My Fear Itself collection on Audible

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Thrilled to say Fear Itself, my debut collection from Lethe Press, is now available on Audible! Another first for me, as mentioned at Saints & Sinners LGBTQ Literary Festival.

Fear Itself is a special blend of mainly horror, with a soupçon of fantasy and sci-fi with ten stories in all, which Publishers Weekly calls "unsettling".

Many thanks to publisher Steve Berman for making it happen. 

Please check it out if LGBTQIA+, character-driven spec-fic with a literary bent is your thing. 

Working with narrator, industrious voice actor Gavin J. Annette was a blast. Message him on Insta and Facebook for promo codes.

"The 10 unsettling tales of Moran’s debut collection ably live up to the title ... Incorporating cosmic horror, Indigenous legend, and B-movie monsters, there’s something here to please any horror fan."

-Publishers Weekly

Quick Film review of Violent Night

Viddied the at-best questionable Christmas flick, Violent Night. 

Watching it, I was  thinking a) it's been a while since I've seen a slasher Santa flick (somehow, it7 remains a hard subgenre to succeed in) and b) dang! This movie is far more freaking fun than it  deserves to (or should) be, subverting Christmas staples and X-Mas film tropes, not to mention action-movie cliches. For good messure, it also maligns the very malignable (Editor's note: Is that even a word?) Hallmark X-Mas flicks. 

Spoiler: David Harbour's Santa Claus. John Leguizamo's the principle antagonist, looking older (Ed. note: Aren't we all?), but delivering beautifully

Utterly a pleasure, sans guilt.

Trigger warnings
The violence has violent tendencies, reaching splatter/slasher levels, although somewhat cartoony and it is played for laughs (i.e. The Evil Dead, I'm lookingatchoo) and accompanied by a rousing holiday soundtrack.
Nothing about the holiday is sacred in this flick. Every toy included in the movie either breaks, twists or subverts.
Bryan Adams' "Christmas Time" features in a scene that epitomizes, if not the spirit of Christmas, then the spirit of Violent Night.

Would watch again. But nobody's perfect.

Chaudiere Books Interviews Yours Truly

So if you are curious about how I got into writing (an early affliction) and influences and my ties to Ottawa’s CanLit and reading-series community, my pal poet/publisher/editor/writer/event organizer rob mclennan posted a Six Questions Interview: Chaudiere Books with me.

It was a long time coming. Early on in the pandemic, I wasn’t in the right headspace to do the interview, plagued by lack of focus and self-doubt and capricious mood shifts. But things shifted. I moved through many troubled times, including loss. These past three years, I moved from federal-government contract work to editing for Steve Berman of Lethe Press and, eventually, landed a day job I love involving books. I continually revised my second horror novel. Spurred on by interest from Steve, ultimately, I revised my spec-fic short-story collection, Fear Itself, now out from Lethe.

It’s been a long road, but I kept going. I was ready for the interview. I owe a thanks to rob for this piece.

And, I am grateful to Steve, hailing from the thriving metropolis of Greenfield, Massachusetts, for his interest.

Six Questions Interview: Chaudiere Books

Fear Itself Ebook for only 99 cents

Shameless sales pitch:
Fear Itself for only 99 cents! The first 99 people using coupon code CJ75N can get my debut horror, sci-fi and fantasy collection from Lethe Press for a great price. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1279646

My short-story collection Fear itself is out, at last!

Psst! I'm beyond excited to announce that my short-story collection Fear itself is out, at last! You can find it available on amazon and from ordering through indie bookstores and on the Lethe Press website. 

Fear Itself is a special blend of mainly horror, with a soupçon of fantasy and sci-fi. It includes nine stories in all, a ghost novelette, and story notes. Many of the stories are near and dear to me, written over the years, with some, such as the novelette, "A Canadian Ghost in London", first drafted whilst I lived in London, England back in 1998.

I am grateful to the fine work of U.S. publisher Lethe Press, which really is veteran accomplished writer and editor Steve Berman.

I have included some story descriptions on my blog somewhat recently, but this more-than-generous advance review from Publishers Weekly does a great job of describing it.

“The ten unsettling tales of Moran’s debut collection ably live up to the title, featuring monsters that will haunt nightmares. In “Glimpses Through the Trees,” a creature visible only out of the corner of one’s eye chases a couple as they desperately drive away. Terrifying whispers come from a couple’s baby monitor as they adjust to new parenthood in “Monitored.” Technology again serves as a vehicle for fright in “Burned,” in which an entity murders through digital video. Some of the stories are less immediately scary, including “Carl and Monty’s Prairie Wager,” a voicey take on a classic zombie story, and “Living Under the Conditions,” which presents a not quite apocalyptic scenario in which gravity and time fluctuate wildly. The collection ends on a high note, with the moving ghost story “A Canadian Ghost in London,” which explores love, loss, grief, and letting go. Incorporating cosmic horror, Indigenous legend, and B-movie monsters, there’s something here to please any horror fan. Incorporating cosmic horror, Indigenous legend, and B-movie monsters, there’s something here to please any horror fan.”
—Publishers Weekly

Can't afford it? Suggest your local library purchase it so you can borrow it.

Want to review it? Let me or my publisher know, depending which side of the Canada/U.S. border you're on.

https://amzn.to/3PGsMEb (amazon.ca)
https://amzn.to/3v1wJtV (amazon.com)
https://www.lethepressbooks.com/store/p635/Fear_Itself.html#/ (Lethe site)

Happy Hallowe'en

Well ... got so busy, that I didn't post this Hallowe'en post recently. 

Happy Hallowe'en (All Hallows' Eve) and Samhain, all (pronounced "Sow-wen"). Some believe the veil betweenI didn't post this Halllowe the living and the dead is thinning. I'm anxious and in possession of various desires and energies-some practical, some not. Here are some of Ray Bradbury's autumn-empty trees to contemplate from a recent hike.

Halloween reading and viewing recommendations

Having a very busy fall, so I am reposting the following.

For me, inspiration runs to a fever pitch even as the leaves turn, fall, and  the, heady wine-like smell seems to pervade the world. I used to always pen a Halloween story, from grade six or so onward, up through university, and afterward. It is no coincidence that my first novel, Town & Train, was literary horror. So, I am always seeking out Halloween viewing and reading. 

Over the years, on this blog, I have made the strong case for Hallowe'en films and comics and books. You can find links to all of these posts below:  

- From 2019: Baseball-style Review: Glen Hirshberg’s The Ones Who Are Waving: Tales of the Strange, Sad and Wondrous

- From 2017: Halloween Reads: Alex de Campi's and Jerry Ordway's Semiautomagic, de Campi's Grindhouse

- From 2016: Best Halloween Movie Picks

- From 2015: Scary Halloween reading, Lisa Morton, Halloween aficionado extraordinaire 
                      Town & Train: A Good, Spooky Halloween Read
                      It Follows is Astonishing and Creepy: A Film Review

- From 2014: Last-minute All Hallows' Eve reading
- From 2013: Halloweenish Viewing for Five-year-olds
                      Best (Read) in 2013: Peter Atkins' Rumours of the Marvellous