DEVILS IN EXILE by Chuck Hogan

Chuck Hogan's latest release is a high octane thriller set on the streets of Boston.

When Neal Maven returns from Iraq he finds himself in a difficult situation. The economy is in the toilet, jobs are scarce and those that are hiring seem reluctant to hire a veteran. It seems everything he went through, his Special Forces training, his sacrifice, his season of war, don't convert into anything tangible on this side of the world. It seems Maven's American Dream is just that...a dream.

Until he meets another veteran. Brad Royce is a charismatic leader that knows all the right things to say to a man like Maven. He also has a job for him, one that requires the skills and instincts he cultivated over in Iraq.

In no time Maven has joined Royce's team of war veterans knocking off drug dealers, stealing their money and destroying their product. Things go smoothly at first, the money and woman and the high life sucking Maven in.

But it doesn't last. Mistakes are made. The Kingpins bring in hired assassins to deal with Royce and his crew. To make matters worse, a relentless DEA agent named Marcus Lash is hot on their heels. When a job goes bad, things really begin to unravel, spinning wildly out of control to a stunning climax.

They don't get more suspenseful than this. With a cast of characters that range from tough as nails war veterans to psychotic white Jamaican hitmen, there is never a dull moment.   

Devils in Exile: A Novel is a riveting thriller that charges along at a breakneck speed. Heists, take downs, betrayals and close quarter gun battles galore fill the pages of Hogan's latest. If you liked The Town, you're going to love Chuck Hogan's DEVILS IN EXILE.

AVAILABLE NOW!

This is it! The whole slambango!

SERIAL UNCUT + BREAK YOU + KILLERS + BIRDS OF PREY = Serial Killers Uncut - A Psycho Thriller (The Complete Epic).

Over a 120,000 words of killers, mayhem, horror, more mayhem, more killers, more mayhem, killers and horror!

At $4.99 this is a deal and a half for thriller fans out there who don't want to break the bank just to read a heart pounding suspense story.

To top it off it comes with an interview with the authors and a sneak peak at a bunch of the previous works.

I can't recommend this more highly. If and when this gets a paperback release I'm going to snap it up to sit proudly up on the bookshelf.

As an aside, check out the cover Jeroen ten Berge did for BIRDS OF PREY - A Psycho Thriller. I think this is my favorite yet:

Zeltserman's BLOOD CRIMES A Steal!

A cup of coffee. A litre of gas. A bar of soap. A bottle of water.

What do all these things have in common?

Each is now more expensive than Dave Zeltserman's fang filled thriller Blood Crimes: Book One.

For a limited time BLOOD CRIMES is on sale for 99 cents. You read that correctly. From now until June 1st you can get BLOOD CRIMES for under a buck here and here.

To date BLOOD CRIMES has sold over 2000 copies. That's a lot of books but Dave isn't going to pen the sequel until it climbs over the 5000 mark.

If you haven't read it yet, if you are sitting around pining for the next Twilight or Sooki Stackhouse novel, why not fill your time reading this gritty vampire thriller?

Check out my review here, or go on Amazon and check out all the great things people are saying about BLOOD CRIMES.

Now go get yourself a copy and lets get Dave back in the seat and banging away on the sequel!

CALL ME SMITTY by B.R. Stateham

Have you guys been following Paul D. Brazill's blog? Not only does the guy have a good eye for underground crime writers but he's also got one of the best names for the field.

Paul D. Brazill just sounds noir.

The other day Paul gave his thoughts and opinions on B.R. Stateham's A Dish Served Cold/ Two Tales of Blood & Mayhem (Call Me Smitty). Well, sure enough I had to check it out. If Paul says it's good, it probably is.

I did a little research and discovered the starting point for the series is a little collection of short pieces titled, Call Me Smitty.

CALL ME SMITTY is a tough as nails, gritty as grit, noir/crime/suspense collection that will satisfy your reading hunger for guns, bullets and blood.

Smitty is a tall, pale faced assassin with eyes like two pools of forever dark. There is very little mercy running through this guys veins. When he gets you in his sights it's lights out. From Russian mobsters to Casino bosses, Smitty is riding a bullet through the ugly underbelly of society's dirtiest characters.

Stateham's writing was is a lot more refined than I expected. In fact it's as good as anything being published for bookstores. His waste-no-words style and the dark ruthlessness he imbues in Smitty make CALL ME SMITTY a guaranteed good read.

