THE BIG THRILL!

Many thanks to Derek Gunn for some great questions and to THE BIG THRILL for the opportunity!

Read the interview here: http://www.thebigthrill.org/2018/02/all-saints-by-jason-jack-miller/

Monessen Public Library, Saturday, March 3!

Deets: 326 Donner Ave
Monessen, PA 15062

ALL SAINTS Release

With everything that's happened over the last few weeks I'd pretty much forgotten that I have a book coming out this week. I'm not really sure what I want to say about it at this point, except that this was supposed to be a big moment for me. I'd been working on this idea for about 18 years and am really proud of what I've written. And then...

I'd missed a few interview opportunities, had a plan to countdown here on my blog and on Instagram, had a few videos I wanted to make. But that's not how it happened.

So here's what I would've said about the book in the weeks leading up to the release:

• It's bigger and more ambitious than anything else I'd ever attempted. 
• The Maya cosmology is based on years of study I did while considering a run at grad school the year before I married Heidi. 
• An early draft of this was the first thing I'd ever written. In the original version, Henry Collin runs away to Mexico after a horrible rafting accident that leaves two girls dead. Once I decided to put this book away I immediately began HELLBENDER.   
• I think a book should be re-readable, and this feels like one of the most re-readable things I've ever written. It's got layers.
• The yellow dog was in that old first draft, and there were two boys instead of three--Paco and Trejo.
• At the moment, Danicka is my favorite character. So much so that I have started writing a historical urban fantasy series to show what she's been up to for the last 100 years. 

The book is available for order and should ship soon.

Here's the trailer in case you missed it the first time around:


 

You're Invited to a night of Whiskey and Words!

We hope you can attend our upcoming event Whiskey and Words on Wednesday, October 12th from 5pm- 9pm at Wigle Whiskey's Barrelhouse and Whiskey Garden in Pittsburgh's Northside. In addition to our fabulous line-up of authors, we will also have delicious Whiskey cocktails, Burgh Bites Food Truck and the Mangini Trio. If  you can't attend, but want to help support our local authors please share the flyer that has been attached. 

This event is free to attend. 21+. 

Link:  http://mandeline28.wixsite.com/whiskeyandwords 
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1802307836654674/

Hope to see you all there! 

Mt. Pleasant Writers Circle to host award-winning author

Thursday, March 19
Book signing at 4:30
Discussion at 5:30 
At the Mt. Pleasant Public Library

Read more: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourmtpleasant/7836081-74/miller-circle-local#ixzz3Ue2fDNKg

Uniontown's Jason Jack Miller will serve as the guest speaker for the Mt. Pleasant Public Library Writers Circle session at 5:30 p.m. March 19. He will also conduct a book signing beginning an hour prior on that date at the facility at 120 S. Church St. in the borough.

By Marilyn Forbes

Award-winning author Jason Jack Miller of Uniontown will serve as the guest speaker of the Mt. Pleasant Public Library Writers Circle at the group's meeting March 19.

Miller will be at the library at 120 S. Church St. at 4:30 p.m. to sign books. He will then conduct a discussion and reading at 5:30 p.m.

He will talk to members of the circle about his own works and the art of adding local color and flair to their work.

Read the rest: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourmtpleasant/7836081-74/miller-circle-local#ixzz3Ue2fDNKg

I LOVE THESE VINTAGE ADS!

Get the PRESTON BLACK MIX TAPE at Amazon!

The Revelations of Preston Black Goodreads Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Revelations of Preston Black

by Jason Jack Miller

Giveaway ends February 26, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

THE REVELATIONS OF PRESTON BLACK is live!

Get it for your Kindle or Kindle app now! 

'Hellbender' Finds Magic and Murder in the Mountains

Jason Jack Miller's 'Hellbender' Finds Magic and Murder in the Mountains

"Family feuds are a huge part of the history and folklore of this country. The Hatfield and McCoy families alone have accounted for endless books, television shows and punch lines. People outside the feuds may see them as pointless and silly, but to those deeply entangled in them, they are a matter of life and death. They often start over matters like a piece of land or a broken relationship; important things, yes, but usually not worth the violence, heartbreak and bloodshed that stains their names for years and generations to follow."

Read the rest at Fearnet.com!

Worse than cold sores.

Sir John Edward of Lawson infected me (like I always knew he would,) and now it's my turn to spread the disease. Basically, it involves searching for the first  use of the word “look” in your work in progress, then pasting that paragraph, and those immediately before and after, into a blog post, after which you spread the disease to five other authors.   

