A Store Is Born!
That’s right, HorrificScribblings.com has a store. I (that’s me, L. Andrew Cooper) imagine that doesn’t sound like a big deal to you, but as of this writing, I’ve never sold anything through a website of my own, so it’s pretty exciting to me. In addition to the main store (or “Shop”), you’ll find a link for “More Merch,” which takes you to external vendor TEEPUBLIC, where you can browse Horrific-Scribblings-related t-shirts and all kinds of cool, well, merch.
Eventually, the main store will focus mostly on new stuff that Horrific Scribblings is peddling, but especially as I’m getting things rolling during “phase one” (see About), the store will focus on selling “vintage” L. Andrew Cooper material, particularly the first paperback editions of the books pictured above, of which I happen to have stashes I can sell, sign, and ship.
I should mention that all these signed first editions are priced lower than recommended retail, even the ones that are out of print. Of course, there’s shipping, which makes some come close to current Amazon prices… but these editions won’t be on Amazon forever…
Burning the Middle Ground: My first published novel, it’s about a small town in Georgia where a tragedy gets politicized and divides people along religious lines–with some nasty supernatural help. I love the characters on both sides, and although I wouldn’t call it extreme, the novel has some pretty intense and memorable moments. Nevertheless, I wrote it a long time ago… and it’s still too damned relevant.
Descending Lines: Second published novel, actually drafted before Burning the Middle Ground, deals in the same universe, the “Fincherverse,” in which supernatural forces get activated by the book The Alchemy of Will by Dr. Allen V. Fincher, about whose legacy I’ve also written several short stories. This tale is more extreme than BTMG, with scenes that would be home in hardcore territory, but it’s not quite there. Carter and Megan’s six-year-old daughter is dying, but they have a cure: they must sacrifice their second-born. They don’t have a second-born. They decide to conceive… nine months of hell, and the nightmare that follows.
Leaping at Thorns: My first short story collection. It’s been out of print for years. It doesn’t have all my favorites, but I think it might be my best anyway. It’s divided into a “triptych” of complicity, entrapment, and conspiracy, all of which overlap with one another. I’ve turned several of the stories into award-winning screenplays. The volume includes the first of the aforementioned “Fincherverse” stories, key to unlocking the universe.
Reel Dark: This is probably the real gem of the bunch, as it’s both out of print and not all about me. It has a host of excellent writers serving up dark prose and poetry that is movie-themed. Stories by Russ Bickerstaff, James Chambers, James Dorr, Sean Eads, J.G. Faherty, Amy Grech, Jude-Marie Green, Jay Seate, Rose Streif, Sean Taylor, Pamela Turner, Jason S. Walters, Mike Watt, and Jay Wilburn, with poetry by Karen Head and Caroline Shriner-Wunn. Most of these writers were new discoveries for me, and I had so much fun working with them and their writing that I can honestly say this excellent book, despite its lackluster fate, is my main inspiration for “phase two” (again, see About).
The Great Sonnet Plot of Anton Tick: So, um, I never even tried to sell this book, and I don’t think the publishers did, either, though they are respectable. For those who will admit that contemporary poetry can, indeed, rhyme and follow traditional forms, I offer 100 sonnets of various types that form a loose narrative that is part autobiography about my anxiety disorder, part superhero fantasy, and part horror story. I am not a rigid formalist; I often deviate from iambic and end lines on a weak stress. There’s a weird Whitman thing toward the end.