Steve Katsos show rescheduled for Jan 12th.

I just got a phone call. Tonight's show is being canceled due to unforeseen circumstances, but I'm being scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 12th, and you can see me streaming live then.

News + Reviews

First, the trend just keeps rolling along for The Caretaker of Lorne Field. I'd like to thank Peter Leonard for writing such a thoughtful review, and really encapsulating so elegantly what I was trying to accomplish with this book.



A new trend seems to be forming for my upcoming book Outsourced (Feb 1st). London Times, Financial Times, Morning Star, The Australian, Booklist, author Tom Piccirilli, M&C, x2theL all digging it, and now author Bill Crider weighing in. Thanks Bill!



I'd like to thank one of my most avid readers + Facebook friend and all-around good person, Marry Cannon, for reading Blood Crimes so quickly and posting the following review on amazon. Mary did a hell of a better job getting to the heart of the book in her review than I did in my book description. Don't be surprised if there's a vampire biker chick in Blood Crimes Book 2 named after her!

"I enjoyed the heck out of this book....It's a wild ride by a master of noir and crime fiction - in this case, infused with some horror. What struck me about this book is that there is a little something for everyone - a stone cold sociopathic killer/mad scientist, a road trip, a PI story, a love story, biker drug gangs, great over-the-top violence, and vampires (or more accurately - people infected with a vampire emulating virus)! I mean - what's not to love???"

Now for the news--I gave Top Suspense the scoop on this yesterday, but now that the New Year has passed I'm allowed to report (and happy to do so!) that my second Julius Katz story, 'Archie's Been Framed' has won 1st place in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's Readers Choice Awards. This after the first story ('Julius Katz') won the Shamus + Derringer Awards. Not bad for Julius + the little guy!

Also, I'll be appearing tomorrow night on the Steve Katsos show, which is streamed live through the website, but also broadcast later over a number of different cable networks. According to the Boston Globe over a million people watch the show each week!

Finally, I've been only reposting here the best of the year lists that Caretaker has made, but I'd like to thank everyone who included Small Crimes, Pariah and Killer on their lists also. Its very rewarding seeing how many readers are enjoying these books, and is one of the big things that keeps me writing!

Blood Crimes, original e-book by Dave Zeltserman, now available for $2.99

"I've just read the manuscript of Dave Zeltserman's new novel, Blood Crimes. This is one of the few fresh takes on vampirism I've read in years. It's as if Charles Bukowski sat down and said, OK, Bram Stoker, how about this?" -- Ed Gorman, author of Cage of Night and The Poker Club.

Blood Crimes is the first book of a planned 5-book original e-book series, and is now available for $2.99 as Kindle download, Nook download or from Smashwords.

Blood Crimes is a genre-bending collision of horror and noir that rides shot-gun with homicidal lovebirds Jim and Carol as they carve a bloody path cross-country. Jim is infected with the vampire virus. Carol isn't. Yet. But they are united in their hunt for degenerate scum for Jim's dinner menu -- so he can quench his bloodlust without harming the innocent.

Coming after them is Jim's ex, Serena, and her posse of heroin-snorting Eurotrash vampires - as campy and hilarious as they are terrifying. Serena has sworn vengeance: Hell hath no fury like a she-vampire scorned!

And then there’s Metcalf, a sociopathic monster unlike any you’ve met before who enslaves fellow vampires in a compound straight out of Hieronymus Bosch - a living hell where he conducts unspeakable experiments to find a cure for vampirism. Not because he's benevolent - but because he's bored with a diet of fresh blood, and wants to eat a grilled steak and down a case of cold beer.

Jim, Serena and Metcalf careen toward their inevitable collision in a climax of pure rock 'n roll violence that leaves other anemic vampire fables out in the twilight.

Part Sin City mayhem, part Stephen King terror, Blood Crimes is a blood soaked rampage you won't soon forget.

