About Me

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Mike Mehalek writes fast-paced lyrical books that can be enjoyed with one reading but have enough substance for re-reading. He brings stories to life that demand to be told, regardless of the hopes/dreams/fears/desires of his characters--the Story first--always the Story.

In 2008 Mike earned his masters degree in writing popular fiction from Seton Hill University

Visit Mike on twitter @mikemehalek

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Book Launch: Best Little Witch-House in Arkham by Mark McLaughlin


With the book launch of Best Little Witch-House in Arkham, I've been fortunate enough to pluck from one of the stranger, more perverse galaxies of the Trickyverse, One Mark McLaughlin to join us today on Writing is Tricky (WiT).

Mark is a Bram-Stoker Award-winning author (the "oscars" of horror writing if you will), witty, horrific, and hilarious.


Is he more genius than madman or more madman than genius?  After reading Best Little Witch-House in Arkham, you'll understand why the answer is not important.   

Read on to learn about Mark's latest book launch and stop back soon as Mark himself will be handed the reins here on (WiT) to blog something special just for demented, little us.

-Tricky



Welcome to the Best Little Witch-House in Arkham. In this midnight den of dread and doom, you will find twenty-five rooms, each with a story of its own to tell. Here you will enjoy a delectable variety of otherworldly nightmares and blasphemies ... enough to satisfy even your most eldritch desires.

Here you will find evil pop-stars longing to devour their fans. You will meet a sophisticated secret agent in search of supernatural super-villains. 

You will learn the vile secrets of Kugappa, the writhing octopus-god, and Ghattambah, a grotesque insect deity whose soul dwells beyond time. 

You will smell the unhallowed stench of the Odour out of the Terrible Old Man. You will drink the creamy Milk of Time, an unholy substance which flows through the depths of a forbidden house of horrors known as Der Fleischbrunnen. You will even travel through deep space to a futuristic restaurant for alien connoisseurs, where you will sink your teeth into the monstrous specialty of the house.

You will find all of these horrors, and so much more ... in the Best Little Witch-House in Arkham. New from Wildside Press.


Check out the book (paper and on Kindle)...



...and some of Mark's regular haunts online 

Mark's Facebook page:

The Witch-house:




Mark's Bio 
Author Mark McLaughlin's latest releases are the story collection, BEST LITTLE WITCH-HOUSE IN ARKHAM, and the two-author poetry collection, REVENGE OF THE TWO-HEADED POETRY MONSTER (with Michael McCarty).

Mark's fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in more than 1,000 magazines, newspapers, websites, and anthologies, including GALAXY, FANGORIA, LIVING DEAD 2, THE BEST OF ALL FLESH, WRITER'S DIGEST, CEMETERY DANCE, MIDNIGHT PREMIERE, DARK ARTS, and two volumes each of THE BEST OF HORRORFIND and THE YEAR'S BEST HORROR STORIES (DAW Books).

Other collections of Mark's fiction include BEACH BLANKET ZOMBIE, MOTIVATIONAL SHRIEKER, SLIME AFTER SLIME, PICKMAN'S MOTEL, RAISING DEMONS FOR FUN AND PROFIT, and AT THE FOOTHILLS OF FRENZY (with coauthors Shane Ryan Staley and Brian Knight).

With regular collaborator Michael McCarty, he has written MONSTER BEHIND THE WHEEL (their latest horror novel), PARTNERS IN SLIME (their latest collaborative story collection, packed with monsters), ALL THINGS DARK & HIDEOUS, PROFESSOR LaGUNGO'S CLASSROOM OF DOOM, and more.

Mark is the coauthor, with Rain Graves and David Niall Wilson, of THE GOSSAMER EYE, which won the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Poetry. He writes a blog on cinematic horror called BMovieMonster. And, he is also a marketing and public relations specialist, writing articles for business journals, newspapers, trade publications and websites.

What others are saying about Mark

What critics and colleagues have said about Mark McLaughlin's work over the years:

"In the most devious manner, McLaughlin's stories achieve a high degree of demonism by perpetuating a sinister 'humor' at the gallows of the human comedy."
-- Author Thomas Ligotti

"Listen up. Noel Coward is back. Salvador Dali is back. Dylan Thomas is back. And they're all rolled into one in the shape of Mark McLaughlin who writes stories that are wonderfully witty, surrealistic and ineffably strange. Absolutely fabulous. .... If your palette is jaded, come to the feast that is Mark McLaughlin."
-- Author Simon Clark

"Mark McLaughlin's prose never disappoints. It might shock, dismay, puzzle, leave you rolling out of your seat laughing or sitting back in amazement, but it never disappoints."
-- David Niall Wilson

"McLaughlin's tales are laugh-out-loud assaults on consensus reality."
-- Paul Di Filippo, ASIMOV'S

"Reading Mark McLaughlin is a little like stepping out of the door of an airplane in mid flight. The view is pretty amazing, but the shock of impact may do you in ... gruesome, funny and touching. Top that: anybody...."
--Matthew Nadelhaft, TANGENT


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Book Launch: Aristeia Book 3: Tree of Liberty


Today I bring to you, my loyal Tricksters, Wayne Basta's book launch for Tree of Liberty, book thee in the award-winning Aristeia series



Aristeia Book 3: Tree of Liberty by Wayne Basta
Zeric Dustlighter has been a soldier his entire adult life. Give him a gun, and tell him who to shoot, and he’ll get the job done. He always knew he was never cut out to be in command.

But now, cut off and trapped behind enemy lines, Zeric faces his worst nightmare; the fate of thousands of lives and possibly the entire Union, rest with his decisions.



"Tree of Liberty is a thoroughly enjoyable finish to this sweeping, epic trilogy. It’s got everything we’ve come to expect from Basta: triumph over adversity, personal sacrifice, emotional connections and thrilling action. Another great space adventure!"
— Jason Kristopher, author of The Dying of the Light: Interval



 
Biography:
Wayne currently lives in Houston with his wife, son and their dog.  He remains a fan of geek culture, board games, video games, fantasy, science fiction and all around silliness