Hello, fellow book lovers!
As some of you have seen in the past, I’ve tried to kill two birds with one stone by sharing some of columns on here (if they were about books or even my WIPs). I mostly did this to help me build content, but I’m going to try and stray away from that here on out. While it helped me out at the time, I’m starting to feel like a lazy writer.
However, for my column with the Calaveras Enterprise, I wrote about a charitable fundraiser I had heard about from an author friend of mine. And since not all of you subscribe to that particular newspaper, you probably missed it.
I wrote about a charitable anthology of scary stories being published, and all proceeds earned from the sale will benefit Camp Fire survivors. As someone whose community was affected by a destructive wildfire back in 2015 (which I also mention in my column), this fundraiser moved me. The Camp Fire was one of the more destructive fires in California history to date—far worse than the fire I dealt with. As such, I wanted to help spread the word about this very special anthology, Tales for the Camp Fire.
Ben Monroe, one of the contributors and publicists of the anthology, contacted me after my column was published, and I asked him if I could share the news about Tales for the Camp Fire on this blog. He said yes, and shared this current press release with me:
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Tomes & Coffee Press
E.M. Markoff
PO Box 190603, San Francisco, CA 94119
For press inquiries contact Ben Monroe at benmonroe@icloud.com or 510-325-7592
NorCal Horror Authors Supporting Wildfire Relief
New Anthology of Scary Stories to Support Ongoing Wildfire Relief Efforts
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, APRIL 2019 - Horror authors across Northern California have come together to release Tales for the Camp Fire, a new anthology of short stories, to support wildfire relief efforts. All profits from the sale of the anthology will be donated to wildfire relief funds administered by the North Valley Community Foundation.
On the morning of November 8th, 2018, the worst wildfire in the state’s history erupted in the foothills of Northern California. While emergency efforts were immediate, the Camp Fire burned for seventeen days before it was finally contained. It destroyed the town of Paradise and burned over 150,000 acres. At least 85 people died in the blaze. The impact of the fire was felt across the entire region as air quality became the worst in the world.
When a group of local horror authors got together, the question of “what can we do?” was raised. “We’re writers,” said San Leandro resident and author Ben Monroe, “how can we can help with our stories?” Soon they formed a plan to produce a charity anthology, contacting horror authors across the region to ask them to donate stories. Some wrote new pieces for the book, while others submitted favorite reprints for inclusion. In the end, the anthology topped out with 24 great stories totaling over 300 pages.
“Tales for the Camp Fire is a brilliant collection of truly creepy tales by horror’s hottest voices! Dark, funny, heartbreaking, and bizarre. Highly recommended!” —Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of V-WARS and GLIMPSE
Tales for the Camp Fire is edited by Loren Rhoads and is being published by E.M. Markoff’s Tomes & Coffee Press. It will be available on May 2nd in both paperback and ebook formats through Amazon. Members of the publishing team are attending the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley on May 4 & 5, and will have copies of the book available for sale there. All profits from the book are going to be donated to the North Valley Community Foundation efforts to support the ongoing wildfire relief efforts.
“A brilliant editor and author, Rhoads skillfully weaves together a collection of new and old yarns to create an exemplary tapestry of horror literature that will spook fans of the genre for years to come." — Moaner T. Lawrence, author of “The Great American Nightmare”
The book includes stories by Clark Ashton Smith, the grandfather of horror in Northern California, as well as by Bram Stoker Award winners Nancy Etchemendy and Gene O’Neill. Tales for the Camp Fire ranges from fairytale to science fiction, from psychological terror to magical realism, from splatterpunk to black humor, all rounded out by a messed up post-apocalyptic cookbook. Through these pages roam werewolves, serial killers, a handful of ghosts, plenty of zombies, Cthulhu cultists, mad scientists, and a pair of conjoined twins.
About the Editor: Loren Rhoads served as editor for Bram Stoker Award-nominated Morbid Curiosity magazine as well as the books The Haunted Mansion Project: Year Two, Death’s Garden: Relationship with Cemeteries, and Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues: True Tales of the Unsavory, Unwise, Unorthodox, and Unusual.
About the Publisher: Tomes & Coffee Press is an independent publisher of diverse and dark literature. Operated by Latinx author E.M. Markoff, it previously published The Deadbringer and To Nurture & Kill.
About the NCVF: The North Valley Community Foundation provides visionary community leadership by identifying emerging challenges in our region. NVCF brings together diverse groups of problem-solvers, mobilizes resources, and equips community leaders. We build and energize a community of engaged citizens and philanthropists who strengthen the common good.
For further information, please see our press page at http://www.ellderet.com/camp-fire-media-kit
For inquiries, interview requests, or other promotional needs, please contact Ben Monroe at benmonroe@icloud.com.
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Thank you, Ben Monroe, for reaching out to me and sharing this press release with me. And thank you to everyone who pitched in to create Tales for the Camp Fire. Survivors who are still dealing with the aftermath of the Camp Fire could use all the help they can get, so I encourage any readers of this blog to preorder a copy.