Glenn Rolfe's Blog, page 3

PATREON: GET ROLFED SHORT STORY SERIES

I just wanted to thank any of you that are part of my Patreon crowd. You guys have been supporting me for a little over a year now, and I just want you to know I appreciate it. While I’ve usually been able to deliver a short story for you every month, the last couple months of 2020, as well as the first month or two of 2021, have me up against some deadlines with novels and novellas.

I have every intention of kicking the Get Rolfed Short Story Series back up in March (if not just before then).

One of my favorite things with this series is creating the little eBook covers that accompany them. I thought I’d drop some of those here for the non Patreon peeps to check out.

A number of these short stories will be released in the official edition of my third short story collection (NOCTURNAL PURSUITS) later this year from Silver Shamrock Publishing.

There are lots of ideas and possible projects to tend to once I get caught up on these contracted books, so stay tuned!

Not a patron?

Check out: www.patreon.com/getrolfed Join for as little as a dollar a month.

Stay positive and stay safe!

-Glenn

2020: It Wasn’t All Bad

I was grateful to have a number of releases this year, a strange time to put out books, but things turned out all right. My small publishing company (Alien Agenda Publishing) also managed to come through the pandemic with some of our best works yet.

Without further ado….

Early on, Alien Agenda Publishing released the latest Jackson R. Thomas novel: RISE

In May, my first book with Flame Tree Press, UNTIL SUMMER COMES AROUND, finally landed.

In November, Alien Agenda Publishing release its first charity anthology, SURVIVE WITH ME. All the proceeds will be donated to the American Indian College Fund.

November also saw the release of my latest audio book. Signing on with Fireside Horror was a no brainer and the outstanding performances by an all-out phenomenal cast of performers made my short story collection, LAND OF BONES, come to life like a movie.

And December delivered the ALIEN AGENDA PUBLISHING 2020 SAMPLER.

2021 promises much more, including my next Flame Tree Press book (AUGUST’S EYES), my first with Splatterpunk Books (ASCENSION AGENDA), and my third short story collection, this one with Silver Shamrock Publishing (NOCTURNAL PURSUITS). There may also be a few surprises along the way.

From Alien Agenda Publishing… I’m hopeful we’ll see new works from Brian Fatah Steele and Jackson R. Thomas (no contracts signed yet, so stay tuned).

To all my publishers-thank you. To all my editors–thank you. To all the writers that supplied the stories for the anthologies–thank you. To all my readers–thank you. to all the artists working on the covers or behind the scenes–thank you. To all the reviewers who gave my works the time of day when they did not have to do so, whether they loved it or hated it–thank you. To all my friends–thank you.

I hope you guys stay safe and well. Let’s make 2021 the best thing ever.

#Staypositive #staysafe

Chris Cornell

I thought it would be cool to share some interviews I really enjoyed watching this year. These are older, but up first is Chris Cornell

GET ROLFED CHRISTMAS DEALS

All weekend, grab some treats!

Get Rolfed Christmas: Starting today and good through the weekend, get copies of my novels, THE WINDOW and BECOMING, and my second short story collection, LAND OF BONES, for just $1.99 each.

http://mybook.to/TheWindow

http://mybook.to/LandofBones

http://mybook.to/GetBecoming

Get your FREE copy here: http://mybook.to/Slush

Just 99 cents! 3 Christmas themed horror stories: http://mybook.to/toparadise

Merry Christmas you guys!

Stay positive, stay safe!

SURVIVE WITH ME: 5 Questions with Heather Herrman

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SURVIVE WITH ME features sixteen of my favorite writer buds. Each of them gave these stories to me for this charity anthology. ALL proceeds go to the American Indian College Fund. You can order your eBook or paperback copy HERE Or discover more about this wonderful cause here: AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND

Tonight, we welcome in Heather Herrman. I met Heather online after reading her excellent Bentley Little-esque novel, CONSUMPTION. We’ve kept in touch ever since and she has some pretty big things on the horizon. I’m so happy to have her and her wonderful story in this special anthology.

Heather Herrman

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What inspired your story in SWM, “Hold Still”?

I am so interested in the idea of secret places. When I was a kid, I’d constantly be on the lookout for secret doors (who am I kidding, I still am). This story was a “what if” you accidentally found one of those pathways to another world and took it? Beyond that, it’s always fun to turn gender tropes on their heads.

What causes would you like see get more attention?

