Well, after that little warm spell fall has descended upon us once again, just in time for the weekend. And it’s Friday, which means another excerpt. And with Halloween this weekend, we simply couldn’t resist giving you a dose of spine-tingling terror.
This week’s excerpt is from Joe Schreiber’s creepy horror tale Chasing The Dead. Here’s what Del Rey Spectra creative director Keith Clayton had to say about the book:
Joe’s novel came across my desk back in 2005. I’d heard a lot of stories of people being ‘immediately hooked’ when they’d started reading something, but this was a phenomenon that didn’t happen to me all that often.
It was an exciting moment because less than ten pages into Chasing The Dead (which was tentatively titled The Route at the time), I was legitimately hooked. This is not hyperbole. It’s a quick, fast-paced read, but even given that, I do not typically read books in one sitting. I remember spending a Saturday afternoon tearing through the entire manuscript and passing it around the office on Monday, looking forward to getting feedback. We purchased Chasing The Dead soon after. Since then, we’ve published a number of books by Joe—including Eat The Dark and No Doors, No Windows—along with hiring him to write our first ever Star Wars horror titles: Death Troopers and the forthcoming Red Harvest.
“How cool would it be if there were zombie stormtroopers?” That’s how this Star Wars horror stuff started. A silly, fan-boy enthused conversation between myself and Del Rey’s Erich Schoeneweiss. Our kernel of an idea for Death Troopers didn’t become a reality until we had spent several days with author Joe Schreiber at San Diego Comic Con. That’s when it dawned on us—Joe was the man for the job. He was the man to bring it life. And now, several years later Star Wars: Death Troopers is available in hardcover and the just this week paperback. Blood, guts, scares, thrills, and chills all make Death Troopers one great fast rollercoaster of a read. We’re putting the finishing touches on Joe’s second horror novel in the Star Wars expanded universe, Star Wars: Red Harvest, which will be published at the end of the year. The less said about the book the better, but Joe kicked his imagination into hyperdrive with this one. There’s no way either Death Troopers or Red Harvest exist without Chasing the Dead though. “Joe writes some of the scariest books I’ve ever read, so scary I can’t read them at night’ says Erich.
Chasing The Dead is an old-school supernatural thriller, taking place over the course of a single, snow-swept evening on the back roads of New England. A murder and a kidnapping happen before page ten, and the action never slows down from there. Give these first fifty pages a read, and enjoy your Halloween weekend.”
Please enjoy this extensive excerpt of Chasing The Dead, which is now out in paperback, and be sure to read Joe’s other horror novels, the truly frightening Eat The Dark and the classic haunted house tale No Doors, No Windows. Both are on sale now.
His Star Wars cult classic: Death Troopers just hit the shelves in paperback this week and his next offering, Red Harvest, hits stores on 12/28.
Be sure to look for a new excerpt every week and be sure to let us know what you think and if you have any suggestions for future DRS 50 Page Fridays in the comments.
Have a great weekend!
Chasing the Dead, Joe Schreiber, Excerpt
