The South shall rise again! CECIL & BUBBA MEET THE
THANG Coming March 21st!
Terry M. West’s horror collection, WHAT PRICE GORY?, was
published by Pleasant Storm Entertainment, Inc. on December 13th of last year. The collection quickly became the most popular and critically successful project that West has ever created. But one story in particular stood out to horror fans and reviewers. CECIL & BUBBA MEET A SUCCUBUS introduced Cecil McGee and Turner “Bubba” Teague. These two Texan slackers were cursed for accidently running over and killing the pit bull of Rosalita, a cranky old gypsy.
“You will be plagued by the strange and evil until the end
of your days,” she swore to them. And soon the boys found themselves in a huge
paranormal mess involving a ghost hunter from the East and a ravenous succubus
that lingered in a house reputed to be the most haunted in Texas. The story became a favorite among
many, and the perfect combination between comedy and horror struck a favorable
chord with readers.
Part of the charm was the absolutely dead-on characterization that West’s fiction is quickly becoming famous for. Cecil is a small but wiry man. He is naturally distrustful, vengeful, greedy and easily agitated. But beneath it all, he has a heart of gold (which he would quickly pawn if it weren’t pumping his blood). Bubba is a gentle giant; a large man who loves his mama and is a firm believer in the supernatural. Bubba will believe “any flyer you put on his windshield”, as Cecil would say. Bubba comes from a family of “Jesus freaks and drama queens” and he is superstitious and spooks easily.
Cecil and Bubba both are thirty year-old layabouts who have dead-end
jobs. Bubba is a bouncer at a strip club and Cecil works at the bottom of the
totem pole at his daddy’s garage. Walk into any honky-tonk in the Dallas/Fort Worth
area, and you could easily meet these two characters.
CECIL & BUBBA MEET THE THANG is a full length sequel to
CECIL & BUBBA MEET A SUCCUBUS. The new novella takes place the very next day
after the events of the first story (making it Halloween night) and this time
the not so dynamic duo find themselves tying up with the Thang, which turns out to be an alien that has been buried in a
small Texas town for over one hundred years. The creature has been awoken by
the energy of the curse, and it is anxious to devour our world. The only form
of defense we have are our two redneck underachievers who are only now starting
to understand the curse that they carry and the ramifications that it will
have. And while the horror/comedy tale definitely has thick Southern
flavorings, West promises it is not a parody and that the humor doesn’t
belittle his characters or people from the South.
“I’m a Texan.” West explained, proudly. “I was born in a
small town called Lake Worth
and I spent the first twenty-five years of my life in the lone star state. I am
ferociously proud of my heritage. Cecil & Bubba are characters I have been
playing around with for years. They are comprised of many people I knew in my
youth.”
West also lamented the lack of strong and positive Southern
role models in horror fiction when he was a child: “Growing up, it was very
rare that I read a horror story where a good old boy with a drawl turned out to
be the hero. Usually when I would run across a Southern character I could
identify with, that character was a victim or a villain or played strictly for
comedy relief. Cecil & Bubba are different. Yes, the things they say are
often hysterical, but they aren’t helpless bumpkins. They are characters who,
flawed as they may be on occasion, care about each other and what is right. And
when they decide to put the boots to something, they don’t hold back. It
usually concludes with something blowing up. Real good.”
CECIL & BUBBA MEET THE THANG will be available on Amazon
on March 21, 2014. A Kindle version will be offered with a trade
paperback in the works shortly thereafter.
Depending on the response to their newest adventure, future
Cecil & Bubba tales are a definite possibility. “If people want them,
they’ll return,” West promised. “I don’t know how frequently they will appear,
as I don’t want the boys to wear out their welcome. But I have plenty of
adventures to cook up for them.”
If you can’t wait to get your hands on this one, WHAT PRICE
GORY? is currently available on Amazon and features the CECIL & BUBBA MEET
A SUCCUBUS tale as well as a special preview of CECIL & BUBBA MEET THE
THANG which presents the first 3000 words of the novella.
Pertinent websites:
