DEPRAVITY LANE NEWS #4: DEAD END HOUSE

For this edition of DEPRAVITY LANE NEWS, I want to backtrack just slightly to talk a bit about my latest full-length solo release. DEAD END HOUSE is a 74,000-word hardcore extreme horror novel that came out from Grindhouse Press in mid-February of this year, a couple months before my arrival here on Substack.

Signed paperback copies of DEAD END HOUSE are currently available from my store at the steeply discounted rate of $10.99. For a limited time, I’m also offering free shipping on this book when purchased as a single item.

Purchase signed copies of DEAD END HOUSE

To put DEAD END HOUSE in proper context, it is necessary to talk for a moment about my previous book, BURNING DOWN THE NIGHT, which was released by Grindhouse in June 2022. For BDTN, I wanted to change gears a bit and write a different kind of story. Though it contains some elements of the strange and surreal, BDTN is not a horror novel. It’s a weird little mainstream-ish thriller set in the grunge era of the early 90’s, and it’s about an aimless slacker who stumbles into a web of intrigue while chain-guzzling beers through the whole thing. It’s kind of a personal book with some true stuff in it. I like it, but my horror-based audience largely was not interested. Oh, well.

For DEAD END HOUSE, I wanted to get back to basics, back to the early roots of my teenage horror fandom. Those days of reading Fangoria magazine in the early 80’s and discovering the kind of sleazy grindhouse and drive-in horror movies that caused loads of controversy and led to the coining of the “video nasty” term over in the UK. Movies like LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, MANIAC, THE HILLS HAVE EYES, ILSA, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, BLOODSUCKING FREAKS, etc. The kind of movies that would make a teenage kid back then feel kind of guilty or at least intensely self-conscious for even daring to lift the VHS box off a video store shelf. Back then I’d sometimes look around to be sure no one was nearby while I read the back cover copy because sometimes some pretty lurid images accompanied the text.

I didn’t necessarily want to write anything resembling a carbon copy of those stories, but rather one that would stir that same kind of feeling, like you were doing something wrong for even daring to look at it. A book you felt helplessly compelled to read despite that uneasiness, one that felt like it should maybe come wrapped in a plain brown paper bag like some of the sleazier skin mags. I also wanted to deliver an unending barrage of shamelessly over-the-top content, to conjure an assault of imagery disgusting and sickening enough to leave an indelible scar on the psyche. So I buckled down and did my best to deliver exactly that.

DEAD END HOUSE hasn’t exactly blown up the top of the charts, but it’s been a good, steady seller on Kindle ever since its release, and the reaction from readers tells me I accomplished what I set out to do in spades. Reviewers on Amazon frequently cite its brutality and bleakness, with at least one calling it “the most violent book I’ve ever read.” In addition to the earlier era influences described above, there have been comparisons to more modern films like HOSTEL and MARTYRS. From my perspective, this all makes it an unqualified success.

My next horror novel, KILL THE HUNTER, releasing in October 2023, will be very different in terms of tone and approach. It’ll be more fun and escapist in tone, but rest assured there’ll still be plenty of blood splattering all over the pages. More on that—and on the forthcoming reissue of THE GAUNTLET—coming soon in future editions of DEPRAVITY LANE NEWS.