Horror Stranger Sins by Michaelbrent Collings

What happens in Vegas…slays in Vegas.

Legion is a teacher. An avenging angel. A murderer. A madman.

Raised in the underground hideout of an insane father, he now travels the world searching for those who torment the weak, who harm the innocent. He uncovers the secrets and sins of evildoers and teaches them how to leave those mistakes behind. Even if it means killing them to do it.

But this time, the tables have turned. The ghosts of Legion’s past have come for him; the victims of his madness have returned to torment and destroy him. Wounded, weak, near death: For the first time, Legion is not predator, but prey.

Now aided by a woman and her daughter—who have themselves been surviving in secret terror for a decade—he must survive long enough to battle his past, to destroy the ghosts that have come for his sanity and soul…and to kill all who would harm his new friends.

Tracked by a crime family more twisted than anything he has ever seen, threatened by a madman whose strength is greater than anything he has ever experienced, Legion has never been closer to danger. They want his pain. They want his death. And they will stop at nothing to achieve their aims.

But Legion is a good teacher. So he will run. He will hide. And then, when the students are ready…he will teach. And his lessons are always murder.

CRITICAL PRAISE FOR COLLINGS’ OTHER WORK:

“Collings skillfully manipulates language to prolong the suspense and terror, evoking the dread of brutality and torture, and drawing readers into his study of privilege and desperation… [R]eaders who enjoy probing into depraved tendencies will appreciate this psychological slasher.” – Publishers Weekly

“Collings is a master.” – Scream Magazine

“Nightmare fuel… intense and downright scary.” – Horror Geek Life

Michaelbrent Collings recently spent some time with The Big Thrill discussing his latest thriller, STRANGER SINS.

What attracts you to this book’s genre?
I love the fact that horror allows us to talk about big questions–who are we, what are we doing here, is there a purpose to all this?–in a way that is both interesting and approachable. You walk into a crowded room and ask, “Who believes in God?” and there’s a dead, uncomfortable silence. You walk in and regale them with the plot of The Exorcist, and you cut away that discomfort with the wonderful power of a story that, ultimately, talks about the same things that are hard to discuss outside the narrative framework.

Michaelbrent Collings

What was the biggest challenge this book presented? What about the biggest opportunity?
The biggest challenge on this was the length–a 140,000-word thriller/horror is a lot to ask of a lot of readers. But that also was the biggest opportunity, allowing the characters room to breathe, to live, and to grow. And the advance response has been fantastic, so fingers crossed the length works for everyone!

Was there anything new you discovered or that surprised you as you wrote this book?
Always. I’m coming up on fifty books, and every single one is a delight, a joy, a terror, a surprise. That is as it should be–why bother telling the same stale, tired stories over and over?

No spoilers, but what can you tell us about your book that we won’t find in the jacket copy or the PR material?
The series has shifted over the course of the first three books–Strangers was a straight-up survival horror story, which transitioned to mystery-thriller with Stranger Still and Stranger Danger (Books Two and Three of the I Am Legion series, respectively). This fourth entry has brought even more changes for the eponymous Legion and spins the character into a completely new direction.

Michaelbrent Collings is an internationally bestselling novelist, produced screenwriter, and speaker. Best known for horror (and voted one of the top 20 All-Time Greatest Horror Writers in a Ranker vote of nearly 20,000 readers), Collings has written bestselling thrillers, mysteries, sci-fi and fantasy titles, and even humor and non-fiction.

In addition to popular success, Michaelbrent has also received critical acclaim: He is the only person who has ever been a finalist for a Bram Stoker Award (twice), a Dragon Award (twice), and a RONE Award, and he and his work have been reviewed and/or featured on everything from Publishers Weekly to Scream Magazine to NPR. An engaging and entertaining speaker, he is also a frequent guest at comic cons and on writing podcasts like Six Figure Authors, The Creative Penn, Writing Excuses, and others and is a mental health advocate and TEDx speaker.

To learn more about the author and his work, please visit his website.