No Kings

I need explain no whys or wherefores; my position on the current abomination—er, uh, administration—has been made abundantly clear here, on social media, and in real life. So, Ms. B. and I weren't about to miss participating in one of the "No Kings" protests going on nationwide this weekend. There was one in here in town, but we had planned to get together with friends Terry & Beth in Kernersville, so we decided to attend the one in Winston-Salem. It was combined with their Pride Parade, and an estimated 60,000 people showed up. I even fashioned myself a sign (see above). It was an incredible event—absolutely peaceful, with a spirit of unity unlike any I've ever encountered in person. Coolest of all, as it turned out, friends Scott & Jane, from Asheboro, attended the event as well, and we managed to find each other and hang out for the duration.

The photo above appeared in the Winston-Salem Journal, which documented the event beautifully. No Fucking Kings. No Fucking Shit.

Old Dude Talks About THE HOUSE AT BLACK TOOTH POND in the Henry County Enterprise

Last month, Henry County Enterprise reporter Jessica Dillon and I had a nice chat at Magnolia & Main Books in Ridgeway, VA. The article appears in this weekend's edition. It's got a couple of minor errors—"Everson Falls" should be "Eggleston Falls" and Elizabeth Massie's last name is misspelled. Otherwise, it captures our exchange nicely. You can read the whole thing here:

"Rainey's Latest Horror Novel Draws Inspiration from Local Areas"

Hellnotes Review of THE NIGHTMARE FRONTIER

"The pacing was flawless, the characters are a realistic cross-section of Appalachian townspeople, and the story kept me emotionally invested the entire way through. You may like, love, or hate the characters, but you will always have strong feelings regarding each of them. And that, my friends, is true brilliance."

It's always nice to see a complimentary review of one of my novels, and Carson Buckingham delivers one in Hellnotes to make me blush bigtime. Check it out... and check out The Nightmare Frontier, in ebook, audiobook, and now in paperback from Crossroad Press.

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Read Carson Buckingham's Full Review of The Nightmare Fronter Here

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Coming in January 2026 - KOLCHAK ERAS from Monstrous Books

I cannot wait for this release in January 2026 from editor James Aquilone and Monstrous Books: Kolchak Eras, an anthology of stories starring the legendary reporter Carl Kolchak, of TV's Kolchak - The Night Stalker fame. This one includes my short tale, "Up from the Underground," along with a dozen other stories.

 

These prose tales were originally part of the multi-award-winning Kolchak - The Night Stalker graphic novel deluxe edition that came out in early 2023. They have now been collected in an illustrated anthology of their own.

Kolchak - The Night Stalker TV series (or simply The Night Stalker, as it was originally known), as well as the two original TV movies, The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler, back in the early 1970s, were among those TV productions that made a powerful and lasting impression on me, and so contributing to this volume feels right, to put it mildly.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• "Summer in Rome" - James Chambers

• "The Shot Heard Round the Underworld" - James Aquilone

• "The Devil Level" - Bobby Nash

• "On the Road With Carl" - David Avallone

• "The Black Volga" - Will McDermott
• "Up From the Underground" - Stephen Mark Rainey

• "Devour the Dead" - Naching T. Kassa

• "Blood Witch" - Owl Goingback

• "A View With a Room" - Jim Beard

• "Wolf’s Clothing" - Leverett Butts

• "Bruises on the Flesh of God" - Charles R. Rutledge

• "LA Lizard" - Lisa Morton

• "The Devil’s Chapel" - Simon Bestwick

Stay tuned for more details, ordering info, etc., to come as soon as it's available. Keep holding your breath, if you dare.

DEATHREALM: SPIRITS in Shortwave Publshing’s 101 HORROR STORIES Vol. 1

Shortwave Publishing is releasing a brand-new series of bundled ebooks, including the five-book set 101 Horror Stories, which features Deathrealm: Spirits! The set—which also includes the anthologies Dark Frequencies, Obsolescence, White Pages, and Shadows in the Stacks—is now available for pre-order and is scheduled for release on September 30, 2025.

Amazingly—at least to me—it's been almost two years since Deathrealm:Spirits hit the streets and became Shortwave Publishing's first official best-selling title. Just look at the fantastic authors included in this single antho...

Deathrealm: Spirits Contributors:
• Linda D. Addison
• Meghan Arcuri
• Larry Blamire
• Maurice Broaddus
• Heather D. Daughrity
• Timothy G. Huguenin
• Brian Keene
• Ronald Kelly
• Joe R. Lansdale
• Kasey Lansdale
• Eric LaRocca
• Patricia Lee Macomber
• Elizabeth Massie
• Bridgett Nelson
• Errick Nunnally
• Jeff Oliver
• Jessica Amanda Salmonson
• Richard Thomas
• Tony Tremblay
• David Niall Wilson

“Spine-tingling and sometimes stomach-churning… unflinchingly tense… Deathrealm: Spirits is a solid compilation that will satisfy avid fans of a range of horror subgenres.”—Kirkus Reviews

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Pre-Order 101 Horror Stories Volume 1, Including Deathrealm: Spirits!

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Ghostwoods

So, I might have placed three new geocaches out on the Cedar Ridge Trails. Two are fairly large and full of swag; the other one is far smaller and lurks up in a tree. As you can see in these images from the cache pages, weird things may be guarding the hides. Be careful out there!

Cedar Ridge Trails

Quite a few years ago, by way of geocaching (I know, what a shock, right?), I discovered Cedar Ridge Trails in the Chatmoss neighborhood of Martinsville, just a few miles from home. If I rightly recall, the trail system was at least partially designed by my old friend, Jim Frith, who is a long-time avid cyclist (he set a world record for jumping his bike over a row of trash cans when we were in junior high school). Back in my earliest days of geocaching, I hunted a geocache out at Cedar Ridge, and a short time later, I placed a couple of my own out there.

 

I knew there was a great deal of the trail system I hadn't explored, even after all these years, so this morning, I headed out there to check on my old caches and scope out some locations where I might place a few new ones. After verifying my two caches were in place and in decent condition, I decided to venture out into the area of the Green Trail, which extends out to the west on the map above. The terrain out there is rugged in places, and especially on the Green Trail, it's quite beautiful, as you may deduce from the attached photos. The temperature hadn't yet hit oppressive heights this morning, but the humidity and mosquitoes were pretty monstrous (despite having covered myself head to toe with bug spray). Regardless, I fit in about three and a half miles, and found several enticing locations to place new caches.

 

I expect I'll be going out there again this week to set up the caches. I haven't yet set foot on the Light Blue Trail, out to the east, so I'll have to give that one a go on a future outing.

L: Old dude out in the woods somewhere; R: GPS track of my route along the trails