Things Of The Week: 4th November 2016

Me, Nightmares, and early morning bed hair

Well, Offline October wasn’t as offline as I intended – social media’s a definite addiction of mine, and one I need to address as it’s been eating into my writing too much. I was worried that I might have writer’s block, but once I unplugged the wireless router (downstairs), fired up the laptop (upstairs) and made myself write I found the prose still came easily enough. So, basically, it was simple laziness.

I’m still not underway on the first draft of Wolf’s Hill, and that needs fixing – I’m hoping to get rolling in the next week or two, and try and finish the first draft, at least, by year’s end. At the moment I’m working on a couple of short stories; once those are gone, it’ll be the book’s turn. The Lowdown will resume next week: meanwhile, here are some things that have been going on.

credit: www.blakefriendmann.co.uk

The first piece of news is a sad one: the sudden and unexpected passing of literary agent Carole Blake. Although I never met Carole personally, many other writers have spoken of her with great warmth and affection in both professional and personal terms. Along with Julian Friedmann, she co-founded the agency that represents me; she also wrote 29 Ways Not To Submit To An Agent, which was handy (although I was relieved to note that I didn’t do most of them anyway) and I know that her book, From Pitch To Publication, was a big help to many writers. My thoughts go to her family and to her friends and colleagues at Blake-Friedmann.

With the run-up to Halloween, it seemed a good time to catch up on horror movies (as per my recent posts. I have a tendency to buy books and DVDs which then sit around for months or even years before I finally get round to watching or reading them, and I caught up with a few titles in October. In the book stakes there was Ramsey Campbell’s The Seven Days Of Cain (great title!)*, while in the realm of movies there were two corkers: Oculus and The Babadook.

Oculus centres around a mirror with demonic properties. By controlling the perceptions of those who own it, it drives them to suicide. Kaylie (Karen Gillan) and her brother Tim (Brenton Thwaites) lost their parents to it, and Tim was incarcerated in a mental institution for years; now, Kaylie has tracked the mirror down and sets out to prove there’s a genuine supernatural force present. The narrative cuts back and forth between the events of their childhood and the present day; if it has a weakness, it’s that this format means the parents’ psychological deterioration feels as though it happens a little too quickly. Cate and I found this seriously unsettling: there are a few jump scares, but that’s not where it’s at.

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The Babadook: wow. Amelia (Essie Davis) was widowed in a car crash the night her son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) was born. Now, her son is plagued by nightmares of a monster coming for him, building weapons to fight it; as his behavioural problems place Amelia under ever-increasing strain, she finds a pop-up book called The Babadook, after the shadowy monster it centres on. Soon, the creature from the book begins to invade their lives, and Amelia’s own sanity begins to crumble. Original and very, very disturbing.

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We’ve also started watching the new E4/Netflix series Crazyhead, starring Cara Theobald and Susan Wokoma. The trailer looked as though it could be good or terrible; we only needed to watch about five minutes to know we liked it. Amy (Theobald) has just stopped taking anti-psychotic medication to suppress the hallucinations she keeps having. Except that they aren’t hallucinations: she’s one of a tiny number of people who can see those possessed by demons. One of them nearly kills her till she’s rescued by Raquel (Wokoma), another ex-mental patient with the same gift. Crazyhead manages to be both genuinely funny and full of genuine scares, and has real heart, especially in the relationship between the two leads. There’s also a strong supporting cast – Amy’s flatmate and best friend Suzanne (Riann Steele), her amorous work colleague Jake (Lewis Reeves), Raquel’s brother Tyler (Arinze Kene) and head demon Callum (Tony Curran) – plus a willingness to bump off supporting characters that helps ramp up the tension among the humour. Crazyhead’s only downside is that, being a British series, it’s only six episodes. Here’s hoping it gets a second series.

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Three really nice things happened this week.

Nice Thing No. 1: My contributor’s copy of Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror arrived. Nightmares has been very well received, with a host of excellent reviews appearing, including a starred review in Publishers’ Weekly. Not many of them mention my own tale, ‘Hushabye’, but I can live with that – I’m happy to be published in that company!

Me with The Feast Of All Souls, plus yet more bed hair.

Ellen Datlow’s latest anthology collates stories from between 2005 and 2015 that have had a ‘lasting impact’ on her. Authors such as Mark Samuels, Laird Barron, Livia Llewellyn, John Langan, Gene Wolfe, Margo Lanagan and many more appear within; I’m proud and delighted to see ‘Hushabye’ included.

