Graves, Obituaries, and the Blues

A little darkness to eclipse your cheery Easter weekend.

The sun came out.

This may not sound like a big deal to some of you, but I live in New England and have not seen the sun since September. I celebrated this solar event by changing the oil on my old pickup truck while listening to country music from fifty years ago. Meanwhile, Bear stretched out in the grass, which should be turning green any day now. I tell ya, I was in such a good mood, I went out and bought a new circular saw and shotgun.

Yes, spring is in the air, and it’s a time of renewal—not just air filters and gapped sparked plugs, but overall renewal. And I have plenty of news to deliver as the season changes.  

My new novel The Prettiest Girl in the Grave comes out on May 12^th in paperback and eBook. The eBook is available to preorder on Kindle right now! Get it HERE. There will also be a special signed edition sold exclusively through my website. Stay tuned for more information on that.

The Obituaries, a hardcore horror project I created with Aron Beauregard and Daniel J. Volpe, now has its own official website. OBITSHORROR.COM. This is where all the books in the series will be sold from now on. The site also features exclusive merchandise. Right now we have a horrific t-shirt featuring artwork by Nick Justus, as well as a poster of the artwork signed by Aron, Dan, and me. More items will come to the site in the near future.

The Obituaries Collection: Volume 1 is now available on the site in a limited, triple-signed hardback edition. Get it HERE. This book collects the first three issues, including all the artwork and faux obituaries. For those of you who have been longing to find the out-of-print first issue, this is your chance to grab it up. This bundle also comes with a high-quality magnet, sticker, and bookmark exclusive to this release.

Image. The Obituaries Boys. Left to right: Triana, Beauregard, Justus, and Volpe.

Please note that The Obituaries Collection: Vol 1 hardback is limited to 150 copies, and as of the time of my writing this newsletter, only 40 remain. So if you want one, get on it now!

In other release news, The Thirteenth Koyote is now available as an audiobook, narrated by Boise Blue. Get yours on Audible or Amazon. Ballad of the Werevixens will be next!

And for those of you who have been asking about my titles with Death’s Head Press/Stygian Sky Media, the transfer over of the paperbacks and eBooks is almost complete, with the company having changed to Dead Sky Publishing. Only Ballad of the Werevixens remains unavailable in eBook, but that will be corrected very soon. Thank you for your patience.  

I just returned from Authorcon II in Williamsburg, Virginia with my rad road buddies Mona Kabbani and Bear, and what a wonderful weekend it was. If you’re an author or reader in the horror genre, I cannot recommend a convention more highly than this one. It was great to see everyone and meet so many of my awesome fans! Congrats to Brian Keene and Joe Ripple and everyone on the Scares That Care team for hosting such an incredible event. I’m already looking forward to Authorcon III.

Image: At Authorcon II with Kristopher Rufty and his daughter Linnea.

While there, I was surprised by two of my author friends with truly touching book dedications. Kristopher Rufty dedicated his horror novel All Will Die to me, and Wile E. Young dedicated his weird western sequel For a Few Souls More to me. These dudes are not only my friends but also writers I deeply admire and respect, which made the dedications even more amazing. Thanks, guys!

I was also thrilled to see the two Tims! I spent some time talking with genre veteran Tim Waggoner, who I’d not seen since taking one of his Stokercon courses several years ago, and I finally got to meet one of my horror author idols, Tim Lebbon! Both are very laid back, cool guys, and are fantastic writers whose work you should check out right now.

Things I’m enjoying…

Hillbilly’s Jerky, a small company based in Pennsylvania. I met the owners at an event a few years ago and have been ordering their exceptional jerky products ever since. The cracked pepper is my personal favorite. This is not a paid advertisement. I don’t get any free jerky for mentioning it. I just really like quality jerky and supporting small businesses. If you do too, check them out HERE.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Muddy Waters lately. Sure, I’ve always been a fan, but the invention of Spotify now makes it possible for me to explore the extensive back catalogue of artists like him. If you’re not familiar with the man’s work, just know Muddy Waters invented rock ‘n roll as we know it. Not Elvis. Not Led Zeppelin. Those guys merely stole music from black men like Waters and culturally appropriated their art.

Jesus, I can hear all you middle-aged white boys objecting as you read this, and you really need to shut up. It’s very easy to research this and see the evidence.

For example, “Whole Lotta Love” was based off a song performed by Waters named “You Need Love”, which was written by another black bluesman named Willie Dixon. Zeppelin was sued over this in 1985 and lost. The same thing happened with “The Lemon Song”, which is fucking identical to Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killin’ Floor.” The band stole the song and lost that lawsuit too. Other people they stole from—white folks as well as black—include Sonny Boy Williamson, Jake Holmes, Bert Janschs, and even J.R.R. Tolkien, just to name a few. Sure, Led Zeppelin was a good band, but they were also enormous thieves. This is reality.

As for Elvis, he is the single greatest example of cultural appropriation in music history. That is common knowledge at this point, but if you want to get specific, look into black musician Otis Blackwell. Not only were “Don’t be Cruel”, “All Shook Up”, and “Return to Sender” all written by Blackwell, but you need only watch footage of the man to see where Elvis got his performance style. Elvis’ pretty cracker face was slapped on black music to make it more acceptable for white kids to listen to it in the racist 1950s. He was a singer, but hardly a songwriter. He was also a snitch, but that’s another rant…

The point is, it's fine to like these guys and enjoy their music (I do, to some extent) but give credit where its due and maybe check out the original artists’ work too. That’s all I’m saying.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yes. Muddy Waters. He’s truly awesome. Check out Electric Mud. Solid album. I’ve also been listening to a lot of Fenton Robinson, Freddie King, and Mississippi John Hurt. Pure blues from back when music had soul.

Until next time, keep reading, and try to be happy. I’m off to Home Depot so I can buy stuff to build stuff in the yard—the adult equivalent to playing outside.

Your pal,

Kris