Just popping in for a quick howdy to my Hellions on this fine Cinco de Mayo. Tequila is your friend today.
I wanted to make you aware of two very cool specials that are available now. First up, THEY RISE has been discounted to 99cents on Amazon. Just a couple of days ago, it was the #1 horror book on Amazon as well as #1 in the Sea Stories category. Unfortunately, we couldn’t crack the cryptid erotica category. And if there is no such category, there needs to be. Click the cover below to snag a copy on the cheap!
Also, to get you all worked up into a lather over my upcoming monster book, THE JERSEY DEVIL, I’m giving away 5 signed paperback copies of my best selling THE MONTAUK MONSTER every month on Goodreads between now and August. If you’re on GR, enter the giveaway for your chance to win one. Take it to the beach and be very, very afraid!
Greetings and salutations Hellions! Uncle Hunter here, alive and well and busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger. 2016 has been bat crap crazy, and we’re only two months and change in. Big changes are going on all around me. I’m a hamster on a wheel, just trying to keep up.
Let’s start with some of the hysterical artwork that Jim Herbert has been concocting for 2 of my books, THEY RISE and the upcoming, I KILL IN PEACE. I keep posting that Jaws has nothing on the ghost sharks in THEY RISE. Well, Jim put his artwork where my mouth is and came up with this hysterical variant cover…
Bye bye Brucie! You never stood a chance, big guy.
The title to my last Samhain novella, I KILL IN PEACE, inspired a little savage warrior cover with my face on a Frazetta bod. I think my wife wants this one framed.
Meeting people like Jim and seeing stuff like this is the reason why I write. When I’m worn out at the end of a long day, I only need to look at this to cheer me up. And wish I’d get off my ass and go to the gym. Thanks Jim.
You may not be aware of this, but one of the best ways to support an author, aside from buying our books, is to leave reviews. Seriously, reviews are like priceless Lucky Charms. Good, bad or ugly, they all count, especially on Amazon where more reviews get your book ranked higher and more sets of eyes. 50 reviews is a magic first milestone to hit.
Right now, THEY RISE, has 32 reviews. If you’ve read the book, I’d love it if you can post a quick review or rating on Amazon. Anyone who does, shoot me an email at email@example.com with a link to your review and I’ll send something special to you. All you need to do is click the cover below and it will take you right there. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
OK, on to what’s next, now that Samhain is in a bit of potentially terminal turmoil. I’ve been contacted by several publishers over the past month and will be making an announcement about a new book deal very soon. I also have several short stories that will be included in anthologies. It’s been a long time since I worked on short stories, and it’s even better that I’m finding homes for them. There will be more Hunter tales of the demented and monstrous than ever.
And we’re getting close to official Hellions gear and giveaways. The artwork is amazing. I promise, you’re going to love it and want in on the devilish fun.
Keep on readin’, and I’ll keep on writin’.
First, thank you to everyone who has picked up a copy of my deep sea thriller, THEY RISE. Sales and reviews have been fantastic. You all make my monster heart grow 3 sizes.
Jack and I finally got an episode together to talk about THEY RISE and reveal what is real and what isn’t. You also get a little inside poop on how deeply personal the first chapter was for me. Plus, we give some shout outs to a few of our uber Monster Men fans!
But wait, there’s more! If you comment on the video, you’re eligible to win a free copy of They Rise. Winner will be announced on March 17th.
If our little gab fest has you in the mood for an entree of chimaera fish with a side of seaweed, hop on over to Amazon and snag a copy on your fishing line.
For the next couple of days, you can hook a copy of my sea monster madness, THEY RISE, for only 99 cents. That’s one penny less than a McDouble on the McDonald’s dollar menu. And I promise They Rise will be far more fulfilling. It won’t even give you heartburn. But it may cause you to reconsider your summer vacation plans. That ocean cruise may not seem so appealing.
It’s a new year, which means it’s time for some new books for all you horror monster fans! First up for 2016 is my sea monster novella, THEY RISE.
The monster fish in They Rise are real, though not as large as I make them out to be. When I was searching for a sea monster to terrorize the ocean, I wanted to find something old and ugly. I knew I found my beastie when I came upon this photo of a chimaera fish –
Talk about a face only a mother could love. Turns out, chimaera fish are an offshoot of the shark family tree. They’re even nicknamed ghost sharks. They’ve been around for hundreds of millions of years. These bottom dwellers have spiny protrusions laced with venom for protection. I know if I pulled one up on a hook, I might throw the pole back into the ocean.
Now, in reality, they’re only a couple of feet long. I had to make my chimaera fish in They Rise much, much larger, so the sea creatures in the book are prehistoric chimaera fish that have been trapped in methane ice for millions of years. Once they get out, they’re mean and ugly and hungry. Kinda like me in the morning.
The book opens with a pair of older brothers out on a fishing party boat off the coast of Miami. The 70+ year-old men, Richie and Eddie, were based on my grandfather and his brother. I used to go fishing with them every summer when I was a kid down at Sheepshead Bay. They’ve been gone 20 years now, but the beauty of being a writer is the power to resurrect the ones you loved and lost, even if only for a chapter or two.
In the book, Eddie’s hooked something awful powerful on his line. His days of fighting big ocean fish are well behind him…at least that’s what he thought. Things are about to get a wee tad intense, as long as Eddie and the ship’s mate can haul in the catch of the day.
Of all the things I’ve written over the past several years, that opening chapter is the one that has meant the most to me. It gave me a chance to fish with Grandpa and Uncle Eddie, or as everyone called him, Okie Dokie, one more time. I’m glad that we only caught fluke and occasional sea robins back in the day. Hell, if I was going to write a fish tale, I had to start it with the men who taught me all about fish tales.
Want a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card? Follow the publicity tour put together by the fab Erin at Hook of a Book Publicity. Sign up for my newsletter to be eligible. You’ll also be part of the giveaway fun I have all throughout the year.
I’m super excited to announce my new home – SEVERED PRESS– along with my first ever sea monster book, THEY RISE! If you think the baddies I created in The Montauk Monster were sinister, you’re in for a wild ride on the open seas this time around.
You know, before I became infatuated with Bigfoot, I was the kid going from library to library searching for every book that dealt with the Loch Ness Monster, giant squids and mysterious beasts from the deep. Needless to say, there wasn’t much out there in the late 1970s, but I did devour each book I managed to get my hands on.
So, when Severed Press approached me about writing a novella about sea creatures gone mad, I jumped at the chance. THEY RISE is just the first of what I hope are many more to come with the wonderful folks at SP.
The book comes out January 4th, but you can pre-order the ebook over at Amazon for just $3.99 – or free for you Prime members. The trade paperback will be available on the release date. Order now and be one of the first to experience a sea tale that’ll make you reconsider that cruise you’ve been dreaming about.
Here’s the synopsis for THEY RISE –
Some call them ghost sharks, the oldest and strangest looking creatures in the sea.
Marine biologist Brad Whitley has studied chimaera fish all his life. He thought he knew everything about them. He was wrong. Warming ocean temperatures free legions of prehistoric chimaera fish from their methane ice suspended animation. Now, in a corner of the Bermuda Triangle, the ocean waters run red. The 400 million year old massive killing machines know no mercy, destroying everything in their path. It will take Whitley, his climatologist ex-wife and the entire US Navy to stop them in the bloodiest battle ever seen on the high seas.
I’ve always felt that the novella format is the best for horror, and THEY RISE fits that mold. The fun is packing as much action and terror into a tiny package as possible (though it’s not sooo tiny at 151 pages).
So grab your fishing gear and a bazooka and join me in the Atlantic Ocean for a hell of a trip!
Ok, I’ll admit that I added Jessica Biel to the title of this post because a) her last name rhymes with ‘deal’ and b) a friend and I were just talking about her in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake back in 2003 and how we liked the movie mostly because she was in it looking all kinds of fine.
I mean, yowza! Anyway, horror fanboy fantasies aside, I do have some pretty exciting news to share.
I can’t believe it slipped my mind to announce this earlier, but the ink on my latest contract with Samhain is more than dry. They’ll publish my new novella, I KILL IN PEACE, in early 2016. This one is a total departure from what I normally dabble in (ghosts and monsters) and can be brutal. Reading discretion is advised. Here’s the elevator pitch :
Killing can be habit forming, especially when the texts and voices in your head give their marching orders and your victims deserve it. Peter Blades can’t stop weaving a path of destruction, unsure if he’s gone insane or become the puppet of a higher power, speeding headlong to a terrifying end while the world goes mad around him.
My sister has always been my first reader and editor, and I think this one may have scarred her for life.
I’m also thrilled to announce that I’m writing a sea monster novella for a brand new publisher (for me, anyway), Severed Press. I’m really excited to work with them because these ladies and gents know their monsters. The title of my book will be THEY RISE. I can’t give much away at this point, but I’m looking to meld Jaws with Swamp Monster Massacre. Strap in for this one! There’s no release date set yet, but I believe it will come out in 2016.
Believe it or not, there’s one more to announce, but I can’t just yet. Let’s just say the book is already written and it involves a cryptid on the loose. More on that very soon.
And that’s all the news that’s not fit to print. 2016 is going to be a veeery busy year.
On a totally different note, I’m wondering if I’m the only horror author with tickets to see Shania Twain on her farewell tour.
Want to be the first to know what’s coming up next? Sign up for the Dark Hunter Newsletter and become an official Hunter Hellion!