Welcome to our home on the web
Welcome to Langhorne Creative Group, a group of authors who strive to bring the best and most original stories to you, the modern reader. Our mission is to give you the best, so we will not waste your precious life or money on unoriginal, copy-cat stories that you can find elsewhere. We put everything we had into To Save A Life, Call Me Tennessee, and Memphis Dirty: Tales From the Dirty South, and we guarantee that you will enjoy every one of them. This is the announcements page, and each of the tabs above will take you to more information about our exciting stories and the men behind them.
Finally, an update!
16 May 2020 - Even though this page has not been updated in some time, literary work has continued! Moving from frozen New Hampshire to soggy Washington state, Stephen has kept his pen and paper ready to jot down the bizarre inspirations that strike him.
For the moment, those innovative daemons are stacking up, while he plugs away at a new novel, working title "Blood Price". Set in NATO-occupied Afghanistan, the defining event that sends the story into motion is the tragic US bombing of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz. Dozens were killed and injured in the mistake made during the fighting that triggered the strike, but what became of those innocents? Protagonist and Doctors Without Borders surgeon Mohammed Taghani, a US doctor of Iranian descent, is pulled from the rubble of his hospital in a panic, not for his wounds, but for his missing wife.
Also coming soon are price cuts for existing titles, and more short story news.
16 May 2020 - Even though this page has not been updated in some time, literary work has continued! Moving from frozen New Hampshire to soggy Washington state, Stephen has kept his pen and paper ready to jot down the bizarre inspirations that strike him.
For the moment, those innovative daemons are stacking up, while he plugs away at a new novel, working title "Blood Price". Set in NATO-occupied Afghanistan, the defining event that sends the story into motion is the tragic US bombing of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz. Dozens were killed and injured in the mistake made during the fighting that triggered the strike, but what became of those innocents? Protagonist and Doctors Without Borders surgeon Mohammed Taghani, a US doctor of Iranian descent, is pulled from the rubble of his hospital in a panic, not for his wounds, but for his missing wife.
Also coming soon are price cuts for existing titles, and more short story news.
Work finished on newest book!
15 May 2018 - After slaving away nonstop for about a year, Stephen has scribbled down a whole new book! Formerly known as "Ascend the Mountain", the newly-christened (can I use the term "christened" for a book about pagan mystery cults?) "Against the Deep" has finished its most massive round of edits and addition to date.
Stephen is quite glad to get a little break from writing, but the poor sap, he's about to work himself just as hard shopping it to potential literary agents and publishers. At the same time, he will be sending out previously published and unpublished short stories to keep irons in the fire, and maybe, just maybe he'll churn out a new short story before starting on his next book, which takes a break from the historical fantasy of "Against the Deep" and returns to the gritty realism of "Battle".
"Going Home" published in The Big Book Of Bootleg Horror: Volume 2!
In a pleasant surprise, Stephen had forgotten he even submitted "Going Home" for publication months ago only to hear that Hellbound Books loved it and wanted to publish it! Check out this tale of Lovecraftian hubris, occult researchers, talking monkeys, and hidden history!
Get your copy right here!
Get your copy right here!
"Sterick" is lead story in March's SciFan Magazine!
Available RIGHT NOW for a sale price of just .99 cents, you can read Stephen's newest horror story, "Sterick" in SciFan Magazine's March edition! We're pleased to see a Langhorne Boy got the honor of first story in the issue, and wow, what a great group of writers to be featured with.
UPDATE: the editor group behind SciFan Magazine apparently decided to not offer their magazines for sale anymore, sadly for everybody. However, if you would like to read "Sterick", use the Contact Form on the Those Langhorne Boys tab and for $0.99, I'll be pleased to send you a copy of our story.
UPDATE: the editor group behind SciFan Magazine apparently decided to not offer their magazines for sale anymore, sadly for everybody. However, if you would like to read "Sterick", use the Contact Form on the Those Langhorne Boys tab and for $0.99, I'll be pleased to send you a copy of our story.
SciFan Magazine to run our new short story!
However, if you would like to read "Sterick", use the Contact Form on the Those Langhorne Boys tab and for $0.99, I'll be pleased to send you a copy of our story. While I was shipped off to my job's Maryland work gulag for two weeks, imagine my thrill the second day of getting an email from the most excellent SciFan Magazine saying they love my grim, paranormal short story "Sterick" and they want to give me money for it! That really set the tone for a triumphant term at the work gulag.
SciFan is not short for "Science Fiction Fans", but more interestingly "Science Fantasy", where stories that involve what can only be considered magic or complete fantasy gets a veneer of scientific plausibility slapped on it and then becomes science fantasy. In a way, I find this more appealing than some of the harder science fiction, where the author spends way too much time trying to scientifically BS how their unrealistic items work at the expense of the story. Science fantasy leaves a little more to the imagination, letting you ponder how the mystery of the magic happens, and I enjoy my brain being made to tickle itself more.
I am also incredibly pleased that the short story picked up, "Sterick", was the first of the several I have out that got picked up, because I thought it would be the toughest sell. Not because it is too dark, too grim, too strange to get picked up by somebody else, but that my test audience told me the ending will either make people cry uncontrollably or hate my guts and want me to die for daring to write that, because it offends their delicate sensibilities.
"Sterick" is a ghost story, with the lead character (I wouldn't call him a hero) in a self-imposed exile, hiding within crumbling splendor, that has to take desperate action when his only friend (a murdered black school teacher) disappears suddenly in the realm of the dead. As in many tales involving ghosts, they aren't hanging around because they're happy people: something awful happened to make them unable to move on. Well, that means the actions of "we the living" have consequences on the other side, and Sterick bears horrifying witness to that.
Until "Sterick" comes out shortly, please join me in enjoying the February issue of SciFan Magazine at this link.
UPDATE: The link no longer works, as SciFan Magazine is no longer available! However, if you would like to read "Sterick", use the Contact Form on the Those Langhorne Boys tab and for $0.99, I'll be pleased to send you a copy of our story.
SciFan is not short for "Science Fiction Fans", but more interestingly "Science Fantasy", where stories that involve what can only be considered magic or complete fantasy gets a veneer of scientific plausibility slapped on it and then becomes science fantasy. In a way, I find this more appealing than some of the harder science fiction, where the author spends way too much time trying to scientifically BS how their unrealistic items work at the expense of the story. Science fantasy leaves a little more to the imagination, letting you ponder how the mystery of the magic happens, and I enjoy my brain being made to tickle itself more.
I am also incredibly pleased that the short story picked up, "Sterick", was the first of the several I have out that got picked up, because I thought it would be the toughest sell. Not because it is too dark, too grim, too strange to get picked up by somebody else, but that my test audience told me the ending will either make people cry uncontrollably or hate my guts and want me to die for daring to write that, because it offends their delicate sensibilities.
"Sterick" is a ghost story, with the lead character (I wouldn't call him a hero) in a self-imposed exile, hiding within crumbling splendor, that has to take desperate action when his only friend (a murdered black school teacher) disappears suddenly in the realm of the dead. As in many tales involving ghosts, they aren't hanging around because they're happy people: something awful happened to make them unable to move on. Well, that means the actions of "we the living" have consequences on the other side, and Sterick bears horrifying witness to that.
Until "Sterick" comes out shortly, please join me in enjoying the February issue of SciFan Magazine at this link.
UPDATE: The link no longer works, as SciFan Magazine is no longer available! However, if you would like to read "Sterick", use the Contact Form on the Those Langhorne Boys tab and for $0.99, I'll be pleased to send you a copy of our story.
A review you can use for In The Beginning
Zoe, a teenager and prolific reader, gave a great break-down and review of In The Beginning, and I am flattered she thought I got the anthology off on the right foot and there needs to be more adventures of Daniel and Hab! Check out her full review at the link below.
https://fallxnrobins.wordpress.com/2016/11/01/in-the-beginning-dark-retellings-of-biblical-tales-book-review/
Zoe, a teenager and prolific reader, gave a great break-down and review of In The Beginning, and I am flattered she thought I got the anthology off on the right foot and there needs to be more adventures of Daniel and Hab! Check out her full review at the link below.
https://fallxnrobins.wordpress.com/2016/11/01/in-the-beginning-dark-retellings-of-biblical-tales-book-review/
New short story featured in In the Beginning!
Fresh out the week before Halloween, you should pick up a copy of In The Beginning (edited by the awesome Laureen Cantwell and best-selling publisher Georgia McBride) to get your spooky on. Stephen Clements is blessed to be the first author featured in the collection, with his gritty, realistic retelling of the prophet Daniel (and sidekick future prophet Habakkuk) and his war against the demon-worshipping cult of Bel. Given how horrific the enemies Daniel faced were, Stephen wanted to portray the story not in the three or so lines given it in the Bible, but a fully-fleshed out, tale of Lovecraftian horror.
Check it out on Amazon, in paperback and Kindle!
Fresh out the week before Halloween, you should pick up a copy of In The Beginning (edited by the awesome Laureen Cantwell and best-selling publisher Georgia McBride) to get your spooky on. Stephen Clements is blessed to be the first author featured in the collection, with his gritty, realistic retelling of the prophet Daniel (and sidekick future prophet Habakkuk) and his war against the demon-worshipping cult of Bel. Given how horrific the enemies Daniel faced were, Stephen wanted to portray the story not in the three or so lines given it in the Bible, but a fully-fleshed out, tale of Lovecraftian horror.
Check it out on Amazon, in paperback and Kindle!
Short story featured in Memphis Noir!
|
|
New short story from Stephen Clements on the way this Fall!
The good people at Akashic Books (best known for the childhood classic, "Go The F- To Sleep" (narrated by Samuel L. Jackson), saw fit to include Stephen's short story "Battle" in their upcoming crime fiction collection "Memphis Noir"! The collection should be out in November, 2015, but Stephen is already spending that royalty check!
"Battle" is the story of an ex-Marine turned crackhead in his continuing search for more crack. Editor Laureen Cantwell described it as the darkest, grittiest story in the collection. That's after she cheered it up from the original version!
Keep your eyes here for more on Memphis Noir.
The good people at Akashic Books (best known for the childhood classic, "Go The F- To Sleep" (narrated by Samuel L. Jackson), saw fit to include Stephen's short story "Battle" in their upcoming crime fiction collection "Memphis Noir"! The collection should be out in November, 2015, but Stephen is already spending that royalty check!
"Battle" is the story of an ex-Marine turned crackhead in his continuing search for more crack. Editor Laureen Cantwell described it as the darkest, grittiest story in the collection. That's after she cheered it up from the original version!
Keep your eyes here for more on Memphis Noir.
Stephen Clements finished a new book review for Knight Templar Magazine
At request of the editor-in-chief of Knight Templar Magazine, Stephen wrote a review for a new book entitled Charlie Chaplin's Uncle, by Britain's own Ian Okell. Head over to the Director's Blog for the full review, some advice for new authors, and to experience the horror of the last book review of a book for KTM. Laugh at Steve's pain.
And for those waiting on the next Langhorne original title, work on Ascend the Mountain continues apace!
And for those waiting on the next Langhorne original title, work on Ascend the Mountain continues apace!
New store announcement!
Thanks to the incredible people at Logue's Black Raven Emporium, Langhorne Creative Group titles now have a bookstore to haunt in east Nashville! This Nashville staple for the cool kids in town has everything you want covered: an excellent selection of vintage clothing, rare movies and books, and even a bar with a cult movie theater attached in the basement. And yes, now you can get your To Save A Life, Memphis Dirty, and Call Me Tennessee on in Nashville. Come see why it's my favorite place in the world besides my own house.
New short story collection by JT Davenport in the works
Many of you enjoyed JT's contributions to Memphis Dirty: Tales From The Dirty South, and now JT is hard at work putting together his own collection of short stories of the weird and terrifying. The horror and science fiction fan will have quite a time reading these tales from the fertile imagination of young buck Davenport, and keep checking back here for more details.
Amazon Prime people, come on!
Effective immediately, all Langhorne titles are available for free to Amazon Prime members through the Kindle Lending Library! After sitting down with fellow writer Ronnie Headley and listening to him tell me about how awesome having his ebooks all be Kindle-format exclusives (both for him and his fans), I decided to take the plunge to let more people read our great books for free and get my authors paid at the same time. The bottom line: Amazon Prime members now have the hookup on all our current and future titles, and we will no longer be supporting the Nook format with Langhorne titles.
BLACK SPARTACUS, HOOOO!
So Mean Joe Tate and his Art Ninjas have finally dropped some of "So You Survived The Zombie Apocalypse" on us! Featuring a compelling story and eye-popping artwork, this is honestly not one of the millions "me-too" zombie stories polluting bookstores and the Internet you'll find elsewhere. I know, because I grilled Joe mercilessly to make sure he wasn't putting out some derivative crap story like everybody but Max Brooks. I am pleased to say that not only did he defend his work, but he hooked my interest as to how this previously unimagined world will unfold. Get over to their site and check out what this Langhorne discovery is up to! http://www.blackspartacus.com/
New novel in the works
As mentioned in the New Year to-do list, work has began in earnest on the first fantasy fiction novel from LCG (and no, Call Me Tennessee was mostly true, not fantasy!), with a working title of "Ascend the Mountain". There is going to be plenty of buckle and swashing in this fantasy epic, featuring tales of magic, demon cults, and wenching, all set in the year 1000 AD in the Byzantine Empire. Keep looking to this page for more details!
UPDATE: After intensive brain-storming by JT Davenport and Stephen Clements, the hard task of putting meat on the bones of the story is well underway. As of 11 December, 2012, the working manuscript is up to 60 pages and over 20,000 words. To give a little teaser about what is in store for you, the reader, think back to reading stories and myths about gods and monsters that used to terrorize the world and toy with humanity. As our two heroes discover, those were not just fantasies. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: After intensive brain-storming by JT Davenport and Stephen Clements, the hard task of putting meat on the bones of the story is well underway. As of 11 December, 2012, the working manuscript is up to 60 pages and over 20,000 words. To give a little teaser about what is in store for you, the reader, think back to reading stories and myths about gods and monsters that used to terrorize the world and toy with humanity. As our two heroes discover, those were not just fantasies. Stay tuned.