Dreadful Tales Book Club – August Edition

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Meli Yoroshiku

We’re already 5 days into August and I haven’t told you about this month’s title. But not to worry, the book we have lined up runs at such a break-neck pace I don’t think you’ll need the whole month to finish.

This is a fitting title to welcome home Colum McKnight, one of the creators of Dreadful Tales and a man who was conspicuously absent from the virtual world for the past few months. In case you missed it, he made his resurgence on the site just last week and we couldn’t be happier to have him back.

So, about the book. What makes this particular title so special and why is it befitting of Colum’s homecoming? I’ve mentioned more than a few times that Colum was the one to stoke my interest in modern horror fiction often guiding me to his favorite authors. He was also the person to encourage me to share that enthusiasm with other readers by reviewing books. The path that lead me here (at least in regards to my reading and reviewing) can be traced back to one specific care package from Colum a few years ago which contained three novels. In it were novels by Jeff Povey, Shaun Hutson, and our Book of the Month author of August….

Drum roll please…..

John Everson!

This month we’re reading his latest novel NightWhere (Samhain Publishing 2012) which I reviewed last month and you can see what I had to say about the book here.From the Samhain website:

She yearned to go beyond… but some curtains should never be opened.

When Rae broached the idea of visiting an underground sex club, Mark didn’t blink. He should have. Because NightWhere is not your usual swingers club. Where it’s held on a given night…only those who receive the red invitations know. Soon Rae is indulging in her lust for pain. And Mark is warned by a beautiful stranger to take his wife away before it’s too late.

But it’s already too late. Because Rae hasn’t come home. Now Mark is in a race against time—to find NightWhere again and save his wife from the mysterious Watchers who run the club. To stop her from taking that last step through the degradations of The Red into the ultimate BDSM promise of The Black. More than just their marriage and her life are at stake: Rae is in danger of losing her soul…

John Everson is one of those authors that hits all the right notes for me. He has a passion for horror, of course, especially the satanic and erotic type, but he also has a love for music that is evident in his writing as well. Every novel has its own unique soundtrack that pulsates along with the action of the story and that’s just one of the many elements I love about his books.

Without further adieu, please give a warm welcome to John Everson and his latest novel of sexual depravity, NightWhere.

You can get a copy from the Samhain Publishing website or Amazon or anywhere else cool books are sold. Join in the discussion as you read at The Mortuary message boards in the August Book of the Month thread.

Be sure to follow John Everson on Twitter, friend him on Facebook, and check out his website.

Dreadful Tales Book Club – July Edition

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Meli Yoroshiku

We have the perfect summer read for the Dreadful Tales Book Club this July (twenty-twelve is already halfway over!?), James Newman’s The Wicked. We’ve uttered the name Newman more than a few times around here and knew when we saw the cover for the reprint of The Wicked that this had to be the next Book of the Month. Well, it was actuallyRue Morgue Magazine’s Stuart FEEDBACK Andrews that put the bug in our ear, but it took very little convincing. Still, thank you, FEEDBACK!

Fans went nuts when they saw Jesse David Young’s artwork for Shock Totem’s revised and expanded edition. Reviews started rolling in shortly after the re-release with equal praise for the story promising that Newman’s book was bringing back the beloved horror heyday of the 80s.

I hope you will join us this sweltering July as we pull up a chair next to the window air-conditioner to cool off with a read that promises to deliver 80s horror nostalgia and a good scary story. This will actually be my first Newman experience, so it’s extra special for me.

You can get your copy from Shock Totem or Amazon in Kindle or paperback format. With a cover like that I had to have the real thing, so I opted for the worn looking paperback version which comes with faux grocery store price tag and all.

If you’re still wrapping up the June Book of the Month, Michael Louis Calvillo’s Lambs, don’t forget to stop by and share your thoughts at The Mortuary’s official thread here. For July’s discussion of The Wicked, you can connect with readers here.

Join usssssssssssss!

-Meli

Dreadful Tales Book Club – June Edition & Giveaway!

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Meli Yoroshiku

June marks the third month of the Dreadful Tales Book Club and while each selection thus far has been darkly sweet we have an extra special month of grim reading ahead.

Gregory Lamberson, author of May’s Book of the Month Carnage Road, scanned the darkest corners of his book shelves to find the perfect title for you macabre maniacs. This month we’ll be hanging out in The Psychopedia Necronomicon forum of The Mortuary message board discussing the literary prowess of the late Michael Louis Calvillo by digging into his novel Lambs (DarkFuse Publications, 2012).

From the DarkFuse website:

Plagued by a trio of murderous ghosts, Arthur has bigger problems than your average teenager. Young love, wild hormones, and The System haunt him, but those phantoms are nothing compared to the concern he has when watching the darkened corners and deep shadows around him. These spaces are now consumed by a spectral evil seemingly hell-bent on destroying everyone he loves.

As the bodies pile up, Arthur distances himself from his roommate, Connor, a pyromaniac crack-baby with destructive tendencies, and his girlfriend, Melanie, an all-American Satanist with a hidden agenda. He embarks upon a grisly odyssey of self-discovery in hopes of burying the past, cleansing his soul, and obliterating the blood-thirsty spirits once and for all.

