Horror Realm Appearance Confirmed!!

Exciting news!  I will be attending Horror Realm 2011 in Pittsburgh, Pa from September 16 - 18.

According to Dr. Pus, I will have my very own panel on September 17 where I will be discussing my  journey from self-publication to my deal with Tor.  I will also be answering any questions from the audience.

I will be signing books all weekend at my table. I hope to have THE VENGEANCE OF THE VAMPIRE BRIDE published by then.

If you are in the area or planning to attend Horror Realm this year, please make sure to stop by my table and say hi.

This is my third year in attendance, and I am very excited.

For more information on the convention, click here.

Horror Realm is Coming!!!

Just a quick heads up about Horror Realm 2010 that will take place in Pittsburgh, PA on September 17-19. I will be appearing as a guest author at Horror Realm and sitting on an all female panel during the event. I will also be participating in some of the events leading up the convention during the preceding week.

I am very excited to be signing books and participating in discussion with Dr. Pus as Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Pittsburgh on Monday night, September 13, 2010. I think it will be a great night.

Here is the latest info on Horror Realm from the organizer herself, Miss Dee.

Get ready for Horror Realm week with events every night of the week leading up to the convention, including:

•A book signing event featuring Rhiannon Frater, author of As the World Dies, on Monday, September 13
•Pittsburgh Paranormal Society lecture/presentation on Tuesday, September 14
•Horror film program at The Oaks Theater on Wednesday, September 15
•Rock show at The Smiling Moose on Thursday, September 16

Details on each Horror Realm™ week event will be announced as they become available. All events will be scheduled in the evening (7 PM or later).

The following guests have just been confirmed to appear at Horror Realm™:
•John Saxon, a Golden Globe Award winning actor who has made hundreds of film and television appearances but is best known to horror fans for roles in the films Nightmare on Elm Street, Black Christmas, to name but a few.
•Beverly Bonner, who appeared in films by director Frank Henenlotter including Frankenhooker, Brain Damage, the entire Basket Case series. She is the third Basket Case alum on the guest list, joining Kevin Van Hentenryck and Terri Susan Smith (Ahu).
•David Crawford, who played Dr. Foster in the original version of Dawn of the Dead. Crawford joins fellow Dawn cast members Ken Foree, Sharon Ceccatti-Hill, Joe Shelby, Tony Buba and director of photography Mike Gornick.

On Saturday, September 18 there will be a monster costume ball in the evening after the dealer room closes (time TBA). Admission is free with the purchase of a weekend or Friday/Saturday day pass ($5 cover at the door without a convention admission). Come as your favorite zombie, vampire, werewolf, mummy or other horror character – or just be yourself. The ball will feature a cash bar, DJ, costume contest and silent auction to benefit United Cerebral Palsy and The Epilepsy Foundation. Anyone wishing to donate items for the auction should contact Miss Dee at info@horrorrealmcon.com.

Love,

Miss Dee

Keep updated on the latest on Horror Realm by checking out the website.

Horror Realm-Day Three Recap

Despite getting to bed very late and the pine in the air absolutely killing us, we woke up pretty excited about the day. Saturday's schedule was pretty packed and I hoped to make it to at least one or two events. Since I'm an Indie Author, I didn't really have the luxury of leaving my table for long periods of time.

After a quick breakfast, we headed into the dealer room and got settled in. It was packed as soon as convention opened and I sold quite a few books that day. There was a lot of joking going on throughout the day.

My arch-enemy (not really), Robert Best kept saying, "Hey, Rhiannon Frater!"

To which I would respond, "What?"

"YOU SUCK!" he'd chortle.

"Not as much as your book!" I'd yell back.


Later, I snagged a photo of Rob buying As The World Dies; Siege to use against him on my blog. His wife handed him the money and made him buy it. It was awesome to see him embarrassed. Then he was a smart ass and said, "I need toilet paper anyway." To which his wife said, "Rob, be nice."



Dr. Pus had made up a really awesome poster with plenty of space for people to get autographs. The convention goers didn't seem to understand what these posters were for, but the authors went nuts buying them and passing them around. Also, since so many of the Zombology I and II authors were in attendance, people were snatching up the books and having them autographed. It was chaotic and fun as books and posters were flying back and forth along the tables.

Ken Foree came by my table for a little visit. I asked him sweetly to pose with NomNom, my zombunny. He took NomNom and I snapped the picture as he said, "Why the fuck am I doing this?" And I said, "My best friend made it and I want her to see NomNom with you." He laughed then I took a picture of him with Eric S. Brown. I think Eric almost collapsed from excitement.



Later, my husband watched my table as I ran off to the Ken Foree panel. It was freaking hilarious. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long time!

