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I live in far northern California with my wonderful wife Dawn and our brood of cats. I'm a writer of novels and short stories -- I sold my first novel, SEDUCTIONS, in 1984, and my fifty-fourth book, RAVENOUS, will be published in April by Leisure Books. My novels include LIVE GIRLS, NIGHT LIFE, THE LOVELIEST DEAD, SEX AND VIOLENCE IN HOLLYWOOD, CRUCIFAX, DARK CHANNEL, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: RESURRECTING RAVANA, LOT LIZARDS, DARKLINGS, BIOFIRE, TRADE SECRETS, and many others. In 2006, I was very honored to receive the Grand Master of Horror Award at the World Horror Convention. Most of my work has been in the horror genre, but I seem to be leaning toward thrillers and comedies these days. Two of my novels -- LIVE GIRLS and SEX AND VIOLENCE IN HOLLYWOOD (a dark comedy-thriller) -- are making their way slowly to the big screen. I'm currently at work on BESTIAL, the sequel to RAVENOUS. I'm a voracious reader and an inveterate movie lover. I plan to add a lot to this page, so keep checking back.
I'm known primarily for my work in the horror genre, and the question I'm most often asked is why I write horror. I was raised a Seventh-day Adventist, which is an apocalyptic pseudo-Christian cult that believes itself to be the Remnant Church, the ONLY true church and the only path to salvation. Adventists believe (thanks to the writings of their Victorian-era prophet, Ellen G. White, who received "visions" from God ... which it was later learned she'd actually plagiarized from other writers of her time) that in the Last Days, all the Sunday-keeping religions (Adventists observe the Saturday sabbath) will band together and, led by the evil Catholic church, they will take over the country and pass a National Sunday Law that will require that EVERYONE worship on Sunday. Those who refuse to do so -- like the Adventists (and probably the Jews, although Adventists like to believe the Last Days are all about THEM) -- will be hunted down, captured, imprisoned, tortured, and ultimately executed. This was taught to me from a very tender age, and my earliest memories are of fear. As a very small boy, I was terrified of this coming Sunday Law. I couldn't sleep at night without a light on (and sometimes even with one on), I was afraid of being left alone for any length of time, and every time a TV show was interrupted by a special news bulletin, I nearly had a panic attack, certain that the newscaster was about to announce the passage of this law. It haunted my dreams and my waking hours. In other words, from my earliest days, I was in abject terror. And yet, my parents could never figure out why in the world I was so fearful! My earliest memories of prayer include begging God to end my life before that Time of Trouble came. I spent my childhood -- a time when I should have been filled with joy and life and silliness -- asking God to kill me. By the time I saw my first horror movie on TV -- William Castle's 13 GHOSTS, at about the age of four or five -- I was a fearful wreck, but I LOVED the movie! It reflected the way I felt all the time -- afraid -- but it was FUN! After all, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, demons, and giant monsters were kid's stuff compared to the soul-killing things I spent my time agonizing over, things like the End of the World and being imprisoned, tortured, and executed because I was unlucky enough to be raised by Seventh-day Adventists! Of course, once I discovered horror films, my parents finally had something on which to blame my constant fear -- the horror movies, of course! It couldn't POSSIBLY be the cosmic horror they'd taught me from infancy -- oh, no, of course not! Adventists disapprove of movies (ESPECIALLY horror movies) and novels (ESPECIALLY horror novels), so I started off on the wrong foot and ended up doing something for a living that they don't like. When my first novel, SEDUCTIONS, was published in 1984, I was living in Angwin, California, an Adventist community next door to one of their colleges, Pacific Union College. They didn't like my book (even though they never read it) and they had no qualms about letting me know it. Needless to say, I didn't stick around long after that. In spite of their pious disapproval and their insistence that I'm going to burn in the Lake of Fire, the fact is that Adventism filled my life with so much horror from my earliest days that I actually turned to horror movies and literature for a little RELIEF, and most importantly, Adventism MADE me the horror writer I am today. So, to the Seventh-day Adventist church -- thanks for the memories, and for an occupation that I love!RAVENOUS is in stores NOW! Here are what some critics are saying:
"A serial rapist is on the loose in the sleepy California town of Big Rock, and sheriff Arlin Hurley's secretary is the latest victim. When a self-proclaimed werewolf hunter named Daniel Fargo comes into town claiming that Big Rock has an infestation of the creatures, Hurley thinks the man is insane, until the eviscerated corpses and attacks by large animals start in earnest. For Garton, lycanthropy is an STD, spread mostly through rape, that runs rampant through a small town fraught with affairs and intrigues. His werewolf is a terrifying creature; not a remorseful, helpless cursed human but a homocidal beast driven by a dual urge to breed and feed. Hurley is a sheriff to root for, and Garton's well-paced horror novel reworks the werewolf myth to great effect."
-- Publishers Weekly
"In 1987, author Ray Garton’s novel Live Girls revitalized the vampire novel with its groundbreaking mix of sex and violence, in the process practically creating the “erotic horror†subgenre on its own. More than 20 years later, Garton’s latest is poised to do the same for werewolves, another classic horror mainstay in dire need of a makeover. Garton doesn’t shirk in his writing, which makes him one of the top horror writers working today." -- Craig Clark, DOWN IN THE CELLAR"RAVENOUS does for werewolves what 'SALEM'S LOT and Garton's own LIVE GIRLS did for vampires." -- F. Paul Wilson, creator of REPAIRMAN JACK"RAVENOUS grabs you by the throat in Chapter 1 and never lets go. Ray Garton, master frightener, is at his best in this one. Read it alone at your peril." -- Gary Brandner, author of THE HOWLING"Sex sleep eat drink dream.... and kill. Ray Garton's RAVENOUS reads like a joyful mash-up of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and PREDATOR, adding the hunt to the tally of our daily desires. Witty, warped, and steeped in blood, this novel of hungry horror tumbles toward a delicious finale that will only leave you wanting to read more and more of Garton's ferocious fiction." -- Douglas E. Winter, author of RUN"Ray Garton has done it again. As a chilling masterpiece of dark fiction, RAVENOUS is right up there with LIVE GIRLS. Just as Stephen King's SALEM'S LOT triumphs because of the strength of its characters and the utter, engrossing reality of the town they live in, RAVENOUS will be remembered by readers long after its last sentence. Our beloved Grand Master of horror has never written a bad book, but RAVENOUS is right up there with the best novels anyone has written. In Garton's masterful prose, the werewolf finally becomes as real, as convincing and as archetypally compelling as the vampire long has been. Garton's brilliant reconceptualization of the ancient legend feels so right, so utterly terrifying, that it will become the benchmark against which all other novels of its kind are judged. I couldn't put it down. It haunts me. It will haunt you." -- Steven Spruill, author of RULERS OF DARKNESS and SLEEPER"RAVENOUS is Ray Garton's most disturbing, affecting, and ferocious novel since CRUCIFAX -- which is to say, he's going to cost you a lot of sleep with this one. There are images and sequences in this book that only a frontal lobotomy will make you forget." -- Gary Braunbeck, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of MR. HANDS and COFFIN COUNTY"Ray Garton is one of the true kings of old school horror. RAVENOUS is fierce, fearsome, blood-soaked fare, a werewolf novel that's bound to snap its jaws together on your throat. If you like your meat served up raw and bloody, then definitely come take a bite out of RAVENOUS, and let it take a bite out of you." -- Tom Piccirilli, author of THE COLD SPOT THE MIDNIGHT ROAD"The characters are compelling, the angst believable, and the monsters more than terrifying. After reading Ray Garton’s RAVENOUS, I can guarantee you will never look at your neighbors in the same way again." -- Tabatha Johnson, DREAD CENTRALRAVENOUS is available now at Amazon -- click below to order:
http://www.amazon.com/Ravenous-Leisure-Fiction-Ray-Garton/dp /0843958200/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209 853632&sr=1-1