”Light Like Knives Dragged Across the Skin” is a great example of Paul’s ability to mix macabre and surreal images into a story powered by strong characterization.
Enjoy!
**Edited to fix link**
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Mama's Boy and Other Dark Tales by Fran Friel opens to pre-orders this Mother's Day
[May 11, 2008]
Nothing good comes of the closest ties in Mama's Boy and Other Dark Tales, the new collection from Fran Friel and Apex Publications (www.apexbookcompany.com). Things can go especially awry when the tie in question is the one binding mother and son.
The Bram Stoker Award-nominated novella "Mama's Boy" is the cornerstone of this 14-story collection from author Fran Friel and Apex Publications. A man whose mother's demented love for him has turned him from an innocent boy to a serial killer to a near-comatose mental patient opens his world to a psychologist determined to reach him as a way of dealing with her own mother's battle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. But is she helping, or is there more damage to be done?
In "Mashed," a son's simple request for potatoes with his birthday dinner opens up a world of past fears and childhood torments for his mother, while the flash fiction story "Close Shave" presents a horrifically funny solution to an everyday women's issue.
From mother and son to broader family ties, Friel explores the bonds of human connection into every dark turn. The humorous yet wickedly creepy "Under the Dryer" begins as a tale told by the family dog and ends in a bloodbath; "Special Prayers," perhaps the most disturbing offering in the collection, exposes a family secret of abuse and power; and the tragically soft and beautiful "Orange and Golden" explores the purest form of the human-animal bond as the sun sets on a natural disaster.
Mama's Boy and Other Dark Tales is now available for pre-order. Releases on June 14, 2008.
FRAN FRIEL is a Bram Stoker-nominated author residing in rural
Friel’s work has been featured in the 2006 anthology release Horror Library, Volume 1, as well as publications online and in print at The Horror Library, Insidious Reflections, Wicked Karnival, The Lightning Journal, Lamoille Lamentations, The Eldritch Gazette, and Dark Recesses Press.
APEX PUBLICATIONS (www.apexbookcompany.com) is a small press dedicated to publishing exemplary works of dark science fiction and horror. Owned and operated by Jason B. Sizemore, Apex publishes the critically acclaimed Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest. In 2006, Apex Publishing branched into producing novellas, collections, and anthologies, earning a Bram Stoker Award nomination for the Aegri Somnia anthology in 2007.
###This blog has been momentarily hijacked by Deb Taber. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened. Pipe down, pay attention, and no one gets hurt. Mostly.
This is a day I have been awaiting for quite some time, or at least it seems that way to me. But maybe I'm just impatient.
Today, Matt Wallace's The Next Fix is unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.
For those of you who follow this blog, you may think you've heard all about it. You may be waiting for Wallace to show up on your doorstep and pummel you into a pulp. But I have a secret for you (don't tell Matt Wallace, okay?)...
The Next Fix is not going to knock your teeth down the back of your throat and leave you lying in a pool of blood. It isn't going to ram your head into a brick wall until your pulverized brain runs out your ears. In fact, it isn't painful at all.
That's what Matt, Jason, and the rest of the gang won't tell you. The topics Wallace writes about might be harsh—even blood-soaked at times--but the stories are beautifully written, and in some cases verging on the poetic. This is intelligent fiction that takes a thoughtful look at the human condition in all of its comedy, tragedy, futility and absurdity, and does it with a subtle touch that builds worlds effortlessly and sends them crashing down with a bang.
So if you've heard the hype and stayed away because you don't like the feel of brass knuckles in your face, stop cowering in fear. Sure, the prose might rip your soul out and hold it in front of you, forcing you to confront your deepest loathings and fears...but isn't that what good fiction is supposed to do?
Just think about it; take a peek. I promise I'll try to keep Matt Wallace off your doorstep for as long as I can.
Find your Next Fix:
On Amazon: http://astore.amazon.com/apexsciencfic-2
On the Apex site: http://www.apexbookcompany.com/cart.php?m=p
Author rants, raves, and free samples: http://matt-wallace.livejournal.com/
Now back to your regularly scheduled macho posturing, already in progress.
”Light Like Knives Dragged Across the Skin” is a great example of Paul’s ability to mix macabre and surreal images into a story powered by strong characterization.
Enjoy!
**Edited to fix link**
The first in the series is Orgy of Souls by Wrath James White and Maurice Broaddus (out June 14th).
Open Your Eyes is a space opera that opens with the insemination of a young woman named Ekhi by a star lover going supernova. A cross between Samuel Delaney and Jeff VanderMeer, this book will be a memorable one, and has the potential to make Paul Jessup a household name for genre fans.
The beautiful cover art is by Daniele Cascone.