News from Castle Bestwick (17th September 2021): Out Of The Darkness, The Alchemy Book Of Horrors 3, Devils Of London, ParSec Magazine

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!

Last week, two arrived in one day: The Alchemy Book Of Horrors 3: A Miscellany Of Monsters, 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.

Also arriving was the hardback of Out Of The Darkness, 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.

And yesterday three author copies of Devils Of London appeared, complete with Neil Williams' cover art. Huge thanks to Neil, and to Peter Mark May at Hersham Horror for publishing the novella.

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 'Bone Street Blues' over on Patreon. More thanks are due, this time to Ian Whates, for the acceptance.

That makes a total of eleven short story acceptances this year. In that respect (if not in many others) 2021 hasn't been bad.

So, now for the weekend. Time to relax and unwind. Maybe... (gestures subtly at the above paragraphs) with a good book. Why not?

Be well, and I'll see you soon.

Simon.

 

Latest News from Castle Bestwick: Post-op treatments, Devils Of London Cover Reveal and The Tiny Bookcase Podcast...

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. 

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.

In other news, and on a happier note, the ebook of Devils Of London, my upcoming novella from Hersham Horror, is now available for pre-order, 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, Devils Of London is a far less gentle tale than my last two novellas, Roth-Steyr and A Different Kind Of Light.

"Devils wear many faces.

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.

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…"

Devils Of London will be published on 24th September.

Meanwhile, I did an interview earlier this month for The Tiny Bookcase Podcast and its hilarious hosts Ben and Nico. You can hear me talk bollocks - including the phrase 'Ash Bukkake' - at length here. 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 podcast, or if you'd rather read it you can do so over on my Patreon.

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... 

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. 

Things Of The Last Week Or So 2nd March 2021: Lots of stuff!

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.

So here's the latest.

The launch party for A Different Kind Of Light 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 very long time, so that was great as well.

The first reviews for A Different Kind Of Light have also appeared. Over at Marc's Books, 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 Ginger Nuts Of Horror, 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."  

You can buy A Different Kind Of Light here. 

In other news, Nine Ghosts, 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.

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 Nasty Piece Of Work, 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 Nasty, some of which might not only never have found a home without it, but never have been conceived.

One such story was Welcome To Mengele's, 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, Pictures Of The Dark, 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 Body Shocks, 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.

Paula Guran, editor of The Year's Best Dark Fantasy And Horror, has published her recommended reading list from the first volume online, and I get name-checked twice, for the title novella from my collection And Cannot Come Again and for my Terror Tales Of North West England story 'Below', which went on to be reprinted in The Best Horror Of The Year #12. Cate is also listed for her Terror Tales Of North West England story 'The Mute Swan.'

Finally, I'm over the moon to announce that my novella Devils Of London 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...

So that's what's been going down, anyway.

Hope you're all well, and see you soon. Keep safe.

Simon.

The Lockdown with... Gary McMahon

Gary McMahon writes stories. Some of them have been published and received favourable reviews. He is also the author of several novels, and hope to write another one soon. He holds a black belt in shotokan karate and watches way too many horror movies for his own good.

1. Tell us three things about yourself.

I'm a black belt in shotokan karate. I have a torn meniscus. Legally, my middle name is Zed.

2. Many writers have said the COVID-19 outbreak and the lockdown have made it harder for them to create. Have you found this? Has the outbreak affected you as a writer and if so, how?

The lockdown has put me into a kind of creative paralysis. I can't write. I can't even read. I think it's more to do with issues I'm having with my day job than anything else – I moved companies last summer and it's proven to be the biggest mistake of my career. Because of the COVID crisis, I'm now stuck there.

3. What was the first thing you had published?

A short story in a small press 'zine called Nasty Piece of Work.

4. Which piece of writing are you proudest of?

My latest collection, Some Bruising May Occur.

5. …and which makes you cringe?

Lots of early stuff that, thankfully, I've forgotten.

6. What’s a normal writing day like?

I don't have writing days. Writing hours or minutes; like stolen moments with an illicit lover.

7. What work of yours would you recommend for people on lockdown and in need of a good book?

My latest books: Glorious Beasts or Some Bruising May Occur.

8. What are you working on now?

A novella called You Are Not Like Us. I've also been working for five or six years on a haunted house novel called The Quiet Room.

Edge-Lit 8

This weekend the lovely Cate and I will be in Derby for the 8th Edge-Lit convention.

Edge-Lit is one of the two cons I always attend every year (the other, of course, being Fantasycon, although this year we might have to give it a miss.) A one-day event organised by the most excellent Alex Davis, it's always well-attended and a great chance to catch up with old friends.

