The BIG News, Part 2 of 3

It’s been one of my long-standing goals to be published by Cemetery Dance. I’ve skirted around the periphery with a story in Cemetery Dance Magazine (Issue #37) and contributions to anthologies (OCTOBER DREAMS II and SHOCKLINES), but at long last I can finally announce that my novella EXTANT will be released (in the not-so-distant future) as part of the beautifully illustrated Signature Series. Steven Gilberts, who designed the cover for my collection QUIET, KEEPS TO HIMSELF, has already turned in the cover and interior art and I couldn’t be happier! This promises to be one amazing book! A little about it:

In 524 BCE, Cambyses II, King of Persia, dispatched one of the most ferocious armies the world has ever known to destroy the Oracle of Amun. 50,000 soldiers marched into the Egyptian desert from Luxor and vanished into a sandstorm. No trace of them was ever found.

Until now.

A team of archeologists discovers an ancient oasis buried beneath the barren sands. Subsequent excavation reveals hastily evacuated ruins filled with the signs of a great struggle. Their exploration leads to the tomb where the lost army made its final stand against an unknown enemy, one that has somehow survived and can move unseen beneath the dunes, a species that is anything but extinct.

But, wait, there’s more!

My novelette THE DEVIL’S DUE will appear in HALLOWEEN CARNIVAL #3, along with stories by Kelley Armstrong, Kate Maruyama, Taylor Grant, and Greg Chapman. Random House/Hydra is releasing five separate eBooks, which will later be collected in one doorstop of a hardcover by Cemetery Dance. It’ll be my first time sharing a cover with Peter Straub, Robert McCammon, and Richard Chizmar, and a killer reunion with Norman Prentiss, Kealan Patrick Burke, and Lee Thomas.

Oh, yeah…we got a puppy.