Blurb
When family man Joe Crawford confronts a young mother abusing her toddler, he has no idea of the chain reaction he’s setting in motion. How could he suspect the young mother is part of an ancient fire cult, a sinister group of killers that will destroy anyone who threatens one of its members? When the little boy is placed in a foster home, the fanatics begin their mission of terror.
Soon the cult leaders will summon their deadliest hunters―and a ferocious supernatural evil―to make Joe pay for what he’s done. They want Joe’s blood and the blood of his family. And they want their child back.
Well this one looks suitably scary! Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to read it myself but I will be rectifying that as soon as possible! In the mean time please enjoy Jonathan’s take on the horror genre.
Where do you think your books fit into the horror genre? For readers who aren’t as versed in reading horror, which books would you recommend of yours and other authors?
I feel like my books could be categorized all over the horror genre. What I mean by this is that the horror genre is far more diverse than most people realize (and here I’m talking not only the diversity of writers and characters, but specifically about the diversity of story types). For example, horror can be supernatural or non-supernatural, and though I’ve tended more toward the former than the latter, I have written some stories (WITCHING HOUR THEATRE, “The Clearing of Travis Coble,” and OLD ORDER, for example) that are totally grounded in our world. Horror can be quiet or loud, psychological or splattery. Often I like to mix these types of horror in the same book. Over half of THE DARKEST LULLABY is quiet horror along the lines of Charles L. Grant’s THE SOUND OF MIDNIGHT or T.M. Wright’s STRANGE SEED; in the latter stages, however, that novel becomes more ghost- and creature-driven, with plenty of bloodshed. My novel THE NIGHTMARE GIRL reads like a suspense thriller, and only in the second half of the book do the horrific elements become pronounced. I’ve written werewolf and vampire books (WOLF LAND and DUST DEVILS), ghost stories (HOUSE OF SKIN and THE SIREN AND THE SPECTER), religious horror (EXORCIST FALLS), a bloody monster survival book (SAVAGE SPECIES), historical horror (THE DISMEMBERED), an apocalyptic tale (THE RAVEN), coming-of-age (CHILDREN OF THE DARK and its upcoming sequel), and an amalgam of all the aforementioned types (THE DARK GAME). So at the risk of sounding self-congratulatory, I do feel like my work is indicative of how broad the genre is.
As far as recommending my own work, I’d say it depends on your tastes, but some of my own personal favorites (of my published works) would be THE DARK GAME, THE SIREN AND THE SPECTER, CHILDREN OF THE DARK, and THE NIGHTMARE GIRL.
It’s actually tougher to recommend others because I love so many writers. Here are just a few books I’d read if I were just beginning to read the genre: Brian Keene’s DARK HOLLOW and GHOUL, Jack Ketchum’s RED and THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, Stephen King’s anything (he’s my favorite writer, but just a few favorites would be ‘SALEM’S LOT, REVIVAL, 11/22/63, THE STAND, and IT), Caroline Kepnes’s YOU, Robert McCammon’s THE WOLF’S HOUR, Tananarive Due’s MY SOUL TO KEEP, Joe R. Lansdale’s THE NIGHTRUNNERS, F. Paul Wilson’s MIDNIGHT MASS, Michael McDowell’s THE ELEMENTALS, Peter Straub’s GHOST STORY, Ramsey Campbell’s THE DOLL WHO ATE ITS MOTHER, Gillian Flynn’s DARK PLACES, William Golding’s LORD OF THE FLIES, Ray Bradbury’s THE OCTOBER COUNTRY, Thomas Tryon’s THE OTHER, Arthur Machen’s THE GREAT GOD PAN, T.E.D. Klein’s THE CEREMONIES (and DARK GODS, for that matter), John Farris’s SON OF THE ENDLESS NIGHT, Victor LaValle’s THE BALLAD OF BLACK TOM, Tim Lebbon’s WHITE, Shirley Jackson’s THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, the short works of Clive Barker, Ira Levin’s ROSEMARY’S BABY, Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories, Joan Samson’s THE AUCTIONEER, Richard Matheson’s HELL HOUSE, Mary SanGiovanni’s THE HOLLOWER, and the anthology GREAT TALES OF TERROR AND THE SUPERNATURAL.
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Author Bio:
Jonathan Janz is the author of more than a dozen novels and numerous short stories.
His work has been championed by authors like Joe R. Lansdale, Jack Ketchum, and Brian Keene; he has also been lauded by Publishers Weekly, the Library Journal, and the School Library Journal.
His novel Children of the Dark was chosen by Booklist as a Top Ten Horror Book of the Year.
Jonathan’s main interests are his wonderful wife and his three amazing children.
You can sign up for his newsletter (https://jonathanjanz.us12.list-manage….), and you can follow him on
Twitter @JonathanJanz
Instagram @jonathan.janz
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER: FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launching in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.
https://www.flametreepublishing.com/
Thanks so much for the Blog Tour support xx