What are you hearing right now? PUNKTOWN in German, of course!

What's this bizarre audio trailer that's playing on my MySpace page? Well, the very cool German outfit Lausch has released three of my Punktown stories as beautifully produced and dramatized audio plays on CD. Check it out at their web site, here http://www.merlausch.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=2&id=49&Itemid=19 and don't forget their MySpace page, too. http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=87684733 Wunderbar!!

Currently listening : Metavoid By Lustmord Release date: 2001-07-03

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THIRTEEN SPECIMENS

The trade paperback of my collection THIRTEEN SPECIMENS has been released from Delirium Books; a dozen plus one of my darkest and most bizarre novellas, short stories and poems. Read what I have to say about its contents, in depth, at my official blog: http://www.jeffreyethomas.com/blog/?p=125 and you can acquire a copy of THIRTEEN SPECIMENS here: http://www.horror-mall.com/THIRTEEN-SPECIMENS-by-Jeffrey-Thomas-Trade-Paperback-p-18122.html.

Currently reading : City on Fire By Walter Jon Williams Release date: 1997-11-15

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BLUE WAR is here! Read the reviews!

My science fiction-thriller BLUE WAR, featuring DEADSTOCK's shape-shifting private eye Jeremy Stake, hit the stands last month...and the reviews have been great!

Blue War works on every level, as a novel of character, a tautly plotted thriller, and a critique of big business and politics.

– Eric Brown, The Guardian

Jeffrey Thomas returns and, as with Deadstock, he delivers a gripping sci-fi tale that enthrals from start to finish. Thomas fashions a tale of mystery that is part cyberpunk and part hard-boiled noir with its reluctant heroes and moral ambiguities. His winning characterisation is engaging and suitably complex without ever infringing on the narrative and he balances the action and intrigue perfectly. The fantastical elements are maturely handled and Thomas never lets himself get distracted from the story at hand. A wildly diverting, yet equally rewarding, read.

– Alisdair Morton, SciFi Now

The best cyberpunk noir you'll read this year...The jungle war, its ghosts and memories are cyberpunk cliches. You have to be thick skinned, a hack, or ridiculously talented to make them your own. Jeffrey Thomas belongs in the final camp...The plotting is tight and the writing alternates between lush and spare. This is a novel that requires concentration. Like its hero, Jeffrey Thomas takes few prisoners.

– Jon Courtenay Grimwood, SFX (four stars)

Where Deadstock ranged wildly from cyberpunk noir to Lovecraftian horror and just outright bizarreness in exciting b-movie fashion, Blue War is a more accessible, intelligent and provocative sci-fi thriller...I very much enjoyed Jeffrey's new book. Particularly I really like Jeremy Stake as a protagonist...In short, Jeffrey Thomas continues to impress, and if you haven't discovered this fantastic author for yourself yet, then there's no better time than the present...

– Robert Thompson, Fantasy Book Critic

Returning to the iconic Punktown universe, Jeffrey Thomas' Blue War features some truly bizarre events and situations. The novel zips back and forth between Punktown and Bluetown, a Punktown replica growing at an exponential rate on the other-dimensional world of Sinan...the most evocative parts of the novel have to do with Thomas' made-up creatures, from "yubos" to "benders." Benders are a little like huge floating jellyfish, and they help showcase the author's truly impressive imagination. A scene in which Stake is attacked by a bender has an authenticity of detail rare in science fiction.

– Jeff VanderMeer, SciFi.com

Thomas makes the most of his science-fictional background in the surreal settings and genuinely provocative ideas behind the escalating action as several plot threads begin to merge.

– Faren Miller, Locus

Jeffrey Thomas vaults to the next level with his most ambitious and impressive Punktown book to date...It opens with a real jaw-dropper of a set-piece: deep in the jungle of an alien world in another dimension, a vast blue city has suddenly appeared as if by magic, and is rapidly expanding, its edges marked by eerie vapors and an ominous rumbling...(Thomas) really strikes me here as an exciting up-and-comer who shows the talent and determination to go big and succeed at it. Blue War is not only a real accomplishment in itself, but a promise of even greater things to come.

– Curt Purcell, The Groovy Age of Horror

Stake is still a likable character. He's thorough, has good intentions, and flies in the face of authority to get the job done. Stake himself is a mutant, his face unconsciously changing shape to match a person he stares at for too long...the last parts of the book were the strongest: the clues are pieced together, the motives become clear, enemies come into focus, Stake finally takes advantage of his shapeshifting abilities, and some fast-moving action scenes follow one another to a satisfying conclusion.

– John DeNardo, SF Signal

Thomas writes a kind of other worldly adventure that is unique to him. There are hints of fantasy and horror in his treatment, even though the treatment is entirely SF. Some purists might find his imagination a bit too way out for them, but fans of innovative SF –– and those of us who still enjoy the tough PI story no matter what the format –– are in for another unpredictable treat.

– Don D'Ammassa, Critical Mass

Since Jeremy spent four years fighting on Sinan, he already knows much of the surroundings and customs. It is also where he met Thi Gonh (Earth Killer) and had an affair for one week. Being back on Sinan, Jeremy looks up Thi to see how she is doing. Therefore, readers delve deeper into what happened during the Blue War, as well as into Jeremy's personal background. It all runs, like sub-plots, during the Bluetown investigation. By writing in this way, the author makes Jeremy much more realistic, more human. This story is more than worth your time and money to pick up! Author Jeffery Thomas has the most intriguing writing style I've seen in quite a while.

– Debra Fitch, Huntress Book Reviews

Readers of Sci-Fi, military fiction, and mystery will all find plenty to stimulate their imaginations in this fast-moving tale. Characters that come alive and all-too-believable technology move the plot along at breakneck speed. Thomas's writing is smooth and swift, yet poetic, with a noir feel at times that enhances the darkest parts of his story...Blue War is as multilayered as Bluetown itself, and utterly fascinating.

– Marlene Satter, Foreword Magazine

(Thomas's) stories crack along at a good pace, not too breakneck, not too slow. His characters, especially Stake, are very believable with concerns appropriate to their place in the tale. His plotting is tight and well-thought-through...And his prose is very readable; not too dense to confuse you or slow you down, not too condescending to insult your intelligence...Every aspect of his work is distinctly above average...very entertaining, intelligent and, often, amusing. I for one am happy to give this a high recommendation.

– Tony Chester, Concatenation

Order it now at:

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-War-Punktown-novel/dp/1844165329/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208902658&sr=8-1

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DEADSTOCK download is LIVE!

As previously announced, publisher Solaris Books is offering my 2007 science fiction thriller DEADSTOCK as a FREE download, to promote the March 2008 release of my novel BLUE WAR, which features DEADSTOCK's protagonist, shape-shifting future private eye/war veteran Jeremy Stake. In DEADSTOCK, Stake searches for a living bioengineered doll stolen from the daughter of a wealthy biotech company owner, and soon finds himself fighting for his life against cloned thugs and the doll itself, as it grows in size, self-awareness, and dangerous power. You can download DEADSTOCK NOW from this page, at the Solaris web site:

http://solarisbooks.com/features/deadstock-free-download.asp

How much can you get for free in this day and age? Read DEADSTOCK...and I hope you like it enough to follow the further adventures of Jeremy Stake, investigating an entirely new mystery in an entirely different dimension, in BLUE WAR -- coming this March.

Currently reading : War Machine: A Combat-k Novel (Combat-K) By Andy Remic Release date: 13 November, 2007

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Free Download of DEADSTOCK!!

I'll let the press release speak for itself:

"In March 2008, Solaris will be releasing the much-anticipated new Punktown novel from Jeffrey Thomas. BLUE WAR is a science fiction thriller set on a colony world in another dimension, with blue jungles and exotic cultures. To support the publication of BLUE WAR, Solaris will be offering a FREE DOWNLOAD of our first Punktown novel, DEADSTOCK. DEADSTOCK will be released for free download on the 25TH JANUARY 2008, available in PDF as well as Mobipocket Reader format."

