The Saga of Dead-Eye, Book Two: Werewolves, Swamp Critters, & Hellacious Haints!
Finally, after a lengthy delay (partly due to an unexpected switch in publishers and partly because my goldarned procrastination), The Saga of Dead-Eye, Book Two: Werewolves, Swamp Critters, & Hellacious Haints is finished!
This week I will be doing my final polish and edit, before submitting the manuscript to Paul Goblirsch at Thunderstorm Books. Thunderstorm will be doing a limited hardcover edition in late summer or early fall, followed by the ebook, paperback, and hardcover editions from Crossroad Press. Artist extraordinaire, Alex McVey, will do the cover art, as he will for all five volumes. Also, my favorite narrator, J. Rodney Turner, will be doing the Audible, beginning with Books One & Two in a single audiobook . Book Two will definitely be a monsterfest, with our heroes Dead-Eye and Job facing lycanthropes in the Ozark Mountains, creatures and demons from realms beyond the Hole Out of Nowhere, swamp creatures in the bayous of Louisiana, and vengeful spirits in a Texas ghost town.
You can still get Dead-Eye, Book One: Vampires, Zombies, & Mojo Men in ebook, paperback, and hardcover thanks to Crossroad Press. Look for Book Three in the series, Man-Eaters, Mummies, & Murderous Maniacs sometime in mid-2023.
AFTER THE BURN now available at GODLESS!
On May 27th, D&T Publishing released the ebook of the new illustrated edition of my extreme post-apocalyptic horror collection, AFTER THE BURN, through Godless.
This collection was originally published in a limited hardcover edition by Thunderstorm Books way back in 2011. This collection of two novellas and six short stories chronicles the struggles of a band of post-nuclear survivors as they exist in a world of boundless evil and depravity, ruled by serial killers, rapists, child molesters, cannibals, and radiation-spawned mutants. This new edition of ATB includes a full-color cover and seventeen interior illustrations by artist Zach McCain. To get the new ebook release head to Godless now! On June 10th, D&T will release the collection in ebook, paperback, and affordable hardcover through Amazon.
It’s always a wonderful feeling to have your work make an impact on a new reader. Danika Meyerson expressed how AFTER THE BURN renewed her love for horror fiction in a Facebook post this past weekend. With her permission, I’m sharing it with you here:
Do you remember that feeling you had when you first fell in love with reading horror?
Maybe it brings you back to covers pulled over your head, flashlight on, worried that even the sound of turning pages might bring your parents into the room to discover you had embarked on a journey to the gates of hell! Maybe it is watching the clock at work or in class, the minutes taking by slowly as your fingers curl longing for the paperback where you peek into the dark heart of humanity and face your fears!!
Or maybe it's curled up in your favorite spot, a wicked grin on your face as you see through the eyes of the monster and for a moment allow yourself to feel the intoxication of being predator not prey!
We all chase that feeling with each and every book we pick up and when we find it again…oh when we find it we devour it with relish, We salivate as we consume, greedy little horror readers that we are!!
Shall I share with you where I reclaimed that high? Shall I share in this banquet of delectable terror?
After the Burn by Ronald Kelly will take you back to that feeling and satisfy that need!
Who do we become when the fragile foundations preventing us from becoming savages are destroyed? When the real life monsters no longer need to hide in the shadows how will they celebrate?
After the Burn takes you into the lives of those who survived the Burn with 8 tales of horror, heartbreak, and a dash of humor. Each story told will quench that thirst for the macabre and allow you to escape to unforgiving landscapes and the horrors that they hold!
If you've got the fever, then Ronald Kelly's After the Burn is the cure!
Many thanks to D&T publisher Dawn Shea, artist Zach McCain, and Don Noble (who did the wraparound cover design) for all their hard work in making AFTER THE BURN available to readers once again!
Written in Red Podcast: Episode 31
Recently, I joined Aron Beauregard, Daniel J Volpe, and Rowland Bercy on their excellent podcast & YouTube show Written in Red. In Episode #31, we discussed the ups and downs of my 36-year career as an author of Southern-Fried Horror fiction, my experience writing for Zebra Books, the devastating mass market horror implosion of the mid-1990s, and my comeback to the genre in 2006 after a ten-year hiatus. We also discussed the current state of the horror genre, advice for new writers, and my upcoming memoir/writing guide, Southern Fried & Horrified.
If you haven’t checked out Episode #31, I urge you head over and watch it now. I promise, you’re in for an entertaining and informative two-hour+ discussion, hosted by three of the Indie publishing scene’s finest and most popular authors of extreme horror.
SOUTHERN FRIED & HORRIFIED and SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF HELL now available for Preorder!
The limited edition hardcover of my upcoming memoir/writing guide, SOUTHERN FRIED & HORRIFIED, and my three-chapbook series, SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF HELL, are now up for preorder. These publications are offered in a very limited press run, so head over to Stygian Sky Media and Death’s Head Press now to secure your copies!
RK Personal Appearances for 2022!
Looks like I’m gonna be a mighty busy man in the second half of 2022! First, on July 29th - 31st I will be an author guest at Scares That Care Charity Weekend VIII in Williamsburg, Virginia. Then, on September 3rd from Noon till 4pm,I will be holding my big book launch party for Southern Fried & Horrified at the Junction Depot in Carthage, Tennessee. Special Guests will be Weird Tales cover artist Lynne Hansen, Bram Stoker Award-winning author Jeff Strand, and voice talent/audiobook narrator J. Rodney Turner! Death’s Head Press/Stygian Sky Media guru Jarod Barbee will even be there with cool swag for those attending!
