David Moody's Blog, page 46

Tim W Long

Many of you will know Tim, and many more will have read his books. He’s going through an extremely tough patch at the moment. I’ll let his girlfriend Katie explain: “On Wednesday, Tim woke up with what he thought was a sour stomach from drinking bad wine while watching the election or possibly a late con crud. By 3 pm, I was rushing him to the hospital after he passed out at home from what looked like to me as a massive GI bleed in process. He almost passed out in triage and was immediately rushed back to the ER. He appeared stable for several hours, but then had a bleed out in which he lost 1/3 of his total body fluid volume. He was literally one minute away from a full code. He’s been in critical care since then.

However, he does not have a typical GI bleed like an ulcer in his stomach. He has a tumor that has developed an ulcer and will not stop bleeding even after two attempts to cauterize it via EGD. It was decided last night that even though he is very anemic that he will not be able to continue to lose so much blood and that there is potential for the tumor to bleed further. He is very weak and tired. It appears that it might have been bleeding for a couple weeks but not enough that he noticed. He has been complaining about being tired but he is always working super hard on something so we both dismissed it.

He’s had 5 units of blood, roughly 16 liters of fluid. and a lot of protonix.

I am writing this with Tim’s permission. Even though I’ve wanted to scream and cry to everyone that there was a problem, we decided not to release any information until today. He is currently in surgery to have a resection of his bowel and I hope to see him in about 3 hours. Everything looks good except for the fact he is so anemic.

Don’t get me wrong, Tim is very sick. He does not want visitors for local folks right now. Also, he is too weak to be on his phone or his computer. It would be really awesome if people left messages of support on his wall for him to see when he is stronger on Sunday or Monday.

Tim served in the navy as an engineer for four years during the first Iraq War which is why I mention Veteran’s Day.

I love him very much and I don’t know if I can understand a world without him. It was a rocky start here at the hospital, but after everyone saw how sick he is, they have done nothing but work hard to get him stable and try to fix this problem.

Once again, if you want to send support, post it on his wall. I will show him over the next couple of days and I have faith by Monday he will be back on social media wisecracking with everyone and writing books.

If you feel helpless and want to do anything else, financially, we would appreciate if you buy a book. As a full-time writer, he loses money every day he is not writing or promoting his work.

I suggest THE FRONT for the holiday. Buy here: http://bit.ly/supportTimWLong”

Katie updated yesterday to say that “Tim made it through surgery without any significant issues. His colour is coming back to his face, he is more alert (even talking about his books to his nurses), and everything looks good… he is still pretty weak but we think he has turned a corner.”

Please consider buying one (or more) of Tim’s books in support. Visit bit.ly/supportTimWLong. For my part, I’m knuckling down to finish the (horrendously overdue) second book in Tim and Craig DiLouie’s THE FRONT series. I’m a couple of weeks away from wrapping it up, and I look forward to sending it to Craig and Tim shortly.

Best wishes, Tim. We’re thinking of you. Get well soon.

Tim W Long is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

12 hours of zombie movies

Join me tomorrow for my annual pilgrimage to the Phoenix Arts Centre, Leicester, for the UK FESTIVAL OF ZOMBIE CULTURE. It’s always an absolute blast, and this year the movies showing are: NIGHT OF SOMETHING STRANGE, PLAN Z, TRAIN TO BUSAN (can’t wait for that one), ATTACK OF THE LEDERHOSEN ZOMBIES and PEELERS. Tickets are available direct from the Phoenix here.

12 hours of zombie movies is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING

I cannot wait for you to read this. The beginning of the second HATER trilogy, which wraps neatly around the first. It’s out in August 2017 from Thomas Dunne Books, but it’s already popping up online. Pre-order from Amazon and The Book Depository.

ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

The Devil’s Guests – pre-orders open

Last week I introduced you to Matt Shaw‘s contribution to the Infected Books YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE project. Now here’s my contribution to Matt’s next ambitious piece of work. THE DEVIL’S GUESTS promises to be unpleasant in the extreme. Here’s the blurb:

From outside the hotel looks like any other in the city. Inside though, a maze of ever-changing corridors, rooms filled with death, traps and behind the reception desk with a welcoming smile, a sadistic owner who cannot wait to help his guests check-out permanently.

