The Veil Is Thinning: A Busy Fall Ahead
The veil is thinning, the days are getting shorter, and fall is almost here—which means it’s about to become a very busy time for horror writers. I’ve spent much of this year working on several projects that are finally starting to come together, and this fall should see several very different kinds of horror heading out into the world: a new writing-craft series, an old-school punk-rock zombie novel, the first issue of a new pulp horror magazine, and an audiobook release.
First up is The Fear Method, the opening book in a series about the process I use to turn personal fears into horror fiction. The basic idea is simple: the most effective horror usually starts with something that genuinely bothers the writer. Instead of beginning with a monster, a haunted house, or a familiar horror trope, The Fear Method starts by asking what you’re actually afraid of—and then shows how to give that fear a fictional form. The book breaks down my process for identifying the deeper fear underneath an idea, finding the right situation to express it, and turning something personal into a story that can frighten somebody else. Future books in the series will delve deeper into how I tackle specific subgenres of horror, but this first volume lays the foundation for the overall approach.
Then there’s Punks vs. Zombies. This one has been an absolute blast to write. Set in San Bernardino in 1984, it follows Berdoo Betty and a group of punks trying to survive a zombie outbreak that begins in the middle of their Halloween show. What starts as a punk-rock disaster movie gradually expands into a story about community, survival, violence, sacrifice, and what happens when all the little tribes people build for themselves are put under unbearable pressure. The influences are proudly worn on its sleeveless denim vest: the punk films of Penelope Spheeris, the anarchic zombie insanity of The Return of the Living Dead, old grindhouse movies, biker pictures, and the rough-edged pulp fiction I tend to love. It is loud, bloody, mean, funny in places, and probably my first genuine step into splatterpunk territory.
October should also bring the audiobook edition of Hunted. I’m excited to see that story make the jump into audio and give readers another way to experience it. There’s something especially fitting about horror in audiobook form once the weather starts cooling down and the nights get longer, so an October release feels like exactly the right home for it.
Finally, this fall will bring Pulp Revival Magazine: Dread #1, the first issue from Pulp Revival Press. Dread has become a much bigger passion project than I originally anticipated. The first issue will feature a substantial lineup of horror fiction from multiple writers alongside a handful of editorial and nonfiction features celebrating the strange, macabre, and pulpy corners of horror culture. The goal with Pulp Revival has always been pretty straightforward: create something that feels like a real pulp magazine rather than simply a container for stories. I want Dread to be the sort of thing you can leave on a coffee table, flip through, discover a new writer, stumble across an article about some old horror movie or strange band, and generally feel like you’ve picked up an artifact from a particular little corner of horror fandom. Putting it together has been a tremendous amount of work, but seeing the first issue take shape has made that work worthwhile.
So that’s the fall forecast around here: writing about fear, punks fighting zombies, a new audiobook, and an entire magazine devoted to dread. Apparently, I’ve decided that autumn is no time to relax. I reckon that’s appropriate. The nights are getting longer. Halloween is coming. And the veil is thinning.
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