metamucil kind of way, starting Monday, May 24th, you will find new content being added on a daily basis. Each day of the week will now have a dedicated segment attached to it, meaning that when you come on Monday, you know what to expect. The same will go for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and so on and so forth. You get the idea.

So here’s how the days of the week will be broken down for you:

Maniac Monday – Featuring a write up on a different serial killer each and every week.

Tall Tale Tuesday – This day will showcase a myth, folklore, or urban legend every single week.

Wednesday Wildcard – Anything goes. It could be an anecdote on myself, or a story from one of my faithful readers*

Textbook Thursday – Showcasing a different novel from the past that had an affect on my life. It could be something from the horror genre, or it could be a thriller, mystery, whatever.

Friday Flix – Featuring a different horror movie that comes highly recommended by yours truly.

Podcaturday – A regular podcast featuring myself, Acadia Einstein from Superficialgallery.com, and my gal Jenny from Jennybeans.net

Sunday, Bloody, Sunday – Even the Lord rested one day of the week, but eventually this day will be reserved for brand new fiction content being released in text or audio form. It might be a serialized story, or it could be a standalone. We’ll see.

So there you have it, folks. Now you know the raw deal. Now you know what to expect each and every single day of the week here on the website. Sound good? Excellent!

*If you would like to contribute to Wednesday Wildcard, feel free to send along your ghost stories, weird tales, UFO sightings, or other things of the strange and unusual to jjmelzer@gmail.com. You’ll receive credit and a link back to your site in exchange. Tales must be between 200-500 words.

Welcome back to another edition of Podcaturday. It’s the podcast where three people who know everything about nothing sit around and talk. Oooh, exciting. You bet your ass it is, cause I’m one of the three people. This week we mention Ghost Hunters, ghost stories, urination, and a bunch of other stuff that got cut out because we didn’t want to offend your delicate nature and cause your ears to bleed. Before you listen to the podcast, take some time to visit these hip cats below, because although they may not really be cats, they are hip. Here they are with their name and known phobia.

Jennifer Hudock – Selachophobia

Acadia Einstein – Pediophobia

Nicole Ireland – Epistaxiophobia

Drew Beatty – Rectophobia

Stephen King – It would take up too much time to list everything dude is scared of

Welcome back to another episode of UNLEASHED. Proudly sponsored by the fine folks at Permuted Press.

Here’s the lowdown for this episode, folks.

• 00:00:01 – Introduction.
• 00:00:45 – Don’t forget to preorder the new one from J.L. Bourne, Beyond Exile: Day by Day Armageddon, the sequel to the cult-classic.
• 00:01:27 – Welcome my co-host for this episode, Jennifer Hudock, the author of Goblin Market and the Dark Journey’s Short Story Collection.
• 00:08:06 – Twisting the Blade with Corey Graham.
• 00:16:49 – Promo for Paul E. Cooley’s TATTOO. Now available on Amazon and Smashwords for 99 cents!
• 00:17:31 – Interview with Paul E. Cooley
• 01:08:13 – See ya next time on UNLEASHED!

Hope you guys enjoyed that episode. If you did, consider throwing a couple of bucks into the donation hat to support my creative efforts.

This week I had the distinct pleasure of appearing on Podcaturday, with my good buddies The Beans and Acadia. What is Podcaturday, you ask? It’s a weekly podcast about nothing. Seriously, it’s about nothing. No, really. I mean it. You thought Seinfeld was about nothing? Wait’ll you hear this. Apparently I’m going to be a regular on this podcast about nothing now, so look for one every Saturday to drop in the feed on top of everything else you find here, which may or may also be about nothing. I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

While you guys sit around waiting to see what I’m going to be doing for Zombie Awareness Month (yes, it is), my gal Jennifer Hudock has a brand new short story for you all available on Amazon and Smashwords for 99 cents.

From her website:

“Ahoy, Matey” is a tale that many of us can relate to on a very personal level. Anyone who was ever bullied or picked on in school will want to check out this story, and live vicariously through the main character. Sondra was given a horrible and embarrassing nickname in high school on account of her slow blossom into womanhood and boyish figure, Ahoy, Matey. As her ten-year high school reunion approaches, Sondra wants to show them all that she’s not only more woman than any of them can handle, but that despite the horrid way they treated her, she has an amazing life, a gorgeous husband who adores her and a brand new set of Double-Ds that are gonna knock their socks off.

Unfortunately, one of her implants ruptured during a bizarre sexicapade with her husband Todd, and something sinister leaked into her bloodstream. An army of microscopic, vengeance seekers are on the march toward her brain, and with every step they grow closer to taking over her mind. They hunger for brains, thriving on the sustenance of human glial cells. What better place to fuel that unnatural hunger than her high school reunion?

What a story! Jennifer rocks this one hardcore, and you don’t want to miss it! What’s more, is that when you send her a screen capture of your purchase through either Amazon or Smashwords, she’ll give you access to the FREE podcast version of the story. How ya like them boobies!

So check out Ahoy, Matey! right now, and don’t miss out on lots of zombie goodness!

Welcome back to a special episode of UNLEASHED! Sponsored by the fine folks at Permuted Press.

You may notice that this episode comes on the heels of the last one. That’s because it is timely, relevant, and frickin’ awesome! Here’s the low down:

• 00:00:01 – Introduction. Featuring J.C. Hutchins, author of Personal Effects: Dark Art & 7th Son: Descent.
• 00:01:13 – Don’t forget to pre-order Beyond Exile: Day By Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne. Available July 13, 2010.
• 00:01:51 – Why this is a special episode.
• 00:02:53 – Yes, Jenny and I are still getting married.
• 00:03:46 – Twisting the Blade with Corey Graham. This month Corey reviews Terror at the Opera, from Arrow Video.
• 00:10:29 – Promo for Edward G. Talbot’s MAYDAY!
• 00:11:31 – Special interview with Seth Harwood, who is getting ready to launch a limited edition of his novel, Young Junius, from Tyrus Books. Use the code ZOMBIE to save yourself $3 when you pre-order on May 5, 2010. Cinco de Junius baby!
• 00:46:37 – From the Shelf Book Report with Jennifer Hudock. This month Jenny reviews Young Junius by Seth Harwood.
• 00:49:30 – See ya next time on UNLEASHED!

Hope you enjoyed this special episode of UNLEASHED. If so, consider donating a couple of bucks to help continue to fund my creative endeavors. Click the PayPal button below to help out.

Welcome back to another episode of UNLEASHED! Sponsored by the fine folks at Permuted Press.

Here’s the rundown of this months episode!

• 00:00:01 – Introduction.
• 00:00:50 – Kim Paffenroth‘s Valley of the Dead is available right NOW!
• 00:01:25 – Gettin’ down to business.
• 00:02:47 – The Creative Alliance has been born!
• 00:09:38 – Promo for Kenn Crawford‘s Dead Hunt.
• 00:11:04 – Interview with Eric S. Brown.
• 00:26:45 Eric’s HUGE news!
• 00:27:45 – Jennifer Hudock‘s From the Shelf Book Report. This time around Jenny reviews Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter by A.E. Moorat.
• 00:31:06 – Farewell. Don’t forget to tune in May 1, 2010, for a very special episode of UNLEASHED with Seth Harwood.

Like the show? Consider donating a couple of bucks to help continue to fund creativity!

Recently, Jennifer Hudock wrote a compelling blog post titled ‘We Are All Part of Something Bigger Than Ourselves.‘ It deals with the creativity of many, and how we are all part of a great shift that is leading us all toward a new era. If you haven’t read it yet, I suggest you do so. It explains things far better than I could ever put into words.

Based on that blog post, and a few conversations, Jenny and I have started something special. Something for creative types from all walks of life to be a part of. It’s a networking platform, sharing circle, idea generator, promotional tool, all rolled into one. It is so much more than that, though. It’s an alliance. Thus…

The Creative Alliance has been born.

Jenny and I both believe that now, more than ever, it is important for community to band together. TCA is a place to focus our creative energy in order to further all of our goals, in the hopes that one day the world will stand up and recognize that when things began changing, The Creative Alliance was at the forefront of that change, bringing people together for one common purpose: to create, share, and spread the word in a way that had never before been seen.

So if you’re a creative type, want to share in the works and glory of others, join The Creative Alliance, and begin a journey that with enough power, will change the world one day.

Snowmen was the first story to be released in the former Deviant Dollar series I was doing. I guess I can’t call them Deviant Dollars if I’m not selling them for a dollar, right?

It’s now available, free of charge, as an audio short story. If you like it, and want to contribute something to my creative endeavors, click the donate button at the bottom of the post, and set your own price.

A yearly display of snowmen brings joy to children all over Pennsylvania, but when builder Edgar Davies takes a tumble, his Snowmen turn out to be far more than anyone could possibly imagine.

I don’t know if it’s the fresh air, the Canadian beer, or the Big City pollution, but for whatever reason, I’ve slashed the prices of all my e-stories on Smashwords to ZERO!

Starting right now you can get Snowmen, PTS, and [RECALL] all for FREE on Smashwords.com, where they are available for the Kindle, Sony Reader, Nook, or in a nice PDF. You don’t even need to set up an account to download them. How easy is that?

In addition to all of this, you can also download a FREE audio version of PTS here on the website to satisfy your greedy little ears.

I don’t know how long this dementia will last, so you best be gettin’ over to Smashwords right now if you want to grab these stories for FREE. When you’re done reading them, be sure to drop a review and let me know what you think.

You’re welcome!

You guys love zombies, right? Of course you do, or you wouldn’t be here reading this. The Zombie Chronicles: Escape is what brought us all together in the first place, and I know you want more!

My gal Jennifer Hudock just posted a doubleshot of pure zombie goodness over on her website. It’s the forth installment in her Dark Journeys series. Two short stories for the price of one, baby! For 99 cents you’re gonna get some spectacular zombie fiction in the form of ‘Til Death Do Us Part,’ and ‘Treed.’

What’s even better is that each person to blog about Jenny’s stories, or even purchases them, gets a FREE audio version to take on the road with them this week. How awesome is that?!

So c’mon, head on over and visit Jenny’s website, snag a copy of Dark Journeys #4, a doubleshot of zombies, and find out more about how you can get a FREE audio story in the process.

