I received my PROOF copy of Heinous this week and it was perfect! Next step is getting it live which should only take a few short days. In the meantime, I wanted to share the finished cover and the stellar collection of blurbs I've been fortunate enough to receive from some truly talented writers and just plain bad ass humans. I know people need to hear a book is incredible from at least five people before they will spend money on it. Well, here is people telling you how much Heinous rocks.
“Imagine looking out the window and seeing your infant child standing in the middle of a busy street. That sunken chest punch in the gut feeling is all I can compare HEINOUS with. Jonathan Moon shows no mercy.”--William Pauley III-‐author of DOOM MAGNETIC! and The Brothers Crunk
"Uniquely disturbing, disturbingly unique"--Jessica Brown-‐horrornews.net and darkmarkets.com
“Heinous will suck you in with its easy, lyrical style so that it can electroshock you with straight-‐up gorgeous fear. Lines like, My memories are ghosts. Ghosts wrapped in barbed wire will haunt you to sleep. This book kicks ass. Jonathan Moon is one scary dude.”--Kevin Shamel, author of Rotten Little Animals and Island of the Super People
"[HEINOUS is] A breakneck hell-‐ride through the heart and mind of a rising talent. Once you're in, there's no stopping."--David Dunwoody, author of EMPIRE'S END and UNBOUND & OTHER TALES
"Get to know a man named Gavin Wagner and his dark friend inside, HEINOUS. Heinous will possess you to keep turning the pages into his world, and it is a dark one. What starts out as a vivid nightmare twists its way into a brutal reality of depravity and violence. This novel jolts you into and out of reality in whiplashes of macabre dreamscapes and morbid intent. Jonathan Moon is a name in Horror to be reckoned with. His words bleed with dim adjectives that blanket the reader in a gloomy sense of dread. Moon skillfully guides you down a pitch black path...with something sinister waiting around every corner and for you, the reader... there is no light."--Jason Hughes, author of Without Notice and screen-writer of Dead Girls Don’t Cry
“From the haunting, mesmerizing opening to the stunning, pitch perfect conclusion, Mr. Moon weaves a tale of raw brutality and sheer terror that will stay with you long after you finish reading.In a word- Brilliant.“--Bryan Hall,author of Containment Room Seven
"Like a claustrophobic nightmare, Jonathan Moon carves out a dark dreamscape filled with ghastly images and dark terror in Heinous."--Bowie V. Ibarra,author of the 'Down the Road' zombie series
“It’s like Jonathan Moon ripped out my inner child and beat it with a shovel. Heinous is also an early contender for horror novel of the year.”--Timothy W. Long, author of The Zombie Wilson Diaries
So there you have it! Available VERY VERY SOON Heinous, Heinous, Heinous!!!
As Mr.MoOn's Nightmares All Day Day (12-10-10)draws closer I want to give you little reviews about the books I've chosen for my give away; in the case I haven't read the book I will review another book by that talented author. Since he was first up with my interviews it is only fitting I share a review I wrote awhile back for David Dunwoody's Unbound and Other Tales.
David Dunwoody is the talented author of one of my favorite zombie novels, Empire. I can honestly say Unbound and Other Tales takes all the things I loved from Empire and spreads them out over a novel and a handful of short stories. Mr. Dunwoody builds grim worlds with very human (and very inhuman) characters to inhabit them. He then weaves tales that wrap and twist around you; pulling you into them. Mr. Dunwoody honors Lovecraft, in substance not style, in nearly every story here and the results are unique and terrifying. The title story, Unbound, is novel length while the eight stories that make up Other Tales are each quick bursts of madness that are over before you are ready for it. In Unbound a wicked villain, Sharpe, from a popular series of pulp novels comes to life and wreaks hell on all in his path. The characters are all very solid but Sharpe steals the show as a supernatural badass you won't soon forget. Sharpe reminded me of the Judge from Cormack Mc McCarthy's Blood Meridian joined with every cowboy tough guy and movie serial killer I grew up with. Three desperate men, each having had Sharpe sadistically cut into their lives, make the unlikely team pit against the cowboy madman. The action is quick paced and violent as the story unfolds from the twists and layers Mr. Dunwoody weaves. Mr. Dunwoody's graphic storytelling shines here and calls to mind greats such as King, Laymon, and Mathison in turn without loosing his unique voice. The short stories following the pulpy macabre Unbound continue to build on the dark feeling Mr. Dunwoody easily establishes early on. Voice, the first is haunting and heartbreaking at the same time in only a few pages. The next, Saligia, is the lone real zombie story in the collection and it may be the weirdest of them all. The story builds in one direction then spins into an entire different one about midway. My mind couldn't help but search for the symbolism here, this story feels bigger than you catch with your eyes the first time through. Ministry is a darkly semi-comedic piece that shows the hazards of "grave riding." This story features a re-occurring character, Mr. Chith, from other Dunwoody stories. The appearance of Mr. Chith backs up my claim that David Dunwoody builds his own personal mythos as he writes, giving you as a reader vast areas of his madness to explore. The insanity of Clowns builds solid and thick into a truly terrifying tale. This story takes the idea of zombies taking over in a wonderfully twisted direction that really raises the hairs on the back of your neck. Imagine a town filled with emotionless clowns; all with the same painted blue smile. Exhibit pulls you forward to a twisted ending with a Lovecraftian feel. There's a strong moral lesson buried under the sex and horror and Mr. Dunwoody polishes it up with a nice dash of irony. Mr. Dunwoody's story Mother Tree was first featured on Choate road where he was awarded their spot-light scribe of the year. An old tree has lovers and children in this weird story told completely different then the rest of the collection. However, like the others it oozes an addictive darkness that engages you through out. The last story, The Devil's Due, is set in purgatory as seen through Mr. Dunwoody's eyes. A former private eye is given a job by Satan in this pulpy horror story. All in all a great collection of macabre and strange stories that will appease old Dunwoody fans and surely earn him more. The stories are as varied as they are strange but as a whole this book is darker than Lovecraft's coffin and it presses that feeling down on you. Highly recommended for fans of strange scary horror (if you are reading this then I mean you.)
