Death Packs and Demon Deals

 Need a book haul in your mailbox? I've got a deal for you! 

Now through October 31st you can order signed books direct from me. You can choose from three packs: The Death Pack, The Demon Deal or The Short Stack. Each dynamic deal comes with bookmarks and stickers and shipping is included in the price.

All books are personalized to order. Payment is accepted through Paypal, Cashapp or Venmo. 

1 Set: $25

2 Sets: $45 (save $5)

3 sets: $60 (save $15)

Email frankjedler @ gmail dot com with "Book Haul" in the subject line. Indicate which set(s) you are interested in purchasing, personalization preferences, and preferred payment format to complete your order.

Try on Uncomfortable Shorts

 

Uncomfortable Shorts is a collection of eight irreverent, irregular and irrational short stories. Try on these ill fitting tales that squeeze into horror, cosmic, comic and corny niches.

One size fits none. No refunds. No exchanges. No exceptions.

Pork Roll, Egg & Sleaze: A group of urban explorers find themselves on an adventure that turns into a horror movie.
My Date with the (Non)Word, Ans: An unlikely relationship with an autocorrected word.
Eat Sh*t and Die: An over-the-top tale of cosmic horror in a quiet New England town.
You Can Catch More Flies with Honey: There's more than one way to catch a fly. But which way is best?
There's a Frenchman in My Mayonnaise: A quirky tale of a hangry man who's attempt to make a sandwich sidetracks his entire life.
Conrad Lubbox is Out To Get Me You Stupid Idiot: You sure have a lot of questions about why I let Conrad Lubbox's dog outside.
Dick Sick: Preston isn't feeling well. He's sneezing, coughing and pooping penises out of every orifice.
Inflate: A Zen yogi leads the way to Nirvana (and not the Kurt Cobain kind.)

Uncomfortable Shorts is available now in paperback from Amazon.


The digital Uncomfortable Shorts eBook is available for only 69 cents exclusively through Godless dot com in your preferred file format. (.pdf .mobi & .epub)

Get Right with Godless

I have re-edited and re-released my first publication, SCARED SILLY, exclusively on Godless.com for just 89 cents.

If you're not aware of what Godless.com is, allow me to give you the pitch. Are you a fan of horror books? You need to get right with Godless. Do you wish you could support great indie horror writers but wish you could circumnavigate the Amazon juggernaut? You need to get right with Godless. Do you crave a community that is rabid for great, boundary pushing, over-the-top, and imaginative horror fiction? You need to get right with Godless. Would you be interested in making your horror fandom a multi-media experience? You need to get right with Godless!

I've moved SCARED SILLY off of the Amazon platform in favor of allowing it to be sold as an eBook exclusive through Godless.com. Its a great move for me, the writer as I receive a far higher royalty while being able to offer the book at a price lower than Amazon would ever allow. Getting your reading material through Godless is a pretty painless experience. When you purchase any eBook from Godless you get access to the .mobi, .epub and .pdf versions of the book so you can read them on your preferred eReader platform.

What's more, having SCARED SILLY available to Godless Horror let's myself and my work become party of an already robust and growing uber-focused community. People who are already reading Godless books are devouring them and loving them. And they are taking to social media and talking about these books like never before. Godless is an infection of passion for those who consume it.

I consume Godless books as much as I love distributing my own off the platform. I've discovered a ton of great new writers like Daniel Volpe, Simon McHardy, Aron Beauregard, BJ Swan and many others. I've grabbed up great, obscure releases from established writers like Armand Rosamilia and Jay Wilburn. 

Godless.com is a festival of horror fiction. I hope if you haven't already got right with Godless that you'll go to Godless.com and start up an account today. There are already lots of freebies and many, many books for less than 99 cents. 

Just like SCARED SILLY which is only 89 cents, now and forever, at Godless.com

3 Picks with Hunter Shea

 

It's time for 3 Picks! This week features a monster of a writer, Hunter Shea. Hunter Shea is the author of a library worth of books including Creature, The Montauk Monster and The Dover Demon to name a few. 

Up and down and all points in between, Hunter loves to write books about monsters. From his take on classic monsters to his vison of cryptids and on through unexpected monsters. Hunter knows monsters. So it's with that in mind that Hunter has been tasked to come up with 3 Picks of his favorite books featuring monsters.

