Glenn Rolfe's Blog, page 30

What I read in 2014 –I Aimed for 45 books, but ended up reading 82!

A few years ago, just as I started writing, I saw Brian Keene blog a list of what he read that year. There were 100 titles. My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe that that was possible. I always hoped to read between 12 and and 24….

This yea, I set my goal on Goodreads for 45. A nice, high number (for me). Well, thanks in part to the explosion of novellas, I managed to read 82 books this year! Some were short, some not so short. I started and couldn’t finish 3 books that I thought were awful. They are not listed here.

Here is my “read” list for 2014. I highlighted my favorites. You can check out my reviews here: Glenn’s Reading Challenge

Black-Max Booth III

Black and Orange-Benjamin Kane Ethridge

Professional Detachment or The Eternal-T. Fox Dunham

Gripped�� -Jason Donnelly

Punk Rock Dad ���Jim Lindberg

Radio Free Nowhere- Todd Keisling

Namesless: The Darkness Comes- Mercedes m. Yardley

A Requiem for Dead Flies- Peter N. Dudar

Bunnicula- James Howe

When Karen Met Her Mountain- Todd Keisling

Netherworld- Lisa Morton

Dust Devils- Jonathan Janz

Galvaston-Nic Pizzolatto

Habeas Corpse- Nikki Hopeman

Saving Granny from the Devil-Todd Keisling

Dead of Winter- Brian Moreland

Piercing the Veil- Mason Bundschuh

If it Bleeds-Darryl Dawson

Federales- Christopher Irwin

The Harbinger-Todd Keisling

The Nightcrawler-Mick Ridgewell

Things Slip Through-Kevin Lucia

The Indie Journey-Scott Nicholson

Three Graves Full-Jamie Mason

The Waiting-Hunter Shea

Throttle-Stephen King and Joe Hill

NOS4A2-Joe Hill

Cradle Lake-Ronald Malfi

Pride-Chantal Noordeloos

To Kill a Mockingbird-Harper Lee

The Stranger-Albert Camus

Dark Vengeance-Russell James

Decoration Day-Vic Kerry

Red-Jack Ketchum

Sinister Entity-Hunter Shea

The Vagrants-Brian Moreland

Hero-Wrath James White and J.F. Gonzales

Toxicity-Max Booth III

Devourer of Souls-Kevin Lucia

Relic of Death-David Bernstein

The Montauk Monster-Hunter Shea

The Sorrows-Jonathan Janz

Shooting Yourself in the Head for Fun and Profit-Lucy A. Snyder

The Dude Abides-Alex Belth

Fairy-Shane McKenzie

Deep Like the River-Tim Waggoner

Off Season-Jack Ketchum

The Beast House-Richard Laymon

Exorcist ��Road- Jonathan Janz

Heroin in the Now-Terry M. West

The Summer Job-Adam Cesare

A Beautiful Madness-Lee Thompson

Hot in December-Joe R. Lansdale

Crooked House-Joe McKinney

Pretty Little Dead Girls-Mercedes M. Yardley

The Plasm-William Meikle

Conduits-Jennifer Loring

The Running Man- Stephen King

Last of the Albatwitches-Brian Keene

The Halloween Tree-Ray Bradbury

The Halloween Man-Douglas Clegg

Linden Manor-Catherine Cavendish

Tribesmen-Adam Cesare

The Dark Servant-Matt Manochio

Dark Harvest-Norman Partridge

The Exiled-William Meikle

House of Skin-Jonathan Janz

The Family Tree-John Everson

Apartment 7C- David Bernstein

The Martian-Andy Weir

Exponential-Adam Cesare

Charlotte-Stuart Keane

The Last Cannibals-Jens Bjerre

A Shrill Keening-Ronald Malfi

Legacy-JG Faherty

The Dead Zone-Stephen King

The Howliday Inn-James Howe

Dreamwalker-Russell James

The Black Echo-Michael Connelly

30 Days of Night, Vol. One-Steve Niles

Blood Red Roses-Russell James

The Lost Level-Brian Keene

One Week Until the Release of Abram’s Bridge.

So excited! January 6th (one week from today) my debut novella with Samhain Publishing, Abram’s Bridge, will be released. Alongside new novels��from Jonathan Janz, Hunter Shea, and Russell James, my little novella is looking forward to meeting your eyes.

