Author of adventure/thriller and horror fiction

WOUNDS by Nathan Ballingrud

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Nathan Ballingrud’s WOUNDS is a collection of short stories and a novella about ordinary people connecting with the border of Hell. Packed with ideas, it blew my mind and warmed up this reader’s jaded horror heart.

Yes, I’ve been jaded lately as a reader, with too many books bought only to be DNF’d. (That’s a statement on me, not the general state of fiction.) So, when I was recommended Nathan Ballingrud’s WOUNDS, I was surprised to very quickly fall in love with Ballingrud’s fearless imagination, big ideas, and tantalizing and surprising mythology of Hell.

In these stories, an order of monks lives at the border of Hell, working on the nether region’s Atlas. Strange creatures overrun a city and turn the dead into a musical instrument. A bartender discovers an underground ritual that summons angels. And more…

The writing is terrific–Ballingrud knows what he’s doing–but it’s the cascading ideas, one striking and surprising image after another often confronted through the lens of ordinary people as characters caught up in the horror, that really won me over. I felt like I could read a hundred of these stories just to keep learning a little more about Ballingrud’s mythology of Hell, which had a way of filling in some detail only to add even more mystery.

Highly recommended–even for jaded horror fans.

MY EX, THE ANTICHRIST Coming July 1, 2025

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MY EX, THE ANTICHRIST releases July 1, 2025 from Hachette in trade paperback, all popular eBook formats, and a multi-narrator audiobook in all bookstores, libraries, and online retailers!

You can pre-order it here and here.

One of “12 Must-Read Horror Books of 2025” —Novel Suspects

“Outré even by the standards of supernatural horror fiction, DiLouie’s ostentatious, 1990s-set latest proposes that the Antichrist is the front man for a Pennsylvania art band and that the apocalypse he threatens can only be averted through the intervention of a punk pop group headed by his ex-girlfriend… DiLouie seeds the narrative with enough pop theology to undergird its tongue-in-cheek excesses, which include a cabal of rogue clergy wielding rocket launchers and a Universal Priest stage performance that unfolds like a mash-up of The Omen and This Is Spinal Tap. It’s a wild ride.” —Publisher’s Weekly

“A tale of love, self-discovery, and following your dreams, all told through the twisted lens of a rockumentary about Armageddon. Craig DiLouie brings his sharp mix of heart and horror to the end of the world with this clever story about rock n’ roll, relationships, and destiny.” —NYT bestselling author Peter Clines

“One hell of a performance! With My Ex, the AntiChrist, Craig DiLouie once again proves he is a master of the epistolary genre. Immersive, compelling, and chillingly plausible. It’s as if you were there. Resounding.” —Lee Murray, five-time Bram Stoker Awards-winning author of Grotesque: Monster Stories

“The ultimate battle draped in rock and roll… DiLouie’s latest novel is an exciting glimpse into music history and the enigmatic 2000s with a timeless tale about the end of the world and love, of all things, as its connective tissue. What a wild ride.” —L. Marie Wood, author of The Realm Trilogy and The Promise Keeper

“Thrumming with energy and tension, My Ex, The Antichrist is a horror-filled love letter to music and how it can save our souls.” —Kaaron Warren, author of The Underhistory

“DiLouie assuredly weaves a punk band’s rites of passage with the dark arts, crafting an occult love story from burnt-out memories and scavenged, sacred hearts.” —Andrew F. Sullivan, author of The Marigold and The Handyman Method

“Craig DiLouie is the sly officiant presiding over this marriage of heady theology and anthemic punk rock. This book weaves age-old philosophical conundrums into a sensitive, aching, and raw portrait of a band’s rags-to-riches tale. With its lively oral history format, reading My Ex, The Antichrist is like letting Behind the Music take you to hell and back.” – Andy Marino, author of The Swarm

“A diabolical twist on rock and roll saviors, My Ex, The Antichrist conjures a horrifying riff on the classic question: Can rock and roll really save your soul? Craig DiLouie spins a lush account of late 90s rock, a talented but struggling band, and a harrowing brush with the divine conflict between good and evil into an atomic-powered concept album of a novel that shreds the literary walls. Thoughtful, heartbreaking, and unsettling, My Ex, The Antichrist is a rock and roll parable for our times.” —James Chambers, Bram Stoker Award and Scribe Award-winning author of On the Night Border and Three Chords of Chaos

CASTLES IN THE SKY Releases!

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Castles in the Sky, my WWII novel set during the air war over Europe, is now available to read in Kindle eBook, trade paperback, and audiobook!

From every corner of America, they crossed the Atlantic to destroy the Nazi war machine on its own turf: the B-17 bomber crews flying bloody bombing missions over northern Europe. On March 6, 1944, General Doolittle launched a massive operation he believed would change the air war. The largest air armada the Eighth Army Air Force had ever launched. The first full-scale daylight bombing of Berlin, capital of the Third Reich.

This horrifying battle would become known by the men who survived it as Black Monday.

From the author of Hell’s Eden, Strike, and the bestselling Crash Dive and Armorseries, Castles in The Sky tells the story of one such Flying Fortress crew. It’s a story of courage and grit in the face of impossible odds and the search for meaning in the madness of war. The 250th mission of the Eighth Army Air Force and the last for Pop’s Flying Circus.

You can get it here. Thanks for reading!

CASTLES IN THE SKY Available for Pre-Order!

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Happy to announce that Castles in The Sky, a WWII novel set during the air war over Europe, is now available for pre-order!

From every corner of America, they crossed the Atlantic to destroy the Nazi war machine on its own turf: the B-17 bomber crews flying bloody bombing missions over northern Europe. On March 6, 1944, General Doolittle launched a massive operation he believed would change the air war. The largest air armada the Eighth Army Air Force had ever launched. The first full-scale daylight bombing of Berlin, capital of the Third Reich.

This horrifying battle would become known by the men who survived it as Black Monday.

From the author of Hell’s Eden, Strike, and the bestselling Crash Dive and Armorseries, Castles in The Sky tells the story of one such Flying Fortress crew. It’s a story of courage and grit in the face of impossible odds and the search for meaning in the madness of war. The 250th mission of the Eighth Army Air Force and the last for Pop’s Flying Circus.

The book releases April 28, 2025 and will be available in Kindle eBook, audiobook, and trade paperback.

Check it out here. Thanks for reading!

HELL’S EDEN Releases Today!

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Today’s the day! Hell’s Eden is now available to read at Amazon!

The Marines called it Starvation Island. The Imperial Japanese Army called it the Island of Death. The battle for Guadalcanal, which began in August 1942 and took six months to complete, saw the 1st Marine Division effectively cut off and under constant siege with few supplies. Marked by hunger, disease, massed nighttime bayonet charges by the enemy, and constant shelling and bombing, the campaign proved a turning point in the war.

From Craig DiLouie, author of the highly acclaimed Crash Dive and Armor series and other popular WWII fiction, Hell’s Eden tells the story of Guadalcanal through the eyes of a Marine and his rifle squad. Well-trained and tough but always looking to game the system for a little comfort, they tangle not only with the Japanese but the brass.

Hell’s Eden offers a gritty, savage, and humorous portrait of this crucial campaign that saw America on offense against the seemingly invincible Japanese Empire—examining what keeps men fighting in the face of harrowing odds.

The novel dropped today on Amazon and is now available to read in Kindle eBook, trade paperback, and audiobook formats.

I hope you enjoy the adventure. Thanks for reading!

HELL’S EDEN Now Available for Pre-Order

by Leave a Comment

Happy to announce that Hell’s Eden, a WWII novel set during the Guadalcanal campaign, is now available!

The Marines called it Starvation Island. The Imperial Japanese Army called it the Island of Death.

The battle for Guadalcanal, which began in August 1942 and took six months to complete, saw the 1st Marine Division effectively cut off and under constant siege with few supplies. Marked by hunger, disease, massed nighttime bayonet charges by the enemy, and constant shelling and bombing, the campaign proved a turning point in the war.

From Craig DiLouie, author of the highly acclaimed Crash Dive and Armor series and other popular WWII fiction, Hell’s Eden tells the story of Guadalcanal through the eyes of a Marine and his rifle squad. Well-trained and tough but always looking to game the system for a little comfort, they tangle not only with the Japanese but the brass.

Hell’s Eden offers a gritty, savage, and humorous portrait of this crucial campaign that saw America on offense against the seemingly invincible Japanese Empire—examining what keeps men fighting in the face of harrowing odds.

The book releases February 24, 2025 and will be available in Kindle eBook, audiobook, and trade paperback. It is available for pre-order now.

Check it out here. Thanks for reading!