Innocents Lost Excerpt
As we’re down to your final copies of Innocents Lost by Michael McBride, I wanted to release an excerpt from this novel. There’s been quite the buzz about McBride’s latest. Check out what Horror Mall customers have been saying:
Posted by JASON PHILLIPS
I got to page 80 and put this book down twice. Why? Well it’s not because it was rubbish! In fact it is a great story that smacks you hard. This was very hard to read as a parent with children involved but Michael keeps you reading.
You follow two main characters who meet up in the book, one trying to find his daughter the other trying to find the person who took his daughter. This is a very clever book with a good twist.
This is a must for any McBride fan, hell it’s a must for any horror fan!
Posted by William C. Rasmussen
I simply do not understand why this book is not a sellout!? Innocents Lost by Michael McBride is an unbelievable tale! It’s a short novel that combines gut- and heart-wrenching scenes, a furious pace, and a dazzlingly clever, twisty plot! McBride’s story of gruesome child abductions perpetrated by a cold-blooded, relentless serial killer is quite simply a superb tale! It gets my highest recommendation!!
Posted by Geoff Guthrie
Innocent’s Lost is a story about child abduction, and at the beginning of the story an FBI agent who works on child abduction gets his little girl abducted on her birthday. The agent, Phil Preston, then falls apart and devotes every resource to find this child abductor in hopes of finding his little girl alive.
McBride weaves an interesting tale here; we have the child abductions, but we also have a mystery with a Native American Medicine Wheel and why does this relate to the story, and also why is this child abductor doing what he is doing, is there a story behind this? So it’s not a simple story. McBride weaves the tale into a mystery where Preston is putting together the pieces trying to figure out how to capture this child abductor. Also there are multiple twists to the story as well, and it’ll have you thinking.
This is an engaging horror story that runs like a thriller and keeps you turning the pages to find out what’s next. The story is not as bleak as one would think when it comes to child abduction because there are other parts to the story like the Medicine Wheel that keep you in wonder and interest. This was a solid novel by McBride, I enjoyed reading it, and I highly recommend it!
Innocents Lost–Excerpt From The Novel
22 Miles West of Lander, Wyoming
Fremont County Sheriff Keith Dandridge surveyed the site from the edge of the forest. The scene before him was beyond his worst nightmares. In his eleven years in law enforcement, he had been involved in some of the most ghastly cases in the Rocky Mountain region, most notably the Schoolhouse Slaughter in Pine Springs eight years ago. A disgruntled, bipolar teacher named Irving Jepperson had lined up his class of twelve sixth grade students at the front of the room and fired upon them at close range with a shotgun. Four of the children had managed to escape through the window while the custodian and another teacher subdued him. Eight eleven and twelve year-olds had been heaped on the floor at the foot of a chalkboard peppered with buckshot and spattered with blood, bone fragments, and gray matter when he arrived. There had been nothing left of their faces or upper torsos, leaving the parents to identify their children by their blood-soaked clothing and shoes. And somehow, even that carnage paled by comparison to the horror that unfolded before him now, perhaps not in sheer ferocity, but in the palpable evil that emanated from the clearing.
The amount of planning that had been invested into the creation of this tableau was staggering.
A ring of halogen lights encircled the wagon wheel design. They provided precious little illumination, and instead cast long shadows from the rock cairns and walls. More lights would have to be airlifted in with a supply of portable generators, but not until they had thoroughly scoured the ground for evidence. They couldn’t afford for the rotors of a chopper to blow away even a single footprint, and the nearest other suitable landing area was a mile and a half to the northeast. For now, the ERT crew was gathering whatever they could find and photographing even the smallest stone from every appreciable angle.
With such an elaborate setup, Dandridge knew they would only discover what the killer wanted them to find. This was no haphazard burial site. An inordinate amount of time and care had gone into designing something meant to be seen.
This promised to be the longest night of his life.
“You’re going to want to see this,” an evidence tech he recognized as Brad Stewart said from his left, where two large piles of stones had been removed from one of the cairns and stacked to either side of it, framing a maw of shadows.
Dandridge reluctantly approached, accepted the proffered flashlight from Stewart, and shined it into the hollow base of the cairn.
“At a guess,” Stewart said, “I’d wager she was killed roughly two years ago, but we’ll have to wait for the ME for a more official assessment.”
“She?”
“That’s our working assumption. She’s still too young and skeletally immature to tell definitively.”
Dandridge crouched and had to cover the lower portion of his face with his handkerchief to combat the stench.
A handful of flies buzzed lazily at the periphery of the light’s reach.
“For the love of God,” Deputy Miller said from behind him. There was a crashing sound in the underbrush, then a retching noise as Miller was absolved of his dinner.
Dandridge studied the recess with the flashlight. A fully-articulated skeleton had been posed to face the center of the medicine wheel. Its palms had been drawn together and placed against the left side of its skull, its head canted slightly toward them in a twisted mockery of a peacefully sleeping child. There was a depressed fracture slightly anterior to the coronal suture, from which a spider web of cracks expanded. And based upon the size of the bones and the presence of the epiphyseal growth plate lines, he estimated she couldn’t have been more than twelve years old. Rusted lengths of barbed wire had been wound around and through the skeleton to hold the remains in place. Tangles of hair and tattered skin still adorned the barbs. Clumps of blackened flesh clung to the bones at random intervals, while the rest had turned the color of rust and were crusted with flaking scales of dried blood. Frayed tendons had retracted and pulled away from their moorings, where the gristle of muscle attachments reminded him of the nubs at the ends of gnawed drumsticks. The cartilaginous joints were ebon and rotted, yet somehow managed to hold the appendages together. Flies crawled on the dirt, which was slimy and lumpy with the foul dissolution of the tissues that had sloughed from the body as it decomposed.
“All of the teeth are still intact,” Dandridge said, sweeping the beam across the small face. “It shouldn’t take long to provide a positive ID from dental records.”
“If we’re right, it might be even easier than that,” Stewart said. “We were waiting for you before we watched the disks. There are tins buried halfway between the central and outer cairns, just like the professor said. We’re still carefully digging them out of the ground. So far, the samples we’ve loaded all confirm the presence of a video file in the neighborhood of half a gigabyte.”
“How long is that?”
“Depending upon resolution, somewhere between twenty and forty minutes.”
“And you haven’t watched them yet?”
“We took samples of the blood smears and dusted for prints, but no, we saved that honor just for you.”
Dandridge glanced at the remains one final time. He only hoped she hadn’t suffered too badly. His gut, however, insisted otherwise.
“We have the disk that corresponds with this cairn loaded and waiting on a laptop,” Stewart said. He paused. “Are you ready to do this?”
Dandridge nodded and rose to his feet. The last thing in the world he wanted to do right now was watch that infernal disk. He already had a pretty good idea of what it contained.
Stewart nodded toward the nearest overhead light, which had been mounted in the upper reaches of one of those sickly pines. An evidence tech he hadn’t worked with before sat on a level portion of the twisted trunk, computer in his lap, a stack of tins in plastic evidence bags to his right. He looked up when Dandridge approached, quickly stood, and handed over the laptop. Dandridge sat on the tech’s former perch and the others gathered around to watch. The tech offered one of the bagged tins from the pile, upon which several numbers and letters had been scratched.
“We suspect the top number is the victim’s chronological order,” the tech said. “The numbers below it are the month and day. No year. And there’s still some debate, but I’m pretty sure the letters on the bottom line are abbreviations for vernal and autumnal equinox, and summer and winter solstice.”
“How do I make this thing play?” Dandridge asked.
“It’s already primed. You just have to double-click the file name.”
Ordinarily, this was where the tech would not-so-discreetly mock his inferior technical skills, but tonight, no one envied him the task at hand.
Dandridge did as he was instructed and the media player opened. After a moment, a gray rectangle with a control bar beneath it appeared.
He drew a deep breath to steady his nerves, aligned the cursor with the PLAY button, and tapped the mouse.
The video began to roll.
Collecting Darkness: 10 Years Of Delirium Books
Although this isn’t a Delirium release, I thought that Delirium readers should be reminded that the book Collecting Darkness: 10 YEARS OF DELIRIUM BOOKS by Larry L. Roberts & H Michael Casper has shipped. It was published by Cargo Cult Press and is sold in the Bloodletting Books shop at Horror Mall. It turned out beautifully.
I received a copy from Larry Roberts the other day and I’d like to personally thank everyone who was involved in this project. Quite an honor and a true must-read if you’ve been purchasing Delirium titles over the years. It was very cool to see the top Delirium collectors showcased in this book along with pictures of their libraries. Also, the price guide was a very thorough and interesting reference for collectors. Great material was found from cover to cover.
Here’s more about this book on the history of Delirium Books:
Here is the guide you’ve been waiting for. The definitive Delirium Books bibliography and price guide is complete. Yet it is more than a price guide; much more. Two longtime collector’s collaborate on this volume that all small press collectors will cherish. Their combined knowledge and experience of over 50 years collecting books is evident.
