Chronicles of the Dead - News in YA & Kids' Horror

News from the world of YA & Kids' Horror in the week ending 22/7/11:

• Barry Hutchison shares the latest villain from the upcoming fourth instalment in the Invisible Fiends series - behold, Doc Mortis!

•  Cristy Burne has revealed the cover of Monster Matsuri, the latest book in the Takeshita Demons series. I think it looks amazing, and the colours really grab you. What do you think?

 

• Those who are eager for more Scream Street are in for a treat - author of the series, Tommy Donbavand, has written a short story from the street over at Trapped by Monsters. A usual, Tommy has been busy because he's also released the latest edition of the Terror Times. Check it out over at his blog!

Terrifying Tuesdays

I've decided to start a new horror themed book meme: Terrifying Tuesdays!

Each week I'll put up a quote from a kids' or YA horror book that I've found particularly creepy. Feel free to use my graphic and link back to my blog if you'd also like to take part, and be sure to comment below so I can check it out. Here we go!

There was no moon and no movement in the underbrush but our own, and yet somehow I knew just when to raise my flashlight and just where to aim it, and for an instant in that narrow cut of light I saw a face that seemed to have been transplanted directly from the nightmares of my childhood. It stared back with eyes that swam in dark liquid, furrowed trenches of carbon-black flesh loose on its hunched frame, its mouth hinged open grotesquely so that a mass of long eel-like tongues could wriggle out.

- from Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, p. 33

Crawlers Competition!

I love gore. I really do. Nothing makes me happier than when a particular scene in a book makes me squirm uncomfortably and make little sick noises. So it’s no surprise that when I first saw the cover of Crawlers by Sam Enthoven, I knew it would be the book for me!

 

I was definitely not disappointed. Aside from an absolutely riveting story about a group of kids trying to survive what should’ve been a simple night out at the theatre, Crawlers has some of the most disgusting creatures out there. I mean, read this:

 

Each spider-thing was about twenty centimetres across. Instead of eight legs though, weirdly, they had five – four long ones on each side of their wide, flattened bodies and only one, a thicker one, on the other. Also, apart from a thin band of red at the joints of each of their legs, they were almost transparent – like jellyfish. The creatures were almost as unpleasant dead as they had been alive. They gave off a faint fishy smell and they were sticky to the touch.’ p. 59

Gross. But the crawlers just get worse:

‘The twitching creature was just centimetres from her face. Its five legs – broken and disjointed but hideously eager – grasped for her. Twin needles of bone, glistening with fluid, flickered in and out from the crawler’s centre mass.’ p 109

I’m pleased to announce that Sam Enthoven has very kindly given Spine Chills a copy of the new Crawlers audio book to give away. Complete and unabridged, the five disc set is brilliantly read by Joe Coen. Check out this audio bite on theycrawl.com. It’s like the crawlers are in my ears!

If you’d like to win this delightfully skin-crawling audio book, you’ll need to brush up on your gore-writing skills. Simply write a short piece (less than 400 words) involving your brush with a crawler – oh, and extra points are given for any gory parts that make me squirm!

Send all entries to hrharkness@gmail.com. The competition is open to anyone in the world, and the winning entry will be read out by Sam Enthoven himself!

This competition closes Friday 15 July, so get crawling!

Chronicles of the Dead - News in YA & Kids' Horror

News from the world of YA & Kids' Horror in the week ending 1/7/2011.

• A big congratulations to Jon Mayhew, whose book Mortlock has won both the Sefton Super Reads Award and the Calderdale Book Award. Two awards in two days - that has to be some sort of record! (via Jon's blog)
• Cristy Burne teaches us how to spot a Japanese iso-onna vampire. Thanks for the tips!
• Throughout July, My Favourite Books will be focussing on younger readers with their Under 14 Only Month. Wonder if some horror will sneak in there?

July Horror New Releases

These are the horror new releases for July.

What I'm Excited About:
Some excellent reads are being published this month! POD is not your typical horror - it follows the lives to two characters who are dealing with the arrival of strange UFOs in the sky who disappear anybody who sets foot outside. Chilling stuff! Witch Hunter Chronicles is the first in what will almost certainly be a brilliant series from an Australian author, super excited about that! For the younger crowd, Sophie and the Shadow Woods is such a cool series, about a girl who likes judo more than fairies, and finds out she's the Shadow Guardian. Lastly, can't wait to get my hands on Curtis Jobling's next book in the Wereworld series, Rage of Lions.

Junior & Middle 
Sophie and the Shadow Woods 1: The Goblin King, Linda Chapman & Lee Weatherly (Harper).
Night on Terror Island, Philip Caveney (Random).
Death and the Underworld, Anthony Horowitz (Macmillan).
Night of the Werecat, R.L. Stine (Simon & Schuster).

Young Adult
Witch Hunter Chronicles 1: The Scourge of Jericho, Stuart Daly (Random).
POD , Steven Wallenfels (A&U).
Crowfield Demon, Pat Walsh (Scholastic).
Wereworld 2: Rage of Lions, Curtis Jobling (Penguin).
Born at Midnight, C.C. Hunter (Macmillan).
Kill Fish Jones, Caro King (Macmillan).
Changeling 5: Zombie Dawn, Steve Feasey (Macmillan).
The Dead, Charlie Higson [New Format] (Penguin).
Alone: Survivor, James Phelan (Hachette).
Thirteen Days to Midnight, Patrick Carman (Hachette).
Mashups: Blackbeard's Pirates vs. The Evil Mummies, James Black (Hachette).

If I’ve missed something out, let me know in the comments! But remember, these are Australian release dates only.