Deep in the woods a deputy came upon a chamber of horrors straight from a nightmare. And through it all, one child is haunted by visions of the mysterious “blue man,” a madman who brings with him blood and pain and terror, a terror spawned by forces no one can understand.”

Nate Kenyon’s debut novel is the Bram Stoker Award Finalist Bloodstone and his second novel, also a Stoker Finalist is the The Reach.

Bloodstone is more of a traditional Gothic horror novel, The Reach dabbles in man’s incessant need to use science for his own twisted means. I really enjoyed both books. I did a review on The Reach which you can read here.

His third book “The Bone Factory” is due for release in July 2009 from our good friends at Dorchester Publishing.

First off let me state that being from the frozen north myself, I have a soft spot for horror stories with snow, woods and cold as the backdrop.

Nate Kenyon does not disappoint. He is able to paint a vivid life-like picture of this inhospitable land. It is a story of what one man will have to overcome to save his family and his life. He is up against one for the most formidable foes known to man…nature in all its cold frozen glory and a mysterious madman that will stop at nothing to kill those who he perceives are his enemies.

David Pierce it as his wits end trying to find a job after getting fired from his previous one by dubious means. He wants his wife Helen to stay at home to take care of their daughter Jessica. Jessica is prone to night terrors and often wakes up in the middle of the night screaming.

He accepts a job to help get a hydo-power plant on-line in the deep woods of Canada. He moves his family there in the middle of winter at the companies behest with no experience of living so far removed from civilization.

Things then start to happen that will throw David and his family into a terror filled, blood soaked nightmare.

Kenyon’s writing is vastly improving and his character development is getting downright scary.

But the main character in the book for me is the desolate snow covered primeval forest that surrounds the Pierce’s new found life in Canada and Kenyon nails it.

For those of you that have never experienced first hand what it is like in the deep woods in the middle of winter you need to read this book. It will send chills up and down your spine, your heart will race and your breath will come in short frozen gasps.

When David first goes out to the back of his house to appease his daughter’s plea that someone is watching her from the woods he experiences first hand  what it is like to come up against the frozen north.

This scene is one of the scariest, heart pounding scenes I’ve read this year. I know what its like to be out in the woods in the middle of nowhere in the dead of winter. The silence is unnerving, the different sounds from the creaking trees to the falling clumps of snow from the pine branches all contribute to one frightening experience and Kenyon describes it beautifully. I had to put the book down halfway through this scene, it was so intense.

If there was one small complaint I had it would be that I wished he would have gone into more detail about the background of the main antagonist. He delved into it somewhat, I would have liked more fully fleshed out.

This in no way takes away from the power of Kenyon’s descriptive prose and story.

If you want to know how it feels to be cut off from civilization, trapped in an unforgiving brutal environment where just one wrong step leads to a slow frozen or a brutal, bloody pain filled death this book is for you and I highly recommend it.

I have decided to present a list of my own that will hopefully pique your interest enough to try one of these books. Turn off the TV and video game for a while and give books a chance, they are your best source for outstanding entertainment. You get to exercise the most important part of your body; your brain. You can travel to far away lands and different worlds, you get to mingle with unbelievable people, you get to be the good guy or the bad guy (whichever you prefer); you get to battle monsters, demons and the scariest people this side of Congress. But mostly you get the feeling of being part of something special between you and the author and that my friend cannot be duplicated.

But first I would like to thank Famous Monsters of Filmland for allowing me to work with them in this little section. It has been absolutely fabulous and has been a blast. I have gotten to meet so many new and interesting people that otherwise I would not have. I would like to also thank the publishers and writers for taking time out of their busy schedules to email or talk to me.  Without them this all could not be possible. I would like to extend a special thanks to Dorchester Publishing, specifically Erin Galloway for everything they have done for me. Erin has arranged the interviews with the authors (a lot more are coming after the new year) and she has kept me up to date on all that is happening in their Horror line. If there is anyone I missed I apologize, it wasn’t done intentionally.

Now for better or for worse My Top Ten Books of 2008

1. Bram Stoker’s Notes for Dracula: Facsimile Edition - Robert Eighteen-Bisang and  Elizabeth MIller - The absolute must companion piece for Bram Stoker’s epic tale. A mind boggling journey through Bram Stoker’s handwritten notes. A must book to own if you own Dracula. Read my review here.

