tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36524705635219526062024-03-14T01:02:02.015-07:00Simon BestwickWelcome to my online home.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.comBlogger546125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-15844418785995172002024-02-20T00:46:00.000-08:002024-02-20T00:46:43.726-08:00Jaeger<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiVqRw3uzObLRSgVp1YftIFWzNxPtlIWab1OBd790RS8fug_Rpi7hpC5Nu8yAuPNfh2CbMGIlfLWDL7xMWFSY3YVWt4rnNLnz4hiLyf3U2HCS01PzcNv1Cj9eAUSUQW-ovBTmvRGY98ZJkk1uTuqD4bWl5M4r9EJYVxW5V7XJEIzZ8HVuEnoVkvSEIsg/s1000/Jaeger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="625" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiVqRw3uzObLRSgVp1YftIFWzNxPtlIWab1OBd790RS8fug_Rpi7hpC5Nu8yAuPNfh2CbMGIlfLWDL7xMWFSY3YVWt4rnNLnz4hiLyf3U2HCS01PzcNv1Cj9eAUSUQW-ovBTmvRGY98ZJkk1uTuqD4bWl5M4r9EJYVxW5V7XJEIzZ8HVuEnoVkvSEIsg/w400-h640/Jaeger.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>My new novella, <i>Jaeger</i>, will be published on 29th February by Black Shuck Books.<p></p><p>It's a follow-up to my earlier novella <i>Roth-Steyr</i>, picking up the trail of its narrator, Valerie Varden, a few months after the events of the first story.</p><p>Trained as an assassin by the crumbling Habsburg Empire to fight a secret war that began in the last days of World War One, Val's spent a lifetime trying to forget all she once she knew. But some things are never forgotten...</p><p>Fleeing across a darkening Europe, Val finds being hunted by a relentless, determined and powerful enemy - one who, wherever she goes, wants to see her dead. To survive, she'll need to draw on all her old, lethal skills and become the hunter herself. A Jaeger.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #212529; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #050505; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>“A worthy sequel to the author’s </i>Roth-Steyr<i>, packed with action and intrigue. Alongside a lethal and fascinating protagonist, Bestwick drives us without pause through the tangled remnants of a secret war over a century old — remnants drenched in blood, madness and memories. Fast-paced, engrossing, and extremely satisfying. No one truly survives the Sindelar Gate.” </i></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #212529; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #050505; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times;">John Linwood Grant, Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of <i>Where All is Night, And Starless.</i></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="color: #050505; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"With the structure of a spy novel, a heart of cosmic horror, and an elegy at its core, Simon Bestwick's relentlessly paced and meticulously researched </span><span style="color: var(--primary-text); font-weight: 600; text-align: inherit;">Jaeger </span><span style="color: #050505; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> hurtles across Europe from the turn of the last century to the present day in this gripping, satisfying follow up to Roth-Steyr."</span></span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lynda E. Rucker, author of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i>The Moon Will Look Strange </i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i>Now It's Dark</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.<span style="background-color: #f0f0f0; font-style: italic;"> </span></span> </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #212529; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #050505; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“</span></span><span style="color: var(--primary-text); font-weight: 600; text-align: inherit;">Jaeger </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #212529; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #050505; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is a time-hopping, occult-tinged thriller featuring a deadly, transcontinental game of cat-and-mouse showcasing a wealth of brilliantly crafted set-pieces. It’s also a meditation on love, loss, grief and immortality. It ticked so many boxes for me that I ran out of boxes. I loved it."</span></span></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #212529; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #050505; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times;">Anthony Watson, author of <i>The Fallen</i>.</span></span></span></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-76171349473983038882023-11-27T15:04:00.000-08:002023-11-27T15:04:06.284-08:00The Obligatory Blowing of Horns: Awards Eligibility Post 2023<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhESK11nMu2RjzZEtavtasu7oTzhGYgAs0YxNPCWOMGgw5nOcCjzffB3mDftxCkaMFuuDoRQqbxDeM4imBwPMkklXKP_S8Zb2CzQ4Gj8qp0ZMeN44VZJrVikuTxeDMVz9wfDbjZ3jgrlciBDUXD9Cha8BSa4tG9gljCpvEYs5AmoVLcauiU9M8ujqCQQ/s1332/shakespeare%20unleashed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1332" data-original-width="882" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhESK11nMu2RjzZEtavtasu7oTzhGYgAs0YxNPCWOMGgw5nOcCjzffB3mDftxCkaMFuuDoRQqbxDeM4imBwPMkklXKP_S8Zb2CzQ4Gj8qp0ZMeN44VZJrVikuTxeDMVz9wfDbjZ3jgrlciBDUXD9Cha8BSa4tG9gljCpvEYs5AmoVLcauiU9M8ujqCQQ/s320/shakespeare%20unleashed.jpg" width="212" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />It's been nearly a year since I last posted here, mainly because my alter ego Mr Church has had a lot to say for himself over on his website. He's been pretty busy writing, too, but the Bestwick byline hasn't been completely dormant</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">2023's been comparatively quiet on the publication front: another of those 'duck in the mist' years where a lot of work's been getting done, but the results won't be visible for a while yet. Nonetheless, a few things made it into print, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">so here's the obligatory round-up of any work that saw daylight for the first time this year. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Stories</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">'Are We Going Under?,' published digitally in <i>Parsec #6</i>, January 2023, edited by Ian Whates. Reprinted in book form by the same editor in <i>Parsec in Print</i>, September 2023. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">'Kingbreaker,' published in Shakespeare Unleashed, edited<br /> by James Aquilone, July 2023.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8qCgYkErR1M_c5T09u4QbmNj-h72iK_y84GM1JPHy3QJLm3NeZb_tt8mbbto950zsUpvLlJqdufwZQDNDU8eujpBJZUBOH9i7c3aH0lAsW5ngYd-pUtfCvGN1hWO71mp7M9B8W9ZuPljeAQuU1bGOE6uLt2sSRDx6jlbEizhfzDRM2vOQjpkH7gsbvQ/s431/parsec%206.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="330" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8qCgYkErR1M_c5T09u4QbmNj-h72iK_y84GM1JPHy3QJLm3NeZb_tt8mbbto950zsUpvLlJqdufwZQDNDU8eujpBJZUBOH9i7c3aH0lAsW5ngYd-pUtfCvGN1hWO71mp7M9B8W9ZuPljeAQuU1bGOE6uLt2sSRDx6jlbEizhfzDRM2vOQjpkH7gsbvQ/s320/parsec%206.png" width="245" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">'The Flight of Ravens,' published in <i>Unknown Heroes versus the
Forces of Darkness</i>, edited by Will Jacques, April 2023.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Patreon</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Most of my Patreon output's consisted of a new serial story, <i>Dogman</i>, which is still ongoing. Some stories have appeared, but most of these have been previously published pieces, with the following exceptions: </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">'731' (short story,) October 30th.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">'The Good Man's Ghosts' (verse,) March 15th. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">And that's the lot, this year!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">All the best, folks.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Simon.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-67525549510076685672022-12-31T10:59:00.000-08:002022-12-31T10:59:06.498-08:00'22 in Review<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41MWWd+6l+L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41MWWd+6l+L.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Phew. Well that was quite a year.<br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A fair bit happened, just for me personally (I'm not even going to try to summarise the year's political upheavals or all the cool people we lost.) It went something like this:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I got an agent (properly speaking, I signed with the Ki Agency last year, but couldn't officially announce it, for Reasons, till well into this year.) I'm still with Ki and looking forward to more excitement in 2023, but now represented by agency founder Meg Davis, as Anne Perry has moved on to become the new commissioning editor at Jo Fletcher Books. Anne has been an absolute star and I hope we get to work together again in the future.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://angryrobotbooks.com/books/the-hollows/" target="_blank">I had a novel published under a new pen name</a>, to excellent reviews and pretty good sales. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I wrote two complete novels in 2022, and am partway through a third. That took up the bulk of my time and energy work-wise this year, but <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">I also managed to place three stories with publications due out in 2023: 'Are We Going Under?' will appear in</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><i style="color: #222222;">ParSec Magazine</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">, 'Kingbreaker' in</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><i style="color: #222222;">Shakespeare Unleashed</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">, and 'The Flight Of Ravens' in</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><i style="color: #222222;">Unknown Superheroes Vs The Forces of Darkness</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/518HPlI7hRL._SY346_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="231" height="346" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/518HPlI7hRL._SY346_.jpg" width="231" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />On top of all that, I started <a href="https://anchor.fm/no-darkness-but-ours" target="_blank">a podcast</a>, <a href="https://anchor.fm/no-darkness-but-ours" target="_blank">No Darkness But Ours</a>, with my friend and colleague Gemma Files, in which we discuss horror in all its forms. Topics so far have included snowbound horror, the work and legacy of M.R. James, and Folk Horror. We're currently in the middle of a discussion on Queer Horror, with more to come. You can check our work out <a href="https://anchor.fm/no-darkness-but-ours" target="_blank">here</a>. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Under my own byline, the following was published this year:</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Short Fiction:</span></b></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Nemesis of Wire (Phantasmagoria #20, ed. Trevor Kennedy)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Bait (Book of Extraordinary Femme Fatale Stories, ed. Maxim Jakubowski)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Mummy Calls (Classic Monsters Unleashed, ed. James Aquilone)<o:p></o:p></span></p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Work published on Patreon:</span></b><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEJrj2x6_746gz6pB4Rl0L8ys338fdSoOd4SkS3tyKKUX6-iYZ55AGULgEzJNiojZUhWZMvWcfFx6YLStuICzzhS0Ocr5sGR8HfvZHU_AupT745TajtiZWCf9eGnKvq_xlyiFZCmHzM2F9_KLF0bm6rZqlk9Dz5KPOtPntrbkgGnFash_bprTbDp0/s872/Podcast%20Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEJrj2x6_746gz6pB4Rl0L8ys338fdSoOd4SkS3tyKKUX6-iYZ55AGULgEzJNiojZUhWZMvWcfFx6YLStuICzzhS0Ocr5sGR8HfvZHU_AupT745TajtiZWCf9eGnKvq_xlyiFZCmHzM2F9_KLF0bm6rZqlk9Dz5KPOtPntrbkgGnFash_bprTbDp0/s320/Podcast%20Logo.jpg" width="275" /></a></div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Short fiction:<br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">This Life, This Death<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Night of the Dog-Headed Man<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Death of Norma Lake (fragment from early draft of Bonewalker)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Low Over Water</span></p><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The One You Feed<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Adaptive Evolution In The Lancashire Grindylow: A Report By Alexandra Thraves Ph.D<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Bactrian<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Verse:</span></b></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Submariner</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Beacon 46-A<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Christmas Kiss</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In addition, my story 'Redwater,' from <i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The Alchemy Press Book Of Horrors 3: A Miscellany Of Monsters, </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">was reprinted in Ellen Datlow's <i>The Best Horror Of The Year #14</i>, making three years in a row that my work's appeared there.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Thank you to all the editors who've published me this year, to Anne and Meg, to Gemma for her support on the podcast, and to all readers and listeners who've supported my work by reading or listening to it.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Finally, and most of all, to my lovely wife, Cate, without whom none of this would have been possible.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Happy New Year, everybody.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Good luck for 2023.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">Simon x</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span></span></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-54181631779377014692022-07-07T06:53:00.000-07:002022-07-07T06:53:18.911-07:00Boris the Fridge-Hider (2022 version)<p><span style="font-family: arial;">I first wrote this before the 2019 election. Here's a slightly updated version:</span></p><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Look who's scurrying across the floor</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Blond and hairy, has no balls</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the polls he was ahead</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Now he's hanging by a thread</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Boris the fridge-hider</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Boris the fridge-hider</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He can tell nothing but lies</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Has no issue with Russian bribes</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Reporters cause him indigestion</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">(They might ask an awkward question)</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Boris the fridge-hider</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Boris the fridge-hider</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Creepy Tory, Creepy Tory,</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Creepy Creepy Tory Tory Creepy Creepy Tory Tory</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Creepy Creepy Tory Tory Creepy Creepy Tory Tory</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Screws anything that's in a skirt</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">(And anyone who trusts his word)</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Bellowing: "Get Brexit Done!"</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Then hides away 'mid the gammon</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Boris the fridge-hider</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Boris the fridge-hider</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Now all of his tricks are gone</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yet somehow he still clings on</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Drag him out of Number 10</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Bring him to a sticky end</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Boris the fridge-hider</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Boris the fridge-hider</span></div></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p><br /></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-69692255328426252672022-04-01T10:58:00.003-07:002022-04-01T10:58:41.109-07:00I have an agent!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg23RBMGQc8lGrP8xGE3ksHMZqrkhP-VELUNQYg3IH_1V3eNPhospWTrhY6jjhWMJzZjjeu_NqlVuzQp4h6e2waXtI-Y3fbycx5YwYZRSQzcDdy6IdR9bC5LkcjiKh8txei0fDLSCDGZajqMYmlxaN1VmSWjZG5pDzYN8mTkmlDwx67ziwR1VQkBz4/s1526/anne%20c%20perry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1526" data-original-width="1526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg23RBMGQc8lGrP8xGE3ksHMZqrkhP-VELUNQYg3IH_1V3eNPhospWTrhY6jjhWMJzZjjeu_NqlVuzQp4h6e2waXtI-Y3fbycx5YwYZRSQzcDdy6IdR9bC5LkcjiKh8txei0fDLSCDGZajqMYmlxaN1VmSWjZG5pDzYN8mTkmlDwx67ziwR1VQkBz4/s320/anne%20c%20perry.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>As promised in my last post, more exciting news:<br /><p></p><p>I'm now represented by the brilliant <a href="https://ki-agency.co.uk/agents" target="_blank">Anne C. Perry</a> at the <a href="https://ki-agency.