How to tell you’re in a Jim Goforth story (Extended edition)
I’ve seen this floating around, so I figured I’d jump on it too. I posted the first five on Facebook, which is where the majority of these posts have been, but after I did, I immediately thought of a pile of others, hence the extended version post here.
How to tell you’re in a Jim Goforth story.
You or your friends make incredibly bad decisions. Repeatedly.
There are monsters lurking just about everywhere, human and otherwise.
One way or another, you’re going to be drenched in blood.
You’ve had a good night out. Which goes bad really fucking quickly.
You can’t quite figure out where that soundtrack of heavy metal is coming from.
Your survival is not guaranteed.
You can’t ever be sure who to trust, including friends and others that seem to be close to you.
Not everybody is as they seem.
There is violence. Lots of violence. You might often be on the receiving end of it.
There is sex. You might or might not be involved in it.
There is swearing. Sometimes a fuckload of it. Probably coming from you and everybody around you.
You can rely on other people, at least for a while. If you truly want to fuck things up, you should probably do it yourself.
You drink. Because, well, reasons. An assortment of them.
You wake up in strange places. Which isn’t overly surprising, given you go to sleep in strange places.
Even seemingly normal and mundane locations can be loaded with menace.
What appears to be a safe place of respite isn’t necessarily so.
Like it or not, you’re probably going to have to kill somebody. Or they’re going to kill you.
You think you’re the main character. Until you’re not.
You manage to piss somebody-anybody-off with no apparent effort at all.
You like music. Music doesn’t always like you.
You have the uncanny knack of finding trouble around every corner. Even where none should be.
You don’t listen to somebody’s advice. And things go terribly wrong.
You do listen to somebody’s advice. And things go terribly wrong.
You have good intentions. And things go terribly wrong.
You have bad intentions. And things go terribly wrong.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Anything that can go right will go wrong.
The woman you like is probably bad for you.
The man you like is probably bad for you.
Everything you do. Probably bad for you.
Staying alert, staying afraid, and staying alive are good policies to go by. The staying alive bit isn’t so easy to achieve.
I could probably go on and on, but I won’t. I’d say you get the gist, and if you’ve read any of my books, short stories etc. then some of this would be pretty familiar. If you haven’t, then what are you waiting for? Get cracking on fixing that.
METAL IS THE LAW (OR THE BOOK OF HEAVY METAL…OR, YOU GET THE GIST)
Over the last couple of months there has been a dominant theme occurring in the books I’ve been involved in, and if you’ve been following in any capacity you will already know what that is. Of course, I’m talking about heavy metal.
I’ve been known to appropriate a couple of phrases from various reviews and refer to my work from time to time as grindhouse splatterpunk horror driven by heavy metal, but that doesn’t always mean the musical element is in the content, but moreso the spirit. In this case however, the heavy metal is well and truly alive in the content of these latest few books.
Firstly, the tail end of June saw the long-awaited release of a new battle anthology (and the last one I aim to be part of for some time, with a concentration on other projects being more in my plans) Punk Vs Metal. Here I use the term long-awaited not so much to refer to hordes of readers eagerly anticipating its arrival, but more in reference to the incredibly patient authors involved. As anybody is well aware, metal and punk music aren’t exactly mainstream chart-busting types of genres, so consequently any book dealing with them is likely to be a niche one, not something targeting a massive cross-section of the public.
The long-awaited part is due to the fact that those involved with Punk Vs Metal had to wait longer than one might anticipate for this book to finally see the light of day, courtesy of a pile of factors impacting on it and delaying release. Initially the whole punk versus metal as a battle anthology notion came about in early 2017 or thereabouts when a whole host of competitions were being bandied about, and while teams were decided on back then as well, the various members chosen for each side didn’t remain constant. There were line-up changes, drop-outs, replacements, and a whole bunch of shit going on that made progressing with the book a difficult task. What was more, PvM was originally going to be one of those battle anthos that followed the same trajectory and template of all those that came before it. By this I mean a panel of judges would go through the stories round by round and vote on them, with winners in each round, culminating in an overall team winning at the conclusion. The delay on all of that was such that eventually I took control of the book and decided to cut the whole judging part out of it, not merely so the authors involved didn’t have to keep waiting and waiting for some shit they’d been waiting for far too long as it was, but for a different approach to the battle antho template. After all, going into a book such as this with a preconceived notion of who is going to win, or having already been told who the judges voted as winner, tilts readership in a sort of bias or predetermined mindset, whether intentional or otherwise.