When you have a passion for monsters, its difficult to whittle it down to just 3 choices but Hunter persevered. Here are his 3 Picks:

Pick 1: Night of the Crabs by Guy N. Smith - Covid-19 might have taken Guy N. Smith from us, but he left behind a hefty library of pulp horror (and softcore porn!) books to enjoy for generations to come. His giant killer crabs series is flat out fun. The man is a legend and his crab novels and short stories are the kind of glue that holds the genre together, along with a dash of bay seasoning. I can't recommend them enough...dipped in clarified butter.


Picks 2: The Ruins by Scott Smith - I grew up an enormous fan of Day of the Triffids, and I honestly thought I was never going to read or see another killer plant concept that could top it. Until The Ruins came to town. Many people smarter than me say The Ruins is one of the best horror novels of the past 20 years, if not all time. The movie kicks some serious chlorophyll, too. The human mimicking, carnivorous vines are some of the most terrifying monsters I've ever come across. Fuck lizard brain. Plant insanity knows no bounds!


Picks 3: The Bog by Michael Talbot - I just discovered this little gem from the 80s last year. Talbot only wrote a few horror novels before his passing, which is a huge loss for us fans. I've always been fascinated by archaeology (I plant to do it full time when I retire), and bog people rank up there with the top things I'd like to explore firsthand. In The Bog, an archaeologist moves his family to a strange old estate to spend a year pulling up and studying preserved bodies from a nearby bog. That would be enough for me, but there's also a creature out skulking around the bogs that has been terrifying - and eating - people for centuries. I don't know, something about this book got to me, and my heart beat just a little bit faster whenever the prey - I mean people - entered the bogs.

There you have it! 3 monstrous picks of monster books more classic than a Universal Monster. Is that even possible? You've gotta trust Hunter Shea on this one. He ain't the Monster Man for nothing.


You can find out everything there is to know about Hunter Shea and his work at HunterShea.com

3 Picks with Kenneth W. Cain

 

It's time for 3 Picks! The feature where a spotlight author shares their three book recommendations within a given category that they should know a thing or two about.


This week's 3 Picks features author and editor, Kenneth W. Cain. Kenneth is known books such as the dark fiction collection, Embers, best seller A Season in Hell as well as his forthcoming title, From Death Reborn.


Kenneth Cain also does tons of editing work for noted horror publishers Crystal Lake Publishing and Silver Shamrock Publishing among others as well. Kenneth knows a thing or two about story collections and anthologies. So, it is with that in mind that we turn to Kenneth Cain for his 3 Picks for Horror Anthologies worth their weight in gold.

Here's his 3 Picks:




Pick 1: After by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling - This anthology has a wide range of stories, many of which really hit the right tone and feel for what I like in horror, including some fun takes on well-used themes. “After the Cure” by Carrie Ryan was most excellent.


Pick 2: Chiral Mad 2 by Michael Bailey - If you know me, I’m quite fond of charity, and Bailey has worked hard to put out some incredible anthologies for a great cause. This one is chock-full of great stories by some of the best in the business, as are all of his anthologies. “The Great Pity” by Gary Braunbeck blew me away.


Pick 3: 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill - I’m a huge Joe Hill fan, and not because of who is father is. This collection contains one of my favorite stories, “Pop Art.” There’s a lot of subtext in that story, and some great lessons in how to write a good story. So many excellent stories.


Honorable mention (and only because I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet, despite having read many of the individual stories): The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu. I stumbled upon one of Ken’s stories on a podcast I listen to, and it blew me away. So naturally I sought out his work, and I found a literal treasure trove of amazing stories. So, while I wouldn’t classify his work as being full-on horror, it has a quiet dark side to much of it I feel would qualify it as dark fantasy, which is good enough for me. “Paper Menagerie,” which has a paranormal aspect to it, is a favorite that I’ve read over and over.

There you have it, a treasure trove of horror anthologies that pack a lot of punch. Kenneth W. Cain has poured over many horror anthologies so he know's a good one when he reads one. Be sure to check these titles out when you need a fix of horror shorts.

What are your 3 Picks for must read horror anthologies? Let us know in the comments below!

To find out more about writer and editor Kenneth W. Cain visit kennethwcain.com

3 Picks with Frank Edler

 

Welcome to a special St. Patrick's Day edition of 3 Picks. This week's 3 Picks features blog host, me, Frank Edler. I will now refer to myself in third person to keep you abreast of my work. Frank Edler is the author of several books including A Death in Toledo and Catcoin: The Fictional History of a Cryptocurrency. He has also just release his first audiobook for Death Gets a Book.

Many people may not know this because its trivial knowledge to begin with but Mr. Frank is part Irish. Both of my grandparents on my mother's side of the family are off-the-boat Irish. So I grew up with a strong sense of my Irish roots. So since St. Patrick's Day has become a 2nd rate holiday celebrating Irish Heritage and giving the world another great excuse to drink to excess, I present to you my 3 Picks for Irish Inspired Books.

Pick 1: Ghosts & Lightning by Trevor Byrne. Trevor Byrne is a modern Irish writer. Ghosts & Lighting appears to be his only major work of fiction and it's stuck with me over time. Its gritty and real. The story of a young man finally struck off on his own, only to be called back home, to Dublin to deal with the family he was trying to escape. 

Pick 2: Irish Gothic: Tales of Irish Horror by Ronald Kelly. This new release from popular horro author Ronald Kelly is a collection of horror that utilizes classic Irish folklore to tell modern tales of horror. I can't believe a book like this hasn't been written before. Not the way Ronald Kelly writes it.

Picks 3: Leprechaun in the Hood by Cameron Pierce, Adam Cesare & Shane McKenzie. Its a horror comedy musical in book form about a Leprechaun. This is a tough pick because the book is out of print so if you want to check this one out you are going to have to scavenge your local used book store to try to get your hands on it. Maybe you'll get lucky and find it in your grandma's attic.

There you have it. 3 Picks for books to read while you drink a pint of green beer, enjoy a slice of soda bread and listen to Flogging Molly. And remember, if someone is wearing a "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" shirt, they are not Irish and you shouldn't kiss them, even if it's your sainted mother. Slainte!

What are your 3 Picks for Irish based horror? Let us know in the comments below.

3 Picks with Todd Keisling

 

It's time for 3 Picks! This week features Stoker Award Nominee, Todd Keisling. Todd's novel, Devil's Creek, is nominated for Superior Achievement in a Novel for the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards. Ugly Little Things: Collected Horrors and The Smile Factory are also among the notable catalog of work Todd Keisling has written. 

Devil's Creek has consistently been well reviewed since it's release. Being nominated for the Stoker Award is an outstanding achievement that speaks to exemplary work Keisling has written. To win the highest honor for a horror novel would be the icing on the cake. But, being on the final ballot for the Stoker Award is an insane achievement in and of itself. Any piece of horror that makes it the the final list has already won something special. Let's not forget those special works that fell just short of winning an award but succeeding in being recognized as superior work and the cream of the crop.

So it is with that in mind, that Todd Keisling gives his 3 Picks for horror books that made it to the final list but fell short of winning the Stoker. Just because they didn't win doesn't mean they aren't winners.


Pick 1: CROSSROADS by Laurel Hightower – Preliminary Ballot for Long Fiction (2020)

I’m going to cheat with this one. It didn’t make it to the final ballot (and official nominee status), but goddammit, it should have. What Hightower accomplishes in this novella is something most of us struggle to do in a full-length novel. The story of a mother grieving the loss of her son is already emotionally charged, but Hightower ups the ante with every page, telling a tale of how far a parent is willing to go to see their child again. The emotional fallout is devastating. The best stories often are.


Pick 2: KILL CREEK by Scott Thomas – Nominated for First Novel (2017)

One of the better “haunted house” tales I’ve read. It’s a new take on an old trope: a small group of horror writers gather on Halloween at the Finch House, a place with a bloody past, for a publicity stunt. Strange shit ensues, and quickly escalates to violence. I went into the book expecting another rehash of Amityville or Hill House, but this one surprised me, and I had a blast reading it. This would’ve been my pick for Best First Novel that year.


Pick 3: OCCULTATION by Laird Barron – Nominated for Fiction Collection (2010)

One of the de facto collections of modern cosmic horror (although to be fair, all of Laird’s collections deserve that moniker). Nine stories, including the fantastic novella, “Mysterium Tremendum.” I’ve said this for years and will continue to do so: I want to write like Laird Barron when I grow up. If you want an education about the state of cosmic horror, start here. Definitely would’ve been my pick for Best Collection.

There you have it. 3 Picks for horror books that could have, maybe even should have, won the Bram Stoker Award. But, not everyone can win and not winning doesn't make these gems and so many others winners in their own right. If you haven't read any of these titles you, be sure to check them out knowing you will be reading stand out works of horror fiction.

And, whether Devil's Creek wins or doesn't at this year's Bram Stoker Awards ceremonies, know for certain that Todd Keisling has already won. Best of luck to Todd and all the rest of the nominees for this year's Bram Stoker Awards!

You can find out everything you ever wanted to know about Todd Keisling at https://www.toddkeisling.com/

What are your 3 Picks for horror books that fell short of winning the Bram Stoker Award? Let us know in the comments below.