Howdy, Horrorworlders. Sorry I haven't posted lately, and I'm especially sorry about the spammy feel of this post, but...I have some FREE fiction for you! The first installment of Samhain Horror's first ever serial novel (SAVAGE SPECIES: NIGHT TERRORS) is now available anywhere ebooks are sold for free download. Here are a couple links:









Here are the five ebook covers:











Here's the synopsis:

For the first time ever, Samhain Publishing will serialize a terrifying original novel, Savage Species, in five installments, with new installments coming every two weeks. Here, as a special introduction to the fear that awaits you in Savage Species, is the first section, Night Terrors, absolutely free!

Jesse thinks he’s caught a break when he, the girl of his dreams, and her friend are assigned by their newspaper to cover the opening weekend of the Peaceful Valley Nature Preserve, a sprawling, isolated state park. But the construction of the park has stirred an evil that has lain dormant for nearly a century, and the three young people—as well as every man, woman, and child unlucky enough to be attending the grand opening—are about to encounter the most horrific creatures to ever walk the earth. A species so ferocious that Peaceful Valley is about to be plunged into a nightmare of bloodshed and damnation.

And here are some early reviews:

Andrew Monge, a moderator at the Horror Drive-In had this to say: "The story reminded me of Monteleone's NIGHT THINGS, which also deals with horrible creatures that are released from Indian grounds. The main difference I see so far is that while Montelone's creatures were kind of kept in the shadows until later in the novel, Janz wastes no time unleashing his monsters upon the unsuspecting populace of Peaceful Valley. And trust me, folks.....these things are *nasty*."

Dreadful Tales said of Savage Species, "Janz has prepared a brutally ferocious banquet which opens with such a welter of savage violence that those with an appetite for bloody, shrieking terror will find it hard to wait for the next course [...] as the reader is thrust into a maelstrom of fantastic and dreadful, slavering terror. This hard, biting horror which grips from the get go and will leave you trembling in anticipation for the next enthrallment."

Publisher's Weekly says, "Fans of old-school splatterpunk horror—Janz cites Richard Laymon as an influence, and it shows—will find much to relish."

And Michael R. Collings, writing for Hellnotes said, "Which leads to the monster—monsters, actually, since by the end of Night Terrors there are hordes of them, each more vicious and ferocious than the last. They are actually quite fascinating. Think a huge Bigfoot crossed with Rick Hautala’s secretive and voracious Little Brothers; the improbably leaping Yeti from the Syfy channel’s 2008 offering, Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon, crossed with H.G. Wells’ Morlocks (at least as envisioned by George Pal in the 1960s The Time Machine); 1980s beach movies crossed with contemporary tales of urban horrors; ancient tribal legends come horrifyingly to life crossed with inept bureaucrats seeking to squeeze a profit out of a landscape that has apparently been uniquely empty of human life for centuries."

I would really be honored if you all checked this one out. The first installment is free, so if you hate it, you won't have lost anything (except a bit of time perhaps). And if you like it, the subsequent installments will be (I think) a buck-fifty or less, so even then it won't be too salty. Thanks for your time, everybody, and have a great week!

This looks neat!

Wicked covers, too!

I downloaded it although I admit to being a bit skeeved by "and to rape nubile young women who are, conveniently enough, running through the forest in űber-skimpy bikinis."

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Mike Styczen: As far as I can tell, all of Toronto is on the lookout for some sort of demented leprechaun. If Toronto didn't exist, we'd have to invent it

I know what you mean J.D. The older I get, the more those sex titillating lines/blurbs turn me off for a number of reasons, the first of which is I have a daughter and I do not want her to be thought of as a sex object (especially rape-able material). Secondly, it does play into the rape culture that is so prevalent lately and it seems to be playing it for laughs.

And yes, I understand we are talking about fiction and that we should never confuse the author with the story (in my case, I usually don't). And I understand it's all make believe, escapist, and simply porn for the brain. But as you said J.D., there is a YUCK factor in all this that can keep readers away.

I'm about to take my three little kids to go strawberry picking, but before I do I wanted to respond to Tony's thoughtful message.

Tony, I totally understand where you're coming from. I have two daughters myself, a wonderful wife, and was raised by a single mom. I'm huge on women's rights and would never use rape for titillation. In fact, I'm going to remove that part of the blurb because it seems to be drawing attention away from what I think is a really good story. I just think you'd have to read the story to see what I mean. These creatures are the foulest, most abhorrent things I could imagine. But what they do (with regard to rape) is shown in fleeting glimpses rather than leering passages. And perhaps it is my loathing of the crime that caused my subconscious (or the boys in the basement as Stephen King calls those creative monsters) to cast the creatures as rapists as well as murderers.

As with everything, I think it's all about how it's done. In King's recent "Big Driver," the rape is one of the most important aspects of the story and absolutely necessary to the story. In other tales...sure, not so much. In Savage Species the idea of male lust, male objectification of the female form, and the terrifying extensions of those ideas are central to the plot. And therefore they're explored.

But I am absolutely sensitive to the ideas you both verbalized. I'm the most doting, protective daddy I know and worry a lot about the culture we're in; however, I don't think this is the kind of story that contributes to that. Conversely, it shows it for what it is and encourages folks to stare it in its ugly face and to strive for something better.

Just my two cents.

John, I absolutely believe you when you say you care about your children and your feelings on rape. As I mentioned, I really don't confuse the author with the author's story. The whole rape culture debate is currently in full rage, I've talked about it and posted about it often on my FB page. The headlines tend to justify the debate, the comments, the suggestions, and the outcry.

I don't think a young person is going to read a blurb, or even a story and go out and rape someone because of that. But when you combine it with twenty other glorified sex or sexist stories or blurbs, countless photo's of women in magazines or t.v. who are made to appear as sex objects, and add alcohol and peer pressure to the mix, who knows what can happen. Even then, I personally wouldn't blame an author or a commercial for a deviant act, I would blame the perpetrator.

This is a complicated issue for me. I have used rape in a story - not rape of a woman, the perp wasn't in the least bit human and wasn't expressing the usual control through violence issues either, nevertheless the victim suffered. Despite that, I do have an opinion, especially having read through the recent SFWA firestorm, but I'm going to be a gentlewoman and not tear into it via Jonathan's thread.

No one thinks that John. In fact John Everson posts here sometimes and we all love him, and his books can be very hardcore.

No worries, Jonathan, although I do applaud you for amending 'that part' of the blurb. I don't want to seem like I'm piling on one particular writer, though. Horror, SF/F, Romance, you name it. It's a subject that needs addressing and discussing across a broad spectrum. We all need the freedom to express ourselves, but we have to look after one another, too.

Very disappointed , Jonathan. Finished the first installment Saturday night. I loved it,but now what am I supposed to do for two weeks?! This is why I pretended Brian Keene's Deluge didn't exist until it came out in one piece!! All bitching aside though,great job. I love the way you bring it every time. You,Curran,Keene,Brian Smith,andEd Lee are authors I feel safe buying without reading samples or reading reviews.

Most of us are able to separate the author from his work Jonathan so no worries. Hell, I've read Tony's work and I still like him