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Greetings!
You'll notice that the column this month is not being written by Chris Payne. It seems our President is busy with the demands placed on him by a rapidly growing company and a rapidly growing family. If he hasn't welcomed the new addition to his household by the time you read this, he certainly will before we have the chance to talk again. Please join me in welcoming his new baby to the JournalStone family. We all wish him and his bride the very best...and hopefully a few hours of sleep.
As you can tell from the articles in this newsletter, JournalStone is getting busier and busier as we try to bring you the very best in horror, science fiction, and fantasy. We are very excited at the release last month of both Limbus, Inc., and Poisoned Pawn. If you haven't bought your copy of either of these books yet, you are really missing out. Additionally, the latest edition of Dark Discoveries magazine is out. You'll find great interviews and articles, as well as some original short stories.
This month we are proud to present two more exciting books, Nightmare Ballad and Vaporware. The reviews for both have been great, and we believe you'll really enjoy them.
As I mentioned before, the JournalStone family just keeps getting bigger. In this newsletter you'll see that Leslie Gardner has joined us as Senior Acquisitions Editor. She brings a wealth of experience to this role, and will help us to provide you products of the highest quality. You've come to expect that from us, and we owe you nothing less. We are also very excited that Joe McKinney, Lisa Morton, and Brian W. Matthews have signed contracts that will see us offering even more superb books from these outstanding authors.
If you want to keep up with what we are doing day to day, check out our social media sites. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter at @journalstone.
In closing, I would like to thank all of you for your support. It's not easy to grow a business in these challenging times, and it certainly wouldn't happen without you. I'll make a deal with you. We will continue to provide you with great products, and you can continue to enjoy them.
Have a great day!
Russ Thompson
Public Relations/Marketing
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LOST GIRL OF THE LAKE
Lost Girl of the Lake
Joe McKinney and Michael McCarty
Bad Moon Books and Evil Jester Press
2012 (print), 2013 (eBook)
$18.95 (print), $3.79 (eBook)
Reviewed by Michael R. Collings
Lost Girl of the Lake is an almost perfectly textured book.
Generally, I try not to point overtly to technique in reviewing, since the purpose of a story is not to showcase an author's skill (or in this case the two authors' skill) but rather to tell a story. If admiration of technique distracts too strongly from the underlying narrative, then perhaps the writer(s) choose to concentrate on the wrong thing.
In the case of Lost Girl of the Lake, however, the texture-the language, the characterization through that language, the arrangement of words on the page to complete the authors' vision of the story-is so integral to the story that to alter one of the two elements would be to destroy the other.
From the first page, McKinney and McCarty create an ideal tone for a coming-of-age story that attempts-and ultimately produces-something much more. They masterfully manipulate the world-weary, experienced voice of a seventy-five-year-old man struggling to recapture, in his own memory if nowhere else, a seminal moment in his life, understanding as he does so how much that moment helped determine who he has become; and the naïve, wide-eyed voice of his fifteen-year-old self in the throes of discovery...discovery of sex and female beauty, of his unity with and simultaneously increasing isolation from his parents, of the encroaching hand of the past upon the present.
To read the rest of the review, click on the title link above.
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DEEP CUTS: 19 TALES OF MAYHEM, MENACE, AND MISERY - BOOK REVIEW
Deep Cuts: 19 Tales of Mayhem, Menace, and Misery
Edited by Angel Leigh McCoy, E.S. Magill, and Chris Marrs
Evil Jester Press
ISBN: 978-0615750897
February, 2013; $14.95 PB
Reviewed by K. H. Vaughan
Deep Cuts is a celebration of the influence of female horror writers, released for Women in Horror Month, 2013. The title refers to "deep cuts" in music - those great tracks on an album that do not get commercial airtime or are overshadowed by the popular hits. In a clever move, the editors required each submission to come with a short recommendation for a story by a woman writer, a deep cut from the history of horror fiction. The result is an anthology that reflects the strength of the female voice in horror today, and reminds us that it has always been present. It was a smart choice, and one that elevates the anthology by giving historical context and providing intriguing suggestions for additional reading - an added value most anthologies don't provide. The other smart editorial decision was to open the anthology to submissions by men and women. Despite honorable intentions, I am not sure how effectively we promote diversity in writing through exclusionary practices. If women horror writers are every bit as capable as the men they can hold their own in a fair competition just fine. And Deep Cuts is a wonderful demonstration that they can, and always have been able to. The inclusion of male authors also reminds us that it is not only female readers and writers that have been shaped by the great women of horror fiction. The anthology is a great celebration of Women in Horror Month in ways that a simple collection from women authors would not have been.
To read the rest of the review, click on the title link above.
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Benjamin Kane Ethridge In His Own Words
Hello everybody, I'm Benjamin Kane Ethridge and I'm a writer. Now I can just imagine the somber "Hi Ben"chorus that answers me. I'm startled at the creepy unison of it, but I'm not deterred in the least!
This May of 2013 marks the release of my fourth title, NIGHTMARE BALLAD. I've had a great couple of years. In 2010 my first novel BLACK & ORANGE won the Bram Stoker Award and my second novel, BOTTLED ABYSS, is nominated this year. I've written dark fantasy and science fiction mostly up to this point, always with the goal to write outside the boundaries. Not even close, is about where I normally aim my sights for, and, in all honesty, usually end up on the fringe.
Which brings us to my new horror novel, NIGHTMARE BALLAD, the first installment of a trilogy, published by the most wonderful JournalStone Books. So what's the story about? Okay, sure, that's fair to ask. But, in the interest of explaining the earlier comment about writing outside the boundaries, let's first talk about what this novel isn't about. Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, Slashers, Ghosts, Old creepy houses, Old creepy towns, Young creepy kids: no. It's not even about people waking up from horrible nightmares that might hint to something in their troubled past they have to resolve. Not to imply any of those concepts are inferior, but my book is none of that stuff.
My book is, however, about how frightening and bewildering nightmares can be.
The story follows Luke Rhodes. One day he hears a strange ballad in his head that twists reality. After a series of terrifying events, he escapes through a black curtain and leaves a living nightmare behind. The ballad hasn't left him though. Pieces remain. And when the song surfaces... the nightmare returns. Joined by his two wives and his miscreant friend Johnny Cruz, they resolve to discover the source of these "Lifemares," and, more importantly, how to escape. But time is against them. Innocent people are dying and these freakish disturbances are devastating the world they know. Will Luke find the singer of the Ballad before it's too late? Or will horrifying nightmares roam the world... forever?
To read the rest of the article, click on the title link above.
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About Us
JournalStone is a small press publishing company, focusing on horror, fantasy and science fiction in both the adult and young adult markets.
We are members of & actively support:
HWA - Horror Writers Association
WNBA - Women's Nat'l Book Assn.
IBPA - Independent Book Publishing Assn.
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One day, while instructing a swim class, Luke Rhodes hears a strange ballad in his head that twists reality. After a series of terrifying events, he escapes through a black curtain and leaves a living nightmare behind.
The ballad hasn't left him though. Pieces remain. And when the song surfaces... the nightmare returns. Joined by Luke's two wives and his miscreant friend Johnny Cruz, they resolve to discover the source of these "Lifemares," and, more importantly, how to escape them.
But time is against them. Innocent people are dying and these freakish disturbances are devastating the world they know.
Will Luke and his family find the singer of the Ballad before it's too late? Or will horrifying nightmares roam the world... forever?
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Video game projects get shut down all the time, but when the one Ryan Colter and his team have poured their hearts into gets cut, something different happens: the game refuses to go away. NowBlue Lightning is alive, and it wants something from Ryan - something only he can give it.
And everybody knows how addictive video games can be...
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SAN FRANCISCO, April 20, 2013 - JournalStone Publishing (JSP) President, Christopher C. Payne and Managing Acquisitions Editor, Joel Kirkpatrick, are pleased to announce that prominent editor, Leslie Gardner, has been named the new Senior Acquisitions Editor for JournalStone Publishing, effective immediately. In naming Gardner to the position Payne stated: "Leslie has had an extensive and distinguished career as an acquisitions editor and has displayed exemplary skills, dedication, and dynamism in her work and will bring these same skills, dedication, and energy to this new position as well."
About Leslie: Leslie Gardner has been reading/editing manuscripts from a range of writers, both new and established for all her career, as part of editorial team in publishing houses, as literary agent, as reader for the movies, television and theatre.
Her PhD is in rhetoric, and it is the variety and imaginative solutions to character, plot line and place in all kinds of narratives (especially speculative fiction) that writers invent that has always utterly absorbed her.
She first started listening and talking to writers and publishing houses from years at University of Iowa's International Writer's Workshop where Athol Fugard, Gail Godwin and Vance Bourjailly held sway years ago. Hundreds of thousands of manuscripts and books, and scripts later, she opens each new one with enthusiasm as if it's a gift for the holidays. Speculative fiction is a particular treat. Her published books and articles focus on popular fiction and communication.
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SAN FRANCISCO, April 15, 2013 - JournalStone Publishing (JSP) President, Christopher C. Payne is pleased to announce the signing of multi-year contracts with multi-award-winning, celebrated authors, Joe McKinney and Lisa Morton, each, respectively, for the publication of six new novels.
Joe McKinney will be writing a currently undisclosed three-novel series as well as three stand-alone novels. Lisa Morton will be writing two three-novel series, the first of which, Netherworld, involves Lady Diana Furnaval, who is on a mission to close the 81 gateways to the Netherworld. Even for a well-heeled widow in 1879, however, travelling alone can be difficult, so she's joined by a charismatic young man, Stephen Chappell, and a daring young Chinese sailor named Yi-kin on her global, and transdimensional journeys that will put her face to face with evil greater than she'd ever imagined. Ms. Morton will also be writing a second, currently undisclosed three-novel series.
About the Authors: Joe McKinney is a San Antonio based author of numerous horror, crime and science fiction stories and novels. His works include the four part Dead World series, the crime novel, Dodging Bullets, the science fiction disaster tale, Quarantined, his horror novel, Apocalypse of the Dead, these last two being Finalists for the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a Novel, and Flesh Eaters, which won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel for 2011. His short fiction has been collected in The Red Empire and Other Stories and Dating in Dead World. In his day job, Joe McKinney is a sergeant with the San Antonio Police Department, where he works as a patrol supervisor. Before being promoted to sergeant, Joe worked as a homicide detective and as a disaster mitigation specialist, with over fifteen years of law enforcement experience.
Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author of non-fiction books, award-winning prose writer, and Halloween expert. Her work was described by the American Library Association's Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror as "consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening", and Famous Monsters called her "one of the best writers in dark fiction today." She began her career in Hollywood, co-writing the cult favorite Meet the Hollowheads (on which she also served as Associate Producer), but soon made a successful transition into writing short works of horror. After appearing in dozens of anthologies and magazines, including The Mammoth Book of Dracula, Dark Delicacies, The Museum of Horrors, and Cemetery Dance, in 2010 her first novel, The Castle of Los Angeles, was published to critical acclaim, appearing on numerous "Best of the Year" lists. Her book The Halloween Encyclopedia (now in an expanded second edition) was described by Reference & Research Book News as "the most complete reference to the holiday available," and
Lisa has been interviewed on The History Channel and in The Wall Street Journal as a Halloween authority. She is a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award®, a recipient of the Black Quill Award, and winner of the 2012 Grand Prize from the Halloween Book Festival, and she recently received her ninth Bram Stoker Award® nomination for the graphic novel Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times (co-authored with Rocky Wood and illustrated by Greg Chapman). A lifelong Californian, she lives in North Hollywood, and can be found online at www.lisamorton.com.
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JournalStone's Jeffrey Wilson, author of THE DONORS , THE TRAITEUR'S RING, and the soon to be released supernatural thriller, FADE TO BLACK, will be one of 22 International Thriller Writers (ITW) authors who will host fans at the Inaugural "Fanfest" event, a new addition to ITW's annual Thrillerfest held each July in New York City.
The Fanfest will be an intimate event affording fans the opportunity to spend time with some of their favorite authors, mingle with the writers and other fans, enjoy cocktails and receive some great gifts from their sponsoring author. Other ITW authors attending include Lee Child, Heather Graham, RL Stine, Steve Berry, Michael Palmer, MJ Rose, and Joseph Finder, just to name a few. It promises to be a blast, so don't miss your chance to attend.
Each author and publishing house will use its own criteria to select the lucky fans. Here is how JournalStone's will work:
Readers wishing to attend the event, to be held July 12th from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan, will send an email to Jeff explaining why they should be the one to attend and spend the evening with Jeff and his fellow ITW authors and fans.
The winners will be notified by email not later than June 1st.
The Winners will be responsible for any travel and/or accommodations to and from the event. Attendance at Thrillerfest is not required, but this is a great event so why not make a weekend of it?
Send your emails to Jeffrey@jeffreywilsonfiction.com as soon as possible. Be sure to include your full name as well a contact email where we can reach you, and of course your compelling reasons why you would like to join us in New York. In the subject line please put: ITW CONTEST.
Please do NOT enter if you are unable to make it to New York on July 12th to attend the event!
Learn more about Thrillerfest and Fanfest at http://www.thrillerfest.com/
Learn more about Jeff and his work at http://www.jeffreywilsonfiction.com and look for his newest book, FADE TO BLACK, scheduled for release on June 14th, at your favorite bookseller.
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JS 2013 Publishing Schedule - Subject to additions/changes.
Benjamin Kane Ethridge - Nightmare Ballad - 5/17/2013 Richard Dansky - Vaporware - 5/24/2013 Gord Rollo and Rena Mason - Double Down I - 6/7/2013 Jeffrey Wilson - Fade to Black - 6/14/2013
Patrick Freivald - Special Dead - 7/12/2013
Douglas Wynne - Steel Breeze - 7/19/2013 Kristina Meister - The One We Find - 8/16/2013 Lisa Morton and Eric Guignard - Double Down II - 9/6/2013 Rick Hautala - The Devil's Wife - 9/13/2013 Lisa Morton - Summer's End - 10/4/2013 Christopher Golden - Mr. October - 11/8/2013 Patrick and Phil Freivald - Recovery - 11/15/2013 Joe McKinney and Sanford Allen - Double Down III - 12/6/2013 Allyson Bird - Bull Running for Girls - 12/13/2013 Lisa Morton - Netherworld Book I - 1/11/2014 Jaleta Clegg - Altairan Empire Book IV - 1/18/2014 Brian Knight - Phoenix Girls II - 2/7/2014 Harry Shannon and Brett J. Talley - Double Down IV - 2/14/2014 Gene O'Neill and Chris Marrs - Double Down V - 3/14/2014 Kristina Meister - A Handful of Seeds - 3/21/2014 Benjamin Kane Etheridge - Nightmare Ballad II - 4/11/2014 Brett J. Talley - That Which Should Not Be II - 4/18/2014 Rick Hautala - Mockingbird Bay - 5/9/2014 Jonathan Little and Mark Allen Gunnells - Double Down VI - 6/6/2014 Douglas Wynne - Untitled - 6/13/2014 |
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