Nice Thing No.2: My author copies of The Feast Of All Souls, published next month by Solaris, turned up too. Complete with that beautiful cover art by Ben Baldwin. Please get in touch if you’d like to review the book. Which brings me on to…

Nice Thing No.3: Gill O’Rourke recently started reading my stuff, starting with Tide Of Souls, which she raves about on her blog here. She also co-presents the radio show Lifestyle MK, where she continues the rave-age, and solicits a few words with me on reviews. You can listen to me blather on here. Many thanks, Gill!

So, about that:

One thing I’ve become very aware of recently is the importance of reviews in driving book sales. The algorithms on Amazon (and let’s face it, this is where a lot of people are buying their books now) give you more visibility if you’ve had more reviews. 50 is usually the magic number that means you show up near the top of the search results in your chosen category.

So, if you’ve read my stuff and liked it, please leave a review. Or just leave a review (honest ones are better any day of the week!) I’ve certainly decided to start doing this more with books I’ve read and liked. It’s a simple and direct way to show your appreciate for a writer, and something concrete you can do to help them out.


* ETA: And yes, I'll be writing an Amazon review!

A Ghost Story For Hallowe'en

Tomorrow's Halloween, so in plenty of time for that here's a small treat for you all: my story 'The Climb', which appears in the next issue of Black Static magazine.

'The Climb' was inspired by its setting, Pendle Hill in Lancashire. Even without the stories of the Pendle Witches, it's a strange, grim place: that part of north-west Lancashire is a harsh, desolate landscape, where the old milltowns are almost like island communities, separated by miles of bleak, empty moor and hill, swept by wind and rain.

Going across those moors - especially on a cold, wet autumn day (or better still evening) - it's all too easy to imagine this part of the world as it must have been a few hundred years ago, long before electric lights, telecommunications and the internal combustion engine made it a little less isolated from the rest of the world. And all too easy to understand how easy it was to believe in werewolves, witches, ghosts... in a whole dark world of deadly and unseen things.

Pendle Hill forms the setting for much of my first novel, Tide Of Souls. Tide Of Souls is a zombie apocalypse novel, complete with Biblical-scale flooding; 'The Climb', though, is a more traditional piece, on a much smaller scale, as Bryan, a widower, attempts an ascent of the hill. Bryan's on his own... or is he?

Here's the story, anyway. To spare you all the ultimate horror of looking at my face for fifteen minutes, it comes with a montage of pictures of Pendle and the area around it. If the story doesn't give you some sense of the eeriness of the Hill.

So turn down the lights, put on your headphones and press play. And whatever you do... don't look behind you.

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Me & An American Biohazard...

Gardner Goldsmith of Liberty Conspiracy interviewed me for his podcast back at Fantasycon in Brighton, earlier this month. Here's that interview now- I start gabbing at around 6 minute 30 seconds and finally shut up around the 42 minute mark... When not cackling insanely or gabbling too fast for anyone to understand, I can be heard talking about various things I've written ('Dermot', Angels Of The Silences, Tide Of Souls and The Faceless) and stuff that's influenced me along the way (can't believe I forgot to mention Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson...)

Best of Tomes of the Dead Vol 2- More Love for Tide of Souls

Teresa Derwin over at Terror-Tree has reviewed Abaddon's new omnibus edition of Tomes of the Dead, which squeezes me between the covers (oo-er missus) with Gary McMahon and Jasper Bark. Or at least packs Tide of Souls together with Gary's novel Hungry Hearts and Jasper's The Way of the Barefoot Zombie.

Of the collection as a whole, Teresa says it 'contains three of the most satisfying zombie novels I’ve seen in a while' and 'represents some of the best horror writers today and indeed, three fine examples of classic zombie fiction. More importantly they are particularly diverse so the reader won’t become bored having three books in one on the same theme as they are so intrinsically different. This collection is a must for zombie fans and is great value for money.'

Of Tide of Souls in particular, she says 'With a great grasp of regional dialogue, Bestwick delivers a genuinely creepy zombie story.'

Which is nice. You can read the full review and check out Teresa's website here.

Interview at Read Horror with Jonathan Oliver

That nice Mr Jonathan Oliver, Commissioning Editor of Abaddon and Solaris Books, is being interviewed here at Read Horror, where he says much that is true and worthy, not to mention nice. Tide of Souls gets a mention, as does The Faceless. So do please check it out.

Come All Ye Kindlers...

...and users of suchlike newfangled gadgets. The decidedly ace and way-cool Jenni Hill of Abaddon Books informs me that the ebook edition of Tide of Souls is now available for US and UK readers to buy!

So now you know.

WSAHD!

