Things of the Week, 13th December 2016: Great Jones Street, Pseudpod Podcast, Dark Musings' Feast Of All Souls Review

The last few weeks have been hard work. I've had to get a job in order to pay the bills, and I'm still struggling to fit my writing in around the demands of a day job after three years as a full time author. The job itself is okay, however, although the hours are long, and the people I work with are great. So it could be worse.

Meanwhile, good things have happened.

I'm delighted to announce that my story 'Dermot' is available over at Pseudopod: you can stream or download Alasdair Stuart's excellent reading of the tale here. Another story of mine, 'The Moraine', will be podcast next week.

'Dermot' really is an example of one of those stories that hit a chord - or a nerve - with a lot of people. Along with 'The Narrows', it's the only piece I've written to make an awards shortlist.

So I'm even more delighted to announce that 'Dermot', 'The Narrows' and 'The Moraine' are among five stories that I've sold to Great Jones Street, to be added to the archive of online fiction available through their app. Kelly Abbott and Ken Truesdale are doing great work in trying to popularise short fiction to a general market once more; I wish them every success.

The five tales are:

Dermot
The Narrows
Lex Draconis
Never Say Goodbye
The Moraine

Hugely proud of them all. (I've always had a soft spot for 'Lex Draconis', as it's very different to my usual thing, so it's good to see it reaching a wider audience.)

And finally this week, that excellent chap Anthony Watson has reviewed The Feast Of All Souls over at Dark Musings.

There is, it has to be said, a lot going on in this book, a mixture of themes and genres and in the hands of a lesser writer it could have turned out to be a car crash. This isn’t the case here though, Simon keeps full control over all the themes and ideas, merging them perfectly into a gripping – and horrific – whole.

I really enjoyed The Feast of All Souls, loved the imagination on display. Scary, thrilling but in places also incredibly moving. 

Many thanks, Anthony!

Now I'm off to work...

The Condemned

My new collection, The Condemned, will be released by Gray Friar Press around the end of March this year as part of their 'Gray Matters' series of novellas. 

The Condemned contains six novellas and novelettes, including the BFA-nominated The Narrows, which was reprinted in Best Horror of the Year #1, and The School House, originally published in Houses On The Borderland.

The other tales, Dark Earth, A Kiss Of Old Thorns, The Model and Sleep Now In The Fire, are all previously unpublished. The collection will be released in paperback and a hardback limited edition; the hardback will contain an additional short story, 'Made Of Clay.'

As if this wasn't enough to put a smile on my face, some truly excellent writers have provided blurbs for the collection. From Alison Littlewood (author of A Cold Season and Path Of Needles):

'Simon Bestwick writes the kind of fiction that gets under your skin and stays there . . . thoughtful, tense and genuinely scary, his short stories lead you into dark places and then blow out the candle. His next collection is set to be a must-read of the genre.'

Further blurbs come from the mighty Paul Finch:

‘Simon Bestwick has penned some of the downright eeriest fiction I've ever read. But there is nearly always a hard, urban edge to it, and a deep political awareness. This is an author who bleeds onto the page when he's writing. He really believes in what he's doing. It's his passion and his mission, and as such his meaningful brand of horror is raw, shocking and right in-yer-face. Potent stuff, on so many levels.’

And another from Joseph D'Lacey:

'Grim, beautifully crafted and thought-provoking, Bestwick’s fiction satisfies on every level.'

And to crown it all, the great Ramsey Campbell has this to say:

'Simon Bestwick is among the most important writers of contemporary British horror. His work is rooted in unflinching social observation, and his supernatural tales have a real moral resonance. He's living proof that horror fiction can talk about the way we live today and shine an uncanny light on life, which throws its darkness into sharper relief.'

Many thanks to Ramsey, Joseph, Paul and Alison, and to Gary Fry at Gray Friar; as you can imagine, I am a happy chappie. :)

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.

British Fantasy Awards- The Shortlist!

I'm delighted to report that The Narrows has made the shortlist for British Fantasy Awards for Best Novella. Listed alongside Joe Hill, Simon Clark, Gary McMahon and Tim Lebbon- fine writers all!

The anthology it was taken from, We Fade To Grey, has also been shortlisted for the Best Anthology Award. Great news!

You can visit the BFS website and read the full shortlist here. If you attended the 2008 Fantasycon or have signed up for the 2009 one, you can vote- also, of course, if you're a member of the BFS itself. If you like your horror, science fiction and fantasy, joining is always a good thing!

You don't have to vote for me, of course... but if you want to, feel free.

Thanks to everyone who voted for the story and got it this far!

Best Horror Of The Year #1

Just received an email today from the editor Ellen Datlow in New York. I can proudly announce that The Narrows has been selected for the first volume of her new Best Horror Of The Year anthology.

I'm absolutely delighted with this. Ellen is the premier editor in the USA for horror fiction and it's a great thrill to be accepted, especially given the length of the story.

Awards, Awards, Awards...

Sorry, chaps and chapesses- more shameless self-promotion awaits!

Two of my pieces- The Narrows and The School House- have been nominated for the British Fantasy Awards for Best Novella.

Very, very happy about this of course.

For anyone wanting to save money, We Fade To Grey is available as a free PDF download here until such time as voting closes. So if you want to read The Narrows, you know where to click. I'll see if I can sort out something similar for The School House.

Next post needs to be a) sooner, and b) about something other than giving my ego an outing. Hm. Better get my thinking cap on.