Jack Rollins's Blog, page 6

Protected: Lake of Blood, by Jack Rollins – Part 5

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Protected: Lake of Blood, by Jack Rollins – Part 4

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Protected: Lake of Blood, by Jack Rollins – Part 3

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Protected: Lake of Blood, by Jack Rollins – Part 2

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Protected: Lake of Blood by Jack Rollins Part 1

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Become Part of the Story #BRM2 [HORROR FICTION EVENT INVITATION]

A couple of days ago we were treated to that rare celestial event – the Super Blood Moon. Horror writers and fans can easily see how this event slides right into the themes of all things that go bump in the night. The moon has long been associated with the genre, be it a lunar transformation into a blood-crazed beast, or the moon’s gravitational pull distorting the fluids in the brains of the insane, presenting us with murderous lunatics – the very word itself deriving from lunar, of course.

Sam Gregory saw the signs, she knew this was coming, and planned a month-long event to tie in with both the blood moon, and the coming of Hallowe’en. What better time for a celebration of new horror fiction? She came up with the Facebook event Blood Moon Rising 2 (she must have done another one of these sometime ago, before I was acquainted with her). The event kicks off today 1st October 2015, and runs right up to Hallowe’en.

I registered immediately to participate and, gulp, I get to take control of the event page this Saturday, 3rd October. I’ll be active from around 9am London time, and I plan to do a full, day long marathon session answering questions, posting some facts about my work and having some fun meeting all of the horror fans who come to get involved.

BUT THAT IS NOT ALL I’LL BE DOING

 

Oh no. I have elected to do something much more challenging than just that. You see, Sam invited the writers involved in this project to contribute a story for an anthology that would be given away for free (which you can grab now by following the link at the bottom of this post. Unfortunately, due to my current commitments I knew I couldn’t manage this. There is one day, though, that I have kept totally free on my schedule… 3rd October 2015… when I’m manning the pumps at the event.

I am going to write my story across the day and post it live.

I MUST BE AN IDIOT!

So it’s a bit of an experiment. I’ve done only the loosest planning for this. I have an idea, and that’s it. I know who the main character will be, and I have a very loose plot idea. Literally, a general outline of what it’s about. There’s barely a skeleton, so the story will develop organically throughout the day.

I can reveal that the story is a successor of sorts to Anti-Terror, the story I wrote for the Carnage: Extreme Horror anthology – which features the names of people who registered to be part of the story. Those who have read Anti-Terror already may remember a character called Professor Vincent Dover, high priest of the demonic cult House Grandier… well, he’s going to be the main focus of attention this time around – he’s in trouble and he’s got some pretty nasty tricks up his sleeve as he wrestles to keep control of the cult.

I need your help with this project, though. There is something you can give me, that will take away one job for me and save me some trouble. While I’m coming up with the events and places, maybe you could contribute a character name? How about your name? What do ya say? Would you like to be in my horror story?

What do you have to do?

Follow this link to a special registration page on Dark Chapter Press (my publishing house) where you’ll find a form waiting for you. Pop your details in there, hit submit, and that’s it. Join me on the Facebook event page this Saturday, get involved and see the story unfold.

Now, depending on the response, I may not be able to fit everyone who registers into this story, but if that’s the case, I’ll drop you into another suitable story but I’ll check it’s okay with you before I do. Either way, though, everyone who registers, will be eligible to receive a copy of this story (after it’s had a bit of a polish in the days following the event), as an e-book to thank you for your support.

Well, I hope to see you on Saturday, and to be writing about you soon!

Those links again:

Register Here

Participate Here

Get your free download of Blood Moon Rising: An Anthology of Horror, Sci-fi and Fantasy Tales here

Pick up a copy of Carnage: Extreme Horror from Amazon US or UK

Stay horrific!

Jack

Stuart Keane on Trick Or Treat Thrillers [Article]

Stuart Keane was recently interviewed for the Trick Or Treat Thrillers website, for the launch of his latest novella, Cine. In this in-depth piece, Stuart not only tells us about his fantastic new release, but he has some invaluable insights in there for horror writers. Take ten minutes out and enjoy.

Exerpt from the interview:

What gave you the idea for your book, Cine?

Cine was developed from a combination of different things. Once upon a time, many moons ago, I worked in a cinema. I was always amazed at the idea of working in a cinema, from a young age in fact, and I knew other people – people who applied for their ‘dream job’ – who shared this sentiment too. Who doesn’t like free movies, right? However, once you’re behind the scenes, once the curtain drops and the blinkers are removed, you realise that working in a cinema isn’t that fun, is not glamourous and it certainly isn’t a wise career decision.

Some of the people I worked with made the job a lot more difficult than it needed to be, and this was the prime catalyst for Cine, one that helped develop the dark undercurrent that runs throughout the book, and several of the characters.

To read the full interview, click here.

[Review] Ravensdowne by David Basnett

Let’s get the preliminaries out of the way, shall we? I’ve known the author for about 15 years now, so we’ve been friends for a good long while and compared notes on stories throughout our friendship. We have a loose collaboration in that sometimes I mention De Omori in some of my stories as a nod to him, and he sometimes mentions Tilwick in his stories as a nod back. We both appear in the anthology Kill For A Copy a horror publisher with whom we both have ties.

And after all that, I still hate this book. Just kidding! But you do need to know all of that before you read my honest review. David and I have always been clear on that, if the book isn’t up to scratch, we review and rate accordingly – it’s our duty as professionals to work that way.

Still here? Let’s get into it, then.

First of all, this book is the first adult horror outing for some characters set up across the Young Adult targeted Rise of the Vampire trilogy. I enjoyed that trilogy immensely, as do a great many other adults, so I was interested to see how he would make the leap into full-on adult horror.

Well, he doesn’t pull any punches, that’s for sure. David has operated on the fact that if you can read, you can read that the other books were ok for your teens, and this one isn’t aimed at them until they’ve grown up a bit.

De Omori, the vampire-hunting organisation of David’s work, send an operative to investigate a spate of brutal killings that have gripped the nation and spawned copycats. The investigation begins in north-east England and De Omori have specified that a disgraced policeman is reinstated to help on the case. That policeman, Will Hunter, seems to have an uncanny skill for seeing past the facades put up by the everyday human, and understands the darkness they keep inside. It gave him an incredible conviction rate until one fateful case ended his career for him. De Omori need him to use that skill once more and an uneasy partnership forms between Will and heroine of the original trilogy, Eve Evans, now a fully-fledged, battle-scarred agent.

Several characters draw us into Ravensdowne and as we wonder how an easily solved case related to the town of the title, all hell breaks loose and the duo are re-assigned. That’s when the story really kicks into gear and all of the unrelated characters you are introduced to start to click into place.

With the police overcome and the Army struggling to keep a lid on the disaster at Ravensdowne, only Eve and Will have the abilities needed to identify friend from foe. Of course, dealing with the foes is another matter, in a town devastated when the creatures who are the ancestor of the humanoid vampires are unleashed, spreading their venomous bite to create an army of blood-sucking killing machines.

Packed with suspense, splattered with gore and rammed full of action, Ravensdowne is one horror adventure you certainly don’t want to miss.

Dark Chapter Press – One Year On… | Stuart Keane

Stuart Keane shared his thoughts on the one year anniversary of Dark Chapter Press, following up on Rob McEwan’s earlier article. Take a look at his view on this landmark, from his perspective as both an author participating in competitions at the birth of DCP, to a member of the editing team who prepare to take Dark Chapter Press into a year where we will at least treble the number of titles currently available!

One year ago, I submitted a flash fiction piece to the very competition he mentions in the blog. I won with my submission, Pieces, which now has a home in Whispers – Volume 1: A Collection. This was my first attempt at flash fiction, so for Rob to pick it as the winner was a proud moment for me. Which brings me to my short point…

I said a year ago that Dark Chapter Press were going places. A year on, hindsight is awesome. If you’d asked me a year ago if DCP would have Shaun Hutson provide the Kill For A Copy foreword, I would have said yes. Call it intuition or something more, but I sensed that Dark Chapter Press were going to make waves. Sometimes, you just know, and seeing DCP progress, evolve and develop in the way I thought they would, it makes me proud.

Read the full article on Stuart’s website: Dark Chapter Press – One Year On… | Stuart Keane

First Review is in for Ravensdowne…

Jack Rollins:

I finished reading this fantastic book recently and need to pull my finger out and get the review up, but in the meantime, check this one out.

Originally posted on david basnett - author:

My first adult horror…

Well it’s been a long few months since I released Ravensdowne and I’ve been keeping half an eye on watching for reviews. It’s a weird feeling waiting for that first one. I can only liken it to standing with your exam result in your hands and not wanting to open the envelope to see your results, but on the other hand really wanting to open it!

So when I noticed a review had popped up on US Amazon and on Goodreads, I was torn between clicking the link and reading what had been said, and pretending that I wasn’t the author David Basnett and going to live like a hermit on one of the Farne Islands.

Well new authors like myself live or die by the reviews that we get and thankfully I clicked the link / opened the goddamn envelope and was delighted to read…

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