Jennifer at Book Den just posted a new interview with me on my two Seventh Star Singles, “Goodnight” and “For the River Is Wide and the Gods Are Hungry.”  We also talked about my upcoming novels, Poseidon’s Children, the first book in my epic, dark Urban Fantasy series, The Legacy of the Gods, and Spook House and Field of Screams, the next two Harmony, Indiana titles. 

Read the interview here!

Book Den is also giving away copies of all 8 Seventh Star Singles to three lucky people!  This contest will be open until January 31, 2012.  Good luck!

 The Sci-Fi Guys have put out their list of the The Best of 2011: Books, and my two Harmony, Indiana novels, The Wide Game and Cinema of Shadows, both made the list! 

Cinema of Shadows came in at number 9.  Here’s what they had to say about it:

“Cinema of Shadows was everything that I could want in a ghost story: an intelligent professor with a sordid past, a group of teenagers searching for answers in a Ghost Adventures fashion, a haunted movie theater, a well paced story, and an exorcism from Hell. Plus a few familiar faces. Cinema of Shadows did not disappoint.”

And where did The Wide Game come in?  Why all the way up at number 2!   Here’s what Sci-Fi guys had to say about it:

“The Wide Game takes the reader back to a time when horror was thriving. Back to a time where storytellers and Hollywood didn’t rely on gratuitous violence and stupid gore to shock the consumer. Back to a time when this novel would have easily made the New York Times, and quite possibly rivaled the newest Stephen King title.”

With all the books released in 2011, it would have been an honor just to have one of my titles make a year-end “best of” list, but to have both of my Harmony, Indiana books appear on a list with the likes of Joe R. Lansdale and Brian Keene…words cannot describe!

You can read the full list here!

The Wide Game is available from Graveside Tales Books.

And Cinema of Shadows is available in paperback and e-book from Seventh Star Press.  There may even be a few signed, limited edition hardcovers available if you act fast!

And to all my faithful readers out there, if you thought 2011 was something, wait until you see what I have in store for 2012!

My newest short story, “For the River Is Wide and the Gods Are Hungry,”  is now available as a $0.99 eBook for Kindle, iPad, and Nook!

In this never before published Tales from Harmony short story, it should be the best time of Becky’s life. Her studies at Stanley University are going well, and her boyfriend, Mark, has just asked her to marry him. But when she returns to her childhood home, Becky finds she must deal once more with the events of one horribly hot summer day, a deadly past that now threatens to steal all her future happiness.

Tales from Harmony short stories offer horror fans much more to experience in the Harmony, Indiana setting that is featured in Michael West novels such as Cinema of Shadows and The Wide Game.

Be sure to check out other eBook short stories that are part of the Seventh Star Singles collection!

Michael West joins the Seventh Star Press  Seventh Star Singles line of $0.99 eBooks with “Goodnight,” the first short story in his Tales from Harmony collection for the Seventh Star Singles line.  Michael West’s Tales from Harmony collection features stories with ties to Harmony, Indiana, a location synonymous with horror and the site of many of his tales, including his novels The Wide Game  and Cinema of Shadows.

In this Tales from Harmony short story, a frightened child, in a rural Indiana farmhouse, attempts to fool the Angel of Death.

“Goodnight” was voted Best Horror Short Story of the Year in a 2005 P&E Readers Poll. First featured in the magazine Wicked Karnival #6, it was also included in Skull Full of Kisses, a single author collection from Michael West published by Graveside Tales. Now, it debuts Michael’s Tales from Harmony eBook short story collection.

Click here to download the story to your Kindle for just $0.99!

Click here to download the story to your Nook for just $0.99!

“My top 10 reads of 2011 were:
1. Floating Staircase – Ronald Malfi
2. My Soul to Steal – Rachel Vincent
3. Smile No More – James A. Moore
4. A Bad Day for Voodoo – Jeff Strand
5. The Samhanach – Lisa Morton
6. Lost Homicidal Maniac – Jeff Strand
7. The Wide Game – Michael West
8. Drink, Slay, Love – Sarah Beth Durst
9. Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs – Molly Harper
10. I Was a Seventh Grade Monster Hunter – A.G. Kent (W.D. Gagliani & David Benton)”

You can order your copy of The Wide Game here!

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!

Michael West will be a guest at HorrorHound Weekend Cincinnati 2011, November 11-13th at the  Crowne Plaza Cincinnati North.   He will be signing copies of his novels, The Wide Game and Cinema of Shadows, as well as his short story collection, Skull Full of Kisses, and other works.   Other guests include the casts of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, Ghostbusters, and the hit AMC series The Walking Dead.

The Crowne Plaza is located at 11320 Chester Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45246.  Look for more information as the event draws near.  Michael West hopes to see all his faithful readers there!

My new novel, Cinema of Shadows, has been available to order for less than a day, but the Sci-Fi Guys Book Review site has already read it and posted a glowing notice!  Here’s a snippet:

“9 out of 10!  West effortlessly chills you to your very marrow.  I highly recommend snagging a copy of Cinema of Shadows as soon as humanly possible…one hell of a good story.” 

Read the full review here!

 RJ Sullivan, reviewer and author of the ghost story Haunting Blue,  just finished reading my debut novel, The Wide Game, and had this to say about it:

“10 out of 10!   West can deliver on the scary.   But what impressed me more about The Wide Game is West’s ability to create fully developed characters, even the ones that won’t make it to the end…and any reader whose heart is not made of gargoyle stone will get vested in their story.  West opens a creative vein of truth to bring the perfect touch of honesty to his fiction.   Bottom line: If you’re just looking for a great scary book, you can’t go wrong with The Wide Game.”

Read the full review here!

Greetings, faithful readers! 

Another month has come and gone.  Hard to believe that a fourth of the year is already in the history books.  Guess the old saying about “time flies when you’re having fun” is true after all.  March, 2011, was full of  interviews, signings, and work, work, work.    So without further ado, here’s a quick recap / status update…

The month began with not one but two glowing reviews of my debut novel, The Wide Game.  The first was from Sheri Jenkins White at Xomba Horror: