I'm pleased to announce that Bad Moon Books will be publishing print
versions of my best-selling digital books, Cumberland Furnace &
Other Fear-Forged Fables and Timber Gray.
Cumberland Furnace & Other Fear-Forged Fables is my second
full-fledged short story collection of Southern-fried horror tales, on
the heels of Cemetery Dance's Midnight Grinding & Other Twilight
Terrors. The digital e-book of Cumberland Furnace,
released by David Niall Wilson's Crossroad Press this past Feburary, was
a collection of seven stories that were written following my return to
the horror genre after an absence of ten years. The "real" book version
will be greatly expanded... offering 21 stories in all, both new and
old, as well as a few that were previously unpublished. In other words,
Cumberland Furnace will pretty much include everything that
Midnight Grinding missed the first time around.
Timber Gray is my first honest-to-goodness western novel. It is
pretty traditional, but also dark and violent. Timber Gray is
about a man who loses his family—and nearly his sanity—to an
attack by a pack of rabid wolves, then, over the years, evolves into one
of the most sought after wolf hunters in the western territories. He
encounters a turning point in his bloody career when a cattleman hires
him to hunt down and destroy a pack of fifty marauding wolves led by the
legendary Cripplefoot. As he pursues them through Montana and into the
Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, he gradually realizes that, beneath the
anger and bitterness that rules his life, there is still a human side
that remains; a side he thought had died a long time ago.
Bad Moon Books will be releasing both Cumberland Furnace & Other
Fear-Forged Fables and Timber Gray in affordable trade
paperback editions. Publisher Roy Robbins and I are now hard at work
preparing these two books for publication. As of right now, we have no
definite release dates, but are hoping to make them available to the
reading public by early to mid-2011. Watch for an announcement of the
official release dates of these two new books in the near future, either
here at RonaldKelly.com or on my blog at ronaldkelly.blogspot.com.
Hell Hollow is Here!
The news is out! Cemetery Dance has begun shipping out big,
fat copies of my newest novel, Hell Hollow.
As some of you may know, I've been waiting for HH's release for quite some time
now... fifteen years, in fact, ever since Zebra originally had it on their
publishing schedule back in the mid-nineties, around the time that they pulled
the plug on their entire horror line. But that's all water under the bridge
now. Cemetery Dance Publications has just released Hell Hollow in a
beautiful limited hardcover edition that weighs in at a whopping 498 pages. And
it boasts Alex McVey's incredible cover painting of Dr. Augustus Leech standing
amid a swirl of brimstone and tortured souls. It's so striking that you can
almost
feel the heat of hell-flames crackling off the front
cover!
Hell Hollow involves four kids who find themselves bored and restless
during a sweltering Tennessee summer. Soon, that boredom turns into danger as
they come across a shadowy place known only as Hell Hollow and its lone
inhabitant, the sinister reincarnation of a traveling medicine show man named
Dr. Augustus Leech, who possesses a hell-brewed elixir and a handful of cards
that can bless you with your most cherished dream... or damn you with your most
dreaded nightmare. Soon, Leech's intentions grow more and more evil, and
revenge against the town of Harmony is foremost in his dark thoughts. It is up
to the four children -- Keith, Rusty, Maggie, and Chuck -- along with a
vengeful rape victim named Allison Walsh, to take the steps necessary to end
Leech's reign of darkness and depravity once and for
all...
And
while you're there, you can also pick up a copy of my short story collection,
Midnight Grinding & Other Twilight Terrors, still available from
Cemetery
Dance. It's jam-packed with 32 tales of Southern-fried horror, including the
Hell Hollow companion story, "Grandma's Favorite Recipe". Grab yours while
they're still available!
As you may have guessed,
I'm pretty excited about HH's release. After all, the last novel I had
published was Blood Kin way back in 1996. CD sent me a copy of
Hell Hollow a
few days ago and I've gotta tell you, it was a danged good feeling hefting that
door-stopper of a book in my hands and savoring that wonderful new book smell
drifting from its pages. Much thanks to Richard Chizmar, Brian Freeman, Mindy
Jarusek, and Katherine Freeman for the care and attention they put into this
tome. I couldn't be more pleased with how this project has turned
out!
So, if you get bored this sweltering summer (and it
has been dadgummed sweltering, hasn't it?) then you can always head
down into the dark thicket and tangled kudzu of Hell Hollow, where the
temperature stays several degrees cooler than the norm. But if you come across
a ramshackle wagon and the bones of a skeleton in top hat and tails, you'd best
consider skedaddling... before they reach out with stark, white fingers and
pull you ever downward into the depths of an endless nightmare...
Ronald Kelly's First Western
Timber Gray
Now Available in Digital!
I'm pleased to announce that my first honest-to-goodness western novel,
Timber Gray, is now available from Crossroad Press in digital
format. This full-length novel is not horror, but a traditional western,
although it is gritty and violent with a dark twist to it. Here's a
short preview of what the book is about:
After his family is killed by a pack of rabid wolves, Jefferson Gray
survives the horrid disease himself, with the aid of a Cherokee medicine
man. But, unfortunately, he can not banish the hatred that dwells within
him. An animosity toward dangerous game, particularly timber wolves.