From the twisted imagination of Matt Shaw, and partly based on the serial killer H. H. Holmes, comes a new extreme horror and a new way of telling the story. While Shaw writes the part of Henry, the sadistic serial killer, he has invited some leading horror authors to write their own characters – introducing them to the hotel before Shaw finishes the story off. This is not an anthology. This is one story with guest chapters written by: Jeff Strand, Wrath James White, Kealan Patrick Burke, Shane Mckenzie, Sam West, Wade H. Garrett, Ryan Harding, Armand Rosamilia, David Moody, Gary McMahon, Jasper Bark, and Mark Tufo.

The book is released on 3 February 2017 but is available to pre-order now from Amazon. For more about the book and Matt’s other works, visit www.mattshawpublications.co.uk, or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

The Devil’s Guests – pre-orders open is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Horror in the East – this Saturday

As I was saying the other day, time flies. It feels like only five minutes, but it’s five years this month since THEM OR US, the final Danny McCoyne HATER book, was released (note the careful wording there… the final Danny McCoyne book – the HATER story takes a new direction in next year’s ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING).

You might remember, THEM OR US is set in Lowestoft, the most easterly town in the UK. I launched the book there back in 2011 with a special event at the library (which features in the novel). We had a great time and, as a result, the annual HORROR IN THE EAST convention was born. After a sabbatical last year, I’m thrilled that the event is back. It’s free, and it’s this Saturday. Hope to see you there.

Horror in the East – this Saturday is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Year of the Zombie #11 – ONE OF THEM by MATT SHAW

I can’t believe we’re already announcing the last but one YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE novella. This year has flown past. Our latest author is a real sick b*stard. It’s an honour to introduce MATT SHAW with his story, ONE OF THEM.

Bob meet Andria. Andria meet Bob.

The zombie apocalypse has brought the world to its knees. All the survival plans have been tried, but nothing’s worked. Our world has been taken over by Them – sick, diseased creatures which exist with the sole aim of spreading their infection until none of us are left alive.

But even in this dystopian hell, fate deals some surprising hands.

Loner Bob was ready for the end days. His house is strong and he has supplies enough to last him a while. When he finds Andria, though, the woman who cared for his father in the rest home during the final days and weeks of his life, he sees an opportunity to repay the kindness she showed his dying dad. It’s the very least he can do.

It’s a no brainer. There’s safety in numbers. After all, it’s the end of the world, and survivors should stick together when times are tough like this… shouldn’t they?

ONE OF THEM is available now from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de.

Year of the Zombie #11 – ONE OF THEM by MATT SHAW is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Halloween in Dublin

Don’t forget, this weekend I’ll be a guest at HORROR EXPO IRELAND in Dublin. Tickets are going fast, so if you want to be there, you’d best get in quick. It’ll be well worth the price of admission, with twelve hours of horror lined up including panels, readings, screenings, and paranormal investigations. Find out more on Facebook and Twitter, and check out this article from PureM Zine. Hope to see some of you there.

Halloween in Dublin is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

The Omega Man

I’ve been looking back at Richard Matheson’s seminal I AM LEGEND and the various movie adaptations the book has spawned. This week, Charlton Heston in 1971’s THE OMEGA MAN.

My horror movie education began with double bills of Hammer classics and Universal monster movies which used to be shown late Saturday nights on the BBC. When my parents bought our first VCR, a whole world of possibilities was opened. For the first time I was able to record and watch films I’d otherwise miss because they were on too late on a school night or because my parents didn’t think they were appropriate (please remember – I was very young, and this was the height of the Video Nasties craziness which outlawed 99.9% of the films I wanted to watch).

I remember recording mainstream horror movies such as ALIEN and THE OMEN and watching them endlessly for as long as I was able (usually until Dad needed the tape to record something else – tapes were damn expensive back in the day, and we had the sum total of four of them).

THE OMEGA MAN was another film I watched again and again until I could pretty much recite the script, and until re-watching it for this feature, I hadn’t seen it in a long time. I expected it to have dated badly, but Charlton Heston’s post-apocalyptic antics really took me by surprise. I knew I’d watched the movie through the rose-tinted spectacles of innocence and youth, but there’s no escaping the fact that this is a clunky and horrendously dated film.

Chuck plays Robert Neville who, in this version of the story, lives an isolated life of relative comfort in a funky pad which, for some inexplicable reason, reminded me of Batman’s cave (and I’m talking Adam West Batman here, not Christian Bale or that Affleck person). More than any other I AM LEGEND adaptation, this film is a product of its time. Watch the trailer and you’ll see what I mean, then click the link for my thoughts.

