Free Swag Halloween Weekend!

All weekend,, beginning now, receive a free fabric book bag with any order from the Shroud site. These make perfect shopping bags as well, and with the distinctive haunted house logo, you'll be sure to attract a few stares as you hand it to the grocery store bagger.

Tailor-made* to fit two six-packs of Schlitz Bull Ice Malt Liquor, a box of frozen White Castle cheeseburgers, and four bags of Doritos.  I like Taco Flavor, how about you?

But seriously, buy anything and get a FREE tote-bag.  Plus, I'll ship all in-stock items priority mail on Monday Morning.  Out-of-stock items will ship as soon as they become in-stock.  Am I making myself clear?  Just do the math.

Order here today!

*This is an outright lie.  This is a standard-sized fabric bag, probably churned out in crappy overseas factory somewhere by eight-year-old kids chained to glue guns or whatever.  But it's free.

Anthology 2011 Conference Welcomes Jonathan Maberry, Rick Hautala!

Though the event is more than a year-away, we've already been fortunate enough to secure a stellar list of special guests and attendees for Shroud's Anthology 2011 Conference.  Among them, is New York Times Bestselling author, Jonathan Maberry. Mr. Maberry is a multiple Bram Stoker Award winner, a freelance comic book writer, and recently penned the novelization of THE WOLFMAN film, starring Benicio del Toro.

Maberry's wildly successful novel, Patient Zero: A Joe Ledger Novel, is a bioterrorism thriller that launched a new series for St. Martin's Press, and was followed in 2010 by The Dragon Factory. In 2011 Joe Ledger returns again in the third installment, The King of Plagues. The first three books in the series have been optioned by producer Michael De Luca (Se7en, Magnolia, Blade) on behalf of Sony.

We are thrilled to have Jonathan Maberry in attendance and participating in several panels and workshops.

Rick Hautala has offered a firm commitment to attend as well.  Rick Hautala has more than thirty published books to his credit, including the million copy, international best-seller Nightstone, as well as Twilight Time, Little Brothers, Cold Whisper, Impulse, and The Wildman. He has also published four novels—The White Room, Looking Glass, Unbroken, and Follow—using the pseudonym A. J. Matthews. His more than sixty published short stories have appeared in national and international anthologies and magazines. His short story collection Bedbugs was selected as one of the best horror books of the year in 2003.

A novella titled Reunion was published by PS Publications in December, 2009; and Occasional Demons, a short story collection, is due in 2010 from CD Publications. He wrote the screenplays for several short films, including the multiple award-winning The Ugly Film, based on the short story by Ed Gorman, as well as Peekers, based on a short story by Kealan Patrick Burke, and Dead @ 17, based on the graphic novel by Josh Howard.

We are absolutely honored to have Rick join us at Anthology 2011!

The guest list is growing.  Stay tuned to the blog for more announcements!

ANTHOLOGY 2011: A Sneak Peek

By this time, you may have seen a stray Tweet or Facebook post that suggested that Shroud is hosting a con in 2011.  The fact is, Mark Wholley, Danny Evarts, and John Morse and I had been discussing the possibility since returning from Context in Ohio earlier this year.  We realized that with all of the expense, effort, and stress that went into attending cons, Shroud could quite reasonably host one and achieve many of the same goals.

Mark came up with the name, "Anthology."  It is a word that we are all very familiar with.  A collection of stories from different authors, and sometimes expanded to include other forms of art as well.

Anthology 2011 (or "AnthoCon") will showcase the creative brilliance of authors and artists within imaginative genres including (but not limited to) Horror, Mystery, Noir, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical, Steampunk, Bizzaro, and the convergence of art and literature within these genres in graphic novels, comics, and games.


Here are some of the details:


WHEN IS IT?

November 11-13, 2011 (Veteran's Day weekend)

WHERE IS IT?

Best Western Wynwood Hotel & Suites

580 US Route 1, Portsmouth, New Hampshire 03801
Phone/Fax: 603.436.7600

And,

The Roundabout Diner and Lounge (adjacent to the hotel)

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

 In our planning discussion, we quickly agreed on a few key principles:

1.  The conference would encompass a variety of genres;
2.  It would provide an enriching experience for writers, artists and the fans of both;
3.  We would provide a comprehensive schedule of panels, workshops, and activities, but would not overburden or overwhelm our guests and attendees;
4.  We would create excellent commercial and networking opportunities for visiting authors, publishers, and vendors by maximizing our substantial contacts within the local community, media, art and literary scene, and universities;
5.  Finally, as it is now a Shroud tradition, there would be opportunities for fun, frivolity and friendship.

WHAT WILL THE SCHEDULE LOOK LIKE?


Simple, functional, uncluttered.  It is our goal that each workshop, reading and panel be well-designed and well-attended.  Fewer workshops translate into greater attendance for each.  Furthermore, we want to continually drive traffic to the dealer room.  We have found that an overburdened workshop schedule inhibits the ability of attendees to browse at their own relaxed pace.  As a result, we have decided on a TWO track workshop/panel discussion format.  This means that workshops will occur in two conference rooms, instead of six or eight.

Schedule Outline

Friday, Nov. 11, 2011

2PM:  Arrival, check in, registration
5PM:  Dealer Room Opens
7PM:  Welcome reception (passed appetizers, cash bar)

Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011

9AM:  Dealer Room Opens
9AM to 5PM: Workshops, panel discussions
7PM to 1AM:  Shroud Party, Awards, Open Mic, Dancing (passed appetizers and cash bar)

Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011
9AM: Dealer Room Opens
9AM to 12PM:  Panels, reading, signings
3PM:  Dealer room closes
6PM:  Dead Dog Party in the Roundabout Lounge

While this is subject to change, we feel that the schedule is loose enough for attendees to network, visit Portsmouth's historical and cultural attractions, and visit the dealer room.  We are also working on additional content and activities including:

Gaming
Independent films
A juried art exhibit
Slam poetry
A field trip to downtown Portsmouth

WHO'S GOING TO BE THERE?

The list is growing so quickly I'll need a whole new post to tell you!  Coming up soon.

Contact Tim for more information.

Shroud's 2010 Halloween Extravaganza!

I'm not sure of the exact date that talented author (and friend) Kevin Lucia approached me and suggested a themed Halloween Issue.  What I remember is that Kevin offered to "guest edit" it and I was thrilled by the prospect of seeing Kevin's creative vision manifest.

Over the past several weeks, I've been delighted to see the names that have slowly made their way to the Halloween Issue's table of contents.  Rio Youers, Lisa Mannetti, Jeremy Shipp, Nicholas Grabowski, Kelli Owen, Norman Partridge, Dan Keohane, Jodi Lee, Brian Hatcher and so many more (see full TOC below).

Not only did Kevin put his absolute best effort into this issue, but he also suffered the rigors related to editorial management with class and aplomb.  His efforts also served as proof positive that the guest editor idea--along with the themed issue--was something that we believe could work out well for Shroud's readers.

Better yet, we ran into one of our favorite artists at Context in August, Steven Gilberts.  Steve has done a number of covers for Shroud and they are among our most popular. On the night of our fabled Context Shroud Party, Steve showed us a painting he had done onsite that day.  We fell in love with it and immediately contracted Steve to do the Halloween issue cover.  I asked Steve to take his pumpkin man concept and place them in "literary positions."  The masterful work you see above is what he came up with.  After Danny Evarts finished several beautiful original wood and linoleum cuts for spot illustrations, then edited and designed the issue, we felt that this is perhaps our best issue yet.  Perfect for our favorite holiday.

ORDER IT NOW (and receive it as it comes available)