The 2012 That Was and My 10 Favorite Books of the Year!

2012 kicked ass.  Simple and awesome, it was one of the best years a person could ask for.  The writing really started to get somewhere this year and there were some great things going on along with it.  Over the course of the year, I had stories come out in six anthologies as well as a few other accepted ones that are upcoming.  I had tales in Little Stories for the Smallest Room, a short non-fiction piece in Zombie Writing!,  Short Sips: Coffee House Flash Fiction Vol. 2, Father Grim’s Storybook, Undead Tales 2,and I received the honor of closing out Ten Silver Bullets. The big moment for the year was the release of my first solo work, a novella called In Memoriam. This year also saw me give my first book blurb for my friend Carl Moore on his novella Slash of Crimson (a very good read-go pick it up).  One of the most fun things I took part in however, was the book signing with my friend and fellow author Wesley Southard in October.  I finished up work on a handful of new stories and I am in the last stretch of the first Southern Devilsbook.  If you like zombies and history smashed together, this will be for you.

Here at the blog I had interviews with Nate Southard, Tim Lebbon, and Armand Rosamilia, a few different blog hops roared through, and I had my best viewer year ever because of all of you stopping by to take a look.  The Twitter, Facebook, and blog follower numbers have all increased this year and I hope the trend continues into the new year.

2013 looks promising too.  There are more anthologies on tap and some more surprises in store for you readers out there.  But first, without any more delay…my favorite books of 2012.  There are some older books, I wanted to branch it out to the books I’ve read over the last year.  Fear not, the focus is still on this year’s releases.

These are in no order at all…

1.  Edward Lee- The Infernal Series…  For this, I read the whole series back to back and the way Lee portrays Hell as a city called the Mephistopolis was amazing.  He constructed an entire working city-scape complete with a demonic caste system and even an evil economic system.  All three books are worth picking up and reading when you think society around you sucks.  Remember, it could always be worse…

2.  Anthony Kiedis w/Larry Sloman- Scar Tissue… Yes, there is a biography on the list.  The lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers gives ua a raw and no-holds-barred look into his life and his constant battle with drug addiction.  At times uplifting, sad, and horrific, Kiedis shows the reader everything that has made him who he is.

3.  J.F. Gonzalez and Wrath James White- The Killings…  A very tightly written tale about racism, murder, and evil.  The story takes place in two different timeframes, 1911 and 2011 Atlanta.  A series of killings in 2011 mirror a series of murders in 1911.  Carmen Mendoza is a reporter who thinks they have found the link between the two sets of murders as well as a string of other deaths that have occurred in the Atlanta area over the years.

4.  Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee- The Woman… This is the third book in Ketchum’s series about a tribe of feral people living in the wilds and the bloodbath that follows them.  She is alone and finds herself captured.  The woman is being broken.  A sick man and his family have made it their duty to domesticate her, to tame her wildness.  But all the best intentions never end well and the violence he showed her is about to be repaid a hundred fold.  The Cemetery Dance hardcover also includes the bonus novella “Cow”, which serves as a nice coda to the book and leaves the door open for more to come.

5.    Kelli Owen- White Picket Prisons… A tale of justice in the town of Valley Mill where there is no crime and when Detective Mark Baker tries to track down his sister there, he thinks he finds the utopia his burned out soul has been looking for.  But for Mark, things are never what they truly seem behind the false fronts and smiles.  Something lurks beyond the happy town’s front that could be his end.  This book came along at a time when I was preoccupied with justice and how things go unpunished.

6.  J.F. Gonzalez and Brian Keene- Clickers vs. Zombies… This was the most fun I had reading a book all year long.  At first, I thought the idea sounded absurd, but it turned out to be a full-on B-Movie like assault through both author’s mythologies.  When Ob and his minions begin to inhabit the dead bodies of the Clickers, characters from both worlds cross-over in a riotous time.  This is worth it to see some of your favorite characters in positions and jobs you’d never expect them to be in.

7.  Nate Southard- Something Went Wrong…  A short story collection where each story is a great read.  Nate’s short story writing is amazing and every tale is worth reading.  My favorites in the book were, “Team Building Exercise”, “In the Middle of Poplar Street”, and “Going Home, Ugly Stick in Hand”.

8.  Geoff Cooper- Answers of Silence… The second story collection on the list is a very dark and ironic look at the world around us.  Overall a strong collection where I enjoyed every story.  For a taste of how twisted Coop can be, I recommend “Latex: Like a Glove”.

9.  Jeff Strand- A Bad Day for Voodoo… A funny romp through the day that Tyler Churchill decided the best way to deal with his teacher Mr. Click is with a voodoo doll.  When the tables are turned on him, he must survive long enough to reverse the curse placed upon him…if there’s any of him left.  At times while it’s really crazy and bloody, it packs the laughs a Strand novel is known for.

10.  Brian Keene- Earthworm Gods II: Deluge…  If I had to pick a favorite, this is the one.  Picking up where the first Earthworm Gods left off, the survivors of the great rains struggle to live through the constantly rising waters and the new creatures coming up from the deep.  The book was at first a serial novel on Keene’s website, but he re-edited it and this is the collected version.  I waited until the book came out to read it and I wasn’t disappointed at all.  The novel also serves as a lead-in to the next stage in his mythos with The Lost Level, which he working on now.

And there it is my friends, this is the end for this year.  I’ll see you again in 2013 where we’ll start kicking ass again!

Goodnight…

The Wheel Keeps Turning

Sitting in the darkened theater with my two sons watching “Skyfall”, something hit me.  A major portion of the storyline for the movie is how much the world has moved on and that age will eventually catch up with all of us in the end.  Since my mind is prone to wandering, it started to really think long and hard about those themes running in my life.  The whole thing really was triggered a few weeks ago on my birthday.  Sitting at a few years from 40, the realization of age and mortality begins to set deeply in.

I’m not going to sit here and say, “well, I hiked 20 miles in the snow for a cold biscuit”, to say how old I am.  I will sit here and miss the days of my innocence.  Looking at my sons, I feel bad for them.  I’m not saying they have it rough, believe me…they don’t, but their childhood compared to mine is so much more complicated.  I have to shove them out the door in the summer when we used to get in trouble for not being back when it got dark.  We didn’t have phones, iPods, our own computers, the internet, and the vast amounts of video games.  We played on a playground, we rode our bikes for miles, we played baseball and football games that lasted all day, and the occasions we did play video games was only for an hour or so before we turned them off and went outside again.

I think this is more the rambling reminisces of a man who is creeping to the mid-way point and the memories from the simple days of youth come roaring back.  The increased burdens life throws on makes the mental jaunts back to the bygone days more and more welcome.  Raising a family, working a job, doing volunteer work for the kids, and trying to keep the writing gig going takes a toll on you after a long while.  Believe me, I feel done most of the time anymore.  I think the thing that weighs on me the most right now is the writing.  The balancing act between working on a story, looking for markets, the social media aspects, and trying to sell your work is trying.

But for those times when the world seems to suck the life out of me, I fight back with Star Wars (I will also be doing a podcast interview soon where I know they will ask about my feelings on the whole Star Wars-Disney thing)…

Goodnight…

(OK, I realize that is in fact not night, but it seems to have become my sign-off line.  Now bugger off, it’s night somewhere in the world right now…)

Yes, that is me in a Yoda ears hat and posing with my R2-D2 Pepsi cooler, get over it…

Halloween is Near, So Let Us Coffin Hop!

Here we are again kiddies, the baddest of bad, the scariest of scary, the Coffin Hop 2012.  Last year I wrote several posts about authors I dig that you should be digging too.  In my “10 Questions” feature I have from time to time, John Everson , Nate Southard, and Jeff Strand entered the arena and survived their battles.  This year I want to take it back a bit.  There is one guest lined up to step in the arena and as soon as the interview comes back, you’ll be in for a treat.  The other days, I want to focus on what music, movies, books, and such influence me and my work.

Before I begin however, there are some housekeeping things to tend to.  First, to see what other amazing authors are on the Coffin Hop go here and hit the Linky Link 2012 button, to check out the Scavenger Hunt at Melissa Smith’s website visit here, and to support the upcoming Coffin Hop anthology to benefit literacy programs by picking up some sweet Coffin Hop swag drag your mouse this way and click here.

For those who have found me here for the first time, hello.  I want you to step inside and get comfortable.  Fire up a cigar and pop open a beer.  Kick your feet up on the table, hell I don’t care.

But once you settle in and feel like everything is going to be ok, I’ll plunge you down into the dark depths of humanity and the evil lurking in the shadows of our very minds.

No, really…I’m glad your here and please feel free to roam around the site (nothing will bite…much).  This year is new to me because before I only had anthologies to promote, but this year I have my controversial novella In Memoriam.  A signed copy is part of this year’s prize package as well as an electronic copy of the Coffin Hop Anthology E.P. ( a short preview of next year’s full anthology), and a few nice paperbacks from some of my favorite horror authors.  To be entered in the drawing, you must make a comment on any blog post this week during the Coffin Hop or sign up to follow the blog (comment once-comment often).  You can earn extra entries by following me on Twitter or “liking” my fan page on Facebook (links are over on the side).  Already signed up for all the social media places to find me?  That’s fine, just comment and you’ll be entered!

Well, that does it for today.  Tune in Wednsday for the top 10 albums that haunt my dreams and me scream when I write and on Friday night, author Tim Lebbon stops by to answer the “10 Questions”!

Goodnight…

Hoosier Horror Hop…Final Thoughts

Sorry folks, I am a day late with my final post to the Hoosier Horror Blog Hop.  First, I would like to thank Red Tash for putting this little piece of Indiana together.  Now everyone knows we do more than watch basketball or grow corn, we write about what lurks under the bed at night.  So, if you haven’t had a chance to catch the other blogs on the hop, go to Red’s site and click on one any of the other hoppers.  You won’t regret it!

It is no secret I love horror.  I write it, read it, and watch it.  Nothing beats that feeling deep in your gut or that shiver running down your spine when fear creeps in.  Being scared is fun and scaring people is even more fun.  This love of the dead, the undead, and those somewhere in between is why I love Halloween.

Halloween is the one night when everything I love isn’t pushed back in the dark corner and kept away from the world.  It is that one night where those of us who like spooky things can stand up and shout to the heavens, “We love horror!” and not get any weird glances.  Stores are decked out with ghosts, vampires, and tombstones.  I buy my office decor this time of year, because to me and many others like me, Halloween isn’t one day or a month.  Instead it is a way of life and a way of looking at things.

So this year, go out and celebrate the dark side of things.  This year, don’t hide your love of horror when the calendar flips to November 1st, keep reading it, watching it, and supporting it.  Buy a tombstone and leave it in the flower bed, buy a book from a hop author or any other horror author, and just go out and freak somebody out!

In closing, this week is a big week for me coming up.  My first novella In Memoriam will be released from Rymfire Books and editor Armand Rosamilia.  This is a very big step for me and I’m scared to death.  Funny, I said above I like being scared, but this is different.  Once the eBook and print version go on sale, I will point you in the right direction.  It is not for everyone and the views expressed will be seen as controversial.  So please, if you read it and like it review it on Amazon.  On the flip side, if you read it and have issues with the subject matter, give it a fair review based on the story and not on your beliefs.

I leave you now, but we will meet again on the twisted and dark back roads through the Indiana farmlands.

Goodnight… (ok, it’s day give a guy a break)

The Hoosier Horror Hop is Here!

Happy Halloween boils and ghouls, I will be your host for my part of a trip through the dark underbelly of the Hoosier state.  Here a crop of horror authors have banded together to scare you and we hope you’ll enjoy your hay ride through our neck of the woods.  To get the locations for other stops on the maddening tour go to Red Tash’s website at http://redtash.com/HoosierHorror.  From there your tour will take you to the edge of madness and to the lines separating life from the afterlife.  We’ve been waiting…

Me?  I’m Brent Abell and I write horror stories and other twisted tales of dread and sorrow.  I reside in Southern Indiana close to Kentucky and Illinois.  This area helped shape me and gave me the blocks I’d need to follow this path I’ve chosen.  All around our area, we have small churches with ancient cemeteries.  I once tried to break into an abandoned tuberculosis hospital because we heard about the spirits walking the halls at night.  Gazing through the windows at the blood-stained sheets still drapped over the rusted and broken down bed frames left a feeling and impression about our lives and what awaits us that never left me (neither did running from a guy with a shotgun, the sheriff who answered the call, and the way I felt those still living within the walls).  Close is also Willard Library which is infamous for the sightings of the ghost known as the ‘Lady in Gray”.  Tales of severed heads rolling across covered bridges in the moonlight all tell us we’re not alone here.

My path throughout my life has led me to this moment.  I am a few days away from the release of my debut novella In Memoriam.  I hope to show others that we can scare with the best of them here in Indiana.

During the week, I’ll feature guests from other hops, some tales from this area, and my musings on Halloween, the best time of the year.  So pull up some hay, toast some marshmallows, and prepare for Halloween…Hoosier style.

Goodnight…

On-Line Reading and Interview

Evening kiddies, I just wanted to give a quick little bit of info.  Last night I recorded a reading and discussion about my views on the horror genre with Austin Moss at whattheglasscontains.com.  It went very well and had an unexpected twist.  I began by reading my flash fiction piece “The Conversation” (from Pill Hill Press’s Daily Flash 2012).  I didn’t plan on reading anything else, but the topic of today’s society and how the horror genre fits in started up.  I spoke a bit about In Memoriam and how it came from social issues facing the country today.  In the end, I read the prologue to the novella and it was well received.  I will post the links to the interview when it goes live around August 27th.    Hope everyone goes and checks it out.

Now Armand and I will begin the final edits and get it out for the masses.

Goodnight…

Quick Appearance Update…Updated!!!!

A quick appearance update for everyone.  I will be with Wesley Southard at Comics Unlimited for a reading and signing on October 20th 2012.  Find all the lovely details over in the Appearances section.  I also aim to go out for beer since it also my birthday.  I accepct beer and rum donations…

I will soon be changing some things around here to prepare for In Memoriam and beyond. 

And I will also be doing a reading/interview/discussion online Monday.  Not sure if it is live or will be broadcast later.  I will give you all more details when I get them.

UPDATE:  The online interview and reading will be at a later date.  August 27 is the target date.  I’ll get links when the date is firm.

Well, things are looking up!  I have two novellas going and both are waiting to be looked at by some places when I finish with them.  After that the novel that is sitting around plotted and ready to go will be my focus.  Throw in some shorts here and there, a short story collection, and I’m going to be a busy guy for the rest of the year.

The next few post from me will be from Star Wars Celebration VI so the tone is going to skew geeky for a week.

Later…

The Journey: Novella Thoughts pt.3

Ok, let’s go.  See that guy next to these words?  That’s me.  Well, 35 pounds heavier, but I assure you it is me.  See that one book in front of him?  Now it would be 13 anthologies with him.  And now the solo stuff is coming.  The pic is from Horrorfind Weekend in 2011 where I read and sat at a table to sign something if something was brought to me (I did sign some programs in the elevator.  I was flattered, but I was also drunk and still drinking at the moment.  I even had two beers in my hands).  I hope everything keeps moving in the current direction and I can have some fun doing what I love to do…tell my tales with droplets of blood. 

When I turned in the synopsis for In Memoriam, I was scared for my life.  It’s one thing sending a short story out, but to send something bigger freaked me out.  What was once a short story idea written out on a few sheets of notebook paper turned into a 18.000 word work that I was proud of.  Within a week or so, I was contacted back to send the first three chapters.

That was even more gut wrenching. 

Then I got the word they wanted to read the rest.  And the rest was sent.  Once Armand Rosamilia and myself talked about it, we agreed it needed some work.  First, I was shocked it got to that point.  Second, I was even more shocked we were going to go forth with it.  We discussed the piece and decided the bones were there, but I had some work to do.  I began the process of going through and looking at it with a different set of eyes.  These eyes were looking at how to drive it more, to build it up more, and kick you in the heart more.  I started the rewrites a few months ago.

Then something happened to me.

I have a tendency to struggle with depression from time to time and I got hit hard this summer.  I’d been working tons of hours, struggling to stay up on things at home, and get my writing done.  Something had to give and it was me.  For a few weeks I would power up the laptop and then stare at the keyboard.  The muse was gone.  I’m still not sure where it went, but she left me and I had nothing.  I’ve heard the tales of writer’s block, but I never knew how it could strike without warning and leave you a hollow shell grasping at anything to get you going again.

I’m still not sure what happened.

The muse came running home and slammed into my brain like a freight train.  I was quickly able to finish the rewrites, finish a story I’d been working on with another author I’d lost my way on, and I took pictures-made notes-started writing my second novella.  It’s been a productive week.

So, now we will begin the task of going through the manuscript for In Memoriam again with a fine tooth comb.  I’m hoping to get it all ready before the book signing I’m planning for my birthday weekend.  It looks like October 20th, 2012 at Comics Unlimited in Evansville Indiana will be the coming out party.

The experience has been a good one and I’ve learned a lot about the craft, about me, and about the voice I’m settling into.  I hope when the work starts coming out, you will enjoy it too.

Welcome to the ride my friends…come inside…come inside…

Goodnight…

What Happened to Me? And Some Updates…

Ok, I’ve been putting tons of thought into this lately…What the hell happened to me?  I was a nice quiet boy once.  I didn’t curse, I didn’t hate the light, and I read nice fantasy books.  I slipped and I slipped pretty big.  It’s not a bad thing though, I am who I am. 