Tell her James sent ya!

Yesterday I announced that I would begin to give away stories in the Deviant Dollar series as free audio fiction. I’m going back and recording the first three stories in the series and releasing them during the month of April, with a brand new story starting in May.

The first one to be released as a free audio story is PTS.

PTS tells the story of Anthony Delgato, a businessman living in a post-9/11 world. He may have survived that day, but when Anthony’s subway stops on a bridge 200 meters above ground, he’ll learn what it really means to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress.

***Praise for PTS***

“James Melzer has taken the mundane, twisted it, and doused it in a blood-chilling bucket of paranoia. When the subway engine in PTS stops, the fear revs into overdrive.” ~ J.C. Hutchins, author of Pesonal Effects: Dark Art and 7th Son: Descent

PTS is also currently available on Smashwords, and the Amazon Kindle, for just $0.99 cents!

If you listened to the audio story for free, and wish to make a small, $2 donation to support future creative endeavors, click on the button below to do so.

Early in the month of March I announced that I would be doing a new series of short stories dubbed ‘Deviant Dollars.’ These stories were to be sold for 99 cents each on Amazon.com and Smashwords.com. This was to allow me to branch out a bit, and step away from the Free model that I had been used to for so long in order to test the waters with a paid model of some sorts. With all the recent talk of Free and content creators being supported for their work, I felt that this was the right time to give it a shot.

With a total of three stories going on sale in March, the results are in, and they are pretty much what I expected. On Amazon.com I sold a combined total of 32 stories. On Smashwords.com the numbers were much lower, with a total of 10 stories being sold. That makes the total number of stories sold for the month 42.

I did not expect to sell a lot of stories, and I didn’t. That’s fine. However, this coupled with a few other blog posts I’ve read this past month has led me to a decision about the way I release my content to you guys.

As someone who has his first book coming out next year from Simon & Schuster and Permuted Press, I think it’s important at this junction of my career to continue building a fan base. The Zombie Chronicles: Escape, has been downloaded more than 600,000 times so far, and I realize that by only offering my short stories for sale at 99 cents, I may be alienating some folks out there who don’t have a Kindle or other ereader, who don’t have a PayPal account to purchase from Smashwords, or perhaps even those folks that are still on the fence about the quality of my work and want to hear more.

Therefore I have decided that I will now be releasing Deviant Dollars for free as a podcast, as well as offering them for sale on Amazon and Smashwords for 99 cents each. This is going to allow people to choose as to how they want to support my work. If they want to pay 99 cents for a story, awesome! I’m all for that. If they want to listen to it for free and then buy a copy for 99 cents, that’s good too. Say they want to give a little more, though. How do I solve that problem? Well at the bottom of every podcast version of my Deviant Dollar stories, there will be a donation button set at $2. Hopefully all this talk about people supporting creative artists as of late will inspire a few people to click on that button in appreciation for the 5 or so hours that it’s going to take me to record, edit and upload an audio version of the story.

I’ll be going back and recording the first three Deviant Dollar stories and releasing them in the month of April, and we’ll start fresh in May with a new story being released every month. Sound good?

Let’s face it, I’m a guy who believes in supporting people for their creative efforts. There’s no denying that. If I like something I hear for free, I’ll buy a copy. If someone’s doing something that I like, I’ll donate a few bucks. I put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. At least I try as often as I can. There’s so much cool stuff out there that I’d go broke donating to everything.

And after raising $1000 in 2 hours for an idea, I saw that when push comes to shove, people will support you in some form or another. You just have to get them excited about it.

I also now realize the value of putting out free content on a regular basis in order to continue to build a fan base. 600,000 downloads may sound like a lot to you, but for me it’s not enough. At this point I feel that it’s important to continue to release my work for free, and for sale, and let the people decide how they want to support my creative endeavors. They can choose to not donate or pay anything until ESCAPE comes out, and then buy a copy of it in appreciation for all my efforts. That’s fine. I’m good with that.

I don’t look at going back to the Free model as a failure, let’s get that straight right now. I look at it as a revelation into who I am, and what I am trying to do. I’ve experimented with a lot of different things since coming into the world of podcast fiction. Some have worked, and some haven’t. The trick is to find a balance between everything that works, and run with it. I think Free works, and I think the paid model works. Therefore I’ll do both and hopefully in the future, reap some rewards for my efforts. If not? Well we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it…

Welcome back to another episode of UNLEASHED! Sponsored by the fine folks at Permuted Press.

Let’s try something different this month with some detailed show notes, shall we?

• 00:00:01 – Introduction.
• 00:00:50 – Beyond Exile: Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne is available for pre-order NOW!
• 00:01.34 – NYT Bestseller Jonathan Maberry joins us to talk about The Dragon Factory and his upcoming releases.
• 00:07:19 – Thanks to everyone who helped support an idea. We’re going to make some history!
• 00:10:10 – Jennifer Hudock joins us with her From The Shelf book review. Jenny reviews The Dragon Factory by Jonathan Maberry this month.
• 00:12:58 – Promo for Scott Sigler’s The Starter. Available for pre-order TODAY!
• 00:13:57 – Interview with David Dunwoody, the author of EMPIRE.
• 00:30:52 – Twisting the Blade with Corey Graham. This month Corey reviews Candyman 2.
• 00:37:01 – Deviant Dollars are now on sale. New fiction from me for just 99 cents on Amazon.com and Smashwords.com
• 00:38:16 – Farewell.

There. Did you like those show notes? Let me know.

See ya’ll next month for another episode of UNLEASHED!

Two weeks ago I thought of an idea.

You see, I have a book coming out in less than a year from Simon & Schuster and Permuted Press. A book I am proud of. A book I want to see succeed. In order for that to happen though, I need to think outside of the box in terms of promoting it. I’ve been around long enough to see what works, and what doesn’t. Combine all those things, the desire to succeed, and the knowledge that comes from watching those who have gone before me, and I seem to have a tough job ahead of me when it comes to promoting my debut novel, ESCAPE.

Then it hit me. An idea that I’ve never seen done before. An idea that when examined closely, could make publishing history.

I noodled on this for a bit, and then sent this idea off to three people I trust with things of this matter for their advice. They all agreed that it had the potential to be huge, if done right. They offered their suggestions, which I closely examined, and after a few tweaks, I had it. There was just one problem…

After making my tweaks and writing it all down, I realized that this idea was going to cost money. A lot of money. $2000 worth of money. I examined my finances and saw that I had half of that to contribute.

My history-making idea seemed dead in the water.

I’m getting married this year, moving to a new country, and there’s just no way that I could swing the other $1000 on my own. However, I believe in this idea with all my heart and soul. Everything inside of me tells me it’s good, worth doing, and yes – could, and probably will, make some history. When I have that feeling, there’s nothing that can tell me no. Not even myself.

Then yesterday afternoon, I decided how to raise the other $1000 for this idea. It was instant. Like an epiphany it just came to me all at once, and I believed.

So last night after work, at 6PM, I got home and began tweeting and facebooking that at 9 PM EST, 40 people were going to get the chance to help me make history. I had three hours to put it all together, and I did.

Then at 9 PM, it began with a blog post.

40 people were going to get the chance to help me make history by donating $25 each for the fulfillment of my idea. For their donations, they reserved a special signed, stamped, and numbered copy of ESCAPE, complete with Certificate of Authenticity, as well as the opportunity to get their name and website link in this history-making idea that could potentially be seen by tens of thousands of people. Maybe more.

It was spur of the moment, ambitious, and nerve racking. I help my breath…

Then the first donation came in. Then another one, and another and another. People rallied, they tweeted, they shared on facebook and got excited about an idea. A creative idea.

Within two hours, I had the other half. 40 people. Two hours. $1,000. Amazing.

What’s even more amazing, is that some of these donations came from people I didn’t even know. From people that had never heard of me, or my work.

But they believed, like me, in an idea.

Here’s some of the comments I received:

“Innovation FTW!”

“Because I like to support great, driven, independent authors!”

“Making history”

“Helping you make history!”

“Help James kick-ass.”

And so on and so forth.

Most of the 40 people who donated, didn’t even care about getting the book. They wanted to help fund an idea. They believed in me, and what I had to offer. Hell, I didn’t even tell anyone what the idea was yet, but they still came, and they still donated.

So in a way, we’ve already made history – but we’re not going to stop there.

There’s lots more to come, and I just want to say that if you’ve ever had an idea that you feel so strongly about that it brings you to tears, find a way to do it. Think big, think outside the box, because as I learned last night, people will support good ideas. They don’t even have to know what it is. They just have to believe.

Thank you to everyone who donated last night. Thank you to the 40 people who believed in me, and in an idea that could make history. Yes, you made me blubber like a baby, and made me believe not only in an idea, but in YOU!

And now…phase two of Project Mother Load begins!

Sooner rather than later, my debut novel ESCAPE (March 2011 – Simon & Schuster/PermutedPress) is going to be available for pre-order. The wheels for this have been in motion for a very long while, and now it’s time for me to start thinking of new and ingenious ways of promoting the novel. More specifically, promoting pre-orders. I’ve seen what works, and I’ve seen what doesn’t. Therefore, I’m going to be doing things a bit different around these parts.

I have devised The Mother Load of all pre-order promotions.

This idea goes beyond a book trailer, a contest, the podcast space, or anything else you’ve seen before. It is a history-making idea. One that will truly make you go, “Holy shit!” It’s an idea that could potentially be seen by tens of thousands of people. Maybe more. It will make people stand up and take notice of the little podcast author that could…and it will also make them take notice of YOU!

40 of YOU!

Like all groundbreaking ideas, though, this one is going to take more than ingenuity on my part. It’s going to take money. $2000 worth of money. I currently have half of that. $1000, and I need another $1000 to set the wheels in motion for this history-making idea, and I need 40 of YOU as soon as possible.

40 people, to help me make history.

I need 40 people, 40 of YOU, to donate $25 each. This isn’t just on good faith though, oh no. You’re going to get something for being a part of history. Something tangible. Something you can hold in your hands.

The first 40 people to help me make history and donate $25 are going to get something special. A signed, stamped and numbered copy of ESCAPE, complete with a certificate of authenticity, once the book is published. These copies are limited to 40. Once they’re gone, that’s it. No more.

