The Bizarro Zombie Anthology That Wouldn't Die!

Hey everyone- I have a new story in an anthology! My story is titled "Mr. Lloyd at the Harborside Zombie Treatment Center," and the book is titled THE BIZARRO ZOMBIE ANTHOLOGY THAT WOULDN'T DIE! Includes a bunch of the top Bizarro authors, as well as some newer faces, such as myself.

So, you're so over the whole zombie thing, you say? Well, this ain't your mama's zombie anthology! This is a collection of BIZARRO stories... so we have space zombies, mushroom zombies, ink spewing religious zombies, a couple of zombie noirs, zombies hanging out in a dumpster discussing life, drug addicted zombies, extreme zombie sexcapades... and more!

This book will take you places you never thought existed and have you slapping your head in amazement. Check it out. No e-book, you gotta read in on paper.

Check out this gorgeous cover:

Order The Bizarro Zombie Athology That Wouldn't Die! here!

Upcoming Publications!

I'm way overdue for an update. I can't believe it's been nearly a year since my last post. I do have important news to share! I have two upcoming publications.

My Lovecraftian story "Under the Shanghai Tunnels" will be published in August/September by Dynatox Ministries, in a limited edition chapbook. I'm really excited about this news because this story is one of my favorite pieces I have written. It's very much a traditional Lovecraftian story set in present day, with glimpses of the past.

You can check out Dynatox Ministries website here:

Dynatox Ministries

Here's the wonderfully atmospheric cover, designed by Dynatox Ministries publisher Jordan Krall:

My other news is that my Bizarro short titled "Spam Penguins" will be published in the August issue of Surreal Grotesque online zine. You can read Surreal Grotesque here:

Surreal Grotesque online magazine

Also, I'm working on a new writing project, hopefully my first full length novel, tentatively titled "Things Get Strange," while I look for homes for all my unpublished works!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Death to the Brothers Grimm

Death to Brothers Grimm released!


Death to Brothers Grimm is a new anthology of Bizarro retellings of classic fairy tales, published by Omnium Gatherum Media.

Ranging from horrifically gory to whimsically twisted, featuring authors Garrett Cook, Jeremy Shipp, Jess Gulbranson, Eckhard Gerdes and more - including me!

My story "At the Shoe Shop of Madness" is a mashup of Brothers Grimm and H.P. Lovecraft. It's the darkly humorous tale of what happens when Schumacher the Shoemaker traps a foul tempered and foul mouthed elf, exacting an ill fated bargain.

You can order the book from Amazon here:

Death to the Brothers Grimm on Amazon



Or, if you would like a copy personally autographed to you, by me, along with your own Weirdsville Cartoon, all for just the cover price of the book plus $3.00 shipping, just email me at neverendingwonder _AT_ hotmail.com

Hypnotic Wanderings

Hello, my friends! Today we're going to have the very first guest post on the NeverEndingWonder Blog. Our guest will be horror author Anthony Rapino. His debut novel "Soundtrack to the End of the World" has just been released, and he's hosting a very cool virtual event to celebrate! YOU can win actual real prizes! Keep reading to learn all the details.The next voice you will read will be that of Anthony Rapino, our guest.

Hypnotic Wanderings

Thank you to today’s host, the Dark King of Weirdsville, Lee Widener. I have to also thank Lee for oodles of ooey gooey, bloody and chewy inspiration. Come autumn, Lee’s (now, unfortunately defunct) NeverEndingWonder Radio became the soundtrack to my writing, and has more than once carried my wandering mental vibrations to that plain writers often seek out. That place where nothing exists for us but our words. It’s a good place to be.

It’s like hypnosis. And if you’ve ever spoken to a hypnotist, you know that all hypnosis is self hypnosis. If you believe this, then it follows that we may hypnotize ourselves on a regular basis, without even knowing it.

This explains the “movie in your head” phenomenon. You may have noticed that when reading a book, sometimes it plays out like a movie in your head. I propose that only when you’ve reached deep involvement with the story, when you’ve really “gotten into it,” when you’ve reached a moment of self hypnosis, do you experience the novel as a movie your head.

This makes even more sense if you’ve ever reached the end of a reading session only to realize, I can’t believe I’ve been reading for three hours! It felt like only minutes! You were outside your body. You were floating free in the comforting waters of self-hypnosis. You were experiencing the novel rather than reading it.

Not convinced? I understand; it sounds like so much mumbo jumbo, not unlike the hippy dippy aura reading Naomi Santrel conducts in my novel Soundtrack to the End of the World. But like Naomi would say, there’s more to it than you can see.

Try this: Think back to a novel you read two or three years ago. Stop reading this, and really think back. Got it? Okay, now recall a favorite scene from that novel. Think about the scene for a minute, take your time.

When you’ve finished thinking about the novel in question, answer me this: In what way did you remember the novel? Did you remember the words on the page, the place you were sitting or reclining, the time of day, the weather? Or did you remember the novel as images? Did you see the characters or did you see the words?

Chances are good you remembered the novel as images. In fact, taking it one step further, I’ve often completely forgotten if a story I was thinking about was a novel at all. The images and characters so vivid in my mind, it could have been a movie.

Of course there will be times you remember the words themselves. Sometimes you love a turn of phrase so much that you commit the quote to memory. But I’m willing to bet many more times, you weren’t reading, you were experiencing.

 These are the times I live for. These are the experiences I hope to create for my readers. So what are you waiting for? Go forth and hypnotize thy self.

Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card!

Collect all twelve game pieces (available from each blog stop during my tour), put the pieces together, and decipher the code. It will lead you to a secret website. If you’re the first person to comment on the site, you win!


Join us in the Insanity Rocket to discuss the contest.

 Stop by the blog tour page  for all upcoming dates and more contest info.

I am very proud to announce the launch of my debut novel, Soundtrack to the End of the World 

currently available in signed limited hardcover, trade paperback, and ebook editions.

Who knew the end could sound so good.

A suicidal nudist strolls into traffic.  An eccentric Buddhist claims he can occupy other people’s bodies.  All the while, whispers of a new form of entertainment blow through town.  Prompted by these strange occurrences, Marty Raft, a not-so-gentle giant, investigates and discovers underground clubs peddling music that induces an out-of-body experience.   Marty and a wannabe comedian, Corey, set out to prove these special frequencies are nothing more than a hoax, or at worst, a mass-drugging.  Instead, they uncover a secret with world-ending possibilities. If you can hear the music, it’s already too late.

Author bio

Anthony J. Rapino resides in Northeastern Pennsylvania, somewhere between the concrete of the city and the trees of the forest.  On occasion, you’ll find him moderating the feverish battles between the creatures of these two arenas.  Whose side he’s on is anyone’s guess.




His newest fiction can be found in Black Ink Horror, On Spec, Arcane Anthology, Electric Spec, A cappella Zoo, Space Squid, TQR Stories, and carved inside a variety of autumn gourds.  His short story collection, Welcome to Moon Hill  is currently available, as is his first novel Soundtrack to the End of the World .   Proof of his psychosis can be found on his website:  AnthonyRapino.com

I Have a Book Coming Out!

Spectacular Productions is slated to publish a book by me! It's part of their "Mass Transit Readers" series, meant to be read in one or two settings. That means it's pretty short- about 18,000 words- just right for a trip to work or home, or a spooky evening's reading before bed.

The title is "Dark Roads: Two Modern Murderous Myths." It will include two stories- one brand new, and one that took me over thirty years to write. It's due out sometime this summer. That's as specific as I can get about the publication date.

That's all I'm going to tell you right now- stay tuned for further information! I will give you a look at this amazing cover, from phenomenal artist and designer, Neil Jackson.

BOOK REVIEW: Murderland I - H8

I'm going a little off topic this post to review an excellent new book. The book is good enough to warrant it, and it's my blog so I'll do what I want!

Murderland I - H8 by Garrett Cook

from Evil Nerd Empire Publishers

Murderland I - H8 is a novel about a time in the not so distant future where serial killers are celebrity athletes. Their exploits are discussed on television as spectator sport. Just as people today rehash the previous evening's game ad naseum, so do people discuss the latest grizzly murder. It's not too far off the mark today with cable channels and websites galore dedicated to detailing true life crime.

The protagonist of this novel is Jeremy - a rather mild mannered pharmacist whose live in girlfriend is obsessed with these celebrity killers - as is most of the rest of society. Jeremy, however, has a secret. He's actually the greatest serial killer ever, and nobody knows it. He's also one of the very few people aware there are Lovecraftian type alien Dark Ones all around us looking for potential hosts for their seed so they can spread their kind across the Earth.

Murderland I - H8 is told mostly through Jeremy's inner dialogue and he is one sick puppy. Author Cook took a great risk choosing to show us events only filtered through such a twisted perspective but he's got the skill to pull it off. Jeremy's inner world is what makes the book so compelling. Jeremy perceives the world around him as a personal Hell - a world gone mad. This simple fact is what pulls us in and makes us accept Jeremy as a sympathetic character even though he's a psychopathic killer. This is what makes the book work.

Cook also has a great ear for language. I found myself reading a great part of this book aloud to myself - it cries out for a voice. The prose flies, never falters. It's an exciting read, a delicate balance between plot development, character details and tidbits about the future society woven together with great care. Its depiction of "Reap society" seems similar to Clockwork Orange, but not overly so. As we learn more about this world, where murdered victim's families are ridiculed for mourning their slain family members we can relate to Jeremy's hatred of much of what he sees around him. This, to me is the great strength of the book - it managed to make me relate to a twisted serial killer who sees evil alien beings all around him and LIKE him.

All in all, the book works on many levels - it's an exciting plot driven read. It's a captivating character study. It has a unique voice. Like all good science fiction it makes a statement about the world today. It's not going to be for everyone- if you're easily offended or if you have no appreciation for the weird- it's not for you. If, however, you enjoy discovering new territory, discovering new voices, enjoy fiction that pushes the envelope, challenges you, then this is right up your alley.

I have a few quibbles. Evil Nerd Empire really needs a proofreader. There were enough mistakes in the text to catch my attention, and that always bugs me. Also, this book is the first volume in a trilogy, and it reads like it. It's mostly exposition. I would have liked just a little more plotwise. Lastly, there's a development right at the end that, to me, seemed unmotivated. These points, I must emphasize, are really minor. None of them detracted from my enjoyment of an excellent first novel. I am eagerly awaiting the next volume in the series.

Publisher's Website:
Evil Nerd Empire

Link to buy on Amazon:
Murderland I H8