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Helder Horror!

Dark Poems and Scary Fairy Tales

The Vampire Bridegroom

posted May 15, 2012 3:01 PM by Chad Helder


From Bram Stoker Award-winner Chad Helder comes The Vampire Bridegroom, his sweeping collection of horror poems and tales that explore the dark crevices of genre in a spectrum of forms.

Included here in this horror collage are poems that yearn to be horror movies.

From a nightmarish array of vampires in the landscape of troubled youth to beastly transformations and horrifying awakenings... from the twisted theories of Hansel Fruehner--the perverted and blasphemous student of Freud--to scary fairy tales.

Along the way, explore the mythos of the Gory Boy and Queen Bloody Mary, encounter the ever-present figure of Satan in the mind of a preacher's son and, of course, meet the sharp-toothed title character himself.

Read 9 Sample Poems from The Vampire Bridegroom!

Read reviews and order a copy here!

Learn more about this book at the website:

vampirebridegroom.com

Pop-Up Book of Death

posted May 15, 2012 2:54 PM by Chad Helder


The Pop-Up Book of Death is a collection of vivid and startling poems from Chad Helder.

These poems navigate a humorous and unsettling landscape where horror movies transgress the boundaries of the screen, sinister words strike out from books like trapdoor spiders, and true love extinguishes every apocalyptic flare-up.

In this bizarre terrain haunted by the white dog, Helder offers a pastiche of childhood memory, dream journal, and surrealist fantasy, confronting the horrors of The Closet and the anxieties of The Apocalypse.

Get your copy at Village Books!

Order from the publisher!

Also available at amazon (including a Kindle version)!

Learn more at the website for Pop-Up Book of Death:

popupbookofdeath.com

Canus the Cyborg Dog

posted May 15, 2012 2:47 PM by Chad Helder


My story, "The Final Trial of Phineas Bluebeard," became the horror comic "Canus" in the Vincent Price Presents series.

Here is the description:

In this macabre tale where Gothic horror meets the perversions of science, a young boy must face a twisted trial, a rite of passage conceived by a madman, and confront a creature deep within a mad scientist’s dungeon.

Read the original horror comic!

I also wrote a sequel for my cyborg dog, called "Canus 2":

Read the sequel!

Later, the original story for "Canus" was adapted into a radio play by the Colonial Radio Theatre in Boston:

Listen to the radio play!

Rue Morgue High

posted May 15, 2012 2:37 PM by Chad Helder   [ updated May 21, 2012 7:15 AM ]


A high school English class studies Edgar Allan Poe's macabre masterpiece, "Murders in the Rue Morgue." Inspired by the horrific tale of a razor-blade-wielding orangutan, the brightest and most insane student in the class uses his secret psychic power to carry out a hideous and unimaginable revenge against his classmates.

I wrote this story for Vincent Price Presents:

Read the original horror comic!

A few years later, this story was adapted into a radio play, "Rue the Day," by the Colonial Radio Theatre in Boston:

Listen to the radio play!

Night of the Zombie Skunks

posted May 15, 2012 2:26 PM by Chad Helder


In this special issue of Vincent Price Presents, adorable forest animals meet the apocalyptic zombie horde. Young Stevie the Skunk only wants to stink like the other boys at school. When he makes a devil's bargain with a sinister and powerful owl, all hell breaks loose.

Don't miss this twisted tale of adolescent angst and zombiehood. It's only cute until the horror begins.

Read this horror comic at wowio!

This story was recently produced as a radio play by the Colonial Radio Theatre in Boston.

Vampire Camp

posted May 15, 2012 2:17 PM by Chad Helder   [ updated May 15, 2012 3:14 PM ]


A young orphan named R is taken from his home at the factory and transported to a mysterious compound where he is adopted by the Clives. Soon, R discovers a horrible secret about his new parents and the truth behind his adoption. Only a strange boy named Victor can save R from his terrible fate.

I wrote the story "Vampire Camp," which became the first issue of Vincent Price Presents with art by Rey Armenteros.

Read the original horror comic!

Later the story was adapted into a radio play, "Family of the Night," by the Colonial Radio Theatre in Boston.

Listen to the radio play!

Bartholomew of the Scissors

posted May 15, 2012 1:55 PM by Chad Helder   [ updated May 15, 2012 3:08 PM ]


Spectral Phantasms have invaded our world. These ghostly creatures from another dimension occupy the human brain and endow their host with spectacular paranormal abilities.

Private investigator Gordon Watt, long-aware of the spectral phantasms, investigates a bizarre series of scissor-murders. With the help of a powerful psychic named Jessica, Gordon soon discovers a connection between the phantasms and the mystery of a vengeful, undead boy named Bartholomew.

But humanity faces a greater threat: the White Blob emerges from the abyss to colonize pockets of human society.

Gordon and Jessica must enlist the help of Bartholomew and the hideous power of his Scissor Swarm or face assimilation by the growing colony of the White Blob.

Read these horror comics at wowio:

Bartholomew of the Scissors #1

Bartholomew of the Scissors #2

Bartholomew of the Scissors #3

Bartholomew of the Scissors #4

Unspeakable Horror

posted May 15, 2012 1:47 PM by Chad Helder   [ updated May 15, 2012 1:48 PM ]


Winner of the prestigious Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology...

Edited by Vince Liaguno and Chad Helder

Something unspeakable is coming out of the closet...

From the ghosts of dead lovers and malevolent queer faeries to devious doppelgangers and twisted psychopaths, an eclectic lineup of award-winning writers from the horror and GLBT literary communities come together in this groundbreaking collection of queer horror stories.

These tales will surprise with their universally resonant themes while exploring the deeper aspects of the closet experience--coming out, staying in, and being haunted by.

Join Lee Thomas, Sarah Langan, Jameson Currier, Rick R. Reed, Scott Nicholson, Kealan Patrick Burke and others as they throw open their literary closet doors with 23 chilling tales. Be prepared as these master dark scribes reveal what lurks in those shadowy corners at the back of our closets.

And the horrors found there promise to be unspeakable.

Get a copy of this anthology!



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