The Pen Name, by David Jacob Knight

 Grab a copy of the new supernatural thriller readers are calling fascinating, brilliant, claustrophobic, and nail-biting!

"A fascinating thriller. It's the book I wish I had written."
--Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award-winning author  

"A writer's dream becomes his worst nightmare ... THE PEN NAME is a sadistic thriller with a slow-burning fuse."
--Craig DiLouie, author of THE KILLING FLOOR

 Head over to the DJK blog for an interview with the Audible narrator and to enter the Goodreads Giveaway. You could win a signed copy of THE PEN NAME!

Learn more at davidjacobknight.com.

99-cent Amazon Bestseller

The 99-cent sale is going well.

Pavlov's Dogs is currently #14 in Horror. Dog Years 1 is #17 in Science Fiction > Adventure. And Dog Years 2 & 3 are #2,194 and #2,241 respectively.  And MY Amazon rank is, drum roll please...

"Grab this with both hands!"--Johnathan Maberry

Here's the link! http://amzn.to/1f2W9H9 

MAD MEN - "The Crash" reconstructed

*SPOILERS for MAD MEN thru Season 6 "The Crash"

After watching an episode of my favorite show, I’ll often read reviews online--and just as a woman can’t not remark on her husband’s secretary... I am compelled to say something about this deconstruction of Mad Men’s “The Crash.”  Posted on The Hollywood Reporter, the analysis overlooks two major themes in its critique of Don’s inexplicable “love” for Sylvia. 

First… if you haven't seen this episode or read the deconstruction, the following paragraphs will probably confuse you worse than “The Crash” confused the Twits... Anyway.

“I’ve got this great message,” Don says, “and it has to do with what holds people together. What is that thing that draws them? It’s a history. And it may not even be with that person…”

He says this because the oatmeal mother in the ad is inspired by Aimee, the prostitute who became Don’s surrogate mother (and first girlfriend). Don has focused on this ad because, in his mind, he has conflated Aimee and Sylvia. But it’s even bigger than that, bigger than just these two women. Bigger than Chevy.

Now, flashback to “The Doorway” at the beginning of this season, when Don describes love: “We want that electric jolt to the body,” he says. “We want Eros. It’s like a drug (hint, hint). It’s not domestic. What’s the difference between a husband knocking on a door and a sailor getting off a ship? About ten thousand volts.”

Don’s calling it love, but what he’s describing is much more chemical than that. It’s much more transitory (like a shot in the glutes). This is a feeling he’s become addicted to. He doesn’t understand what love truly is, how it abides, how it ages. He’s confusing love with… a chemical dependency. A dependency that, for Don, stretches back years. Decades.

From Aimee to Betty to Rachel and Midge, from Midge to Bobbie and Mrs. Farrell and Faye, and finally from Megan to Sylvia: any one of these women could be a stand-in for the whore mother feeding oatmeal to her son. Don has built up a history of loves, of dependencies. Henry Francis once said there are no fresh starts. Lives go on. So every time Don becomes addicted to a lady, he brings with him a whole sexual history. That’s the theme of his pitch he planned to give Sylvia: you’re every woman I’ve ever had this feeling for. It’s why he’s so attached to her. It’s not for love but the electric jolt, shocking his damaged heart back to life, if only for a while.

That’s what this deconstruction in the Reporter overlooks. It forgets that it’s bigger than Sylvia. Bigger than oatmeal even.

(It also would’ve been nice to see the article mention Kenny’s line about where he learned to tap dance: “My mother… No, my first girlfriend.” Because that, too, was really a line about Don.)

The Next Big Thing

Editor and author Brian Sammons tagged me to participate in an interesting blog hop called The Next Big Thing. So did C. Dulaney. It’s essentially an interview that gives writers a chance to talk about their current project and also an opportunity to promote fellow writers.

Before I get to my interview, I'd like to say a little about the writers I've chosen to tag.

Scott Baker
I met Scott at Crypticon 2012 in Seattle. I got to know him over some "sweetened Coke," provided by Maker's Mark fanatic Tony Faville. Scott has written the only other novel I know about that combines zombies and vampires, and he also helped sell my books at the convention when I wasn't at my table. He's beta-read one of my novels, and has helped me with technical questions quite a few times. Thank you, Scott. Looking forward to your interview!

