William Cook

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...

'Monkey Love' by John Paul Allen, Cover Art by Keith Minnion This is the first work of John Paul Allen's that I have had the pleasure to read but certainly won't be the last. i liked it so much that i read it twice. My first reading of 'Monkey Love' revealed a dark, ironic sense of humor that had me in stitches, building the pathos in this unique work until i thought i knew what 'kind' of novel it was, only to flip my notions upside down with surprise after surprise.  This great little book is laced with cultural references and metaphor that take on a new life afforded by the foresight of a well-deserved second reading. This is a well-crafted story centered on a tragic situation and the pursuit of a love that knows no bounds.  As the title suggests and the exceptional cover art, the quest for love through tragedy is fraught with the horror of new and bizarre discoveries of the self and the surrounding world. Other reviewers have mentioned the basic ...

Angelic Knight Press: William Cook : Angelic Knight Press is excited to announce that William Cook, a very talented author, poet, and artist/ illustrator from New Zealand will be gracing us with his presence in the form of his fantastic novel "Blood Related" which we are slating for release in December. We have to take advantage of the holiday season sales mania!  Yvonne, Stacey, and I are in love with this chilling horror, mystery tale. William sent us a very polished Ms. Below is a portion of the synopsis sent to us by him. Meet Caleb Samael Cunningham, a diabolical serial-killer with an inherited psychopathology, passed down via a blood-soaked genealogy. Caleb is a disturbed young man whose violent father is a suspected serial killer and mother, an insane alcoholic. After his Father’s suicide, Cunningham’s disturbing fantasy-life becomes reality, as he begins his killing spree in earnest. His identical twin brother Charlie is to be released from an asyl...

1. I had a dream on the anniversary of her death. In the dream, I heard her unmistakable voice calling me, then I saw her and she was so real, I could almost touch her again. Everything about her hit me deep in the chest, I sat bolt upright in our big empty bed. My breath gasped, sweat beaded itself on my cold skin. I could still hear her voice in the dark. I rationalized there were only two possible reasons why I could hear such a thing. I was either hallucinating, or what I heard was her ghost whispering in my ear. Then she was gone again. I lay down and listened, my breath held in my chest, afraid to break the silence. The dawn light bled through the cracks in the blind as I strained my ears, listening. Listening for her sweet voice, playing her words over repeatedly in my weary mind – ‘There’s no turning back. There’s no turning back now.’ I longed for her touch, the feel of her soft cold skin, her beautiful words carried on her sweet breath. The memories came flooding back – ...

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This has just been listed on Amazon and i'm proud to have been included with a handful of my illustrations, a poem, and this cover illustation (art only not text). Check it out if you are a fan of Horror, i'm sure you'll find something you like therein.

Angelic Knight Press: William Cook : "http://3cagency.blogspot.com/ William Cook has a wonderful way with descriptive words, planting a tried and true visual in ones mind, c..."

1. It is a hostile & balmy atmosphere — everywhere injustice reigns.  There is violence on every street-corner, in every home, in every heart & mind. People split into packs like wild dogs & lions, armed with knives, guns, clubs. Cults recruit vast armies who are searching for the right belief — the salvation — but all the while, famine, disease, & confusion reign the streets, roaming & slaying like huge black worms of energy, effusing the city in rising tides of blood. Today has become a sick & diseased perversion of a body that once burned with life instead of death. Scenes from all parts of the world flood the TV screens with death & carnage, sickness, cruelty; sinful flesh eating orgies of hate & greed . . .  & so we were warned with our eyes, many years ago. The city begins to crumble & suck us into its vortex in a divine lesson of justice & revenge. We have joined hands with death & sin, never now to let go, w...

FERTILIZER Tom Berry had the best vegetables on the estate. He kept a quiet garden, buried under a shady tree that hid it from the neighbours’ view. Raised bed with solid Oregon timber beams: turnips, sweet potato, prize-winning-sized carrots and pumpkin in the winter [?] months. Folks on the impoverished housing estate called him Old Tom. No-one really knew him as Tom Berry, Retired & disgraced Dr. Tom Berry. But there he was, Dr. Tom Berry, retired Head of the Research Dept at the University of Anatomy in the Deep South. Old little bent scarecrow of a man in his grey Anorak and Black Rubber Boots, looking like a Nazi War Criminal. He would sit perched in his window seat and scan the street below, writing descriptions of the local thugs as they sold their wares and loitered in the trash-filled gutter. He was given a wide berth by the mostly-black residents who dividedly thought he was either a child-molester, or someone on the witness-protection- programme. So he kept to h...

The sun casts mercurial shadows across the yard: green yellow grass dirt path silvered timber porch like black ink blots the shadows slowly roll the gray weatherboard at the back of the house still cold with morning despite the bright glare of the sun I remember summer halcyon memories childhood romances with the senses the blue sky long crisp grass of summer cool rivers filled with swimming bush clad adventures hot sweat tiredness contented hunger the death of youth I remember summer halcyon memories shed with each chilled gust of spring wind now rising coldly against the past.

      The Road Less Travelled We traveled to Mapua through Nelson from the Sounds in the hot afternoon sun between colonnades of scruffy apple trees, their burden of fruit ready to shed sparkling balls of blood dancing in the breeze  & the road rides on to Mapua wharf & over there is Rabbit island, framing the river mouth with a slab of dark pine & on the other side — the motor-camp, nestled between huge trees, not meant for harvest just shelter & ‘clothing optional’ the café now spawns delicacies a small restaurant behind smokes fish & oysters & makes the best burgers around, yet here it was that another world existed & brave men ferried cargo across the teeming strait on timber boats the size of small trucks — even using sails & oars & people were withdrawn or deposited on these planks long-gone replaced, to make way for the new, repair the past from Mapua to Nelson . . . still in the sun the bay sparkles & a ...

These are the reviews so far. Quoted verbatim from source below [caveat = not my issue re. grammar etc!]. Review one from Sonar 4 Publications, Shells Walter "When one thinks of horror, there are so many extremes that can be done in writing. The Masters of Horror: The Anthology is no different. The 16 authors that fill this anthology bring terror, darkness and a whole lot of push that any horror lover would want. Authors such as Carole Gill with her story ‘ Truth Hurts’ , William Cook with ‘Devil Inside’ and several more stories bring the horror genre into its true form. The one thing that stands out about this anthology is that no two stories are the same. Yes, they are horror, but each one brings in a new tasty scary delight. Triskaideka Books has done an amazing job of bringing all this talent into one anthology. There is no anthology out such as this and one that needs to be on everyone’s bookshelf at one time or another. Jumping into this world of darkness only brings f...