February 22nd! February is wrapping up and so, it appears, is our month-long look at upcoming Bizarro Pulp Press titles.
CRIMSON KING is the fourth and final title acquired for Bizarro Pulp Press’s 2021 lineup. Every week, we have showcased a different upcoming title, and if you’d like to catch up on our previous announcements, then click the title(s) below and follow their respective link:
LOST LETTERS TO A LOVER’S CARCASS
This week, we share with you the “batshitness” that is J.B. Rockwell’s creature-feature, CRIMSON KING! This title is a lot of fun and features quite the titular beastie.
Let’s start with the below cover art:
The cover for CRIMSON KING is another collaboration between Don Noble and Nicholas Day.
CRIMSON KING is the latest from J.B. Rockwell, whose previous works include three novels in the SERENGETI series from Severed Press (SERENGETI, DARK AND STARS, and HECATE), as well as an all new, stand-alone novel, FORGOTTEN STARS & DISTANT SEAS.
Here’s a brief synopsis, followed by an excerpt:
Banished to his grandparent’s farm for the summer, Casey soon runs afoul of the Bimiangus: a Government experiment gone wrong turned bloodthirsty, moordurous bull.
Casey knew there was something wrong with the Bimiangus the moment he laid eyes on it. He just didn’t know how wrong until the cows started disappearing, and the farmer who owned it turned up dead. Now the bull with the dodgy pedigree—rumored to be the result of government experimentation, which explains the size of it, the stink of it, the glowing, toxic green eyes—stands accused of murder. But it’s got one more target before it goes down: Casey—a ten-year-old boy who never wanted to be on this farm in the first place.
***
“What is it?” Casey whimpered, not daring to look. Convinced it was the Bimiangus busting through the fence, marching right up to that door.
“Fire,” Nana told him, wrinkled face pale. “There’s a fire over yonder.”
And not just any fire. A bonfire. A huge conflagration blazing in Mr. Perkins’ pasture, a safe distance from his red, red barn. Smoke billowing in a greasy, grey cloud, heat turning the rain to mist around it as the wind swirled, whipping at the flames.
A gust blew through the screen door—Nana hadn’t closed the storm door on the other side, preferring the cool breeze and a little wet on her linoleum to a stuffy, stopped up house—flooding the kitchen with a blood and char stink. A smell of meat cooking that set Casey’s stomach to churning, ginger ale and graham crackers percolating in his gut.
Cows inside that bonfire. A mound of dead flesh slowly being consumed by flame. The deep-throated growl of an engine rumbling through the air as a backhoe trundled from behind Mr. Perkins’ barn.
“Pop-Pop,” Casey whispered, reaching for Nana’s hand.
***
CRIMSON KING comes from Bizarro Pulp Press and Journalstone in the spookiest month of the year, October, and should go live on or around the 29th. We will be sure to post any updates and pre-order information. Like any title we pick up, we look forward to hearing/seeing what people think of the books we acquire, and we are always happy to see stories connect with readers.
And that is it for our Bizarro Pulp Press showcases! Hard to believe that it is already two months into 2021. Where’s the breaks on this thing? Anyway…
We enjoyed working on each of these titles and we sincerely hope readers enjoy them as they are released through the year. After October, Bizarro Pulp Press will lay dormant, again, until summer of 2022. We have yet to acquire any titles for next year’s roster, though we have a good mind as to what we would like to see. In 2020, we dropped a surprise open window for submissions and said open window was very, very short. We plan on doing things much differently, this year, but we will get into that in a few weeks.
In other news, Rooster Republic Press and Strangehouse Books had two titles land on the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot! Sara Tantlinger’s CRADLELAND OF PARASITES has been included in the category “Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection” and NOT ALL MONSTERS (also edited by Tantlinger) finds itself among “Superior Achievement in an Anthology,” standing shoulder-to-shoulder with some industry heavyweights, and we honestly couldn’t be happier for everyone’s success. We put so much work into these books, so seeing them garner industry attention like this is kind of mind-blowing.
So, thanks to the readers and the voters and to the HWA. But, super duper big-time thanks to SARA TANTLINGER! She’s an absolute rockstar and we are lucky that she lets us hang out.
Follow THIS LINK to check out all the authors and titles.
Meanwhile, March looms large, and we want to remind people that pre-orders for our 2021 titles go live at the start of the month.
On Monday, March 1st, we plan on giving the spotlight to Hailey Piper’s QUEEN OF TEETH, certainly our most highly-anticipated title for 2021. Hailey Piper has had much success with recent novellas (like THE WORM AND HIS KINGS) but this is, we believe, her first full-length novel. As with previous releases, we will offer an exclusive hardcover through Rooster Republic, while a trade paperback will become available much later in the year. The pre-order is only for the hardcover. That said:
QUEEN OF TEETH will be available for pre-order as two limited hardcover editions:
- $55.00 standard hardcover (available for pre-order from March 1st thru June 30th)
- $75.00 deluxe numbered hardcover that will include a custom slipcase, signature sheet/art print, “READ HORROR” sticker and card, and a Rooster Republic bookmark. THERE WILL ONLY BE 15 DELUXE EDITIONS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE.
QUEEN OF TEETH numbered editions will go on order, this week, and as soon as we receive the shipment, we will begin creating the custom slipcases. These books will ship once all 15 have been assembled, so these could go out as early as May/June. Standard hardcovers won’t ship until mid-to-late July.
We will divulge more info about PULP TRASH and OCTOBER ANIMALS through March.
Lastly, Rooster Republic Press has a couple interesting irons in the fire, so to speak. We can’t get into these details quite yet, but you can bet dollars to doughnuts that these projects will be quality, weird, and beautiful. Go weird or go home, as the saying goes.
Thanks for reading.
TTFN