For Delirium Books fans as well as collectors, this is it. The History of Delirium Books, Shane Ryan Staley: The Man Behind Delirium, The Value of Collecting Delirium Books, a bibliography and price guide, quick lists, and a peek at the Top 7 Delirium Book Collectors in the World are some of the gems found here. Included quick lists are designed for the collector and reader. They’ll help you find specific information. For example, all the cover art by Mike Bohatch, a list of all the books in the Exclusives Series, or all books authored by Greg F. Gifune can be easily discovered.
However, more than that is found between these covers. Information for the collector is provided including purpose, collecting trends and rules, investing in books, grading books, glossary of terms, protecting your investment, and how to care for your books.
Immun3 Sold Out!
Quick update on Delirium’s latest hardcover chapbook releases. Immun3 by Michael McBride, which was just announced late last week, is now SOLD OUT!
We’re still waiting on a payment from a bookseller and a few DB hardcover subscribers, so if you’re interested in Immun3, it can’t hurt to put your name on the reservation / stock notify list in case we have unpaid copies at the end of this week. You can do this by going to the following link and submitting your name and e-mail address:
http://www.horror-mall.com/stock_notify.php?productid=20944
Creeptych by John Everson, the previous Delirium chapbook, is down to only 4 copies left in stock. You can order one of the final copies at the following URL:
http://www.horror-mall.com/CREEPTYCH-by-John-Everson-Mini-HC-Chapbook-p-20629.html
Quick Note About Altar 13
For any Delirium Books supporter who is interested in updates on my other publishing company, Altar 13, please check out the new blog and join the newsletter. I will not be updating my Delirium blog with Altar 13 news, because these are two very different kinds of publishing companies. If you’re interested in one and not the other, then they remain separate. If you’re interested in both, then please visit both blogs and sign up for both newsletters.
The Altar 13 blog is at: http://horrorgy.com/altar13/
Immun3 by Michael McBride Shipping
Delirium Books’ new and improved limited edition mini-hardcover line has bulked up to focusing on novella / novelette length works. Immun3 by Michael McBride is now shipping, the latest production which features a side-sewn mini-hardcover with graphical wrapround cover (on the boards). One hell of a great story and book production combined for under $20. It’s an unbeatable deal. But with only 150 copies produced, it won’t be available long.
The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved. An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King. The Gulf War is over. Nirvana releases the album Nevermind. The Soviet Union collapses.
The year is 1991, and the world is changing.
For Landon Crane, the future couldn’t look brighter. He’s madly in love with a beautiful girl who’ll be leaving with him for college in just over a month. The small mountain town of Mineral Springs will be hosting the largest Independence Day celebration in its history to welcome home war hero Travis James, highlighting the ultimate summer of freedom.
The year is 1991, and nothing will ever be the same.
Travis has returned with more than the Medal of Honor. He’s brought something else with him, something capable of inflicting unimaginable pain and suffering. Before the night is through, Landon and the rest of the residents of Mineral Springs will be forced to answer the most terrifying question of all.
Who among them will survive?
Immun3 is a mini-hardcover (4.5 inches by 6.25 inches) novella side-sewn with a graphic wraparound cover on the boards.
If you are a Delirium hardcover subscriber and want to match this book to your subscription, you must submit this request in your order notes or else books will be randomly distributed.
Michael McBride’s Innocents Lost Limited Hardcover Shipping
Delirium Books has just released its 3rd hardcover first edition novel of the year. It is available and has already began shipping to hardcover subscribers. Only 150 hardcover copies being produced! Here’s more about this title…
A young girl vanishes in broad daylight on her tenth birthday. Her father, FBI Special Agent Phil Preston of the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team, devotes his life to finding her and discovers a pattern in a recent string of abductions.
Dr. Les Grant leads a group of graduate students into the Wyoming wilderness in search of an unidentified Native American medicine wheel photographed by an anonymous hiker. Instead, they stumble upon a macabre tableau of suffering.
Fremont County Sheriff Keith Dandridge finds himself right at the heart of the mystery when twenty-seven bodies are disinterred in the Wind River Range at the westernmost edge of his jurisdiction, with the promise of more to come.
All the while, an unknown evil is summoning the men to its killing grounds, where the remains of the lost innocents are left to rot…and a fate far worse than death awaits them.
Note: Delirium Hardcover subscribers have been sent an e-mail with a link to order to get the discount associated with your subscription.
Non-hardcover subscribers can order their copies HERE.
Greg F. Gifune’s Long After Dark In Paperback
In the coming weeks, Delirium Books will be releasing Greg F. Gifune’s latest novel (Long After Dark) in trade paperback.
