This is the 90th in my series of Forgotten Books.

This was a book I had meant to read when it first came out. Brian Hopkins is a friend. We started writing at about the same time and attended many of the [Read it all...]]]> FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE LICKING VALLEY COON HUNTERS CLUB by Brian A. Hopkins, 2000

This is the 90th in my series of Forgotten Books.

This was a book I had meant to read when it first came out. Brian Hopkins is a friend. We started writing at about the same time and attended many of the same conventions. He obviously followed his own muse and writing path since he published a novel and I have not. And it is a good novel. It won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel in 2001 for works published in 2000.

This is a wonderful ride through some truly bizarre territory. Detective Martin Zolotow is a pretty dysfunctional private eye, created by Hopkins and his sometime collaborator David Niall Wilson. He tends to try to rescue people whether they want rescuing or not. As the novel opens, he is sending a young girl named Debbie back to her parents in Dallas from the streets of LA. As he watches her leave, he is approached by some men who stick a gun in his back and politely ask him to take a trip with them. Soon he is in Oklahoma (“where the wind comes sweeping down the plain”). Zolo has thoughts about Oklahoma which are as redneck as anything a Longhorn fan could come up with.

He finds himself dealing with a bad man, Tobias Washington. Washington deals in designer drugs. His daughter has been taken by Jimmy McDevitt, his chief rival. McDevitt has a lab where they are making some drugs that might allow a person to live a long time, perhaps forever, but since it does not have FDA approval, they need some subjects to test the drugs on. So he’s a badass. And he thinks he is a vampire.

Among the fun things he does is run a little “Most Dangerous Game” or “Running Man” fun where he sets people out into the Oklahoma prairie with a small head start and let’s folks hunt them down. These include people like Governors, ministers and Hollywood folk.

Zolo wants to throw some wrenches into the machinery and he does it with style. Things blow up, people (good and bad) die, laws are broken, animals are abused, and vampires abound. It’s a fast moving thrill ride with a lot of fun.

The cover blurbs tell a lot about it. Comparisons range to Lansdale and Vacchs from Ed Bryant, who should know. Other comparisons mention Davis Grubb and Sam Peckinpah and they are valid comparisons.

One of the fun things about this book also is the publisher. Yard Dog Press is a small publisher based in Arkansas run by Selina Rosen and Lynn Stranathan. Their slogan is “Kicking Literary Ass For Over 10 Years!” I have been to may conventions with these folks. They flog these books like New York would never do. They button hole you and make you read. They send out dancing girls. Selina accosts people in the aisles and makes them buy books. They believe in their books and their writers so it was nice to see this one win an award since it gave them a nice spike in sales when the award was announced.

So with a combination of Brian Hopkins and Yard Dog Press this makes a nice package. If it sounds appealing you should check it out. There are copies at the usual places, though Amazon wants some truly ridiculous prices for “new” copies, the used are around at reasonable prices. Looking at the YDP website, the novel does not appear to be in print from them at this time.

Series organizer Patti Abbott hosts more Friday Forgotten Book reviews at her own blog, and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

We recently told you about San Antonio’s JOE MCKINNEY landing two works on the Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot.

Now, after a preliminary vote by members of the HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION, the SAPD detective-turned-scare scribe has even more reason to celebrate. His second novel, QUARANTINED, was selected as one of the [Read it all...]]]>

Joe McKinney's Stoker-nominated "Quarantined"

We recently told you about San Antonio’s JOE MCKINNEY landing two works on the Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot.

Now, after a preliminary vote by members of the HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION, the SAPD detective-turned-scare scribe has even more reason to celebrate. His second novel, QUARANTINED, was selected as one of the final four nominees for the Stoker for Superior Achievement in a Novel.

HWA will announce its membership’s final Stoker votes at the World Horror Convention, March 25-28 2010, in Brighton, England.

Although McKinney’s short story “The Plague Dogs” didn’t make the jump from the “long list” to an official nomination, landing a novel among the final four is a major coup.

