Wolf's Hill is coming...

What with the excitement, drama and heat of the last month, I managed to completely forget that my seventh (hopefully a lucky number) novel, Wolf's Hill, will be released on 31st July.

FAQ: (well, not really frequently asked questions, but who knows, maybe in future...)

Q: What is Wolf's Hill?
A: It's the third novel in the Black Road Quartet, following on from Hell's Ditch and Devil's Highway.

Q: What is the Black Road?
A: It's a series of novels set in Britain twenty years after a nuclear attack. The country's mostly still in ruins, and controlled by the tyrannical Commanders of the Reclamation and Protection Command and their soldiers: the Reapers.

Q: What's the story so far?
In the first book, Hell's Ditch, a Commander called Winterborn is looking for an ultimate weapon to consolidate his bid for supreme power. This takes the form of Project Tindalos, a paranormal weapons system developed at REAP Base Hobsdyke by Dr Mordake. Project Tindalos ran wildly out of control and was only stopped when Winterborn's old enemy Helen Damnation (no, I couldn't resist calling her that) and her rebels destroyed Hobsdyke.

Devil's Highway saw Helen's rebellion gaining strength, aided by an assorted band of allies - among them, Gevaudan Shoal, the last of the genetically-engineered warriors known as Grendelwolves. Winterborn attempted to crush the rebellion with an assault on their base at Ashwood Fort, spearheaded by the monstrous Catchmen, created from the remains of Project Tindalos. The rebels survived, but now the conflict is moving into a newer, deadlier phase...

Q: So what's in store in Wolf's Hill?
A: Dr Mordake, the creator of Project Tindalos, has resurfaced, and is advising Winterborn in his war against the rebels. The Reapers having failed to crush the rebels militarily, Mordake seeks to break their unity and divide them against one another - and against Helen in particular. And central to his plans is Helen's closest ally, Gevaudan Shoal.

A new enemy will emerge. The rebels will face a deadly threat from within their own ranks. And secrets will be revealed: Helen's past, Mordake's journey, and what really lies beneath the ruins of Hobsdyke.

(You'll also learn how Gevaudan got his name. No particular relevance to the plot there, but just in case you were interested...)

Q: Where can I get hold of it?
A: You can buy it on Amazon (US or UK.) It should be up on the Snowbooks website soon: Hell's Ditch and Devil's Highway are there already, or at least pages showing a huge range of links where you can order a physical or electronic copy.

Q: Will it be any good?
A: Well, only you can judge. But here's what the reviewers have said abouit the series so far:
Hell's Ditch:
"Grabs you and won't let go." - Pat Cadigan.

"I loved the time I spent on the world of Hell’s Ditch and I look forward with much anticipation to the follow ups. It’s a book I recommend highly." - Dark Musings.

"Hell’s Ditch is a magnificent achievement, the work of a writer who knows how to tell a story and make it hurt, but in a good way, and putting on my fortune-teller’s cap I suspect that the best is still to come." - Black Static.

"Hell’s Ditch is the epic you always knew Bestwick had inside him... There is loyalty, bravery, self-sacrifice, tenderness, and loss. And some of the best writing on the planet, but you were expecting that if you’ve ever read Bestwick’s work. Aaannnddd, there is also violence, gory imagery, that kind of language, sexuality, and reference to torture. The very thing you don’t want your teenagers reading and the very thing you should buy them…things aren’t looking good for us right now and they might be the ones to make some tough decisions." - Hikeeba.


Devil's Highway:
"There’s genuine poignancy in this novel... It actually made me tear up... But overall, what an incredible ride this is. With the Black Road Quartet now half complete, the bar is set impressively high, but Simon Bestwick gives us no reason to think that the rest of this tour-de-force in progress will be anything less than superb." - The Hellforge.

"Part post-apocalyptic horror, part military action, Bestwick has crafted a thrilling tour-de-force novel full of military grade action sequences and complex characters. But also moments of intense emotion and the lightest touches of romance which combine to deliver a compelling story that pulls you in and refuses to let go." - This Is Horror.

"In the hands of another writer, Helen might have become a dull caricature of a ‘strong female character’. Here, though, her flaws and failings are put under a narrative microscope and viewed alongside her strengths and triumphs: she is a brave warrior, a survivor, a leader of men. She is also weak and selfish and dangerously impulsive. She is imperfect, and all the more interesting a character for it... A potent mix of grim, dystopian sci-fi and visceral horror, combined with a vibrant imagination, lift a standard ‘Good vs Evil’ narrative and have turned it into something quite special indeed." - Ginger Nuts of Horror

10 Classic Horror Stories For Halloween

After a round-up of some notable recent stories, here are a few of the classics. They’re classics as far as I’m concerned, anyway - the most recent dates from the 1980s, so some people might quibble, but this is my blog and my list, so get your own if you don’t like it. :P

There are some well-known tales here, but hopefully a few you won’t have heard of before. Tracking some of them down might be easier said than done, but it’s well worth the effort.

1) The Scythe by Ray Bradbury 
The Great Depression. Driven from their land, the Erickson family run out of fuel and road in the middle of nowhere – and find a farmhouse. Inside is an old man, dead, and beside him lies a handwritten will bequeathing his farm and wheat-field to whomever finds him. With the wheat-field comes a scythe, and every stalk of wheat it cuts down is a human life...