 

This is from the very, very beginning of THE REVELATIONS OF PRESTON BLACK, a little alt newspaper article about an upcoming show. Kind of tells us a little about Katy and Preston since last we saw them.

     From the moment she walks across that stage, you know Katy Stefanic is the kind of girl you could fall in love with. Though romantically involved but not married, the pair play off of each other like they have been attached at the hip for no less than twenty years, instantaneously responding to frequent and impulsive key and tempo changes. Call me jaded, but watching Stefanic and Black work the aural space over the crowd mesmerized me in a way only more seasoned acts have been able to do in recent years. Except for the random, "Marry me, Katy," (or, "Call me, Preston,") the crowd remains stone silent during ballads and quiet instrumentals. Even more curious is the way audience responds to the mix of old time throw-down melodies and punk-fast tempos with fists in the air and good old-fashioned foot stomping. And when the lights came up for the first encore the frenzied crowd responded like Joe Strummer himself  was going to join them for a song or two.

     I had a chance to talk to Stefanic and Black after their show in D.C. last Saturday and asked them about their relationship and how it affected their musical development. Preston was more than content to let his beloved Katy do most of the talking. With a wide smile, she folded her  hands over her knee and explained, "Sharing music with somebody is a lot like sharing a bed. After a while you start to know when something's building, when things are going to sour, when the temperature's going to change with just a look."

     Preston added, "It's like yinz and y'all. Same language, just different ways of saying things. What the audience hears is where we meet in the middle."

---

Wild and Wonderful HELLBENDER: Jenkinsburg Bridge

    When the road turned into gravel, I gunned it. The rafting outfitters maintained it because it led to the Cheat Canyon take-out. After a half-mile, most of this spring’s gravel got washed out, replaced again by pocked bedrock and mud.
    Alex didn’t say anything until I pulled up to the old Jenkinsburg Bridge. This was much higher than the bridge over the Big Sandy. The old steel trestle spanned the V-shaped Cheat Canyon quite dramatically. Big pines buttressed each end and a rocky rapid flowed below. Occasional rock outcroppings punctuated the steep, green slopes.
    "Are we crossing?"
    "That was the plan," I said. "You said you wanted a plan, right?"
    "This one doesn’t look as sturdy." She sank toward the center of the Jeep and got real low in the seat.
    She was right. The planks hadn’t seen anything other than foot traffic in years.
    I said, "You never heard that you shouldn't look down if you're afraid of heights?"
    She just stared silently at the river, some eighty feet below.
    "Alex," I said. "There’s no other way." I let the Jeep creep forward instead of waiting for her approval.
After a pause she tried to negotiate. "Just go slowly, okay?"
    I pushed the clutch in and said, "I was thinking faster is better. That way our momentum is forward instead of... You know." I pointed down to the river.
    "Can I walk?" She asked.
    "Alex..." I said, drifting toward the bridge. The sound of trucks coming down the take-out road made my decision for me.
    "No time." I put the Jeep in gear and let out the clutch. "When I get to the other side I want you to drive up the hill a ways. Then that’ll be it. I promise."

Snippet from HELLBENDER

My third snippet for Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday is taken from my Appalachian dark fantasy novel, HELLBENDER (Raw Dog Screaming Press).

Description: Alex must've been desperate if she came to me for help.

I could protect her from bullets and knives and the wild mountains themselves, but not the dark Appalachian magic I barely believed in.

The only way to save the woman I loved was to head home and end the hundred-year blood feud between her family and mine. I'd kill every last Lewis and bury every last witch in the coal-dusted soil of West Virginia, even if that meant facing them all again in hell.

This is a tale of star-crossed lovers and civil revenge by uncivil hands, written in blood that is barely thicker than water.

Let Raw Dog Screaming Press author Jason Jack Miller take you to a place where love is forever even when death isn't, where magic doesn't have to be seen to be believed, where a song might be the only thing that saves your soul.

MURDER BALLADS AND WHISKEY is a unique blend of dark fiction, urban fantasy and horror. It's Appalachian Gothic, Alt.Magical.Realism, Hillbilly Horror. It's AMERICAN GODS meets JUSTIFIED. TRUE BLOOD with witches. It's Johnny Cash with a fistful of copperheads singing the devil right back to hell.