Read the full press release HERE:

http://solarisbooks.com/press-releases/press-release-deadstock.asp

And why not have a look at two interviews I've done to support the free DEADSTOCK download and promote the forthcoming arrival of BLUE WAR? The first is at the site for Fantasy Book Critic:

http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2007/12/interview-with-jeffrey-thomas.html

...and then there's this interview, for SciFiChick.com:

http://scifichick.com/?p=435

They asked great questions, and in the interviews you'll learn a lot about BLUE WAR, and the decision to try this interesting experiment with offering DEADSTOCK for free. If you haven't read DEADSTOCK, read it now -- and prepare yourself for Jeremy Stake's next case.

P.S. - At the Solaris site they've posted a few blogs about what they call "Jeffrey Thomas Season." Got to love that! Here are the links:

http://solaris-editors-blog.blogspot.com/2007/12/start-of-jeffrey-thomas-season. html

http://solaris-editors-blog.blogspot.com/2007/12/jeffrey-thomas-interview.html

'Tis the season to be jolly!

Currently reading : The Fungal Stain And Other Dreams By W. H. Pugmire Release date: 31 October, 2006

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VOICES FROM HADES

I have a new collection coming out from Dark Regions Press (who just put out my DOOMSDAYS collection),sometime in the first quarter of 2008, called VOICES FROM HADES. It collects all my short fiction based on the world of my novel LETTERS FROM HADES (though, as is the case with Punktown, each Hades story can stand on its own). There are a few original stories as well, and the cover and interior illustrations — all very stunning! — are by Travis Anthony Soumis, who did similarly brilliant work on PUNKTOWN: SHADES OF GREY. Here's the descriptive stuff and blurby things:

*****

"If the dead could speak from the afterlife, what might they tell us? How might they warn us?

The Damned have stories to share…
– About an abandoned Demon child, adopted by a reluctant mother.
– A Demon torn between love for his mate and an Angel visiting Hell.
– A jaded Angel touring Hell to hunt the Damned for sport.
– Three Damned laborers who encounter a cat with nine afterlives.
– A Damned artist summoned to Heaven to paint her masterpiece.
– A Damned man and an Angel joining forces to rescue a child from his Demonic captors.
– A former journalist who discovers the depths of despair and the hope of rebellion.

Seven dispatches from the Hades of Jeffrey Thomas, author of Letters From Hades and Ugly Heaven/Beautiful Hell.

PRAISE FOR JEFFREY THOMAS' "LETTERS FROM HADES"

If there is such a place as hell, the demons have a suite reserved in Jeffrey Thomas' name for writing this delightfully blasphemous novel. – F. Paul Wilson, author of Bloodline.

Letters From Hades mines a different corner of perdition to strike a rich vein of soul and profundity. I'm a hardcore fan. – Tom Piccirilli, author of The Midnight Road.

Jeffrey Thomas' visions of Hell in Letters From Hades are as compelling and as beautifully horrific as any ever put down on paper. – Jeff VanderMeer, author of Shriek: An Afterword.

I can't rave enough about Jeffrey Thomas' Letters From Hades. This is a stupendous read from beginning to end! – Charlee Jacob, author of Dark Moods.

Thoroughly rendered in precise and poetic language, Jeffrey Thomas' rich and textured underworld provides a powerful medium for the story's characters as they overcome torments and despair to grow and surprise the reader. – Gerard Houarner, author of Road to Hell.

This book is my definition of dark fantasy. It pulls you into a very imaginative version of Hell that is as breathtaking as it is horrid. – Carlton Mellick III, coauthor of Ugly Heaven/Beautiful Hell."

*****

And why not order it from the new online store, Horror Mall, a joint venture between Shane Ryan Staley of Delirium Books and Larry Roberts of Bloodletting Press? With the sad announcement that the Shocklines site will be gradually shutting down, this is very exciting news. And Horror Mall has a section devoted to me HERE:
https://www.horror-mall.com/store/home.php?cat=279

Order the trade paperback of VOICES FROM HADES here:
https://www.horror-mall.com/store/product.php?productid=16967&cat=279&page=2

And there's a signed, limited edition hardcover of VOICES FROM HADES available here:
https://www.horror-mall.com/store/product.php?productid=16966&cat=279&page=2

Thanks, fellow sinners!

