Hello, readers.

I’m hip deep the launch of The Shadow Of All Things but I wanted to take a minute and compile some of the reviews that the book has received in its first six days.

"Honestly everything about this book was grand, the characters, the setting, the plot, and of course the monsters, and their insatiable hunger."
– Bookworm Coalition

"This story is an intriguing mix of science fiction, portal fantasy and urban fantasy...I'm a fan of the urban fantasy sub-genre and this book does quite stack up nicely amid this sub-genre...What the author does neatly is that he also adds a healthy slice of SF to the tale but makes it subtle enough so that there's no perfect delineation."
– Fantasy Book Critic

“This is the first book in another gripping series by Allen Houston...The paranormal aspects were truly unique and I appreciated this aspect since the market is flooded with same old stories with different character names...The read for me was quick, dark, and rousing, in all the good ways.” – TMBA Corbett Tries To Write

“The opening chapter drew me in right away. You won't find that slow drawn out character introduction and world building that you come across all too often in fantasy here. Instead the reader is thrown right into the action from the very start and it's consistent throughout the whole book. There's always something happening and the characters on both sides, good and evil, are well written." – Scarlet’s Web

The big day is here at long last.
 
For the last year I’ve been prepping The Shadow Of All Things, the first book in my new urban fantasy/science fiction/horror series for release. After a bout of personal upheaval, long rounds of editing, feedback from beta-readers and working with the illustrator Colleen Beauchamp Stiles on the cover and drawings for the print edition I’m happy to share my bouncing creative baby with the world.
 
I hope you enjoy it. The characters are as real as any that I’ve brought to life and I’ve tried to do justice to New York City, a city I love, which can grind you up one second and fill your heart with the pageantry of life on the other.
 
This story started with an idea: a Goth girl listening to her headphones on a stalled subway train when something horrible appears in the glass behind her. That kernel of an idea morphed in ways I couldn’t have imagined when I wrote it down in the notebook that I carry. Who was she? What were the creatures?
 
The other characters came soon after: a teenager running from cops who weren’t what they appeared to be, private school students investigating a classmate’s death, a washed up punk rocker unable to let go of the past. And those were only the first of many.
 
Writing a book is no easy feat. Especially if you have a full time job, family and other responsibilities that only allow you the time to write either pre-crack of dawn or late at night when your brain is a muddied mess.
 
Supportive family and friends have made my road easier. Whenever I needed time to bang out ideas or find a little quiet time they have been there to help. For that I can only say “thank you”. I’m truly lucky, grateful and humbled. Kim, you are a better, stronger person than me and I’m glad you put up with my shenanigans.
 
And thanks to you, the readers who read and supported me while I worked on the Nightfall Gardens books. I’ve been privileged to hear from so many people who have read my books.
 
I’d love to hear your feedback on the new book so write me an email, reach out on Facebook or tweet me.
 
Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you to sign up for my monthly email blast for exclusive content and the first word on new works that will be released.
 
Happy reading!

Music is an integral part of my new sci-fi novel The Shadow Of All Things. The main character, Evelyn Cheng, a young Goth, works at the last record shop on St. Marks Ave. in the East Village and her boss Lou schools her in underground music. Another pivotal character, Redmond Carter, was the singer of Carnival Procession, a punk band on the NYC scene in the early 1990’s and another character comes from an alternate universe where Joe Strummer was a member of the Sex Pistols.

My own high school days of electric blue hair and all black clothing are way behind me now, but I’ve retained a love of music from that time and tried to capture a little of the same excitement I felt when being introduced to new music that was beamed in from the local college station or passed around on cassette by my fellow weirdos at school.

The following are songs or bands that are referenced in my new novel.

1. Bauhaus – Dark Entries
2. The Velvet Underground – Run, Run, Run
3. Afrika Bambaataa – Planet Rock
4. The Handsome Family – The Bottomless Hole
5. Teenage Jesus and the Jerks – I woke up dreaming
6. Dead Boys – Sonic Reducer
7. David Bowie – Moonage Daydream
8. Fugazi – Waiting Room
9. John Coltrane – Love Supreme
10. Television – See No Evil
11. Love And Rockets
12. Buzzcocks – Real World
13. Magazine – Shot By Both Sides
14. The Notorious B.I.G. – Hypnotize

Other music referenced in the book includes: Nina Simone, Smog, Scott Walker, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, John Coltrane, The Oh See’s, Bob Marley and The Wailers, The Damned, Einsturzende Neubauten, Wiz Khalifa, Journey, Sex Pistols and Willie Nelson.