by Mike McCarty
I myself have rarely dabbled in the blending of humor and horror, and I sometimes wonder why. As a writer, it feels liberating to shed perceived genre boundaries and let your madness run free. As a reader of McCarty and McLaughlin, I find it both inspiring and entertaining.
The humorous stories even heighten the more grim and poignant tales collected alongside them in Partners in Slime. If there was ever a venue where it was a good thing to have laughter die in one’s throat, this is it. As for those darker tales–just as embracing humor can set your muse free, so can drinking deep of unyielding darkness. It’s a different type of literary rollercoaster, one with plunging descents into black tunnels and through hellish corkscrews. It’s another part of the course masterfully constructed by our two hosts and those others with whom they‘ve collaborated here, Kyra M. Schon and Linnea Quigley. Altogether, the combined course makes for a great ride.
I hope you’ve had as much fun on it as I have,
Time to get back in line.
About the Authors
Michael McCarty’s short stories and interviews have appeared in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies. He is the author of four books of interviews–Giants of the Genre and More Giants of the Genre and Modern Mythmakers. His nonfiction collection, Esoteria-Land presents an eclectic mix of his articles, interviews, and reviews.
McCarty is also the author of five fiction collections: Dark Duets; All Things Dark and Hideous, co-written with Bram Stoker Award-winner Mark McLaughlin; Little Creatures and A Little Help from My Fiends; and Professor LaGungo’s Delirious Download of Digital Deviltry & Doom, co-written with Mark McLaughlin.
McCarty’s first novel, Monster Behind the Wheel, co-written with Mark McLaughlin, was released in September 2008. In that same month, the paperback poetry collection, Attack of the Two-Headed Poetry Monster, also co-written with Mark McLaughlin was released. His second novel, Out of Time, co-written with Connie Corcoran Wilson, was released in late 2008.
McCarty’s first solo novel, a vampire satire called Liquid Diet, was released in 2009. McCarty was the former staff writer for “Science Fiction Weekly” (the website of the Sci-Fi Channel). He currently writes the column “Vampire Mania” for Graveside Tales.com.
For online updates on McCarty’s projects, visit www.myspace.com/monsterbook and www.myspace.com/ottochurch. Also, be sure to ask to be his friend on Facebook.
Mark McLaughlin’s fiction, nonfiction and poetry have appeared in almost one-thousand magazines, newspapers, websites, and anthologies, including Flesh & Blood, Black Gate, Galaxy, Writer’s Digest, Midnight Premiere, Dark Arts, and two volumes each of The Best of the Rest, The Best of HorrorFind, and The Year’s Best Horror Stories.
Collections of McLaughlin’s fiction include Motivational Shrieker, Slime After Slime, and Pickman’s Motel; At the Foothills of Frenzy (with co-authors Shane Ryan Staley and Brian Knight); Twisted Tales for Sick Puppies from Skullvines Press; and Raising Demons for Fun and Profit. HorrorGarage.com features his column, “Four-Letter Word Beginning with ‘F’”
(the word in question is Fear), and GravesideTales.com hosts his blog, “Time Machine of Terror!”
Also, he is the co-author, with Rain Graves and David Niall Wilson, of The Gossamer Eye, which won a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Poetry.
With regular collaborator Michael McCarty, he has written Monster Behind the Wheel, Attack of the Two-Headed Poetry Monster, All Things Dark and Hideous, and Professor LaGungo’s Delirious Download of Digital Deviltry & Doom.
To find out more about McLaughlin’s work, visit www.myspace.com/monsterbook, www.myspace.com/poetrymonsterbook, www.myspace.com/twistedtalesbook, and www.facebook.com/markmclaughlinmedia
Publishing History:
The following material is original to this collection, copyright 2011: “The Bride of Bugboy,” by Michael McCarty and Mark McLaughlin, “The Resurrection of Ghattambah,” by Mark McLaughlin and Michael McCarty, “Giant Cockroaches from Outer Space,” by Michael McCarty, “The Nightmare Quadrant: The Legacy of Alphonse Sweetwater-DuBois,” by Mark McLaughlin, “Introduction: Spank Him And I Will Feel It,” by Gregory L. Hall, “Afterword: Tripping The Fantastic,” by David Dunwoody and “About The Authors”
The following stories are reprinted by permission and first appeared in: “Blood from a Stone” by Michael McCarty and Mark McLaughlin, Little Creatures by Michael McCarty (Sam’s Dot Publishing, 2008), “The Pint-Sized Revenge of Baby Caligula” by Mark McLaughlin and Michael McCarty, Raising Demons For Fun & Profit by Mark McLaughlin (Sam’s Dot Publishing, 2009), “Military Mite,” by Michael McCarty and Mark McLaughlin, War Fear anthology, edited by James Shimkus, Byron White and Allen Tower (Marietta Publishing, 2002), “The Ten Klown-Mandments” by Mark McLaughlin and Michael McCarty, Delirium Magazine Issue 2 (2002), “City of Two-Thousand Sins” by Michael McCarty and Mark McLaughlin, Dark Testament anthology, edited by Shane Ryan Staley (Delirium Books, 2002), “Night of the Squealers” by Mark McLaughlin and Michael McCarty, Punktown: Third Eye, edited by Jeffrey Thomas (Prime Books 2004), “Sex, Drugs & Rot ‘N’ Roll” by Michael McCarty and Mark McLaughlin, Little Creatures by Michael McCarty (Sam’s Dot Publishing, 2008), “Arlene Schabowski of the Undead” by Mark McLaughlin and Kyra M. Schon, Midnight Premiere athology, edited by Tom Piccirilli (Cemetery Dance Publications, 2007), “The Wizard of Ooze” by Michael McCarty and Linnea Quigley, Midnight Premiere anthology, edited by Tom Piccirilli (Cemetery Dance Publications, 2007)
Also from Damnation Books:
A Hell of a Job
by Mike McCarty
eBook ISBN: 9781615721177
Print ISBN: 9781615721184
Horror
Short Story Collection of 42,492 words
Michael McCarty, Bram Stoker Finalist and David R. Collins’ Literary Achievement Winner from the Midwest Writing Center tries to bring a smile to the horrors of the workplace. His fifth short story collection features 25 short stories that range from scary to funny … from twisted science-fiction to frightening fantasy. You’ll find dinosaurs in the office, mad scientist’s interns, Scrooge in the future, an evil ice cream man, slacker superheroes, space rats, vampires, the Grim Reaper, cannibals, Satan and a whole lot more. Introduction by Amy Grech, afterword by J.R. LaGreca.
Also from Damnation Books:
Round Midnight and Other Stories of Lost Souls
by Nickolas Cook
eBook ISBN: 9781615721818
Print ISBN: 9781615721825
Horror, Urban Fantasy
Short Story Collection of 119,878 words
The night has a music of its own. Sometimes, terrible and dark; other times, full of revelation and unexpected beauty. In this collection, you will find both cosmic terrors and horrors of the mind and heart. You may even find the answers to questions you never wanted to ask. Listen…can you hear the music of the night calling you?