Sign up for Newsletter!

    Every month I send out a John Everson ~ Dark Arts e-newsletter. Subscribers get free fiction every month, as well as chances to win free books and other stuff.

     

    So go ahead and sign up. It won't kill you, and it's free!

     

 

    Available AS e-Books:

    CreeptychMy fourth short story collection, Creeptych, released by Delirium Books as a 150-copy limited edition mini-hardcover in Spring 2010 is available as an e-book via Darkside Digital.

     

    Cage of BonesMy first short story collection, Cage of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions, released by Delirium Books way back in 2000, is now back in print as an e-book via Dark Side Digital!

     

    FailureAlso reissued in e-book format is my novelette Failure, originally issued as a limited hardcover chapbook by Delirium in 2006.

    Download a copy at Darkside Digital.

     



    Short Fiction RELEASES!

  • Green HornetI was psyched last year to write a story about The Green Hornet, and I'm even more psyched that the anthology is finally out! You can read my story "The Black Widow" now in The Green Hornet Casefiles, from Moonstone Books.
  • Necro Files, the latest anthology by NecroComet Press compiles "Two Decades of Extreme Horror" and I'm proud to say that my story "Every Last Drop" appears there alongside tales by Ray Garton, Joe R. Lansdale, Bentley Little, George R.R. Martin and more.
  • Vampire TalesBooks of the Dead Press has been compiling a bunch of great short horror story collections of late, and my story "When Barrettes Brought Justice to a Burning Heart" appears in Best New Vampire Tales Vol. 1.

    My story "Camille Smiled" appears in their Best New Zombie Tales Vol. 2.
  • The third issue of the online zine Dead Lines has reprinted my story "Mutilation Street" originally published in the 2001 CD-ROM anthology Bloodtype. Read it online free here!

  • Released at the end of 2009 by Comet Press, The Death Panel offers a baker's dozen of hard-boiled violent, dark tales of crime from Tom Piccirilli, Scott Nicholson, Simon Wood and more. And it includes my own twisted tale "The Mouth" previously only found in my first, long out-of-print collection, Cage of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions.


    • Horror Library
  • Infernally Yours was released in August 2009 from Necro Books, and I'm honored that I was able to contribute "Then Shall The Reign of Lucifer End" to this Edward Lee "Infernal" world tribute book. All the stories take place in Lee's Mephistopolis, the City of Hell that is the centerpiece to his Infernal Angel, City Infernal and House Infernal series.
  • Horror Library Vol. 3 is now out -- and nominated for a Bram Stoker Award! The collection features my story "Fish Bait." The story was originally written as a homage to my friends and fellow contributors to the great '90s zine CyberPsycho's AOD.
  • I collaborated on a three-way story with Gary Braunbeck and J.F. Gonzalez for the Halloween 2008 issue of Doorways Magazine. It's the first collaboration I've ever published, and I hope you'll check it out!
  • See all recent magazine and anthology appearances.



    Other Books Available

    IGLY I GRZECHY

    OfiaraNeedles & Sins has been translated into Polish, and was released as Igly i grzechy in Poland in 2010 by Replika Books. Click the cover thumbnail for a larger image.

    You can also hear a Polish reading from Igly i grzechy on YouTube.

     

    OFIARA

    OfiaraSacrifice has been translated into Polish, and was released as Ofiara in Poland in 2009 by Replika Books. Click the cover thumbnail for a larger image.

    Click here to read more about Ofiara at Replika's website!

    You can also find a Polish translation of Covenant, titled Demoniczne Przymierze, from Red Horse Books.



    NEEDLES & SINS

    Needles & SinsMy 3rd short story collection, Needles & Sins, was released in late 2007 by Necro Publications.

    It includes 19 of my best short horror and dark fantasy tales, including "Letting Go," a 2007 Bram Stoker Award nominee.
    >>READ MORE in BOOKS...

     

     

    CANDY IN THE DUMPSTER

    Sacrifice by John EversonThe four-author collection featuring 3 of my stories (including the perrenial favorite, "Pumpkin Head") was intended as a convention keepsake for WHC 2006... but Candy in the Dumpster ended up launching Dark Arts Books.
    >>READ MORE in BOOKS...

     

    >> SEE ALL BOOKS


    Web site history

    I launched this website back in 1996, originally hosted in a folder on AOL(!), and coded by hand using Windows Notepad as the editor. The current version, launched on August 15, 2008, makes the leap from 800 pixel width to 1024. For the true web geeks in the audience, it's also completely CSS-driven, using no table structures. The swirl chains in the banner and the ghosted blue-purple swirl behind the bottom of the middle column provide the "bridge" from the last iteration. Thanks to Travis Anthony Soumis for letting me adapt his dark angel image from the cover of my Needles & Sins collection as my banner.

