That's what horror stories are made of...

Reprisal

Chapter 6

Sugar and Snails

Trestle Press releases the next chapter of Reprisal. In Sugar and Snails, little girls are made from sugar and spice. Little boys from puppy dog tails and slimy snails. Danny Lurton is an odd combination of sugar and snails. Maybe Danny could have been a TV game show host in a different life, but in this one, things turned out for the worst. Destined to spend the rest of his life a prisoner, Danny is visited by his child victims while waiting to board the bus.

For those that have been patient, there is one more convict next month. After that, hell is gonna break loose!

Here we go again!

Chapter 6 of Reprisal, Sugar and Snails, will be released this week. My publisher, Trestle Press, is also starting another great sale this week. If you haven't started Reprisal yet, you can get all 6 volumes for the price of 3!

Starting today, Saturday January 14^th through Sunday, January 22, 2012, Trestle Press will be having a BUY ONE TITLE GET ONE TITLE FREE SALE !!

All of our titles are part of this sale, all of our authors will be participating in it, and all you have to do is when you purchase one of our stories send us the proof of purchase and we will be happy to send you the title of your choice that is of equal value.

You can email us in one of three ways; send the proof of purchase by email to one of the following:

-the authors of the titles you purchased and get your free titles directly from them.

-Trestle Press: trestlepress@gmail.com

-Giovanni Gelati:gelati.giovanni@gmail.com

We have a wealth of talented authors at Trestle Press and there are many great stories to discover and read. As the week goes on there will be a few surprises thrown into this sale, so please stay tuned to our website: www.trestlepresspublishing.com or your favorite authors’ websites or blogs.

Feel free to follow us at our website for all the upcoming news and events surrounding all of the Trestle Press authors as they create more Best-Selling novels, novellas, short stories and series for you to follow and enjoy.

We hope that you will join us and our authors as we make our journey and try to blaze a new trail in this wide open world of publishing. Without you all is for naught; for everything we do, we do for you the reader!

Have fun and happy reading!!     

Getting Experi-Mental

Hey, come here a sec. I want to show you something...

Theoretical Fishsticks



Sam, horror, blah, blah, Sam, twisted, etc, etc. You've heard that before, so now I'm getting experimental. Put the emphasis on mental.

I took a step away from the gruesome, scary stuff. Maybe you don't know it, but I'm a pretty funny guy. At least, I think so. Following that train of thought, I concocted the above piece. It's a one-off, not a series. I threw together a few characters that had their own problems and put an absurd bow on it. I'm no scientist, physicist or boccecist. I combined some fancy words that made sense to me.

Then, I ended up with an amusing tale of a lonely man trying to find love. The holidays are upon us, so admist the ghoulish grunge of Reprisal and Severed, I offer something lighter to bring you some cheer.

Of course, I am Sam, which means I can't promise no one will be mangled.

Theoretical Fishsticks is available now from Trestle Press in eBook for $0.99.

Guest Post from B.R. Stateham - a writer you should read

A Different Kind of Hero

I write a short story series about an atypical hit man. Atypical in that he does things you least expect from a professional killer. And it is this unexpected, unanticipated quirk in the man's personality which I want to discuss briefly. Specifically I want to discuss three stories I am particularly fond of.

In particular, the three stories found in the Call Me Smitty; Something Deadly

The hitman calls himself Smitty. He has eyes as dark as the center point of a black hole. He moves through the night like a sulking nightmare. And when he strikes . . . oh, mama! But the point is this; is Smitty just a hit man? Or is he something else?

'Heroes' come in all sizes, shapes and disguises. As an aficionado of the hard boiled/noir story we all are looking for that certain character, that certain individual that captures our attention and holds it permanently. Smitty does that. And the three stories in the series installment pictured here is an excellent set of examples to substantiate my claims. Let me briefly describe each:

In the opening story entitled Something Deadly a hood decides to wipe out a cop and his entire family. Kill them all while the family sleeps in their own beds. Smitty is informed of this coming deed from a friend. The 'friend' is a fellow hood who worries about what the reaction from the police will be if one of their own and his family is wiped out in such a brutal fashion.

Smitty decides to intervene. So picture a black, moonless night. Picture a house in suburbia littered with children's toys and the comfort of a house filled with love. Picture a madman in the middle of the house with a fireman's axe in his hand. Picture the madman about to enter one of the children's bedrooms. Picture Smitty coming between the madman and the slumbering child. A herculean struggle of bulging muscles and soft grunts between madman and killer. And all through this a small child sucking his thumb and dragging behind him his teddy bear watches the silent struggles while standing in the hallway.

In Goodbye, David Smitty appears miraculously and plucks a young mother and her tiny children off of a dark street corner in a driving rain. The mother is terrified. Her husband is planning to kill her. She is fleeing from his murderous intent--but she is young. Frightened. With no one to turn to.

But Smitty finds them. Smitty whisks them off to safety---and, in the end, Smitty settles the issue with the woman's husband in a fashion that can only be something Smitty would do.

In I'll Take Care Of It Smitty is hired by a mob boss to kill a cop and his family. Yes, it is a variation of the first story. But uniquely different. Smitty says he'll 'take care of it.' He knows the mob boss doesn't believe him and sends a second group of killers out to do the job--and get rid of Smitty in the process. What happens next is typically Smitty.


I am very proud of these stories. Especially the first one. The first one shows a range and depth of emotional responses rarely seen in these kind of stories. The same thing can be said with the second story. And the third . . . . in fact, in all of Smitty stories.

Smitty is a different kind of critter. He deserves to find fans who enjoy rooting for a different kind of hero.

http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Intent-Call-Smitty-ebook/dp/B004UN55XU

Start Your Engines

The newest installment of Reprisal from Trestle Press is available now!

Chapter Four

She'll Get Your Engine Started

Along with that comes an exciting new cover design for the whole series, thanks to Giovanni Gelati.

I would love to hear any feedback on the covers.

For a bit about the story...

This chapter focuses on another of the inmates. His name is David Lent and like the others, he is a murderer. But does his punishment fit his crime? David lived a lonely life, even though he was married. Certain revelations change everything he knows and pushes him to the edge. By the end of this chapter, you may be asking if David truly was a bad man.

Each chapter of Reprisal is availble in eBook for $0.99 each. If you haven't started the series yet, I would be happy to send you Chapter One for free to get your engine started. Message me on Facebook or email me: SamLangAuthor@gmail.com

Thanks for visiting



This Treat is No Trick

It is no secret that I like Horror stories. I like dark, creepy things like those under your bed. As I have said repeatedly, Halloween is my favorite holiday. I'd say I still get dressed up, but I don't look much different than the rest of the year.

With that being said, I knew I wanted to participate in Trestle Press' Harbinger of Horror month-long celebration. I wanted to do it in a big way.

I started off with Severed, the new zombie story co-written by Darren Sant. My finale will be the latest installment of Reprisal. It is Chapter 4: She'll Get Your Engine Started. But I am sneaking something in between, a little treat at the bottom of your bag. You know the kind of treat I mean, you don't remember which house it came from, but it's there and it looks delicious.

A Vampire's Guide to Sex

I like to examine people and create characters that are real, but also sometimes real strange. The couple in this story is exactly that. They are misfits. They are loners. They are vampires and they get together.

The inspiration for this titilating tale came from a very popular series of books-turned-movies. I haven't read them, but it is my understanding that the female lead becomes pregnant from her vampire lover.

My natural question was "How does an undead vampire get his equipment functioning with no blood flowing through his veins?" My anwer can be found on these pages. This one gets a little steamy, a little funny and maybe a little gory. So, find some privacy and enjoy.

Come and Get Some

I had the opportunity to work with a talented writer and generous lover in the form of Darren Sant.

Um, one of those statements is only hearsay.

Regardless of which, we birthed a new story onto the world. It happens to be available now, today, this minute, from Trestle Press for the exceptionally good deal of $0.99. (click the title to get it now)

Severed: In The Beginning...

You might want to know a bit about it before you make that commitment. No problem.

Zombies.

This is not your typical Zombie story. More exactly, it is a story about people with zombies in it. We, Darren and I, aimed high and to borrow my co-author's words, "the scope is wide". In this first offering, we set the stage, set the emotional level. Things are not outright dismal, there is some hope.

Give it a try for yourself, and please, let us know what you think...

So Much More...

I am compeletly about Horror and Halloween. Trestle Press is celebrating with the Harbinger of Horror promotion.

But did you know Trestle does not only do the scary stuff? They are packed with authors of every genre. There are highly talented writers waiting to share their work with you.

Let's put a few under the microscope, shall we?

William Tooker offers Slouching Towards Bethlehem, a wild series about ancient aliens buried beneath a small California town. Get part one here: Bad Angles and part two here: Black Betty.

Jochem Vandersteen, hailing from the Netherlands, delivers a series about Mike Dalmas. Using his former Special Forces skill set, he does the jobs that normal law enforcement can't handle. Get the debut story here: Find Her.

Leona Bodie offers Cocooned in Darkness, a prequel to her full length novel, about a man on the run from his own past.

Benjamin Sobieck is responsible for Maynard Soloman, a cranky semi-retired private investigator. The stories a full of gritty satire. Sobieck has also participated in the highly popular Author's Lab collaboration series with Who Whacked the Blogger?

You will be seeing more of these and other Trestle authors coming soon.


 

Review: Tales from the Longcroft Estate

I took some time to read the first two installments of Darren Sant's "Tales from the Longcroft Estate" available from Trestle Press. Individually, they are called "A Good Day" and "Community Spirit".

I wanted to familiarize myself with him, since we (the collective "we", not the royal "we") are putting a little something together for you gruesome fans out there. What I found was touching and sentimental, and quite satisfying.

Darren delivered two stories with all the outlook of a rainy day. In his first piece, we are introduced to a jobless drug addict. The next story tells us of a single mother in deep with a loan shark. Darren does an excellent job of setting the stage and revealing these characters to us. As I read, I quickly moved passed preconceived notions of "life in the projects". These were real people and I really felt for them.

Then Mr. Sant throws us for a loop. I like surprises, so I am not going to be the one to spoil the ending. These sad tales have a twist. No, not an "M. Night Twist". Still, I did not expect it in the first story, but would have been disappointed if he did not deliver in the second.

In the short story genre, it takes a deft hand to satisfy in such a small space. Darren manages to pull it off like a child playing in his parent's closet. What I mean by that is that to the child, the closet is much bigger and full of amazing things. He has all the room he needs in that short stretch of white space to give us something worth well more than its $0.99 price tag.

I suggest you add both of these to your Kindle today (and you wouldn't want to disappoint me, would you?).