Scarier by the Pairier...

Now available on Amazon for Kindle readers (and for i-Phone, i-Pad, and home PC with the free app from Amazon): A DOUBLE SHOT OF FRIGHT: Two Tales of Terror, by Ken Pelham. $0.99...best entertainment value this side of a Russell Crowe singing engagement!

Two short stories of horror from award-winning author Ken Pelham, guaranteed to make you keep the lights on.

"Myrna": A drunken brutal husband, a beautiful young wife with the mysterious skills of a lost race...and an unwillingness to be a victim. Originally appeared in Stellanova Magazine, 1988.

"Familiar": A modern twist on the myth of the witch's familiars, those creatures subservient to their masters' whims. Old Salem meets MIT. Originally appeared in Black Petals Magazine, 2004.

Buy now while supplies last! No lines! See ball-point pen offer!

Janet Rudolph's wonderful quarterly, MYSTERY READERS JOURNAL, covering the gamut of mystery fiction, has a short piece of mine in the Florida-themed Winter 2013 edition. Titled "Storms, Mayhem, and Mystery", it reveals a bit of my Brigands Key thinking. I'm reprinting the story here, but I encourage mystery lovers to subscribe to MRJ, or to buy the individual issue...it's chock-full of terrific writing by noted authors who use Florida as the springboard of imagination.

Click on the links and enjoy!

--kp

Get Your Skullduggery On! Download TREACHEROUS BASTARDS today!

Submitted for your reading pleasure...TREACHEROUS BASTARDS: Stories of Suspense, Deceit, and Skullduggery, a collection of three short stories, is now available for Kindle e-readers at Amazon.com (or for I-Pad, I-Phone, or PC, with the free Kindle app). Two stories--"Itchy" and "Great Minds Think Alike"--were previously published. Fans of Brigands Key have expressed interest in knowing more about the quirky little island, and one of these stories--the previously unpublished "Double Effect"--will peel back a layer of the onion skin and give a glimpse into the island's troubled past.

I'll soon be following TB up with a pair of short horror stories. Keep checking in!

Florida Weekly's Phil Jason weighs in...

BK Review

Brigands Key

An ageless, impossible body at the bottom of the sea. A lethal plague. A ruthless murderer. A monster hurricane. When archaeologist Carson Grant comes to tiny Brigands Key to escape the limelight and repair his shattered reputation, he finds himself instead staring down the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

A first-place winner of the Royal Palm Literary Award, BRIGANDS KEY is a roller-coaster ride through murder, vengeance, and secrets best left undisturbed.

Available at Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.com.

Praise for Brigands Key:

"A perfect storm of menace...highly entertaining...breathtaking!" --The Florida Weekly

Welcome to the website of Ken Pelham! I'm hoping you dropped in because you're a fan of suspense fiction ladled with science, philosophy, and adventure, and topped with a dripping dollop of gore. If not, maybe we can turn you. Come. Join us. Do not be afraid...

In addition to updates on my novels, I'll weigh in on literature in general, and thrillers and suspense fiction in particular. Feedback is welcome.

Thanks!

--kp

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...'tis true that we are in great danger; the greater therefore should our courage be.

--William Shakespeare, Henry V

Come join me at a Brigands Key book-signing!

Selling, signing, shmoozing, and other writerly things on my world tour. Hope to see you there!

Date: Saturday, August 11, 2012

Time: 4 PM to 5 PM

Location: Downtown Orlando Public Library, Albertson Room, 3rd floor, 101 E. Central Blvd., Orlando, FL 32801

Update: The Orlando Library event was a blast! Thanks to all who turned out to help launch Brigands Key!

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Date: Saturday, August 25, 2012

Time: 3 PM to 4 PM

Location: New Smyrna Beach Public Library, 1001 S. Dixie Freeway, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168

Update: NSBPD riot squad called out to suppress the crowd of four that stormed this signing event (four, if I count myself, my brother, and my daughter)! Nevertheless, we all had beers and  girl drinks and a good laugh afterwards, and the tour rages on!

