Get Your Weird West On

                                                                     By Hunter Shea

You know, Hell Hole is more than just a Spinal Tap song (though it is a damned good one). It could be the well where you’re ordered to put the lotion in the basket. Or the little spelunking adventure in The Descent. Your office could be your own personal Hell Hole, even if it’s not in an actual hole.

Now, for me, I wanted to create a vision of hell on earth that was unlike any other. But at the same time, as I was starting to write my latest book, I was back into one of my original passions – westerns. I once watched a restored version of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly with Eli Wallach. Not sure if I can top that, unless Clint invites me to his house to watch Unforgiven on his enormous TV.

So, what does a writer do when he has two passions colliding? He combines them, of course. I think it’s safe to say every book is strewn with its author’s likes, dislikes, personality and dreams. With Hell Hole, I was able to explore the old west at the turn of the century, with bold characters who epitomized what it was to be a tough guy and a stalwart explorer. Of course, I did have to put them to the test, attempting to kill them with fright or physically. And if ghosts and strange beasts couldn’t do it, I’d have to turn to a higher (or lower) power.

Weird West fiction has made a bit of a comeback this year at Samhain, with Hell Hole, Jonathan Janz’s Dust Devils and Eric Red’s The Guns of Santa Sangre. Why? I think we’re all wishing for the return of men and women with integrity and grit. And if you’re searching for something to read on the Samhain Horror page, you want a good old scare, too. There are plenty of scares to go around at Samhain. Just read anything by my gracious host, David Bernstein. This guy is the goods!

And if you’re looking for something different, try a Weird West book. You’ll never look at cowboys and Indians the same way again.

Deep in a Wyoming mine, hell awaits.

Former cattle driver, Rough Rider and current New York City cop Nat Blackburn is given an offer he can’t refuse by President Teddy Roosevelt. Tales of gold in the abandoned mining town of Hecla, in the Deep Rock Hills, abound. The only problem–those who go seeking their fortune never return.

Along with his constant companion, Teta, a hired gun with a thirst for adventure, Nat travels to a barren land where even animals dare not tread. But the remnants of Hecla are far from empty. Black-eyed children, strange lights and ferocious wild men venture from the deep, dark mine...as well as a force so sinister Nat’s and Teta’s very souls are in jeopardy.
There’s a mystery in Hecla thousands of years old. Solving it could spell the end of the world.

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Hell-Hole-Hunter-Shea-ebook/dp/B00K1WUBJ2
Samhain Horror:
https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5076/hell-hole
GoodReads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22548186-hell-hole

Raves for Hunter Shea:

Forest of Shadows

"A frightening, gripping story that left me too frightened to sleep with the lights off. This novel scared the hell out of me and it is definitely a creepy ghost story I won't soon forget." --Night Owl Reviews

Sinister Entity

"This is the real deal. The fear is palpable. Horror novels don't get much better than this." --Literal Remains

". . .Culminates in a climactic showdown between human and spirit that keeps you glued to the pages!" --Horror Novel Reviews

Evil Eternal

"Hunter Shea has crafted another knockout. At turns epic and intimate, both savage and elegant. . .a harrowing, blood-soaked nightmare." --Jonathan Janz, author of The Sorrows

Swamp Monster Massacre

"If you're craving an old-school creature-feature that has excessive gore. . .B-horror movie fans rejoice, Hunter Shea is here to bring you the ultimate tale of terror!" --Horror Novel Reviews

Hunter Shea is the author of paranormal and horror novels Forest of Shadows, Swamp Monster Massacre, Evil Eternal, Sinister Entity, which are all published by Samhain Horror.  HellHole came out in August 2014 and is his first western horror. His next Samhain novel, Island of the Forbidden, publishes January 2015.

The June 3, 2014 release of his horrifying thriller Montauk Monster was published by Kensington/Pinnacle.  He’s working on a second novel to come through them.

He has also written a short story to be read prior to Sinister Entity, called The Graveyard Speaks (it’s free, go download!), and a book of stories called Asylum Scrawls. His next book from Samhain Horror, titled HellHole, is set to come out in August 2014 and is his first western horror.

His work has appeared in numerous magazines, including Dark Moon Digest, Morpheus Tales, and the upcoming anthology, Shocklines : Fresh Voices in Terror. His obsession with all things horrific has led him to real life exploration of the paranormal, interviews with exorcists, and other things that would keep most people awake with the lights on.

He is also half of the two men show, Monster Men, which is a video podcast that takes a fun look at the world of horror. You can read about his latest travails and communicate with him at www.huntershea.com, on Twitter @HunterShea1, Facebook fan page at Hunter Shea or the Monster Men 13 channel on YouTube.

The Dark Servant

                                   By Matthew Manochio

Sometimes original ideas can be thousands of years old. And right under our noses.

