Fear County Chronicle #16
The icy chill of January cuts through flesh and clothing, clear down to the bone. It's a good time to hibernate, read a scary book, and perhaps spin a heartwarming tale of terror or two...
Howdy Folks! Welcome to the 16th edition of The Fear County Chronicle. As you read this, many of you may have icy roads and snow on the ground. Down here in Tennessee, it’s just colder than a well-digger’s butt, hovering somewhere in the mid-40s and lower-50s. It’s a heck of a good time to stay indoors and write. As it turns out my recent retirement has me busy with other things as well. I’m my high school kids’ personal chauffeur these days, a regular customer at the local Walmart and Dollar General, and I sometimes make multiple trips to the post office to mail orders generated by my new online bookstore, RKHORROR. Strangely, the majority of my writing hours are the same as they were before… in the dead of night, after my wife and young’uns have gone to bed. That’s just fine with me. There’s something about writing at night that is more conductive to my imagination than it is in broad daylight.
Before we get to the various features in this edition of the Chronicle, let me elaborate on the artwork above (which I featured in the wintery masthead of this month’s newsletter). This frosty monstrosity, rendered by artist Alex McVey, was featured in the endpapers for the Thunderstorm Books limited hardcover edition of More Sick Stuff back in 2019 and was inspired by my story “Devourer”. Later, in the Splatterpunk Award-winning The Essential Sick Stuff, Alex did another rendering of the Devourer in more human form — but equally disturbing, in my opinion.
Tales from the Southern-Fried Crypt now in the works!
I’m currently working on the second volume in my Southern-Fried EC Horror-inspired series. Tales from the Southern-Fried Crypt will feature dark horror tales of swamps, bayous, and voodoo. Like Volume One, Haunt of Southern-Fried Fear, it will be hosted by the Old Storyteller and will feature some of my comic book-inspired artwork throughout, as well as two pages of fun retro comic book advertisements in the back. I have three more stories to write and several pieces of art to finish for Tales and then it’s off to Crossroad Press. Hopefully, it will be available in ebook, paperback, and hardcover by early March, in plenty of time for AuthorCon.
Reading & Writing Podcast with Jeff Rutherford!
I recently appeared on an episode of Jeff Rutherford’s Reading and Writing Podcast. In this segment we discussed my memoir/writing guide, Southern Fried & Horrified, as well as the writing business and other things. I also did a reading of my introduction for SF&H. Head over when you get a few minutes and give it a listen!
Zebra Books Cover Autopsy: FEAR
With this issue of the Chronicle, I’m starting a new feature in which I look back at the covers of all eight of my Zebra Books titles, giving you my opinion on the pros and cons of each, as well as the accuracy of the back cover copy. We’re starting out with the cover of my 1994 magnum opus, Fear.
I reckon out of all of the covers of my Zebra horror titles, the one for Fear was my favorite (in fact, it seems to pretty much be everyone’s favorite). One thing about working with Zebra; they were notorious for changing the titles of my novels without consulting (or warning) me whatsoever. You only knew what the book would be called, or what the cover looked like, when you opened that big manila envelope of cover flats Zebra mailed to you a month or two before the book’s release date. You would take a big breath and slide those crisp flats out of the envelope, hoping for the best. Sometimes you were pleased with the results… and sometimes you were disappointed and, perhaps, even outraged and infuriated.
I must admit, the cover for Fear was one of the better ones they came up with (some say the best of the eight). The novel had originally been titled Fear County, but the editorial staff at Zebra decided that it was too rural in nature, so they shortened it by a word. It didn’t matter that Fear had been used as a book title a half dozen times before (and again a half dozen times afterward, along with a movie or two). The title on the cover was embossed in impressive copper-hued letters, rather large compared to some of the other Zebra titles. The artwork was based on a scene or two in the novel: several children wrapped in cocoons and imprisoned in a dark cave. For years afterward, I pretty much thought it was a completely accurate depiction of the abducted and fed-upon children. Then, when I read the book again in its entirety during the editing and proofing process for the Crossroad Press edition of Fear: Author’s Preferred Edition, I discovered that the unfortunate young’uns had actually been cocooned and lashed to the walls of the cave with the shed skin of the dastardly Snake-Critter, not suspended vertically from the stalactites of the cave ceiling like the artwork depicts. The tagline beneath FEAR — “It lives in everyone” — was sort of silly, but Zebra seemed to think that such lines enhanced the sales appeal of their product. At least it was better than the tagline for my vampire novel, Blood Kin, which was “Some of them bite.”
The spine of the book was thick (it was a 477-page doorstopper!) and featured the FEAR in orange, my name in white, and a partial image of the cave scene just beneath the Zebra Horror imprint logo. Below my name was the price: $4.50 U.S. and $5.50 Canada.
The back cover was rather unremarkable with the line “WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN?” at the top, followed by a very short and cryptic synopsis which told you very little about the story inside. Below the white-on-black text was a large orange “FEAR”, with the barcode box below, and the Australian price of $9.95 in the lower lefthand corner.
If I were to give this one a grade, it would be an A-minus. The embossed front cover was striking enough to catch the potential buyer’s eye on the book racks, enough so that it became my best-selling Zebra title among the eight I wrote for Kensington. At least I had escaped the obsession Zebra had with skeleton covers in the 70s and 80s. The thought of a skeletal Snake-Critter leering from the cover makes me cringe… but, in another way, it would have probably made me — and the horror-buying public — shiver and shudder, too.
Fear was published in September of 1994 and then, following the demise of the Zebra Horror line, again under the Pinnacle imprint in 2000. Since the mass market paperback’s publication, Fear has sported several different covers over the years; the primitive Photoshopped cover for the first ebook, Keith Minnion’s stylish Snake-Critter depiction on the Sinister Grin edition, and two separate covers by Alex McVey: the leering Snake-Critter on the Crossroad Press ebook and audiobook, and the new cover for Fear: Author’s Preferred Edition featuring Jeb, Roscoe, Sam, and Buckshot just before they step across the Fear County line (which is my personal favorite).
FEAR: Author’s Preferred is now at RKHORROR!
And, speaking of Fear: Author’s Preferred Edition, I want to say a big “Thanks!” to all who ordered the hardcover and paperback editions through my new online bookstore, RKHORROR, during the past few days. The hardcover is currently out of stock, but I have a new order due to arrive in a couple of weeks. There is still plenty of the paperback edition available, if anyone is interested in grabbing one of them.
If you’re interested some Southern-Fried horror from south of the Mason-Dixon Line, head over and check out the selection of books, artwork, and merchandise. I usually run weekly specials. All this week, until January 28th, all RK art prints and t-shirts are 20% off!
Well, it looks like the mysterious Monks of Horror have begun their Gregorian chanting, so I reckon it’s time to wrap up this edition of the Fear County Chronicle. In the next edition, I’ll have more publishing news, a list of author appearances for 2023, and we’ll do an autopsy of yet another Zebra RK cover. Until then, keep warm, read plenty of horror, and Many Happy Nightmares, y’all!
It’s a shame they didn’t keep the original title. Fear County is a real attention grabber! Being from neighboring Missouri. I personally enjoy the concept of “rural” horror. Zebra really dropped the ball there.
I have the Zebra and Pinnacle edition. I wish I could get them signed.