CALL ME SMITTY has one drawback. It's too short. You'll finish this collection before you can finish your whiskey and Coke and crush out your smoke. Luckily there are more Smitty tales to devour, which I will be doing in the not too distant future.

My New Amazon.com

One of my favorite things to do in this world (sad, I know) is to scour Amazon.com for new and exciting books to read. However, of late a lot of my discoveries have come via my friend's website. If after all this time you still haven't checked out Jeroen ten Berge, then make today the day you do!

Jeroen is doing incredible work. What he accomplishes is very simple (if no easy task). He takes your eyes hostage and says "This Book Will Kick Ass!".

Here is just a recent sample of some of the terrific work here's doing, along with links to Amazon.com where you can buy the books (because I know you will!):

Paris Is A Bitch -- A Rain/Delilah Short Story 

For most couples, a quiet dinner for two at Auberge de la Reine Blanche on the Ile Saint Louis would be just the thing to smooth out the complications in a romance. But for gorgeous Mossad operative Delilah and trying-to-retire contract killer John Rain, nothing is ever easy, and when Rain sees a crew of hard-looking men setting up outside the restaurant, he realizes someone has been bringing her work home with her. Is it a hit -- or something even worse? When it comes to killing, business and pleasure are the most dangerous mix of all.

This short story is about 8500 words, or a little under 40 pages in paper. The download comes with the first three chapters of the new John Rain novel, The Detachment (available soon), plus an essay called Personal Safety Tips from Assassin John Rain, which includes information that will be at least as valuable to civilians as it has been to Rain.

 The Dishonored Dead: A Zombie Novel 

From the mind of Robert Swartwood comes a zombie novel like you've never seen before ...

In a not-so-distant future, the world has devolved and most of the population has become the animated dead. Those few that are living are called zombies. They are feared and must be hunted down and destroyed.

Conrad is one of the animated dead. A devoted husband, a loving father, he is the best zombie Hunter in the world. But when he hesitates one night in killing a living adult, his job is put in jeopardy. Instead of being outright dismissed, he is transferred to a program so secretive even the Government would deny its existence — and where Conrad soon learns a startling truth about how his own son might be in danger of becoming a zombie.

As living extremists become more emboldened and blow up a Hunter Headquarters, as a power-hungry Hunter becomes more enraged and will stop at nothing to gain absolute power, Conrad begins to question not just his profession, but his own existence. And before he knows it he is on a journey of self-discovery, remembering a past he was forced to forget, and soon finding himself not only a hunted man, but a man who must now save both his son and the entire world.

THE DISHONORED DEAD is a 100,000-word zombie thriller that includes the 3,000-word short story "In the Land of the Blind," which won 10th Annual Chiaroscuro Short Story Contest and was the inspiration for the novel.

 Unborn 

The vengeful ghost of an aborted baby girl goes on a killing rampage. Highway drifter, day laborer, and world-renowned psychic medium John Rock tries to stop her.

FINAL DESTINATION meets THE EXORCIST.

With UNBORN, Wilder wades into the blood-soaked waters of the paranormal horror genre and knocks one straight out of the park. This one is sure to keep you up late while it chills your blood.
--Blake Crouch, author of RUN

Cross Stephen King with Lee Child and you get Carson Wilder’s UNBORN. This debut novella has the unrelenting pace of a thriller, and in one of the best traditions of horror, it satirizes a controversial issue of our day. John Rock is a troubled drifter who talks to the dead. Only now Rock's in contact with a vengeful spirit who was never born. Don't be surprised if you follow their duel from beginning to end in one sitting.
--Eric Christopherson, author of CRACK-UP

The Rift (Detectives and Demons)

If Stephen King, Sam Raimi, and Quentin Tarantino had an angry, three headed love child, it might look something like this novel...

New Orleans has a problem: An interdimensional rift opened up and dropped a section of Hell, demons included, right in the heart of The City That Care Forgot.

Matt Faustus has a problem: One of those demons got lost on the way, and was bound straight to his soul.

Now, he's a flat broke, burnt out, battle tested P.I hired by trailer park trash to find a little girl kidnapped by a wayward demon with motives that may not be as sinister as they seem.

His investigation will lead him to the arms of an old love, into conflict with an irritable friend, through the streets of New Orleans, where violent, vile, and evil attitudes will hinder his every move, and to the outlying marsh where bad deals with bad demons were bargained in blood and the soul of an innocent was lost forever.

Finally, behind the Wall itself into the Heart of the Bestiary, where he'll come face to face with one of the most powerful Hellspawn in existence, in a confrontation where he'll weigh the fate of his soul against the welfare of the city, and learn there are never easy answers to the most difficult of questions.