I came back to my table and my husband took a little break. I was chatting with Rob Fox when all of the sudden Dr. Pus started podcasting "live" from his table. The next thing I knew, people were running to our corner of the room to witness the magic of The Library of the Living Dead Podcast. Dr. Pus was almost immediately on a roll, roasting all of his good librarians. Everyone was holding up their phones, cameras, and video cameras to catch the action.

Doc was on a total roll when he introduced me. Sadly, I was having trouble with my asthma and leaving to get my inhaler when he called me over. He was sweet as peaches to me when I told him, then he roasted me once I left. LOL

Check out the "live" podcast here.

All through the day, Steve, the producer who bought my series, kept checking in with me before rushing off to the next panel. We were waiting all day on our final contract from the lawyers and we were both anxious to sign. We received the document Saturday evening, but we couldn't get the printer to work at the hotel. Despite our frustration, we decided to go ahead with the party in Steve's room to celebrate the signing.

That night after the vendor room closed, we went upstairs to the nefarious Rm. 711 for the Permuted Press pizza party. We hung out for awhile, chatting and having a good time. The room was so packed, people were spilling out into the hallway. Steve arrived and we headed downstairs to celebrate the signing with a quiet meal. To my surprise, Tony Todd stopped by the table to congratulate me and asked to keep him in the loop in the tv show gets made. I was floored.

We caught the American premiere of "Zone of the Dead" starring Ken Foree after dinner. He actually apologized for the movie! Frankly, I thought he was the best thing in it other than the zombie gore and some really good zombie makeup. It had a few really good moments. Yeah, it was over the top goofy fun most of the time, but watching it with a room full of zombie fans made it a blast. I have to admit we were all making sarcastic comments and I even got shushed! At least one person took it seriously.

Afterward, we all headed up to the producer's suit and it was packed instantly. It was the honeymoon suite, so several people sat in the huge hot tub in the center of the living room. It was fun and a little crazy. We got two complaints from the hotel and finally had to shut down the party.

We ran around for the rest of the night meeting up with friends in other rooms before finally heading back to our own room.

I fell asleep almost instantly despite being excited that the next day was the final day of Horror Realm and that I would finally sign the TV/Film option for As The World Dies.

Horror Realm-Day Two Recap-Friday

Rhiannon Frater with THE Dunwoody, Dave Dunwoody

I woke up severely hungover at around 6am in the morning. I staggered to my purse, grabbed some Advil, and washed the pills down with water. I snuggled back into bed with the hubby and fell asleep right away.

Three hours later, I'm headache free and full of energy. I literally jumped out of bed raring to go. Friday was the first day of the official convention and I couldn't wait to set my table up and get into my new burgundy spiderweb dress I had bought from Secret Oktober (secret-oktober.com)

Dr. Pus was hosting a brunch for all the authors, so my husband and I headed down to the dining room. We ended up sitting with D.L. Snell (author of Roses of Blood on Barbwire Vines and my favorite story in a Cthulu Unbound) and Travis Adkins. It was a nice breakfast, but halfway through I lost all my energy and just wanted to lay down and go to sleep. I excused myself and told Doc that I was going to lay down.

"Still hungover, huh?" Dr. Pus teased me.

"No, I'm just so tired from not sleeping for over 30 hours," I told him.

"Not all that liquor you drank?"

Hehehe...it was like being quizzed by your dad!!

"No! I'm tired...very tired..." In fact, I was so tired, I almost fell asleep on my feet.

So the hubby and I crashed out for around 5 hours. I woke up, full of energy again, and hurried downstairs to set up my table. Steve, the producer showed up, and together we decorated my table and chatted. Rob Fox (author of the fabulous "Z Day is Here") was right next to me. Robert Best (author of "Lakewood Memorial") and his fabulous wife, Laura, were next to Rob and his wife Darcy. Across from me was the fabulous Dave Dunwoody (author of "Empire"). He's really very nice and so cute. Everyone ended up with a crush on THE Dunwoody. Catty corner to Dave was Scott Johnson, my fellow Texan (author of "Deadlands" and "City of Demons") and one of the funniest guys I've ever met. Stephen North and Eric S. Brown (authors of "Barren Earth") were across from Rob Fox and Robert Best. At the end of the row, Kody Boye (the 17 year old author behind "Sunrise") would occasionally make an appearance when not running off with friends, and Derek Goodman (author of "Apocalypse Shift") manned Doc's Zombology I and II tables. Derek sold out of his books either Friday or Saturday. I was bummed. I wanted a copy so bad!

So we had this corner of insanity in the big vendor room. Friday was very busy. I sold more books that day than the next two days. People were constantly coming by to chat and it was a blast. One of the best things about the convention was finding out that all the people I had talked to online were just as amazing in real life. It was so much fun, greeting people, catching up with the latest goings on, selling books, talking...etc. Just so much fun!

