Tag Archives: horror fiction

Help Get Terror at 5280′ Off the Ground!

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Terror CoverHere at Denver Horror Collective—our frighteningly talented group of horror writers and artists in and around the Mile High City—we believe in the motto: write locally, scare globally.

Which is why we’re all shivers to announce our Indiegogo fundraiser for Terror at 5280’, our horror fiction anthology due out this fall, with stories set around the greater Denver metroplex and Front Range Rocky Mountain communities, all penned by Colorado authors!

What authors, you may ask? Well, how about:

  • Bram Stoker Award-winning horror master, Stephen Graham Jones
  • USA Today and #1 Denver Post bestselling thriller author Carter Wilson
  • Hex Publishers owner, editor, and author Josh Viola
  • Foreword by John Palisano, author and President of Horror Writers Association
  • Various Denver Horror Collective members
  • Other Colorado-based horror fiction writers

The print and e-book anthology will run about 250 pages and include roughly 20 stories (the editorial team has already made its selections and is currently editing). Some tales are based on local folklore and urban legends, while others touch on social and environmental themes relevant to the area, such as gentrification, substance abuse and…zombie deer.

As with everything at Denver Horror Collective, Terror at 5280’  is a group effort. So, if you love horror fiction, indie publishing, and/or local arts, will you make a contribution to our Indiegogo fundraiser today!

Dark Wisdom: Dean Wyant

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In “Dark Wisdom,” we seek writing and/or publishing advice from the horror fiction masters making up Denver Horror Collective’s Advisory Council. 

For this installment, we grill Dean Wyant, co-founder and acquisitions editor at Hex Publishers. 

What’s the future of small press publishers?

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DEAN WYANT: May I have an easier question, please? How I wish I had a crystal ball for this one. There are some things I do understand as far as current publishing goes which I think will continue to influence small publishers as the book business progresses.

Large publishers want that next Harry Potter, Longmire mystery series or a guaranteed big selling author such as Stephen King. Quantity is equally as important, if not more so, than quality. Anyone who has attempted to break into the world of big time publishing knows how challenging it can be. You need an agent–good luck with that–and you need to have a manuscript that will sell. If you’re lucky enough to get published and it doesn’t sell well, you’re dumped. Ouch.

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First Breath by Nicole J. LeBoeuf

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“First Breath” is the first of several Colorado-based short stories written by local authors we’ll be publishing on the Denver Horror Collective website and in The Epitaph newsletter, as a lead-up to the fall release of Terror at 5280′, our local horror fiction anthology.

First Breath
by Nicole J. LeBoeuf

[Author’s note: The setting of ‘First Breath’ is loosely based on the cafe and bar Loaded Joes in Avon, a favorite place to write (and sing karaoke) when I’m in the neighborhood.]

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Photo: Lisa Young

It was time I went in search of myself. Everyone has to do it once in their lives. Each of my parents had, years before, and now I felt the pull that said it was my turn. Time to make my own pilgrimage.

They saw me off, standing in front of the house and watching me drift down the road. “Remember what we taught you,” my mother said. “One foot in front of the other. You’ll do fine.”

“Hurry home as soon as you can,” said my father, a wry smile hiding the sadness of parting. “You’ll want to be here when the baby arrives.”

I could only nod, looking first from face to face then down at the place where my unborn sibling waited to be breathed into life. I wanted to take their hands. I wanted to hold them and never let go.

But I couldn’t touch them. I could not even speak. Not yet.

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Music To My Fears on Oct. 5

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MUSIC TO MY FEARS: Horror Fiction Readings set to Live Music!

A benefit for Terror at 5280′, a local horror fiction anthology

$15 General Admission ($20 for attendance + drink)

Get tix HERE!

Readings by: JoAnn Chaney (New York Times and USA Today bestselling author), Gary Robbe, Hollie Snider, Thomas C. Mavroudis, Grace Horton, Sean Murphy, Amy Armstrong, Bobby Crew, and Josh Schlossberg.

Music by: Brendan Devlin, Nate Trautenberg, Thomas C. Mavroudis, Jonatha Forisha, Andy Frank, DJ Krups, and Josh Schlossberg.

Hosted by: Jeamus Wilkes

Presented by: Denver Horror Collective

Sponsored by: Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Crestone Law Group, Indyink, YaYa’s Euro Bistro, Roaming Buffalo BBQ, and BookBar

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Frights and Flights with Carter Wilson on July 28

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Denver Horror Collective is a sponsor of this recurring event at Bookbar hosted by our very own Tom Mavroudis, pairing horror and thriller readings with flights of beer & wine.

On Sunday, July 28 @ 6 pm we feature Carter Wilson reading from his new book The Dead Girl in 2A. RSVP here!

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Jake Buchannan knows the woman sitting next to him on his business flight to Denver—he just can’t figure out how he knows her. Clara Stowe isn’t in Jake’s line of work and didn’t go to college with him. They have nearly nothing in common apart from a deep and shared certainty that they’ve met before. Despite their best efforts over a probing conversation, both struggle to figure out what circumstances could possibly have brought them together. Then, in a revelation that sends Jake reeling, Clara admits she’s traveling to the Colorado mountains to kill herself, and disappears into the crowded airport immediately after landing.

The Dead Girl in 2A is the story of what happens to Jake and Clara after they get off that plane, and the manipulative figure who has brought them together decades after they first met.

Carter Wilson is the award-winning and USA Today bestselling author of Mister Tender’s Girl. He lives outside of Boulder, Colorado, with his two children.

 

6(66) Questions with Jeamus Wilkes

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– Interview by Linnea Linton

jeamusJeamus Wilkes is a Denver Horror Collective member, host of Jeamus After Midnight Podcast, and editor of The Epitaph.

1. Name one horror author you admire and explain how they help you become a better writer?

Peter Straub. Straub helps me become a better writer because of his beautiful use of language blended with professional execution of creating dread and scenes of absolute terror. His work is un-commercial in the best possible way, yet utterly accessible in readability and makes my imagination’s flesh crawl like no other writer. It helps me become a better writer in knowing that I can aim for the story first, and cut the commercial crap right out. His novel Shadowland is probably my favorite book I’ve ever read, and I read it at least once a year.

2. What author did you dislike at first but grew into?

H.P. Lovecraft. I think I associated his name too much with gaming and protracted paragraphs (that sounds like a swipe at gaming culture when it really isn’t; at one time I just felt like Lovecraft’s world was over-appropriated in it), but when I revisited his work a few years ago I came to appreciate it on my own terms and made my own discoveries in his work. He’s a controversial figure, but—at this point, at least—I’ve decided to appreciate the artist. Chew on the meat and spit out the bones, to use a blunt horror metaphor.

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Denver Horror Epitaph

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We’re all shivers as we announce the unveiling of the Denver Horror Epitaph, the official newsletter of the Denver Horror Collective!

Our unnerving monthly e-newsletter will

  • loop you in on the Mile High City’s burgeoning literary horror scene
  • chill you with original dark writings and cartoons
  • disturb you with interviews of local horror creators
  • and update you on the latest goings-on at the Denver Horror Collective!

SUBSCRIBE to monthly email issues of the Epitaph and enter in a drawing to receive a signed copy of Terror at 5280′, our upcoming horror fiction anthology!