The trend continues with Caretaker

The trend continues with folks writing about how much they dig Caretaker. Peter Leonard on his Man Eating Bookworm Blog picks his top 5 reads of 2010, and topping his list is Caretaker, with Peter saying:

This paranoid, suspenseful, work is easily my number one book of the year. I was gripped by the story from the first page to the last. Look for a full review in the next day or two.

With Peter's list this makes about 15 or so best lists that Caretaker has shown up, with it topping a number of them.

Cincinnati Library list some of their recent favorites, and here's what they say about Caretaker:

For 300 years, Jack Durkin’s paternal line has honored a contract to save the world. Good thing Jack believes in his job because his wife, sons, and the local townspeople who support the family are not sure they aren’t being taken for a free ride and Jack is just a loony guy avoiding holding down a real job. But he insists those aren’t weeds he pulls up and burns every day, but Aukowies that make Little Shop of Horrors’ Audrey II look down right adorable. High creepy factor with subtle edge-of-your-seat suspense.

Thanks Naomi!

The Drowning Machine has announced their annual Lowhead Dam Awards, and I'd like to thank Naomi Johnson for the shout-out to my View from the Mirador from 21 Tales and for putting The Caretaker of Lorne Field in such excellent company.

25 reasons ....

You just got a new Kindle or Nook? Here are 25 reasons why you should make The Caretaker of Lorne Field, which is available in either hardcover, Kindle e-book, or Nook e-book, your next read.

1) Finalist for the 2010 Black Quill Award for best dark genre book of the year.

2) Reader's Advisor list of Best Horror Books of 2010

3) BookReporter.com's Best Books of 2010

"Possibly the most haunting tale I’ve encountered this year. I had forgotten how much I missed August Derleth until I read this. It establishes Zeltserman as one of our most diversified and talented writers."

4) Book critic Chauncey Mabe's favorite books of 2010

"If H.P. Lovecraft collaborated with Jim Thompson, the result would be something like this foray into horror from a writer best known for noir crime fiction. Dread, suspicion, paranoia and a completely new variety of monster combine in a highly original effort."

5) Bookgasm book critic Bruce Grossman's top read of 2010.

6) Author Roger Smith's top 5 books of 2010.

7) Author Paul Tremblay's best books of 2010.

"Small New England town has hired a dude to weed this one field for generations. If he doesn’t weed the field, the weeds grow into monsters and we’re all dead in a week. Or the dude is nuts. Dave takes this twilight-zone set up, sprinkles noir, and plays the reader like a fiddle until the very last page. You can’t help but love this book."

8) Author Joe McKinney's favorite reads of 2010

"An extremely funny book. Zeltserman has made a name for himself as a writer of intense psychologically-driven crime fiction, making this rural horror story a bit of a departure…but I’m so glad he made it. I hadn’t gone twenty pages into this book before I knew it was going to make this list. Good old fashioned hardcover for this one, and worth every penny."

9) Author Nate Southland's top book of 2010

"Once in a great while, you find a book that makes you read it, that just forces you to keep turning pages until you’re finished. This is one of them. Jack Durkin is the caretaker of Lorne Field. The town thinks he’s a crazy man who spends every day weeding the same field, but he insists the things he pulls out of the ground and burns are monsters that will destroy the world within weeks if he doesn’t take care of them first. Zeltserman keeps you guessing right up to the last page, wondering if Durkin is telling the truth or is stark raving mad. This is the one, folks. An amazing novel that will leave you breathless."

10) Patricia Abbott's Best of Whatever

"The tenth generation caretaker of Lorne Field pushes on despite the town’s disbelief in his mission to save them from a terrible fate. Not a misplaced word or emotion in this terrific horror story."

11) Naomi Johnson's Best of Whatever

"A classic, and that's all there is to it."