I realized that in December 2012 when my boss asked me if I’d ever heard of Krampus—the subject of my debut novel, The Dark Servant (Samhain Publishing). I hadn’t. (Apparently he’d just discovered him, too.) He showed me www.krampus.com and something clicked. I wasn’t looking to write a novel, but when I read about Saint Nicholas’s dark other half—Krampus, a chain-wielding devil who kidnaps bad children and punishes them into repentance—I knew I had to write something.

What amazed me the most was that I’d never heard of him up until that point in my life.

I was 37 years old and thought I was reasonably in tune with odd, obscure things. As a kid, I read numerous books about the Loch Ness Monster. I once believed werewolves were real and refused to go outside to the mailbox on the night of a full moon if someone forgot to get the mail. I collected Monster in My Pocket toys and knew about the Wendigo, Ymir, and Catoblepas, to name a few. And who didn’t love Greek mythology as a kid when learning about the Minotaur, Medusa, and Charon? And I can identify just about every creature in Jabba the Hutt’s palace in Return of the Jedi. (That really doesn’t compare to human mythology, but I like throwing it in there.)

Somehow, Krampus, a European legend that dates back to the time before Christ, slipped through the cracks.

Was I the only one? We all know about vampires, werewolves and zombies. Fiction is littered with them. But not Krampus. I checked Amazon and B&N and found one commercially published book and a few self-published offerings. And that was it. My first decision was to not read any of them—and not because I thought they would be bad. I simply didn’t want any other writer’s vision of Krampus affecting my own.

Whether I do the monster justice? That’s up to others to decide. I’ve never had more fun writing anything in my life, though. And in researching Krampus, I learned there are other European variations of the myth, such as a Frau Perchta, Knecht Ruprecht and Belsnickel (I’d heard of Belsnickel due to Dwight portraying him on The Office, but didn’t associate it with Krampus).

One of the things that delights me is searching “Krampus” on Twitter and finding scores of Americans who have no idea what he is. It makes sense. I mean, do people in Belgium spend much time thinking about Bigfoot? America, I believe, will become more familiar with Krampus in the years to come. Filmmaker Kevin Smith is working on a movie featuring Krampus vignettes, and I know there are a few other Krampus flicks that have either been completed or that are slated to be filmed. There’s a comic book, too, and Krampus has been portrayed on television shows like Fox’s American Dad and NBC’s Grimm.

If I can be one of the people contributing to Americans learning a little bit about Krampus, and hopefully entertaining them at the same time, then great. Perhaps it will inspire others to seek out the exciting and new—while dusting off the history books to learn about it.

About Krampus:
December 5 is Krampus Nacht — Night of the Krampus, a horned, cloven-hoofed monster who in pre-Christian European cultures serves as the dark companion to Saint Nicholas, America’s Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas rewards good children and leaves bad ones to Krampus, who kidnaps and tortures kids unless they repent.

The Dark Servant, Synopsis

Santa's not the only one coming to town ...

It's older than Christ and has tormented European children for centuries. Now America faces its wrath. Unsuspecting kids vanish as a blizzard crushes New Jersey. All that remains are signs of destruction—and bloody hoof prints stomped in snow. Seventeen-year-old Billy Schweitzer awakes December 5 feeling depressed. Already feuding with his police chief father and golden boy older brother, Billy's devastated when his dream girl rejects him. When an unrelenting creature infiltrates his town, imperiling his family and friends, Billy must overcome his own demons to understand why his supposedly innocent high school peers have been snatched, and how to rescue them from a famous saint's ruthless companion—that cannot be stopped.

“The Dark Servant is everything a thriller should be—eerie, original and utterly engrossing!”
— Wendy Corsi Staub, New York Times bestselling author

“Beautifully crafted and expertly plotted, Matt Manochio’s The Dark Servant has taken an esoteric fairy tale from before Christ and sets it in the modern world of media-saturated teenagers—creating a clockwork mechanism of terror that blends Freddy Krueger with the Brothers Grimm! Highly recommended!”
— Jay Bonansinga, New York Times bestselling author of The Walking Dead: The Fall of the Governor

“Matt Manochio is a writer who’ll be thrilling us for many books to come.”
— Jim DeFelice, New York Times bestselling co-author of American Sniper

“Matt Manochio has taken a very rare fairytale and turned it into a real page-turner. Matt has constructed a very real and believable force in Krampus and has given it a real journalistic twist, and he has gained a fan in me!”
— David L. Golemon, New York Times bestselling author of the Event Group Series

"I scarcely know where to begin. Is this a twisted parental fantasy of reforming recalcitrant children? Is it Fast Times at Ridgemont High meets Nightmare on Elm Street? Is it a complex revision of the Medieval morality play? In The Dark Servant, Matt Manochio has taken the tantalizing roots of Middle Europe’s folklore and crafted a completely genuine modern American horror story. This is a winter’s tale, yes, but it is also a genuinely new one for our modern times. I fell for this story right away. Matt Manochio is a natural born storyteller.”
— Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Savage Dead and Dog Days

