As I mentioned earlier this week, the cutting edge team at Hydra, a division of Random House, recently hired Kealan Patrick Burke to create new covers for the first five volumes in the Dark Screams series, and today I’m thrilled to show off what he came up with for Volume Four:
I’ll post the other new covers over the next few days, but each one is amazing! My thanks goes out to Kealan and the Hydra team for their incredible work on this series!
As you might remember, Richard Chizmar and I joined forces with the cutting edge team at Hydra, a division of Random House, to publish a series of horror eBook anthologies called Dark Screams that feature the best horror authors working in the business today.
ALL five volumes are available for instant reading OR listening, so please be sure to check them out:
Dark Screams: Volume One
Featuring Stephen King, Kelley Armstrong, Bill Pronzini, Simon Clark, and Ramsey Campbell
As you might remember, Richard Chizmar and I have joined forces with the cutting edge team at Hydra, a division of Random House, to publish a series of horror eBook anthologies called Dark Screams that feature the best horror authors working in the business today.
Tantor Audio also published ALL FIVE volumes on audio, so please be sure to check out what they’ve done because we were really impressed with the readers they selected!
Good news! The audiobook of Dark Screams: Volume Four from Tantor Audio is now available, and it features creepy new cover artwork that won’t be appearing on any other edition:
About the Book: THE DEPARTED by Clive Barker
On All Hallows’ Eve, a dead and disembodied mother yearns to touch her young son one last time. But will making contact destroy them both?
CREATURE FEATURE by Heather Graham
What could be better publicity for a horror convention than an honest-to-goodness curse? It’s only after lights out that the hype—and the Jack the Ripper mannequin—starts to feel a little too real.
THE NEW WAR by Lisa Morton
Mike Carson is a war hero and a decorated vet. He doesn’t deserve to be trapped in a hospital with some black thing sitting on his chest as patients die all around him. His only hope is to take out the nurse—before it’s his turn.
SAMMY COMES HOME by Ray Garton
It’s what every family prays for: a lost pet returning home. But when Sammy, the Hale family sheepdog, appears on their doorstep, he brings back something no parent would ever wish upon his or her child.
THE BRASHER GIRL by Ed Gorman
Cindy Marie Brasher is the prettiest girl in the Valley, and Spence just has to have her. Unfortunately, Cindy has a “friend”… a friend who tells her to do things… bad things.
As you might remember, Richard Chizmar and I have joined forces with the cutting edge team at Hydra, a division of Random House, to publish a series of horror eBook anthologies called Dark Screams that feature the best horror authors working in the business today.
Tantor Audio published an audiobook edition of Dark Screams: Volume One and we’re pleased to announce they’ve now also acquired the rights to publish audiobooks of Volumes Two, Three, Four, and Five!
Publishers Weekly has chimed in with a review of Dark Screams: Volume Five and they had a lot of positive things to say:
“Freeman and Chizmar’s fifth horror anthology runs the gamut from throwback horror to lyrical and heartbreaking tales… The crown jewel is Kealan Patrick Burke’s luminous ‘The Land of Sunshine,’ about a husband guilty of infidelity who gives the ultimate gift to win his wife’s forgiveness. Another standout is Mick Garris’s gonzo ‘Everything You’ve Always Wanted,’ a gory, darkly funny tale about a has-been movie director who meets the woman of his dreams at a horror convention, with disastrous results… Loosely tied together with themes of broken hearts and wayward love, this collection will satisfy most horror fans.”
As you might remember, Richard Chizmar and I have joined forces with the cutting edge team at Hydra, a division of Random House, to launch a series of horror eBook anthologies called Dark Screams that feature the best horror authors working in the business today! Volumes One,Two, and Three have all been very well received, and Dark Screams: Volume Four is now available for download for just $2.99.
About the Book: THE DEPARTED by Clive Barker
On All Hallows’ Eve, a dead and disembodied mother yearns to touch her young son one last time. But will making contact destroy them both?
CREATURE FEATURE by Heather Graham
What could be better publicity for a horror convention than an honest-to-goodness curse? It’s only after lights out that the hype—and the Jack the Ripper mannequin—starts to feel a little too real.
THE NEW WAR by Lisa Morton
Mike Carson is a war hero and a decorated vet. He doesn’t deserve to be trapped in a hospital with some black thing sitting on his chest as patients die all around him. His only hope is to take out the nurse—before it’s his turn.