Therefore PvM is the only battle antho where judges aren’t involved and the results of which story wins in each round, or which teams ultimately wins, is determined solely by the readers themselves and nobody else.
It was a fun idea for a book, and there were some top notch authors writing for it, but in all honesty, after all was said and done, it was just a relief to finally have the book out there and be finished with it.
One upside to take away from it was the fact that my story in PvM is something that I now plan to do more with. If you’ve read the book and encountered my tale, Clans, then you’ll know what it is all about. If not, well you will discover all about it when I expand it into what will either be a novella length work, or (less likely) a full length novel. In any case, it is something that I’m debating turning into an ongoing series, as the tale itself revolves around a city where there are no wars or conflict between races, or anything of that nature, but instead ongoing conflict between people who swear allegiance to various musical genres. The Metal clan and the Punks of course are the prime characters in this particular story, but should I choose to expand the universe more, the other clans mentioned in the tale, as well as others that don’t feature will also come into play at some stage.
Again, if you have read this story, the first thing you might have taken away from it is that it isn’t horror at all. There are probably a few bits in there that could loosely fall under the horror banner, but for the most part, it’s more of a love story than a horror story. A twisted musical metal-infused love story set amidst a backdrop of warring clans, but one nonetheless, and one that tends to hark back to my early days of writing when I worked daily on a long-running urban story featuring youth gangs.
So, with that said, be sure to keep an eye out for the expanded, extended, uncut version of Clans, coming along sometime in the future, and then potentially, more books in the same universe. There will be horrific moments in there of course, but their base genre will not be horror.
In the meantime, check out PvM, and feel free to drop a review detailing your thoughts on the stories within, let us all know who won, and decide once and for all whether metal prevails over punk, or vice versa.
What happens when a team of writers who swear allegiance to punk are pitched into brutal, no-holds-barred story war with a squad of scribes pledging loyalty to metal?
The second book, which came out at the start of this month (July) was the novella, Havoc Vulture. This one is also very metal oriented, revolving around a group of teenagers obsessed with the black metal genre, first excited about the prospects of an infamous black metal band coming to their town, then deflated by the knowledge the powers-that-be running the place have quashed any hope of the performance proceeding.
Like many of my books, the original intentions for it were rather different to how it turned out. Initially I was planning to write a series of short stories each titled after the names of some of my favourite black metal tracks, and release them all in a themed collection. (Story content would have nothing to do with the songs themselves of course-these would be horror stories merely inspired by the various titles e.g Blizzard Beasts or something of that nature would be pretty self explanatory, but nothing thematically to do with the Immortal song’s content). While I still might delve into something like this down the track a piece, the first story I started writing was Havoc Vulture, and though the initial story-line remained the same as I’d pictured it, it became evident that it was going to span into a novella rather than just a story.
Given I have a tendency to write quickly, this one took a little longer to complete than I would have liked, but I suppose writing time on it sandwiched between editing for others and working on an assortment of other projects at the time accounts for that.
It is a horror story, of course, venturing into the extreme territory, but the ages of the main eight protagonists (sixteen) got me pondering over something.
