The Residents of this Town Eat Zombies for Lunch by William McNally (Guest Post)

The Residents of this
Town Eat Zombies for Lunch

Welcome
to Auraria, a place the dead have never left. The setting of my latest book, Beneaththe Veil, is a ghost town forgotten by time and most everyone else. To
those lucky enough to drive by and keep going, this town is just a whisper from
the past with crumbling buildings and overgrown fields dotted with rusting farm
implements.  

Like
any place, this town has many sides and only the truly unfortunate get to see
them all. These people, the ones that stumble too close, quickly realize it’s
impossible to leave. So, what do you do if you find yourself trapped in this
unforgiving place? You try to make friends. Here’s a helpful listing of the
town’s most prominent citizens:

Barry (Rhodes)
Ryan
is a successful sculptor suffering from a terminal illness. Adopted when he was
an infant, he is forced to seek out a blood relative for a transfusion to save
his life. Frequently creates art work weighing several tons…

Jen Ryan, Barry’s adopted younger sister, is brave, independent and free
spirited. She works as a free lance photographer and lives in downtown Atlanta with her
boyfriend Jackson. Prefers shooting in black and white…

Jackson is Jen’s boyfriend. He’s an easy-going
dude who runs a small record shop. When he’s not slinging vinyl, he likes
hanging with Jen and her brother. Drives a ‘70s van…

Willow is a young, local girl with a charitable
heart who possesses a set of very unique talents. Loves children…

James Downs survived a
plane crash that stranded him in Auraria.  Retired military…

Don “Doc” Randolph is the de
facto mayor of Auraria. Doc provides free medical care to his neighbors…

Evangeline Rhodes hails from
an uncertain past and preys on the locals. She’s not really a brunette…

Ezra Rhodes is
Evangeline’s constant companion and takes care of many of her more unpleasant
tasks. Once owned a bank in town…

Owen Bigsby loves to
sample the corn liquor grown locally and is Auraria’s own town drunk. Lets
others control him…

Well,
there you have it, a sampling of the Auraria locals and don’t worry, there’s plenty
more of them to meet and many to be avoided.

Special
thanks to Beauty in Ruins for hosting the residents of Auraria, a town in ruins
located deep Beneaththe Veil.

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Beneath the Veil

William McNally



Genre: Paranormal/Science Fiction/Horror

ISBN: B00CZDVZLI

ASIN: 978-1481953627

Number of pages: 276

Word Count: 44,966

Amazon Paperback   Kindle

Book Description:

Welcome Beneath the Veil, a Place Where the Dead Have Never Left...

With his life turned upside down, a terminally ill man seeks answers from a family he never knew. Barry Ryan, a successful sculptor, goes on a journey to find his roots and the extraordinary family that somehow evades death and ties him to a terrifying future. 

Driven to find answers, Barry is joined by his sister and her boyfriend on the road to Auraria, a mysterious ghost town where terrible secrets lie hidden since the days of gold and greed.

All is well until they cross the city limits and fall beneath the veil, a place where the bizarre rules the living, and the living are prey trapped in an ever-changing web. 

Generations of conflict come to light as these unfortunate visitors struggle to survive. Echoes of the past are lethal here...in this place where the dead have never left.

αωαωαωαωαωαωαω

About the Author:

William McNally is a former executive, husband and animal advocate based in the mountains of Dahlonega, Georgia. Drawn to dark and thought provoking stories, he released his first book, Four Corners Dark in 2012 and recently followed it with his second, Beneath the Veil. Visit him online at williammcnallybooks.com for updates and events.



Look for William's next release, The Knights of Moonshine, spring 2014.

Web – www.williammcnallybooks.com

Twitter - https://twitter.com/WilliamMcNally

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/WilliamMcNallyWriter

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6477654.William_McNally

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What Readers Really Need by David Wellington (Author of Chimera)

You know what readers really need? A way to find books.



That might seem like a ridiculous statement. It’s never been easier than now to just jump online and type a few keywords in a box and find thousands of books that meet your criteria. Amazon and BN.com make it effortless to find books and buy them with a few clicks. But there’s a problem. Online booksellers can’t tell you if a book is any good.



Oh, they try. They get readers to review books, usually on a star system, and they even let them write little mini-essays about why such and such a book is great or terrible. But that system is way too easy to game. Nefarious people even pay for reviews, which makes the star rating hard to trust. And there’s another problem: if you find a list of a thousand books, how many of them do you actually click on before buying something? Five? Maybe just the first one. And that’s a terrible way to browse for books. Just because Amazon thinks that you really, really want to read the new Dan Brown novel doesn’t mean you’re going to enjoy it. I know for a fact that most fans of my gruesome, very non-romantic vampire novel 13 Bullets won’t enjoy Twilight, but that’s the next book you’ll see on most sites. Their recommendations are usually based on - at best - sales numbers. Five hundred places down that list there might be a fantastic book that you’d really love, but your never going to find it. Even if you really wanted to you would have to waste a ton of money working down the list. You’re going to stick with what you know, instead, reading just authors you know won’t disappoint you. Safe inside your comfort zone. But that’s no way for a reader to live.



So where do you turn? There are a bunch of recommendation websites out there.



Whatshouldireadnext.com asks you for the name of an author and spits out twenty more authors you might like. Sadly, there are no ratings - just links that go to Amazon. Literature-map.com gives you a fun graphic of author names flying around your favorite author, moving constantly so you have to chase down the links. Fun, but again, no ratings, and the only criterion here is how many people bought books by two given authors. You know what? Last year I bought non-fiction history books, science fiction novels, and children’s books (as gifts). Does that mean that every science fiction fan wants to read Good Night, Moon?



No, a real recommendation engine wouldn’t base its results on sales data, or who bought what, or five star reviews written by the author’s grandmother. It definitely shouldn’t base its results on reviews written by somebody who doesn’t like Amazon’s return policies and thought that a random book page was the place to complain. A good recommendation engine should come from a place of understanding books. Of understanding why people read. Ideally each book would be matched up with others by someone who loves the genre, or the themes, or what have you. That’s a tall order because it’s so labor intensive. But would it be so hard to write an algorithm that can tell you that if you liked Master and Commander you might enjoy Moby Dick?



I don’t have time to build such an engine, because I’m too busy writing my own books. But there’s a huge talent pool out there who could help - readers, in all their millions. Hardcore genre experts who can be impartial. And there are organizations that should definitely be in charge of hosting the engine, namely the International Thriller Writers, the SFWA, the Horror Writers of America, and so on—groups that exist purely to advance the careers of working writers.



It could be done.



But if somebody does it, they need to own it. They need to trumpet to the far corners of the earth that they have such a thing. It needs to be honest, with no chance for authors to buy good reviews. And perhaps most importantly, whoever runs the engine needs to demand that authors put a link at the end of every ebook, a listing at the back of every hardcover, saying, “Now that you’ve enjoyed this novel, head to www.blahblahblah.com to find another book.” NPR and the New York Times should do features on this great new service. Because nothing is sadder than a vital resource nobody knows is there.



In the meantime, may I recommend a book? It’s called Chimera, and it’s fantastic—you’re going to love it. A rollicking spy yarn full of action and thrills. Trust me. It’s by my favorite author.

αωαωαωαωαωαωαω

David Wellington is the author of numerous horror novels, including the 13 Bullets and Monster Island series. His newest book is his first thriller, Chimera, which is available July 23rd. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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For those of you who missed my review, you can check it our here.

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Stacking The Shelves & What I'm Reading

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme being hosted by Tynga's Reviews, while Mailbox Monday is being hosted by The Reading Fever this month (see Mailbox Monday for each month's host). Both memes are all about sharing the books you've added to your shelves - physical and virtual, borrowed and bought. It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey, and it's focused on what's in your hands, as opposed to what's on your shelf.

With an eye towards my plans for the next few months, I'm still trying to hold off on adding too much to the TBR pile, but I did pick up a few new titles:

Metal on Ice: Tales from Canada's Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Heroes

by Sean Kelly

Paperback, 208 pages

Expected publication: Oct 8th, 2013 by Dundurn



Acquired via NetGalley - Helix, Anvil, Coney Hatch, Killer Dwarfs, Harem Scarem, and Honeymoon Suite? 'Nuff said!







Appalachian Undead

edited by Jason Sizemore

Paperback, 212 pages

Published July 27th 2013 by Apex Book Company



Acquired via Apex Book Company, along with Jason's companion short, Mountain Dead.









Second Chance

by David D. Levine

eBook, 65 pages

Published July 11th, 2013 by Book View Café



Won via the Librarything early reviewers program.

Sudden Death Overtime: A Story of Hockey and Vampires

by Steve Vernon

eBook, 122pages

Published July 9th, 2013 by CreateSpace



A review request from a fellow Canuck, described as Slapshot meets 30 Days of Night.

You Are Sloth!

by Steve Lowe

Paperback, 150 pages

Published July 1st, 2013 by Eraserhead Press



No matter how towering my review pile is, I always find it hard to refuse a new Bizarro title.

As for what we're reading, the team has reviews coming up over the next 2 weeks for:

What's topping your shelves this week?

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Exploring the Conjure House with Gary Fry (#horror #bookreview)

In what feels like a much older novel than it is, Conjure House offers up a solid, old-fashioned horror novel story, the kind where the real horror always seems to be just off the margins of the page. Gary Fry establishes each scene beautifully, engaging the reader's imagination so well that it's often a surprise to look back and realize just how sparse the details are upon the page, when they're so vivid and vibrant in the mind's eye. It's a neat narrative trick, and one that's not easy to pull off, but it really serves to draw you deeper into the story.



Horror novels are often a bit odd, requiring a kind of patience that we, as readers, don't extend to other genres. We're generally willing to sit back and let the author establish the scene, foreshadow the real horror, and build up the suspense before finally allowing our fears to escape. Here, however, we get two of the strongest opening chapters I've read in a horror novel in quite some time. By the time we're through them, we already have the background we need to appreciate the horror, some sympathy for the protagonist, and a burning desire to find out what's really going on behind the doors of the Conjure House.



Fry makes use of a lot of the standard elements of the genre here, including a haunted house; the tormented, secretive father; the sensitive, somewhat prescient mother; the child who is surprisingly mature for his age; and the small circle of childhood friends who have scattered over the years, but who immediately return home to put the past to rest. Anybody who has ever read a Stephen King or Dean Koontz novel knows the formula, and also knows that formula can work very well, with enough inspiration and talent behind it. Even if Fry doesn't quite pull it off, there's enough imagination and ingenuity here to justify the attempt.



The pacing lags a bit in the middle of the book, as old friends are brought back together, but there are enough eerie, creepy, unsettling glimpses of the true horror embedded in their journeys to keep the reader close. Unfortunately, Anthony and his family dynamic is the weakest part of the story, and the lack of likability/sympathy does keep the novel from achieving the full impact of its potential. As for the mystical mumbo-jumbo of the Conjure House, the philosophical concepts of folding time, and the Lovecraft inspiration behind it all . . . well, it's a big heavy-handed for such a short novel, and probably a bit too intangible for some readers. I didn't particularly buy it, and didn't find it lived up to the atmosphere Fry created, but I did find it a nice alternative to the typical religious/spiritual conflict of good and evil.



Overall, it's a good book . . . a solid read . . . and a nice addition to the genre. I doubt I'll have any strong memories of it a few weeks or months from now, but I am curious to give Fry another read, and have no hesitation in recommending this to fans of the genre.





Expected publication: July 30th 2013 by DarkFuse

Paperback, 326 pages

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Stacking The Shelves & What I'm Reading

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme being hosted by Tynga's Reviews, while Mailbox Monday is being hosted by Book Obsessed this month (see Mailbox Monday for each month's host). Both memes are all about sharing the books you've added to your shelves - physical and virtual, borrowed and bought. It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey, and it's focused on what's in your hands, as opposed to what's on your shelf.

With an eye towards my plans for the next few months, I'm still trying to hold off on adding too much to the TBR pile, but I did pick up a few new titles:

Cthulhurotica

ed. by Carrie Cuinn

Paperback, 340 pages

Published Dec 16, 2010 by Dagan Books



I've had my eye on this for a while, but when I realized it was the same Carrie who edited the sci-fi archaeology anthology In Situ, I was sold.







Wayward

by Blake Crouch

Paperback, 322 pages

Expected publication: Sept 17th 2013 by Thomas & Mercer



Coming to television courtesy of M. Night Shyamalan, I snagged this and Pines, book 1 in the series, for review.









Razor's Edge

by Martha Wells

Hardcover, 384 pages

Expected publication: Sept 24th 2013 by LucasBooks



Acquired via NetGalley - it's Star Wars and it's Martha Wells . . . how could I possibly resist snagging this?

As for what we're reading, the team has reviews coming up over the next 2 weeks for:

What's topping your shelves this week?

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Call for Submissions - Midian Unmade: Tales of Clive Barker's Nightbreed

Stoker Award-winning anthologist Del Howison (Dark Delicacies 1-3, The Book of Lists: Horror) and internationally bestselling urban fantasy author Joseph Nassise (Eyes To See, By the Blood of Heroes) have joined forces with horror Grand Master Clive Barker to bring you back to the city of Midian and the creatures of the darkness known as the Nightbreed!

Tor Books will be publishing MIDIAN UNMADE: TALES OF CLIVE BARKER’S NIGHTBREED in simultaneous hardcover and trade paperback editions in the fall of 2014 and we’re looking for original horror and dark fantasy stories that fit the guidelines below.

MIDIAN UNMADE: TALES OF CLIVE BARKER’S NIGHTBREED

We’ve all felt it at one time or another – that sense of unbelonging, of being isolated, possibly even shunned because of our differences; not for anything that we’ve done but for simply being who we are.  We’ve all felt it – in childhood and adolescence, certainly, but even as adults as well, when the winds of change blow through our lives and we discover that those things we thought immutable are, in reality, anything but.

When this happens we all become like changeling children, at odds with those around us as well as with ourselves, looking to distant horizons for fresh comprehension of our purpose, sometimes even of our very nature.

The fiction of the fantastic literally overflows with metaphors for times like these, though none more so than the Nightbreed, those freaks and grotesques and shapeshifters extraordinaire that inhabit the hidden necropolis of Midian and make it their own in the pages of Clive Barker’s CABAL.   The Nightbreed are a colony of survivors, the last remnants of the once great tribes of the moon, and in their alienation they find a sense of togetherness, of belonging that often seems more human than those who bear that name.

Until the coming of Boone, that is, and the destruction of their hidden sanctuary, when they become outcasts once again.

MIDIAN UNMADE: TALES OF CLIVE BARKER’S NIGHTBREED picks up where CABAL left off, chronicling the lives of the ‘Breed as they disperse into the world after the fall of Midian.  We’re looking for stories of struggle and despair, of hope and sanctification, as the former inhabitants of Midian try to adapt to the world from which they retreated years before.  A world that does not want them.  A world that will hound them, hunt them, simply for the crime of being different.

Writers have Clive’s permission to use the existing members of the Breed that appear in the novella Cabal, in the film Nightbreed, and in the companion volume, The Nightbreed Chronicles, published by Titan Books.  Writers also have the option of creating their own unique and fantastical creatures that fit the Nightbreed mold.

We’re seeking original horror and dark fantasy stories.  We pay five cents per word up to 5,000 words, with 30% paid on acceptance and the remainder to be paid after the complete manuscript has been accepted by the publisher. (Please note that this is work for hire project as Clive owns the world in which the project is set. Writers may use their stories in this anthology and have permission to use them in collections of their own works or in annual best-of anthologies, but they may not write and submit additional stories featuring the characters they create for this project to publishing projects elsewhere.)

Story submissions should be sent to either Joe Nassise (jnassise@gmail.com) or Del Howison (del@darkdel.com), using the subject line MIDIAN STORY ENCLOSED.  If the subject line is not used, we cannot guarantee receipt of the story, as we will both be using email filters to isolate all Midian submissions from our regular mail.  Stories should be submitted before September 30^th, 2013.

Questions can be directed to either of the email addresses above. 

We look forward to hearing from you!

Check out Joseph Nassise's blog, Shades of Reality, for updates and additional details.

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Stacking The Shelves & What I'm Reading

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme being hosted by Tynga's Reviews, while Mailbox Monday is being hosted by Book Obsessed this month (see Mailbox Monday for each month's host). Both memes are all about sharing the books you've added to your shelves - physical and virtual, borrowed and bought. It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey, and it's focused on what's in your hands, as opposed to what's on your shelf.

With an eye towards my plans for the next few months, I'm still trying to hold off on adding too much to the TBR pile, but I did pick up a few new titles:

In Extremis: The Most Extreme Short Stories of John Shirley

by John Shirley

Paperback, 320 pages

Published July 26th 2011 by Underland Press



Purchased from Amazon - I ran across a mention of him writing songs for the last two Blue Öyster Cult albums, and I just had to give him a read.







Wrath-bearing Tree (A Tournament of Shadows Book Two)

by James Enge

Paperback, 320 pages

Expected publication: August 13th 2013 by Pyr



Acquired via publisher/publicist - a previous Waiting on Wednesday pick, and a key part of my second-half TBR plans.









The Companions: The Sundering, Book I

by R. A. Salvatore (Author)

Hardcover, 384 pages

Expected publication: August 6th 2013 by Wizards of the Coast



Acquired via NetGalley - a late addition to my second-half TBR plans (along with The Godborn), but I'm anxious to get back to the Forgotten Realms.

Crash

by Guy Haley

Paperback, 384 pages

Published June 25th 2013 by Solaris (Author)



Acquired via publisher/publicist - not sure where this fits into my second-half TBR plans, but it sounds like an intriguing read.

As for what we're reading, the team has reviews coming up over the next 2 weeks for:

What's topping your shelves this week?

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