     




    THE PUMPKIN MAN Press:

  • Barnes & Noble reviewer Paul Goat Allen wrote: "The reason I enjoy reading Everson (Siren, Sacrifice) so much is because he can make a nightmare-inducing, bladder-loosening story palatable for mainstream readers…The Pumpkin Man is a perfect Halloween read if there ever was one. I loved how Everson tied both urban legend and arcane mythology into the gourd-powered storyline."

    >> Read the full review
  • Chicks Dig Books wrote: "I don’t think I’ve been this hooked by a horror story since The Hellbound Heart.  The further I got into it, the harder it was to put it down.  This book is everything a horror story should be: original, suspenseful, and disturbing.  This should be THE book to read for this Halloween season."

    >> Read the full review
  • Horrorbid.com called The Pumpkin Man "a boldly brutal, unforgiving story that will force you to view jack-o lanterns in a whole new light come Halloween Night."

    >> Read the full review
  • Popcorn Reads said "If you’re into witchcraft, urban legends/myths, and/or scary stories with lots of twists and turns then this one is perfect for Halloween reading! Of course, you may never look at another jack o’lantern the same way again…"

    >> Read the full review
  • Read these and all of the reviews of The Pumpkin Man over at www.thepumpkinman-horror.com

    SIREN Press:

  • Famous Monsters wrote that Siren offers "Fresh storylines, memorable lifelike characters, horrifying creatures and enough frights to keep you up late into the evening..."

    >> Read the full review
  • Dread Central said that "Siren is easily one of Everson's best. This multi-layered story captures the reader with its ability to stir the emotions as well as repulse."

    >> read the full review
  • Paperback Horror wrote in its review of Siren: "Quote me on this: John Everson is the king of Erotic Horror."

    >> Read the full review
  • Destroy the Brain said that Siren "weaves fear and seduction into a haunted tale of loss, redemption, and frightening fatal attraction."

    >> Read the full review
  • Helium called Siren "an effective and scary horror tale."

    >> Read the full review
  • The Horror Fiction Review wrote "All of the characters are well developed and flawed in some way.  The flaws make them more real.  There truly is no happy ending here; it’s sad and chaotic for the people involved.  I was very surprised by the twists the book took, and I live for endings that I don’t see coming."

    >> Read the full review
  • Monster Librarian wrote that "This latest release from John Everson shows him broadening his horizons, as Siren contains neither demons nor any extremely graphic sexual scenes like his previous titles.  However, Siren could be Everson’s scariest novel to date..."

    >> Read the full review
  • The Horror Review says "This is a book that will make any man who lives in or near the coast of any ocean feel uneasy about the beach and the water."

    >> Read the full review
  • Literary Mayhem and HorrorNews.net wrote, "Siren should be at the top of your must read list and I highly recommend it."

    >> Read the full review
  • Bloodsprayer.com wrote that Siren "was a nice change from the standard “destroy the beast” plot that crops up over and over in this genre. Everson started with a different breed of monster, and he ends with a different note than most other authors, and I applaud him for it."

    >> Read the full review



    The 13th Press:

  • Rue Morgue reviewed The 13th in its Jan/Feb 2010 issue and said "When an abandoned, notoriously haunted hotel reopens as an insane asylum for pregnant women, you just know that trouble's a' brewin'. ...Gorehounds take note: blood spills from the first page to the last in this disturbing thriller.
  • The Horror Review said The 13th "hits you hard from chapter to chapter right until the very end" in their January 2010 review.
  • The Horror Fiction Review called The 13th "more addictive than crack" in their January 2010 review.
  • Hellnotes dubbed The 13th a "warped ecstatic rhapsody" in their 2009 review.
  • B Through Z Magazine published an interview with me, as well as a review of The 13th.
  • Dark Scribe Magazine published an interview with me as well as a review of The 13th.
  • The Shroud Magazine has published an interview with me, as well as reviewed The 13th on Amazon.
  • The Monster Librarian has posted two reviews of The 13th!