Gef Fox, a fellow horror writer, runs a great blog, WAG THE FOX. He’s featuring interviews with myself and Jonathan Janz this week. They are both up now. Click the links below to��check them out for more on Abram’s Bridge and Jonathan’s The Nightmare Girl. �� One cool nugget I picked up: Both Janz and I will be releasing werewolf novels for you later this year. Anybody else feel like howlin’? :)

Too Sweet to Be Sour: an interview with Glenn Rolfe, author of “Abram’s Bridge”
She’s a Nightmare Girl Livin’ in a Nightmare World: an interview with Jonathan Janz, author of “The Nightmare Girl”

Ratings and Reviews: When Expectations Fall Short

Have you ever been worried about reviewing a book you weren’t thrilled by? How about posting a less than four or five star review on a book by someone that everyone loves (including you)? As I begin to advance in my own career as a writer, and start to meet some of my fellow authors, I feel like I’m heading to a cross roads as a reviewer.

About a year and a half ago Ronald Malfi posted something nice on his Facebook page about a piece of my work. I was psyched and humbled. I then messaged him to see if he might do me the honor of a proper review. He was kind in his reply, and stated that he didn’t do regular reviews anymore. I thanked him anyway and went about my business. It wasn’t until recently, when I started releasing my own books, that I began to understand the benefits of opting out of posting reviews. It all goes back to that question: What if I don’t like it as much as everyone else? What if that person is a now a friend? It’s a hard position to be in. You never want to irk somebody (or their fans), and us writers are a pretty sensitive bunch.

So far, I’ve been lucky. The majority of works I’ve read by people I know have been good, really good, or great. Still, there are those few…

I love to read, I know writers love reviews, so I keep on going about it as I always have: honesty, with no spoilers! But it this year, I had to stop reading a few books because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to give them nice reviews. One book was like a horrible B movie, one insulted me, and one was just bad. Those ones were easy, I didn’t finish them, so I didn’t review them. The��more difficult reviews to post are now the three star reviews. In the Goodreads world that seems to be littered with glowing four and five star reviews, a book that rates with Orion’s belt seems like a sad, sad thing.

And it’s not! I’ve actually been applauded and chided over the lesser (in some eyes) rating. Personally, I would love to get three stars, and have. A couple years ago, when I was just starting out, I ran into one of the authors I gave three stars. They told me I was the only one to give them that low of a rating. They didn’t say whether or not it upset them (this person didn’t seem irritated at all), they just noted it to my face. I’m quite certain I blossomed into ten shades of red. Although it was a little uncomfortable, we have remained friends. My little three stars paled before��the heaps of love this particular novel received, but that didn’t erase the fact that I felt bad. It really does seem silly that I almost don’t dare to do reviews for the less than four star books. I wonder if I’m the only one with this problem, if I’m an oddity, but doubt that I am.

Going back to the Ronald Malfi stance…If I were��as big and well-respected an author as he is, I guess my “opinion” might be more damaging. I can see that, especially if their fans are your target audience. It puts one in an interesting position.

If I ever reach the status of a Malfi or a Keene, maybe I’ll adopt the no review philosophy. Until then, I’ll keep on doing what I’m doing and hope I don’t ruffle too many feathers in the process.

My personal Year in Review. Wonderful year despite the bookend hospital trips!

Year in review? Sure.�� From top to bottom, this has been an exciting year.

Let���s start on January 7th: That���s when I slipped on the ice and broke my collarbone. I ended up having a metal plate put in a couple weeks later.

Shortly after that I received notice that three of my short stories had been accepted: ���Charley Sings the World Away��� ended up in Apokrupha���s Vignettes from the End of the World, ���Simon��� wiggled into Dark Moon Digest 15, and ���Sweet 16��� was presented in Parasomnia Press���s Pavor Nocturnus II.��

In February my band The Never Nudes, put out our first EP. Our drummer, Roger, did the amazing cover:

In March, I received an email form Don D���Auria accepting my novella, Abram���s Bridge, for the Samhain Horror line. This was always my goal from the day I started writing. Get Don to take one of my stories!

In May, the family and I went to Portland, Oregon. I attended the World Horror Convention, and thanks to Don, my wife and I also got to go to the Bram Stoker Awards and the Samhain after party. Got to hang out with Jack Ketchum and meet Brian Keene and Gord Rollo (very briefly-but it was still cool).�� Got to hang out with some cool writing buds (Kristin Dearborn, Russel James, Rena Mason, RJ Cavender, Lucas Mangum).

