Classic Horror Lovers discussion

Are you a horror author who writes in the classic or gothic vein? Feel free to post promos for your work in the promo section. You are welcome to post links to your work.

I was searching Goodreads for a horror group and came upon Classic Horror Lovers. You guys have read far more than I have in this genre. It's only when you see all the books listed in one place that you realize how much you haven't read.

Anyway, I've written a horror novella. It's called The Inheritance and is set in Victorian England. The summary follows:

Theodore Baker inherited a heavy duty from his grandfather: he must use a crystal's nocturnal light to draw out savage, unspeakable creatures and kill them. He has spent the past twenty years following news of rural murders and journeying incessantly back and forth into danger in this never-ending hunt.

Theo is recuperating at a relative's house in idyllic Derbyshire when he comes across young Audrey Masterson, who is pricking her finger with a pin and collecting her tears. These tears produce a rather freakish effect and Theo feels duty-bound to investigate. He soon connects Audrey to an eerie, abandoned church on a lonely hill and also possibly to the death of an old woman in town. Theo knows how to deal with monsters, but how is he supposed to handle the budding evil of a witch-child?

As you might guess, it's written sort of old-school style.

The Inheritance is on Kindle but forget that, if anyone wants to read it, you can reply here or to rs.ramdial@gmail.com, and I'll email you a PDF version.

Thanks for your time, and thanks for the opportunity, Lady Danielle.

RS Ramdial

Hi, RS. Please feel free to create a separate thread for your book in this folder.

How lovely that this thread exists!

This first one may be of particular interest to "classic" ghost story readers.


SHADOWS, Supernatural Tales by Masters of Modern Literature

Then my own collection has just been reissued.

Martyrs & Monsters

And my attempt at a classic-style ghost novel continues to garner great reviews. I'm very pleased.


Willy

Hi Robert! I am interested in your books and your collection, I've heard nothing but good things! Maybe if there is enough interest we could do a group read on one...

I'd be interested.

Looking forward to Willy [insert own pun here], I bought it a few weeks back and it's in my ever-growing 'to read' folder on my Kindle!

Thanks, folks!

Yes, I've been hearing WILLY jokes ... and jokes ... and jokes ...

But how do you keep a straight face when someone tells you they can't wait to get their hands on your WILLY?

Robert, I don't think you can. LOL!

Hi all,

For those waiting on news of my new book, "Jack the Ripper and Black Magic: Victorian Conspiracy Theories, Secret Societies and the Supernatural Mystique of the Whitechapel Murders", it is released and now available.

Thanks
Spiro Dimolianis

Jack the Ripper and Black Magic: Victorian Conspiracy Theories, Secret Societies and the Supernatural Mystique of the Whitechapel Murders

I recently ordered Willy. It's not here yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

Thanks, Martha. I hope you'll enjoy it.
~ Rob

Hi Friends,

I am Teric Darken, and my latest work is Wickflicker - a supernatural thriller/horror novel. Author Ellen C. Maze described it as "CS Lewis meets Stephen King," and Author Krisi Keley has labeled it a "devilishly-exceptional allegorical thriller."

Following is the Amazon.com link to Wickflicker, followed by the story's overview.

Link:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_...

Overview:

Is your palm freely passed twixt the wick and the flame?
Do you smoke the briar's fire fueled by faces and names?
On the bridge of your lust, will you pay the small toll?
Would you gain the whole world in exchange for your soul?
-Olde Order: Wickflicker

They were two college freshmen, simply searching for that higher high along life's journey. They found it in the devil's den.

Best friends since childhood, college freshmen Gat O'Malley and Caleb Jackson stumble into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: Finding themselves the life of the party at semester's end, it's up to them to keep the crowd pumped, the ladies intrigued, and the liquor freely flowing.

To keep spirits flying high, Gat and Cay venture into their friend's cellar to retrieve a fresh keg. They soon hit rock bottom when failing to locate any source of light, becoming lost in the endless labyrinth below. Lurking about the shadows, they encounter their friend's eccentric Uncle and begin to realize they're getting more than they bargained for.

By showing them the mystic ways of an ancient, arcane society- the Olde Order- Nicklaus Scratch entices the freshmen with all the power, prestige, and prominence they would dare to dream up at the onslaught of the new age. The world is theirs for the taking. All can be possessed through the Olde Order- the way of the Wickflicker.

