Black Gate

Two weeks ago, we announced the winners of our contest to suggest who should be writing the Cthulhu Mythos today. Each of the winners received a copy of the new anthology Weirder Shadows Over Innsmouth. One of the more intriguing entries came from Donald Nutting, who wrote:

Island 731 by Jeremy Robinson had me curled up in the fetal position whimpering and scared for my life; if he can do that about a kaiju, then he could do it with Cthulhu.

I had to admit I wasn’t familiar with Jeremy Robinson, but it didn’t take long to rectify that. I tracked down a copy of Island 731, released in paperback last February. I’m not sure how I missed it, because it looks right up my alley.

Mark Hawkins, former park ranger and expert tracker, is on board a research vessel on the Pacific. But his work is interrupted when the ship is plagued by a series of strange malfunctions and the crew is battered by a raging storm… The next morning, the beaten crew awakens to find themselves anchored in the protective cove of a tropical island — and no one knows how they got there. The ship has been sabotaged, two crewmen are dead, and a third is missing. Hawkins spots signs of the missing man onshore and leads a small team to bring him back. But they soon discover evidence of a brutal history left behind by the island’s former occupants: Unit 731, Japan’s ruthless World War II human experimentation program. As more of his colleagues start to disappear, Hawkins begins to realize the horrible truth: That Island 731 was never decommissioned and the person preying on his crewmates may not be a person at all — not anymore…

Jeremy Robinson is also the author of seven Jack Sigler thrillers, including the latest, Cannibal, on sale in hardcover this month. Island 731 was published in hardcover on March 26, 2013, and in paperback by St. Martin’s Press on February 25, 2014. It is 384 pages, priced at $7.99 for both the paperback and digital versions.

Rhiannon Frater’s zombie trilogy As the World Dies won her many readers, and in her Black Gate review Beth Dawkins called the opening volume, The First Days, “Very compelling… could be a zombie front runner.”  Now Frater returns with an original horror novel featuring dead spots in the world where dreams become reality, terror knows your name, and nightmares can kill you.

After a tragic stillbirth and a devastating divorce, Mackenzie has no choice but to start her life over. What should be a routine drive across Texas to her mother’s home becomes much more when a near-accident causes Mackenzie to stumble into a dead spot. Dead spots link the world of the living to the one of nightmares and dreams, where people are besieged by monsters and by situations born of highly personal fears.

Grant, her newfound companion, keeps her from spiraling into madness — he has survived decades in the dead spots’ dreadful landscape and vows that together they will find a way to escape. With Grant’s guidance, Mac uses her will and life spark to restore abandoned buildings to their former glory, creating sanctuary for a night, or a day, or a few hours. But there is little respite in the dead spots. Horrible, unnatural birds snatch at Mackenzie’s few, precious reminders of her dead son. Graves open beneath her feet, attempting to swallow her whole. A killer clown lurks in the forest, eager for new prey.

Worse, death is not final in the dead spots. Even if a monster tears her apart, Mackenzie is doomed to return.

Friction between Mackenzie and Grant blooms when he cautions her against befriending others trapped in this nightmarish realm, yet she cannot ignore those who desperately need her help. As she learns more about the world, Mac starts to question who she can trust — and worse, to wonder who is real. To escape the dead spots, Mackenzie will have to take a stand against her worst fears and fight to liberate herself and the survivors she’s come to care about.

Dead Spots was published by Tor Books on February 10, 2015. It is 412 pages, priced at $16.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital version. The cover design is by FORT.

American readers, I think, could use a little more exposure to European fantasy. So I’m pleased to see Jo Fletcher Books bringing German author Markus Heitz to this side of the pond.

His series The Dwarves was an international bestseller, and now he launches a brand new series with Righteous Fury, originally published in Germany in 2009.

In Dsôn Faïmon, realm of the cruel and surpassingly beautiful artist-warriors known as the älfar, the military is planning a campaign against the enemies of the empire. Caphalor and Sinthoras are separately looking to enlist a powerful demon to strengthen their army, but the two älfar have very different goals.

While Caphalor is determined to defend the borders of the empire, the ambitious Sinthoras is intent on invasion. In order to expand the borders of Dsôn Faïmon, he has set his sights on the kingdoms of dwarves, elves, and men — a decision that, should it come to pass, may have far-reaching consequences for him and for the älfar.

Righteous Fury, the first volume of The Legends of the Älfar, was published by Jo Fletcher Books on February 10, 2015. It is 402 pages, priced at $24.99 in hardcover and $11.99 for the digital edition. It was translated from the German by Shelagh Alabaster.

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