Otherworld Publications

Richard was the winner of the ChiZine Publications 2009 “Enter the World of Filaria” contest.  His short story "Maker of Flight" was chosen by Filaria author Brent Hayward and Bram Stoker Award-Winning editor Brett Alexander Savory.  Some of his publishing credits include Cemetery Dance (Shivers VI, early 2010), Living Dead Press (Eternal Night: A Vampire Anthology), 3:AM Magazine, Word Riot, Dogmatika, The Oddville Press, Colored Chalk, Cause & Effect, Gold Dust, Vain, Nefarious Muse, Troubadour 21, Cherry Bleeds  and Opium. 

In his spare time he edits and designs for Colored Chalk and Sideshow Fables and is a workshop moderator at The Cult (chuckpalahniuk.net).

He is currently writing his second novel, a neo-noir, transgressive thriller entitled Disintegration.  Richard is also a member of the Horror Writers Association.

Richard lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago where he has worked as an art director for the past 14 years.  He was born in St. Louis, MO, attended Webster Groves High School, and did his undergraduate studies at Bradley University in Peoria, IL. He is currently pursuing an MFA at Murray State University in Murray, KY.

ABOUT TRANSUBSTANTIATE

"Transubstantiate is, is — it's a visual: that 2001 baby opening its eyes in the monolith, but the monolith is shrouded in this story of loss and hope and identity, and encoded in the cadence of that story, if you listen close, is the genetic map with which to draw this impossible celestial infant, opening its eyes on the page, looking right into you."

Stephen Graham Jones, All the Beautiful Sinners, Demon Theory, The Ones That Got Away

 "Transubstantiate is an intricately-woven dystopian thriller, with every thread pulled tight. This is a solid debut from Richard Thomas."
—Craig Clevenger, The Contortionist's Handbook and Dermaphoria

Richard Thomas’s Transubstantiate constructs a collection of voices that reveals a disturbing futuristic vision of terror and beauty. The novel’s island paradise, its imprisoned inhabitants, and the digital presence that works to control them, merge with ancient forces of rite and belief to create a surreal and devastating collage. This is a work that captures a world we almost know, its realities enough to raise an uneasy sense of potentiality.

Karen Brown, author of Pins and Needles

"Told through various shadowy narrators, Transubstantiate is a trippy, intriguing novel that forecasts dystopia for our near-future.  Thomas successfully blends several genres here--noir, literary fiction, sci-fi--all with abrasive, haunting language."

Joey Goebel, author of Torture the Artist and The Anomalies

 “They say Jimmy made it out.  But the postcards we get, well, they don’t seem...real."

When an experiment with population control works too well, and the planet is decimated, seven broken people are united by a supernatural bond in a modern day Eden.  Most on the island are fully aware of this prison disguised as an oasis.  Unfortunately, Jimmy is on the mainland, desperate to get back, in a post-apocalyptic stand-off, fighting for his survival and that of his unborn child.  Back on the island, Jacob stares at the ocean through his telescope and plots his escape, reluctant to aid the cause.  Marcy tries to hide from her past sexual escapades that may be her saving grace.  X sits in his compound, a quiet, massive presence, trapped in his body by ancient whispers and yet free in spirit to visit other places and times.  Roland, the angry, bitter son of Marcy is determined to leave, and sets out on his own.  Watching over it all is Assigned, the ghost in the machine.  And coming for them, to exact revenge, and finish the job that the virus started, is Gordon.  He just landed on the island and he has help.

Transubstantiate is a neo-noir thriller, filled with uncertainty at every portal, and jungles infiltrated with The Darkness.  Vivid settings, lyrical language, and a slow reveal of plot, motivation, past crimes and future hope collide in a showdown that keeps you guessing until the final haunting words.

Laura Griffith is a native of the Chicagoland area and has lived there her whole life.  She developed a love for all types of writing at an early age and wrote for local newspapers and newsletters before turning her aspirations to fiction.  She has written a few screenplays and stage plays, and finally finished her first novel, Remember, in 2009. 

Laura is a huge supporter of fine arts – music, theater, and writing have played a part in her life since elementary school.  Being a member of the band and theater in school helped develop her love of stories and performance.  When time allows, she can now be found getting involved with her local community theater.  She is also very excited to see her first childrens play being performed in February of 2010. 

Her inspiration can be found in the writings of her favorite authors who span a number of genres – James Rollins, Matthew Reilly, Danielle Steel, and Lisa Gardner top her list of writers to model.  Of course, her biggest inspiration and support come from her friends and family – without whom her sanity would be lost.  Everyone from her amazing daughter, husband, and parents to her inspirational grandmother to her supportive close friends and family – all of her writing is dedicated to them.

 ABOUT REMEMBER

After a freak car accident, Professor Robert Madigan begins to suffer impairment of his short-term memory.  Suddenly, moments that have just occurred are impossible for him to recall.  His family and friends struggle to help him, but, as time goes by, it starts to appear to be more than a temporary condition.  His job, his marriage, and his life begin to suffer, but nothing he tries to do works.

On his way home from work one evening, Robert finds himself standing over a battered, dead body.  His hands are covered in blood.  He has no recollection of what transpired before that very moment.  The police arrive on the scene and take the professor in for questioning as their lead suspect.

As the police investigate the murder and sort out the details, Robert and his family begin to question the professor's lost memory.  Had he been under enough stress to have snapped?  Or did he witness a crime that he cannot remember the details of?  And if he was a witness, what would a murderer do to keep his only witness quiet?

