Happy book day to me! It’s always exciting and nerve-wracking when a new book comes out, but the immediate response to the release of DEVOURING DARK has been wonderful, so thanks to everyone for that. I’m really proud of this book and hope you’ll give it a go if it sounds like your kind of thing. You can find all the info you need, and all the relevant links here.

Meanwhile, there are a few accompanying guest posts around the net:

Firstly, I’m over at Chuck Wendig’s blog talking about The H-Word, horror as a ghetto genre.

And I’m at Joanna Penn’s blog, The Creative Penn, with 7 Tips for Writing Horror Stories.

And here I am at Frank Michael Errington’s blog with a guest post called Dealing With Death.

And here I’m at John F D Taff’s blog with a post called Why do you write such horrible stuff?

There’ll be some other bits and pieces cropping up over the next week or two, so watch my social media. But in the meantime, if you are interested in getting a copy of DEVOURING DARK, please grab it soon even if you can’t read it just yet. Those early sales and early ranks REALLY help with a book’s ongoing visibility and shelf-life. Thanks and I hope you enjoy it!

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October 19 to 21 is OZtober, where author, Ashley Capes, curates a heap of deep discounted Australian horror, fantasy and SF. This year, my urban horror/dark fantasy novel, HIDDEN CITY, is included and it’s only 99c across all vendors for the duration of the promotion. Find everything here!

I’ve written a lot of cosmic horror – it’s a staple of my stuff – and while H P Lovecraft is an undeniable influence on the theme and definitely on me, his work has been in many ways surpassed. And I’d always avoided writing anything within the actual Lovecraftian mythos. Until now! WHAT OCTOBER BRINGS is a new anthology of Lovecraftian Halloween stories and features my first Lovecraftian yarn, “Waters Strangely Clear”, which takes place in Innsmouth. And it’s out now! You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4902075903/

And look at that sweet Daniele Serra cover! (Click it for a bigger version.) Here are the details:

What October Brings: A Lovecraftian Celebration of Halloween
Edited and with an introduction by Doug Draa

Halloween, a time for laughing children in white bedsheets and superhero costumes. A time for chocolate candy, and pumpkins, and Trick-or-Treat.

A time for dark things everything to slink out of the shadows and into our lives, reminding those unlucky few that our charades of Halloween cannot erase the centuries of history and pain behind the facade…

What October Brings celebrates the dark traditions of the autumn rituals, of Halloween and Samhain, in homage to the uniquely fascinating fiction of HP Lovecraft. Masters of the short story offer you a “once in a lifetime” Trick-or-Treat experience…

…perhaps your last experience!

The commissioned cover is by acclaimed Italian painter Daniele Serra.

Reviews
What October Brings is a veritable Candycornucopia of fatal delights! A hell of a Trick-or-Treat bag! (Or is that a Trick-or-Treat bag from Hell?) And not a crummy orange or walnut in the haul! But that doesn’t mean there aren’t razor blades in the chocolates! Let’s face it: you’d feel disappointed if there weren’t! My tummy’s already pleasantly aching from tasty treats by Cody Goodfellow, Ann K. Schwader, Darrell Schweitzer, Adrian Cole, Brian M. Sammons, and (burp) John Shirley. And I’m going back for more!
—Robert M. Price, Editor, Crypt of Cthulhu and Eldritch Tales

Contents
• Paul Dale Anderson :: That Small, Furry, Sharp-toothed Thing
• Alan Baxter :: Waters Strangely Clear
• Ran Cartwright :: The House on Jimtown Road
• Adrian Cole :: No Other God But Me
• Storm Constantine :: Down into Silence
• Tim Curran :: Spider Wasp
• Arinn Dembo :: The Old Man Down the Road
• Cody Goodfellow :: The War on Halloween
• Andre E. Harewood :: The Immortician
• Nancy Holder :: Nyarlahotep Came Down to Georgia
• Erica Ruppert :: Summer’s End
• Brian M. Sammons :: A Night for Masks
• Ann K. Schwader :: Inheritance
• Darrell Schweitzer :: Uncle’s in the Treetops
• John Shirley :: Hum—Hurt You. Hum—Hurt You. Hum—Hurt You.
• Lucy A. Snyder :: Cosmic Cola
• Chet Williamson :: Hell Among the Yearlings

Available in September 2018 in print and ebook editions:
– Softcover
ISBN: 978-4-902075-90-8
List: US$20.00

– Ebook
ISBN: 978-4-909473-51-6
List: US$6.99

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It’s a busy week in the BaxCave! My new novella, Manifest Recall, is now officially a living book in the world, launched on Tuesday. Early buzz has been great, so thanks to everyone who’s given it a shot. If you haven’t yet, early sales really help, so if it sounds like your jam, please grab a copy. Anywhere you normally buy books, or find some links here. And if you fancy sharing the news of that release around your networks, that would be awesome, thank you.

