Nick Kolakowski's Blog - Posts Tagged "groundhog-slay"
GROUNDHOG SLAY and MADAM TOMAHAWK
Hey everybody!
So December and January are going to be extra-busy, with two (!!) new releases coming up. I hope you'll add these to your respective Goodreads lists, as they feature a mega-dose of horror and crime fiction goodness to help see you through the beginning of 2023...
MADAM TOMAHAWK is my "episode" in the long-running Grifter's Song series from Down & Out Books. If you've never heard of the adventures of Sam and Rachel, you should totally check them out -- the series has been graced with some amazing authors, including Shawn Cosby, Hilary Davidson, Paul Garth, and more. In my entry, our lovable con artists go to Washington, DC, where they promptly find themselves in over their heads... the Goodreads page is here and Amazon Kindle preorders are up! The book comes out Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, my novella GROUNDHOG SLAY is appearing in the new anthology MONSTERS from Crystal Lake Publishing, due to drop Dec. 15. Here's the summary: "Around Lake Legionnaire, locals whisper tales of an unstoppable monster rampaging through the night, killing everyone in its way. But what if the monster’s just trying to stop something far worse—a threat that could destroy all existence?"
One early reviewer described GROUNDHOG SLAY as "a highly intriguing, oftentimes batshit crazy, story that serves as a sort of meta examination of why horror movie slashers never stay dead and return for sequel after sequel after sequel." Sound intriguing? The Goodreads page is up, along with the pre-order page on Amazon; paperback and hardcover editions are coming in addition to the Kindle version.
I'm excited for you to read these two new novellas!
So December and January are going to be extra-busy, with two (!!) new releases coming up. I hope you'll add these to your respective Goodreads lists, as they feature a mega-dose of horror and crime fiction goodness to help see you through the beginning of 2023...
MADAM TOMAHAWK is my "episode" in the long-running Grifter's Song series from Down & Out Books. If you've never heard of the adventures of Sam and Rachel, you should totally check them out -- the series has been graced with some amazing authors, including Shawn Cosby, Hilary Davidson, Paul Garth, and more. In my entry, our lovable con artists go to Washington, DC, where they promptly find themselves in over their heads... the Goodreads page is here and Amazon Kindle preorders are up! The book comes out Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, my novella GROUNDHOG SLAY is appearing in the new anthology MONSTERS from Crystal Lake Publishing, due to drop Dec. 15. Here's the summary: "Around Lake Legionnaire, locals whisper tales of an unstoppable monster rampaging through the night, killing everyone in its way. But what if the monster’s just trying to stop something far worse—a threat that could destroy all existence?"
One early reviewer described GROUNDHOG SLAY as "a highly intriguing, oftentimes batshit crazy, story that serves as a sort of meta examination of why horror movie slashers never stay dead and return for sequel after sequel after sequel." Sound intriguing? The Goodreads page is up, along with the pre-order page on Amazon; paperback and hardcover editions are coming in addition to the Kindle version.
I'm excited for you to read these two new novellas!
GROUNDHOG SLAY is loose!
Before 2020, I didn’t watch many horror movies. I had a few favorites (“The Shining,” of course, along with “Repulsion” and “Psycho”), but I wasn’t an aficionado by any stretch of the imagination.
That changed during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when my interest in the genre suddenly intensified. Maybe it was an outlet for the very real-life fears of an invisible killer in the air. Whatever the root of it, I found myself watching a lot of horror flicks—and writing horror stories. From the outset, I noticed a lot of the movies, particularly those in the slasher genre, were extremely rigid in their structure and plot beats; when I sat down to write, I did whatever I could to subvert those tropes (with mixed effect, I have to admit).
One of my works, a novella titled “Absolute Unit,” came out last year via Crystal Lake Publishing, which is a small press that manages to punch far above its weight when it comes to awards and readership. Another lengthy novella, titled “Groundhog Slay,” is dropping today as part of a mega-sized collection of novellas, titled “MONSTERS.”
As the description reads:
It’s the summer of 1987. Around Lake Legionnaire, locals whisper tales of an unstoppable monster rampaging through the night, killing everyone in its way. But what if the monster’s just trying to stop something far worse—a threat that could destroy all existence? “Groundhog Slay” shows that not all heroes wear capes: sometimes they wear creepy masks, and they’re a little bit too skilled with a chainsaw…
It's an existential horror-comedy... and the most hopeful novella I've ever written. I hope you dig it!
That changed during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when my interest in the genre suddenly intensified. Maybe it was an outlet for the very real-life fears of an invisible killer in the air. Whatever the root of it, I found myself watching a lot of horror flicks—and writing horror stories. From the outset, I noticed a lot of the movies, particularly those in the slasher genre, were extremely rigid in their structure and plot beats; when I sat down to write, I did whatever I could to subvert those tropes (with mixed effect, I have to admit).
One of my works, a novella titled “Absolute Unit,” came out last year via Crystal Lake Publishing, which is a small press that manages to punch far above its weight when it comes to awards and readership. Another lengthy novella, titled “Groundhog Slay,” is dropping today as part of a mega-sized collection of novellas, titled “MONSTERS.”
As the description reads:
It’s the summer of 1987. Around Lake Legionnaire, locals whisper tales of an unstoppable monster rampaging through the night, killing everyone in its way. But what if the monster’s just trying to stop something far worse—a threat that could destroy all existence? “Groundhog Slay” shows that not all heroes wear capes: sometimes they wear creepy masks, and they’re a little bit too skilled with a chainsaw…
It's an existential horror-comedy... and the most hopeful novella I've ever written. I hope you dig it!
