More Extremes

More Extremes

It came out a little later than I’d originally planned, with Halloween being the last date I’d aimed for (after not being able to make previous release plans), but it has finally climbed up out of the murk and mire in all its grimy, bloody excess.

What the actual fuck is he babbling about now, you may ask, and indeed, it’s a fair question.

What I’m babbling about this time, is of course, More Extremes.

The second volume in what will be an ongoing series of collections featuring some of my stories that venture into more extreme realms of horror is out now. This one, as I make mention of in the introduction, didn’t exactly end up as initially envisioned, where I aimed to have an even split of previously published works and new material, but all the same, rest assured there is some new stuff in there.

Unlike Extremes, which was comprised solely of reprints, and stories which were gleaned from bigger anthologies and books with a fairly wide readership, More Extremes only has two stories which featured in books that a fair few people would have been likely to read, namely the Tales From the Lake antho series from Crystal Lake Publishing, and Matt Shaw’s Masters of Horror. The rest of the tales that have appeared in other publications are lesser known, so there’s a good chance many folk won’t have even stumbled across them yet. One of them, and ultimately the last story I decided to add in (just clarifying, not the last story in the TOC) is one of my earliest originally published stories, and it first emerged in a book that is no longer available.

I went with this piece, not just because it fit the bill in terms of theme, but because I hadn’t finished any of the original lot of stories planned to accompany those that do appear, and also for the fact that it is no longer available in print anywhere. On a bright note, with all of those tales started that I was tossing up ideas on which would be in More Extremes, now means the third volume of the series is already well on the way. I anticipate there won’t be such a gap between this latest release and the next, with that in mind. In actuality, there are now five different (and all new) stories being worked on, and if I keep getting bombarded with ideas at the rate I am, I’ll have Extremes 3 and 4 sewn up before I know it. Considering I haven’t been writing for other anthologies of late-with a couple of exceptions-all of the new works I end up writing will be solely for either the Extremes series or for other collections of mine. I have numerous of those in the works, but whether they all see the light of day is another matter. There are novels I need to be working on as well. Just not enough hours in the day, particularly when so many other aspects away from writing tend to monopolise a lot of my time.

If you’ve read Extremes, you may have an inkling of what will be contained within More Extremes, but then again, you may not. None of the stories are connected in any way to those in the first book, nor are they all in your face, bludgeoning, bloody brutality, severed limbs and decapitated bodies. Well, to be fair, there is a good deal of that going on, but as I’ve stressed numerous times, that’s not at all the only type of horror that can be considered extreme. Extreme horror, despite what some may think, is not as narrow in scope as it may appear. It isn’t limited to as much violence as one can cram in to a few pages, it isn’t merely about marrying kinky sex with a fuckload of gore, and a string of increasingly ludicrous scenarios that are intended just to offend or repulse. Story-wise plenty of blunt force trauma and a constant battering of violent excess is always fun, but appreciating that there can be extremity in suggestion and a more nuanced approach adds much more depth. Getting bludgeoned over the head with a sledgehammer eventually gets monotonous, though I accept there is a market out there who will continue to lap that up even if it’s a continual stream of more of the same over and over.

Therefore, you can expect to find in More Extremes a couple of tales that don’t necessarily equate to what many people might construe as extreme, going by any narrow definition of the concept, but if you dig a little deeper into them, you’ll get what makes them suitable for this collection.

You will also find in here a relatively large representation of stories which are in some way heavy metal themed, or contain elements of metal music (three revolve around bands in various different scenarios). This wasn’t done deliberately in any way, but later when I was working on the introduction, I released that was quite fitting given who I decided to dedicate the book to. Aside from my family members-and a whole string of people I mention in dedications and acknowledgements in Undead Fleshcrave: The Zombie Trigger-I haven’t exactly dedicated many of my books to anybody.

In this instance I did, though not so much as a dedication section, but in reference in the introduction itself. On the day I was writing the introduction I realised it was, or rather would have been, the birthday of a friend who passed away earlier in the year, in fact roughly around the time the first Extremes came out.

This was Frank ‘Killjoy DeSade’ Pucci, a friend of me and my wife for well over a decade. Most folks will no doubt know him as the founder and frontman for Necrophagia, but of course there was much more to him than that. He was a great aficionado of all things horror, and we used to talk horror, metal, and other subjects at great length, so I decided the blend of horror and metal in this collection made it fitting to dedicate the book to him. There was also a long running joke between us that we’d get together and have a cannibal-themed barbecue when he next made a trip downunder, but unfortunately that never came to fruition, so it’s also fitting that there is a story in More Extremes that wanders into domains of those that like to gnaw on human flesh.

I reckon he probably would have gotten a kick out of that tale in particular, but also those others that bring two of our greatest obsessions-horror and metal-together in all their glorious excess.

Anyway, with that being said, I’ll sign off and direct you to More Extremes. Currently only available in Kindle, but will be coming in paperback when I can manage to scrounge up the time to get that all sorted.

