Advance Praise for OCTOBER NIGHTS

Wonderful blurb for October Nights this morning, from Charles Christian of WEIRD TALES RADIO:

"October Nights is a wonderful collection of long short-stories all linked around the Halloween season in a small American town where there's something unsettling lurking beneath the apple-pie homeliness. For some characters the town offers a chance for redemption, for others damnation. The feeling reminded me of Ray Bradbury at his Something Wicked This Way Comes best."

I had a great time chatting with Charles as the most recent guest on his show. Our interview starts 2:28.

Cover Reveal: October Nights, Coming October 22nd

Halloween is a night when anything seems possible. This is true everywhere, but nowhere more so than in the strange town of Clifton Heights, New York. October nights here are long and strange, filled with both dread and transformation, and in these four tales, you will encounter things both wondrous and terrifying, in equal measure.

"Kevin Lucia is a modern storyteller with a firm grounding in the classics." Bram Stoker Award Winning Author Norman Prentiss

Coming October 22nd from Crystal Lake Publishing. Cover by Ben Baldwin

Free Fiction, and Scares That Care

Well, I suppose it's that time again - time to blow the dust off this place and post something new. In any case, my absence around these parts has been a very good thing, in some ways. I've been busy writing this whole past year, working on a variety of projects. Most specifically, writing commissioned novellas for one of the best limited edition horror presses in the business. Those novellas will eventually form a new novella quartet entitled Into the Dark, which will be released at some point down the road.

I've also been busy working on a new novella collection entitled October Nights, due out this October from Crystal Lake Publishing. I'm really excited for it, because I've always wanted to release a Halloween collection/book during Halloween, and this year I get to.

I've also been working on a Halloween novel, The Mask, which I've been tinkering on for a year or so. Hopefully that'll be out in time for next Halloween. Also, my weird western novel, Billy the Kid and the Lazarus Stone, has been edited, re-written, edited, beta-read, edited, and is currently receiving a professional manuscript critique by one of the best in the business. Where it will go after that is anyone's guess.

I've also started work co-writing a suspense/thriller with horror veteran Paul F. Olson. I'm excited not only to work with Paul, but also to try something a bit out of my wheelhouses.

Now, for the Big Announcements. If you've yet to get a chance to read my fiction, here's a chance to read it for free if you're willing to sign up for Horror Oasis's newsletter. Get five free ebooks of my short stories  - "When We All Meet at the Ofrenda," "Almost Home," "Lament," "Therapy," and "A Circle That Ever Returenth" when  you sign up through Bookfunnel. Just check out these gorgeous covers below:

Also, this weekend, at long last, Scares That Care Weekend returns in Williamsburg, Virginia.  I can't tell you how excited I am to return into the company of my fellow horror folk. If you've come to this website as a result of meeting me at Scares, welcome! Make sure you sign up for my occasional newsletter to receive free ebooks!

The Headless Boy, by Kelli Owen

Losing a child to miscarriage is perhaps one of the most traumatic events a young married couple could possibly face. The very embodiment of their future hopes and dreams, the testament of their future lives together, gone. One can only imagine the black hole that would leave in someone's life; the division it could easily carve between partners. Especially because, inevitably, even in a loving relationship, the mother who carried the child is going to suffer much worse than her partner, if only because the life she carried within her is now gone, and that's something a partner can never understand fully, no matter how hard they try.

This is where we find Jake and Maggie at the beginning of this novel, reeling from the loss of their first and only child. Maggie is broken and mired in depression; Jake is doing his best to support her, care for her, and understand...even if he can't, fully. They eventually realize they have to leave their old lives behind, and they move to a new house out in the country, hoping to start anew.

Maggie's adopted several coping strategies, and though Jake may find them amusing or even odd, he's willing to go along with just about anything, if only to see Maggie through her pain. When she starts talking to someone she calls "Bobby" (a potential name for their unborn child, named after Jake's father), Jake assumes it's just another way of her attempting to cope.

It isn't, however. Something lives in this house with them. Has lived there for a very long time, and it's desperate for a mother. Before Jake quite understands what's happening, this force worms its way into Maggie's life, trying to make itself indispensable, and playing on the unspoken tensions which would inevitably exist between partners after a miscarriage. Even worse - it doesn't like Jake. Doesn't want a father figure, at all, and before long, Jake realizes it's trying to play Maggie against him, trying to convince her all she needs is "Bobby," and no one else. Certainly not Jake.

Without a doubt, this is perhaps Kelli Owen's best work to date. It's restrained, populated by deftly written characters, and it creeps along quietly, insidiously, until its fast, furious, bloody end. Having read much of Owen's earliest work, it's clear that this novel shows her at the height of her game. This is an emotionally charged story which will leave you alternating between chilled, moved, and even frustrated at Maggie - how the hell could she be so blind? - and yet you get it, too. You can't blame her, at all. You know that, if perhaps you were in her shoes...you'd probably act the same.

Get this now. You won't regret it. Highly recommended.

New Story "The Crayfish God" in CAMPFIRE MACABRE

Super-stoked to announce pre-orders are open for Campfire Macabre, a flash-fiction anthology which includes my latest Clifton Heights story "The Crayfish God." Flash stories are a rarity for me. I  only write them when they drop into my head "whole," as this one did.Very pleased to share a TOC with some wonderful writers! Pre-order this today!

50+ original flash horror tales organized by five themes: Spook Houses, Slashers, Witchcraft, Within the Woods, and Cemetery Chillers. A book perfect for time spent around the campfire or a long car trip! Brand new pieces from award-winning storytellers and established authors, such as: V. Castro, Michael Harris Cohen, Corey Farrenkopf, Kevin Lucia, Beverley Lee, Cynthia Pelayo, Doyae Coles, Jason Parent, Sonora Taylor, and so many more! Published by Cemetery Gates Media.

 

New Exclusives Offered in Newsletter

Hello, all. Just a quick message to say the newsletter is back up and running. If you wouldn't mind a monthly message from me with updates, exclusives, and free fiction - with three free ebooks to boot - just enter your email address in the subscribe box on the top of my web page, and click "Subscribe."

I'm also offering a new, exclusive feature in my newsletter.  Recently, I finished the outline for my first nonfiction book, How A Christian Fell in Love With the Horror Genre. I want to sprinkle personal anecdotes throughout the book highlighting my lifelong draw toward the weird, and how it's converged with my faith. I will be sharing these anecdotes exclusively with newsletter subscribers. So if  you'd like a peek into that work in progress (and did I mention the three free ebooks?) sign up today.

Mystery Road Ebook Sale!

Last Spring, at the height of the pandemic's first wave, I saw the publication of my first hardcover limited edition novella from Cemetery Dance Publications, Mystery Road. Copies are still available, and the ebook version is also available. It's one of my favorite stories, and it's also probably my most personal story, to date. Here's what some folks have said about it:

"Mystery Road is a beautifully written, poignant story about a man caring for his dying father and the memories that suddenly return to him after decades of forgetfulness." - Char's Horror Corner

"Mystery Road takes us back to Clifton Heights. This one is a ghost story of sorts, the best kind. I absolutely adored it. I'm impressed with Lucia and his storytelling ability. His voice is like none that I've read before. As always, I can't wait for my next trek through Clifton Heights." - Glen Rolfe, author of Blood & Rain

 

 

 "Mystery Road is a talented author’s personal variation on genre traditions. It’s so clearly and elegantly written that I couldn’t help but read the whole thing in one sitting."  -  Mike Thorn, author of The Dark Hours.

Limited Edition Hardcover
Ebook - .99 Sale!