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[james roy daley]

I'm going to be a new anthology called DARK JESTERS.

Here's some info, written by Nick Cato:

In what seemed like a never-ending battle, L.L. and I went from (just over) 200 submissions (since August) down to 30-something (over the past month), then 15 . . . and FINALLY to the line-up we're now thrilled to announce (the past two weeks were particularly brutal). We've read and re-read those 30-something "First Rounders" several times each, and with only a few minor fist-fights and insults to each other's families, we now present to the humor-hungering horror community:



Final TABLE OF CONTENTS:

- FOSSILIZED BRAAAINS by William A. Veselik

- THE PLAGUE OF GENTLEMEN by Matthew Fryer

- TONGS AND THE ROACH by David T. Wilbanks

- BLESS THE BEASTLY CHILDREN by Laura Cooney

- WOLF PLUGS by Jerrod Balzer

- HACKS by Sam Battrick

- PAPA'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG by Robert Guffey

- CURSE OF THE BLIND EEL by James Roy Daley

- RETIREMENT by Rob Brooks

- DEADNECK WOMAN by Mark Justice


L.L. will also be writing an introduction, and there MIGHT be some interior illustrations. We're looking at a Fall, 2009 release date, but it's possible it could be late summer '09.

Congrats to all who managed to make L.L. and myself laugh and cringe. I'm sure these tales will do the same for you!

-Nick

[Zombie Zak]

Spiffy!  The guy on the cover looks like somebody I .... 

[james roy daley]

Well - this book was released this week. You can pick it up at the Horror Mall, if you like funny shit...

http://www.horror-mall.com/DARK-JESTERS-AN-ANTHOLOGY-OF-HUMOROUS-HORROR-by-Mark-Justice-James-Roy-Daley-David-T.-Wilbanks-p-19578.html

[Licorice Lain]

Too much to read.. 

I like the funny stuff.

[Snell]

My good friend is in this--and I get a signed copy!!!

[Snell]

We had Nick Cato of Novello Publishers on recently to talk about the new humorous horror anthology, Dark Jesters.  Order it! Seriously, you’ll laugh your ass off.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/B3bwQh-2mPM" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/B3bwQh-2mPM</a>

[james roy daley]

My good friend is in this--and I get a signed copy!!!

Which friend?

[Snell]

- HACKS by Sam Battrick

[james roy daley]

Cool. I liked Sam's story.

[Snell]

Yeah, it's a funny story about the horrors of self-publishing--for there be good, and there be bad.

James, did you know it was his first submission ever? Literally, he sold his first short story... on his very first try! And he earned enough to qualify for Affiliate HWA membership 

[james roy daley]

Crazy!

[james roy daley]

Here's a nice review from Monster Librarian:


    Dark Jesters is a compilation of ten hilariously funny horror tales by ten different authors.  The stories range from cavemen zombies to possessions by James Brown to a horror author getting kidnapped and tossed in a shed with a bunch of other hacks.  Each turn of the page of Dark Jesters will bring a thrill to readers. What one person may not laugh at, I believe another will.  There wasn't a single story in this collection that I did not enjoy, but there were a few that specifically stuck out in my mind as highlights in this book.

    “Deadneck Woman” by Mark Justice is one of those. It's a follow-up story to Deadneck Hootenanny, also by Justice, published by Novello.  Readers are taken back to Possum Hollow to visit some of their old redneck zombie "friends" again and also get to meet a new gal that comes to town.  Readers that missed out on Justice's previous “Deadneck” stories will still enjoy this, however, as it can be read as a standalone.

    Jerrod Balzer's “Wolf Plugs” is yet another story that stands out as a classic bit of humor within this book.  A small town has gathered in a courthouse and is trying to figure out what to do about the werewolves that are attacking their town.  A werewolf hunter shows up at the door bearing the solution to all their problems.  I don't want to tell you what that solution is though as that will ruin the surprise!

The last story I'm going to mention literally had me in tears while reading.  The story is “Curse of the Blind Eel” by James Roy Daley.  It is the story of two brothers who are on a mission to stake a vampire before he rises from his casket.  Unfortunately, one brother's got a bit of a problem and is in major need of a bathroom.  Let me just say... I never realized there were as many ways of saying "poop" and "taking a dump" as Daley put into this one short story!  I don't know what it is about bathroom humor that is so funny, but this story had me in stitches!   

    Every story within Dark Jesters is a masterpiece in some way.  Nick Cato and L.L. Soares did a fantastic job pulling together a variety of humorous stories from across the board.  This book is a must for anyone who enjoys comic horror.  Highly recommended!

Collection Includes:

- FOSSILIZED BRAAAINS by William A. Veselik
- THE PLAGUE OF GENTLEMEN by Matthew Fryer
- TONGS AND THE ROACH by David T. Wilbanks
- BLESS THE BEASTLY CHILDREN by Laura Cooney
- WOLF PLUGS by Jerrod Balzer
- HACKS by Sam Battrick
- PAPA'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG by Robert Guffey
- CURSE OF THE BLIND EEL by James Roy Daley
- RETIREMENT by Rob Brooks
- DEADNECK WOMAN by Mark Justice

Contains: Adult Language, Adult Situations, Bathroom Humor
Review by Rhonda Wilson

 

[james roy daley]

A good review from Horror World:

DARK JESTERS, edited by Nick Cato & L.L. Soares; Novello Publishers; 122 pgs; $11.00

I’ve often said that there’s nothing that brightens a person’s mood quite like reading a story about a Werewolf Hunter who convinces people that they’ll be safe from attack if they wear a silver buttplug.

Unfortunately, no one ever believed me.

Until now.

Luckily, Jerrod Balzer has written just such a story, So now, when I impart that bit of wisdom to people, I can show them Wolf Plugs, his laugh-and-cringe inducing contribution to Dark Jesters: An Anthology Of Humorous Horror.

Editors Nick Cato & L.L. Soares have done a masterful job of assembling some truly hilarious stories for Dark Jesters. I’ve never really been one to laugh at printed material…..I’ve chuckled occasionally over a passage in a book, but real, solid, belly laughs are few and far between.

I laughed reading Dark Jesters.

I laughed A LOT.

To the point where I had to explain to a co-worker just what I was laughing AT. Not a fun conversation when what you’re laughing at is a man covering his neck in his own fresh, steaming poop, in order to fend off Count Dracula, as seen in James Roy Daley’s Curse Of The Blind Eel. Daley gets extra points for using just about every scatological nickname in the book, and then inventing a few new ones.

I also busted a gut over Robert Guffey’s bizarre Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag. I really can’t even begin to describe this story…..Let’s just say it involves a ghostly apparition of James Brown. It’s probably one of the weirdest stories I’ve ever read, and it’s also one of the funniest. I’ve read it three times already, and it gets, in the words of Beetlejuice, funnier EVERY…SINGLE…TIME!

There’s the welcome return of Mark Justice’s Deadnecks, there are Zombie Englishmen, Zombie Cavemen, an orphanage for baby monsters, a Boogeyman forced to work a 9-to-5 job……there’s something here for everybody. Out of the ten stories, there was only one that I didn’t love, and that’s a pretty good success rate.

Not to get all schmaltzy, but Dark Jesters brightened up a very bad day for me, and that’s something pretty special. Cato & Soares have served up the most enjoyable book I’ve read in a LONG time.

Here's hoping they can round up the same crew for a sequel, ASAP.

-- Dan Reilly