Award-winning Horror Author Will Sign Books at Barnes & Noble

On Saturday, October 20, at 2 p.m., Bram Stoker Award-winning author John Everson will appear at the Naperville Barnes & Noble to sign copies of his latest novel, The House By The Cemetery. Everson is the author and editor of more than 20 books in the horror genre and one of the original authors of the V-Wars book series, which will appear as a NetFlix series in 2019.

A longtime Naperville resident, Everson’s 10th novel takes place in Bachelors Grove Cemetery, reputedly one of the “most haunted places” in Illinois. Everson grew up in Tinley Park, just a few miles from Bachelors Grove, and frequently heard stories of hitchhiking ghosts and strange lights and ghostly orbs in the woods while growing up. Rather than recount the ghost stories of the south suburban cemetery which has been done in many books and television shows already, the author chose to create a fictional story set in the famous location. The novel centers around an old abandoned house near the cemetery that is turned into a haunted house attraction for Halloween. The only catch is… the house is already haunted!

“I love tales of the supernatural,” Everson says. “Growing up, my favorite TV shows were ‘The Twilight Zone,’ ‘The Outer Limits’ and ‘Night Gallery’, so while most of the books I read as a kid were science fiction, I guess it shouldn’t be a big surprise that when I started writing, all of my stories came out dark!”

In its review of the novel, The New York Journal of Books said: “The House by the Cemetery involves everything that a horror aficionado could ever want—an undead witch, comic relief, a haunted house dedicated to obscure and not-so obscure horror films, and lots and lots of gore…Indeed, The House by the Cemetery could easily be transcribed into an action-packed screenplay.”

Meanwhile, Cedar Hollow Books noted, “John Everson has created one of my top ten books of all time. The House By The Cemetery is a cauldron filled with devilry and witchery – all my favorite things. It’s a love story at its core, but on the surface, it’s a blood-curdling tale of utter mayhem and savagery.”

The House By The Cemetery is being issued in hardcover, paperback, audiobook and e-book editions by Flame Tree Press, a new imprint launched last month from longstanding London publisher Flame Tree Publishing. It will be available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and all of the other major bookstores.

ABOUT THE NOVEL:

The back cover of the novel describes it this way:

Rumor has it that the abandoned house by the cemetery is haunted by the ghost of a witch. But rumors won't stop carpenter Mike Kostner from rehabbing the place as a haunted house attraction. Soon he'll learn that fresh wood and nails can't keep decades of rumors down. There are noises in the walls, and fresh blood on the floor: secrets that would be better not to discover. And behind the rumors is a real ghost who will do whatever it takes to ensure the house reopens. She needs people to fill her house on Halloween. There's a dark, horrible ritual to fulfill. Because while the witch may have been dead... she doesn't intend to stay that way.

ABOUT JOHN EVERSON:

John Everson describes himself as "a staunch advocate for the culinary joys of the jalapeno and an unabashed fan of 1970s European horror cinema." He is also the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Covenant and its two sequels, Sacrifice and Redemption, as well as seven other novels, including the erotic horror tour de force and Bram Stoker Award finalist NightWhere and the seductive backwoods tale of The Family Tree. Other novels include The Pumpkin Man, Siren, The 13th, the spider-driven Violet Eyes and his latest, The House By The Cemetery.

Over the past 25 years, his short fiction has appeared in more than 75 magazines and anthologies and received a number of critical accolades, including frequent Honorable Mentions in the Year's Best Fantasy & Horror anthology series. His story 'Letting Go' was a Bram Stoker Award finalist in 2007 and 'The Pumpkin Man' was included in the anthology All American Horror: The Best of the First Decade of the 21st Century. In addition to his own twisted worlds, he has also written stories in shared universes, including The Vampire Diaries and Jonathan Maberry's V-Wars series, as well as for Kolchak: The Night Stalker and The Green Hornet. His short story collections include Cage of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions, Needles & Sins, Vigilantes of Love and Sacrificing Virgins. For more information on his fiction, art and music, visit John Everson: Dark Arts at www.johneverson.com.