News & Blog

My article “Hardboiled Horror,” about the intersection of horror and noir, is featured in the April issue of Nightmare Magazine, the fabulous online horror and dark fantasy magazine edited by John Joseph Adams. Those of you with a subscription can read it now. Those of you without a subscription will have to wait until April 16th to read it online for free. For now, though, here’s a taste:

Consider the works of Poe, who saw nothing but the inevitability of death and decay in all human relationships. Or Lovecraft, who watched the frantic hubbub of our daily lives with the icy gaze of a disinterested spectator and told us nothing we did mattered. (“Life is a hideous thing,” Lovecraft wrote as the very first line of “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family,” and if that’s not a noir sentiment, I don’t know what is.) In Shelley’s Frankenstein, the creature is the ultimate outsider. Everywhere he goes he is greeted with only hatred and fear, until finally he accepts this as the true dark, seething heart beneath society’s friendly façade. Once he embraces it by murdering Victor Frankenstein’s brother William, friend Henry Clerval, and wife Elizabeth, the creature becomes the very monster everyone thought him to be, and thus becomes an equal at last.

This issue also features stories by Dale Bailey, Nancy Etchemendy, Martin Cahill, and the mysteriously named Bones; Julia Sevin’s art showcase on digital artist Federico Bebber; and Lisa Morton’s author interview with Darren Shan. So if you haven’t subscribed yet, what are you waiting for? Nightmare Magazine is where it’s at!

Ooooo, pretty!

Mystery Scene Magazine, the oldest, largest, and most authoritative guide to the crime fiction genre, has printed a late-breaking but extremely positive review of Dying Is My Business. Here’s a pull-quote:

Although Nicholas Kaufmann’s dark fantasy/urban noir Dying Is My Business is set in the Big Apple, it is a version of that metropolis that has rarely been seen before…The story moves forward at a blistering pace…If you’re in the mood for a fast, funny, inventive, and compelling read, your search is over. I strongly encourage you to check this one out.

Click on the excerpt to see the whole review. If you haven’t bought a copy of Dying Is My Business yet, what are you waiting for? (Also the sequel, Die and Stay Dead, is coming out September 30th! You don’t want to fall behind, do you?)

Macmillan’s fall catalogs are out! (I’m still not used to spelling catalog without “-ue” at the end. I’m a thousand years old!) Included among them is the St. Martin’s Griffin fall catalog, featuring the sequel to Dying Is My Business, Die and Stay Dead, on page 49! Here’s the catalog copy for the novel, which is due out September 30:

In this pulse­pounding sequel to Dying Is My Business, Trent, a man who can’t stay dead or retain his memories, tries to uncover his connection to a deadly Doomsday cult bent on destroying NYC.

A brutal murder in Greenwich village puts Trent and the Five­-Pointed Star on the trail of Erickson Arkwright, the last surviving member of a doomsday cult. Back in the day, the Aeternis Tenebris cult thought the world would end on New Year’s Eve of 2000. When it didn’t, they decided to end it themselves by summoning Nahash­-Dred, a powerful, terrifying demon known as the Destroyer of Worlds. But something went wrong. The demon massacred the cult, leaving Arkwright the sole survivor.

Now, hiding somewhere in New York City with a new identity, Arkwright plans to summon the demon again and finish the job he started over a decade ago. As Trent rushes to locate a long-­lost magical artifact that may be the only way to stop him, the clues begin to mount… Trent’s past and Arkwright’s might be linked somehow. And if they are, it means the truth of who Trent really is may lie buried in the twisted mind of a madman.

PRAISE

Praise for Dying Is My Business:

“Filled with characters that should appeal to urban fantasy readers…and told with a real sense of style and wit, the book should have no trouble amassing an enthusiastic readership.” —Booklist

“Truly an unforgettable suspense novel that’s narrated with humor and a bit of sarcasm—something that is usually only done well by Dean Koontz… Creepy, fun, and immensely entertaining…a definite keeper!” —Suspense Magazine

“…If you like your Urban Fantasy spiced up with elements that have made the adventures of Marvel Comics’ heroes so exciting, powerful, and poignant, pick up Dying Is My Business.” —Criminal Element

NICHOLAS KAUFMANN lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and two cats—one of which has special needs, the other of which only pretends to.

FICTION / FANTASY / URBAN LIFE*
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9/30/2014
9781250036124 | $15.99 / $18.50 Can.
Paperback / softback | 400 pages | Carton Qty: 20
5.500 in W | 8.250 in H | 1.000 lb Wt

Subrights:
UK Rights: St. Martin’s Press
Translation Rights: St. Martin’s Press

Other Available Formats:
Ebook ISBN: 9781250036117

MARKETING
+ National Print Review Attention
+ Online Early Reviewer Campaign
+ Promotion on Tor.com
+ Author Website: NicholasKaufmann.com

* Urban Life!!!!