Book Two Finished

After much hard work, my manuscript for the second chapter in the epic "The Coming Evil" Trilogy is now finished. It's approximately 128,000 words which puts it at nearly three times the length of the first book and it is bursting at the seams with new characters, startling revelations, and some surprising twists for the mythos. Now, in answer to the first question people ask me after they've read the first book ("When's the next one coming out?") we're not through with the waiting period yet.

As you know, I released the first book "The Strange Man" independently and I have no desire or intention of doing that a second time. The first book is slowly making the rounds and getting some good attention and it is my hope to have the entire series adopted into a loving publishing home. Now that the second manuscript is finished, I'll be hard at work pitching it to anyone who will listen. This means more waiting for you, The Dear Reader, but I believe it'll be worth the wait. This trilogy has been a long time in coming and I've been careful to take prayerful steps in the journey and I'll continue to seek God's direction and timing. In the meantime, pray for me and continue to get the word out on "The Coming Evil."

And, just so you don't think I'm a total tease, I'll reveal a tidbit of information that a lot of you have been bugging me about. The Title ;) The official title of the next installment will be...

"The Coming Evil, Book Two: Enemies of the Cross".

Okay, okay, so it's not "The Coming Evil"...

...but it's neat nonetheless.

For the last year or so, I've been hard at work writing original content for a website debuting in 2008 based on the new line of comics that continues the Halloween film saga begun in John Carpenter's classic 1978 film!

My friend Stef Hutchinson is writing the comic book (more info below) and invited me to, basically, help him build the surrounding mythology and world for Halloween. I've loved Halloween for a long time, and have prided myself on collecting a whole bunch of obscure information gleaned from 30 years of tie-in material. A lot of that has been buried and, while I wasn't able to resurrect it all (for copyright reasons or what-have-you), I WAS able to integrate some of that old material into the new, and for a continuity buff like me, that's very exciting.

The new MySpace page is up for the Halloween Comics, so feel free to drop by and look around.

Also, in addition to the The Coming Evil Official MySpace Page, I've had to make a more general MySpace page for myself to put on the Halloween site. So drop in and add me if it so moves ya.

Now, without further ado, here's the official press release for Halloween: Nightdance!

Beginning in February, the original storyline begun in John Carpenter's 'Halloween' will continue with a new comic book series from Devil's Due Publishing.

Written By Stefan Hutchinson ('25 Years Of Terror' Director) and illustrated by Tim Seeley ('Hack Slash' Creator), 'Halloween: Nightdance' will be a 4-Issue Monthly Limited Series.

"Michael Myers returns! On October 31st, evil descends on the small town of Russellville, Illinois. A young girl named Lisa discovers that a secret from her past has come back to haunt her, and he's leaving a trail of bodies in his wake!"

Each issue of this series will feature, amongst its variants, an alternate comic book by a "Master Of Comic Book Horror!" The "Masters Of Comic Book Horror" cover for Issue 1 is painted by the legendary Bill Sienkiewicz (Stray Toasters, Elektra, 30 Days of Night)!

The series will be supplemented by a dedicated website, opening later in 2008 - www.halloweencomics.com

The available covers for issue 1 are as follows:

Cover A - by series artist Tim Seeley
Cover B - "Masters of Comic Book Horror" Painted Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz Cover C - Painted Cover by Crash Cunningham Cover D - Glow-in-the-dark Jack-o-lantern (Image to be confirmed) Cover E - Bill Sienkiewicz sketch Retailer Incentive (extremely limited)

Issue 1 is available in February, but you can make an order with your local comics retailer right now!
The following link will tell you the location of your nearest stockist!

http://csls.diamondcomics.com/

More news, inluding a full press release and pages will follow shortly!

Saturday's Booksigning: The Verdict

This past Saturday, my lovely wife Meghan (yeah, that's her) and I sold and signed copies at The Storehouse in Jonesboro. It was slow moving, but we managed to move a few copies of the book and I'm happy to say that a couple people will be getting "The Coming Evil" for Christmas. There's just something about the thought of spreading fear and terror that brightens up my holiday :)

If you'd like to give the gift of horror this Christmas, order your copy today!

Book Signing November 24th!

WHEN: Saturday, November 24th
2:00-4:00 in the afternoon

WHERE: The Storehouse, Inc.
1825 E. Nettleton
Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401

If you're near the area, come out and see me on the 24th at The Storehouse. I'll be selling and signing copies of "The Coming Evil, Book One: The Strange Man" and answering your questions. I hope to see you there!

Full Moon Horror Convention!

Home at last.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Full Moon Horror Convention in Little Rock, Arkansas. Me, my best friend/part-time enforcer Johnny, and an armload of copies of the book made the Statehouse Convention Center our home for three days.



We met some great people like Evelle LeChat and the crew over at Night-Frights, a late night monster show in Conway, Arkansas. They were the first friendly faces we met at the convention and they're doing very important work: Keeping the late night monster show alive! Check them out over at their site and show your support.



Our next door neighbor at the convention was up-and-coming starlet, Sarah Swofford. This was the hardest working girl at the convention, tirelessly posing for pictures with fans and signing autographs. During the lulls in traffic I was able to get to know her a little bit and she's really a great girl. Visit her at her site and check out her new movie Sugar Creek.

In perhaps the strangest twist at the convention, I witnessed the metamorphosis of my friend Tim (proprietor of Tim's Weird World: Northeast Arkansas's premier [and only] emporium of the eccentric) into Timothy M. Eubanks: The International Lover.



At the convention, I also met former Disney animator Richard Harrison Green. He was gracious enough to draw his rendition of the Strange Man, the villain of "The Coming Evil". He did an amazing job!





Overall, the convention was a huge personal success. I was able to meet a lot of people, make some contacts for the future, and even sold some books! And, while I'm glad to be back home, I'm looking forward to my next convention outing. Who knows? It could be in a town near you!

Another Interview!

The trailer for "The Coming Evil, Book One: The Strange Man" is now up on YouTube, GodTube, and VideoPile and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Within the first couple days of going live with the trailer, I received an e-mail from fellow Lost Genre Guild Member Chris who wanted to post the trailer on her Tuesday Trailer blog and do a short interview with Yours Truly.

I'm happy to say that the interview is up over at "Write and Whine" as well as an encore presentation of the trailer. Check it out if you get a free second and thanks to Chris, once again, for helping get the word out.

If you'd like to feature the trailer with a short interview about the project attached for your blog or website, visit the official site and look me up on the Contact tab.

Trailer Now Online for "The Strange Man"

The trailer for "The Coming Evil, Book One: The Strange Man" is now online! Go and get a sneak peek at what's in store for you within the pages of the novel...then go out and buy the novel.

The music for this trailer was composed by my new friend and brother in Christ, Dan J. Schulte. He's an amazing talent and shares in my love for all things John Carpenter. Thanks, Dan!

First Review for "The Strange Man"

After many preview copies sent all over the country, I'm happy to say that my first review has been posted for "The Coming Evil, Book One: The Strange Man". Karen McSpadden at Disturbing the Universe was kind enough to offer me a spot on her blog for a review and a revealing Q&A. Here's a sample of what she had to say about the book:

"The Coming Evil by Greg Mitchell takes on the familiar topic of Christian warfare with a uniquely horrible twist in his novel The Strange Man. The novel reads like a blockbuster scare-fest and packs a message that is as urgent for the reader as it is for the book's characters."

To read the whole review and the interview that follows, click here.

New Bio Up!

Hey, if you guys head on over to The Suspense Zone, you can read my new bio and follow a link to order the book. Thanks, Susan, for the nod!

Full Moon Horror Con and Film Festival

Well, I have to say this is a first for me.

Recently, I've been given the opportunity to be a guest author at the first annual Full Moon Horror Convention and Film Fest in Little Rock, Arkansas this October 26-28. I've been to many conventions in my life, but never as a guest before. I'll be signing and selling "The Coming Evil" all three days of the con.

Check out the Full Moon Horror Con's site for more details and a complete (and quite impressive) guest list.

I hope to see you there!

Brave New World

Well, the book's been out for a little over a month and what a wild ride it's been already. I've got the book in a couple local Christian stores (The Storehouse and The Lighthouse, both in Jonesboro, Arkansas, for those of you close by).

The real adventure, though, has been traversing the internet, seeking out other like-minded Christian sci-fi/fantasy/horror writers and fans. Much to my shock, I discovered an entire online community of them and they have welcomed me with open arms. They're called the Lost Genre Guild and, if you're a fan or a fellow Christian speculative fiction writer looking for a place to call home, check out their website. There's also a video up, chronicling the Guild's origins and current activities. It's a great primer course for who they are and what they do.

Here's a few more links that you should really be looking up:

http://www.fearandtremblingmag.com
http://www.raygunrevival.com
http://www.freewebs.com/dragoneyepi

As for me, I'm still at TheComingEvil.Com Drop in, write me a letter or something, and buy the book!

Book One Now Available!

The wait is finally over.

The Coming Evil, Book One: The Strange Man is now available. It's been a long journey getting here for me and my brain hasn't quite processed the event. But I do know that, even though the book is finished, the dream is still incomplete until it gets to your hands for your enjoyment.

You can purchase the book direct from the publisher at Xulon's website, or through Amazon.

If you enjoy the book, be sure to leave a review on Amazon and help get the word out.

New MySpace Page

Hey, come visit us over on MySpace!

http://www.myspace.com/thecomingevil

Greetings and Introductions

Hey, all, and welcome to the Official Blog of The Coming Evil. For the uninitiated, The Coming Evil is a trilogy of Christian Horror novels, destined to break stereotypes on both sides of the gamut and change the way you define "Christian Fiction" forever. The first book, The Strange Man, is about to hit the shelves in less than a month, so I thought I’d take this time to give it (and me) a proper introduction and give you a little taste of the genesis of this project.

First off, my name is Greg Mitchell. I’m a screenwriter in the Christian entertainment industry and freelance writer. Back in 1998, when I was nineteen, I met Rich Christiano, a local Christian filmmaker who’d already produced and released a few short films. We talked about writing and movies, and I got to be an extra in a flick he was shooting on a nearby college campus. In order to brush up on Rich’s work, I watched one of his earliest films, a short entitled The Appointment. It struck me because it was suspenseful and, dare I say, "scary", and it had a strong message.

You see, I love monster movies. Scary stories, urban legends, monster books, you name it, I love it. Stephen King, Ghostbusters, The Monster Squad…the stuff of my childhood, right there. Having grown up on a healthy diet of superhero comics, Star Wars, G.I. Joe, and the aforementioned monster movies, I was sometimes ostracized from the Church. I’m a Christian, through and through. I believe every word of the Bible and I stand by my faith in Jesus Christ. Some people saw my fanboy interests as a contradiction to my faith – but I saw it as my ministry.

After I watched The Appointment, God gave me the idea that this was what I could do with my life. I could create something that combined my faith and convictions with all those old monster stories I had loved hearing as a kid and the great scary movies of my generation. I wanted to tap into the kind of genre that The Appointment hinted at. For those of you who have never seen the film, let me give you a brief rundown. The story is simple:

What if someone came to you and said they had a message from the Lord? What if they told you that next Tuesday at 5:09pm you were going to die? What would you do? Would you believe them? And, if so, would that cause you to question your faith and consider if you and God were really on good terms? I mean, if you realized that the Bible was true and that, only by coming to God through Jesus Christ could you be saved from eternal separation from God…wouldn’t that cause you to rethink your life?

I was excited by The Appointment, and, of course, I wanted to write a sequel. I approached Rich with my idea. I wanted to take the premise from the first one, but put a spin on it. What if someone came to you and said they had a message from the Lord? What if they told you that next Tuesday at 5:09pm your best friend was going to die?

What would you do then?

Out of that premise, the character of Dras Weldon was born.

Suddenly, I thought of this Dras Weldon kid (boy, and what a name!) as a slouch and a hypocrite, who’d lived his life as selfishly as possible, though he claimed to be a Christian. How would he – who had made a joke out of his faith – be able to convince his best friend, Rosalyn Myers, to turn to the Lord before her soul was forever lost to the darkness? From that core idea came The Coming Evil.

Rich passed on the idea as a potential sequel (by then he was off to other projects), but still the idea stayed with me. It was the first story I ever really had that had questions and issues of faith at its center with "scary things" seamlessly integrated throughout.

And so, with this skeleton, I struck out on my own and began writing a movie script. It took on MANY incarnations, and still I could not quite get it right. Then I was flipping through channels and came across The Twilight Zone one day. Captivated as I always am by TZ, I sat down and watched an episode entitled "The Howling Man". In it, a weary traveler stays the night at this monastery where the monks claim to have the Devil chained in a cell. And, sorry to spoil it for you, but the man doesn’t believe it’s the Devil, and he lets him loose, thereby freeing Satan and causing World War II! I was so inspired by the episode that I had to go work on my own script.

Now, in The Appointment, an angel approaches our heroine when she receives her message. So, with "The Howling Man" fresh on my mind, I thought, what if I went the other way and our hero was visited by a devil? It was this new and evil character that evolved into "The Strange Man". I knew that this villain had to be especially nasty, so I drew upon my own experiences.

They say that everyone has their demons. If this is so, the Strange Man is mine. He is everything that I fear in life. He is that voice that tells you that you’re not good enough or that the person you’re with doesn’t really love you. He feeds on your insecurities and repeats them back to you, and since he’s telling you things that you’ve feared in your heart for so long, you begin to believe them and take them as truth. He is doubt. He is deceit. He is the Eternal Tormentor. The more I wrote him, the more I wanted to beat him. The more I wanted the heroes to win.

Once I tapped into that part of my heart, the story took on a life of its own.

I wrote the first script, and, within the week I think, wrote the next two acts. I had my trilogy. However, I was met with all new challenges. Originally, The Coming Evil was going to be a movie trilogy (a dream I still hold), but there was just no way I was going to be able to accomplish that at that time. Then I happened to meet up with Rich Christiano again. He was taking an unproduced script that he had and turning it into a novel, as a way to generate interest before making the film. He asked me to write the novelization, and I did. It became Time Changer, which Rich eventually filmed and released to theaters. Up until that point, I had never written a novel and had always thought of myself as a screenwriter, but I decided to take some of the things I learned while writing Time Changer and apply them to my own epic.

I learned a lot about my characters and my story in the process of writing the book. It went through a lot of changes and, until my lovely wife Meghan came along, a lot of things were out of order. But, with her ability to ask the hard questions about if some things were working or not, I was able to get it finished.

Of course, that’s the short version of the story.

The long version includes a lot of tears, frustrations, and struggles. The first draft of the original script was completed in 1999 and the novel was not published until 2007. I had an agent for awhile and we pitched the project to a number of different Christian publishers, but the idea of a "Christian Horror epic" seemed too great a risk. After struggling with what to do, God finally gave me a peace that it was time to release the first book myself. I partnered with a Print-On-Demand company called Xulon Press in order to get the book into your hands. Hopefully word will spread, and if God wills it, a publisher will pick up the title and publish the remaining two books.

It’s been quite a journey getting to this point. Since writing that first draft nearly ten years ago, I’ve moved out of my parents’ house, got married, saw the birth of my daughter, and grew up. And, through it all, I discovered myself. I discovered that there are things worth fighting for. I discovered that there are things in this world that are evil and scary, and yet God has given any who call on His Name the power to conquer those things that frighten us.

That is, in essence, the core of The Coming Evil. It’s about standing up to your Bogeyman, whoever or whatever that might be for you. It’s about a scared little boy facing down his darkest fears and making it out alive. But, more than that, making it out a man. That was the journey that was set before Dras in this book, and that is also the journey I took as I wrote it.

Hopefully you’ll stop by in a few weeks and pick up The Coming Evil: Book One: The Strange Man when it comes out. This is just the first act of the trilogy, and believe me when I say you’ve got a crazy ride ahead of you, guaranteed to be something you’ve never seen before – at least not in a Christian Fiction book. This trilogy has been my life’s work for the last ten years, something that I know God has given me to share with the world. I can’t express my excitement that people will finally be able to start on the journey. May God bless you, traveler.

In the world of The Coming Evil, you’re gonna need it.

Test

Hey, just being a dork and seeing if this works.