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.

 

The News From Castle Bestwick (30th July 2021): Railroad Tales, Nemesis Of Wire and Black Mountain

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.)

Railroad Tales, which includes my story 'And You Heard The Rattling Death Train,' is out now from Midnight Street and available on Amazon.   

Here's the full table of contents:

THE TRACKS THROUGH THE FOREST  John Kiste

AWAYDAYS  Allen Ashley

THE HOOSAC TUNNEL LEGACY  Norm Vigeant

RAILWAY MUTTON CURRY  Nidheesh Samant

THE NUMBER NINE  James E. Coplin

GHOST-WALKER  Andrew Darlington

SPARROW'S FLIGHT  Nancy Brewka-Clark

HARBERRY CLOSE  C. M. Saunders

GEISTERBAHNHOF  Saoirse Ni Chiaragáin

THE ANNIVERSARY  David Penn

ACROSS THE VALE  Catherine Pugh

WHERE THE TRAIN STOPS  Susan York

THE NIBBLER  Gayle Fidler

SHORT PLATFORM  Gary Couzens

WILSHIRE STATION  Caitlin Marceau

AND YOU HEARD THE RATTLING DEATH TRAIN  Simon Bestwick

NOT ALL TRAINS CRASH  Steven Pirie

BALLYSHANNON JUNCTION  Jim Mountfield

CABOOSE  Andrew Hook

THE TRACKS  Michael Gore

THE DEVIL RIDES THE NIGHT TRAIN  Curtis James McConnell

THE PIER STATION  George Jacobs

THE SAMOVAR  A. J. Lewis

This week also brought another story acceptance, from Phantasmagoria magazine, for my story 'Nemesis Of Wire.' (The title's something of a homage to Algernon Blackwood.) That will be published later this year.

The reissue of Black Mountain 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.

Have a good weekend, everybody, and thanks, as ever, to everyone for their kindness and support.

Simon x