Thom Brannan
I actually have never met Thom in person, but he and I have written nearly four books together. Thom has written I don't know how many books solo, but I know of at least six. He's a serious talent, and he writes so fast I sometimes refer to him as Barry Allen. Thank you, Thom, for your hard and excellent work on our series, and for your contributions to the genre.

Now on to the interview...


What is the working title of your next book?
It’s tentatively titled DOG YEARS. It’s a collection of novellas set in the PAVLOV’S DOGS universe, co-authored with Thom Brannan.


What genre does your book fall under?
Action horror in general. It also blends in sci-fi, and pits the zombie and werewolf subgenres against each other.


Where did the idea come from for the book?
When Thom and I wrote PAVLOV’S DOGS, we left certain narrative gaps. For example, we never fully describe where the zombies come from because we felt it had no bearing on the story. Zombie origins are now generally well known, so... we didn’t want to beat that particular dead horse if we could just show someone raising the club.

The author of THE WALKING DEAD comics has a similar philosophy: “I have ideas [about the cause of the zombie plague]...but it's nothing set in stone because I never plan on writing it.”

But PAVLOV’S DOGS does hint at the undead origins, and now in DOG YEARS we’re exploring where both the zombies and the werewolves came from. We also explore the backstory of their creator, Dr. Crispin.

So the idea for DOG YEARS came from narrative gaps left in the first book.


Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I’ll leave this up to the readers. I try not to think in terms of who I would cast because, well… have you ever seen a movie before reading the book? Then you actually read the book and you can’t picture the characters as anything other than the actors who portrayed them? Robert Langdon is forever Tom Hanks. Stu Redman is forever Gary Sinise.

I like my image of the characters to remain pristine as I write them. I don’t want Daniel Radcliffe running around nude in my imagination.


What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
From breakouts in the monster lab to his role in the zombie apocalypse, follow Dr. Crispin and his team of werewolves through three eras of mad scientists, abominations, and a frightening new adversary.


Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Permuted Press will publish the collection.


How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
We are still working on the last two novellas, but the first novella took us probably a month. Thom, for one, works incredibly fast. That’s a rare talent among writers.


What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
That’s a hard one. A reviewer compared PAVLOV’S DOGS to Peter Clines’ bestselling zombies vs. superhero novel, EX-HEROES.  But DOG YEARS, specifically?  It still revolves around a central versus concept, but it’s probably more comparable to THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU.


Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Two things: our publisher’s idea to offer free content, and the fans of PAVLOV’S DOGS.

When the publisher suggested that we offer a free short story or novella in the same universe, we started thinking about stories we could tell. I looked at what the fans were asking for in their reviews, and that turned out to be more backstory.

So Thom and I thought, why give them backstory when we could give them a full-fledged story? Why give them just a novella when we could give them a collection?


What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Well... we plan to offer it for free. And, as many of our fans like to say, it’s zombies versus werewolves. What else could you want?

Werewolves... made of Legos?!

Fans are great. So is fan art. But collaborating with an artist who's also a fan? That has got to be the greatest.

When our zombie vs. werewolf novel, PAVLOV'S DOGS, first came out, Thom Brannan and I were very pleased with a review of the story over at Bricksofthedead.com. The reviewer, Evan Roy, favorably compared the book to one of Permuted Press's bestsellers, EX-Heroes by Peter Clines. He had some very nice things to say.

"PAVLOV'S DOGS is high quality entertainment well worth your dollar, and a needed break from the mundane."--Evan Roy

Bricksofthedead.com, for the uninitiated, mainly consists of zombie comics... in Lego form. Evan, our reviewer, has had much practice at building Lego dioramas. In fact, he has created several based on scenes from Permuted books. So imagine our surprise (and nerdy elation) when Evan offered to create a comic strip for the first chapter of our story.

Thom and I jumped all over this opportunity. We wrote the script, and Evan did a brilliant job fleshing it out... with Legos.

The strip will be eight episodes long, and there will be an associated giveaway for signed copies of the novel... and it's all starting today!

Read Episode 1...

BLOOD LITE: AFTERTASTE – Roundtable 4

BLOOD LITE: AFTERTASTE edited by Kevin J. Anderson (Gallery Books)

The third book in the hilarious and horrifying national bestselling anthology series from the Horror Writers Association—a frightfest of sidesplitting stories from such New York Times bestselling authors as Jim Butcher, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Heather Graham, L.A. Banks, Kelley Armstrong, and many more!