The Rift is Book One in the blood soaked, hard boiled, rock-n-roll violent Demons and Detectives Series.

Liar (Icarus Helix)

Marcus Tiller gambled away all of his money to the Bad Men. No sweat - they gave him more. But when his new bets went sour, he became desperate. He signed on with Icarus Consulting to inject newborns with an experimental compound.

Fourteen years later, Ellen discovers a startling ability - she can tell if people are lying. Not only that, but when they do, she can hear their true thoughts.

When a smooth-talking stranger hints at her powers, paranoia starts. Ellen finds herself drawn into best friend drama, tip-toeing around boys and fearing a divorce.

With the masks of people around her shattering, will Ellen learn to live with her power... or be struck down by it?

This is the second novella of the Icarus Helix series. It is approximately 20,000 words. These novellas are intended to stand alone and may be read in any order.

Other Episodes in Season 1:
Cheat

There you have it Wormies. Eye candy, right? If you want to see more check out Jeroen's website.

JUST ANOTHER JOB by Brett Battles

Brett Battles is one of those authors I've been wanting to read for a while now. I remember when his novel The Cleaner hit the stands how I thought it sounded pretty kick-ass.

Unfortunately, what happens from time to time, books slip my mind and I forgot all about THE CLEANER.

Thankfully, one of the nice things that have come out of my new friendship with terrific cover artist, Jeroen ten Berge, the name Brett Battles entered my radar screen again!

Jeroen did a terrific cover for one of Brett's latest e-books Little Girl Gone (A Logan Harper Thriller). I wondered why the name sounded familiar and discovered it was because he was the author of THE CLEANER.

With my busy reading schedule I wasn't sure when I would get a chance to read any of Brett Battles books so I was more than pleased to see he had a short story up on Amazon.com featuring his character Jonathan Quinn, the cleaner.

And boy did I like what I read. I won't bother going into what the story is about. For that just check the link provided below.

Just Another Job - A Jonathan Quinn Story is a slender story, and certainly (and I am only guessing here) doesn't do the whole character of Jonathan Quinn justice. But it was enough to peak my interest enough that I will be seeking out more Brett Battles.

If you're looking for a new thriller writer to discover (who isn't?) in time for some fun summer beach reading or something to take your mind off that five hour flight from Toronto to Las Vegas, I believe Brett Battles fits the bill! I've already downloaded LITTLE GIRL GONE and will certainly be buying a copy of THE CLEANER just as soon as the wife releases me from her imposed ban from the bookstore.

edit: I just was fixing some links and discovered Brett Battles has a new e-book release I'm sure Wormies everywhere will devour with pleasure. Sick (A Project Eden Thriller). Check this out:

Cover art by Jeroen ten Berge

For fans of Stephen King, Blake Crouch, and Michael Crichton comes a new, heart-pounding thriller by Brett Battles...

Daniel Ash wakes after midnight to the cry of his daughter. Just a bad dream, he thinks. She's had them before. Yet he can't help but worry when she cries out again as he pads down the hallway. Stepping through her doorway, he expects to find her sitting up in bed, frightened by a nightmare.

But the nightmare is his. It's real. And it's just beginning...

Something is burning Ash's daughter alive. Something horrible that is spreading beyond the walls of their home, and taking no prisoners.

Thirty seconds later, Ash will discover his daughter isn't the only one in his family infected, and as his world spins, coming apart at the seams, a team of armed men in biohazard suits bursts into his house.

But these aren't the good guys.

They haven't come to save Ash's family. They've come to separate them, to finish what they started.

The problem is Ash refuses to disappear. He wants only one thing: to find those responsible.

Because humanity is on the brink of execution.

And man is pulling the trigger.

Awesome or what?

DYING MEMORIES by Dave Zeltserman

There are a few authors right now that keep impressing me with each and every story they pen. One of those writers is Dave Zeltserman, author of so many good books you'd be foolish not to seek him out.

With Dying Memories Zeltserman delivers a riveting thriller that will keep you turning the pages long into the night. 

DYING MEMORIES put me in mind of such great psychological thrillers as The Manchurian Candidate, Three Days of the Condor, and even Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The novel has a distinct 1970's, Cold War feel to it. Whether or not Zeltserman intended to give that impression, I don't know. But for this reader, it worked.