12) Kieran Shea's Best of Whatever

13) "Superb mix of humor and horror" Publishers Weekly, starred review

14) "superbly crafted horror story" Booklist

15) "Harrowing. Zeltserman colors it black with the best of them." Kirkus Reviews

16) "The black comedy of errors that ensues invites comparison to storiesby Kafka, David Prill, James Hynes, William Browning Spencer, and other authors who have mused on the dark side of daily breadwinning... Though Zeltserman's approach is clearly tongue-in- cheek, he deftly balances the competing interests of the characters to keep the truth of the narrative events ambiguous. A few deaths at conveniently inopportune moments and several coincidental fades to black only add to the dramatic tension of the narrative. Stories of this kind are hard to pull off and often collapse under the weight of their outrageous premises long before they end. It's to Zeltserman's credit that his novel holds together up to and through the final paragraph, and that it compels the reader to stay with it for that long." -- LOCUS Magazine

17) "Crime writer Zeltserman has produced a nail-biter...The narrative is straightforward and gritty, reminiscent of works of Dashiell Hammett...gripping and actually 'horrifying,' this title is recommended for horror fans and readers who may relish unpleasant surprises." -- Library Journal

18) "Compared to how artfully Dave Zeltserman handles the similar question of reality or psychosis in his 2010 novel The Caretaker of Lorne Field, [Stephen] King never rises above pulp fiction."-- Boston Globe

19) "Delicious horror-ish novel...Zeltserman is fully in control." -- Newsday (Long Island)

20) "If Stephen King had a true Noir calling and Peter Straub added contemporary horror... and Dean Koontz threw in his fine depiction of ordinary life on the edge of the unknown... then bring the specter of James M. Cain to write the narrative, you'd come close to describing the whole effect of this stunning slice for the zeitgeist wondrous novel and the writing is... pure dark bliss." -- Ken Bruen, author of London Boulevard

21) The Caretaker of Lorne Field has a wonderful mix of the tragic obsolescence of “Death of a Salesman’s” Willie Loman, the fantastical vision of Serling’s Twilight Zone, and the rural, gothic vibe of a Manly Wade Wellman tale. But along with this unique mishmash of themes and subtle undercurrents of humor and religiosity, it has a pulsing emotional core that immediately draws the reader in. Spinetingler Magazine (Ron Clinton)

22) "It’s a bold move for the author to make, but one that pays off big in the end. With his easy-reading narrative and skill at constantly forcing the reader to grow more and more involved in Jack Durkins’s plight, The Caretaker of Lorne Field starts off as a speedy story and soon becomes gut-clencher that might give you whiplash from turning the pages so fast." Spinetingler Magazine (Tom Piccirilli)

23) "The eerie and frightening aspects of the novel are woven tightly into the human drama never taking center stage over the trials and tribulations of Jack Durkin. Landing somewhere at the intersection of social commentary, horror, and family drama The Caretaker of Lorne Field is a wholly enjoyable novel that is difficult to put down. If you’re looking for new and interesting fiction to read that is a bit off the beaten path I highly recommend the uniformly excellent The Caretaker of Lorne Field." King of the Nerd's

24) "If you put Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and any Stephen King novel in a blender, the result would be something like The Caretaker of Lorne Field." George Kelley

25) "In a word--superb." Steven Riddle, A Momentary Taste of Being

More best lists for Caretaker and Killer

Bookgasm book critic, Bruce Grossman, announced on Facebook his two top reads of 2010.

#1 The Caretaker of Lorne Field by Dave Zeltserman
#2 Killer by Dave Zeltserman

Book critic Chauncey Mabe also picked The Caretaker of Lorne Field as one of his favorite books of 2010, saying:

If H.P. Lovecraft collaborated with Jim Thompson, the result would be something like this foray into horror from a writer best known for noir crime fiction. Dread, suspicion, paranoia and a completely new variety of monster combine in a highly original effort.

Trend Continues & Outsourced review

The trend continues with readers digging The Caretaker of Lorne Field. Here author Joe McKinney's picks Caretaker for one of his favorite reads of 2010.


And here's another early review for Outsourced.

TSG Introduces our newest member

TSG adds another terrific author to our group.

An amazing book cover

I posted this before, but the CBS Sunday Morning piece on book covers got me thinking again about the German-edition cover for Outsourced that Suhrkamp is putting out. I think this cover is a work of art, and is really remarkable.