James A. Moore's Blog, page 4

NEW SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK

Announcement from HWA president Lisa Morton:Very proud to announce the Table of Contents for HWA's next anthology, and kudos to editor Jonathan Maberry for assembling this outstanding line-up!New Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Edited by Jonathan Maberry
A Horror Writers Association Anthology for Young ReadersContents:
1. “The Funeral Portrait” by Laurent Linn
2. “The Carved Bear” by Brendan Reichs
3. “Don’t You See the Cat?” by Gaby Triana
4. “The Golden Peacock” by Alethea Kontis
5. “Strange Music” by Joanna Parypinski
6. “Copy and Paste Kill” by Barry Lyga
7. “The House on the Hill” by Micol Ostow
8. “Jingle Jangle: by Kim Ventrella
9. “The Knock-Knock Man” by Brenna Yovanoff
10. “The Weeping Woman” by Courtney Alameda
11. “The Neighbor” by Amy Lukavics
12. “Tag, You’re It” by Nancy Lambert
13. “The Painted Skin” by Jamie Ford
14. “Lost to the World” by John Dixon
15. “The Bargain” by Aric Cushing
16. “Lint Trap” by Jonathan Auxier
17. “Cries of the Cat” by Josh Malerman
18. “The Open Window” by Christopher Golden
19. “The Skelly Horse by Trisha Wooldridge
20. “The Umbrella Man by Gary N. Braunbeck
21. “The Green Grabber” by D.J. MacHale
22. “Brain Spiders” by Luis Alberto Urrea and Rosario Urrea
23. “Hachishakusama” by Catherine Jordan
24. “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board” by Margaret Stohl
25. “In Stitches” by Michael Northrop
26. “The Bottle Tree” by Kami Garcia
27. “The Ghost in Sam’s Closet: by R. L. Stine
28. “Rap Tap” by Sherrilyn Kenyon
29. “The Garage” by Tananarive Due
30. “Don’t Go into the Pumpkin Patch at Night” by Sheri White
31. “Pretty Girls Make Graves” by Tonya Hurley
32. “Whistle Past the Graveyard” by Zac Brewer
33. "Long Shadows" by James A. Moore
34. “Mud” by Linda Addison
35. “The Tall Ones” by Madeleine Roux

Letter Bombs, Terrorism, and Cowardice

I really shouldn't be writing this, but sometimes you just have to stop and respond to the world around you.

For the second day in a row we have letter bombs being delivered to people who, frankly, oppose the current GOP regime and the POTUS. This is happening a couple of weeks before the mid-term elections. 
Interesting, isn't it? The group that cries the most about terrorists and the evil of terrorism has at least one member that has now decided terrorism is the best way to handle criticism. By "Interesting" I mean horrifying and infuriating. I also point out that the current POTUS continues his attacks on the media and is likely to continue his encouragement of violence in offhand comments.  That's right. The same jolly fellow who previously mocked handicapped reporters and grabbed at females privates and confessed to it, is oddly glad to encourage violence, just like he did when he was running for office and promised to pay the court fees if someone would just beat somebody senseless for him. Any wonder that one of his followers (or maybe a few of his paid cronies, who can say?) decided to try blowing up their enemies? I am not shocked in the least. I am merely disgusted. 
Let's be clear. These are terrorist acts. These are attempts to either kill citizens of the United States who disagree with the current administration (Just look at the headlines, folks) or these are acts deigned to create fear and repress the idea of fighting back against what many, myself included, consider a corrupt government. The challenge here is that these letter bombs are being sent out en masse. Somebody somewhere has decided to generate a big enough stink to discourage criticism. and to create a reason for people to stay away from the polls. 
Remember what happened after 9/11? We pulled together as a nation and we mourned and we did all that we could to recover from that atrocity. In other words, the terrorists did not win. 
There were other repercussions, of course. Wars that should not have happened being one of them. But that's not the point here. The point is that this is terrorism, pure and simple. This is attempted murder to make a political statement. HOPEFULLY all of the bombs sent out will be found and no one is hurt. Hopefully. 
Side note here: I wonder if they've all been sent by the USPS and I wonder if that isn;t an attempt to crush public trust in an organization that the POTUS has already maligned several times. Am I seeing conspiracies where none exist? Maybe. Hopefully. Still, I wonder....
Back to the case at hand. This is an act of terrorism (Several actually) and should be treated as such Those responsible should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law when the time comes. I'm quite all right with the death penalty in cases of terrorism, despite my usual opposition to to that particular fate for crimes. 
Terrorism: I Googled it. 
ter·ror·ism/ˈterəˌrizəm/nounnoun: terrorismthe unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims."the fight against terrorism"Originlate 18th century (in reference to the rule of the Jacobin faction during the the period of the French Revolution known as the Terror): from French terrorisme, from Latin terror (see terror).