To uncover the truth, Robert must work with the detectives to piece together what happened that evening, no matter what the cost.  But will he remember anything, and will it be too late? 

Nik has been published in numerous magazines and journals, including 3:AM, Out of the Gutter Cause and Effect, Gold Dust, Colored Chalk, Troubadour21, Sex and Murder, The Mechanics Institute Review, short-story.me and Sideshow Fables, as well as the upcoming Shadow Kindred Anthology from Living Dead Press. His novella Old Ghosts is currently being serialized on Troubadour 21.com. He also has a chapbook forthcoming in late 2010. He reviews books for the Outsider Writers Collective, co-hosts Last Sunday, Last Rites, a monthly reading series in Baltimore, and is a Fiction Editor for Rotten Leaves Magazine. Somewhere between all of that, he is writing his second novel.

ABOUT STAY GOD

Damon lives a content life, playing video games and dealing drugs from his second-hand store while his girlfriend, Mary, drops constant hints about marriage. If only he could tell her his name isn’t really Damon. If only he could tell her who he really is. But after he witnesses a friend’s murder, a scarlet woman glides into his life, offering the solution to all of his problems. His carefully constructed existence soon shatters like crystal teardrops and he must determine which ghosts won’t stay buried—and which ones are trying to kill him—if he wants to learn why Mary has disappeared.

ABOUT DAVID

David Rosenstein started writing for two reasons. His family always told him he was a great storyteller and he was always running out of thriller / suspense novels to read.

David writes approximately 70% of his time at his day job as a Senior Estimator and Deputy Asset Manager for a worldwide engineering and construction firm, Parsons Corporation, headquartered in Pasadena California. These writing projects consist of lengthy detailed and technical proposals to the Air Force, Army, Marines, CIA, Federal Government, City and State agencies for engineering and construction projects. These proposals, although not published for public use, are composed using the same literary standards authors use for fiction and nonfiction publication. 

David often interfaces with Federal and Military technical employees who design and manage high security level computer centers for construction purposes. This is where David learned about how computer security systems function that are used in his fiction writing. Although no national security secrets are divulged in his novel, his work experience gave him the knowledge to write interesting and believable fiction scenarios regarding computers and how the government uses them.

As an avid reader, David has learned how to craft a novel from the best thriller/suspense writers by studying their methods of character development, building of tension, multiple story lines, minds eye story descriptions and unexpected twists and turns. Writers such as Dan Brown, Michael Crichton, Steven Coontz, Dale Brown, John Grisham, Lincoln Childs, David Baldacci and others were read and studied as David’s teachers.

David lives in Layton, Utah, a community 23 miles north of Salt Lake City with his wife and three children.

ABOUT THE SILK WORM

CIA agent, Richard Gibson, is sent to Hong Kong where he is to meet with a know informant to assess the possibility that a major assault of cyber terrorism, the next terrorism, is about to be unleashed on the free world by brilliant Chinese graduate student, Lee Yong, in an attempt to remove the evil influence of western values imposed upon his country by the capitalist countries of the world.                 

Richard and his group of field agents hit the streets of Hong Kong with telemetry coordinates in hand to search for the physical locations of the ones responsible for the attack and soon discover that they are the ones being hunted.

Photo used with permission by Susan Blair Photography

"The Price of Life is a timely, engrossing legal thriller that kept me glued to the pages, and gave me something to think about when I had finished.  Fans of Grisham and Turow will undoubtedly devour the book in a single furious sitting.  An outstanding read!"

                                             Christopher Reich, New York Times bestselling

                                             author of Rules of Vengeance

Greg McCarthy is an author and attorney. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University School of Law. For twenty-four years, he has practiced law in Dallas and all over Texas, with a primary focus on personal injury cases. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in cases involving medical malpractice, transportation, oil and gas, premises liability, and commercial litigation, and has tried dozens of cases to juries as lead counsel. For the first eighteen years of his practice, he devoted the majority of his time to representing plaintiffs in medical malpractice actions. Currently, he works as a mediator to help parties resolve their disputes and focuses his law practice on cases involving catastrophic injury or death.

He lives in Arlington, Texas, where he is working on his next novel. Learn more about Greg and The Price of Life at www.gregmccarthybooks.com.

ABOUT THE PRICE OF LIFE

Eight-year-old Jennifer Haller’s brain tumor is killing her. A timely CT scan would likely have saved her, and a new surgery offers hope for a cure, but Julie Haller is crushed when their insurance company refuses to pay for her daughter’s operation.

Shortly after Jennifer’s diagnosis, Marine Captain Ed Haller loses his leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq. He comes home to rehabilitate while Jennifer wages her own losing battle with cancer and its treatment. Jennifer’s death leads the family to Fort Worth lawyer Grant Mercer, whom they hire to sue Jennifer’s neurologist.

As Mercer works the case, Julie Haller learns the results of recent tort reform efforts, including a $250,000 limit in medical malpractice cases. She and her husband realize that a quarter-million dollar price tag on a beloved eight-year-old girl is simply inconceivable. They have no interest in the money, focusing instead on their responsibility to honor their daughter by seeking justice for her death.

The murders of a lobbyist in Austin, a state senator on a remote country road, and an insurance executive in New York seem unrelated until Jennifer’s doctor is kidnapped.  Mercer makes the disturbing connection between the victims and his case, and discovers how far some people will go when the usual avenues of justice are too sharply curtailed.