The Quintessential STRANGE NEW MOONS Post

  

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Around the Internet:

An announcement on Happy Goat Horror
A promotional article on I Smell Sheep
A review on Kinzie Things

A review on Fabulous and Fun

Videos:

AuthorCon V or Bust!

Hi everyone! One of my favorite events of the whole year is this weekend, and I hope to see you all there. AuthorCon V (or Scares That Care) is not only a great weekend for authors and book lovers, but also a great charity event. The organizers take no profit, and all proceeds always go towards supporting a child with an illness, or women fighting breast cancer. It's a really worthwhile event and a great time. I can't wait to get there!

 This year's Guests of Honor are:

Gemma Amor (Full Immersion, Dear Laura)
Jendia Gammon (Doomflower, Copper)
Christopher Golden (All Hallows, Ararat)
Laurel Hightower (Crossroads, Below)
Todd Keisling (Devil's Creek, Scanlines)
Red Lagoe (Lucid Screams, In Excess of Dark)
Victoria Price (Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography)
Mary SanGiovanni (Alien: Enemy of my Enemy)

For the book lovers amongst you, this event is a great opportunity to buy books, meet your favorite authors, and get your books and merch signed! As well as the Guests of Honor, you'll find a whole host of other authors trading, participating, or just attending for fun. There are also events running, including a murder mystery event - whoddunit?!

For authors, it's a great place to meet people, "network", and speak with your own favorites, and there are also workshops and, of course, an opportunity to promote and sell your work.

This year is extra exciting for me because I'll be in the dealer's room selling and signing books, including a brand new STC exclusive - LOONEY!

When beloved cartoon characters come crawling out of her TV, army recruiter Gabriella Harman expects a zany romp instead of the hellish nightmare that follows.

One night, haunted by her memories of Iraq, Gabriella downs a stomachful of pills and booze. When her favorite cartoon characters, the Kooky Toons, start crawling out of the TV, she assumes she is hallucinating.

But soon Gabriella finds herself locked in a battle of wits and wills with Herman Hyrax, the world-famous, wise-cracking mascot of the Kooky Korporation. Herman is more than just a stinker, though. He may be a monster, a demon, a god, or something entirely more unwholesome.

Is Gabriella’s descent into a world of cartoonish violence and psychological torment real? Or has she simply gone…

LOONEY!?

Gavin Dillinger and I have had this co-written tale of cartoonish debauchery up our sleeves for a while, and could think of no better place or time to launch it than at AuthorCon - the King of Cons, some might say. We hope you'll come see us and take a look!

AND it gets even better. French Press Publishing acquired its first UK author recently - the super talent that is Kit Power - and he has flown all the way from England to launch his novella, MILLIONAIRES DAY in the United States. It's a great book that I can't wait to introduce to this side of the planet!

I know you'll help me welcome him to our neck of the woods. It's going to be a great event - see you all there!

Dates: Friday through Sunday March 28-30

Location:
DoubleTree by Hilton
50 Kingsmill Road
Williamsburg, Virginia 23185

Panels:

Thursday, 7pm - Spirited Giving (Auditorium)

Friday, 5:30pm - "Blending Genres" (moderator, with Derik Cavignano, Jennifer L. Collins, Rowan Hill, Andrew Najberg) Second Floor, Room 18

Saturday, 10:45am - "Editing and Publishing Anthologies" (moderator, with Shane Hawk, Carol Gyzander, Rebecca Rowland, and Candace Nola) Second Floor, Room 18

Saturday, 12:30pm - Reading (with Bitter Karella) Second Floor, Room 11

Sunday, 10:15am "Splatstick" (James Sabata - moderator, with Bitter Karella, D M Guay, Viggy Parr Hampton, Nathan D. Ludwig, and Wile E. Young)

Book Signing with Kit Power at Vortex Books & Comics

Hi everyone, I hope you're all well and reading cool books. Speaking of cool books (and authors), the legend that is Kit Power is flying alllll the way to us in the United States this week, and his first stop is THIS Saturday at Vortex Books & Comics! 

Kit Power is our latest author at French Press Publishing, our first Brit added to our roster of fantastic writers, and the author of MILLIONAIRES DAY, which is making its official American debut this week. I can't believe how lucky we are that we not only get to launch this book here but the author himself has travelled all this way to personally trade them, meet his readers, and sign those shiny new copies for you all.

If you've never heard the name 'Kit Power' before, where have you been?! He's very well-regarded in the UK book scene (I know this because I personally witnessed how popular his work is last year when I attended FCon.) He's an author of both sci-fi/horror/fantasy fiction, and the creator and original voice behind the popular non-fiction article series, My Life in Horror over at Gingernuts of Horror (he has wrapped up his run and handed it over to George Daniel Lea.)

I hope to see you all there! I've been assuring Kit that we're a friendly group over here in the United States, so please help me give him a big warm welcome! If you already have a copy of MILLIONAIRES DAY, bring it along and he'll sign it for you! If not, you'll be able to purchase one there. Either way, swing by for a chat and a cup of tea! 

*Disclaimer: Vortex Books & Comics is not serving tea, but Kit is English so I assume he'll just arrive with a teapot, right?!

Date: Saturday, March 23, 1:00-3:00 pm EST

Location:
Vortex Books and Comics
477 Locust St
Columbia, PA 17512

Panels:
TBD

Gross-Out Contest Rules (Scares That Care Authorcon 2025)

Hey, everybody!

My writing partner and collaborator Wile E. Young and I are delighted to remind you that we will be hosting the Gross-Out Contest this year at Scares That Care Authorcon 2025.  

Please Note:  You must pre-register if you wish to participate in the Gross-Out Contest this year.  You can do so by emailing frenchpresspub (at) hotmail (dot) com after 12:01 am EST on Saturday, March 15.  

That is the big rule change this year.  Make sure you pre-register so we can keep the lineup fast, funny, and fair.  Pre-registered intended contestants should show up at 9:50 pm EST on Saturday, March 29 so that we can confirm you are present and ready to present.

What about the other rules?  Well, I'm glad you asked.

1.  Contestants should prepare a five minute story.  Every contestant will have three minutes to present, after which the audience will decide whether they can continue for another two minutes.  After five minutes total, you will be stopped.

2.  There will be no recording of any kind.  This is an event for fans of extreme horror and splatterpunk and we want contestants to feel free to leave it all out there on the stage.  If you don't want to be exposed to that, please don't attend.

3.  Contestants will be judged on three criteria – grossness, crowd engagement, and performance.

4.  Prizes will be awarded to the first, second, and third place, as well as a special "Judge’s Choice” award.

5.  YOU MUST PRE-REGISTER TO PARTICIPATE!  Tell your friends, spread the word, but get us an email after midnight this Friday into Saturday evening.

So, now that you know the judging criteria and the basic rules, who will be the judges?  Well, we are pleased to announce the following judges:

L.P. Hernandez

Kenzie Jennings

Bitter Karella

Eric LaRocca

Judith Sonnet

Can't wait to see you there, everybody!

Calling Audiobook Narrators (ACX)

Hi everyone! We hope you're well and thriving.

We have a couple of titles listed on ACX right now, open for audiobook narrator auditions.

First up, we have MILLIONAIRES DAY by our newest author, Kit Power. 

On Sunday, 22nd December, 2019, everyone in the United Kingdom woke up with one million pounds in cash under their beds.

The miracle – or catastrophe – was never adequately explained. In the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic the event was largely forgotten or treated as an urban legend.

Until now.

In this explosive volume, investigative journalist/historian Kit Power finally blows the lid off that surreal, impossible morning. Focussing on a few residents of Milton Keynes, a uniquely diverse city northwest of London, Power lays bare:

- the wonder of waking up to a found fortune through the eyes of a neglected child

- the madness and panic of an unprepared public from the perspective of an overworked police officer

- the graphic terror inflicted by a band of reprobate gangsters for whom too much is never enough

- the strangeness of it all through the outlook of man’s best friend

Note: for legal purposes, this book is marketed as fiction. But no one who lived through it could deny the profound impact of…

MILLIONAIRES DAY

What we're looking for: a narrator that is comfortable shifting perspectives and able to convey different characters and POV's. In terms of the prose, we require no particular accent, but we're hoping that for the chapters involving the London gang, our narrator can inject a little attitude and a London accent, if possible. There are a couple of challenging sections, including the first-person perspective of a dog, so we need someone creative and versatile.

TW: Violence, murder, (including violence against a child), bad language

We're also looking for a narrator for our recently released werewolf anthology, STRANGE NEW MOONS.

You can hardly swing a dismembered deer carcass these days without hitting a “No vampires, no zombies, and no werewolves” sign on an anthology.

Well, to that we say “Pshaw!” And also, “Awooo!”

Because what readers really don’t like are dull werewolf stories. So, we tasked the horror community with writing the weirdest, wildest, most creative, utterly bonkers tails (ha!) of lycanthropic lunacy possible.

And did they ever deliver! Wait until you read:

- a brutal, boneshattering peek at the kind of “dogfights” the super-wealthy watch to amuse themselves

- a story of two inquisitive city employees trying to find out who (or what!) keeps pooping on a local landmark

- a ride along with a delusional cop trying to prevent the total werewolf apocalypse. Werepocalypse!

Plus werewolf Frankenstein! And werewolves in space! This book is all gore and no bore.

With a lineup running the gamut from brand, spanking new cubs to heavyweight timber alphas, you’d have to be the weakest elk in the herd not to slobber all over…

STRANGE NEW MOONS

Featuring:

Somer Canon

Simon Clark

Matthew R. Davis

Kayleigh Dobbs

John Durgin

Amanda Headlee

Stephen Kozeniewski

Tim Lebbon

Keawe Melina Patrick

Rebecca Rowland

Mary SanGiovanni

EJ Sidle

Rose Strickman

What we're looking for: a narrator that can shift between different styles and voices, presenting each story in an interesting and unique way.

TW: violence, death, political themes, blood and gore, bad language

To audition, you will need an ACX account.

You can find MILLIONAIRES DAY on ACX here:

MILLIONAIRES DAY

You can find STRANGE NEW MOONS on ACX here:

STRANGE NEW MOONS

To ask any questions about the books or auditions, please feel free to reach out to Kayleigh at:

frenchpresspub (at) hotmail (dot) com

Alternatively, you can contact Stephen through the DM option on ACX.

Payment: Royalty split (both titles).
Audition open: NOW! (Both titles).