A Girl and Her Kindle just posted a wonderful new review of my first anthology as editor, Vampires Don’t Sparkle!  Here is an excerpt, one that should make author/contributor Tim Waggoner very happy:

“This isn’t your daughter’s vampire novel. Vampires Don’t Sparkle! is an amazing collection of fiction that features vampires at their most evil. While I’m a huge fan of Twilight, I loved this collection. I believe that ‘What Once Was Flesh’ was my favorite, but they were all so good. Still, ‘What Once Was Flesh’ had such a twist at the end that I just loved it. If you want to read a collection of stories that feature the vampire that Bram Stoker created, you need to read this book!”

Read the full review here!

And get your very own copy of Vampires Don’t Sparkle! here!

Mangled Matters just posted a new interview with me on my life, my work, and my first anthology as editor, Vampires Don’t Sparkle!  I also talk about some upcoming projects, including the next chapter in the Legacy of the Gods saga, Hades’ Disciples.

Read the interview here!

And get your very own copy of Vampires Don’t Sparkle! here!

Bitten by Books just posted a wonderful new review of my first anthology as editor, Vampires Don’t Sparkle!  Here’s an excerpt:

“Vampires Don’t Sparkle! is a collection of stories that have one thing in common: they all highlight the good old-fashioned vampire. The vampires here are evil, wicked, and glory in all the blood they can. There are no creatures that regret their existence, pine after mortals, or limit themselves to subsist on animal blood. These are the vampires of old, the vampires that make us humans crave the daylight and fear the darkness. Along with the twisted, fun, and Gothic darkness of these fifteen stories, a major highlight of this anthology is that a portion of the proceeds of the sales of Vampires Don’t Sparkle! are donated to cancer research as a tribute to a dear friend of West who lost her battle, as well as to his wife, who is a cancer survivor. Each story includes a bit of information on the author including their favorite vampires… totally original, inventive, current, and completely fascinating… stays with you long after the last page.”

Read the full review here!

And get your very own copy of Vampires Don’t Sparkle! here!

From the Bitten by Books website:

Join us on 4/10 with editor Michael West for an Interview, chat and contest. This event post goes up at 12:00pm Central and runs into the evening. For those visiting from outside of the US, here is the time conversion link. We are in the Chicago time zone:http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

He will be talking about his new anthology Vampires Don’t Sparkle

“What would you do if you had unlimited power and eternal life?
Would you…go back to high school? Attend the same classes year after year, going through the pomp and circumstance of one graduation after another, until you found the perfect date to take to prom? Would you…spend your days moping and brooding, finding your only joy in a game of baseball on a stormy day? Or would you…do something else? Anything else?

Mike from MikesFilmTalk just posted a review of my first anthology as editor, Vampires Don’t Sparkle!  Here’s an excerpt:

“I had given up hope of ever reading a vampire tale that would affect me so much that I had to sleep with the light on and nervously peer into darkened corners or jump, heart pounding, at every creak and pop as the house settles for the night.  But… I had not counted on Horror Master (again the capitals are required) Michael West to collect such an array of brilliantly bloody and violent ‘old-fashioned’ vampires…  He offers, for our entertainment and enjoyment (and terror) fifteen different stories about blood ingesting, super-human creatures who yearn for your blood from fifteen different contemporary authors. There is even a robot vampire!  But all these stories have one thing in common, apart from the fact that all the vampires in them are actually scary and would not appeal to any ‘tween’ that I know of; these stories suffer from originality… If you love  more traditional vampires grab this book with both hands and read it. In a world of 2 and 3 star books and vampires who really aren’t, this collection is a real 5 star glorious bloodsucking creature of the night read.”

Read the full review here!

And get your very own copy of Vampires Don’t Sparkle! here!

My first short story anthology as editor, Vampires Don’t Sparkle!, is now available on Kindle.  Download it now for just $3.99 and begin reading some amazing fiction by the best names in Horror and Dark Fantasy, and best of all, help contribute to the fight against cancer!  Here is another look at the table of contents:

Edited by Michael West

Click here to download to your Kindle today!

Here it is, faithful readers, the cover artwork for my first anthology as editor, Vampires Don’t Sparkle!  Created by Matthew Perry, who has done the artwork for my last three novels (Poseidon’s Children, Cinema of Shadows, and Spook House), I think it captures the animalistic demon that is the true “vampyre.”

Here is another look at the amazing table of contents:

Edited by Michael West
Foreword by Michael West
“A New Life” by J. F. Gonzalez
“What Once was Flesh” by Tim Waggoner
“The Darkton Circus Mystery” by Elizabeth Massie
“Robot Vampire” by R. J. Sullivan
“Beneath a Templar Cross” by Gord Rollo
“The Weapon of Memory” by Kyle S. Johnson
“The Excavation” by Stephen Zimmer
“Skraeling” by Joel A. Sutherland
“Dreams of Winter” by Bob Freeman
“Dracula’s Winkee: Bloodsucker Blues” by Gregory L. Hall
“I F*** Your Sunshine” by Lucy A. Snyder
“A Soldier’s Story” by Maurice Broaddus
“Rattenkönig” by Douglas F. Warrick
“Vampire Nation” by Jerry Gordon
“Curtain Call” by Gary A. Braunbeck

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to cancer research institutions to fight the real horrors of Cancer.

Pre-order your copy of Vampires Don’t Sparkle! today!

For Immediate Release
March 2, 2013

Seventh Star Press Announces Upcoming Release of 
Vampires Don’t Sparkle! Anthology

Seventh Star Press is proud to announce the upcoming release of Vampires Don’t Sparkle!, an exciting new anthology from editor Michael West that features the talents of many of the best writers in the speculative fiction arena, including Gary Braunbeck, Tim Waggoner, Maurice Broaddus, Lucy A. Snyder, and several more exceptional authors.  Featuring cover artwork from the award-winning artist Matthew Perry, the anthology will be available in trade paperback and eBook formats by the end of March.

Vampires Don’t Sparkle! poses the question: What would you do if you had unlimited power and eternal life?

Would you…go back to high school? Attend the same classes year after year, going through the pomp and circumstance of one graduation after another, until you found the perfect date to take to prom? Would you…spend your days moping and brooding, finding your only joy in a game of baseball on a stormy day? Or would you…do something else?

The authors of this collection have a few ideas; some fanciful, some humorous, and some as dark as an endless night. Join us, and discover what it truly means to be “vampyre.”

Below is a full list of authors and stories included in Vampires Don’t Sparkle!

“A New Life” by J. F. Gonzalez
“What Once was Flesh” by Tim Waggoner
“The Darkton Circus Mystery” by Elizabeth Massie
“Robot Vampire” by R. J. Sullivan
“Beneath a Templar Cross” by Gord Rollo
“The Weapon of Memory” by Kyle S. Johnson
“The Excavation” by Stephen Zimmer
“Skraeling” by Joel A. Sutherland
“Dreams of Winter” by Bob Freeman
“Dracula’s Winkee: Bloodsucker Blues” by Gregory L. Hall
“I F*** Your Sunshine” by Lucy A. Snyder
“A Soldier’s Story” by Maurice Broaddus
“Rattenkönig” by Douglas F. Warrick
“Vampire Nation” by Jerry Gordon
“Curtain Call” by Gary A. Braunbeck

A portion of the proceeds from the sales of the anthology will be going to cancer research institutions, which was a prime motivation for editor Michael West in putting the project together. The author of highly-acclaimed novels such as Poseidon’s Children, Cinema of Shadows, The Wide Game and Spook House, Michael decided to take on the editor’s role for Vampires Don’t Sparkle! for some personal reasons.

As Michael recently stated, “It is a very personal cause for me.  One year ago, I lost one of my closest friends, author Sara J. Larson, to cancer, and then my wife was diagnosed with the disease last fall.  I hope that, with this anthology, we can help win the fight against this real-life horror.