Also, in August and September, to promote SF&H, I will be appearing on some of the best horror fiction podcasts on the air, such as This Is Horror, Dead Headspace, Paper Cuts, and Livid Comics Lair.
Southern-Fried Flash!
Last year on Twitter, a number of horror authors participated in an exercise known as #trickortweet2021. Using Twitter’s annoying limit of only 280 characters, we came up with little horror story vignettes that would leave an impact within the framework of a single post. In coming editions of the Chronicle, I’ll be expanding these ideas into flash fiction pieces, exclusive to this newsletter. So, without further adieu, here is the first in the series of Southern-Fried Flash!
Shadows and Screams by Ronald Kelly
Laura and I were only a few feet from Zoe when it happened. It’s important that you realize that… the fact that we were good and caring parents and not neglectful in any way.
My wife was dipping potato salad onto a paper plate, and I was wolfing down my third chicken wing of the picnic. The clearing in the middle of the woods was quiet and peaceful. Sunshine dappled our happy, little family through the treetops overhead. Our three-month-old daughter lay on her back in the portable playpen, gumming a Cookie Monster teething ring. Revenge for all the chocolate chip cookies the shaggy blue monster had devoured during his illustrious career. Cooing and contented… all was right with the world.
An idyllic slice of family time, suspended between episodes of wailing, bottle hunger and poopy Pampers.
Then a shadow passed swiftly over the blanket. Instinctively, I turned my head to follow it… and something had Zoe. By her bare feet, lifting her upward out of the pen. Rising steadily skyward. Taking flight.
“Jason!” Laura screamed. But I was already on my feet, running.
The next thirty seconds were the most confusing and terrifying of my life. The creature that clutched my shrieking daughter was dark and winged. A bat? A bird? A pterodactyl, my mind claimed, irrationally. I continued to run, to jump. My eyes were glued to Zoe’s red, wet, terrified face… my fingertips brushed hers lightly as I attempted grab hold and wrestle her free. Somewhere in the distance, behind me, Laura screamed hysterically. Sanity fractured and raw.
Then, as the forest gave way to open pasture and the creature slowly ascended into the tranquil blue canvas of the sky, another shadow engulfed me. This one didn’t pass me but kept pace. It was bigger than the other had been… a dozen times bigger.
I heard my wife’s voice call my name – for the very last time – as sharp claws burrowed into the meat and bone of my shoulders. My feet still pumped, as though running, as I was lifted from the grass. The ascent was dizzying and disorienting, like a carnival ride gone out of control. The pain that wracked my body was equal to my terror.
It was at that moment that I realized what I had been chasing was a baby carrying a baby.
Southern Fried Horror for your bookshelf!
As many out there know, I sell paperback copies of my books to those who wish to purchase them directly from me. Every book you buy from Ol’ Ron comes with a personal inscription and some hand drawn RK artwork on the title page. If you’re interested, contact me at dixiedarkun@yahoo.com and I’ll let you know prices and details. Currently, the books I have available are shown below. Sorry, as of right now I’m taking US orders only.
Tomes of Terror: Nightmare Fuel from Indie Horror Authors
Someone to Share my Nightmares by Sonora Taylor (self published)
Over the past year or so, I’ve become a huge fan of Sonora Taylor and her atmospheric style of dark fiction. Past books like Without Condition, Little Paranoias, The Crow’s Gift, and Seeing Things built Sonora a solid following among horror readers. Someone to Share my Nightmares, with a foreword by V. Castro, is a fitting addition to Sonora’s growing canon of fiction. This excellent collection of horror, humor and eroticism will hold you enthralled, unable to escape, like a skeleton’s loving embrace.
Slattery Falls by Brennan LaFaro (Crossroad Press)
I loved this New England ghost tale by author Brennan LaFaro so much during its initial release in 2021, that I happily blurbed it: “Slattery Falls brings a fresh and exciting resonance to the classic haunted house tale. The cry in the night, the word on the wall, the horrors underneath... all become palatable and personal under LaFaro’s masterful execution. A chilling story to be savored by lamplight in the thick, black hours of night, by an author of tremendous talent and heart.” It’s great to see Slattery Falls available once again in a new paperback and ebook edition from Crossroad Press (with an incredible new cover by artist Donnie Goodman). Think that there’s nothing new that can be done with haunted house fiction that you haven’t read already? Think again. This novella-length work will chill you to the bone. And guess what? It’s the first of a trilogy in progress, so there’s more frightful fun to come!
No Anesthetic: A Splatter Ink Publishing Anthology edited by Nicholas Gray (Splatter Ink Publishing)
This inaugural anthology from author Nicholas Gray’s Splatter Ink Publishing, published in 2021, is a solid collection of extreme horror and splatterpunk stories that will trigger a variety of strong emotions. This visceral variety includes tales by Eric Butler, Brian Rosenberger and John Boden, A.M. Bacon, Simon McHardy, and several others. My original story “Woodshed” also appears in this collection. If you have a hunger for dark and depraved fiction of an extreme nature, I urge you to add this tome to your horror bookshelf!
Once again, it’s time to close this edition of the Fear County Chronicle. Thanks for all who have joined us by subscribing, and an extra special shout-out of appreciation to the 531 folks who entered Horror Hub’s May Alien Mask Giveaway and opted-in to receive a free subscription to the Chronicle newsletter. Currently our readership is at 761 and growing steadily! I’ll be back the week after next with more Southern-Fried news and notions! Until then, Many Happy Nightmares, y’all!