News & Blog

Dead Ringers by Christopher Golden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With this spooky supernatural novel of doppelgängers, sorcery, and demons, author Golden continues to play in the horror sandbox he returned to so superbly with 2014’s SNOWBLIND. Golden gives us a particularly frightening and vivid backstory to the events of the novel and caps it off with a thrilling climax. In between, he gives us what he knows readers are really interested in: convincing, well-drawn characters dealing with realistic issues in their lives — in this case, adults dealing with adult issues like divorce and parenting, which believe it or not is a breath of fresh air in a genre that is often so fascinated with youth and social transgression. DEAD RINGERS would make a good movie, in many ways a throwback to the more adult horror dramas of the 1970s like THE CHANGELING, but of course books don’t need film adaptations to validate them. DEAD RINGERS stands well on its own novelistic feet. If you liked SNOWBLIND, you’ll like this one, too.

View all my reviews

I told you it was coming soon! My new novel, In the Shadow of the Axe, is now available in an e-book edition from Crossroad Press! Here’s a description:

The year is 1847, and Kasch Möllhausen has returned to the small German mountain village of Helmburg in disgrace. Kicked out of the Swiss boarding school where he was unforgivably abandoned by his father, Luther Möllhausen, his humiliating homecoming is further complicated by the news that Luther has died. Worse, Kasch learns that the father he has come to despise instructed the village elders not to inform Kasch of his death or invite him back for the funeral.

But not everyone hates Luther as much as Kasch does. To the people of Helmburg, Luther was a hero. Shortly before Kasch was born, Luther led an uprising against the Necromancer, a mysterious figure who lived in a castle high in the mountains and preyed mercilessly upon the villagers. It was Luther who struck the final blow and put an end to the Necromancer’s reign of terror.

But Kasch finds Helmburg is still a haunted village. The ghosts of the Necromancer’s victims have begun appearing at night, and the old survivors of the uprising are being killed one by one, their bodies chopped to pieces. With the help of Hahn Gehrig, the elderly village doctor, and Liese Maentel, Kasch’s childhood love, he sets out to discover if the Necromancer is still alive — which would prove once and for all that his father was no hero — or if someone else is responsible for the murders, a madman living among them with no conscience or mercy. The terrifying truth he uncovers will change Helmburg forever — because the past leaves a long shadow, and the axe has only just begun to fall.

Includes an Introduction by multiple award-winning author Laird Barron (Swift to Chase) and the bonus short story “(F)Earless.”

A print edition of In the Shadow of the Axe will be available shortly, but the e-book edition can be purchased right now at the following online stores:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

If you are a reviewer for a magazine, newspaper, website, podcast, etc., and are interested in receiving an electronic review copy of In the Shadow of the Axe, please feel free to contact me. Please note: I am only looking for professional review outlets at the moment. Goodreads reviews, Amazon reviews, social media reviews, and personal blog reviews are certainly welcome, but I can’t give away copies to readers at this time.

Thanks, everyone, and I hope you enjoy my new novel!

Coming soon. Very, very soon. Watch this space for more information.

I will be taking part in the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival this year: Saturday, October 22nd, 10 AM – 4:30 PM at the Haverhill Public Library in Haverhill, Mass! This event is free and open to the public! There will be lots of great stuff going on, but here’s where you can find me:

Signing, 10 AM – 12 PM

Copies of Dying Is My Business, Die and Stay Dead, and Chasing the Dragon will be available for sale at the event, but I’ll happily sign anything of mine that you bring, too! Don’t worry if you miss the window of my official signing, I’ll be at the festival all day and will be happy to sign your books whenever.

Some of my Best Friends Are Vampires: Diversity in Urban Fantasy, 3 PM – 4 PM

Kat Howard, Errick Nunnally, Nicholas Kaufmann (M), Douglas Wynne, E.J. Stevens

Much of the first wave of urban fantasy and paranormal mysteries didn’t contain many characters that reflected the diverse nature of the real world. They tended to be white, middle class, and North American in both setting and population. A new wave of writers in these subgenres are exploring cities and characters that are more inclusive. Panelists will discuss approaches to broader perspectives, challenges they face, and the best works of urban fantasy that embrace the multicultural nature of our world.

For more information, check out the festival’s Facebook page! I hope to see you there!