And what an anthology it is!  My fellow horror and dark fantasy authors will take you down some very twisted paths, each putting his or her own unique spin on the age-old legend of the vampire. Some of these tales are fanciful, some humorous, and some as black as an endless night. These are stories that will once more strike fear into your heart and make you dread sundown. These are tales to make the vampire cool again.”

To get further information on Michael West, or the Vampires Don’t Sparkle! anthology, please visit Michael’s site at www.bymichaelwest.com or the Seventh Star Press site atwww.seventhstarpress.com

Contact: C.C. James
Public Relations, Seventh Star Press
ccjames (at) seventhstarpress.com

Seventh Star Press is a small press publisher of speculative fiction located in Lexington Kentucky

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!

As one year ends, another begins, like the chapters of a book that you just can’t put down, eager to see what happens to all the characters on the next page.  And let me tell you, faithful readers, there is a lot of exciting stuff coming on those next pages.  But before we look ahead, let’s reflect a moment on the story so far…

2011 was one hell of a year!  It was a rollercoaster ride of the highest highs and lowest lows.  On the high end, I signed on with Seventh Star Press and saw a record number of works published in various magazines and anthologies. 

“Sandwalkers” published in Fell Beasts

“Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite”  published in Shroud #11

“Masako’s Tale” published in The Beast Within 2: Predator & Prey

The Wide Game  

And last but not least, Cinema of Shadows.

The reaction from faithful readers and critics to Cinema has been especially rewarding, and I thank you all for your kind words and support. 

And for the lows?   Well, they were pretty damn low.

Sara J. Larson, a co-founder of Indiana Horror Writers, my harshest critic, my biggest fan, and one of my closest and dearest friends, has been battling breast cancer for over a year.  There was a time, after her chemo and radiation treatments, when it looked like she would be with us for years to come, but in the fall, her condition took a turn for the worse.  She is now in hospice, and her time is short.  For those who have had a friend or family member fight a losing battle with this disease, you know my sadness and my total feeling of helplessness.  She is in my thoughts and my prayers every minute of every day, as is her incredible husband, Bill.  If you have never had a cancer screening, please do so.  And give what you can to cancer research so that, someday, no one will have to go through this. 

Which leads me to 2012…

One of the projects I am working on for the new year is an anthology of Vampire fiction for Naked Snake Press called Vampires Don’t Sparkle!  The stories will be dark, and gritty, with vampires that do not mope or go to prom, and best of all…all proceeds from the sale of the anthology will be donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure in Sara J. Larson’s name.  The stories are in, and I am reading and editing like crazy, so I hope to have a table of contents for you soon.  If you are a fan of Horror, or you just want to help make a difference in the war on cancer, please buy or download a copy when it becomes available in the first half of 2012.

On a much lighter note…

Also coming in 2012 is the first novel in my Legacy of the Gods series, Poseidon’s Children.  This epic, four book saga has been a project that I have been toying with off and on since 1989, and I am so happy that Seventh Star Press is giving me the opportunity to be able to finally share it with all of you.  Look for the limited edition hardcover, paperback, and eBook versions of Poseidon’s Children to surface in March.

I also have three new short stories coming out in the next few months.  “The Grove” will appear in Shroud Magazine, Issue #13, “For the River Is Wide and the Gods Are Hungry” will be released as a $0.99 eBook from Seventh Star Press, and “Unknown Caller” will be part of an amazing limited edition anthology from MHB Press called Cadence in Decay.

And last but not least, my next Harmony, Indiana novel, Spook House, will be released in September.

I will also be on the road quite a bit in the next 12 months, with appearances at Days of the Dead, HorrorHound Weekend, Fandom Fest, and Scarefest to name just a few.  Check my schedule throughout the year, as it does change from time to time.

Yes indeed, 2012 promises to be another roller coaster of a year!  Let’s hope there are more ups than downs for us all, and I look forward to meeting many of you in my travels.  As always, thanks to you, my faithful readers.  You are why I do this, and I hope to offer you more thrills and chills over the next 12 months and for many years to come.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!