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"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..."
To learn more about the Exciting CD recording of some of J.L. Comeau's best stories, Click Here!
(Clicking on the covers gives you more information and prices from Amazon.com and other outlets.)
Sexy supernatural novels are hot, hot, hot, so we’re vamping it up this week
with a couple of sizzling supernatural novels from hot paranormal romance
thriller author Allison Brennan!
ORIGINAL
SIN by Allison Brennan
This is the first entry in a projected seven-novel paranormal suspense series
featuring Moira Donnelly, a witch specifically bred by her evil mother, Fiona,
leader of an evil occult coven, to become a conduit between heaven and hell.
When Fiona unleashes the seven deadly sins, which are in fact fallen angels, her
daughter Moira is joined by a sexy young former seminarian named Rafe in a
battle royale to fend off the demons coming down hard on their small California
town with plans to take over the world. The fallen angels are the entities who
formed a union with Lucifer during the battle with Archangel Michael, and Fiona
and her occult group are bringing down the darkness with their evil powers to
manipulate darkness to take over the planet. Moira and the smoldering Rafe
Cooper must track down Fiona to thwart the evil that Moira’s mother is
orchestrating. Filled with fast-moving battles with demons and a heavy romantic
subtext, ORIGINAL SIN will thrill fans of True Blood and Twilight.
CARNAL
SIN by Allison Brennan
Author Allison Brennan continues the seven-novel paranormal suspense/romance
serial that began with ORIGINAL SIN with CARNAL SIN. In this second fast-paced
thriller, the small California town of Santa Louisa has been nearly obliterated
by the raging supernatural war of darkness and light being waged by the deadly
fallen angels led by Moira Donnelly’s evil mother, Fiona. The demon Lust has
burst forth and is moving toward Los Angeles. Moira awakes with blood on her
hands—literally—and she and her seductive partner, Rafe Cooper, must return to
the battle in order to save the world. Moira has doubts about Rafe, wondering if
he might be a pawn of Lust, but she knows that she must move forward against the
demons and, indeed, her own mother, a queen of the underworld who has unleashed
Hell on earth. Moira must track down the demon Lust and return him to the
netherworld from which he has been released by her mother, Fiona, all the while
on the run from the authorities who do not believe that the paranormal war is
raging. Sexy, hot, and action-packed, I recommend CARNAL SIN to fans of
supernatural romance thrillers. For more about the author, please visit
www.AllisonBrennan.com.
We’re getting all science fictional this week, TombRats, and we’re going
absolutely Steampunk! Read on…
NOT
LESS THAN GODS by Kage Baker
It was a great loss to the science fiction genre when the visionary Kage Baker
passed away earlier this year. Her loss was a great blow to readers and science
fiction literature, but she left behind a grand and mind-bending canon of
fiction that will be celebrated forever. Her Company novels are legend, and NOT
LESS THAN GODS is her ninth Company novel, although it can easily be enjoyed as
a stand-alone. Edward Bell-Fairfax has figured previously in Kage Baker’s
Company fiction, is born to the job of high-level assassin, and his genteel
background and the strange circumstances of his birth make Edward perfect for
induction into the Company. In this Frankensteinian tale of a creature created
that usurps and transcends the powers it was intended to possess, Edward
Bell-Fairfax might save the world…or he might destroy it. Set in an alternate
Steampunk London, Kage Baker creates an unforgettable tale of world-killing
weaponry, secret societies and mind-blowing technology. Edward is able to travel
through time to accomplish his proscribed missions, but his idealistic nature
causes him to question the validity of his work. Fleeing across the continents
from clockwork enemies, Edward begins a journey in which he will become the most
dangerous man alive. The late, great Kage Baker writes with great wisdom and
humor in NOT LESS THAN GODS. She will be missed.
PINION
by Jay Lake
Steampunk fans will revel in Jay Lake’s newest “Clockpunk” novel, PINION, in
which Lake’s lush Victorian Clockwork Earth continues following his stunning
2009 novel, ESCAPEMENT. This second entry follows on-the-run, gear-minded
Paolina Barthes, a young tech prodigy who is a target of rival British and
Chinese governments. Paolina, a sorceress of great and growing power, is fleeing
to Africa, where a rebel Chinese submarine is waiting to receive her after she
has caused a great upheaval of the world order by devastating the gears that
control the northern hemisphere. On the other side of the Great Wall that God
built awaits the Southern Empire that awaits Paolina’s arrival, where it is
known what she has done to the clockwork precision of the North. They know that
Paolina’s greatest love is Boaz, a clockwork man of brass, and they plan to
capture Boaz in an attempt to control Paolina. Queen Victoria is in power, the
British Navy rules the seas, China controls the air with great airships. Boaz
struggles with the soul that he has been given by Paolina as she covertly
hastens across the world to save him from the political upheaval that she has
caused. PINION is brilliant and thoughtful alternative history by Jay Lake, who
can be found at www.jlake.com.
Free is GOOD! For a limited time you can get the eReader or Audio Book version of an exciting new novel called, "The Painted Darkness" by Brian James Freeman! Just use this link and for the Audio Book, right click and then select Save As. Download the Darkness for FREE: The Painted Darkness by Brian James Freeman
We’re experiencing record heat here in the land of Count Gore De Vol,
TombRats, so I’m hunkered down here in the Tomb with a couple of cool horror
novels. Come and chill with me!
UNDERPANTS
OF THE DEAD by A. J. Redaumar
Want to chill your spine and tickle your funnybone at the same time? You won’t
do better than UNDERPANTS OF THE DEAD, a funny, scary, crazy story of a town
under siege by the undead! Olsome, Ohio is a placid and rural town where the
last thing anyone ever expected was a zombie invasion, but guess what? Puns and
carcasses litter the landscape, wet underpants and argyle socks pile up,
fighting Quakers, crazed cheerleaders, Smell-O-Vision, audio-video geeks, local
television reporters, vigilantes and so many more comical folks collide in a
supernova of insanity and full-out brain-munching! The purported author, one
Allison Redaumar, shows up in the action, leading one to wonder if claims of her
authorship is a diabolical ruse or perhaps a case of postmodernist metafiction?
Everything gets a bit squirrelly and borders between bust-your-guts laughter and
cover-your-eyes horror blur when the living dead, argyle socks and damp
underpants convene in a perfect storm of hilariously bawdy horror. Please be
aware that this novel is not for younger readers; i.e., chapters titled
“Custer’s Last Fuck”, “A Prick Called Peter”, etc. UNDERPANTS OF THE DEAD is
clever, adult, satirical horror that reads like a Three Stooges pie fight with
entrails and eyeballs. Although the author has a website at
www.ajRedaumar.com, you might want to
check out the websites of a pair of mysterious personages who might very well
have been involved in the mayhem at
http://www.facebook.com/cwprather#!/profile.php?id=1385197315
. You might be quite surprised to find out who these nefarious and
certifiable people actually are! You have been warned.
FATAL
ERROR by F. Paul Wilson
The action comes at the reader crazy fast in the newest Repairman Jack novel
from F. Paul Wilson. Although it grieves me mightily to say that the Repairman
Jack series is soon coming to a close, FATAL ERROR rocks the fabric of the RP
cosmic shadow war with this tale of pulse-pounding adventure that pits Jack
against the darkness that might well bring down the darkness on mankind and the
universe entire. A man named Munir Habib is being forced to perform acts of
public ignominy in order preserve the lives of his American wife and son, who
have been taken hostage. Although the kidnappers seem only to want Habib to
suffer disgrace and humiliation, Habib is helpless to report the kidnapping if
he wants his family to survive. Enter Repairman Jack, a “fixer” whose talents
are required when the usual methods of law enforcement are useless. Jack is
pushed into fixing Habib’s situation and, what with Jack’s involvement in the
ongoing cosmic shadow war between the Ally and the Otherness, he has his hands
even more full than usual. Dawn Pickering’s continuing bizarre pregnancy finally
comes to a belated end when she delivers…something. She only gets a quick look
at the baby before it is taken from her--and what she sees frightens her. When
she is told that the baby has died from overwhelming birth defects, Dawn doesn’t
believe it. Jack doesn’t believe it, either. So much is happening and events are
coming together. The Septimus Order and a homicidal clan called The Kickers are
busy working to extinguish the Internet and, if they do, they will succeed in
paving a pathway for the Otherness, which will overtake and destroy our plane of
reality. Can Jack pull together all the threads that are dangling over his head
like Swords of Damocles? Hang on to your hearts, TombRats, because you’re going
to get an aerobic workout without leaving your reading chair! FATAL ERROR is
shipping now, so get your copy from Gauntlet Press before they’re all gone! And
be sure to check out
www.RepairmanJack.com for more information about
this superlative supernatural thriller series.