Horror fiction explores the dark side of human nature, often pushing the limits of violence, graphic gore, and extreme emotions. Blood Lite III: Aftertaste puts the fun back into dark fiction, featuring a wide range of humorous and highly entertaining horror-filled tales.

After my interview with Kevin J. Anderson, the Blood Lite editor, I tapped a bunch of the authors to talk about why humor is so important in the horror genre, and what inspired their horrifically hilarious tales. This is part four of four.

---

What led you to write the story that appears in BLOOD LITE: AFTERTASTE?

---

• Lisa Morton: It’s about animals taking over. My cats ordered me to write it.

• JG Faherty: Other than the desire to be in a popular anthology that actually has a chance to earn royalties for its contributors? Probably a yen to try and write something that was funny. I don’t normally do straight-out comedy; I will sometimes work it into a story or novel, a funny line or scene here and there, but I’m not per say a ‘funny’ writer in the way Jeff Strand can be, for example. He can make you roll on the floor with laughter while dumping a bucket of guts on you. And it has nothing to do with sense of humor—lots of funny people can’t write funny stories. It’s all how you’re wired as a writer. For me, writing something humorous is much harder than writing something frightening or sad. I really had to work at my story for this collection (point of fact—I didn’t make it into the first two Blood Lite books, which tells you A) I had to learn to write funny and B) Kevin only chooses the very best for this series). As for how the story actually came about, I just always felt that if you mix horror and hillbillies together, you’re going to get something comical. Actually, mix hillbillies and anything together and the results are usually comical. Just watch any reality show that takes place in the South.

• Mike Baron: I don’t know where “Mint In Box” came from. Somewhere in my skull.

• Jeff Ryan: My Blood Lite: Overbite story went for the gross-out, so I tried to do something with a repellant character, instead of nice characters doing repellant things.

• David Sakmyster: While out house-hunting and hating every second of the experience, deciding finally in the midst of being shown a house that all this wasn’t worth it and we were just going to stay put, I just started asking the real estate agent ridiculous questions, like: “In full disclosure, how many bodies are buried out back? And where are the secret trap doors?  How big is the dungeon?” And that kind of led to this story…

• John Alfred Taylor: I kept seeing awful prefab steeples tacked on churches everywhere, and wondered where they came from.  Then I googled a few of the manufacturers. As soon as I imagined each steeple shipping with a resident demon I had my story.  All I had to do was develop the workings of the company.  Online catalogs helped.  All the demons are traditional, named in one source or another.  To the best of my knowledge Gorgo’s hairdresser is not listed in the yellow pages. 

• Adrian Ludens: I think most readers will recognize what inspired me. This is not so much a parody as it is an homage. At least that was my intention. I think an entire book would be fun to write (and read!) from a ‘Grown Up’ perspective and in this style.
  
  It’s like that classic question: ‘Door number one, two or three?’ I’m the guy who wants to go back and find out what I missed; see what’s behind ALL the doors! For me this story was a fun romp through what would be a terrible, harrowing situation in real life.

• Chris Abbey: That story would be longer than the story itself. I was originally going to do a zombie story, but I figured Kevin would be overrun with them. At the time, every time I turned on the news there was something about Bristol Palin on Dancing with the Stars.  I kept joking about that to my wife, who suggested I write it down instead of annoying her. Add in the fact that I couldn’t think of anything to write about, but I kept having this Donny and Marie parody from an old Mad Magazine running through my head. Then Phyllis Diller from Mad Monster Party, and I knew I had to try being cartoonist Jack Davis for a while. What I didn’t count on is that I’d actually have to watch Dancing with the Stars, so I have suffered for my art.
  
  On the technical side, it was strange because I didn’t write it in order. All the scenes were first, then it was, “Here’s your scene, what’s your joke?” The last line written was a) my favorite [Rehearse the krakken!] and b) near the middle. I ditched a scene with a siren as the musical guest that I just couldn’t make work.
  
  I didn’t finish until right near the deadline, which once again proves that comedy is all about timi...

