The 4th Circle: Interview with Josh Schlossberg

Posted on by

Interview by Desi D

  1. Name one author you admire and explain how they helped you become a better writer.

I know I should probably say someone like Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, or Shirley Jackson, but the author who influenced my writing the most is definitely John Steinbeck. (What’s funny is it’s recently been revealed that Steinbeck wrote a werewolf novel that’s never been published, and people are calling on his estate to release it!)

Steinbeck’s writing comes across as so simple it’s almost like spoken word, but it’s deceptive in that it’s no easy feat. And not only are his stories deeply meaningful, they’re timeless—as is his prose style which avoids the flowery, clunky sentence structure that dates so many “classic” authors. If a literate alien picked up Steinbeck’s work today, I bet it wouldn’t be able to tell if it had just been written or published centuries ago.

Of course, I’m not saying I’ve achieved close to any of this in my writing. But I think he’s been rubbing off on me and I hope I’m making some progress.

Continue reading →

Dark Lit Market: CONSUMED: TALES INSPIRED BY THE WENDIGO edited by Henry & Hollie Snider

Posted on by

It’s #TERRORTUESDAY, so we’re disgorging another DHC member’s–two, in this case!–published work from our DARK LIT MARKET!

This week, whet your appetite for CONSUMED: TALES INSPIRED BY THE WENDIGO, edited by Henry & Hollie Snider!

Hunger that changes you…consumes you…turning you into a nightmare version of what you once were.

From desolate snowy mountains and apocalyptic wastelands to New York’s sex clubs and virtual encounters, Denver Horror Collective brings you, dear reader, visions of horror inspired by the Wendigo.

DHC Book Cult + Author Q&A: THE NIGHT WILL FIND US by Matthew Lyons | July 11

Posted on by

For the second of our Colorado horror authors ONLY book club, we’ll be reading and virtually discussing dark scribe Matthew Lyon’s THE NIGHT WILL FIND US, followed by a live, virtual Q&A with the author himself on Sunday July 11 @ 5 pm MT.

DHC Book Cult meetings are held via Zoom every 3 months, and attendees will vote on which Colorado horror author to read next!

RSVP by emailing submissions [at] denverhorror [dot] com to receive Zoom link.

THE NIGHT WILL FIND US by Matthew Lyons:

“School’s out for summer and that means one thing to Parker, Chloe, and their four friends: a well-deserved camping trip in the Pine Barrens, a million-acre forest deep in the heart of New Jersey. But when old grudges erupt, an argument escalates into the unthinkable, leaving one of them dead and the killer missing. As darkness descends and those left alive try to determine a course of action, the forest around them begins to change…”

Table of Contents for THE JEWISH BOOK OF HORROR

Posted on by

Denver Horror Collective is terrified to announce the table of contents for THE JEWISH BOOK OF HORROR (edited by Josh Schlossberg), due out Hanukkah 2021.

Introduction by Molly Adams
“Eighth Night” by John Baltisberger
“The Hand of Fire” by Daniel Braum
“Welcome Death” by JD Blackrose
Foreword by Rabbi John Carrier
“The Last Plague” by KD Casey
“On Seas of Blood and Salt” by Richard Dansky
“Bar Mitzvah Lessons” by Stewart Gisser
“The Wisdom of Solomon” by Ken Goldman
“Bread and Salt” by Elana Gomel
“Forty Days Before Birth” by Colleen Halupa
“Demon Hunter Vashti” by Henry Herz
“Catch and Release” by Vivian Kasley
“How to Build a Sukkah at the End of the World” by Lindsay King-Miller
“Phinehas the Zealot” by Ethan K. Lee
“In the Red” by Mike Marcus
“The 38th Funeral” by Marc Morgenstern
“The Horse Leech Has Two Maws” by Michael Picco
“Same as Yesterday” by Alter Reiss
“The Rabbi’s Wife” by Simon Rosenberg
“Ba ‘Lat Ov” by Brenda Tolian
“The Hanukkult of Taco Wisdom” by Margret Treiber
“The Divorce From God” by Rami Ungar
“A Purim Story” by Emily Ruth Verona

Episode #2 of DHC Presents: Josh’s Worst Nightmare podcast

Posted on by

On episode #2 of Josh’s Worst Nightmare podcast (presented by Denver Horror Collective), host Josh Schlossberg goes beyond skin deep with Steve Rasnic Tem, author of THANATRAUMA, to dissect the decline of the body that comes with old age.

Stream or download HERE.

Dark Lit Market: BRUISED SOULS & OTHER TORMENTS by Shannon Lawrence

Posted on by

It’s #TERRORTUESDAY, so we’re unearthing another DHC member’s published work from our DARK LIT MARKET!

This week, you can’t defend yourself from BRUISED SOULS & OTHER TORMENTS by Shannon Lawrence!

Fear resides in the soul.

A welcoming widow with a twisted appetite; a war-time evil lurking behind the face of a child; a father’s love gone horribly wrong; a deadly government solution; a new job with a demonic pay scale; a woman trapped in a mysterious house with no memory of who she is or how she got there. These are a mere glimpse of the terrors that lie in wait in this collection of horror short stories, sure to grip the psyche and torment the soul.

The 4th Circle: Interview with John WM Thompson

Posted on by

-Interview by Desi D

1. What’s your favorite line in a book/movie? And why?

No singular favorite, but there are a few lines that drift through my mind unbidden every few weeks at most, and one of them is from Flannery O’Connor’s WISE BLOOD:
“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it.”

In a vacuum, I think it’s a perfect description of a character at the precipice of a well-told story, but in context, it’s how O’Connor cuts to the heart of certain spiritual desperation, despair, displacement. I’m captivated by stories of spiritually alienated and confused people and the way that confusion manifests as a kind of vague menace. You never know what a person who doesn’t know themselves will do.

Continue reading →

Dark Lit Market: MALINAE by Josh Schlossberg

Posted on by

It’s #TERRORTUESDAY, so we’re opening the floodgates for another DHC member’s published work from our DARK LIT MARKET!

This week, get swept away by MALINAE by Josh Schlossberg!

The absentmindedness. The nonsensical ramblings. The blank stares. Ward Ayers, physically disabled and confined to his Jersey Shore home, can only watch in dismay as his beloved wife Malina slips further and further into dementia.

But when Ward catches a glimpse of a strange appendage in place of Malina’s tongue, he fears the woman he’s loved for half a century isn’t succumbing to Alzheimer’s but transforming into something…not quite human. As he tries to make sense of his wife’s disturbing changes, he starts wondering if he’s the one losing his mind. 

Until, finally, Ward uncovers the dark force behind Malina’s decline and must plumb the depths of sacrifice and selfishness to reclaim his wife and preserve humanity’s future.

Dark Lit Market: REAL SKIN by E.A. Green

Posted on by

It’s #TERRORTUESDAY, so we’re boosting yet another DHC member’s published work from our DARK LIT MARKET!

This week, you can run but you can’t hide from REAL SKIN by E.A. Green!

Until it’s you, you can never understand just how soul-destroying it can be when a family member, friend, or acquaintance just up and vanishes. That depth of darkness knows no bounds when they’re declared missing and unfindable. Detective Jarrett Jefferson knows that portion of Hell’s fiery pits all too well.

Ride along with the Detective as his first official case turns out to be unlike anything he has ever investigated: a serial killer given the name S.S.K.