Something Stirs

Late yesterday evening, new publisher Underland Press went live with their new website. Among the features you’ll find there are the first chapter of THE LIVING, my online novel, which is being written as per the choices made by the reader–a choose-your-own-adventure type thing. It’s an innovative and exciting project, and both the publisher and I are eager to see how it fares.

From the publisher’s website:

A WOVEL is a web novel

It is the first of its kind. The author writes it. The readers vote on it. Here’s how it works:

Every week, the author posts an installment. Installment length hits the sweet-spot of online reading—long enough to get interested, short enough to read in the cubicle at work. At the end of every installment, the author writes in a plot branch point. Does the heroine kill her lover? Will the zombies catch the soldier? Is the box empty, or is it filled with bees?

THE READERS DECIDE.

On Monday, the post goes up. Voting is open through Thursday. The author writes Thursday and Friday. The editors edit Friday and Saturday. The post goes back up on Monday. Part literature, part exquisite corpse. The pace of print journalism, the imagination of fiction, the spark of reader participation.

ONLY FROM UNDERLAND PRESS.
AND ONLY ONLINE.

* * *

I’ll also be discussing the project here as it goes along. It should be interesting. After all, writing without an outline is nothing new to me (I generally begin a story with just the concept and let it evolve on its own.) Writing when the major decisions are in the hands of the reader, however, is totally alien, and a challenge I’m more than eager to tackle.

Read the first chapter of THE LIVING and cast your votes here.

You can also read a nice writeup of the publisher and their various projects at Fantasy Book Spot.

Sounds like a melodramatic quote from a ’70’s B-movie, delivered perhaps by Christopher Lee, but the title of this post refers to some stories I have coming out soon in a duo of anthologies.

The first is a reprint entitled “They Know”, a lengthy tale of snowbound horror that will be familiar to anyone who has read the Delirium Books edition of my first collection RAVENOUS GHOSTS. “They Know” (and the shorter tale “Leftovers”) was added as an incentive for anyone who had purchased the book in its previous (and ill-fated) trade paperback incarnation. But as the Delirium edition was limited to a high-priced 150-copy run, not many people have had the chance to read the story. So, it will appear soon, appropriately enough, in the WINTER FRIGHTS anthology, to be published by upstart publisher Magus Press. The book will, as the title suggests, feature stories set in winter, that most unforgiving of seasons. Contributors include: Michael A. Arnzen, Eric Christ, James S. Dorr, JG Faherty, Darren O. Godfrey, Michael McBride, Joe McKinney, Lisa Morton, Kim Paffenroth, Stephen Mark Rainey, and Bev Vincent.

Preorder information will be available soon. The book is slated, unsurprisingly, for a winter release.

* * *

Next up is a brand new story entitled “A Letter from Phoenix”, which is slated to appear in Dark Scribe Magazine’s maiden anthology UNSPEAKABLE HORROR: FROM THE SHADOWS OF THE CLOSET.

From the publisher’s website:

“Set for release in trade paperback this fall, UNSPEAKABLE HORROR will feature an eclectic lineup of talent from both the horror and GLBT literary communities. To date, we’ve collected a brilliant sampling of queer horror stories that will surprise with their universally resonant themes while exploring the deeper aspects of the closet experience - coming out, staying in, being haunted by. From the ghosts of dead lovers and malevolent queer faeries to devious doppelgangers and twisted psychopaths, UNSPEAKABLE HORROR speaks to the ideas of innocence lost and innocence found…to revenge and redemption. Most of all, it’s about what lurks in those dark shadows at the back of our closets. And the horrors found there promise to be unspeakable.”

Joining me on the table of contents are Christopher Fox, L.A. Fields, Rick R. Reed, Lee Thomas, Micheal Hacker, Reesa Brown, Jude Wright, Erin MacKay, C. Michael Cook, Elissa Malcohn, Jan Vander Laenen, Kevin W. Reardon, Lisa Morton, Gary McMahon, Maria Alexander, Michelle Scalise, Joy Marchand, Scott Nicholson, Jameson Currier, and Sarah Langan, with more contributors to be announced over the coming days…

Cemetery Dance Publications posted a rather lengthy production update today. Included was some welcome news for those awaiting THE TURTLE BOY: PEREGRINE’S TALE and THE NUMBER 121 TO PENNSYLVANIA & OTHERS.