Again and with feeling: Terrorists are cowards. Terrorists do not seek change. They seek to drive their enemies away from the polls. I DO NOT see the timing of this as a coincidence at all. I see this as a deliberate attempt to make people too scared to vote.
Respond with fear and terrorists win. I am not afraid of terrorists. I'm just disgusted by them.Hopefully I'll see you at at the polls.

It's beginning to look a lot like....

HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SCREAM! is now available! Featuring Kelley Armstrong, Scott Smith, Seanan McGuire, Thomas Sniegoski, Sarah Lotz, Josh Malerman, Jeff Strand, James A. Moore, Sarah Langan, Joe Lansdale, Elizabeth Hand, Jonathan Maberry, John M. McIlveen, Angela Slatter, Tim Lebbon, Michael Koryta, and a full-length novella from Sarah Pinborough!You should go get them now, while they're on sale at five dollars off from Amazon. You should buy enough for you and all of yourhttps://www.amazon.com/Herald-Angels-Scream-Christopher-Golden/dp/0525433163 friends and family!

the final BLOOD RED book

Not this year, but next year the third and final BLOOD RED story will hit the shelves for collectors. Earthling Publications will be releasing BLOODLINES, the final story of the vampires in Black Stone Bay.

I will be writing the book. Earthling will be publishing the book and I am happy to report that Edward Miller will, be doing the cover! That's right the same amazing artist who did the covers for BLOOD RED and BLOOD HARVEST will be doing me the extreme honor of finishing the series off properly.

I am extremely pleased, as the first two covers are among the best I've ever had for my books. Keep an eye out here and I'll keep you posted on new news as I get it.

Keep smiling,

Jim

NORMAN ROCKWELL EAT YOUR HEART OUT

"He walked along the winding road that would take him into Beldam Woods, moving at a leisurely pace that still seemed to devour the distance. Though he had been walking for hours, he was not winded in the least. He had long since become accustomed to walking everywhere. 
His hair, a little longish for a young man, was almost preposterous on a man of his advanced age, but he carried it well. The wind was cold, whispering the threat of winter’s caress, just around the corner. His skin was pale and made paler still by the hint of frost that blew along the same path he’d chosen. Perhaps most would have been shivering in the frozen breeze, but he was not like other people. He never had been. 

The sun was not up,
though there was a change from dark blue to light in the sky to the east, and the moon, not quite full as yet, was on the western horizon and fading away at a rapid pace. The late night was working towards dawn proper when he crested the last hill and laid eyes on his goal in the distance. Beldam Woods was a small town, nestled in the geography of upstate New York. Not far from Utica, but not in any way a part of that community. In comparison, Utica was positively urban.
“Norman Rockwell eat your heart out.”

The sun crested the hills to the east, and cast the first rays of light into the town. He watched as the warming beams of luminescence touched the steeples on the two churches, turning the cross on the Lutheran Church into a golden beacon and defining the wrought iron crucifix on the Protestant house of worship. One of the two had been there when he’d last been in the town, but he was damned if he could remember which. The thought brought a thin smile to his bony face. He was, after all, damned either way. 

From where he stood he could see the town square, which had changed only in the shapes of the buildings, most of them replaced with brick and modern supplies, instead of the wooden structures he remembered from his youth. There was a modern school down there, big enough to seat a few hundred children, and not too terribly far from that one, he could see the campus of the private academy he had read up on. Watersford Academy for Advanced Children, which from what he’d seen in the brochures, specialized in catering to the obscenely wealthy. Between the two was a long stretch of land that was perfectly groomed and well fenced. Even from outside of the town proper he could see the horses munching contentedly on the lawns. The only livestock raised at most of the farms these days were thoroughbred championship equines. Of course, the region was well known for fresh vegetables as well, at least according to his brother, Patrick, who had never bothered to leave the area." --HARVEST MOON by James A. Moore

October 13th The 4th MERRIMACK VALLEY HALLOWEEN BOOK FESTIVAL.

This is a FREE ONE DAY CONVENTION!


The 4th annual Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival! FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
This year, come and meet more than SIXTY authors and artists as they sell and sign their work and conduct free panel discussions on various book, publishing, and spooky Halloween topics. We'll have Halloween candy, and costumes are encouraged! The event is free, and the authors donate a portion of their book sale proceeds to the library, so you can have fun, get a bit spooked, and support your local library, too!
Featuring:
(*Asterisk denotes FIRST TIME attendees...and look at that list!)
Owen King*
Jennifer McMahon*
Laird Barron*
Kelly Braffet*
Grady Hendrix*
Jeff Strand*
Lynne Hansen*
Nadia Bulkin*
KL Pereira*
Stephanie M. Wytovich*
Charles R Rutledge*
Gene Doucette*
Kelli Owen*
Gregory Bastianelli
Matt Bechtel
Stephen R. Bissette
William Carl
Glenn Chadbourne
Jason Ciaramella
Joseph A. Citro
Tom Deady
Kristin Dearborn
Barry Lee Dejasu
JG Faherty*
Amber Fallon
Dan Foley
Doungjai Gam Bepko
Craig Shaw Gardner
Larissa Glasser
Christopher Golden
Scott Goudsward
Catherine Grant
Mary Hart 
Laura J. Hickman
Kat Howard
Christopher Irvin
Kameryn James*
Nicholas Kaufmann
Brian Keene
Toni L.P. Kelner
Ed Kurtz
John Langan 
Izzy Lee
Bracken MacLeod
John M. McIlveen
Hillary Monahan
James A. Moore
Lindsay Moore*
Errick Nunnally
Jason Parent 
Philip Perron
Leigh Perry
David Price
Mary SanGiovanni
Cat Scully
Rob Smales
Sarah Smith 
Thomas Sniegoski
Laurie Faria Stolarz
Mike Sullivan
Morgan Sylvia*
Tony Tremblay
Trisha Wooldridge
Douglas Wynne 
Rio Youers

The Griffin & Price series

So me and my co-author, Charles R. Rutledge. decided to start writing the Griffin & Price series just for kicks. The process went very, very smoothly, actually. So smoothly, in fact, that we had the first draft of the first book done in eight weeks.

We had a blast. And we've continued to have a blast with the characters and world we've built up. So much fin, in fact, that we're working on a book set in the same world, and slightly to the side of our usual main characters.

But that's not why I'm here today, I'm here to say that for the first tome, well, basically EVER, all three of the books are out at the same time. See, we have a few publisher issues. As in, sadly, the publishers wither changed their approach to publishing (in one case deciding to focus on old non-fiction books about the occult, which is cool) and in one case making a few missteps in the distribution market and having to downsize substantially.

Now we have fixed the issue. Here are all three of the Griffin & Price books, with descriptions, covers and links.

BLIND SHADOWS




When private investigator Wade Griffin moved away from his hometown of Wellman, Georgia he didn't think he would be back. Too many memories and too many bridges burned. But when an old friend is found brutally murdered and mutilated, nothing can keep Griffin from going home. 

Teamed with another childhood friend, Sheriff Carl Price, Griffin begins an investigation that will lead down darker paths than he could ever have imagined. Soon Griffin and Price find that there are secrets both dark and ancient lurking in the back woods of Crawford's Hollow. 

As Halloween approaches, something evil is growing near the roots of the Georgia mountains, and the keys to the mystery seem to be a woman of almost indescribable beauty and a dead man who won't stay dead. 

As the body count mounts and the horrors pile up, Griffin and Price come to realize that the menace they face extends far beyond the boundaries of Wellman and that their opponents seem to hold all the cards. But the two lawmen have a few secrets of their own, and one way or another there will be hell to pay. 

Blind Shadows is a fast moving synthesis of high-octane crime fiction and horror. Lovecraft and Arthur Machen meet Spillane and Elmore Leonard. A Southern Gothic full of guns and monsters and hard boiled action.


Available in Trade Paperback and for the Kindle

CONGREGATIONS OF THE DEAD





In the small town of Wellman, Georgia, Sheriff Carl Price wants nothing more than to ticket speedsters and stop drunks from killing each other in the local bars. Unfortunately, things aren’t working out for a simple life. 

His best friend, private investigator Wade Griffin, has taken on a case he normally wouldn’t, to try and build his P.I. business and get out of the mercenary game, which leads to trouble with a major regional crime boss. 

With a missing teenager and a child abduction to solve, and tension brewing from the other-worldly Blackbourne clan, Griffin and Price have their hands full. But something dark rears its head in the form of a new mountain church and its mysterious and charismatic leader, Reverend Lazarus Cotton. 

Once more, Griffin and Price must use the deadly skills learnt in their past, and call upon even deadlier associates when the problems escalate out of their control.

Congregations of the Dead book is a redneck adventure-horror of the darkest kind. In the small town of Wellman, Georgia, it’s a damn hot summer.




Available in Trade Paperback and for the Kindle





A HELL WITHIN









Something dark is looming in Brennert County, Georgia. Sheriff Carl Price and ex-mercenary-turned P.I. Wade Griffin know well the other-worldly undercurrent that runs through the small town of Wellman, but with the Blackbournes trying to rebuild their strength, it seems they can breathe a little easier, Just a little. 
Griffin starts working a case when he stumbles across a massacre at a drug lab, and when Price is called to the scene of a brutal triple homicide, it has all the markings of Blackbourne retribution.
 Before the blood is dry, two more people are torn apart. 
As the body count rises, Griffin and Price find themselves in the middle of a turn war where bullets and black magic are the weapons of choice. Caught between the worlds of monsters and men, Griffin and Price enlist the help of associate Carter Decamp to put an end to to the brewing battle.
 But the gates of Hell have been opened and the beasts won't be denied their chance to feast.

Available in Trade Paperback and for the Kindle

Cover reveal GATES OF THE DEAD

Brogan McTyre started a war with the gods, and he’s going to end it. Raging gods have laid waste to the Five Kingdoms. Only Torema remains, swollen with millions of refugees. Their last hope lies in fleeing by sea, but as storms tear at the coast, even King Opar can’t muster enough ships for them all. Brogan and his warriors must fight the He-Kisshi to reach the Gateway, the sole portal for gods to enter the mortal world – and the only place where they can be killed. But the forces of creation have been unleashed, and they’ll destroy the world to reshape it. 

HARVEST MOON Is Coming Soon

Now and then you have to experiment a bit.

A couple of years back I released THIS IS HALLOWEEN, which is a collection of ten short stories featuring, no surprise, Halloween.



The piece you see above is the cover for that very beauty courtesy of the amazing Dan Brereton. He's doing up another cover for HARVEST MOON.

Dan is probably best known for his amazing comic book and graphic novels revolving around his creation The NOCTURNALS. He shares my love of Halloween, God love him.





Hes also got a Kickstarter gong for an amazing new art book. You can find out more RIGHT HERE. 

HARVEST MOON is a novel. it is also a story that is connected to the TALES OF THE BELDAM WOODS part of THIS IS HALLOWEEN. The novel revolves around the legends of the town of Beldam Woods that claim a witch was killed there way back when. The novel deals with the truths behind the legends and rumors. There will be blood.


HARVEST MOON has been out before. it was released as a limited edition by Cemetery Dance Publications with a gorgeous cover by Alan M. Clark, who does fantastic works of fiction when he's not making award winning illustrations.





You reap what you sow in Beldam Woods.

Once upon a time there was a town called Beldam Woods, where all of the people lived happy, carefree lives and no one wanted for anything. All of the children at the schools studied hard and learned their lessons. All of the adults were true to their spouses and everyone was content.

At least that's what the travel brochures say.

They don't tell you about the puddle of blood found inside the local veterinary clinic, or about the old librarian found torn to pieces inside his house. They don't mention the troubles the police are having with their investigations into local crimes, or about the petty jealousies that have grown between the students attending the local public school and the kids going to the upper crust private academy.

Those brochures fail to mention the odd vegetation growing in the woods not far from the town, or the reasons that everything in the Witch's Hollow is poisonous to eat or even to touch.

None of the literature written about Beldam Woods talks of human sacrifices or the desecration of new graves; there's not a word written down about the monsters that allegedly lived there in the past, or what the townsfolk did to them.

And most importantly, there's no mention of what happens when the monsters come back to put paid to some old debts...

HARVEST MOON will be available in just a few weeks. 

I'll keep you posted. 

PREDATOR: HUNTERS AND HUNTED out today!

The official prequel leading directly into THE PREDATOR, available the film and introducing key concepts that then will explode onto the screen in the movie.

For centuries Earth has been visited by warlike creatures that stalk mankind's finest warriors. Their goals unknown, these deadly hunters kill their prey and depart as invisibly as they arrived, leaving no trace other than a trail of bodies.

When Roger Elliott faced such a creature during the Vietnam War, he didn't expect to survive. Nor did he expect that, decades later, he would train the Reavers, a clandestine strike force attached to Project Stargazer. Their mission: to capture one of the creatures, thus proving its existence, disassembling its tech, and balancing the odds between the HUNTERS AND HUNTED.
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