Our First Giveaway!
"Meditating has never been this frightening."
Alan Shivers is an indie horror author hailing from Belgium, and he's just been announced as an attending author for Books & Brews 2.0, taking place on August 2, 2025 in McCordsville, IN! You can find more details about the event on the Events page.
He also just released his latest book, The Namaste Slasher, on October 1. In honor of the release and the announcement for Books & Brews 2.0, we are giving away TWO paperback copies of The Namaste Slasher.
Here are the rules:
In order to enter, you must either share this blog on your social media platform OR sign up for the email subscriptions.
You must also agree to bump this book right up to the top of your TBR and review it on whatever platforms you normally use to review!
Winners will be chosen on 10/8/24 at 4:00 PM EST.
If you're a member of Books of Horror on Facebook, Tiffany Koplin is also doing a giveaway for a few copies.
Here's the synopsis for the book:
Think Friday the 13th, but set in a modern day Mindfulness retreat.
A deliciously camp yet gruesome slasher with nods to the classic 80s slashers.
When five people from all over Europe take part in an exclusive Mindfulness retreat on Mountain Velebit in Croatia, they have no idea what's in store for them once a masked killer shows up. Let's hope their healing crystals can provide the necessary protection.
Twists & Turns, Chase Scenes, and Queer Representation
Here's a little Q&A with Alan Shivers himself:
Q: Camp slasher is a classic and beloved horror trope. Where did the inspiration to add the mindfulness retreat spin come from?
A: The inspiration came from my own life. I have been on a mindfulness retreat and I mediate daily. The only moment I truly feel safe and grounded is when I meditate, so I thought, "what if use that safety and envelop it with fear?" I thought it was an interesting dichotomy and something I hadn't really seen in a slasher before. Also, on a lighter note, it was so much fun coming up with original kills connected to mindfulness. Trust me, healing crystals will never be the same.
Q: The Namaste Slasher is written with queer representation, which I think is important to highlight. What does representation in the genre mean to you?
A: Queer representation is incredibly important, me being a gay author and wanting to see more natural, inclusive representation. I didn't want the main characters to be queer (lesbian, gay, ace, sapio, non-binary, etc.) just for the sake of checking a box. I wanted them to be fully fledged characters who just happened to be queer. In the '80s, gay characters were usually fodder in slashers, so I'm glad to see a shift happening in slasher films and books. As a gay white man, I'm still a majority within a minority group. I'm very aware of this position and I want to make sure I represent the entire community. I have interviewed over 50 ace and non-binary readers to make sure they felt represented in a way they felt seen, and they have become sensitivity readers for the Europea Halls trilogy and the new release, The Namaste Slasher.
Q: What classic slasher films/books inspire your writing? Are you working on anything new? What are some tropes you'd like to write about in the future?
A: My first trilogy, Europea Halls, was definitely mostly inspired by '90s slashers such as Urban Legend, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream, and Cherry Falls. It has that smooth MTV era feel to it. The Namaste Slasher is a bit campier but also more gruesome. It has more of an '80s vibe to it. Victor Miller, the screenwriter of the original Friday the 13th, has even blurbed the new release for me, so I hope I have his blessing! Novel-wise, Adam Cesare's Clown in a Cornfield was a big inspiration. Other authors I look up to in the slasher genre are Sarah Jules (Don't Lie) and Emerald O'Brien (the Bleed series), among others. I am already planning my fifth book, but after a release I need some weeks to breathe and read other people's books. I've read my own stuff too much over the last few weeks, so I'll be diving into BoH inspiration piles for some reading. Tropes for the future? I love subverting tropes in general, and slasher is such a good genre to play around with. The First Girl, The Final Girl, The Third Act Bloodbath, etc. I love playing with that sort of stuff. The tricky part is being and remaining original, which does get more difficult by the book as I don't want to repeat my own subversion.
Who doesn't love slashers? They're one of the pillars of horror, just as much as the haunted house or the ghost story. Grab yourself a copy here, or enter one of the giveaways to get one for free!
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