The Fear County Chronicle #5
Ol' Ron is tanned and tranquil from a week in sunny Florida... and ready for some Southern-Fried antics and news!
Howdy Folks! Welcome back to another edition of The Fear County Chronicle. Issue #5 contains publication news, a mini-interview, a small press horror “Blast from the Past”, and more Tomes of Terror from the Indie Horror community. It’s been a heckuva hot one the past couple of weeks, so crank the A/C to Arctic mode and enjoy an icy beverage in the comfort of your easy chair. Oh, and speaking of the heat…
AFTER THE BURN… now available at Amazon!
The new rerelease of my 2011 collection, After The Burn, from D&T Publishing is now available in ebook, paperback, and hardcover on Amazon. This collection of extreme post-apocalyptic horror tales - two novellas and six short stories - features full color front and back cover art and 16 interior illustrations by Zach McCain, and a wraparound cover design by Don Noble.
Recently, I did a short First Thoughts interview with D&T publisher, Dawn Shea, about the inspiration for After the Burn and fun facts concerning the collection. I’m including it here in its entirety:
Dawn: Tell us a little about how you came up with the idea for After the Burn.
Ron: Actually, like a lot of my projects such as Dead-Eye and The Essential Sick Stuff, there’s a long history behind its journey to publication. My 1990 novella, Flesh Welder, started the ball rolling: probably my first deep dive into post-apocalyptic horror. When I came back to the genre in 2006 after a ten-year hiatus, Flesh Welder was republished as a stand-alone chapbook, and I began to feel the need to explore that sort of post-nuclear world a little further. Zach McCain and I discussed the possibility of doing a horror collection/art book around 2009, but it was a no-go with the publishers I submitted it to. Finally, in 2011, Thunderstorm Books published a limited-edition hardcover, but only with Zach’s cover and no interior artwork. When I decided to bring ATB back with the help of D&T, Zach was on board to do multiple pieces of artwork and we finally got to see the collection released as I had first hoped it to be.
Dawn: Which story was your favorite to write?
Ron: I’d have to say Evolution Ridge was my favorite of the bunch. ER gave me the opportunity to really pull out all the stops with how animal and plant life might mutate if exposed to a tidal wave of radiation, as well as how it might affect the humans who were bitten or contaminated by them. Also, the flying rattlesnakes were fun as hell to write. They’ve sort of joined my stable of Southern Fried monsters, along with Fear’s Snake-Critter, Consumption’s man-eating caterpillars, and the Thing at the Side of the Road.
Dawn: In some of the stories you picked some pretty famous places to write about, what was it about those places that made you choose them?
Ron: I always had this question in the back of my mind – even before I began to write the stories: What would happen to all my favorite vacation spots or the monuments and memorials, or the National Parks, if the world ended? I think some of the survivors would gravitate to the places that made them the happiest in life, like Disney World or Graceland. The latter gave me creative license to resurrect the King for a while, which was incredibly entertaining and satisfying for me as a writer.
Dawn: Did you write the novellas and the stories specifically to go together? Or did they come at separate times?
Ron: Of course, Flesh Welder was the first, and the only piece in the collection that was a reprint, although including it was appropriate and necessary, I believe. When I decided to create the world of the Burn, I sat down and wrote the other stories one after the other, starting from just before our world crashed and burned, to several years afterward when I reached The Paradise Pill. There was something very liberating about writing it as an extreme horror collection… slipping past the restraints of “respectable” horror fiction and making it as gritty and realistic as I could imagine it being in such a dire situation.
Dawn: There are some true villains in this collection. Which villain was your favorite character?
Ron: There are three that come immediately to mind that I regard as the “Unholy Trinity” of After The Burn. The first would be Rott the serial killer in A Shiny Can of Whup Ass; a totally irrepressible sociopath who revels in the fact that he doesn’t have to hide or conceal his true nature anymore. Then there’s Gacy in The Popsicle Man. This may be evil incarnate that has taken on the identity of the true to life ‘killer clown’… or, depending on what year the Burn took place (which I never really reveal), it could very well be the real John Wayne Gacy acting out his perverted fantasies in a post-nuclear wasteland. The third is the classic military hard-ass in Flesh-Welder, The General. I chose to make this villain both a colossal asshole and a die-hard racist. But, thanks to the good doctor, he baits himself for his eventual downfall and ends up getting his just deserts in a very fitting way.
Coming soon… HELL HOLLOW & THE DARK’UN!
David Niall Wilson & David Dodd of Crossroad Press are working hard to bring you some vintage RK novels that are currently not available in paperback editions. The Dark’Un (published by Zebra Books as Something Out There in 1991) will be released under the Macabre Ink imprint in early July with a new cover design and artwork by Zach McCain. Also, in the planning stage, is a new paperback edition my coming-of-age horror/fantasy novel, Hell Hollow (which was released by Cemetery Dance Publications in hardcover in 2010). HH will boast the same Alex McVey cover that graced the book during its original release.
Blast from the Small Press Past! “Papa’s Exile”
Way back in 1988, Mark Rainey, editor of Deathrealm: The Land Where Horror Dwells, accepted a little one and a half page story of mine titled “Papa’s Exile”. It appeared in Deathrealm #7 and was my sixth published short story. Up until that point, most of my Southern-fried fiction had been in-your-face horror tales. “Papa’s Exile” was a little different; more literary and subtle in nature. Just the right fit with Rainey’s atmospheric and often Lovecraftian assemblage of dark fantasy and macabre horror offerings. “Papa’s Exile” was sort of a step or two forward for me as a new writer learning his craft. It showed me that I was capable of penning a sleek tale with sufficient emotional punch, unencumbered by thick Southern dialect and overly-descriptive rural settings.
I featured a Christmas version of this story in my holiday collection, Season’s Creepings. I’m including the original Deathrealm story here, along with small press legend Marge Simon’s excellent illustration, which accompanied the tale in Issue #7.
Papa’s Exile
“Will Papa ever come home again?” asks Stephanie, her face staring hopefully from amid the snug safety of her pillows, blankets, and plush stuffed animals.
“No, baby,” says Mother. “Never again.”
Stephanie begins to ask why, but the dousing of the light curtails that simple question. “Sweet dreams,” Mother whispers and leaves her with a kiss.
Thunder rumbles, echoes of a distant storm, as Mother walks the darkened halls of the old house. Her daughter’s question brings a thin smile to her lips and she pauses by the parlor window. The persimmon grove crowds against the northern wall. Skeletal sentries stand tall and somber, as if ever watching.
No, never again. Not her dear, half-blind husband. Never again would his drunken voice resound within their peaceful household, eliciting fear and dread, nor would there be the fleshy blows of anger. And his mustachioed face would never glare hatefully across the dinner table; one eye livid, the other emotionless, unreal.
Never again will you rule us, she had told him that night long ago, a night laced with pain and the raw stench of liquor. Never again will you find comfort before the warmth of the hearth, nor in the folds of our marriage bed. Never again shall you savor the scent of my perfume or relish the softness of my skin. She had declared all of these things and they had come to pass. After that night, Papa no longer filled the gabled structure with his troublesome presence, no longer darkened the cobbled walk with his weaving, drunken shadow.
The storm comes, forceful and born of vengeance. Dark clouds boil overhead, advancing, engulfing the land with their surly discontent. Beside the house, the grove dances, swaying to and fro, trees animated. Deep in the torrid darkness, something winks in whipcrack flashes of heavenly brilliance. Then, as a violent thunderclap shakes the earth’s very foundation, it falls like a lone hailstone, bounces, rolls across the sodden ebony carpet of night.
The following morning reigns supreme.
Young Stephanie skips cheerfully beneath the dripping branches, down the winding center path, through Mother’s flower garden and into the grove. She jumps an obstructive puddle, then is teased by an earthward sparkle. Stephanie spies a glistening orb lying at the foot of an ancient tree, hollow and dead from the ravages of time. Picking up the peculiar object, she polishes it against the cloth of her blouse, marveling, a treasure to behold. She stares at it and it stares back. Familiar, yet unreal.
Curiously, the girl regards the old tree, for the trunk’s gaping seam has been rent by the angry passing of the storm. As she draws nearer, something within the hollow shifts and falls forward.
Stephanie squeals, but not in delight.
Papa has come home.
Tomes of Terror: Nightmare Fuel from Indie Horror Authors
The Cuck by Aron Beauregard (Self-published)
Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good horror book cover that hits you squarely between the eyes at first glance. And the cover of Aron Beauregard’s new extreme horror offering, The Cuck, has got to be one of the creepiest covers I’ve seen in quite a while. Believe me, if I woke up in the middle of the night and saw this fella standing at the foot of my bed, my sheets would be going into the washing machine first thing the following morning. If you’re familiar with Aron’s brand of ultra-extreme prose, you know he pulls no punches. This one is certainly no exception. And be sure to visit the ABHorror Store for personally signed books and cool merch!
The Cursed Among Us by John Durgin (Self-published)
John Durgin first came across my radar when I joined him, Joel Vanpatten, and Rogerio Rios on their Livid Comics Lair Podcast. Since then, I’ve come to consider him a good friend and a very talented writer of horror fiction. His first novel, The Cursed Among Us, was recently released through Amazon and reviews have been extremely positive and plentiful. Recently, John signed a contract with D&T Publishing for a future work of fiction, so it looks as though his horror career is beginning on a very promising note. The Cursed Among Us is now available in ebook and paperback.
Fugue Devil: Resurgence by Stephen Mark Rainey (Black Raven Books)
Since I’ve already mentioned Mark Rainey with fond reverence earlier in this newsletter, you may believe that a Kelly/Rainey bromance is involved (that could very well be, since I’ve pretty much known and respected the man for 34 years). Fugue Devil: Resurgence is the 30th anniversary edition of Mark’s extraordinary tale “Fugue Devil,” featured in an all-new volume of short stories. This chilling collection includes three never-before-published tales alongside nine classic favorites. It’s currently available in ebook and paperback on Amazon. And, if you have a middle-grade horror reader in your family, check out Mark’s contributions to Elizabeth Massie’s Ameri-Scares Series; Fear the Grassman, Lair of the Mothman, Ghosts from the Skies, and The Dragon of Lake Superior. My son, Ryan, has read and enjoyed them all!
Well, that’s it for the fifth edition of The Fear County Chronicle. I hope you found it informative and entertaining (the dancing cowboy skeletons certainly seem to think so!) I’ll be back in a fortnight (that’s British for two weeks, you know) with more Southern-Fried shenanigans and news. Until then, Many Happy Nightmares, y’all!