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ki Agency</a>.</p><p>I couldn't be happier. Anne is a lovely person and - better still - incredibly good at her job, as well as being a pleasure to work with.</p><p>There will be more news soon.</p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-919779708069604042022-03-31T05:48:00.002-07:002022-03-31T05:48:21.616-07:00A Conversation with Ramsey Campbell, and a new review of Black Mountain at Horrified!<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW12nIriSw9NEiFHi_PRwcARbpJpbu4MKnockGnEtB-29XioKVVSDq1i5hpBEjPpzMrbJ9mOy0lOq3jNN47dRFr3ZxTKd5Qy2lTDvv0SPmtGGHqbE5iGWvogpVfP8MSZZSo9N0l2g8V83E5-gYMASFRfCiESsbmTIP4ZWub15MXR9JjKEVP-CVCe4/s2550/Black%20Mountain%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaLregs717bfEdQMUYHovAP4mTgaOrjamJRMYBONAMmHlFtymkI6q-uRAxxZ1PSlKZJ-Odr4WklkMMdrZVwEV3L9unH1ijtnT4Lmz4UvwnnY1TbeAwO3hbDwXHGJCIKxc9ymCSmi5aVtmUjR2vRd8RJwPuZ88gBhm8N3pGXmW2oRT7Y2VA3fxX5aE/s2550/Black%20Mountain%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2550" data-original-width="1650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaLregs717bfEdQMUYHovAP4mTgaOrjamJRMYBONAMmHlFtymkI6q-uRAxxZ1PSlKZJ-Odr4WklkMMdrZVwEV3L9unH1ijtnT4Lmz4UvwnnY1TbeAwO3hbDwXHGJCIKxc9ymCSmi5aVtmUjR2vRd8RJwPuZ88gBhm8N3pGXmW2oRT7Y2VA3fxX5aE/s320/Black%20Mountain%20cover.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br />Over at <a href="https://www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk/reviews/black-mountain/" target="_blank">Horrified Magazine</a>, Ally Wilkes reviews <i><a href="https://www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk/reviews/black-mountain/" target="_blank">Black Mountain</a></i>, rating it as: </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>"U<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">nquestionably a must-read. It felt like diving into the best and most compulsive creepypasta, or the weird world of Missing 411 and disappearances in the wilderness: full of questionable narrators, conflicting explanations, and the unspooling realisation that whatever haunts the Bala Triangle has been doing so at least as far back as recorded history. </span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">...</span><span style="background-color: white;">A propulsive narrative and a compulsive read... </span><span style="background-color: white;">Bestwick is to be applauded for creating a pitch-perfect creepypasta in book form, full of unsettling incidents and genuinely scary scenes of folk – and cosmic – terror."</span></i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Along the way, there are comparisons to Mark Z. Danielewski's <i>House Of Leaves</i>, Matt Weselowski's <i>Six Stories </i>novels, and (deep breath) <i>ARTHUR MACHEN</i>. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That's Arthur Machen, as in <i>The White People</i>, and <i>The Great God Pan</i>.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I could not be more delighted.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In other news, Tuesday saw the paperback launch of <i>The Way of the Worm</i>, the stunning conclusion to Ramsey Campbell's trilogy <i>The Three Births of Daoloth</i>. Ramsey's a marvellous raconteur, with a wealth of insights and anecdotes; he needs very little encouragement to share them, but somebody had to provide that, and it turned out to be me!</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The event was held at Blackwell's Bookshop in Liverpool, and was followed up by a very nice (and very large) Chinese meal at Mr Chili's, a brilliant Sichuan restaurant that you really should pay a visit to if you're ever in town. Phil, the excellent store manager at Blackwell's (ably assisted by James Lefebure) livestreamed the event to Facebook, and you can watch it <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blackwellsliverpool/videos/509748967386081" target="_blank">here</a> if you're so inclined.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">More exciting news soon!</span></span></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-22516235849180737602022-03-15T09:53:00.003-07:002022-03-15T09:57:19.979-07:00'Redwater' to be reprinted in Best Horror of the Year #14 <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJsuLN30TyIWxkNgx428kouwwlFhrfe-Bk3ummunJYfmtEjyaKdMvqJW4bMl72G_c4z7iOPXoh-25n9W574tC7nk6Ngf-KVXSw_xgqXKjc4DAg9b0kTt2Fr9kuiBg28MHzuzNJcT5p1jFCYscKFdZj97K8qk2YodnKK66lt-uuCsW2cQYY--resLM=s1023" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJsuLN30TyIWxkNgx428kouwwlFhrfe-Bk3ummunJYfmtEjyaKdMvqJW4bMl72G_c4z7iOPXoh-25n9W574tC7nk6Ngf-KVXSw_xgqXKjc4DAg9b0kTt2Fr9kuiBg28MHzuzNJcT5p1jFCYscKFdZj97K8qk2YodnKK66lt-uuCsW2cQYY--resLM=s320" width="203" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm delighted to announce that my story 'Redwater,' which appeared in <i>The Alchemy Press Book Of Horrors 3: A Miscellany Of Monsters </i>last year, is to be reprinted in the 14th volume of Ellen Datlow's <i>Best Horror of the Year</i>. It leads off a line-up of brilliant authors, including some of my favourite contemporary horror writers. Volume 14 promises to be a dark and scary treat.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">That table of contents in full:</span></p><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Redwater -- Simon Bestwick </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Caker’s Man -- Matthew Holness </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Black Leg -- Glen Hirshberg </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Offering -- Michael Marshall Smith </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Fox Girl -- Lee Murray </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Shuck -- G. V. Anderson </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Hunt at Rotherdam -- A. C. Wise </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Dancing Sober in the Dust -- Steve Toase </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The God Bag -- Christopher Golden </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Strathantine Imps -- Steve Duffy </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Quizmasters -- Gerard McKeown </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All Those Lost Days -- Brian Evenson </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Elephant Subjected to the Predations of a Mentalist” – Dir. B.S. Stockton, 1921</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And “Ol’ Will’s Birthday Bash and Dither Family Reunion” – Dir. Various, 1952. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">-- Jonathan Raab </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Three Sisters Bog -- Eóin Murphy </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Steering Wheel Club -- Kaaron Warren </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The King of Stones -- Simon Strantzas </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Stolen Property -- Sarah Lamparelli </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Shards -- Ian Rogers </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Chit Chit -- Steve Toase </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Poor Butcher-Bird -- Gemma Files </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Trap -- Carly Holmes </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ll Be Gone By Then -- Eric LaRocca </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jack-in-the-Box -- Robin Furth </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Tiptoe -- Laird Barron</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">With 'Below' appearing in <i>Volume 12 </i>and 'A Treat For Your Last Day' in <i>Volume #13</i>, 'Redwater' marks three consecutive appearances for yours truly in <i>Best Horror of the Year </i>- a hat trick! I am, as I said above, absolutely delighted.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A lot of alterations were made to the original MS of 'Redwater', not all of which I was able to correct in time for publication; Ellen has very kindly allowed me to rectify them all for the reprint, and so <i>Best Horror of the Year </i>will be publishing my preferred version of the text.</span></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-18803548971986117632022-03-07T02:07:00.003-08:002022-03-07T02:07:24.208-08:00An Evening with Ramsey Campbell (with burblings from Bestwick)<div style="background-color: white; color: #6f7287; letter-spacing: 0.5px; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHO62Ls3nQMWvkPFeCJs0zwdbJErIm-m7hz4hblfIcsZvGiFhvZaPVqKd_smW48_IYOuz2Hk2KBE3UJ0cUyjMcD2w2rKINDyao3Qx5yNYikUecfhe81JW7COQ9emL0EnLFEE5PrHAX3oQzNGsL-c9nwDMz9EQ4E6aqQ6U_WL5GMWRbsl3g_dAxzdg=s214" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="214" data-original-width="175" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHO62Ls3nQMWvkPFeCJs0zwdbJErIm-m7hz4hblfIcsZvGiFhvZaPVqKd_smW48_IYOuz2Hk2KBE3UJ0cUyjMcD2w2rKINDyao3Qx5yNYikUecfhe81JW7COQ9emL0EnLFEE5PrHAX3oQzNGsL-c9nwDMz9EQ4E6aqQ6U_WL5GMWRbsl3g_dAxzdg" width="175" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">The paperback of Ramsey Campbell's novel <i>The Way of the Worm </i>will be launched this month at <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-with-ramsey-campbell-tickets-267729103957" target="_blank">Blackwell's Bookshop in Liverpool</a>. I'll be interviewing the big man (or burbling meaninglessly; anyway, I'll be there), so why not come along? Tickets are available <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-with-ramsey-campbell-tickets-267729103957" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #6f7287; letter-spacing: 0.5px; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The time: Tuesday </span><span style="font-family: arial;">29th </span><span style="font-family: arial;">March, 2022, 6.00 - 7.30pm.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #6f7287; letter-spacing: 0.5px; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The place: Blackwell's Bookshop, Peach Street, Liverpool, L3 5UH<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #6f7287; letter-spacing: 0.5px; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Join us on the 29th March when the legendary Horror writer Ramsey Campbell will be in conversation with Simon Bestwick</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #6f7287; letter-spacing: 0.5px; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: arial;">About the Author:</b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #6f7287; letter-spacing: 0.5px; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. Three of his novels have been filmed.<br />In 2021 appreciation of his collected works, The Washington Post said, " taken together, they constitute one of the monumental accomplishments of popular fiction". Three of his novels have been filmed.<br />Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", and Robert Hadji has described him as "perhaps the finest living exponent of the British weird fiction tradition", while S. T. Joshi stated, "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."<br /><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #6f7287; letter-spacing: 0.5px; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUXAqP0Rw8o4MbL7SBKjXXy-QMS42PUsnuF0QScjdRMWYZrwK1GmtykgDGCX5jCrK_zzFVTMzToRwLVGbLKpVLSZ_e7dFPy-PW6iU9Ppc6RZfe_-ZL8nECIWuRa41n7Fqr_58mItpFXGW5kToOY-xzPOGNCB5cRfihiWQ26ohDWLmZo7-7NLPtxJs=s280" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="180" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUXAqP0Rw8o4MbL7SBKjXXy-QMS42PUsnuF0QScjdRMWYZrwK1GmtykgDGCX5jCrK_zzFVTMzToRwLVGbLKpVLSZ_e7dFPy-PW6iU9Ppc6RZfe_-ZL8nECIWuRa41n7Fqr_58mItpFXGW5kToOY-xzPOGNCB5cRfihiWQ26ohDWLmZo7-7NLPtxJs" width="180" /></a></div>About the book:<br /></b>Book 3 in the Three Births of Daoloth trilogy.The present day, or something very like it. Dominic Sheldrake has retired from lecturing and lives on his own. His son Toby is married with a small daughter. The occultist Noble family are more active than ever. Their cult now openly operates as the Church of the Eternal Three, and has spread worldwide. The local branch occupies the top floors of Starview Tower, a Liverpool waterfront skyscraper. To Dominic's dismay, Toby and his wife Claudine are deeply involved in it, and he suspects they are involving their small daughter Macy too.<br />Dominic lets his son persuade him to attend a meeting of the church, where he encounters all three generations of the Nobles. Although Christian Noble is almost a century old, he's more vigorous than ever - inhumanly so. The family takes turns to preach an apocalyptic sermon that hints at dark secrets masked by the Bible and at the future that lies in wait. In a bid to investigate further Dominic undergoes the rite the church offers its members, which confers the ability to travel psychically through time. Before he's able to flee back to the present he has a vision of the monstrous fate that's in store for the world.</span><p style="background-color: white; color: #6f7287; letter-spacing: 0.5px; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px;"></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #6f7287; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">Dominic discovers a secret he's sure the Nobles won't want to be made public. Although he has retired from the police, Jim helps him establish the truth, and Roberta publishes it on her online blog. It's the subject of a court case, the results of which seem to defeat the Nobles, only for them to return in a dreadfully transformed shape. Now Dominic and his friends are at their mercy, and is there anywhere in the world to hide? Even if they manage somehow to deal with the Nobles, there may be no escaping or preventing the alien apocalypse that all the events of the trilogy have been bringing ever closer..."</span> </span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #6f7287; letter-spacing: 0.5px; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In keeping with the Lovecraftian theme, I only learned today that there's an Iron Maiden song inspired by Ramsey's story 'The Inhabitant of the Lake.' I'm just listening to it now - so why don't you as well?</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #6f7287; letter-spacing: 0.5px; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="317" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zODtxeenYsk" width="532" youtube-src-id="zODtxeenYsk"></iframe></div><br /> </span></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-57681872825964782372022-02-26T05:13:00.009-08:002022-03-01T10:48:36.541-08:00Ukraine, and what you can do<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRy0VzSpxXzuZIvGQEo1lvVAIJF4EFt_bxeCIUSfon4W1a3kM7L1UB94W_iQtwkQilRpOf3mbPh8LzXB-ahJwa4C8L76WAHQLRIEcXCr1cqqeFHvT1qzRhkbelZMJyIqIExmkLRtp_hBau9PtCh12iRXu9d1In1E9zjHyuf3wggI1Yy5aJ-F79ZHE=s720" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="720" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRy0VzSpxXzuZIvGQEo1lvVAIJF4EFt_bxeCIUSfon4W1a3kM7L1UB94W_iQtwkQilRpOf3mbPh8LzXB-ahJwa4C8L76WAHQLRIEcXCr1cqqeFHvT1qzRhkbelZMJyIqIExmkLRtp_hBau9PtCh12iRXu9d1In1E9zjHyuf3wggI1Yy5aJ-F79ZHE=s320" width="320" /></a></div>As you'll all know, Russian forces began an invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, in a blatant act of military aggression by <strike>Dobby</strike> Vladimir Putin. (That's the only joke I'll be making in this post, so enjoy it.)<p></p><p>The Ukrainian military - and people - are putting up the kind of resistance that can only be described as awe-inspiring. Grandmothers give sunflower seeds (the national flower of Ukraine) to Russian soldiers, telling them to put them in their pockets so that sunflowers will at least grow when they die. A young soldier, Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych, sacrificed himself to blow up a vital bridge and delay the approach of Russian tanks. The tiny garrison of Snake Island in the Black Sea died to the last man rather than surrender to a Russian warship (and actually turned up the volume on their loudspeakers to make their last words - "Russian warship, go f**k yourself!'" as loud and clear as possible.)</p><p>War is vile, and brings out the worst qualities of humanity. Sometimes, though, it also shows some of the best - courage, self-sacrifice, endurance and compassion. But acts of self-sacrifice, such as Volodymyrovych's and the Snake Island garrison's, shouldn't be necessary. </p><p>How will this end? I have no idea. In the meantime, I've been trying to find out what I can do as an individual to support Ukraine? It hardly needs saying that sticking a Ukrainian flag on your Facebook profile pic isn't going to help anyone in concrete terms. </p><p>I don't know about you, but as well as being a complete physical coward I'm also something of a physical wreck, and wouldn't be much use to any army except as a sandbag. So here are some options:</p><p><a href="https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-crisis-appeal?utm_campaign=UK%20Solidarity%20Fund&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social%20Ad&utm_content=Donate%20Landing_Image_Situation%20Update%20Image_Long%20Copy&utm_term=175155_Men_Women_Ukraine&c_name=UK%20Solidarity%20Fund&c_source=Facebook&c_medium=Social%20Ad&c_creative=Donate%20Landing_Image_Situation%20Update%20Image_Long%20Copy&c_code=175155&adg=Men_Women_Ukraine&fbclid=IwAR03TFP0T0Coo8a2nWn3vhXl0K7fU3Ci4qKYsJc7hIy4iF8-JCkIjS0vYPo" target="_blank">The Red Cross</a> have launched a crisis appeal, which you can donate to <a href="https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-crisis-appeal?utm_campaign=UK%20Solidarity%20Fund&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social%20Ad&utm_content=Donate%20Landing_Image_Situation%20Update%20Image_Long%20Copy&utm_term=175155_Men_Women_Ukraine&c_name=UK%20Solidarity%20Fund&c_source=Facebook&c_medium=Social%20Ad&c_creative=Donate%20Landing_Image_Situation%20Update%20Image_Long%20Copy&c_code=175155&adg=Men_Women_Ukraine&fbclid=IwAR03TFP0T0Coo8a2nWn3vhXl0K7fU3Ci4qKYsJc7hIy4iF8-JCkIjS0vYPo" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p><a href="https://donate.careinternational.org.uk/page/100263/donate/1?%2F&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_campaign=ukraineemergency&utm_content=newsinterests_orangesquare1&fbclid=IwAR3TDAv19N7U0FtOZ2D3vJ1i1gNyStj1PQvyDUWVLn-U_QtUmB0vCzE737k" target="_blank">Care International</a> are providing emergency relief for their partner People In Need. You can donate <a href="https://donate.careinternational.org.uk/page/100263/donate/1?%2F&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_campaign=ukraineemergency&utm_content=newsinterests_orangesquare1&fbclid=IwAR3TDAv19N7U0FtOZ2D3vJ1i1gNyStj1PQvyDUWVLn-U_QtUmB0vCzE737k" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p><a href="https://actions.sumofus.org/a/help-ukrainians-who-need-an-urgent-lifeline-right-now-fba2?fbclid=IwAR3mhgLnxIWhGdHu2IQQVlV1zkOsJgyd98U2BNKYy6y2nyKDyLOiNPdm-ec" target="_blank">SumOfUs</a> are also taking donations for aid to Ukraine <a href="https://actions.sumofus.org/a/help-ukrainians-who-need-an-urgent-lifeline-right-now-fba2?fbclid=IwAR3mhgLnxIWhGdHu2IQQVlV1zkOsJgyd98U2BNKYy6y2nyKDyLOiNPdm-ec" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>For anyone who wants to involve themselves more directly, the Kyiv Independent has an article <a href="https://kyivindependent.com/national/want-to-help-ukraines-military-as-a-foreigner-heres-what-you-can-do/" target="_blank">here </a>on how to support the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Force as a foreigner, including enlistment. (This article is a month old and may be out of date, but if nothing else might at least shut up a few of the inevitable tedious bar-room commandoes who'll be spouting on about how they'd show the Russians a thing or two.) </p><p>ETA: <a href="https://www.unicef.org.uk/donate/donate-now-to-protect-children-in-ukraine/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Paid_Social&utm_campaign=iProspect_Core_BAU_2021_Conversion&utm_term=UkraineCombinedContextualInterests_18_MF_Feed&utm_content=UkraineEmergency1%C2%A332_NA_Static_Cash&fbclid=IwAR2GTTgMe-rVBuU5JKXp2ctUlh_mqcVY-gAQ8Ibr33OIFtW82IstFLwMO3M" target="_blank">Unicef </a>taking donations for children in Ukraine <a href="http://simon-bestwick.blogspot.com/2022/02/ukraine-and-what-you-can-do.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p><a href="https://help.rescue-uk.org/ukraine-crisis-fb?ms=fb_ppc_fy22_ukraine_UKMK_20220225&initialms=fb_ppc_fy22_ukraine_UKMK_20220225&utm_medium=display&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=fy22_ukraine&utm_content=ukrainefamily&utm_term=uk&fbclid=IwAR0XCfJZisc_ZNlCm598q5ys_T7SLI8gSO6HE3nqoWPwIvvnX1LTVDmU3xs" target="_blank">International Rescue Committee</a> donations <a href="https://help.rescue-uk.org/ukraine-crisis-fb?ms=fb_ppc_fy22_ukraine_UKMK_20220225&initialms=fb_ppc_fy22_ukraine_UKMK_20220225&utm_medium=display&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=fy22_ukraine&utm_content=ukrainefamily&utm_term=uk&fbclid=IwAR0XCfJZisc_ZNlCm598q5ys_T7SLI8gSO6HE3nqoWPwIvvnX1LTVDmU3xs" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>ETA: <a href="https://donate.unrefugees.org.uk/ukraine-emergency/~my-donation" target="_blank">UNHCR</a> taking donates to help refugees <a href="https://donate.unrefugees.org.uk/ukraine-emergency/~my-donation" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>ETA: Ukrainian feminist Olesia Sagaydak on how to help women in Ukraine.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5AwzoWlU8zQ" width="479" youtube-src-id="5AwzoWlU8zQ"></iframe></div><br /><p>ETA: Donate to <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/donate/Ukraine?form=UkraineAppeal" target="_blank">UN Populations Fund</a> to support women and girls impacted by the conflict <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/donate/Ukraine?form=UkraineAppeal" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>Countries neighbouring or close to Ukraine such as Poland and Estonia are waiving visa restrictions for Ukrainian nationals fleeing the war - including pet passports in Poland's case - as has the Irish government. The UK government has, (of course, being arseholes) done no such thing (although Boris Johnson did light 10 Downing Street up in the colours of the Ukrainian flag last night - words fail.) <a href="https://www.change.org/p/uk-government-waive-visa-requirements-for-all-ukrainian-refugees-seeking-asylum-in-the-uk?recruiter=735059180" target="_blank">Change.org</a> has a petition <a href="https://www.change.org/p/uk-government-waive-visa-requirements-for-all-ukrainian-refugees-seeking-asylum-in-the-uk?recruiter=735059180" target="_blank">here</a> to get them to waive restrictions as well.</p><p>ETA: Link to <a href="https://supportukrainenow.org/" target="_blank">Support Ukraine Now</a>, which details multiple ways for foreigners to support Ukraine, <a href="https://supportukrainenow.org/" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Please share this post as widely as possible. If you're aware of any other ways in which ordinary citizens in the UK can provide any form of concrete support to Ukraine, please let me know and I'll update this post - I want to make it as helpful a resource as I can.</b></p><p>Whatabouters and Putin-apologists will be told to get stuffed.</p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-41683929192551737722022-02-07T10:49:00.001-08:002022-02-07T12:24:12.707-08:002022 so far... <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcYWB5GDdz7vm-tl8aVLrUq9XjkuMrCnjdpRtA19fzma42BNqzo3brxP4TakxL-y3Ag7XMyiVg8LJaVTf4l2nUsecva9Uo8Uw9qg-sr87zf4d0jGtMXv4VZjoy5dDHV36Hz69Ohrm05aSSJ8OWpIeFI7hWQoy21bkfDbMTJV1UCg_Va_T3iafjgfc=s720" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="509" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcYWB5GDdz7vm-tl8aVLrUq9XjkuMrCnjdpRtA19fzma42BNqzo3brxP4TakxL-y3Ag7XMyiVg8LJaVTf4l2nUsecva9Uo8Uw9qg-sr87zf4d0jGtMXv4VZjoy5dDHV36Hz69Ohrm05aSSJ8OWpIeFI7hWQoy21bkfDbMTJV1UCg_Va_T3iafjgfc=s320" width="226" /></a></div><br />Well, the New Year is already no longer so new, rushing by at a rate of knots; we're already a week into the second month of it.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Various things are in motion at this end; I finished one novel on New Year's Eve and have a few last revisions to do, and am about 30,000 words into what will hopefully be a new one. <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The new issue of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09RNWBB3W" target="_blank">Phantasmagoria</a> </i>magazine is out, featuring my story 'Nemesis Of Wire' alongside new fiction by Caitlin Marceau, Evangelia Papanikou, Mike Chinn and many others. 'Nemesis Of Wire' is a Christmas-themed chiller (the issue was originally slated for December) set in a trench on the Western Front in World War One, where amid all the state-sanctioned slaughter, the legacy of one heinous act still lingers...<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCR2RPki6SuYng1qKQwEWtQTkGs_jj8Ia6ts-TZmX06ydQoFY6NgyFUcmjXEw7KnMPNL0tiULzwJtByOTV8wZ19_MnySsLP_DmYU-p8cJkgs_7XT04yJEraC8qM-MQPm1EfD4Z4L4-vvq_ztp8Oo9rNmJQMvjEVVm1lwl0NRWZ-pCTZ8VTPj2Ng-0=s2401" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2401" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCR2RPki6SuYng1qKQwEWtQTkGs_jj8Ia6ts-TZmX06ydQoFY6NgyFUcmjXEw7KnMPNL0tiULzwJtByOTV8wZ19_MnySsLP_DmYU-p8cJkgs_7XT04yJEraC8qM-MQPm1EfD4Z4L4-vvq_ztp8Oo9rNmJQMvjEVVm1lwl0NRWZ-pCTZ8VTPj2Ng-0=s320" width="213" /></a></div>Reviews of Ellen Datlow's body horror anthology <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Body-Shocks-Extreme-Tales-Horror-ebook/dp/B08XYC42BN" target="_blank">Body Shocks</a> </i>continue to appear, including<br /> <a href="https://www.anthonycardno.com/blog/2022/1/10/book-review-body-shocks" target="_blank">this one from Anthony Cardino</a>, which concludes: "I<span style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; white-space: pre-wrap;">f I had to choose the most disturbing story in the anthology in terms of body transformation and trauma, it would be a three way tie between Simon Bestwick’s “Welcome to Mengele’s,” which involves bodily abuse of clones; Cody Goodfellow’s “Atwater,” which contains both the most disturbing birthing scene I’ve read and a scene reminiscent of the climax of the movie </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;">Akira </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; white-space: pre-wrap;">which made me physically ill the first time I saw it on VHS; and Michael Blumlein’s “Tissue Ablation and Variant Regeneration: A Case Report.”</span>" <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I still haven't settled down to read <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Body-Shocks-Extreme-Tales-Horror-ebook/dp/B08XYC42BN" target="_blank">Body Shocks</a></i>, believe it or not, but I'm looking forward to it, and I'm inordinately pleased that a story I wrote all the way back in 1998 is still disturbing the hell out of people.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgGhD9OxOZJaaZONieqJohD3o5WsFYncSRI6aC6b-3Xm85mCuyYwDxLirt_R2zNYjnukwdy2-hNab3bGGvjODv_KRSf6N4tlKd0inYScPVZW7-NzukOxbcJ6kEYcDYRQ8wPxEWd-1vPJ_uoVerGq1Ll9TeKBZPT6NOh4JI9rv6mgoLLH9AzvjMgZus=s879" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="879" data-original-width="572" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgGhD9OxOZJaaZONieqJohD3o5WsFYncSRI6aC6b-3Xm85mCuyYwDxLirt_R2zNYjnukwdy2-hNab3bGGvjODv_KRSf6N4tlKd0inYScPVZW7-NzukOxbcJ6kEYcDYRQ8wPxEWd-1vPJ_uoVerGq1Ll9TeKBZPT6NOh4JI9rv6mgoLLH9AzvjMgZus=s320" width="208" /></a></div><br />Reviews of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Devils-London-Simon-Bestwick-ebook/dp/B098R7L2CP" target="_blank">Devils of London</a></i> have shown up thick and fast, with <a href="https://gingernutsofhorror.com/fiction-reviews/devils-of-london-by-simon-bestwick-book-review" target="_blank">Linda Nagle raving over it at Ginger Nuts of Horror</a> and more qualified, though generally positive, reviews from the <a href="https://www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk/reviews/devils-of-london/" target="_blank">Future Fire</a> and <a href="http://reviews.futurefire.net/2021/12/bestwick-devils-of-london.html" target="_blank">Horrified</a>. I suspect they're right that there maybe should have been more to this story than there was; maybe I need to return to the theme in a novel. Or maybe I'm just too quick to believe every criticism. Even if I am, though, I kind of like the idea of exploring the premise at greater depth and in greater detail...<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Finally - and I've been meaning to blog about this all year! - I was delighted to find I'd made two people's 'top ten' list for 2021.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3_T0tpoA6y0v6h9Xix01KJ2BJS-EVKxkryTKdPKkl1UT6Vew6N_eJKDTqywCGG91Ur0a321FMhnL5eHWvRRa_ffIAxeOM6RDoFCq9CorMgorSQF99jhaCGn4EV6OY67BASmm4BPJNPJSeOpoOUAJDsioXkbwukvzAGTt3MVFKURqlpygeqgs1rZU=s500" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3_T0tpoA6y0v6h9Xix01KJ2BJS-EVKxkryTKdPKkl1UT6Vew6N_eJKDTqywCGG91Ur0a321FMhnL5eHWvRRa_ffIAxeOM6RDoFCq9CorMgorSQF99jhaCGn4EV6OY67BASmm4BPJNPJSeOpoOUAJDsioXkbwukvzAGTt3MVFKURqlpygeqgs1rZU=s320" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">On Twitter, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/IanDuff7/status/1476769101532090373" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Ian Duff</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> listed 'ten books I read for the first time in 2021 and really enjoyed', which were:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1) Last One At The Party - Bethany Clift<br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2) Roth-Steyr - Simon Bestwick<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">3) One Day All This Will Be Yours - Adrian Tchaikovsky<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">4) Never - </span><span class="r-18u37iz" style="-webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; flex-direction: row;">Ken Follett<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="r-18u37iz" style="-webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; flex-direction: row;">5) Tidepool - Nicole Willson<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="r-18u37iz" style="-webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; flex-direction: row;">6) The End Of Men - Christina Sweeney-Baird<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">7) The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">8) Zero Day Code - John Birmingham<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">9) The Burning Girls - CJ Tudor<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">10) Nine Ghosts - Simon Bestwick<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Making the list twice is brilliant enough, and even better when I'm sharing it with the likes of Margaret Atwood, CJ Tudor, Adrian Tchaikovsky and Ken Follett...<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQxow2mFn6VQEK4ecqM0QGBd5_gL_nj7FPHDn28OXZsrWXQ2NKnTN_2CCP1bEP4dHRL-vwQrJbqNG2nLM4iZRu0BcYGUcsP5aO8E8IoIfKS3VTfa_-nVsFRBBYhtHin5HV0PknZziZVdLaXFsbU_x2rxIP5pOX0WKHtGi04tMl3UHJYfgoDRNpsqY=s500" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQxow2mFn6VQEK4ecqM0QGBd5_gL_nj7FPHDn28OXZsrWXQ2NKnTN_2CCP1bEP4dHRL-vwQrJbqNG2nLM4iZRu0BcYGUcsP5aO8E8IoIfKS3VTfa_-nVsFRBBYhtHin5HV0PknZziZVdLaXFsbU_x2rxIP5pOX0WKHtGi04tMl3UHJYfgoDRNpsqY=s320" width="200" /></a></div><br />And last but <i>far </i>from least, Tony Jones published his <a href="https://www.horrordna.com/features/tonys-top-ten-reads-of-2021" target="_blank">Top Ten Reads of 2021</a> at <a href="https://www.horrordna.com/features/tonys-top-ten-reads-of-2021" target="_blank">Horror DNA</a>, in which <i>A Different Kind Of Light </i>leads the list, alongside work by Adam Nevill, Ronald Malfi and Philip Fracassi:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #171414; font-size: 16px;"><i>A Different Kind of Light</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #171414; font-size: 16px;"> is top-heavy with genuinely standout creepy scenes which leave a lasting impression once the final page is turned... </span>Out of the blue Ash receives a message from Danie, an old university friend, who is seeking help in authenticating a piece of vintage sports film footage, which features the aftermath of the 1955 Le Mans Disaster. In this crash, the driver Pierre Levegh swerved into spectators, killing 84 and injuring 120 in the deadliest accident in motor racing history. The pair agree that there is no way this footage could have been faked and investigate further, buying the oddity on behalf of a third-party collector.</span></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Building horror novels out of real historical events is a tricky business and <span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><i>A Different Kind of Light</i></span> totally nails it. When Ash realises there is something very dodgy with the film, his research takes the story into unpredictable directions, with the balance of the developing supernatural storyline convincingly interconnected to the dynamics between the two main characters, and an enticing investigation into the origins of the film.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #171414; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">This haunting novella will remain with you long after the killer ending.</span><span style="font-family: arial;">"</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All of which makes me a happy man, as we forge ahead into the uncharted waters of 2022.... </span></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-26442238369195434612022-01-13T07:31:00.002-08:002022-01-13T07:31:42.478-08:00A Different Kind Of Light and Roth-Steyr Relaunch! <p>Well I had a different first post planned for 2022, but I couldn't let this go by unannounced - Black Shuck Books are relaunching the first nine books in their Signature Novellas series!</p><p>The original editions all had the same basic cover design - just the title and the author's signature - but Steve at Black Shuck has decided it's time to give the novellas new, individual cover art...</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZRGv8wyajAr3QPts_gmN6GzEoCE1eoIbenH_f1dMW4y94Tkue4J1yquW4wlMcCXAldrnZO5cNO-kqfyrcd4jLXjsatwJMLgN61u-3ti0bJAOJaTqecGtldcaFOH0YOgFO5yVOvasuz1f8wck4pcspsGQpaiLfeqJVSeNm1P42-DUuK16vuwHmQWw=s900" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="819" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZRGv8wyajAr3QPts_gmN6GzEoCE1eoIbenH_f1dMW4y94Tkue4J1yquW4wlMcCXAldrnZO5cNO-kqfyrcd4jLXjsatwJMLgN61u-3ti0bJAOJaTqecGtldcaFOH0YOgFO5yVOvasuz1f8wck4pcspsGQpaiLfeqJVSeNm1P42-DUuK16vuwHmQWw=w291-h320" width="291" /></a></div><i><a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/a-different-kind-of-light/" target="_blank">A Different Kind Of Light</a></i> is set in the not-too-distant future, in which freelance researcher Ashok Dhillon is called in to authenticate previously unseen film footage of the 1955 Le Mans Disaster. The footage is genuine enough, but eerie, spectral figures begin appearing on it, growing more visible on each viewing. When the spectres begin reaching out into the real world and claiming the lives of anyone who's seen the footage, Ash and his ex-lover Danie find themselves racing to discover the story behind the film, before they too, fall victim to the monstrous <i>schakalgeier</i>...<p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><i><a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/roth-steyr/" target="_blank"></a></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjhHHkfIX0A0hlILB1O9n3ANG66VSWWbgyWjuKpB4TfvsG996eZ6ut1-E0MlpZcviHawuGLbuCuCb4NwKGmmjMLByTvsWLl1TgWHkAV5SHug5NscSKQC946gnU_WesVoVF9Q8-SuvN82o3Df53A3LHn7fhRHtF6ps0dF-5OYhr9EfhcvaDYI7wj0k=s900" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="819" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjhHHkfIX0A0hlILB1O9n3ANG66VSWWbgyWjuKpB4TfvsG996eZ6ut1-E0MlpZcviHawuGLbuCuCb4NwKGmmjMLByTvsWLl1TgWHkAV5SHug5NscSKQC946gnU_WesVoVF9Q8-SuvN82o3Df53A3LHn7fhRHtF6ps0dF-5OYhr9EfhcvaDYI7wj0k=s320" width="291" /></a></i></div><i><br />Roth-Steyr</i> is the name of an early type of automatic pistol: it's also the murder weapon used to kill two men who've arrived one after the other in the mortuary where Valerie Varden works. Under other circumstances, it would just be an unusual cause of death, but Valerie knows both the victims. Now, as another 'long dark night of the European soul' looms, she has to confront the spectres of her own past in a tale that reaches back to the last days of World War One and the crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire - before she, too, can falls prey to the mysterious killer with the Roth-Steyr...<p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The new editions of <i><a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/a-different-kind-of-light/" target="_blank">A Different Kind Of Light</a></i> and <i><a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/roth-steyr/" target="_blank">Roth-Steyr</a></i> will be out at the end of January. You can pre-order them, and the other re-launched Signature titles, <a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/novellas" target="_blank">here</a>, or order all nine new editions at a special <a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/first-nine/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-46690711324772332022021-12-29T06:03:00.000-08:002021-12-29T06:03:20.244-08:00Another frickin' year - 2021 in review<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiF6_7ueRn7ff2cObPY1sxW8WuiY6SEG-bk1w94WlMF65wQi7vUynqAQMJlhjpizUOEvx_57d0r5ecsYzBVOFUaR-orjfZl7Aq2dEMpDLn2jr-TKJ4XcSj2VC1t8CVqdZFEM5ogroXrxvlFPh_kYBg_asC6AkrGVeiNox8i7rmzbbfUsohLBaQAPdM=s2550" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2550" data-original-width="1650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiF6_7ueRn7ff2cObPY1sxW8WuiY6SEG-bk1w94WlMF65wQi7vUynqAQMJlhjpizUOEvx_57d0r5ecsYzBVOFUaR-orjfZl7Aq2dEMpDLn2jr-TKJ4XcSj2VC1t8CVqdZFEM5ogroXrxvlFPh_kYBg_asC6AkrGVeiNox8i7rmzbbfUsohLBaQAPdM=s320" width="207" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">So, here we are again, after twelve more months hunkering in the bunker while waves of plague, insanity, hate and plain economy-size stupidity swept back and forth across the globe </span><span style="font-family: arial;">(to say nothing of the stuff Cate and I were going through closer to home.)</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> And by the look of it, with the arrival of the Omicron variant, it ain't over yet. Here's hoping 2022 is better - or at least, that we get through it in one piece.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I often find myself looking at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_3rlrjWr4E" target="_blank">this video</a> by Idris Elba around the end of a year. I genuinely find it inspirational, because it has two important lessons: stay out of your own head, and keep going. Don't keep second-guessing yourself over taking risks as an artist or comparing yourselves to others' results and techniques; don't keep obsessing over where you are, how close to your goal.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Just do the work. Show up. Get your head down. Whatever works best for you, however it works: do it, and keep doing it. Don't give up.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Over the last couple of years, I've done my best to take Elba's advice to heart, and while I haven't conquered the world, it has paid dividends. Some of those, hopefully, you're going to hear more about in 2022. Some of them I can share with you today.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqnLWnF75cPvwy7UIuMowUJ6udjhVjQkKHSXHqztj27U2YaWfXZxPlecCok313axB5GVLg0tUopLyb5Tu7VvvZN_O1MSJtHEaoyYJMNdIRpqY3xb7FNwOol1HpAu6_wo-kjomb_zfeOEJAQfxNjYxNGDEoPDp9a_Z5GqxayZFBYHPcqzxL-l-QHic=s1201" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqnLWnF75cPvwy7UIuMowUJ6udjhVjQkKHSXHqztj27U2YaWfXZxPlecCok313axB5GVLg0tUopLyb5Tu7VvvZN_O1MSJtHEaoyYJMNdIRpqY3xb7FNwOol1HpAu6_wo-kjomb_zfeOEJAQfxNjYxNGDEoPDp9a_Z5GqxayZFBYHPcqzxL-l-QHic=s320" width="213" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">I had multiple false starts in terms of writing a new novel throughout this year. A lot of it was not being able to get out of my own head and trust my writing instincts. I turned to shorter forms for a big chunk of 2021 instead, and completed two novellas - including a follow-up to <i>Roth-Steyr</i> - and a bunch of stories.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I finally managed to get a novel going in September, and - touch wood - I'm close to the end. I hoping I'll be able to complete it within the next couple of days, so I can say I managed to write on in 2021.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So this year's creative output has been:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">17 short stories,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">11 pieces of verse,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">5 flash fictions,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">2 novellas,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">And hopefully a novel!</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgR9IO_-sEjnk7BVcNa-Tvgvv0fnfHggTpXON_1nUPMgDOA9N86Ynmafp60vrVvR_RjI3xsk7FgH5Pr-ooGy6gFfnykXMBeHAi8NvkVRTDMrI3VlTQnsiu0gvuW46Kg8Wsd-9Eda0UTc7Z6hFUcHsqXX1jKReCu9BS6tL8g-VDpNx8qWBq2c5yE9d8=s879" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="879" data-original-width="572" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgR9IO_-sEjnk7BVcNa-Tvgvv0fnfHggTpXON_1nUPMgDOA9N86Ynmafp60vrVvR_RjI3xsk7FgH5Pr-ooGy6gFfnykXMBeHAi8NvkVRTDMrI3VlTQnsiu0gvuW46Kg8Wsd-9Eda0UTc7Z6hFUcHsqXX1jKReCu9BS6tL8g-VDpNx8qWBq2c5yE9d8=s320" width="208" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">On the acceptance front, one novel, a novella, a short story collection, and eleven individual stories. Plus some other cool news I can't announce yet.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As for actual publications in 2021:</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Novel:</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Black Mountain </i>(Independent Legions Publishing) </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Novellas:</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>A Different Kind Of Light </i>(Black Shuck Books)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Devils Of London </i>(Hersham Horror Books)</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Story Collection:</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Nine Ghosts </i>(Black Shuck Books)</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Short Fiction:</span></b></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">'In The City In The Smog' (<i>Horrified Magazine</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">'In the Service of the Queen' (<i>Horrified Magazine</i>, reprinted from
Patreon)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">'And You Heard The Rattling Death Train' (<i>Railroad Tales</i>, Midnight Street Press)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">'The Hungry Dark' (<i>Out of the Darkness</i>, Unsung)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">'Redwater' (<i>Alchemy Press Book of Horrors 3: A Miscellany of
Monsters, </i>Alchemy Press)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">'Tonight the War is Over' (<i>Nine Ghosts</i>, Black Shuck Books, original to
collection)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">'The Cage' (<i>Nine Ghosts</i>, Black Shuck Books, original to collection)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh0IqTXiYPgEaW9_w40j_9Uv0Di2rf6zSdblNQgsP8MsV8s8rg3q31g9QqRys5JV_nAdSKaLWiFEVs8jUgFqw3j2CXUyixtaBd22w8GCxRPbLB9CyHwgfNqz_kyjHLNVjUYR7rFh_jax7EOIpYeI1j7UM_0cEveLCPNzEWqVcWgEQe_Dqqhtt5sU3g=s500" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="305" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh0IqTXiYPgEaW9_w40j_9Uv0Di2rf6zSdblNQgsP8MsV8s8rg3q31g9QqRys5JV_nAdSKaLWiFEVs8jUgFqw3j2CXUyixtaBd22w8GCxRPbLB9CyHwgfNqz_kyjHLNVjUYR7rFh_jax7EOIpYeI1j7UM_0cEveLCPNzEWqVcWgEQe_Dqqhtt5sU3g=s320" width="195" /></a></div>Work published on Patreon:</span></b><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Short Fiction:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Danielle<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">We Pray<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Bone Street Blues</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Harvest Of Efriam Drazer</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Beneath The Crust (Written for and read out on The Tiny Bookcase podcast) </span></p><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Flash Fiction:</span></b></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Bottle Of Ink<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Osaka Jones<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ermenonville<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Mayan Ships<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Brokerage</span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpmC5y4CL886XG2uf81tg1vc4KT-kZ9g5Z6LBYlteNWRfHpA9M0H6QoREF6mQd1437vTb4xcGUmj0bWzLdNv3oW38-_DmK8bPDNH0Yh_vKKb2dxOBmbCZzMB8fGWAHoMA6NsLX-5JwtKbaU1y6IFyJsSSk1np097ePwYnITLsrgs0rjTC9N_QJ5Ds=s275" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="183" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpmC5y4CL886XG2uf81tg1vc4KT-kZ9g5Z6LBYlteNWRfHpA9M0H6QoREF6mQd1437vTb4xcGUmj0bWzLdNv3oW38-_DmK8bPDNH0Yh_vKKb2dxOBmbCZzMB8fGWAHoMA6NsLX-5JwtKbaU1y6IFyJsSSk1np097ePwYnITLsrgs0rjTC9N_QJ5Ds" width="183" /></a></div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Verse:<br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Go Get It, Girl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Book Of Angels<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Below Decks On The Morro Castle<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Book Of Nightmares<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Oubliette<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Whispered Song Of Anton Probst<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Call<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Whaleback<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Goliath’s Song<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Steel City Blues<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Ghost School<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Grandmother’s Footsteps<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Stalin’s Gun: The Daze Of Vasili Blokhin<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Andragathius Doctrine<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">I Don’t Wear A Poppy Anymore</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jarman’s Ghost</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">On top of that, two of my short stories were reprinted in mass market anthologies: 'A Treat For Your Last Day' in </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Best Horror of the Year #13</i><span style="font-family: arial;">, and 'Welcome To Mengele's' in </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Body Shocks</i><span style="font-family: arial;">. Huge thanks to Ellen Datlow on both counts.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, all the best the coming year to all of you.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">And here's that Idris Elba video to finish off with. He's a lot better-looking than me. :)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="308" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a_3rlrjWr4E" width="486" youtube-src-id="a_3rlrjWr4E"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-68010088097521487392021-11-20T11:46:00.001-08:002021-11-20T11:46:29.797-08:00Things of the Past Week: Body Shocks, Best Horror of the Year #13 and the return of Black Mountain<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVAqQZon4eMIlHiuM6jk2w2iMgiMBMfoHJIQ8BfvYk5SAl9AMwQTphCt9BB3Q3o6EWOPWAHR1CZGnT3PXyu7z1OmyseuLC5Ru3ebQ97nRsmyXsB3_aZxF1KO-7rdeGuihyEzlB-sOUcs/s2048/BodyShocks_RGB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVAqQZon4eMIlHiuM6jk2w2iMgiMBMfoHJIQ8BfvYk5SAl9AMwQTphCt9BB3Q3o6EWOPWAHR1CZGnT3PXyu7z1OmyseuLC5Ru3ebQ97nRsmyXsB3_aZxF1KO-7rdeGuihyEzlB-sOUcs/s320/BodyShocks_RGB.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">'Mynydd Du will rise again,' I promised my blog readers all the way back in 2016, when I withdrew <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/BLACK-MOUNTAIN-Simon-Bestwick-ebook/dp/B09LZC7HR2" target="_blank">Black Mountain</a> from Spectral Press. And, at last, it has.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">But more of that anon.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Last week saw the release of <i><a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/ellen-datlow/body-shocks.htm" target="_blank">Body Shocks</a></i>, Ellen Datlow's anthology of body horror fiction, in which my story 'Welcome To Mengele's' appeared alongside fiction by Richard Kadrey, Seanan McGuire, Nathan Ballingrud, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Tananarive Due, Carmen Maria Machado, Priya Sharma, Cassandra Khaw, Brian Evenson, Cody Goodfellow, R.C. Matheson, Christopher Fowler, Terry Dowling, Ray Cluley, Livia Llewellyn, Alyssa Wong, Lisa L. Hannett, Tom Johnstone, Michael Blumlein, Angela Slatter, Edward Bryant, Pat Cadigan, Kij Johnson, Lucy Taylor, Genevieve Valentine, Kaaron Warren and Kirstyn McDermott, along with cover art and design by the brilliant John Coulthart. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">'Welcome to Mengele's' was written in 1998, when I was twenty-four years old. The story is now almost as old as I was when I wrote it. One of those realisations that makes you stop in your tracks for a moment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The reviews for <i><a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/ellen-datlow/body-shocks.htm" target="_blank">Body Shocks</a></i> have been great so far: </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">"B<span style="background-color: white;">rings outstanding narratives about pain and transformation together to offer a great introduction to a subgenre that’s here to stay.</span>" (Locus)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529;"><a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/ellen-datlow/body-shocks.htm" target="_blank">Body Shocks</a></em><span style="color: #212529;"> "delivers... epically on its promise to deliver 'extreme tales of body horror'," says Sadie Hartmann in her review for Tor Nightfire, and adds of 'Welcome to Mengele's':</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #212529;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"You are not ready for this story. Nobody is ready for this story. It’s best to just walk in blind and let Bestwick blindside your sensibilities in the best possible way."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">"The definitive body horror tome," says Horror Obsessive. "Long live the new flesh."</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoTllaS7t9rkNtOXoY-JZ3we69cGSxUnqenRYlHQji7prbGXsYRxIEtE8blpRIzt_04POXqGrGWf6g5ScqLgoLycQ4WUD3X6agM6Bfhz4fIdN6iMcoIunsDVQ62QWCu7Cr95pa9oJx7qo/s275/best+horror+of+the+year+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="183" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoTllaS7t9rkNtOXoY-JZ3we69cGSxUnqenRYlHQji7prbGXsYRxIEtE8blpRIzt_04POXqGrGWf6g5ScqLgoLycQ4WUD3X6agM6Bfhz4fIdN6iMcoIunsDVQ62QWCu7Cr95pa9oJx7qo/s0/best+horror+of+the+year+13.jpg" width="183" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">And <i>Publisher's Weekly </i>concludes their starred review of the anthology with: "<span style="color: #333333;">Simon Bestwick’s bizarre alternate history “Welcome to Mengele’s” takes readers into a Nazi doctor’s movie theater where patrons watch their sickest fantasies play out on screen. These wholly original and truly chilling tales are not for the faint of heart.</span>" </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This week saw the release of another Datlow anthology, the thirteenth in her annual <i>Best Horror of the Year </i>series, which includes my tale 'A Treat For Your Last Day'. It marks my fifth appearance in the series. It also boasts an outstanding cover by Reiko Murakami.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Finally, as promised, we return to <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/BLACK-MOUNTAIN-Simon-Bestwick-ebook/dp/B09LZC7HR2" target="_blank">Black Mountain</a></i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The original eleven-part ebook serial has been revamped into a single-volume edition from the superb Italian imprint <a href="https://www.independentlegions.com/store/p477/blackmountain.html" target="_blank">Independent Legions Publishing</a>, charting the eerie and unexplained happenings of the 'Bala Triangle', centring on the mysterious crag known as Mynydd Du, or Black Mountain. Those who probe its mysteries too far often come to grief - including, perhaps, the readers of the book...