• Christopher Golden: If I remember correctly, Kevin Anderson asked me to do something for the second volume, but I told him I wasn’t funny.  My friend John McIlveen asked me to do something for a humorous horror anthology as well, and I said the same thing.  When Kevin came back to me for Blood Lite 3, I insisted I wasn’t funny, but he was doing a story for my anthology THE MONSTER’S CORNER, and I felt like I had to give it a shot.  I can tell a joke as well as the next guy (unless the next guy is Jeff Strand), but to WRITE something funny is entirely different.  So I turned my doubts inward, and wrote a story about a guy who will do almost anything to be funny, but just isn’t.  I won’t say more about it, but I smiled a lot while writing it, so hopefully that counts for something.

• Jeff Strand: Self-plagiarism! One of my first novels, HOW TO RESCUE A DEAD PRINCESS (published shortly after the Y2K bug destroyed most of the earth) has a “Jack and the Beanstalk” spoof with a throwaway line about the ridiculous idea of grinding bones to make bread. A little over a decade later, I thought “What if somebody actually tried to do that?” and that led to “Scrumptious Bone Bread.”

• Kelley Armstrong: It was sparked by the usual thing: just another "what if?" question. In my book series, I gave custody of two young adult werewolves to a secondary Pack member. In "V Plates," my Pack guy is persuaded to help the younger boy lose his virginity by taking him to a whorehouse. That's probably never a wise idea, but given the characters involved, this is guaranteed to go wrong. Horribly wrong.

Related Articles
- Kevin J. Anderson interview


BLOOD LITE: AFTERTASTE AUTHORS

	Lisa Morton has written six movies, four books of non-fiction, two novellas, one novel, and somewhere around fifty short stories. She’s a three-time Stoker Award winner, a recipient of the Black Quill Award, and her cats think she’s awesome. She lives online at www.lisamorton.com.
	JG Faherty is an Active Member in the Horror Writers Association. His first novel, CARNIVAL OF FEAR, was published in 2010. His second book, GHOSTS OF CORONADO BAY, was released in 2011, and his third will be coming out in late 2011 as well. His other credits include Cemetery Dance, Shroud Magazine, and several major anthologies, among them Appalachian Winter Hauntings, Legends of the Mountain State 3 & 4, Bound for Evil, Dark Territories, Horror Library IV, and the upcoming Beast Within 2 and Best New Zombie Tales 3. A freelance writer with over 15 years of experience, his varied background includes working as a laboratory manager, accident scene photographer, zoo keeper, research scientist, and resume writer. When it comes to humor, he enjoys teaching bad words to small children, watching Married with Children, wearing ugly Hawaiian shirts, and trading insults with his friends.
	Mike Baron broke into comics with Nexus, his groundbreaking science fiction title co-created with illustrator Steve Rude. He has written for Creem, The Boston Globe, Isthmus, AARP Magazine, Oui, Madison, Fusion, Poudre Magazine, Argosy and many others. Nexus is currently being published in hardcover by Dark Horse. Baron has won two Eisners and an Inkpot for his work on Nexus, now being published in five languages including French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Baron’s revamp of DC’s The Flash continues to garner great reviews. Marvel recently published two collections of Baron’s Work, The Essential Punisher Vol. II and The Essential Punisher Vol. III. A prolific creator, Baron is at least partly responsible for The Badger, Spyke, Feud, The Hook, and The Architect. The latter is available as a graphic novel from Big Head Press. www.bloodyredbaron.net
Photo by Mikkel Paige	Jeff Ryan is the author of Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America. He first got interested in mixing comedy and horror when a clown murdered his dog. twitter.com/#!/dailymario | supermariobook.com
	David Sakmyster is an award-winning author and screenwriter whose short stories have appeared in The Writers of the Future Anthology, ChiZine, Horrorworld, Black Static, Talebones, Abyss & Apex  and others.  THE PHAROS OBJECTIVE and forthcoming THE MONGOL OBJECTIVE are the first two novels in a series about psychic archaeologists. He’s also written the horror novel CRESCENT LAKE, and the historical fiction epic, SILVER AND GOLD. You can step into his mind at www.sakmyster.com.
	John Alfred Taylor is a retired professor of English in Southwest Pennsylvania, and has been writing science fiction and horror for years. He has been published in GALAXY, GALILEO, GRUE, OCEANS OF THE MIND, and ASIMOV’S, and had stories reprinted in YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES. A collection of Taylor’s horror stories, HELL IS MURKY, is available from Ash-Tree Press.
	Adrian Ludens is a radio personality and program director for a classic rock station in the Black Hills of South Dakota. His fiction has appeared in Morpheus Tales, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and a number of small press horror anthologies. Recent appearances include stories in Made You Flinch 2: Two For Flinching (edited by Bill Tucker, Library of Horror Press) and in Zombie Kong (edited by James Roy Daley, Books of the Dead Press). Adrian first short story collection is available on Amazon.
	Chris Abbey was created in the 60s during a bad thunderstorm and someone’s bad trip. His hobbies are grave-robbing, sewer-lurking, and macrame. He is considering a job offer from a major magazine, and will consider it further if the offer ever actually happens. The picture is a still from a YouTube video in which he discusses how to tell a joke (true).
	Christopher Golden is an award-winning, bestselling author of novels for adults and teens, as well as a comic book writer, screenwriter, and editor.  He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family, and his original novels have been published in more than fourteen languages in countries around the world.  His is not funny.  Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com
	Jeff Strand: Stories by Jeff Strand have appeared in all three BLOOD LITE volumes. He’s written a bunch of novels, including stuff like WOLF HUNT and FANGBOY, and he’ll give you a great big hug if you visit his website at www.jeffstrand.com.
	Kelley Armstrong: Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write.  Her earliest written efforts were disastrous.  If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay.  All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.  Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon.  She's the author of the "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series, "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, and Nadia Stafford crime series.  She lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets. www.KelleyArmstrong.com

BLOOD LITE: AFTERTASTE – Roundtable 3

BLOOD LITE: AFTERTASTE edited by Kevin J. Anderson (Gallery Books)

The third book in the hilarious and horrifying national bestselling anthology series from the Horror Writers Association—a frightfest of sidesplitting stories from such New York Times bestselling authors as Jim Butcher, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Heather Graham, L.A. Banks, Kelley Armstrong, and many more!

Horror fiction explores the dark side of human nature, often pushing the limits of violence, graphic gore, and extreme emotions. Blood Lite III: Aftertaste puts the fun back into dark fiction, featuring a wide range of humorous and highly entertaining horror-filled tales.

After my interview with Kevin J. Anderson, the Blood Lite editor, I tapped a bunch of the authors to talk about why humor is so important in the horror genre, and what inspired their horrifically hilarious tales. This is part three of four.

---

Disembowelment—how is that funny?

---

• Lisa Morton: Oh, easy: It’s only three syllables removed from “bowel movement”.

• JG Faherty: It depends how it’s done, just like anything else. Write it or film it with a sense of humor, and it’s hilarious. A perfect example is the scene in Machete where Machete rappels out a window and down the hospital wall, using a victim’s intestines as a rope. Ask Quentin Tarantino or the folks from Monty Python what’s funny about disembowelment and they’ll probably say, ‘What isn’t?’  Ask your local pastor (or veteran) and they’ll probably tell you you’re a sick bastard.

• Mike Baron: It’s funny when you slip in the guts and do a pratfall.

• Jeff Ryan: The word itself is funny, like “defenestrate” or “keelhaul.”

• John Alfred Taylor: It’s not, but I can think of a movie short that might make it funny.  Perhaps best animated.

• Adrian Ludens: Disembowelment is NOT funny, with one exception. It all hinges on the lower intestines. I envision a victim whose pride or sense of decorum compels them to stagger around, unsuccessfully trying to hold their lower intestines in to no avail. Instead they unspool or unravel like film in an old Hollywood camera.

• Chris Abbey: I actually overheard someone say, “Did you hear they’ve figured out a way to make Damascus Steel without the blood of slaves?” Doesn’t get any funnier than that.

• Christopher Golden: It’s not. Though I’m confident Jeff Strand could make it funny.

• Jeff Strand: It’s not. Why would you even suggest otherwise? What are you, some kind of disembowelment-enjoying sicko? For God’s sake, this is people’s intestines being yanked out that we’re talking about! Here, point your tummy this way and we’ll see how much you like it, you twisted bastard.

• Kelley Armstrong: There is something surreally absurd about intestines tumbling out, and the writer can play with that--and the readers can acknowledge--particularly if the victim is someone the reader doesn't care about...or is happy to see disemboweled.

Part 4 coming next week!

