"Can you smell it on me?"

I'm always trying to discover new authors to add to my list of favorites. Recently, a friend of mine suggested David Sedaris, who I understood was a humorist. Since I write the genre, I read horror most often and thought a change might do me so good. After devouring Me Talk Pretty One Day, I've concluded that Sedaris has to be quite possibly one of the funniest writers I've ever come across. I've since picked up all of his books and find his words and style a rare treat. You'll be pleased to know he's just as funny in person. I loved this interview he did with Jimmy Kimmel a few weeks ago and couldn't resist posting it. Enjoy and if you haven't already, check out David's books ASAP!

Damien Rice - "9 Crimes"

Took me a little while to stumble across this track, but I'm sure glad I did. What a beautiful song and an incredible video. Guess you can say I'm now an instant Damien Rice fan. Watch and enjoy.

News Bytes

There a couple of things I'd been meaning to post over the past week or so, but I've been swamped with writing, editing, and a few other odds and ends. But, most importantly, Creeping Shadows has found its cover art! You may recall that Alan Draven decided to hold a little contest a couple of months back to find the most worthy design and I'm very, very happy to see that the cover chosen was by Konnik, the incredibly talented artist who designed the artwork for Splattered Beauty. I think it's a wonderful piece and definitely does our little book a world of good.

Secondly, I was recently invited to do a little interview with The Cathode Ray Mission, which can be found here. Also, if you missed the live interview I did on Yolanda Renee's Book Talk some weeks back, you can stream it in the site's archives here.

That's all for now, but please check back soon for future updates.

LIVE Interview Tomorrow - Thurs. 6/11 @ 9:00pm!

Yours truly will be doing a live interview on Yolanda Renee's Book Talk tomorrow evening at 9:00pm EST! We'll be discussing "Splattered Beauty" and a wide variety of other topics, so I hope you'll tune in and maybe give us a call to say hi!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/YolandaRenee

Singer Matt Duke's Recommended Reading

For the uninitiated, Matt Duke is a fantastic new artist from the east coast. I first discovered his delightful blend of folk/pop/rock back in 2007 when he opened for Lisa Loeb here in Philadelphia. I became an instant fan and feel his latest effort, Kingdom Underground, is one of the best albums of 2008.

If you check Matt's official MySpace page, you'll find a lengthy blog entry titled "Look, Neil...I'm blogging!" Amid his random musings, you'll find his recommended reading. To my complete surprise and utter delight, he includes Splattered Beauty in his suggested books! Here's what he had to say:

Philly local writer and B Horror Movie afficianado writes a novel about a washed-up, doped up scream queen who manipulates a doe-eyed fanatic into helping her kill anyone that might have REMOTELY done her wrong. Brandon, you had me at tearing open her ex-husband's chest and literally ripping his heart out. Poetry in motion.

Color me flattered! I was just about at a loss when I read that. Thanks again, Matt! Your kindness is very much appreciated!

Check out Matt's latest CD, Kingdom Underground on Amazon and iTunes. And while you're there, why not throw his debut album, Winter Child, in the cart as well?

Ladies and gentlemen, Nicholas Grabowsky...

Nicholas Grabowsky is definitely an author that needs no introduction. He is the brilliant mind behind countless horror classics, not to mention the novelization of Halloween 4, which has become a cult favorite. His writing has received praise from the likes of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Wes Craven. I was, of course, beside myself when he agreed to review my latest novel, Splattered Beauty. Here’s what he had to say:

This was a difficult book to review because I made the mistake of looking around for other reviews of this work online, just because I was curious to see what other reviewers thought of Ford's Splattered Beauty, only to find that many of them said some of the same things I was going to say. Heck, there's even a cool retro-ish book trailer for it I came across on Fango's website (http://www.fangoria.com/home/news/13-books/1465-splattered-beauty-gets-a-trailer.html) that I liked, filled with blurbs similar to what I was going to give. So where do I start, then? Well, everybody seems to agree that this is a love letter of sorts to the scream queens of horror film history, and that's true. It says so in Ford's forward. And it is good. But when it all boils down to things, aside from my agreement with most other reviewers (and their extremely positive reviews) in what they had to say, I'm going to go this route:

We have a story here where, in essence, we've heard time and time again. Someone gets pissed off at their life and decides to go and kill a handful of people in the heat of being pissed off, and in this case it involves a huge fictitious horror flick Scream Queen, by the name of Alyssa, who's been screwed by the business and her ex-boyfriend/film director who has a nice younger something-something, and throughout the book, we get the picture how her career and life are pretty much washed up which fuels her ultimately vindictive fire. It's basic Lifetime movie fare, putting it that simply, and stripping it down to its bare bones, that's what it is, with added suspense and gore and a few high-pressure scenes that Lifetime wouldn't touch but rather the producers of an unrated B-movie film. People killing people for all the reasons in the world will be written about until people stop writing.

With that said, the way Brandon Ford writes this story is exemplary, and I hold his storytelling in high esteem. Solid characterization and a plot that moves, flows, and keeps you reading. It's simple in plot, yes, but I love the way he writes it. It's got what it takes for a potentially mediocre tale worthy for the masses to read. There were also a few sequences where I thought things were moving one way, and they went into the opposite direction. That's a phrase said often in positive reviews, and it applies here. Brandon Ford, whose Crystal Bay (his first book to which this is his second) was critically acclaimed, can certainly take a story formula and tweak it to the extent that it's original because his writing is original, and in this business, that's part of the battle. In a world where originality is lacking, it's nice to see a good writer flexing his muscles even if it's another vendetta/killer entry, and I expect to see Brandon Ford win awards and go far.

He has the passion and drive for it, and the talent. Splattered Beauty, as a tight and easy genre read, is something all should pick up and delight in if for only the way it's told alone. Along with Alyssa, you'll get pissed off too and want her to kill someone. I almost, almost, found myself even rooting for her, and feeling sorry for her fan sidekick that came into the story with the best of intentions.

Once again, thank you to Nick for the fantastic review. And please don’t forget to check him out at http://www.downwarden.com/ and www.myspace.com/downwarden

Sonar4 Review

http://www.sonar4ezine.com/walter56.html

By Shells Walter Senior Editor

Brandon Ford and Arctic Wolf publishing presents another chilling tale in Splattered Beauty.

Alyssa a former Horror actress, out of work, out of the lime light and out of her former husband’s life, takes refuge in a younger fan. This fan of hers participates in more than just friendship, as Alyssa finds a way to get everything back, or at least make everyone regret that she can’t.

The story is gripping in itself from the beginning. Turning the pages one after another is non-stop reading through the night. The main character Alyssa, shows the point of no return someone may experience when everything has been taken away. Nothing shows the human condition more than Brandon Ford with this character.

Brandon Ford has mastered the skill of art in writing with Splattered Beauty. Nothing can say spine-chilling, action-packed thriller, than this story.

One may ask what the best part of this story is, and the answer would be all of it. There is not one page in this book that is dull, that leaves you wondering what if. Your questions about finding a good read is right here with Splattered Beauty.

There is no need to look for another book, taking this one in toll and reading it all the way through is a must. Just watch your back; you don’t know if you have an Alyssa standing around the corner waiting for her chance to just have one more taste of the glamorous life, at the cost of: YOU.