But as if that wasn’t enough (it’s not, it’s never enough! Mwahahahahaha! *ahem*) those amazing people at Grey Matter Press, the publishers of Manifest Recall, are also publishing my new horror novel in November. It’s called Devouring Dark and is basically a novel-length sequel to my Australian Shadows Award-winning short story, “Shadows of the Lonely Dead”. And yesterday, Sci-Fi & Scary had the exclusive cover reveal as part of their 2018 New Sci-Fi and Horror Novels to Look For Part 2 – It’s honour enough to be included on that list, but they took hold of the reveal duties too, so huge thanks to them. And here it is! I fucking love it!

It’s out on November 6th, so there’ll plenty of chatter about it then. Meanwhile, I hope you all enjoy Manifest Recall, and thanks for reading!

My new southern gothic supernatural noir novella, MANIFEST RECALL, is published today, by the wonderful folks at Grey Matter Press! New book day is always fraught with nerves! If you feel inclined to pick it up, please do so asap because early sales in the first week REALLY help with further exposure for the book. You can grab the ebook for around $3 and the paperback for around $10 wherever you usually buy books. Click here for some direct links. Here’s what the publisher says about it:

Manifest Recall is a contemporary southern gothic novella with alarming supernatural undercurrents that explores the tragic life of a hitman who finds himself on the wrong side of his criminal syndicate. Baxter’s adrenaline-fueled approach to storytelling is in full force in Manifest Recall as it draws readers into Eli Carver’s downward spiral of psychosis and through the darker aspects of lost memories, human guilt and the insurmountable quest for personal redemption.

Following a psychotic break, Carver finds himself on the run, behind the wheel of a car that’s not his own, and in the company of a terrified woman he doesn’t know. As layers of ugly truth are peeled back and dark secrets are revealed, the duo find themselves in a struggle for survival when they unravel a mystery that pits them against the most dangerous forces in their lives.

I’m really proud of this book and the early pre-release reviews have been amazing. Here are some comments:

“It’s fast-paced, bad people doing bad things to other bad people. Highly recommended!” — John F DTaff, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of LITTLE DEATHS.

“Freaking. Amazing. This book hooked me immediately and never let go.” – Sci-Fi & Scary.

“Manifest Recall is an uppercut of a novella that is sure to loosen a few teeth…” – The Grim Reader.

“A vicious revenge thriller told out of sequence, which pulls no punches… Manifest Recall is the literary equivalent of a vicious kick in the nether regions… Manifest Recall isn’t strictly a horror novel, but… will knock the stuffing out of the most hardened horror freak…” – Ginger Nuts of Horror.

“Manifest Recall is satisfyingly violent, dark, and consistently engaging…” – High Fever Books.

“MANIFEST RECALL is a blood fueled bullet train roaring through the criminal underworld. A manic story of loss and revenge, MANIFEST RECALL starts at a sprint and never slows down.” – John C Foster, author of MISTER WHITE and THE ISLE.

If you grab a copy, thank you so much and I really hope you enjoy it!

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Look at this amazing cover for my new novella, MANIFEST RECALL! I love it so much. Grey Matter Press and Saber Core have done such a brilliant job with it. And this cover reveal marks the start of the release schedule for this book. Exciting times. Here’s the blurb:

Following a psychotic break, Eli Carver finds himself on the run, behind the wheel of a car that’s not his own, and in the company of a terrified woman he doesn’t know. As layers of ugly truth are peeled back and dark secrets are revealed, the duo find themselves in a struggle for survival when they unravel a mystery that pits them against the most dangerous forces in their lives.

A contemporary southern gothic thriller with frightening supernatural overtones, Alan Baxter’s Manifest Recall explores the tragic life of a hitman who finds himself on the wrong side of his criminal syndicate. Baxter’s adrenaline-fueled approach to storytelling draws readers into Eli Carver’s downward spiral of psychosis and through the darkest realms of lost memories, human guilt and the insurmountable quest for personal redemption.

MANIFEST RECALL is published in ebook and paperback on June 26th, which is only just over a month away. You can add it to your Goodreads shelves here and you can pre-order from Amazon at these links:

US: https://www.amazon.com/Manifest-Recall-Alan-B…/…/B07D2JPB8Z/

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Manifest-Recall-Alan-Baxter-ebo…/…/

AUS: https://www.amazon.com.au/Manifest-Recall-Alan-Baxter-eb…/…/

CAN: https://www.amazon.ca/Manifest-Recall-Alan-Ba…/…/B07D2JPB8Z/

You can read the opening of the book by clicking here, and hopefully that’ll whet your appetite enough to go and pre-order or add it to your TBR list. I wrote a guest post about the book’s central theme, guilt, for Jim McLeod over at that amazing horror website, Ginger Nuts of Horror. And GNoH are also running a cool contest to win a copy of MANIFEST RECALL and a massive book bundle. Click here to get all the details. And that guest post about guilt is here.

Please feel free to share this post around with anyone who you think might be interested!