Currently listening : Forbidden Planet: Original MGM Soundtrack By Louis Barron Release date: 05 January, 1995

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Nostradamus was right! DOOMSDAYS is here!

You were forewarned, friend, and now…DOOMSDAYS has arrived! My short story collection from Dark Regions Press (http://www.darkregions.com/); 22 short stories, mostly reprints (though often hard to track down), and starting out with 4 previously unseen pieces. The first story is OUT OF THE BLUE, an apocalyptic zombie tale (and there are two other meaty apocalyptic stories, too — ARMS OF THE SUN and THE SCHISM — which help account for the book's title). It struck me, reading OUT OF THE BLUE again, how much I had borrowed imagery from it unconsciously while writing my forthcoming novel BLUE WAR. There is the desolate, blue-colored cityscape, the transfigured buildings with a coral-like texture, and three pits out of which zombie-things emerge (in BLUE WAR, it's three clones found within three pits). You'll understand it all better when BLUE WAR comes out this March. Anyway, I guess it's okay to borrow from yourself, and again, I didn't consciously have OUT OF THE BLUE in mind while writing the novel. Then there is a short experimental piece, INSIDES OUT. The trick with this piece is that it is two mirroring halves: there is only one word that doesn't repeat, "out," at the piece's center. The two halves are a mirror reflection of each other, working out from that. I wish now I had called more attention to this, by putting arrows or such around "out" to better indicate it as a radiating center. I'll paste the piece in its entierty below, with the arrows now included. I like it better this way:

***** 

INSIDES OUT

Ending sadly, story told often, fate unhappy always follows it — you hear wailing whales, you see nearing angels, tattered and torn fins like wings, mists spouted become dispersing halos, flesh that covers treasured chest, blubber is this for this you eat, blood is this for this you drink, "I am cursed but cured," you say, "this to witness am I", watching haunted and hollowed mothers of ghosts, skulls as echoing and depthless as sea, "harpoons plunge deep too," you cry, brine of tears are cried, great but tragic beasts striking upon sharp rocks, water like tossing flesh, blood in dyed waves, hammer pounding uselessly a heart, vast and stranded whales like fetuses die, flayed insides > out < insides flayed, die fetuses like whales stranded and vast, heart a uselessly pounding hammer, waves dyed in blood, flesh tossing like water, rocks sharp upon striking beasts tragic but great, cried are tears of brine, cry you, "too deep plunge harpoons", sea as depthless and echoing as skulls, ghosts of mothers hollowed and haunted watching, "I am witness to this," say you, "cured but cursed am I", drink you this for this is blood, eat you this for this is blubber, chest treasured covers that flesh, halos dispersing become spouted mists, wings like fins torn and tattered, angels nearing see you, whales wailing hear you — it follows always unhappy fate, often told story, sadly ending.

*****

The book is gorgeous, with a stunning cover painting by Robert Steven Connett. When I saw it online the first time I knew it had to be the cover for DOOMSDAYS. I've seen some of his original work at a horror-themed art gallery in Salem, MA, and it's just exciting, vibrant, ghastly stuff. A friend gave me a framed, eerie Connett clown piece that now hangs on my livingroom wall. Check out his web site at: http://www.vomitus.com/. In fact, the clown I have on my wall is a copy of the art on his site's opening page.

DOOMSDAYS is beautiful, as I say, and a lot of the credit for that has to go to Dave Barnett at Fat Cat Design. He always does clean, bold, professional looking work. Yup, a book I'm very excited about…and I hope, if you're kind enough to seek it out, you'll find it exciting, too.

Currently reading : Over The Darkening Fields By Scott Thomas Release date: 15 June, 2007

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Midnight in New England

Hot on the heels of his new horror collection OVER THE DARKENING FIELDS, my brother Scott Thomas has another collection out now — MIDNIGHT IN NEW ENGLAND, from Down East Books, publishers of the highly popular Down East magazine. This is how they describe it, plus the book's contents, and check out the spooky story excerpt:

Paperback, 175 pages, 1 b&w illustration, 6? x 8?.

Set in times when restless spirits may have roamed more freely, these 18 elegantly spellbinding tales are nothing short of spine tingling. If you love the work of Edgar Allan Poe or H. P. Lovecraft, prepare to enjoy the same frisson while reading these original tales by Scott Thomas. In Midnight in New England, Thomas tells stories replete with touches of horror, mystery, and ghostly encounters that push their characters to the brink of madness. Eeriness abounds in this atmospheric collection of original tales, set in 18th- and 19th-century New England.

About the Author
SCOTT THOMAS is the author of two previous books and a collection of fantasy; his fiction has appeared in a number of anthologies. Thomas lives in Cherryfield, Maine.

Praise for Thomas's book Westermead:
"An inviting fantasy world of both loveliness and horror." –Publishers Weekly

"This moody collection of dark fantasy stories belongs in larger libraries." –Library Journal

Contents
The Dead of Midwinter
Herrick's Inn
Laben Blois's Death, Pistols and Rain
The Recurrent Silence
The Collector in the Mill
Marcy Waters
Whispers
A Million Dying Leaves, Joseph Warren's Invention
Sleep of the Flower God
The Puppet and the Train
The Copper Mask
The Franklin Stove
Widow's Pond
Wrought-Iron Skeleton
Sharp Medicine
The Second Parsonage

Excerpt from the story, "The Second Parsonage"
The days were growing longer, the woods greener, and the sunsets blushed like a bride. One fine day a student, the son of a farmer, approached my desk at the end of lessons. Squinting between freckles, his clothing seemingly made of dirt, this boy stood expectantly, creaking the floor, cracking his knuckles like beech pods.
"Yes?" I said.
"I have a secret," the lad intoned softly.
"Do you now?"
The boy nodded. "Would you like to hear it?"
Ironically, for a teacher, I had never learned my lesson. Secrets are like lions—let them sleep! "Certainly," I said.
The boy creaked closer and I bent to receive his whisper.
"Do you know the house on the other side of the pond?"
"The old parsonage?" I asked.
"It's the second one—the first burned down."
"At any rate," I said. "I know the house of which you speak."
"A dead man lives there."

Sounds awesome, huh? I'm still working through OVER THE DARKENING FIELDS (and at least five other books simultaneously — what a bad habit!) but I can't wait to delve into this handsomely produced book. You can find it at Amazon.com (greatly discounted) and at other online stores, but here is the page at the Down East web site:

https://secure.downeast.com/store/product.php?productid=1830

Maine's LL Bean wants Scott to come into their outlet store once or twice to do a book signing — way cool! I wish him the best with this book and the signings…and if you love brilliantly crafted and eerily unsettling short horror fiction, you might consider lending him your support as well, by picking up a copy.

Currently reading : Midnight in New England: Strange and Mysterious Tales By Scott Thomas Release date: 25 September, 2007

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Props for Punktown

I thought I'd point out a cool article about DEADSTOCK and Punktown that Jeff VanderMeer wrote for Amazon.com's blog (he's their official SF/fantasy blogger). The article takes a fun angle about the origins of Punktown, and the videos Scott and I used to set there. Some photos of vintage Thomas Brothers movie props accompany the article:

SEE - an authentic Hate Machine (which inspired the PUNKTOWN: SHADES OF GREY short story by that name)!
SEE - an eerie papier-mache zombie!
SEE - Jeffrey's ex-wife Rose portraying a three-eyed mutant (with the help of a latex mask using a halved milk jug as its base)!

Go to: http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNKTZ24GK5H6U55
The article has a nice plug for the next Punktown novel, BLUE WAR, as well. Now, I guess I should get back to writing it!

Currently reading : Red Square By Martin Cruz Smith Release date: 01 November, 1993

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Blue War / Beautiful Hell

Currently listening : Tidal By Fiona Apple Release date: 23 July, 1996

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