But that’s not all.

If you have a website or blog, 40 of YOU are going to go down in history by being mentioned by name, and with a link in this truly groundbreaking idea, which could potentially be seen by tens of thousands of people. Maybe more.

I cannot divulge the entire contents of this idea, of course, but know that as one of the 40 people involved, YOU will get full disclosure two weeks BEFORE this idea is ready to be unveiled.

This is a timely matter, folks. There’s no fooling around here. ESCAPE is going up for pre-order soon, and I need 40 of YOU to help me make history.

A $25 donation gets you a signed, stamped and numbered copy of ESCAPE complete with a certificate of authenticity, and your name and website/blog link will also be included in this history-making idea that could be seen by potentially tens of thousands of people. Maybe more.

40 people to help me make history.

Are YOU one of them?

Click the button below, and let’s find out.

SOLD OUT!!!

Not sure if want to give [RECALL] a try for your Kindle, Sony, Nook, iPhone or iTouch? Here’s a FREE sample. If you’d like to grab the whole thing for just 99 cents, then you can do so at the following locations:

[RECALL] on Amazon.com (Kindle Users)

[RECALL] on Smashwords (PDF, Sony Reader, Nook)

~JM

[RECALL] Excerpt

[RECALL]

ATTENTION ALL CITIZENS

WE HAVE IDENTIFIED A DEFECTIVE GENE

IN APPROXIMATELY ONE MILLION UNITS.

A NATIONWIDE [RECALL] HAS BEEN ISSUED.

PLEASE RETURN YOUR UNITS TO

YOUR NEAREST FDO

AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

ALL DEFECTIVE UNITS WILL BE

REPLACED FREE OF CHARGE

WITHIN SIX MONTHS.

THANK YOU.

Victor stood and looked at the piece of paper in his hand. 815 Wellington Street. As much as he enjoyed contract work, he hated the slums, and Wellington was smack dab in the middle of them. Sometimes you did what you had to do though, and Victor knew this. He committed the address to memory, and crumpled the paper up, tossing it in the bin to be shredded later. No paper trails. His employers would appreciate his discretion, since they were paying him enough money to purchase a small island should he choose, but he wouldn’t. Victor was not one for solitude. He got off on weaving in and out of crowds, seeing how many people he could fool into thinking he was a balding man in his forties, or a slick businessman with a meeting to get to, or a homeless guy begging for change with nothing but rocks in his belly. He enjoyed the deception, and the hunt. For Victor, this hunt was going to be the biggest of them all, and all just because no one wanted to listen to what the government had to say.

Three years ago, when the first batch of Units had come off the assembly line, everything was fine. People were happy with what they received, and most importantly, they kept their mouths shut. It seemed like the perfect system, and the perfect way to control everything. That is, until the latest batch came out. Only then did they realize that there was a problem. Something had been missed in quality control and now there were millions of defective Units running around. The kind that could cause a hell of a lot of headaches later on.

The decision was easy. Implement a nation wide [RECALL] and hope to hell that people listened. While most did, there were still a select few that resisted, and that’s where Victor fit in. He was hired as a Bringer. Ex-military with twenty years in the private sector made him a perfect candidate. Whatever he believed, or wherever his morals stood, there was nothing that prevented him from fattening his bank account. Especially since the economy hadn’t gotten any better in the last ten years.

Even though things like this happened all the time, it was never on this scale, and never with Units of this caliber. It had gone well at first. People brought their defective Units back to their local FDO (Fetal Dispersement Office), and received new ones. No questions asked, and no answers given if there were. The defective Units were promptly destroyed and that was that. Until a census was taken six months ago and it was realized that there were still more than ten thousand of those Units out on the streets, in peoples homes, waiting for the right trigger to set them off. It may not have been going to happen until years down the road, but by that time it would be too late, and the clean-up would end up costing the government way more than they were paying people like Victor to take care of their mess. It was an easy choice, really.

Victor grabbed his equipment, checked his tie in the full-length mirror that hung off his closet, and brushed his teeth with a thin index finger. The contents in his bag were simple. A modified .40 caliber Glock model 22 pistol with built in silencer (in his line of work, the less noise the better), an 8-inch tactical survival knife with 440 stainless steel and a serrated top blade, and a few extra clips. Just in case. While he had never had to use the Just In Case method, it never hurt to be prepared. Wellington wasn’t exactly Club Med, and as the saying goes, there’s a first time for everything.

The third story in the Deviant Dollar Series, [RECALL] is now available for purchase at just $0.99 cents.

“More than 4 million babies are born in the United States each year, but in the near future, that number is regulated by the government. Babies are created in test tubes, and leased to those deserving. It’s controlled, and safe. Until there’s a glitch in the system, and 1 million leased newborns, known as Units, have to be recalled.

Victor is a Bringer, called upon to go in to the slums and retrieve one of the recalled Units, but what Victor doesn’t know is that there’s a part of the population hiding a secret, and for a man who has never made any mistakes, Victor is about to make the biggest one of them all.

[RECALL] is the exciting new story in the Deviant Dollar series by James Melzer.”

Buy it now for just $0.99 cents at the following locations:

[RECALL] on Amazon.com (Kindle Users)

[RECALL] on Smashwords (PDF, Sony Reader, Nook)

As many of you know, I have started selling digital versions of my stories. Ebooks, if you will. These have gone up for sale here on the website, Amazon.com, and on Smashwords.

As someone who has never dabbled in the ebook market, I was a bit flustered when it came to converting my regular manuscript in to a format that would suit the various ereaders that are out there. I tried once, twice, three times, and failed. I read the Smashwords style guide, Googled a bunch of info, and still it didn’t seem like I would ever get it.

I tried Calibre for conversion, that didn’t work. I tried the Amazon uploader, that didn’t work. GAH! How frustrating. Then I finally caught a break…by accident, and figured this whole mess out.

So here are my tips for converting your manuscript to a format that will look nice and pretty on a Kindle, Sony, or Nook. I’m using WordMac, by the way.

Turn off the auto correction function – When you write a document, there’s a whole bunch of stuff that you don’t see. When you convert that document to an ebook, all those things become glaringly clear, and they’re not good. Turning off the auto correction will eliminate the Word program from inserting invisible things that could be harmful to your ebook.

Never hit the ENTER key more than 5 times – This could cause a whole bunch of blank space to show up in your ebook. If you need to separate pages, use the Insert Page Break Function. To see how many times you’re hitting the ENTER key, click on the reverse P thingy on your menu bar at the top. That will show you all the non-printing characters your document has.

Don’t indent your work manually – This was the hardest thing for me to grasp. You start a paragraph, you indent 5 spaces, right? Not so with a ebook. It won’t work and will look all hokey on your finished document. Instead, Select All in the Edit section of your document. Then up top on the ruler bar, slide the top arrow over to where you want your paragraphs to begin. This will indent the beginning of each paragraph for you, thus saving you a whole lot of headaches later on.

Those are the biggest hurdles, I think, when it comes to converting your manuscript to an ebook. Once you have that all done, save it as a .doc file. Not a PDF, not a .txt and certainly not a .rtf. Amazon best converts .doc files when uploading to the Kindle. PDFs look funny, and so do all the other formats. The good thing about the Amazon DTP uploader, is that it lets you preview what your book will look like on the Kindle before you hit the publish button.

So while it may all seem a bit daunting, once you get the hang of it, you’ll be off to the races. Do I have all the answers? No, and I’m sure there’s some things that others do that work much, much better. For now though, I’ve learned what works for me, and as long as I can get my books up on the Kindle, I’m happy.

~JM

The next story in the Deviant Dollar Series is hot of the digital press and ready for you to consume.

PTS tells the story of Anthony Delgato, a businessman living in a post-9/11 world. He may have survived that day, but when Anthony’s subway stops on a bridge 200 meters above ground, he’ll learn what it really means to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress.

***Praise for PTS***

“James Melzer has taken the mundane, twisted it, and doused it in a blood-chilling bucket of paranoia. When the subway engine in PTS stops, the fear revs into overdrive.” ~ J.C. Hutchins, author of Pesonal Effects: Dark Art and 7th Son: Descent

PTS is currently available on Smashwords, on the Amazon Kindle, or here on the website for just $0.99 cents!*

Just click the BUY NOW button below to have PTS delivered directly to your inbox in multiple formats including PDF and epub for the Sony Reader and Nook. For purchase on the Kindle, please visit Amazon.com to have it delivered to you via Whispernet. While there, you can grab the first Deviant Dollar story, SNOWMEN, also for $0.99 cents.*

So what are you waiting for? High quality short fiction for a low, low price. Get it NOW!

* For international Kindle orders, price may be slightly higher due to Amazon’s price chart. I have no control over this so please don’t bitch at me.

Deviant Dollars

PTS $0.99

Remember that old tune by Olivia Newton John, Let’s Get Physical? Yeah, me too. I’ve had that song in my head all day today, only I’ve been replacing the word ‘physical’ with ‘digital.’

I’ve been fighting it for so long, not wanting to accept that my beloved paperbacks were going the way of the dinosaur. Oh, it’ll still be a few years before they’re completely extinct, if at all, but they are certainly dwindling away for various reasons. I didn’t want to accept the digital age of fiction. Who the hell would want to read books on a hand held device? The answer, as it turns out, is a lot! I got curious, ended up buying an e-reader and low and behold, I’m one of those people. Now I’ve embraced digital fiction like a long lost lover and am slipping it the tongue.

I recently announced a series of short stories that I’m doing called Deviant Dollars. These are short, 2,500-3,000 word stories that I am writing and selling for $0.99 cents. At first I was just going to sell them on my website in PDF form. Then I decided that I was going to put them up on Smashwords and try and gather some sales that way. Now I’ve decided that I’m publishing them myself directly to the Amazon Kindle. I’m getting digital.

As a content creator, this is an exciting time for me. I’m learning so much about digital publishing, what works in terms of marketing and getting the word out there. It’s basically a chance for me to step away from the FREE model that I’ve been using for so long, and test the waters of the digital age of fiction as it relates to e-readers and e-books. Will it be successful? Who knows, but I’m willing to be one of the first of my kind to branch out and try new things in terms of monetizing my fiction. My short story, SNOWMEN, just went up for sale in the Kindle store this morning, and already it’s selling better than 371,000 other e-books that are there. It’s not ranked at a high number, but it’s certainly far from the middle and right now, that gives me hope and validates my decision to do this.

