BooksChatter: ☀☄ Gristle & Bone

Thank you for joining us on the Release Day Party for Gristle & Bone, 7 Delectable Tales of Terror by Duncan Ralston (12 July 2015, Forsaken, 239 pages).

Here you can find the book's trailer, its synopsis, an excerpt from one of the short stories, Viral, and a Q&A with Duncan Ralston!

"Mr. Ralston writes horror fiction that is unflinching and pulls no punches." - The Ginger Nuts of Horror

"Duncan Ralston is writing honest stories about real people, pitched headlong into extraordinary situations. And that is what makes them so horrifying." - Ken Preston, author of Joe Coffin (Review of GRISTLE & BONE for Dirge Magazine)

Trailer | Synopsis | Teaser | Author Q&A | About the Author | Tour Stops

Synopsis

Short and novella-length dark fiction from the twisted imagination of Duncan Ralston.

Baby Teeth

After doctors tell her she can't be pregnant, Candace learns that not every child is a gift.

Beware of Dog

Disgraced soldier Dean Vogel returns to his hometown and confronts the bullies, and a horrifying event, from his past.

Viral

A reporter uncovers what really happened to the latest internet sensation, a troubled girl who disappeared on camera.

Artifact (#37)

Gonzo pornographers learn a brutal lesson following a tragedy they inadvertently caused when life imitated "art."

//END USER

Anti-social conspiracy theorist Mason Adler’s life is turned upside-down when he begins receiving eerily personal and prophetic spam that could be heralding the Apocalypse.

Fat of the Land

A couple discovers the secret of a tourist town's prosperity may lie in its sinfully delicious cuisine.

Scavengers

When successful restaurant owners Jim and Leanne Taymor confess to a grisly series of small town murders, their neighbor learns the gruesome truth that led them to kill. In Knee High, Nebraska, someone–or something–has been stalking household pets in the dead of night… but would they rather be hunting us?

Teaser: Excerpt

From “Viral”

"You are looking into the Walker disappearance, is that correct?" Constable Nadeau dropped into the chair behind her desk with a squeak. She spoke with a heavy Quebecois accent, the English slightly stilted; th becoming t or d, depending; lone hs dropped; emphases in all the wrong places.

"Yes, that's right," Tara said. "Do you mind if I record this?"

Nadeau waved the question away.

"How long has she been missing?"

"Two week," Nadeau said. "The Bamber girl reported she had not seen her the afternoon Daria made her video."

"Nor her parents."

Nadeau wore mysterious smile as she shook her head. "Oh no. MacKenzie was supposed to meet Daria to work on a video project for school. I suspect it was this video you see on the internet, which she had uploaded later that day."

"You think these kids worked on it together. That it's just special effects."

"Oh, I have no doubt, Ms. Maxwell." She folded her hands over the desk, leaning forward on her elbows, reminding Tara of Hal Waterman. "And you? Surely you don't think it's real?"

"Of course not." Her indignation seemed forced even to herself. "Why did you smile when I asked about her parents? Did they—?"

"Greta and Anson Walker are… unique."

"Unique? How so?"

Nadeau raised her sharp eyebrows. "Let us just say, it's no wonder to me why Daria Walker disappeared," the detective said, then frowned a little at the unintentional implication, and corrected herself: "Went missing. The girl's father didn't even remember what she was wearing that day, not that it would have helped one way or the other."

De udder was how it sounded in Nadeau's accent, and Tara couldn't help but grin. "Why not?"

"The thing is, Daria left a pile of clothes in front of the computer before she slipped out of her bedroom window. The hoodie, her jogging pant, a pair of socks and underwear. All the things she wore in the video. There was even an earring and a little beaded bracelet—"

Tara seized on it: "A friendship bracelet?" Left her clothes. Left her bracelet, and her jewelry… everything she couldn't take with her to the Great Beyond.

"Maybe." Nadeau shrugged. "She'd just left it there on the carpet beside her desk chair. Like she want us to believe she literally disappeared..."

Gristle & Bone - available NOW!

UK:

US:

About the Author

Duncan Ralston was born in Toronto, and spent his teens in a small town.

As a “grown-up,” Duncan lives with his girlfriend and their dog in Toronto, where he writes about the things that frighten and disturb him. In addition to his twisted short stories found in GRISTLE & BONE and THE BLACK ROOM MANUSCRIPTS, his debut novel, SALVAGE, will haunt various booksellers in the fall, 2015.

Follow Duncan Ralston: