Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Breaking News: Hellbound Chronicles to be released very soon

Finally, finally, finally!

My contribution to the Hellbound Web's amazing "Hellbound Chronicles" comic book series (based on the modern classic Hellraiser films) will be released in three weeks, possibly less. As you may or may not know, it's been almost two years that I've been working on this particular issue of the comic. It was initially handed to one artist who sat on it for about a year before the editor (thank god) took it out from under them and handed it to someone who really cared and seemed passionate about the project. I heard he actually asked to work on that particular issue after reading the script.

With so much work complete (and me overseeing most stages of production on the art) it is both an honor and incredible relief to finally have this thing behind me. The art is phenomenal and the project truly has seemed to come together in a near-perfect way. To be honest, when I initially wrote the issue, I wasn't expecting as good as I got. Shows me. But here it is, and I've gotten a look at the first four complete pages as a sort of teaser to the imminent release of the final result.

The Hellbound Chronicles: The Blood is the Life, follows another very familiar story with a new, razor-sharp twist. In a nineteenth century insane asylum, we meet Dr. Jack Seward, who has taken a keen interest to one of his most unusual patients, R.N. Renfield. The inmate is a bug-eater with unusually sharp insight into Seward's life, playing at psychiatry with the psychiatrist. It's soon revealed that Renfield's is truly a part of something greater, that his "master" is very real, and his coming is imminent...

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Updates...

Here's what's going on with me right now.

Currently prepping for the release of my installment of the "Hellbound Chronicles" online comic series, based on the Hellraiser series of films. I initially wrote the story over a year ago, but there was some change in creative involvement and it was handed to another artist who did wonderful things with it. It seems to be in the final stages of coloring now, so I can't wait for it to finally hit, complete.

The Pumpkin Patch, a novel mentioned in an earlier post, should hit this October. It's not entirely defininite, but it seems like this will be the case if all goes as planned. It's a book that I'm proud of and one that cooked for a long time before I finally set down to write it. While my other books that are currently available certainly have horror elements (save for, perhaps, Requiem) this book immerses itself in the genre.

I also have a huge, huge announcement to make about another novel. Or rather, a series of novels. Since high school I have been trying to sort out the story for an epic dark fantasy, and I wrote the first in that series (called Nightmaria) last summer. I'm not certain that it will be published, but it may take a bit of time in that I can say for certain that this book (nor any of the other four to still be written in its series) will not be self published. It is a story that I want to tell to the world, and to do that it needs to reach the world. And as all of the books will be of decent size, a bigger publisher makes more sense as they often work more easily with bigger books.

Finally, I have news for the American Vampires fans. The trilogy has been having a high point of success recently, which humbles me. I have said before that there will NOT be an "American Vampires 4". If I had ever had any plans to do that, I wouldn't have said "American Vampires Trilogy" on the cover of the second and third books. However, many of you may have noticed that a certain character felt a bit unfinished at the end of the series. This was planned. Since I was writing "Sunrise: American Vampires III", I have always had the plan to spin one particular character off into his own novel. Now, I feel the timing is right to move forward with this project. So I take this opportunity to officially announce "Kane". The book will, obviously, be based on the vampire hunter of the same name. I can't reveal too much, except that it will center around how Kane's black and white views on vampires play into a word now aware of their existence, and whether or not he's able to see vampires the same way after the end of the trilogy. It also goes further into Kane's past as a Hunter as well as his relations with a young vampire who has a very, very deep connection with him. I can't say much else at this time, except that I have begun the first draft of the book, that it will feature many new characters and a few old ones, and that I hope it will be a worthy addition to the mythology. No idea when the release date will be, as I am still drafting, but stay tuned for more as the stories develop.

Monday, April 26, 2010

A lot has happened and we're just getting started

So I forgot I even ever started this blog and again I think it's a good idea, so here I am dusting it off. And so much has happened since November, so that's good. Let's see...

I've got a new novel you'll be seeing sometime (hopefully) soon called The Pumpkin Patch. Not sure how many details I can disclose at this point in time, but it's gonna be a big thing for me and a definite step forward.

Right now, I've got a short story that's been published in "Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine" and that is available now. It was a cool thing to be published in, especially when I found it being sold at a convention I was attending.

The biggest thing since November is probably, let's see... oh yeah. That other book I published. IN THE DARK is a short story collection I published (again through wordclay) and it may very well be my last book with them. If so, I find it a fitting ending. It's about 340 pages and you can buy it, well, where I told you to buy the other stuff. Most of the short stories published in the other wordclay books are featured, as well as many (many, many) new ones.

