The Fear County Chronicle #22
After a long stretch on the road, Ol' Ron is home and back in the writing chair... with new book releases on the way!
Lordy Mercy! It seems like I’ve been around the world a couple of times in the past few months. First, there was Authorcon in Virginia, then Horror On Main in Maryland, then a long drive down to Walt Disney World in Florida to celebrate my daughter Makenna’s high school graduation. Believe me, I was glad to get back to my peaceful little hollow in Brush Creek.
So, let’s get down to it and see what’s going on as far as Southern-Fried horror is concerned…
The Shrouded Tome: Ten Forgotten Fables
My new short story collection, The Shrouded Tome: Ten Forgotten Fables, is now available in ebook at Godless Horror! The Amazon ebook, paperback, and hardcover release is set for June 30th, and I should have signed paperback and hardcover editions available at the RK HORRROR online bookstore by July 15th.
Synopsis: Within this dark crypt, lie stories long untold…
These are the forgotten fables… tales that have suffered the fate of premature burial. Shrouded and unceremoniously laid to rest. Stories that languish in deep shadow and tattered cobweb, abandoned and unread.
Within these pages, you will find ten such yarns of Southern horror. Novellas, novelettes, and short stories that appeared briefly in limited editions and bygone periodicals, then faded into obscurity and became relics of the past.
In this volume, Ronald Kelly lifts the shroud to give you a peek underneath. Like the good Doctor Frankenstein, he has sewn these lost tales together and resurrected them into a palpable and bone-chilling collection, to live and breathe, unnerve and horrify once again.
A big thanks to Dawn Shea and D&T Publishing for releasing this special volume of obscure RK stories, some of which haven’t been read since the late 1980s. And take a gander at that creepy cover by artist Ash Ericmore!
Horror On Main Convention!
On Memorial Day weekend, I was a guest author at Horror On Main in Hunt Valley, Maryland. Not only did I get to hang out with some old friends and fans, but I also got to finally see some folks I’ve been hankering to meet for quite a while, like Tim Lebbon (my next-door table neighbor!), Mercedes Yardley, and Clay McLeod Chapman. A big thanks to event organizer Kelli Owen and her team for putting together an incredible event. My family and I had a wonderful time!
PITFALL Cover Reveal!
I recently unveiled the new Zach McCain cover of the upcoming paperback edition of Pitfall. This Crossroad Press/Macabre Ink edition will be Pitfall’s long-awaited return to paperback since its initial Zebra Books release in 1990. It contains the original Zebra novel, plus a bonus novella titled “Last of the Chupacabra”. The Amazon release date will be July 6th and I should have signed copies available at RKHORROR around July 15th.
Synopsis: They were called diablos hoyos. Vicious, black-furred beasts that fought in the pit with the raw fury and savage ferocity of Satan himself.
For their owners, they were a lucrative investment. For the people of Sulphur Springs, Texas, they were the best entertainment they'd had in a long while. For Bowie Kane, they were his darkest nightmare come true. He alone recognized the dark and ravenous evil that his Apache ancestors had foretold.
But Bowie Kane was an outsider in Sulphur Springs. No one would listen to his warnings. And now it was too late to avert the rampage of carnage and terror unleashed on an unsuspecting town.
The audiobook, narrated by Tennessee voice talent, J Rodney Turner, is now available at Audible. Rodney has done an excellent job bringing some of my other books (Fear, Undertaker’s Moon, Hell Hollow, The Halloween Store, Season’s Creepings) to life with his unique, Southern-fried voice.
Upcoming FEAR reading at Goodreads!
The Goodreads group, Castle Terror, will be doing a reading of my magnum opus, Fear, throughout the month of July. If you’d like to join the read and month-long Q&A and discussion, you can link up here. Fear is my personal favorite of all my novels and I’m looking forward to joining Castle Terror for this July reading. For those planning to join the read, you can grab the ebook or audiobook at Amazon. Also, I have signed paperback and hardcover copies of the new Author’s Preferred Edition available at RKHORROR.
I hope all who haven’t read Fear enjoy their journey to Fear County and all who are doing a reread enjoys the return trip. I’m looking forward to being there, answering questions and giving insight on the creation of the book and the evolving Fear County mythos. Watch out for those dark shadows between the trees or within the hollow of deep caves… there may be Snake-Critters lurking about!
New Essential Sick Stuff edition now available!
The new Crossroad Press paperback and hardcover editions of my Splatterpunk Award-winning collection, The Essential Sick Stuff, are now in stock and available to order at RKHORROR. These editions are identical to the 2020 Silver Shamrock edition, but now published by Crossroad Press. They also feature Alex McVey’s creepy blue tick cover, as well as 23 pages of black and white interior art by Alex. And, now until the end of June, all books, artwork, and merchandise at RKHORROR is 20% off. Just use promo code JUNETOMB at checkout time!
StokerCon Anthology Feature: The Creature Dwells Within Me!
I wasn't able to attend StokerCon in Pittsburgh this year, but I was certainly there in spirit. A big congratulations to all the Stoker winners, especially friends such as Cina Palayo, Mercedes Yardley, Gabino Iglesias, and Tim Waggoner. And I’m especially thrilled for Elizabeth Massie, who was bestowed with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Beth and I shared many a TOC in dozens of small press magazines in the 80s and 90s, and I’m so happy that she was honored in this way. It was very well deserved and long overdue!
Although I couldn’t attend, I did have a non-fiction article in this year's StokerCon Souvenir Anthology. For those who didn’t have access to a copy, here is my piece “The Creature Dwells Within Me! My Lifelong Love Affair with the Gillman” in its entirety.
The Creature Dwells Within Me! My Lifelong Love Affair with the Gillman.
When I had no friends at all, I always had my monsters.
I saw my first monster movie in 1966. I was six years old. Up until that point, all that I had experienced through the portal of our black & white Zenith were children’s shows; Captain Kangaroo, Romper Room, Bozo the Clown, and Saturday morning cartoons like the Flintstones and Bugs Bunny. And there was the classic Batman series with Adam West. Halloween came early that year and all the department stores had large displays of boxed Batman costumes, months before All Hallow’s Eve rolled around. I must have played, ate, and slept in my cowl and cape for weeks that spring and summer.
I had always been drawn to the weird and bizarre from an early age, so it was natural that I gravitated toward monsters. A local afternoon program called The Big Show offered every Universal Monster movie and 50’s sci-fi thriller you could imagine. My mother waited until my sixth birthday approached, then agreed to let me watch one after school. The first one turned out to be The Creature from the Black Lagoon.
There’s something you must know about me when I was that age. Two years earlier, a coffee percolator (if you’ve never seen one before, Google it) had toppled off my aunt’s stove and doused my left arm with scalding water. Even with skin grafts, it was horribly scarred on the bicep and forearm, nearly wrapping all the way around. After that, I was a damaged child in the eyes of my peers; someone to be feared and avoided. No kid my age would come near me, afraid that they would ‘catch’ my scars. Some in Sunday School even believed I had leprosy and, according to biblical terms, I was unclean. This had a profound effect on my personality during my formative years. I became quiet and extremely withdrawn, distrustful of those around me, ashamed of my arm and the reactions it drew from children and adults alike. It was something I carried around with me, like a badge of shame, even into my teenage years.
So, when I sat down in front of the TV at age six and saw the Gillman for the very first time, I had two immediate reactions. The first was a sense of delicious fright and a spark of internal excitement I had never experienced until that point. The second was his glistening, fish-scaled flesh. His skin looks like mine, I thought in wonder, looking at my own scars with fresh eyes. I told my mother that and said, “Look, Mama, he’s a monster, just like me!” Afterward, I went back to watching the Gillman wreak havoc on the passengers and crew of the Rita. My mother went into the kitchen, sat down at the table, and cried.
After that, monsters became my closest friends; my companions at play, the willing models for my notebook art, my confidants and protectors in the dark hours of night. Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, the Wolfman, King Kong… all were members of my childhood entourage. But, the Creature… he was the one who held the key to my monster-loving heart. The one who abducted me and hauled me to his watery lair at the bottom of the Black Lagoon, and, in turn, presented possibilities and opened doorways into the imagination that I could never have realized at that early age.
Recently, I’ve claimed my mother’s fondness for reading EC Comics like Tales from the Crypt and Haunt of Fear during her pregnancy with me as my personal origin story. But the true one took place years later, as I breathlessly watched a webbed hand snake through the open flaps of an archeologist’s tent and claw the face off an unsuspecting victim. After that, the Gillman became an important part of me; emerging every so often to flip through the pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, or to glue and paint a glow-in-the-dark model of my favorite movie monster. And, even later, as I struggled as an aspiring writer, he was there behind me, clammy hands on my shoulders, showing me the direction and the genre that suited me best.
You may ask… whatever happened to those ugly scars, both physically and emotionally, that affected me so strongly at an early age? The ones that altered people’s first-glance impression back in the 1960s and 70s… and, in turn, my low opinion of myself? They diminished in size and importance in time, as well as the self-criticism and doubt that plagued me doggedly into young adulthood.
The Creature is a tough one. You can shoot him, harpoon him, poison him, douse him in kerosene and set him aflame. But he always comes back… he always survives. The one within me possesses the same stubborn will to live and thrive… and, in my writing, evolve and continue creating at the age of sixty-three.
He’s the one who gave me the tough skin and claws. The one who taught me to dive deep and rip the nets apart when times get tough.
I hope y’all enjoyed this edition of The Fear County Chronicle. If you haven’t subscribed, find that subscribe button hereabouts and give it a poke! The summer heat is building in intensity, so keep cool, pour yourself a cold glass of sweet tea, and hunker down in the A/C with a good book. And, until next time, Many Happy Nightmares, y’all!
Love your books. Will get the latest when I get the money.
Awww I want to find that 6 year old you, and hug him and tell him everyone has scars, some just don’t show. Great email and looking forward to buying your latest at Scares next year. 💕