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


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.


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

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

Click here to order

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 my short story collection, 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

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...

Hey folks.

If you've got a minute, check out my new flash fiction piece, titled UNBORN LIVES.  It's just been posted on the online Australian socal, political and religious magazine Eureka Street:

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=6227

Cheers,
Brett.

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

 Just a quick note, folks: the anthology In Delirium II (containing my story 'The Garbage Man') is now on sale. Go here to order a copy: https://www.horror-mall.com/store/product.php?productid=17321&cat=0&page=1

There are only 274 limited editions, so hurry before they're all gone!

In Delirium II is a sequel to the original In Delirium, which was edited by Brian Keene. As with the first volume, this second one is a tribute anthology to Delirium's proprietor, Shane Staley, and is composed of stories written by authors who have been previously published by Delirium. The project was conceived and put together by John Everson.

A bit late, I know, but I've been busy with the puppy, trying to train her and stop her from biting (she especially loves ankles and hands!).

So, this is a list of all the books I read in 2007* This is the first time I've done such a list, so I hope you enjoy taking a peek into my literary tastes. A quick note: I took a couple of months off mid-year to concentrate on writing, so the number of books read last year was probably slightly less than usual. Anyway, on to the list.

Weaveworld – Clive Barker

She Loves Monsters – Simon Clark (novella)

Pilo Family Circus – Will Elliot

Hunting Zoe – Steve Gerlach (novella)

Survivor – J.F. Gonzalez

Catch-22 – Joseph Heller

The Lazarus Condition – Paul Kane (novella)

Take the Long Way Home – Brian Keene (novella)

Ghoul – Brian Keene

The Crossings – Jack Ketchum (novella)

On Writing – Stephen King (reread)

The Bottoms – Joe Lansdale

Allhallow's Eve – Richard Laymon (reread)

Once Upon a Halloween – Richard Laymon (reread)

The Woods Are Dark – Richard Laymon (reread)

A Writer's Tale – Richard Laymon (reread)

Dahmer's Not Dead – Edward Lee/Elizabeth Steffen

The Memory Tree – John R. Little

Boy's Life – Robert McCammon

The Road – Cormac McCarthy

Midnight Rain – James Newman

Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk

Survivor – Chuck Palahniuk

Dark Harvest – Norman Partridge (novella)

Summer of Night – Dan Simmons

Entropy's Bed at Midnight (novella from the book LoveDeath) – Dan Simmons

Dying in Bangkok (novella from the book LoveDeath) – Dan Simmons

The Pearl – John Steinbeck

The Killer Inside Me – Jim Thompson

Uncle Jack – Tony Williams & Humphrey Price

*Well, as far as I can remember - I didn't keep a list, so this is all by memory. I will be keeping a list from this year though, to make things easier.

I know, I know, I've been slack with my blogging. For that, I apologise. But I have been busy - honestly. But I hope to start blogging more frequently. So, I thought I'd post what I've been up to - why I've been absent from blogging-land. And also, you'll find a writing update and more. So, here we go.

* Someone stole the cherries from our tree! We had a tree full of beautiful ripe cherries, and on Sunday morning my wife comes storming into the bedroom and wakes me up with: "The cherries are gone! Someone stole all our cherries!" I stumbled out of bed, went outside and sure enough, the tree was bare - only the stems remained. Boy were we pissed. Fortunately, we had already eaten a fair amount of the fruit before the theft, and had a tub in the fridge - but still, we haven't been in our new home for two months, and this is the welcome we get! Whatever happened to the Sunbury of old - back when it was host to the pop festival, when, I'm sure, there was peace and love in the air! I wasn't born then, but I bet no one had their cherries stolen while they were stoned, listening to Queen, Max Merritt, or Billy Thorpe. Ah, how the times have changed.

* Yes, we've moved into our first home (no more renting, yay!). And yes, aside from the cherry incident, it's been great. We've still got boxes to unpack, but the place looks and feels like home. Sunbury's got the best of both worlds - it's country enough to have all the country things like lotsa birds and wildlife (we have a blue-tongued lizard that's made a home by our letterbox; it can be seen almost every day, sunning itself on one of the rocks), while still having the creature comforts like Coles, Safeway, The Reject Shop and, well, another, smaller Coles.

*We got our Xmas tree yesterday. We bought it from Oxfam, who delivered it straight to our door. We weren't sure what quality the tree would be - after all, this was bought sight unseen. It turned out to be a beauty! Tall, bushy. Came complete with that lovely pine smell. Only problem was, it didn't come with a stand, and the one we had last year is MIA. Not a problem, the wife and I thought. Sunbury has many hardwarey type places among its two Coles and cherry thieves. One of them will have a nice sturdy stand to place our lovely, tall, bushy tree in. Wrong. Bunnings - getting them in next week. Home Hardware - ordered three weeks ago, still waiting. Big W, Harris Scarfe, Target (Country) - nadda. Not one place had a Xmas tree stand. Not even the boy scouts, who were selling their trees by the side of the road, had any stands to buy. So, currently our lovely, tall, bushy tree is standing in a bucket, with only rocks to keep it from falling over - as it is, it's got a slight lean. Still, we decorated the tree yesterday and, as the song goes, it's beginning to look a lot like Xmas.

* We saw our German Shepherd puppy on the weekend. She's five weeks old and, I don't mind saying it, she's the cutest damn thing I've ever seen. The breeder bought out all three females from the litter and the wife and I spent an hour watching them play, huggin them, wanting so much to take them all home. Each had its own unique personality, but for puppies they were surprisingly well-behaved. Only two weeks until we can bring little Holly home. I'm counting the days (and hours, minutes...).

* What I'm working on. I'm still working on the 'zombie novel' - tentatively titled 'The Awakening'. Been reading a lot about voodoo, so to whoever stole the cherries, watch out - I've put a voodoo curse on those cherries. The explosive diarrhoea should be starting anyday...

Well, that's about it for now. I'm enjoying writing full-time (more about that in the near future), enjoying the semi-country life, and looking forward to Xmas. Gotta love those bad Xmas movies... (speaking of which, did anyone in Oz catch 'Surviving Christmas' last night? - man, what a steaming pile of excrement that was. What was Tony Soprano thinking?).

Until next time, later!