    Interviews

    You can read interviews with me at the following websites:

  • Only Good Movies interviewed my about my favorite films and actors in September 2010.
  • Bloodsprayer.com interviewed me on the eve of the release of Siren.
  • The first issue of new internet zine Omega's Apple, posted in February 2010, features an interview with me about The 13th and the upcoming Siren.
  • Listen to a recording of my February 2010 radio interview on WJJW 91.1-FM, the station of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts here.
  • Listen to a recording of my January 2010 radio interview on Diabolical Radio.
  • Monster Librarian talked to me in May 2009 about Sacrifice.
  • Nossa Morte magazine's February 2009 issue includes an interview with me covering my "formative influences" and info about my upcoming books Sacrifice and The 13th.
  • In fall 2008 I did an interview with The Zombie Review that was definitely the most fun I’ve ever had answering a bunch of questions. Silly, irreverent, and including turkey baster citations, you can read it here if you so choose
  • The Horror Society posted an interview with me titled "Making a Covenant with Illinois’ Dark Lord of the Arts" in November 2008.
  • Horror Fiction Review put me on the hotspot for an interview in September 2008.
  • Read about the "making of" Covenant at Leisure Books.
  • Read about the "making of" Sacrifice at Leisure Books.


    Sacrifice Reviews

  • Famous Monsters of Filmland posted the first review of Sacrifice in March 2009 and "highly recommended" the book.

    >> Read the full review.
  • Shroud Magazine called Sacrifice "a guilty pleasure, the kind of novel we're all afraid our parents will discover we've been reading late at night, under the covers with the flashlight on."

    >> Read the full review.
  • Horror World wrote "Sacrifice is a Screaming Orgasm followed by a shot of Jack Daniels. This is a novel that begs to be finished in one night, and likely will be."

    >> Read the full review.
  • Hell Notes said "John Everson manages in Sacrifice to dispense buckets of blood, provide edgy perversity, and walk the tenuous tightrope of horror and sex without falling: It’s rather an amazing feat."

    >> Read the full review.
  • The Horror Fiction Review wrote in its June 2009 issue: "Perhaps a bit like an adult version of the classic cult film CARNIVAL OF SOULS, Everson has truly made his mark on the genre and is taking no prisoners; SACRIFICE is hardcore horror that passes its predecessor by bounds. The squeamish need not apply.

    >> Read the full review.
  • Infernal Dreams rated the novel "10 out of 10."

    >> Read the full review.
  • Fear Zone called Sacrifice a "fast and enjoyable read..."
    >> Read the full review.
  • Ttzuma posted his full review on the Horror World Message Boards, noting "Where Covenant’s pace was such that it built tension slowly while it delved deeply into characterization, Sacrifice is its opposite. It is a ball’s to the wall, action packed, take no prisoners follow up. This book will have you at the edge of your seat with its scenes of supernatural horror, excessive gore, and debauched sex."

    >> Read the full review.
  • Monster Librarian said it was "well worth it to set aside an afternoon to read Sacrifice… and then the next afternoon to read it again!"

    >> Read the full review.



    Covenant Reviews

  • Monster Librarian reviewed COVENANT calling it "a great read for all horror fans."

    >> Read the full review.
  • Horror Fiction Review wrote that "COVENANT won a Bram Stoker Award in 2004 and it’s easy to see why: Everson’s writing is fast paced, the several characters are very believable (which in itself is a rarity), plus wall-to-wall chills and some moments that will haunt any sufferer of claustrophobia."

    >> Read the full review.
  • Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review called COVENANT "an ideal commuter book... filled with chills and horror" and said "It’s basically a tale of what people will do to fulfill a deal with the devil and how they live with this afterwards..."

    >> Read the full review.
  • BookReview.com says "This exciting suspense thriller has the audience hooked with a need to know why once Joe begins questioning what the dispatcher meant by “another one“. John Everson has written a powerful tale as readers wonder whether it is a coincidence, the supernatural or a serial killer behind the suicides.

    >> Read the full review.
  • Dread Central said "if you’re in the mood for a well-paced tale of human sacrifice, big city reporters, lots of sex and an abundant use of the word “covenant”... get yourself a copy of John Everson’s Covenant.

    >> Read the full review.
  • Lincoln Crisler reviewed Covenant as "10 out of 5"!

    >> Read the full review.



 

Christmas Time Is Here Again!

mvery year I post a little Christmas cheer on this site - visit my Christmas page for some holiday wallpaper, a special book deal and to hear a holiday song I wrote and recorded with a band several years ago. You can also listen to a demo song that inspired one of the short stories in the holiday fantasy mini-collection Christmas Tales. To read that and a couple of my other Christmas fantasy stories, please click the links above to download the e-book from your preferred store (Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com). You can also download a PDF or other e-book version at Smashwords.com.

