What a day at Horror on Main in Harrisburg, PA. Getting to rep Bringing in the Creeps at a reading with Kim Pinzon and Dead Talk slot, getting to meet one of my absolute favorite people in horror, Mick Garris, one of the most down-to-earth cats out there.
Also special meeting Friday the 13th film series composer, Harry Manfredini, but even more rad hanging with my man, John Boden and seeing musician-author Dee Calhoun again. Networking and making new friends. It’s what it’s all about. Thank you, Kelli, for giving me this tremendous opportunity and also to my publisher, Tony Anuci, for a clutch last-minute delivery to make this moment happen. Grateful all around.
Sixteen years covering metal, punk and horror with a layoff, I’m now honored to have been invited as a contributing writer for the Metal Hall of Fame. Does my heart seriously good.
Today is my book birthday for Bringing in the Creeps!
From the morbid mind of Ray Van Horn, Jr. comes the sequel to his horror compilation, Behind the Shadows. Van Horn dares you to step inside the degenerate crevices and chasms of Bringing in the Creeps. 11 more tales of decade-spanning delirium housing monstrosities, murder and assorted depravity. Where the unholy returns from the dead for another run, where murder is raised beneath the neon glow of an 80s arcade, where the Evil Dead raids a punk rock show, where an unimaginable abomination rises from a reservoir and where a persecuted teenager finds gory revenge delivered him from the stars. Witness a vehicular game of death from beyond circa the 1950s. These are the grotesque misdeeds of ghouls, monsters, freaks, werewolves and repulsive death dealers. Ray Van Horn, Jr. is bringing in the creeps. Going forth with the weeping and the sowing of carnage on high.
Available at Anuci Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, Walmart.com, Kindle, Nook and Kobo and many other retailer outlets.
Staying hot while the oven’s cooking. Coming soon, my horror story, “Bentalou Crush” (all my 29 years’ worth of mortgage title company peeps are gonna want in on this) will be appearing in the terrors from the workplace anthology, Dread Mondays. Edited by Stephen Capone, Jr.
This is one of the proudest moments of my writing life. I have my copy of Martin Popoff’s monstrous Iron Maiden compendium, Hallowed Be Their Name: The Unofficial Iron Maiden Bible and feeling so grateful to see 13 of my Maiden live photos in the 20th chapter, “A Matter of Life and Death and Flight 666.” Also sections of an interview I did with Nicko McBrain at the same album cycle on pages 132, 421 and 480.
A little background context to my contributions to Martin’s tome. I had interviewed Nicko for Caustic Truths magazine and we got on particularly well. He liked my questions, said I was creative, and the bloke was a total riot. Very funny man. At the end of our chat, Nicko told me I was considered on their guest list for the Camden, NJ show with photo pass.
A hiccup from the PR got me the photo pass but not the full show ticket, so that was a shock, but Maiden had played mostly songs from A Matter of Life and Death that night, which contains marathon numbers. Usually, a pit photographer is granted the first three songs of a set in front of the crowd barrier before they are escorted out. With the selections Maiden chose that night, I was in the photo pit for nearly half an hour. As my all-time favorite metal band, it was euphoric being right under the band all that time and I got my two absolute favorite shots of my entire portfolio of Steve Harris and Janick Gers, both appearing in this book.
Because of my early departure, I headed back to the parking garage and if you know Camden, NJ, it can be a bit rough in spots. I was stalked by a gang to the garage and I saw them fanning out as I had to be extra crafty working my way through the levels, ducking behind cars once I heard three of them describe me in detail so they knew who their target was. I nearly pissed myself, but as they got even more separated, I got dodgier sneaking to my truck and when I was finally safe, I pulled my cap down over my face and got the hell out of there.
What a night I am grateful for on many levels.
Final note, the publisher of this book is the same as my wife’s Healthy Witch book and oracle deck and Four Little Witches. There’s some kind of kismet in that, I think.
Boom! Operation Creeps is a go, and I mean business!
Now available for pre-order for the June 20th release of Bringing in the Creeps at Anuci Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, Wal Mart.com and other media outlets.
We have a winner for my Name That Ghoul contest in advance of the release of my new horror collection, Bringing in the Creeps!
My wife set the bar way high with “Drefan,” “Kek” and “Sephtis,” any of which I would’ve proudly used. The two entries which cracked me up the most were “Ack” and “Gary,” LMAO!
In the end, Michael Raven from Minneapolis stuck the landing with “Avernus,” as in the Italian volcanic crater which translates as “portal to Hell.” Congrats to Michael and I thank everyone who submitted an entry!
Hail, Avernus, and you can now pre-order Bringing in the Creeps (which drops June 20th) through Anuci Press, Amazon, Walmart.com, Barnes and Noble.com and other media outlets.
My next major horror project is already cooking inside my head, but this one’s going to take a good bit of development and research before I do actual writing. When you have such a daunting task, you start with the Bloody Best.
Roads Lesser Traveled 