Bitten by Books has posted a great new four star…er, tombstone review of my latest Harmony, Indiana novel, Spook House.  Here’s an excerpt:

“Spook House gets four tombstones for its familiar landmarks: urban legends, Old Ones, obsessive Celts and the wise old man who turns the hunter into the hunted, a la Captain Quint. These tried-and-true horror elements are tied together with unrelenting action and flowing exposition. Realistic dialogue is a common problem in horror fiction, but West makes his characters’ speech believable, relying on neither strings of curse words nor hokey expressions. While Spook House is certainly a stand-alone story, I will definitely check out West’s Wide Game; I desperately need to know what happened in the corn.”

Read the full review here!

And get your very own copy of Spook House here!

Mike at MikesFilmTalk has become my newest faithful reader, burning through all my novels at a break-neck speed, and according to him, that’s just the way it feels to read my latest Harmony, Indiana novel, Spook House.  He gives the novel 5 Stars (and wishes he could give it a 6th)!  Here’s an excerpt:

“Spook House reached a G-force of speed that took me right back to that white-knuckled runaway train in the (Six Flags) park of my youth…The action was so fast paced that I felt like my hair was going to fly back from my e-book (similar to the old Memorex commercial with the stereo speakers) and that if I didn’t hold tightly to the arms of my chair, I would be flung off.  By the time I’d reached the story’s climax, I felt almost as weak and wobbly as I did all those years ago at the end of that runaway mine train ride.  A full 5 star book that I’d give a 6th star to just for the neck and neck race between good and evil.  Brilliant.”

Read the full review here!

And get your very own copy of Spook House here!

eReaderPerks.com has just posted an amazing review of my new novel, Spook House.  Here is an excerpt:

“What a fabulous find! Spook House by Michael West is one of those Horror books that just grabs you from the very first page with characters you really want to get to know–and some you never want to have the bad luck to run into, that’s for sure!  This is a super scary, and sometimes delightfully gross, horror tale…Oh, and the illustrations…WOW! What an unexpected touch to find in this book!  That spider-dog was one of the sickest things I’ve seen; it was so great! Where do authors come up with this stuff?  I wonder sometimes just how terrifying their nightmares are if they think up this stuff while they are awake.  The town, the characters, the creatures, and the back story in Spook House are all so wonderfully crafted I swear I have just been on a great adventure and I wish it wasn’t over.”

Read the full review here!

And pick up your very own copy of Spook House here!

Beagle Book Space posted a list of their favorite reads of the past year, and my new novel Spook House was one of them.

See the full list here.

And get your very own copy of Spook House here!

Well, here we are again.  Another year over, and a new one just begun.  And what a year it was; filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows, with professional triumphs and personal tragedies, and the hope that 2013 will bring something better.  But before we look ahead to what the new year has in store, let’s do a bit of review…

The year started off with the release of my short story “For the River Is Wide and the Gods Are Hungry” as a digital download for $0.99 through Seventh Star Press.  This was the first time that I had ever released my work in a purely digital format.  The publisher also re-released my award-winning short story “Goodnight” in the same fashion.

March saw the release of Poseidon’s Children, the first novel in my epic Urban Fantasy series The Legacy of the Gods.  The project introduced me to a world-wide audience, and to date, it has been sold in Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain!  This was a project that I had been kicking around for many years, so it was incredibly gratifying to see so many enjoying my story and falling in love with this cast of characters who had been so close to me for so long.

Then, during my publisher’s Summer Open House, my novel Cinema of Shadows became the most downloaded Horror novel on Amazon.com!

Growing up, I can’t tell you how many times I dreamed of having a #1 book, and it was so surreal and exciting to see it actually happen.

I traveled a lot this year in support of my novels – appearing at conventions, book stores, and book fairs in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and as far south as Atlanta, Georgia.  It was great to meet my faithful readers face-to-face, to introduce my work to new people, and to get to know a lot of stars from film and television, celebrities I have been watching  and idolizing for most of my life, including Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, Army of Darkness) and the amazing Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night).

But 2012 still wasn’t done with me yet.

October saw the release of my third Harmony, Indiana novel, Spook House.  A mash-up that featured the first meeting of Robby Miller (The Wide Game, Cinema of Shadows) and Earl L. Preston Jr. (Poseidon’s Children), the novel proved to be my best reviewed work to date,  even making its way onto some year-end lists as one or the year’s best reads!  The novel also sent me on my first virtual book tour.  For thirty days, I visited various sites from around the world, posting guest blogs, doing interviews, and just generally blown away by the overwhelming response.

And the year ended as it began, with more short story news.

“Trolling,” my tale set during the events of Poseidon’s Children, saw publication again as part of the Beast Within 3: Ocean’s Unleashed anthology.  And a new story,, my first real zombie tale, “Hell’s Hollow,” was part of the very limited Appalachian Undead anthology.  Hopefully you got your copy of that one before it went out of print!