And finally, keep an eye out for future Extremes volumes; they might be surfacing sooner than you might think. I do have a slew of potential titles for them, but at some stage I might even throw it open to the public to offer up their thoughts on titles, and consequent acknowledgement in the book for said title suggestion.

Following in the bloody footsteps of Extremes, comes a new collection of horror tales, plunging headlong into worlds where fear, bloodshed, violence, vengeance, depravity, and death rule all else.

What will you do when monstrous things are happening all around you, when desperation drives you? When the extraordinary becomes your ordinary, when terror stalks you around every corner?

What will you do to get what you want? What will you do to escape? What happens when you discover that not everything is as it appears to be?

Gathered here are another selection of Jim Goforth’s more extreme horror stories, some of which are brand new, crawling out of the darkness in the company of others, to share blood-splattered pages for the first time.

Sometimes, people are pushed to their absolute limits, made to go to extremes. Sometimes it’s not enough.

Sometimes, they have to go to more extremes.

http://smarturl.it/moreextremes

 

RIP Brother Killjoy

 

 

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The first half of this year was pretty hectic with a rush of writing activity, and a few different books coming out. That was largely due to the fact that I wasn’t working full-time, and had some of those works already mostly assembled. I still do have other projects largely put together, but will be releasing them at a later date.

The second half of the year has slowed down, at least in terms of putting books out. I know I’d set myself the challenge of releasing one book a month or the equivalent, but again, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, that fairly bold claim was made when I had surplus writing time, and wasn’t engaged in myriad other time-consuming factors. Nonetheless, there are still books coming.

First off will be More Extremes, which I’ve made reference to around one or ten times already. Following in the footsteps of Extremes (which is still my current best-selling book so far), this will be a collection of my more extreme horror tales, though of course that doesn’t essentially mean they are all loaded up with blood, gore, and violent extremity. There are far more levels to the definition extreme than that, and subtlety can often trump blunt force trauma. A constant wash of the same sort of extremity, or merely choosing to stay in that one lane deadens the impact of what is considered extreme, when one can do more with it than just sever heads and eviscerate bodies. Shit, there doesn’t even have to be blood, gore, and shock for the sake of shock, when simple themes can conjure up extreme thoughts and provoke curiosity.

Unlike Extremes, which was comprised of all reprints, mostly from books which had a pretty wide readership (go figure why this book is my biggest seller at the moment), More Extremes will be split equally down the middle, being made up of half reprints and half new stories. At least that’s the plan. If I happen to suddenly find a fuckload of time where I manage to get more new stories completed than the four I’m currently working on, then maybe that will tip the balance a little. But as it stands, that’s what I’m looking at. Any other Extremes books following this will however, be mostly, if not wholly, comprised of new tales.

Work on this has been slower than I’d have liked, because, again, life, and all those other aspects of it taking ownership of all the time I used to be able to spend writing. However, it is getting there, slowly, but surely, which is a fairly new thing for me. I’m used to writing and getting through things at a rapid rate, so it’s a bit of a change having to contend with things not coming together as quickly as I’ve become accustomed to.

I’d like to say this will be emerging in the next few weeks, and I’ll boldly predict that will be the case, but we’ll see. Keep your eyes peeled for it.

Once that beast is let loose, I’ll have another book coming along. This one, currently being written, is either going to be a novella or perhaps a full-length novel. Initially I’d planned for it to be a novel, but if I can manage to wrap up the story in novella format, then that’s what it will be. However, I have my doubts that will be the case. I suspect the story will take off and the characters will run themselves far out beyond a simple novella length.

I’ve revealed nothing about this one yet, in regards to what it is even about, and nor will I, at least not immediately. I did reveal the cover on a couple of social media sites last night, but at this point in time, that’s the extent of what I’ll be revealing. It’s not connected with any other novel, series, or anything else I’ve written, it’s something completely new, something I planned to do some time back, but had sitting on the back burner for a bit while I worked on other projects. In the meantime, while you wait for these books to emerge, as well some others which will be along in the future (including Plebs 3, Global Death: The Zombie Trigger, another couple of collections, and a book which will combine characters from two of my books), you can check out the cover for the book that will chase More Extremes out of the gates. Murder Academy.

I actually made a couple of covers for this, one without the tagline, but I reckon it looks better with it. You might disagree, and that’s fair enough, but I’m digging a little slash of red among the austere greys and blacks. I’m looking forward to getting it out there. As always, stay tuned.

How to tell you’re in a Jim Goforth story (Extended edition)

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)

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?

http://smarturl.it/punkvsmetal

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.

http://smarturl.it/havocvulture

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.

http://smarturl.it/fromthevaultdark

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.

 

EXTREMES

EXTREMES

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.

http://smarturl.it/extremes

 

TRIGGERED

TRIGGERED

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.

ttp://smarturl.it/triggered

 

 

5 Stars for Jim Goforth’s “Harvester’s Trade”

Kevin "The Holtoning" Holton

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…

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