by Bryan Smith
One of them grasped a big knife with a serrated blade.
Lindsey sucked in air and opened her mouth to scream.
But Missy was too fast.
“You I’m gonna kill.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, thanks to my wife, Rachael, for all the usual reasons, and extra special bonus points for making last year’s Hypericon party a smash success despite being very sick. Thanks to my brothers, Jeff and Eric, who rock hard. Thanks to my longtime friends, Shannon Turbeville and Keith Ashley, who also rock. Hmm, rocking seems to be the theme this time around. Anyway…thanks to my family, especially my mom, Cherie Smith, for all the love and support, and my grandmother, Dorothy C. May, as well as Jay and Helene Wise, my in-laws. Thanks to all the following for various reasons: Brian Keene, everybody at the Keenedom, Don D’Auria, Tod Clark, Kent Gowran, Mark Hickerson, Joe Howe, Derek Tatum, Paul Legerski, Paul Synuria, Ben and Tracey Eller (www.worldofstrange.com), Mark Sylva, Brittany Crass, Blake Conley, John Everson, Rhonda Wilson, John Barcus, Shane Ryan Staley, Elizabeth Rowell, Kim Myers, David Wilbanks, Fred and Stephania Grimm, whoever it was who invented beer way back in the long, long ago, and all the people who bought Soultaker and Depraved last year. It should go without saying that you all rock harder than a drunken 80’s metal band with its amps perpetually on 11—but I’m saying it anyway.
CRITICS PRAISE THE FRIGHTENING WORK OF BRYAN SMITH!
DEPRAVED
“…a blood soaked journey into a backwoods town with some of the most despicable people ever put to the written word…It is violent, decadently twisted…If you are a fan of white-knuckle, in-your-face, over-the-top horror, this is a must for your collection and I highly recommend it.”
—Famous Monsters of Filmland
“Bryan Smith’s Depraved is everything you want in a novel: black-humored, violent and nasty…Gotta love it.”
—Bookgasm
“Depraved is graphic, foul, smutty, trashy, and probably everything your mama told you never to read as a kid, but that’s what makes it so great…This is a must for fans of extreme horror.”
—Monster Librarian
“Depraved is a jet-fueled tale that begins fast and mean and never lets up. Smith blends multiple plotlines together seamlessly, pulling readers into his characters’ sprints for survival…Smith crafts characters that provoke empathy, pity, even disgust…which pulls readers even deeper down this dark and twisted hole.”
—Shroud Magazine
SOULTAKER
“This is a classic tale of a small-town haunting.”
—Fangoria
“Bryan Smith is an immensely talented writer and has the ability to write some very scary stuff…If you love horror with in-your-face gore, no-holds-barred violence and sex you will love this book.”
—Famous Monsters of Filmland
“This book encompasses everything good about the horror paperbacks from the 1990s…Filled with sex, violence, and atmosphere, rolling along at a frantic pace that never lets you rest, this book is good old-fashioned horror.”
—Fear Zone
QUEEN OF BLOOD
“I can’t see any fan of 80s-style pulp horror novels not leaving this one with a huge, gory grin on their face.”
—The Horror Fiction Review
“Queen of Blood is a great follow-up…taking all the elements that worked so well in the first book and ramping them up. He has weaved a very intricate tale with multiple levels of deception and sadism and managed to have it all make sense and be a helluva lot of fun at the same time.”
—Dread Central
“A nonstop thrill ride…Queen of Blood is flying off the shelves. Bryan Smith seems poised for a major career explosion, and if you want to be trendy, read him now, before he becomes a household name.”
—Skullring
HOUSE OF BLOOD
“Smith promises unimaginable brutality, bile-inducing fear, and unfathomable despair; and then delivers monumentally!”
—Horror Web
“Bryan Smith is a force to be reckoned with!”
—Douglas Clegg, author of The Attraction
“A feast of good old-fashioned horror. Don’t pass this one up!”
—Brian Keene, author of Darkness on the Edge of Town
THE FREAKSHOW
“Smith really shines with his latest example of no-holds-barred horror fiction…I highly recommend The Freakshow to anyone who loves an intense ride through a truly dark and terrifying novel.”
—Horror World
“The action kicks in literally from the first page and doesn’t let up for the entire book. The pacing is dead on and the horror is exceptional. Good characters, a good story and some nasty imagery combine to make The Freakshow one of the most fun reads I’ve had in a long time.”
—Dread Central
Other Leisure books by Bryan Smith:
DEPRAVED
SOULTAKER
QUEEN OF BLOOD
THE FREAKSHOW
DEATHBRINGER
HOUSE OF BLOOD
Copyright
A LEISURE BOOK®
July 2010
Published by
Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Copyright © 2010 by Bryan Smith
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E-ISBN: 978-1-4285-0893-4
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