July 8th-12th is the week of International Thriller Writers' Conference in New York City, where it will be displayed on an easel so that the artwork by Vincent Chong (cover artist for Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, William F. Nolan and a host of others) can be enjoyed. These books have won E-Lit, Pinnacle, Lucky Cinda and Silver Feather awards and Shelf Unbound magazine named Red is For Rage a "page-turner of 2013" and one of the best independent covers of the year (Paula Phanback's).
As Ms. Wilson says at the end of her email: "Hope to see you on Saturday, May 31, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Book Rack in Moline (IL) , or, at the IWPA (Illinois Women's Press Association) tent at Printers' Row in Chicago, where I will be accepting my second Silver Feather Award at a luncheon at the Union League Club on Saturday, May 17th, 2014, the 2nd time in 3 years my writing has won this prestigious award."
The Color of Evil by Connie Corcoran Wilson (2012)
Tad McGreevy has a power that he has never revealed, not even to his life-long best friend, Stevie Scranton. When Tad looks at others, he sees colors. These auras tell Tad whether a person is good or evil. At night, Tad dreams about the evil-doers, reliving their crimes in horrifyingly vivid detail.
But Tad doesn't know if the evil acts he witnesses in his nightmares are happening now, are already over, or are going to occur in the future. He has no control over the horrifying visions. He has been told (by his parents) never to speak of his power. All Tad knows is that he wants to protect those he loves. And he wants the bad dreams to stop.
At Tad's eighth birthday party (April 1, 1995) in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the clown his parents hire to entertain Tad's third-grade classmates is one of the bad people. Pogo, the Killer Clown (aka Michael Clay) is a serial killer. So begins 53 nights of terror as Tad relives Pogo's crime, awakens screaming, and recites the terrifying details to his disbelieving family. The situation becomes so dire that Tad is hospitalized in a private institution under the care of a psychiatrist--who also does not believe the small boy's stories.
And then the police arrest Pogo, the Killer Clown.
Flash forward to the beginning of Tad's junior year in high school, 8 years later. Tad is 16 and recovered from the spring of his third-grade year. When Michael Clay was caught and imprisoned, the crime spree ended and so did Tad's bad dreams.
Until now, in the year of our Lord 2003, when evil once again stalks the land.
This is a terrifying, intense story of the dark people and places that lurk just beneath the surface of seemingly normal small-town America. As one reviewer says, "Wilson nails the darkness beneath the surface of small-town Midwestern life with an intense story based on fact."
Tad must wage a silent war against those who would harm the ones he loves. A battle to the death.
Meet Connie Corcoran Wilson
Connie (Corcoran) Wilson taught composition at 6 IA/IL colleges and wrote for 5 newspapers. She currently writes for 6 blogs, was named 2008 Content Producer of the Year by Associated Content (2009), Midwestern Writing Center Writer of the Year (March 30, 2010), received the Illinois Women's Press Association Silver Feather Award on June 6, 2012, and has received numerous E-Lit Gold Medal awards for her works, including the first book in The Color of Evil series. She currently is a Featured Contributor for Yahoo, reviewing movies, television, entertainment and politics.
A graduate of the University of Iowa, Berkeley, Western Illinois University, Northern Illinois University and the University of Chicago, she was film and book critic for the Quad City Times during the 70’s and 80’s. Her (Jan., 2011) nonfiction release It Came from the ‘70s: From The Godfather to Apocalypse Now consists of 50 reviews written during the seventies, with 76 photos, major cast and interactive trivia.
Connie’s continuing short story collection,Hellfire and Damnation, stories focused on the 9 Circles of Hell described in Dante's Inferno will soon have a third installment. Her screenplay based on her novel Out of Time was a winner in the 2007 “Writer’s Digest”competition.
In addition to interviewing Kurt Vonnegut, William F. Nolan, David Morrell, Joe Hill, Frederik Pohl, Jon Land, John Irving and Anne Perry for print and online publications, Connie taught for 33 years, founded and was CEO of 2 businesses (Sylvan Learning Center #3301 and Prometric Testing Center #3301), has a son (Scott) and a daughter (Stacey) born 19 years apart, is married 45 years to husband, Craig. Her twin granddaughters, Ava and Elise, who appear on the cover of her humorous book of essays, Laughing Through Life, turned four on January 11, 2013.
She lives in Chicago and in the IA/IL Quad Cities.
A graduate of the University of Iowa, Berkeley, Western Illinois University, Northern Illinois University and the University of Chicago, she was film and book critic for the Quad City Times during the 70’s and 80’s. Her (Jan., 2011) nonfiction release It Came from the ‘70s: From The Godfather to Apocalypse Now consists of 50 reviews written during the seventies, with 76 photos, major cast and interactive trivia.
Connie’s continuing short story collection,Hellfire and Damnation, stories focused on the 9 Circles of Hell described in Dante's Inferno will soon have a third installment. Her screenplay based on her novel Out of Time was a winner in the 2007 “Writer’s Digest”competition.
In addition to interviewing Kurt Vonnegut, William F. Nolan, David Morrell, Joe Hill, Frederik Pohl, Jon Land, John Irving and Anne Perry for print and online publications, Connie taught for 33 years, founded and was CEO of 2 businesses (Sylvan Learning Center #3301 and Prometric Testing Center #3301), has a son (Scott) and a daughter (Stacey) born 19 years apart, is married 45 years to husband, Craig. Her twin granddaughters, Ava and Elise, who appear on the cover of her humorous book of essays, Laughing Through Life, turned four on January 11, 2013.
She lives in Chicago and in the IA/IL Quad Cities.
The Color of Evil by Connie Corcoran Wilson (2012)Length: 254 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon!
The Color of Evil Blurb:
But Tad doesn't know if the evil acts he witnesses in his nightmares are happening now, are already over, or are going to occur in the future. He has no control over the horrifying visions. He has been told (by his parents) never to speak of his power. All Tad knows is that he wants to protect those he loves. And he wants the bad dreams to stop.
At Tad's eighth birthday party (April 1, 1995) in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the clown his parents hire to entertain Tad's third-grade classmates is one of the bad people. Pogo, the Killer Clown (aka Michael Clay) is a serial killer. So begins 53 nights of terror as Tad relives Pogo's crime, awakens screaming, and recites the terrifying details to his disbelieving family. The situation becomes so dire that Tad is hospitalized in a private institution under the care of a psychiatrist--who also does not believe the small boy's stories.
And then the police arrest Pogo, the Killer Clown.
Flash forward to the beginning of Tad's junior year in high school, 8 years later. Tad is 16 and recovered from the spring of his third-grade year. When Michael Clay was caught and imprisoned, the crime spree ended and so did Tad's bad dreams.
Until now, in the year of our Lord 2003, when evil once again stalks the land.
This is a terrifying, intense story of the dark people and places that lurk just beneath the surface of seemingly normal small-town America. As one reviewer says, "Wilson nails the darkness beneath the surface of small-town Midwestern life with an intense story based on fact."
Tad must wage a silent war against those who would harm the ones he loves. A battle to the death.
Red is For Rage by Connie Corcoran Wilson (2013)Length: 260 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon!
Red is For Rage Blurb:
Red is For Rage is the second book in the award-winning The Color of Evil series by Connie (Corcoran) Wilson. The Color of Evil won the E-Lit Gold Medal for Horror (Jenkins Group), and the Silver Feather (IWPA). In Book Two, we learn more about the exact nature of Tad’s paranormal power, Tetrachromatic Super Vision. Can this keen sight help Tad find Stevie Scranton? Will Tad suffer another breakdown from reliving the crimes of serial killer Michael Clay (aka, Pogo, the Killer Clown), as he did when only eight years old? Can Tad learn to harness his special sight to help his loved ones?
When Stevie Scranton goes missing, best friend Tad vows to do everything he can to find him. Even if Stevie is dead, Sally and Earl Scranton, (his parents), and Shannon, (Stevie’s older sister), crave closure. Tad enlists the help of retired policeman Charlie Chandler and a team of volunteers, including Charlie’s old partner, Evelyn Hoeflinger. This rag-tag team of detectives continues searching for Stevie Scranton, the runty misfit of Cedar Falls’ Sky High. In their search, they discover a monster every bit as dangerous as Pogo and must confront him in order to save Stevie.