The book opens on a brutal, broad daylight murder of an investment banker. When a reporter for the Boston Tribune investigates, he discovers baffling facts that make him believe more is going on than meets the eye. After some research and interviews, Bill Conway begins to make connections between this murder and the murder of a MIT professor two years prior. It isn't long before Bill finds himself falling down the proverbial "rabbit hole".

Bill follows the trail to the headquarters of ViGen, a seemingly innocuous research company. But are they as innocent as they seem? Bill soon becomes the target of mysterious men, in particular a frightening figure named Simon, who along with his needles, will give readers the chills. 

Bill soon finds himself the prime suspect in a series of murders that he believes he didn't commit. But did he? With his world suddenly turned upside down and backwards, with suspicious agents seemingly following his every more, Bill can't be sure anymore if he can trust his own memories.

DYING MEMORIES builds to a stunning and horrific climax. It's filled with plenty of twists and turns along the way which will leave you wondering just what is real and what isn't until the very end.   

OUT NOW! Lee Goldberg's THE JURY SERIES!

Cover by Jeroen ten Berge

Lee Goldberg, member of Top Suspense Group has reissued four of his earlier novels to quench your crime/noir thirst.

This is a great e-book deal for only $4.99 on Amazon.com.

I've been very impressed with everything I've read of Lee's and look forward to delving into these. Don't forget, Lee is half the team to bring out THE DEAD MAN series of short novels beginning with The Dead Man: Face of Evil and The Dead Man: Ring of Knives.

Here is the product description from Amazon.com for The Jury Series (Four Complete Novels):

All-New for 2011... a totally reformatted, updated edition!

From Lee Goldberg, the bestselling author of THE WALK, comes all four of his acclaimed JURY novels..collected into one mega-sized, pulse-pounding, thrill-ride that will leave you breathless:

JUDGMENT * ADJOURNED * PAYBACK * GUILTY

The complete saga of Brett Macklin, a one-man judge, jury, and executioner, fighting a war on terror on the streets of Los Angeles in the mid-1980s. Over 160,000 words/550 pages of non-stop action, wildly erotic sex, and wicked humor.

"As stunning as the report of a .357 Magnum, a dynamic premiere effort [...] The Best New Paperback Series of the year!" West Coast Review of Books

The series, published in 1985, under the title ".357 Vigilante," was written by Ian Ludlow... a pseudonym for Lee Goldberg, who wrote the books while he was a UCLA student, under the supervision of his professor, novelist Lewis Perdue ("The DaVinci Legacy," "The Queensgate Reckoning," "Daughter of God," etc). Goldberg would later go on to write and/or produce such TV shows as "Monk," "Diagnosis Murder," "SeaQuest," and "The Glades" and write many more novels, including THE WALK and the best-selling "Monk" series of original mysteries.


So check these out Wormies. If you don't want to buy all four at once you can buy them seperately but the deal is in the four pack. Look for these and more Lee Goldberg reviews in the not too distant future.

AND THE WINNERS ARE....(drum roll, please!)

dman4227

J.E. Medrick

Rabid Fox

Congratulations folks! You are the Grand Prize winners of a portfolio created for the chap book SERIAL! Even if you have read the book this is a terrific collectors item. You'll receive 4 prints used in creating the chap book (one of which is signed by Blake Crouch, Jack (J.A. Konrath) Kilborn and the artist Jeroen ten Berge), the actual chapbook from Norwood Press, and two rare lettered stickers (the stickers come attached to the envelope the portfolio fits inside).

Please send me an e-mail (reanimatedbride@sympatico.ca) with your mailing address and I'll get you the prizes just as soon as I can!

Thanks again to Blake Crouch for the great books, the interview and giving THE MAN EATING BOOKWORM the exclusive first look at SERIAL KILLERS UNCUT and its terrific cover!

Thanks to Jeroen ten Berge for providing the awesome Grand Prizes. You're the best!

And thanks to all the Wormies for checking out Blake Crouch Week. You guys all rock.

Peter Andrew Leonard

QUICK REMINDER....

You have until 11:59 PM EST. to leave a comment to be entered into the draw for one of the 3 Grand Prizes!

I'll be announcing the winners sometime tomorrow (probably mid-morning).

Good luck! And thanks again to Jeroen ten Berge, Blake Crouch and everyone else for participating in Blake Crouch Week. I had a lot of fun and hope you guys enjoyed it, too!

Special Guest Post By BLAKE CROUCH...

Thanks to all who’ve dropped by this week and especially to Peter for giving my work such amazing coverage on his blog. I’m not just saying this, but I do think this blog is going to become one of the premier websites for ebook reviews and coverage. It’s just tremendous, and as a writer who relies on sites like this to help get the word out on new releases, etc., it’s a godsend.