(Must stop doing that.)

New Review Of Tide Of Souls!

That nice Mr Matt Fryer has posted a very complimentary- er, I mean perceptive- review of Tide Of Souls here on his blog. He also lists Pictures Of The Dark as one of his top ten genre reads of 2009. Which is very nice of him indeed. Go and have a shufti if you feel so inclined.

Thank You Daily Telegraph (and I don't say that often)

I know, I still haven't posted about the Fantasycon. Keep meaning to each year, and then keep forgetting. Sorry, must try harder. In my defence, my home internet's been erratic lately.

Anyway, yesterday morning I wake up from a dream where someone's been frantically ringing my doorbell and banging on the front door. No-one there, but there is a message on my phone, left around the same time. One of my friends has been browsing through the book reviews in the Daily Telegraph.

Tide Of Souls is there.

And it's got four stars.

I damn near fell off my perch.

As a stauch socialist, it's rare to see me reading the Telegraph, let alone buying it, but I steeled myself and bought a copy from the local newsagents.

From the review:

This sounds like a plot for the computer game Resident Evil, and with lashings of violence and gore, it could easily be dismissed as lurid pulp fiction, but it is saved by the quality of the writing. Simon Bestwick writes with great imaginative flair and an excellent grasp of colour and narrative pace.

So... (gulp) thank you Daily Telegraph, and reviewer Peter Ingham.

Chris W. and others will be glad to note I managed to get through this whole post without squeeing once...

And Yet More Squee...

Sorry, but I've just fallen in love with that word. Even though I'm not sure if men are supposed to squee.

For the benefit of those wondering what the hell I'm on about:

verb: To squeal with glee; from a combination of the two words; the sound of an excited fangirl

noun: A feeling of excitement and happiness, such that one feels like squeeing

e.g.
"Squee!!! Have you seen the trailer for the new movie?!"
or
You wouldn't believe how full of squee I am right now.
-From the Urban Dictionary.

Although it also gives the alternative definition:

1. a random ecstatic exclamation
2. a furry rodent from MYST III: Exile

E.g.
SQUEE!! this is so great!!! EHEHEHEEHAHA
or
I want a pet squee.

I have no idea what the blazes MYST III (or indeed, MYST I, MYST II or any subsequent MYSTS) is/are. But if it's just a 'random ecstatic exclamation', maybe it's OK...

There was a point to all this.

Oh yes.

I am currently full of squee and squeeing all over the place.

The reason?

Deathray magazine has given Tide Of Souls a four star review. *

One, two, three...

SQUEE!

Hm. Still not sure I should be squeeing in public. But it's too much fun. It's all Cate Gardner's fault.

I think I'd better go and have a lie down.

* Thanks to the very cool Jonathan Green, fellow Abaddon Books scribe, without whose blog I wouldn't have known about it. Any lovers of Victoriana and steampunk, should check out his Pax Britannia series of novels- hugely bonkers, imaginative fun.

Back To Pimping Myself Shamelessly

OK, I'll post something funny or about someone else again soon. Promise. In the meantime, though...

A few more nice things have happened lately. The news in brief:

A new review of Tide Of Souls has been posted by Matthew F. Riley here. Thanks Matthew!

A gentleman by the name of Jim Dodge Jr gives the novel a short and sweet review here. I don't remember setting the novel in Ireland, mind you, but it seems churlish to complain when being complimented- ta muchly, Mr Dodge!

Another Matthew, the very cool Matthew Fryer to be precise, gives Pictures Of The Dark a glowing review at his site. Matthew's an excellent reviewer and a connoisseur of the best the genre has to offer. Although obviously of course I'm going to say that... but if you appreciate the best of the weird fiction genre then do yourselves a favour and go check out the Hellforge.

Tide also got a good write-up in Black Static magazine by the estimable Peter Tennant.

There are interviews as well! I've posted a link to Peter's interview with me previously, but what the hey, here it is again. And there's a new one from Steve Jensen at The Black Glove.

I'm off to Fantasycon in a couple of weeks, which I'm looking forward to tremendously, as it's a great chance to meet up with fellow writers and talk about the things that interest us without getting (too many) funny looks. Also to polish off large amounts of beer and curry. The convention is also the occasion where the winners of the annual British Fantasy Awards are announced. And I'm very proud to announce I'm on the shortlist in the Best Novella category.

