Collecting two of my previously published stories (“Pearls” and “Roadbeds”) along with my Christmas horror story “Krampus,” RUST & BLOOD also includes six never before published stories that run the gamut from body horror to rural noir. I hope you’ll check it out! (Hey, it’s only $1.99!)

RUST & BLOOD

Stories of horror and crime from Ed Kurtz, author of BLEED.

Love and cannibalism, retribution and madness, the horrors people commit in the name of goodness and the abominations that await behind closed doors. RUST & BLOOD collects nine stories of horror and crime where the tables are always turned and no one ever gets out unscathed.

CONTENTS:

Hungry

Sinners

Slowpoke

Family Bible

W4M

Pearls

Roadbeds

Earworm

Krampus: A Christmas Tale

“Ed Kurtz pulls no punches!” —Gord Rollo, author of Valley of the Scarecrow and The Dark Side of Heaven

“Kurtz brings the scares.” —Dreadful Tales

As you may know by now, I moonlight as the editor-in-chief for Redrum Horror. Redrum is a numbered line of—you guessed it!—horror books that doesn’t subscribe to any one type or sub-genre; it’s really all across the board. If it’s horror, we dig it. That being said, one thing I would really like to publish is a graphic novel.

So here’s the deal:

Redrum Horror is now open to graphic novel submissions.

What we want:

• A grayscale graphic horror novel, no less than 175 pages in length;
• Pages that conform to 8×5 dimensions of the Redrum Horror library;
• An original, compelling, and human story that is scary as hell!

What we don’t want:

• Derivative/unoriginal narratives (standard monsters—zombies, vampires, werewolves—are okay, as long as the take on them is fresh);
• Anime style artwork;
• Other creator’s characters, fan fiction, “remade classics.”

What to submit:

Whether you are both the writer and the artist or a team, interested parties should submit a detailed synopsis of the graphic novel’s entire narrative, 3-5 pages in length.

Additionally, art samples should be submitted that include character designs and sample pages, complete with any text or dialogue that may be included (text and dialogue are NOT, however, a requirement). Whereas I prefer art be submitted in PDF format, JPG or GIF is fine. Resolution should be 300dpi.

A writing sample, 5-10 pages in length, detailing the writer’s command of dialogue (where applicable) and narrative storytelling.

Inquiries and submissions should be directed to Ed Kurtz at redrumhorror@gmail.com. In the subject line, put GRAPHIC NOVEL SUBMISSION: [your title].

Please note that this call is for graphic novel projects ONLY. Any other pitches will be deleted and ignored. Submissions will remain open until May 1, 2012, or until a project is selected.

For more information on Redrum Horror, visit www.redrumhorror.com

Thanks, and good luck!

Anything Horror  lists Bleed among their 10 Favorite Horror Novels of 2011.

“What do ya get when you take a debut novel by an up and coming writer who loves the horror genre?  Ya get BLEED.  BLEED grabs you by the balls from the opening chapter and doesn’t let go until the final pages.  With elements of Barker’s HELLRAISER and echoes of Cronenberg’s body horror, Kurtz weaves a horrifying story of obsession that you know isn’t gonna end well.  Some of the passages were so descriptive and gory that I was giggling like a school-girl ‘cause I was so happy I picked up this book!!”

Over at Horrortalk, Gabino Iglesias picked Bleed for his Top Ten, as well:

“A powerful debut novel that should let horror fans know Kurtz is here to stay. From the nerve-wracking loneliness that the main character suffers from to a cannibalistic female with no skin who must feed to become complete, this fast-paced and gory debut has all a horror book must have to make a list like this one.”

And at Geeks of Doom, Darkeva counts Bleed among the year’s Top 10 Fantasy and Horror Books.

“The novel is about much more than just the creature that grows out of a stain in an old house and drives its owner to delirium. It’s one of the more powerfully written horror novels in recent years, and a throwback to the great small town horror novels of the 70s. The creature is definitely one of the most unique I’ve ever encountered, and the reader is left with a powerful impact when the protagonist, Walt, transforms from an ordinary guy into something far worse than the monster.”

I am humbled and in awe at the company I enjoy on these terrific lists of books, many of which I’ve read (Lee Thomas’ The German was my favorite book of the year, as it happens). Big thanks to Scott Shoyer, Gabino Iglesias, and Darkeva for the inclusion. I’m over the moon, folks.

Please note that these are in no particular order, just as I thought of them, and that I consider them all well worth your time and hard-earned cash. So without further ado, here are the best books I read in 2011.

1.     THE GERMAN, Lee Thomas (Lethe Press)

I met Lee at World Horror in the Spring, which he co-ran with Nate Southard. Apart from being extremely harried by the demands of running a large convention of unruly horror writers, Lee also unveiled his newest novel at the time, The German. I’d never read Lee, so I picked it up and started reading it that night—and it blew me away. It’s haunting, terrifying, and tragic, a period story with characters so real, so beautiful and horrible, that I’ve been falling all over the poor guy with praise ever since. The German is not only one of the finest novels of 2011, but of recent memory. Read this book.

2.     SOUTHERN GODS, John Hornor Jacobs (Night Shade Books)

This is one that burst out of the gate running and has earned the author a great deal of very well deserved praise. Southern Gods is Jacobs’ debut novel, an addictive mix of Faulkner’s pathos, Jim Thompson’s rural noir, and Lovecraft’s unknowable, otherworldly horror. It’s a hell of a treat and highly recommended.

3.     11/22/63, Stephen King (Scribner)

Yeah, I know—Mr. King certainly doesn’t need my praise, but I’m just being honest here, folks. I found myself vaguely disappointed by Under the Dome and downright let down by Full Dark, No Stars, so I really wasn’t expecting much from this odd-sounding time travel novel about a guy who discovers a mysterious time portal and decides to use it to prevent the Kennedy assassination. Yet despite my low expectations, 11/22/63 turned out to be an outstanding novel, King’s best in years, and probably one of the best of his entire career so far. There has been a fair amount of blather about whether or not it’s a horror book (it’s not) or even a genre book (it is), but forget all that crap—it’s an awesome book. JIMLA!

4.     DEAD MONEY, Ray Banks (Blasted Heath)

I discovered Scottish noir author Ray Banks when the outstanding Needle Magazine began serializing his novel Wolf Tickets, which I really enjoyed. So when a new Scottish e-book imprint called Blasted Heath popped up and announced a new title from Banks, I scooped it up. Set in Manchester, Dead Money is UK post-noir that channels the best of Charles Willeford’s white collar crime stories with Banks’ own decidedly one of a kind voice that compelled me to read this sucker in one sitting. I love a well-told crime tale from the point of view of a morally bankrupt narrator, but it’s deceptively hard to pull off. Banks pulls it off, and in spades. A great novel.

5.     GETTING OFF, Lawrence Block (Hard Case Crime)

Larry Block released the long-awaited and highly anticipated new entry in his Matthew Scudder series this year, A Drop of the Hard Stuff, but being the skeezy old perv I am I was far more excited about Getting Off, the first book Hard Case Crime released upon their return from the abyss, as it were. And talk about morally bankrupt narrators! The young lady chaperoning your reading experience here is nothing short of a psychopath, yet Block’s got you rooting for her almost every step of the way. She’s nasty, beautiful, terrifying, and you can’t get enough of her. Charles Ardai couldn’t have selected a better volume to herald Hard Case’s glorious return.

6.     CHOKE HOLD, Christa Faust (Hard Case Crime)

Okay, okay, I need to give the First Lady of Hard Case Crime her due, here. See, the thing is, HCC actually released two books upon their return to the scene, Getting Off and the astounding Christa Faust’s highly anticipated sequel to Money Shot, Choke Hold. Faust’s one-of-a-kind heroine, former porn star turned hard-as-nails righteous avenger Angel Dare returns in a lean and rollicking story of MMA fighters, narcotics trafficking and, of course, good old fashioned hot-blooded American sex. Money Shot remains one of the absolute best entries in the Hard Case line, and I promise you that Choke Hold is every bit as good. If not just a teensy bit better.

7.     EVERY SHALLOW CUT, Tom Piccirilli (ChiZine Publications)

Why the shit isn’t Tom Piccirilli a hundred times more famous than he is? He’s easily one of the best writers out there, his output is tremendous and I’ll be damned if he’s disappointed yet. This unusual little volume was released by ChiZine Publications earlier in the year and boasts a stunning interior layout that acts like a magician’s assistant to the magic Pic works in this troublingly lonesome, gripping noir novella of a mid-list writer long dropped from the list and at the end of his rope. I won’t sugarcoat it: this is a depressing read. But it’s a damn excellent one, too, and worth the open-mouthed, knee-hugging keening you’ll probably be doing after you’ve finished it.

8.     THE FIVE, Robert McCammon (Subterranean Press)

I love me some Rick McCammon. After a lengthy hiatus from publishing he came back a few years ago with Speaks the Nightbird, an entirely different but wholly satisfactory kind of novel from him. It has since developed into an ongoing series (and man, are they good), but this year McCammon released another unusual work with The Five, a intensely character driven novel that chronicles the deep and often sacrificial spiritual journey of a famous rock band on the eve of their break-up, and while being hunted by a deranged vet with severe PTSD (or, maybe, a real ghost guiding his violence?). The Five is like Pilgrim’s Progress for the 21st century agnostic, and one of most emotionally satisfying novels I’ve read in ages.

9.     THE WOMAN, Jack Ketchum & Lucky McKee (Dorchester)

Ketchum teamed up with Lucky McKee, who has had a hand in a few Ketchum film adaptations, to craft both the novel and the screenplay for this standalone entry in his cannibal Off Season universe. Both are remarkable works, and The Woman is probably Ketchum’s best effort since his soul-rattling classic The Girl Next Door, because like Girl, The Woman delves deep—uncomfortably deep—into the average human being’s capacity for cruelty and violence as well as the most savage human being’s innate capacity for compassion. Ketchum is a guy who understands people so well that I’m impressed he hasn’t gone completely insane or had his faced melted off. Instead, he pours it all into tremendous works like this. And melts our faces off.

10. JUST LIKE HELL, Nate Southard (Deadite Press)

Nate Southard originally released this novella of bigotry, hate, love, and revenge in a limited edition through Thunderstorm Books, but it’s long out of print, so good on Deadite Press for re-releasing it replete with a selection of terrific short stories. Just Like Hell is a downright heartbreaking revenge story concerning a closeted gay high school football player who is abducted along with his boyfriend when the violently homophobic teammates discover his secret. Things rapidly turn from bad to worse to unimaginably horrible, and Nate drags the reader through every shard of broken glass with style and a blood-and-gristle sort of grace. In my opinion, the short stories that follow Just Like Hell are even better, however—sharp little noir tales unlike anything of Nate’s I’d ever read before. Brutal and at times unpleasant, but excellent from cover to cover.

So there you have it: ten books I think you ought to acquire and devour immediately if you don’t want to go on with me thinking you’re a huge idiot. You don’t want to be a huge idiot, do you? I didn’t think so. So what are you waiting for? You’ve got Christmas shopping to do, and I just finished your shopping list for you.

NOW…what were your favorite reads of the year? Comments are open below if you want to chime in.

This anthology is edited by Kelly Dunn, published by Rainstorm Press, and features new stories from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Woodworth (Through Violet Eyes), actress/writer Barbie Wilde (Hellraiser II, Hellbound Hearts), Pushcart-nominated writer Jarret Keene (A Boy’s Guide to Arson), and of course yours truly. It promises to be a hell of a great collection of weird and wonderful fiction, and I hope you’ll check it out.

And if you’d prefer a simple PDF, click here and read away: KRAMPUS

I sincerely hope you enjoy it, folks!

My serialized Civil War era serial killer novel, Sawbones, went on hiatus due to publisher interest. I don’t know how that will pan out yet, but the publisher/editor in question requested I stop posting chapters until a decision has been made. Stay tuned. (Also: cross your fingers.)

A grisly little tale of meth and murder in my home state of Arkansas, “Dog Will Hunt,” was picked up by the very cool Needle: A Magazine of Noir. The story will appear in the Winter 2011 issue, but I strongly recommend you snatch every issue. (No. 4 featured a terrific story from Tom Piccirilli and the following volume features a never-before-published Gil Brewer story!)

My backwoods East Texas creature story “Angel and Grace” was picked up for the forthcoming anthology Mutation Nation, edited by Kelly Dunn and published by Rainstorm Press. The antho is expected to be released in December.

A group of very gracious pre-readers is currently combing over the penultimate edit of my novel Control. Once it’s returned to me and I do my final edit, you can expect the e-book to follow, probably in late November. Control will be available on Kindle and Nook. A brief description appears on the Bibliography page.

That’s not quite everything, but some of my industry shan’t be discussed for a short while yet. Cool shit on the horizon, folks. I think you’ll dig what I’ve got up my sleeve.

That said, my first trip to Sin City was a complete blast. Sure, we did the Strip and burned a few bucks in the slot machines, but for me KillerCon 3 could have been held just about anywhere and I would have loved every second of it. Well, as long as there was booze. And there was. Oh, so much booze.

John Skipp, Megan Zimmerman and Ed Kurtz

There were a few cock-ups with the flight getting in, but on the second leg of the journey we ended up sitting with the William Nolan, Jason Brock and Sunni Brock, who were very kind and funny and became our first new friends of the trip before we even made it to Nevada. We arrived at the Stratosphere after midnight. The welcoming party was still going, though, so we popped in and said our hellos to friends we made back in the Spring at World Horror Con in our hometown of Austin. We saw Gord Rollo and Guido Henkel, had a quick drink and went off to bed. The con started in earnest the following morning with the opening of the dealer’s room and the opening ceremonies during which the amazing organizers—Wrath James White, Bailey Hunter and R.J. Cavender—welcomed the intimate group of attendees and introduced their fine line-up of Guests of Honor. I was thrilled to catch up with Jack Ketchum and to meet Monica Kuebler, my Facebook buddy Ray Garton, Jonathan Maberry and the extremely gracious Edward Lee for the first time. There were a handful of folks I just didn’t get around to meeting, GoH Jeff Mariotte among them, but such is destined for future cons.

After the opening ceremonies we skipped out and hit the Strip, because that’s what you’re supposed to do in Vegas. We saw the sharks at Mandalay Bay and the lions at the MGM Grand, popped through several hotel casinos and enjoyed the artery-hardening majesty of the Fatburger. We made it back in time for Ray Garton’s reading from his contribution to Sinister Grin Press’s chapbook Cut Corners. It was, of course, a marvelous story and I was delighted to shake Ray’s hand for the first time after the Q&A. He’s one of my heroes and an absolutely outstanding person. Sadly, I didn’t get a lot of face time with Ray at the con, but I’m holding out hope to see him again in Salt Lake City for World Horror 2012.

Ray Garton

So far, so good. Around six we headed down to the casino bar for their all-you-can drink happy hour whereupon I immediately began pounding margaritas like they were going to become illegal at midnight or something. Come 7:30 I was three sheets to the wind and drunk tweeting Weston Ochse:

If @westonochse doesn’t meet me at the casino bar he is thereby admitting I could best him at fisticuffs. There: I said it.

In case you’re not familiar with the inimitable Weston Ochse, one important thing to know here is that the dude is a BADASS. And I don’t mean a Wrath James White, could murder me with his thumb kind of badass, though he totally is—I mean he’s the sort of badass who could, in all likelihood, convince me to jump from the top of the Stratosphere tower without a harness and plummet to the sidewalk below leaving nothing but a wide red slick on the cement. And here I’m telling the guy in a drunken stupor that I could totally kick his ass.

Weston Ochse and Ed Kurtz

Oh, and all of this during his multimedia presentation that I was totally supposed to attend. So yeah, I’m a pretty classy cat. It was all good, though—Weston took it in stride because he’s that sort of laidback dude, and I bought him a couple drinks the next night while my wife got her ass handed to her in five rounds of pool against John Skipp. Good times, especially since Weston didn’t go do that voodoo that he does so well all up on my ass.

