Paradise, Maine
A Horror Story
by Jackson R. Thomas
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Pub Date Mar 15 2019 | Archive Date Mar 31 2019
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Description
UNEDITED ADVANCED READER COPY
A beautiful place to get away from it all... you'll never come back.
When Darren and Vanis set out to free themselves from life's anxieties and rekindle their relationship, a trip to the beautiful Maine coast sounds perfect. The breathtaking views and gorgeous cabin seem like another world. One to get lost in and from which they never want to return. But something has an eye on them.
For Zebulun Ayers, a trip to connect with nature is far more than he ever saw on Man vs. Wild or any other reality TV show. This is the real wild life.
Paradise, Maine is home to a monster rarely seen and one never mentioned, even among locals. The Watcher is waiting.
A Note From the Publisher
Heavily influenced by the horror writers of the late 90s and early 2000s, authors such as Brian Keene, Richard Laymon, Jack Ketchum, and Edward Lee, he brings their gritty realities and straight-for-the-throat style into the present. with a child-like zest.
Advance Praise
Prasie for the author and his first novel, THE BEAST OF BRENTON WOODS
"Lots of mystery! Gore! What fun!" - Amazon review
"A finely-tuned coming of age tale ensconced in the setting of a paranormal novel, THE BEAST OF BRENTON WOODS is a deep and engrossing read." - The Haunted Reading Room
"A page-turner, each chapter left me wanting more." - Scream Magazine
"Good old-school horror story, I enjoyed it and I think you will too!"- Horror Novel Reviews
"Thomas’ writing is straightforward throughout this novel. He paints clear pictures of the savagery commanded by both man and beast. I personally enjoyed the pacing of this book—there was little fluff to the chapters, providing quick story beats that kept me flipping pages in the classic “just one more chapter” fashion." - Spine Tinglers
Marketing Plan
He's the author of the werewolf novel, THE BEAST OF BRENTON WOODS (available now in print, eBook, and coming soon in audio from Tantor Media) and is hard at work on the sequel to that novel, RISE (set for late 2019/early 2020 release).
Q & A with Jackson R. Thomas
Q: What’s Paradise, Maine about?
JRT: A person known as “The Watcher” is living in the woods and attacking unsuspecting victims that get “placed” at a cabin overlooking the coast. It’s a very rough story. Not for your sometimes horror reader. This one is a splatterpunk book. If you like modern literary horror, you do not want to go near this one. I think it’s much more Edward Lee than say, Stephen King.
Q: How does is compare to your previous book, The Beast of Brenton Woods?
JRT: I don’t really know how to answer that. That one was a werewolf book, this one is probably even more violent, and I hope, frightening.
Q: Alien Agenda Publishing says, “Creating Horror with Heart”. From what you’re telling me, it doesn’t sound like you got the memo. Is that fair to say?
JRT: Well, I mean, I’m not going to say it’s a heartfelt story, but there is a bit of good in there, too. You just have to look a little harder to find it.
Q: What part of Paradise, Maine was the most challenging to write?
JRT: I wanted to write a harder book, but I still wanted some characters that you liked. I don’t mind writing people for you to hate, but I hope I succeeded at giving readers a couple of people to pull for.
Q: Who was your favorite character in this book to write?
JRT: The Watcher. I know, he’s the bad guy, but is he really? Well, yeah, he is, but I think you’ll see it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Q: What’s next?
JRT: I’m working on the sequel to The Beast of Brenton Woods.
Looking for blog reviews and/or interviews
Amazon and GoodReads reviews
Twitter Re-tweets, Facebook shares welcomed.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9781798228500 |
| PRICE | $2.99 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Steve S, Reviewer
I was first introduced to the twisted world of Jackson R. Thomas last year, with his stellar release The Beast of Brenton Woods. I love werewolf tales and that story lived up to my lofty expectations.
Now Thomas has returned with Paradise, Maine – but don’t let the title or the cover fool you, this is splatter-riffic.
The plot is straight-forward and pulled from my dream horror VHS tapes that I used to rent. A small, quaint town on the coast hides a secret. The Watcher. A figure shrouded in mystery who lives in the hills above them. The townspeople do their part to keep quiet and not interfere. In order to keep The Watcher satiated a mysterious corporation working with the local Sheriff randomly select people to come as sacrifice. They win an all-expenses paid trip to the scenic Paradise, Maine, unaware of their fate.
From here out Thomas takes us on a sprint through the small town, the cabin that the winner’s get to stay in and the hills above. The foot is fully pressed on the gas pedal as things continue to take terrible turn after terrible turn. I love bleak, dark horror and this is done majestically while infused with some obscene gore, done in the best way possible. Even though I knew no good was to come, I still rooted for the folks trying to survive The Watcher.
I had one small gripe with the story overall – some of the characters names. With this being a pre-release ARC and not knowing Jackson personally, it might be that some of the characters were named after friends or family members, but as is, I found some of them to be annoying and I’m usually fine with that. Oh well, that’s on me!
I enjoyed the characters throughout, and several of them had really enjoyable resolves to live, which sometimes can be lacking in a tale like this. I’m not a fan of characters that survive but don’t appear to try hard enough to survive, if that makes sense. Doesn’t happen here!
So if you’re looking for a fun, fast, slaughter house of a story – look no further. Jackson R. Thomas brings the goods and packs them into bite size zip-lock freezer bags making sure to keep the horror fresh on every page! A must read for fans of ‘Brenton’ but also a must read for fans of books and movies that keep the death counts high!
Alien Agenda Publishing continues to release top notch horror for fans and I can’t wait to see what’s coming next!
(Side note – the version I received was a poorly edited pre-release version. I was assured by another reviewer that they received an updated ARC and the spots were fixed. I declined a new version by AAP and didn’t attribute any of the mistakes towards affecting my review! Thanks to Net Galley, Jackson R. Thomas and Glenn with Aliena Agena Publishing for the pre-release ARC!)
The review will be featured on Kendall Reviews shortly and Goodreads, Bookbub and Amazon will be updated accordingly!
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