THE AWAKENING by Brett McBean coming in August

Bloodshot Books is taking another step on to bigger and better things! I’m proud to announce that we have signed a deal with award-winning Australian horror  author Brett McBean to reprint his coming-of-age voodoo zombi novel THE AWAKENING. Previously it has only been available in a limited edition hardcover from Tasmaniac Publications, an Australian trade paperback by LegumeMan Books and in a German edition from Festa Verlag.  Check out the covers below.

 

I had wanted to read this novel from the moment I read about it last year, but no copies were available stateside. It has garnered praise wherever it has been reviewed, but for some reason, didn’t catch the eye of many people outside of Down Under. Since I believed it deserved to be seen by a broader audience, I decided to take a hail mary pass at reaching Brett and asking him if the rights were available, and if so, would he be interested in signing a deal with us to bring it over here.

To my giddy astonishment, he was. A month later, we are planning for an August release, and this process has so encouraged me that I may soon hold an open call for novel submissions – much sooner than I had originally hoped.

Stay tuned.

Synopsis: For as long as he can remember, fourteen-year-old Toby Fairchild has been afraid of the strange old man living across the street. Along with the rest of the kids in the small Midwestern town of Belford, he sees the reclusive Mr. Joseph as the local bogeyman.

Mr. Joseph’s life is an unhappy one. The memories of his past fill him with deep sorrow, and the kids of Belford have long been afraid of him, what with his unusual features and awkward gait.

However, when Toby accidentally discovers the remarkable truth about Mr. Joseph, an unlikely friendship develops. Over the course of the summer, Toby will come to know about pain and death; loss and the meaning of freedom, as Mr. Joseph recounts the incredible story of his past back in Haiti. A story laced with voodoo spirits, slave plantations, evil sorcerers…and zombis.

Toby will learn that monsters do exist – though not always where you expect to find them.