Roald Foote’s routine trip from San Diego to Los Angeles takes a sinister turn when he encounters a bizarre clown and his unsettling young companion at Santa Fe Station. Initially amused by the clown’s outlandish appearance, Roald soon becomes unnerved as the pair board the same train and initiate a chilling tarot card reading.
Sunday, May 19, 2024
Train Pagans Now Available as an Ebook
Sunday, January 21, 2024
I am Vision, I am Death Now Available as an E-book
My story I am Vision, I am Death is now available as an e-book for Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. Just $0.99!
Elijah has a lot of problems.
-One, his mother is about to die and he's trying to get to her one last time before she kicks the bucket.
-Two, he's a bit of a loner.
-Three, he has visions of future murders. Murders he can prevent. Which leads to-
-Four, he's a stone-cold killer of those willing to kill the innocent.
As he races to get to his mother's side, he collides head-on with the brutal truth of his ability. A truth that forces him to stand at the crossroads of reality and choose between the hard narrow road of life or the wide open road of death.
Sunday, December 31, 2023
The Muerte Sequence Now Available!
THE MUERTE SEQUENCE
A mosaic novel chronicling one man's lifelong dance with Death—both as her prey and her partner. Haunted by loss from a young age, he finds himself both victim and agent of Santa Muerte. As he navigates a shadowy world of vengeance and justified evil, he grasps for those rare moments of light—fleeting connections with lovers, friends, and family. For in the presence of Death, every human bond carries the bittersweet knowledge that it all ends.THE MUERTE SEQUENCE spans a lifetime to explore the many guises of that most intimate and coldest stranger: Death herself.
Featuring the novelettes THE REVEREND’S POWDER, CONSECRATED HIGHWAYS, and THIS WAY TO THE GLADIATOR SHOW collected all in one place.
Paperback
E-book
Monday, December 25, 2023
This Way to the Gladiator Show Now Available
This Way to the Gladiator Show, the third installment in The Muerte Sequence, is now available for the first time in both electronic and print editions. I say first time as it's the first time it's appeared in either format solo. It originally appeared in the electronic version of The Muerte Sequence collection in 2012, which didn't stay available very long. It also had a different title then: Gladius or, Marty Robbins Doesn't Play Here Anymore.
So, why change the title and do a solo version? Well, to complete the trilogy of standalones that includes The Reverend's Powder and Consecrated Highways. In addition, I wanted to change the title so, this gave me a chance to do both.
Like its predecessors, the print version is a short chapbook so be aware you're getting a small paperback if you pick it up.
Included in this version is the story Door to Ever, which tells the story of that guy on the cover up there.
Anyway, the summary:
Twenty years since the events of CONSECRATED HIGHWAYS. Thirty since those that transpired in THE REVEREND'S POWDER. Seems like a long time.
But time means nothing to the Great Mother of Death. Once she chooses you, she'll have you, regardless of the passage of time.
In Baja Mexico, a bus of Christian volunteers travel toward a home for poor and disadvantaged people to perform works of mercy. On the way, the bus is stopped by a group of local bandits and militiamen. Bandits in the employ of the local drug cartel.
Soon, the volunteers find themselves pitted in gladiatorial combat for the entertainment of the cartel. Entertainment that demands blood is spilled as an offering to the Mother of Death. Among them, is seventeen-year-old Scott, who has more of his dad, former hitman turned holy man Matthew, in him than he knows.
Killing runs in the family. And the Mother of Death may have found her best recruit.
Paperback
E-book
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Consecrated Highways Now Available
That's right, the sequel to The Reverend's Powder is available once again in e-book after about a decade of being out of print. In addition, it's also available for the first time in paperback as a chapbook! How about that?!?!
Available in Paperback
Available as an E-book
Thursday, October 26, 2023
The Reverend's Powder Now Available in Paperback
Yes, that's right, The Reverend's Powder is once again available in paperback. As noted before, it originally came out in limited edition paperback and hardcover formats way back in 2010 from Sideshow Press. Since then, it's pretty much only been available in e-book unless you went hunting on the secondary market for a print edition, or picked one up from me at a convention in the past.
Anyway, why release it again in paperback? Well, I like the idea of releasing my longer pieces as small chapbooks, if only for vanity reasons. In addition, it gives me a chance to work on my layout skills. I'd never used InDesign before so I got to teach myself that! Yay, me!
Plus, it keeps my stuff in print and under my control, which is nice.
Anyway, if you're interested, it's available right now on Amazon with more online retailers to follow soon.
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
The Reverend's Powder Now Available on Nook
Monday, October 23, 2023
The Reverend's Powder Now Available on Kobo
In addition to being available on Kindle, the e-book version of The Reverend's Powder is now available on Kobo.
For more on The Reverend's Powder, check out the original Kindle post!
The Reverend's Powder Available Again on Kindle
Here's what some people said about it oh those many years ago:
“The Reverend's Powder explodes out of the gate from the very first sentence and is a one-sitting thrill ride through love, life, faith, and the bittersweet taste of revenge.” -Gord Rollo, author of THE JIGSAW MAN
"With the white-hot intensity of a holy-rolling blowtorch, Williams delivers a blistering gutter-Gospel on the deception that preys on blind faith, and the long, bloody road to truth and forgiveness. When there's no more room in Hell, let the worst sinners burn in the mind of Erik Williams." -Cody Goodfellow, author of RADIANT DAWN and PERFECT UNION
"The Reverend's Powder is a gripping little tale. I’d say 'It grabs you from the first sentence and never lets you go!' but that’s kind of trite, so instead I’ll point out that...it comes highly recommended." -Jeff Strand, author of DEMONIC
"If less is more, then Erik Williams's The Reverend's Powder is definitely more. With stripped-down prose that foregoes flowery wordplay in favor of in-your-face brutality that cuts to the heart of the protagonist's plight, Williams has created the perfect horror tale for a quick read in bed, lights off, blankets up, sleeping partner oblivious to the violence your ingesting." -Kevin Wallis, author of BENEATH THE SURFACE OF THINGS
Anyway, if you're interested in the Kindle version, you can get it here.
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Qualia Nous Volume 2 and Me
It's with pure delight that I can now tell you my short story "Bilocation in Liminal Space" has been accepted by Michael Bailey for inclusion in Qualia Nous Volume 2. Publication will probably be in 2024 but nothing is firm yet.
There are still a couple of more writers to be added to the ToC but the majority of them are listed right there in the image. Check it out. You may recognize a few (other than me).
More to follow.
If you're wondering what to expect from Volume 2, and if you haven't checked out Volume 1, here's the write up:
QUALIA NOUS, winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award and nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology, is a literary blend of science fiction and horror. Contains short stories, novelettes, and poetry from established authors and newcomers from around the world. Features Bram Stoker Award winning stories by Usman T. Malik and Rena Mason (both tied for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction), as well as stories by Stephen King, Emily B. Cataneo, Erinn L. Kemper, Patrick Freivald, William F. Nolan, Elizabeth Massie, John R. Little, Gary A. Braunbeck, and many others.
And to learn more about the antho and the other splendid works published by Written Backwards, check out their site.
Monday, March 6, 2023
Cocaine Bear is Cool and All. But Bigfoot Crank Stomp Take Batshit Crazy to Another Level!!!
--EDWARD LEE, author of HAUNTER OF THE THRESHOLD and HEADER
Bigfoot is real and he's addicted to meth!
Cocaine Bear is Good but BFCS is the OG
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Drive-By Review - Small Town Crime
Another movie that slipped under my radar that has everything I like in a movie.
- Crime
- Very flawed protagonist trying to reassemble his life
- Great cast
- Okay writing
I say okay writing because it's just that. There's nothing memorable about the dialogue or the plot. Which is good. Sometimes simple plots and dialogue that can be easily spat out by a good cast are enough. In this case, both are.
If the plot had been complicated, the movie would've been unwatchable outside of the cast. They keep it grounded and the simplicity of the plot keeps it moving. It's an above-average movie to discover on cable or, in my case, streaming.
The biggest weakness of the flick is the two hitmen. They're not interesting and, for professional killers, they're dumb. But they're not bumbling dumb. They're just stupid. Yet they're not supposed to be, at least the way the film tries to sell them.
In my opinion, they shouldn't have spoken at all. It would have stuck to the overall point of the movie; small simple crimes that fall quickly into extreme outcomes. It would have made them a helluva lot more interesting, too. All they had to be were mysterious vessels of murder.
This is my long way of saying they were overwritten.
Also, the parents of the first murder victim had about as much charm as empty chairs.
Anyway, at about 90 minutes, it's a good watch.
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Demon and Guardian Updates
If you're wondering where links and images to my books Demon and Guardian have gone, well, they've been removed for now.
Why?
Because they are no longer for sale. You see, the rights to both have reverted back to me. So, the e-books and paperbacks by the original publisher are no longer available.
That doesn't mean new versions won't be available in the future. It just means they're not available right now.
If you're a publisher and are interested, you can always drop me a line.
More to follow...
Friday, February 3, 2023
Drive-By Review: Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty
If you're following the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh in South Carolina, you've already got a hint of what this docuseries is about. I wasn't following the trial and had no idea what to expect since I was completely in the dark on this one.
What I came away with is:
- Fraud and Corruption
- Dark family history of fraud and corruption
- Fraud and Corruption
- Dark family history of potential murder to fully exploit perpetuated fraud
- Murder, Murder, Murder
- And a bunch of other stuff hinted at but not really explored
In short, it's a fucked up family that's been allowed to wield way too much power and influence. This pretty much happens everywhere where families have been entrenched for a long time. I'm not saying murder and fraud to this level are always involved. But if you've lived somewhere long enough, you start to get the feel of the families that have the most influence and, somehow, someone in their family always seems to get away with murder.
What's different about this one is the spoiled kid who was going to get away with murder might have been murdered by his own dad.
Yeah, fucked up.
What I didn't get and what isn't really explored is why the dad may be going out of his way to protect an older brother who also may have been involved in a different murder but was so willing to kill the youngest son and his wife. The motive doesn't add up, at least how it's presented in this series.
The younger son may have committed drunken boating manslaughter and may have helped cover up the "accident" of another person for insurance money. The older son was being pointed at for potential involvement in beating a gay schoolmate to death. The latter seems way worse, all things considered. Why protect him but murder the other? Not defending murder. But we're supposed to believe the dad decided in an opioid haze that the younger son and wife had to die to protect himself?
In short, the series doesn't do a very good job connecting things. It does do a good job presenting all the misdeeds this family may be tied to.
That being said, it's interesting. If there were some occult aspects introduced, it'd be like a non-fiction True Detective season.
Monday, January 30, 2023
Drive-By Review - The Last Narc
Somehow, I missed this docuseries on Amazon Prime. Being a fan of true crime, history, untold history, and the Narcos series on Netflix, I have no idea how this one flew under my radar.
Maybe because it's on Amazon Prime and Amazon Prime isn't the best at promoting stuff on Amazon Prime for some reason.
Anyway, I have since watched it and come away with two feelings:
1. Why does anyone believe anything at first glance? If the government is involved and multiple agencies are involved, you will not get the whole truth up front. Nor will you get it in any kind of linear narrative.
If you get the whole story, ever, lucky you. And yes, I speak from a position of experience with the government so I have some experience in this field.
2. I don't know why I'm constantly surprised at the level of ties that continue to come up related to Iran-Contra but I shouldn't be anymore. That is a dark pit that has tragedy written all over it and still, not too many people talk about it like they should.
Anyway, I'm not in the mood to get flagged so I'll just say this is a well done, although overly dramatic in parts when it comes to the slow motion footage of people walking. It kept me hooked and provided yet another rabbit hole to go down.
Now if someone would only do a good docuseries on Mena, Arkansas.