Welcome to my tour stop for American Ghoul by Walt Morton! This is a mature young adult paranormal dark fantasy novel.
The tour runs October 19-30th with reviews, interviews, guest posts and excerpts. Check out the tour page for the full schedule.
About the Book:
Seventeen-year-old Howard Pickman has some unusual problems: He comes from a family of ghouls with a long history of digging up corpses, and he’s just moved to a new school filled with kids that are scarier than he is. American Ghoul is the story of an exceptionally odd teenager trying to survive the most terrible time anybody has to go through -- senior year at high school.
"A gloriously macabre young-adult tale about the difficulties of being a teenage ghoul in the 1970s. Once readers dig up this clever supernatural story, they likely won't want to put it down." - KIRKUS REVIEWS
"Anyone wanting a refreshing story with a young voice full of humor and teenage angst, yet with all the Gothic trappings that have kept the genre popular for over two centuries, give American Ghoul a try! - SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
"I admire Morton's story-telling ability, his macabre descriptions and his dark treatment of the high school experience from a teenager with a terrible secret. There were moments that chilled me to the bone, but kept me turning the pages to follow Howard's journey from outsider to anti-hero." - JACKSONVILLE NAVIGATOR
"A gloriously macabre young-adult tale about the difficulties of being a teenage ghoul in the 1970s. Once readers dig up this clever supernatural story, they likely won't want to put it down." - KIRKUS REVIEWS
"Anyone wanting a refreshing story with a young voice full of humor and teenage angst, yet with all the Gothic trappings that have kept the genre popular for over two centuries, give American Ghoul a try! - SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
"I admire Morton's story-telling ability, his macabre descriptions and his dark treatment of the high school experience from a teenager with a terrible secret. There were moments that chilled me to the bone, but kept me turning the pages to follow Howard's journey from outsider to anti-hero." - JACKSONVILLE NAVIGATOR
The bus came right down Main Street into the heart of Pinebury and the driver let me off in front of the Pep Boys Auto Parts store. I got my bearings and found Hopkins Street. It was an unremarkable side street. The houses were two-story wood-frame homes, small and boxy. The founding of Pinebury was back in 1775 but all these houses were built during the 1930s in a colonial style common all over New Jersey.
One thing New Jersey had was plenty of pine trees. The result was wood home construction everywhere. The good thing about pine is it’s easy to build with. The bad thing about pine is it’s a soft wood, and over time, many of the homes sagged as the pine aged. The sagging wasn't enough to bring the houses down, but it created a sad feeling. Like the homes were wooly mammoths being sucked down into a bog.
The last house on the left was Granny’s. It was a run-down colonial with dove-grey paint and dark blue trim peeling in uneven whorls. The grass in the yard was ragged and brown.
I hesitated there for a moment, but I had no place else to go. I knocked.
When Granny answered the door I stifled a gasp.
She looked terrible.
Though in her mid-sixties, she looked ancient. Only five years earlier I remembered a stocky woman with powerful arms and a head of greying brown hair. She’d been a strong hospital nurse who could lift a patient from a bed without complaint.
Now her hair was bone-white and the flesh hung on her bones in that floppy-baggy way elderly women get. Her eyes hadn’t changed though. One eye was coal-black and the other a pale green. Far more dramatic than most ghouls.
She stared at me and chewed on her lower lip.
“Are your parents dead?” Granny said.
“Yes, Granny.”
“Both of ‘em?”
“Yeah.”
“You better come in and tell me about it.”
Free for Kindle Halloween weekend! 10/30-11/1
About the Author:
Walt Morton is a writer, photographer, and artist. AMERICAN GHOUL, his debut novel, has been called “The Tom Sawyer of horror fiction.”
With this book he is continuing a decade-long exploration into weird tales via photography, film, painting and writing. Walt has lectured at the British Film Institute and studied intensively in five martial arts.
A complete biography of his exploits and interests would be so shocking, improbable and incredible that modesty demands "the less said the better." He would like to thank Jane Austen, who coined that "less said the better" idea. AMERICAN GHOUL is his first of several books that reinvent the supernatural horror genre. Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, he now lives in California.
His upcoming novels in 2015 and 2016 will include works in horror, science-fiction, and detective genres.
GIVEAWAY:
Collectible, art-skull hand painted, signed and numbered by Walt Morton, the author
Ends Nov. 4th
Prizing provided by the author, hosts are not responsible.