Ed Kurtz and John Skipp

That night, the Burning Effigy party was swell, I consumed more than my fair share of free hooch, and then off to the Erotic Horror Fiction contest where I may or may not have achieved a Hollywood Loaf. I ain’t tellin’. From there the evening concluded/devolved into the Deadite Press party, half of which was spent by the elevators where the smokers congregated to purposely ingest poison and get scolded by hotel security. Deadite honcho Jeff Burk announced the cult press’s newest author, my fellow Austinite Shane McKenzie, who runs Sinister Grin Press with Travis Tarpley. A couple of truly awesome fellas who were gracious enough to put up with my blathering on about Christ knows what when I’m in my cups. But hell, I love anybody who has the patience to put up with my crap.

Saturday morning we went to the enormously talented P.S. Gifford’s reading, then off to lunch at the goofy 50s style diner in the Strat for lunch with Gene O’Neil and Gord Rollo. If you don’t happen to know these gents, you have a hole in your lousy life. They’re the best, and I mean that shit. I feel comfortable and welcome anyplace I run into Gene and Gord, and I always look forward to seeing them at events like KillerCon. Great writers and even better people. I’m glad to call them my friends.

Angel McCoy, Chris Marrs, Megan Zimmerman, Guido Henkel, Eunice Magill, Gord Rollo and Ed Kurtz

I finally got to have a couple of drinks with Weston Ochse and John Skipp that Saturday evening, after which my wife and I joined Gene, Gord, Chris Marss, Eunice Magill and Guido Henkel at the Tower Bar about a bazillion feet above the Las Vegas Strip. The next stop was the Gross-Out Contest, where Monica O’Rourke and Pat McEwen entertained and reviled with aplomb, and where Shane McKenzie won the day with his soul-destroyingly nasty tale, “Sunday Soup.”

For the remainder of the night R.J. hosted the Cutting Block Press party, at which I consumed gallons of delicious handcrafted beer on tap, discussed cats with Angel McCoy, apologized for my tactlessness even as I was being tactless, and almost died laughing when Eunice exclaimed that my wife reminds her of Smurfette. A splendid time was had by all. And by splendid I mean off the rails stinking blotto.

Sunday morning, the last day of the con. We visited with folks in the dealer’s room, I finally met my Twitter pal Jeremy Wagner and got him to sign The Armageddon Chord for me, and we enjoyed the revelry and camaraderie at the closing ceremonies before heading back to the party suite for more beer at Round One of the Dead Dog Party. I chatted for a while with Nate Southard, who then whisked us away on a Wrath-led expedition to OGs, a nearby strip joint, and then off to the Spearmint Rhino, another nearby strip joint. I drank, I threw bills, I got mammaries pressed into my face. I had a stripper try to get me to burn her legs with my cigarette while another one mumbled incoherently to my wife for ten minutes. And all this fun in just six short hours! But the most fun I had on Sunday was during Round Two of the Dead Dog Party, which consisted of my wife and I, Jeff Burk, Rose O’Keefe, Carlton Mellick III, Bailey Hunter and R.J. Cavender. I had a great conversation with Bailey (what a fantastic lady she is!) and I was delighted at the opportunity to really chat up the Eraserhead/Deadite gang, who are as generous and interesting as they are insane. I even got a hug out of Jeff Burk, which was kind of weird since he’s about the size of a second grader. One fucking rad second grader, though.

It was a hell of a time. I pitched a novella and resurrected a shelved anthology, I’m talking to a publisher about a book deal and I made a lot of great new friends. I was drunk most of the time, but so was mostly everyone else. And I surely can’t wait for the KillerCon 4.

I want to extend a huge thanks to Wrath, Bailey and R.J. for hosting and organizing the event. They did an outstanding job and the whole shebang went off without a hitch, as least as far as I could see. And as for the rest of you reprobates, I’ll see some of you in SLC in March, some of you at next year’s KillerCon, and the remainder of you in my nightmares. Stay scary, my friends.