Money. Sex. Power.

Each awaits in exchange for something never even seen...

Would you gain the whole world in exchange for your soul?

For HP Lovecraft fans: "The Strange Case of James Kirkland Pilley," is a Lovecraftian novella. When I ran a few paragraphs through that website iwl.me (I Write Like) which purports to tell which author your prose is similar to, it came back: Lovecraft?

http://www.amazon.com/Strange-James-K...

The Strange Case of James Kirkland Pilley

Blow Up the Roses is not in the classical horror mode, but it is a frightening read. I suppose it's more of a thriller. And it certainly has a horrific character in it. Happy to provide free download code to any reader who might be interested in helping me catagorize and/or review it.Blow Up the Roses

Hi -

I've two ebooks out (well three but one's not horror):

The Other Room - collection of short stories. Influenced by the likes of Ramsey Campbell, Robert Aickman, Shirley Jackson...

The Shelter - a novella. Bit more commercial than The Other Room stories, which is why I put it out separately.

James

I have a classical horror novel that I'm working on, though I have no idea when it will be out. I definitely love the genre, though, and would like to dabble in it more.

I did just release the start of my YA series, which is a mix of sci-fi (not too heavy) and horror. The first book doesn't explore the classical horror genre as much, but the next ones will a little bit more. Please check it out:

So far I have one novel out and a short story in a Halloween anthology:

Squad V

Spellbound

-John Steiner

Wow, I'm really impressed with our group members! Way to go, guys! Make the classic horror style live on!

My story in Spellbound hails back to the 1970's type horror movies.

Hello all, my Gothic horror saga details the dark journey of a man through a sinister and supernatural eighteenth/nineteenth century environment. Utilising the styles popularised by the likes of Matthew Lewis, Ann Radcliffe and Charles Maturin, it is my intention to help the classic Gothic engine thrive amidst today's (dare I say) less baroque approach to writing.

Not sure if we've said this, but if you have published a book in the classic horror vein (not modern-themed horror), please feel free to add it to the bookshelf and mark it as 'written by member'.

Not seeing how to do that, but would love to add
The Strange Case of James Kirkland Pilley

Go to the tab that says bookshelf. There is an empty box where you can type your book name, and click search. It will open up a box where you can select shelves. I have added 'written by member.' When you are done, click save and close the box. If the book has been added it will be grayed out. Give it a try. If you still have trouble, let me know.

Hello! Anyone here like Gothic Steampunk? My novel is a Trestle Press digital short story cliffhanger series : "Mina's Daughter...The Harker Chronicles"

Volume 1
Ever since she turned eighteen, Katherine Wilhelmina Harker has been keeping a horrible secret; she craves human blood. But she has no idea where this terrible thirst comes from - all she knows is that her father is dead and her mother passed away last year in mysterious circumstances. Katie lives in the London apartments of her guardian, Dr. Seward, and does not want to let anyone know about the dark stranger who sometimes visits her at night.
Now a teacher at the same academy her mother attended, Katie dreams of a world beyond London society, but is too frightened of her odd, newly-developing powers and her desire to drink the blood of all of the young gentlemen who call on her. She knows that there has to be more to the story of her birth than anyone will tell her, so now, to find out who she really is, Katie sets about locating the whereabouts of the missing Dr. Van Helsing to get the answers…

It's a cliffhanger! The 15th of every month, another 2-3 chapters is published for 99 cents a download.

http://www.amazon.com/Minas-Daughter-...

My short story "The Dark Attraction" appears in INDIANA HORROR ANTHOLOGY 2011. http://www.amazon.com/Indiana-Horror-...

and

My short story "UnEarthed", which is effectively a horror story just became available today in INDIANA SCIENCE FICTION ANTHOLOGY 2011.
http://www.amazon.com/Indiana-Science...

Danielle, you've read my vampire novella Lifeblood; would you think it fits the bill for "classic horror?" (I've never posted about it here nor put it on the shelf, because I'd say my portrayal of Ana is in a more humanized, modern mold than the classic one-dimensional take on vampires; but even the modern treatment of vampires has its roots in classic horror, and is part of a tradition.)

A couple of my supernatural short e-stories that are currently for sale from Trestle Press might fit more comfortably in the classic tradition: The Gift, and Wolf Hunt. I'm proud to consider Manly Wade Wellman a major literary influence; though, obviously, my work doesn't have anything like the quality of his!

Werner, I think you definitely write in the classic horror vein. As you know, I love Manly Wade Wellman!

Hi, I write romance and romantic suspense, but I have a cousin who is trying his hand at writing ghost stories. He has a short story available now for Kindle at Amazon. It's called The Elevator and it's an old-fashioned kind of ghost story - creepy and disturbing but not real gory. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Elevator-eb...

Thanks, Danielle! I'll post Lifeblood to our bookshelves, then.

I suspect this is a good place to mention my story, "Loaners" is a free read in the current issue of Lovecraft eZine: http://lovecraftzine.com/issues/loaners-by-aaron-polson/

And yes, it has a Lovecraftian influence but modern setting. Cheers--

As of this past Monday, my novella Lifeblood that I mentioned above, and both of the short e-stories mentioned in the same post, are out of print again; they're no longer being published by Trestle Press. But I'm going to try to find a new publisher, at least for the book, and will post a notice about it if I'm successful!

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note that my debut award winning literary horror novel, The Sinner is now available for print purchase. Kindle will follow shortly.

Written in a classical verse formatting, The Sinner is a chilling novel about a lone farmer chosen by God to test the boundaries of sin. Isolated in a cave with only a candle, quill and parchment, the farmer is burdened by awakening each day within a predetermined encounter with one of the seven deadly sins and their associated demons.

Publisher: Blood Bound Books
Cover Art: Stacy Drum of Cemetary Dance Magazine



http://www.amazon.com/Sinner-K-Trap-J...

Thanks

Hi all,

My first novel, Confessions of the Creature, a re-imagined sequel to Frankenstein,has recently been re-issued by Fireship Press.

In the Arctic waters of the Barents Sea, the creature has taken the ultimate revenge on his creator, Frankenstein. He travels south, where a chance meeting with a witch gives him the opportunity to overcome what he is, and perhaps become who he was meant to be.

Transformed into a normal-looking man, but retaining his superhuman strength, the creature journeys to Moscow, where he becomes the protégé of a wealthy natural philosopher and the lover of his daughter, Sabrina. Taking the name Viktor Suvorin, the creature wins acclaim as a military hero while Napoleon rages across Europe. Following the wars, Viktor and Sabrina travel to Switzerland, where they meet Byron, Percy Shelley, and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, who bases her novel on Viktor’s memoirs.

Viktor faces a final challenge to his hard-won humanity when tragedy strikes his family and he returns to the Arctic. There, on a frozen sea under the shimmering Northern Lights, the creature must confront the meaning of his creation and his life.

I've preferred classic horror for as long as I can remember. If a story involves rampaging monsters and/or walking undead, combined with foggy cobblestone streets, a pistol at the hip, oil lanterns in the gloom, and a Victorian-era sensibility...it's required viewing.

I love the genre so much, I decided to add to it. My debut novel, HOUSE of CORRUPTION is currently sold as an eBook on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...

...and will be available in paperback later this month. You can also peruse additional content at my portfolio website:

http://www.ValourDesigns.com

Visit the office of Artémius Savoy to uncover secrets of this supernatural thriller.

Enjoy!

***

SUMMARY:

In 1890s New Orleans, three unusual men cross paths: Reynard LaCroix, his lycanthropy in remission with a silver bullet lodged against his heart; Artémius Savoy, a lapsed secular priest keeping vigil over Reynard's progress; and Mahonri Grant, a Mormon gunslinger on the run.

Brought together by murder, united in a common cause, they pursue an unholy creature to save a young woman's life.

Their dangerous road leads to the dark jungles of Borneo, where awaits an abhorrent mansion in the wilderness. There they must confront a host of the undead...and face the demons within themselves.

Eric, your novel definitely sounds intriguing (I'm a fan of that sort of Victorian ambiance myself!). Best wishes for success with it!

My new novel, Dracula's Demeter, obviously, springs directly from classic horror.

Dracula's Demeter

Dracula's 1897 voyage from Varna, Bulgaria to Whitby, England hidden in the hold of the Russian schooner Demeter.

