Showing posts with label Serial KIller Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Serial KIller Fiction. Show all posts

New Release - Psychological Horror Stories: A Collection of Psychological Horror Fiction for Adults


Greetings. This post marks the end of three months of writing, editing, and formatting a new collection that brings together old and new stories. Psychological Horror Stories: A Collection of Psychological Horror Fiction for Adults is a 364 page collection of my best psychological horror stories. The collection is the omnibus edition of a 4-volume series and all covers are illustrated by artist and author, Jeffrey Kosh (see right sidebar for link). Some of the stories are from previous series, Serial Killer Thrillers, which have been rewritten/edited and are now included as part of this series (Serial Killer Thrillers is still available as a single-volume) print/kindle edition collection).

Psychological Horror Stories: A Collection of Psychological Horror Fiction for Adults


Psychological Horror Stories: A Collection of Psychological Horror Fiction for Adults is a collection of dark tales that deal with the horror inherent in the human psyche. Sometimes supernatural or macabre, but always darkly psychological in the effect on the reader, these twisted stories will linger in the imagination long after the last page has been turned. This omnibus edition is available in paperback and ebook format.

Psycho killers, haunted spirits, evil creatures conjured from the depths of hell and disturbed ghouls haunt the pages of this terrifying collection of psychological horror stories.

Disturbing love stories, psychopathic existentialism, spirits thirsty for vengeance, demons hunting for fresh souls and a perverse array of other grotesqueries are the subjects of these twisted tales.

*Note* All volumes contain R18+ material not suitable for minors. Includes depictions of graphic violence and scenes of horror.

Volumes in the series are all available exclusively from Amazon (click on cover image/s to purchase) and are detailed below:

 

Psychological Horror Stories (Psychological Horror and Macabre Fiction V1) 

This volume contains the following stories:

Creep – A dark story of a young woman's date with death! Serial Killers don't always get away with murder, no matter how hard they try.
Blinded by the Light – A teenager discovers his father is someone who he needs to be afraid of. Very afraid!
Pretty Boy – A killer on the loose visits a small town and realizes he’s made a bad decision he might not live to regret.
Legacy – The brutal origin story behind the novel ‘Blood Related. A novella-length dark tale of a serial-killer family and twin-brothers who continue the family tradition with terrifying efficiency.
Singles’ Night – A lonely hearts predator bites off more than he can chew when he unwittingly falls into a web of violence while stalking potential victims.
Time After Time – A drifter with a penchant for alcohol and horse racing tries to adjust to a ‘normal life,’ but fails with horrific consequences.

Psychological Horror Stories (Psychological Horror and Macabre Fiction V2) 

This volume contains the following stories:

The Reader – A tragic tale of obsession and the horrifying fatal consequences that result from one man’s devotion to his hobby.
Axe Man – A surreal nightmare of a tale that recounts the narrator’s experience with a purgatorial harbinger of death.
That Sinking Feeling . . . – A dark story of ‘love gone wrong’ and the jealous rage that fuels the protagonist’s recourse to destructive violence.
Shadows in the Dark – An apocalyptic vision of the brutality of life and the trials of one family as they succumb to madness and death in a harsh rural landscape.
The Kaleidoscope Kid – The hellish story of a youth’s spiralling madness into a world of visions, demons, vengeance and, ultimately, death!
Love Hurts – A disturbing tale of extreme domestic horror and violence, culminating in a blood-soaked ending that will leave the reader reeling or running for the bathroom!

Psychological Horror Stories (Psychological Horror and Supernatural Fiction V3) 

This volume contains the following stories:

Hopeless – A young girl must face her biggest fear – her father. As she struggles to protect her mother from the man she once idolized, young Hope must confront her situation and the possibility that they may not get out alive.
Anomalous Perigee – Letting go of the person we love is the hardest thing to do, especially if they haunt you.
Dead Memories – Be careful what you wish for, it might just come true! A man’s enduring love burns strongly for his girlfriend despite her deceit and vengeful cruelty.
Night Walker – Obsession and desire keep one man’s love alive for his cruel mistress, even after his death!
The Dead Avenged – Sometimes the dead come back! A supernatural coming-of-age ghost story that deals with the consequences of bullying.