Peter asked me to do something for Friday, and since he’s been such a proponent of my work, I thought it might be cool to slide an exclusive, first look, never-seen-anywhere-outside-of-my-Dropbox excerpt from the forthcoming Serial Killers Uncut (SKU), which my writing partner, Joe Konrath, and I are releasing later this month.

We’ve been building toward this book for two years, and it’s an amalgamation of several prior releases (Truck Stop, Killers, Serial, Bad Girl) and a mountain of new stuff, in a meta-fiction style timeline, all clocking in at 120,000 words, which is basically a double-novel.

In comics, shared universes are common, and Joe and I thought, why not do that with our work. His Jack Daniels and my Andy Thomas series spans a period of time from 1991 to 2011, and with SKU, we’ve essentially brought every major villain we’ve ever written into the same book (there’s TWENTY of them), with the intention of filling in the gaps between our novels, while also letting our bad guys share a ton of scenes together (because let’s face it—there’s nothing more fun to read than a great villain...they ALWAYS steal the show).

Our dream is to one day, when Joe and I have gotten the rights back to all of our work, cobble together his Jack Daniels series, Desert Places, Locked Doors, Snowbound, and all the components of SKU, and release it as a single 1.75 million word mega-novel.

But in the meantime, there’s Serial Killers Uncut, which fits like a glove between the timelines of our other work.

The following scene is the opening to SKU, and it features a couple of my characters you may know.

Thanks again to everyone for stopping by, and to Peter for making it all possible. I hope you enjoy the excerpt, and I hope you’ll check out Serial Killers Uncut when it’s released later this month.

All the best,

Blake

PART ONE –A Watch of Nightingales

Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 1969

"Get in here, boys!" Jeanette shouted. "It's happening, and you're missing it! Andrew! Orson! Come on!"

Eight years old, and the twins raced each other down the hall and into the living room, where they skidded to a stop on the green shag carpet.

"You have to see this," their mother said, pointing at the television screen.

"What's wrong with Dad?" Orson asked.

Andy looked over at their father who sat on the edge of an ottoman, leaning toward the television with his forearms on his knees and tears running down his face.

"Nothing, son," he said, dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief. "Nothing. Just never thought I'd be alive when something like this happened."

"Can we go outside?" Andy said.

"It's too late," Jeannette said. "Ya'll need to get ready for bed."

"Aw, come on, Mom. Just for ten minutes," Orson begged.

"Five minutes," their mother said. "And don't make me come out there looking for you."

The boys rushed out the front door into the night, the screen door banging shut after them.

July and warm and lightning bugs floating everywhere like airborne embers, sparking and fading, sparking and fading.

"Look at me!" Andy screamed, running out into the long, cool grass of the front yard. "I'm floating!"

When the boy stopped, he glanced back toward the driveway, saw his brother lying on his back, staring up at the sky.

Andy moved back toward him in exaggerated hops, pretending to bounce along through reduced gravity.

He lay down on the warm concrete beside his brother, their shoulders barely touching, and stared up into the sky.

The gibbous moon shone with a subdued brilliance through the humid southern night.

"I can see them up there," Andy said.

Orson glanced at him, brow furrowed. "Really?"

Andy smiled. "Of course no, I'm just kidding."

"I knew that."

They were quiet for a bit, and then Orson said, "I think there's something wrong with me," Orson said.

"I know, my stomach always hurts after Mom's meatloaf, too."

"No, it's not that."

"What?"

"You ever feel different?" Orson said.

"Different? Like how?"

"Like from other people, stupid."

"I don't know. I don't guess so."

"Yeah, that's because you're normal."

"So are you."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are, you're my brother."

"That doesn't make me normal, Andy."

"I know you and there's nothing wrong—"

"But you only know my outside. You don't know what's inside. The thoughts I have."

"What thoughts?"

"Just thoughts."

"Normal thoughts?"

"I don't think so."

"Like what?" Andy asked.

"I don't want to. They're mine."

"Tell me."

Orson looked over at Andy. Now there were tears in his eyes. Glassy in the moonlight.

"You'll tell Mom and Dad."

"No, I won't."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

Orson looked back into the sky.

"Everyone's real excited about what's happening."

"I know."

"But do you know what I'm thinking?"

"How could I?"

Orson hesitated. Then: "No, I don't want to say."

"Orson." Andy reached over and took hold of his brother's hand. "You can trust me. Always."

