Houses & Monsters

A couple new cover designs I had the pleasure of working on were recently unveiled, so I’ve added them to the site. In both cases, I strayed from my typical photo-based style and incorporated hand-drawn elements. Both are forthcoming from Raw Dog Screaming Press, and they’re both fantastic. Place your preorders now!

The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own by Gwendolyn Kiste

“Truth is rarely convenient as silence.”

Celebrated author Gwendolyn Kiste cordially invites you to explore The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own. Enter a world possessed by recriminations from bygone eras, where the regrets and malice of years past still reverberate and shape our doom. Here, morally complex women and queer antiheroines swim against the current of a social structure that serves as a spectral prison in these layered stories of the weird and the Other.

Known for crafting bold metafictional narratives that grapple with challenging social issues, Kiste’s unwavering voice deftly weaves a siren’s song of resilience and survival. Included among the short stories in this collection are the Bram Stoker Award-winning “The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt From Lucy Westenra’s Diary),” “The Girls From the Horror Movie,” “The Sea Witch of the World’s Fair,” and other riveting new gothic tales of body horror, the supernatural, and unapologetic resistance.

“What’s going on inside you?” I ask, but the darkness never whispers back.

Preorder here.

The Build-A-Monster Workshop by Pedro Iniguez

Bram Stoker and Elgin Award-winning poet Pedro Iniguez invites you to attend The Build-A-Monster Workshop - sneak into an eldritch, abandoned building filled with rusty antique tools, mad scientist’s contraptions and all manner of bloody body parts. Let your imagination run wild as you examine the horrors assembled and documented so far. Try your hand at creation and see what new and terrifying beasts emerge.

The Build-A-Monster Workshop explores themes of the monstrous in all forms, from creatures that lurk in the shadows to the demons living within ourselves. Lessons are broken into four sections: Mad Science, Revenants, Ghosts and Monsters. Iniguez applies his unique perspective to the question of why evil exists and how we live and cope with it in our daily lives.

Steeped in both the American tradition of Hollywood monsters and the Mexican folklore of witchcraft these poems look back to the roots of our cryptid stories as well as forward to the ways, and the reasons why, our society births new and twisted abominations to fear.

Preorder here.

September 2024 Events

 

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland: I've got 3 events coming up this month - Come say hi and get some books!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 • 12-5pm

MARKET OF THE MACABRE

Laurel Hill East Cemetery

3822 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia, PA

bit.ly/marketmacabre

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 • 3-7pm

BEERS & FEARS

13th Child Brewery

345 S. Main St., Williamstown, NJ

13thchildbrewery.com

SAT & SUN, SEPTEMBER 28-29 • 12-6pm both days

FRIGHTREADS BOOK FESTIVAL

Benfield Sportscenter

1031 Benfield Blvd., Millersville, MD

frightreads.com

20Q7A: An interview with Chris DiLeo

20 Questions, 7 Answers is an interview series for writers of genre fiction. Each author receives the same batch of 20 questions, but they may only answer 7.

Our latest guest is Chris DiLeo.

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What's your latest book, and how does it differ from your previous work?

My latest book is What Ever Happened to Jo Rose? It's about a young woman who looks after an aging actress, who may be part of a cabal of women hunting male sexual predators. It's different from my other work in a very distinct way: it's the first full length piece I've written from a woman's first person point of view. I'm very pleased with the results and I hope readers will be too.

Who or what is your favorite movie monster, and why?

Hannibal Lecter. I saw The Silence of the Lambs when I was eleven or twelve and I've never been the same. Lecter is such a wonderful monster because he's completely ruthless, intellectually brilliant, and totally civilized. I love that he has no qualms eating human flesh (and tearing off people's faces) and also finds discourtesy "unspeakably ugly." Society needs a Lecter or two.  

Are you most afraid of ghosts, aliens, or clowns, and why?

I'm tempted to say ghost aliens (or maybe ghost alien clowns!), but I'll go with ghosts. They're the most troubling. Can you imagine being a ghost? Don't you think it would drive you insane? And if you're the one encountering a ghost that's gone mad, how the hell are you supposed to deal with it?

Twilight Zone or Outer Limits?

Twilight Zone. When I was a kid, I frequently recited the opening monologue in my best Rod Serling voice. 

What happens when you die?

I love this question. You can't get it wrong! I find great comfort believing that when we die there's nothing else. No afterlife. No ghosts (insane or otherwise). Certainly no Heaven or Hell. We cease to exist and that's it. On the other hand, my imagination is always speaking up, Sure, okay, but what if . . . ? 

What's the most disgusting thing about the human body?

Well, if Jo Rose from my book is answering this question she might say, All the ways it can be debased and mutilated. She's got her reasons. 

What's your secret?

Not sure I have a secret, but when it comes to writing my guiding principle is keep going. The only person who can make me stop is me. I go to the page to have fun and learn something about human nature. Simply, I do it because I love it. Go forth and do it for love.

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Chris DiLeo is the author of numerous novels, an AuthorCon Gross-Out Champion, and a high school English teacher in New York. His work is visceral and emotional, engaging and thought-provoking. He has gathered praise from bestselling authors, including Michael Marshall and Michael Koryta.

"DiLeo is a remarkable writer, with a clear ability to evoke character, conjure dread — and to do whatever it is that drives the reader to keep turning the pages, one by one, and faster and faster." —Michael Marshall

"[DiLeo's work] does what the best supernatural fiction must—ground the terror in the human heart. Chris DiLeo delivers . . . with a skilled, steady hand. Follow him into the dark!" —Michael Koryta

Born to highly educated parents, DiLeo grew up in a house filled with books. His father loved horror and Halloween so much he had a coffin bookcase built to house his horror collection and out of which he would emerge to frighten trick-or-treaters. When DiLeo's father died, eleven-year-old DiLeo dared to read the books in his father's collection. Stephen King. Richard Matheson. Ray Bradbury. Dennis Etchison. Shirley Jackson. DiLeo fell in love.

He wrote his first novel at 19 and never looked back. He loves stories that force characters into extreme situations, those scenarios where there's no choice but to confront the monster. Horror stories for DiLeo are about finding courage and hope in the throes of a nightmare. His novels have been published by Bloodshot Books, Bleeding Edge Press, Journal Stone, and Grindhouse Press. His work has also appeared in Pseudopod, The No Sleep Podcast, and Nightmare Magazine.

He is active on social media. Connect with him @authordileo.

Headless: Available Now!

 

My new book, Headless, is out now!

In the midst of a heat wave punctuated by frequent rainstorms, people are losing their heads. Literally. Not only that, but their bodies are still walking, and attacking others.

And to make matters worse, tiny, translucent, maggot-sized worms are falling from the skies like hail.

As uncanny violence threatens to take over the city, Linzy, Carter, and Joanna become fast friends and leave for points unknown, hoping to stay alive, hoping to outrun the Headless.

Since the book was first announced, I've gotten a handful of very nice blurbs from some incredible authors, as evidenced by the update to the cover above. Here's what people have been saying:

“Cole masterfully weaves gore, horror, and aliens, all while providing realistic characters. Absurd, bizarre, and oftentimes funny, Headless is a winner.”
— Daniel J. Volpe, author of Talia and Plastic Monsters

“In the glorious tradition of Night of the Creeps and James Gunn’s Slither, Headless is a midnight movie cult classic waiting to happen. With this bloody good time of a tome, Scott Cole shows he’s in the business of blowing minds.”
— Bryan Smith, author of Depraved and 68 Kill

“I’m split on when’s the best time to imbibe Headless. Whether it’s on an empty stomach, or a full one, your intestinal fortitude is so screwed. Scott Cole takes nausea and turns it into an art form.”
— Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters

“An insane premise firing on all cylinders—gory, nihilistic, and sometimes hilarious, Headless scratches the itch of those joyous late night scary movies watched with a disbelieving gasp.”
— Laurel Hightower, author of Below and Crossroads

If you're a fan of splatterpunk and cosmic horror, this may be just the thing for you. Headless is available now in paperback and ebook.

New interviews

 

I was interviewed on the Cemetery Dance website recently, as part of Rick Hipson's regular series, What Screams May Come. It's probably the longest interview I've ever done. We discuss writing process, zombies, and horror-comedy, among other things. Check it out here.

I've got another interview coming up too. But there's a catch with that one: You have to sign up for author Chris DiLeo's newsletter. He'll be sending that out on Headless' release date, March 5.

Speaking of which, have you preordered the ebook yet?