Psychological Horror Stories (Psychological Horror and Supernatural Fiction V4) 

This volume contains the following stories:

Death Comes Calling – The parents have gone out for the evening and return home to find the sitter and their son missing and a strange child in their house. A very strange child!
A Dream Realized – A young boy living in an orphanage retreats into his fantasy world to escape the cruel taunts of the other orphans and the sadistic brutality of the staff.
The Pale Stranger – A man turns his back on his family as his addictions suck him deeper into a debauched world until he meets a stranger who offers him a way out, but at a terrible price.
Devil Inside – This twisted tale winds itself around a disturbed young boy who discovers that when you make a wish, you better make sure you really want it. After all, monsters are sometimes real.
Conceived By Death – A drug-addicted couple who will do anything to score a fix find themselves hopelessly unprepared for the arrival of a baby with a hunger far greater than their own.
Thirsty Work – A young man escapes from his brutal father and finds work and lodging at a liquor store where the customers have an insatiable thirst for more than just alcohol.
Dolly Did It – When dreams become nightmares and the past refuses to die . . . A young girl’s old dolly, Samantha, haunts her dreams as her family begin to die one by one.

I hope you enjoy the stories. If you are new to my work I would recommend this collection as a good starting point to my dark fiction. For those of you who have read my work before, I thank you sincerely and hope that you enjoy (if you choose to get this collection) the redux versions of older stories and the new ones included.

Best wishes and hope these tales keep you entertained in these weird, uncertain times (please share this post with your networks).






Will

New review for Blood Related - check it out!



Recently I received this great review for my serial-killer novel, Blood Related. Check it out and grab a copy if you like. Happy reading 😊

Review: Blood Related by William Cook


William Cook is a painter of impressions and moods, artfully rendering complex, authentic characters and weaving a twisted, darkly psychological narrative.

In his exploration of the minds of a pair of prolific serial killers (those peculiar creatures of popular morbid interest), Cook introduces us to the Cunningham  brothers – products of a long hereditary line of aberrant, pathological behaviors. For Caleb, our central narrator, killing is more than a habit – it is an obsessive art form, personal and highly selective. His brother, Charlie, on the other hand, is a human wrecking ball – careening from victim to victim as he plans grandiose mass murders like a one man terror squad. Both present acute symptoms of varied psychoses – suffering delusions and hallucinations, suicidal ideation, and displaying a generally tenuous grip on reality. In this way (much like the character of Quentin P. in Joyce Carol Oates’s Zombie), Caleb serves as an unreliable narrator in the tradition of Poe, accentuating the twisting, fever-dream nature of the narrative.

Cook takes a carefully measured approach to scenes of extreme violence, which speaks much to his talent. Too often works of horror are overloaded with grue, overpowering the narrative and thus breaking aesthetic distance, putting the reader off the text. The imagination must be free to run, and Cook appreciates this.

If you’re looking for a truly haunting ride into the primal depths of the psychopathic mind, Blood Related is for you. Be sure to leave the lights on.


BUY THE BOOK HERE.

Review Written by W.J. Renehan

FREE [for Kindle] – DEATH QUARTET

FREE – DEATH QUARTET (A Selection of Short Horror Fiction & Verse) is an eclectic miscellany of stories, poems, and ephemera, wherein the subject matter relates to the study of homicide and the aesthetic portrayal of such an act. In other words, themes of death and murder abound in this horrific collection brought to you by William Cook, author the novel ‘Blood Related.’
 
Amazon Review:
 
“5.0 out of 5 stars Murder Can Be Fun January 11, 2014
By Marianne – Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
 
This collection of creepy stories, disturbing poetry, and other scary stuff is just what the doctor ordered. That is, if your doctor wants you to have nightmares!! William Cook never fails to please, and he is right on target with this one. It’s a unique mix of different items; stories, musings, poetry, and quotes, all combined to raise the horror bar waaay up there. However, I must admit: basements and cellars are now completely and totally off limits for me. Thanks a lot, William Cook!!”
 
Image 

Amazon Review:

“5 Star Review – Poetry and Fiction: Tastes of Horror January 7, 2014
By Diane J – Format:Kindle Edition

I had to give this book a five because every piece in it was excellent, although I did have my personal favorites. There are quotes from authors, psychiatrists, psychopaths, and others that generally lead us into one of the four stories. But first, the poetry is, as you would expect, dark, disturbing and dangerous. I found it very unsettling, which for my chosen genre, is a good thing. The stories are all well written and cover a wide variety of the underbelly of humanity. Don’t get me wrong, while I found them all gut wrenching and disturbing, the two that stood out for me were Blinded by the Light and Dead Aesthetics. The protagonist in the first story I listed is Patrick, a young horribly abused child who knows too many secrets and is punished severely for that knowledge. His world is so bleak and horrific, you will be completely drawn into it and won’t put the book down until the story is finished. The second story is obviously from the very twisted mind of an incredible author. My God, what can I even say? The subject matter is NOT for the squeamish and if you do read it knowing that fact, have a pail at the ready. The graphic imagery is grotesque beyond belief. But if you love your horror as nasty as it gets, this is a 100% winner by a brilliant writer.”