Tad sees auras around others that tell him whether they are good or evil. The truly evil are surrounded by a khaki aura (THE COLOR OF EVIL). At night, Tad suffers vivid nightmares that depict the crimes of the evil-doers. Michael Clay (the serial killer Pogo) escapes custody. On the loose again, Pogo’s actions restart the vicious cycle of violent nightmares. Pogo poses a threat to the entire town of Cedar Falls, but he is especially a threat to Tad McGreevy.
Pogo has one main goal: kill Tad McGreevy so that Tad cannot disclose Clay’s location. Pogo doesn’t realize that, up until now, Tad has been unable to harness the paranormal ability he possesses. Now, Tad McGreevy must try to learn to use his unique gift. Stevie Scranton’s fate hangs in the balance. Tad’s power, if precognitive, could save everyone he loves.
Jenny SanGiovanni returns from her father’s home in Boulder, Colorado, to finish her senior year with her old classmates. She brings home a new set of problems. Jeremy Gustaffsson, the fifth-year senior boyfriend in Jenny’s junior year, graduated. But Jeremy is still in town, still obsessed with Jenny, still dangerous. When Jenny broke up with Jeremy, it made Jeremy mad. Bad things happen to good people when Jeremy Gustaffsson gets angry and descends into a red rage.
All Jenny’s cheerleader friends from her junior year are back. Many, like Janice Kramer, Heather Crompton and Melody Harris, have problems of their own. Jenny deals with adolescent issues such as self-esteem and self-worth, problems that tax her soul. But Jenny is not alone. Another Sky High student is driven to the brink. Will that individual plunge into the abyss of despair?
And what of the adults? What has the stress of Stevie’s nine-month ordeal done to Earl and Sally Scranton’s marriage? What problems confront the other adults in Cedar Falls as three evil-doers rise up to create chaos and do them harm?
Red is For Rage and rage runs rampant in this small Iowa town in the year of our Lord 2004.
Khaki=Killer by Connie Corcoran Wilson (2014)
Length: 220 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon!
Khaki=Killer Blurb:
Khaki=Killer, the third novel in The Color of Evil series, follows young Tad McGreevy and friends at Cedar Falls' Sky High Lab School through the second semester of their senior year.
Recently named a "PageTurner" by Shelf Unbound magazine and NABE Pinnacle Thriller winner, the series details the adventures of the young man (Tad McGreevy) with the power to detect auras around others (Tetrachromatic Super Vision) and to relive the crimes of those with "the color of evil" in his dreams. Khaki=Killer.
Praise For The Color of Evil Series:
As reviewer (True Review) Andy Andrews put it: "Wilson makes all this count and mixes the ugly and the good in ways that can turn out to be rewarding for readers...There are moments of a real gift here...deft touches...especially between Stevie (Scranton) and his girlfriend, that are quite touching and even inspired...So, I remain happy to follow this series, I am assuming this series will reach a conclusion and I cannot wait to see how Wilson writes it."
"Connie Corcoran Wilson weaves a deftly fine scalpel in an age where a crude blade is more the norm. Her work is a smooth, subtle hybrid mix of science fiction, thriller, and horror that realizes a unique and pointed vision in the great tradition of Phillip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury. Her voice is a wonder to behold, at once dark and somber while maintaining a glimmer of hope that shines in the hearts of her heroes, who cling to the light. Like Stephen King, nothing escapes her discerning eye, the result of which is tale after tale that bleed life onto the page, both literally and figuratively." - Jon Land, bestselling author of the Caitlin Strong Series
"Connie Wilson is back - She's good! She's DAMN good! In a world of mainly bad-to-fair writers, she stands above the crowd with plot, description , and strong character. Believe me, you'll enjoy her latest! that's a guarantee!...She's a born storyteller!" - William F. Nolan, Living Legend in Dark Fantasy, Logan's Run, Logan's World, Nightworlds
"Wilson's characters come alive on the page. Comparisons to Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Philip K. Dick aside, Wilson has spent 33 years teaching students in this age range. She knows what she is talking about."- Gary Braver, author of Flashback and 8 other thrillers.
"The Color of Evil series is old-school psychological horror, artfully blended with new-school shocks and twists. ..Bravo!" - Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author, multiple Bram Stoker winner
May you read well and often
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