Happy Holidays!!!

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers the happiest of Christmases and the best New Year ever for 2014. Thank you for all your support in 2013; it means a lot! May you be healthy, wealthy, successful, and in love. I will see you all next year with more stories from my twisted mind. Stay safe!

Back from Pop Expo

Back from a tiring but rewarding two days at Ottawa's first Pop Expo. I did it again. Sold out another convention ... well, almost. Left the Ottawa Pop Expo with only one book unsold and I'm positive I would've sold it had I stayed until the end. I left at 15:45 Sunday to head back to Montreal as we wanted to get back home for dinner, but I'm sure I would've sold that last copy within 30 minutes if I'd stayed longer. 

I was in the worst location possible, ask any artist who was there; the very last row facing the wrestling ring where half the people either turned around when they got there or were flat broke by the time they reached us. But I rose to the occasion and pitched my books to anyone who would listen with all the passion I have for my art, and book after book, the book piles grew smaller and smaller, and by Sunday afternoon, the table was empty. So in that respect, this was a very successful convention for me. But I doubt I'll do an Ottawa con again in the future. Hotel, table, and travel fees being what they are, it's just not profitable enough to do out of town conventions unless they are huge ones. If you ask most artists who were there, it was quite disappointing in retrospect, yet I still managed to have fun anyways thanks to the other artists there and to all the fans and readers with whom I had delightful conversations.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all my fans and new readers who spent their hard-earned cash on my books and decided to take a gamble on a relatively unknown small press author; you have my heartfelt gratitude. I hope you will enjoy my books and that you will continue to follow my works; I still have a plethora of stories to tell! When you're done reading, don't be shy and drop me a line to give me some feedback on the book you read--I always love hearing from my readers.

My next public appearance will be in May 2014 for Free Comic Book Day at a yet to be determined Montreal comic book store as I'll be tagging along with the Heroes of the North crew to sign copies of the novel I wrote for them, October Dawn, which was unveiled this weekend at Pop Expo. Until then, happy reading!

Ottawa Pop Expo

I'm all ready for the Ottawa Pop Expo. I'll be leaving early Friday afternoon. If you're in the area on Saturday and/or Sunday, swing by the Ernst & Young Centre and drop by my table to say hi and buy a book. I'll be in Artist Alley at table 2216 facing the wrestling ring. I'll be signing and selling copies of Nocturnal Offerings, Spooky Showcase, and Fractured Time. For those of you who are looking for the Heroes of the North: October Dawn novel that will be unleashed this weekend, you can purchase copies at the Heroes of the North booth located in Artist Alley at tables 2021 to 2025 and then pass by my table and it'll be my pleasure to sign and inscribe your copy for you! See you there!!

Happy Halloween!!!

I'd like to wish all my readers a very Happy Halloween. Have a safe Halloween if you're going to be out there knocking from door to door with the kids tonight or watching a horror movie marathon. To celebrate the best holiday of the year, I've got some goodies for you.

First off, my Halloween homage novella titled Crimson Nightmares which is my take on John Carpenter's Halloween film series. It takes place 33 years after the events of Halloween II. Michael Myers comes to Bitternest, the fictitious Louisiana city where most of my stories/novels take place, and all hell breaks loose. You can download a FREE PDF of the novella here: http://pixiedustpress.weebly.com/crimson-nightmares.html 

Second, to celebrate the release of my new novel, Nocturnal Offerings, I'm giving you a chance to read the short story that introduced the character of Nick Kubrick, the novel's protagonist. It's a creepy little tale titled "The Chilling Hour" and was first published online in the "9 of Swords" eZine in 2008 then reprinted in my 2010 collection The Bitternest Chronicles. You can download a FREE PDF of the short story here: http://pixiedustpress.weebly.com/chilling-hour.html

And last but not least, Nocturnal Offerings, my third novel which I consider to be my absolute best, has been out for about ten days. You can show your support by purchasing a copy in print or in a plethora of eBook formats on Amazon or directly from my publisher, Black Bed Sheet Books. If you've always wanted to buy one of my books but didn't know which one to get, this is the one, folks. So very proud of this one!

Nocturnal Offerings Amazon page

Black Bed Sheet Books Alan Draven page (scroll all the way down for your choice of book format)

Nocturnal Offerings & Pop Expo

I hope you've all had a great summer! It's been three and a half months since my last update but this one's a big one. So without further ado, I give you NOCTURNAL OFFERINGS, my third novel, which will be published on October 18th from Black Bed Sheet books. As usual, the book will be available in all the formats under the sun, both print and electronic and available at all good online bookstores like Amazon, B&N, Chapters/Indigo, etc. You can get a sneak peek at the cover art below:

I'm very proud of this novel, I believe it is my best one yet. Here is the book's synopsis:

Bitternest’s favorite radio disc jockey and debunker of supernatural myths Nick Kubrick is on vacation and on his way to Montreal to surprise his big brother. When he gets there, he finds his brother’s mailbox overflowing with mail and the lawn hasn’t been mowed in weeks. No sign of him anywhere. He decides to stick around town and try to find out where he is.

Nick rapidly realizes that the city of Montreal isn’t so different from his spooky hometown of Bitternest as a string of bizarre, gruesome murders are shocking the city. After bumping into an old high school buddy named Lance, Nick is invited to a gated community that Lance and his wife designed. It’s a postcard-perfect spot, but there is definitely something odd about the place. No one’s over forty, there aren’t any kids anywhere, and its residents all look like supermodels.

Things come full circle when Nick returns to eerie Bitternest and is approached by private eye Jim Coffin who requests his assistance to investigate a series of strange, ghastly murders. Are these murders linked to the ones in Montreal? Meanwhile, a mysterious traveling carnival rolls into town. Nick and Jim are in for a few surprises and when all will be said and done, Nick will never be the same again….

I will be at the very first Ottawa POP EXPO to sign copies of NOCTURNAL OFFERINGS and SPOOKY SHOWCASE during the weekend of December 7th & 8th. You can find out more about this pop culture convention here. I'll have more updates this fall about possible signings in Montreal bookstores, so stay tuned and Happy Halloween!