While 2012 was the best year of my career, it was a year of personal struggles and tragedies.

Sara Larson, one of my closest and dearest friends, and a founding member of the Indiana Horror Writers, lost her long and painful battle with breast cancer.  The cancer had moved into her bones and her brain, and the year began with her in hospice care.  I visited her often, and she fought hard to stay with us, but on March 17th, she left this world behind and left a huge hole in a lot of people’s hearts.

Then, in September, cancer struck even closer to home when my wife Stephanie got the diagnosis shortly after our 20th wedding anniversary.  Thankfully, it was a slow-growing tumor that was confined to the bone in her arm.  Surgery replaced the infected bone with metal, and no chemo or radiation was needed.  As I type this, she is cancer free, but, because she can no longer physically perform the duties of her nursing job, a job she’s had as long as I’ve known her, she is also job free.  We are getting by, however, and I hope that the new year will bring good news.

Which brings us to 2013.

The new year will see the release of a special anthology, one that I’ve been editing off and on for over a year now; an anthology that will donate money to cancer research with each and every purchase.  This is, obviously, something that has a personal importance to me, and I am thrilled that it is finally coming together, and coming together so very well.  Look for an an official announcement on that one soon.  I hope we can do a lot of good with this one!

There will also be a new announcement in the Harmony, Indiana series in May, something faithful readers have been asking for for some time.  Sorry to be such a tease – there are a lot of moving parts to it, and some have yet to be set into motion – but trust me, it is something that will make a lot of people very happy, myself included.  *nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say no more*

Now, on to the stuff I can talk about in detail.

My short stories “The Grove” (Shroud Magazine #13) and “Unknown Caller” (Cadence in Decay) will be released during the next twelve months.  Stay tuned for exact release dates and more information as those dates draw near.

And last, but certainly not least, I will be working on the next two chapters in my Legacy of the Gods series, Hades’ Disciples and Zeus’ Warriors.  Look for the first of these two entries to be released before 2o13 ends, with the second coming out in early 2014.

So thanks to you, all my faithful readers, for your kind words and encouragement over these past twelve months, and for your continued support in 2013 and beyond.   Happy New Year!  May the future be a bright one for us all!

It’s that time of the year again, when everyone compiles their list of the best and worst of the past twelve months.   Beauty In Ruins just released their picks for highs and lows in speculative fiction from 2012, and I’m proud to say that my new novel, Spook House, landed firmly in the Best column!  Here’s an excerpt:

“Strangely, I didn’t read a lot of pure horror this year, but Spook House by Michael West was the best of the batch for me.  Check out all my Micheal West reviews here and stock your shelves!”

Read the full list here!

And get your very own copy of Spook House here!

Well, this is it…the FINAL STOP on the big Spook House Blog Tour!  Today, we visit with Jessica Lay at Jess Resides Here, and we get a look at the illustration for the Limited, Signed, Hardcover Edition of Spook House!  Thanks to all who have followed along on this month-long odyssey.  I hope you have enjoyed it, and I hope you will enjoy the novel!

Read the full post here!
And order the signed, limited, hardcover edition of Spook House here!

John Allen over at Write Mind posted a 4-Star review of my new novel, Spook House.  Here’s an excerpt:

“Michael West is a very good writer.  Spook House reads just like a horror movie, but not in the corny, cheesy predictable way.  It has plenty of gore, plenty of suspense, plenty of monsters, plenty of action…but what it also has is heart.  If you’re a fan of the horror genre, then do yourself a HUGE favor and pick up a copy of Spook House, because I know you’ll absolutely love it!”

Read the full review here!

And get your very own copy of Spook House here!

Today’s stop on the big Spook House Blog Tour…a great review from I Smell Sheep!  Here’s an excerpt:

“West writes a damn fine story. The characters are well-developed and the story is rich and intelligent. Where you find monsters you will also find gory deaths, but it isn’t done in a gratuitous manner. The story has a few lulls between the fast paced action scenes, but overall this is a quick read and good time for any fan of horror. If you like Stephen King or Scott Nicholson, then you will enjoy this.”

Read the full review here, and enter to win a copy of Spook House and Cinema of Shadows!

And if you don’t win, get your very own copy of Spook House here! 

Tomorrow’s stop…Ali’s Bookshelf!

Today’s stop on the big Spook House Blog Tour…a great review from The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia!  Here’s an excerpt:

“I do love reading a well written horror novel, especially when the characters are ones that are extremely likable who you want to see survive the ordeal. And that is just what I got with Michael West’s Spook House…a creepy good read.”

Read the full review here!

And get your very own copy of Spook House here!

Tomorrow’s stop… I Smell Sheep!