Review: Children of the Dark

Today I have an exciting review to share with you.  This is a book every public library needs to buy. I am not kidding here. If you have readers who enjoy classic Stephen King-- which is ALL of you-- buy this book. Here is the draft of my star review which appears in the 3/15/16 issue of Booklist. 

Children of the Dark.
Janz, Jonathan (author).
Mar. 2016. 398p. Sinister Grin, paperback, $16  (9781944044145)
REVIEW. First published March 15, 2016 (Booklist).

In the first lines of this chilling novel Will lets us know that he has a terrifying story to tell, “The week I saw seventeen people die didn’t begin with blood, monsters, or a sadistic serial killer. It all began with a baseball game.” And so, we readers wait, the tension builds relentlessly throughout the book, and all of those terrible things do eventually come to pass in perfect horror fashion. But first we are settled into Will’s life in small town Indiana. A local baseball star, he is also poor, with a drug addicted, single mom, and a six year old sister whom he adores. Soon this unlikely hero will lead the entire community into a battle for their lives. The strong narrative voice, a recently awoken ancient evil, and a terrifying serial killer with surprisingly strong ties to Will combine forces to deliver a story with an old school horror feel that is in no way derivative. Heart-pounding action, well developed characters (both good and evil), and just the right amount of gore drive this fast paced story to its unsettling conclusion. This is the perfect book for those who love classic Stephen King. Think Stand by Me meets Something Wicked This Way Comes with a generous helping of the pulp sensibility of Brian Keene and you have Janz, a horror storyteller on the rise.

I read a lot of horror books, and when it comes to newer voices, I always go in with a skeptical eye, meaning I was predisposed to not being impressed here. That fact makes how much I was blown away by this novel even more impressive. Janz has been receiving praise in the horror community for about a year, but now is the time for the wider world to start reading him.

Three Words That Describe This Book: strong narrative voice, well developed characters, awesome tension

Readalikes: As I said above, classic Stephen King and the Bradbury coming of age, small midwest town, horror classic Something Wicked This Way Comes are great options. But there is a bit of the more modern pulp mastery of a writer like Brian Keene here too.

Other books Children of the Dark reminded me of (with links to reviews) are:

• Sparrow Rock by Nate Kenyon
• Dweller by Jeff Strand
• The Troop by Nick Cutter

All three of these critically acclaimed horror novels have strong a narrative voice, a coming of age theme, and wonder characterization, just like Janz’s novel.

This book came out yesterday. GO ORDER IT NOW.

31 Days of Horror: Day 16-- Librarians...Brian Keene Wants to Thank You With a Free Appearance This Summer

Readers of this blog know that I am a big Brian Keene fan.  You can click here for more from me on Keene, but for all of you library workers out there the short version is-- his novels are a perfect fit for ALL PUBLIC LIBRARY collections.

This summer he has a hardcover  release coming [you can already pre-order for your collections] called Pressure. From the publisher:

Off the coast of tropical Mauritius, an ecological catastrophe with global implications is occurring. The ocean's floor is collapsing at a rapid rate. World-champion free diver and marine biologist Carrie Anderson joins a scientific expedition determined to discover the cause-and how to stop it. But what they uncover is even more horrific. Deep beneath the surface, something is awake. Something hungry. Something...cold. Now, the pressure builds as Carrie and her colleagues must contend with the murderous operatives of a corrupt corporation, an unnatural disaster that grows bigger by the day, and a monstrous predator that may spell the extinction of all mankind. 

Jaws meets Alien in this hot new thriller from bestselling author and World Horror Grandmaster Award winner Brian Keene. Pressure is the perfect summer read for fans of Michael Crichton and Douglas Preston.

This looks fantastic!  The book is getting a big push by the publisher. Brian plans to go on his largest book tour ever and he wants to come to your library! FOR FREE!!! All you have to do is buy 10 copies of the book. That is way cheaper than most major author fees.

There are no other strings here.  Brian is a huge supporter of libraries and really wants to thank us for supporting him over the years. And, this is going to be a huge summer read. It is a book people will be talking about. Why not take advantage now and set up a visit.

[By the way, this is exactly how I nabbed Gillian Flynn at my old library for free. I noticed the early buzz on Gone Girl and contacted her [we had met once before at a Karin Slaughter event and she lives in Chicago], set up an appearances, and....it turned out she was at our library the week the novel hit #1. Video of our interview here.]

You can click here for Brian’s original post where explains how you get in on this deal. I have also embedded the post below.

But first, one final note, Brian also has a weekly podcast-- The Horror Show With Brian Keene. Brian and his friends have a lot of fun during these recordings [and curse freely for those of you who that might bother] but they also provide great content.  You can hear Brian and his guests, all of them horror authors worth knowing, discuss books, the genre, the state of the publishing world, and much more.  If you want an inside look at publishing and the life of authors, IN ANY GENRE, this is a great insider resource.

I particularly enjoyed their interview with Paul Tremblay, author and juror for the Shirley Jackson Awards [an award I have professed my love for many times], and then, in a later podcast, their spoiler filled discussion of his book, A Head Full of Ghosts.  It was a real discussion of the book, its writing, its appeal, and its meaning.

Attention all librarians, you should have A Head Full of Ghosts in your collections. You should be promoting it to readers. It is this year’s Bird Box.

One more “authors who podcast” post tomorrow. But please scroll down to read Brian’s full offer.

TO ALL BOOKSELLERS AND LIBRARIANS

If there is one thing that has been a constant in my almost 20-year career, it is signings and speaking engagements. I’ve been lucky enough to sign or speak in 45 of 50 states, as well as Canada. This would not have been possible without the help of an enthusiastic and dedicated group of booksellers and librarians. Indeed, I owe my success to their efforts. As I said on a recent episode of my podcast, a writer should always be grateful to their readers and fans, but they should be equally grateful to the booksellers and librarians who guide those readers toward them.

I am in the early stages of planning a signing/speaking tour for Summer 2016, in support of PRESSURE, my new trade hardcover forthcoming from Thomas Dunne Books (Macmillan). The tour will run from the end of June to the end of August. I intend for this to be my most extensive promotional tour ever, crossing as much of the continental US as I can. To do that, I need your help.

If you are an independent or chain bookseller in the continental United States who would like to host a signing or speaking engagement in your store, and can commit to ordering a minimum of thirty (30) copies of PRESSURE, please send an email to bkbooksellers@outlook.com. You are not being asked to pay travel costs, lodging, or anything like that. I’m simply looking for venues to sign/speak in. You open your store to me and my readers, and I’ll handle getting there. In your email, tell me about your store and where you are located (city and state).

If you are a librarian in the continental United States who would like to host a signing or speaking engagement in your library, and can commit to ordering a minimum of ten (10) copies of PRESSURE, please send an email to bkbooksellers@outlook.com. You are not being asked to pay travel costs, lodging, or anything like that. I’m simply looking for venues to sign/speak in. You open your library to me and my readers, and I’ll handle getting there. In your email, tell me about your library and where you are located (city and state). 

Thank you in advance. I look forward to working with you.

Horror Readers' Advisory Book Update: Authors

When I first started this blog, I promised to use it as an update to my print book, and while everything I post technically adds to the value of the book, today's post is an actual update to the authors listed in Chapter 3: Horror 101: A Crash Course in Today's Tales of Terror.

In that chapter I break up today's need to know authors into a few categories. One of those categories is "Pulps Kings." These are horror authors publishing original paperback fiction whose books I feel every library with a known horror readership should own. In other words, these should be your go-to pulp horror authors.

The book lists: Brian Keene, Nate Kenyon, John Everson, Gary Braunbeck, Robert Dunbar, and Jeff Strand.  To this list I am updating with the following authors and descriptions.


J. G. Faherty writes character driven horror which often has an ancient evil setting and incorporates teenaged protagonists.  He often uses a mix of supernatural occurrences and beings to ratchet up the fear and his use of gore is moderate.  Of the better known authors, I would compare him to Peter Straub. Try Cemetery Club which  begins with 4 friends awakening an ancient evil that they contain but don’t defeat and then flashes forward 20 years when the friends need to reunite for a final showdown.

Gregory Lamberson walks the line between horror and not quite horror, but there is no denying his popularity with horror fan because his Jake Helman Files series is scary as heck. Jake resigns from the NYC police force and becomes a private detective specializing, by accident, in supernatural crimes.  These are gory and terrifying novels, but reviewers are constantly commenting on how imaginative and original the stories feel.  More horror than Huston’s Joe Pitt series, but still with a strong investigative element, Lamberson is an author to keep an eye on. Try the first book in the series, Personal Demons

Law enforcement officer Joe McKinney knows a thing or two about catching bad guys, but in his terrifying Dead World series, he imagines an evil much worse than a mere human criminal.  After five hurricanes in a row slam into the Texas Gulf coast, “from the rubble, a virus has been born that is reanimating the dead--thousands of them at a time!  Quickly, the virus spreads across the entire state of Texas, as hordes of hungry zombies begin taking over.  This is a terrifying and action packed series with a realistic premise.” The first book is Dead City.

Finally, I would like to add a list of newer authors, all who have been mentioned on RA for All: Horror previously, who are making enough of an impact that you should be on the look out for new titles by them. All links go to areas on this blog where the author was discussed and/or his book reviewed.

• Brett J. Talley
• Benjamin Kane Ethridge
• Lee Jordan
• Douglas Wynne
• Isaac Marion 

Now that my book is a year old, look for more frequent official updates to the print here on the blog.