Popup killer

BevVincent

One of the many perks of winning Apex's Halloween contest last fall was an invitation to submit a story to their upcoming anthology, Gratia Placenti (for the sake of pleasing). I turned in Popup Killer, a 4500-word horror story, this weekend and received my acceptance this morning. The anthology is due out in the fall. Their 2006 anthology, Aegri Somnia, was a Stoker nominee.

BevVincent

Here's a sneak peek at the cover art for Gratia Placenti.

BevVincent

From Jason Sizemore:



GRATIA PLACENTI is now available for pre-orders. The anthology contains 13 horror shorts based on the theme of "for the sake of pleasing." Gill (my co-editor) and I feel that this book is as good, and probably even better than AEGRI SOMNIA, so we're rather excited.



Hardcover orders will only be taken during the pre-order stage. We're also doing a special price of $12.95 (normally $15.95) for the TPB.



The book comes out on or around December 1st.



Here's a link for ordering.

BevVincent

By the way, the hardcover edition will only be printed if there are 25 pre-orders for it before Nov. 10th.

BevVincent

BevVincent

I was advised that the publisher has received the books, so they should be shipping soon to anyone who has ordered.

BevVincent

Dark Scribe review

Bev Vincent's "Popup Killer" starts with a scene familiar to many a Web surfer. When protagonist Nate gets an annoying popup ad that refuses to go away, he follows the link to Truist.corp, where the enigmatic Al asks him for a name of someone in his life whose removal would make Nate's life better. Scoffing in disbelief, Nate clicks off. But Al’s words linger, and Nate eventually revisits the site and gives up a name. The next day, like dark magic, an annoying co-worker named Ted never existed, and only Nate and Al seem to remember the name at all. Al insists that Nate should give him more names, citing three to five as the average number of names that the people Al helps surrender to him. But Nate’s life is not enriched by the erasing of these bothersome forces in his life, and he soon learns the expansive affects of Al’s strange ability to eliminate lives. “Popup Killer" is instantly familiar to the modern Internet user, and it ventures into a cavernous electronic world rich in raw genre material yet to be fully mined by writers of dark fiction. With “Popup Killer”, Vincent brings a well-written, cautionary tale to the star power of Gratia Placenti’s pages.

BevVincent

BevVincent

I received my contributor copies of Gratia Placenti today, along with my pay check. Merry Christmas to me!

BevVincent

"Bev Vincent’s Popup Killer is another memorable and extremely well done tale that mixes classic time paradox along with equally classic “dealing with the Devil” based horror to impressive effect. "



From the Horror World review by Norm Rubenstein. "This bears repeating – Gratia Placenti is an exceptional anthology filled with good-to-great short stories by some highly gifted authors. It is an award caliber book, filled with many very entertaining good short stories, more than a few of which are certainly of award caliber themselves. Certainly one of 2007’s best anthology titles, it receives my highest recommendation."

BevVincent

Fear Zone review

"Popup Killer" by Bev Vincent. Admit it. Everybody has got somebody they'd love to see vanish. Maybe your brother-in-law, maybe that guy in the office who talks too loudly, maybe that online troll you'd love to get rid of, or maybe even {Fear Zone editor} Greg Lamberson. (heh-heh). Just suppose you could do it. Make somebody vanish. Bev Vincent's sharply crafted textbook-perfect tale of comeuppance will let you know just what might go wrong.

Lou_Sytsma

Great reviews! Congratulations!

BevVincent

Fear Zone review by Gabrielle S. Faust

Gratia Placenti, or For the Sake of Pleasing, is the latest Stoker nominated anthology of dark fiction from the authors of Apex Publishing. In my honest opinion, it is one of the finest collaborations of short stories I have read thus far. As a follow up to their previous collection Aegri Somnia, Gratia Placenti features thirteen deviously twisted tales, from some of the most talented dark fiction writers, including Geoffrey Girard, Athena Workman, Debbie Kuhn, David Niall Wilson, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Teri Jacobs, Adrienne Jones, JA Konrath, James Reilly, Bev Vincent, R. Thomas Riley, Neil Ayres and Mary Robinette Kowal. These stories delve deep into abstract realms of the bizarre and disturbing, drawing strange, even abstract, portraits of existence for deeply troubled characters, in both familiar realities and alternate ones. This series of tales grabs you by the throat and slowly drags you over the threshold of their nightmares. The words are indulgent and rich, dripping down a frosted window pane like a mixture of blood and cognac, each vignette captivating with a distinct, powerful voice of its own. The tales are unique, distinctively resonating the song of each individual author's thumb print that sticks with you, a painful black tattoo to remember them by...absolutely brilliant!



How refreshing it is to read a collection of work that has not embraced the torture porn mentality of the present day! No, this is a classic, classy, intelligent compilation that portrays a suave sophistication in the realm of dark literature, proving that subtly can be far more disturbing than blunt-force trauma. I have found myself growing more and more critical of short fiction, as the years pass, and the multitude of shock factor gore increases. At times it seems that the days of Hitchcock are forever gone as authors attempt to cater to the desensitized, jaded masses instead of taking them under their wings and teaching them the finer points of good literature. However, every once in a while, a troupe of renegade artists, such as the force behind Apex Publishing, rise up out of the pits of hell to wield their swords in opposition to the gluttonous monotony inflicted upon the unwitting. Blood is spilled and with it glowing founts of lush words meant purely to indulge the true literary enthusiast, the bibliophiles, the logolepts of the world. Gratia Placenti is a gift to readers such as this, combining a Grimm Brothers' fairy tale quality with a modern grasp on the desperation of the soul that is exquisitely beautiful in the pain rendered by such sweet simplicity. Apex Publishing, and the authors of Gratia Placenti ,deserve a standing ovation for their achievements and I hope the honor of this year's Stoker award does indeed go to them.



From a Vietnam vet haunted by the ghosts of those he murdered overseas, to a cleaning woman aboard a space station desperate to buy her dying son a new pair of lungs, each and every story contained within Gratia Placenti is noteworthy in its own distinct way. As I mentioned before, this collection is one of the best I have read, to date, and I truly look forward to reading more work by each of the included authors. In a world painted red with the obvious, Gratia Placenti is welcomed drink of absinthe amongst the ordinary. I highly suggest you grab a glass while they last.

BevVincent

Horrorscope review (Australia)

As my day job is in the IT industry, Bev Vincent's "Popup Killer" rang a strange little note of sadistic pleasure deep within me. As the world’s anti-virus companies fall over themselves to keep those nasty pop-up ad’s off our screens, what happens when one gets through the ever tightening net? What happens when that pop-up turns out to be able to remove the most annoying people in your life, for free, no questions asked? Would you? Could you?