There’s been a lot of conjecture of late-and probably not just of late-over what exactly constitutes young adult as a genre. Personally, I was always of the mindset that for something to be considered young adult it was essentially a book with a young adult readership as the target audience, and therefore something where the subject matter and content would be suitable for such an audience i.e light on violence and sex and that sort of thing. However, I’ve seen an assortment of interpretations floating around social media and so forth with people suggesting that the ages of the actual characters might play a part in a book being deemed young adult. I’ve never seen it that way, certainly not with a book that could be loaded up with content that is far from suitable for a young adult (ages variable) crowd to be delving into, even if the protagonists or main characters are teenagers or whatnot. Yet, apparently there’s a school of thought that deems any book featuring those of a certain age to slot into that young adult genre, regardless of the kind of content.
Therefore, since all of Havoc Vulture’s main characters are sixteen (and young adult age), and others that make appearances aren’t much older, and any adults don’t spend enough book time to have any real bearing, should I be pushing a book that is bordering on extreme horror as a young adult work? Definitely something to mull over. There’s some grey areas there, and despite these strange suppositions that it would be construed as a young adult book, I’m going to go with my original stance on that particular blurring of lines genre and suggest otherwise. Merely having young adult characters in your book isn’t always going to indicate it’s going to be suitable for that particular audience.
Nonetheless, if young adult readers do want to read Havoc Vulture, then I’m not planning to dissuade them. There’s plenty of messages in there they can walk away with.
Freedom’s Way doesn’t see many heavy metal concerts. Certainly not those of the black metal persuasion.
There’s a good reason why they tried to stop this one.
Vulture are coming, whether they’re welcome or not.
Finally, keeping with the metal theme, is my most recent book. From the Vault came out a couple of days ago, and while it isn’t a novella or anthology focused on heavy metal or featuring metal or anything along those lines, it is a collection of poetry which was originally written as lyrics for metal songs.
Since I make mention of the origins of all these lyrics/poems/whatever one wants to refer to them as in the book introduction and afterword, I won’t repeat myself too much again here, but all of the forty pieces that are included were written way back in the 90s. All of them were written as lyrics; some of them actually had music written as well-some in full, others in bits and pieces. Unfortunately much of that has been lost along the way, and I’d be lucky to remember how to play half of it in any case, but all the lyrics themselves I’ve kept intact for decades.
Going back to that point above where I say I generally write things fast, all of these pieces are no exclusion that rule. I’d say almost all of these pieces, as well as a large number of others I have that I’ll consider for future collections (potentially themed) were penned very quickly. At least one a night is the general standard, while there were multiple occasions where several were completed in a single night. Bar changing a word here or a line there, they didn’t get changed; I didn’t spend a lot of time tinkering around with them or agonising over getting them just right. They spilled out onto the page as they were-hand-written of course, since I wrote everything by hand once upon a time-and that’s how they remained. I’ve always written just about everything like that, and continue to do so to this day, which is part of the reason I write fast. Often the final result isn’t exactly as I’d envisioned it, but different ideas steal in to replace ones I had originally, so it balances out well. Half the time I write lines, paragraphs, scenes etc. in my head while I’m doing other things, and by the time I get around to typing or writing them out, the core elements might remain the same but the actual wording becomes somewhat different. That usually wasn’t the way with writing these lyrics; I’d sit down with pen and paper and write, and what came out then and there generally accounted for the final product.
Anyway, From the Vault: A collection of dark poetry and lyrics is out now, and doing well, and for only a dollar you too can read some of the things I was writing well over twenty years ago (in addition to novels and stories, which I was also writing way back then). At some stage I might write up another post that focuses solely on that particular book and goes into a little more detail on some of the works, and stories or reasons behind them, but we’ll save that for another day.
Words from the past. From the dark. From the vault.
In the meantime, feel free to check out any of the aforementioned metal-themed books-Punk Vs Metal, Havoc Vulture, From the Vault-and headbang your way through some horror. As I mentioned earlier, I know very well that metal is really something for a niche audience, hardly something targeting a mass mainstream readership, but hey I’m in this writing game because I fucking love writing, and that’s the bottom line. I’ll keep writing all kinds of shit, but rest assured, I’ll always be dropping a few stories in there revolving around heavy metal, or inspired by heavy metal; that’s never going to change.
Now Go Forth and Headbang. And Horrify. And be Horrified.
I’ve been a bit lax in posting about this over here, but hey, things have been fairly hectic, and after all, this long-suffering WordPress site is pretty used to getting neglected.
My third release for the year (not taking into account the likes of Triggered) is out now. More appropriately, it’s been out for just under a month. Of course, I am talking about Extremes, the latest collection I’ve self-published while on this challenge I’ve tasked myself of releasing at least a book a month for the year (or the equivalent of one book a month should circumstances arise-more on that later).
Extremes, as the name would suggest, is something that is entrenched firmly in realms of the extreme when it comes to horror. My previous collections (With Tooth and Claw from 2015, and Disquiet: An Assemblage of the Unnerving from February this year) are comprised of stories which are a little more eclectic, varying from the more restrained and tame, one might say, for me, but Extremes is unapologetic in where it dwells. This beast is made up of a selection of several of my more hardcore stories, those which splash around gleefully in the mud, blood, and the mire of splatterpunk stylings and extreme horror, though as noted in the description, they aren’t simply extreme in terms of content and themes, but also in regards to explorations of just what people can and will do when they are forced to confront various situations. We could all say we would never do certain things, or could never envision acting in particular ways, but until faced with a scenario where there’s not much choice left, who knows how things will pan out?
Folks will go to extremes one way or another.
Eight tales are included in this book, and though many may have encountered the majority of them before (some were previously published in some pretty successful anthologies which hit large target audiences, and continue to do so), this is the first time they have all been assembled together in the same place, making it easier for those readers who’d like to immerse themselves in a whole book of my style of extremity, yet enjoy an assortment of different stories. They’re cultivated from a spread of different books from the last four years or so, though one of them was written many years ago before it found a home anywhere (mind you, at that point I wasn’t actively seeking to have stories published), and each of the stories, as well as being fairly unflinching and brutal content-wise, have their own reasons for being present and their own different messages and agendas.
All of them were great fun to write, in fact some of them rank as favourites of my own work, at least with regards to how much fun I had writing them and playing around with various characters. On top of that, there are several from this book that stand a good chance of being expanded into full length novels, or possibly novellas. In saying that, I’m not essentially referring to all the same characters resurfacing, since people who have read any of these stories know that not all of the same characters are left standing when the blood clears. Instead, I’m referring to the concepts created for some of them, the various settings, establishments, notions, lore, and so forth. A couple of the tales, for example, both take place in the same establishment, and I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a series of stories revolving around this place, or alternatively stretching it out into a novel. Most likely, the former idea would work better than the latter, but some of the other tales definitely are going to find their universes widened beyond mere short story form. Which ones they are you’ll just have to wait and see, since that won’t be happening any time soon-I’m inundated with myriad projects I want, and need, to get finished, many of which I’ve tasked myself with.
As opposed to the previous collection, Disquiet, which didn’t contain any specific theme bar the fact that all the stories within it were garnered from niche anthologies and books that didn’t have an overly wide readership on first release, Extremes is themed, and obviously so. These are tales from the darker end of the spectrum, the more visceral and unrelenting, leave-no-stone-uncovered approach to horror, and not for the faint of heart, but in addition to that, there are a few other elements which connect various pieces in the book. Have a read of it, and check all those out.
If you are new to my work and want to delve into it via the short story form first before investigating any novels, where your tastes in horror lie will depend on which book I’d suggest trying first. Disquiet is probably a more measured representation of my work, it definitely hosts some more mainstream types of stories, and more accessible material, but hell, if you came for the extreme, the bloody, the violent, visceral, explicit, insane stuff, then Extremes is the shit for you.
In fact, Extremes seems to be the shit for quite a few folk. Of the three books I’ve released this year, this one is both the fastest selling and highest selling so far.
