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!
Other Books Available
OFIARA
Sacrifice has been translated into Polish, and will be released as Ofiara in Poland this Spring by Replika Books. Click the cover thumbnail for a larger image.
Click here to read more about Ofiara at Replika's website! Replika will issue a Polish translation of Needles & Sins later this year.
You can also find a Polish translation of Covenant, titled Demoniczne Pryzmierze, from Red Horse Books.
NEEDLES & SINS
My 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...
SACRIFICE
The sequel to Covenant was released in a limited edition hardcover in early 2007, and is still available via The Horror Mall, Amazon.com and a number of other horror-friendly stores. The paperback edition will be released from Leisure Books in April 2009.
>>READ MORE in BOOKS...
CANDY IN THE DUMPSTER
The 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...
- 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.
Fish Bait in Horror Library!
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 (after teaching myself basic html by "reading" the page source of other websites!). The current version, launched on August 15, 2008, makes the leap from 800 pixel width to 1024, since most people have upped their screen resolutions. 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.
- My favorite event of the summer - Naperville Ribfest - pours out the barbecue sauce again in just:
Countdown to Ribfest!
Upcoming Appearances:
SACRIFICE TOUR SCHEDULE:
June 27 - Merrillville, IN
June 28 - Naperville, IL
July 10 - Schaumburg, IL
Aug. 1 - Schaumburg, IL
>> View Full List of Dates & Locations
>> View List of Past Appearances
- 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.
Sacrifice Reviews
- 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.
Interviews
You can read interviews with me at the following websites:
- 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.
Covenant Reviews
Now Available!
SACRIFICE
(Leisure Books)
$7.99 (mass market paperback)
y second novel, Sacrifice, hit the shelves in April 2009 from Leisure Books! You can find it through Amazon.com, Books A Million, Borders 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.
Ariana 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.
- Read sample chapters of Sacrifice at Leisure Books.
- Read reviews of Sacrifice at left.
- Read about the making of Sacrifice at Leisure Books.
- Order a copy now at Amazon.com, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million etc...
- Read about the Polish edition at Replika Books.
Covenant in paperback!
Covenant
(Leisure Books)
$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? Or 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....
Coming Up...The 13th, Infernally Yours & more!
Leisure Books will be releasing The 13th, my 3rd novel in November 2009. 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. Here's the back cover description:
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. Now, 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.
Necro Publications will be issuing a collector's edition limited edition hardcover of The 13th in the spring of 2009.
I'm really excited about my contribution "Then Shall The Reign of Lucifer End" to the new Infernally Yours anthology coming in Summer 2009 from Necro Publications. The book features stories that all take place in Edward Lee's Mephistopolis, the City of Hell that is the centerpiece to his Infernal Angel, City Infernal and House Infernal series. Lee contributes a short novel to open the anthology, and the rest of the roster reads:
• John Shirley
• John Everson
• Brian Keene
• Charlee Jacob
• Maynard and Sims
• Gerard Houarner
• Bryan Smith
I've also got another story, a dark fantasy about a man who wakes up with no knowledge of his past life, "In Memoryum," due out soon in the anthology Terrible Beauty, Fearful Symmetry from Dark Hart Press.
Other contributors include Edward Lee, James A. Moore, Matthrew Warner, Sèphera Girón, Gord Rollo, J.L. Comeau,
Weston Ochse, Hal Bodner, Lawrence C. Connolly, Harrison Howe, Lisa Morton, A.M. Muffaz, Wendy Brewer, Angeline Hawkes, Gregory L. Norris, Peter N. Dudar, Lisa Mannetti, Elizabeth Blue, Corinne De Winter, Marcy Italiano, David Simms, Tracy L. Carbone, Scott T. Goudsward, Ron Clinton, J. Michael Shell, Jason Palmer, T. Rex Armés, Elizabeth Blue, April Gray, Jeffrey Rice, R.E. Gofstein, Michael Hughes, M. Fryer, Charles Colyott and Dennis Cummins.