412c

No Family For Cannibals Media Kit

By

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Cannibals Author Revives the Episodic

A long tradition of suspense was shelved for many years by the short attention span of modern readers. Aaron K Smith’s new book reminds us that good things come to those who wait.

Smith’s crime thriller, No Family For Cannibals, is a complete novel published in short episodes. He begins the book with a scene that reads like the opening of Law and Order, Criminal Minds, or CSI.

“I use well-known literary devices created by those shows to make the reader feel comfortable, and then we go for a ride,” Smith said in an interview on the publisher’s website. “It is a technique that allowed me to make the text flow more like a TV episode than a novel, especially in regards to length. The characters cover a lot of ground fast.”

Since readers only get a portion of the overall arc with each episode the book comes with a “cliffhanger warning” on Amazon, who estimates the average person can read each episode in about the time it takes to watch a movie.

Smith is not the first author to release a book in series format. So-called “chapbooks” were popular in the 16th through the 19th centuries, and they were how much of the world’s literature was distributed. Nursery rhymes, almanacs, and even the legendary Federalist Papers were originally published in installments.

Today, the television episodic has replaced its written predecessor. Smith’s No Family For Cannibals aims to bridge the divide—positioning itself somewhere between “Silence of the Lambs,” the novel by Thomas Harris, and HBO’s critically acclaimed “True Detective” series.

If you do not consider yourself a reader, but like the crime genre, you may still enjoy No Family For Cannibals. Unlike conventional books, Smith’s thriller is accompanied by a video trailer and other bonus materials free on the publisher’s website, 412C.com.

No Family For Cannibals is available from most major online retailers, including Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, and coming soon to Barnes and Noble’s eReader, the Nook.

Can You Solve the Murders?

By

A killer hunts fertile women in a misguided mission to franchise his cannibal culture.

The sleepy countryside of rural Arkansas awakes to a heinous double murder. Police are baffled by the only clues: a severed toe in the abdomen of the female victim and her husband picked at like a leftover turkey—the fork still stuck in his chest when their daughter discovers the bodies.

Then a stranger comes to town. James Roach, with his piercing blue eyes and rugged appearance. He claims to be “the observer” for a specialized team who offers to solve the crime, but refuses to meet with authorities. Deputy Eric Lake finds the reclusive team suspicious and Roach’s intimate knowledge of the facts too much to swallow.

Twenty miles away, another couple is slain in a similar, yet more brutal fashion. This time a witness spots Roach in the neighborhood moments before the attack, and a boot print found at the scene matches his for brand and size.

The evidence against Roach mounts and he is suspect number one. Can the observer and his team protect the innocent people of Hillside County, or is the group feasting on families?

Cannibals have been portrayed as sophisticates. But there is nothing sophisticated about the killer in Hillside County. To solve this crime, forget about stereotypes. Observe the evidence. Analyze the details. See through the illusion before you are trapped inside it.

Follow the clues. Meet the murderer.
Get Episode One on Amazon

Call Me Roach. Just Roach.

By Leave a Comment

A brutal double homicide in Hillside County, just outside Little Rock, Arkansas. Police are baffled by the lack of clues at the scene, and disgusted by the gory details of the crime. Then a stranger shows up with information known only to the killer.

The stranger was thirty-something with unkempt wavy brown hair. A week of stubble was unable to hide the scar etched across his cheek even though the blemish was faded. His cleft chin softened an otherwise rugged face, and his crisp blue eyes were simultaneously piercing and reassuring.

He wore brown leather boots, tan corduroy pants, a threadbare flannel shirt with sleeves rolled up tight against the muscular ridges of his vascular forearms, and a canvas backpack hung from one of his broad shoulders.

“Who are you?” asked Jack.

“James Roach. Call me Roach. I know what was left out of the police report the Sheriff’s Department gave you.”

Roach reveals the world as he sees it:

I am The Observer.

I part the clouds with my hands and peer down upon the city. At first glance, it smacks of perfect order. Cars work together in sequence and harmony. The human animal is focused on destination and completion—doing its job, serving its function.

Then I zoom in and observe the details: cars crash, putrid odors, a neighbor’s undiscovered fingerprint in the bedroom of a missing child.

From a distance, the system appears copacetic. But deep inside, there are hundreds of little components—starvation, disease, foreclosure, leukemia, homicide, depression, natural disaster, molestation, suicide, predators and prey.

Eventually, a detail finds us all.

We experience the horror firsthand.

Perhaps we were targets all along—cancer gene—or maybe we happened into the path of a spontaneous event—trucks are not meant for sidewalks.

backpack

At The Little Rock Metro Newspaper, Roach meets Heather Banks. They find themselves in a car together on their way to Hillside.

