Gregor Xane's Blog, page 20

The Diabolical Conspiracy by Bryan Smith

If you like your splatter cheap and nasty, you'll like Bryan Smith. If you want to read a story by an author who has an uncanny ability to continually trick you into thinking that he's just about to take things a bit too far for your comfort, you'll want Mr. Smith. If you like the idea of a book written in an invisible prose style that relentlessly drives every horrible thing humanity has to offer directly into your brain like a railroad spike through the eye, you'll like this book.
Read this...

Isis Sousa had some questions for me

(C) Isis SousaBrazilian artist, illustrator, and writer, Isis Sousa, has posted an interview with me on her Tumblr site. I answer questions about writing and am not particularly forthcoming.

If you'd like to read the interview, you can find it here.

Chuggie and the Desecration of Stagwater by Brent Michael Kelley

A non-Medieval Europe analog secondary world fantasy novel, with some SF sprinkles, and smothered with plenty of bloody horror gravy. If you like some interdimensional energy beings clothed in giant robot armor alongside hordes of undead ghoulies, black magicians, and scarecrow armies, then you're going to really like this.

I'm particularly partial to genre mash-ups like this. The only issue I had with the book was that it could have gone through another round of line edits. The writing itself...

"Read Tuesday" Deal: Six Dead Spots for $0.99

Read Tuesday is an event conceived by author Chris McMullen. He's basically convinced a slew of small presses and authors to discount books on Tuesday, December 10th. In theory, the low prices will help encourage book gift-giving this holiday season.

I've decided to participate, and my horror novella Six Dead Spots will be on sale now through this upcoming Tuesday for 67% off the normal digital list price. 
You can get the Kindle Edition from Amazon. 
You can also buy EPUB, MOBI, or PD...

Henry Martin had some questions for me

Henry Martin, author of  Coffee, Cigarettes, and Murderous Thoughts (among many others), is running a series of interviews with book reviewers over on his blog. Today, I'm his interview subject.

You can find the interview here:

http://mad-days-of-me.blogspot.com/2013/12/interview-with-gregor-xane.html

While you're there, you should also check out the interview with Feliks (a Goodreads mystery book reviewer). It's fantastic!

My Top 10 Favorite Books from the Last 12 Months

A Brief ExplanationHere's my top 10 list of favorite books read in the last 12 months. This isn't a Best of 2013 list, really. Only two of the books on this list were published in 2013, and my list covers books read from December 2012 through November 2013. I only tried to rank them because people really seem to enjoy numbered lists.

10. Clown Tear Junkies by Douglas HacklePublished: September 2013
Read: September 2013


I listened to the never-to-be-produced audiobook version of Clown Tear J...

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

Murakami's books are very hard for me to review/write about. Before I sat down to write this, I went back to look at my reviews for the other works I've read by him. They weren't helpful in the least. Two of the reviews were extremely brief and for the other book, it appears that I just left a star rating and went on with my life.

So, I guess I'll start by saying that Murakami has moved into my list of favorite authors. His writing style is so smooth, so idiosyncratic, and his subject matter...

Six Dead Spots Released! (Kindle & EPUB Editions)

My horror novella, Six Dead Spots, was just released. It's available in both Kindle and EPUB formats. There's a paperback edition on the way, too.

Here's what it's about:

Frank makes a startling discovery in the shower. He finds six strange circles of skin gone completely numb—three neatly spaced down the center of his chest and abdomen, and three more down his spine. His doctor takes sadistic pleasure in carving out bits of Frank's flesh and a perverse childlike glee flipping through hundreds...

Jeffrey Ford Story "Relic" at SchlockMagazine.net

If you've not yet read anything by Jeffrey Ford, here's your risk-free chance to give him a go. "Relic" is a fine entrance point into his short fiction.

Read it now!

Grudge Punk by John McNee

This is easily one of the best books I've read this year. It's labeled as Bizarro fiction, but I wouldn't categorize it that way. In my mind, this falls more in line with what folks a few years back were calling New Weird. It's the perfect blend of science fiction, fantasy and horror that manages to be none of those things. It's like the film Sin City set in some town in Mieville's Bas-Lag, where the citizens are all comprised of meat, metal, fiberglass, and random junkyard scraps. It's a wor...