Five Book Covers, Five Nights: SAVAGE SPECIES, Part Four: THE ARENA

Posted on by Jonathan Janz

Happy Friday, friends and visitors! Tonight marks the halfway point of our breathless odyssey through the awesome cover art of Angela Waters. As some of you know by this time, my huge serial novel SAVAGE SPECIES begins on June the 4th with NIGHT TERRORS (download your free installment here!). Following that, you can pick up THE CHILDREN on June 18th for a buck-fifty, the third installment (DARK ZONE) on July 2nd, and then…

THE ARENA, Part Four of SAVAGE SPECIES, on July 16th:

Arena,The-H

Now I’ve gotta tell you, I really liked this cover the first time I saw it, but I didn’t have quite the same visceral reaction that I had to the cover for DARK ZONE. Oh, don’t get me wrong—that’s not a criticism, nor is to say I didn’t like it. Because I did. A lot.

But this one has grown on me over time to the point where I love it too. It’s different than the other Savage Species covers in that the “sexy” factor here is more prevalent. And the more I think about that, the more I like it. This novel is many things, and among those is a Laymonesque throwback to the scantily-clad-female-laden horror films of the seventies and eighties. The novel is also, partially, an homage to Richard Laymon himself, a writer whom many literary types sniff pompously at but a guy I’m proud to call one of my main influences and inspirations. So it’s the Laymon vibe the cover broadcasts that I love the most. If that makes any sense.

Join me tomorrow night right here, friends, for the unveiling of Part Five of SAVAGE SPECIES—the climactic installment of  the novel—which is called THE OLD ONE and Sunday night for the first ever look at the cover of my vampire western DUST DEVILS (coming February 2014!).

4 thoughts on “Five Book Covers, Five Nights: SAVAGE SPECIES, Part Four: THE ARENA”

    1. Amy McBreasterson. I’ll have to look up her number, but I think you’re right about going to school with her. She’s definitely from the Greater Indianapolis area–I’d recognize those torn jeans anywhere.

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Jonathan Janz grew up between a dark forest and a graveyard, and in a way, that explains everything. Brian Keene named his debut novel The Sorrows “the best horror novel of 2012”. The Library Journal deemed his follow-up, House of Skin, “reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Peter Straub’s Ghost Story.” Samhain Horror will also publish his third novel, The Darkest Lullaby, in April. Savage Species will be his fourth full-length work. Look for his fifth novel, a vampire western called Dust Devils, in early 2014. He has also written three novellas (The Clearing of Travis Coble, Old Order, and Witching Hour Theatre) and several short stories. His primary interests are his wonderful wife and his three amazing children, and though he realizes that every author’s wife and children are wonderful and amazing, in this case the cliché happens to be true. You can learn more about Jonathan at www.jonathanjanz.com. You can also find him on Facebook, via @jonathanjanz on Twitter, or on his Goodreads and Amazon author pages.