THE MOTHER

The US limited edition of my second novel THE MOTHER is now up for pre-order from Thunderstorm Books - http://www.thunderstormbooks.com/

or the Horror Mall -

Hardcover: (http://horror-mall.com/THE-MOTHER-by-Brett-McBean-Limited-Edition-p-19419.html)

Softcover: (http://horror-mall.com/THE-MOTHER-by-Brett-McBean-Trade-Paperback-p-19421.html)

The Hume Highway stretches for more than 800 km from Melbourne to Sydney.
For most people, it's simply a way to get them to their destination; a mostly uninteresting route dotted with low hills, scrubby bushland, and the occasional petrol station and rest stop to break the tedium.
But for one woman, the Hume is a place of death, of sadness, of loss.
And of revenge.
For this woman has a plan; a plan involving hitchhiking - hopping into any and every car that will stop and pick her up. Because she's seeking a man. A man with a tattoo.
The man who brutally murdered her teenage daughter.
Even if it takes her the rest of her life, she aims to find him.
Even if it means pain, loss...
And death.


This is the uncut version with two graphic scenes deemed too extreme restored back into the text. The book features cover art by Alan Clark; Motherly Perspectives (intros from Kelli Dunlap, Mandy Hartley, Wendy Howarth, and Karen McBean); an afterword regarding the restored text by Brett McBean; and an afterword from Robert Hood. This will be extremely limited at only 125 signed hardcover copies.

"The Mother is one helluva read. Sleek, dark, and impossible to put down. Reading this one good woman's descent into grief and madness felt like a sledgehammer to the stomach…but I couldn't stop turning the pages. The Mother did what every great book should do — it made me think."
—Richard Chizmar, Cemetery Dance Magazine

"I love Brett McBean's writing, and The Mother is McBean at the top of his form. It's a thrilling, scary, and heartbreaking story. I highly recommend it."
—John R. Little, Bram Stoker-winning author of The Memory Tree, Placeholders, and Miranda

"The Mother is a brilliant new offering from McBean that sees him slide among contemporaries such as Jack Ketchum and Richard Laymon. McBean manages to capture something rare in The Mother — a book that is both moving and horrific, demonstrating that good horror can do more than just scare your pants off. The Mother does for hitchhiking what Psycho did for showers and I guarantee you’ll think more than twice before thumbing a ride again…"
—Mark Smith-Briggs, Oz Horrorscope

"McBean drags you to hell and back, screaming all the way. "
—Steve Gerlach, author of Rage and Lake Mountain


Available as a:
Black Voltage Hardcover Edition
Limited to 125 copies
(with or without an Alan M. Clark remarque)
$85/$75

and a

Monsterback Softcover Edition
$19.95

Book Signing

On Saturday 7th March, 12-1pm, I will be at Dymocks, Southland, signing copies of my novel, The Mother. There will also be extremely limited quantities of some of my overseas publications, including The Last Motel and the recently-released New Dark Voices II (so get in early if you want to grab a copy!).

Dymocks Southland is located on the third floor of Westfield Shopping Centre in Cheltenham, Victoria. Tel: 03-95841245. This event is free, and registration is not required.

So if you're in the area and have a spare moment, please feel free to pop in and say hi.

New Dark Voices II

New Dark Voices II, edited by Brian Keene. Featuring novellas by Nick Mamatas, Brett McBean, and Ronald Damien Malfi. Trade paperback, $14.95

Click here to order: https://www.horror-mall.com/NEW-DARK-VOICES-2-Edited-by-Brian-Keene-p-18574.html

Delirium’s annual anthology-series spotlighting the talents of tomorrow continues with New Dark Voices II. Edited by Brian Keene, NDVII features three brand-new, terrifying, genre-bending novellas by underground favorite Ronald Damien Malfi, the critically acclaimed Nick Mamatas, and hot Australian writer Brett McBean.

“Sins Of The Father” by Brett McBean

When Tony Christopher returns home after a few months away, he expects to find his family and friends waiting, his beloved farming town of Gainesville unchanged. What he finds is quiet streets and empty houses. A strange metallic smell in the air. An ominous storm building. And Tony will uncover the shocking truth of the missing townsfolk.

“Eliminate the Improbable” by Nick Mamatas

Ever watch a detective show on TV? The sleuth hefts a flashlight and shines it into the camera. He peers into the swirling fog or the dark. But he’s not looking for some criminal, he’s not looking at a murder victim. He’s looking at you. And you are about to disappear. The people of Manhattan are vanishing — and just maybe being replaced by exact doubles and its up to two amateur detectives, both high out of their minds and one of them nameless, to solve the mystery. The only problem is that when you eliminate the improbable…only the impossible remains.

“Borealis” by Ronald Damien Malfi

On a routine crabbing expedition in the Bering Sea, Charlie Mears and the rest of the men aboard the trawler Borealis discover something unbelievable: a young woman running naked along the ridge of a passing iceberg. Just as the trawler pulls alongside the floe, the woman collapses into the snow, unconscious. The girl is rescued and brought aboard the boat, where she is cared for by the crew…only to infect them with a poison that brings about unimaginable ruination.

Just a heads up.

Thunderstorm Books has commissioned a new cover for Tales of Sin and Madness. And along with the new cover (done by the talented Deena Warner), there's a new deal: people have until November 15 to pre-order the hardcover. After that date, all orders cease and however many orders have been taken is how many HC Thunderstorm will be publishing. So get your orders in before time runs out!

Of course, you can always wait for the trade paperback - but this will be published at a later date.

For more information, go here: http://www.thunderstormbooks.com/mcbean.html

It's Done!

In case you've been wondering where I've been these past six months (and I know your lives have been empty without my sporadic blog posts), I've been working hard at finishing my new novel.

Well, it's finally finished. Coming in at around 148,000 words, the new novel, titled
"The Awakening" is my coming-of-age story. Well, a very dark coming-of-age story, mixed with Haitian voodoo. This is the novel I first started waaaaaay back in 2001, after completing "The Last Motel", but stopped writing after about a year when it grew too large in scope for me to handle at the time.

It's a weird feeling. Finishing any story (especially a novel) always feels strange to me - more so in this case. I've lived with these characters, in the small town I created, for seven years. Even when I wasn't working on the story, they were still with me in the background, lurking. But, as of yesterday, they are no longer mine. I've sent the manuscript out into the big bad world, and we'll see what happens.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of "The Awakening". Until next time...

A Flash Interruption

My new flash fiction piece, UNBORN LIVES, has just been posted on the online Australian social/political/religious magazine, Eureka Street: http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=6227

Check it out - it'll only take you a few minutes!

Tales of Sin and Madness

My first-ever short story collection is now up for pre-order, from US specialty press Thunderstorm Books.

It's due for publication around mid-year and is $30 for a signed limited hardcover. 550 copies are being published

Tales of Sin and Madness
by Brett McBean

In this, his first-ever collection, Aurealis and Ditmar award nominated horror author Brett McBean (The Last Motel, The Familiar Stranger, The Mother) continues his exploration of the dark side of the human character by bringing you fifteen tales of sin and madness. From zombies roaming the Australian outback, to psychopaths roaming New York City, McBean plunges the depths of human depravity, and delves into a sick and sordid world of serial killers, Manson-like cults, even road kill and cheap souls.

So pull up a seat in front of the campfire, grab a marshmallow or two, and come and take a journey into the heart of darkness with one of Australia's leading voices in dark fiction.

Included in this collection are eleven reprints, and four previously unpublished stories, as well as story notes accompanying each tale.

CONTENTS:
The Beautiful Place
Amanda's Gift
Stolen Lives (new)
The New Religion
Genius of a Sick Mind
Hearing the Ocean in a Seashell (new)
A Question of Belief
The Coffin
The Song Remains The Same
Temptation of the Righteous Path (new)
The Garbage Man
Who Wants to be a Survivor
A Light for Rose
The Cycle
The Project (new)


You can pre-order the book direct from the publisher - http://www.thunderstormbooks.com/mcbean.html

or from the Horror Mall - https://www.horror-mall.com/TALES-OF-SIN-AND-MADNESS-by-Brett-McBean-Limited-Edition-p-17554.html