Adult literacy. I used to work for two fabulous organizations that supported this and would love to see both of them get more attention. The Minnesota Literacy Council and The Loft Literary Center, both located in Minnesota. All adults deserve and need access to the opportunities literacy brings, both on the professional and personal levels. Beyond that art/literature should be a right, not a privilege.

I loved your novel, Consumption. Will we see a paperback edition released?

Thanks so much! I’d love to see Consumption out in paperback, and fingers crossed someday that will happen. Right now my publisher is keeping it strictly in ebook format, but who knows what the future holds? 

2021 promises to be a good one for new releases. What can we look forward to from you?

 I’m so excited to announce that my Young Adult debut, The Corpse Queen, will be out from Putnam in Fall 2021. It’s a macabre murder-mystery featuring a serial killer loose in 1850’s Philadelphia and a young grave-robber, Molly Green, who must become an anatomist in a male-dominate industry to stop him. I love the characters so much and can’t wait to introduce them to the world! 

Give me three aromas that lift your spirit. 

Creosote after a desert rain

Burning piñon

Coffee. Always coffee.

You can read Heather’s story, “Hold Still,” in SURVIVE WITH ME.

For more, check out her website: HeatherHerrman.com

SURVIVE WITH ME: 5 Questions with Kristin Dearborn

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SURVIVE WITH ME features sixteen of my favorite writer buds. Each of them gave these stories to me for this charity anthology. ALL proceeds go to the American Indian College Fund. You can order your eBook or paperback copy HERE Or discover more about this wonderful cause here: AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND

Tonight, we welcome someone from my neck of the woods, Kristin Dearborn. Kristin and I attended the same school together back in them 90s. She has been published by Dark Fuse, Raw Dog Screaming Press, Crossroad Press, and more. Her short fiction has appeared all over the place, and I’m proud to have her with us in SURVIVE WITH ME.

Kristin Dearborn

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What inspired your story in SWM, “Mrs. Cleaver”?

“Mrs. Cleaver” was inspired in part by all the true crime podcasts that tell us about missing women, but in particular the podcast COLD, which details Susan Powell’s disappearance. Her story–or rather the story of her husband Josh (we know his end; Susan’s remains a mystery but I can’t imagine it’s good) is one of manipulation and a descent into a hellish marriage with a controlling partner. 

 What causes would you like to see get more attention?

An average of 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States — more than 12 million women and men over the course of a single year. As horror fans, we consume these stories as entertainment, but I think we have a responsibility to be aware of the reality behind the fiction. I love horror, and enjoy true crime, but would love to live in a world where it was all in the past or fiction. Intimate partner violence is one of the scariest things I can imagine: it’s a theme that reappears in my work, and I like to shed light on the reality behind it when I can.

 It’s been a bit since we’ve gotten a KD novel or novella. What’s coming from you in 2021-2022?

With Covid, the release schedule has gotten a little snarled up, but the next project coming from me is a rip-roaring creature feature about an airboat ride in the swamp gone terribly wrong called “The Amazing Alligator Girl.” This novella will be out from Bloodshot Books sometime next year and involves a lot of chemically enraged alligators.

 Your book, Woman in White, is awesome. What’s another legend you’d love to write about?

As for legends, I’m a sucker for cryptids. I’m working on shopping a novel featuring the Skunk Ape AKA Florida bigfoot. I dream of someday writing a yeti book set in the Himalayas, but the right story hasn’t come to me yet. Did you know Aleister Crowley attempted to summit K2 in 1902? There’s gotta be a yeti story in there somewhere!

 What are three things that warmed your heart in 2020?

Three things that warmed my heart in 2020:

Getting to spend more time with my favorite dog friend Tali as I spent more time at home.

Helping clients at my day job (I’m a financial advisor) weather the ups and downs of the 2020 stock market.

Watching my in-person community shift to a virtual one with very little loss of impact. It’s not impacted my monthly book club, has enhanced my weekly Dungeons and Dragons game, and helped my weekly business networking meeting!

Discover more about Kristin at her website: HERE

Survive With Me: 5 Questions with Lucas Mangum & Hunter Shea

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SURVIVE WITH ME features sixteen of my favorite writer buds. Each of them gave these stories to me for this charity anthology. ALL proceeds go to the American Indian College Fund. You can order your eBook or paperback copy HERE Or discover more about this wonderful cause here: AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND

Tonight, we welcome two more contributors and authors I consider friends. Lucas Mangum and I met at World Horror Con in Portland, Oregon back in 2014. We were just two fresh faced weirdos that felt out of place among hallways walked by such giants as Jack Ketchum, Gord Rollo, Wrath James White, and the recipient of that years Bram Stoker Awards Grandmaster of Horror Award, Brian Keene. Here we are six years later, and I’m happy to see the success Lucas has is having with his works, and to have him included in this anthology.

Hunter Shea is a man that needs no introduction… but he’s one of the people in this industry I’ve spoken with the most, so I have to say something. He’s such a cool, laid back dude, and he knows his hair metal! (Tesla, man.) Hunter has written tons of great monster books for publishers big and small. I’m grateful to have his new story included here. I’m also grateful for his friendship and his advice whenever I seek it out.

So, let’s talk to the boys…

Lucas Mangum

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What inspired your story in SWM, “The Hand of Violence”?

I always wanted to write a proper slasher, and I thought SWM’s theme was perfect for that. As far as the narrative itself, I think my best short stories tend to be as fast-paced as possible. We all know the slasher genre and its tropes, so I set it during the final showdown and used  brief glimpses of backstory to show what made my story different.

What causes do wish would get more attention?

I don’t have a specific charity in mind, but anything that addresses mental health is going to have my support provided it’s run by honest people. I’ve stayed in a psych ward, and I’ve been on more meds than I can remember. And I know there are people out there with struggles even more frightening than mine. We need the resources to find help when we look for it, so I’m all for anything that helps in that department. 

Who are some of the authors you’ve interacted with that have helped you out the most?

I’ve had a lot of writers help me over the last ten years. Most recently, I’ve gotten a lot of support from Max Booth III, Autumn Christian, Ryan Harding, Shane McKenzie, Wesley Southard, and Wile E. Young.

How do you work your writing around family and your day job?

I’m very fortunate right now, because I work part time. I do a lot of my writing in the morning before my kid gets up and some more before I go to bed. Throughout the day, I just get it in where I can.

Give me three things that made you laugh this week.

Three things? Let’s see… first, a line I wrote in my collaboration with Wesley Southard that I won’t spoil here. Second, the many twists and turns of the Fritz Lang movie, Scarlet Street. Last, pretty much anything that comes out of my four-year-old’s mouth is comedy gold. When he counts to twenty, he almost always skips thirteen. Not sure what that’s about, but it makes me wonder if triskaidekaphobia can be innate.

Hunter Shea

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What inspired your story in SWM, “Into the Night”?

 I love all things alien and abductions. I’ve written several other abduction stories in the past but they’ve never seen the light of day.  This was an opportunity to explore the true horror of the alien abduction experience, but with a little tongue in the ol cheek. Not to mention, I know we share this particular interest, so it only seemed right. 

What cause do you wish would get some more attention?

My wife and one daughter both suffer from a rare auto immune disease called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Depending on the type of you have, it can be either mildly irritating to life threatening. It has some similarities to lupus, and some people, like my wife, have both. I remember coming across doctors who had never heard of it, but that’s starting to change. More research needs to go into treating and possibly curing this disease. Unfortunately, I don’t think enough people have it (thank God) for it to warrant the time and money that will take. 

When are we gonna get a Bigfoot v. Mothman book from you?

 First, I have to write a Mothman book. I have about five story ideas for a Mothman story. One of these days, I’ll settle on one. 

I loved your novella, The Waiting. Are there any novellas in the works?

Thanks Glenn. I’m actually looking to get that back out soon. I’m currently working on a new bigfoot book for Severed Press that should be out in 2021. It’s going to be a ton of fun. 

Give me three movies that people might be surprised to find out you love.

OK, I guess it would be She’s the One, Bring it On and True Love (not to be confused with True Romance). 

New Release: A Mega All-Star Cast for the LAND OF BONES (Fireside Horror) Audiobook

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FIRESIDE HORROR has brought my short story collection to life. Holy hell, the amazing cast assembled by owner Joe Hempel is un-fucking-believable!

I now have an idea what it’s like to have a movie or TV show made of one of your books. I mean, the performers here bring each of these tales to life in ways that had me mesmerized. And I wrote the damn things!

I want to thank Fireside Horror for the opportunity to share these short stories in new medium, and for bringing this cast together.

On a personal note, while I absolutely love every performance in here, for someone that’s been listening to each of Matt Godfrey’s audio book versions of the Paperbacks from Horror titles, getting to listen to Matt deliver his talents to the novella included here, Too Much of a Dead Thing, was a dream come true.