Among this year's luminaries are:

Confirmed Guests of Honour:
Aliette De Bodard, multi-award winning fantasy and science-fiction author
Anne Charnock, Arthur C Clarke Award winning author of Dreams Before the Start of Time
Christopher Golden, New York Times Bestselling Author of Ararat and The Pandora Room - joining us from the US!
Neil Spring, bestselling author of The Ghost Hunters, The Watchers, The Lost Village and The Burning House
Sarah Lotz, acclaimed horror and thriller author (The Three)
Tim Lebbon, popular dark fantasy and horror novelist (The Silence)
Special Guest:
Stephen Volk, author and scriptwriter (TV's Ghostwatch, Afterlife, Midwinter of the Spirit)
Speakers and Panellists:
Simon Bestwick, acclaimed horror novelist and short story writer (*waves*)
Jan Edwards, award-winning crime and horror author
Robin Triggs, author of Night Shift
David Mark, author of the DS Aector McAvoy crime series
Sarah Pinborough, Bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes and Cross Her Heart
Alex Reeve, writer of the Leo Stanhope series
Zen Cho, acclaimed fantasy author and editor
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Arthur C Clarke Award winning SF and fantasy novelist
Dominic Dulley, author of Morhelion and Shattermoon
Matt Hill, science-fiction author of Zero Bomb
Anna Stephens, fantasy author of the Godblind trilogy
Jen Williams, fantasy author of the Copper Cat and Winnowing Flame series
Genevieve Cogman, author of the Invisible Library series
Tim Major, SF and horror writer
KK Perez, YA author of the Sweet Black Waves series
Adam Christopher, acclaimed novelist, comics and tie-in fiction writer
Jodi Taylor, author of the Chronicles of St Mary series
Daniel Godfrey, author of The Synapse Sequence and New Pompeii
Ruth De Haas, fantasy author and blogger
Danie Ware, Warhammer 40k novelist and author of Children of Artifice
Dan Coxon, award-winning author and editor
AC Clarke, children's and YA fantasy author

It's also great for panels and workshops, both of which I'll be involved with this year. There'll also be readings of work, too, which I think is new.

Here's my itinerary, for those interested (or wanting to know which parts of Derby Quad to avoid!)

10.00 am. Panel:
Short Cuts: Does a Background in Short Fiction Help You Build a Career as a Novelist? (Sponsored by Fox Spirit Books)
Simon Bestwick, Zen Cho (Chair), Jan Edwards, Tim Lebbon, Tim Major.

2.00 pm. Workshop:
Simon Bestwick:Writing Your Novel

4.00 pm. Multi-Publisher Horror Book Launch:
Dark Minds Press launches A LOVE LIKE BLOOD by Simon Bestwick.

Hersham Horror Books launches THE WOODS: PENTANTH 6, with stories by Cate Gardner, James Everington, Mark West, Penny Jones and Phil Sloman.

Sinister Horror Company launches CANNIBAL NUNS FROM OUTER SPACE by Duncan P. Bradshaw.

Wine and nibbles available.

5.00 pm. Reading: 
Simon Bestwick and Robin Triggs.

As you can see, I'm a glutton for punishment. :)

Looking forward to this weekend. And I hope I'll see you there. 

What's New? with Penny Jones

Penny Jones currently lives in Leicestershire with her long suffering husband and patron of the arts Simon (although they do spend any free moments they have plotting to leave the landlocked county and get closer to the sea).

Penny knew she was a writer when she started to talk about herself in the third person – Her family apparently knew when she was little and Santa bought her a typewriter for Christmas (honestly who buys a three year old a typewriter?)

Penny loves reading and will read pretty much anything you put in front of her, but her favourite authors are Stephen King, Shirley Jackson and John Wyndham. Her whole family are avid readers, meaning that they have had to move three times just to fit in their book collections. In fact Penny only got into writing to buy books, when she realised that there wasn’t that much money in writing she stayed for the cake.

As with all writers Penny has crippling impostor syndrome so if you would like to be her friend you can send her a request at Facebook.

Or you can follow her on Twitter, although she does still find it freaky that on-line stalking is now a thing.

1) So, what’s new from you?
This month I’ve finished a short story for an upcoming anthology from Hersham Horror called “The Woods” which is being released at EdgeLit. I’ve also finished work on my debut collection “Suffer Little Children” which is being released on 16th May as part of the Black Shuck Books “Shadows” series.

2) How did it come about?
The anthology story was an invite, which is always nice. The editor had read one of my stories in another anthology, liked it, and asked me if I’d like to do a piece for Hersham Horror. The theme was around woods and forests, and I’d had an idea about growth rings rattling round in my head for ages, and that developed into my story “Dendrochronology”.