     Ben laid on the gas, pushing the truck until it began to rattle. The windshield, the doors, they all shook with the ferocity of a steam train. This path, not built for trucks, shook the rubber off the tires and the paint off the body. Now grinning, Ben turned his hat, a crazy engineer bound for the siding with fire in his belly and steam in his head. He laughed at cautions and kicked the brake pedal clean off.
     This train was rolling; momentum and a cargo of rage barreled along behind us. Ben kept his hand off the brake and I just kept shoveling coal in. Thunder shouted our arrival through the canyon, lightning guided us through crossings. The torrent of rain hit the hood, now radiating with the heat of a thousand horses. The dime-sized drops turned into a trail of steam that followed us down the track like a specter of all those who’d plied this canyon before us.

Check out other author snippets at the official site: Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday

A Snippet from THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK

My second snippet for Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday is taken from my Appalachian dark fantasy novel, THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK (Raw Dog Screaming Press).

Description:Preston Black has a nasty habit of falling in love with the wrong type of woman. But girls who don't play nice are the least of his problems. This handsome bar band guitarist isn't washed-up, but he's about to be. He's broke, he's tired of playing covers and he's obsessed with the Curse of 27.

He's about to add 'deal with the devil' to his list.

Lucky for Preston, he has help. Like the angelic beauty who picks him up when he's down. And the university professor who helps him sort through old Appalachian hexes and curses to find the song that may be his only shot at redemption. And when things get real bad, he has the ghost of John Lennon to remind him that "nothing is real."

Let Raw Dog Screaming Press author Jason Jack Miller take you to a place where love is forever even when death isn't, where magic doesn't have to be seen to be believed, where a song might be the only thing that saves your soul.

MURDER BALLADS AND WHISKEY is a unique blend of dark fiction, urban fantasy and horror. It's Appalachian Gothic, Alt.Magical.Realism, Hillbilly Horror. It's AMERICAN GODS meets JUSTIFIED. TRUE BLOOD with witches. It's Johnny Cash with a fistful of copperheads singing the devil right back to hell.

     Most people didn't have to dig as deep as me to find something they recognized in an old record or song.

     And digging deeper was pretty much what I was doing the day I found my LP misplaced behind Blizzard of Oz. On my way to return it to the BLUEGRASS section the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen stepped out of the stacks. She smiled. I smiled back. She asked what I had in my hand. On the album cover a bunch of anonymous pickers sat in front of an old log cabin. The back of the record said Uncle Mason's Front Porch: Best of the Blackwater Sessions.

And on the track list, between "Pretty Polly" and "Hangman's Reel" was a song called "The Sad Ballad of Preston Black," written by E. Black.

     I knew right then and there that if I could ever find the man who'd written that song, I'd have found my dad. 

Check out other author snippets at the official site: Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday

Win an RDSP T-shirt by showing your love!

Win an RDSP T-shirt by showing your love! Simply make a tribute to RDSP, or one of their books, online then send a link to books@rawdogscreaming.com by February 14th to enter. Possible ways to show your love:
—Do a book review on Amazon.com or Goodreads.com
—Post a picture of yourself with your favorite RDSP book
—Blog about RDSP
—Upload a video to YouTube where you sing our praises

Several winners will be chosen, creativity will be rewarded!

The Clash, The Lyceum, London, UK, December 28, 1978

Posted this show in honor of my guest post over at Tennessee Hicks' blog.

From my post:

And anybody who’s going to spend thousands of hours embarrassing themselves, losing respect and credibility learns one thing by doing it themselves. They learn whether or not they love it, and if they’re willing to fight for it, even if it means going against the grain and being the unpopular kid.

And THAT’S how I got my deal. By bleeding for it. By hustling. By losing sleep and popping ibuprofen and swallowing a little pride. By taking a risk even though it meant career suicide. In other words, I got my deal by being a little stupid.

Read the rest here: http://www.tennesseehicks.com

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

The Clash
Flash Bastards Remastered
The Lyceum, London, UK, December 28th, 1978

Setlist:
01. Safe European Home
02. I Fought the Law
03. Jail Guitar Door
04. Drug Stabbing Time
05. City Of the Dead
06. Clash City Rockers
07. Tommy Gun
08. (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
09. English Civil War
10. Stay Free
11. Cheapskates
12. Julie's In the Drug Squad
13. Police and Thieves
14. Capital Radio
15. Janie Jones
16. Garageland
17. Complete Control
18. London's Burning
19. White Riot

My Wild and Wonderful West Virginia!