“Just in time for the season of Good Will Toward Men, Matt Manochio’s debut delivers a fresh dose of Holiday Horror, breathing literary life into an overlooked figure of legend ready to step out of Santa’s shadow. Prepared to be thrilled in a new, old-fashioned way.”
— Hank Schwaeble, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Damnable, Diabolical and The Angel of the Abyss

“In The Dark Servant, Manochio spins a riveting tale of a community under siege by a grotesque, chain-clanking monster with cloven-hooves, a dry sense of wit, and a sadistic predilection for torture. As Christmas nears and a snowstorm paralyzes the town, the terrifying Krampus doesn’t just leave switches for the local bullies, bitches, and badasses, he beats the living (editor’s note: rhymes with skit) out of them! Manochio balances a very dark theme with crackling dialogue, fast-paced action, and an engaging, small-town setting.”
— Lucy Taylor, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Safety of Unknown Cities

“A fast-paced thrill-ride into an obscure but frightful Christmas legend. Could there be a dark side to Santa? And if so, what would he do to those kids who were naughty? Matt Manochio provides the nail-biting answer with The Dark Servant.”
— John Everson, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Violet Eyes

“A high-octane blast of horror. A surefire hit for fans of monsters and gore.”
— Mario Acevedo, author of Werewolf Smackdown

“Have yourself a scary, nightmare-y little Christmas with The Dark Servant. Matt Manochio’s holiday horror brings old world charm to rural New Jersey, Krampus-style.”
— Jon McGoran, author of Drift

Matt Manochio is the author of The Dark Servant (Samhain Publishing, November 4, 2014). He is a supporting member of the Horror Writers Association, and he hates writing about himself in the third person but he’ll do it anyway. He spent 12 years as an award-winning newspaper reporter at the Morris County, N.J., Daily Record, and worked for one year as an award-winning page designer at the Anderson, S.C., Independent-Mail. He currently works as a full-time editor and a freelance writer. The highlights of his journalism career involved chronicling AC/DC for USA Today: in 2008, when the band kicked off its Black Ice world tour, and in 2011 when lead singer Brian Johnson swung by New Jersey to promote his autobiography. For you hardcore AC/DC fans, check out the video on my YouTube channel. To get a better idea about my path toward publication, please read my Writer's Digest guest post: How I Sold My Supernatural Thriller. Matt’s a dedicated fan of bullmastiffs, too. (He currently doesn't own one because his house is too small. Bullmastiff owners understand this all too well.) Matt doesn’t have a favorite author, per se, but owns almost every Dave Barry book ever published, and he loves blending humor into his thrillers when warranted. Some of his favorite books include Salem’s Lot, Jurassic Park, The Hobbit, Animal Farm, and To Kill a Mockingbird. When it comes to writing, the only advice he can give is to keep doing it, learn from mistakes, and regardless of the genre, read Chris Roerden’s Don’t Sabotage Your Submission (2008, Bella Rosa Books). Matt grew up in New Jersey, where he lives with his wife and son. He graduated from the University of Delaware in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in history/journalism.

Photo Credit: Eric Schnare

See more about Matt and his book on his website: http://www.mattmanochio.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter (@MattManochio), Pinterest.

Tour Giveaway!
For everyone! CREATE a PINTEREST board by choosing one of the following themes: Krampus, Old World Legends, Vintage Holiday, Old World Christmas, Christmas Around the World, Traditions and Legends,  Myths, Monsters, and Horror, or something very similar.
Second rule: You must pin Matt's book cover and Amazon purchase link or Samhain Horror Purchase link. Third Rule: Follow Matt Manochio and Erin Al-Mehairi.
Third Recommendation: Extra points for pinning extra things about Matt, such as tour page, articles, etc.

Your board will be judged on the above PLUS your creativity and effort in the project! Send Erin at hookofabook@hotmail.com your Pinterest page to enter by Dec. 8. Of course you can continue to use it through the Holiday if you wish!
Prize: A "Santa Checked His List and I'm on the Naughty Side" package. This will include your choice of Krampus themed apparel (t-shirt or sweatshirt, men or women, visuals to come) and a signed paperback of the book.
There might be shipping limitations. Check back to tour page before entering if you live outside the U.S. for updated information.
Example:
http://www.pinterest.com/erinalmehairi/its-old-world-christmas/
And a board about Matt:
http://www.pinterest.com/erinalmehairi/the-dark-servant-matt-manochio/
Giveaway for Reviewers!
Anyone on the tour, or outside the tour, who reviews The Dark Servant on Amazon and GoodReads and sends their review link into Erin (Publicist for Matt Manochio) at hookofabook@hotmail.com, now through Dec. 31, 2014, will be entered to win a $25 Amazon gift card.