Hello! I'm very excited to kick off the first of many interviews with people in independent horror. The first up to bat is none other than David Dunwoody. When I first discovered independent horror Dave was one of the first people to befriend me. He has been an honest and supportive friend for as long as i have known him. When I posted something on my facebook asking for interview volunteers he was first in line.
Also, he writes great freakin' horror! He is the author of one of my all-time favorite zombie novels (Empire) and the wicked dark Unbound and Other Tales. I was lucky enough to corner David and ask him a few questions.....
Q. Let’s start at the beginning….tell me about your influences. Now, by this I mean anything that influences the darkness you scribe, not just the authors that inspired you. But be sure to throw them in too. Why does Dave Dunwoody write horror instead of romance novels?
A. Maybe it's because I largely define myself and others by our fears, or because I think the pallor of a supernatural beast casts an interesting light on the human condition. Those are certainly a couple of the reasons why I adore Lovecraft and Barker so much. But as far as the raw ideas that influence me, a great deal of them come from my nightmares. When I say "nightmare" I don't necessarily mean a dream that makes me afraid or uncomfortable. THOSE sort of nightmares are boring. Those nightmares have me unable to remember my locker com at school, or working again for the IRS.
No, the nightmares that inspire me are certainly strange and frightful, but I awaken with a feeling of excitement. I recently started work on a story which is based on a nightmare from several months ago. I wasn't able to fully wrap my head around it until another nightmare last month. I don't know what my subconscious is trying to tell me, but I always go to sleep hoping I'll receive another bizarre transmission.
Q. Can you remember your first published piece?
A. My first published work of fiction would be "Franchise" in The Hacker's Source magazine back in 2004. It's a story about a writer and his demons (I didn't know dick back then about being a professional writer, but I knew demons) and is one of the stories that led to the titular novel in my most recent collection, UNBOUND & OTHER TALES.
Q. What have you been working on lately?
A. I've got a slew of new zombie stories floating around right now, being considered by various markets...recently completed editing and saw the formatted version of my Lovecraftian sci-fi/apocalyptic novel, THE HARVEST CYCLE...and in September I'll be starting work on a new novel.
Q. Fast zombies or slow zombies?
A. Both, and any other type that's out there. RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD is my favorite zombie flick (though it's often forced to duke it out with DAWN '78) because of the wild variety of undead and the possibilities it opened up in my young imagination. Like any other zombiphile, I worship Romero and I do draw a line where I have to say, "These aren't zombies to me," but I'm willing to check out anything and I think it's great that so many different visions of the zompocalypse are being realized in print, particularly in the small press.
Q. My favorite character of your creation is Sharpe from Unbound. One bad mofo. Can you tell me about him and his universe?
A. That story I mentioned earlier, "Franchise," was an update of something I wrote back when I was 17 (back when I knew even less about writers and demons). That was the first Sharpe story. Sharpe is a murderous modern-day outlaw and the fictional creation of an author named Matthew Rudd. In UNBOUND, it seems that Sharpe has come to life in some form. This may sound like a familiar premise - Pygmalion with a homicidal twist, or some split-personality retread - but just when you begin to understand the truth, the novel takes a violent turn into left field. Then another. And you're in no man's land. The mystery surrounding Sharpe reveals another world where every ancient legend and tall tale is true.
