Tag: horror

Now in paperback: MUSE!

July 11, 2024 / admin

My horror novella, Muse, is now available in paperback through Cemetery Dance! Click here to order.

Muse tells the story of a private detective hired by a young writer to steal an old box from the estate of H.P. Lovecraft. Mayhem ensues.

“This is a horror-filled book about creativity and storytelling and compulsion, not metaphorical but literal… Muse is now far and away my favorite Renner work.” – ScifiAndScary.com

“Renner’s spin on the Lovecraft-go-round is a dark-ass supernatural detective thriller speculating about the source of inspiration for two of America’s gloomiest, murkiest writers. It is a bloody, and clever and slick-noir journey through a criminal underbelly of east coast gangsters and cultists and amorous boy scout leaders and ambitious teenage novelists and it is creepy and rewarding and HIGHLY EFFABLE. like, ‘we are all effed-able.’ Finally, a Lovecraft i could love.” – Karen Brissette.

MUSE is here!

May 17, 2019 / admin

My new, little novel MUSE is officially out via Cemetery Dance. The story is set in 1960s New England, and follows a private investigator hired by a teenage girl to steal a box from the estate of H.P. Lovecraft. Signed hardbacks are limited to 750 copies. You can order yours here.

If audiobooks are your thing, Tantor Media put together a fabulous one for MUSE. You can get it on Audible, today!

MUSE is now available on Kindle as well.

Pre-order MUSE Today!

January 31, 2019 / admin

My new novel, MUSE, comes out May 14 but you can pre-order a copy, today at this link! This story is limited to only 750 signed copies and Cemetery Dance has done a wonderful job with it.

Here’s a hint of what it’s about:The enclosed was transcribed from ten mini-cassette tapes that were recovered from the offices of Boston attorney William J. Latch following his disappearance on June 19, 2014.

These tapes are part of the evidentiary record in the civil case of Latch V. Weymouth Life & Casualty.

William J. Latch was declared dead by the State of Massachusetts in April 2015 after Magistrate Gavin FitzGerald reviewed these tapes, privately, in his chambers. Weymouth Life & Casualty was therein ordered to release Latch’s survivor’s benefits to his children.

Latch’s body has never been found.

His client, Michael Hadley, also remains missing.

Find My New Short Story in Dark Screams 7!

July 27, 2017 / admin

I have new short story out in the latest Dark Screams collection of spine-tingling horror. It’s called A MONSTER COMES TO ASHDOWN FOREST, and it follows an aged Christopher Robin who must return to the Hundred-Acre Wood after a young girl is murdered, there.

Here’s some early reviews from Amazon readers:

“James Renner did a fantastic job with the Pooh story. Oh dear, what has become of my eeyore and piglet? It will take awhile to get over those images.”

“I have to hand it to James Renner because his story A MONSTER COMES TO ASHDOWN FOREST (IN WHICH CHRISTOPHER ROBIN SAYS GOODBYE) not only knocked the ball out of the park, it knocked it out of town! To see the Pooh stories turned into dark fiction pleased me to no end! Five FAT stars!”

“My favorite story was A Monster Comes to Ashdown Forest (In Which Christopher Robin Says Goodbye) by James Renner, one of the authors with whose work I was previously unfamiliar. We find out that Ashdown Forest was actually the 100 Acre Wood from those lovable Winnie the Pooh books when Christopher Robin, the patient in an convalescent home, requests to go back one last time. When they arrive, they are greeted by the “real” Eeyore and meet the rest of the somewhat timeworn gang. It’s kind of a nightmare version of Winnie the Pooh – a great read for anyone who has read those books or watched those movies a thousand times to children who just can’t get enough.”