Steen Langstrup's Blog, page 5

Spills a lot of blood in 160 pages

[image error]The English edition of ‘Finale’ its first review today. It’s on Horror Talk and written by Tony Jones.

It says: “Finale builds tension, a tight plot, and spills a lot of blood in 160 pages. It is interesting to read a European written and set novel which features a brand of horror which is archetypical American in nature.”

And: “These scenes are very well handled and the dynamics between the two are extremely convincing and the author builds atmosphere exceptionally well.”

And: “It does get very violent, but I managed to stick with it, mainly because I particularly liked Agnes and hoped she would pull through. She is one tough girl and I’m sure all readers will be rooting for her.”

The review can be found HERE.

Four stars out of five on Krimisofa

[image error]The German edition of ‘Finale’ published by Heyne Verlag got four stars in a review on Krimisofa today.

It says: “Neben dem Haupterzählstrang gibt es noch einen zweiten, beide Münden später in einen, ohne dass man es merkt – auch hier erkennt man das Genie von Langstrup, denn so nahtlos habe ich das noch nicht erlebt.”

My German is not that good, but it sounds like a complimet, I guess.

The review can be found HERE.

Old tools

Excerpt from my gruesome torture novel Finale:

Then the doors swing open, and the clown appears in the doorway. He stays there for a while, looking from one to the other, before he closes the door and moves to Belinda.

Agnes wriggles her hands to get a sense of how close Belinda got to untie her hands. It’s not even close. Only the rope around her left hand appears to be a bit looser than before.

The clown grabs Belinda by her long hair, and pulls her out on the middle of the floor. He’s got a bag in his left hand. An old doctor’s bag. Something scrambles about inside the bag as he drops it hard on the other chair.

[image error]My old red iMac. My most precious writing tool in all of my career. I bought it back in 2002 and wrote all my books on it for the next nine years. Among those, The Informer, , In the Shadow of Sadd and Finale as the last one before it was time to get a new computer. I still have the old red iMac down in my basement. For some reason I can’t get myself to throw it out. It’s like an old friend.

So many thoughts, ideas and dreams have been keyboarded into that thing over the years. So many feelings. Stories fuelled by tender feelings, dark fears and sometimes faith. Finale, however, was fuelled by anger. But that’s another story that I might tell you some other time.

 

English editions of FINALE released today

[image error]Today, my new novel ‘FINALE’ has been published, both as paperback and e-book.

Go get your copy!

‘FINALE’ is the award winning novel behind the upcoming terrifying Danish motion picture. A novel in the tradition of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hostel and Saw.

Denmark is in the finale. Everybody is watching the game at home.At the gas station out by the highway, the two young women working the night shift are expecting a quiet evening and very few customers.

However no customers means no witnesses. They have been chosen to star in a completely different show.

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Extra material in the German edition

[image error]The brand new German edition of my short novel or novella ‘Finale‘ comes with some extra material incluced in both e-book and paperback: The two short stories ‘Metro‘ and ‘Einbruch‘.

That makes ‘Einbruch‘ the first of my short stories to be available in both German, Danish, Spanish and English. It’s even something as rare as a second-person narrative.

Those short stories are NOT included in the English edition to be published on Friday. However, if you want to read them in English, you can, as they have both been published in English already, and they are free. ‘

‘Metro‘ can be found on Amazon, Apple, Smashwords and most everywhere. ‘Break-in‘ so far only on Booktrack.

‘Finale‘ is a short and rather revolting novel or novella of torture and dread. If you like movies like ‘The Texas Chain Saw Masacre’, ‘Saw’ and ‘Hostel’, maybe this could be something for you to read. If you don’t like short novels or any of those movies, then maybe not. It’s not for everybody. You have been warned. It’s kinda gross.

Four stars out of five on Suse’s Bücherregal/Lovelybooks.de

[image error]The German edition of ‘Finale’ published by Heyne Verlag got four stars in a review by Suse’s Bücherregal, also published on Lovelybooks.de.

She writes: “Im Großen und Ganzen betrachtet eine solide Horror- Kurzgeschichte die mir wirklich Spaß gemacht hat.”

My German is a bit rusty but I belive it translates into something like: “Overall a solid horror novella that I really enjoyed.”

The review can be found HERE.

Finale Book announcement on THE SCARY REVIEWS

[image error]Today, THE SCARY REVIEWS has posted a longer book announcement about my new novel ‘Finale’.

“It looks and sounds terrifying,” the horror book blogger writes.

You can read it by clicking HERE.

Melanie Liest says a few words about FINALE

The German YouTuber Melanie Liest says a few words about my book ‘Finale’ which was published in German today.

Interview on Ginger Nuts of Horror

[image error] I have been interveiwed by Ginger Nuts of Horror.

You can read the interview here: http://gingernutsofhorror.com/interviews/five-minutes-with-author-steen-langstrup

There’s also an excerpt from ‘Finale’: http://gingernutsofhorror.com/features/book-excerpt-finale-by-steen-langstrup

There can be no doubt. It’s the same car.

Excerpt from my soon-to-be-published novel ‘Finale’:

“Stay calm,” Agnes says even though she herself feels her neck muscles tighten. “It’s no use freaking out.”

The BMW has turned off the highway and into the petrol station. However, instead of driving up to one of the petrol pumps, it has stopped out by the big sign with the gas prices. Engine still running. White exhaust drifting over the tarmac behind the car. It’s the same BMW. Even as it has kept away from the bright light under the petrol station’s canopy, it’s still being illuminated by the dim light from the price sign. There can be no doubt. It’s the same car.

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A still from the upcoming movie showing the exterior of the petrol station, the main location of the story.

“I was in a robbery once,” Belinda whispers. “I was working at the big Shell station on the other side of town back then. By two junkies. They parked close to the station in the same manner for a real long time before they came in and held us up, using box cutters.”

Agnes moves her glance from the car to Belinda’s face. “What happened?”

“We gave them the money and called the police when they were gone. One of them were shaking like crazy. I almost considered taking him down, hitting him with something heavy, you know, but of course, we’re not allowed to do so. Same rules as here. Give them the money. Close the petrol station. Call the police.”

“I’m so scared of being robbed. I don’t know if I could handle something like that. I mean afterwards, the trauma.”

Belinda sends her a hard glance. “You will sooner or later, working a place like this.”

The car’s still out there. A sudden cold fills Agnes’s insides. “How did you handle the trauma afterwards? Did you get counseling?”

“Nothing really happened, you know. No need for any of that.”

As location plays such a huge role in both horror and thriller stories, I find myself always looking for places that I could use in a story someday. A petrol station has its own atmosphere. Even in daylight. It’s a safe everyday kind of place. A place we all visit from time to time. I bet, you can even smell it if you close your eyes. However, on a dark and lonely night the atmosphere of the place seems to change as darkness surrounds the bright lights of the canopy and shop, making you feel exposed and vulnerable in that sea of light, unable to see whatever evil is lurking out there, past the lights, in the darkness.