And the Auctions Begin...

I have now started listing items for the Helping the Hoss Benefit Book Auction for author James Newman. You can check out what I'm listing at the link below:


http://www.ebay.com/sch/rkelly3368/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_ipg&_from

Ladies & Gentleman, Let the Bidding Begin! : The Helping the Hoss Benefit Book Auction for James Newman begins Sunday, May 11th!

As some of you folks may know, I've been putting together a benefit book auction to help raise money for James Newman and his family, to help out with medical expenses, loss of wages due to James inability to work, and household bills. After several weeks of contacting and talking with some of the major authors and publishers in the horror fiction industry, our benefit book auction is about ready to get off the ground. Stacks upon stacks of beautiful books signed by some of your favorite authors in the horror genre are sitting here in the Kelly living room, waiting their turn to be listed on eBay May 11th through the 17th.




If you haven't heard the entire story, here it is. On April 27th , while on a biking trip with his wife Glenda and their two sons, James and his family were relaxing at a table in a picnic area of Sycamore Flats in Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina,  when a heavy limb fell from a tree and struck James, causing several debilitating injuries, including four fractured vertebrae in his back and several severe fractures in his left arm. James has had extensive surgery to his arm (which implemented multiple plates and pins) and is wearing a back brace to stabilize his injured spine during the healing process. He will be unable to work for an indefinite period of time and faces months of painful physical therapy. 


James is one of the top authors in the horror genre and is well respected and loved by his peers, readers, and fans. He is also a dear and loyal friend to just about anyone who has crossed his path, professionally or privately. Ol' Hoss (as
I'm fond of calling him) has been a good friend of mine since we became acquainted following my return to horror in 2006. So when I heard what had happened to him, I tell you, I was nearly sick to my soul. After the initial shock passed, I knew that I had to lend a hand any way that I could. So I knocked on some doors (some of them mighty big) and solicited for donations of signed books, then organized this series of horror book auctions to raise funds for James and his family. Day after day, boxes and padded envelopes of books by some of the horror genre's leading authors and publishers began to show up on my doorstep, for which I'm humbly grateful. The horror community has a huge heart, folks; when one of their number falls upon hard times, they are always there to lend a hand any way possible. They go above and beyond the call of duty, with no questions asked.


So far we have 55 signed books written by the likes of Stephen King, Joe R. Lansdale, Robert McCammon, F. Paul Wilson, Graham Masterson, and dozens of others. Now it's time to offer these beautiful tomes full of weird and macabre story-telling goodness to the horror fans who support us and give us the encouragement to keep doing what we do best: scare the living crap out of you!


The Help the Hoss Benefit Book Auction for James Newman will be split into four days of auction listings: May 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th. Each book will be listed individually for a duration of 3 days (to give folks time to transfer funds to PayPal if necessary), which will make their auctions end on May 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th. If items are not bid on, we will extend the auctions a few days more, relisting the books or combining them in multiple-book sets.


We have autographed books coming in every day, but as of tonight, this is what we have scheduled for the nights of May 11 through 14:

May 11th

The Hunter from the Woods - Robert McCammon

Grimm Awakenings - Bryan Smith

Lesser Creatures - Peter Giglio

The Burden of Indigo - Gene O'Neill

Vector Borne - Michael McBride

December Park - Ronald Malfi

Restless Shadows (slipcased) - Ronald Kelly

Blood Red - James A. Moore

Scratch (remarque by the artist) - Brian Keene

Ugly as Sin - James Newman

The Summer of Winters - Mark Allan Gunnells

Coldbrook - Tim Lebbon

Specters in Coal Dust - signed by Brian J. Hatcher & Ronald Kelly

Legends of the Mountain State 3 - signed by Brian J. Hatcher

Screaming to Get Out - J.F. Gonzalez

The Wicked - James Newman

May 12th

Two Bear Mambo - Joe R. Lansdale

The Lurkers - Kristopher Rufty

Revival House - S.S. Michaels

Dreams in Black and White - John R. Little

Father Gaetano's Puppet Catechism - Christopher Golden

World of Hurt (slipcased edition) - Brian Hodge

The Dark'Un - Ronald Kelly

Clickers - J.F. Gonzalez & Mark Williams

The Painted Man - Graham Masterson

The Wicked - James Newman

666 Hair-Raising Horror Movie Trivia - James Newman

Return of the Mothman - Michael Knost

Permuted Press / set of three trade paperbacks

May 13th

Soft and Others - F. Paul Wilson

The Late Night Horror Show - Bryan Smith

After the Burn - Ronald Kelly

Back Roads and Frontal Lobes - Brady Allen

New Dark Voices - Gene O'Neill

The Haunted Forest Tour - Jeff Strand & James A. Moore

A Soul in a Bottle - Tim Powers

The Forum - James Newman

Burial Ground - Michael McBride

Invisible Fences - Norman Prentiss

Seal Team 666 - Weston Ochse

May 14th

The Shining (deluxe slipcased) - Stephen King

Stealing Night - Peter Giglio

The Way of the Flesh - Tim Waggoner

Murder at PK's - Roger Dale Trexler

Pitfall - Ronald Kelly

Clickers / Downward Spiral - J.F. Gonzalez

Animosity - James Newman

People are Strange - James Newman

Missile Gap - Charles Stross

Permuted Press 3 trade paperback set

3 signed book set by Brian J. Hatcher

Of course there will be more coming in as the week progresses (out of 50 contributors who have pledged books, 22 are still in the process of sending their donations), so the four lists above will grow by several authors every day, so keep your eyes peeled for changing developments.

As with every benefit event there are certain rules and conditions, which I will list below:

1. Each auction will be three-days in duration, to give everyone sufficient time to participate and transfer funds to PayPal if necessary.

2. Bidding will be limited to residents of the United States. We would love to include Canada and International bidding, but the expensive postage and chance of damage during shipments outside the US makes doing so more risky and time-consuming. I sincerely apologize for this exclusion in advance.

3. After each individual auction ends, the winning bidder will be expected to make payment, via PayPal, within three days from the ending time (immediately after winning the item is preferred). Upon payment, the money will be automatically transferred to the Newman family.

4. Shipping of the item will be made by Media Mail through the United States Postal Service, unless the bidder specifically requests First Class or Priority Mail and pays for those charges. Slipcased editions will automatically be tagged with First Class shipping in their individual auctions to expedite swiftly and prevent damage in transit.


5. All sales are final and there will be no refunds.

As well as the book auction, we are also taking monetary donations for James and the Newman family. If you desire to contribute in that manner, you can contact me here.

I hope you'll stop on by at eBay and check out the benefit auctions going on during the week of May 11th through 17th. I'll be providing links on my Facebook page and feed, as well as on Twitter, the Cemetery Dance Forum, RonaldKelly.com, and of course here at Southern-Fried & Horrified. Maybe you'll find some rare and incredible signed books to beef up your bookcase... and have the opportunity to help a good man and his family through a difficult time in the process.

See y'all there!

Helping the Hoss: A Benefit Book Auction for James Newman

Whenever I come across someone who I grow to regard with respect and affection, I usually end up calling them "hoss". Hoss is an expression we Southerners bestow upon someone who is not necessarily large in stature (think Bonanza's Dan Blocker), but, instead, large in heart and soul.

I've been calling James Newman "Hoss" for a while now; since 2006 in fact. I reckon it's because I feel a true kindredship with the man; we come from similar backgrounds, are both working men and family men, and share a mutual faith in God. I first saw his name on the spine of a book. After being on a self-imposed hiatus from horror writing for 10 years, I was tentatively considering a return to the genre and the first novel I pulled off the shelf was Midnight Rain. I read the author bio on the inside cover of that paperback and was intrigued. He was from North Carolina, so he was a fellow Southerner. That was enough to prod me into turning that first page and begin reading. After I finished, I put that book down (it has since become one of my all-time favorite novels), grinned, and thought I think I can do this again... but can I do it as good as this guy? A couple of days later I sat down and tried... and I've been writing ever since. Later I discovered that James  had had a similar experience with my novel Fear years earlier, which inspired him to give horror writing a try. So, in a way, our literary connection was mutually beneficial... even though we didn't know each other personally at that time.

Eventually, we did become good friends, through emails and phone calls and horror conventions. He wrote the introduction to my little collection of extreme horror stories, The Sick Stuff, and I wrote one for the trade paperback edition of Midnight Rain. We shared a room at Hypericon in Nashville and I introduced him to Joe R. Lansdale (who later invited him to lunch... which James graciously declined... the big dummy!). He began calling me Dude and I began calling him Hoss and that's how it has been for going on eight years now.

Then last week I heard about James' unfortunate accident; how a heavy tree limb -- a "widow-maker" the park rangers called it -- had fallen on him while he relaxed at a picnic table during a biking trip with his wife, Glenda, and their two sons. The limb had nearly lived up to its nomenclature, fracturing four vertebrae in his back and fracturing his left arm in multiple places. Truthfully, when I heard about it, I felt sick deep down in my soul. One of the most friendly and humble men I'd ever had the pleasure to know had been dealt a devastating blow. So had his family, although the toll on them had been purely emotional. The Newman family was undoubtedly in for a hard time. There would be loss of work, medical bills to pay, and weeks of physical therapy for the Hoss... and a helluva lot of pain.

Oddly enough, I was dealing with an emotional blow of my own at the same time. While heading to work at 4:30 am on Good Friday, I had collided with a stalled car on the interstate at 60 mph. It was a crash that should have been fatal... should have killed me... but, strangely enough, it hadn't. My car was totaled, but I walked away without a scratch. True, I was grateful for God's intervention, but I still found myself emotionally wounded by the accident. I felt terribly down -- depressed, suffering insomnia, experiencing writer's block, looking at my mortality flat in the face and wondering why I had been spared. Then I heard about James' accident and my pity party stopped dead in its tracks. What right did I have to mope around, feeling sorry for myself, when one of my best friends in the writing community was lying in a hospital bed, experiencing excruciating pain at every little movement?

So I put my personal angst aside and went to work. I began to email and Facebook message every horror author and horror publisher that I knew (and many that I didn't) and began to put something together for the benefit of my friend and his family. Looking back, I believe the Lord delivered me from a potentially fatal car crash because He had things He needed me to do. I believe this is one of them.

And, so, on the week of May 11th through the 17th of 2014, we will be holding "Helping the Hoss: A Benefit Book Auction for James Newman". Dozens of signed books donated by the most talented (and good-hearted) authors of the horror genre (as well as many leading publishers of horror fiction) will be put up for bid in multiple auctions during the course of the week. All proceeds from the sales of these books (minus the shipping charges) will be paid directly to James and his family. I would like to extend a huge "Thanks!" to the folks listed below for responding to my messages and donating the books we will be putting up for auction. All of them know, love, and respect the Hoss, and acted swiftly, compassionately, and without a moment's hesitation to make this benefit possible.

Joe R. Lansdale

Robert R. McCammon

F. Paul Wilson

Kealan Patrick Burke

Kristopher Ruffy

John R. Little

Weston Ochse

Michael Wilson/ Permuted Press

Ronald Malfi

Christopher Golden

Gary Braunbeck

Paul Goblirsch / Thunderstorm Books

Graham Masterson

Nate Southard

Mark Allan Gunnells

Richard Chizmar / Cemetery Dance Publications

Brian Hodge

Tim Waggoner

Roy Robbins / Bad Moon Books

Jesus Gonzalez

Bill Schafer / Subterranean Press

Ty Schwamberger

Charles Day / Evil Jester Press

Brian J. Hatcher

David Niall Wilson

Chris Morey / Dark Regions Press

Bryan Smith

Brian Freeman

Ronald Kelly

Gene O'Neill

Michael McBride

Jeff Strand

Mark Justice

Tim Lebbon

Peter Gigilo

Gord Rollo

Michael Knost

Norman Prentiss

Tom Montelone

James A. Moore
W.D. Gagliani

Mind you, this is an incomplete list. I haven't yet heard from half of those I sent messages to and believe that I will before May 11th rolls around. For all you readers and books collectors out there, this would be an excellent opportunity to beef up your bookshelves with autographed books by your favorite horror authors, as well as help a good man and his family make it through a very difficult time.

 I urge you to join us on the week of May 11-17 for this benefit book auction and help the Hoss.