Unlike the Robert Neville of Matheson’s original novel, or Vincent Price’s portrayal of Robert Morgan in THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, Charlton Heston’s character is an idiot. He makes bad decisions, wears awful clothes, does stupid things… if he really is the last man on Earth, then the human race is fucked.

Of course, he’s not the last man on Earth. In keeping (just about) with the spirit of the novel, Neville is taunted by vampires and puts his life on the line for other survivors.

Chuck’s got his post-apocalyptic life all sorted out, thanks very much. He lives (inexplicably) in a prime location in the middle of a city, and has managed to install a generator, floodlights, a stupendous CCTV system and other groovy cutting edge 1970’s gimmicks. He drinks heavily, has an extensive wardrobe of crushed velvet outfits and jumpsuits, and plays chess with a marble bust of Julius Caesar (no, really – I’m not making this up).

Let’s talk about the bad guys, shall we? Rather than the faceless, zombie-like creatures we know and love, THE OMEGA MAN features ‘The Family’: a cult led by Mathias, an ex-TV newsreader who spent his time telling people how bad things were before the plague. All members of the family have white hair, the same off-white skin tone, weird-looking contact lenses, and wear hugely impractical monk-like robes. Oh, and they all have impossibly bright red blood, too.

The survivors we come across are paper-thin characters we couldn’t give a damn about, and any credibility ass-kicking Lisa (Rosalind Cash) has is immediately lost when she falls for Chuck’s manly charms and instantly becomes a subservient seventies-era housewife.

You may have noticed by now that I’m not taking THE OMEGA MAN particularly seriously. That’s because the film doesn’t deserve it. As a 1970’s action flick it’s just about worth watching, but as an adaptation of one of the most influential horror novels ever written, it fails on just about every level imaginable. I say just about, because some of the opening scenes are well-mounted as Neville searches the empty, litter-strewn streets for members of The Family to exterminate. I first watched the film on grainy Betamax tape, but now own it on Blu-ray. The scale of decimated LA is impressive, though I did find myself cursing the sharpness of my HD copy because I stopped watching the action and started looking for vehicles and people moving just out of shot. And there are lots. I counted six cars in the first ten minutes.

THE OMEGA MAN quickly loses direction and abandons all but the initial premise of I AM LEGEND. That’s a shame, because it clearly had the budget and the cast to do the story justice.

Next time (takes deep breath) Will Smith in 2007’s I AM LEGEND. This’ll be interesting. I wasn’t a fan first time around, but will time have been kind to the most recent adaptation of the book?

The Omega Man is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Year of the Zombie: NOCK

It’s the first of the month, and time for the launch of the tenth novella in the Infected Books YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE series. This month, I’m really pleased to introduce Scott McGlasson, the winner of our Pitch and Page competition, and his story, NOCK.

Ten years After civilization collapsed, a walled city is the only world Stace Tomlinson has ever known. Undead ferals and living marauders still prowl the wilderness outside, but the people of Shawnee Lodge have adapted as best they can. Ammunition, electronics, and gasoline are now distant memories from Before, and they have once again taken up the bow. When almost all the horses and cattle were slaughtered, they learned how to turn ferals into dociles, pulling their ploughs and wagons, turning the wheels of their mills.

It’s a simple life of crops and crafts, but Stace doesn’t want to end up stuck on a farm. She wants to follow in her father’s footsteps, outside the walls. Rob Tomlinson is a Ranger – one of the best, a master of fieldcraft and feral hunting – and living in the shadow of such a fearsome, well-respected figure comes with its own problems. The pressure Stace feels to match up to her father’s expectations can be unbearable. Sometimes, though, life has a habit of showing you one path, then leading you down another.

Stace has struggled to prove to her father that she’s up to the job. Today, though, she’s going to have to step up. Both of their lives depend on it.

NOCK is available now from AMAZON.COM, AMAZON.CO.UK and AMAZON.DE

Year of the Zombie: NOCK is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

STRAIGHT TO YOU – 20 years old today and available free to read at Wattpad

On the very day that I celebrate twenty years since STRAIGHT TO YOU was first published, I’m pleased to announce that the entire novel (the far superior 2014 version) is available to read at WATTPAD. Please read, review and share to your heart’s content.

Want a signed print version of the book at a reasonable price? Visit www.infectedbooks.co.uk where you can pick up heavily discounted copies of the 1996 original hardcover and the 2014 paperback.

And to mark the book’s 20th anniversary, enter code sty20 at checkout and help yourself to another 20% off STRAIGHT TO YOU.

STRAIGHT TO YOU – 20 years old today and available free to read at Wattpad is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER