Local author and occasional RVA Magazine contributor James Wayland has just released his first novel, and it's a quick and dirty thrillride of a horror story. As you can probably tell from the title, Trailer Park Trash And Vampires isn't one of those moon-kissed gothic old-world epics about vampires who give off a forbidden romantic allure--nope, these vampires are brutal, hungry fiends, and they've come upon a small Southwestern desert town full of deadbeats, barflies, and oddballs, with lust for blood in their hearts and murder in their eyes. If you like reading books that are the equivalent of gory 70s-era B-movies (and I for one definitely do), you will have a blast reading this one.
Little Drop is a dustbowl town where everybody's a little strange, but no one's a stranger.
At least that was the case prior to the arrival of a sinister quartet who never leave during the day, but always roam the night in their hulking black van. These predators have rented a lot at Ryker's Trailer Park, a ramshackle establishment where anything goes and everyone's fair game.
When a teenage boy witnesses an unspeakable act, he turns to a drunk for help. Before long, Lennie Prescott and young Toby Setliff are searching for allies in a gruesome battle with the undead.
Ryker’s Trailer Park is home to one of the zaniest assortments of characters ever to grace the printed page, people like Lynne Shelby, a bold cougar on the prowl for young love, or Kenneth Harris, a master of karate who may be losing his mind. Gunnie Chesterbauh and Gash Wright are wannabe rockstars, and Roy Hawke is a lawman who favors a Stetson and fears no one.
These disgruntled protagonists and many others are taken on a nightmarish ride that will define or destroy each of them. Over the course of three frantic days, an unlikely struggle for survival erupts into all-out war between man and monster.
Trailer Park Trash & Vampires is packed with thrills, chills, and chuckles, and also features ample servings of those red-blooded American classics: sex, drugs, and violence.
Chris Visions put together a brutally awesome cover illustration for the book, as you can see above, and he ended up enjoying working on the cover so much that he decided to do a series of illustrations for the entire book. This fully illustrated edition will be released in both e-book and trade paperback formats on Friday, July 13. That edition will be priced at $5.99 for the e-book and $9.99 for the paperback, but there's a non-illustrated version up on Amazon right now, which is available for the low introductory price of $3.99! Even better, if you're an Amazon prime member, it's available for the even lower introductory price of FREE! So check that version out HERE--you can even click on the cover image to read the first few chapters free of charge--and check back in the next couple of weeks for the debut of the fully illustrated edition! And look for an interview with James here on the RVA Magazine website next week!