But before it’s available anywhere else or released into distribution, Horror Mall customers can order their copies and get $5.00 off if you order before 6/4/2010. No coupon needed!
Here’s a little more about the novel:
Harry Fremont hasn’t slept in days. He’s down with a terrible flu: runny nose, fever, a sore throat, the chills, and worst of all, a horrible cough that keeps him up all night. His wife Kelly is away on a business trip and their son Garret is at college, leaving Harry alone in the house. Though worn out, Harry has been unable to sleep…and things are starting to change. He’s seeing unusual things outside, just beyond the windows and confines of his home…hearing things…experiencing unsettling things that make no sense. And they’re getting worse.
Are they simply figments of a tortured and exhausted mind, or clues to an intricate mystery steeped in evil and deception Harry cannot yet comprehend? Haunted by remnants of earlier nightmares, disturbing questions about his life and marriage, strange shadowy figures, odd noises, cryptic writings on his doors and glimpses of a hideously disfigured being wrapped in bloody bandages, Harry free-falls into a horrifying world of paranoia, agony and terror where nothing is what it seems.
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us…long after dark.
Sleep while you still can.
Creeptych Shipping, 14 Left
I’ve just finished shipping the new Delirium hardcover chapbook, Creeptych by John Everson. We have 14 left in stock before this limited edition is sold out.
Dollar for dollar, these Delirium chapbooks are the best value of any Delirium production, if not one of the best in the entire collectors market. Each hardcover is side-sewn with a graphical wraparound cover on the boards. Signed and limited to only 150 copies for a mere $20.00!
I’ve been outspoken in the past, stating that these books are my favorites of any of Delirium production. To call them a chapbook might be underselling them, as Creeptych is more than 150 pages (more than 25,000 words) and the quality of the book binding and production is really an attractive package.
You can expect to see Delirium putting more of these little hardcovers into production in the near future. It’s just a matter of time till collectors realize they’ve acquired something extremely special in their libraries.
And if you’re not a collector, we’ve produced an even more affordable digital edition for readers.
Or…
Clickers 3 Shipping, Only 29 Copies Left
Clickers 3 by J. F. Gonzalez and Brian Keene is now in stock and shipping a few weeks before the expected ship date! 29 copies left before it’s sold out, so if you’re waiting, wait no longer.
They thought it was over, but the second wave was only the beginning. In the aftermath of the Clickers and Dark Ones’ siege and a coup against an insane President, America rebuilds. Change has come, and a better future is promised to all. But promises can be broken and there may be no future at all because deep beneath the ocean, a new terror awaits. Dagon, god of the Dark Ones, is waking up…and if humanity doesn’t stop him, then mankind will face extinction.
Trapped on a South Pacific Island, the cast of Clickers and Clickers 2: The Next Wave join forces with a mysterious group of occult agents to face off against the Clickers, the Dark Ones, Dagon and an all-new threat—the deadly obsidian Clickers. The stakes have never been higher. Dagon is rising… and humanity will fall.
Clickers III: Dagon Rising—It’s more giant monster carnage and B-movie fun as only J. F. Gonzalez and Brian Keene can bring you.
Delirium Revisits Chapbook Format
For all you into Delirium nostalgia, Delirium has just announced Creeptych by John Everson, a mini-hardcover limited edition with the classic full graphical production on the boards.
This is a special mini-hardcover chapbook which measures 4 1/2 inches wide by 6 1/4 inches in length. It is signed by John Everson and limited to only 150 copies.
Does your skin crawl when you see a spider on the wall or a roach on the kitchen floor? Do you find yourself itching uncontrollably after being touched by a fly or mosquito? Do you ever lie awake half the night because you felt something delicately, carefully crawling across your feet beneath the sheets? Then this Creeptych of three bug-ridden stories is for you!
BAD DAY: Paul Hughes had a really bad day. He lost his job, his wife and then after getting bit by a bug… his life. Compared to what happens to his neighbors after the Luna Roaches come to town, his day wasn’t so bad at all. At least he died…
EARDRUM BUZZ: Wes couldn’t get enough of the music of Eardrum Buzz’s first disc, Misery Machine; the drone of their guitars was hypnotizing. But when he is brought into the band’s inner circle to join The Swarm, he soon has the music within him. Terrifyingly deep within him…
VIOLET LAGOON: When a quartet of co-eds decide to reenact The Blue Lagoon on an abandoned Florida Key, they find more than just sex and sand is on the agenda. Stings turn out to play a part in their weekend as well. Lots and lots of stings. But those were just the beginning of the pain…