Related Articles
- Kevin J. Anderson interview


BLOOD LITE: AFTERTASTE AUTHORS

	Lisa Morton has written six movies, four books of non-fiction, two novellas, one novel, and somewhere around fifty short stories. She’s a three-time Stoker Award winner, a recipient of the Black Quill Award, and her cats think she’s awesome. She lives online at www.lisamorton.com.
	JG Faherty is an Active Member in the Horror Writers Association. His first novel, CARNIVAL OF FEAR, was published in 2010. His second book, GHOSTS OF CORONADO BAY, was released in 2011, and his third will be coming out in late 2011 as well. His other credits include Cemetery Dance, Shroud Magazine, and several major anthologies, among them Appalachian Winter Hauntings, Legends of the Mountain State 3 & 4, Bound for Evil, Dark Territories, Horror Library IV, and the upcoming Beast Within 2 and Best New Zombie Tales 3. A freelance writer with over 15 years of experience, his varied background includes working as a laboratory manager, accident scene photographer, zoo keeper, research scientist, and resume writer. When it comes to humor, he enjoys teaching bad words to small children, watching Married with Children, wearing ugly Hawaiian shirts, and trading insults with his friends.
	Mike Baron broke into comics with Nexus, his groundbreaking science fiction title co-created with illustrator Steve Rude. He has written for Creem, The Boston Globe, Isthmus, AARP Magazine, Oui, Madison, Fusion, Poudre Magazine, Argosy and many others. Nexus is currently being published in hardcover by Dark Horse. Baron has won two Eisners and an Inkpot for his work on Nexus, now being published in five languages including French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Baron’s revamp of DC’s The Flash continues to garner great reviews. Marvel recently published two collections of Baron’s Work, The Essential Punisher Vol. II and The Essential Punisher Vol. III. A prolific creator, Baron is at least partly responsible for The Badger, Spyke, Feud, The Hook, and The Architect. The latter is available as a graphic novel from Big Head Press. www.bloodyredbaron.net
Photo by Mikkel Paige	Jeff Ryan is the author of Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America. He first got interested in mixing comedy and horror when a clown murdered his dog. twitter.com/#!/dailymario | supermariobook.com
	David Sakmyster is an award-winning author and screenwriter whose short stories have appeared in The Writers of the Future Anthology, ChiZine, Horrorworld, Black Static, Talebones, Abyss & Apex  and others.  THE PHAROS OBJECTIVE and forthcoming THE MONGOL OBJECTIVE are the first two novels in a series about psychic archaeologists. He’s also written the horror novel CRESCENT LAKE, and the historical fiction epic, SILVER AND GOLD. You can step into his mind at www.sakmyster.com.
	John Alfred Taylor is a retired professor of English in Southwest Pennsylvania, and has been writing science fiction and horror for years. He has been published in GALAXY, GALILEO, GRUE, OCEANS OF THE MIND, and ASIMOV’S, and had stories reprinted in YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES. A collection of Taylor’s horror stories, HELL IS MURKY, is available from Ash-Tree Press.
	Adrian Ludens is a radio personality and program director for a classic rock station in the Black Hills of South Dakota. His fiction has appeared in Morpheus Tales, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and a number of small press horror anthologies. Recent appearances include stories in Made You Flinch 2: Two For Flinching (edited by Bill Tucker, Library of Horror Press) and in Zombie Kong (edited by James Roy Daley, Books of the Dead Press). Adrian first short story collection is available on Amazon.
	Chris Abbey was created in the 60s during a bad thunderstorm and someone’s bad trip. His hobbies are grave-robbing, sewer-lurking, and macrame. He is considering a job offer from a major magazine, and will consider it further if the offer ever actually happens. The picture is a still from a YouTube video in which he discusses how to tell a joke (true).
	Christopher Golden is an award-winning, bestselling author of novels for adults and teens, as well as a comic book writer, screenwriter, and editor.  He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family, and his original novels have been published in more than fourteen languages in countries around the world.  His is not funny.  Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com
	Jeff Strand: Stories by Jeff Strand have appeared in all three BLOOD LITE volumes. He’s written a bunch of novels, including stuff like WOLF HUNT and FANGBOY, and he’ll give you a great big hug if you visit his website at www.jeffstrand.com.
	Kelley Armstrong: Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write.  Her earliest written efforts were disastrous.  If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay.  All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.  Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon.  She's the author of the "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series, "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, and Nadia Stafford crime series.  She lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets. www.KelleyArmstrong.com