Monday, June 30, 2003

THE BONNIE & CLYDE OF SEX-HORROR FICTION
A brand new interview with those bad boys of sex-horror fiction Hertzan Chimera and Alex Severin, the co-authors of BFGS, goes online at DARK FIRE.

For those of you who know your movies - the similarity was intentional.

Thursday, June 26, 2003

MORE HERTZAN CHIMERA BOOK REVIEWS
Not content with reviewing just one book for Feo Amante, Hertzan Chimera has recently submitted another book review, this time DEAD SLEEP by Greg Iles. A great book and a strong recommendation. The review should be live on Feo Amante's website my mid July. Hopefully this spells the start of a new phase of Chimera's output.

I'll update the review link some time in July - the above live link takes you direct to Feo Amante.

Monday, June 23, 2003

HERTZAN CHIMERA REVIEWS FOR FEO AMANTE
It was sorta done in an arse over tit fashion but in effect where the review was written as a 'commission' from the publisher and then a home found for it, but ... in effect have reviewed the female fiction collection FEMMES DE LA BRUME from Double Dragon Publishing for the (400,000 reader a month) horror site Feo Amante - which looks kinda nice on the C.V.

check it out by clicking on the title link.

Friday, June 20, 2003

THE HERTZAN CHIMERA NEWSLETTER
Good morning from sunny Oxford.

Yes, I am English, and dropping out of my winter depressive hibernation I can only say that the rays are good. Oh, yes.

Had another busy batch of writing and editing and promoting: but first of all.

A big thank you to all you news-hungry devils - this Hertzan Chimera Newsletter list has fair exploded with subscribers in recent times. Gives one a good feeling inside. Hey now that the ball's rolling, we gotta evangelise Hertzan Chimera's ass all over the Western and Eastern worlds. Let the world know that the genre barriers to creative fiction are coming down, guys.

News 1: BFGS to be relaunched.
Due to the obvious potential (thanks in general to the #1 Bestseller position last week on Shocklines) the Chimera/Severin collaborative fiction collection available in trade paperback from Shocklines.com and www.boyfistgirlsuck.co.uk and in ebook version from www.double-dragon-ebooks.com is being relaunched with a brand new cover (art by Mike Philbin) and remarketed to a whole new mass market audience by both publishers.

News 2: another banning for BFGS.
BFGS was due to be reviewed on a site called The Muse Apprentice Guild. Got a terse mail from the editor saying "Due to financial concerns" we can no longer support work of this nature. This after they published THREE of my stories just last issue.

News 3: Chim & Her is in first draft.
Last night, I completed the first draft of the collaborative extreme horror and psychological fiction collection Chim & Her. Basically, it's Hertzan Chimera collaborating with 8 of today's hardest ladies of words on 24 short stories. And boy, it's grown to quite a project since its inception (conception?) in January this year. The prose is of a quality and ferocity that (frankly) stunned me. Watch out for this one soon.

Wednesday, June 11, 2003

HERTZAN CHIMERA AND ERASERHEAD PRESS PART COMPANY
Well, it's been on the cards for like six months now but finally, Hertzan Chimera woke up and smelled the coffee. Eraserhead Press is (and maybe always has been) merely the publishing vehicle for it's owner Carlton Mellick III and anyone else published by them runs the risk of not being sufficiently promoted or marketed as a writer.

All rights (other than ebook rights which DDP are actively exercising for a contractual period) to Hertzan Chimera novels SZMONHFU (100, 000 words - published in 2001 as a trade paperback) and UNITED STATES (80,000 words - never released) revert to the author with this announcement.

You know, you can only plug your own material so far then you gotta stand back and say, "Wait a minute, shouldn't the publisher be getting his hands dirty, too?"

When you realise that, you can only back out and look elsewhere for representation.

Tuesday, June 10, 2003

BOYFISTGIRLSUCK #1 BESTSELLER @ SHOCKLINES
As of the week beginning the 8th of June, Hertzan Chimera & Alex Severin have struck gold with pole position on SHOCKLINES DISTRIBUTION bestseller in-stock list for their extreme sex-horror collection BOYFISTGIRLSUCK.

Number one!

Sunday, June 08, 2003

PEER APPROVAL FOR CHIMERA'S "UNITED STATES"
As Hertzan Chimera's second Eraserhead Press trade paperback "United States" races for the printing press, here's a list of the superstars of horror who have cover-quoted it's ass all over this bee-atch!

"Hertzan Chimera is both monster rant and taboo heat. His primal work clutches me in both G-spot and brain--and everywhere else in between." --Charlee Jacob, author of THIS SYMBIOTIC FASCINATION and HAUNTER.

"When I say that Hertzan Chimera's writings make me want to throw up, I mean that only in a good way. He's a major contender in the gross-out arena; his work is a hallmark of creative outrage." --Edward Lee, author of CITY INFERNAL and MONSTROSITY.

"Hertzan Chimera is the Henry Miller of Our Time. He has remortgaged the Horror/SF ghetto, replacing it with a Garrethouse of the Psycho-Erotic on the Left Bank of the Seine." --MF Korn, author of RACHMANINOFF'S GHOST and CONFESSIONS OF A GHOUL.

"As a longtime fan of the outre and fiction of the abject, I can say that very little of what I read anymore shocks, revolts, scares, or disturbs me. But Hertzan Chimera manages to do it every time. UNITED STATES is a romp through the dark lands of the free mind. Fans of William Burroughs and should rejoice -- he's been reincarnated for the new century in Hertzan Chimera. This is Naked Lunch on nuclear acid. Rated X for Xtra demented." --Michael A. Arnzen, Bram Stoker Award winning author of GRAVE MARKINGS and FREAKCIDENTS.

This is a wonderful ego-shine and hopefully a pointer to millions of sales.

Wednesday, June 04, 2003

BOYFISTGIRLSUCK BANNED AGAIN
News Flash:- Not only did the mass-market alternative lifestyle mag SWAG ban the BFGS advert, ebook distributor Fictionwise has now refused to take on Chimera & Severin's magnus opus of sex and slaughter. If this continues, the damn book is gonna get a bad rep.

:)

What is wrong with Freedom Of Speech in the U.S. of A.?

Monday, June 02, 2003

ANIMAL INSTINCTS collection reviewed by Gary West
Another brand new review, this time from Gary West writing for THE DREAM PEOPLE ezine.

ANIMAL INSTINCTS review
Long one of my favorite writers, Chimera once again delivers his own uniquely pungent mix of surrealism, erotica and splatterpunk in this collection of 32 short stories that asks the question: “What would happen if you transplanted animal mores, needs and instincts into contemporary cultural settings?” The answer can scarcely be summed up in the few examples I have set below, but I hope to at least give you an idea of what to expect.

First off we have “Shrapnel Girl” where a middle-aged man stalks the woman of his dreams…and of his nightmares. Set in the grungy back streets of what can only be Los Angeles, this tale invokes the almost always-irrational thought process of a man who is obsessed and obsessive.

In “Misogynistiqe” we are warned about the dangers of adultery and deception, and how sometimes art imitates life.

“She Gives Me the Fear” chronicles a man’s hellish descent into madness and the results of that fall.

My favorite piece in this collection is the experimental and bizarre “Dog Murder.” Focusing on what can happen when humans and animals are brought together through unnatural processes this story is strangely reminiscent of H. G. Wells’ “The Island of Doctor Moreau,” and just as fascinating.

Overall, “Animal Instincts” is an excellent read and I highly recommend it but be forewarned, it’s not for the faint of heart and it may cause the beast within you to come bubbling to the surface.

reviewed by Gary West

Sunday, June 01, 2003

HE TOOK AN AXE TO HIS WORK and freed his tongue
In a former life, the main focus was paintings, lifesize oil-on-hardboard, psycho-erotic and financially worthless.

Five years ago, the man that would become the horror author Hertzan Chimera took an axe to his visual therapy. Here's an indepth interview on a site called ART OF HORROR - reasons to be cheerful; 1, 2, 3.

enjoy!