On one hand this is surprising, on the other, not so much. Firstly, Harvester’s Trade, my initial book release of the year, which up until fairly recently was my highest seller, has been out for a couple of months longer, it is an all new story, and it is only a dollar in price. Extremes, however, has been out for less than a month, is the most expensive of all three books, and contains multiple reprints (albeit, never before available all together in the same place). That’s where the latter being most popular is surprising.
The not so surprising is of course, all in the name itself. Extreme horror is no longer just a novelty, a place for intrigued souls to sate their curiosity or to tangle with the taboo, or to venture into when they’re no longer content with more accepted forms of horror. Pushing the limits, the boundaries, going to extremes as it were, isn’t just a thing for hardcore aficionados any more, and if it is, well, then there are a hell of a lot of them and the number is growing exponentially.
Extreme horror is massive these days, almost to the point where it is as universally accepted as much as any other subgenre or what-have-you. Nor is it looking like interest in it is dying out any time soon, in fact I’d say it is quite the opposite. Some things come and go, fads, trends, fashions, genres and subgenres, themes and tropes dipping in and out of favour, but some things maintain, they don’t fade away. Some become so engrained or entrenched that they’re hard to shift in any shape or form-zombies are a prime example of this; folks consistently maintain they are sick of zombies, that they’ve been done to death, that they’re over-saturated in media, and all kinds of shit like that, and in essence much of that is true, but nonetheless, zombies are mainstream now, and they’ve managed to lodge themselves there. They won’t be going away any time soon, because despite all of those above points, they’re still attracting readers of undead books, viewers of television shows and movies, they’ve become a mainstay. And extreme horror, despite any claims to the contrary, is also now a mainstay, and essentially has been for quite some time now. It only seems more evident these days when there are so many exponents of it out there now-some excellent, some good, some at the far other end of the scale-and and the visibility of it remains high.
It’s here to stay; much like the enduring entity that is the undead, extreme horror won’t be going away any time soon either, regardless how many people say, ah, it will die out, something new will come along to replace it. Something new may well come along and sweep along on a successful wave for a while, but that doesn’t mean extreme horror will die out or go away. Not as long as folks keep digging it, not while they keep looking for more extreme approaches to storytelling. Not while folks are prepared to go to extremes.
Anyway, in light of Extremes riding its own wave of success at the moment, I’m temporarily holding back my next release for a little while, to give Extremes some room to run. Technically, the next book should come out in April to stick with the book a month notion, but putting two out next month is the plan to combat that (this would be in relation to the circumstances I mentioned earlier), and to allow Extremes to hold court a little while longer. With that said, there will be a new book coming, and yes, it is new, not a reprint or not anything anybody will have come across before. Following that will be another with material that while largely new to most readers, is in fact quite old, decades old actually. Stay posted for further news regarding that.
In the meantime, if you haven’t yet gone to Extremes, what are you waiting for? Go on, get yourself a little messy.
What lengths would you go to in order to achieve what you want in life? To fit in and be accepted, to escape a dangerous situation, to attain success, or to attain freedom? When faced with extraordinary circumstances of horrifying proportions what actions are you going to take? When it comes to all of the above, and more, there are no limits to what people will do. Desperate individuals will resort to desperate measures. Assembled together for the very first time are several of Jim Goforth’s most extreme horror stories to date, though not merely extreme in terms of content and themes. These tales delve into the great pains taken when souls are confronted with situations that require a severe response, plumbing the depths of depravity, perversion, brutality, horror, and fear. Horrific events can unfold when people are prepared, or forced, to go to extremes.
Cast your mind back a little to last year, and you’ll probably recall I mentioned something about a new experiment in extremity coming along some time in the future, from the twisted folks at WetWorks who brought you Rejected For Content (note-that means me; I am WetWorks, for those who weren’t aware, so technically, that phrasing was a little incorrect, but you get the gist).
Of course, that occasionally referred to experiment is Triggered, which as the name itself might suggest, is pretty self-explanatory in terms of its agenda, though not in terms of deliberately trying to push triggers, but more a case of exploring them, the reasons behind them and so forth.
I originally had the idea for Triggered (and also bandied around the notion of calling it Triggers, before settling on Triggered) quite some time ago, but due to the amount of other projects and things going on at the time-namely, Project 26 and associated works-I just sat on it for a while, before tossing it out there. I also considered making it an invite only anthology, since I know of plenty of folks who would do the theme justice, but ultimately I threw it open to anybody, which was definitely the way to go. I have no problem with invite only anthos, but in ensuring writers bring their A-game to something like that rather than just phoning it in because it’s a pretty safe bet they’re going to be in the book regardless, I always prefer the stipulation that just because you’re invited to submit doesn’t essentially mean the story is going to be accepted. Knowing you’re going to appear in a book opens up that possibility of scribbling a somewhat less than stellar piece or something below the standard of your usual work, so taking that assurance away and keeping everything on a level playing field makes writers strive to produce better work. Any future invite only anthos I run-if I ever decide to run any, that is-will be run like this. Yeah, you’re invited, but that in itself is no guarantee the story will get in.
Anyway, I’m completely off-track. Triggered was meant to be an invite-only entity, but it didn’t turn out that way, and I’m more than happy I did open it up because in the process of taking submissions I encountered several writers I wasn’t familiar with who brought some great work to the table. Some of the usual reprobates who I suspected would be right onboard with taking part in a project such as this also offered up some suitably macabre pieces which fit the theme well, each of the ultimately accepted works providing some very unique takes on the whole Triggered notion.
The concept of Triggered was not to deliberately seek out things that would be blatantly offensive, or solely intended to set people’s triggers off, or anything along those lines, but rather to delve deeper into what triggers various people, the reasons behind them, how different people react when faced with those things that trigger them. In this day and age, seemingly more so than ever, anything can serve as a trigger in some capacity. We have to be mindful of what we do, what we say, how we treat people, how we approach situations, because somewhere, somehow, something in there might flip a switch. Past experiences, overheard words, misconstrued actions, poor choices, a bad hand in life, comparisons, simple conversations through social media, all kinds of things, you name it. Anything can be a trigger to somebody, and unless you’re well aware of what might set it off, you’re not going to know until it is too late.
After almost a month of being out, the book has been doing well, sitting up the top of the Hot New Releases in Horror Anthologies in both the USA and the UK for a period, and as hoped, drawing mixed reactions from readers. I don’t want all five star reviews and praise and all that sort of shit; I want folks to make deeper explorations of the tales and garner some understanding about triggers, I want an assortment of responses, and if that means people hate it, that works great for me. Eliciting and provoking responses from either end of the scale is what it is all about; yes, it is ultimately entertainment, but it is horrifying entertainment and it exists to horrify you, but to make you think as well. Read the book, and walk away with something from it, regardless of what it is, as long as it made you feel something. Nothing in Triggered is supposed to make you feel comfortable, and I’d suggest the scribes who presented pieces that appear in these pages do a fine job of ensuring that is the case.
In other Triggered related information, some have asked whether this new experiment is a successor or replacement for the Rejected For Content series. The answer to that is, no. There is still a lot of life in RFC, and a vast array of possibilities for that particular series to explore. After six volumes Rejected For Content is still going strong, still drawing in new readers, and still introducing new scribes with material that should most definitely be rejected on the grounds of content. However, given the amount of time I’m investing in various other projects-if you keep up to date with this site, you’ll probably have something of an idea of some of those-I wouldn’t suggest that RFC is essentially going to be a yearly release as it has been over the last few volumes. Rest assured, Rejected For Content 7 will still be coming, but I’m not going to boldly-or perhaps foolishly-predict when. There is every chance, with the tasks I’ve set for myself in 2018, that RFC7 will not be a major priority until much later in the year, if at all. But yes, RFC remains in WetWorks plans, there is much to do with it and it’s been a juggernaut that can’t yet be stopped.