In July, my family and I moved to our new place (LOVE IT), Don accepted my second novella, Boom Town, and James Ward Kirk put out my debut novel, The Haunted Halls. My wife and I celebrated our 9th anniversary! Love you, dear.

August brought the saddest moment of 2014 for me, the news of Robin Williams death.

October saw the release of my shorts story collection, Slush. Thanks again to Erin for busting ass and helping me make this one happen. You can get the Kindle edition right now for 99 Cents!

November was pretty rad. Don accepted my first full length novel for Samhain, Blood and Rain!

And this month���well, it was pretty cold, rainy, and then Axl swallowed a battery. Thank God everyone did what they did after the fact. We ended up in Portland and the doctor was able to fetch it out of his belly. ��He is 100 % okay and we had everybody in one piece for Christmas!

Overall, pretty rad. I also got to interview a bunch of people I have tons of respect for-thanks Mercedes Yardley, Kevin Lucia, Jonathan Janz, Hunter Shea, and John Everson.

Here’s some of my favorite pics of the year:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.��Bring on 2015!

Available January 6th, 2015

Available April 7th, 2015

Win my horror collection, SLUSH! “Stand By Me mixed with Tales From The Crypt….”

“Stand By Me mixed with Tales From The Crypt….”- Horror Maiden’s book Reviews

My first collection, SLUSH, ��came out on All Hallow’s Eve. Since then, it has garnered a bunch of nice reviews.

You can find those HERE

Now, thanks to the good people over at Horror After Dark, you can enter to win a Kindle copy for yourself! ��ENTER TO WIN HERE

A few of my favorite things people are saying:

“…If there ever was a story to try and shock you with gross violence and disturbing imagery it would be Jackie Boy. While Sweet 16 leaves you with weird twisted feelings, Jackie Boy then takes you over the top and makes you wonder if anyone is really ever safe around Glenn Rolfe.” – Top of the Heap Reviews

“…speaking of fucked up and disgusting, let���s talk about ���Henry���. Have you ever wanted to cut your zits off with a razor? Of course you haven���t! You aren���t a crazy bastard. At least you probably aren���t. Okay, shut up. The point is, ���Henry��� is pretty gross. Rolfe gets all the descriptions right on this one.” – Max Booth III, Author of Toxicity and The Mind is a Razorblade

“…once you pick up “Slush” you’ll be holding 126 pages of why you became a fan of Horror in the first place.” -Mouths of Madness Podcast

“…SLUSH rises above the ever-growing onslaught of fiction… Great read from a confident new voice in fiction.” – John Palisano, Author of Nerves

Horror After Dark is giving away 2 Kindle copies! ��ENTER TO WIN HERE

The Skintaker: Cover, Release Date and Synopsis revealed!

grolfe:

The lowdown on Frazer Lee’s next piece from Samhain Horror.

Originally posted on FrazerLee.com:

Oh no! Another Frazer Lee novel!

Presenting:

The Skintaker.

Click to read on for Cover Art, Synopsis, release date & pre-order links.

View original

JONATHAN JANZ FOR 99 CENTS! Get some great horror for cheap!

Okay, I have read a bunch of Samhain Publishing books. So far, one of my favorites there is without a doubt Jonathan Janz. This man has the potential to be one of the very best in the business. If you don’t believe me, you need to grab one or (I suggest) all three of his his Kindle sale books RIGHT NOW!

His early stuff is decent (The Sorrows, House of Skin), but his latest efforts have jumped him up into a whole new level.

My personal three favorites by Janz���Savage Species, Dust Devils, Exorcist Road���are all 99 cents.

Hope on over to his Amazon page to find them HERE��

Dust Devils and Exorcist Road both appear on my TOP TEN of 2014—Check my lists out HERE

And if you fall in love with Janz’s style (harvested from a love and appreciation of Ketchum, King, and McCammon) ��be sure to pre-order his next great chunk of delicious death! The Nightmare Girl–Just look at the freakin’ cover!

Not sure how long this sale is going on, so get your asses over there and snatch ‘em up while you can!

You can thank me later.

My Samhain debut is garnering some nice reviews. It is now available for pre-orders.

There is a darkness in this town, and it���s buried beneath Abram���s Bridge.

When Lil Ron meets Sweet Kate under Abram���s Bridge he is mesmerized. And when he realizes this beautiful girl is a ghost, it frightens him, but also draws him to her. Curiosity and a drive to make things right lead Lil Ron into a tangle of small-town secrets involving his own father and other members of this otherwise quiet community. Bit by bit, he will uncover the truth about Sweet Kate, a story of heartbreak, violence���and fear.

I have been blown away so far by the great reviews trickling in for my debut novella with Samhain Horror. Abram’s Bridge will release on January 6th in all e formats (stuffed in with some other much anticipated Samhain releases from��Jonathan Janz, Hunter Shea, and Russell James).

Thanks to some ARC’s made available by myself and Samhain Publishing, a number of readers have devoured my piece and left their impressions.

Here are a few:

Mallory Heart Reviews: “I loved this story, literary horror at its best, so lyrical I expected it to burst into poetry. Here we have two “angels” (in the metaphorical sense), striving to live in innocence and purity, which among this cast of small-town picayunes is about as effective as sinners trying to climb from the depths of Hades while low-rent demons continually pull them.back down.”

Top of the Heap Reviews: “Glenn Rolfe has come a VERY long way, in a very short time. I���ve been following his career for the better part of a year or so, and with each piece of work he puts out, the better he gets. He doesn���t just tell you that he���s working on improving his craft, the proof is evident. It couldn���t be more evident than in this novella. In my opinion, this is the most polished work I���ve seen from him, and it raises his status in the horror world.

The story is a tale that has been done before, but this time, there are more sinister elements at work. Not with the supernatural elements, but with the human elements.

The sweet interactions between Lil Ron and Sweet Kate underneath Abram���s Bridge instill the familiar feelings of young love, and the feeling of knowing that you are falling for someone that you know you can���t have. Glenn builds this relationship slowly and each time Lil Ron takes a trip to that bridge, you are ready to return as well.

In between the sweetest moments of this novel are instances of human degradation and pure evil. Nobody, and I mean nobody in the town seems to really care about what happened to Sweet Kate those many years ago. In fact, they seem to go out of there way to prevent Lil Ron from finding out anything about her, even attempting to kill him in order to keep the town���s secret.

The Bottom Line: I have a hard time sometimes going through a short story without taking little breaks. It���s a special skill set that an author has to have to create a wholly engaging story from beginning to end. This title though, was completely mesmerizing, captivating, and left me completely satisfied as my eyes passed over the final sentence. Glenn Rolfe is one to watch, big things are going to happen with him.”

Scarlets Web: “At 85 pages Abram’s Bridge is a quick read, it’s a ghost story but it’s also a lot more than just that. The story revolves around Lil’Ron meeting the ghost of a young girl, so it is at it’s heart a ghost story but it also has elements of thriller, suspense and the horror every day people are capable of. Drawn to the Sweet Kate, Lil’Ron spends more and more time with her and wants to know what happened to her and why she is still around, little does he know that in looking into her death his life will change drastically. Every town has their secrets and this small town is no different.

Short stories tend to be a hit or miss for me, many of them have big gaps in the story where the reader has to try fill in the information themselves, or on finishing you’re left with questions and no answers given and you’re left wondering what the heck just happened or they lack depth and background and have boring flat characters. Abram’s Bridge had none of that, it’s a good solid story with a main character you can’t help but like and root for. The pacing and tension builds slowly throughout and the story has a good beginning, middle and end and held my attention easily.

I enjoyed this one, it took me on a whole different journey than I was expecting.”

You can read all of the reviews HERE

You can pre-order your copy of Abram’s Bridge today from these links:

Samhain Publishing.

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Some AB inspiration:

December Delicacies from Samhain Horror

Here’s your monthly Samhain fresh releases!

December brings us newbies from rising star, Adam Cesare, a new novella from JG Faherty, plus sequels from Quinn Langston and Mick Ridgewell.

Click on the covers��below to order:

Beware when a vampire loses control!

In 1850s London, most mortals are not aware that vampires walk amongst them. Lord Sebastian Hawthorne, himself a vampire, intends to keep it that way. Unfortunately, when someone begins killing off well-known citizens���in gruesome ways���all signs point to a newborn vampire unable to control the bloodlust.

Marcus Dwyer, a fellow vampire, admits to turning a woman for companionship, and now she���s out of control. He needs Sebastian���s help. Together, Marcus, Sebastian and Theo, Sebastian���s human friend, set out to catch the rogue killer before she exposes their secret.

Will they find her in time? Or will the police capture her first, and will their discovery lay waste to the vampires��� immortal world?

Evil is back in Kings Shore!

Malachi Adams has returned to Kings Shore for revenge. The demon vampire was sealed in a well for one hundred years, and he holds the citizens of this small town responsible. Now they will pay. Awakened by the blood of a virgin, Malachi emerges from his subterranean prison at last, starving for more blood. The demon recruits Roland Millhouse, former network newsman turned novelist, to school him on the ways of the 21st century. Armed with Roland���s plan, Malachi and a newly created gang of bloodthirsty vampires descend on Kings Shore. Will anything be left of the town when they leave?

Can anything stop a creature that won���t stop growing?

Sam Taylor just wants a friend. Is that too much to ask? His only mistake is finding that friend in Felix, a lab mouse that Sam rescues from the top-secret facility where he works as a janitor. Shortly after his rescue, the mouse begins to change, to swell. There���s something new growing underneath Felix���s fur. Growing very fast.

Holed up in a roadside bar, four survivors���a woman who���s lost everything, her drug dealer, a tribal police officer, and a professional gambler���are all that stand between the rampaging beast and the city of Las Vegas. But as the monster keeps growing���and eating���how long until it���s able to topple the walls protecting them?

Some gods demand blood!

Sean Black, a teenage science whiz in a small New England town, leads a pretty normal life…until the night of the storm. After that, nothing is the same. He experiences strange nightmares. He hallucinates about alien creatures and begins to notice weird physical changes in his body, things no one else seems to see. The girl he���s had a crush on for years is acting strange as well, delivering cryptic messages to him that things are not what they seem. When he discovers a secret room in the library, Sean finds himself faced with a life-changing decision, one that could either save the world or plunge it into centuries of death and destruction���with Sean ruling over all.

Samhain Horror…it’s all about the story.

“Share the Horror” Why? Because We’re a Happy Family, That’s Why/

I recently read an article posted on Jim McLeod’s GINGER NUTS OF HORROR site (you can read it HERE). He made some good points and got me thinking. As horror writers and musicians, we’re constantly forced into being self-promoters. This makes us look like egotistical dicks most of the time, but it comes with the gig. If we don’t shout it out loud over and over and��over again, people aren’t going to know we (or our goods) are here and available. ��Well, Jim went brought up something that some of us may do (whether intentionally or not I can’t say), and that’s a lack of sharing. You know, on social networks, the “Share” button? Yeah, we have all of these friends and comrades in arms on Facebook and Twitter and we’re all pushing our Brand, but Jim pointed out that it feels like some of us think we’re all fighting for one piece of pie. Like if I share your book, that somehow loses me a chunk of cherry, or a sale if you will. Now, I don’t know how many of us do this with with the dark side of the Force coursing through our veins, but I think it’s something to consider. I know if I just add “Please share this” on Facebook, I get like five shares out of the hundreds of friends I have. Now, they could be busy, or have their settings so that they miss my post, or they just don’t want to do it. I don’t know. A lot of times they just hit the “like” button. (Hey guys! The “share” is right there next to it!) I don’t want to come off as a whiny baby here, because when I really have something important to share and I go to my friends individually, 9/10 come through for me and help me out. But that’s me. I’m not afraid of rejection or the word no, or someone telling me to fuck off!

With all of this in mind, I decided to spend Black��Friday sharing books I’ve read this year that I loved. And you know what? It felt GREAT! Not sure if I helped anyone, but I know a few friends added some of my “shared loves” to their Good Reads, and a bunch more commented and shared them with their friends. I’d say my self-less campaign (coined “Share the Horror”) was a smashing success. And I’ve decided to try and make it a monthly thing. I invite all of you to do the same.

Here are the 20 books I shared:

These are the 20 I shared. I tried to stick with smaller writers, but Barker and Keene slipped through the door.

If any of these covers look good to you, click on them and they will redirect you to the corresponding Good Reads page.

Buy ‘em and add ‘em to your to-be-read lists!

SHARE THE HORROR.