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Date: Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012

Time: 2 PM to 3 PM

Location: Leesburg Public Library, Room B, 100 E. Main St., Leesburg, Florida 34748

Update: Leesburg PL treats its authors great! Many thanks to the staff and the good folks who showed up. Got to meet nice people and insightful readers.

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Date: Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012

Time: 2:30 PM to 4:45 PM

Location: North Palm Beach Library, 303 Anchorage Drive, North Palm Beach, Florida 33408

Update: Had a great time at NPBL! Many thanks to the staff, especially Diana Kirby, for having me over and making me look good. We're working on another visit, to chat with a Florida-themed book club the library will be creating in January.

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Date: Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012

Time: 1 PM to 3 PM

Location: Barrel of Books & Games, 144 W. 5th Ave., Mount Dora, Florida 32757

Update: The event went swimmingly! Sold books, ate ice cream, met voracious readers. Mount Dora is wonderful during the holiday season. Thanks to Crissy and a one-of-a-kind indie bookshop.

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Date: Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013

Time: 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM

Location: North Palm Beach Library, 303 Anchorage Drive, North Palm Beach, Florida 33408

A return engagement...the Library has a new Florida fiction reading group, to whom I'll be speaking, but all members of the public are welcome.

Update: Enjoyed meeting and chatting with the staff and the book club. So interesting (and ego-stoking) to talk to people you've not met but that have read your book and liked it enough to come to a meeting to discuss. Many thanks to Diana and Betty for their NPBL hospitality!

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Date: April 4, 2013

Time: 2 PM to 3:30 PM

Location: Hagen Ranch Road Library, Delray Beach, FL

Great, great time! This was a panel of ITW member thriller writers, including myself, Jenny Milchman (Cover of Snow), William Burton McCormick (Lenin's Harem), Michael Sears (Black Fridays), Ronald Sharp (No Regrets, No Remorse), and NYT bestseller Karin Slaughter, author of numerous top thrillers. Many thanks to moderator Oline Cogdill, organizer Stacy Alesi, and the whole extended library staff.

* * *

Date: June 26, 2013

Time: 6:30 PM

Location: New Tampa Library Regional Library, Tampa, FL

Give me a story that plunges ahead with breathing, breakable characters, and a setting indispensable from the tale. Take those characters, stick them in that setting, and throw the kitchen sink at them. An exploding kitchen sink with rusty, razor edges for shrapnel.

That’s thriller territory.

BRIGANDS KEY was released upon an unsuspecting public in July, 2012. Others are underway and will (fingers crossed) follow Brigands Key shortly into publication.  Zip to "My Novels" for info.

--kp

Place of Fear has won first place for unpublished thriller/suspense novel in the 2012 Royal Palm Literary Awards, hosted by the Florida Writers Association.

Funny thing about awards ceremonies. I’m cool as a cucumber during the dinner, and through most of the ceremony, like Nicholson at the Oscars. But as they get closer and closer to my category, my hands get clammy and my heart starts thumping. It’s hard not to get that rush of nerves, I guess. A few of the awards recipients burst out in joy and ran to collect their prizes. Me, I saunter up like it’s no big deal, when in actuality I’m concentrating on not doing a face-plant. I’d hate for them to change their minds on account of some obscure clumsiness clause. Hey, It could happen.

The emcee announces me as "Ken Pendle." Oh well. I grab the award and run before anybody named Pendle can object.

My advice to aspiring writers: join writers groups and get out there. They're great for networking and honing your craft. And submit your work to competitions; you can't win if you don't.

I love a little spookiness in my October literary diet, but short stories seem to get overlooked in lists of good scary reads. Never fear; submitted for your approval, a few classics to amuse you.

“They Bite,” by Anthony Boucher, 1943.  I first came across this story in an Alfred Hitchcock anthology, 14 of My Favorites in Suspense (no, Alfie didn’t anthologize only mysteries). Good stuff. The title gives you a hint of what “they” do.

“A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner, 1930.  Who says literary fiction can’t be creepy? Faulkner penned this multi-layered story that completely defines the term “Southern Gothic.” This is not a story to be read once; it begs multiple readings and rewards more with each successive reading.

