[Author Spotlight] Joe Chianakas

Gore without fear is like sex without love; you’ll squirm, but it’s better when your heart’s in it.

Distinguished Press is proud to launch Rabbit in Red, the first book in a horror mystery series by Joe Chianakas!

Synopsis:

Bill Wise has blood in his past, so he turns to horror films to wipe it clean. Jaime Stein has felt the betrayal of death, so she too takes refuge in the on-screen deaths of others. Now Bill, Jaime, and seventeen other horror-loving teens have gathered at Rabbit in Red Studios, the brainchild of eccentric horror producer Jay “JB” Bell, for the terror-filled, blood-drenched contest of their lives.

JB has presented this competition as a race between the best of the best that will reward the winners with cash, internships, and a career making the movies they love. But things aren’t always as they seem at Rabbit in Red, and soon life starts to imitate art. Will Bill and Jaime be strong enough to confront real horror to save their friends, or will they all fall victim to JB’s twisted plans?




Excerpt: 

This was the moment! He seized a knife that was on the kitchen floor and stabbed the hand—his own hand!—pinning it to the floor. He hesitated a moment, looking at this image in front of him. It was the strangest thing Bill could have imagined. There he was, on the floor of JB’s game chamber, but all around him he only saw the infamous cabin in the woods from The Evil Dead. And he had stabbed his own hand, but thankfully he felt no more than a sharp pinch. The knife was virtual, but the glove was real, and whatever technology JB programmed in it, the glove reacted in perfect real time to everything happening on screen.

He knew what he had to do next, and he was both excited and terrified at the idea. This was the epic moment with Ash in The Evil Dead. He had to cut off the possessed hand. That was the only way to get rid of the evil, to not become fully possessed. With his right hand pinned to the floor gushing out blood, Bill reached for the chainsaw that Ash had used earlier in the movie, which of course happened to be right next to him. Remembering this iconic scene from those younger memories when he and his friends cheered, Bill picked up the chainsaw with his left hand, bit on the cord and yanked it back with as much force as he could to start the gas-powered hacking device and brought it down on his right arm. The screeching noises, the loud mechanics of the saw, the crunching of bone, and the splattering of blood coalesced in a cacophony of noises, an orchestra of pain.

Bill cut off the hand.

“Because you were home,” Bill whispered. “No other reason than that they were home.” His body twitched for a moment, his saddest, darkest memory stinging him like a wasp that appeared out of nowhere. Shake it off. No time for that now. 

Their screens flashed CORRECT and the bloody rabbit danced.

Buy links:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015TOA1B4
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/580373 

About the author:

Joe Chianakas is a professor of communication at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, IL. He’s a super fan of horror and literature. Rabbit in Red is his first published novel. He likes writing in all sorts of genres from horror to traditional coming-of-age. In addition to teaching and writing, he enjoys fitness, martial arts, and traveling. You can find Joe online at www.joechianakas.com or www.facebook.com/chianakas/ or www.twitter.com/joechianakas.













Look to hear more about Rabbit in Red after I finish reading the review copy the publisher was nice enough to send me!

Memoirs of an Antihero by Drew Blank

Drew Blank hooks you from the first page of this sarcastic book about a vigilante who will tell you, he is no hero. Drew, the writer and main character, sums it all up quickly: “Screw justice. I just needed the money.” With a line like that, you would expect a self-obsessed, undoubtedly narcissistic personality. Drew is a long way from self-obsessed. In fact, he gets into all of this for the love of his daughter, Michaela Luann Sullivan aka Moxie, who, we find out at the beginning of the book, has just been diagnosed with leukemia. Leukemia is not an automatic death sentence, but it requires treatment, costly treatment. The cost is far higher than Drew’s nearly minimum wage job at Tully’s Seafood will pay for. The corrupt town he lives in offers him an unusual out, however. Crime is rampant in the city of Cross. A good bit of it is drug deals and other such activity, lucrative activity. Drew decides to cash in by robbing the corrupt rich in order to pay for his daughter’s treatment.

Though he might not call himself a hero, there is the usual mixed response to his seemingly heroic actions. While some are truly happy he is taking drug dealers off the street, there are others (including corrupt cops) who see him as a problem. One they are more than willing to use lethal force against. At the top of the pyramid of drugs in Cross is the mysterious Benji Carver, who is certainly willing to go to some extraordinary lengths to get rid of Drew, or rather his vigilante persona Freak. After a series of interesting and escalating incidents, Freak goes up against Benji Carver, or Blueboy, with the life of his darling Moxie and her mother, Reggie, at stake. In the end, Freak survives and it looks like he just might get away with it all.

No hero truly works alone. In Drew’s case, his team is made up of: his best friend, Christine “Twisty” Bailey, a perky fellow server at Tully’s who is also an artist and science fiction junkie; Phil Kendall, a gay computer genius and his roommate; Jeff Gustafson, a non-gay machinist; and finally the former military man turned tattoo artist, Tom. Thankfully, Tom is not only a good tattoo artist; he is also a decent medic because Drew’s first few excursions leave him with some rather drastic injuries.

While not on Drew’s vigilante team, other important people include: Carmela “Mema” Severi, who fills the role of mother figure for Drew; Regina “Reggie” Sullivan, Moxie’s mother and Drew’s former girlfriend; and Dominick Prazzo, former server at Tully’s, close friend of Drew’s, and current member of the Cross police force who is assigned to the Freak’s case.

While there are points in the plot that are somewhat predictable, Drew’s voice as he writes makes it impossible to concentrate on the plausibility or implausibility of what goes on. He makes it sound good. His sense of humor makes it impossible to not want to see what happens. Check out Drew’s website: http://www.screwjustice.com to pick up a copy of the book and show support for this unconventional author and his fantastic material.

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