Hiram Grange Five Day Book Trailer Contest- Win $100!

After Author Kevin Lucia and publisher Neil Jackson both submitted book trailers for Hiram Grange and the Village of the Damned, I quickly realized that there is a wealth of creativity and talent out in the Webosphere, just waiting to be discovered

Both Kevin and Neil suggested a BOOK TRAILER CONTEST to see how much excitement people can create with a 30 to 60 second video.  I thought it was an inspired idea, and I am willing to pay people for their efforts.

Let's keep the rules simple.

1. You have FIVE DAYS starting from December 24th at 12AM EST, and ending at December 29th 12AM EST, though if you start immediately, we'll never know.

2.  Yeah, we know it's Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Christmas, Saturnalia, Solstice, time, but that's the whole point.  Make it quick, down and dirty, guerilla filmmaking!

3.  No book purchase is necessary.  There is enough information on this blog to get you started.  We are not worried about 100% accuracy.  Be creative, but try to be true to the Hiram Grange "canon" (guffaw).

4.  30 to 60 seconds in length (but don't sweat it if you go over or under)

5.  You may borrow images from Shroud, but please do so sparingly and you MUST credit our wonderful artists (such as Malcolm McClinton or Danny Evarts).  You may use these images only for the purposes of this contest.  But really folks, we'd really dig it if you went outside the box and used brand new content.  Naturally do not violate other people's copyright either.  If you do, we can't use your video.

6.  Post your entry on your own YouTube page, and email us the link from there.

7.  Please make sure your video abides with YouTube's submission guidelines.  Any discriminatory material, or anything exploitive to kids, marsupials or orangutans will be summarily discarded.  We will not be held responsible blah blah blah...

8.  I will tap the Hiram Five Authors, Malcolm McClinton (the artist) and Danny Evarts (editor/designer/artist) as judges.  Though, they do not know this yet.

Judging Criteria:

• Compelling, creative and cool;
• Viral Quality;
• True to the Hiram Grange "canon."

9. We'll announce finalists on January 2nd, 2010.

10.  Those Finalists then have five more days to generate the most user ratings on YouTube.  The entry with the most/highest ratings wins!

Prizes:

FIRST PLACE:  $100 Shroud Gift Certificate

SECOND PLACE: $30 Shroud Gift Certificate

THIRD PLACE:   $10 Shroud Gift Certificate

All Finalists will receive a copy of a Hiram grange book of their choice, and all winners will be mentioned in the Subsequent issue of Shroud Magazine.

Send all questions to us.

ready, set, GO!

Hiram Grange and the Village of the Damned Trailer v2

Neil Jackson from Ghostwriter Publications (UK) was kind enough to put this trailer together for Hiram Grange and the Village of the Damned. We'd love to get your feedback!

The Toxic Avenger Loves Hiram Grange--a Blurb from Kaufman!

On the heels of the release of Hiram Grange and the Village of the Damned (B&N, Amazon, SP), Scott Christian Carr's wildly original novella, Hiram Grange and the Twelve Little Hitlers, has already begun to create some excitement among advance readers. Hitlers is the second installment in the Scandalous Misadventures of Hiram Grange series.

One of those readers is none other than Lloyd Kaufman, President of Troma Entertainment and Creator of the Toxic Avenger.  Kaufman read Hitlers, and said it was:

 "more fun than a barrel full of Hitlers... The best novel since Don Quixote!"

Greg Hall, the master of ceremonies over at the Funky Werepig radio show was equally impressed:

“Somewhere in the Underworld, Lovecraft is grinning with delight and Hunter S. Thompson is raising his bottle high. You won’t find a darker, more twisted character than Hiram Grange.”

But the lavish praise and adoration doesn't stop there! Renowned  sci-fi author Patricia Anthony, who wrote Cold Allies, Brother Termite, Conscience of the Beagle, Happy Policeman, Cradle of Splendor, God's Fires, Flanders, and Eating Memories said this about Hitlers:

"Scott Christian Carr is one of the most insightful writers I know. He's also one of the funniest. Reading 'Twelve Little Hitlers' never fails put you under an intellectual pleasure-dome, which is great in and of itself --- The unexpected surprise is, you'll also laugh your ass off!" 

Stay tuned for the January 2010 release of Carr's Hiram Grange and the Twelve Little Hitlers!

Hiram Grange Reader Chimes in on Killing Zombies

J. Perry, a retired US Army Infantry Master Sergeant sent an email into Shroud Publishing with a unique analysis on the effectiveness of guns against the undead:

"I'm really starting to enjoy the adventures of Hiram. I like the modern noir-urban ambience off set by the humor, as well as the B-movie horror themes presented with a modern sensibility and edge. The dark tone would other wise be depressing, but becomes hilarious when combined with the caricature nature of the plot and the characters. I've laughed out loud, more then once.

The whole concept very much reminds me of the zombie-apocalypse genre which often combines the fictional (and sometimes presented humorously) zombie resurrection phenomena with actual, real-world settings and survival/disaster preparedness skills. One of the topics that comes up often is the use of melee weapons vs. firearms.

Its painfully obvious that Hiram needs, a sword, or a swordsman, or preferably both. That's the problem with terminal ballistics and zombies. You can't rely on hydrostatic shock and temporal cavity damage to down a zombie. Hiram does well to use the beefy, sub-sonic round that he's using for it's kinetic energy transfer. But he really needs a large surface area, edged weapon to quite literally disable/dismember his threat..."

 One of the Hiram authors just may have to include this insight in a future episode of Hiram Grange.