Playing the Reverend Mac in Joe Lansdale’s “Christmas With the Dead!”

Yoohoo! Zombie lovers! You might want to keep your eye out for a film next year based on Joe R. Lansdale’s story, “Christmas With the Dead.” It’s a zombie movie, with a screenplay by Joe’s son Keith, and starring Damian Maffei, Brad Maule, Kasey Lansdale, and lil’ ole me as the eeeeevil Reverend Mac, an escapee from a state mental hospital for the criminally insane who has his equally insane minions (hot damn, I have minions!) sacrifice non-believers to the zombies in an unholy communion.

In late June, I shot for a week on location in Nacogdoches, Texas under the terrific direction of Terrill Lee Lankford, and it was a hoot and a half! I still have a sore throat from screaming when I get et by the zombies, but the footage should be worth the pain! Here’s a out of focus shot of me and Mike Blankenship, one of the zombies who  gets a big chaw outta me. Watch this site for more news of the film and check out the official website here.

Williamson-scripted “The Sockfather” (Sock Puppet Godfather) now on Vimeo!

A 52-minute parody of The Godfather done entirely with sock puppets? You bet, Fredo, and I wrote it too! And you can see the whole thing by clicking the links below!

The Sockfather was presented by the zanies at Creative Works of Lancaster, an arts organization I currently chair. I wrote the script, except for the brilliant final song by Erich Goldstein, and play the Don as well as a number of other roles. Other puppeteers were Lydia Brubaker, Erich Goldstein, and Joanna Underhill, with Joel Lesher on sound effects. We did three performances on a Sunday afternoon and evening in the Lancaster Dispensing Company, a bar in Lancaster PA, and packed the place each time. So join us! Here’s the trailer, and here’s the performance itself, compliments of filmmaker Jeff Lynch! The better you know the films, the more you’ll enjoy it, but newcomers should like it too!

My narration of David Niall Wilson’s ON THE THIRD DAY released…

Crossroad Press has released my narration of David Niall Wilson’s eerie novel about the Catholic Church, On the Third Day. This is the kind of book that gives you the shivers, but also gets under your skin and makes you think. On the Third Day is about Father Darren Prescott, a seeker of truth. He works for The Vatican, but his real work is within his own mind and heart; Father Prescott hunts miracles. Father Thomas is a young priest with a quiet congregation that worships at San Marcos by the Sea, a small cathedral outside San Valencez, California. One Easter Father Thomas’ Mass is interrupted by something he cannot explain – something powerful that shakes his world, and that of his congregation.

Father Thomas experiences the Stigmata.

If you liked The Exorcist, you’re bound to enjoy On the Third Day. The unabridged narration is available from Crossroad Press for $12.99, and can also be found at Amazon, Audible.com, and other fine purveyors of audiobooks…

Tales from the Crossroad w/2 of my rarest stories: $.99!

Crossroad Press has released a new ebook, Tales from the Crossroad Vol. 1, with two of my scarcest stories, as well as two each by Al Sarrantonio, Steve Rasnic Tem, Tom Piccirilli, and Gerald Houarner. What I’m most excited about is the reprinting of my novelette, “Jeaves and the Deteriorating Relations,” in which P. G. Wodehouse’s characters meet Joe Lansdale’s God of the Razor, and bloody hilarity ensues. I read aloud a briefer version of this at last year’s Horrorfind convention, and it was a big hit. It first appeared in the $100 Lansdale-edited Lords of the Razor, long out of print with copies now going between $300 and $600, so I’m delighted to have this inexpensive reprint appear! My other story is “And So Will I Remember You,” a very quiet ghost story from an Ash-Tree Press anthology, which might be new to most readers. There are novel excerpts from each of the five authors as well — that’s a total of ten stories and five novel excerpts. A lot of good reading for less than a buck!

The book is available for $.99 (a few sips of a latte!) at Amazon, and also at Barnes and Noble and many other fine ebook retailers on your favorite neighborhood Interwebz…