</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTeGN9dG3yJMD8E4IW2MlX1zkYpudST6QIdHgh7LSUjv8owQH7IKbg0ifV3mnG_9ZH8yxM-Thd9xQJKYh_5uu-Nnc0hB-RqzJl2X47Fx6hcDwzLYyVONxCJp40PnHhyphenhyphen9WckdDIEijXdhs/s2048/Black+Mountain+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1325" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTeGN9dG3yJMD8E4IW2MlX1zkYpudST6QIdHgh7LSUjv8owQH7IKbg0ifV3mnG_9ZH8yxM-Thd9xQJKYh_5uu-Nnc0hB-RqzJl2X47Fx6hcDwzLYyVONxCJp40PnHhyphenhyphen9WckdDIEijXdhs/s320/Black+Mountain+cover.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">"I had to put the kindle down at one point, so effective - and downright scary - was the imagery being presented,</span>" said Dark Musings of the original serial. The new edition is available both in ebook and in print from <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/BLACK-MOUNTAIN-Simon-Bestwick-ebook/dp/B09LZC7HR2" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm hugely grateful to Alessandro Manzetti of <a href="https://www.independentlegions.com/store/p477/blackmountain.html" target="_blank">Independent Legions</a> for giving <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/BLACK-MOUNTAIN-Simon-Bestwick-ebook/dp/B09LZC7HR2" target="_blank"><i>Black Mountain</i></a> a new lease of life. Alessandro's work, incidentally, also grace the pages of <i>Best Horror of the Year #13</i>, in the form of his poem 'Bloody Rhapsody'. Thanks also to Karen Runge, who edited the new version for publication.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I hope you'll want to visit. If you're undecided, here's a taste of what to expect. As well as the stunning new cover art by JumalaSika Limited, it also features some of Neil Williams' artwork from the original series. I'm enormously grateful to both of these artists for helping bring my work to life.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Now settle back and watch the trailer...</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x7fqw7vXNaY" width="320" youtube-src-id="x7fqw7vXNaY"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p><br /></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-8769790202909441532021-09-17T10:34:00.000-07:002021-09-17T10:35:59.019-07:00News from Castle Bestwick (17th September 2021): Out Of The Darkness, The Alchemy Book Of Horrors 3, Devils Of London, ParSec Magazine <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoNmBeb9pLuKZrqG-ixlRYpd6GeKscMiL7QlEm9Thk6VJRdWb4o68MIoCLAw7PvC0OmGEPmZr3yqVMBNZBbpwPvXaBDgsYL7oei1RNOQIby5aBi57Vg5rUBsHq-h8mE2Jy8b1d9M6VXc/s2560/IMG_20210906_175946.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1920" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoNmBeb9pLuKZrqG-ixlRYpd6GeKscMiL7QlEm9Thk6VJRdWb4o68MIoCLAw7PvC0OmGEPmZr3yqVMBNZBbpwPvXaBDgsYL7oei1RNOQIby5aBi57Vg5rUBsHq-h8mE2Jy8b1d9M6VXc/w150-h200/IMG_20210906_175946.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>It's been an eventful week or two, while Cate recovers from one round of chemo while preparing for the next (and final) one... for the AUTHOR COPIES have begun to arrive!<p></p><p>Last week, two arrived in one day: <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Press-Book-Horrors-Miscellany/dp/1911034111" target="_blank">The Alchemy Book Of Horrors 3: A Miscellany Of Monsters</a></i>, including my story 'Redwater' alongside tales by the likes of Marion Pitman and Adrian Cole, Garry Kilworth and Steve Rasnic Tem, John Llewellyn Probert and Ralph Robert Moore. Plus this gorgeous cover art from Daniele Serra. Many thanks to Pete Coleborn and Jan Edwards for giving 'Redwater' a home.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1Q8zFPkhqPy1VRaunzwQCgalLeGZJHX5NyZmAfT4RJstoEpzIthNg-u4NXCO7J5y4UtmG7aGkZxSC4HAr09rUki-LxhgHets6Ct3R-OTlyBIXmyTdjVYnuJAoIxey0NIcYXFiYKjg_Q/s2560/IMG_20210906_175954.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1920" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1Q8zFPkhqPy1VRaunzwQCgalLeGZJHX5NyZmAfT4RJstoEpzIthNg-u4NXCO7J5y4UtmG7aGkZxSC4HAr09rUki-LxhgHets6Ct3R-OTlyBIXmyTdjVYnuJAoIxey0NIcYXFiYKjg_Q/w150-h200/IMG_20210906_175954.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>Also arriving was the hardback of <i><a href="http://www.unsungstories.co.uk/out-of-the-darkness" target="_blank">Out Of The Darkness</a></i>, Unsung Press' anthology on the theme of mental illness. Edited by the steady hand of Dan Coxon, all royalties and fees from this anthology will be donated to the mental health charity Together For Mental Wellbeing.<p></p><p>And yesterday three author copies of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Devils-London-Simon-Bestwick-ebook/dp/B098R7L2CP" target="_blank">Devils Of London</a> </i>appeared, complete with Neil Williams' cover art. Huge thanks to Neil, and to Peter Mark May at Hersham Horror for publishing the novella.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkfP-sEdDvhATA0ihvJhEIJQ8yCAmz3-fGFYgqCUvYdEjgDBvw3W5DSxhyphenhyphenCQ4Ti8dTPNhd72ucw5rcrbGd_3Fvczs2FHwI_f6dybHPvQxYkINaW_Fd3rr4aywaXIdpf4ZiqQp8nD4-Uuo/s2560/IMG_20210917_180648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1920" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkfP-sEdDvhATA0ihvJhEIJQ8yCAmz3-fGFYgqCUvYdEjgDBvw3W5DSxhyphenhyphenCQ4Ti8dTPNhd72ucw5rcrbGd_3Fvczs2FHwI_f6dybHPvQxYkINaW_Fd3rr4aywaXIdpf4ZiqQp8nD4-Uuo/w240-h320/IMG_20210917_180648.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>And just to round off the week, today brought the welcome news of another story acceptance: 'Are We Going Under?' will grace the pages of a future issue of ParSec magazine. It's one of a cycle of stories I'm writing about a strange little place called Bone Street: another one is 'And You Heard The Rattling Death Train' in Midnight Street's Railroad Tales. For a taste of what awaits you, check out the free story '<a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/48775003" target="_blank">Bone Street Blues</a>' over on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/48775003" target="_blank">Patreon</a>. More thanks are due, this time to Ian Whates, for the acceptance.<p></p><p>That makes a total of eleven short story acceptances this year. In that respect (if not in many others) 2021 hasn't been bad.</p><p>So, now for the weekend. Time to relax and unwind. Maybe... (gestures subtly at the above paragraphs) with a good book. Why not?</p><p>Be well, and I'll see you soon.</p><p>Simon.</p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-6481266206785475202021-07-29T23:48:00.000-07:002021-07-29T23:48:17.875-07:00The News From Castle Bestwick (30th July 2021): Railroad Tales, Nemesis Of Wire and Black Mountain<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprH5mY2nGstirfOnxHUMYzVNOwq4-xSCI1fFyGxqozzppVnW5IQZfuCeSRvHqtoXzwhmHskcbCHmytVSTg2ntV6K-KyC9Q6aaGuoj3-zyg1o936QLXLnYfrxp-6Hw2YFDl8JJykxFzLM/s1490/railroad+tales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1490" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprH5mY2nGstirfOnxHUMYzVNOwq4-xSCI1fFyGxqozzppVnW5IQZfuCeSRvHqtoXzwhmHskcbCHmytVSTg2ntV6K-KyC9Q6aaGuoj3-zyg1o936QLXLnYfrxp-6Hw2YFDl8JJykxFzLM/s320/railroad+tales.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Cate started her chemotherapy this week, which made for a scary time at first; we were both worried what side-effects the treatment might have, but so far (touch wood) they've been few and mild. She's feeling a lot better about the treatment than she did (she's been in better mental health than me all week, in fact.)</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/RAILROAD-TALES-TREVOR-DENYER/dp/B09B1ZRQBT" target="_blank">Railroad Tales</a></i>, which includes my story 'And You Heard The Rattling Death Train,' is out now from Midnight Street and available on <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/RAILROAD-TALES-TREVOR-DENYER/dp/B09B1ZRQBT" target="_blank">Amazon</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Here's the full table of contents:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">THE TRACKS THROUGH THE FOREST John Kiste</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">AWAYDAYS Allen Ashley</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">THE HOOSAC TUNNEL LEGACY Norm Vigeant</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">RAILWAY MUTTON CURRY Nidheesh Samant</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">THE NUMBER NINE James E. Coplin</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">GHOST-WALKER Andrew Darlington</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">SPARROW'S FLIGHT Nancy Brewka-Clark</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">HARBERRY CLOSE C. M. Saunders</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBKfVB80upRi9gHtnJ67YrS8cEsJfM2-evu9HPW0h6eqfDwiuChBvd4aDDIs4fqn-qi8FTJ8Zy3IYVqgRhxB3MJ5cFigSsUF6l2fiIPf66zb_9nD069Dkoy4wpE2Esl9jodDgRDABSZT0/s2048/phantasmagoria+magazine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1460" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBKfVB80upRi9gHtnJ67YrS8cEsJfM2-evu9HPW0h6eqfDwiuChBvd4aDDIs4fqn-qi8FTJ8Zy3IYVqgRhxB3MJ5cFigSsUF6l2fiIPf66zb_9nD069Dkoy4wpE2Esl9jodDgRDABSZT0/s320/phantasmagoria+magazine.jpg" width="228" /></a></span></div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;"><br />GEISTERBAHNHOF Saoirse Ni Chiaragáin</span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">THE ANNIVERSARY David Penn</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">ACROSS THE VALE Catherine Pugh</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">WHERE THE TRAIN STOPS Susan York</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">THE NIBBLER Gayle Fidler</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">SHORT PLATFORM Gary Couzens</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">WILSHIRE STATION Caitlin Marceau</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">AND YOU HEARD THE RATTLING DEATH TRAIN Simon Bestwick</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">NOT ALL TRAINS CRASH Steven Pirie</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">BALLYSHANNON JUNCTION Jim Mountfield</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">CABOOSE Andrew Hook</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">THE TRACKS Michael Gore</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">THE DEVIL RIDES THE NIGHT TRAIN Curtis James McConnell</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">THE PIER STATION George Jacobs</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #254a50; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">THE SAMOVAR A. J. Lewis</span></p><div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">This week also brought another story acceptance, from <i>Phantasmagoria </i>magazine, for my story 'Nemesis Of Wire.' (The title's something of a homage to Algernon Blackwood.) That will be published later this year.</span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">The reissue of <i>Black Mountain </i>from Independent Legions (which I'm still over the moon about!) is slated for September. More information on this, and a reveal of the new cover art, in the near future.</span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;">Have a good weekend, everybody, and thanks, as ever, to everyone for their kindness and support.</span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Simon x</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-34450483273009444312021-07-23T09:32:00.004-07:002021-07-23T09:40:53.565-07:00Tiny Bookcases and Black Mountains<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2x_gsBJPs0x9sJmcMpNyHRrncg0H2CSLtwH4F4B3_b2wlxSc7JBFojc0WyXITNnO8BoVANGxnGj2pR_zNtiZbnz-xNF8IUcAXXRQkQHmUFFKToJcG37JdJqJ_9-GxoRgqSwVykw9XSXw/s2048/tiny+bookcase+portrait+2.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2x_gsBJPs0x9sJmcMpNyHRrncg0H2CSLtwH4F4B3_b2wlxSc7JBFojc0WyXITNnO8BoVANGxnGj2pR_zNtiZbnz-xNF8IUcAXXRQkQHmUFFKToJcG37JdJqJ_9-GxoRgqSwVykw9XSXw/s320/tiny+bookcase+portrait+2.png" /></a></div>Just a quick post with the latest news from Castle Bestwick:<p></p><p>Firstly, Part Two of <a href="https://www.thetinybookcase.co.uk/listen" target="_blank">my interview at The Tiny Bookcase </a>is now up, and you can amuse yourselves listening to further witterings from me, including my attempt at a Northern Irish accent, favourite quotes about writing, and what little advice I can give to those just starting out. (Because I'm such a great advert for being enormously successful.)</p><p>Secondly, I'm delighted to announce that my novel <i>Black Mountain </i>has found a new home!</p><p><i>Black Mountain </i>was first published as an ebook serial by Spectral Press in 2014. It's been unavailable for several years, but Mynydd Du, the strange and terrible mountain at the centre of the Bala Triangle, will finally rise again in a new revised edition from Italy's <a href="https://www.independentlegions.com/english-version.html" target="_blank">Independent Legions Publishing</a>. It's been a long road, but I'm over the moon.</p><p>The new edition will be published in both print and ebook form, which will be the first time the novel has appeared in print.</p><p>Immense gratitude to <a href="https://www.independentlegions.com/english-version.html" target="_blank">Independent Legions</a>' Alessandro Manzetti.</p><p>More news to follow soon. </p><p>Have a great weekend, everyone!</p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-45264703976842534912021-07-16T06:46:00.000-07:002021-07-16T06:46:03.784-07:00Latest News from Castle Bestwick: Post-op treatments, Devils Of London Cover Reveal and The Tiny Bookcase Podcast... <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWCJZl5DSwZH3HPlKDQ25Lk7PntaYVEr8zvRf4EpOMHkzVHM1DtmQPkzXpl4S8akJ4eVkktGXuh08O2yds7FcpgOSaUdOYbVBkd7qPpFQzi8PlOMUujtjgLBzXw_uqvlj3L6bX8q8nW3Y/s185/Devils+Of+London.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="185" data-original-width="121" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWCJZl5DSwZH3HPlKDQ25Lk7PntaYVEr8zvRf4EpOMHkzVHM1DtmQPkzXpl4S8akJ4eVkktGXuh08O2yds7FcpgOSaUdOYbVBkd7qPpFQzi8PlOMUujtjgLBzXw_uqvlj3L6bX8q8nW3Y/w262-h400/Devils+Of+London.jpg" width="262" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Many thanks to all the wonderful people - both before the last blogpost and since - to send messages of support to Cate. She's now almost completely recovered from her surgery. This week we've found out about the post-op treatment: four chemotherapy sessions, followed by radiotherapy and then brachiotherapy. We'd initially expected the treatment would only involve radiotherapy, or as an outside possibly chemo instead. It does mean it's going to be more physically gruelling than originally hoped, which among other things has meant we've had to cancelled our planned holiday in October. Fortunately the venue, where we've stayed before, has very kindly returned our deposit. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Cate was more than a little shaken by the news - we both were - but with any luck, at least, it'll make sure that any traces of the cancer will be destroyed and things will be back to (ab)normal sooner rather than later.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In other news, and on a happier note, t</span><span style="font-family: arial;">he ebook of </span><i style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-London-Simon-Bestwick-ebook/dp/B098R7L2CP" target="_blank">Devils Of London</a></i><span style="font-family: arial;">, my upcoming novella from Hersham Horror, is now </span><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Devils-London-Simon-Bestwick-ebook/dp/B098R7L2CP" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">available for pre-order</a><span style="font-family: arial;">, courtesy of that fine gentleman Mr Peter Mark May. Which means Neil Williams' fantastic cover art can now at last be revealed! As you can probably guess from the cover, </span><i style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devils-London-Simon-Bestwick-ebook/dp/B098R7L2CP" target="_blank">Devils Of London</a> </i><span style="font-family: arial;">is a far less gentle tale than my last two novellas, </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Roth-Steyr </i><span style="font-family: arial;">and </span><i style="font-family: arial;">A Different Kind Of Light</i><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="letter-spacing: 0.54px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Devils wear many faces.</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.54px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.54px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Britain, in the not too distant future. A new Great Fire Of London breaks out, engulfing the city. Amid the terror and confusion, people look for someone to blame. John is one of a group of undocumented workers, living in a derelict part of the city, who find themselves being scapegoated for the disaster.</i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.54px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Being chased through the burning streets by the vicious ‘yellow-scarves’ is bad enough. But when they pass a burning church, a terrifying figure bursts out of the building. Something ancient and monstrous, free at last after centuries of sleep. And for John and the others, the question may now be which of London’s monsters – human or demonic – gets to claim their souls…"</i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.54px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Devils-London-Simon-Bestwick-ebook/dp/B098R7L2CP" target="_blank">Devils Of London</a> </i>will be published on 24th September.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.54px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRF_YpJQZhzdEGURa73HcBxX7dIr_E_qAtdidRxMClIm8sDoLkXo8-Pq63E7vyMV2SLcOhKZ8vuAKewdud6XwiHPMJr4mP0UFqrHT2U4Hj4e5cYg8uJ0UmhkFDcXvIfDu_54iR8BBmgc/s1200/tiny+bookcase+portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRF_YpJQZhzdEGURa73HcBxX7dIr_E_qAtdidRxMClIm8sDoLkXo8-Pq63E7vyMV2SLcOhKZ8vuAKewdud6XwiHPMJr4mP0UFqrHT2U4Hj4e5cYg8uJ0UmhkFDcXvIfDu_54iR8BBmgc/s320/tiny+bookcase+portrait.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Meanwhile, I did an interview earlier this month for <a href="https://www.thetinybookcase.co.uk/listen" target="_blank">The Tiny Bookcase Podcast</a> and its hilarious hosts Ben and Nico. You can hear me talk bollocks - including the phrase 'Ash Bukkake'</span><span style="font-family: arial; letter-spacing: 0.54px; text-align: center;"> - at length <a href="https://www.thetinybookcase.co.uk/listen" target="_blank">here</a>. In addition, each of us wrote a short piece of prose inspired by the title 'Under The Crust,' all with different and entertaining results. You can listen to me read my contribution on the <a href="https://www.thetinybookcase.co.uk/listen" target="_blank">podcast</a>, or if you'd rather read it you can do so over on my Patreon.</span><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.54px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Nico also creates a cartoon drawing of each guest, and I rather like the one he's done of me. It's got more hair for a start... </span></span></p><p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.54px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.54px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Anyway, that's the state of play at Castle Bestwick for now. See you again soon, and take care. Thanks, once more, to everyone who's sent kind words or other messages or gestures of support to us.</span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.54px; text-align: center;"> </span></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-32740328471794875652021-07-02T09:54:00.003-07:002021-07-02T10:04:14.171-07:00Hello Again: The Latest News From Castle Bestwick<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwBP9WF5KrXSo64ZmXxIjAbjRWBI2pRx_HxGRQgyNASEpbm1OcJRJWz2tX8Qpb1XhvJRaHL3GDLhOsIgH8QcU6TFjODkP9NjbbERaBDJHjOY2Gu1rMWUm3FPIc9BsjzH-Bz1nmVZV7Opk/s600/classic+monsters+unleashed+cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwBP9WF5KrXSo64ZmXxIjAbjRWBI2pRx_HxGRQgyNASEpbm1OcJRJWz2tX8Qpb1XhvJRaHL3GDLhOsIgH8QcU6TFjODkP9NjbbERaBDJHjOY2Gu1rMWUm3FPIc9BsjzH-Bz1nmVZV7Opk/s320/classic+monsters+unleashed+cover.jpg" /></a></div>Hi everybody,<p></p><p>Well, it's been a while, and for good reason. As some of you will know - those who follow me on Facebook - Cate underwent surgery earlier this month, having been diagnosed with womb cancer in April. Luckily it was diagnosed at an early stage, and Cate's recovering well, I'm glad to say. I'm squeezing in bits of writing (including this) in between the demands of my new life as her personal butler. There are worse fates. :) </p><p>Many thanks to all the friends and family who sent kind messages of support, advice, hugs, or books over the past few difficult months. We're hoping the worst is past. </p><p>On a brighter note, I've been able to carry on not only writing but submitting, and June's seen a total of three story acceptances.</p><p>The first one is for James Aquilone's <i>Classic Monsters Unleashed</i>, in which my story 'Mummy Calls' will appear alongside works by Ramsey Campbell, Mercedes M. Yardley, F. Paul Wilson, Joe R. Lansdale, Seanan McGuire, Lucy A. Snyder, Richard Christian Matheson, Lisa Morton, Monique Snyman, Owl Goingback, Gary A. Braunbeck, Rena Mason, John Palisano, Maurice Broaddus, Linda Addison, Tim Waggoner, Jonathan Maberry, Alessandro Manzetti, Dacre Stoker & Leverett Butts, and more.</p><p>The list of authors above was announced before the call for unsolicited submissions, which will take up about 25% of the anthology, so there was a lot of competition for those slots. I'm enormously proud to have made the cut.</p><p><i>Classic Monsters Unleashed</i>, featuring new riffs and takes on archetypal horrors such as Dracula, The Wolfman, Dr Moreau, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde and M.R. James' Count Magnus, will be released by Crystal Lake Publishing in October. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJoVL9oXwK_BQHLerfBMN5Uwt8F4CyjT3nHrAq46-vm4H1Me8oPwaevg8lfh0BPYiGd9IEHDlM2ygNqPs_KkH-qXJWwnNmYYE_c4U1eLNEB-Pr3E6G0LyiCve0Iw4K19cbXwAAnXtIUXs/s1490/railroad+tales.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1490" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJoVL9oXwK_BQHLerfBMN5Uwt8F4CyjT3nHrAq46-vm4H1Me8oPwaevg8lfh0BPYiGd9IEHDlM2ygNqPs_KkH-qXJWwnNmYYE_c4U1eLNEB-Pr3E6G0LyiCve0Iw4K19cbXwAAnXtIUXs/s320/railroad+tales.jpg" /></a></div>Secondly, my story 'And You Heard The Rattling Death Train' will see publication in Trevor Denyer's anthology <i>Railroad Tales</i>, out from Midnight Street Press later this month. It's one of an ongoing series of stories set on Bone Street, a strange inner city street that doesn't appear on any city's map. For a taste of the place, check out '<a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/48775003" target="_blank">Bone Street Blues</a>,' which is currently free over on my Patreon. The anthology also features stories by Gary Couzens, Allen Ashley, Caitlin Marceau, Susan York and many more.<p></p><p>My third acceptance is for <i>Phantasmagoria</i>, one of those rare and wonderful beasts, a regular, non-themed horror magazine and edited by the steady hand of Trevor Kennedy. Phantasmagoria is already 18 issues strong, and my story 'Night Closures' will feature in either issue 19 or 20.</p><p>And finally, I'm delighted to announce that After Sundown, Mark Morris' horror anthology for Flame Tree Press, in which my story 'We All Come Home' appeared, has been shortlisted for the Shirley Jackson Award.</p><p>Going back to the stories, though, I wanted to say a few words about acceptance and rejection, because they - or rather one of them, rejection - is a problem for all writers. And I mean all. Literally the day before the first of these acceptances, I had <i>four </i>rejections in one twenty-four period. (Ouch.) When I mentioned this on Facebook, another writer said something along the lines of (humblebrag alert) "What chance do the rest of us have, when someone like you gets rejected?"</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Y5FVD5e4cKXGNkuVwAjpisAkmV4hCAqPtD13HwrHEghKiFmHVjFeyNd_QriF8Haa4PDNwsZHQcgxxXB0QpExECE6yO6m0fLOQExhEvipAMp2qZYZpkQoWgN5eIq32ivtOhTc6bDWVxQ/s2048/phantasmagoria+magazine.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1460" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Y5FVD5e4cKXGNkuVwAjpisAkmV4hCAqPtD13HwrHEghKiFmHVjFeyNd_QriF8Haa4PDNwsZHQcgxxXB0QpExECE6yO6m0fLOQExhEvipAMp2qZYZpkQoWgN5eIq32ivtOhTc6bDWVxQ/s320/phantasmagoria+magazine.jpg" /></a></div>While it's always an ego boost to realise that certain people think you're Somebody (if only because you've been around for so long,) but the plain fact is that for most of us there's never a point at which you stop getting rejections, unless you're someone like Neil Gaiman or Stephen King. (Ramsey Campbell, who's been getting published since before I was born and has won more awards for horror fiction than any other living, dead or undead writer, popped up in the same comments to announce "We all still get them!")<p></p><p>To put it in perspective: with 'Night Closures,' I've had eight short fiction acceptances this year. I've not been as good at keeping track of the rejections, but the other day I attempted a rough tally. Counting the one I got this morning, I make it nineteen. So that's an acceptance rate of slightly worse than one in three.</p><p>Editors have, usually, a pretty clear idea of what they want and what they don't. A rejection, or even several, don't necessary mean that a story isn't any good. <i>Classic Monsters Unleashed </i>had something like 600 submissions; Maxim Jakubowski's <i>Femmes Fatales </i>anthology about 175. In both cases, the odds against being one of the lucky few to be selected seem very high, but somebody has to be one of them. By the same token, another market I subbed to had around 70 submissions - much lower odds - but I didn't get in. It's partly quality, and it's partly how well whatever you've written matches what the editor wants. Or how similar to something they've already accepted - that can get a perfectly good story bounced as well.</p><p>Keeping your work out on submission is key - when it comes back to you, send it somewhere else. Most of the stories I've written this year have been for specific anthology calls: that, like it or not, seems to be where most of the opportunities for publication are right now when it comes to short horror fiction. There <i>are </i>regular general horror fiction markets (like <i>Phantasmagoria </i>above), but not as many as we'd all like. </p><p>Some markets pay professional rates that'll net you a couple of hundred pounds for a story (give or take.) Others will give you a fiver. In some cases, you'll just get a contributor copy or the satisfaction of seeing your work in print - or alternatively you could self-publish the story on Patreon or as an ebook or sock it into that collection you're trying to put together. </p><p>My own feeling - having held too many stories back in search of a higher-paying market so that they just languish on my hard drive - is the story is better off out there in the world where people can read it. The more work you have out there to be read - which will hopefully encourage people to read more of your stuff - the better. The story of mine that'll be appearing in <i>Best Horror of the Year #13</i> got multiply rejected, and was finally published on my Patreon. </p><p>So, here's the approach that's been working for me so far this year. It may stop working at any moment, as conditions change again. It may not work for you. On the other hand, it might. Either way, if you're trying to work out how to get your work out there, this might be of help:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEherVEK-s17b8VoRMamfpedU_oUcPJGeeGPKyR67ADqapF-ib0ss0hj_YoGSf7SIW6CuuMGiC6Gm6qag1WhxKL6QUbxuUU0md20woewLXMfb3SyHXpUkT2emU90lpdsidntkz_cMNlXhDc/s279/after+sundown.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEherVEK-s17b8VoRMamfpedU_oUcPJGeeGPKyR67ADqapF-ib0ss0hj_YoGSf7SIW6CuuMGiC6Gm6qag1WhxKL6QUbxuUU0md20woewLXMfb3SyHXpUkT2emU90lpdsidntkz_cMNlXhDc/s0/after+sundown.jpg" /></a></div>Since themed anthologies seem to be currently where it's at, keeping abreast of upcoming ones is key. I keep a spreadsheet of submission calls, broken down by the month the deadline expires, including information like word count, specifics of what they're looking for, and what (if anything) they pay. Keep additional sheets to list general open markets (i.e. magazines that are open all year round), publications that accept reprints, and those currently closed to subs (you can check them every couple of weeks to a month to see if they've reopened.)<p></p><p>A few resources: </p><p>General paying horror fiction markets include <i>The Dark, Apex Magazine, F&SF, Phantasmagoria</i> and <i>The Deadlands</i>. For other stuff:</p><p><a href="https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/" target="_blank">The Submission Grinder</a> and <a href="https://horrortree.com/" target="_blank">The Horror Tree</a> are both excellent and giving an overview of who's looking for fiction in this area. Another great resource is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/384615034930975" target="_blank">this Facebook page here</a>. In addition, the superb <a href="http://www.gwendolynkiste.com/Blog/" target="_blank">Gwendolyn Kiste</a> (Read her! Read her!) does a monthly round-up of open submission calls on <a href="http://www.gwendolynkiste.com/Blog/" target="_blank">her blog</a>, while <a href="https://twitter.com/HaileyPiperSays" target="_blank">Hailey Piper </a>regularly signal boosts calls via her <a href="https://twitter.com/HaileyPiperSays" target="_blank">Twitter</a> (and you might also want to subscribe to her <a href="https://haileypiper.com/" target="_blank">mailing list</a>. Also, read her novella <i>The Worm And His Kings </i>- it's magnificent.) </p><p>I'm going to try and start following their example and update the blog regularly with any info on markets that comes my way. So if you know of a good one - an open call, a new magazine - don't keep it to yourself. Let me know and I'll share it here. </p><p>Because if there is one thing I've learned over the last couple of months, it's how much kindness and community there is in horror. And how the more we help each other out, share information and support one another, the better off we'll all be. </p><p><br /></p><p>ETA: It's now 20 rejections (I think.) Just had another one. :) </p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-90650595222914351352021-05-17T09:56:00.004-07:002021-05-17T09:56:33.736-07:00Things Of The Past Few Weeks<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAzU6hl01nuq1F-5Wmh1aDxcirgfYWZ_3QVZtN2VJeuWePWnOjVb3yyKd-jF_mM5BKM7KurH80uWjtouBWbDTaDwHV8kPdD4dQYmuAF6v4NXd3LoWBhTbVVChZqmBANK33U36Xudeqp-0/s500/A+Different+Kind+Of+Light+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="305" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAzU6hl01nuq1F-5Wmh1aDxcirgfYWZ_3QVZtN2VJeuWePWnOjVb3yyKd-jF_mM5BKM7KurH80uWjtouBWbDTaDwHV8kPdD4dQYmuAF6v4NXd3LoWBhTbVVChZqmBANK33U36Xudeqp-0/s320/A+Different+Kind+Of+Light+cover.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">It's been... eventful since I last blogged. Not all of it is stuff I can talk about publicly right now, and not all of it's good. Things should be okay in the long run, but there have been some tough times.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">However, there've also been some good things, so I wanted to talk about those here.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">First of all, there've been more reviews for <i>A Different Kind Of Light</i>, and they've been excellent ones. At <a href="http://reviews.futurefire.net/2021/04/bestwick-different-kind-of-light.html#more" target="_blank">The Future Fire</a>, Rachel Verkade says:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">I loved this book. I read it in the space of a couple of hours because I literally could not put it down. The story is compelling and moves at a swift and natural pace, the characters are compelling, and the descriptions of the disaster are haunting. It is a thematic cousin to stories like</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> </span><span style="color: #333333;">Revival</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">and</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> </span><span style="color: #333333;">Hell House</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">, stories about our fascination with death and our questions about what lies beyond… and whether we really want those questions to be answered.</span> </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">While over on <a href="https://www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk/reviews/review-a-different-kind-of-light/" target="_blank">Horrified</a>, Ally Wilkes describes the novella as:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>A delightfully short and scary little book... makes for compulsive reading. I found myself extremely creeped out as the daylight slipped away and the shadows on the hallway stairs became more prominent.... genuinely dread-inducing.</i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Many thanks to both reviewers!</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've been focusing on short fiction over the past couple of months, and one of the markets I submitted to was Maxim Jakubowski's <i>Book Of Femmes Fatales And Dangerous Women Stories</i>. I didn't think I stood a chance, but was delighted to learn yesterday that my story 'Bait' has been chosen for the anthology - one of 18 stories out of 170 submissions, which is pretty cool! Also sharing the TOC are </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eric Brown, Susi Holliday, Keith Brooke, Joseph S. Walker, Robert Lopresti, Michael A.Gonzales, Lavie Tidhar, Rhys Hughes, Ali Seay, Ashley Lister, Bernie Crosthwaite, Rose Biggin, O'Neil De Noux, Bev Vincent, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, Claude Lalumiere and Ana Teresa Pereira.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Some of these are writers I've read or worked with before, while others are new to me, but I look forward to appearing in print with them.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So those are the latest developments. I'll try and blog again soon.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One last request before I go: if you've read my work and enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review (even a few words will do) or rating at Amazon for any works you've liked. The more reviews it gets, the more visible it becomes to other customers, and the wider an audience it reaches. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p><br /></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-68050979828059124212021-04-02T12:40:00.006-07:002021-04-02T16:01:16.824-07:00Things Of The Week 2nd April 2021: Best Horror Of The Year #13, Nine Ghosts Launch Video, Out Of The Darkness, Body Shocks Advance Review <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFefTTfGmPyRpFfo3y46m4THyREiFdpknj1HEeOiptUY3T2w74Z2xm5_WNTuXjUKyVSDbXN6Rc5AuVRtuBWbg6yWHlSTBpISpnC34ZMt7C2Za45fK5bfdfH6qu-i3laU5ScPyVG43d-w/s2048/BestofHorror12_front.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFefTTfGmPyRpFfo3y46m4THyREiFdpknj1HEeOiptUY3T2w74Z2xm5_WNTuXjUKyVSDbXN6Rc5AuVRtuBWbg6yWHlSTBpISpnC34ZMt7C2Za45fK5bfdfH6qu-i3laU5ScPyVG43d-w/s320/BestofHorror12_front.jpg" /></a></div>So, two nights ago I got an email from Ellen Datlow, about a short story of mine called 'A Treat For Your Last Day,' letting me know she wanted to publish it in <i><a href="https://ellendatlow.com/2021/04/01/the-best-horror-of-the-year-volume-thirteen-table-of-contents/" target="_blank">The Best Horror of the Year #13</a></i>.<p></p><p>Anything like that is always great news, but this was particularly great for two reasons: firstly because it'll mark the first time I've appeared in <i>Best Horror of the Year </i>for two years running - it only seems like last week that I received my contributor's copy of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Horror-Year-Twelve/dp/159780973X" target="_blank">Best Horror of the Year #12</a></i>, the incredibly cool Reiko Murakami of which is pictured on the left - and secondly because 'A Treat For Your Last Day' was first published on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/35180224" target="_blank">my Patreon page</a>.</p><p>I've had a Patreon account for a couple of years now, and my biggest challenge has been making it both something I can sustain and something that's worth looking at. I'll talk a bit more about <a href="https://www.patreon.com/SimonBestwick" target="_blank">my Patreon</a> in another post some time. For now, I'll just say that I post new work there every fortnight and that you can read it for as little as a dollar a month. So there we go. </p><p>In other news, the Kickstarter for Unsung Stories' <i><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/unsungstories/out-of-the-darkness-an-anthology-of-horror-and-dark-fantasy" target="_blank">Out Of The Darkness</a></i> anthology still has five days to run, although it's already massively outstripped its original target of £2500. I'm one of a host of authors - including Laura Mauro, Aliya Whiteley, Georgina Bruce, Gary Budden, Tim Major - who've contributed horror and dark fantasy fiction inspired by the theme of mental illness. All author fees and royalties will be donated to <a href="https://www.together-uk.org/" target="_blank">Together For Mental Wellbeing</a>.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuTKxk7MPoVHfb1wDVwaM7KLdloDlWLU6uVsNpezcfy0MY-8Wt7ZHclcZX4AVooGhvQwGyA4CAAu7BoRdmjGHtjEjVbMO04YxhdXHnbhq0gsKp-50dCUVNyWfTMZz9_zPgr0RiTgy2q9k/s576/Out+of+the+Darkness.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="381" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuTKxk7MPoVHfb1wDVwaM7KLdloDlWLU6uVsNpezcfy0MY-8Wt7ZHclcZX4AVooGhvQwGyA4CAAu7BoRdmjGHtjEjVbMO04YxhdXHnbhq0gsKp-50dCUVNyWfTMZz9_zPgr0RiTgy2q9k/s320/Out+of+the+Darkness.png" /></a></div>Having hit its first stretch target of £5000, the anthology will now include an additional story by Malcolm Devlin; if it hits its second stretch target of £7000, a further story by Gareth E. Rees will be added to the table of contents. The total amount pledged currently stands at £6840, so things are looking pretty healthy there.<p></p><p>Ginger Nuts Of Horror has been hosting a series of articles in which the anthology's contributors talk about their own inspirations and experiences. Contributors Aliya Whiteley, Tim Major and Anna Vaught disucss their stories <a href="https://gingernutsofhorror.com/features/out-of-darkness-aliya-whiteley-tim-major-and-anna-vaught-discuss-their-stories" target="_blank">here</a>; Alison Moore, Verity Holloway and Eugen Bacon talk about theirs <a href="https://gingernutsofhorror.com/features/out-of-darkness-alison-moore-verity-holloway-and-eugen-bacon-discuss-their-stories" target="_blank">here</a>, and you can find Sam Thompson, Richard V Hirst and myself on our own contributions <a href="https://gingernutsofhorror.com/features/out-of-darkness-simon-bestwick-sam-thompson-and-richard-v-hirst-discuss-their-stories" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p>The first <a href="http://hellnotes.com/advance-review-body-shocks/" target="_blank">advance review </a>of another Ellen Datlow anthology, <i>Body Shocks</i> - which includes my story 'Welcome To Mengele's' - is now up at <a href="http://hellnotes.com/advance-review-body-shocks/" target="_blank">HellNotes</a>, and seems to be a rave. Hopefully the first of many for this book. </p><p>Finally, <i><a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/shadows-25/" target="_blank">Nine Ghosts</a></i>, my new mini-collection from <a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/shadows-25/" target="_blank">Black Shuck Books</a>, was released on March 25th, and March 26th saw a live-streamed launch via <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lPPy5dQmPw&t=576s" target="_blank">YouTube</a>. </p><p>See! A fat beardy man wittering on! </p><p>Hear! The two lucky winners of free copies of the book!</p><p>And tremble! At readings of two of the stories from the collection, 'The Cage' and 'Dab and Sole.'</p><p>If you missed (or if you didn't, and for some insane reason actually want to put yourself through that again,) here it is.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8lPPy5dQmPw" width="320" youtube-src-id="8lPPy5dQmPw"></iframe></div><br /><p>Have a good weekend, folks.</p><p>Simon. </p><p><br /></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-19931844479676629842021-03-22T05:44:00.003-07:002021-03-22T05:55:00.637-07:00Nine Ghosts<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaEd4UutLdUEqGznvOay5cOGQQWmN4ebIxzz9vVQNtRRHdVV6TCcFAL3uvSvvR__C9BGXSeZO1CwwnA1hVR-d5IvGsWmjb3Kqj_R0pk7w61t9vTTCajHQy26nsJJ14YN4i9et-qSDa7OM/s500/Nine+Ghosts.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="312" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaEd4UutLdUEqGznvOay5cOGQQWmN4ebIxzz9vVQNtRRHdVV6TCcFAL3uvSvvR__C9BGXSeZO1CwwnA1hVR-d5IvGsWmjb3Kqj_R0pk7w61t9vTTCajHQy26nsJJ14YN4i9et-qSDa7OM/w250-h400/Nine+Ghosts.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>I have a new mini-collection coming out from Black Shuck Books.<br /><p></p><p>It's called Nine Ghosts.</p><p>There are nine stories.</p><p>There are nine ghosts.</p><p>Two of the stories have never been published before.</p><p>Two others have only appeared on my Patreton.</p><p>You can find more details <a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/shadows-25/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>I meant to do a live launch on Facebook, as I did for <i>A Different Kind Of Light</i>. Unfortunately Facebook has currently blocked me from livestreaming. I have no idea why.</p><p>Luckily I can livestream through <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2cO_r5KPBSaEm20iM4HGTQ" target="_blank">my YouTube channel</a>. So that's what I'll be doing at 7.00 pm GMT on Friday 26th March.</p><p>There'll be a live reading, a Q&A and a chance to win a couple of copies.</p><p>So be <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2cO_r5KPBSaEm20iM4HGTQ" target="_blank">there</a> or be square.</p><p>The nine ghosts await you. </p><p>(PS: I've invited as many people to the event via Facebook as I can, but I was only able to send a limited number of invites. So do please spread the word if you possibly can, or if you know anyone you think might enjoy this.)</p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-66511590507015777962021-03-12T09:00:00.003-08:002021-03-12T09:00:50.413-08:00Things of the Week 12th March 2021: Breaking the Hundred, Redwater, Contributor Copies and Out of the Darkness<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiON05JS3PjTA7lfvtUD9vj3IxtZhXvdkF1mC3YYVS9pVWs4hHi7iwZTmrHBdtcBKDTa_iqXE2tos2M7zCW8Dg-79XvtPTyx4l9NmuJSU_3WSBvbqxW-Xn3ghp3IFLRkAxyrTHw1rlTzTY/s631/alchemy+horror+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="414" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiON05JS3PjTA7lfvtUD9vj3IxtZhXvdkF1mC3YYVS9pVWs4hHi7iwZTmrHBdtcBKDTa_iqXE2tos2M7zCW8Dg-79XvtPTyx4l9NmuJSU_3WSBvbqxW-Xn3ghp3IFLRkAxyrTHw1rlTzTY/s320/alchemy+horror+3.jpg" /></a></div>I've had an up-and-down couple of weeks in mental health terms, which hasn't been much fun, but I've managed to keep writing throughout, although at times it's been a case of grinding it out. Nonetheless, stuff has got done, and stuff has happened.<p></p><p>The last novel I completed in first draft, <i>Tatterskin</i>, was finished on 24th November. Since then I've been trying to complete the next novel. I've started two and ended up having to lay both aside as I ran into blocks and problems. Hopefully I'll be able to go back to them, figure out where I was going wrong and pick up the thread again at some point in the future.</p><p>Meanwhile, though, the new book is coming along. I have no idea what it's about, or if it's any good, but I'm doing my best not to think about that and just write the next right thing in the story. I recently broke the hundred-page mark, which always feels like a milestone. But I've got that far before with at least one of the projects I've laid aside by now, so I'm trying not to be overconfident. So, we'll see.</p><p>I'm taking a break from the novel in any case, for a couple of weeks, as there a couple of short stories I want to get written. With any luck, it'll still be there when I get back.</p><p>Other news: well, I'm delighted to say that my story 'Redwater' has been accepted for <i>The Alchemy Press Book Of Horrors 3: A Miscellany Of Monsters</i>. More information on this anthology when I have it. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoakTkbwc4f_WYNg-w2bQAG5NBLHz3W6_gNxSH-ADMgGF0ZHu0RPtOEqqns8k0339faWZS1Krr2nnsoEzDA1P2MEwYIPGvYxN_W2K-Wao0T6Ngxiq7txLu44VqHG6Q4IylsxqN2oZjTFI/s2015/bhoty+12+contrib+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2015" data-original-width="1511" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoakTkbwc4f_WYNg-w2bQAG5NBLHz3W6_gNxSH-ADMgGF0ZHu0RPtOEqqns8k0339faWZS1Krr2nnsoEzDA1P2MEwYIPGvYxN_W2K-Wao0T6Ngxiq7txLu44VqHG6Q4IylsxqN2oZjTFI/s320/bhoty+12+contrib+copy.jpg" /></a></div>Also, I was delighted to receive my contributor's copy of <i>The Best Horror Of The Year #12</i>, which includes my story 'Below' from <i>Terror Tales of North West England</i>. Many thanks to Ellen Datlow, and to Jason Katzman at Skyhorse Publishing. It's got stories from amazing writers like Catriona Ward, Joe Lansdale, Laura 'Bricklauncher' Mauro and Gemma Files (with 'The Puppet Motel', which also appears in her storming collection <i>In That Endlessness, Our End</i>.) Along eith many more. I've only savoured a couple of the stories so far, but I'm looking forward to reading the rest.<p></p><p>Finally, I'm glad to finially be able to announce my involvement in <i>Out Of The Darkness</i>, edited by the most excellent Dan Coxon and published by Unsung Stories. In one way or another, all the stories in the anthology tackle themes of mental health, and are written by authors with experience of those issues. One additional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a massive spike in mental health problems: all author fees and royalties will be donated to <a href="https://www.together-uk.org/" target="_blank">Together For Mental Wellbeing</a>. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW3EAM_Lp9VzjokDrJw_qMp6mawmZfAQpt0DS8znrTTnjaiDqjd06v6G7ZsBDf2AIl_wQGH9uNnKZJ6QMqJbymo-OgZvO_ToPbzgo3-N8wmJEYta_LReVtxE37VZbDhtAmIj0-mrojL28/s576/Out+of+the+Darkness.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="381" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW3EAM_Lp9VzjokDrJw_qMp6mawmZfAQpt0DS8znrTTnjaiDqjd06v6G7ZsBDf2AIl_wQGH9uNnKZJ6QMqJbymo-OgZvO_ToPbzgo3-N8wmJEYta_LReVtxE37VZbDhtAmIj0-mrojL28/s320/Out+of+the+Darkness.png" /></a></div>I've never made any secret of my own experiences with anxiety and depression, so I was proud to be asked to contribute. My story 'The Hungry Dark' will appear alongside contributions by authors including Laura Mauro, Nicholas Royle, Tim Major, Aliya Whiteley and many more. <p></p><p>The anthology has already met its initial Kickstarter goals, but it's now chasing new targets, hoping to add more authors to the anthology. If you'd like to support <i>Out Of The Darkness</i>, you can still contribute to the Kickstarter <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/unsungstories/out-of-the-darkness-an-anthology-of-horror-and-dark-fantasy" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p>You can read more <a href="https://gingernutsofhorror.com/features/a-light-in-the-darkness-by-dan-coxon?fbclid=IwAR0LvYJZWyfRMz__L-dhX74eZbK4aWaRkRsxp1dTND20vUT05Pdg9_Noh3E" target="_blank">here</a>, at <a href="https://gingernutsofhorror.com/features/a-light-in-the-darkness-by-dan-coxon?fbclid=IwAR0LvYJZWyfRMz__L-dhX74eZbK4aWaRkRsxp1dTND20vUT05Pdg9_Noh3E" target="_blank">Ginger Nuts Of Horror</a>, where Dan talks about the background to the anthology.</p><p>Have a good weekend, folks.</p><p>Simon x.</p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-4487412042999746022021-03-01T23:43:00.000-08:002021-03-01T23:43:27.948-08:00Things Of The Last Week Or So 2nd March 2021: Lots of stuff! <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioaqxXaGGAJWwe_P06YhqM25MKRiCP_fDCJTOBLALYbjDdul3GQzqLbnxiRiSw80G3mCc7ki__zG94U_4J7g2_Ntp4J9-XDZWlN3mxIhAF9C9Unl4edoXS4ncfQeFvUbvFsj3NWHmvJvs/s500/A+Different+Kind+Of+Light+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="305" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioaqxXaGGAJWwe_P06YhqM25MKRiCP_fDCJTOBLALYbjDdul3GQzqLbnxiRiSw80G3mCc7ki__zG94U_4J7g2_Ntp4J9-XDZWlN3mxIhAF9C9Unl4edoXS4ncfQeFvUbvFsj3NWHmvJvs/s320/A+Different+Kind+Of+Light+cover.jpg" /></a></div>Normally, I try to list the various things (hopefully nice ones) that the week has had in store, but this week-and-a-bit (various things popped up on Friday and over the weekend that stopped me blogging earlier) has actually been pretty packed, and in the best of ways.<p></p><p>So here's the latest.</p><p>The launch party for <i><a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/a-different-kind-of-light/" target="_blank">A Different Kind Of Light</a> </i>ran into a few technical hitches, and in the end it ended up just being me reading and presenting (big thanks to Laura Mauro and Keris McDonald, who were to have read on the night), but ended up being a great laugh and getting a few people to rush out and buy a copy. It's the closest thing I've come to hanging out with many of my friends on the horror scene in a <i>very </i>long time, so that was great as well.</p><p>The first reviews for <i><a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/a-different-kind-of-light/" target="_blank">A Different Kind Of Light</a></i> have also appeared. Over at <a href="https://marcsbooks.blogspot.com/2021/02/number-17-different-kind-of-light-simon.html" target="_blank">Marc's Books</a>, Marc Francis sums it up with "Well worth spending your hard-earned cash on," which is, after all, what every writer wants to hear people say! And at <a href="https://gingernutsofhorror.com/fiction-reviews/book-review-a-different-kind-of-light-by-simon-bestwick" target="_blank">Ginger Nuts Of Horror</a>, Tony Jones' verdict is: "A terrific novella which sits nicely amongst the best work Simon Bestwick has written and Black Shuck have published. Outstanding and highly recommended." </p><p>You can buy <i><a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/a-different-kind-of-light/" target="_blank">A Different Kind Of Light</a></i> <a href="https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/a-different-kind-of-light/" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p>In other news, <i>Nine Ghosts</i>, my upcoming mini-collection (from Black Shuck Books, again, because they rock!), originally slated for an October release, will in fact be out later this month. I have some proofs to check this week. More details to follow.</p><p>Way back when I was starting out as a writer in the late 1990s, I published a number of stories with a great little magazine called <i>Nasty Piece Of Work</i>, edited by the wonderful David A. Green. David was open to stories that were both gruesome or extreme on the one hand, and cerebral and intelligent on the other. I did some of my best work from that period of my career for <i>Nasty</i>, some of which might not only never have found a home without it, but never have been conceived.</p><p>One such story was <i>Welcome To Mengele's</i>, a story about a brothel where you can make your sexual fantasies - whatever they are - a reality... for a price. It was reprinted in my second collection, <i>Pictures Of The Dark</i>, but has been out of print for a long time. I'm delighted to announce it'll be appearing in Ellen Datlow's upcoming body horror anthology <i><a href="https://tachyonpublications.com/product/body-shocks/" target="_blank">Body Shocks</a></i>, alongside stories by Ray Cluley, Gemma Files, Livia Llewellyn, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Priya Sharma, Tananarive Due, Tom Johnstone and many, many more wonderful authors. Hugely proud to be included.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVSOX25hxpGq4cxWrYnkz34_BY6LTZ4RUqyWsRMEjLaIHsgISWceXoEGARw1FDpfXW9VGq2Nn2pJ_71eXNRGmNexG7gSupVAiDxemlDQG4basu0jj9DtqNE4RINqYpzI8Tr2cM5ZYvwts/s2048/BodyShocks_RGB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVSOX25hxpGq4cxWrYnkz34_BY6LTZ4RUqyWsRMEjLaIHsgISWceXoEGARw1FDpfXW9VGq2Nn2pJ_71eXNRGmNexG7gSupVAiDxemlDQG4basu0jj9DtqNE4RINqYpzI8Tr2cM5ZYvwts/s320/BodyShocks_RGB.jpg" /></a></div>Paula Guran, editor of <i>The Year's Best Dark Fantasy And Horror</i>, has published her recommended reading list from the first volume <a href="https://paulaguran.com/other-recommendations-from-2019-from-the-years-best-dark-fantasy-and-horror-volume-one/?fbclid=IwAR3vpnQWZuhGl1SU55aEjnksGnAc3rAge1Rz8MDtVYkbLDA4zKjqfd2XXHk" target="_blank">online</a>, and I get name-checked twice, for the title novella from my collection <i>And Cannot Come Again</i> and for my <i>Terror Tales Of North West England </i>story 'Below', which went on to be reprinted in <i>The Best Horror Of The Year #12</i>. Cate is also listed for her Terror <i>Tales Of North West England </i>story 'The Mute Swan.'<p></p><p>Finally, I'm over the moon to announce that my novella <i>Devils Of London</i> has found a home at Hersham Horror, courtesy of that excellent gentleman Peter Mark May, and should be out later this year. All being well, quite a bit of my stuff should be seeing print...</p><p>So that's what's been going down, anyway.</p><p>Hope you're all well, and see you soon. Keep safe.</p><p>Simon.</p><p><br /></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-38303140286792878722021-02-26T02:16:00.000-08:002021-02-26T02:16:12.938-08:00New Gemma Files Collection: In That Endlessness, Our End<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg652z7HioZK09gXa4Si_r-uBXZwDxyNul5I1CjiRk92kMtoXVmm1O6mGnLWeEGnp9WPTTIEbCNgeEnwIIVDvyX_qiOPZOqbU5PUvq5A07JEKL49Rv3bjtB92yAfLjxb1IX13AYPWG_fj8/s810/gemma+files+in+that+endlessness+our+end.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="540" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg652z7HioZK09gXa4Si_r-uBXZwDxyNul5I1CjiRk92kMtoXVmm1O6mGnLWeEGnp9WPTTIEbCNgeEnwIIVDvyX_qiOPZOqbU5PUvq5A07JEKL49Rv3bjtB92yAfLjxb1IX13AYPWG_fj8/w266-h400/gemma+files+in+that+endlessness+our+end.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Gemma Files is an amazing writer.<br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">If you know anything about horror, you should already know this.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">If you didn't know, then now you do.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">She has a new collection out. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It will be very good. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Because it's by Gemma Files.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">You can buy it <a href="https://grimscribepress.com/in-that-endlessness-our-end/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">And you should.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So now you know. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">COME CLOSER, FRIEND.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">LET ME TELL YOU A STORY.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Heard the one about the Airbnb that eats your dreams, or the iron-crowned king who preys on his own bloodline from the air, still smoldering centuries after being burnt alive? How about the cloudy antique bottle you can wish your excess rage inside, or that crooked alley down which something waits to replace your disappointing child with a far more pleasant facsimile? We all know the truth, especially in times like these—in an anxiety-ridden, sleepless world such as ours, it’s only ever our very worst dreams that come true.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Here streets empty out and people pull themselves apart like amoebas, breeding murderous doppelgangers from their own flesh; houses haunt, ideas possess and a cold and alien moon stares down, whispering that it’s time to spawn. New myths rise and ancient evils descend. From the seemingly mundane terrors of a city just like yours to all the most dark and distant places of a truly terrible universe, nothing is as it seems…not even that dimly-recalled cinematic memory you’ve been chasing all these years, the one you think might be just something you stumbled upon while flipping through channels after midnight. The one that still disturbs you enough to raise a cold sweat all over your body, whenever you try to will its details clear.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifS3vIOp_90WxAhLioFUUaZ4qiv_t4xinEH3C44Z_v3vfzptFtLXwY9PCnNJk-yX9TqmGa6ciUnHjrwse5xnKcqTfrv9Jw4DAueARylOlUgX5JFADIrNKxZinuRV76kURtD2YhWoBesDg/s960/gemma+F+wihm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="690" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifS3vIOp_90WxAhLioFUUaZ4qiv_t4xinEH3C44Z_v3vfzptFtLXwY9PCnNJk-yX9TqmGa6ciUnHjrwse5xnKcqTfrv9Jw4DAueARylOlUgX5JFADIrNKxZinuRV76kURtD2YhWoBesDg/s320/gemma+F+wihm.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Hot on the heels of her This Is Horror Award-winning short story collection <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spectral-Evidence-Gemma-Files/dp/1947654187" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Spectral Evidence</em></a>, critically horror author Gemma Files compiles fifteen more of her most startling recent nightmares—a creepily seductive downward spiral of dark poetry and existential dread, entirely suitable to the slow apocalypse going on all around us. So take your mind off your troubles and send it somewhere the rules still operate, if only to punish those who violate them.</span><p></p><div class="tab tab-about-the-author" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><hr style="background: rgb(241, 242, 243); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 1px; margin-bottom: 20px;" /></div><div align="center" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h2 style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Table of Contents</span></h2><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is How It Goes</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Bulb</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Puppet Motel</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Come Closer</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Cut Frame</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sleep Hygiene</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Always After Three</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thin Cold Hands</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Venio</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Look Up</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Church in the Mountains</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Distant Dark Places</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Worm Moon</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Halloo</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Cuckoo</span></p></div></div>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-39198643228331781402021-02-24T01:05:00.001-08:002021-02-24T01:05:43.449-08:00Guest Blog by Ashley Lister - The Cursed Blog Tour: Day Three<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnktnl-RJeSBfP28DY3rWSrQ-V2_jT3CEWV6FbV6_lfV_xEIErxz-w4wO5Rqkra6QPdFrr9RBJAtRmwWo5LCeGSxT3-uiQmwVmdn106EVN3ye3LvqLjkWBKlv2iwFgvZq8w3vL5vC9M-c/s482/Ashley+Lister+and+Oz.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="358" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnktnl-RJeSBfP28DY3rWSrQ-V2_jT3CEWV6FbV6_lfV_xEIErxz-w4wO5Rqkra6QPdFrr9RBJAtRmwWo5LCeGSxT3-uiQmwVmdn106EVN3ye3LvqLjkWBKlv2iwFgvZq8w3vL5vC9M-c/s320/Ashley+Lister+and+Oz.JPG" /></a></div><span style="color: #26282a; font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.ashleylister.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ashley Lister</a> is a prolific author of fiction, having written more than fifty full length novels and over a hundred short stories. Aside from regularly blogging about poetry and writing in general, Ashley also teaches creative writing, language and literature in Lancashire, England.</span><p></p><p><span style="color: #26282a; font-family: arial;"><b><i>(This is part of the blog tour to promote Ashley's latest release, </i>Cursed<i>. Now read on...)</i></b> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>I’d like to begin by thanking Simon for
letting me visit here today and share this. This is an extract from
my latest novella, </span><span style="color: #0563c1;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cursed-dark-tale-Innsmouth-Tales-ebook/dp/B08RXJYQLD/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=cursed+ashley+lister&qid=1613210277&s=digital-text&sr=1-1"><span><i>Cursed</i></span></a></u></span><span>.
</span><span><i>Cursed</i></span><span>
is the third in an ongoing series of novellas, all loosely related by
the location in which they’re set, Innsmouth, and it’s going to
be released on March 1</span><sup><span>st</span></sup><span>,
2021. This chapter occurs halfway through the story.</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto;"><span style="color: #26282a; font-family: arial;"><i>Innsmouth University's Explorers Club meet once a month to share stories of the supernatural. They meet in empty houses, abandoned buildings and derelict churches. They meet in the dead of night. They tell stories of the impossible, the unbelievable and the most terrible. And now, it appears, their meetings have been cursed.</i></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXbPer7aKQ2dRYuhGly3Y0qEJlWba3ebmn7e_26PoF6RIeyC1FwM5RigWnI1lVB6Vg8WKgutEzHqi0q3dZwYTVzCfDzggEdvbZmZqAgE_NVOTRrpe5LNWqP67Cqff8Mp6cIngBaRp_H2o/s1600/Ashley+Lister+Day+Three+Image+2.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXbPer7aKQ2dRYuhGly3Y0qEJlWba3ebmn7e_26PoF6RIeyC1FwM5RigWnI1lVB6Vg8WKgutEzHqi0q3dZwYTVzCfDzggEdvbZmZqAgE_NVOTRrpe5LNWqP67Cqff8Mp6cIngBaRp_H2o/s320/Ashley+Lister+Day+Three+Image+2.png" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">There were shadows at the base of the
clocktower. At this time on a winter’s evening, with the first of
the ten o’clock chimes ringing out through Innsmouth’s empty town
centre, shadows were not unexpected. But, for anyone paying close
attention, anyone watching the dark shapes that came and went of
their own volition, the shadows would have seemed darker around the
base of the clocktower on this occasion.</span><p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto; text-indent: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Derek Brown, lost in his own thoughts as he
took Horatio on his evening constitutional, had not noticed the
shadows. It was a cold night and, not for the first time, the threat
of rain made him wish to Christ his wife’s French Bulldog would
hurry up and do its business so he could get back home. Horatio was
not the brightest dog he’d ever encountered and this nightly walk
was always made tiresomely protracted because Horatio needed to sniff
every lamppost, piddle at least three hundred times, and take one
shit that was slightly larger than the turds that Derek could
produce. On top of that, with Horatio being a chunky little bastard,
who waddled more than he walked, the nightly constitutional took
forever.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto; text-indent: 0.3cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">
“<span>Is this what my life’s come to?” he
wondered, glaring down at the dog. </span>
</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto; text-indent: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Horatio had paused to take his last shit of
the day and it was never a pleasant experience to watch. With his
bulging eyes, which always seemed to bulge further when he was
straining to squeeze one out, Horatio reminded Derek of his wife. The
idea that a pet could look like its owner was never truer than when
Horatio was standing on a street corner with his fat arse trembling,
his eyes bulging like chapel hat pegs and an expression of stupid
surprise on his tubby face as though he didn’t know what was
happening. Derek had often thought it was like having his wife with
him on the walk, except with less inane chatter and slightly more
outdoor defecating. He repeatedly told himself he’d take a picture
of this moment when it occurred so that he could post it on FaceBook,
alongside a picture of her, and ask his friends to spot the
difference.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto; text-indent: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span>And this evening, to his surprise, Horatio
was providing him with the perfect moment. It was almost as though
the fat, simple dog had decided to pose for the shot. </span>
</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto; text-indent: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Derek snatched the mobile from his jacket
pocket and opened the camera app. It was set on selfies when the
screen opened and he found his own pudgy, gammon-coloured features
being displayed on the screen. Recoiling only a little, he pressed
the button to turn the camera around and found himself staring down
at Horatio as the dog stared up at him.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto; text-indent: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span>With the eyes bulging, the tongue lolling
out over a double-chin, and a facial expression that looked like it
had found three consecutive answers on a word search puzzle and was
bursting to boast about the achievement, the shitting Horatio could
have been his wife’s twin. Admittedly, one of them had a little
more facial hair than the other, but Derek thought that was such a
small distinction it was close to being negligible. </span>
</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto; text-indent: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">He snapped three pictures in short
succession, chuckling softly to himself as he anticipated the
repercussions of sharing this picture with friends. Horatio, clearly
unimpressed with being photographed in the middle of a relatively
private act, shied away from Derek. It was an abrupt lurch that
caught Derek by surprise. One moment he was taking pictures of a
shitting dog whilst holding its leash and chuckling to himself. The
next moment the leash had been pulled from his hand, Horatio was
waddling toward the clocktower, and Derek watched his phone, fall
from his fingers and land on the freshly laid turd that Horatio had
deposited.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto; text-indent: 0.3cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">
“<span>Bloody hell,” Derek complained.
“Horatio,” he called. “Come back here.”</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto; text-indent: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">He reached for his phone, picking it up
gingerly between thumb and forefinger, and realised Horatio’s
sticky turd had adhered to the screen. Derek sneered in disgust, sure
the dog had done this deliberately and he scanned the empty street
looking for his wife’s French Bulldog.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto; text-indent: 0.3cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">
“<span>Horatio,” he called. “Where are
you?”</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto; text-indent: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Innsmouth seemed surprisingly quiet this
evening. On the positive side, that meant there had been no one
around to witness him dropping his phone on top of a warm and
steaming dog turd. On the negative side, the silence unsettled him
and there was no one around </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">to tell him where his wife’s stupid dog
had gone. A mist of drizzle hung in the air. The night seemed
chillier than it should have been and, for the first time, he noticed
that quite a few streetlamps seemed to have stopped working. The
night was darker than it had any right to be and the subsequent
shiver that tickled down his spine had nothing to do with Innsmouth’s
low temperature.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><span>Ashley writes:</span></i></b></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><span>This story is built on my fascination with
the way people share their personal ghost stories. To celebrate this
fact, on Monday March 1</span><sup><span>st</span></sup><span>,
I’ll be hosting an online book launch/virtual event where I (and
some friends and fellow writers) will be sharing our own personal
ghost stories. If you fancy joining us, either to share a ghost story
or simply to listen, please drop me an email at </span><span style="color: #0563c1;"><u><a href="mailto:me@ashleylister.co.uk"><span>me@ashleylister.co.uk</span></a></u></span><span>
and I’ll happily send you an invite.</span></i></b></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><span>And, to find out what happens in the
remainder of this novella, you can pre-order a copy of </span><span style="color: #0563c1;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cursed-dark-tale-Innsmouth-Tales-ebook/dp/B08RXJYQLD/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=cursed+ashley+lister&qid=1613210277&s=digital-text&sr=1-1"><span>Cursed</span></a></u></span><span>
on Amazon.</span></i></b></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-inside: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-inside: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>You can also buy the previous novellas in the series, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unearthed-Dark-Tale-Innsmouth-Tales-ebook/dp/B08LZJ8JDZ/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9CF5VEG9T1EEWE66737E" target="_blank">Unearthed</a></i> and <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fearless-dark-tale-Innsmouth-Tales-ebook/dp/B08JVKJKCZ/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9CF5VEG9T1EEWE66737E" target="_blank"><i>Fearless</i></a>. </span></span></p>Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.com0