“Pickman’s Model,” by H.P. Lovecraft, 1927. Don’t hate, Lovecraft fans, but I speak now the truth: Lovecraft was not a great writer. He did, however, have a gift for true atmospheric creepiness, and this was among his best.

In light of the recent murderous rampage of Islamic extremists over the production of a shoddy movie that no one would have otherwise ever heard about, we’re reminded that free speech is a tenuous, fragile thing. So support the American Library Association’s annual Banned Books Week!

Last year, I listed a few of my favorite banned books. Time to expand that list, with a few thoughts added…

Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut. This satire was banned for vague reasons by a school board that admitted it hadn’t actually looked at the novel. If it had it might have learned a thing or two about why school kids are the way they are:
      "No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of X's between somebody's hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those X's..."
      "And?"
      "No damn cat, and no damn cradle."

The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells: Amazingly, some do-gooders banned this science fiction classic. Why? I don’t know, but I’m going to guess it had to do with the novel being a swipe at British colonialism and the genocide in Tasmania. Or maybe people just take offense at the thought of tentacled spuds from outer space, with heat rays set on deep fry.

All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque. Before they knew there would be a second one even worse, World War I was known as The Great War, and sold as the war to end war. It wasn’t, and this novel, a blistering indictment of the thinking that had caused the carnage, had the distinction of being simultaneously banned in Great Britain and Nazi Germany as they stumbled toward World War II.

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. Banning a book about book-banning? How stupid, how colossally ironic, is that? But it happened. Among the reasons: someone was offended that a Holy Bible was among the books burned by the firemen of the future, whose sole job was to burn ALL books. Apparently, that someone wasn’t familiar with the concept of the “slippery slope.”

Brigands Key is Dearreader.com's mystery novel of the week beginning, Monday, November 12, 2012. Subscribers will receive an e-mailed excerpt every morning, Monday through Friday, allowing them to sample the goods before buying (or checking them out...many libraries work with Dearreader selections for book clubs). By the end of the week, readers will have received the first couple of chapters. No obligation to buy or continue...Dearreader is not a bookseller. The reader decides if he or she liked the excerpts enough to seek out the book elsewhere.

Visit the link above and subscribe (yes, dammit, it's free!). They've got books of the week in other genres as well, so it's a cool way to test drive a new book or author.

Check out my interview in the July webzine edition of International Thriller Writers' "The Big Thrill!" 

Last I checked, I had close to thirty books on the art and craft of writing. It’s hard to be sure of the exact number because, being the most disorganized man alive (and I have a trophy to prove it), they’re scattered all over the place. Readers of my work might suspect I use them as doorstops, but that’s another issue. Bastards.

Most of these books are about craft…point-of-view, dialogue, balancing a sentence, and so on. Some are on markets. All indispensible, to be sure, but probably my favorites are on the sinister details of suspense fiction. These are from Writer's Digest Howdunit guides, including Forensics, by D.P. Lyle, M.D., Police Procedure & Investigation, by Lee Lofland; Armed and Dangerous, by Michael Newton; and Book of Poisons, by Serita Stevens and Anne Bannon.

For some reason, my wife seems nervous when I’m reading Book of Poisons late at night and glancing over at her with beady little eyes. Yes, very nervous indeed. She needs to learn to relax.

Waiting at the doorstep today…a box full of ARCs (Advance Reading Copies). Also known as Uncorrected Proofs, these are paper-bound copies of the final layout. Looks great! Five Star is sending ‘em out for pre-publication reviews. Publication is set for July 18, 2012, just in time for your summer beach read…although you might be leery of the beach after reading Brigands Key.

The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book.

--Walt Whitman

The American Library Association's annual Banned Books Week (September 24, 2011 through October 1, 2011) has passed, but deserves extended attention. Support freedom of expression by reading a banned book or two!  To learn more, click on banned books.

A few of my favorite banned or burned books:

• Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut.
• Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien.
• The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
• The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck.
• Animal Farm, by George Orwell.
• For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway.
• Catch-22, by Joseph Heller.

Feel free to add your suggestions.