     The hair on my neck and arms stood when she kissed me. Her breath was cool, like the wind that twisted the spruce on the huckleberry plains above. When she said my name I couldn’t tell if I was hearing words or the arrival of summer.

     Alex didn’t say anything until I pulled up to the old Jenkinsburg Bridge. This was much higher than the bridge over the Big Sandy. The old steel trestle spanned the V-shaped Cheat Canyon quite dramatically. Big pines buttressed each end and a rocky rapid flowed below. Occasional rock outcroppings punctuated the steep, green slopes.

     I slowed as we came through the village of Thomas. Old company stores hemmed us in on one side, the Blackwater River on the other. The Miners and Merchants Bank was the only non-tourism related business left on the whole street. Exiting town took us up still higher, through white pines and past the ball field where I played Little League. Canaan Mountain loomed high in the background; the spruce along the top was visible even from here. We passed the entrance to Blackwater Falls State Park and a chill fell upon us. It was so cold Alex dug for my fleece in the back of the Jeep.

Girls loved raft guides like rabbits love clover...

The ground twisted and slithered. A sea of snakes pulled themselves from chilly crevasses to seek the warmth of the heavy, dark ties. Timber rattlers, too sleepy to be excitable, kept their distance from the heavy wheels. Feisty copperheads coiled and feigned aggression.

The power of the ancient forest was apparent from the moment the sun passed overhead.

The quiet meadows along the road were about to erupt with the greens of wild bleeding hearts and tiger lilies. Some dark pocket on the backside of the ridge probably hid the last painted trillium of the year.

All around the green walls of Mozark Mountain, Otter Creek, and Blackwater Canyon muffled any shouts of assistance to the outside world.

     "Hungry?" I asked. But her reply didn't matter. I was starving, and drifted to a stop in front of Sirianni's. Almost like I'd followed the smell of garlic right to the front door.

     North Fork Mountain kept people out of this part of the world; it was the first ridge in a series that ended at the Shenandoah in Virginia. Where Spruce Knob was capped with its namesake vegetation, North Fork Mountain had rocky fins of Tuscarora Sandstone crenellating its long, narrow expanse. Wanderers and outcasts gave in to the pull of West Virginia's secret border, a place the rest of the country ignored. But the exposed rock nestled in a bed of white pine finally broke my silence. It made me smile.

Raw Dog Screaming Press signs Jason Jack Miller

Here's the announcement from Raw Dog Screaming Press's journal:

RDSP is pleased to announce a multi-book deal with author Jason Jack Miller for his Murder Ballads & Whiskey series. The first book to be released, Hellbender, will come out in March 2012 with The Devil and Preston Black to follow at the end of the year. "We're particularly excited about this deal because it represents the next step in the evolution of publishing," says editor John Lawson. With the rise of self-publishing and spread of ebooks traditional publishing models are obsolete. "We see the role of publisher in the future as an information hub and support network driven by the author's vision and enthusiasm. Jason Jack Miller is the perfect candidate because he's got plenty of both."

RDSP, like many other small publishers, has always had a more collaborative approach to dealing with authors. The hope is to forge a working model where the author has unprecedented input into both the product and the way it's marketed while also sharing much more of the promotional workload. "Raw Dog represents what’s best about the new face of publishing. They adhere to the Gen X ethos of pursuing passion and individualism over corporate culture, meaning they release books they love. They’re risk-takers, which, in my opinion, are rare in publishing."

Jason Jack Miller hails from Fayette County, Pennsylvania, as in, "Circus freaks, temptation and the Fayette County Fair," made famous by The Clarks in the song, "Cigarette." He is a writer, photographer and musician who has been hassled by cops in Canada, Mexico and the Czech Republic. An outdoor travel guide he co-authored with his wife in 2006 jumpstarted his freelancing career; his work has since appeared in newspapers, magazines, literary journals, online, and as part of a travel guide app for mobile phones. He is currently writing and recording the soundtrack to his novel, The Devil and Preston Black. Find him at http://jasonjackmiller.blogspot.com. Tweet him @jasonjackmiller.

Hellbender Excerpt!

I originally posted this for Jeremy Bates' Halloween Hop and wanted to have it on a standalone page.

This is one of my favorite parts of the book, and it shows Henry, and his world, in transition. To me, this excerpt embodies the spirit of HELLBENDER.

Hellbender Excerpt