2. Found You – Mary SanGiovanni - The absolutely stunning follow up to her first novel The Hollower. The best first chapter of a book I have read in some years. See my review here and my interview with Mary here.

3. Duma Key – Stephen King - Another horror masterpiece from the legend himself. Mr. King returns to his horror roots in grand fashion. This is one scary book.

4. Just After Sunset – Stephen King - A new short story collection from the master. You must read What They Left Behind…one of the best short stories ever written…period.

5. Your Heart Belongs to Me – Dean Koontz – Another breathtaking thriller by Mr. Koontz. You will never look at yourself in the mirror the same way again.

6. The Fly At Fifty – Diane Kachmar & David D. Goudsward - The authoritative work on this Sci-Fi classic. Read my review and author interview here. Read my interview with David Hedison here.

7. Elsewhere – Peter William Blatty – The man who brought us The Exorcist returns with a an absolutely riveting ghost story. Read my review here.

8. The Reach – Nate Kenyon – Mr. Kenyon returns with his second novel. A terrific tale of a young girl with the power to destroy the wold. Read my review here.

9. Crimson - Gord Rollo – Due to be released in March 2009 but since I read an ARC this year I had to put it in my list.  A fantastic coming of age book with a little bit of everything for every horror fan.  Read my review here. Author interview coming soon.

10. Black Cathedral – L.H. Maynard & M.P.N. Sims – If you like haunted house stories put this amazing book on your list. One of the most frightening books of the year. Review coming soon.

Honorable Mentions – Moontown by Peter Atkins;  People Are Strange by James Newman; Tower Hill by Sarah Pinborough; Covenant by John Everson; Bloodstone by Nate Kenyon

That does it for 2008. I want to wish all you monster fans a safe and Happy New Year and may 2009 be a great year for everyone. I will return in 2009 with more Terror Tales.

Thank You

Peter D. Schwotzer

I was introduced to Nate Kenyon’s fiction with his first book Bloodstone. It was his first novel and I thought it was exceptional. I would not have thought it was a first novel if I did not know that before hand. Nate relies on old fashioned terror and not the explicit gore that is so prevalent today, I was extremely happy with that.

His second book The Reach again published by Dorchester Publishing hit stores on November 25th.

I was not expecting much when I first picked up the book. Young girl with powers, scientists studying and using her for their own purpose etc. It’s been done before but I was in for quite a surprise.

The book starts out with a simple enough storyline about a young girl (Sarah) locked up in a children’s psychiatry ward as a diagnosed  schizophrenic. A pyschology student (Jess) is asked by her professor to see if Jess can reach Sara so she can be helped. Simple enough, but this is where it really gets good.

Sarah also has a power that has kept her locked up in there for years, the guinea pig for experiments to harness and develop her powers.

Kenyon’s writing is superb and fast paced. He leads you through the suffering of the little girl with a realism that makes you want to help her too. He also manages to throw in some twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. He combines supernatural horror with science seamlessly, which I feel shows the amount of research he must have done for this book.

His characters are well thought out and developed. His writing style is believable, with a great sense of suspense that builds throughout the book until the final few chapters. This is where Kenyon shines.

The ending of this book is fantastic and powerful. In fact I went back and read the last few chapters twice, it left me breathless. One of the best endings of a book I have read in a long time.

He also leaves it where he might just revisit these characters in the future. I certainly hope he does.

If you love tense, suspensful, well written stories with apocalyptic endings this book is for you and is highly recommended by this reader.

From Nate Kenyon whose first novel Bloodstone was a Stoker Award finalist. I am looking foward to reading his new novel The Reach. I really enjoyed Bloodstone, it was a creepy atmospheric tale of supernatural horror.

“A young girl who has the psychic ability of telekinesis is being held against her will in an institution while a shadowy reasearch firm studies her and develops her abilities for their own ends. But now the girl’s abilities have grown too strong and her doctor needs to keep her alive and out of the company’s clutches.”

“Could serial killers be victims of a communicable disease? Fifteen years ago, Joseph Miles was attacked by a serial child murderer. He was the only one of the madman’s victims to survive. Now he himself is slowly turning into a killer. He can feel the urges, the burning needs, getting harder and harder to resist. Can anything stop him—or cure him—before he kills the only woman he’s ever loved? Or before he infects someone else? “