Wait, six months? It’s only been six months? Let’s see, this released in September, and it’s March…holy crap, it has been six months! So much has happened since then, it feels like a lot longer.
Anyway, if you’re not familiar, back in 2023 I released a book called Hannah and Other Stories through BSC Publishing Group. It was a collection of short stories that featured tales of ghosts, budding serial killers, and carnivorous horses (among other things). Sadly, however, BSC and I went our separate ways at the end of 2024, and the book went out of print as well (these things happen). I decided to re-release the book on the two-year anniversary of its original release, September 23, 2025, with a new edit and a new cover.
Now, we’re celebrating six months since the book was re-released. And I’m happy to say that people have been reading the collection and enjoying it. Hell, one of the supervisors at work even read it and enjoyed it. As he said, “I wasn’t bored with any of the stories.” Honestly, I was floating on air for the rest of that day!
And here are some of the other reviews that have come out since the book released:
Ended 2025 & Started 2026 with a good one! I had been waiting a while for “Hannah & Other Stories” by Rami Unger to be available in paperback & when it finally happened… hurrah! It was as good as I had hoped! Unger has such unique ideas & executes them wonderfully. Will definitely picking up more of his work as I am able.
Pamela A Parish, Amazon
I have read Ungar’s other books and enjoyed reading this one while on vacation. Each story is quite different, but the author has a real talent for setting up a believable scenario and characters to care about. I wished some of the stories had been a little longer! My favorite was Autopsy Kid and Doctor Sarah. Nothing supernatural, just real creepy.
Gefilte, Barnes & Noble.com
4.5 stars out of 5.
I always love reading about a new type or creature or monster, and this collection has a few new ones, but this is not just a one horse book (pun intended) there is a wide range of horrors and story types, It’s got creepy ghosts, unnerving budding serial killers, carnivorous horses, and something that was once human, something for everyone.
The writing is smooth and easy to read, with well-developed and diverse characters, I liked how some of the stories had layers to them, giving them a complexity and depth that you don’t often see in short stories.
blatdriver, Barnes & Noble.com
Talk about some positive feedback! And from some people with some fun usernames off Barnes & Noble’s website.
But most of all, I’m glad that people are enjoying these stories. They were all originals when I first published them, and ran the gamut from ghost stories (“Hannah”) to cosmic horror (“The Red Bursts,” “What Errour Awoke,” “Poor Unfortunate Souls”) to just plain old psychological with hints of splatterpunk/slasher (“The Autopsy Kid and Doctor Sarah”). Oh, and there’s one with carnivorous horses. Can’t forget about that one. It tends to be popular.
Anyway, I’m really hopeful that, during the next six months, I’ll be able to get more people to read the book. After all, that’s why I wrote it: so people would read it! Of course, I’ll be selling it at events, but I have some other avenues I’m exploring that will hopefully lead to more readers. If they lead to anything, I may or may not announce it here on the blog.
And then, when we reach the three-year publishing anniversary/one-year re-release anniversary, I’ll be able to celebrate lots of good news with you. I would love that more than anything else.
Anyway, if you’re at all interested in reading Hannah; if you’re looking for a book of spooky stories; or if you want to support/celebrate with me, I’ll include links to where it’s available down below. And if you like what you read, please leave a review online. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps both me and your fellow readers out in the long run.
Plus, doing so might keep the carnivorous horses at bay.
And that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ve got a full day ahead of me and I’m planning to do a little celebrating tonight. So, until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and LOOK OUT! THERE’S A CARNIVOROUS HORSE BEHIND YOU!!!
I know, the last events update post wasn’t even a month ago. But I’ve already announced the new event on my social media, and it would be wrong of me not to update the folks who primarily keep up with me through this blog. So, without further ado (and so I can hopefully fit in some writing tonight), let’s talk about the events I’ll be at in 2026.
First, in just over a month, I’ll be one of the attending authors at BookBash 2026. This event will take place at the New Leaf Convention Center in Conneaut, Ohio on April 25, 2026 from 1 PM to 7 PM. This is a convention that will be hosting self-published and indie authors from all over the place (a few of my author friends will be there along with me). I’ll be there signing books, doing Tarot readings, and sitting on the horror panel. I would love to see you if you can stop by. You can find out more on the convention’s Facebook page.
(Fun fact: the convention center where BookBash will take place at is owned by a local Methodist church. However, we’re not being restricted on what kind of books we’re allowed to sell or what services we provide in their space. So, as well as doing the Tarot readings and selling books with rather unholy covers, I’ll be wearing my LET’S SUMMON DEMONS tee if the weather is nice enough.)