“I have a gun,” Heather said. “Just so you know.”

“So do I,” said Roach.

She turned and gave him a scowl.

He peered straight ahead, and when she no longer looked at him, the corners of his mouth arched with a slight smile.

“Funny,” she said. “Are you from Arkansas?”

“No.”

A clicking sound popped every few seconds as the tires ran over cracks in the road filled with a thick layer of tar.

“Then where are you from?”

“Up north.”

“I don’t detect a far-northern accent. You mean north of Arkansas—Missouri?”

“No.”

“Look, James—Roach—whatever. In the news business vague means evasive and evasiveness is suspicious.”

“What do you suspect?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Let’s see. A good-looking guy shows up after a double homicide. You tell us there will be more killings and that only you can solve the crimes. See any red flags there?”

“You think I’m good looking?”

“What? No. I didn’t say that.”

He sat taller in the seat.

“I am only the observer.”

“You didn’t kill or harm any of the victims?”

“Do I look like someone who could do those things?”

“It’s a yes or no question.”

He glanced at her and she at him—both quickly snapped their gaze back at the road when their eyes met.

 

Name that Meat…

By

James Roach eats chunks of meat from an aluminum foil packet prepared for him by Professor Turner.

He emerged with a bundle of aluminum foil and unwrapped it in front of me. Inside were chunks of cold meat gelled in their own cloudy juices. I picked one up and laid it on my tongue to warm it. I chewed on the meat like gum. After I eventually swallowed, it left a lump in my pipe.

Are these the missing pieces the killer sliced off Jason Caplan’s internal organs? Deputy Eric Lake wants to know for sure. He asked the Hillside County Medical Examiner, Dr. Maria Cruz, to test samples in her lab. Results should be on Deputy Lake’s phone right now.

The above image is a photograph of the actual organ tissue as it was found outside the Caplan home. Below is the same sample after the foil was opened fully in Dr. Cruz’s laboratory. Notice the heart tissue.

heartmeat

Scene of the Crime: A Tour of Hillside County

By Leave a Comment

Hillside County is mostly flat to the south, but features rolling hills to the east and west. This photo is similar to the view Roach had from Heather’s car window as they pulled into Hillside “downtown.”

“Roach sat on the curb in front of the old courthouse. The building set in the middle of a row of similar structures that make up a strip known as the Hillside Historic Downtown.”

“The Hillside County Sheriff’s Department was built studio-style with an open floor plan. Along the walls were four small detention cells, a lounge area, interrogation room-slash-conference room, and the two offices belonging to the Captain’s and the Sheriff…”

Door leading to the detention cells in the Sheriff’s Department. The fenced area allows the inmates outside time.

Killer Options: Forensic Evidence and Autopsy Reports

By Leave a Comment

 

Dr. Cruz asked Roach how he knew the boot print left by the killer was a size 11 Archmans. Roach said, "Because I wear size 11 Archmans."

Dr. Cruz asked Roach how he knew the boot print left by the killer was a size 11 Archmans. Roach said, “Because I wear size 11 Archmans.”

NOTE THE KEY: a black box isn’t for censorship, it means that part of the body is missing

Dr. Maria Cruz emailed Deputy Eric Lake the preliminary reports regarding the boot print and tissue analysis from Roach’s foil lunch. We are still waiting for her full report on the bodies. In the meantime, someone took a snapshot of these two reports. Stay tuned for more…

The fork recovered from the Kellerman scene.

 

 

Buy the Book: No Family for Cannibals

By Leave a Comment

Substitute a television episode for a psychotic episode!

Season one on the new 412c.com features “No Family For Cannibals” in three episodes. Get Episode One on Amazon, but come back here for bonus content including photographs and illustrations of written scenes from the book, autopsy reports, newspaper clippings, and an interview with the author, Aaron K Smith.

Brief Synopsis of Episode One:

A killer hunts fertile women in a misguided mission to franchise his cannibal culture.

The sleepy countryside of rural Arkansas awakes to a heinous double murder. Police are baffled by the only clues: a severed toe in the abdomen of the female victim and her husband picked at like a leftover turkey—the fork still stuck in his chest when their daughter discovers the bodies.

Then a stranger comes to town. James Roach, with his piercing blue eyes and rugged appearance. He claims to be “the observer” for a specialized team who offers to solve the crime, but refuses to meet with authorities. Deputy Eric Lake finds the reclusive team suspicious and Roach’s intimate knowledge of the facts too much to swallow.

Twenty miles away, another couple is slain in a similar, yet more brutal fashion. This time a witness spots Roach in the neighborhood moments before the attack, and a boot print found at the scene matches his for brand and size.

The evidence against Roach mounts and he is suspect number one. Can the observer and his team protect the innocent people of Hillside County, or is the group feasting on families?

Cliffhanger Warning! No Family For Cannibals is a novel, or season, split up into three written episodes published separately. It’s like TV for people who like books.

Follow the clues. Meet the murderer.
Buy Episode One on AMAZON.COM

Meet the Author: Aaron K Smith

By Leave a Comment

aaron_smith_mrgadfly_bwtInterview by Carl Varga for 412C

It is difficult to corner “No Family For Cannibals” author Aaron K Smith for an interview. He is a busy man, who in addition to writing fiction, also writes non-fiction essays and, oddly enough, invents magic tricks. We are sitting next to a green screen in his studio.

412C: No Family For Cannibals contains elements from hit TV shows such as Criminal Minds, Hannibal, Law and Order, True Detectives, and even Sherlock Holmes, but your book is in many ways the opposite of those shows in terms of the way you use the characters. Was that on purpose?

Aaron K Smith: Absolutely. I use well-known literary devices created by those shows to make the reader feel comfortable, and then we go for a ride. It is a technique that allowed me to make the text flow more like a TV episode than a novel, especially in regards to length. The characters cover a lot of ground fast.

412C: The story, especially when combined with the website, feels real to me. There must be some truth to it. What inspired the story?

Aaron K Smith: My plots always originate with a single question. No Family For Cannibals came about not from the perspective of the murders, but rather the method used to solve the crime. I thought, “What if the FBI were so secretive the American people thought the organization was the figment of J. Edgar Hoover’s imagination.” Over time, that was refined to what you see presented in the books. The storyline is complete fiction.

412C: James Roach has a hell of a sense of smell.

Aaron K Smith: He prefers Roach, just Roach. His sense of smell is actually based on my own olfaction. I have an acute sense of smell. For example, the other day my wife and I were in a storage shed. I told her that I smell a mouse. Not totally exceptional—they do leave a scent trail—but I said, “the mouse recently had babies.” I followed my nose, and under some boxes we found a nest with a mom and her newborn baby mice.

412C: That’s incredible! Glad I used deodorant.

Aaron K Smith: [sniffs the air] You use CertainDri? That’s an antiperspirant made for chronic hyperhidrosis. Sorry to hear that.

412C: Creepy! But cool (and correct I might add). Episode one leaves with a massive cliffhanger. I honestly have to admit I have no idea if the main suspect is guilty or not. I don’t want it to be him.

Aaron K Smith: You will notice the Amazon listing actually comes with a cliffhanger warning. TV viewers understand they are not going to get the whole arc in a single television show. The story evolves over the season. The same is true with No Family For Cannibals. As far as likability is concerned, throughout history some of the most infamous serial killers are quite charming and likable.

412C: Do we find out for sure if it was Roach in Episode Two?

Aaron K Smith: Without a doubt you will know definitively if Roach is the killer. And it will not be subtle.

412C: Who is the artist that draws Roach’s illustrations?

Aaron K Smith: I draw Roach’s illustrations, except for the Andreas Vesalius etchings from “De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem.” The toe is modeled after my oldest son’s big toe. The cover is an actual picture of his toe. It is still attached in real life.

412C: It really looks like a severed toe. Does Heather Banks stay in the story as Roach’s love interest.

Aaron K Smith: Heather has a huge part in the next two episodes. She is pivotal to the plot.

412C: Any talks about No Family For Cannibals being turned into a miniseries in the future? It screams HBO.

Aaron K Smith: I pictured it as more of live theatre. Especially Season Two next year, which will have a lot of decapitation. Beheadings play big on stage.

412C: I will definitely be there for that.

Aaron K Smith: Great! Bring your head.

Upcoming…

By 2 Comments

Ready to consume the second episode of No Family For Cannibals? Episode One ends with an enormous cliffhanger: is Roach Hillside County’s only hope, or is he the killer?
Stay tuned and watch out for clues on this website. Subscribe to the 412C newsletter below this post and be the first to get Episode Two.
Still haven’t read the first book? Get it now on Amazon & Smashwords

Available Now…

Disclaimer & Warning

Violent imagery and sexual content. Viewer discretion is advised. The "No Family For Cannibals" books, stories, events, characters, businesses, and the materials on this website are a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or real people is coincidental. Photographs portraying real locations are used fictitiously.

Explore 412c

Connect with Aaron K Smith on Twitter & Facebook

Hungry for more?

Subscribe for updates about future 412c seasons, get exclusive behind-the-scenes bonus materials, and read articles written by your favorite characters and authors. Be the first to read Episode Two.