Hasslein Blog: GUEST BLOG: Of God and Monsters

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Hasslein Blog

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

GUEST BLOG: Of God and Monsters

Today, Hasslein welcomes novelist Greg Mitchell, author of the upcoming Back in Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Chronology, to discuss some of his recent works. Greg, you have the conch!


Of Gods and Monsters
by Greg Mitchell

The past couple weeks saw the release of two projects that I've had in the works for a number of years.

First up is Bigfoot Terror Tales, Volume Two, from Coscom Entertainment, featuring my short story "Exiled." I grew up in rural Arkansas, and Bigfoot has always been a part of my cultural lexicon. In fact, I'm proud to say, my county was home to a rumored Bigfoot creature known as "the Wildman," back in 1851! My entire middle school experience was spent in the school library, pouring over every book I could find about Bigfoot/Yeti/Sasquatch and Loch Ness Monster sightings. As a lifelong fan(atic) of monsters, I saw Bigfoot as a monster that could actually exist, so naturally I spent many a summer evening with my boyhood chums, with my brightly illustrated cryptozoology manual in hand, scouring our wooded backyards for giant footprints. Writing this story was definitely a way of reliving my childhood, and was great fun.


As for the story itself, it's hard to describe "Exiled" in too great of detail without giving anything away (it's a short story, you know?), but it begins with a drifter wandering the Arkansas backroads. He's estranged from his adult son, and has spent most of his life as a failure. He's a weathered old man with little fight left in him. But when his path crosses with that of a Bigfoot—on the run from troubles of his own—the two form an unlikely alliance in an effort to survive, and perhaps salvage their self-respect in the process.

The book is available in print, Kindle, and Smashwords formats.

Next up is Dark Hour, the third and final installment in my Christian horror series, The Coming Evil Trilogy, which began with The Strange Man and continued in Enemies of the Cross. I began writing this series a couple years out of high school, with little direction in my life other than that I wanted to write an ode to the monster movies of the '80s that had comforted me through a mostly lonely childhood, offering me release when the "real world" pressed in on me as a young adult. I also wanted to explore issues of faith and religion. Having grown up in a Christian home, I was trying to determine where I stood on such issues now that I was an adult striking out on my own. These many years later, Dark Hour is my unflinching look at faith, hope, love, and brotherhood—but, most of all, humanity—at our best and at our worst.


The Coming Evil Trilogy is a jam session of horror, featuring hordes of demonic flesh- and metal-eating gremlins, gargoyles, faceless abominations covered in black oil with slippery tentacles seeking fresh meat, a looming threat of Lovecraftian proportions, and—at the center of it all—the enigmatic Strange Man, the ultimate bogeyman who creates chaos and watches it all unfold with a grotesquely stretched Cheshire grin. Pitted against this veritable rogue's gallery of Hell is a band of ordinary small-town folks: among them, a burnt-out pastor, a former drug addict, and an unemployed college dropout with his vast collection of action figures, video games, and monster movie know-how. As the Strange Man and his army begin a siege on the sheltered town of Greensboro, paving the way for the "Dark Hour," only a scattered few outcasts are left to discover the Strange Man's secrets and prevent Hell on Earth, but it will require making the ultimate sacrifice.

Dark Hour is available from Splashdown Darkwater in print, Kindle, and Smashwords formats. The other two volumes of the trilogy—The Strange Man and Enemies of the Cross—are available in all formats, and in stores! Drop by my website, www.thecomingevil.com, to read free short fiction and author interviews, and peruse my other titles.


PURCHASE GREG'S BOOKS:

Bigfoot Terror Tales, Volume 2
Print (Amazon)
Kindle (Amazon)
Smashwords

Dark Hour (The Coming Evil, Book Three)
Print (Amazon)
Kindle (Amazon)
Smashwords

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