Kevin J. Kennedy has been very busy over the years both publishing and writing. Some of his more popular ones are The Horror Collection (this currently has 20 books for you to choose from). In August he contributed to Creatures of the Night (Dark Tide 17) which was published by Crystal Lake. You can find his books and collections anywhere books are sold.
By Sarah Elliott
What’s a Golem like you doing in a place like this? Don’t know what a Golem is? Then you’ve not read The Golem of Venice Beach! Get ready because following the cliffhanger of the first graphic novel, we return to Venice Beach. Why and how? Let’s chat with Chanan Beizer, the one who resurrected the golem for a whole new audience and who concludes this tale (for now) in The Golem of Venice Beach: Book 2 which is available on Kickstarter from September 12th, 2024.
Bio: Chanan Beizer has had a varied career including computer programming, film-making, and TV sports production. In 2018, Chanan’s script for The Golem of Venice Beach won the very first ScreenCraft Cinematic Book contest for graphic novels. For the past three years, Chanan has been working with Eisner-Award winning editor, Chris Stevens (Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream) to assemble a dream team of artistic collaborators to bring the story of the Golem to life.
This links perfectly to the first question…
I admit, had a terrible dilemma when it came to my interview with author and zoologist Corinna Bechko. I had to pick just one mug from my own collection of “geeky mugs” (to reference Bechko’s comment in the interview below) for our tea chat. But don’t worry, I found the perfect one for this auspicious occasion: my Buster the Possum “Creature of the Night” mug (designed by comic strip artist and blogger at Evil Squirrel’s Nest https://evilsquirrelsnest.com/2012/01/02/buster/.).
I mean, critters and comics all in one mug, right? Now my only quandary is finding out what sort of tea is Bechko’s favourite!
(Update: I discovered which tea she prefers! “My favorite is usually something black like English breakfast, because who needs sleep? But I do try to mix in some herbals, like ginger, licorice, or mint. But really any tea is good tea with very few exceptions.”)
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REVELATION
By Angelique Fawns
James Fox is on a mission to make the world a better place and brings his visions to life through writing and film. The founder of the media company Dawnrunner Inc, this native Californian released the third novel in his Sol Saga trilogy this spring. Revelation features the stunning conclusion of the sci-fi drama which began with Revolution and continued with Retaliation.
I met James Fox at the Superstars 2024 Writing Seminar and was blown away by his passion and talent. I’m also thrilled to chat with him about his latest book and future projects.
Much as I was tempting to go on an archaeological dig with Dan Hanks (well, if I could garner an invite, that is), I had to keep focus long enough to wrap up our chat. Read on to live vicariously through all of Dan Hanks’ adventures!
Dan Hanks (he/him) is the author of Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire, Swashbucklers, and the upcoming SFF/Horror adventure The Way Up Is Death (all from Angry Robot Books).
He’s a published freelance writer, having written for Publishers Weekly, The Sydney Morning Herald, and even had a brief stint writing for Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft(!) on the Fox Studios lot in Sydney, Australia.
When he’s not writing books, Dan works as a freelance fiction editor. Over the last five years he’s worked with some wonderful Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Crime and Thriller publishers, as well as directly with many brilliant self-publishing authors, and querying writers. He’s also an over-qualified archaeologist and still works part-time in the heritage industry (although usually indoors where it’s warm and not as muddy). Plus, he’s one of the co-founders of the OcTBR Challenge – an annual event run on social media that’s dedicated to encouraging people to read through their towering TBR piles every October. (This is mainly an excuse to let himself read books during the best month of the year.)
A lot of Dan’s creative spirit comes from a love of film and TV pop culture, which is why whenever you read one of his books you’ll find a lot of that brilliant ridiculousness being channeled. If you’re a fan of Indiana Jones or The Mummy, Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire is for you. Want a Ghostbusters / Goonies mash-up? Swashbucklers is the book you need. And the upcoming The Way Up Is Death is a heady combination of Squid Game, Lost, The Poseidon Adventure and, um, the Usborne ghost books.
Dan has moved around a lot over the years, from London to Manchester to Sydney, but is currently content in the rolling green hills of the Peak District, England, with his two kids and fluffy sidekicks Indy and Maverick (and sometimes Poppy).
You may have already read the work of Kyle Toucher, either in his excellent novel Live Wire or a myriad of short stories, and are thus familiar with his Walpurgis County: a place where American folk horror meshes with Lovecraftian terrors. Now he has gathered many of those stories into his first collection, The Medusa Psalms. Or as his publisher describes it:
“Enter Kyle Toucher’s Walpurgis County and discover the history and lore of America’s most benighted landscape, a melting pot of monsters and occultists, the heroes and the maimed, the suffering and the insufferable.”
Which is basically my catnip, and I was all in to deep dive on some of my questions about the Purg, its denizens, and what lies beneath Walpurgis Peak.
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Kyle Toucher (rhymes with voucher) is the author of the novel Live Wire, from Crystal Lake Publishing, the novella Life Returns, and the Black Hare Press Short Read, Southpaw.
He recently appeared in the anthologies Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror and To Hell and Back, from Crystal Lake and Hellbound Books respectively.
Through his twenties, he fronted the influential Nardcore crossover band Dr. Know, made records and hit the road. Later, he moved into the Visual Effects field, where he bagged eight Emmy nominations and two awards for Firefly and Battlestar: Galactica.
He lives with a lovely woman, five cats, two dogs, and several guitars in a house built when Nosferatu first ran in theatres.
By Angelique Fawns
Mark Leslie Lefebvre is only one of my most favorite people in the writing universe. A relentless champion of others, the creator of the Canadian Werewolf series, and the author of more than thirty titles, he is one of the most accomplished professionals I know.
Mark’s short stories are gripping, and intriguing, with just the right dash of dark. When I found out he was publishing an illustrated anthology compiling 20 years of his work, I couldn’t sign up for his Kickstarter fast enough!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/markleslie/one-hand-screaming-20-haunting-years
One Hand Screaming is a collection of chilling stories and disturbing poetry for the reader who loves Twilight Zone and Black Mirror stories with a darker edge.
Jonathan Maberry calls it, “A wonderfully weird gallop through nightmare country.”
I sat down with my fellow Canadian to learn more:
By Steve Neal
I’m a fan of Emma E. Murray. Maybe fan is underselling it. Emma’s stories burrow themselves inside my head and replay their scenes of woe and grisliness when I’m sitting around absent-minded. From the bizarre beauty of A Constellation of Wounds to the disturbing eroticism of Mother of Machines, she has established herself as one of the most unique and talented voices currently in indie horror.
With the release of Crushing Snails out on August 6th through Apocalypse Party, A Performance of a Lifetime out on August 24th through Archive of the Odd, she’s set to make 2024 her biggest yet. Having read and loved both stories, I jumped at the chance to chat with her about everything from genre to gore to growing up.
Emma E. Murray explores the dark side of humanity in her fiction. Her work has appeared in publications like Vastarien, Strange Horizons, and Cosmic Horror Monthly. Her debut collection, The Drowning Machine and Other Obsessions, will be out February 21, 2025 from Undertaker Books, and her second novel, Shoot Me in the Face on a Beautiful Day, will be out summer of 2025, from Apocalypse Party. When she’s not writing, she’s either playing pretend with her daughter or her D&D group.
Follow her:
Website: https://emmaemurray.com/
Twitter: https://x.com/emurrayauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmaemurray_
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