Also of note to Missions readers, Houston’s HANK SCHWAEBLE got a nomination for Superior Achievement in a First Novel for his book DAMNABLE.

The full list of Stoker nominees follows:

Superior Achievement in a Novel

• AUDREY’S DOOR by Sarah Langan (Harper)
• PATIENT ZERO by Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin’s Griffin)
• QUARANTINED by Joe McKinney (Lachesis Publishing)
• CURSED by Jeremy Shipp (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

• BREATHERS by S. G. Browne (Broadway Books)
• SOLOMON’S GRAVE by Daniel G. Keohane (Dragon Moon Press)
• DAMNABLE by Hank Schwaeble (Jove)
• THE LITTLE SLEEP by Paul Tremblay (Henry Holt)

Check after the jump for the rest of the list…

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

• DREAMING ROBOT MONSTER by Mort Castle (MIGHTY UNCLEAN)
• THE HUNGER OF EMPTY VESSELS by Scott Edelman (Bad Moon Books)
• THE LUCID DREAMING by Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)
• DOC GOOD’S TRAVELING SHOW by Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

• KEEPING WATCH by Nate Kenyon (MONSTROUS: 20 TALES OF GIANT CREATURE TERROR)
• THE CROSSING OF ALDO RAY by Weston Ochse (THE DEAD THAT WALK)
• IN THE PORCHES OF MY EARS by Norman Prentiss (PS Publishing)
• THE NIGHT NURSE by Harry Shannon (Horror Drive-in)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

• HE IS LEGEND: AN ANTHOLOGY CELEBRATING RICHARD MATHESON edited by Christopher Conlon (Gauntlet Press)
• LOVECRAFT UNBOUND edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Books)
• POE edited by Ellen Datlow (Solaris)
• MIDNIGHT WALK edited by Lisa Morton (Dark House)

Superior Achievement in a Collection

• MARTYRS AND MONSTERS by Robert Dunbar (DarkHart Press)
• GOT TO KILL THEM ALL AND OTHER STORIES by Dennis Etchison (Cemetery Dance)
• A TASTE OF TENDERLOIN by Gene O’Neill (Apex Book Company)
• IN THE CLOSET, UNDER THE BED by Lee Thomas (Dark Scribe Press)

Superior Achievement in Nonfiction

• WRITERS WORKSHOP OF HORROR by Michael Knost (Woodland Press)
• CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT by L. L. Soares and Michael Arruda (Fearzone)
• THE STEPHEN KING ILLUSTRATED COMPANION by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)
• STEPHEN KING: THE NON-FICTION by Rocky Wood and Justin Brook (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in Poetry

• DOUBLE VISIONS by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions)
• NORTH LEFT OF EARTH by Bruce Boston (Sam’s Dot)
• BARFODDER by Rain Graves (Cemetery Dance)
• CHIMERIC MACHINES by Lucy A. Snyder (Creative Guy Publishing)

This year’s Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot was released last week, celebrating the best of 2009 in horror literature as recognized by the Horror Writers Association. Congrats to San Antonio’s own Joe McKinney who has two of his works on the list. QUARANTINED is a preliminary selection in the category of Superior [Read it all...]]]>

Joe McKinney

This year’s Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot was released last week, celebrating the best of 2009 in horror literature as recognized by the Horror Writers Association. Congrats to San Antonio’s own Joe McKinney who has two of his works on the list. QUARANTINED is a preliminary selection in the category of Superior Achievement in a Novel and his story “Plague Dogs” is a preliminary selection in the category of Superior Achievement in Short Fiction. According to the Horror Writers Association’s website, its members “will vote to choose final nominees from this list, and then vote again to determine winners. Winning titles will be announced at the World Horror Convention, March 25-28 2010, in Brighton, England.” Note that the Preliminary Ballot is NOT an official Stoker nomination, but merely the preliminary round before nomination, sometimes known as a “long list”. McKinney says, “I couldn’t be happier. There’s some stout competition this year, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”