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Holiday Gifts for Horror Readers

December is zooming along. If you haven’t already started shopping for the horror readers in your life, now is a great time to start.

So, what to give? Well, you could start out by setting the scene. The perfect Christmas here involves Christmas carols playing,  a nice cup of hot chocolate,  a fire in the fireplace, and a big fuzzy blanket to curl up in while watching Christmas specials and reading.

 

Metal X-Mas (2CD Special Edition). Okay, maybe this isn’t the most relaxing recording of Christmas music ever, and I have to admit that I have not listened to every song, but it’s totally worth it just to hear Alice Cooper sing a Christmas carol.

 

McSteven’s Haunted! Spiced Hot Chocolate. This would make a perfect stocking stuffer. McSteven’s sells their hot chocolate in little tins and has different ones for various special occasions. They also have a Halloweenville gift set with three kinds of holiday hot chocolate and a Vampire’s Brew that comes in a coffin shaped container. Haunted hot chocolate is good enough for me, though, especially if it’s got a bit of a kick.

Nightmare Before Christmas Blanket with Sleeves – Fleece Comfy Throw. There are a million different fleece blankets out there and you certainly don’t have to choose this particular one. I saw a purple one with zebra stripes that looked fun. But running with the theme of Christmas and horror it’s hard to find a better fit. I like the ones with sleeves because they keep your arms warm and I get really cold very easily. You’ll have to come up with a pillow on your own.

 

 

Christmas Classics  DVD Gift Set, with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town.

Grown-up horror lovers may think they’ve grown out of the Rankin-Bass Christmas specials, but the Abominable Snowman in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Winter Warlock in Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town are scary enough that my kids ran out of the room when they first saw them. They really are scary, and they take you back to that time when it didn’t take Black Christmas to give you a scare. Also, no holiday season is really complete without them. Admit it. I don’t think I would give this just on its own to a horror lover, but if you’re putting together a holiday package, I think it would make a nice addition to the mix, and it’s family friendly.

Weightless Books

(e)Books That Don’t Weigh You Down
There are all kinds of horror readers. Some are collectors, some love their ratty paperback copies. Some devour ebooks, and some are horrified by them. Luckily, there are all kinds of books and magazines out there to read as well. I’m going to assume that ravenous ebook readers already have their e-readers, and just say that, while I love my Kindle Touch (which apparently isn’t available from Amazon anymore), if you know the one you love does more than read novels and is seeking a new one,  the Kindle Fire HD looks pretty awesome, and has gotten good reviews.I am, however, philosophically opposed to the imposition of DRM on my ebooks. If I buy it, then it ought to be mine, to take where I please, not “licensed” to me by Amazon or a publisher. So I am a fan of sites that offer DRM free ebooks, and my favorite is Weightless Books, owned by Kelly Link and Gavin Grant. They will sell you a DRM-free ebook that you can then download to whatever devices you have in whatever format you need it, with only the request that you not share it out with your friends but rather encourage them to purchase the books (or magazine subscriptions) that you have purchased from them.  They offer a lot of speculative fiction from independent presses and subscriptions to Apex, Nightmare, Weird Tales, and Innsmouth Magazine, which are delivered directly to your e-reader in your requested format. I love getting to support an independent store, and so I suggest that a gift certificate to Weightless Books would be a great gift for a reader interested in exploring new and interesting ways of looking at things (mostly through fiction). 

Cemetery Dance Publications   

 

Or, you can purchase directly from a small press. There are some fantastic titles out there that are not available anywhere else.  One of the better known independent presses is Cemetery Dance. Cemetery Dance publishes a magazine with horror fiction, art, and author interviews, but it’s best known for its quality limited editions. These are expensive, but often the material isn’t available anywhere else, and the books are usually completely gorgeous. If you really want to show your love, you could sign someone up for the Cemetery Dance Book Club. Dark Regions Press also publishes quality dark fiction in limited editions, as well as a variety of other formats. Dark Regions just had a kickstarter to fund publication for the second title in a new imprint, Black Labyrinth, which will be a series of novellas that sound like they will be gorgeously illustrated. You can find links to these presses and other small presses in the links over to the right, if you scroll down.

I hope that helps you with your shopping, if you aren’t done already (and I am a last minute shopper, myself). Have a great time picking out just the right gift for the horror lover in your life, and may you have happy holidays this year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on December 15, 2013 by , Reply

Storybundle Is Live!

There are so many different ways to read these days! That can be crazy frustrating, but it can also be crazy cool. Here’s one that I think has the potential to fall into that second category- Storybundle.com.

I first learned about Storybundle.com back in February, and then it kind of disappeared until a few days ago, when I got an email telling me they were live. The idea behind it is kind of neat- not new, but new to the book business. Basically, Storybundle offers a preselected collection of books by independent authors to us (readers) and we decide how much we want to pay for the entire collection (there’s a minimum of $1). Each person gets to decide how much of the purchase goes to the authors, how much goes to running Storybundle, and whether to give to a charity Storybundle is spotlighting. If you pay at least $7 you get some extra books. And it’s all DRM free. I like it.

I guess the same thing has been done with indie videogames, but since I don’t play video games, I had never heard of this concept. I think it’s a good one. It’s not as if an author can ONLY sell their book at Storybundle, so even if participating doesn’t make the author any money, it gets some name recognition going. And with all the independent authors out there it’s nice to see someone making an attempt to highlight the GOOD books out there for us, the tired readers.

They’re only offering one bundle at a time, but this first one looks interesting. Maybe I’ll try it out.

Posted on August 9, 2012 by , Reply

Woohoo! Tor/Forge To Drop DRM For Its Ebooks!

Tor/Forge has announced plans to make all of its ebooks free of DRM by July of this year. This is the first major imprint to do so, and hopefully others will follow, although at this time Tor’s parent company (Macmillan) is not following suit. Let’s face it, DRM is more annoying than it is effective. In an awesome statement of the kind rarely heard from publishers- the kind that acknowledges readers- Tom Doherty, president and publisher of Tor/Forge, said, “Our authors and readers have been asking for this for a long time… DRM is a constant annoyance for them. It prevents them from using legitimate purchases in perfectly legal ways”. Yeah, that!

First steps are good. Publishers everywhere, take note!

Posted on April 25, 2012 by , Reply