U.K. – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Quartet-Short-Horror-Fiction-ebook/dp/B00FPT3MZQ/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1389477861&sr=8-8&keywords=death+quartet

U.S. – http://www.amazon.com/Death-Quartet-Short-Horror-Fiction-ebook/dp/B00FPT3MZQ/ref=la_B003PA513I_1_18?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389477686&sr=1-18


#FF, #free, #Giveaway, #RT, Death Quartet, horror, Kindle, Serial Killer Fiction, William Cook

Sonia Fogal interviews William Cook

Sonia Fogal: Interview with the Author of "Blood Related" - William Cook


William Cook, author of the great "Blood Related" was kind enough to answer a few questions I had about his book, horror, and the writing experience. He had some fascinating answers. Enjoy!

1. Well I guess I have to ask the question at the top of my mind first. I loved "Blood Related", I thought it was a fascinating read. It is very graphic and very violent so I must ask about where all that came from. I'm assuming you aren't a serial killer so you must have done a great deal of research. Wondering about where you went for that research.

I don’t know why but I’ve had a fascination with the darker side of humanity ever since I was a teenager. I am a huge Horror fan; movies, books, art, theory. I’d say that this obsession comes from the same source. In fact if I hadn’t channeled my predilection for darkness into the writing of Horror I would hate to think where it would’ve taken me otherwise! ‘Blood Related’ is a story about a family of serial killers, each with varying degrees of psychopathology. The two central characters are twin brothers, one who is of the psychotic variety and the other a more organized and cunning psychopath, and yes there is a difference. I researched as much about abnormal psychology as I did about serial killers and their methods and characteristics. 

Most serial killers are basically psychopathic, of reasonable intelligence, appear normal when occasion calls, and so on. And of course this is one of many aspects to a complex and evolving criminal psychology. I read both fiction and non-fictional accounts of these fiendish characters in order to get inside the mind of these killers. I’m not sure if I’d write another first-person narrative from a serial killer’s perspective; at times it was quite harrowing and disturbing to envisage the kind of thought processes these people operate with.

2. Now I don't condone the actions of serial killers in any way but one thing I liked about "Blood Related" is that we got in the head of the killer. We learned about his childhood and the horrors he witnessed that played a part in him becoming the monster he became. He actually seemed to care about a couple of people. I actually felt bad for him sometimes because in a sense he was a victim too. As with the plot, I wondered where this came from. Was this from research or was it you considering what may go into the creation of a serial killer?

What a lot of people don’t realize is that these freaks of nature are capable of portraying human emotion and on the surface probably appear more normal than Joe-average. One of the basic tenets of writing good characters is that the reader must be sympathetic to at least some aspect of the protagonist as a fellow human being. It is because of these two factors that Caleb the main character does have a sensitive side and has had a crummy upbringing. Nature vs nurture is an old debate when it comes to the development of criminal behavior and I would have to say from my research I believe that given the right circumstance everyone is capable of murder. Sounds shocking but when you really think about it, there are certain things that would drive the most placid of us to react with violence, e.g. the murder/assault of a loved one, perceived injustice, road rage, protection of children/family members, self defense and so on. So just because Caleb has had a crappy abusive childhood and is also genetically predisposed to mental illness because of his lineage (coming from three generations of murderous kin), does not necessarily make him a serial killer. There are plenty of people with the same experience and familial history who don’t turn into killers. But with Caleb I wanted to show how his thinking is twisted and trace the source of his urge to kill. Hopefully by the end of the book the reader will be asking the same questions and have a more in-depth understanding of the motives behind this kind of criminal behavior. If we can have some understanding about how these people operate, hopefully it in turns gives us a greater sense of our own nature. But essentially, I am trying to scare the hell out of my readers while stimulating the morbid curiosity inside most of us by presenting a complex fictional character, slightly distanced from reality (because he is fictional), that people feel safe enough to analyze in the comfort of their own homes.

3. Am I crazy to enjoy a book so graphic and violent? If I am then many people are. I think there are a lot of reasons people enjoy this kind of story. What are your thoughts?

