“I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of imaginative whirlpool…” - Bram Stoker, Dracula

That quote’s all too appropriate for this past week, as the family has gone back to Bucks County, Pennsylvania for the month. My partner and I hail from this area. We met here, got married here, and made some lifelong friends.

But this is an old place, full of magic—much of it dark.

Hi, I’m Lucas Mangum, and this is the seventh issue of Less Than Pulp, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. You can catch up on previous issues right here.

My daughter met my mother for the first time yesterday. After watching her big brother give his grandma a big hug, she followed suit. It was nice to see such a display of trust between them. We ate at the Yardley Inn, which is right on the Delaware. It’s a cool place, serving what amounts to gourmet bar food. To give you an idea, one item on their menu is a Philly Cheesesteak … made with ribeye.

We talked about how I cried at my son’s graduation from Kindergarten and how my stepdad is doing after nearly dying from Covid last year. She and my son took turns drawing pictures of each other in a sketchbook she got him. I had an old-fashioned with my meal and an Irish coffee for dessert.

Today, I walked to the local cemetery. I didn’t take many pictures, not out of some respect for the dead, but simply to let myself be in the moment.

DIGITAL DARKNESS, a horror novel set in the world of GODS OF THE DARK WEB, is officially out in paperback. The Kindle will be out July 13th, and I hope to do a hardcover as well. Ideally, they all would’ve dropped at the same time, but hey. Can’t be perfect all the time. ;-)

Here’s the back cover description:

"Lucas Mangum is a modern, digital age terror tactician. He's the frighteningly fresh voice horror needs right now." - Carver Pike, Author of FACES OF BETH and THE SLAUGHTER BOX

Twenty-three-year-old party girl Vanessa wakes up in an abandoned amusement park with five strangers and fights for her life against ravenous rats and superhuman, hooded sentries in the game RUSTED BLOOD.

It's more than a game...

When paranormal vlogger Tanya discovers the game is tied to multiple disappearances, she learns that the barrier between worlds is porous. Whether she and others slip through is at the will of cosmic forces that know no mercy, a god who uses technology to ravage minds from its home in the dead town of Avalon Lake.

With DIGITAL DARKNESS, Splatterpunk Award-nominated author Lucas Mangum returns to the nightmare world introduced in GODS OF THE DARK WEB to evoke the derealization and hysteria of this uncanny era.

You can grab DIGITAL DARKNESS in paperback right here.

If you’re connected with me on Facebook or Twitter, you know why Carver’s blurb at the beginning of the description is appropriate. If not, I’ll spill the beans here: he and I are working on a collaboration. DIABLO SNUFF VS GODS OF THE DARK WEB. That’s right! We’re doing a crossover between his series and mine, so get caught up on his DIABLO SNUFF books while you grab DIGITAL DARKNESS as well.

This past week on MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN PODCAST, Jeff and I did a retrospective on DVD distribution company Anchor Bay Entertainment and discussed its impact on a whole generation of horror fans. You can download the episode here or play the video below.

That’s it for this week, until then…

Currently re-reading DRACULA by Bram Stoker.

Currently watching DEATH OF A VLOGGER and STORY OF A JUNKIE.