You can get your audio, eBook, or paperback edition of LAND OF BONES here: LAND OF BONES

And check out much more from Fireside Horror here: FIRESIDE HORROR

Cover Reveal and Pre-order for my novel, AUGUST’S EYES

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“Rolfe is the real deal, folks, and anything he writes is well worth checking out.” – Gord Rollo, author of The Jigsaw Man and The Crucifixion Experiments

When dreams start bleeding into reality, a social worker is forced to face the mistakes of his past.

A serial killer has found a way to make his land of graveyards a sinister playground to be bent at his sadistic will.

The secrets behind August’s eyes will bring two worlds together, and end in a cataclysm of pain and ruin.

Pre-order your copy in eBook, paperback, or hardcover here: AUGUST’S EYES

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Glenn Rolfe is an author from the haunted woods of New England. He has studied Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University and continues his education in the world of horror by devouring the novels of Stephen King, Richard Laymon, Brian Keene, Jack Ketchum, and many others. He and his wife, Meghan, have three children, Ruby, Ramona, and Axl. He is grateful to be loved despite his weirdness.

He is a Splatterpunk Award nominee and the author of Until Summer Comes Around, The Window, Becoming, Blood and Rain, The Haunted Halls, Chasing Ghosts, Abram’s Bridge, Things We Fear, Boom Town, and the collections, Slush and Land of Bones.
Look for his next novel, August’s Eyes, coming from Flame Tree Press in the summer of 2021.

******

We’re still pretty far out from the actual release (8.17.21), but I’m sure we’ll be chatting this one up in the not too distant furture. For now, here you go. I love this story and this freaking cover.

Oh, and don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads TBR: AUGUST’S EYES GoodReads

Survive With Me: 5 Questions with the great Ronald Malfi

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SURVIVE WITH ME features 16 of my favorite writer buds. Each of them gave these stories to me for this charity anthology. ALL proceeds go to the American Indian College Fund. You can order your eBook or paperback copy HERE Or discover more about this wonderful cause here: AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND

Tonight, we welcome one of my very favorite authors in the horror business. Three of his novels are contenders in my all-time Top 10 list (Bone White, Floating Staircase, The Narrows) and the rest are just as stellar. When he’s not writing, you can also find him rocking out with his band, VEER. He’s also one of the nicest, coolest dudes to have a beer with. Bone White is in the works at Amazon, so he’ll be adding movies/tv to his already impressive resume. Let’s catch up with Mr. Ronald Malfi.

Ronald Malfi

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What inspired your story in SWM, “Discussions Concerning the Ingestion of Living Insects” and its crazy title?

I wrote “Discussions Concerning the Ingestion of Living Insects” for a Raw Dog Screaming anthology called Sick: An Anthology of Illness, back in 2003 or so. In hindsight, it was sort of shoehorned into that anthology because it has nothing to do with illness and everything to do with survival, which makes it a nice fit for Survive With Me, of course. The main protag is laid up in bed, in an abandoned hospital during some nameless war, reliving the terrible deed that wound him up in that place. Unlike his dead compatriots, he refuses to surrender to death, so he continues to survive in a very unorthodox and stomach-churning way. I mean, the title of the story kinda says it all, right?

What other causes would you like see get some more attention?

We live in a time of causes, and that’s good, although some remain overlooked while others have become part of the fabric of our culture. I’ll twist your question to suit my response here, which is that I commend you for choosing to benefit Native American education, because I feel that is a cause wholly overlooked. 

You do winter horror/thrillers so well (Snow, The Ascent, Bone White), what is about that setting that gets your juices flowing?

I mean, the winter is just so suitable for horror, no? The cold, the desiccation, the bleakness of it all. Plus, what better time to read? A good book, a glass of scotch, and a roaring fire–is there anything better?

You love to rock. What does 2021 hold for VEER?

As you can imagine, COVID crushed the band’s ability to tour and play live. Our last show was in January, which seems like a century ago now, before all this madness hit us. However, we’ve been blessed with excellent fans who continue to support us, purchasing T-shirts, CDs, and all manner of merch from our website, veerband.net, to keep us afloat during this time. Meanwhile, we’ve been recording new music for our sophomore album, and will be releasing a new single and music video very soon. We’d love for anyone to subscribe to our YouTube channel, where we’ll be releasing new material, included a behind-the-scenes web series, which will mostly be us arguing, I imagine. (YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrghUCsCW3xCBKjOvz_KbKw )

Give me three songs you’d be willing to do at karaoke that might surprise people. 

Excellent question. Maybe not complete surprises, but:

    1) “The Warrior” by Scandal

    2) “Round Here” by Counting Crows

    3) “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper

    4) “Mysterious Ways” by U2

    5) “A Nightmare on My Street” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince

VEER: