“Trolling,” a short story that takes place during the events of my novel Poseidon’s Children, will appear in the new Graveside Tales  anthology The Beast Within 3: Oceans Unleashed. Here is the full Table of Contents:

Edited by Jennifer Brozek
Foreword by Jennifer Brozek

“The Roe Girls” by Mae Empson
“Dry Run” by Pete Kempshall
“Wreckage” by Rosemary Jones
“Rites of Justice in Civilized Societies” by Amanda C. Davis
“Beyond the Reach of Moonlight” by Jamie Lackey
“The Murmur of Lorelei” by Jason Andrew
“Salt on the Dance Floor” by Nisi Shawl
“Mother Water” by T. S. Bazelli
“Beneath Feather and Fur” by Minerva Zimmerman
“Woman of War” by Ivan Ewert
“Trolling” by Michael West
“Safe” by Mari Ness
“Spawning Season” by Montgomery Mullen
“The Wedding Seal” by Josh Reynolds
“Hunger” by Jennifer Pelland
“The Summoned” by Wendy Wagner

Cover art by Shane Tyree
Interior art by John Ward

“The stories in here will make you think long and hard before going back in the water.” ~ Gary Brander, author of The Howling

Can you ask for a better recommendation than that?

 The Beast Within 3 will be unleashed on December 7, 2013.  Order from Graveside Tales!

For Immediate Release
February 15, 2012

Illustrations and Limited Hardcover/eBook Pre-Order Offer Unveiled for Michael West’s Urban Fantasy Novel Poseidon’s Children.

Seventh Star Press is proud to unveil 2 new Matthew Perry illustrations and the start of pre-orders for Michael West’s Urban Fantasy novel Poseidon’s Children, Book One of The Legacy of the Gods series.

The new Urban Fantasy series is Michael’s second with Seventh Star Press, following the extremely successful release of Cinema of Shadows, his latest Harmony, Indiana novel, in 2011. The Legacy of the Gods series is set to build rapidly upon Michael’s horror readership, introducing his well-crafted storytelling to Urban Fantasy audiences everywhere.

Increasingly recognized for the high quality of its limited hardcover editions, Seventh Star Press is making available a new pre-order offer that allows readers and collectors to secure both a collectible, signed hardcover of Poseidon’s Children (out of a run of just 75 copies), as well as an eBook version suited for their particular eReaders (Kindle or Nook editions will be “gifted” by Seventh Star Press on the day of release).

The bundle of a hardcover and eBook edition is accompanied by a sharp set of glossy 5X7 art cards, featuring the interior illustrations found in Poseidon’s Children, as well as bookmarks from the novel and a set of thee collectible magnets. The price for the hardcover/eBook bundle andexrras is one readers will find very attractive at just $32.95. The hardcovers (and pre-ordered softcovers) will be signed and numbered by Michael on Saturday, March 17 and shipped out on the 19th.

The illustrations for Poseidon’s Children were created by highly acclaimed fantasy/horror artist Matthew Perry, who also does the artwork for Michael’s Harmony Indiana Novels with Seventh Star Press. The Poseidon’s Children project also reunited Michael with his Cinema of Shadows editor, Amanda DeBord.

In Poseidon’s Children, man no longer worships the old gods; forgotten and forsaken, they have become nothing more than myth and legend. But all that is about to change. After the ruins of a vast, ancient civilization are discovered on the ocean floor, Coast Guard officers find a series of derelict ships drifting in the current–high-priced yachts and leaking fishing boats, all ransacked, splattered in blood, their crews missing and presumed dead.

And that’s just the beginning.

Vacationing artist Larry Neuhaus has just witnessed a gruesome shark attack, a young couple torn apart right before his eyes … at least, he thinks it was a shark. And when one of these victims turns out to be the only son of Roger Hays, the most powerful man in the country, things go from bad to worse. Now, to stop the carnage,Larry and his new-found friends must work together to unravel a mystery as old as time, and face an enemy as dark as the ocean depths.

Michael West is fresh from a great reception of his first Seventh Star Press release, the Harmony, Indiana novel Cinema of Shadows. His other works include novels such as The Wide Game (Graveside Tales) and a single author collection, Skull Full of Kisses (Graveside Tales). He also has an array of short fiction published, spanning many magazines and anthologies, including appearances in Shroud Magazine, and the Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest.

Poseidon’s Children will be released in limited hardcover, trade paperback, and several eBook formats, such Kindle, iPad, the Nook, and Sony/Sony compatible eBookreading devices. The second novel in the series is slated for the spring of 2013, with the other two planned titles to follow on an annual basis.

Updates and additional information can be obtained at the official site for Seventh Star Press, at www.seventhstarpress.com, or at the author’s site, www.bymichaelwest.com

Contact: C.C. James
Public Relations, Seventh Star Press
ccjames@seventhstarpress.com

Seventh Star Press is a small press publisher of speculative fiction located in Lexington Kentucky.

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

 The Sci-Fi Guys have put out their list of the The Best of 2011: Books, and my two Harmony, Indiana novels, The Wide Game and Cinema of Shadows, both made the list! 

Cinema of Shadows came in at number 9.  Here’s what they had to say about it:

“Cinema of Shadows was everything that I could want in a ghost story: an intelligent professor with a sordid past, a group of teenagers searching for answers in a Ghost Adventures fashion, a haunted movie theater, a well paced story, and an exorcism from Hell. Plus a few familiar faces. Cinema of Shadows did not disappoint.”

And where did The Wide Game come in?  Why all the way up at number 2!   Here’s what Sci-Fi guys had to say about it:

“The Wide Game takes the reader back to a time when horror was thriving. Back to a time where storytellers and Hollywood didn’t rely on gratuitous violence and stupid gore to shock the consumer. Back to a time when this novel would have easily made the New York Times, and quite possibly rivaled the newest Stephen King title.”

With all the books released in 2011, it would have been an honor just to have one of my titles make a year-end “best of” list, but to have both of my Harmony, Indiana books appear on a list with the likes of Joe R. Lansdale and Brian Keene…words cannot describe!

You can read the full list here!

The Wide Game is available from Graveside Tales Books.

And Cinema of Shadows is available in paperback and e-book from Seventh Star Press.  There may even be a few signed, limited edition hardcovers available if you act fast!

And to all my faithful readers out there, if you thought 2011 was something, wait until you see what I have in store for 2012!