I know that it’s going to take time and effort and a little ingenuity to sustain those numbers, and make them climb higher, and I’m okay with that. Nothing happens over night. The important thing right now is to keep writing, keep telling stories, keep giving stuff away for free, develop a presence on Amazon by leaving a digital paper trail so that when my book Escape hits the shelves in March of 2011 from Simon & Schuster, people will already know me. They’ll know me from my short stories, my novellas and say, “Hey, he’s got a novel out now. I think I’ll check that out.”

Whether I fall flat on my face, or end up scaling the mountain that is before me, I just want to be able to say that I did my best, and for any author, creator, artist, musician, that’s what it’s all about. Doing the best you can with the tools you have so at the end of the  day you can look back and say you gave it your all. If you succeed, great! If it fails, you can pick yourself up, dust off the cobwebs and move on to scaling another mountain. Rest assure, there will always be new models to try.

So if you want to help support this creative venture that I’m on, head on over to Amazon and grab a copy of SNOWMEN. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can buy it at Smashwords, and if all else fails, you can order a PDF copy directly from me. All formats for just $0.99 cents.

Let’s get digital, baby!

~JM

Yesterday I tried something a little different. I wrote a short story, converted it to digital, sold it on Smashwords and here on the website. It sold for 99 cents and was called SNOWMEN.

Why did I do this? Various reasons.

The biggest being that as a writer, a content creator, I should get paid for what I create. Not Stephen King or James Cameron dollars, of course, but something. I give away free podcast novels that no one donates to…that’s the brutal truth. It seems that for people to fork over their hard earned dollars to a creator, they feel they should be getting something specific. Like a short story, a piece of art, a song or two. I’ve got hundreds, hell, maybe even a few thousand supporters of my work, yet no one donates to help me continue to do what I love to do, and what they apparently love to hear: storytelling.

That’s fine. I’m not placing the blame on any one or any model of creative output. I will continue to tell stories for free and put them up on the website. I appreciate the support and hopefully when the time comes for my book to be on shelves, you’ll go out and buy a copy to show your appreciation for the hundreds of hours I’ve put into podcasting my fiction. Thank-you in advance.

However, I’ve come to the conclusion that the FREE model is no longer a sustainable one for the creator. Sure, there may be the odd person that breaks out of the mold and goes on to have great success by giving their work away for free, but those people are few and far between nowadays.

I’m getting married in a few months, moving to a new country, and starting a new life with my wife and daughter. FREE just doesn’t cut it anymore and I need to generate some extra income, no matter how little it may be, every cent helps.

I sold SNOWMEN to sort of test the waters to see if most of you thought I was worth 99 cents. Based on the response, I’d say the majority of people agree that yes, the content I create is worth a buck. I’m still scratching my head over why more people don’t donate willingly to content creators, but that’s for another blog post.

So based on the response I got from yesterdays little experiment, I’ve decided to move forward with a project I’ve been noodling on for a while now. I’m calling it ‘Deviant Dollars.’

Once or twice a month I’ll be putting up a short story here on the website and on Smashwords and selling them for a dollar. The price of a taco, as my buddy Matt Wallace puts it. The goal is to, of course, generate some income for me and my family, while doing what I love to do: tell stories. If 50 people purchase a Deviant Dollar story, that’s 50 bucks. By selling directly to the you, the reader, I’ll most likely earn more money than if I were to submit them to short fiction markets, and you won’t have to wait the 6 months to a year to see that story in print. It’s fast, it’s direct, and it cuts out the middleman. That’s another factor that weighed in on my decision to do this.

There are going to be people that say I am undercutting the market. That I am bringing down the cost one should expect to pay for something, thus making it hard for other creators to charge more for their work if they should choose to do so. To those people I say this: you pay your bills your way and I’ll pay mine my way. I’m not worried about the online fiction market, it’ll be just fine whether anyone charges or not. I think a buck is a reasonable price to pay for a short story of 2,500-3,000 words. If you don’t, that’s your problem. Not mine. Don’t buy one.

I have yet to decide if I am going to offer audio versions of these stories. If there’s enough call for it, then maybe I will. But I’m telling you now that if I do, those will sell for 2 bucks. Audio takes up a lot more of my time than sitting down to write, and I know that my time is worth 2 bucks. At least.

I hope you can appreciate my position here, and why I am doing this. I’m not greedy, money hungry, or a snake oil salesman. I’m just a guy that likes to tell stories, and thinks he should be paid for his wares every once in a while. I don’t think that’s too much to ask from anyone.

Thank you for your continued support and even if you never purchase a Deviant Dollar story or donate to my free fiction, you and I are still cool. Keep the emails of encouragement coming, and I’ll continue putting out content for you to enjoy.

~James

Lately I’ve been thinking a great deal about making money from my writing. Yeah, I have sold three books to Permuted Press and yeah, the first one has been picked up by Simon & Schuster and will be coming to print in March, 2011…but that’s a long ways away. I won’t start to see any income from that until around August, 2011, if I make back my advance, that is.

In an effort to bring in a little extra cash flow (and when I say little, I mean little), I’ve decided to start selling some short stories on Smashwords, and directly here on my website. Why sell and not give away for free? Well, the way I see it, my time and creativity is worth money. Maybe not a lot right now, but surely it’s worth 0.99 cents, which is how much these short stories are selling for.

So if you agree, and want to support my work and creative endeavours, please, head on over to Smashwords and download a digital copy of my first short story for sale, called SNOWMEN, it can be found HERE.

A yearly display of snowmen brings joy to children all over Pennsylvania, but when builder Edgar Davies takes a tumble, his true secret is revealed.

If you’d like to buy it directly from me, and cut out the middleman, thus giving me your entire 0.99 cents, click the BUY NOW button below and I’ll send you a PDF of SNOWMEN directly to your inbox. Please specify in the PayPal notes that your purchase is for SNOWMEN.

Thanks for your support!

~JM

SNOWMEN

SNOWMEN $0.99

On March 16, 2010, the next book in the Permuted Press/Simon & Schuster deal that I am a part of hits the shelves.

The re-release of EMPIRE by David Dunwoody is finally here! I first read this book long before I ever had a book deal, or even began podcasting. I was attracted by its premise, and was not disappointed. Here’s the skinny:

The crippled U.S. government and its military forces are giving up the century-long fight against an undead plague. Born of an otherworldly energy fused with a deadly virus, the ravaging hordes of zombified humans and a nimals have no natural enemies. But they do have one supernatural enemy: Death himself.

Descending upon the ghost town of Jefferson Harbor, Louisiana, the Grim Reaper embarks on a bloody campaign to put down the legions that have defied his touch for so long. He will find allies in the city’s last survivors, and a nemesis in a man who wants to harness the force driving the zombies—a man who seeks to rebuild America into an empire of the dead.

Hailed as “A MACABRE MASTERPIECE OF POST-APOCALYPTIC ZOMBIE GOODNESS” on the Library of the Living Dead podcast, Empire brings stunning new twists to a shattering and unforgettable scenario of the not-too-distant future.

Sounds pretty cool, eh? Trust me. IT IS!

Dunwoody’s prose is quick, sharp and gritty. EMPIRE is easily a page-turner to rival some of the best NYT Bestsellers out there on the market right now.

The Grim Reaper killing zombies? Hell yeah! How can you not get excited about that?

Pre-Order the book from the following retailers to help drive early sales. Your support will continue to show Big Publishing that the small, indie presses like Permuted Press and its authors, are a force to reckoned with and that they made the right decision in making this deal.

Plus, you get a damn fine read in the process!

AMAZON.COM

BARNES & NOBLE.COM

Go. Buy. NOW!

Almost two months ago now, I announced my new non-fiction project with partner Corey Graham, tentatively titled ‘The 100 Horror Movies You Have to See.’

It’s been 2 months of watching lots of horror movies (along with lots of beer), with Corey and I each compiling a list of 75 of the some of the greatest horror movies ever made.

I am pleased to say that we have each finalized our selections. After combining the two, we found that we both had 34 of the same titles on our lists. Cool. Now we just need 66 more. Mathematically, it works out great. Corey had 40 left over on his and I had 40 left over on mine. So we each need to axe 7, to bring it down to 33, and BOOM! There’s your 66, thus compiling the 100 Horror Movies You Have to See.

I think the hardest part of this project is almost over, because really, selecting 100 horror movies is not as easy as it sounds. There’s a lot of crap out there. We’re almost there, and once those 100 are selected, we’ll divvy them up and start writing about them, each from our own perspective.

Anyway, just wanted to give you guys and gals an update as to what’s going on. We haven’t forgotten about it, oh no, quite the contrary. We’re both excited, psyched, and ready to get writing and doing interviews for the book!

~JM

I’m pleased to bring you part 3 of my free serial project, Cthulhu This! Lovecraft, crime noir and EC gore all mashed together in one tale that I’m having a hell of a lot of fun writing.

If you missed the previous parts, you can grab part one HERE, and part two HERE.

Enjoy!

CTHULHU THIS! (Part III)

The next day, it’s time to get down to business. Forget the dream, the photos; forget it all like a bad case of heartburn. I was given a job to do, and by God I was going to do it. If Deep Pockets wanted me to find his sister, then that’s what was going to happen. No bones about it. While I couldn’t completely ignore the night previous, I had to put it out of my head enough to start digging, so that’s what I did.

My first stop was the Internet. In the old days when I needed to find a place, I would ask around, grab an atlas, or phone directory assistance. These days, the entire world is at your fingertips with the click of a few buttons, and you don’t even have to get dressed to do it. There I was, sitting at my desk with a pair of boxers that were fraying at the waist and a black pair of dress socks on my feet that were sweating too much. I still hadn’t showered so I guess that was okay. Ah fuck, what do I care what you think?
I brought up Google and there it was, Hull’s Landing.
It wasn’t what I was expecting.
It may sound stupid, but based on the dream I had, I thought it would be near the water, on the coast somewhere. I was prepared to drive a great distance for answers, and maybe take a dip in the process. Instead, I found out that it was a quiet little town nestled at the base on the Appalachians in Pennsylvania. Population: 1300.
What the hell would the sister of a millionaire be doing in this place?
Yeah, I jumped in the shower, threw on some clothes, and got myself ready to find out.

The tools of my trade are pretty simple. I have an iPhone, a GPS in my car, a camera with a telephoto lens, and yeah, even a few hidden devices that record sound. I could be recording you right now as you’re reading this and you wouldn’t even know it. That’s the truth.
After punching in Hull’s Landing on Madge, I learned that it was roughly a four and a half hour drive away. Great. Cause you know, that’s what I was in the mood for. Four hours on the road with nothing but my thoughts and maybe some Sinatra to keep me company. After the night I had just went through, it would be tough to stay awake with the hypnotic road laid out before me. The hum of the tires on the pavement droning on like white noise in the background.
I stopped at the drug store and got some caffeine pills, then at Starbucks and grabbed the biggest fucking latte they had. Venti? It that what they call it? Jesus Christ. It’s a large. Friggin’ corporations.

There were a lot of things on my mind as I drove on and on and on. For one, what was this chick, Caroline, doing in Hull’s Landing? How the hell did what Money Bags have in his mansion tie in to all of it? Don’t try and tell me different because I know it did. After that dream, there was no doubt in my mind that this wasn’t my ordinary missing persons case. He obviously had enough information to know where she might be, so why didn’t he just go get her himself? Why me? I told you a while ago that this was the weirdest trip I had ever been on, and I meant it. Too many questions, too many loose ends, not enough information. It just wasn’t my style. The paycheck though, that was the only thing fueling me right now, and I hated it. Like a crack addict desperate for the next hit, I was desperate for that money to get me out of here for good.

Two hours into the trip and my stomach was purring like a pussy. I passed a Jelly Belly restaurant of some sorts and pulled a U on the empty road. A snack shop named after jelly beans? Whatever. Out here in the middle of nowhere anything was possible, including what I was about to be told by the waitress.

Once inside I caught a whiff of homemade lemon meringue and ordered a slice along with a cup of coffee. I popped two more caffeine pills and chowed down like a bull dog, much to the chagrin of…what was on her name tag? Wendy? She walked over to take my empty plate and refill my cup.
“You’re not from around here, are you?”
It took me a second to actually realize she was talking to me. In New York, you don’t get that a lot, so it’s not something I’m used to.
“What gave it away?”
Wendy somehow took my response as an opportunity to take a seat across from me. She was young, maybe mid-twenties, yet she looked like she had been doing this job for about fifty years. The bags under her eyes and unkempt hair told me that she probably had a kid at home, maybe a husband that didn’t treat her very well. I’d seen her before, in a hundred different girls.
“I’m here almost everyday and I’ve never seen you before.”
She didn’t quite have a New York accent and she didn’t quite have a Pennsylvania one. It was some bastardized version of the two and I found myself smiling at it.
“What? Something funny?”
“No,” I said. “It’s just that you’re about as perceptive as a peephole.”
She squirmed in her seat a bit, not sure how to take my comment. Hell, I’m not even sure I knew what I meant. I was so high on pills and coffee.
“Actually,” she went on, “I saw your license plate.”
This was a woman after my own heart.
“So what are you? FBI?”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer and I giggled like the daughter I was now sure she had back at her trailer.
“Would an FBI agent be dressed like this?” I held out my hands, inviting her to look at my jeans, wrinkled dress shirt and loose tie.
“No, I guess not,” she said.
It occurred to me that this girl must get all kinds of people like me who come through here. Strangers just passing through, on their way to nowhere, somewhere, and any destination in between. It also dawned on me that if Wendy was as polite with all of them as she was with me, she just might know something about where I was headed.
I reached into the briefcase I had with me and pulled out the picture of the Welcome sign. I slid it across to her and as she reached to take it, our fingers touched and for a moment I felt a dark cloud pass over head, like the ones in the photograph.
“What can you tell me about that place, Wendy?”
She was smiling when she took the picture, but she wasn’t smiling now. Her hands started to tremble a little and the table was moving as her knee was knocking it from underneath.
“Wha…what do you want to know about that place for?”
“Cause that’s where I’m going, Wendy.”
She let the picture drop to the floor and she stood up, wiping the scum it had left on her hands away on a dish rag she had in her apron.
“You can’t go there, mister. You can’t.”
“Why not, Wendy? What’s wrong with Hull’s La..”
“Shhh. Don’t say it. Please don’t say its name.”
She started walking away, sobbing her apologies.
“Wendy,” I said as I bent over to pick up the photo.
She sensed my movement and turned back around. Her eyes had changed in a matter of moments. There was something behind them that wasn’t there before. Not fear, but rage, as if the picture had sparked something in her memory, much like a scent will bring back thoughts of a lost love. Only Wendy was clearly not in love with Hull’s Landing.
“Evil!” she screamed. “That place is evil!”
Her words rattled the spoon beside my half empty cup and the picture in my hand began to smoke. Little tiny wisps emanating off it like Indian signals. Then it burst in to flames.
“Jesus Christ!”
The commotion had been heard and as one of the cooks came out of the kitchen, I knew that was my time to jet.
“What the hell’s going on out here?” said Brutus. Seriously, he was one big dude that I didn’t want to mess with.
“It’s okay,” said Wendy. “It’s not his fault.”
He stomped on the picture as it disintegrated there on the floor. He must have caught a glimpse of it before it became completely unrecognizable.
“Hull’s Landing? Hey, Wendy. Isn’t that your old stomping ground?”

Before I could say another word, I was back in my car and peeling out of there like a banana in the hands of an Ethiopian. Evil, eh? Well we were going to find out just how evil this pace was, because I still had a few tricks up my sleeve that even the fucking Old Ones didn’t know about.

…to be continued

Welcome back to another episode of UNLEASHED! Sponsored by Permuted Press.

It’s a jam packed episode this month! I talk about some news that hit the podcast fiction world pretty hard recently, as author J.C. Hutchins has decided not to give away his work for free anymore. I agree with everything he said on his website, which you can check out HERE. This is something that has been weighing heavy on my mind ever since I read Amanda Palmer’s blog post HERE.

Corey Graham joins us for his first ever segment on UNLEASHED, as he reviews the classic horror flick, Candyman!

This months interview is with Peter Clines, who is the author of the brand new book from Permuted Press, EX-HEROES. It’s a great read, and Peter and I sat down for an hour to talk about the book, his more than 15 years spent in the movie business, and his gig as a writer for Creative Screen Writing Magazine.

PROMO – Beneath by Jeremy Robinson, found on Podiobooks.com

On October 31, 2010, myself and fellow podcast author, Jennifer Hudock, will be joined together in holy matrimony in Muncy, Pennsylvania. We have started a Chip In page to give our friends and fans from all over the world who may not be attending the wedding a chance to ‘chip in’ to help us get started with our new life together.

Being creative types, we don’t have a lot of funds in the bank at this point. While we have the little things needed to get started, we think this is a great way for our friends to help us get the ‘bigger’ things. You know, a place to live, a car, a honeymoon. Stuff like that. Rather than gift cards, tea towels, pillows, cutlery sets, and the like, you can help us defer costs for the wedding, as well as get started on building a life together in our new home. Wherever that may be.

We appreciate all your support and well wishes, and anything you can help with is already overwhelming. Just click the widget at the side to donate, or visit our Chip In page.

With All Our Love,
James & Jenny

I don’t pretend to know a lot about the publishing world. Hell, we’re probably on even playing field here. The fact that I have a book coming out in March of 2011 doesn’t make me some publishing guru or know it all. I’m a guy who writes books, sells them, and then does his best to promote them however he can. I’ve never been to NYC to visit Simon and Schuster, and I have no idea what goes on in those tall, ivory towers people seem to think they can’t break into. I write books. That’s about it.

Some of you may have heard that on Friday the shit hit the fan between Amazon and Macmillan. Macmillan wants to raise the price of their ebooks and Amazon said no, so they stopped selling all Macmillan titles in protest. Something like that, anyway.

Upon observing this pissing contest between two giants, I noticed something funny about the authors involved. I follow some of them on twitter, read their blogs from time to time, and I wanted to see their reaction to the whole thing, so my spidey senses were heightned during this whole kerfuffle (which still isn’t over yet, BTW), and I watched and read.

Here’s what I saw: Pretty much all of the authors that I know of who are involved were tweeting and facebooking and blogging about Amazon pulling their titles. They posted links to other authors and newspapers and bloggers who were talking about it, and how it’s all wrong.

For the record, I agree. It is wrong.

Pretend for a second that you’re average joe reader. You hear about a book, think it sounds good and want to buy it. You go to Amazon this past weekend and find that you can’t. It’s not there. WTF? You’re inclined enough to go check out the authors website and find all this mumbo jumbo about Amazon pulling titles and not selling the authors book. What a pity. The author has posted this big, long rant on how Amazon is the devil and blah blah blah.

Yet he doesn’t tell you where you CAN buy the book online.

Now, you just don’t care and go on to find an author whose book is listed and that you can get delivered to your home in a few days. Done and done.

The author that posted that big, long rant about how Amazon is the devil and blah blah blah just lost a customer. A reader.

My point to this whole thing is that most of the authors involved in this Amazon vs. Macmillan thing were bitching and complaining and linking here and there, but they weren’t telling their readers, their FANS, where they COULD buy their books. Amazon is not the only place online to buy books, yanna. There’s Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, Borders and if you’re Canadian like me, Indigo. Yes, people who are savvy enough know this and would have most likely gone over there to grab a title, but wouldn’t it be nice to hear it from the author who you’re giving your money to? No. Most of them just assumed that people knew.

A simple, “Hey, sorry you can’t buy my book on Amazon right now. Here’s where it can be found,” would have been nice.

Is that too much to ask of an author who wants his readers to find his books? More so, attract new fans and readers? If someone who doesn’t know you or perhaps isn’t that web knowledgeable wants to buy your book but can’t find it on Amazon, then tell them where they can find it for goodness sake. The average joe reader doesn’t necessarily care about what Amazon or Macmillan are doing, they just want to read a damn book. Hopefully a good one. If they can’t find yours, they’ll go on to another author, and perhaps forget all about you.

Never to return again.

Seven days ago I debuted a new story here on the website. It’s a mix of crime noir with some old EC comic feel blended with H.P. Lovecraft mythos. I’m calling this mashup CTHULHU THIS! Based on some emails I got, the comments on the site and on twitter and facebook, I’m going to keep going with this one. I’m having a hell of a lot of fun writing this and I think you guys are enjoying it. So if you’re new here and have no idea what the hell I’m talking about, or just missed it, go read the first part HERE, then come back to read the next part, which begins…now!

CTHULHU THIS! (Part II)

Not to get all CEO on your miserable existence, but do you ever notice that people don’t stop enough to examine their own lives? They’re too busy grabbing and groping, clawing and scratching, buying the latest fashions, seeing the newest movies, dishing on the current gossip like chickens with no eggs to lay. Self-made, self-help, self-righteous. Everyone’s too busy grasping for the brass ring. That brass cock ring that they think will solve all their problems, and when they get it, they always want more. No matter how much people have, there’s always another rung to climb on the never ending ladder that goes nowhere.

No one is exempt from this. Least of all, me. I’ve been guilty of not stopping to smell the roses on more than one or two occasions. After that encounter with money bags though, I thought. I thought  a lot.

I get back to my apartment, see, and I sit on the couch with a severed-finger of scotch, stroking Pepper whose motor is running like a remote control helicopter. I’m in a trance. Thinking. The envelope that bucks gave me sits on the coffee table. Unopened.

I think about my life. All the things I’ve done and the regrets I have. It all flashes before me double time. Some of it’s as clear as day, and the rest is like trying to watch porn through a scrambled signal. It’s one of those moments where you know that after it’s over, you’ll be a changed man. It’s a moment that everyone needs, but are too preoccupied with self-indulgence to take it. My childhood where I raised myself. My teen years where I masturbated my way to failing grades. Twenties, where I first had sex. The things I’ve done in my work. It’s amazing the details I recall in mere moments.

When it’s over and my metamorphosis is complete, I take the glass to pound back the rest of the scotch, only to realize that it’s already gone. Pepper is no longer humming, but rather she’s looking at me with black pearl pupils. I smile at her and she runs. So much for loyalty.

I eye the manila envelope. Everything I need to do the job is in there, he said. I pick it up and turn in over in my hands, feeling the fibers between my fingers like braille.

While I’ve already committed to doing the job, something tells me it’ll be my last for a while. After it’s over I’ll have to disappear. Become a ghost in a city that’s full of substance. A great shift is coming, perhaps one that will change the whole world, if not just my life. I know it. You know it, and Pepper sure as hell knows it. I can see it as clean as a teenage girl fresh out of the shower. It’s disturbing, but I welcome it. There’s nothing else to say.

When all these thoughts are gone, my day is done. I leave the envelope where it is, and head for the bedroom. My teeth can wait until morning. I kick off my puppies, drop my pants in the hallway, and throw my shirt in the hamper. Before I know it my head is resting on a pillow of peace and I’m out like a runner trying to steal home off a ground ball.

I’m standing in front of an ocean. Naked. It’s a body of water larger than any I’ve ever seen. It stretches as far as the eye can see on all sides. I’m on land. Not land. An island. I am a man. The sky is a mix of purple people eater and menstrual red. There are turkey vultures circling overhead. There’s wind, but nothing for it to rustle except the hair on my head. My penis is erect. Like a boy scout standing at attention. I open my mouth to scream but nothing comes out, or if it does, I can’t hear it. I can’t hear anything. I’m deaf. Some great distance out the water starts to bubble like someone is breathing below the surface. Not breathing. Rising. They’re coming up from the ocean. Hundreds. Thousands. Millions. Too many to count. They’re all around me, but too far away to see. I spin like the vultures above. Trying to scream. Nothing comes out. One of the birds dives. When it emerges, it is holding a head in its mouth. A severed head. My head. Its jaw hangs loose. I still can’t hear. The people are getting closer. Not people. Things. Creatures. Old Ones. How I know this, I don’t know. Spider-like, squid-like. Elephantiasis. Tentacles. Spikes. Slugs. Toads. Glowing. Entrails. They’re whispering. Chanting. Praying. I regain my hearing, but it is faint. Cthulhu fhtagn. Cthulhu fhtagn. Cthulhu fhtagn. Over and over and over. What does it mean? Death. Life. Knowing. Power. Nothing. Void of all sense. A second bird dives. It does not come back up. The Old Ones part and a woman appears. It’s always a woman. She’s formless. I can’t make her out. But I know she’s a she. Getting closer now. Chanting still. What do I do? Their sounds now fill my brain like memories brought on by scent. Flooding. Like water. It’s peaceful. Serene. Like it’s supposed to be this way. The woman gets closer. Closer. Closer. There’s something not right about her. She’s like a puzzle piece that doesn’t fit in its slot. Yet still I come. She’s ecstasy mixed with poison. I can’t help but drink. She smiles. Revealing teeth that are blade sharp. Then from behind her, from behind the Old Ones, from behind everything, it raises. The Master. The I Am. The Thing that was here before and that history has yet to find. Cthulhu fhtagn. Cthulhu fhtagn. Cthulhu fhtagn. I scream again. This time I hear everything…

…As I wake up it echos off the bedroom walls and back into my head like a boomerang. It takes me a few minutes to get my senses together. Like I’ve just been sucker punched at the end of the fifth. There’s no light seeping in through the blinds. Still night. Clock blinks 3:30 AM. I feel something wet and notice that my sheets are soaked in semen. I expect the woman to come through my door at any second. Not opening it, but passing through it like mist. She doesn’t. My heart is pounding. I need a drink.

I’ve had weird dreams before. The kind that after you wake up and shake the cobwebs away, you just chalk it up to two extra spicy burritos and your conscience being a bitch. Nothing even comes close to that monster though, and that’s exactly what it was. And I know where it came from.

I sit on the couch and clap-on a light. Pepper jumps up and laps the water from my glass before I can even catch a gulp. Guess I wasn’t the only one with bad dreams.

The envelope still rests unopened, and before I know it I’m tearing at the edges and spilling the contents out on the coffee table like a collage. I look at the one on top and I know that’s where it will end. No fear. No doubt about it.

The picture is of a town sign. The kind you see driving through the country on a Sunday afternoon after picking a batch of blueberries with the wife and kids. Maybe you wave to the boys on their bikes as you pass them. Or maybe you don’t. Either way, the sign up ahead still gets closer, and as the wind blows through your hair because the windows are down it welcomes you with down home cheeriness.

The difference is that my picture is in black and white. Not crisp but grainy. Like an old Universal horror flick. The sky in the background is a dark gray. Darker than the rest of the picture. A storm is coming as ominous clouds cluster together like a street gang.

I take a sip of water and just sit there, staring at the photo.

Welcome to Hull’s Landing.

…to be continued

I am pleased to announce that the former host of The Midnight Podcast, and my friend, Corey Graham, will now have his own segment on UNLEASHED, beginning in February, doing movie reviews.

Corey is a stand-up guy, says what he believes with no bullshitting, and will definitely give it to you straight on UNLEASHED. He’s a great guy, someone I am proud to call my friend, and will make a great addition to the UNLEASHED family along with Ron Earl Phillips, who just started doing book reviews on the last episode. His extensive knowledge of horror movies is unparalleled, and look for Corey to review everything from mainstream and indie titles, to crap you or I have never even heard of.

For those of you that don’t know, we’re also working on a book together, which we’re calling the ’100 Horror Movie You Have To See’ project. Read all about it HERE.

So welcome, Corey, we look forward to having you give it to us straight on UNLEASHED!

~JM

Welcome back to another episode of UNLEASHED, still sponsored by Permuted Press.

It’s been a while, but I’m back with a new segment called the Bedlam Book Report, hosted by Ron Earl Phillips. On his very first segment, Ron reviews The Pack: Winter Kill by Mike Oliveri .

Escape has a release date of March, 2011. Stay tuned to learn more about how you can pre-order one of a limited number of signed copies, with some special bonus content thrown in for good measure.

Seth Harwood announced that his book, Young Junius, is coming to print from Tyrus Books. We’re happy and excited for the return of PALMS SUNDAY!

NYT Bestseller Scott Sigler also has his new book, Ancestor, available for pre-order right now on Amazon.com. It’s shaping up to be a summer blockbuster in true FDO fashion.

This episodes interview is done by a special guest host. My boy, Marco Gennuso, sits down to talk with Jermaine Crawford from the HBO series, The Wire, about a project he’s involved in called CODE BLUE. We learn all about that and more in this fantastic interview that Marco was gracious enough to let me play on the show.

Yesterday Steve Jobs and Apple launched their new iPad, and the Internet has already been buzzing with the feminine hygiene jokes. Well this one tops them all.

It may be two years old, but MadTV hit it out of the park with this one. Who knew they could predict the future?

There are few things in this world that I love with all my heart. My wife, daughter and family. Writing. A nice, cold beer after a long, hard day at work. That’s about it.

Of course there are other things I enjoy. Podcasting. Talking to you fine folk on twitter, facebook, and wherever else our paths may cross. I also enjoy stories of all shapes and sizes. I have a deep love for old horror comics of the EC kind. Tales from the Crypt. House of Mystery. Weird Tales. You know the ones. The other kind of old stories I enjoy are those of a pulp nature. Old crime noir tales with cliched characters, similes, and dames that bring nothing but trouble. You may know those, too. Lastly, I love Cthulhu. While I’ve never been what you would call a hardcore H.P. Lovecraft fan, I’ve read his stuff and enjoy the mythos he created.

I’ve been reading a lot of old comics lately to prepare myself for future endeavours. Then, to my surprise and glee, the last time I was in Pennsylvania I happened upon a comic shop that had some rags called CTHULHU TALES from BOOM! Studios. I flipped through them, liked what I saw, and bought all the issues they had. After reading them, I read them again. I was in love. With my need to feed on more Cthulhu, I reread Lovecraft’s Call of Cthulhu. That was pretty much all it took to put the wheels in motion.

What follows is a mix of old crime noir and Cthulhu and yes, there will even be some EC love thrown in for good measure. It’s going to be a serialized project in text form only, so don’t ask me when it’s going to be podcasted. It won’t be. The language is raw and gritty and will probably offend some of you. Hell, maybe most of you. To be honest, I don’t care. I’m writing this for me, and giving it to you, so I’ll do with it what I want. Of course, your feedback in the comments section is always welcomed. It’s pretty much encouraged, as it’s what keeps me going most times. There will be no set schedule as of yet for what I’m calling CTHULHU THIS!. It will come as it comes. Maybe weekly, perhaps bi-weekly. We’ll see.

I hope you enjoy reading it, because I’m having a hell of a lot of fun writing it.

~JM

CTHULHU THIS!

PART 1

Everyday I walk the streets of this city, smelling its stench. They cling to me like a piece of linen. Assaulting me until I can do nothing but go back to my apartment and wait for someone to call, while choking down my own bile. Their conversations are like a factory line. Same shit new day. I hear them as I trudge along. Inside the coffee shops and shopping malls, outside the cafes and bistros. My ears vibrate like a cell phone, taking in every call. No I.D. is needed. I know who they are. They’re the people who go to work, do their jobs, and go home to beat their wives and husbands, diddle their kids, sell some smack, choke themselves with a cum stained stocking. They are the bottom feeders. Leeches. And somewhere there’s someone who needs me to sort it all out for them because they’re too weak and feeble to do it themselves. Everyone wants help, but no one is willing to help themselves.

I’m an ambulance chaser. A leech of a different kind. I don’t go to you, you come to me. I’ll tell it to you straight and empty your wallet with no strings attached. It’s what I do. I’ll give you the results, but there’s no guarantee you’ll like them. That’s not my problem, honey. Your husband was fuckng that rubbed glove stuffed water bottle long before I came along. Now it’s up to you to do something about it. I just confirm suspicion and in this place, everyone’s a suspect.

Have a nice day. Here’s my card.

I’ve seen and done a lot of strange things in my line of work. You don’t get to where I am by simply hiding in the bushes with a telephoto lens like the paparazzi. It takes creativity. You gotta blend in. Go with the flow. Shake a hand or two.

How ya doing I’m an old friend of Sarah’s from college we met at that party last year I like your hair that’s a nice suit have you lost weight?

Connection. You have. To find. A connection. Something that ties us all together in this daisy chain of life. After all, we’re all going to the same orgy, so I may as well call you by your first name.

There was this one set once who suspected that her husband was a homo. How in the world he would want to play batter when he had a piece like that at home was beyond me. She was gorgeous. But like all gorgeous women, her head wasn’t completely intact. That’s what I’ve learned over the years. The more beautiful they are, the higher they are in the clouds. Fuck the 30,000 foot ceiling. They’re shootin for the moon.

She wanted me to find the truth, so I did.

First I followed him around like a rough case of herpes, and when that turned up nothing I got in close. Real close. Introduced myself to him at a night club and we got friendly. After three months I went back to the wife and gave her the photos of her man bobbing up and down like a sea buoy on my shaft.

You gotta find a connection. Remember?

She paid in full and I fattened my nest egg.
Last I heard she was getting her muffin topped by a gal named Silky. Serving twenty-five to life for murder.
That’s the biz, as the saying goes.

But nothing, and I mean nothing, tops this one gig I had. Weirdest trip I ever went on, and if you’re not ready to say goodbye to everything you think you know about this crazy life, then maybe I shouldn’t tell you. Perhaps you’d be more comfortable in your Snuggie, playing with your Slap Chop and not knowing what’s really out there. Something tells me that’s not the case. You want… no…you need to know. Don’t you? It’s gnawing at your brain like cancer. Well fuck it then. My conscience left me right around the time of my second wife. Maybe you can make some sense of it. I sure as hell can’t.

Last September I get a call from a guy on the outskirts. Where the seven-figure folk live. He tells me his sister’s gone missing and he wants me to find her. No problem. I’ve located a few missing persons in my day. Some dead, but most still alive. Funny thing about this wallet though, he asks to meet me in person. No one ever wants to meet me first. It’s easier for them that way. I’m usually nothing but a bad blind date to my clients after the fact. I think of how I can swing this to my advantage, and tack on an extra grand. If he batted an eyelash, I couldn’t hear it.

“Do you want anything to drink?” he asks, after my ass is in the most expensive chair it’s ever been in. No, but I’d like to take a skinny in that wine glass you call a swimming hole out back.

“I hear you’re a man who knows how to find things, Mr. Chambers,” he says. “I want you to find my Caroline.”

He speaks like a hypnotist. In slow pours with a soothing body, and before I know it I feel like I just ate a Christmas ham and it’s time for a nap.

I distract myself by admiring the decor. I don’t know what this guy does for a living and after looking at the stuff he’s got on the walls and mantles, I’m not sure I want to. Creatures and symbols and rivers the color of a virgin first violated, mixed with hieroglyphics that would puzzle a sand nigger. It looks old, and I don’t just mean in style, I mean old. Like he found something that history didn’t. My eyes dart back and forth like mice, letting his voice slip in between the cracks. Then they land on a piece that’s sitting alone in the corner.

A large marble pillar that’s a shade shy of forest green. Spiraling upwards from the base to the tip are words I can’t pronounce, or ever wrap my head around. Perched on top of this thing is a figure so grotesque that if you took a squid out for dinner, you’d bring it home afterward just to save your eyes from ever gazing upon it. Over sized head. Tentacles, lots of them, protruding from where it’s jaw should be. It’s crouched on hind legs and the claws run down the side of the pillar like oil. The front legs also have them. One each. One long, thick, black claw on each foot. They curl down over the edge like they’re peaking into some abyss not meant for human eyes. It’s eyes. Not eyes, but slits. Thin red slits that don’t seem to be looking out, but inwards into your soul. My soul. It doesn’t like what it sees.

I’m usually pretty good at keeping myself in check. I have to be or else I would’ve been in Arkham about the time Hoffa took a dirt nap. After lingering on that thing though, my chest has begun to tighten like dried up leather and my breathing isn’t right. Like there’s a pebble in my respirator.

“Mr. Chambers?”

His voice has brought me back to the present and I’m looking at him. What the hell just happened?

“Can you find her? Can you find my Caroline?”

I swallow glass and nod my head. Whatever will get me the fuck out of there. He hands me an envelope and tells me it’s all I’ll need to get started.

“Good luck, Mr. Chambers,” he says.

I peel out of the driveway like I’m racing the sun and that’s when it occurs to me that I never told him my name.

…to be continued

On September 1st, 2008, I began podcasting the first draft of my debut novel, The Zombie Chronicles: Escape. Four days later the podcast had a sponsor in the way of Permuted Press. Then, in November of 2008, I announced that all three books in the trilogy had been sold to Permuted Press before the first one was even finished. That made me the world’s first podcast author to acheive such a feat. Selling three books off of one unfinshed manuscript. Yeah, I claim bragging rights for that one.

Then in July of 2009, I revealed that TZC: Escape had been picked up in the deal between Permuted Press and Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster.

While Escape was going to be published late in 2009 from Permuted Press, the deal between Pocket Books changed all that. I was okay with that. Why? Because with Simon & Schuster behind the novel, it would get a North American release, finding its way into book stores everywhere. How cool is that?

I am now pleased to announce that I have a tentative release month for The Zombie Chronicles: Escape. As of right now, it will be hitting book shelves across the country in March, 2011. Yes, 2011.

That may seem like a ways away, but in the world of Big Fiction, that’s actually not too bad. See, when  S&S picked up seven books from Permuted Press, they decided to take a chance on mine. Initially, they only wanted books with proven sales records. With the success of the podcast version of Escape though (over 500,000 downloads and counting), they went with it.

So together, you and I are going to band together in March, 2011, to show them that they made the right decision, and that they should pick up the sequels as well.

There’s going to be big things happening over the next year, including an announcement soon about how you can pre-order signed copies of the book, and how you can help start spreading the word.

In March of 2011, we’re going to take the publishing world by storm and everyone will realize that there is no escape from the book New York Times bestseller Scott Sigler calls, “The 1984 of zombie novels…”

THE ZOMBIE CHRONICLES: ESCAPE!

I am pleased to announce my first non-fiction project, tentatively titled, 100 Horror Movies You Have to See. The book will be a write-up of some of the greatest horror movies of all-time, as well as some you may have never even heard of, and will feature interviews with the filmmakers, screenwriters and actors of some of the best horror films ever.

I’ve always wanted to do a non-fiction book and late last year I got the seed of an idea, and now it’s finally coming together. I love everything about horror movies and what they represent, and now’s my chance to write about them. Of course, undertaking a project like this is a huge job for one person, so this book will not just be written by me, but with the help of a collaborator.

Corey Graham, from The Midnight Podcast, is going to be co-writing the book with me. Corey is a hell of a guy and knows his stuff. He’s proficient in the horror genre, loves doing interviews, and after more than 150 episodes of The Midnight Podcast, is ready to branch out into other areas. Plus, he’s a heck of a writer, whether he wants to admit it or not. When I asked Corey if he’d like to get involved, he immediately jumped at the chance, and we’re so happy to be bringing this project to you.

It’s going to take a while, perhaps all of 2010, to get ‘er done (as the saying goes), but when it’s finished, you’ll be able to hold in your hands one of the greatest horror movie guides ever produced.

Subscribe to the blog for updates as they roll in so you’re sure not to miss everything to do with the project. We’ll be trying to post on a regular basis, so you don’t want to miss out.

Just moments ago on Twitter and Facebook, author Jonathan Maberry released the cover art for his new Young Adult novel, Rot & Ruin, which hits stores everywhere September 7, 2010.

The first in a series, Rot & Ruin focuses on a young boy growing up in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested America.

I got the chance to interview Maberry for UNLEASHED, and after meeting and talking to him at Horror Realm, I have to say that he’s a hell of a guy. Patient Zero was the first novel I read, then I went back and snacked on everything else the man has done. A superb writer, an excellent guy, Jonathan Maberry really is a class-act.

I love the cover and cannot wait for the book to be released.

Pre-order Rot & Ruin NOW!