So let's pretend this is my first post and I'll build followers from here. I'll keep this updated (really, I promise) as much as I can, and hope to meet a fan or two (because that's probably all I got...) in the process.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

American Vampires Trilogy Collection is Now Available


As promised, the complete trilogy book has been delivered. Within these pages you'll find an updated manuscript of American Vampires, original versions of The New World and Sunrise as well as vampire-centered short stories (some never-before-published).

You can find this book over at wordclay.com, just follow this link here.

So enjoy that, which will go for $21.92. Cheaper than buying all three books separately.

Also, on a personal note. There was a reading today for the University of Maine Farmington's "Compo(e)sitions" Contest- a contest in which stories were submitted in the style of (or in parody of) Edgar Allan Poe. My story was the winning piece. Reading went well, and I got a cool book and some money out of it. Not too bad a day, all in all.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

American Vampires is now an ebook (and more!)


It's true! Some news I'm very excited about and hope that (since you're here) you're excited too. My first book, the first in the trilogy, is now available on smashwords.com as an ebook. You can read it online, download it on kindle, even on the iphone. And come this Friday, it should be available to read on Barnes and Noble.

It's $3.99 to buy the ebook, but smashwords also offers a 50% free sample of the book!

Of course, the book is still available to buy in print at wordclay.com, and there's a link to it from the smashwords American Vampires page here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/5504

Just thought I'd update everybody on this new development and let everyone interested in the book know how many forms they can read it in.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Introduction

Hello all and welcome to Visions of Darkness, the official blog for author Nathaniel Brehmer (me). To get started, I suppose I'll explain a little bit about me and what I do. I am the author of (so far) the American Vampires trilogy (American Vampires, New World, Sunrise) and the short novel Requiem. I have also written the screenplays Julie and Artful Disasters, both of which hold a 3 and 1/2 star rating on scriptbuddy.com.

Given that I've gotten a decent body of work started, I thought it was about blogging time. So until a website is up and underway (which is planned) this is the place to check for any updates on what I'm doing, be it interesting or... not. Either way, you'll find it here.

Yeah, I'm new at the game, but writing's what I do. Always will be. So I plan on having a good long stay. Of course, I'm sure these are all things we'll find out as we get to know each other, you and me.

Now, for the last bit of getting to know me, here's the official synopsis for each book:

American Vampires-- American Vampires is an exploration of the human heart, its secret chambers and hidden desires. Collected here with short stories from the author is a tale focusing on just what it means to be a vampire and how very different each creature can be.

Delilah is a troubled teen believing suicide to be her only escape, but she has caught the eye of a morose vampire who thought love, like daylight, to be something long lost to him. He shows her the world of the vampire and is terrified at how well she adapts to her new condition. Together they hide in the shadows, a race long forgotten to mankind. But all that may change when a vampire believing himself to be a messiah takes it upon himself to usher in a new world order and reclaim the title for earth's dominant species.

The New World: American Vampires II- The New World is the second book in the American Vampires trilogy. Picking up one year after the events of the original, it chronicles what happens when vampires are forced out of the shadows and into the light. As the story progresses it becomes clearer that a war between humans and vampires is imminent, and that sides must be drawn.

Collected here with short stories from the author is another tale focusing on just what it means to be a vampire, and how very different each creature can be.


Sunrise: American Vampires III- Sunrise is the concluding chapter of the American Vampires trilogy. The virus created to kill all vampires has been stopped, but there are darker times ahead. Two vampire messiahs have risen- the Soldier of Darkness and the Soldier of Light- and sides must be drawn. As the armies grow, everyone (both human and vampire) finds themselves thrust into a war. But the end is near.


Requiem- Requiem is a story focusing on the magic and timelessness of love. It is about the power and beauty hidden within the human heart.

Gregory is an immortal. He does not remember how, and has never known why. All he knows, living a vagrant and hollow life, is that he cannot die. Amy is a rising musician having strange recurring dreams. Dreams about a life long before she was ever born. Dreams about a girl and boy of another time. A passion that exists only in dreams, but feel to her so unbelievably real.

Collected here with short stories from the author is a fairy tale of the human condition. A tale about love. Its range, its beauty, and above all, its power.



Stay tuned, folks. Always more to come.