Interview

Below is a link to a recent interview I did with Rhonda Wilson of Monsterlibrarian.com. This was published online a couple weeks ago, I believe, but I'm just now getting around to posting it here because I have been slowed down in just everything by the holiday season. Bring on the damn new year.

http://monsterlibrarian.com/BryanSmithinterview.htm

The Killing Kind cover

This is the cover for The Killing Kind, my seventh horror novel for Leisure Books, out next July.

Wrath James White on Depraved

Wrath James White has been developing a reputation as one of the most badass of the hardcore horror writers, right up there with Edward Lee. So I was pleased to learn today that Wrath enjoyed my new novel, Depraved. Here's the blurb he's given me for the book.

"Bryan Smith's Depraved is a violent fast-paced read that's fun in the way that only the sickest most twisted of minds can truly appreciate. I enjoyed the hell out of it!"

-Wrath James White, author of Succulent Prey and The Resurrectionist

House Of Blood reprinted

Just learned that Leisure Books has reprinted House of Blood, which was my first novel. It had been out of stock from the publisher for some time, but it will soon be readily available again. So for newer readers, here's your opportunity to get a copy. It will probably be a few more days before it's in stock in places like Amazon again, but it's already available from the Dorchester site and I plan to stock up on some new copies myself.

http://dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/productdetail.cfm?product_ID=1121&L1=1

The Dark Ones--liftoff achieved!

Finally started the actual writing of The Dark Ones this past week. I did a bit more than 1,500 words on it today. This was the third or fourth writing session, but the first couple were sort of tentative, with me feeling my way into it a little bit, which is almost always how it is after I've taken my usual between novels break. Today, though, I was firing on all cylinders and I now feel well immersed in the world I'm creating. As hinted at in a previous post, The Dark Ones will be a bit of a shift in a slightly different direction. The Killing Kind is very brutal and real world-based, and DO is a move back toward over-the-top supernatural horror. The difference between DO and something like Deathbringer is twofold--I'll be trying to create a somewhat more layered story this time around, applying some of the gritty realism of TKK to a more fantastical story (as contrary as that sounds) and it'll be the first of my novels to feature any significant amount of kinda/sorta autobiography. I went into in the earlier post, of course, but as I move into the active writing phase of this project, I can already see this element will be even more pronounced than I originally envisioned. I'm going to have to be conscious of avoiding making any one character identifiably based on moi. That said, I think I'm going to have a blast writing this one.

Famous Monsters reviews Depraved

Famous Monsters Of Filmland has reviewed Depraved. FM gave my last novel, Soultaker, a really pretty decent review, and a quote from that even made the back cover of Depraved. But this review for Depraved is good deal more enthusiastic than the review for Soultaker. I've been saying all along this is by far the best of my published novels (or at least it will be until the insanely brutal, bleak, unforgiving, and unrelenting The Killing Kind comes out next July), so it's gratifying to see a review like this. Of course, there's extra kick just due to my memories of reading the print version of FM as a kid back in the 70's. Yeah, Forry Ackerman is gone, but it's still fucking cool. Check out the review at the link below:

http://www.famousmonstersoffilmland.com/2009/10/07/literature-review-depraved-by-bryan-smith/

Bringing the Depravity to you live in person...

I will be appearing at the October Comic & Horror Festival here in Nashville on Oct. 17th. Get your books signed. There were will also be plenty of copies of my latest releases for sale. Check it out at the link below (they just added my info at ...the bottom of the page):

http://www.comiccitytn.com/hfest_guests.html

Book news and a change

Yes, it's been a while again. Sorry about that. Couple bits of news to announce. Firstly, I have reset my www.bryansmith.info url to start redirecting to this blog. Previously it had forwarded to my My Space page. I had been thinking about changing it for a while. Not everyone has a My Space page, and not everyone wants to hear that music player start blaring as soon as the page loads. With this page, you get the blog right away, as well as options to go to my My Space or Facebook pages. I just think this will be better in the long run, especially as I start to update this page more regularly.

Depraved is officially out now. It started shipping from Amazon a week or so ago and is hitting stores everywhere this week. My "special feature" article on the writing of the book went up on the Dorchester Publishing site yesterday. Link below:

http://dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/SpecialFeatures.cfm?Special_ID=2735

Sorry, I still don't know how to make links clickable with Blogger, so you'll have to copy and paste.

The other big news is Leisure Books has accepted my novel The Dark Ones, which will be my eighth book with them. Previously sold novel The Killing Kind will be out from them in July of next year, which would likely put The Dark Ones into early 2011, but official pub date is yet to be determined.

Regarding The Dark Ones, I posted the following at my Keenedom message board recently. More thoughts on this book to come as I actually write it (it was sold based on a synopsis).