As for Triggered, it remains to be seen whether that is going to extend to a series or not; I haven’t yet decided. It was initially intended to be an experiment, and it’s been a fairly successful one so far. What happens from this point on, we’ll wait and see. In the meantime before Triggered 2, or Re-Triggered, or Triggered Again, or I could be here all fucking day playing this silly title game, is even brought up in conversation, head on over and check out the prototype-Triggered itself.
Triggers. Everybody has them.
Some traumatic life event. A phobia. Something brought on by anxiety. Fear. Loneliness. Desperation. Desire. Rage. Memories. Hatred.
It’s how we react to them that shapes us. Will they break us, leave us curled up and lost, helpless and hopeless? Or will they be the catalyst in making us snap? Triggered to run riot and rampage?
Different triggers engender different responses. They can be completely anticipated, they can be unexpected. They can be mystifying. They can be horrifying. They can be deadly. Sometimes they can be switched on, never to be turned off.
Everybody has triggers. Anything can set them off.
CAUTION
Some books come labelled with a trigger warning to advise readers that the material contained within has the potential to generate unpleasant responses.
This book however, has no such thing.
Instead, the whole work in its entirety is one great big trigger warning.
Self-published work is sometimes a gamble. This is Jim Goforth’s first foray into the self-pub world, and I assure you, he’s doing it right. Harvester’s Trade is exactly the type of succinct, hard-hitting work an author should be producing, regardless of how they publish. Read it here, or read the review below:
This story of visceral horror is an excellent debut into the world of self-publishing. Jim Goforth, a highly regarded writer of this genre, certainly doesn’t hold back, keeping the adrenaline running from start to finish. It’s a quick read–more a sprint than a marathon–but this need to keep things to the point doesn’t impact the ambiance at all.
With ten characters getting relatively equal page time, it can be hard to keep track of them, but they’re distinct enough, and leave enough of a mark on the story, that this problem goes away within the first few pages…
If you’ve been playing along at home, then you’ll probably be aware that I’ve been doing a little dabbling in some self-publishing. In which case you might also be aware that I set myself something of a challenge (perhaps a foolhardy one, but that remains to be seen) to release at least a book a month this year, be they full length novels, novellas, collections etc.
If you haven’t been playing along at home, you should be all caught up now. Doing some self-pubbing, making potentially ridiculous plans to release a book a month, not just a story, but full books. Got it.
Now, as I mentioned in my original post addressing these notions, these books aren’t all going to brand new, they aren’t going to be things rushed out just to meet the challenge, and it doesn’t essentially mean I will be sitting here crazily trying to bang out a book a month. I have a lot of stuff already written, some complete things, others well on the way to being finished, and a bunch of different ideas. What I will also be doing is compiling an assortment of collections, some which will feature new stories, some which will be themed, some which will see tales drawn from anthologies and publications which didn’t have a very wide readership.
Anyway, two months in and I’m on target so far.
My first foray into self-pubbing land came out in January, with the novella, Harvester’s Trade.
Ten of the country’s most notorious felons have just been shackled, chained, and blindfolded, and bundled onto a prison bus, with no explanation. With no knowledge of their destination, this dangerous collective of murderers, rapists, thugs, and violent offenders widely assume they’re being transferred from their current facility to another, or split up and relocated among multiple others. That isn’t the only theory. Devoid of sight and information these prisoners also suspect they’re bound for other potential fates. Execution. Accidents. Never making it to their assumed transfer facility. Ultimately, they are all wrong. Instead, they are being released. However, it isn’t as simple as it seems. There’s a catch, and it isn’t merely being dumped in the middle of nowhere, miles from civilization, with no food, water or means to protect themselves. From each other, or from anything else. There are promises of a sanctuary existing somewhere out here in the wilderness, a location where they will be absolved of all their heinous crimes, should they manage to make it there. Now, dusk is approaching fast and they’re about to discover why nobody wants to be stranded out here once darkness has fallen.
Following that, in February, was the collection, Disquiet: An Assemblage of the Unnerving. This book is one of those aforementioned examples of compiling stories derived from previous publications which, for various reasons, slipped under the radar and didn’t hit a large target audience. Granted, some folks will have read some of the stories published in there before, but some will have not. The various books they were in range from niche anthos to battle anthos to books that featured specific themes. Here, they are all gathered together, and while there’s no theme threading them together, their presence all in the same book might afford them a little more visibility than they received in those prior publications. In any case, check it out.
Disquiet breeds not only in those deep, dark corners and places where we might commonly be frightened to venture into. It isn’t just confined to cemeteries, dark woods, and ominous, abandoned realms, though these are places that heighten those senses of unease. Fear can spring forth on a simple train trip; it can creep in to pervade a once beloved hideaway, a secret place, it can invade the sanctuary of a happy household. Nowhere is impervious, and nobody is immune. That fear can be irrational, or it can be a portent that something terrible is about to happen. In Disquiet: An Assemblage of the Unnerving, that lurking fear is wholly justified. Terrible things are going to happen. Dredged up from the dark, twisted recesses of Jim Goforth’s imagination are the tales contained within this book, each one a different excursion into disquieting domains. From the reserved to the extreme, and everywhere in between, these are stories to horrify, to unsettle, to prove you are right to be afraid. Though most of these have appeared before, in niche anthologies or publications which had limited readership, they’re now all gathered here together for the first time, in an assemblage of the unnerving.
Both of these books have a few variant covers, considering I tinkered around with a couple of things before deciding on which ones to run with. Harvester’s has two different versions, Disquiet has four. Maybe one day I’ll actually post those alternates, and discover folks might have preferred the ones I didn’t elect to use. Who knows?
They’re also definitely in need of a couple of reviews, Disquiet in particular, so if you have read either or both, slapping up a review on Amazon would be highly appreciated. Good, bad, ugly, it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s a genuine review. If you loved them, say so. If you hated them, say so. If you were ambivalent about them, same deal.
If you have read them both, and need something else to read, stay tuned. More books will be coming. At this point in time, there are four separate entities I have for upcoming months, though I haven’t yet decided in which order they will emerge. These include (titles subject to change)-From the Vault, Havoc Vulture, Extremes, and Headbanging Horror.
And of course, keep your eyes peeled for a variety of other projects which should be surfacing this year, including Triggered, Plebs 3, Rejected For Content 7 and more. None of that is set in stone right now, aside from Triggered which will definitely be coming very, very shortly. As for the rest, we’ll just have to wait and see what time allows.
As always, too many projects I want to get done, never enough time to do them all.
Then there’s the follow-up to Undead Fleshcrave: The Zombie Trigger. I need to get cracking on that one too. My wife keeps asking me when I’m getting that one done, since she has a particular dislike for a character that survived the first book. She wants him dead, and she wants him dead now! So maybe I better keep him around a bit longer.
And on that note, head on over and check out Harvester’s Trade, and Disquiet: An Assemblage of the Unnerving.
What do you get when you add a missing proprietor, disgruntled carnival employees, suspicious police officers, a nerdy best friend, hulking goons, freakish sub-humans, and two bloodthirsty brothers? You get Carnival of Chaos, an unpredictable and enjoyable first entry in the Festival of the Flesh series.
The story begins with the disappearance of Chippy the Champ, proprietor of the Classic Circus Carnival. A menacing man called Mister E has taken control of the carnival and his vision doesn’t gel with the previous owner’s. Mister E wants to offer horror-themed entertainment and not all the employees agree. Enter, Loco, Blades, Stix, Angelique, Minx, Cleo, and Ben. These seven oppose Mister E and his usurpation of the carnival. They are joined by Jason, the surprising main character of the book, a man with a crush on the beautiful Angelique.
Mister E doesn’t deal well with resentment. He not only fires the…