After years of being force-fed the same lines over and over, I rebelled against what was expected of me.  Once I read that first Stephen King book in sixth grade, it was all down hill from there.  Do I regret my weird fall from the nice kid to the me that sits here typing this?  No, because if I hadn’t changed and opened up, I’d be doing something other than writing. 

Why do I choose to write horror fiction?  Because I think everything else is boring.  Ok, I digress.  I do like some sci-fi and fantasy stuff, but zombies, crazed killers, and demons are where I hang my hat.  In high school and college I liked to sit in the back of the class.  The kids in the back were their own individuals and made their own way.  Horror fiction writers remind me of that group I sat with in class.  We are the kids who sit in the back of the literary world and shot spitwads at the other genres.  We are the ones who don’t raise our hands because we were out drinking and partying till four in the morning and we can’t get our heads off the desk.  We are the ones your mother warned you about. 

We are also a family.

In the short time I’ve seriously chased this dream, I’ve been blessed to meet some really great authors and been given really good advise.  They opened their arms and drew me in, showing me what they did right and wrong, to always work at your craft, and if I find success I should pay it forward to the next crop of writers.  I accept this challenge with open arms and I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor.  Sometimes finishing something is like giving birth.  I push and squeeze and push until the tale plops out of head onto the paper.  Yeah, I agree…bad analogy.

I’m in the home stretch of rewrites on In Memoriam.  The process has been much more painful than I thought it would be.  What I’ve completed so far is stronger and better, so it’s a win.  Once I finish it, we will begin the next round of edits and get this thing done so I can spring it on people at the book signing planned for October.  More to follow on that as the time gets closer.

Well, I’m done rambling for now so,

Goodnight…

On “Lights Out” and Interview with Nate Southard!

Nate Southard is brutal.  His writing is tight and visceral.  In the short time I’ve been exposed to his work, I’ve devoured almost everything he’s published.  He’s brought us the cruelty of Just Like Hell, a view from the end of the world in This Little Light of Mine, and the will to survive the monstrous in Red Sky.  It’s been one of recent works that really caught me when I read it.  Lights Out is a lean and mean descent into the Hell of Burnham State Maximum Security Prison. 

Beneath the walls of the prison, two convicts attempt to dig their way to freedom only to disturb a force that’s slept for years.  Now awake, it’s thirsty and it wants blood.  So begins the tale of vampires and other monsters.  Unlike the ‘new’ vampires in todays culture, Nate gives them their horrific edge back.  No beautiful people falling in love, just pure blood lust and evil, the way it should be.

The vampires aren’t the only monsters however.  Within the walls of the prison lives the evil that manifests its self in humanity.  Diggs, Sweeny, Marquez,  and Ribisi are the men with the power within the walls.  They are the men in charge of the four gangs vying for supremacy among the prisoners.  When the bodies first start to mount up, the gangs blame each other and look to take the fight to their adversaries.  Father Albright and Warden Timms want to control the situation and keep the gangs from retaliating.  It is these characters where Nate really shines in the book.  The prisoners and the staff are so well-rounded and their stories so interesting that I found myself wanting to read more about them and less about what happened when the sun went down.

Once the body count starts rising and the bodies themselves are vanishing, Father Albright works to form an alliance between the gangs to find the reason for the brutal attacks and killings happening at night within the prison.  Albright must do all this behind the warden’s back while he is trying to save his job from a governor who is quite upset about the murders in the prison.  The book follows the men on their quest to save the prison and the extent they can trust those who are their sworn enemies.  It all leads to a riotous conclusion that was both tightly written and satisfying.  Oh…and bloody.

Lights Out reminded me a lot of Salem’s Lot, which I consider ‘the” vampire novel after Dracula.  Like in Salem’s Lot, it is the build up of the characters and the slow burn that makes the book great.  The denizens of Burnham feel real and true.  Their distrust of one another and their forced alliance tightens the screws and doesn’t let up until the last page.  Overall, I highly recommend grabbing a copy and reading it, you won’t be sorry.  Thunderstorm Books still has a few copies, so click over and pick it up before it sells out.

Now as a special treat, Nate has agreed to enter The Arena to answer the 10 Questions!  So without further ado, here is Nate Southard:

1. After completing Lights Out, I was blown away by the way you put the monster back into the vampire. How did you prepare to write the novel?

-Honestly, I’ve never read many ‘romantic’vampire stories. The ones I always loved were things like Kin’s ‘Salem’s Lotand McKammon’s They Thirst, so I’ve always pictured vampires as brutal monstrosities. All of my preparation went into researching how things generally work in prison. Once I had a very basic outline in place, I put in Faith No More’s Angel Dust (which I listened to exclusively as I wrote the first draft), hit play, and got to work.

2. The characterization of the inmates, especially the gang leaders, is brutal and Burnham is such a rich backdrop. What planning and research went into the people who inhabit the prison?

 -Well, I tried really hard to schedule a tour of a prison, but it appears the State of Texas doesn’t do such things. I interviewed a few people who’d worked as correctional officers to find out what a day in the life is like. I wanted to know things like how much freedom inmates have during the day, what happens during a lockdown, and a whole host of other things. The rest of it was deciding what these people had done, what they believed in, and what sort of moral code they upheld. To this day, Marquez is my favorite creation. I love his strange mix of anger, wisdom, and honor, all while capable of doing some truly horrific things.

3. While reading the novel, the character of Maggot reminded me of somebody. Is he your novel’s answer to Renfield in Dracula?

 -I can see where he kind of fits that mold, but I really wanted Maggot to be the guy who probably should have wound up in a psychiatric hospital instead of a prison. He’s felt like a victim most of his life, and then he ends up in a place where he’s the ultimate victim. I’m sure there has to be people in prisons who are just terrified day in and day out. That’s Maggot.

4. I found This Little Light of Mine intriguing and at the end I wanted to go on further. The world you created within the parking garage seemed like a piece of a much bigger puzzle. Is it something you plan on returning to in the future?

 -Good catch! This Little Light of Mine started as one-quarter of a novel called The Collapse, which would show a global apocalypse from four different places. My plan has always been to write four novellas and then splice them together like a movie. One of these days, I need to get around to writing the other three. They’re all in my head, just not on the page.

5. How do you go about writing a new Nate Southard novel. Do you plot out everything with an outline or do you just dive-in and let the story take you where it takes you?

 -It depends on the piece. Some of my stuff, like Lights Out and Just Like Hell, got pretty sparse outlines. With Red Sky, all I knew was that I wanted to write one scene near the end of the novel. I saw something that just struck me as really horrible and beautiful at the same time, and I wanted to put it in a novel. I had to write about fifty thousand words to get there, but it turned out all right. Other times, I just start writing scenes that stick in my head until somehow they fit together and make sense. The title novella of my new collection, Something Went Wrong, was partially written that way.

6. I am a big fan of beer. How did your homebrew turn out?

 -My first batch, a brown ale, turned out both delicious and potent, but it never did carbonate right, probably because of a mistake I made while bottling. Right now, I’ve got an IPA on storage that I’m hoping will get nice and fizzy in the next two weeks.

7. Don’t hurt me, but I haven’t got to Scavengers or Down yet. They are high the reading list though… What is on your reading list right now?

 -I just finished reading Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, which is amazing from start to finish, and I’m getting ready to start John Horner Jacobs’ Southern Gods. After that, it’ll probably be some Laird Barron and Paul Tremblay, unless Sarah Langan has a novel coming out that I don’t know about. She always goes on top of the pile.

8. What upcoming projects do you have in the pipeline you haven’t been sworn to secrecy about?

                                      -My new short story collection, Something Went Wrong, should be out from Thunderstorm Books in another week or so. Go look for it. The title novella is the most deeply personal thing I’ve ever written. After that, I have another zombie novel coming from Creeping Hemlock sometime in the next year or so. Everything else is half-finished or looking for a home.

9. Where can readers go to find out about everything Nate?

 -I try to keep my website (www.natesouthard.com) updated nice and regularly, but people can also check me out of facebook (www.facebook.com/natesouthard) for semi-regular snark, song lyrics, and pictures of me going to food trailers. Also, I’m not one of those facebook folks who spreads a lot of memes, so you don’t have to worry about me clogging your news feed.

10. The last space…this is yours to say anything about anything.

                                    -Everybody should check out my latest novel, Down (from Sinister Grin Press). It’s about a rock band whose plane crashes in a forest that contains some nasty surprises. I think it’s a big step forward for my fiction, and I hope everybody reads it.

Bonus question: Who wins in a cage match? Nate Southard or Wrath James White?

 -Wrath. Roughly four seconds in.

I would like to thank Nate for stopping by and I’d also like to thank all of you for stopping by  too!

Goodnight…