Book Giveaway for Confessions of the Creature

Hi all,

I've just listed a Goodreads Giveaway for Confessions of the Creature, a re-imagined sequel to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, told from the creature's perspective. The magically transformed creature falls in love, fights Napoleon, wins fame and fortune, and gets a second chance to become the man he was meant to be.

Here's the link for details, and to enter to win a copy!

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

Never accept a book you can't burn:

http://www.randyattwood.blogspot.com/

My supernatural thriller House of Corruption is now available as a trade paperback via CreateSpace. It moves into many other outlets soon.

If you like Hammer-horror style thrills with a touch of Sherlockian ambience (and a sprinkle of Indiana Jones exotic locales), this is for you.

https://www.createspace.com/3778787

For more details and additional content, visit Savoy's Office at http://www.valourdesigns.com.

My novella Lifeblood, mentioned above, has been reprinted by World Castle Publishing, as of this past July! Sorry I forgot to post about it at the time. :-( If anyone's interested, a link with more information is: http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com/... .

My short story "Wolf Hunt" was also mentioned above. It's also back in print; I recently self-published it as a short e-story on Smashwords, and it sells for 99 cents. If you'd like to check it out, that link is: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/... .

Congratulations, Werner!

Thanks, Danielle! My other short supernatural story, "The Gift" (see above) is now available on Smashwords too, also for 99 cents. That link is http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/... .

I've written a bunch of books ranging from YA to graphic novel cookbooks, but horror is my true love and I wanted to let anyone in this group know that if you're actually interested in actually reading it, I'd be happy to send you a free epub or mobi copy of TALES OF THE WHITE STREET SOCIETY.

These short stories about gentleman adventurers in the 19th Century were originally aired on Pseudopod and people liked them so much that I collected them in this ebook, along with an unbroadcast (as of yet) story called "The Christmas Spirit."

Let me know if you're interested. Reviews are welcome and I just like knowing these stories have oozed their way into the paws of readers.

Glad to hear about your anthology, Grady. I am swamped as far as books to read for review. Maybe in the future I can take you up on the offer.

Sure! Whenever you come up for air just drop me a message and I'll gleefully hook you up with a copy.

Thanks!

I am hard at work finishing off the last couple of stories for my first collection, Dying Embers. It contains ten strange adventures, exploring the world that's hidden behind the everyday. The plan is to have it available for Hallowe'en. I have created a website at www.martincosby.com with more details.

It was a simple job, babysitting really; keep surveillance on the minister's wife until she went safely to bed. Then all hell broke loose!

Igor Award-winning writer (The Horror Society) Doug Lamoreux, author of Dracula's Demeter, The Melting Dead, and The Devil's Bed, brings you his newest journey into mystery/terror fiction, Corpses Say the Darndest Things.



A paranormal murder mystery (with a sly sense of humor) set in 1979 Chicago, where a maniacal killer on the loose in The Windy City... is the good news.

Wixley is good at showing us disturbed and fantastical characters. The particularly loathsome Bishop Francis, his brutality disguised as "fake compassion", whips up mass hysteria through fear; after his bizarre metamorphosis, he gloats that "fear is a great thing" as his victims are "... transformed into hollowness, free of emotions and dreams, unable to see the beauty in a flower, a sunset, a human face."
The horrid opponents to peace and justice keep coming: "Here was a magnificent beast, a black furred wolf-like creature" and "a creature of some height, neither man nor woman, a vision of shimmering blue-green ..." As the plague eats into the population, good people are pushed to the limits of their endurance. The exhausted Prime Minister has his work cut out!

In The Devil's Own Words

99 cents for a limited time. A horror and fantasy book Edge of End

With his memories gone, lost in a barren landscape, Jonathan finds his perceived salvation may be the worst nightmare he has ever faced, because once you enter, you can never leave this empty town. Rescuing a young woman in the same predicament, they find a bond between them that makes each want to live, want to be better, but the demons that guard the town make escape impossible.

One way in, no way out. Jonathan and Elizabeth hope to find the secret passage out, but can they survive the monsters that stand in their way? How does good conquer evil when the evil has come from within? What is the ultimate sacrifice that will remove you from your eternal hell?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KQK58N8