Have you ever slowed down to rubber-neck at a car accident? I think most of us have. There is a reason why the news on television streams hours of violent imagery from across the world. 80-90% of most news broadcasts focus on negative events; war, murder, serial killers, accidents, death, etc. It is seldom that we see positive stories on the news and this is because the general audience laps up this kind of media side-show. I think it was Thomas Hobbes who said something like “war [violence] is the essential nature of [hu]mankind,” and as I said earlier I tend to agree – especially in the male of our species. I won’t get into the gender difference/similarities on this topic as it is a whole discussion in itself filled with interesting facts and potentialities. But in answer to your question, no you are not crazy. People enjoyed being scared and confronting death from a safe perspective. Someone said that we spend our whole lives preparing for death and this may well be why we pursue horror in literature (in all genres). If we can confront death from a distance and survive, in a way this affirms life, but for some of us (like the characters in Blood Related) it also serves to hasten that realization to its ultimate conclusion.

4. Did you enjoy writing this book or was it difficult? What did you like the most and what was the most difficult part?

I enjoyed parts of it but found it difficult to write due to the subject matter. I love creating worlds as I did with this story in the form of ‘Portvale’, a fictitious industrial city within a larger metropolis. I also created the small rural town of ‘Repose’ which was fun to populate and landscape. So I guess that the most difficult part was placing myself in the mind of a seriously disturbed serial killer. The most enjoyable aspect was the sense of completion I felt when I had achieved one of my life goals – writing a novel.

5. How long did it take you to write "Blood Related"?

Blood Related took nearly six years to write. I really did do a lot of research and possibly got bogged down in that side of things, hence the extended period of writing. The novel evolved from a shorter work titled ‘The Eternal Now’ and took on a life of its own. I wrote a lot of it as I sat on the train on my way to and from work, scribbling frantically in my notebook. In the end one notebook grew to ten and the outline turned into a solid novel-length manuscript. After many edits and changes it finally reached a presentable level and I started subbing it around to traditional publishers in New Zealand with no success. I write in an American style/vernacular so the obvious choice was to look to the US for a publisher. I subbed the manuscript to three different publishers including my current publisher and received three offers to publish. I originally chose Angelic Knight Press as they were the first to come to the party, and in retrospect my decision was probably a bit of a hasty one, because the day I signed the contract I received two others one of which was my preferred choice, Black Bed Sheet Books. Things were amicable enough with AKP and I was one of their ‘flagship’ writers as they were just starting off and thank them for taking a chance on a previously unpublished novelist. Nick Grabowsky from BBSB left his offer open and when my contract term had finished with AKP and no new contract was forthcoming I happily accepted Nick’s offer to publish and here we are. The new edition is a lot tighter and the formatting is professionally done and I’m really happy to be with BBSB who are also publishing the sequel ‘Blood Trail.’

6. I have seen on a couple of places on the internet that there will be a sequel! Got a title yet? Any idea when it will be available?

As mentioned above, the sequel is titled ‘Blood Trail’ and should be available sometime later on this year from BBSB. I am halfway complete and am aiming for a June wrap for the completion of the sequel. It will be quite different from the first book, in that the perspective has shifted from a first-

person account by the killer to a focus on Ray Truman, the troubled investigator who is trying to bring down the Cunningham clan. The following is an excerpt from the sequel:

I looked and I observed. When I turned away, I looked some more. And I continued looking, into the night, into my dreams, into my waking hours. The vision of Jean-Marie Palliser, lying there, and there also, and there, and up on the shelf there, and

slowly charring on the glowing element. Pieces of Jean-Marie scattered like roadkill across the kitchenette, in the room at the lodging house. I put her back together in my mind with one exception. Her head to the lower portion of her neck was gone; a conspicuous absence if ever there was one. I coughed and lit a cigarette to rid me of the stench of warm blood and other bodily fluids.                        

 He had killed her right there in the kitchenette. She was nude with no sign of restraint visible, on the clear parts of her pale flesh. Blood still dripped from the bench, a shiny black pool of blood looking like an expanding hole in the linoleum.  

 I guessed that’s where the fucker had rested the head, on the bench, while he finished playing with the rest of the dead broad’s young body. I had to push the image of her away and it wouldn’t budge. I felt a nauseous growing horror creep up my body like a bad trip. I was shit-scared for the first time in my professional career as a cop.

