April 29

Work begins on the fifth Andrew Mayhem novel…

Sinister Friends

I live close to Brian Kirk, author of Will Haunt You and We Are Monsters. Today I got a message from him saying that he’d left a package on my doorstep.

Uh-oh. What might be inside…?

Uh-oh…

Fortunately, Brian told me about the prank before I got the package, keeping it in the realm of “fun” instead of “Oh, crap, I have a stalker fan who read The Odds and is taking it too far.” But if YOU enjoy the work of horror authors who leave severed hands on the front doorsteps of their friends, definitely check out his weird-ass books.

THE ODDS Available Now!

My latest novel, The Odds, is now available in a Kindle edition. (Paperback coming soon.) You can get it right HERE.

After a disastrous evening playing slot machines, Ethan Caustin wonders how he’s going to explain his massive loss to his wife and kids. As he tries to find his way out of the casino, sick to his stomach and filled with self-loathing, he’s approached by a stranger who offers a solution to his problem.

It’s a simple game. A 99% chance for him to win ten thousand dollars. In the remote chance that he loses…well, he’ll be strapped into a device that shatters his left arm.

The odds are very much in his favor. But this is only the first round.

As the game goes on, the prizes and penalties keep changing, along with his chances of winning. As the high stakes get out of control and Ethan desperately wants to quit, he’ll learn that they’ve only offered him one means of escape: play the game to the very end…

 

Meanwhile, the April issue of my newsletter went out this morning, with the brand-new story “The Soupville Stabber Practices Social Distancing.” Check it out HERE.

 

 

THE ODDS Online Launch Party

I’ve rarely done launch parties for my new releases. I had one at Barnes & Noble for the mass market edition of Pressure, and then I did one at the Wordier Than Thou bookstore when Blister made its debut. And that’s it.

But for The Odds, which comes out on Monday, I’m trying my first virtual launch party! There’ll be a reading from the book and a Q&A and maybe other fun stuff. It’s from 6:00 – 8:00 PM EST, and it’s hosted by the lovely and talented John Edward Lawson of Raw Dog Screaming Press.

You’ll need to register for a Hopin account, and you’ll need a ticket to the event (though it’s FREE, of course). Get yourself all set up at:

https://hopin.to/events/allaccesscon-book-launch-the-odds-by-jeff-strand

April 21st

Hey, kids, my new novel The Odds is done! Not only do I have a super fast team of test readers, but they’ve had the book since it was about three-quarters of the way done, so it’ll be on your Kindle very soon, like April 27th.

Next up: Graveyard Closing (Everything Must Go), the fifth Andrew Mayhem novel!

April 19th

Well, fudge. Necon has been cancelled. Not a surprise and obviously the right decision, but still a bummer. With Necon gone until next summer, can Scares That Care and KillerCon be far behind…?

The third installment in Considering Stories where they cover my books is up, and this time it’s Kumquat, one of my poorest-selling and best-loved novels! Check it out HERE.

The Bram Stoker Awards were held last night. Since StokerCon has been postponed, they did the awards banquet as an online event. It opens with a stern warning from yours truly. Check it out HERE.

April 13th

Last night was Tornado Time!!! Got the alert at 2:45 AM to find someplace safe, so we moved to the living room, which was less likely to have a tree branch smash through a window and shower us with shards of broken glass.

The alert expired at 3:00 AM. We went back to bed.

I lived in Florida for over 20 years before moving to Georgia, so I’m used to hurricanes, where it’s basically a week of “THE END OF TIMES IS NIGH!!!” I’m not used to, “Hey, we’re gonna get some tornadoes tonight. Okay, here’s our fifteen-minute window of danger. Okay, it’s all good, enjoy the rest of your night.” I’m not saying that I’m in love with tornadoes or anything, but I do like them better.

Considering Stories continues its weekly essays of my books with “Rewriting The Nightmare Fuel Narrative: Clowns Vs. Spiders.” Check it out HERE.

Meanwhile, Lionel Ray Green’s Double Feature column for April reviews Allison along with John Everson’s House by the Cemetery. Check it out HERE.

 

April 9th

Not much has changed here. A couple of major movie projects continue to inch closer and closer to being able to pop open a bottle of champagne, although I’d just crack open a can of my finest Mountain Dew. But the coronavirus is lurking at the finish line, saying “Not so faaaaaaast!”

Will at least one of these projects be able to sustain its momentum until Hollywood opens again? If not, I’ll probably post a lot of profanity without even disguising it with asterisks.

Meanwhile, the Considering Stories blog has started a limited series of Sunday essays about my books! The first installment, The Grin in the Floor, is a detailed look at Facial. It doesn’t spoil the book, so check it out HERE.

I was also on the Drinking With Authors podcast, where I enjoyed a large can of Red Bull whilst discussing the art of writing. It’s available on all of your favorite podcast acquisition services, or you can listen HERE.

April 5th

Whoa! Mystery Scene magazine reviewed Clowns Vs. Spiders and had this to say:

“In the tradition of the great Robert Bloch, Strand delivers wry humor and gut-wrenching horror and tension with equal effectiveness, seamlessly evoking fear and laughs, often within the very same sentence.”

Work continues on The Odds. Got a little bit sidetracked but barring a global pandemic or something it should be done within a week.

The movie news I hinted at in my last update has continue to move forward, much to my surprise. I’m not sure when I’ll have a final ruling on whether or not it’s actually going to happen, and I don’t know when I’ll be able to blab about it, but I assure you that you’ll go “Whaaaaaaaat???”