* * *

“We’ve received the amazing Alan Clark cover artwork (below) for THE TURTLE BOY: PEREGRINE’S TALE by Kealan Patrick Burke, along with the last of the interiors. This title is now headed to our designer.”

The Turtle Boy: Peregrine’s Tale (CDSS #6)
by Kealan Patrick Burke

Featured Artist: Alan M. Clark

At eleven years of age, strange things started to happen to a boy named Timmy Quinn. His ordinary life was abruptly thrown into chaos by the revelation that there exists a separate plane of existence reserved solely for the vengeful spirits of the murdered: The Curtain. Worse, Timmy is a conduit for these monstrous entities, allowing them to walk freely between worlds to exact their brutal vengeance.

His search for answers has taken him halfway around the world, forcing him to endure many horrors, among them the revelation that the spiritual realm known as The Stage may have been manmade, and that the dead do not operate of their own free will, but are instead influenced by an enigmatic figure known only as “Peregrine.”

About this man, Timmy knows nothing. But he will learn, and in time, he will come to know Peregrine as an adversary worse than the vengeful dead.

Herein lies the genesis of a monster.

• Limited Edition of 550 signed and numbered copies ($35)
• Traycased Lettered Edition of 26 signed and lettered copies ($175) 

* * *

“All of the materials for THE NUMBER 121 TO PENNSYLVANIA & OTHERS by Kealan Patrick Burke has been approved at the printer and we expect to see our first finished copies in about a month. In the meantime, Kealan’s massive new collection is receiving some terrific reviews, like this one from Rue Morgue:

“Each tale grabs you within the first few sentences and never lets go, resulting in a collection guaranteed to take you on one of the scariest rides of your life.”"

The Number 121 to Pennsylvania and Others
by Kealan Patrick Burke

Kealan Patrick Burke’s first collection RAVENOUS GHOSTS was released in a very limited run, promptly sold out, and now commands high prices on the secondary market. We are very pleased to introduce you to the author’s follow-up collection, an ambitious gathering of some of the tales for which he is best known.

The lonesome sound of a long forgotten train draws an old man to memories of a horrific past… A journalist makes the mistake of visiting a website where real-life executions are the order of the day… At the foot of an old tree, an insidious evil awaits two boys digging for treasure… A browbeaten salesman finds hope and a possible escape from the banality of his world when he returns home to find a fairytale beanstalk sprouting from his garden… A man resists the social pressure to quit smoking and puts himself at an unimaginable risk… A high school student accepts a dare to ask out the ugliest girl in school and enters a world of pain and violence… A bunch of barflies doomed to murder sinners get together for one last drink in a dying town…

These are some of the passengers, headed for a ride through the dark uncharted regions of the heart and mind, on a train unbound by any law but its own.

All Aboard The Number 121 to Pennsylvania.

There will be no stops.

Featuring nearly 550 pages of fiction by one of horror’s most popular young authors, THE NUMBER 121 TO PENNSYLVANIA & OTHERS concludes with original novella Saturday Night At Eddie’s and the screenplay “Mr. Goodnight”. Saturday Night At Eddie’s is the basis for the upcoming novel CURRENCY OF SOULS, and this is the only planned print version of the novella!

Table of Contents:
Introduction
“The Grief Frequency”
“The Number 121 to Pennsylvania”
“Mr. Goodnight” (short story version)
“Empathy”
“Peekers”
“High on the Vine” (original short story)
“Tonight the Moon is Ours”
“Prohibited”
“Underneath”
“Snowmen”
“Will You Tell Them I Died Quietly?”
“The Last Laugh”
Saturday Night At Eddie’s (original novella)
“Mr. Goodnight” (original screenplay)
Story Notes

Praise and Reviews:

“In 14 dark fantasies collected here, Burke creates characters whose angst opens them up to uncanny incidents and ghostly encounters that seem an extension of their own spiritual malaise… Burke shows skill at imagining expressive supernatural experiences appropriate for his well-developed characters and their agitated emotions.”
— Publishers Weekly

“Don’t read it late at night.”
— Booklist

Available in two states:

• Limited Edition of 1000 signed copies ($40)
• Traycased Lettered Edition of 26 signed and lettered copies bound in leather with a satin ribbon page marker and additional artwork ($175)

In 2004, Necessary Evil Press published my first novella, a coming-of-age story called THE TURTLE BOY. The book sold moderately well and snagged some great reviews, but it wasn’t until it won the Bram Stoker Award that the remaining copies flew out the door.

