A year ago, a series of earthquakes hit around the world. The damage and loss of life were devastating, and the world became weird but no more than in the quake zone known as Broken Brooklyn. Bugs became demonic, demons invaded, and people with psychic abilities grew stronger. Frank Carver and Hector Ramirez, two exterminators, and Jenny Blake, a woman who can talk to ghosts, have created a business to take out these new pests. And business is booming. When Frank, Jenny, and Hector come across a giant bug, things get even odder: friends go missing, a single female bedbug becomes a prized possession, and Jenny keeps finding bug-possessed people. Frank’s daughter, Angela, an unwilling participant, hears of the coming of the bug king. As Jenny, Frank, and Hector keep hunting for the female bug and missing friends, they wonder if they are getting closer to what or who caused the earthquake.
Meet Lara Frater
I’m your atypical fat gamer girl who loves to write: Horror, non-fiction, poems, paranormal suspense, non-fiction, and sci-fi. Although I prefer to write fiction, my first book was the non-fiction Fat Chicks Rule! A guidebook on being a big girl in a thin world and included information on how to find fat positive books, movies, and TV, where to find fashion, comfortable seating, and how to deal with fat hatred. Writing this book changed my life and perspective on dieting and fat bodies. I also wrote the essay “Fat Heroines in Chick Lit” for the Fat Studies Reader. (This essay from mentioned in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, so woohoo!) But my first love was fiction, which I returned to with the End of the Line series. Three zombie novels that take place in a world almost dead of the flu and having to deal with the zombies who rose from the ashes. End of the Line was followed by Stuck in the Middle and Full Circle (Coming 2024). And maybe more books to come. Changing gears I moved on to a more lighthearted paranormal suspense/ horror series Paranormal Pest Control. Where exterminators and paranormal investigators fight demonic bugs. The first book is out. The second book “Dark Thing in the Cemetery” is expected April 2024. I have also appeared in Tales from the Canyon of the Damned and Necrotic Tissues, and have essays about library science (my fun day job). I’m heavily influenced by Joe R. Lansdale, Stephen King, Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler and Richard Matheson. I live in New York City, married to fellow author Jon Frater and have lots of animals and people in my house. I’m in need of an exterminator or an obedient Dalek.
The newest installment of the Blood of Cain series! “They’re just roses, baby. Roses in the snow.” On her way to Chicago to reckon with Dekker’s past, Frankie Mourning takes a detour into the town of Red Rock, Idaho, where strange things are happening, all seemingly connected to a young woman called Annalise Stoppard. Annalise has a peculiar power over her dreams, a power which has turned her life into a waking nightmare. Without Frankie’s help she will be swallowed up by her own mind, putting the lives of everyone around her in danger. Grappling with Dekker’s resurrection, a shifty psychiatrist up to no good, and their own complicated feelings for one another, Frankie doesn’t have time to play games. With Dekker growing more vulnerable by the moment, Frankie learns the source of the danger is a god trapped in a dream world of Annalise’s making – a god who threatens to darken the very fabric of reality if she can’t save Annalise Stoppard. If that happens, Dekker may well be lost to her for good. And if something happens to Thomas Dekker, one thing is certain: no one is safe from Frankie Mourning. Absolutely no one.
Meet J.L. Murray
J.L. Murray is the author of the Niki Slobodian series (Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, The Devil Is a Gentleman, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, The Devil Was an Angel, and The Devil’s Backbone), The Thirteen series (Jenny Undead and Eat the Ones You Love), After the Fire, Blood Day, Blood of the Stars, the Blood of Cain series (Monstrous, Hoarfrost), and the Gothic Folk series (The Hungry Deep). Murray is a firm believer that horror can be beautiful, and that good and evil are very far from black and white. She lives with her family in Eugene, Oregon and can be reached on Facebook at facebook.com/jlmurraywriter and through her website jlmurraywriter.com.
When a horoscope-writing oracle hires shapeshifter August Shade to repo her magic eyeball, he knows the job is going to suck. One, he hates horoscopes. Two, he hates people that read horoscopes. Three, she hasn’t even lost her eyeball… yet.
August Shade has found his niche. The cynical shapeshifter knows all too well that most relationships don’t last. He also knows that after a messy breakup, most people–human or otherwise–just want two things: their stuff, and to never see their ex again. For a reasonable fee, August can help. He’s a post-relationship personal effects repossession specialist. Satisfaction not guaranteed, but at least you’ll have your favorite whatever back.
Vilde Tank has found her destiny. Guided by her horoscopes, the huldra hires August to reclaim an unusual book. It reveals the secret of the Zodiac’s thirteenth sign, bestows its reader with the power to write their own future, and is currently in the possession of her vampire ex-lover.
Clarissa Steyer has found her calling. The oracle writes horoscopes for the local paper. Her celestial predictions help keep the world spinning. Now August is in all of her visions and the world might be coming to an end. She knows that the shapeshifter can change into a lot of things, but can he change the future?
Plagued by the oracle’s horoscopes, haunted by a dark past, and grappling with his penchant for making bad decisions, the only sure thing about August’s future is that it looks short.
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An Oracle Walks into a Bar is a great read for fans of Jason Pargin (John Dies at the End), Dan Willis (Arcane Casebook), Margaret Lashley (Moth Busters), and Douglas Adams (A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy).
Other titles in the series include: A Scarecrow Wins an Award and A Siren Sings Her Heart Out.
Other books by Scott Burtness include: Wisconsin Vamp, Northwoods Wolfman, and Undead Cheesehead.
Meet Scott Burtness
Folks say you should write what you know. That’s damned good advice, so I write about ordinary Midwesterners making an extraordinary mess of things. Hey- if the flannel fits…
Oh, one more thing. “Ordinary” totally includes vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches, shapeshifters, aliens and more!
A SINGLE ROUND, is a collection of short stories from a HARD PLACE. Stories of moonshine and shotguns, obsession and transcendence, love and darkness, and the blindness of human desire. Each tale follows a painful path to one ultimate realization: the devil’s deal always ends badly, often with a single round.
The head that was found on the blacktop tells a tale in Johnny Fucking Carson. Tommy watches his dream love become a nightmare in Together Forever. Fame has a dark side, Becoming Famous echoes the age old warning, ‘Be Careful what you wish for’. A story of realization, loss, and transformation takes flight in Redwing. Never judge a book by its cover, even one with fangs, as a surprise awaits in Doc’s Choice. The Grounded, sometimes the dream of escape should remain a dream. A tale of a man who fell in love with a woman who forgot him in The Dog Walker. The Ride will make you second guess what you thought you were sure of.
Meet R A Jacobson
After leaving the north forests and farmland of Saskatchewan, Rick headed to Calgary and the Alberta College of Art. After 4 years of hard work, he came out confused and somewhat lost. Now what?
Rick has been a bouncer (1 week), he has been a radio switcher (1 night) he worked at the CBC (1 month) he was a stuntman (2 action movies that he never saw but he’s not alone in that) he modeled briefly (he was the Jolly Green Giant for a time). Rick has built houses, packed groceries, cut grass, he has written children’s books (4) illustrated children’s books (19). He has worked as an illustrator, a writer, a designer and a painter. Rick has won awards for his work in advertising and publishing including the Ruth Schwartz Award, the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award and numerous national and international awards including the Toronto Art Directors’ Awards, Communication Arts Magazine’s Award of Excellence, American Illustration Award of Excellence, and the New York Art Directors’ Award of Excellence. He has been featured in Smithsonian magazine and in The Artist’s Magazine. His commissioned portraits include Margaret Atwood, Robertson Davies, Christopher Ondaatje, and David Thomson.
Rick will be releasing his first collection of stories from a HARD PLACE, ’A Single Round’ on October 24th He is currently working on the soon to be released “Hard Place” novel. Both the novel and the graphic novel are scheduled for release in 2021 as well as another collection of short stories, “A Lead Pill”. For Hard Place updates, sign up at deadcatstud.io.
