Stephen Mark Rainey's Blog, page 7

Coming This Weekend — Scares That Care AuthorCon V in Williamsburg, VA

This coming weekend—March 28–30, 2025— Scares That Care Presents AuthorCon V is happening at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Williamsburg . AuthorCon is one of the biggest and best gatherings of horror/fantasy/science-fiction authors and fans on the planet, and I will be there (along with Ms. Brugger) to scare the pants off of you. Look for me in the hotel's Promenade area, where I'll have plenty of copies of The House at Black Tooth Pond (also check out the brand-new audiobook , now available from Audible !), Fugue Devil: Resurgence, Deathrealm: Spirits, Blue Devil Island , The Gods of Moab , West Virginia: Lair of the Mothman , and many others on hand.  AuthorCon V is three-day charity event that features hundreds of authors, a massive dealers' room, and top-notch programming. This year's guests of honor include Victoria Price, Christopher Golden, Mary SanGiovanni, Gemma Amor, Phillip Fracassi, Laurel Hightower, Eric LaRocca, Todd Keisling, Jonathan Janz, Shane Hawk, Red Lagoe, Bitter Karella, Maurice Broaddus, Adam Cesare, V. Castro, Tim Waggoner, Scott Cole, Mike Slater, Robert Smartwood, and Dakota Lawrence.  I'll be doing a reading (along with Richard Dansky) on Saturday (March 29) at 3:30 p.m. The official, full programming schedule is available here .

I hope to see you there!
Visit the Scares That Care Presents AuthorCon V Website

Foodz, Booze, Brewz, and Such

Martinsville isn't a very large town, and we don't have but so many local dining and drinking options, though Brugger and I do our best to support several exceptional establishments in town. Third Bay Café, right up the street from us, is owned by an old high school buddy of mine, and it remains one of our favorite go-to restaurants anywhere. Their big ol' cheeseburger is easily the best in town; Brugger often gets a "burger salad"—one of their excellent house salads topped by a burger! Third Bay's dinner menu isn't all that extensive, but everything on it is consistently excellent.

At a recent gathering of friends, Kimberly and I met a nice couple named Scott and Jamie, so we got together with them last weekend at what was, for me, a new discovery. Scuffle Hill Brewing, in nearby Collinsville, has been around for a pretty good while, but we'd never visited it before. The several brews I tried were all excellent, and they carry wine from Hamlet Vineyards, a very good local winery in  Fieldale, a short distance up the road. After Scuffle Hill, we had dinner at Yamato Japanese Restaurant, one of a couple of decent Asian restaurants in town. They feature a hibachi area with some exceptionally agile teppanyaki chefs, but we prefer their sushi bar; the dead fish is always superb.

Renewal Brewing in Uptown Martinsville has become one of our favorite destinations. They have several excellent brews and hard seltzer concoctions. It's located in the basement of one of the old buildings in town, and we find its speakeasy decor perfect for our tastes. The owner also runs Mountain Valley Brewing, out in the scenic boonies around Axton, not too far out of Martinsville. We've only been there once, but revisiting it is on our near-future schedule.

Our most upscale dining option can be found at TAD Tavern, Uptown. It's relatively new, and we've only been there once, but based on that experience, I give it top marks. You may walk out of the place speaking consoling reassurances to your wallet, but the food, service, and atmosphere could not be better. High marks all around!

Anyway, this is my shout-out to some of our favorite local spots. This is far from exhaustive, and several more deserve accolades, so I'll yak about them in a future entry. For now, g'day.