Q. Whiskey, water, or coffee?
A. In that order.
Q. Okay, I’ve waited as many questions as I could, when is Empire 2 coming out? And for the love of Cthulhu tell me a little about it!
A. I think the timetable for EMPIRE 2 hinges on the performance of the first book's re-release by Simon & Schuster. Things are going well so far, but there's always room for one more, as Death might say - so check it out!
(Possible EMPIRE spoilers follow)
The sequel picks up with the Reaper continuing to hunt zombies in a world that has been ravaged for more than a century. This time, he's trying to track down the survivors of the first book, who have relocated to a safe zone where the U.S. government is attempting to rebuild civilization. But the Reaper is being tracked himself - not only by a pack of sideshow curiosities-turned-undead, but a very special zombie from the first novel who has transformed into something greater, and who now feasts on his fellow ghouls - but what he's really hungering for is the Reaper.
Q. How far would you make it through Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory?
A. I'd flip out in that claustrophobic hallway. I don't even think I'd get any goddamn candy. What's that guy's problem?
(Interviewer note: He is a sugar Sadist.)
Q.Who said, “You wanna’ toe? I can get you a toe, by three o’clock; with nail polish?”
A. A lot of people would credit John Goodman with that line, but they just don't know the real story of Ronald McDonald.
Q. Where do you think independent horror will be in three and a half years?
A. Still independent. That's the only sure answer I can give. Three and a half years? What happens in 2014? Are you threatening me?
(Interviewer note: David is a wee bit paranoid.)
Q. Can I get your opinions on the recent rash old horror movie remakes?
A. I think any remake - warranted or not - can be interesting. But most of them are horseshit. Then again, most movies are horseshit. I'm not trying to be all "fuck the man," but really, most mainstream content is watered-down crap by definition. It's just becoming more blatant with this remake epidemic. I'd take a dozen DTV sequels over a reboot any day.
...With exceptions, of course. There are some recent remakes I dig. I like it when a filmmaker really tries to reimagine the concept and make a NEW movie, even if it doesn't work.
Q. Speaking of that what’s your favorite Disney movie?
A. Condorman
(Interviewer note: Hells yes!)
Q. Quick, name drop five great independent talents!
A. James Melzer, Gregory L. Hall, Louise Bohmer, Peter Clines...and that Moon guy!
That's right off the top of my head. I could go on and on. I'm honored to know so many rising talents in the small press, and I can't name them all. I'm going to get in trouble now. Damn you.
(Interviewer note: I did this to David on purpose.
because I'm a devious bastard. For a guy that writes darker than Lovecraft's tomb he is a social butterfly. If he could of he would have listed everyone he knows. Dave, I'm twisting that into a blurb, somehow, someway.)
Q. Do you have any advice for the aspiring horror writer?
A. 1 - Read. Always read. Read different genres. As John Green said, it's a writer's only true apprenticeship. 2 - Welcome criticism and consider constructive comments, even if you ultimately don't agree. And, as I read somewhere: if you believe all the good comments about your work, you've got to take the negatives into account as well. 3 - and this one I didn't steal from somebody else - PROSTRATE YOURSELF BEFORE THE COSMIC SLUG. SWEAR ETERNAL LOYALTY TO HIS OBSCENE WILL!
Okay, I stole that one from Nicholas Sparks.
DEATH MATCH QUESTION……
Q. Okay, Dave, it’s the tag team match of the millennia and I need you to describe it. I’ll give you the competitors and the location and in a thousand words or less describe the carnage. In one corner H.P. Lovecraft and a mystery Monster God tag team partner! In the other corner Stephen King and a hideous beast of his creation! The battle ground is the campus grounds of MisakatonicUniversity around lunch time.
DING-DING!
A. Oh boy. Brace yourself Jon - extreme fanboy turbulence ahead.
I'm sorely tempted to pit my favorite Mythos deity, Nyarlathotep, against the Lovecraftian entity from my favorite novel, IT - but I don't know that either could truly be killed! The collateral damage might very well wipe us all out before the smoke ever cleared. If these beings were to come into conflict over a common interest - say, a community and its weak-willed human residents - I think each would employ said humans in their battle of wills. Perhaps a group of Nyarlathotep worshippers versus "dogsbodies" spellbound by It in order to perform grunt work. And those probably wouldn't even do physical battle, at least not at first.
But where's the fun in that?
So rather than that or a battle across psychic planes, let's take an avatar of Nyarlathotep, and one of It, and pit them against one another in a proper comic-book style deathmatch.
Mr. King has just finished a Q&A at MU and is crossing the campus when the sky goes dark. Pitch dark. Every fragment of light blotted from the sky by an oppressive blanket of black clouds.