The collection came in an entirely different manner, I was approached by the publisher when I was at a writing convention last year, I may have had one drink too many and completely forgot about it. It was only months later when I was looking through some of the stories that I had written, and was trying to work out how I was going to sell several short stories around the theme of children (they really scare me), that I remember that Steve Shaw the owner of Black Shuck Books had asked me for a themed collection.

3) Tell us about the process of how you created it.
It always starts with an image for me. I tend to be quite a visual person, I prefer to see or read something, rather than have it verbally explained to me. I just find that I process information better that way. Once I have that image in my head I will study it, I’ll look at the minute details of why that image is in my mind, of what makes it interesting or disturbing, what emotions does it evoke in me. I’ll then almost pan out until I can see what is around the image, how does it affect its environment, how does its environment affect it? Then the image will start to move, like a film in my mind. What has happened to get to this point? What will happen next? By the point I actually sit down to write I’ll usually know most of the story, then it’s just a matter of finding out its secrets and getting the right words down on the page.

4) What was your favourite part of the process?
The initial idea is always my favourite part. I tend to find writing quite difficult and I never feel that the words on the page at the end do justice to the story in my mind. I’m looking forward to the day when I can just do a direct cranial transfer of the story.

5) What was the toughest part of it?
Commas. My punctuation is horrendous.

6) Is there a theme running through it?
I’m a psychiatric nurse by profession, and mental health does tend to be a theme throughout all my work. I’m very much of the opinion that mental health needs impact on everybody to some extent or another, and it is just the severity of it which differs. My collection also has a running theme with children being either the antagonist, victim or both. I’ve always found children creepy, I always say I don’t really like them very much, and that even as a child I didn’t. Also when I was little I had a phobia of injections which my dad tried to cure me of, by telling me about all the injections and blood tests you had to have when you became pregnant. It didn’t help at all with my phobia of needles, but it did install an even deeper fear of pregnancy. One of my major concerns is that if there was ever an apocalypse I would be forced to help repopulate the planet (it happens in every apocalyptic novel I’ve ever read). But the family planning nurses tell me that isn’t reason enough to get my tubes tied.

7) If you had to sum this book up in three words, what would they be?
Creepy, freaky, children.

8) Where can/will we be able to get hold of it?
“The Woods” will be available at EdgeLit, once released it will also be available from Hersham Horror Books.

“Suffer Little Children” is available for pre-order from Black Shuck Books.

The Lowdown with... Phil Sloman

Phil Sloman is a writer of dark psychological fiction. He was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Society Best Newcomer award in 2017 for his novella Becoming David.

His short stories can be found throughout various anthologies and his collection Broken on the Inside has received widespread praise.

In the humdrum of everyday life, Phil lives with an understanding wife and a trio of vagrant cats who tolerate their human slaves. There are no bodies buried beneath the patio as far as he is aware.

Occasionally Phil can be found lurking here or wasting time on social media – come say hi.

1. Tell us three things about yourself
Firstly, thanks for having me over Simon. A pleasure to natter.

So, three things?

I’m absolutely fascinated by nature and will happily spend an afternoon wandering the local countryside mushroom hunting, birdwatching, looking for creepy-crawlies and small mammals hidden in the undergrowth or beneath logs and rocks. The danger is that I am an amateur at the mushroom hunting and had an uncomfortable 24 hours where I was worried I’d contaminated our kitchen with the spores from a death cap (nasty mushroom if you eat it which will almost certainly lead to an agonising and unpleasant death) but got lucky as it was only a false one.

I really love sport but my body is getting to the point where it doesn’t love sport quite so much. There’s doesn’t seem to be a month go by where I don’t pick up another ache or sprain yet still I persist in embracing this foolish rush and thrill I get from chasing or hitting a ball around. My enthusiasm makes up for a lack of skill in certain areas which means I’ve garnered a trophy or two to display at home. 

And, seeing as I’m here, probably worth mentioning that I write too. Like most of our friends, I’ve always loved reading and have stacks of books at home with far too many remaining unread even as I go out and buy more (I admit it, I have a book buying problem!). A while back I was doing a book podcast with my mate Dion and I decided to give writing a proper go on discovering the indie scene (writing was something I had dabbled with for years but not taken seriously). So now I write dark psychological tales mainly as a way of me exploring the world out there which frequently fails to make sense to me.