This week, TombRats, your creepin and crumbling old TombKeeper has plucked a
pair of real screamers from Count Gore’s Teetering Towers of Terror Tomes!
Settle down for a few shrieks with me, will you?
SPARROW
ROCK by Nate Kenyon
Nate Kenyon’s newest novel follows a group of typical teens who just want a
place where they can kick back and party, and an old, abandoned sixties-era
fallout shelter built by one of their grandfathers is perfect for their
gatherings. Sparrow Rock is a barrier island and the fallout shelter has
everything a kid could want—privacy, food, cell phone and television reception.
While lounging inside smoking a few doobies, Jay, Dan, Tessa, Jimmie, Pete and
Big Sue feel a tremor, soon followed by the failure of television and cell
phones. Dan climbs up to see what the problem is and discovers that multiple
nuclear strikes are occurring above. Now locked into the bomb shelter, the teens
are terrified by what is happening above their heads. They have food, shelter
and a functioning power source, but how long will they be able to survive? What
will they find when they finally climb out? Their families and everything they
knew are gone, and what awaits them is a nuclear blast zone. That’s bad enough,
but wait! Something else has survived the blast. Something wee and sly and very
dangerous, something mutated, perhaps, by the nuclear storm raging outside the
fallout shelter? The teens are inside with a terrible, murderous thing and
escaping it means climbing out into the dreadful blasted landscape above. Super
fast-pacing and relentless action makes SPARROW ROCK a fabulously fun
white-knuckle thrill ride specifically built for scares. For more about the
author, please visit www.NateKenyon.com.
THE
BRIDGE by John Skipp and Craig Spector
This eighties novel by Splatterpunk’s penultimate bad boys, Skipp and Spector,
could not have found a more timely reissue, and it remains one of my all-time
favorite end-of-the-world novels. Paradise, Pennsylvania is a sleepy little town
where people don’t pay much attention to the business of waste management, and
generally go about their lives as most of us do, ignorant of the graft and
corruption in the waste management upper echelons. But something is brewing in
Codorus Creek and in the many clandestine spill-holes pocking the area. A huge
electrical storm rolls into town, lashing the earth with forked lightning in a
dazzling display of atmospheric fury. When a stray bolt of lightning hits the
toxic ferment in Codorus creek, an intelligent, malevolent consciousness is
born, a consciousness that demands retribution for the fouling of the earth.
And, oh buddy, this thing is nasty! THE BRIDGE is a seminal novel in the
evolution of the horror genre in which Skipp and Spector flay traditional horror
boundaries and go in for the kill. This is in-your-face graphic horror that has
not lost one iota of its power or vision. If anything, this novel brings home
the greed and carelessness that is breaking the back of Mother Nature right now.
This is hall-of-fame horror literature by two celebrated masters of graphic
terror. Visit them at www.JohnSkipp.com (website currently under construction),
and www.CraigSpector.com.
It’s hot, hot, hot here in the sweltering mid-Atlantic area, and your gnarly
‘n’ snarly old TombKeeper is trying to stay cool with some bone-freezing horror.
This week I have two mass-market novels from masters of the genre for you! Chill
out with these screamers…
CREATURES
OF THE POOL by Ramsey Campbell
Winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the HWA, the Living Legend Award
from the International Horror Guild, and a Grand Master Award from the WHC,
Ramsey Campbell remains one of the horror genre’s most elegant practitioners of
nightmare fiction. A new novel from Mr. Campbell is always cause for jubilation,
and CREATURES OF THE POOL continues a long and venerated career with finely
tuned terror that resonates in readers’ minds like echoes from a depthless
abyss. My favorite Ramsey Campbell subject is the family, where horror often
begins and never ends, and his new novel plumbs the depths of twisted familial
dysfunction with the dark eye of a master. CREATURES OF THE POOL studies the
father/son bond gone awry via young Gavin Meadows, who is experiencing some
major Daddy issues. Set in Ramsey Campbell’s hometown of Liverpool, England,
Gavin venerates his unconventional father, who can seem rather paranoid about
the mysterious research projects in which he is involved. When Gavin decides to
take a closer look at his father’s work, it soon becomes clear that something
very odd is going on, something that encompasses his family, his town, and
possibly the nature of reality itself. Massive dark secrets lie simmering
beneath the bustling city exterior, something that makes Gavin begin to doubt
that anyone he knows and anything he sees is real. The narrative leaves the
reader off-balance in nightmare territory strange perceptions and peripheral
perceptions form the matrix of a shaky authenticity. CREATURES OF THE POOL is
another brilliant, harrowing experience from one of the genre’s finest living
writers. For more about the author, please visit
www.RamseyCampbell.com.