I heard movement in the hallway outside the kitchen area. I ducked to the ground, scanning the room as I snapped the snubnose from my ankle holster.                                                          

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! My chest heaved, as the backdoor slammed shut, I had just missed him.                                                                                                  

I sprang from the bloodied floor, pain exploding up the length of my spine, and burst out the swinging screendoor at the rear of the building. I busted my face pretty good on the side of a head-high clothesline as I ran across the back yard. I went down hard, my face pissing blood like a geyser, and fired from the ground two quick shots at the back of a black-hooded figure bursting through the hedge. I glimpsed a woman’s decapitated head, bobbing by his side, the long bloodied hair gripped in the clenched fist of Caleb Cunningham, as he disappeared away into the black night.                                                                                                                  

I lay there breathless, the pain in my lower back unbearable so that I couldn’t even feel the gushing wound in my cheek. And then I ended up back in hospital, lying in that damned same bed in a cast from armpit to knee, thinking of Jean-Marie Palliser, as if one might think of a jigsaw puzzle missing a few pieces. Laying there in that stark white hospital room, I started thinking of all the ways I wanted to kill Caleb Cunningham. The blank dead eyes bored into my memory, like two pits of oil, where the fires of hell slowly smoldered. This was the second time I had caught up with Cunningham and I was flat on my back, mortally injured once again. This time I would have to wear a back brace permanently and be consigned to light duties. I was fucked if I was gonna be a desk jockey. The drugs they started giving me did their job and I knew I could get a continuous supply if I needed one. It took time and a lot of thinking and planning and expectation. I firmly believed towards the end of my stay at the hospital, that Cunningham was watching me, plotting against me in a similar fashion. And then Caleb’s ex-shrink, Dr Morrison, walked in and I forget all about Jean-Marie Palliser and Caleb Cunningham, for a few minutes.

 

Great stuff William! Can't wait to read "Blood Trail"! Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions.

If the excerpt above has you eager to read more of William's work, make sure you click HERE to enter to win a free ebook copy of his first book "Blood Related"! The giveaway is at the bottom of my review of that book - a book I highly recommend.


Links: http://www.bloodrelated.wordpress.com http://www.amazon.com/William-Cook/e/B003PA513I/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 Website: http://williamcookwriter.com Twitter - @williamcook666


Source: http://soniafogal.blogspot.co.nz/2013/04/my-fascinating-interview-with-author-of.html#comment-form

First-Person Serial Killer Fiction


In researching my new novel, 'Blood Related,' I started out with a mission to read the majority of first person accounts of serial homicide, stream of consciousness-style fiction. Not for material, more for inspiration and admiration - just like those crazy books, quite glad my tastes are slowly shifting to a more classical appreciation of the dark arts! Not a soft option by any means! Here is my list.

1. Killer on The Road by James Ellroy
2. A Special Place: the heart of a dark matter by Peter Straub
3. The Killer by Colin Wilson
4. Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
5. Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates
6. The Girls he Adored by Jonathan Nasaw
7. Head Hunter by Michael Slade
8. Stray Bullets (series) by David Lapham
9. The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
10. I AM Not a Serial Killer (John Cleaver) by Dan Wells
11. Frenzy by Rex Miller
12. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
13. American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis
14. Slob by Rex Miller
15. Psycho by Robert Bloch
16. The Sandman by Miles Gibson
17. Blackburn by Bradley Denton

Hopefully my new novel, Blood Related (Nov/Dec release), might perch on the end of this list one day (audible sigh). Check out the list, will update as more come to mind. I will be posting a Non-fiction bibliographical list that will raise eyebrows no doubt! Hey, better on the page, than on the pavement eh?

A teaser pic: 

and here's the bonus, go to the goodreads list and see the covers. Have fun.

Novel finally finished - hooray. Now to find a publisher [hopefully]!



Hi, it's been a while as I have been working frantically to complete my novel before Christmas time. It has been a 'work in progress' for the past four years and i'm pleased to say that the end is nigh. I am editing the last draft and will have it ready for submission to publishers in the New Year. As you can probably guess from the book cover mock-up (by yours truly) and the working title, it is a novel about a killer. Actually about a family of killers to be exact, told through the journals of a budding serial killer whose twin brother is also afflicted with the same unfortunate disposition.

I guess you could place this novel under the genre banner of 'Serial Killer Fiction,' or crime fiction. I realise that this field is littered with cliched monsters all trying to replicate the success of Harris's Hannibal Lecter trilogy +, hopefully I might have succeeded in providing a new twist to the genre - or at least to the smaller sub-genre of 'First-person Serial Killer Fiction.' Whew, anyway - worth a crack, so there it is.

If I don't have any success with publishers I will probably post it here in installments for at least some people to read and hopefully enjoy.

If anyone has any publishing contacts who might be interested in this kind of work please let me know via 3cagency@gmail.com. Also, what do you think of the cover?

Have a great Christmas everyone. Will/Grant.

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