Brian James Freeman's Blog, page 47

October 5, 2011

October 4, 2011

The Dark Forces Special Edition from Lonely Road Books

Probably the best thing about running Lonely Road Books was landing my dream project to launch the press: Dark Forces: The 25th Anniversary Special Edition edited by Kirby McCauley.  This special edition was limited to a 300 copy Limited Edition and a 26 copy Lettered Edition.

Why was this a dream project?  Simple: Dark Forces was the first horror anthology I read as a kid and it made quite the impression!  Also, I feel like you should make a statement about your goals and ambitions when you l...

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Published on October 04, 2011 03:00

September 29, 2011

The Stephen King Book Covers That Might Have Been

One of my favorite jobs at Cemetery Dance Publications is working on book production: 30 or so signed Limited Edition hardcovers per year.

When I was in high school and college, I had no idea I would someday be working on books by my literary heroes such as Stephen King (7 times), Peter Straub (4 times), William Peter Blatty (3 times), Frank Darabont, Mick Garris, Joe R. Lansdale, Norman Partridge, Ed Gorman, Richard Laymon, Graham Masterton, Douglas Clegg, Jack Ketchum, Al Sarrantonio, John S...

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Published on September 29, 2011 10:06

September 28, 2011

A Coda to My Mother's Secret Stash of Stephen King

A fun little coda to My Mother's Secret Stash of Stephen King:


The teacher who supposedly said I wasn't literary enough to be in his Honors English class because my favorite author was Stephen King?  That teacher's name was… Stephen King.


Like many comedians have said over the years, you just can't make that up.



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Published on September 28, 2011 10:24

September 27, 2011

My Mother's Secret Stash of Stephen King

Several times over the years I've written about how I first stumbled upon the work of Stephen King, which launched my full-blown love affair with horror in the 1990s.  This is an essay I wrote for the always amazing Robin Furth when she was editing the Book of the Month Club Stephen King Desk Calendar a few years back:

The summer I turned twelve years old, I stumbled upon a secret stash of Stephen King books hidden away on the bookcases in the basement of my parents' house. It's not that the b...

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Published on September 27, 2011 05:30

September 23, 2011

How I Ended Up Working at Cemetery Dance Publications

Since this is a really common question, I thought I'd answer it early: how did I end up working at Cemetery Dance Publications?

In the spring of 2002, I was graduating college, getting married, and looking for a job in the Baltimore area — and I had no idea what I was going to do.  I was graduating with a Journalism degree, but didn't want to be a journalist.  (Now that's planning!)

But I had been doing freelance book marketing on the Internet since I was 15 years old, which had always been...

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Published on September 23, 2011 04:30

September 21, 2011

Welcome!

Thanks for stopping by my new blog.  My name is Brian James Freeman and my purpose here is to discuss writing, editing, reading, and the publishing business.  In case you're wondering if we've met at a convention, check out the photo to the right.  I was probably the quiet one in the corner, wearing a baseball cap and not saying much.  ;)

[image error] A little about myself to get the ball rolling:

I'm the author of The Painted Darkness, Black Fire, Blue November Storms, and The Illustrated Stephen King...

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Published on September 21, 2011 06:00