"Welcome to Count Gore De Vol's Tomb of Dark Delights. I'm J. L. Comeau, horror writer and resident Tomb Keeper. I have been charged with the daunting task of sorting and cataloging the Count's vast library of horror, science fiction and fantasy. Take a torch from the wall and follow me down the stone stairway into the darkness deep beneath the Dungeon. It's cold and damp down here--perfect for the kind of reading we're going to do. Never mind the shambling figures in the shadows, they're probably just some friends of ours looking for a good book. If you click on the cover, you'll be taken to a wonderful place where you can buy the book.
Now, let's reach into the musty stacks and see what we can find..."
(Clicking on the covers gives you more information and prices from Amazon.com and other outlets.)
It’s steaming hot outside here at Count Gore’s Haunted Castle, but we’re cool as rigor mortis down here in the Tomb, where I’m offering two grand volumes of Gothic weirdness from two of my favorite authors. Enjoy!
SAVAGING
THE DARK by Christopher Conlon
Christopher Conlon’s fiction is absorbing and beautiful, no matter how
horrendous the subject matter. In his latest novel, SAVAGING THE DARK, Mr.
Conlon revisits the theme of inherent horror, the awful recognition that the
most terrible thing in the world might well be ourselves. Told in a riveting
first person point of view, this is the story of a woman named Mona Straw.
Her life is perfect. She is married to a wonderful man, she lives in a
beautiful home, and her career as a middle school teacher is fulfilling and
successful. But Mona has a secret— there is another man in her life whom she
loves with a blistering intensity that burns away everything else in her
existence. His name is Connor. He is a beautiful, green-eyed, blonde Adonis
that consumes Mona’s every thought and desire. He is eleven years old, and
he is Mona’s kidnapped and rope-bound captive. She loves him so much, and it
is taking every bit of self-control she can muster not to kill him. SAVAGING
THE DARK is a harrowing journey into the depths of madness told in lyrical
prose by one of the most accomplished and readable authors of dark fiction
working today. Take a deep breath and enter the darkness.
THE
UNTOLD TALES OF OZMAN DROOM by Robin Spriggs
There are certain authors whose prose styles are instantly recognizable and
whose voices are so distinct that imitation is futile. Robin Spriggs is one
of those authors, and his new collection (following the triumphant DIARY OF
A GENTLEMAN DIABOLIST) continues the humorous, dreadful and always
entertaining Gothic musings of a most exceptional and elegant gentleman of
letters and dark shadows, the elusive Ozman Droom. This compilation of
stories and poems further elucidates the life and times of a mysterious man
who might very well be a modern prophet, but whose writings are certainly
delightful, strange, and often horrific. Fans of the recent hit television
series True Detective will enjoy cosmic bleakness and Baroque weirdness
narrated by a man who may or may not be a sorcerer, actor, madman, or,
perhaps…the author himself? Curious footnotes accompany each entry, but who
can vouch for their authenticity or accuracy? Not I. Case in point: Page
147, a revelatory short story titled “Spurlos Vershwunden”, footnote—“This
story is neither here nor there. And so are you.” Exactly! Fanciful, sly,
and always brilliant, author Robin Spriggs evokes a splendid world of
eccentric darkness that is his and his alone.
As summer heats up here in the Northern Hemisphere, your cranky and stanky old TombKeeper is chillin’ with some cool genre fiction. Join me!
A
DANCE IN BLOOD VELVET by Freda Warrington
The publicity surrounding A DANCE IN BLOOD VELVET says it’s “like Twilight
meets Downton Abbey”, and I have to say that’s a dead-on description.
Award-wining British fantasy author Freda Warrington conjures a lush gothic
romance in the second volume of her vampire series, The Blood Wine Sequence.
This book finds Charlotte alone and adrift, having forsaken humanity except
for when she kills to feed. Her passionate attachment to her vampire lover,
Karl, will burn for an eternity it seems, but there are forces trying to
drive them apart. An evil magician has come into possession of a book that
will help him control the vampires, and Karl and Charlotte find themselves
in the center of the battle. Charlotte is also struggling with having given
up her humanity for Karl, while Karl’s ex-lover, Katerina, has arisen from
her icy grave, and will do anything to reclaim Karl as her own. Fans of
romance and vampires will enjoy A DANCE IN BLOOD VELVET, but I do strongly
suggest you read the first novel I the series, A TASTE OF BLOOD WINE to
catch up on events.
THE
WARLORD OF THE AIR by Michael Moorcock
I think steampunk fiction is fun, and one of the finest and earliest
practitioners of the genre is venerable Science Fiction Grandmaster Michael
Moorcock. This is the first volume of an acclaimed steampunk trilogy called
Nomad of the Timestream, which has not been available in the United States
for more than a decade, but has now been published for American readers by
Titan Books. THE WARLORDS OF THE AIR finds Captain Oswald Bastable, formerly
of the 53rd Lancers and Special Air Police, catapulted from his place in
time in the North East Frontier in the year 1902 and into the future of
1973. Bastable heads for London, where he is soon airborne aboard the
airship Loch Etive. While the British Empire seems to enjoy and abundance of
peace and prosperity, anarchy is fomenting under the leadership of barbarian
warlord named Shaw, whose principles and values make Bastable question his
own cherished beliefs. Nobody does steampunk as well as Michael Moorcock, in
my opinion. THE WARLORDS OF THE AIR is perfect summer reading! Enjoy!
To
get even more information about these titles, including some of the best prices
on the Internet, just click on each of the book covers and you'll be connected
to
To visit the individual writer's website, just click on any underlined name. J. L. (Judy) Comeau is an award winning short story writer whose work has appeared internationally in major horror and dark fantasy anthologies such as the Borderlands series, Best New Horror, The Years' Best Horror, the Hot Blood series, and the Dark Voices series in the UK. She is an active member of the Horror Writer's Association, and she lives in the Washington, DC area where she also teaches short story writing. Click on
FIREBIRD to read one of her most anthologized stories. To learn more about the Horror Writer's Association, just click on their logo!
About the Tomb Keeper (Or, who is this person of mystery)
