Ronald Kelly

The Old Storyteller knows the darkness that dwells in folks' hearts. He's aware that evil and depravity comes in all shapes and sizes. Men, women, even young'uns. Some lurk in the dead of night or walk, undetected, in broad daylight. They could be watching you from the shadows of an alleyway or a dense growth of forest... or they could be standing right behind you in line at the hamburger joint or grocery store, trading small talk, sizing you up, spinning their web. They could even be hiding in the back seat of your car in a dark parking lot... or sitting in the pew right next to you at church. Murderers, maniacs, serial killers... human monsters who walk the streets among us. Some have a motive for what they do, while some don't. Most do it for the sheer thrill of the kill. And, more than likely, their victims never know it's coming. They soon find themselves at the mercy of brutal hands or sharply honed steel. And when the dastardly deed is over and done, the unfortunate prey ends up in a drainage ditch or trash dumpster... or part of them go home with their killer as grisly souvenirs and mementos. There's no time to waste The Storyteller can hear them now; skulking through the woods, growing nearer and nearer, with malice and ill intentions on their twisted minds. Join him in the sanctuary of his backwoods hideaway, locked away from those who would do him - and you - harm. While he sharpens an axe on the ol' grinding wheel, along with a handy knife or two, he'll spin some disturbing yarns to pass the time. So, sit back and listen to some spine-tingling tales of corruption and chaos, deep in the... VAULT OF SOUTHERN-FRIED HORROR

He's back That was the first thought that crossed Cindy Biggs' mind when she heard of the brutal triple-murder in her hometown of Coleman. Yes, the awful crime was nearly identical to the one performed during her hard-scrabble childhood at the time of the Great Depression. And, strangely enough, it had taken place in the same place... the ruins of the old tobacco barn near the edge of Green Creek. But this was 2014, not 1936. Cindy was no longer an innocent nine-year-old child, but an elderly woman who used her gift of second sight to assist the police every now and then. And the man who been mostly responsible for that mass killing in '36, Bully Hanson, had been dead and in the grave for seventy-seven long years. Still she could not shake the overpowering feeling that he was involved in the massacre of three people and that the thirteen year old boy suspected of committing the murders was completely innocent. The only way she could be certain that her suspicions were more due to intuition than senility was to return to Bedloe County. And, with the help of her granddaughter Beth, revisit the most devastating period of her life... and hope that, somehow, someway, the most evil man she had ever known had not slipped the bonds of death and come back to wreak havoc once again...

In Southern-Fried & Horrified, Splatterpunk Award-winning author Ronald Kelly expounds on a lifetime shaped by his love of horror and the macabre, as well as a thirty-six-year career as a Southern storyteller. His early influences, the long road to publication, success as a Zebra Horror author, the devastating collapse of mass market publishing in the mid-1990s, and his ten-year hiatus from writing and horror... it is all here, between two covers, as well as his triumphant return to the genre and a fresh, new resurgence of his creativity and popularity. Sprinkled generously throughout are essays, writing advice, and lists of Kelly’ s favorite books and movies, as well as his most cherished heroes, villains, and creaturesfrom the RK mythos. Hunter Shea, author of Creature and To the Devil, A Cryptid, says, “ This will sit on my shelf right next to King's On Writing. A treasure to be rediscovered over and over.

It was passed down from generation to generation. The legend of The Dark'Un, the strange beast that roamed Pale Dove Mountain. The dark monster that no one had ever seen - at least not and lived to tell about it - except, so it was said, old Fletcher Brice who lived at the foot of the mountain. No one really believed in The Dark'Un. It was just a story to make a child's flesh crawl. Until Old Man Brice died. Now, the people of Tucker's Mill, Tennessee, would be forced to believe.

ALIVE, YET DEAD... The bloody War Between the States and a harrowing confinement in an enemy prison camp had turned Joshua Wingade into a broken man. His nerves and spirit shattered by the barbarity of battle, and demoralized by a cause that his heart secretly despised, Wingade returns home in hope of finding peace and healing. But, upon his arrival, he discovers that Hell had come to call. His beloved wife had been violated and transformed into a horrid bride of the undead, and his only son abducted by a band of diabolical outlaws led by the renegade vampire, Jules Holland. Along for the ride are three demonic henchmen from the fetid bowels of Hades and the dark witch, Evangeline. Aware that he is no match for the gang, Wingade rides across Georgia and Tennessee nonetheless, intent on rescuing his child from imminent disaster. During his journey, he witnesses the horrors and atrocities Holland and his evil confederates have wrought. Eventually, he finds himself at the outlaws' mercy. An instant before death, he makes a final pledge to his stolen son. "I promise, Daniel I will come for you " DEAD, YET ALIVE... He awakens to discover that the cold finality of the grave has been thwarted. With the help of the Louisiana mojo man, Job, he has been resurrected. But, the frail and fearful man named Joshua Wingade is forever gone. In his place is the stoic, steel-nerved Dead-Eye with his blind eye aglow and a gun hand as swift and deadly as greased lightning. Together, they vow to pursue the vampire and his minions, and deliver young Daniel from his bondage. However, they know that time is their worst enemy. If Holland and the others make it across the Mississippi River to the Western territories beyond, their vengeance may never come to fruition. For they are entering a new purgatory known as the Devil's Playground... a vast wilderness rife with violence and terrors unleashed from the Hole Out of Nowhere. A place where death and evil are dealt freely, without atonement to anyone... including God himself