Edited to Add: One of my favorite moments was when Vic and Ben showed up with my zombie heels fixed!!! I was so excited! They were awesome to steal my shoes and fix them.

After the convention, the partying began. I changed my clothes and headed downstairs with the hubby. We ended up hanging out at the bar briefly with the notorious Vic (best buddy of short story author Patrick Rooney) and Tony Todd. Then we got sucked into a vortex of socializing. Room 711 was the base of Greg of Bravebluemice and the Funky Werepig show. It was packed with people, beer and cookies (Zombie Zak of the Funky Werepig Show was in there..he loves his cookies) and we hung out for awhile chatting and having fun.

Then we cruised downstairs and ended up on the "grassy knoll" on the side of the hotel with a ton of people. Dr. Pus was out there as was Darkwingmantis (moderator of the Library of the Living Dead Forum and author of short stories). Brad Zipprich (of Don't Look in the Podcast) and his wife, Tracey, Kody Boye, the Bests, April aka Zombiefarmer (of Don't Look in the Podcast), and tons of other people were chatting. We had a great conversation about the paranormal with Scott Johnson and his wife.

I had a lovely time and when we finally fell asleep, I couldn't wait for Saturday...

Horror Realm-Day One Recap

The Friday night before Horror Realm, I got insanely sick with a cold. I just can't get a cold and shake it off in a few days. I always get a lung infection and end up with asthma issues. This happened again and I was miserable. Then my husband got sick, and we both worried we would not make Horror Realm.


Lots of meds and rest later, we both felt loads better and realized it was Wednesday and we had to fly out the next day. So neither one of us slept as we prepared to leave for Pittsburgh. I was sure I would sleep on the plane and it would be fine.


I was wrong.


Turbulence and a crying baby made sure I didn't get a lick of sleep.

We arrived at the Pittsburgh airport exhausted, but excited. The amazing Dr. Pus and Travis Adkins (the author behind Twilight of the Dead) picked us up and drove us to the hotel where the event was taking place. Travis, Dan Galli (cover artist for Zombology and other LotLD Press covers), my hubby, and I headed over to the mall across from the hotel to grab something to eat at the food court. We were tired and hungry, but I could only eat about half my meal. My excitement was growing at the prospect of meeting everyone. Travis and Dan were awesome and I was thrilled to finally get a chance to talk with them. That Travis drives like a madman and his GPS talks in an Australian accent only adds to the guy's charm. He's really a very nice guy.

After we ate, my husband collapsed to take a nap, but I was too wired to sleep. I changed into my party clothes for the barbecue at the convention organizer's home scheduled for later in the evening and headed downstairs to meet up with Dr. Pus. We climbed into his car and headed into downtown Pittsburgh to pick up Kody Boye from the bus station. This was the only chance I had to see the city and next year I hope to take a few more days off before Horror Realm to see the sites. Sadly, I didn't make it to the Monroeville Mall or the cemetery this trip.

Kody Boye, only seventeen and a published author, climbed into our van along with his Mom and off we went. We had a great time driving back to the hotel. When we arrived, we found a whole crowd of "good librarians" coming out of the hotel. It was like a massive family reunion. People were hugging and kissing and there was plenty of laughter. I was thrilled to see Jacob from Permuted Press coming toward me and gave him a hug. Dr. Pus was in a great mood as everyone swarmed him.

I grabbed my husband and we hitched a ride to the party. I was living on pure adrenaline at this point. I had forgotten I hadn't slept in over 24 hours and had eaten very little. I wore my zombie high heels to the party, only to have trouble walking on the big back porch. I ignored this annoyance and dove into greeting and talking to people.

I was on drink no. 2 when the alcohol hit like a freight train. This is not always a good thing. I tend to not have filters when I drink too much. I had some great conversations and had a blast, but...ugh. I wish I had remembered my lack of sleep and food. And, of course, since I wasn't sober, I ended up busting the heel off my zombie shoes. I walked around barefoot the rest of the night.

Well, long story short...the producer who optioned As The World Dies: A Zombie Trilogy shows up, I hug him, and he knocks my third drink out of my hand. It went flying and that is how our first meeting went. LOL. Happily, he is a great guy and we had a lot of fun at the party.

At some point, I cornered poor Ken Foree and told him how much his acting in Dawn of the Dead touched me. I poured out how his portrayal drew me in emotionally and taught me that it's the characters who make a zombie story great. I rambled on...hehehe...and on. Poor guy. Then he says, "I want my friend to have a shot!" And I say, "YES!" So drink number three goes down (how can I say no to Ken Foree?) and I was a goner.

The trip back to the hotel was a blur. I somehow managed to drop a cupcake I had in my hand in the elevator. I hugged the producer goodnight and my poor husband managed to get me into bed.

I fell asleep happy, excited and very drunk.

Thus ended day one of Horror Realm.