HorrorPlace.com - Official Web Site of Author Paul M. Strickler

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Hi there! Here you can read excerpts of my novels, purchase author-signed books, read news about upcoming events and signings, plus much more!

Michigan's Master of the Macabre!TM

Posted: 18 November 2011 - 10:04 AM
Paul Completes First Draft of Fifth Novel "Lost Boy"
Paul completed the first draft of his fifth novel today. The novel, entitled "Lost Boy," is part of his research toward earning his PhD in creative writing. Now in his third year of doctoral study at Lancaster University, Paul hopes to complete his degree in 2013/2014.

Posted: 4 September 2011 - 3:13 PM
Paul Accepts Online Teaching Assistant Position at Ashford University
Paul has accepted a job as an online teaching assistant for Ashford University. In this position, Paul will be grading student writing assignments. His first course is ENG 121 - English Composition I, which will begin September 20, 2011 and last for five weeks. Other course assignments are expected to follow.

Posted: 7 July 2011
Paul Passes PhD Transfer to Become "Confirmed" PhD Candidate - Lancaster University
During Paul's second trip to England for Lancaster University's Summer School program as part of his ongoing PhD studies, Paul passed his Transfer Examination Panel and achieved a status upgrade from Probationary to Confirmed PhD student.

Posted: 18 April 2011
Suspension of Book Tour for "The Calling"
Paul has decided to suspend any further book signing events for his novel The Calling in order to devote more time to his PhD studies and expected future teaching work.

Posted: 27 March 2011 - 7:55 PM
Paul to Appear at The Open Market in Mason, MI April 16-17 at The Cobblestone Events Center
Paul will be holding a book sale and signing event as a participating vendor in The Open Market show being held at The Cobblestone Events Center in Mason, MI on Saturday (10am - 4pm) and Sunday (noon - 4pm), April 16-17.

Posted: Late
Paul to Appear at the Art & Craft Fair at Saginaw Valley State University on Saturday, March 26
Paul will be holding a book sale and signing event as a participating vendor in the Art & Craft Show being held at Saginaw Valley State University in Saginaw, Michigan on Saturday, March 26 from 10 am to 4 pm.

Posted: 24 February 2011 - 8:03 PM
Paul to Appear at the Mt. Pleasant West Intermediate School on March 19 - Art & Craft Show
Paul will be holding a book sale and signing event as a participating vendor in the Art & Craft Show being held at the Mt. Pleasant Intermediate School on March 19 in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan on Saturday from 10 am to 3:30 pm.

Posted: 7 January 2011 - 8:45 AM
Paul to Sell and Sign Books at the Mid-Michigan Women's Expo in Lansing on February 4-5-6, 2011 at the Lansing Center
Paul will be holding a book sale and signing event as a participating vendor in the Mid-Michigan Women's Expo being held at the Lansing Center in Lansing, Michigan on Friday (10am - 8pm), Saturday (10am - 6pm) and Sunday (11am - 5pm) February 4-6, 2011.

Posted: 14 December 2010 - 9:44 PM
Paul to Sell and Sign Books at The Lakes Mall in Muskegon December 17-24
Paul will be holding a book sale and signing event in The Lakes Mall in Muskegon, Michigan starting at noon on Friday December 17 until 6 PM on Friday, December 24 during mall hours.

Posted: 28 November 2010 - 2:26 PM
Paul to Appear at the Saginaw Horizons Conference Center on Saturday, December 11 for the Keepsake Holiday Art & Craft Show
Paul will be holding a book sale and signing event as a participating vendor in the Keepsake Collection Holiday Art & Craft Show at the Saginaw Horizons Conference Center in Saginaw, MI on Saturday, December 11 from 9 AM to 3 PM.

Posted: 10 November 2010 - 7:04 PM
Paul to Appear at the Flushing High School Arts and Crafts Bazaar on Saturday, November 20
Paul will be holding a book sale and signing event as a participating vendor in the Flushing Craft Bazaar at the Flushing High School in Flushing, MI on Saturday, November 20 from 9 AM to 4 PM. Show admission: Free.

Posted: 29 October 2010 - 9:20 AM
Paul to Appear at the St. Joe Lions Arts and Crafts Show on Saturday, November 4
Paul will be holding a book sale and signing event as a participating vendor in the St. Joe Lions Arts and Crafts show in St. Joseph, MI at the St. Joseph High School Fieldhouse on Saturday, November 4 from 9 AM to 4 PM.

Posted: 2 October 2010 - 3:02 PM
Paul to Appear at the Lowell Harvest Celebration at the Kenty County Fairgrounds on Saturday, October 9
Paul will be holding a book sale and signing event as a participating vendor in the Lowell Harvest Celebration Craft Show being held in the Foreman Building on the Kent County Fairgrounds on Saturday, October 9 from 9 AM to 4 PM.

To see more past events & news, click on more . . .

Michigan Horror -- Feel the Fear!

The Calling

The Sarasin family's move to northern Michigan is meant as a getaway from the stressful big-city life of suburban Detroit. Instead, they find themselves engaged in an epic struggle . . . with a demon, their new house's sinister past and with themselves. From a mysterious stranger who stalks them, to a hotel clerk who describes their house's former owner as "a doctor not of the living . . . but of the dying," from sounds of digging and voices under their house to an enormous "stone circle" used for Satan worship in the forest behind them, from the discovery of journals describing demon calling to a sheriff who may be "one of them," the Sarasins are plunged into a seemingly unstoppable descent as pawns in a game where the future of the world depends upon their ability to stop the creation of an immense "gate"--a portal between the world of the living and that of the revengeful dead.

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Interested in "The Calling" screenplay?
Click Here!

What Readers are Saying . . .

The Calling is a 500-plus-page-long, character-driven, lyrically-fluid tale that reads like a haunted house story with a Halloween funhouse ride-type pace that sometimes gets stuck in narrative before it starts off again and pulls you further into the ride. The way Strickler writes tells me he knows what he's doing, like he's written for awhile, though this is his first novel. I've said that before with other premiere writers who have put out first novels, and this is a way well-over obvious indication the chap's not only got some real talent, but the ambition of someone who believes in his work and the patience and diligence to pull out of himself a story so epic yet dealing with so tight a group of characters in a small town setting. Yes, it rides on Essence of King, of whom I'm certain is an inspiration to the author, but Strickler is his own voice here.

Basically, with this story, you've got a family who moves to a small town in northern Michigan and into the one house nobody in that town wants to live in. A guy who once lived there was very much into the Dark Arts, you see, and what happened there was so powerful that it wants to happen again, pulling the main character of the boy in the family further into intrigue, seduces him to discover just what it is that's happening to his family to find himself immersed smack down in the center of it. As it turns out, important people in the town are involved, and we find the source of unspeakable evil to be from a supernatural gateway where all the protagonist pieces are shuffling together throughout the story to eventually open and bring about a vengeful assault from the demonic forces beyond.

Paul Strickler has an impressive educational and professional history which largely involves the side of the brain that's opposite the creative side, working high-ranking positions in areas ranging from CIA computer operations to aerospace technology, which accounts for a good head-on-your-shoulders literary expertise and actually stimulates creativity, is what it seems to me in his case. I mean, a majority of computer geeks I know have a skill equivalent to a gerbil playing basketball when it comes to telling a story on paper, and Paul not only tells a story, but tells it well, and places enough dark and surreal visions in your head that it takes a few good nights of restless sleep to get over.

Bravo, and keep up the great work, Paul…….

- Nicholas Grabowsky
Author, Halloween IV

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Last Updated: 4 January 2012 - 7:24 PM