2. What was the first thing you had published?
My first piece was in an anthology called Potatoes from Theresa Derwin’s Knightwatch Press; a story The Banshee’s Egg. The idea of the anthology was that writers could contrive a story around any theme so Theresa pitched this concept of potato related horror. Sounds ridiculous, perhaps, but there’s some great stories in there and I was fortunate to be chosen as the opening story.

The Banshee’s Egg is set in the wilds of Scotland in a small rural community and focuses on Marnie, a local healer, who is conned by a couple when she heals their child. They pay her with a potato purported to be a mythical Banshee’s egg and things go badly from there as Marnie because gradually more possessive of her treasure.

The feedback I received for Banshee spurred me on to write more at a time when I was considering just packing in before I had really started so it always has a special place in my heart.
called

3. Which piece of writing are you proudest of?
Becoming David published by Hersham Horror Books. This was my first novella and having it nominated for a British Fantasy Society Best Newcomer award in 2017 is one of the highlights of my writing career to date and something I am immensely proud of. It was also great to do a launch event alongside some of my best mates: Peter Mark May (hosting), Mark West, James Everington, Stephen Bacon and Marie O’Regan.

With Becoming David, I wanted to do something different with the serial killer genre, to question our moral compasses and flip the story so a bad guy goes good or attempts to. Becoming David flips character perspective a lot with an uncertainty of who is David and who is serial killer Richard Lodge. Nailing those shifts and also getting the reader to give a crap about the vile excuse for human being that is Richard were the two pieces which I was most pleased with. 

4. …and which makes you cringe?
Can I make a list? There is a load of writing sitting on my laptop which will never see the light of day, or not in its current format. It’s those exploratory pieces of writing we all have in our closet which seem good at the time but get rightly rejected for a reason. But I’m glad I wrote all those pieces because the collective of them forms the bedrock for my writing today.

5. What’s a normal writing day like?
I would love a normal day! Like a lot of writers out there in the horror community, I have a day job which occupies my 9 to 5 plus I have a wonderful wife and children who occupy the 5 to 9. So writing becomes snatched moments, often half an hour here, an hour there, as and when I can. It can be a week or so between writing so that completely breaks the mantra of ‘write every day’. Yet I seem to be able to chip away at stories and get a reasonable amount of wordage out there.

One thing I do is make sure I have my laptop most places I go to allow me to get the words down. For instance, I’m currently sat in the passenger seat of our car typing this up as we travel back down from visiting relatives. Train journeys to conventions are great for getting some proper writing time!

6. Which piece of writing should someone who’s never read you before pick up first?
My micro-collection Broken on the Inside from Black Shuck Books is probably the best place to start. And just to say it’s a pleasure to be alongside your good self and other great authors in what forms the Black Shuck Shadows series curated by Steve Shaw.

Broken on the Inside contains five short stories from me covering the past five or six years plus a new piece written for the collection. There’s been some great feedback for this and Broken made two reviewers’ top ten lists last year (Ginger Nuts of Horror and Kendall Reviews).

The stories in the collection all deal with mental disintegration in one form or another, that dark psychological style which makes you question what is real and what isn’t. There’s also a thin layer of dark humour spread across the tales, a wry look at life and the way we interact with each other. It took me a while to realise that this is what I write, that I wasn’t interested in the monsters and the demons or not the physical ones at any rate. I work hard to bring out the intricacies in our personalities and hopefully the stories resonate with the readers out there to some degree or other.

7. What are you working on now?
I’ve just finished a piece for Ginger Nuts of Horror for their LGBT+ month which may or may not be live by the time this interview goes out. [ED - It is, and you can read it here!] It’s the story of Simon and Jeff and the things we hide from each other. Author James Bennett challenged me to write the story, wanting to see what I would come up with. My mother is a lesbian so writing something as part of a wider LGBT+ celebration was important to me and I hope I’ve done James’ challenge justice.  

Ongoing, I’m about to start work on two short stories. One is for a project I am currently sworn to secrecy on but I can say that I am gobsmacked about the amazing talent of the other writers involved with the project and know I need to bring my A game for this one! The second story is for the sixth instalment of Peter Mark May’s PentAnth from Hersham Horror. Peter asked me to be editor for this one too so I have double duties! Delighted with the authors I have on board for this who will all be giving their take on the theme of The Woods.

Beyond that, I have a novella I have to tidy up before sending round to publishers to see what interest there is out there and then the next step after that is to begin the process of writing a novel which will be a learning curve for me. I’m also in a good position of having a couple of short stories I wrote a while back which should see the light of day this year so will be great to see people’s reaction to those.  

Otherwise I’ll undoubtedly be at a convention of two somewhere round the bar area so hopefully we can get time for a proper chat then over a beer or three.