I wasn’t a fan of reading when I was young. I was a lazy reader. Subjects and genres were always chosen for me during education, until I hunted for my own. I used to write a lot more than reading in early high school. I wrote a horror journal, submitted to my English teacher every week. He told me that my writing was good but advised me that reading the genre could help develop my ideas. Funny, a young teenager couldn’t work that out? So, off I went to the local bookstore and bought my first horror novel. I devoured it within a week. I've been a reader and writer of horror ever since.
First one would ask, why read horror? Why do you want to be scared? What makes horror entertaining for me is being scared when I know I’m in a safe place. I read this book before going to bed each night. I would tuck myself in and pop on my bed lamp. Whilst my lovely wife would be reading a fantasy novel or playing Farmville, I would read the terror of Paul Sheldon’s ordeal. He was in bed, terrified, and so was I! Whenever I turned the light off and settled in, I could here the winds outside, and every creak in the house would remind me of Annie Wilkes… wandering the house… You can read and admire this book anywhere. On a plane, library, in the lounge. But, take my word for it, do it the way I did.
My first horror read. It is dear to me. I picked it up off the shelf. It was neat and small in my hands, so not too overwhelming for someone who didn’t enjoy reading. However, I wanted to give the genre a try as I had been a hobby horror writer for a year or so beforehand. I liked the cover and blurb on the back, which was more of an excerpt, got me walking quickly to the counter to buy it so I could rush home to find out what was going to happen. This book opened the floodgates to the beauty of horror fiction. The excitement of the characters which had inspired my earlier experiments and still provides insights to this day. This is a wild ride, so grab on tight and let it take you as it had taken me.
Using ancient black magic, a dangerous, vindictive maniac is made all-powerful by his ability to become invisible. Raping and murdering his way around the States, he is biding his time before fulfilling his one desire—to get even with the high school belle who rejected him years before.
I went to the book launch in support of this author and had the pleasure of meeting him in person. I had not known much of his work previously but that has never stopped me from accepting an invitation to attend. I got the book home and made a start and was hooked by his elegant writing style. This is a book of short horror stories, each beautifully crafted, and inspirational as well as enjoyable. Collected works are a hard thing to get right, and Paulsen makes it look easy.
In this collection, readers will enjoy the very best of Steven Paulsen’s dark and weird tales. Included are stories such as a future where population forces families into terrible choices, the awakening of an eldritch horror in colonial British India, the steaming jungles of Vietnam alongside the spirits of the forest, and more.
A book I’d wanted to read for a long time, but it wasn’t until later in life I was able to get it. When I was just on the early stages of my writing career, my now longtime friend, Marty, said he had a spare copy of Cabal laying around and offered to send it to me. Marty was my writing mentor at the time as he’d been writing horror for many years previous, and his work is inspiring. So, knowing I was getting a book in the mail from my mentor, to whom I hadn’t met in person yet, was very exciting. The book itself was a tired secondhand copy (which I was told it was) yet this gave it more special meaning. Even the cover was a little torn and it was a pocket edition. So, I sat back with this little book, which I still have as a prized possession on my bookshelf, and dove into the frightening and exciting world of Midian. A true delight from start to finish.
A fabulous journey through the mind of the master of dark imaginative fiction, Clive Barker.
The nightmare had begun....
Boone knew that there was no place on this earth for him now; no happiness here, not even with Lori. He would let Hell claim him, let Death take him there.
But Death itself seemed to shrink from Boone. No wonder, if he had indeed been the monster who had shattered, violated and shredded so many others' lives.
And Decker had shown him the proof - the hellish photographs where the last victims were forever stilled, splayed in the last obscene…
An emotional and gripping collection of short stories. There is a saying that you should never meet your heroes or mentors, well, in my case it hadn’t become a nightmare, at least not personally. Behind the Midnight Blinds is a strong and perfect collection of dark horror stories. Each enrighed with the vivid imagination of the author. Funny enough, I have an honest relationship with the author, and we are never afraid to tell each other if something works or doesn’t. I walked into this book feeling very neutral, yet apprehensive about finding things I didn’t like, as I would need to point them out. It’s something we do, but if it can be avoided, all the better. Luckily, Marty made it easy for me here. Each tale just sank me deeper into his imagination, no matter how weird or disturbing, and I couldn’t help but think ‘why haven’t I thought of that.’ Read it.
From the introduction by multiple award-winning author Kaaron Warren:
"Marty Young epitomizes the theory that horror writers are amongst the nicest people. He’s done enormous amounts for the Australian horror writing community and continues to do so. He represents a positive figure to me, a person who loves genre and believes in it.
All of this shines through his work. This collection is like a love story to horror, and it demonstrates his skill as an author, his great knowledge of the genre, and his abiding, deep humanity. Marty Young has a heart (and no, it doesn’t belong to that…
Dig into the cold earth, pull away the damp leaves and burrow deep down to uncover true darkness...
Face the horror of war-torn Germany with Edmund as he fights to rescue his family. Confront the same overwhelming dread as Cody, in the midst of a futuristic prison, is haunted by his past and desperate for a chance at redemption. Discover true monsters aboard a slaver's ship on the high seas and witness a more twisted side to Christmas. Uncover these and other bleak mysteries in Beneath the Ferny Tree.
A small town in the grips of evil... a single mom with nowhere to turn... and a madman who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
He is the Collector, and he's taking prized possessions, pets, and children, keeping what he wants, and burying his rejects in shallow graves. When he comes after Rachel Logan, an ordinary schoolteacher living on a ranch with her grandmother and her two children, she has no weapon except her wits.
But how can she stop a monster who outdoes Hannibal Lecter in cunning and depravity?
A small town in the grips of evil... a single mom with nowhere to turn... and a madman who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
He is the Collector, and he's taking prized possessions, pets, and children, keeping what he wants, and burying his rejects in shallow graves. When he comes after Rachel Logan, an ordinary schoolteacher living on a ranch with her grandmother and her two children, she has no weapon except her wits.
But how can she stop a monster who outdoes Hannibal Lecter in cunning and depravity?