SCISSORS
by Ray Garton
Do you like your horror raw and on the bone? Then you will love Ray Garton, one
of the genre’s most infamous horror writers, having shocked and outraged the
literary world with a pivotal scene in his early novel, LIVE GIRLS. Oh, it was a
sweet, sweet moment in horror history, TombRats! His new novel, SCISSORS opens
with a visceral and wince-inducing surgical procedure being performed on a very,
um, delicate part of the anatomy of a young boy named Stuart. There is blood,
there is agony, and there is the horrible “snick-snick-snick” of the scissors
cutting, cutting, cutting. Stuart grows into a somewhat lackluster adult with a
dreary job and tedious existence. Divorced from the ex-wife who cheated on him,
Stuart is feeling the pain of a growing gulf between him and his son, James.
Defeat awaits him at every turn, and even his promising new relationship with a
woman named Amelia is deteriorating now that she and his ex, Molly, are becoming
fast friends. Worse, the dreams of what Dr. Ferguson did to him as a child are
intensifying—“snick-snick-snick”. He is beginning to see Dr. Ferguson
everywhere. Is Stuart going insane? Are Molly and Amelia up to something? And
what of the sound of those scissors that accompany every sighting of the dreaded
Dr. Ferguson? Snick-snick-snick! Just wait until you find out what’s really
going on… Horror fans will squeal with delighted terror! SCISSORS is another
marvelous creep-out in a fabulous canon of full-out dread fiction from great Ray
Garton, who can be found at
http://www.myspace.com/raygarton.
He’s rather ugly (gangly, stringy black hair, hooked nose, pencil moustache,
not particularly fastidious about personal hygiene), he’s got some very bad
habits (absinthe and opium), a couple of strange sexual obsessions (a Jodie
Foster fixation and a thing for teenage Goth chicks), but he’s one bad-ass dude
and you'd better watch out if you get on his bad side; he knows dark magic,
carries a deadly antique Webley sidearm and a bayonet and, if he’s sober, he can
mess you up. And I love this guy! Who is he? He’s Hiram Grange, the most
outrageously addictive anti-hero in modern supernatural literature. Think I’m
kidding? Check out the first four installments of The Scandalous
Misadventures of Hiram Grange!
HIRAM
GRANGE & THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED: BOOK 1 by Jake Burrows
The first novella in the Hiram Grange series finds OIRA secret operative, boozer
and malcontent Hiram Grange in the gentle village of Great Bay, New Hampshire.
Only it’s not as gentle as it seems on the surface. Great Bay is the site of
major supernatural confluences that threaten to destroy the village and perhaps
the entire world. An army of the dead arises and we all hope Hiram Grange isn’t
on one of his drug and alcohol binges, because he is the only person who can
save us all! Author Jake Burrows kicks of the high-octane and compulsively
readable Hiram Grange series with brio and a lightning pace. Get to know Hiram
as he takes on the Village of the Damned in Book 1 of The Scandalous
Misadventures of Hiram Grange. You’ll want more, believe me. Gorgeous cover and
lavish interior illustrations by Malcolm McClinton.
