Demain Publishing Unleash Short Sharp Shocks! Series Two
September 18th 2020 sees Demain Publishing releases the next 5 titles in their incredibly successful Short Sharp Shocks! series.
The authors involved in this latest wave of horror will be (#51) Christopher Stanley, (#52) Jess Doyle, (#53) James Marx, (#54) Lee Allen Howard & (#55) Kev Harrison
All art will again be from the incredibly talented Adrian Baldwin.
Over the next 5 days, Kendall Reviews will be revealing each title from the first batch of Season Two.
Short Sharp Shocks! #54
The Night Creatures: Lee Allen Howard
“The Night Creatures” is about a husband who denies his wife a simple pleasure and ends up succumbing to her nightmares.
(cover by Adrian Baldwin)
You can buy The Night Creatures from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Lee Allen Howard Talks To Demain Publishing
(Originally featured on the Demain Publishing Blog 2nd September 2020 HERE)
DEMAIN PUBLISHING: Hi Lee! Great to have you back. So for those readers that haven’t yet caught your previous Short Sharp Shocks! The Elixir or aren’t yet aware of you/your other work – can you tell us a little about yourself and how you became a writer…
LEE ALLEN HOWARD: It’s great to be here. It seems like I’ve always had stories to tell. In second grade, I started writing tales full of skeletons, witches, and blood. I’ve not stopped.
DP: Your background then, what was it and has it influenced you?
LAH: I’m a preacher’s son raised in church. Themes of faith show up in my fiction, notably my short story ‘Mama Said’ and my second novel, The Sixth Seed.
DP: And your first introduction to the genre?
LAH: It was either James Herbert’s The Rats or Thomas Tryon’s The Other. I credit these two books with introducing me to horror and making me want to be a horror writer.
DP: Ah, The Rats – remember it well and a whole bunch of us at school reading it on the bus home one night! – so your Short Sharp Shocks!?
LAH: The Night Creatures is about a husband who denies his wife a simple pleasure and ends up succumbing to her nightmares.
DP: We thought it was a cracking little tale so well done. Creatively Lee, what would be your biggest success to date?
LAH: My most popular novel is Death Perception, a story about a young man who runs the local crematorium. He discovers he can discern the cause of death of those he cremates by toasting marshmallows over their ashes. When what he discerns differs from what’s on the death certificate, however, he finds himself in the midst of murderers.
DP: We’ll have to check that out – sounds very intriguing. What books (or authors) do you read and do they have an influence?
LAH: I read a wide variety of horror. My favourites are the paperbacks from the 1970s and ’80s. The author I’ve read most of is Donald Westlake, writing under the pen name Richard Stark (the Parker series). Love those crime stories.
DP: They’re great aren’t they? What does ‘horror’ conjure for you?
LAH: Horror is an emotion, whether that be dread, terror, fright, or shock. Writing that evokes these emotions with the intent to unsettle and scare can be rightfully classed as horror.
DP: With that in mind then, there have been numerous reports of late that the horror genre is dead, would you agree?
LAH: I disagree. I think horror is enjoying a comeback, both in fiction and especially the cinema.
DP: Almost done, is writing for you a long term or short term career?
LAH: I’ve been writing fiction all my life, albeit sporadically. But, alas, I must pay the bills. So I’ve been employed as a technical writer for the software industry since 1985.
DP: Yeap, we all need to pay the bills. It’s been a tough year and this year (for obvious reasons) has been tougher than most. Quite a lot of creatives are having to diversify and there’s nothing wrong with that. We need to pay bills. We need to have a roof over our head. We need to eat. We do what we’ve got to do for our families. Finally then Lee, what is something your readers might be surprised to find out about you?
LAH: As well as a master’s degree in fiction writing, I earned a master’s in biblical studies and was a pastor for three years.
DP: Now those sermons I would love to have heard. Thanks for your time Lee – all the best with The Night Creatures.
Lee Allen Howard
Lee Allen Howard’s dark fiction spans the genres of horror, dark fantasy, supernatural crime and psychological thrillers.
His publications include: The Sixth Seed, Severed Relations, Desperate Spirits, Night Monsters, Death Perception, The Adamson Family, Perpetual Nightmares and The Bedwetter.
Lee earned his BA in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and an MA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. He’s been a professional writer in the software industry since 1985.
Lee is also the founder and editor of Dark Cloud Press which has published the horror and dark crime anthologies Thou Shalt Not…and Tales Of Blood and Squalor.
He resides in western New York state with a lot of books.
Website: www.leeallenhoward.com
Twitter: @LeeAllenHoward
Facebook: LeeAllenHowardauthor
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