House of Horror interviews ~ The Dunwoody!!

David Dunwoody is the author of the zombie novel Empire, as well as the collections Dark Entities and Unbound & Other Tales. An ardent fan of Lovecraft, Matheson and Barker, he writes horror with a bent toward the weird and the subversive. Dave currently resides in Utah.

Published works include the zombie novel EMPIRE (Permuted Press) and the collections DARK ENTITIES (Dark Regions Press) and UNBOUND & OTHER TALES (Library of Horror Press).

1. Please welcome David Dunwoody to The Lounge. Woah, wait!! David, you of all people should know not to get too close to my zombie girls. That one in particular will have your arm off quicker than you can say "Eat Shit Zombie." Now back away slowly and sit, please. How are you this evening?

I'm well! And right at home, even if the zombie girls aren't crazy about me. I just hope you don't have a clown lurking around here somewhere. Though I suspect you do. Story of my life.

2. Now you are quite a prolific writer, how many projects do you have in the works at the minute?

I have a few things in various stages of development - I'm learning as I go how to set my hours, and not to load my plate with too much at once. Right now I'm writing a novella for Library of Science Fiction and Fantasy, while outlining a few stories and a novel that I will start on in the coming months.

3. You wrote and published the zombie novel Empire, put out by permuted press. Can you tell the zombie fans what this book is about?

EMPIRE is set 105 years after a global zombie outbreak. Death himself leaves his post to restore order by slaying the zombies wandering the American badlands. He ends up crossing paths with a lot off oddball characters and some very unusual zombies.

4. You have been in more than ten horror anthologies, have you not? If you had to choose, which of them is your favorite and why?

I'd say THE UNDEAD: HEADSHOT QUARTET, which is actually a collection of zombie novellas by four authors. The other tales are great and my contribution, "Lost Souls," is one of my favorite works, and is actually an update of one of the first stories I wrote as a little kid.

5. Where will David Dunwoody be regarding success in ten years time? What are your goals as a writer?

I can't say I have a ten-year plan. I'd love to be making a living just off of my writing, but to be where I'm at now - writing and selling at a fairly steady clip, and having a blast doing it - is pretty cool in itself.

6. Who are your influences when writing, dead or alive?

H.P. Lovecraft, for the way he tapped into our most primal terrors, and built a mythos around them. The filmmaker David Cronenberg's exploration of what threatens from within continues to have a growing influence on my stories. Clive Barker creates beautiful and original monsters that make for fascinating characters.

7. Tell the fans something about David Dunwoody, they don't know.

In 2005, I co-wrote a short film with my buddy Gene Mazza II that appears on a DVD called DETOUR INTO MADNESS VOL. 1. The short is a fun little bit of T&A (torture and abuse) called "Snuff," of which a full-length version was written just this past winter. I love the lead characters and hope it'll be produced.

8. If you had to choose one greatest moment in your writing career so far, what would it be and why?

The easy answer is the acquisition of EMPIRE by Simon and Schuster last year, which has been an incredible and unexpected blessing. But I have to say that seeing the first edition in print for the first time was just as awesome. Having the two editions side-by-side now...that's just surreal.

9. Do you have any words of wisdom to any young aspiring horror writers who may be reading this?

Read. Read often, and mix in different genres. I think that's the best advice I can give. There's no surefire key to breaking out, but always exploring what's out there - including the works of other aspiring newcomers - is essential to one's own growth.

10. Finally, before I open the trap door and send you straight into the Dungeon, do you have any last words?

Trap door?? I sense a dungeon clown in my future. Dungeons and clowns - story of my life. Well, thanks for having me, and supporting small-press horror!

Inside the Perimeter by Alan Spencer Book Review

When the world of horror seems to have been dumbed down somewhat to make way for the young adult versions they still like to call horror, out crawls a relatively unknown horror writer to make those films and books look like a walk in the land of fairies. Alan Spencer has once again brought the word ‘Horror’ to its knees. He has stripped away all the overdone and over used tiresome plotlines and themes and given life to something new and never before seen.

Inside the Perimeter on first look would seem like your average run of the mill zombie novel, where the dead come to life and attack the living blah blah blah. Oh no my friends! THIS book puts other zombie books to shame.

What I love most about this book is the way that Spencer gives us both good guy and bad guy perspectives by having each alternate chapter in the other’s point of view. He is able to give us what is going on in each of the character’s heads giving you reasons to pity or hate them and identifying with their plight.

Inside the Perimeter begins with Detective Boyd Broman being taken out of prison where he is being held for accidental murder. Boyd is taken to a facility that is surrounded by high walls and barbed wire and literally thrown inside. On first look, the facility looks like an abandoned town, with a post office, a school, hospital and houses, but something eerie floats about the place and something doesn’t sit right with Boyd. On answering a strange phone call, Boyd is given his orders; to capture cannibal serial killer, Hayden Grubaugh and bring him to the Perimeter walls to be taken into custody. Then Boyd would be free. Or so he assumes. Easy right? Not so much.

It soon becomes apparent to Boyd that the abandoned town isn’t so ‘abandoned.’ Creatures that appear to be some sort of zombies begin attacking him and when he gets away and hides he watches exactly what they are and what they do. But even blown apart by his gun, the severed pieces keep moving, pulling themselves back together or go in search of new parts. And the new parts come in the form of other prisoners that have been thrown into the facility.

But Boyd is not alone. Through the many of the dead humans feeding the crazed undead, he comes across a young woman, Cindy who attaches herself to him as they move through the facility in search of Hayden.
But Hayden is also looking for them also. He is sick of feasting on the dead and wants fresh meat again. But for now he will make do with feasting off the undead until he can clasp his hands around Cindy who becomes overly desirable to him.

In a frantic mad mess of cat and mouse, Inside the Perimeter is certainly not one for the squeamish. Spencer’s ability to make words on a page become real, it so great that you can almost smell the rotting corpses as he is describing in great detail everything that the characters come across whilst in the facility.
And this definitely shakes all the cobwebs off any other zombie novel out there. It’s very different, gruesome and gory and has the ability to put you right there next to the characters.

Another great read for hardcore horror fan’s, a book you just won’t want to put down with almost every chapter leaving you on a cliff-hanger.

Just be warned, those with weak stomachs shouldn’t eat before reading this book. You may never want to eat anything again!

Free Books From House of Horror!!

To celebrate House of Horror's One Year Anniversary, we have a special offer on at House of Horror. Buy any one of our Anthologies and get one free! Yes that is right free books! Just simply order a book from the House of Horror Book Shop, then on your paypal order form let me know your chosn free book! It's that simple!

So go head on over to House of Horror now because this offer ends June 30th 2010. Please allow 3-4 weeks for delivery upon ordering.

Blog Talk Radio - The Lounge is back!!

Yes! It is back! If you would like to be a part of this particular episode then please let me know.

Call-in Number: (917) 889-7295

Upcoming Show: 21/06/2010 11:00

Host Name: House of Horror

Show Name: House of Horror's One Year Anniversary Show

Date / Length: 21/06/2010 11:00 - 1 hr

Length: 1 hr

Description:

We are celebrating one whole year of House of Horror, talking to past guests and discussing favorite stories and artwork. Whats your favorite issue? Join us and call in. We would love to hear from our fans!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/house-of-horrorthelounge/2010/06/21/house-of-horrors-one-year-anniversary-show

House of Horror in need of...

Ok Issue 13 is approaching and we still have some space.

What we are looking for:

~Stories

~Poems

~Poetry on artwork (like what Jack and Jazz do)

~Artwork

~Photography

~Drawings

~Books for Review (Not poetry books at this time)

~Interview requests (If you have something to promote)

~Extra Long Ficton 12-25000 words (For the Attic - pays $10)

~Short stories under 1000 words (For the Audio room)

~ Submissions for our newest anthology - Stiched Up!

For all details on how to submit, please refer to the submission guidelines over at House of Horror

House of Horror gets near on 4000 hits a week on a good week. Because we have great traffic, I am now offering advertising for a very small cost to fund the upkeep of the zine and to go towards paying our contributors. If you would like to take advantage of this, then please check the homepage of House of Horror for the link to more details.

HOH's Next Anthology STITCHED UP! Submissions Guidelines

Stitched up Submission Guidelines

Well we are back here again, about to read through another great bunch of stories for our next anthology. This time round we are lending our eyes towards the Zombie/Frankenstein theme. It doesn’t just have to stay with these monsters – this is an anthology of stitched up flesh, so think about that when writing your story.

Story Guidelines

We are looking for stories of between 2000-5000 words based on some form of stitched up flesh. Stories can be of a pure horror nature, splatter punk or satirical (comedy) We don’t mind as long as your story has well driven characters and plot.

What we do want:• Horror stories,

• Funny stories
• Long fiction
• Poetry
• Zombies/Frankenstein/re-animation
• Well driven characters and plot
• Good use of grammar and punctuation
• Following of the guidelines

What we don’t want:

• Over use of explicit language. (We understand that it can heighten the suspense in a story, but the use of the F word over and over will not be accepted.
• Blood and Gore just for the sake of it. Let’s face it, blood and gore is what we are about, but if you are shoving it in there just for shock value, it’s just not going to cut it. It must be integral to the story.
• No child abuse – but on the flipside, children can be the one dishing out the abuse as long as there is no written reference to any child being harmed.
• No rape – Children/women or otherwise.
• No sexually explicit scenes that have no reference to your story whatsoever. If it doesn’t need it, don’t write it.

Submission Guidelines

All submissions should be pasted into the body of an email. We do this simply to keep out any computer viruses as the editor’s laptops and computers are most precious to us, and also it makes for an easy transfer from editor to editor without constantly having to download an attachment. Anyone who sends us an attachment will not be read and their submission will automatically be deleted without notification.

Please only send one submission at a time. This means no multiple submissions. By all means, if we reject a story, then send us another – this goes for the poets too –one submission only! Simultaneous submissions are OK as long as you let us know if it has been accepted elsewhere whilst sat in our queue.

Put “Stitched Up Submission” and the title of your story in the subject line and send all submissions to horrorhouse.editor@yahoo.com and please be aware that your submissions may be shipped around for second or third opinions.

Please note that anyone who is a friend of the editor or from another publication/eZine etc, their work will be stripped of identity and sent to another editor for reading. I do not want to be biased when reading for this anthology. Theoretically as Editor in Chief, I will have the final say, but I will take into consideration the comments and notes from the other editors before making my decision.

Please format your submission with the following:

12pt Times New Roman – no other font please. Single spaced with a 2cm paragraph indentation. No returns after paragraphs. Mark scene breaks with three stars with two spaces between each one e.g. * * *

All em dashes must be true hyphens – with no spaces between words. Sentences in Italics should be in italics, not underlined.

In the body of an email before your submission, please introduce yourself, maybe tell us a little about the story – we like to hear about writers that submit to us, not a lot of publications do, but we want to get to know our writers and also include an interesting bio of 100-200 words. Please make your bio’s interesting. We do not want a reel off of publications and websites, pick your favourite three and keep it at that.

Open to submissions now and closed when full. We’re looking for about 30 stories for this fun anthology so get yours in as soon as you can. Expect to be put on a short-list or a rejection. Acceptances will be given out when we have all chosen stories.

Expected Publication date:

Mid to late July 2010

Payment:

Stories - $5

Poems - $3

All payments made by paypal only upon publication.

Have fun writing and I look forward to reading all of your stories!

~ S.E.COX – Editor in Chief, House of Horror

Updates From House of Horror

Firstly, I must apologise for the lateness in issue #10. There has been a lot I have had to catch up on but were all go now and here it is. This issue is the biggest issue yet with stories, poems, the final installmet of Home Bound by Bret Jordan and three audio stories in the new audio room.

Shane McKenzie has now left the post as Co-Editor and I'm sure you will as I do, wish him all the luck with his writing. The Ruthless Anthology is now no longer part of House of Horror as I decided that Shane should take control of the project as he put in all the hard work. It has now been picked up by Pill Hill Press, and will be available soon. A link to where you can purchase it can be found on the home page of House of Horror in a few weeks.

Im sure a lot of you have already dealt with our new Co-Editor, Des McEwan. He has taken over the post at last minute and is now handling all long fiction submissions.

The Duel has been on hiatus for a month but we are now back with the next contestant on Wednesday 8th April so watch out for two fantastic stories to read and vote on.

The Frighten Fables and Freaky Fairy Tales Anthology is almost complete. You can pre-order your copy with free shipping from the House of Horror Book store. Grab it soon as, as soon as it goes to print, shipping will be billed at £5.

The special quarterly print is now definitely dead and buried, but the BTR show may be coming back. Please watch this space for details on that front.

As of today, submissions for The Attic are now open again. We are accepting stories from 12-25000 words to be broken up and serialized. Payments for thse submissions is $10 paid via paypal upon publication.

We are open all year round for submissions of stories and poems and thank you to all who have submitted work to us, though we are lacking photography and artwork and also stories for our new room, The Gallery. Please check the guidelines to see if you have anything that we may like to take a look at and publish. Please get in touch.

And finally, look out for details on our next anthology project, coming soon....