A Fine Review of THE HOUSE AT BLACK TOOTH POND at Zombo's Closet

Another fine review of The House at Black Tooth Pond , this one by JM Cozzoli at Zombo's Closet !
“The House at Black Tooth Pond is filled with keep-turning-those-pagessuspenseful chapters.... Rainey is one of a handful of writers who can give youthe supernatural, the cosmic, and the eldritch terror in carefully measureddoses that intoxicate you with their simple cleverness and absolute dread.” Zombo's Closet Reviews The House at Black Tooth Pond

Old Dude Visits Magnolia & Main Bookshop

Our little corner of southwest Virginia has a small but well-stocked and beautifully appointed bookshop called Magnolia & Main Books , which you can find—perhaps shockingly!—at the corner of Magnolia and Main Streets in Ridgeway, Virginia. The proprietor, Traci Morton, loves books, her business, and actively supporting local writers. Last year, she hosted a booksigning for me, which turned out to be well attended and profitable for both her business and me ( see "Books, Brews, and Bashes," July 21, 2024 ). Today, I went down to the shop, and she conducted a nice video interview with me about The House at Black Tooth Pond and lots of other writing stuff.

Sadly, our first recorded attempt went awry, thanks to an unexpected technology glitch, but we soldiered on, reshot the interview, and you can check it out above. I'll be doing another booksigning at the shop in May, probably on the 17th.

If you're local, please pay Magnolia & Main Books a visit!

Old Dude Visit Magnolia & Main Bookshop

Our little corner of southwest Virginia has a small but well-stocked and beautifully appointed bookshop called Magnolia & Main Books , which you can find—perhaps shockingly!—at the corner of Magnolia and Main Streets in Ridgeway, Virginia. The proprietor, Traci Morton, loves books, her business, and actively supporting local writers. Last year, she hosted a booksigning for me, which turned out to be well attended and profitable for both her business and me ( see "Books, Brews, and Bashes," July 21, 2024 ). Today, I went down to the shop, and she conducted a nice video interview with me about The House at Black Tooth Pond and lots of other writing stuff.

Sadly, our first recorded attempt went awry, thanks to an unexpected technology glitch, but we soldiered on, reshot the interview, and you can check it out above. I'll be doing another booksigning at the shop in May, probably on the 17th.

If you're local, please pay Magnolia & Main Books a visit!

THE HOUSE AT BLACK TOOTH POND—A Starred Review in Publishers Weekly!

WOOT! Publishers Weekly gives my newest novel, The House at Black Tooth Pond , a starred review.

“Rainey brings Lovecraftian horror to rural Virginia in this chilling tale...the grounded and believable characterization of his protagonists makes suspending disbelief easy. This is cosmic horror done right.” Publishers Weekly

I know this week falls in the middle of the Amazon boycott, but if you'd like an autographed copy of the paperback, just shoot me an email at mark (at) stephenmarkrainey (dot) com, and I can almost certainly accommodate you. The audiobook has just come out from Audible, narrated by the inimitable Joshua Saxon; so when the boycott is over, please avail yourself...

In the meantime, here is a list of retailers where you can buy the ebook.

The House at Black Tooth Pond Review at Publishers Weekly

THE HOUSE AT BLACK TOOTH POND—A Starred Review in Publisher's Weekly!

WOOT! Publisher's Weekly gives my newest novel, The House at Black Tooth Pond , a starred review.

“Rainey brings Lovecraftian horror to rural Virginia in this chilling tale...the grounded and believable characterization of his protagonists makes suspending disbelief easy. This is cosmic horror done right.” Publisher's Weekly

I know this week falls in the middle of the Amazon boycott, but if you'd like an autographed copy of the paperback, just shoot me an email at mark (at) stephenmarkrainey (dot) com, and I can almost certainly accommodate you. The audiobook has just come out from Audible, narrated by the inimitable Joshua Saxon; so when the boycott is over, please avail yourself...

In the meantime, here is a list of retailers where you can buy the ebook.

The House at Black Tooth Pond Review at Publisher’s Weekly

Distant Early Warning Alert—Scares That Care AuthorCon V!