Happy Holidays!

 

 

Visit The Pumpkin Man and Talk to the Spirits of the Ouija Board!

The Pumpkin Man site

Visit the new web site dedicated to The Pumpkin Man!

Visit The Pumpkin Man at www.ThePumpkinMan-Horror.com!

 

The Pumpkin Man is Here!

The Pumpkin Man

mhe trade paperback and e-book editions of my fifth novel, The Pumpkin Man, shipped to stores the first week in October - just in time for Halloween! There's even a website devoted to it -- complete with a Ouija Board and autographed books contest. Check out:

www.thepumpkinman-horror.com

A signed, limited hardcover edition was released by Delirium Books this summer, but is now sold out from the publisher. An audiobook version will also be out later this year.

Click the image at right to see a larger version of the book's ad which will be in the October issue of SCREAM Magazine.

The first review of the book has hit at Literary Mayhem, and called the book "a creepy, sharply written grisly tale that will make you think twice about the jack-o-lanterns you see in your neighborhood this coming Halloween."

Read the full review here.

Here's a brief description of the novel:

After her father’s gruesome murder, Jenn needed a place to get away from it all with some friends, to take her mind off her grief. The empty seaside cottage she inherited seemed perfect. Jenn didn’t know that the cottage held arcane secrets, mysteries long hidden and best left alone. She didn’t realize until it was too late that the old books and Ouija board she found there really do hold great power. And it was only after her friend’s headless body was discovered that she knew the legend of the local bogeyman was no mere legend at all.

An evil has been unleashed, a terrifying figure previously only spoken of in whispers. But now the whispers will become screams. Beware…THE PUMPKIN MAN.


DEADLY NIGHTLUSTS
now Available!

DEADLY NIGHTLUSTS
A Collection of Forbidden Magic
(Blasphemous Books, November 2010)
$2.99 (e-book short fiction collection)

my fifth short fiction collection has just launched the new imprint Blasphemous Books!

This collection began as a quick ebook "two-fer" download of a couple of my older stories that I really liked but had never previously been collected. Somehow it grew to become a seven-story collection with a brand new tale, "Green Apples, Red Nails" written specifically for the book, inspired by the cover art. The reprints include "Pumpkin Head," "A Lack of Signs," "Star on the Beach," "To Earn His Love," "Sacrificing Virgins," and "Body & Blood."

Here's the back cover description of the collection:
Lust has a powerful hold on us. It can be a beautiful thing, but also quite dangerous. With this collection from John Everson, author of Covenant (winner of the Bram Stoker award), and Siren,  you'll meet those who have succumbed to lust through black magic and deals with the Devil. You'll read six treats from the vault of John's early years as an author, plus a brand new story.

Lust consumes us all, but what depths would you go to satiate it? Start with a green apple, lick your lips, and add a pinch (or more) of Deadly Nightlusts.

 

 

SIREN Available Again!

SIREN
(Leisure Books, July 2010 / June 2011)
(Bad Moon Collectors Ed., September 2010)
$60.00 (limited numbered hardcover)
$14.00 (trade paperback)
$7.99 (mass market paperback)
$6.99 (e-book)

my fourth novel was released in mass market paperback from Leisure Books (and available in the horror section of bookstores everywhere!) at the end of July 2010. The novel was previewed with an early debut at the Famous Monsters convention the 2nd weekend of July. Due to distribution issues with the original mass market paperback, Siren was relaunched in trade paperback by Leisure Books in June 2011. And audiobook is due in summer 2011 as well, and the novel is available on all the usual e-book sites.

SIREN is also available in a limited 100-copy signed and numbered hardcover edition via Bad Moon Books from The Horror Mall.

Here's the back cover description of the novel:
Night after night, Evan walked along the desolate beach, grieving over the loss of his son, drowned in an accident more than a year before. 

Siren Limited Edition CoverThen one night he was drawn to the luminous sound of a beautiful, naked woman singing near the shore in the moonlight.  He watched mesmerized as the mysterious woman disappeared into the sea. Driven by desire and temptation, Evan returned to the spot every night until he found her again.  Now he has begun a bizarre, otherworldly affair.  A deadly affair.  For Evan will soon realize that his seductive lover is a being far more evil…and more terrifying…than he ever imagined. 

He will learn the danger of falling into the clutches of the… SIREN

  • Read the Famous Monsters review of Siren here.
  • Order a copy now at The Horror Mall or Amazon.com or pick one up at your favorite brick and mortar bookstore like Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc....

 

Hardcovers are sold out, e-book available

CreeptychCREEPTYCH
(Darkside Digital, March 2010)
(Delirium Hardcover, May 2010)
$20 (limited hardcover)
$3.95 (digital edition)
$2.95 (audio edition of "Bad Day")

my three-story "book of bugs" is now available! Here's the description:

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!

Here's a summary of the three stories within:

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...

The following formats are available:



The 13thNow Available!

The 13TH
(Leisure Books, October 2009)
$7.99 (mass market paperback)

my third novel, The 13th, was released the last week of October - you can see a full website about the book at www.the13th-horror.com.

A limited hardcover edition was also issued over the summer from Necro Publications. That edition (see thumbnail below) features evocative art on the cover and signature page from Travis Anthony Soumis, who also did the cover art for my short story collection Needles & Sins (also from Necro).

The 13th pairs Christy, a rookie cop and David, a failed Olympic cyclist, in a race against time to find David's girlfriend and stop her from becoming a victim of the ceremony of The 13th.

Watch THE 13TH "Book Trailer"
by noted Chicago filmmaker John Borowski, director of H. H. Holmes, America's First Serial Killer and Albert Fish:

 

Here's the actual back cover description of the novel:

Castle House Lodge. A century ago it was an exclusive resort hotel. But for years it’s stood empty, a haunting shadow of its former glories.

The 13th - limited Necro hardcover editionNow, after twenty-five years of rumors and ghost stories, the overgrown grounds are showing signs of being tended. The building itself has been repaired. Castle House has new occupants. What was once a haven for the elite is now a madhouse, a private asylum for pregnant women.

But are all the patients really insane?

And is it just a coincidence that people have begun to disappear from the nearby town?

David Shale’s girlfriend is one of the missing, and he’s determined to find the truth behind the mysterious Dr. Rockford and his house of secrets. He will learn the meaning of the red X painted on the basement door…and he will know the ultimate fear, the horror of…
THE 13TH.

Visit www.the13th-horror.com to learn more!

 

 

SacrificeNow Available!

SACRIFICE
(Leisure Books, April 2009)
$7.99 (mass market paperback)

my second novel, Sacrifice, hit the shelves in April 2009 from Leisure Books! You can find it through Amazon.com, Books A Million and Barnes & Noble and more! Sacrifice is the sequel to Covenant (though it's written as a standalone novel, so you don't need to read Covenant to enjoy it).

The book follows a sexy serial killer, Ariana, as she seeks to lure the Curburide demons into our world through a series of ritual sacrifices. The novel was originally released in 2007 in hardcover by Delirium Books. Here's the back cover copy:

They're coming. They are a race of sadistic spirits known as the Curburide, and they are about to arrive in our world, bringing with them horrors beyond imagination. The secret to summoning—and controlling—them has fallen into the hands of a beautiful, sexy and dangerously insane woman.

Sacrifice - limited Delirium hardcover editionAriana has dedicated her life to unleashing the demons in our realm through a series of human sacrifices, erotic rituals of seduction and slaughter. As she crosses the country, getting ever closer to completing her blood-drenched mission, only three figures stand in her way: an unwilling hero who has seen the horrors of the Curburide before, a burgeoning witch...and a spiteful demon with plans of his own.

Covenant in paperback!

Covenant
(Leisure Books, August 2008)
$7.99 (mass market paperback)

y first novel, Covenant was released as one of the September 2008 Featured Horror paperback titles from Leisure Books!

A mix of mystery, the occult and horror, Covenant was first issued in November 2004 from Delirium Books in a signed & numbered, hardcover format, and on June 25, 2005 the Horror Writers Association presented Covenant with a Bram Stoker Award in the "First Novel" category in a ceremony in Burbank, California. You can see articles, photos, and watch a video of my award acceptance here.

The novel follows Joe Kieran, an investigative reporter who discovers a web of mysterious teen suicides that somehow connect five women in a small coastal town. Is there really a malevolent presence inside Terrel Cliff that holds all of the town in thrall?

Covenant - limited edition Delirium Hardcover editionOr is there a murderous covenant between five women to sacrifice their first-born? Beneath the remains of a long-demolished lighthouse, Joe discovers Terrel's secret history and salvation and puts his own soul in deadly danger.

  • Read sample chapters of Covenant at Horrorworld.org
  • Read reviews of Covenant here.
  • Read about the "making of" Covenant at Leisure Books.
  • Order a copy now at The Horror Mall or Amazon.com or pick one up at your favorite brick and mortar bookstore like Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc....