The Ghoulish Times | 07/04/22

happy birthday to max & lori and absolutely nobody else

Hello and welcome to the latest issue of The Ghoulish Times. My name is Max Booth III. I host the GHOULISH podcast, co-run Ghoulish Books with my partner Lori Michelle, and write fun, spooky books. We also run the annual Ghoulish Book Festival in San Antonio, TX. You are receiving this newsletter for reasons between you and your god, whoever that may be.

I am writing this on Sunday, July 3. You are receiving this on Monday, July 4, which happens to be my birthday. It is also Lori’s birthday. I don’t know why we have the same birthday. I didn’t make the rules. I wasn’t in charge of the decision. Neither was Lori. It’s just a thing that happened. Let’s not make it weird.

I am not sure what Lori and I will do today. Maybe we will go out for breakfast. Maybe we will rewatch The Thing, or check out those last two episodes of Stranger Things. Maybe we will cuddle with the dogs and soothe them while fireworks explode over our house. Maybe we will make ribs. Maybe we will eat some cake. Maybe we will take edibles and play a board game. Maybe all of these things will happen.

Idea: Buy a signed copy of my latest novel MAGGOTS SCREAMING! as a little birthday gift. If you’ve read it, leave a review somewhere. I would also gladly accept some new iTunes reviews of my lil’ spooky GHOULISH podcast. Also, consider subscribing? That would be pretty cool, imho.

I am 29 today. Which means this is the last year of my 20s. I do not know how to feel about that. Here is a bathroom selfie I took at a horror market last Friday:

I’m considering making that mad scientist lab coat my “writer uniform” (e.g. John Skipp’s green jacket, Josh Malerman’s hat/coat combo, etc). It feels nice on me and I like how it looks. When I wear it, I want to operate on brains. I want to connect spinal cords to nostrils. I want to dissect swamp monsters. I want to reverse my flesh and do the Risky Business slide across our kitchen floor.

The other day, Apocalypse Party revealed Matthew Revert’s cover art for my debut horror collection, Abnormal Statistics, which will come out next March. If you missed it, here is the cover:

The collection does not contain much of the humor most of my full-length novels feature. It is rather bleak, dealing specifically with familial horror, and I think Matt’s cover perfectly captures the book’s tone. Here is the table of contents, for those interested:

Indiana Death Song

You Are My Neighbor

Blood Dust

Fish

In the Attic of the Universe

Disintegration is Quite Painless

Scraps

Boy Takes After His Mother

Every Breath is a Choice

Munchausen

Abduction (Reprise)

Video Nasties

List of familicides in the United States (by decade)

Ten of the stories are reprints. “Abduction (Reprise)” and “List of familicides in the United States (by decade)” are brand-new short stories original to this collection. Indiana Death Song is a new 28,000-word novella that’s also never been published. It will make its debut as the introduction to Abnormal Statistics.

I am excited for people to check out the collection. I am especially excited for people to read the novella that will open the book. I think it’s some of my best writing and I’m pretty proud of it.

But that’s a ways from now. So let’s talk about some other fun stuff, okay?

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Speaking of cover reveals…over at Ghoulish Books we posted the full jacket art for Cody Goodfellow’s Perfect Union.

We are very excited to be reprinting Cody Goodfellow’s horror novel, Perfect Union, this September. This book has been long sought after by Goodfellow enthusiasts, and it’s about time it was finally made readily available again. If this novel hasn’t been on your radar…oh man, you are in for one hell of a treat. In the meantime, we thought we’d share the cover art—painted by the one and only Frank Walls.

Seriously…check this out:

We are in love with Frank’s painting. It perfectly captures the terror and pure horror oozing out of Cody’s writing. Goddamn, what a beauty!

Also, this new edition features an introduction from John Shirley!

Pre-orders are now open on our webstore. All paperback pre-orders will receive a signed signature plate from the author.

Pre-order HERE.

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The other day I spent, like, 6+ hours making a trailer/music video to promote Danger Slater’s upcoming book, Moonfellows.

Click HERE to check out the video, and click HERE to pre-order the book. All paperback pre-orders through out webstore come with a signed signature plate from the author.

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Last month we made badges and vendor applications available for Ghoulish Book Festival 2023. We’ve already received far more vendor requests than tables available, so we’ve closed apps and are in the process of making some tough decisions. Badges will remain available for the foreseeable future. Please consider picking up one sooner than later, though.

With that said, we’re a little impatient to share some of the awesome guests of honor who have agreed to attend next year’s festival, so we thought today we’d go ahead and announce GoH #1: Trevor Henderson! AKA @slimyswampghost! AKA The creator of Siren Head, Cartoon Cat, Bridge Worm, and other gnarly creatures the Internet has fallen in love with.

Trevor Henderson is a writer and illustrator. His love of monsters, cryptids, ghosts and other horrible entities is enduring and vast. When he is not drawing or writing horrible things, he is thinking about the unknowable and hostile forces working against all of humanity, and playing with his cat, who is named Boo.

The OG Siren Head by Trevor Henderson

The Ghoulish Book Festival will occur on April 14, 15, and 16 2023 in downtown San Antonio, TX. Badges are available now.

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And, since we’re talking about the Ghoulish Book Festival, I’d like to bring up a brief statement I tweeted from the Ghoulish Books Twitter page the other day, as I feel it is important and worth sharing here:

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Reading: I recently finished Stargazers by LP Hernandez and talked to him on the podcast. The book is phenomenal and I highly recommend it. My episode with him should go live next Friday. I’m currently reading Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman and Convulsive by Joe Koch, both for future episodes of the GHOULISH podcast. I’m also reading several dozen novellas that were submitted to Ghoulish Books. It’s taking me longer to get through them than I originally anticipated, but I’m making progress. I’m also listening to Brad Listi’s Be Brief and Tell Them Everything on audio. I debated over which section to include audiobooks and decided “reading” feels more accurate despite the fact that I am using my ears. If you disagree, that’s okay, we can settle the matter in a court of law.

Listening: Shortly before writing this newsletter, I remembered the band Cloud Cult exists. Several years ago I was obsessed with their album Light Chasers, but for whatever reason I completely forgot about them. So I’m going to be going through their albums again and hopefully connect with them the same way I once did. They just released a new album, apparently, so I’m excited to check that out.

Watching: I’ve watched a decent amount of movies since the last newsletter, including The Black Phone, Head of the Family, Habit, The Passing, Psychos in Love, Dick, Slugs, Rent-a-Pal, and Rachel Getting Married. I enjoyed all of them except for Psychos in Love, which I found to be mostly intolerable and impossible to finish. TV-wise, we blew through the entire first season of The Bear on Hulu. That show is so fucking good. Please watch it so it gets picked up for a second season.

Doing: I am working on a vampire novel titled She Creeps. It’s about three brothers rehashing shitty childhood memories. My goal is to finish the current draft before KillerCon next month. I do not think I am going to make that goal. I am working on various screenplays on spec. I am waiting on [popular streamer] to move forward with the next step of the Touch the Night television adaptation. I am editing several Ghoulish Books publications. I am making more plans for the Ghoulish Book Festival. I am scheduling podcast episodes. I am nervous that I do not do enough to promote the books I publish. I am scared that I am letting everybody down. I am playing with my dogs. I am staying up later and sleeping in later. I am eating better. I am counting calories. I am going on long walks every day when the sun isn’t boiling the pavement. I am constantly hungry. I am falling behind on emails again. I am selling books at several local horror markets in San Antonio. I am craving a cheeseburger. I am craving breakfast tacos. I am craving pizza. I am worried about everything all the time. I am afraid the country is going to continue getting shittier and shittier and everything is going to be forever fucked. I am tired. I am concerned that days don’t last as long as they used to. I am paranoid that it will never rain again. I am hot. I am so, so fucking hot.

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Upcoming Events

I will be attending the following events. Sometimes as a book vendor, sometimes as a writer doing book signings / live readings, sometimes a little of everything:

• AUGUST 12-14

Killercon – Austin, TX

• AUGUST 16

Barnes & Noble – Bowling Green, KY 12pm

Joseph-Beth – Lexington, KY 7pm

• AUGUST 18-21

NecronomiCon – Providence, RI

• AUGUST 23

Barnes & Noble – Richmond, VA 1pm

• SEPTEMBER 11-12

Printers Row – Chicago, IL

2023

• MARCH 31-APRIL 02

AuthorCon – Williamsburg, VA

• APRIL 14, 15, 16

Ghoulish Book Festival – San Antonio, TX

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We took the dogs to get shaved ice the other day.

It is their new favorite snack.

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APPROACHING WRITING DEADLINES

• Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror edited by Lor Gislason | Deadline July 31st | GUIDELINES

• Night Frights Issue #3 (YA Horror) edited by Lori Michelle | Deadline August 1st | GUIDELINES

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Okay, that’s it for this week. You can support us on Patreon, browse the books in our webstore, and follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter (PMMP | DMD | Ghoulish podcast | Ghoulish Books | personal). Reserve your ticket for Ghoulish Book Fest 2023. You can also join us on the Ghoulish Discord.

See you next time, ghouls.