HIRAM
GRANGE & THE TWELVE LITTLE HITLERS: BOOK 2 by Scott Christian Carr
Poor Hiram—he’s not feeling so great. He’s been on a major booze and drug binge,
and he’s a bit depressed as well. He’s a drunk, a cad and a bounder, but he’s
also the most dangerous man in the world…when he’s sober. And someone has to
take care with the pesky supernatural denizens of the Abyss, who are hell-bent
on destroying the world, and Hiram Grange is the only man with the derring-do
and supernatural wherewithal to handle the job. This time the Abyss has coughed
up a dozen little Hitler clones, and you remember how bad things got when there
was just one Hitler on the loose… The Hitlers have dispersed across the world
and have found some rather odd occupations: bodybuilder, UFO hunter, to name
just two. Armed with his trusty Webley sidearm and Pritchard bayonet, Hiram is
charged with hunting down and dispatching the Hitlers. Uproariously funny in
shades of darkest black, truly scary and often just plain gross, Hiram’s search
for the Hitlers an addictive novella of supernatural adventure. Go get ‘em,
Hiram! Fabulous cover and interior art by Malcolm McClinton. Visit the author at
www.ScottChristianCarr.com.
HIRAM
GRANGE & THE DIGITAL EUCHARIST: BOOK 3 by Robert Davies
The going gets quite dark for Hiram in this third installment of The Scandalous
Misadventures of Hiram Grange. This time Hiram is checking out the environs of
Boston, which is home to the strange and mysterious Occlusionist Movement, a
secret society that plans to control the world by means of their Digital
Eucharist, which is really bad news. But, of course, even worse things are
brewing down in the labyrinthine tunnels beneath the city—an ancient demon is
breaking free of its prison where Hiram Grange had locked it up many years
previously. Yup, it’s all hitting the fan when Hiram pulls into town. The
Digital Eucharist is trying to control Hiram’s mind, and the demon is coming for
him--and it is pissed! Hiram? He’s looking around for chicks who look like Jodie
Foster and—oh, yeah—preparing for a battle to the death with the supernatural
creatures of utter darkness. Thrilling and deeply scary, HIRAM GRANGE & THE
DIGITAL EUCHARIST continues the series with horror, laughs, shocks and gusto!
Fantastic cover art and interior art by Malcolm McClinton. You can find the
author online at www.RobertEDavies.com.
HIRAM
GRANGE & THE CHOSEN ONE: BOOK 4 by Kevin Lucia
Kevin Lucia gives the reader an entirely new take on the cult fave anti-hero
character, Hiram Grange, who is viewed through the eyes of a young woman named
Therese whose life will be either protected or destroyed by Hiram’s actions.
Hiram has his problems—drugs, alcohol, strange predilections and a generally bad
attitude—but he’s also a very damaged man. He’s seen horrible things: he
witnessed his mother’s suicide by means of the Webley handgun he insists upon
using in his work. He’s done horrible things, too, and he’s feeling the guilt
weighing heavy on his soul. Dispatched to save a woman from a Lovecraftian
nightmare, Hiram battles his own personal demons while battling the tentacled
monsters from the bowels of the Abyss. New insights into Hiram’s character
deepen and explain many of Hiram’s odd inclinations and foul habits. Kevin Lucia
has created a world of dark magic that spins through the midnight streets of
Belfast, Northern Ireland with a lyrical and deeply affecting narrative filled
with magic and folklore. This is beautifully crafted white-knuckle horror
fiction with heart and soul. Includes another killer cover and marvelous
interior art by Malcolm McClinton. Check out the author’s online presence at
www.KevinLucia.net.
One of my stories is featured in the new book: "Dead Set: A Zombie Anthology!" Take a look at the trailer in The Auditorium!
The TombKeeper has a story in this
anthology that's to benefit the "Scares That Care" Charity. For more details, just click on the cover!
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.
Become the Tomb Keeper's Apprentice!
The Tomb Keeper could use some help, and you could become her apprentice by recommending--in 25 words or less--your favorite horror, fantasy, or science fiction book currently in print. If chosen, you will be named The Tomb Keeper's Apprentice and your name and recommendation will appear on The Tomb WebPage for a period not to exceed one month. In addition, I will sneak out to you an autographed photo of Count Gore De Vol!
EMAIL YOUR RECOMMENDATION TO THE TOMBKEEPER
About the Tomb Keeper (Or, who is this person of mystery)
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.
You are invited to visit the Tomb Keeper's very own website, by clicking on the eyes below!
To learn more about the Horror Writer's Association, just click on their logo!
J.
L. Comeau has enlisted actress Leanna Chamish to record several of her horrific stories on CD.To here a Real Audio sample of this exciting new release, click on the cover image below!
For more information on how to purchase this CD, Click Here!
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