"The setting will be a small town neighborhood patterned exactly (or as close to exact as I can get this many years down the road) after the neighborhood I grew up in. Some of the towns in previous books (Soultaker and Deathbringer, in particular) have been loosely inspired by my old hometown, but this will be the first time I have essentially recreated the old neighborhood in a fictional setting. So when you're reading this book in 2011 and I'm describing any given house or street or landmark, odds are it'll be a real place or thing, down to the smallest detail I can remember. I have an underlying reason I won't reveal for now for doing this, other than to say that a big part of the inspiration for this story is something that actually existed back in the long ago. In some ways it'll be my most personal novel, but never fear, it'll be just as jam-packed with wild, kooky, outrageous things as any of the earlier books.

One big difference between fiction and reality--though patterned after the real places, the town and neighborhood in the book will have fictitious names. Even so, I imagine anyone who grew up there with me who reads it will frequently think, 'Holy shit! I remember that!" Should be an interesting writing experience."

Rare item (Grimm Awakening) on ebay

Before Leisure published my first novel House of Blood in 2004, small press publisher Undaunted Press put out two 60 page chapbooks by yours fiendishly. Under The Skin was a collection of four short stories, and Grimm Awakening was a novella about a 50's style Sam Spade detective specializing in all things paranormal. One day he wakes up to find himself literally in hell. Only 250 or so of each of these were printed and they are long since out of print. Over the years, numerous people have asked me where they can get these. Unfortunately, the answer has always been, "I have no freaking idea." I only have one copy of each left in my personal collection and can't, obviously, part with them.

Well, now someone's selling a copy of Grimm Awakening on ebay. No, I'm not the seller. Shocklines is the seller, and they're probably selling it for someone else (who, I have no idea). But this is one lucky soul's chance to snag it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390062660973

Right now it's still pretty cheap at $6.50. Again, I'm not the seller and won't profit from this in any way. I post this solely for the benefit of the many who have asked me about this over the years. A link to it was posted on my message board, but I thought the rest of you should know, too.

For what it's worth, Grimm Awakening is still one of my favorite things I've ever done. Most who read it seem to find it highly entertaining. Grimm has been under development as a possible film or TV series for some time. Someday something may actually happen with that (or not, 'cause sometimes that's how this business goes). It's also my wife's favorite of my writing, again for what it's worth. And at some point down the road, in some form or other, there will be new Grimm stories.

Anyway, check out the listing, and good luck if you're bidding.

Blog neglect

Wow, I haven't updated this blog in three and a half months. That seems...what's the word...oh yeah...excessive. I'll make an effort to post more in the last few months leading up to the October release of Depraved. I've never looked forward to one of my releases as much as this one and I'll be very happy when it hits shelves. Right now I'm editing The Killing Kind (after having finished the rough draft a week or so ago). And my early verdict is it's even better and more brutal than Depraved, which has easily been my personal high water mark so far. That one will be out in 2010. After I wrap up editing TKK, I need to work up a synopsis for the next one.

That's all for now. Again, I'll try to post more often.

Depraved cover

Whoa

Just stumbled (via a link at Thunderstorm's message board) across a group started at The Haunt to post photos of the House of Blood limited edition:

http://www.horror-mall.com/haunt/forums/display_topic/id_445/House-of-Blood/

The individualized artist "remarques" are pretty cool. The one PC copy I have so far doesn't have that. Only copies ordered prior to a certain date were getting the remarques, by the way.

New novel: The Killing Kind

Announced this elsewhere yesterday, finally getting around to it here. Yesterday I sold my seventh novel, The Killing Kind, to Leisure Books. It will be out in 2010. Too soon to know the exact publication month. More specifics about this book in the months to come.

While you're waiting for that, Soultaker is in stores now and my next novel, Depraved, will be out later this year, in October.

In other news, the limited edition of House of Blood is shipping this week. I have an early copy and Thunderstorm did an amazing job on this book. Kick yourself if you missed out on this one.

Bryan

New message board

Courtesy of Brian Keene:

http://www.briankeene.com/forum/indexphp?board=30.0

I nuked my old Horror World message board a few weeks back. This one should be much more active. You do need to sign up for an account to view the board, though.

New Masthead

Look at the cool new masthead. I like. It's courtesy of writer and designer John Hornor Jacobs.

John's blog:

http://bastardizedversion.blogspot.com/

Famous Monsters Of Filmland on Soultaker

Pretty good review of Soultaker in Famous Monsters of Filmland. The guy isn't a fan of explicit sex and gore, so he had some problems with that, but overall it's a pretty good review. And, really, I'm pretty happy that someone who doesn't like that sort of thing somehow wound up coming away with an overall favorable opinion. To me, that's cool and a not inconsiderable accomplishment.

http://famousmonstersoffilmland.com/category/reviews/

PSA for new readers

I am also active here

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=678904921&ref=name

...here...

http://twitter.com/Bryan_D_Smith

and here:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=31794083

Gord Rollo on The Freakshow

Fellow horror author Gord Rollo, of the acclaimed Jigsaw Man, on my 2007 novel The Freakshow:

"Every now and then a book comes along that shocks the hell out of you and knocks you on your ass with it's sheer audacity, bizarre uniqueness, and the superb way it weaves multiple storylines together into a gruesomely satisfying ending. For me, that book was THE FREAKSHOW by Bryan Smith. Loved every word of it and couldn't put it down."

-- Gord Rollo, Author of CRIMSON and THE JIGSAW MAN

Soultaker contest

Win a copy of my new novel Soultaker courtesy of Horror World and Dorchester.

Details here:

http://www.horrorworld.org/leisurecontest.htm

Soultaker special feature

A special feature article I wrote for Soultaker went up on the Dorchester site today.

Check it out here:

http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/SpecialFeatures.cfm?Special_ID=2616

A Sunday playlist

"Method To My Madness" by Lords of the New Church
"KKK Bitch" by Body Count
"Born With A Tail" by the Supersuckers
"Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)" by W.A.S.P.
"Almost Human" by KISS
"Six Pack" by Black Flag
"Nice Boys" by Guns N' Roses
"Sex & Outrage" by Motorhead
"Everglade" by L7
"Supermodel Suicide" by the Erotics
"March Of The Pigs" by Nine Inch Nails
"Some Fun" by Smack
"I, Zombie" by White Zombie
"In Love" by the Datsuns
"Blood At The Door" by the Creeping Cruds

I woke up this morning with Rose Tattoo's "Nice Boys" running through my head. So it was good to have GNR's cover come up randomly. The main line in the song is "Nice boys don't play rock and roll." And it occurred to me to wonder whether any female band had ever covered the song and changed the lyric to "Nice girls don't play rock and roll." I did a google search and came up with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKluPjGh1mk

I think it's two girls, one guy. Close enough. Haven't listened to this version though, so don't blame me if it sucks.

The Haunt

The people at the Horror Mall have started a horror equivalent of social networking sites like My Space and Facebook. It's called The Haunt and is pretty cool. Check out my Haunt here:

http://www.horror-mall.com/haunt/Bryan_Smith

Come by and add me, sign up, comment, whatever.

And, oh yeah, Soultaker's out:

http://www.amazon.com/Soultaker-Leisure-Fiction-Bryan-Smith/dp/0843961937/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230731239&sr=1-1

Go forth and buy.

Favorite reads of 2008

Originally posted this on Brian Keene's board, but figured what the hell, I'll blog it too.

Read but not necessarily released in 2008 top 10

1. Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis
2. Queenpin by Megan Abbott
3. The Shotgun Rule by Charlie Huston
4. The Name of the Game Is Death by Dan J. Marlowe
5. Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler
6. Nuclear Jellyfish by Tim Dorsey
7. So Nude, So Dead by Richard Marsten (aka Ed McBain)
8. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
9. The Max by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr
10.Money Shot by Christa Faust

Mostly crime fiction, as usual the last few years.

2008 Reading List

I kept track of this throughout 2008 on my Horror World message board (which I'm about to deep-six, by the way). The list isn't extensive. I work a full-time day job and in 2008 I wrote two full-length novels and several short stories. As you can see, between those things and other obligations, I couldn't possibly have a lot of spare reading time. But here's what I did read in 2008:

The 2008 Reading List:

Slash, by Slash with Anthony Bozza
Preacher: Alamo
The Midnight Road by Tom Piccirili
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 issues 1 through 10
Duma Key by Stephen King
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 issue 11
Money Shot by Christa Faust
A Diet Of Treacle by Lawrence Block
Dead Man's Walk by Richard S. Prather
House Of Sorcery by Carter Brown
Find This Woman by Richard S. Prather
Queenpin by Megan Abbott
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 issue 12
Darling, It's Death by Richard S. Prather
A Devil For O'Shaugnessy/The Three-Way Split by Gil Brewer
Cuts by Richard Laymon
The Shotgun Rule by Charlie Huston
Half The Blood Of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston
The Velvet Vixen by Carter Brown
Fires Rising by Michael Laimo
The Name Of The Game Is Death by Dan J. Marlowe
Working For The Devil by Lilith Saintcrow
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 issue 13
The Vengeance Man by Dan J. Marlowe
The Blue-Haired Bombshell by John Zakour
AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll by Murray Engleheart and Arnaud Durieux
The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx with Ian Gittins
The Sure Thing by Richard S. Prather
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 issue 14
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 issue 15
Small Favor by Jim Butcher
So Nude, So Dead by Richard Marsten (aka Ed McBain)
The Score by Richard Stark (aka Donald E. Westlake)
Double In Trouble by Richard S. Prather and Stephen Marlowe
13 French Street by Gil Brewer
Bright Orange For The Shroud by John D. MacDonald
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 issue 16
The Woods Are Dark (restored and uncut version) by Richard Laymon
Dead Man Rising by Lilith Saintcrow
Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 issue 17
Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler
Gypsies Stole My Tequila by Adrienne Jones
Transmetropolitan: Back On The Streets by Warren Ellis
Slab Happy by Richard S. Prather
The Max by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr
Brides Of The Impaler by Edward Lee
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 issue 18
Home Is The Sailor by Day Keene
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Nuclear Jellyfish by Tim Dorsey
The Jigsaw Man by Gord Rollo
Every Last Drop by Charlie Huston
Living Dead In Dallas by Charlaine Harris
The Hong Kong Caper by Carter Brown