For those you not in the know, Tom Piccirilli is an American novelist and short story writer. He has sold over 150 stories in the mystery, thriller, horror, erotica, and science fiction fields. Piccirilli is a two-time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for "Best Paperback Original" (2008, 2010). He is a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award. He was also a finalist for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award given by the Mystery Writers of America, a final nominee for the Fantasy Award, and he won the first Bram Stoker Award given in the category of "Best Poetry Collection".

We asked Tom Piccrilli, to give us a little bit of back story on his tale, The Thing with Nothing to Give and Nothing to Lose, and here is how he responded:

I'm a word rep Nazi, so the very title of "The Thing with Nothing to Give and Nothing to Lose" grates on me like you wouldn't believe.  It works, as a title, I think, poetic and lyrical in its way, as well as a theme, but when you train yourself to look back over your work and delete overused words, this kind of thing (ha ha, see what I did there?) can drive a person nuts.

Anyway, in the wake of writing my short novel EVERY SHALLOW CUT, a story where a man has lost everything, I still had a few similar stories left inside me that wanted out covering the same internal conflict of such a person.  The idea that you wouldn't suffer alone because everyone was suffering in the same fashion, in such numbers that you could pick them out while having a beer at a bar, appealed to me.  Could someone on the verge of a breakdown learn from someone who'd already had one?  Or vise versa? And so came about "The Thing with Nothing to Give and Nothing to Lose."

Every now and then a book comes along, that deserves to get some special attention.  Sometimes it's a book that is so well well written it that it hammers itself into my psyche. and sometimes it's a book that has been published by people who are very dear to me, and a book that contains some of my favourite authors.  

Eulogies II - Tales From The Cellar first came to my attention via my good friend Tony Tremblay.  I have known Tony for more years than either of us care to remember.  When Tony told me he was editing this book I knew it was time to another Ginger Nuts Special feature. Plus when you factor in that this anthology contains some of my all time favourite authors, I just had to do something special. 

 So sit back and ready yourselves for a weeks worth of special guest posts from the likes of Tom  Piccirilli, Gary MacMahon, Keith Minnion and Eric Dimbleby.  


Click on the read more tag for the first guest post, from the Editors of this excellent anthology 

Here are some of the posts from around the web I have enjoyed reading this week.  Read on for links to articles  featuring Slash, Vampires, Shirley Jackson, Buffy and Joe R Lansdale 

Isabel Saenz is a recent college graduate from McMurry University in Abilene, Texas. During her undergraduate career, she participated in numerous extracurricular activities including involvement in a women’s social club. Her far-reaching imagination allowed her to take up writing as a means of releasing negative energy and stress relief. She finds inspiration in the most unlikely of places. While Death of a Socialite is her first novel, she has also penned numerous stories under the Fiction Press pseudonym of LuckyLady’10. Currently, she manages a blog entitled Grad Angst, which is aimed to provide a forum for recent college graduates to adjust to post-graduate life. She is now a graduate student with a focus of International Relations at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. She lives in New Braunfels, TX with her family, two dogs, disobedient rabbit, and an escape artist turtle. 

In my first novel Death of a Socialite, I explore the human psyche in the form of repressed memories. The story first came together while I was going through a rough time in college. There were nights that I couldn’t sleep due to the fear of remembering things from my past that I didn’t want to remember. Most of the repressed memories dealt with feelings of worthlessness, being used, and unsupported in the environment that I found myself in. I didn’t think of myself as weak for not wanting to remember certain instances of my life, yet I didn’t know how to pick myself up and void the abandoned feeling buried inside of me.

There is nothing worse than dealing with psychological terror, in my opinion. It is a battle that occurs within yourself. To me, psychological terror can come in various forms: whether you’re dealing with a horrid memory from your childhood, a rough relationship (whether with a friend, family member, or romantic partner), or even admitting to yourself that something could be wrong with you. Your mind is your worst enemy. The more you think about an event, the more it can become warped within the recesses of your mind. Either you can do something about it and confront your fears head on or allow yourself to dwell on it, which slowly drains you of life.

Don’t let the title of my novel, Death of a Socialite, fool you. It is far from a frilly story about the upper class. Death of a Socialite is a multi-layered story is of courage to combat inner demons of the past in order to secure a stable present and a brilliant future. It is of new beginnings through confronting the one element of your being that should be your ally: your mind. However, your mind can lead you astray in the worst of times. 

Today we have an interview and a guest post from Kevin G. Bufton.  Kevin G. Bufton is a thirty-something father, husband and horror writer (in that approximate order) from Birkenhead, on the Wirral.He has dreamed of being a full-time, professional, published writer since he was in primary school and, in January 2009, he took his first faltering steps towards making his dream a reality, when he submitted his first story, 'In the Darkness' for publication. It was accepted and published that same month, in the now-defunct e-zine, Micro 100 and Kevin has not looked back since.

His stories have appeared in numerous websites, magazines and anthologies across the globe.

Kevin also edits horror anthologies for Cruentus Libri Press.

One of the things I love the most about the horror genre, is how easy it is to form lasting friendships, with some really great people.  One of my longest friendships is probably with Tony Tremblay, we first "met" over 14 years ago on the Horror World message board.  In those days it was known as Master of Terror.  It quickly became my go to website for horror fiction reviews, horror news and interviews with some great horror authors.  

Horror World is the brainchild  of Nanci Kalanta, it is a fantastic horror fiction hub, and the home to many brilliant horror author message boards.   So when it was announced that Nanci, Tony and Chris Jones were going to publish EULOGIES II, their second anthology of horror fiction, I knew that I had to do something special for its launch.  

So to celebrate it's launch Ginger Nuts of Horror is honoured to announce  a series of guest posts from the editors and some of the authors involved in this excellent anthology.  Stay tuned for guest posts from the likes of Gary McMahon, Tom Piccirilli,  Keith Minnion and Rose Blackthorne.

In the meantime why not go and get a copy of the book.  It's is available as a paperback, and for those who like their books electronic, the E-Book will be released next week.  You can purchase the book by following the links below.