Orson blinked twice, and then said, "I wish Neil Armstrong would die up there."

"Really? Why?"

Orson shrugged. "I don't know. But I wish his friend would leave him on the moon or the Eagle would blow up or a space monster that no one had ever heard of before would crawl out of a hole and eat him. Everyone would be sad, and I'd be....so happy."

Andy stared at his brother, an airy fluttering in his stomach now, and it wasn't his mother's meatloaf.

"You can let go of my hand if you want," Orson said, that look on his face would never leave Andy—fear and defiance and rage and a deep, deep sadness.

The screen door banged open.

Their mother's voice echoing into the woods across the street, calling for them to come inside and get ready for bed.

Andy squeezed his brother's hand tighter.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Tomorrow I hand the reigns over to the man we've been talking about all week. That's right! Blake Crouch will be in the house with a special guest blog post!

Obviously this isn't live and Blake isn't really in my house, therefore I've had a peek at what is going up tomorrow and I'm stoked, to say the least. Not just for myself, but you guys! For all of his fans (not to mention J.A. Konrath fans).

I'm going to make some final reminders before I go. One, you got a little under two hours before the midnight deadline to enter into today's draw for e-book copies (via Amazon.com and Kindle) of Blake's Andrew Z. Thomas thrillers. That's right. Leave a comment and you'll be entered into a draw for DESERT PLACES: A Novel of Terror (Andrew Z. Thomas Thriller), LOCKED DOORS: A Novel of Terror (Andrew Z. Thomas Thriller) and BREAK YOU: A Novella of Terror (Andrew Z. Thomas Thriller). If you don't have any of these, or have yet to give Blake Crouch a read, this is a superb way to start building your Kindle e-book collection.

Secondly, don't forget about the 3 Grand Prizes. All you have to do is leave a comment on any of the Blake Crouch Week posts to enter. You could win one of three portfolios that include 4 art prints from the limited edition of SERIAL, plus the chap book of SERIAL and 2 stickers (which come attached to the envelope that holds the prints and chap book!) These are very rare prizes and come courtesy of e-book cover designer extraordinaire, Jeroen ten Berge. Please visit his website, check out his work and maybe order a book off some of the great writers he's done covers for.

Now I'll leave you with a little something to whet your appite for tomorrow. I give you the cover for Blake Crouch and Jack (J.A. Konrath) Kilborn's SERIAL KILLERS UNCUT!!!

Cover art by Jeroen ten Berge

The Blake Crouch Interview (Part 2 of 2)

MEB: Do you own an e-reader? If so which brand?

Blake: Yes, I own a Kindle. I do most of my reading on it. I'm thinking about getting a Nook Color as well though.

MEB: In your mind are you still writing for the print book industry or do you find your focus shifting more towards publishing your work independently? I know you were torn about publishing your latest novel, RUN, in e-book format rather than holding out for a print contract.

Blake: I've never written *for* a particular industry. I've always written the type of books that I love and would want to read. In terms of how my work is released (traditional publishing v. indie), I'm definitely becoming much more geared to releasing books myself. I just think the landscape is changing and the terms have certainly changed greatly for what it would take for me to work with a traditional publisher in light of the ebook revolution and their adherence to unfair royalty rates for ebooks. That isn't to say I wouldn't work with a traditional publisher again under the right circumstances.

MEB: I recently had a chance to converse with Jeroen ten Berge, the talented designer behind your e-book covers. How did you guys hook up? What's it like working with him and how much of an impact do you think his work has on your sales?

Blake: Jeroen is brilliant, and I think the amazing work he's done for my ebooks has been a big part of my success. We made a huge effort to establish a brand over the last year, and now when you look at my titles (my covers) I think you can certainly tell "this is a Blake Crouch" book. I believe Jeroen and I met about 5 or 6 years ago, when he emailed me after reading Desert Places and Locked Doors. We started corresponding through email, and I knew he was a designer, but of course, there really wasn't an outlet for his work at that point. Once ebooks took off, that all changed. It's been a blast working with him.

MEB: It's said writing is a lonely business. You're a writer that does some of your work in a coffee shop. I've heard of quite a few authors that have coffee shops as their "office". What is it about coffee shops that draws you there (besides great coffee of course!)?

Blake: I love the energy of a great coffee shop, and the one where I work is without a doubt, my favorite I've ever stumbled into. I love the smell of beans, the conversations, the music, and just being around people even though I'm not necessarily interacting with them (although it's kind of hard in this shop, since I live in a small town).
 

MEB: Have you received any offers from Hollywood? Quite a few of your stories would make terrific films (I'm thinking most of them would be great on film but particularly Perfect Little Town, *69 and of course Desert Places).

Blake: I just sold an option for my novel, Abandon, to a screenwriter who's going to adapt it. Serial was optioned for film, as was Desert Places, but that has since lapsed. I think a lot of my work would translate well to the big screen, but I'm pretty jaded when it comes to Hollywood. Anytime a film actually gets made, it's an honest-to-God miracle.

MEB: While your work has drawn a mountain of praise and appreciation, it has been equally scorned and condemned by, shall we say, more sensitive readers. Do harsh criticisms ever bother you with their narrow minded analysis of your work? And as a second part to this line of questioning, do you put any value in Amazon or blog reviews in comparison to the professional sources of criticism? I ask this because it would seem blogs and Amazon (and the like) are the only sources for reviews of independently published e-books.

Blake: To answer the first part, criticism really doesn't bug me anymore. I've written a lot, been reviewed a lot, and both praise and scorn just doesn't hit me the same anymore. Everyone has their opinion, they're entitled to it, blah-blah-blah, but I'm too busy writing the next thing to get too caught up on what people think of my books. Not to say I don't love great reviews, but I've just become a little numb to it all lately, and that's probably a good thing.

This is going to sound crazy, but I think Amazon reviews in particular are more important than reviews in newspapers or even major blogs. Assemble a stack of solid reviews on Amazon and it is going to help your book sell, no question. And for the most part, people who review on Amazon haven't been asked to review a book. They're just pouring their guts out in terms of what they think of your book, and it can be a scary thing, because they certainly have an impact on sales. 

I think blogs are becoming the main new source for reviews, and this is a wonderful thing. As you know, I enlisted a number of bloggers to help me get the word out on Run, and they came through in a big way and helped me into a great launch.

MEB: It's a tremendous time to be a Blake Crouch fan. From what I can glean, you have a lot of fun stuff coming out in the not too distant future. I see you have Killers Uncut and then Serial Killers coming this year. After that it's Stirred. What can you tell us about the progress of Draculas 2, Werewolves and Mummies? Anything else in the chamber?

Blake: It's a great time to be a writer as well. No more limitations on creativity. I never thought I would ever get to release the amount of material I am this year. Konrath and I are dropping Killers Uncut, Birds of Prey, and Serial Killers Uncut in the next 10 days. Then we're writing Stirred. I'm getting started on my next solo project, and of course the collaborations are in the future. We're still working on the lineup of authors for Werewolves, which will be the next one, and we're hoping to write it and release it in the 4th quarter.

MEB: Last thing before I let you go, my wife is a proud Colorado native and she is demanding I ask you, what is your favorite part of living in "Colorful Colorado"?

Blake: Wow, it's tough to limit that to one thing, but the answer is obvious....the astounding natural beauty everywhere you look.

MEB: Blake, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer my questions. It is much appreciated!

Blake: Peter! My pleasure!


*Wormies, don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win today's prize pack of Andrew Z. Thomas thrillers and also be entered into the Grand Prize draw! 

Third Winner of the week is...

abfabgab! Congratulation! Just send me an e-mail at reanimatedbride@sympatico.ca leaving me your Kindle e-mail and I'll shoot you your e-book copy of DRACULAS (A Novel of Terror).

And for those of you who are checking in but not leaving comments, remember you don't need a Kindle to win one of the 3 Grand Prizes!!!

 

Now check this out Wormies! Originally (before Jeroen ten Berge stepped up in a big way) my big prize at the end of the week was going to be e-book copies of DESERT PLACES: A Novel of Terror (Andrew Z. Thomas Thriller), LOCKED DOORS: A Novel of Terror (Andrew Z. Thomas Thriller) and BREAK YOU: A Novella of Terror (Andrew Z. Thomas Thriller).

That's right, the complete Andrew Z. Thomas collection (to date).

Now, those are the prizes for today!

All you have to do is leave a comment. It doesn't get any easier than that. And remember, to be eligeable for the Grand Prize (pictured above) you just need to leave a comment on any of the BLAKE CROUCH WEEK posts!

And don't forget to check in later for Part 2 of my interview with author Blake Crouch!

The Blake Crouch Interview (Part 1 of 2)

Here for your reading pleasure is Part 1 of my 2 part interview with author Blake Crouch. Enjoy! 

MEB: Blake, welcome to The Man Eating Bookworm.

Blake: Thanks for having me!

MEB: To start why don't you tell all the Wormies a little about yourself.

Blake: I was born and raised in North Carolina. Came out to Colorado about eight years ago, and love it. 

I started writing very early on, like in middle school. Wrote some bad poetry in high school, and started my first terrible novel my senior year called Down From the Sleeping Trees, which was a weak attempt at the Prince of Tides. That book never sold but did ultimately land me my first agent. 

In 1999, I decided to write my second novel, and this time, it was going to be the kind of thing I would also want to read. It morphed out of a story I'd written in a creative writing class called "Ginsu Tony" about two brothers' final meeting before one of them is executed in Montana. That book became Desert Places, which I edited with my professor at Chapel Hill, the great Bland Simpson. That book got me my first book deal, and I was off.

MEB: One thing I love about your stories is how location and setting play a huge roll. From the desert in Wyoming, the high peeks of the Colorado Rockies, Haines Junction(Yukon), to Ocracoke and Portsmouth (North Carolina), you do a great job of planting the reader firmly in that location. Have you been to all these places, and if so, do you visit a place to help with the writing, or do you discover a great place on your travels and decide to set a story there?

Blake: I've been everywhere except for Haines Junction, Yukon (it's kind of a long drive north). Also, with my newest novel, Run, I couldn't visit every single place, because it was a 2,000-mile road trip from Albuquerque, NM, into Canada. Google Earth helped a lot. 

But location has always been an important facet of my stories (not sure why), and I imagine it will continue to be. I think that location helps me to establish mood, which is a considerable component of building suspense, terror, etc. And being a fan of great writers like McCarthy (and Conroy) who write so well about weather and landscape, I aspire to follow in their footsteps.

MEB: Most of the places you write about are practically cut off from the rest of the world, they're remote and harsh. What is it that attracts you to write about these types of places?

Blake: It probably has something to do with where I want to take my characters....to the absolute, utter ends of their ropes. Kind of hard to do that in a big city with ample cellular towers. I like to put my characters through hell, and remote locations are a key ingredient. When there's no power, no means to contact the outside world, and no roof over their head, they start having to make tough choices. And characters at their breaking point are really the only kind I'm interested in writing about.

MEB: Serial killers and murderers inhabit a large portion of your imaginary world, from Orson Thomas and Luther Kite (Desert Places/Locked Doors) to Martin (from *69), Nathan (On The Good, Red Road) and Lucy (Serial/Killers). What is it about these types of individuals that attracts you to pen their stories?

Blake: I've always been fascinated by the darker side of human nature, even in my earliest attempts at fiction. Where it comes from, I don't know (and kind of don't want to know). I think what draws me to them, is that they are true representations of evil in a world where sometimes evil is thought not to exist. People do bad things, but no one is deemed "bad" anymore. Everything is explained away through upbringing, etc. I'm not saying that doesn't play into it to some extent, but if you look at the history of serial murderers in the 20th Century (from Fish to Gasey to Bundy) you cannot say that they aren't evil. I like how writing such characters brings the topic of evil into a lot of my work in a pretty seamless, and organic way.

MEB: I read in an interview that one of your favorite serial killer books is The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. Being this is a Canadian blog I have to ask: Have you read Michael Slade's Special X thrillers, beginning with Headhunter and Ghoul?

Blake: No, should I add them to my list? I'm always looking for something to rock my world like SOTL did.

MEB: Definitely add them to your list. I think they would be right up your alley.

I'm guessing there is a well read collection of Edgar Allan Poe in your home library. Who are your essential authors and who are your more modern go to guys?

Blake: Absolutely. I love "The Tell-Tale Heart", "Cask of Amontillado", "The Black Cat", "Fall of the House of Usher", and "The Pit and the Pendulum" in particular. Other favorite writers (it's a pretty eclectic list): Cormac McCarthy, Larry McMurtry, C.S. Lewis, Don Winslow, Hemingway (I have the great fortune of being friends with a handful of my faves (Marcus Sakey, Joe Konrath/Jack Kilborn/Scott Phillips, F. Paul Wilson, Brian Azzurello, Michael Koryta, David Morrell)), Gillian Flynn, Bill Bryson, and plenty more I know I'm forgetting.

* This concludes part 1 of my 2 part interview with Blake Crouch. Part 2 will be posted tomorrow afternoon. Remember to leave a comment today for a chance to win a e-book copy of DRACULAS (A Novel of Terror) (via Amazon.com and Kindle).