This was, of course, great from both Don (Koish, publisher at NEP) and me. But as a result, interest in TTB was heightened, with no copies available to meet the sudden demand. 

Cut to the present. One of the questions I’m asked most frequently (second only to “Where the f*** is NEMESIS!??!?”) is: “Where can I find a copy of THE TURTLE BOY?”

Now, the majority of readers who ask this question are not hardcore book collectors. By that I mean that they are (ironically enough, like me) more likely to buy a $7.99 paperback or a $22.00 hardcover at Barnes & Noble than a $50.00 signed limited hardcover from a small press publisher. So when I find myself answering this query with: “There’s a copy on eBay right now for $90.00,” or “Have you checked ABEbooks for a copy?” ($100.00+), I know without a shadow of a doubt that it’s not the reply the reader wanted. I also know that there’s no way in hell they’re going to part with that much money for a novella, no matter how much they’d like to read it, and I don’t blame them one bit.

Sometimes I’ll suggest that they try to find a copy in their local library. Occasionally, they’re successful. More often, they’re not. There was even an interesting case where two copies of the book showed up in the catalog of one reader’s local library. When he couldn’t find them on the shelf, he asked at the desk and was informed by the librarian that they’d been stolen. I wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or annoyed. I settled for flattered because the thief obviously had discerning taste;-).

All of which leads us to the question du jour:

As a reader, would you purchase a copy of THE TURTLE BOY if it were made available in a cheaper edition (say, a $15.00 unsigned trade paperback)?

If you already own the hardcover signed limited edition, would you feel cheated if a less expensive edition were made available?

Personally I would love to get THE TURTLE BOY back out there, if only so the people who want to read it (and from the correspondence I’ve collected since 2004, there are quite a few of you) can get an affordable copy. But there are, of course, things to consider.

Just to clarify, this is a thought that’s been bouncing around my brain. I have not discussed it with any publishers. I’m just thinking out loud and curious to see what the reaction among readers/collectors might be.

Your two cents is, as always, appreciated.

Kealan

RUE MORGUE have weighed in with a very nice review of my forthcoming collection THE NUMBER 121 TO PENNSYLVANIA & OTHERS. I won’t post the entirety of the review here for copyright reasons, but here’s the part I’ll likely be using as a blurb for promotion of the book:

“Each tale grabs you within the first few sentences and never lets go, resulting in a collection guaranteed to take you on one of the scariest rides of your life.”

Over the next few months, I’ll be writing an online novel entitled THE LIVING for Victoria Blake, a former editor at Dark Horse Comics, who is in the process of launching her own publishing company, Underland Press.

The novel will be written a chapter a time and structured as a choose-your-own-adventure story. To my knowledge, this has not been done online before, and I’m eager to see how it plays out. It certainly presents a unique challenge for me, as I’ll basically be writing a book in which the major plot points will be decided by the reader. I’m not accustomed to collaborating, nor have I ever written a novel without planning ahead, even if only in my own mind, but I can’t help but think that this “wovel”–to use the publisher’s term for a web novel–will push my skills as a writer and help hone them. Perhaps when I’m done, writing a novel under ordinary circumstances won’t seem quite so daunting.

Here’s the synopsis of the story:

THE LIVING

A virus has wiped out three-quarters of the world’s population.

For Madison McKay, nothing is more important than escaping the city with the child she carries inside her. Her destination: Salus Island, the last remaining sanctuary for those of her kind.

But outside the walls of the farmhouse in which she is hiding with a ragtag group of allies, left behind during the exodus to Salus, a desperate enemy awaits-A horde of murderous, bloodthirsty animals known as Humans. They are the Uninfected, doomed to live life as it always was, as it used to be before the Great Plague, leaving them mere mortals, vulnerable to injury and sickness, and death. Their only hope for a future is to capture Madison, and the hybrid baby in her womb, so that they may discover the secret to everlasting life.

And nothing will stand in their way.

With the help of her fellow Reborn, Madison must escape the farmhouse and make it to the coast and sanctuary while battling impossible odds.

How will they make it out alive?

You Decide.

For more info about this project, “wovels”, and Underland Press, please visit the publisher’s blogs at Foreword Publishing here and here.