At Sinister Grin Press, we are thrilled to welcome back David Bernstein to our publishing catalog again this year. For July, we are releasing his novel, Episodes of Violence, in limited edition hardback. Orders will be taken until July 30. Soon after, it will also be available in print and digital formats too! David feels this is one of his most brutal and emotional manuscripts yet, and we feel it’s one of his most accomplished. If you’re a fan of the books of Jack Ketchum, you’ll want to pick this one up. You’ll definitely want it if you’re already a fan of David himself. Let us entice you further with the outstanding piece of art that is the cover, created by none other than artist Zack McCain. Check out the synopsis below, view the cover, and then continue to read, as Zack explains about the covers creation.
Episodes of Violence, Synopsis –
Amber had been looking forward to college life. She loved high school and was certain college would be even better, especially since she pledged one of the sororities on campus. At least that was what she thought, until one night her soul was fractured and darkness awoke within her.
Unable to cope, she returns home hoping to heal. Unfortunately, her hometown is wrought with brutal violence. People are being slaughtered in random fashion. The police are clueless. Despite the surrounding chaos, she is still determined to thrive.
However, when the violence shows up at her front door and rips her life apart, she realizes that the darkness within her is the only thing that will keep her sane and alive.
From the storyteller mastermind David Bernstein, author of Witch Island and A Mixed Bag of Blood, comes one of his most gut-wrenching tales yet. You might not sleep after this one.
PRE-ORDER LIMITED EDITION HERE
Creating the Cover
by Zack McCain
My direction from Sinister Grin was that there was to be three images stacked on top of each other, but slightly offset. The top image was to be of someone playing “mailbox baseball.” The middle image should be a close-up of a woman’s eyes with a terrified look. And the bottom image should be of a woman carrying a knife in one hand and a severed head in the other.
I started off by doing a sketch.
Once the sketch was approved, I began drawing it out on a comic book board. Once I had it scanned into the computer, I began adding color and texture to the background.
After laying down some color, I realized it needed more contrast so I began adding highlights and making the darks… darker.
As soon as the images started to look right, I started trying out different fonts. League Gothic seemed to fit the best. But I wasn’t very happy with it being a straight line across the top and the bottom. And the cover was still lacking something that would make it flow better from top to bottom.
I decided to offset the text and have it stacked just as the images are stacked and offset from each other. The cover began to flow much better after that. The final piece was adding some blood spatter to the background connecting each of the images.
A very straightforward cover compared to some. The real challenge was finding a way to give movement to a cover that had the potential to be very static.
At Sinister Grin, we feel that Zack really made this cover pop with his artistic talent to create something unique that you’ll want to own to accentuate the stellar content inside.
David Bernstein, Biography -
David Bernstein is originally from a small town in Upstate New York called Salisbury Mills. He now resides in NYC and misses being surrounded by chainsaw-wielding maniacs and wild backwoods people that like to eat raw human flesh. He’s grown used to the city, though hiding bodies is much harder there.
He is the author of Amongst the Dead, Damaged Souls, The Tree Man, Witch Island, Relic of Death, Apartment 7C, the short story collection A Mixed Bag of Blood, and now, Episodes of Violence. David writes all kinds of horror, from hair-raising ghost stories to gore-filled slashers and apocalyptic tales of terror. He loves hearing from his readers.
You can reach him on Facebook, at www.facebook.com/david.bernstein.3. Visit him at his website: davidbernsteinauthor.blogspot.com email [email protected], or on Twitter at @Bernsteinauthor.
Sinister Grin Press
While you’re here, check out what else Sinister Grin Press has to offer by looking around our site. We have plenty of books in all sub-genres of horror that are sure to “carve a smile on your face.”