That shortlist in full:

• Cold Stone Calling (Simon Clark) Tasmaniac Publications
• Gunpowder (Joe Hill) PS Publishing
• Heads (Gary McMahon) We Fade To Grey, Ed. Gary McMahon - Pendragon Press
• N (Stephen King) Just After Sunset - Hodder & Stoughton
• The Narrows (Simon Bestwick) We Fade To Grey, Ed. Gary McMahon - Pendragon Press
• The Reach of Children (Tim Lebbon) Humdrumming

All really good writers. And yes, the fourth one down is STEPHEN KING. As my wonderful fellow writer Cate Gardner (wholly gratuitous link to her blog because she's just so damn cool) would say:

'Squee!'

To be honest, I'm trying to make myself not care about the award. The work's the important part, not the tick you get for doing it... but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be pleased (try ecstatic) if I won. That said, just getting to the shortlist is something to be proud of.

Right, I'm all pimped out. Abnormal service will be restored as soon as possible.

Swine Flu, Reviews and Interviews

So here I am, confined to barracks for the next week or so. Here's how it went...

'Woke up this morning feeling fine', Herman's Hermits once sang. 'Woke up yesterday morning feeling poo', sing I, on the other hand. Sore throat, cough, and- more worryingly- general weakness plus achiness in the muscles and, it felt, the bones.

So I rang the National Pandemic Flu Helpline, fully expecting to be told I'm a whinging hypochondriac and to get my arse into work. As you've probably guessed from the above, that ain't what happened. 'No, it's not man-flu this time,' the nice woman at the other end said, and gave me an authorisation number for antiviral drugs.

Just taken my third of ten doses of Tamiflu and am very glad a friend has just lent me the final season of Battlestar Galactica on DVD. To be on the safe side, I've also just ordered a Blake's Seven box-set off Amazon... although by the time they deliver it I'll probably be a) dead or b) back to work. Most likely b). Of course there are these other, older artefacts called books, apparently used in the days before DVD and the Internet as a means of boredom control, and still apparently popular with the strange barbarian tribes north of Watford.

Another friend tells me that the Flu Helpline's telephone diagnoses aren't always accurate. So it's possible I don't have Swine Flu, but some other kind of minor viral bug. One way or the other, though, I'm laid up with the dreaded lurgey. And I'm not venturing out till it's cleared up- partly for my own health, and partly as if it is Swine Flu, I don't particularly want to give this to anyone else.

A couple of nice things have happened, though, since I last posted. There's my Book Launch, and I'll try to pop some photos up from that to give everyone a laugh. Also, a few reviews of Tide Of Souls are up- one from Graeme Flory and two more on Goodreads from Mark West and Richard Wright- all very complimentary. The really nice Des Lewis carried out a 'real-time' review of Pictures Of The Dark which you can check out here.

Also, my career as a media whore continues. Peter Tennant interviewed me as part of a series of interviews with this year's British Fantasy Award finalists. You can read it here. Go on, make a sick man happy...

Hope the rest of you are staying healthy and germ-free,

Simon x.

...And The Tide Goes Out

It was a beautiful sunny day in early September when I got the call saying Abaddon Books were commissioning a novel from me. It's now a beautiful sunny day in early March, and it's now in their hands.

Yup, that's it. I did a final spellcheck this morning and emailed the final draft of my novel Tide of
Souls to Jon Oliver at Abaddon. 'Tis all in the lap of the Gods now... well, actually, it's in Jon's lap, but you know what I mean.

I caught the train to work that day- normally I get the bus, but the phone call had delayed me. For some reason I kept listening to Enola Gay by OMD over and over again on the journey. With a Tony-Blair-esque grin pasted to my face that probably traumatised small children for weeks afterwards. I remember the buzz of it- knowing I was going to get a novel published, but not yet embroiled in all the bloody hard work of making it happen. A couple of days later, of course, I had to buckle down and get on with it.

So, five months later, how do I feel? Odd, so far. It hasn't quite sunk in that it's over. Not completely over, of course- Jon will almost certainly what this or that tweaked or changed, there'll be proofs to read and lord knows what else- but virtually every spare hour of the past few weeks has been devoted to rewriting and redrafting.

Sometimes the writing process was the biggest buzz ever- at a couple of points I got bogged down and it was a long, arduous slog to get through it. So, not an unadulterated joy, but it was worth it.

The first draft, just so you know, was just shy of 117,000 words. The final version that went out today was 93,221. There was a lot of deadweight in that middle section.

Of course, at some point, I need to start thinking about a second novel. That'll come soon... and all the work will start again... but not today. Today I'm going to sniff the flowers, feel the sun on my face, see if my friends still remember who I am... and also, yes, I'll probably listen to Enola Gay. Over and over again.

Thanks for listening to me babble. Have a fun day!

Simon