It's looming on the horizon— Scares That Care Presents AuthorCon V —happening at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Williamsburg , March 28–30, 2025. AuthorCon is one of the biggest and best gatherings of horror/fantasy/science-fiction authors and fans on the planet, and I will be there (along with Ms. Brugger) to scare the pants off of you. Look for me in the hotel's Promenade area, where I'll have plenty of copies of The House at Black Tooth Pond (and check out the brand-new audiobook , now available from Audible !), Fugue Devil: Resurgence, Deathrealm: Spirits, Blue Devil Island , The Gods of Moab , Ameri-Scares: West Virginia: Lair of the Mothman , and many others on hand.

A programming schedule will be available soon.
AuthorCon V is three-day charity event that features hundreds of authors, a massive dealers' room, and top-notch programming. This year's guests of honor include Victoria Price, Christopher Golden, Mary SanGiovanni, Gemma Amor, Phillip Fracassi, Laurel Hightower, Eric LaRocca, Todd Keisling, Jonathan Janz, Shane Hawk, Red Lagoe, Bitter Karella, Maurice Broaddus, Adam Cesare, V. Castro, Tim Waggoner, Scott Cole, Mike Slater, Robert Smartwood, and Dakota Lawrence.
I hope to see you there!  Visit the Scares That Care Presents AuthorCon V Website

Now Available: THE HOUSE AT BLACK TOOTH POND Audiobook!

It’s here: The House at Black Tooth Pond audiobook, narrated by the incomparable Joshua Saxon, now on Audible—brand new from Crossroad Press!

Joshua Saxon’s lengthy list of credits includes The Upwelling by F. Paul Wilson; Demogorgon , A Coven of Vampires , Fruiting Bodies , and numerous other titles by Brian Lumley; Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite; Submerged by Brian Keene; The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis; Blue Devil Island by....me!...and many, many more.
Get The House at Black Tooth Pond Audiobook on Aubible Here!

Return to the Black Lodge

About five years ago, I placed a series of Twin Peaks –themed geocaches ( "Project Blue Rose" ) in various locations in Greensboro, one of which lurks deep beneath the city streets in an old storm drain system. Yesterday, I was caching in Greensboro with friend Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), and it came to my attention that he had never claimed this particular hide. I'vewanted to check on it for a long time—caches placed in such an unfriendly environment frequently end up damaged or going missing—so I suggested he go after it with ye olde cache owner accompanying. He found the idea agreeable.
So, off we went to ground zero: a culvert entrance, about four feet in diameter, which hides at a small creek that flows through Greensboro's Lindley Park neighborhood. We haven't had a lot of rain lately, but a strong, steady current of water flowed through the pipe. Fortunately, both of us had worn our trusty, waterproof hiking boots, so, with flashlights in hand, into the gaping maw we went.  FYI, long before my "Project Blue Rose" series, this particular tunnel had been used for a stage of a multi-cache called "Greensboro Underground" (which I found in June 2009; you may read about that wild adventure here ). I credit that underground excursion with curing me of arachnophobia, and had Scott and I found ourselves back in a cramped chamber filled with giant, hairy wolf and fishing spiders, I might have experienced afair adrenaline charge; however, it's too early in the season for the big multi-legged monsters to be out and about, and I reckon that's fine.
  I found that out, this many years later, negotiating such a cramped spacefor such a distance caused me a bit more physical discomfort than it had in those old days (okay, yeah, it hurt), so in the future, I may need to limit my subterranean excursions to those that allow for standing upright. The top of my skull will thank me.

Once we reached our final destination, I was pleased to see that the Project Blue Rose container remained intact and in its proper location. The log sheet, however, had gotten soaked, so I will need to replace it. I can do that next time I'm in the area; I reckon my back and knees (and head) will hold out for at least a few more ventures into these deep, dark confines. Maybe I'll plan my next one for when the spiders are out and about, just to get a charge. Anybody wanna go along? Looking back toward the entrance as we make our way in...
L: The view ahead...as far as our flashight beams will reach; R: Diefenbaker claims his prize