The weekend after that will be closer to home and just as close to my heart. Columbus Horror Con will be taking place on May 2-3, 2026 at the Crowne Plaza Columbus North-Worthington here in Columbus (times vary depending on which day you’re there). It’ll be a horror convention with celebrity guests, a film festival, and all sorts of vendors. And by the way, I’m among the group of vendors. I know you love me, but I’m hardly a celebrity at this point! Anyway, you can find out more on the convention’s website.
Next, StokerCon will be taking place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the Westin Pittsburgh on June 4-7!, 2026 I love going to StokerCon, and I’m looking forward to seeing all my horror writing friends. Plus, there’s the awards ceremony, all the panels, and plenty of chances to find new reads. I’m hoping to be on a few panels and maybe even sell some books, so it’ll be a very exciting time for me. If you can go, you can grab tickets from this website.
And finally, the new one. My friends and I at the Ohio chapter of the Horror Writers Association, also known as the Ohio Horror Writers Association and HWA Ohio, will have a booth at the Columbus Book Festival again! This year, the festival will take place on July 11 and 12, 2026 at the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Main Branch and Topiary Park (which is right behind the library). This is a major event for us, and we love doing it every year, even when it rains or gets super hot and humid. I hope you can join us there. You can find out more from the festival’s website.
And that’s all for now. With any luck, I’ll be able to do one more event this year, but after that, I’ll probably cut back (God knows these events are expensive enough without all these tariffs and wars and oil prices). Still, I’m sure I’ll enjoy the events I do go to. Especially if any of you Followers of Fear are able to join me.
And if you can’t but would still like to support me, or if you’re looking for a scary book to read, you can always purchase one of my books online. From plant/human hybrids and strange gods to Mafia-hunting serial killers and carnivorous horses, I have plenty for every horror fan (including some free stuff). I’ll include links to my work below.
And if you end up reading my stories, I hope you’ll leave a review somewhere. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback. And it helps me and your fellow readers out in the long run.
Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night and pleasant nightmares.
Can you believe that this is the 11th post I’ve written where I list haunted locations I want to visit? I had no idea people would love these posts so much, but I’m glad, because they’re a lot of fun to write. And sometimes, I hear about places near Followers of Fear that draw my interest.
This time around, the number of places that drew my interest seemed to come one after one, so I was able to pull together this list much more quickly than usual. So, with the hope that I can visit some of these places (and maybe scare some of you away from where you live), here are ten more haunted locations I want to visit before I become a ghost myself.
Lake Mead, Nevada/Arizona Located near Las Vegas, Lake Mead is a historic national park, as well as where the Hoover Dam is located. It’s supposed to be a pretty place, great for hiking and for history lovers. And due to drought, lost locations like an old Pueblo village and an abandoned Mormon settlement have appeared out of the receding waters. However, Lake Mead has also been the site of numerous deaths. By some estimates it’s got more deaths than any other national park in the US, many appearing to be suicides or Mafia murders. As a result, Lake Mead has become the site of numerous hauntings. Reports include ghostly screams, shadows, negative energies, and more. Sounds like the kind of place I should like to visit the next time I’m out at Vegas.
Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania One of America’s oldest prisons, it operated for over 140 years, and was home to several famous inmates, including Al Capone. Known for being in the shape of a wagon wheel, the prison has numerous sections and cell blocks, and is today a historical landmark that also holds various art and historical exhibits, as well as haunted attractions during Halloween. Speaking of which, the prison is supposedly very haunted, and has been for years. Reportedly, Al Capone was haunted by a ghost named Jimmy, and others have noticed paranormal activity all over the place, including in certain cell blocks or near the death row wing. And while they don’t exactly promote themselves as a haunted location, I believe you can reserve the prison for ghost hunts. Would anyone be willing to go with me to one of those?
Browse Awhile Books, Tipp City, Ohio Located in the historic district of Tipp City, Browse Awhile Books is a cozy little bookstore that boasts about four thousand square feet of space, containing 150,000 books. The store’s website also draws particular attention to its collection of rare and out of print books. What’s not mentioned on the website, but which shows up as soon as you search the store on Google, is the hauntings. Reportedly, at least fifteen ghosts call the bookstore home, including a child ghost named Caleb who plays with the children’s toys. Other ghosts have yelled at or attacked unruly patrons and shoplifters. Paranormal groups have stayed overnight at the store and caught plenty of evidence. I think I would like to come by one night and see if I can catch my own evidence…while also reading older copies of my favorite books.
Mortuary Manor and Museum, Toledo, Ohio You know, before I moved to Columbus, I lived in Toledo for five years. I’m sure if I still lived there, I would have not only heard of this place, but would have been one of the first to explore it. A former funeral home housed in a big, colonial-style manor, it has now been turned into a museum. You can check out actual embalming rooms, a Civil War “ice casket,” and so much more! And get this: nine people have actually died onsite. Not surprisingly, local paranormal enthusiasts consider it a hot spot for ghostly activity. And I would love to stop inside, take a tour, and take out my dowsing rods to communicate with any spirits there.
L’Auberge rouge, France Translating to “The Red Inn,” the name of the inn refers to the red tiles on the roof. Of course, you would be excused if you thought it referred to the inn’s bloody history. For a number of years, Pierre Martin, the inn’s owner, was also a henchman for the local nobility, and he was feared and hated by the locals for it. In 1831, a murder occurred near the inn, and Pierre, his wife, and their servant were charged, convicted, and executed for it. During the trial, over a hundred witnesses alleged that the Martins and their servants would kill people in their inn and then feed the bodies to unsuspecting guests Sweeney Todd-style.. Today, the trial is heavily criticized for its possible political motivations and lack of integrity. It’s also highly dubious if the Martins did even the one murder they were accused of, let alone as many as their neighbors alleged. Nevertheless, it is a terrifying story. Today, the inn has become a museum with its own restaurant-hotel and gas station. And even if the Martins didn’t commit all those murders, there’s a good chance something is haunting the building. I would like to go and find out.
The Nassau Inn, Princeton, New Jersey
Nassau Inn, Princeton, New Jersey Located right by Princeton University, the original Nassau Inn was a well-known meeting place, notably being where the Continental Congress met after the American Revolution. In the 1970s, the original building was demolished and a new building was set a little ways away. However, the new building does pay homage to its history, with references throughout to the original building’s contributions to American history. And given the reports from the hotel, it’s worked. Plenty of people have reportedly seen people in revolutionary uniform or colonial-era dresses, a shadow figure named Chester is said to make appearances, and phantom cigar smoke is often smelled. Personally, it all seems like a good reason to visit New Jersey.
Driskill Hotel, Austin, Texas The Driskill Hotel is the oldest operating hotel in Austin, Texas, and is one of the most well-known in Texas itself. Originally built as a single four-story Romanesque Revival building in 1886, it was expanded in 1930 with a thirteen-floor annex. It has seen a host of famous people, including former presidents and celebrities, and has hosted a couple of well-known balls. The hotel is also supposedly home to some ghosts. The most famous is a seven-year-old girl named Samantha, who fell down the Grand Staircase chasing her toy. She has been hanging around the hotel ever since, particularly around a painting called Love Letters. Wait, don’t I know someone in Texas? Someone I’m always threatening to take to one of these haunted locations? I wonder who it could be.
The Crooked Forst, Nowe Czarnowo, Poland If you’ve ever seen pictures of some trees that are oddly-curved at their bases, like snakes, before shooting all the way up, it’s from this forest. This forest near the village Nowe Czarnowo in northwestern Poland is famous for its trees, all Scots pines that have the characteristic weird shape I described. No one knows how the trees got that shape or why. The leading theory is that it was some human-engineered technique or tool, possibly for shipbuilding, but there’s no way to prove it. Today, the forest is a tourist attraction, and is commonly thought to be a hotspot of paranormal activity. Whether that’s ghosts or wandering entities that never held human form is unclear. Still, I’m intrigued enough to want to go and visit the forest at night.
Green Park, London, England Originally a swamp and a burial ground for lepers, the land was drained around the 17th century and made a park. It then received its new name a century later. The park is a lovely place today with plenty of war memorials and is adjoined by multiple other, more famous parks. However, there are lots of ghosts that supposedly roam the park, such as the spirits of lepers who have not moved on, or a highwayman still out to rob passerby. There’s also supposedly a creature that’s so ugly, staring at it can cause heart attacks and a tree that bleeds blood instead of sap when cut and proximity to which will shorten your lifespan. Hmm…and yet, I’m still tempted to visit at night.
The Fire Island Lighthouse, Fire Island, New York
Fire Island Lighthouse, Fire Island, New York Fire Island is known as a gay enclave and a fun party space in the summer, but it’s also home to a number of ghost stories. The lighthouse itself is the site of numerous supposed hauntings. One haunting includes a lighthouse keeper and his daughter. The latter died of illness while her father was on the mainland trying to get help. He later took his own life out of grief and guilt, and now they both haunt the lighthouse. Plus, numerous pirates and shipwreck victims also haunt the lighthouse. At least one paranormal group has visit the lighthouse and supposedly come away with evidence. I wonder if I would be allowed to come by and do some investigating myself? Especially if I enjoy some time at the local hot spots as well?
And that’s ten more paranormal hot spots I want to visit before I become a ghost myself. They’re all quite spooky, aren’t they. But tell me, have you been to any of these spots? What was your experiences like? And would you like to come visit them with me some time? Let’s discuss.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.
Recently, Coffin Moon has been getting A LOT of mentions in a Facebook group I’m part of. What I’d heard sounded very interesting. Like that movie Near Dark, but good. So, when I had some saved credits on Audible, I got the audio book. And boy, was I not prepared for what I got.
Set in the mid-to-late 1970s, Coffin Moon follows Dwayne Miner, a Vietnam veteran who is trying to stay sober despite both PTSD and working in the bar owned by his in-laws. He’s also trying to be a good guardian to his wife’s niece, who is living with them after her own family is torn apart. And he’s holding onto secrets that could ruin more lives than just his. All this changes, though, when a couple of bikers try selling drugs through the bar…with Miner’s mother-in-law’s permission! When he objects, it sets off a chain of events that will change the course of Miner’s destiny, and throw him headlong into a world he never knew existed.
So, if you’re familiar with Near Dark, you’re aware that this is about vampires. Though honestly, the vampires feel closer to the ones from Sinners than from that weird-ass film. The main vampire, John Varley, is pure evil. He’s impulsive, incredibly selfish, and enjoys the violence and the chaos he causes. Even when he feels love, it’s twisted on so many levels. You’re at once both fascinated by him and repulsed by him, which, from a writer’s perspective, I just admire.
I also like the other characters. You really come to feel for both Dwayne and his niece, Julia. Both have been through the ringer during their short lives, and the events of the novel do not help. It really helps you empathize and want to root for them.
As for the story, the best way to describe it is twisty and unexpected. Several times, especially during the first third of the novel, I was surprised by the directions the story took, which I did not see coming. I think at one point, while I was listening in the car, my mouth fell open and I literally shouted, “What?!” I was that surprised.
Plus, the worldbuilding is done very lightly but effectively, and the stakes remain epic in a number of scenes (pun not intended).
My only criticisms are that when we finally find out the full details of the dark secret Dwight’s been holding onto the whole book, it’s told more as a story than as a flashback, which I would have expected. That, and I thought the final battle could’ve been drawn out a bit more. It just went too quickly for me.
However, as far as vampire stories go, this is definitely one I’m glad I read. On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m giving Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson a 4.5. Unexpected, full of pathos and masterful storytelling. Grab your red wine or tomato juice, and sit down with it today. You might find yourself, like a vampire, staying up all night long with it.
I’ve been sitting on this news for a month. I had to wait until it was official and all the paperwork was signed. Now, it’s time to let it all out.
As many of you remember, my friend Matt Mason, AKA the author MG Mason, died of cancer back in November (you can read my full post written in his memory here). He built a thriving community online around “Horror Writers Chat,” a weekly get-together on BlueSky where we all talked about horror and writing through questions and reposts and supporting each other. His death affected us greatly, and we still miss him.
One of our members, William Beck, who owns his own publishing press, organized a charity anthology in Matt’s memory, The Shadows That We Carry. He invited all of us to write stories to contribute to the anthology. If it’s not obvious, I wrote a story that would hopefully be included in the anthology and would honor Matt’s memory.
I can now say with both honor and humility that my contribution, “The Static Man,” will appear in The Shadows That We Carry.
I’m so happy to be in this anthology. The writers who participate in Horror Writers Chat every week are amazing storytellers, and I’m looking forward to being in an anthology with them. Especially one that will not only honor Matt’s memory, but help others. You see, proceeds from sales of The Shadows That We Carry will go towards Macmillan Cancer Support, a British charity that was dear to Matt. The charity supports people with cancer through medical, informational, and financial support. They are one of the largest charities in Britain, and seek to improve the lives of all in the UK affected by cancer. You can find out more about them here.
Honestly, that seems like a wonderful mission and I’m happy to do my part to help.
As for my story, “The Static Man,” I think you’re going to enjoy it. It’s the story of a college co-ed who is being stalked by an entity made entirely of what appears to be TV static. One of the other authors participating in the anthology, Louise Conway, read it and gave it some positive feedback, so I think plenty more horror fans will enjoy it as well. I tried to make it as claustrophobic and unnerving as possible.
Anyway, the release date for The Shadows That We Carry has yet to be announced, so I’ll be sure to let you know once it has. I hope you’re excited to read it, as well as my short story “The Static Man.” And in the meantime, if you’re looking for something to spooky to read, you know I have quite the catalog already available.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m off to celebrate with some reading and maybe a cocktail. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.
Rami Ungar The Writer 