Fifteen years have passed. Timber Gray is known throughout the western
territories as a seasoned tracker and hunter: a man who can conquer any
threat for the right price, be it grizzly, mountain lion, or, his
specialty, wolves. But can Timber tackle his greatest challenge... a pack
of fifty wolves led by the legendary Cripplefoot? Such insurmountable odds,
combined with an approaching blizzard and a band of renegade bounty
hunters, would seem to be certain death to most men. But, to Timber Gray,
it is only another reason for staying alive....
This novel was a labor of love for Ol' Ron, since I'm a big western fan
myself and originally wanted to be a western writer. I put a lot of time and
research into making this book as gritty and authentic as possible (even
looking up old maps from the late 1800s to find actual locations, as well
as trails and little towns that no longer exist on today's maps). And take
a gander at the grisly, blood-splattered cover Zach McCain worked up for
the book!
So saddle up, load your ol' Winchester, and head out to the blizzard-swept
territory of Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains with Timber Gray! Yeee-Hah!
Kelly Fiction — Old & New — now in Digital!
Yes, I know.... I said I'd never do it. You know ol' Ron. Old school,
set in his ways, an old dog too ornery to learn some new tricks. But,
hey, a horror writer has the right to change his mind every once and a
while, doesn't he?
Thanks to David Niall Wilson and Macabre Ink, much of my short fiction—in
the form of some old and new collections—will now be available as digital
books. They will be offered in various formats, both for your home computer and
Amazon Kindle. Here's what we have available for you so far:
Cumberland Furnace & Other Fear Forged Fables
This is a collection of seven stories that I've had published since my
return to the horror genre in 2006 (the new stuff opposed to the old
stuff, you could say). This collection contains such tales as
"Cumberland Furnace," "Grandma's Favorite Recipe,"
"The Thing at the Side of the Road," "Mister Mack &
the Monster Mobile," "The Final Feature," "The
Peddler's Journey," and the hard-to-find tale,
"Tanglewood." It also features an incredible cover by artist
Zach McCain.
Flesh Welder
Also available is the digital version of my best-selling chapbook, Flesh
Welder, in its entirety. It also includes the original Zach McCain FW
cover and Mark Hickerson's exclusive interview "Not Just Whistling
Dixie," which—in my opinion—is the best and most complete
interview I've done since coming back to horror.
The Sick Stuff
The Sick Stuff contains the original seven stories included in the
2009 Thunderstorm edition, an introduction by James Newman, and an
afterword by yours truly. And take a gander at the new cover Zach McCain
cooked up. Enough to make you squirm, ain't it?
Dark Dixie: Tales of Southern Horror, Volume 1
This is the digital version of my Grammy-nominated audio collection, released
by Spine-Tingling Press way back in 1992. It includes the five original
stories—"Yea, Though I Drive," "Miss Abigail's
Delicate Condition," "The Cistern," "Papa's
Exile," and "Black Harvest"—along with three other
tales, "The Hatchling," "Uncle
Cyrus," and "Forever Angels." Incidentally, this will be the
first time horror readers will have a chance to read "Uncle Cyrus"
since it was first published in Noctulpa: Journal of Horror in 1988.
To order Cumberland Furnace & Other Fear Forged Fables,
Flesh Welder, The Sick Stuff, and Dark Dixie,
you can go to the following sources:
MACABRE INK DIGITAL PUBLISHING: Buy them (and future releases)
directly at: Macabre Ink Publishing
In the coming weeks, you'll see more Ron Kelly collections from Macabre
Ink....
All will feature brand-new covers by Zach McCain.
After that, I have even more short-story collections in the works.
The Essential Ronald Kelly Collection Update!
As many of you know, the demise of Full Moon Press in late January left
the Essential Ronald Kelly Collection basically homeless. Well, good
news, folks! A small press publisher I will only identify as "Publisher
X" will be doing all nine books in limited hardcover editions. Sorry I
can't spill the beans as to who, what, where, or when... but here is a
statement Publisher X has issued that will fill you in on exactly why we
have to be so secretive with news of this upcoming collection:
"Dear Ronald Kelly Fans,
Although I am going to remain nameless for now, Ron and I have begun
talking about publishing the entire collection of Essential novels.
Rest assured these are in good hands and if everyone can be patient
while the details are worked out and the tremendous amount of work that
is required has begun, it would be greatly appreciated. I know many of
you are curious to not only know who will be publishing the Essentials,
but how and when as well. The primary reason this is going to remain
confidential for now is that I have numerous other projects lined up to
be published before starting on the Essentials and it is only fair to
the authors and fans of these other works to have each of those official
announcements be released to the public beforehand. Plus, as a nice
change of pace, the Kelly books will ship soon after their announcement.
Publisher X"
Take it from me, folks, the Essential Collection is in great hands now.
I consider Publisher X one of the leading publishers in the field and
extremely prompt and dependable in getting quality horror to the fans on
time. I'm really looking forward to seeing the wonderful things this
publisher has planned for the Essential books!
