 The Small / Indie Press is a tough place to be for not just the writers but also the publishers. Profit margins are tight, in fact, many of these presses operate at a loss and both the press and the writers who work with them struggle to get noticed, unless the spotlight of drama is focused on the small press. With that in mind Ginger Nuts of Horror's semi-regular column on the small presses, we should all care about returns with a look at Crowded Quarantine Publications, run by the instantly recognisable and damn fine author in his own right Adam Millard. Founded in 2011 by horror author, Adam Millard, and his wife, Zoe. Their goal was to release only the best in horror and speculative fiction, and work closely with their authors to bring their visions to fruition. In the short time since the company was formed, they have released close to thirty titles, with an ever increasing roster of great writers and books. In the short time since they opened their doors, they have published such fine authors as Rich Hawkins, Chris Kelso, Craig Saunders, Jen Haeger, Aaron J. French, Kevin Walsh and Luke Walker. Since their inception, they have always been a press that both their writers and contemporaries in the genre have always spoken highly of. Their professional attitude to both their authors and their readers has seen them gain a reputation that is hard to beat. Last year saw the release of Unger House Radicals by Chris Kelso, a twisted, fractured horror novel that found its way onto many best of the year lists, and won The Ginger Nut of Horror's novel of the year award. Read on to find out what are our favourite books from CQP publications and which of their books we are most looking forward to reading this year.  ASCENT BY LUKE WALKER When terrorists threaten to detonate a nuclear device outside RAF Lakenheath, Kelly Wells races for a nearby office block, frantic to find her sister in their last moments. At the same time, a handful of others do the same—all desperate to make it to loved ones before the bomb goes off barely fifty miles away. In the frozen second of the explosion, Kelly, her sister, and three strangers are trapped in that instant and trapped in the building. But they are not alone. A sleeping evil from the deepest pits of the earth has awoken. Stalked by a creature that knows their most private secrets and fears, the group are lost in a world of their individual Hells.  Luke Walker has been writing horror and fantasy fiction for most of his life. His novel Hometown is published by Caffeine Nights while his novella Mirror Of The Nameless is published by DarkFuse. A new novel, Ascent, will be published summer 2017. His collection of horror fiction, Die Laughing, is also available. Several of his short stories have been published online and in print. Praise for Die Laughing Dark, fun, and very inventive, Die Laughing is a memorable collection of short horror fiction that will unsettle you as much as it will surely entertain - Lee Wilson  THE LAST PLAGUE BY RICH HAWKINS A pestilence has fallen across the land. Run and hide. Seek shelter. Do not panic. The infected WILL find you. When Great Britain is hit by a devastating epidemic, four old friends must cross a chaotic, war-torn England to reach their families. But between them and home, the country is teeming with those afflicted by the virus - cannibalistic, mutated monsters whose only desires are to infect and feed. THE LAST PLAGUE is here. Praise for The Last Plague Taking the tired trope of a zombie apocalypse and refreshing it with a palpable tension, genuine horror and a legion of nightmarish entities. - Daniel Marc Chant  Rich Hawkins hails from deep in the West Country, where a childhood of science fiction and horror films set him on the path to writing his own stories. He credits his love of horror and all things weird to his first viewing of John Carpenter's THE THING. His debut novel THE LAST PLAGUE was nominated for a British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel in 2015. The sequel, THE LAST OUTPOST, was released in the autumn of 2015. The final novel in the trilogy, THE LAST SOLDIER, was released in March 2016.  Of Devils & Deviants: An Anthology of Erotic Horror The French don't call orgasms "the little death" for no reason. La Petite Mort-the post-orgasmic state of unconsciousness that some people have following a sexual experience. But what if that "little death" became more permanent? What if, in the throes of passion, you suddenly realized your lover was not, in fact, human? What if one of the games you played to spice up your love-life went horribly wrong? What if you realized you were having sex with the Devil himself? Between these pages you will find tales of sex-bots, cosmic goddesses, and crazed lovers. Twenty-three authors are waiting to seduce you with tales so hot and erotic, so macabre and chilling, you'll pray you are sleeping alone tonight. Featuring: Graham Masterton, Taylor Grant, Maynard Sims, Ralph Robert Moore, Claude Lalumiere, Aaron J. French, Adam Howe, John McIlveen, C.W. LaSart, Lucy Taylor, Jeff Gardiner, Christian A. Larsen, Shaun Meeks, Mandy DeGeit, Cameron Trost, J. Daniel Stone, Kenzie Mathews, Eric LaRocca, Stacey Turner, Jenn Loring, Kenneth W. Cain, Ken MacGregor, Bear Weiter. Praise for Of Devils & Deviants The result is an erotic romp through nearly every deviant behavior imaginable.- Frank Errington  Aberrations of Reality by Aaron J. French Do we always walk in two worlds? Our own we know, or think we know, and another we only glimpse? These twenty-two tales exploring occultism, religiosity, spirituality, existentialism, metaphysics, and the supernatural will attempt to answer that question. From the mind of Aaron J. French, Editor-in-Chief of Dark Discoveries magazine and noted Lovecraftian, comes Aberrations of Reality. Enter the New Age of weird fiction. "Throughout this fiery modern grimoire of mystical horror, we're conscious of the restless urgency of the writing, as if the author is working against time to conjure onto the pages a sequence of transformations that must be seized and fixed before they dissolve again. Indeed, the task for the acolyte of the literary Mysteries today is to convey strange possibilities in a modern tongue, one which responds to the ceaseless now with news of a different eternity. They must have a need at least to suggest that there are aberrations in the world we usually take for reality. And, as the title of this book suggests, Aaron J. French is one of those willing to respond to that task."-from the Introduction by weird fiction critic and author Mark Valentine  Aaron J. French is the author of weird, occult, and dark fantasy fiction. His debut novel, The Time Eater (JournalStone), is available now. He is the author of Aberrations of Reality (Crowded Quarantine), The Dream Beings (Samhain), and many more published short stories. In addition to writing, he works as a book editor for JournalStone Publishing and the Editor-in-Chief for Dark Discoveries magazine. He has edited several popular anthologies including The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft, Songs of the Satyrs, and the Monk Punk & Shadow of the Unknown Omnibus. Aaron is currently pursuing a PhD in The Study of Religion at University of California, Davis.  UNGER HOUSE RADICALS BY CHRIS KELSO When aspiring and nihilistic film-maker Vincent Bittacker falls in love with mercurial serial-killer Brandon Swarthy they decide to embark upon a bloody journey to re-define cinema and create their own sub-culture - Ultra-Realism. Praise for Unger House Radicals The writing is dark yet exquisite, exploring uncomfortable horrors of mankind in a compelling, unique way. - Phil Sloman  Chris Kelso has been printed frequently in literary and university publications across the UK, US and Canada. Chris Kelso’s publications include - “Schadenfreude” (Dog Horn Publishing) “Last Exit to Interzone” (Black Dharma Press) “A Message from the Slave State” (Western Legends Books) “Moosejaw Frontier” (Bizarro Pulp Press) “Transmatic” (MorbidbookS) “The Black Dog Eats the City” (Omnium Gatherum) “Terence, Mephisto & Viscera Eyes” (Bizarro Pulp Press) “The Dissolving Zinc Theatre” (Villipede Publications) "Unger House Radicals" (Crowded Quarantine) "The Folger Variation" (Shoreline of Infinity) He and Garrett Cook are the co-creator of ‘The Imperial Youth Review‘  Comments are closed.
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