Sunday, March 9, 2025

Distant Early Warning Alert—Scares That Care AuthorCon V!

It's looming on the horizon—Scares That Care Presents AuthorCon V—happening at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Williamsburg, March 28–30, 2025. AuthorCon is one of the biggest and best gatherings of horror/fantasy/science-fiction authors and fans on the planet, and I will be there (along with Ms. Brugger) to scare the pants off of you. Look for me in the hotel's Promenade area, where I'll have plenty of copies of The House at Black Tooth Pond (and check out the brand-new audiobook, now available from Audible!), Fugue Devil: Resurgence, Deathrealm: Spirits, Blue Devil Island, The Gods of Moab, Ameri-Scares: West Virginia: Lair of the Mothman, and many others on hand.

A programming schedule will be available soon.

AuthorCon V is three-day charity event that features hundreds of authors, a massive dealers' room, and top-notch programming. This year's guests of honor include Victoria Price, Christopher Golden, Mary SanGiovanni, Gemma Amor, Phillip Fracassi, Laurel Hightower, Eric LaRocca, Todd Keisling, Jonathan Janz, Shane Hawk, Red Lagoe, Bitter Karella, Maurice Broaddus, Adam Cesare, V. Castro, Tim Waggoner, Scott Cole, Mike Slater, Robert Smartwood, and Dakota Lawrence.

I hope to see you there!
 

at

Saturday, March 8, 2025

THE HOUSE AT BLACK TOOTH POND—A Starred Review in Publisher's Weekly!


WOOT! Publisher's Weekly gives my newest novel, The House at Black Tooth Pond, a starred review.

“Rainey brings Lovecraftian horror to rural Virginia in this chilling tale...the grounded and believable characterization of his protagonists makes suspending disbelief easy. This is cosmic horror done right.” Publisher's Weekly

I know this week falls in the middle of the Amazon boycott, but if you'd like an autographed copy of the paperback, just shoot me an email at mark (at) stephenmarkrainey (dot) com, and I can almost certainly accommodate you. The audiobook has just come out from Audible, narrated by the inimitable Joshua Saxon; so when the boycott is over, please avail yourself...

In the meantime, here is a list of retailers where you can buy the ebook.

at

Friday, March 7, 2025

Now Available: THE HOUSE AT BLACK TOOTH POND Audiobook!

It’s here: The House at Black Tooth Pond audiobook, narrated by the incomparable Joshua Saxon, now on Audible—brand new from Crossroad Press!

Joshua Saxon’s lengthy list of credits includes The Upwelling by F. Paul Wilson; Demogorgon, A Coven of Vampires, Fruiting Bodies, and numerous other titles by Brian Lumley; Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite; Submerged by Brian Keene; The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis; Blue Devil Island by....me!...and many, many more.
at

Monday, March 3, 2025

Return to the Black Lodge

About five years ago, I placed a series of Twin Peaks–themed geocaches ("Project Blue Rose") in various locations in Greensboro, one of which lurks deep beneath the city streets in an old storm drain system. Yesterday, I was caching in Greensboro with friend Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), and it came to my attention that he had never claimed this particular hide. I've wanted to check on it for a long time—caches placed in such an unfriendly environment frequently end up damaged or going missing—so I suggested he go after it with ye olde cache owner accompanying. He found the idea agreeable.

So, off we went to ground zero: a culvert entrance, about four feet in diameter, which hides at a small creek that flows through Greensboro's Lindley Park neighborhood. We haven't had a lot of rain lately, but a strong, steady current of water flowed through the pipe. Fortunately, both of us had worn our trusty, waterproof hiking boots, so, with flashlights in hand, into the gaping maw we went.
 
FYI, long before my "Project Blue Rose" series, this particular tunnel had been used for a stage of a multi-cache called "Greensboro Underground" (which I found in June 2009; you may read about that wild adventure here). I credit that underground excursion with curing me of arachnophobia, and had Scott and I found ourselves back in a cramped chamber filled with giant, hairy wolf and fishing spiders, I might have experienced a fair adrenaline charge; however, it's too early in the season for the big multi-legged monsters to be out and about, and I reckon that's fine.
 
I found that out, this many years later, negotiating such a cramped space for such a distance caused me a bit more physical discomfort than it had in those old days (okay, yeah, it hurt), so in the future, I may need to limit my subterranean excursions to those that allow for standing upright. The top of my skull will thank me.

Once we reached our final destination, I was pleased to see that the Project Blue Rose container remained intact and in its proper location. The log sheet, however, had gotten soaked, so I will need to replace it. I can do that next time I'm in the area; I reckon my back and knees (and head) will hold out for at least a few more ventures into these deep, dark confines. Maybe I'll plan my next one for when the spiders are out and about, just to get a charge.
 
Anybody wanna go along?
Looking back toward the entrance as we make our way in...

L: The view ahead...as far as our flashight beams will reach; R: Diefenbaker claims his prize
at