Welcome to-day 3 of the Coffin Hop! 

I realized that my blogs about me are no longer on the front page, so I will recap what has gone on before.  My name is Brent Abell and I write horror fiction.  I have only been writing for a year and a half and have already had eight stories accepted (it was nine-more on that later).  In the past two years I read at Mo*Con IV and recently read at Horrorfind 13 in Gettysburg.  So far, only one story has seen print from Rymfire eBooks and the others should be coming out soon, starting in a couple of weeks with my story “Spot Shoot” in Post Mortem Press’s New Dawn Fades anthology.  More stories will be coming from Pill Hill Press and Wicked East Press.  For more information, please click on the Biblio link on the right.  I am working on two novel projects, finishing the last touches on a novella, and working on concepts for two short story collections.  Here is where you will find all the latest news and rants.  Feel free to also follow on Twitter or to send a friend request on Facebook, I also use those quite a bit as new arises (links to these are on the right also).

Ok, the news…In a sad turn, The Twisted Library has cancelled almost all of their planned anthologies.  This includes my story “Stonewall” which was to appear in their The South Will Rise Undead anthology.  It saddens me because this was the first story I ever had accepted, so it held a special place in my heart.  Now that the story has been returned, I’m brushing it up and finishing up my initial concept by making it a novella.  I have some places in mind, so we will see what the future holds.  I wish the good Doc and all the Twisted Library luck and their moves now save the press for later when the economy improves.

Author of the Day #3-  So far I have talked about Stephen King, Brian Keene, and Jeff Strand stopped by to answer some questions this week.  Today’s author is somebody who’s work is simply amazing and is a big influence on me along with the other three authors.  Ray Garton’s books have been some of the best I have read in the past three years since I found small press horror.  He is the author of works such as the highly regarded vampire novel Live Girls, he gave werewolves a neat twist in Ravenous and Bestial, and even his non-supernatural thrillers such as Shackled are great reads.  The good thing about Ray’s stuff is that he tries to keep things in print.  All of his hard to find novellas and short stories find ways to get back out for a bigger audience to enjoy.  The past year has seen many of his limited and hard to find books being released in trade paperback format from e-reads.com as well as a few new ones like Trailer Park Noir and Meds.  If you have not been reading Ray, you’ve been missing out a one hell of a writer and if you have…you know how talented the man is.

Day Three Author Question:  What thriller by Ray about people who live in the sunny hills is my favorite novel from him?