Lovecraft is back, and with the Shining Trapezohedron has summoned the fearsome Haunter of the Dark! The bat-like silhouette rises behind Lovecraft, somehow darker than the sudden night which surrounds it - save for a fiery three-lobed eye from which King recoils in mortal terror. It is only his horror-writer reflexes that save his life, for the Haunter's gaze can strike its victims dead.
Now, King has his own ace in the hole - hole meaning the sewer opening at the bottom of the sloping quad. A metal grate explodes outward, scissoring two gaping co-eds in half as the monstrous Spider tears out onto the lawn! Fifteen feet in height, with massive, crushing mandibles and hatefully-gleaming eyes, the Spider rears up in front of King, standing between him and the Haunter.
The Spider's form is not Its true one, but it is the closest approximation that the terrified onlookers' minds can comprehend. For this reason the Spider is trapped in this physical body, and must enter into battle - and It does.
It leaps into the air as the Haunter streaks forward, latching onto the belly of the flying beast and sinking Its dripping stinger into the thing's bloated midsection. The Haunter lets out a piercing sound, and as its burning eye surveys the campus, freshmen are dropping dead left and right. Somehow, despite this terrible darkness, they are able to observe the two monsters as they crash into the side of the math building. The Haunter beats its wings furiously, pinning the Spider there, grinding Its back into shattered brick and glass. The Spider thrusts the hot stinger deeper. The Haunter glares down into the Spider's eyes. Two entities empowered by fear lock gazes, and for one fraction of a second, each sees what writhes beneath the glamour of the other.
The Spider mewls and thrusts the Haunter away with all Its strength. The stinger pulls free. The Spider crashes to the sidewalk below, followed by a rain of debris from the building.
Stunned both by fear and pain, It scuttles uncertainly toward King, who barks at it like he's at a Red Sox game. Lovecraft's expression is stoic as his hand directs the Haunter to pursue It.
The Haunter instead circles slowly overhead. What it glimpsed, albeit briefly - albeit contained by Its physical form - makes the Haunter hesitate to attack. It can't look into the Spider's eyes again.
Meanwhile, the stumbling arachnid plows into a campus security officer, pulping him against his patrol car. The Spider shakes Itself back into awareness and turns toward Lovecraft. Races forward with horrifying speed.
The Haunter's wings drop over It, and the Spider feels itself ripped into the air and flung. The black world spins around It. Glass shrieks as it plows through the skylight of the new gymnasium, splashing down in the lukewarm water of the swimming pool.
The Haunter swoops through the opening. The Spider scrabbles out of the water. An unlucky dozen onlookers had run into the building to seek shelter, and now find themselves face-to-face with both nightmares. The Spider lances a girl on Its foreleg and hurls her at the Haunter. The flying beast swats her into the far wall and drops down.
The other students crumple, some falling into the pool, as the tri-lobed glower of the Haunter strikes down each in turn. There is now only Nyarlathotep and It. The building shudders as the Haunter's wings churn the air just over the Spider's weaving head.
But the Haunter has made a fatal error. It has slain all those who held the Spider in their eye line, whose shared vision kept It trapped in this form.
It knows what Nyarlathotep, in this avatar, fears. It knows the fiend's weakness - light. And now it can open its eyes wide and draw the Haunter into what it glimpsed before
(the deadlights)
and with a baleful cry, the Haunter is torn asunder, bleeding away into shadow even as the artificial night over the campus fades.
The Spider cannot enjoy its victory. It is weak. It lumbers through the double doors and back to the sewer, giving King a nasty look as it passes him by.
"I didn't think I had a snowball's chance in Hell," King murmurs.
Lovecraft tells him, "Your Spider dreads a different sort of agelessness. Nyarlathotep is no child."
"So...next time?" King says.
"Next time...I think I'll play Abdul Alhazred."
"That frees up Flagg for me." King shakes Lovecraft's hand and starts off. Good day. He sees the halved sewer grating embedded in his car's hood and mutters, "Shit."
Somewhere, Lovecraft smiles.
Damn. Good answer. Ladies and gentlemen, David Dunwoody!
You find find more of Dave at his amazon authors page..... http://www.amazon.com/David-Dunwoody/e/B002BMKA3W/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
Or, he is fancy enough to have a website named after him, check it out for news and links to FREE stories.... www.daviddunwoody.com
I am a horrorcore writer living in the Palouse Region of Idaho/Washington where there is an abundance of trees and decrepit shacks to fuel my twisted muse. I write my own brutally beautiful brand of horror and bizarro dark fiction such as HEINOUS, Stories To Poke Your Eyes Out To, Hoo-Doo County Horrors, Worms in the Needle and The Apocalypse and Satan's Glory Hole (co-written with Timothy W. Long). I was born the same day Cthulhu rises in the classic H.P. Lovecraft story ‘The Call of Cthulhu’…I do not believe this to be coincidence. Welcome to my darkness!
