A Flock of Crows: The Missing Epilogue

As originally written, “A Flock Of Crows” had a brief epilogue. Because of length considerations, the publisher cut a lot of material, including the epilogue. At least one reviewer then mentioned that he thought the book would have benefited from the inclusion of an epilogue (and I was like, “See, DarkTales?”) Now, through the magic of the Internet, you can read the missing epilogue and decide for yourself if it improves the ending. *** SPOILER ALERT *** This epilogue will reveal a great deal about the fate of several major characters. If you haven’t read the whole book and don’t want to be spoiled, DON’T READ THE EPILOGUE. Posted in Excerpts | Tagged: crows, epilogue, horror | No Comments » Night Watchman Posted by jamesviscosi on September 27, 2007 NIGHT WATCHMAN was my first horror novel sale, to Hard Shell Word Factory, an e-book and print-on-demand publisher. After accidentally signing up to give a reading at the 1997 World Horror Convention in Niagara Falls (hey, the forms were confusing, okay?), I had to call back to my office and have a friend fax me over some pages of NIGHT WATCHMAN and my story “The Short Route” so that I would have something to read from. The readings did help lead to the eventual publication of my second novel, A FLOCK OF CROWS IS CALLED A MURDER, so it all worked out in the end.   Mrs. Barrett rises. “You don’t believe in it,” she says in a whisper, “but be careful. Listen to me! Beware the power of Satan.” “Don’t worry, ma’am,” Nate says. “We’re pure of heart and noble of purpose. Right, Frank?” “Maybe you are,” Frank says. They go back into the hallway. Mrs. Barrett shuts the door behind them and locks it four different ways as they head for the stairs. The air is just as rank on the fourth-floor landing as it was on the first, and doesn’t improve much as they climb. “Do you think we need backup?” asks Nate as they ascend the last flight to the rooftop door. “Nah. For a bunch of kids? They got knives, we got guns.” “But what about the power of Satan?” Frank points to his groin. “I got the power of Satan right here. Now c’mon, or we’ll miss the Black Mass.” Posted in Excerpts, Writing | Tagged: horror, undead | 1 Comment » A Flock of Crows Is Called A Murder Posted by jamesviscosi on September 27, 2007 Not merely the answer to a trivia question, this was the first novel I had published. It was actually the third horror novel that I wrote, after an unpublished (but still good!) vampire novel and the infamous (in some circles — very, very small ones) NIGHT WATCHMAN. Currently out of print, CROWS will soon be reissued by Amazon.com’s BookSurge imprint.       He plowed into her, bore her backwards onto the bed. He was trying to kiss her; his lips, dry and cold and leathery, brushed hers, then mashed against them. She squirmed beneath him, trying to break the contact, but his hands shot up and gripped her head like the edges of a vise. His mouth opened, forcing hers to open, too. She felt the first clammy, sticky bubbles of slime coming out of his throat, dribbling into hers. Salty mucous, gunk. She couldn’t breathe; he had gummed up her nose with snot, her mouth was full of it. He wanted her to swallow, that was it; swallow, and breathe, and be like him … Posted in Excerpts, Writing | Tagged: crows, horror, monsters | 1 Comment »   Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Andreas09 by Andreas Viklund.