Spinetingler Awards

Yesterday Spinetingler Magazine announced its nominations for Best Stuff of '11. As you might expect, it's chock full of goodness.

Your humble hack was nominated in two categories-- "Best Opening Line", in THE BASTARD HAND, and, more surprisingly, the David Thompson Community Leader award for Psycho Noir. That one threw me for a bit of a loop, but-- as they say-- I'm grateful and honored to be nominated.

And no, before you ask, THE BASTARD HAND was not nominated for the Best New Voice category. But that's okay. Did you see the list of talent that was nominated? It's all top-notch stuff-- I can't feel too bad about losing out.

Thank you to everyone who submitted THE BASTARD HAND and Psycho Noir for consideration, my gratitude to you is boundless. I cast my votes this morning. May I implore you to head over there post-haste and do the same? Here's the link: Spinetingler Awards.

In other news, since I started giving DIG TEN GRAVES away for free yesterday, its moved almost six hundred copies and as of this writing it's #19 in Horror. I'd love to see it break into the top ten, so spread the word, okay?

DIG TEN GRAVES is free

Today and the next few days, I'm giving DIG TEN GRAVES away for free on Amazon. Click here to download it. It's that Kindle promotional deal you've probably heard about, in which authors can offer their work for free in order to... what? Entice? Seduce? Gather more reviews and tags?

Whatever the outcome, I like the idea of reaching more readers. If you don't already have DIG TEN GRAVES on your Kindle cue, pick it up, why don't you, or help me spread the word if you're feeling particular generous. If you aren't easily offended, you'll probably like it. If you ARE easily offended, it'll give you the momentary joy of having something to be upset about. Win-win.

DIG TEN GRAVES .99 cents, MILES TO LITTLE RIDGE FREE

From now until my birthday, January 15, my short story collection DIG TEN GRAVES will be on sale for .99 cents. So if you haven't picked it up yet, now's the time. I recently found out that the lead-off story, "It Will All Be Carried Away", was an honorable mention for Ellen Datlow's Year's Best Horror Stories last year. I'd like to pump up some sales on it, so, you know... come on.

Also, and totally by coincidence, Mr. Edward A. Grainger has temporarily placed my Gideon Miles story MILES TO LITTLE RIDGE in Amazon's FREE DOWNLOADS. As we speak, it's the number one selling free Western download, with over 1,000 of those babies moved just in the last few hours. Saddle up, if you haven't already, or spread the word.

Kindle-fied

Well, I just finished downloading DIG TEN GRAVES to the ole' Kindle on Amazon. What an amazing pain in the ass that was. But now it's done, and the collection should be available in the U.S. within the next day or so, for a measly little .99 cents. Apparently, it takes a couple days more after that for it to show up in other countries.
As far as the introduction goes, well... that didn't quite work out, sorry. Time constraints. However, all the guesses were fun, and I appreciate you all playing along. And nope, it was none of the above, although some were quite good guesses.
I DID get a terrific blurb from the esteemed Mr. Paul Brazill, though:

"Heath Lowrance follows up his classic debut, THE BASTARD HAND, with a searing collection of hard-boiled, dark fiction. The blackest of noir permeates the pages of DIG TEN GRAVES and oozes into its dark alleyways, its blood stained streets and its rain soaked gutters - even the crevices on the faces of its battle scarred and booze battered protagonists." - Paul D Brazill, Drunk On The Moon, Guns Of Brixton, 13 Shots Of Noir.

Pretty nice, eh?
Again, thanks to everyone for the support and words of encouragement. I'll try not to let ya down.

Dig Ten Graves

I'll tell you the truth: I'm kinda inconsistent as a short story writer. About half of the stories I write are, well... suck-ish. And very often I can't really tell the difference until some time has gone by.
The stories you'll find in DIG TEN GRAVES, however, are good ones. I promise. I've put together my absolute best work here, including the almost-award-winning "It Will All Be Carried Away", plus nine others. Six of them have seen publication already, and four will be appearing for the first time in this volume.
The cover image is by Dawn Sketch, of Aspiring Authors, with some tweaks by her husband Ron Warren. Ron is the fella who put together the cover for my novel, THE BASTARD HAND.
Release date is set for Friday, August 5. Exclusively on Amazon as an e-book, and for the amazing price of .99 cents. Spread it around, okay?