SAMMY COMES HOME by Ray Garton
It’s what every family prays for: a lost pet returning home. But when Sammy, the Hale family sheepdog, appears on their doorstep, he brings back something no parent would ever wish upon his or her child.
THE BRASHER GIRL by Ed Gorman
Cindy Marie Brasher is the prettiest girl in the Valley, and Spence just has to have her. Unfortunately, Cindy has a “friend”… a friend who tells her to do things… bad things.
The trade edition of Turn Down the Lights edited by Richard Chizmar is on the way to the warehouse from the printer and will begin shipping soon. Here are some of the early reviews:
“I read devoured the stories in an afternoon, trying to make them last, but unable to control myself. Isn’t that what we all want? Books that compel us to just keep reading – more, more, faster! Yeah, this book has that in spades.”
— SJ, Snobbery
“Turn Down the Lights doesn’t just celebrate Cemetery Dance magazine; it illustrates why the magazine is still such a vital publication a quarter of a century later. Chizmar’s eye for talent is impeccable, and his appreciation for all kinds of horror is essential to his success. These stories flow from the quiet to the surreal, from esoteric experimentation to Saturday matinee funhouse-style horror. For authors, an outlet like Cemetery Dance is a godsend. For readers, Cemetery Dance — including the magazine, this anthology and whatever projects come our way over the next 25 years — is a goldmine.”
— Blu Gilliand, FEARnet
“Turn Down the Lights functions as both a celebration and a summation; aptly, quite a few of these stories are about endings, quiet and loud… ”
— Kevin Quigley, FEARnet
My new short story “An Instant Eternity” will be published next month in Turn Down the Lights edited by Richard Chizmar, and I’m very pleased to show off GAK’s interior illustration for my story:
Table of Contents:
“Turn Down the Lights…” an introduction by Richard Chizmar
“Summer Thunder” by Stephen King
“Incarnadine” by Norman Partridge
“The Western Dead” by Jack Ketchum
“An Instant Eternity” by Brian James Freeman
“In the Room” by Bentley Little
“Flying Solo” by Ed Gorman
“The Outhouse” by Ronald Kelly
“Lookie Loo” by Steve Rasnic Tem
“Dollie” by Clive Barker
“The Collected Short Stories of Freddie Prothero” by Peter Straub
Afterword by Thomas F. Monteleone
My new short story “An Instant Eternity” will be published next month in Turn Down the Lights edited by Richard Chizmar, which features the most amazing table of contents of any book my work has appeared in. Read all about it:
It was December 1988: George Bush had just defeated Michael Dukakis in the Presidential Election. Pitcher Orel Hershiser and the Los Angeles Dodgers had beaten the Oakland A’s in five games to win the World Series. People were waiting in line at movie theaters to watch Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. Tom Clancy’s The Cardinal of the Kremlin and Anne Rice’s The Queen of the Damned were atop the bestseller lists. The most acclaimed genre books of the year were Thomas Harris’s The Silence of the Lambs and Peter Straub’s Koko.
And twenty-two year old college student Richard Chizmar had just published the premiere issue of a horror magazine named Cemetery Dance.
Twenty-five years later, there have been seventy issues of Cemetery Dance magazine. There have been more than 275 signed Limited Edition hardcovers in the Cemetery Dance book line. There have been awards including the World Fantasy Award, the International Horror Critics Guild Award, and the HWA Board of Trustees Excellence in Specialty Press Publishing Award, as well as nominations for the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, and the Bram Stoker Award, just to name a few.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of that premiere issue of Cemetery Dance, we’re proud to announce Turn Down the Lights, an anthology of authors who helped make the magazine what it is today. These original horror stories by Stephen King, Norman Partridge, Jack Ketchum, Brian James Freeman, Bentley Little, Ed Gorman, Ronald Kelly, Steve Rasnic Tem, Clive Barker, and Peter Straub capture the genuine love of the genre that pushes Cemetery Dance Publications forward year after year.
Now, turn down the lights, flip the page, take my hand, and start the dance…
Table of Contents:
“Turn Down the Lights…” an introduction by Richard Chizmar
“Summer Thunder” by Stephen King
“Incarnadine” by Norman Partridge
“The Western Dead” by Jack Ketchum
“An Instant Eternity” by Brian James Freeman
“In the Room” by Bentley Little
“Flying Solo” by Ed Gorman
“The Outhouse” by Ronald Kelly
“Lookie Loo” by Steve Rasnic Tem
“Dollie” by Clive Barker
“The Collected Short Stories of Freddie Prothero” by Peter Straub
Afterword by Thomas F. Monteleone
