House of Horror's Next Anthology ~ A Pint of Bloody Fiction

What are we looking for?

200 word horror stories and poems excluding the title. You can send up to three stories pasted into one email. Stories and poems should be single spaced, paragraphs indented and words italized for effects. Do not underline them! Please scene break with three stars ***

Payment

$3 flat rate for both stories and poems

Deadline

Open until filled. Notice will go out when we are getting close

Where should you send your submissions?

Send all submissions addressed to Sam to horrorhouse.editor@yahoo.com Please introduce yourself and include a short 1-200 word bio either before or after your submission. We do accept reprints as long as your rights have been given back to you. Please check with your publisher first.

looking forward to reading these suspense filled stories. Have fun writing!

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Interview with Tamer of the Undead ~ Eric S. Brown

Eric S. Brown is the author of numerous books including Bigfoot War, Season of Rot, How the West Went to Hell, Anti-Heroes (with David Dunwoody), and Kinberra Down to name only a few. His novel, War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies (with H.G. Wells), was recently picked up by Simon and Schuster and is slated for a December, 2010 release. Some of his upcoming books include ,The Human Experiment, The Weaponer, and Undead Down Under.

Eric's short fiction has been published hundreds of times in the small press and beyond. He has also been featured as an expert on the zombie genre in books like Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead and the upcoming Extreme Halloween: Behind the Scenes of America's Fright Night. His monthly comic book column in Abandoned Towers magazine won "Best Nonfiction 2009" in the Preditor and Editor awards this year and his book Season of Rot was nominated for a Dead Letter Award for "Best Zombie collection 2009" as well.

Eric lives in North Carolina with his loving wife and son where he continues to write tales of adventure, rotting flesh, and blazing guns

Ladies and gentlemen of horror, please sit back and welcome once again the tamer of the un-dead, Mr Eric. S. Brown to the Lounge. How have you been man?

Busy, busy, busy. The writing never ends. So many books, so little time.

So Eric, tell us what have you been up to since you last sat in that chair being fondled by my zombie girls?

I have out numerous new books this year including Bigfoot War, How the West Went to Hell, and Kinberra Down. Also The Human Experiment, The Weaponer, Anti-Heroes (with David Dunwoody), and Undead Down Under (my first hardcover) along with the Simon and Schuster release of War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies are all slated for the near future. In early 2011, The Brethren of the Dead (a direct sequel to The Queen from Season of Rot) will be released as well.

So you have a new novel coming out with Sonar4publications this year – The Human experiment. Can you tell House of Horror fans anything about this?

The Human Experiment is my first full on venture into the superhero genre. It's a dark and fantastic novel about a smart ass, C.I.A. operative named Agent Robert Death. He's a character I have been thinking up for years who will also be featured in the book Anti-Heroes and the upcoming comic book "Agent Death and the Angels". I can't say much about the plot at this point but I will say this is a team book despite Death being the main character and it has a very Doom Patrol feel to it. I can assure you, it certainly has the level of action and weirdness I usually bring to all my projects.

Alongside The Human Experiment, you also have another zombie novella with Sonar4 slated for publication in 2011 – Brethren of the Dead. Tell us a little about this project.

The Brethren of the Dead is a zombie pirate book set in the post apocalyptic world of my novella The Queen (available in Season of Rot from Permuted Press). It's a book that is best described as Waterworld meets Dawn of the Dead. It's my current project so it's a still a work in progress but I think folks who enjoy my take on the zombie genre will certainly find it lives up to The Queen. I can tell you for folks who read Season of Rot that you will see the war between the remaining humans and the dead really pick up on the waves of the ocean in this book.

So, how have you been balancing success with your family life?

It's not easy, I'll tell you that. It's hard to find the time to keep up with my writing projects and my four year old son but I juggle it as best I can. I just kind of dive into everything headlong and hope for the best. It's worked so far.

You won “Best Non-Fiction 2009” in the Preditor and Editor awards for your monthly comic book column in Abandoned Towers Magazine. How did you feel when you heard the news?

It was very flattering and I felt very honored. Being a comic book geek my whole life, it was pretty cool to win for writing about them.

Your book, Season of Rot was nominated for a Dead Letter Award for “Best Zombie Collection 2009.” How on earth do you keep up with all these nominations and awards? I didn’t even know when I was nominated “Best Fiction eZine Editor,” until someone informed me that they had voted.

Well the Dead Letter Awards are given out by the Canadian horror/zombie show Mail Order Zombie. They sent emails to all the people chosen to be nominated by their panel of horror judges. It was really cool to hear I was on the list regardless of whether I won or lost.

What is it like knowing that you are adored by many many zombie fans and probably hated by unsuccessful authors? How does one cope with the attention such success brings?

Yeesh, I hope I am not hated! And I certainly don't feel that successful either. I think I have a long way left to go as a writer besides, I am really just a fan with a pen in my hand who can't stop writing. If by the grace of God my work can give a reader or fan something they always wanted to see done in the genre that no one else was crazy enough to try, then I am happy. Take my latest book, Bigfoot War, now available on www.amazon.com, etc. It's a book truly from the heart of my lifelong fandom of horror. I loved Bigfoot movies but always wanted there to be more than one monster. I longed to see a movie or book where there was like a whole pack of Sasquatches just tearing people to shreds so I made it happen. There isn't a lot of hardcore Bigfoot horror out there in book form and certainly not any that feature over five dozen of the creatures descending on one poor, little town to my knowledge. It's a deeply personal book to me on a lot of levels and I really hope that folks give it a shot.

Do you have any advice for those approaching the next rung on the ladder, keeping up-to-date with everything, while trying to balance their fiction life with their real life?

Pray, work hard, and hope for the best. It's what I do.

Thank you so much for coming back to visit us Eric, it is such an honor to have you here. Now, if you’re staying the night, I do charge and if you’re taking one of my zombie girls with you, I charge for that also. Either way, I hope you enjoy your stay.

Thanks, it was great to have a chance to chat again and if any one wants to check out the new release of War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies from Simon and Schuster's Gallery line, www.amazon.com already has it up as a pre-order so you can reserve your copy now.

Review of Ruthless Anthology ~ Edited by Shane McKenzie Published by Pill Hill Press

When editor of Ruthless, Shane McKenzie first approached me with the idea for this Shock Horror anthology, he was actually working as an editor for House of Horror. I was a little unsure at first, I thought it too way 'out there' for our audience even though we are a magazine of horror. These days a lot of the so called horror that is put out to the public is so diluted that I don't know why it even as the word 'horror' associated with it. And that goes for films as well as books. You have to be very careful and very aware of political correctness when you are addressing the public in such a way that we are. But you know what? Why the hell should we? Its a simple case of if you don't like what we put out then don't read it!

Shane's idea of bringing together the most gruesome, vulgar, horrific pieces of writing, was ingenious and it works. Being one of the most popular anthologies on the web at the moment, sadly I wish I was apart of it. Unfortunately House of Horror was under so much pressure at that time and could not continue with the project. But stories had been chosen and contracts signed. Boy am I glad that Shane decided to take the project and go solo. He did everything so professional – from hiring a model and using special make-up effects and a professional photographer, to hunting down the famous Bentley Little of all people to write an introduction to the book.

Mr McKenzie worked so damn hard on seeing this project to the end and it most certainly paid off. I am holding a print copy now in my hands.

Regarding the stories themselves, well they are some of the sickest stories I have ever had the pleasure to read. The premise behind this book was to seriously make the reader question the sanity of the authors. And they did just that. My favorite stories have to be 'Crankin' by John Arthur Miller and 'To Boil' by Lucas Pederson. They have most certainly made me question whether I want to be associating with gruesomely awesome talented writers.

Ruthless was eventually picked up and published by Pill Hill Press and was brought out just recently. If you haven't gotten a copy already, I highly recommend that you do. Stop reading the boring teen claptrap horror and come read some real deep and terrifying horror for a change. With 19 stories and an introduction by Horror author Bentley Little, this anthology is not for the faint hearted. The morbid and macabre words on these pages will surely cause night terrors. Do not read near children. Do not read aloud. And one final warning; do not read alone after dark . . .

Review of Unbound and Other Tales ~ David Dunwoody

When I found that I would get the privilege of reading a book by David Dunwoody, I felt truly honored. I had heard a lot about this author around the web and in our writing community. His book, Unbound and Other Tales, did not disappoint me.

In this book of one novella and eight short stories, we explore the depths of Dunwoody's psyche and some may be afraid of what they find on the pages of this book. Some of the collection are stories previously published on and off the web in anthologies and magazines, while the others are new stories. Though I haven't completely finished reading the short stories in detail yet, I have a clear idea of the type of writer Dunwoody is and I like what I see. He has no boundaries – or not many, and will let the story speak to him rather than the other way around. You can most definitely see it in this book. The novella Unbound, held my interest right the way through. I was really intrigued by the story of horror writer, Matthew Rudd, whose evil character in his book comes to life to continue writing the series of brutal murder books, Rudd so desperately wants to bring to an end. The character Sharpe is an evil man, who drives up and down the 1-15 highway in his truck, delivering goods and murdering innocent people for kicks. On his travels he comes across victims from all walks of life. No one is too young or old or innocent for their life to end at the hands of him.

The main character 'Josh Talbot' believes along with Agent Logan that Sharpe in the Sharp books is actually the alter ego of Matthew Rudd. But upon find him after being missing for some time, Rudd pleads his innocence claiming that Sharpe has literally stepped out of his books and is on a real life killing spree.

Confused yet? Well you should be! This book will have you believing one thing, then having to second guess yourself. It is filled with numerous plot twists and exciting explanations. I for one, could not put it down.

If you're one for enjoying the psychoanalysis of an author when reading a book, then Unbound is most definitely one for you.

You can purchase a copy of Unbound and Other Tales from the Library of Horror Press. If you would like to learn more about this author, you can catch an interview with him in Issue #12 and also a more indepth interview when Dunwoody sits down with The House Madame in The Lounge, House of Horror's Blog Talk Radio.