I am pleased to announce that I have finalized things and will have a table at Phoenix Fan Fusion in Phoenix, AZ. The convention takes place on Friday, May 24-Sunday, May 26, 2024. This is the second largest pop culture convention in the country, and this will be my first time selling at the convention. This will hopefully introduce my work to a whole new crowd of people. I will have more details about this as we get closer to the event.
Also, I am releasing a new book later this year. This September will be five years since I published my collection of short stories, The Morbid Museum, and a new edition of this book is coming soon. You can already find it for pre-order on many outlets. This new edition will feature two previously unpublished stories as well as an excerpt from my next collection of short stories, The Baku Banquet, which I hope to finish in time for a Fall 2025 release.
I will have more information about other conventions and events later this year. Stay tuned for more details.
After a lot of work, my first full length novel is almost here. You can pre-order the eBook now or wait until March 7 to purchase it or the hardcover. The details haven’t fully shown up on different purchase sites yet, but that should change in the next week. It will be some time before I have it available in my own personal store. I’ll send out an announcement once I have my copies. Details and purchase links are located below. Thank you for your continued support and I look forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts about my newest book.
Synopsis
It’s 1976 and Ernest Kemp is looking for his wife and daughter. After leaving the US Navy, he finds his way to Hallowell, Maine. He’s an outsider and the townsfolk don’t trust him. Their suspicions increase when someone starts killing children. After being falsely accused and arrested, Ernest teams up with Samantha Belcher as she investigates the murders for the Kennebec Journal.
They discover the murders are ritualistic sacrifices. Ernest and Samantha’s issues rise as bullfrogs roam all over town and three new outsiders resemble women from a 100-year-old news article. Will they find the killers and Ernest’s family before another child dies?
Praise for The Hook
“Pack is deft when it comes to balancing the plot and the characters, and the dynamic between his intriguing, flawed characters is authentic. Fans of gripping supernatural thrillers will be glad to sink their teeth in this one.” ~ Prairies Book Review
“Pack creates a vivid sense of doom, deftly portraying an intriguing world of brutal slayings, centuries-old curses, deadly rituals, otherworldly beings, and ordinary people who are caught between these anomalies. Readers will be on the edge of their seats until they turn the last page.” ~ BookView Review
“Penned with a gritty grace that blurs the line between reality and something far stranger than fiction, the surprises build slowly with a deft layering of suspense, weaving together different genres and themes, and fronted by an engrossing protagonist.” ~ Self-Publishing Review
Official Announcement Time: My next collection of poetry is coming April 13th. The cover reveal is below. This collection will feature 30 new poems. That’s all. It’s a short collection compared to my many others. I took the advice from a reviewer and didn’t put so many poems in this time. There are a couple poems that might feel out of place, but it relates to several months of growth I experienced. You can pre-order the eBook on B&N Nook and Amazon Kindle. The paperback will be available in April. It will be a small paperback. I also plan to have some bookmarks available for sale to go along with the release of the book.
So, what’s this collection about? Here’s the online description: “Depression is black chaos. A chaos that destroys the soul and pushes friends and family away. This collection features poetry about loss and solitude. It’s a journey of rediscovering and learning to love one’s self. A journey of hitting rock bottom and climbing out of the deep pit of despair.” Maybe that’s not your cup of tea, but writing these poems was the beginning of recovery for me. I will never stop fighting this battle. It will get easier with time. Anyway, once I decide on a design for the bookmarks, I’ll ask everyone’s opinion before printing them. Tell me what you think of the cover in the comments.
James Pack 