Free Kindle Horror/Horror Books

Haunted House, a Novel of Terror by Jack Kilborn

Posted on by Lake

Haunted House Jack KilbornToday through March 6, 2015 scary story readers can grab a copy of Jack Kilborn’s, “Haunted House – a Novel of Terror.”

This Kindle Countdown deal currently has the novel priced at ninety-nine cents, meaning it’s a great chance to try out a new author or to add another Kilborn story to your horror library.

Story Synopsis:

Characters from Kilborn’s novels AFRAID, TRAPPED, ENDURANCE, THE LIST, and ORIGIN are paid one million dollars to spend a single night in the haunted Butler House. Like many ghost infested homes, it was the site of murders years ago.

Sounds like a good reality television show, doesn’t it? I’d jump to be on a show like that. Who hasn’t gone through experiences far scarier than spending one night in an allegedly haunted house? I assure you, I’ve endured greater unpleasantness and lived to tell the story for a lot less than a million bucks.

Each guest gets to take whatever they want into the house, even weapons and survival gear. I’d probably take a pillow and a metal bath tub. Then I’d flip the tub upside down and hide under it, my head supported by the pillow. I’d get a good night’s sleep while the other guests were meeting their grisly doom.

Click here to get your copy before the deal expires.

One note – although the characters in this scary story are from Kilborn’s previous works, Haunted House can be consumed as a standalone book. If you’re currently reading one of the novels mentioned, you might want to wait a bit. If you don’t, you risk knowing how characters will meet their terrible ends. Regardless, grab Haunted House anyway and save a couple of bucks.

While you’re here, be sure to click the friendly little skull on your right and join the email list. You’ll get free horror books and other goodies that I make available only to subscribers. See you in your nightmares. LL

Author Update/The Jacob Bell Series

Death Bell – Book I, the Jacob Bell Series

Posted on by Lake

Outline Complete.

Jacob Bell

The premise: A young man, already struggling with his family’s dark past, learns that he can foretell future events and has only days to save a child from a deranged man. But this is no ordinary psychopath…

Some background: Before the death care industry became commercialized, undertakers lived in the same house where they conducted business. Picture a mortician embalming a body, then heading upstairs for a quick snack. While driving through a small town one day, I came across just such a home. It was an elaborate, white house topped with gables and trimmed in somber black. A young man, obviously still in his teens, was mowing the grass with a manual cutter.

As I drove by, the juxtaposition of the scene struck me; a boy about to begin adulthood tending to the grounds of a giant house that surely revolved around – and catered to – death, the ultimate ending.

Surely, that boy had stories to tell, I thought.

This triggered an in-depth exploration of the mortuary business, its history and its secrets. I’ve never enjoyed researching a novel more. Death is one fascinating business.

As I got to know people who worked in the trade, including some who’d grown up funeral, I began to picture a small town mortician and his family. Ross and Kathryn Bell became flesh and bone, at least in my head. The story then began to center around Jacob Bell, the oldest child in the house.

Jacob’s just celebrated his 16th birthday by,

“Picking up a body and bringing it home.”

He’s intelligent, self-aware and brimming with the endless hopes of a young man. He’s also completely unprepared for what’s about to happen to him. (Insert evil horror writer’s laugh here.)

It’s premature to discuss the book in detail at this time. Right now it exists only as a handwritten outline in the same three ring binder where Luke Merrill lived for way too long. It’s fair to say that those who enjoyed the HBO series Six Feet Under will find a lot to like in this novel. Like that show, I’m striving to address family dynamics in all their messy complexities – and then some.

Likewise, those that found Thomas Lynch’ The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade poetic and uniquely compelling will probably relish this book. (By the way, The Undertaking inspired a Frontline documentary of the same title which can be found here. As always, the book is better than the film.)

But this is a horror novel, much more so than Thorns In Dark Places, and readers should expect a frenetic clash between good and evil – nothing less, but infinitely more. May I keep you in the loop? If the answer is yes, enter your details on the right and click the lovely skull.