Jackie Corley

We’ve made a very special announcement today. You can pre-order Midnight Picnic at Word Riot. And here’s the press release:

Middletown, NJ — Punk rock-spirited independent publisher Word Riot Press will release Nick Antosca’s second novel Midnight Picnic on Dec. 15.

Midnight Picnic was slated to be released by Impetus Press on Oct. 31. The book’s publication was put on hold when Impetus Press publishers Willy Blackmore and Jennifer Banash announced the dissolution of the company due to financial pressures. Shortly afterward, Impetus Press, Word Riot Press and Antosca began discussions about the novel’s future.

“Willy Blackmore and Jennifer Banash’s dedication to Impetus authors is remarkable,” Word Riot Press publisher Jackie Corley said. “When Willy and Jennifer learned of Word Riot Press’ interest in Midnight Picnic, they worked tirelessly to make a deal happen.

“I’m pleased and impressed by how fast Word Riot stepped up,” Antosca said. “Jackie didn’t hesitate, and I think it’s a wonderful thing for independent literature that she runs her press so fearlessly. It’s terrific that she’s going to publish Midnight Picnic.”

An eerie story about the nature of death, Midnight Picnic is a non-traditional ghost story in which a vengeful child searches for his murderer on the deserted roads of the American countryside, drifting in and out of the afterlife.

“If there’s a real Hell out there in the American heartland, and real ghosts, I suspect Nick Antosca has seen them. Midnight Picnic reinvents the ghost story for our unsettled times—it’s a riveting and terrifying 21st Century Book of the Dead that’s one of the most frightening novels I’ve read in years,” said Elizabeth Hand, author of Generation Loss, Mortal Love, and Winterlong.

Jami Attenberg, author of The Kept Man, has called Midnight Picnic “a thrilling follow-up to his contemplative debut, Fires. His imagination makes an astonishing show in this macabre, bizarre and witty story of ghosts and revenge. Impossible to put down until the extremely satisfying end, Midnight Picnic conjures up the mounting tension of the finest Bradbury story.”

John Haskell, author of American Purgatorio and I Am Not Jackson Pollock, concurred with Hand and Attenberg’s assessment of Antosca’s uncanny ability to unearth the darker elements of human nature: “Beneath the skin of emotion there are muscles and nerves, and that’s where Antosca takes us.”

Called a “page-turner” and “a demented little novel” by Publishers Weekly, Midnight Picnic will be at home in Word Riot Press’ diverse stable of literary and experimental works of fiction.

“Nick’s forceful authorial voice has made him a young writer to watch. I’m elated to have Nick as part of the Word Riot Press family,” Corley said.