I said I wasn’t going to do a year-end review blog post, and I’m not. I mean christ, we’re already six days into January and at this point I forget most of what happened in 2009 anyway. Most of it…

Let’s face it. 2009 was a banner year here at the ol’ Melzer household. I finished podcasting Escape: A Zombie Chronicles Novel. The friggin’ book got picked up by Simon & Schuster. I attended my first convention, Horror Realm, all on my publishers dime. I got engaged to be married, picked up a couple of freelancing gigs and yes, I got a Sony eReader. I love it!

But this isn’t a recap.

It’s out with the old and in with the new.

I used to be one who lived in the past alot. Quite alot, actually. In recent years though, I’ve learned the importance of letting go. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have memories of those important moments in your life, the ones that shaped you and taught you so much, but it’s not cool to sit and dwell on the ‘what if’s.’ I used to do that.

Therefore, 2010 can be summed up in one word for me: FORWARD

This year will be all about moving forward. Not only with my personal life (the wedding’s in October, by the way), but with my career as well. I’ll be trying to write more than ever in 2010 in terms of novels, short stories, freelance work, all of it.

You know what the best part about all of this is?

I’ll be taking all of you along for the ride.

The website has a new look and with that new look comes a new commitment and attitude. A commitment from me to blog more, post more of my fiction, thoughts, up’s and down’s, whatever. An attitude that begets holding nothing back, speaking freely and from the heart. A no-holds-barred king of attitude. You dig? There’s just lots of cool stuff happening this year and I want to be able to share it with all of you.

So here we are. January 6th, 2010. It’s time to start kicking-ass, taking names, and moving FORWARD.

Who’s with me?

Welcome back to another episode of UNLEASHED. Sponsored by Permuted Press.

I’m still in shock over the news of the death of Z.A. Recht. Zach was a great guy, a great author, and his death is just a sad, sad loss for the horror community. Words cannot express how much my heart goes out to his family, friends and fans everywhere. I met Z.A. at Horror Realm and he was such a nice, quiet guy. All class, as the saying goes. Zach, you will be sorely missed. Rest in peace.

OBITUARY

Zachary Allan Recht, 26, died on Dec. 10, 2009, at his home.

He was born Feb. 4, 1983, to Keith A. and Mary Recht of Bunker Hill.

Zachary is survived by his parents; a brother, Adam Recht, of Pittsburgh, and a sister, Alison Recht, of Bunker Hill.

Zachary was a professional writer and the author of two published books of apocalyptic fiction. He was recently recruited by Simon and Schuster.

He was also under contract with Audible Books for his books available to download for listening read by a professional actor.

Zach attended Inwood Primary School and Bunker Hill Elementary. He was a graduate of the Powhatan School in Boyce, Va. He also attended Handley High School, of Winchester, Va. Colleges attended were West Virginia University and Northern Community College. He was a unique self-educated historian.

Zachary was employed in 2007 as a staff writer at The Journal newspaper. This year he was an invited guest author to the “Horror Realm” convention in Pittsburgh, where his fans were able to meet and greet him, as well as listen to readings from his books. He also has participated in the “Poetry and Prose” Writer’s Day here in Berkeley County.

He completed boot camp in the U.S. Army at Fort Jackson, S.C., where he graduated as 1st squad leader and won the sharpshooter competition.

Services and interment will be private. A public memorial service will be held and announced at a later date. Please contact Brown Funeral Home at http://www.BrownFuneralHomesWV.com.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Z.A. Recht Scholarship-Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 193, Bunker Hill, WV 25413.

His sparkling wit and intelligence surely will be missed by his family, friends and by all of his fans.

INTERVIEW – S.G. BROWNE

Scott G. Browne is the author of Breathers, a dark comedy about life after undeath told from the perspective of a zombie.  His second novel, Fated (scheduled for release in November 2010), is a dark, irreverent comedy about fate, destiny, and the consequences of getting involved in the lives of humans. We sit down to talk about his life, his writing career, and we give away some books. Fun times!

PROMO

7th Son: Descent by J.C. Hutchins

Earlier this week I mentioned that I have a new freelancing gig over at Examiner.com, in addition to my RealTVAddict one, and how you can help me out when it comes to generating revenue. I also mentioned that I’d be doing a round-up each week of articles I’ve written, so you can click on them, read them, and maybe even comment on them.

This is the first ever FREELANCE FRIDAY post, where you can find all the articles I’ve written throughout the past week on the web, all in one place. I’ve taken the liberty of breaking them down by where they appear.

Now go forth, read and most of all…enjoy!

~JM

EXAMINER.COM ARTICLES

• Top 5 Holiday Horror Movies
• ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ going through re-shoots
• ‘Famous Monsters of Filmland’ coming back to print
• ‘Halloween 3D’ going in a different direction
• No chance of ‘Buffy’ remake without Whedon, says Hannigan
• ‘Wolfman’ gets an R from MPAA
• Tim Burton’s ‘Dark Shadows’ begins shooting next Fall
• ‘Zombieland’ hits DVD and Blu-Ray February 2, 2010
• ‘Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ coming to IMAX
• ‘SAW VI’ coming to DVD and Blu-Ray this January
• First ‘Clash of the Titans’ one sheet revealed
• Disney acquires ‘Fallen’ books for film
• Watch the first 5 minutes of ‘[REC] 2′
• Natalie Portman to star in big screen version of ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’

REAL TV ADDICT ARTICLES

• Twas the Night Before Christmas: A Little Classic with Lots of Heart
• TV Icons: Eric Cartman
• A Flintstone Christmas: Santa Comes to Bedrock

Welcome back to another episode of UNLEASHED. Sponsored by Permuted Press.

This episode is a little late, due to the fact that I was in Pennsylvania for a few days. My apologies. It was worth the wait though, because this week I sit down and chat with David Moody.

Two new book releases in the past coupe of weeks that are worth noting. First, J.C. Hutchins released 7th Son: Descent. Pick up a copy if you haven’t already. Second, Stephen King released Under The Dome. Fans of old-school King, like myself, will not be disappointed. Pick up your copy today!

David Moody is the author of HATER, as well as the Autumn series. He began releasing his fiction online for free, and since then has had great success in the traditional publishing world. He sold the film rights for HATER without even having an agent to Guillermo del Toro, and the big screen adaptation of Autumn was recently released in the UK as well. We sit down to talk about all that and more, as David Moody joins me on this weeks episode of UNLEASHED.

PROMO

Phil Rossi’s Harvey

In honor of The Zombie Chronicles Volume 2: INVASION, dropping this Saturday to the general public, my fiance, and biggest fan, Jennifer Hudock, has released a special short story on her website. It’s called, Mental Illness. It’s set in the TZC universe, and is told from the point of view of one of the main characters, Jenny.

I encourage you all to listen to it, then check out Jennifer’s website for more on her reasoning for writing the story.

Enjoy!

“The president of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sunlight by a four-year-old boy.”

Thus begins the saga that is author J.C. Hutchins‘ 7th Son Trilogy. One hell of a techno-thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat and leave you fighting for air, if you ask me. AND YOU SHOULD!

First released as a serialized podcast in 2006, it has become the most popular podcast novel trilogy in history, with more than 5 million downloads. Today, October 27, 2009, the first book in the trilogy, Descent, is finally available in book stores everywhere from St. Martin’s Press.

I could go on and on about how good this series is, but I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to give you the first 10 chapters of Descent as a PDF for free (BOOYA!) and let you see for yourself. You will read some of it, and no doubt rush out to buy the book so you can finish the rest. If you don’t, you may as well just bend over and kiss your ass good-bye RIGHT NOW!

This is a momentous day, folks. We’re here to celebrate not only the books release, but also the author, who for years believed that this series had potential, and took it upon himself to prove it. He was right. Of course he was right, he’s J.C. Hutchins for christsake.

So do me a personal favor, okay? Support J.C. Hutchins by heading on over to Amazon.com to buy a copy, or hit your local book store sometime today. You’ll be glad you did, and by getting your very own copy, you’re not only supporting J.C. Hutchins, but you’re supporting the entire community of podcast novelists, who work so hard to bring you the very best content we can for free.

Enjoy the free PDF of Descent, gang. Let me know what you think!

~JM

If you’re reading this, you’re saying to yourself, “Wait! Did James have a crisis of identity? Did he…get a sex change?!”

“HELL NO!” would be my response.

I’m not a female, but my fiance, Jennifer Hudock is, and she’s been having some problems with her website as of late. Therefore, I am hosting her weekly writers column here, on my website. What a nice fellow I am. So what is ‘She’s Write About That?’ It’s a project between two writers, Jennifer and Michelle Bekemeyer, where each week they pick a topic, and write two different blog posts. One doesn’t see the other before it goes live, so you get a fresh point of view. Two different opinions, two different writers, same topic. Pretty cool, eh? Without further ado, I give you Jennifer Hudock’s side of this weeks, She’s Write About That.

It’s NaNoWriMo time, everybody. In just one week, mad writers all across the world will be scrambling to get the lead out on those wordcounts in hopes of making the 50,000 word novel end goal by November 30th. For those of you who think I’m talking jibberish, NaNoWriMo stands for November is National Writing Month, and you can bet your sweet petunias that I’m diving in again for year number four to try and finish up Running Down the Moon. When Michele Bekemeyer and I started fishing for topics for this edition of She’s Write About That, it struck me that with just one week to go before NaNo, maybe we should blog about how we’re prepping to meet this year’s novel goal.

As I mentioned above, this is my fourth year participating in NaNoWriMo. In the three years prior to this one, I managed to hit the goal only one time, but that wasn’t for lack of meticulous planning and strategising beforehand. No sir. The first year I entered into NaNo, the only year I won, I had some hardcore plans. Full character sheets, statistics and everything I ever wanted to remember about life in the 80s. I had dates on my favorite comics books all ready to add to the plot, and a serious vengeance to get out some personal demons. What I also had was an intense love for and need to tell the story. Needless to say, it worked. During the month of November in 2006, I wrote 51,467 words and won a big fat NaNo medal. Go me!

Then in 2007 and 2008, I barely made it past the 15,000 word mark on both of my projects. While the ideas felt solid when I started, and my plans were pretty strong, once I started writing, the flare for the project just wasn’t there. I could blame a whole list of outside forces, from UFO sightings to exhaustion from work, but the truth of the matter is simply that my heart just wasn’t in either of my projects. So I slacked off