In conjunction with this month’s book club we have an exciting giveaway courtesy of Lambs publisher DarkFuse Publications. We have 3 paperback copies of Lambs up for grabs. There are several ways to enter and each time you increase your chances of getting a copy. This giveaway will run for the next two weeks, so you’ll have plenty of time to join in the book club discussion if you win.

Here’s what you do:

(1) Like DarkFuse on Facebook. Not only does this count for one entry in the giveaway, but you can also claim a 25% OFF coupon. You just need to go to the “Special Offers” tab at the top of the page to redeem.

(2) Follow DarkFuse on Twitter.

(3) Visit the DarkFuse website and let Dreadful Tales know about your favorite DarkFuse title OR which title is on the top of your wishlist. You can do this by commenting below, telling us on Facebook, Twitter, or email (dreadfultalesstaff AT gmail DOT com).

(4) Post a review of a DarkFuse title on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads.

Any of the above-mentioned count for an entry in the giveaway, so the more you enter the better your chances. Just be sure to notify us via Facebook, Twitter, or email (dreadfultalesstaff AT gmail DOT com) each time you enter for verification.

Michael Louis Calvillo touched many lives not only with his great words, but also with his humble and gracious character. I hope you will join me in this celebration of his literary legacy for our June reading of Lambs.

-Meli

Meli & Jason Discuss ZIPPERED FLESH

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Meli Yoroshiku

As most of you probably know, we launched the Dreadful Tales Book of the Month Club, a book club for macabre maniacs hosted by The Mortuary, this past April with a reading of Zippered Flesh: Tales of Body Enhancements Gone Bad!. This short story anthology was initially on my radar because it included “Paraphilia” by one of my favorite authors, Lisa Mannetti, but it turned out to be a perfect collection for a horror book club, wonderfully morbid with widely diverse content. Zippered Flesh, edited by Weldon Burge and published by Smart Rhino Publications, contains 20 short stories by genre veterans and relative unknowns, but all share one common theme: (as you may have guessed) body enhancements.

Undoubtedly, each reader has their own expectation of what constitutes body enhancement and how that will be presented in Zippered Flesh, but you will find there are more imaginative horrors to body modification than strangely placed tattoos, piercings, or plastic surgery for wannabe Barbies.

One woman tries to become the ultimate sex object in Graham Masterton’s aptly titled “Sex Object.” Don’t be fooled though, this story isn’t concerned with ridiculously large breast implants or liposuction; rather we are introduced to a doctor that “used his surgical genius to create such erotic aberrations…”

There are historical pieces, like the deadly delights on the high seas in Elliot Capon’s “By Hook” and P.I. Barrington’s “Independence Day.” A couple stories present frighteningly realistic psychopaths while others still exist in the supernatural realm of our darkest fantasies.

Zippered Flesh features psychological drama with an unbelievable twist like Charles Colyott’s “Comfort;” straight science fiction, for example in “Unplugged” by Adrienne Jones; and future worlds offering body modification to unbelievable extremes like Jonathan Templar’s darkly humorous “Marvin’s Angry Angel.” This is a truly exceptional collection of stories sure to hit the hot spot of any horror fiction fan. Almost every tale is burned into my memory and with 20 entries that is phenomenal.

I could go on and on about how wonderful this collection is, and I do along with Jason Darrick in our Zippered Flesh podchat.

Be warned, there could be cursing, bad grammar, mispronunciation of author names and just regular English words! Please send all hate mail or complaints to the head of our complaint department, Jason Darrick. You can find him on Twitter or Facebook. Direct all compliments to the head of the compliment department, me (Meli)! You can post praise and romantic flourishes here or here. We can also be reached at dreadfultales AT gmail DOT com.

Enjoy!

(If you are interested in joining the book club, we are currently wrapping up Greg Lamberson’s zombie road novella Carnage Road. This is a short one, so a great time to start. We’re discussing the book here.)

Attend the Virtual ZIPPERED FLESH Q&A Panel Hosted by The Mortuary

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Meli Yoroshiku

Dreadful Tales has a special treat for anyone who has read Zippered Flesh: Tales of Body Enhancement Gone Bad!, the official Dreadful Tales April Book of the Month. Next week, from Monday 5/14 until Sunday 5/20, we have a number of the contributors of this wonderfully disturbing, weird collection of tales on hand to answer your questions at The Mortuary message board.

Here is a list of some of the authors who will be stopping by the boards:

Michael Bailey “Bootstrap – The Binds of Lasolastica”
Michael Laimo “Idol” (He’s also currently in production of the Chiller Network film adaptation of Dead Souls)
Adrienne Jones “Unplugged”
Charles Colyott “Comfort”
Christopher Nadeau “You With Me”
Scott Nicholson “The Shaping”
J. Gregory Smith “Something Borrowed”
John Shirley “Equilibrium”
L.L. Soares “Sawbones”
Aaron J. French “Whirling Machine Man”
Jezzy Wolfe “Locks of Loathe”
Lisa Mannetti “Paraphilia”
Jonathan Templar “Marvin’s Angry Angel”
Weldon Burge Editor and author of “Hearing Mildred”

In addition to having interesting discussions with the contributors and fanatic readers alike, a few authors have also offered up free digital copies of a title or two to giveaway to participants.

Stop by The Mortuary and pop into this thread to join the conversation.
Hope to “see” you there!

-Meli