Where to read it: The October Country, or the text is online here.

2) Sredni Vashtar by Saki 
Conradin, a sickly twelve year old, hates his domineering guardian, Mrs De Ropp. In secret, he keeps a huge, feral ferret, which he worships as a god and christens ‘Sredni Vashtar’. And he prays to it for vengeance. Darkly funny but ultimately thrilling, it’s a classic, read beautifully here by Tom Baker:

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Where to read it: The Complete Saki, funnily enough. Or the text is online here.

3) Man Size In Marble by E. Nesbit
Edith Nesbit is best-remembered for children’s books such as The Railway Children and The Phoenix And The Carpet, but also wrote some fine tales of the weird and macabre. Newlyweds John and Laura move to the country. In the local church lie two marble effigies: on All Hallows Eve, they come to life and walk...

Where to read it: Nesbit's collection Man-Size In Marble And Others. Or read the text online here.

4) The Boorees by Dorothy K. Haynes 

A girl grows up with stories about the chimney-dwelling creatures called ‘the boorees’. As a grown woman, employed as a nanny, she tells the story to her brattish charge, Dennis, who tries to torment the boorees in order to see them. Unfortunately, he succeeds.

Where to read it: Unfortunately, this one is probably the toughest one on this list to find. As far as I can tell, it only ever appeared in The 14th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories, which is very hard to lay hands on, though it looks as though Amazon has a copy here. As DKH only passed away in 1987, it's still under copyright, so the text isn't anywhere on line.

5) Slime by Joseph Payne Brennan 
Joseph Payne Brennan’s novelette features a grey-black, protoplasmic monster flung up onto dry land during a storm. Ravenously hungry, shapeless, incapable of being harmed by bullet or blade, it haunts the woods around a coastal town in a seemingly unstoppable reign of terror. 

Where to read it: This one has been widely anthologised, in The Fourth Pan Book Of Horror and Barbara Ireson's Creepy Creatures among many, many others. Go to the ISFDB listing and take your pick!

6) The Acquittal by A.M. Burrage 
Burrage was a hugely prolific writer of supernatural tales, and this is one of his finest. John Frenchal has escaped the hangman’s noose for the murder of his wife, whom he hated even more for her endlessly loving and forgiving nature. As he makes his way home, shunned by all who knew him, he finds that her devotion and forgiveness persist even in death.

Where to read it: The Acquittal & Other Stories.

7) Second Comings, Reasonable Rates by Pat Cadigan 
Horror of a science-fictional nature, from Cadigan’s collection Dirty Work. In the not-too-distant future, death isn’t the end for those who can afford it: you can live on as an android replica of yourself, complete with memories. But what happens when the dead don’t even know they’re dead?

Where to read it: Dirty Work.

8) The Baby-sitter by Alison Prince 
‘You must write for children the same way you do for adults, only better’ said Maxim Gorky. There are some superb ghost stories written for children, and Alison Prince has written some of the best. This one is from her collection Haunted Children. Little Nigel’s regular baby-sitter is ill, so his parents ask the gardener, Mr Pope. Mr Pope’s been waiting to baby-sit Nigel for a long time, because he has a story to tell him, about the spectre that has watched him since childhood. And now it will watch Nigel.

Where to read it: The story's been anthologised several times, so take your pick from the ISFDB!

9) Blackham’s Wimpy by Robert Westall 
Another one written with younger readers in mind that works just as well on adults, set in a Bomber Command squadron during the Second World War. A young pilot tells of his crew’s rivalry with Flight-Sergeant Blackham – a cruel, brutish bully, hated by the other pilots he flies with. When Blackham’s ‘Wimpy’ (Wellington Bomber) shoots down a German fighter during a raid, Blackham and his crew gloat over the pilot’s screams as he burns to death. But the pilot, Dieter Gehlen, haunts the bomber, taking revenge first on Blackham and his crew, then on anyone else who flies in it.

Where to read it: Break Of Dark.

10) Wolverden Tower by Grant Allen 
Grant Allen was something of a pioneer in science fiction and the detective story, as well as a scientific essayist of repute. In between, he found time to pen several remarkable ghost stories, including this one. Maisie Llewelyn, visiting Wolverden Hall, befriends two mysterious girls, Hedda and Yolande. She learns that the church tower is ‘fasted’ with the sacrificial blood of three maidens, protecting it against fire and lightning. But now it has been rebuilt, it is vulnerable – unless a new sacrificial guardian can be found.

Where to read it: Anthologised in quite a few places: once again, the ISFDB is your friend here! Or Project Gutenberg have the full text here.

And if you still need more Halloween reading matter, Simon Bestwick's collection of ghost stories, A Hazy Shade Of Winter, is available as an ebook here. You can read a sample here if you so wish.

Blurbs for Hell's Ditch: Pat Cadigan and Tim Lebbon

As the clock ticks towards Hell's Ditch's release on 1st December, various good HD-related things have come my way. Such as the galleys... well, 'good' is a relative term, as it meant several days of poring over printed-out PDFs with pen in hand (and I'm sure my editor, Anna Torborg, has been equally delighted with the dozens of with the hundreds of with the last-minute amendments I made. (Sorry, Anna. You're awesome.)

And the blurbs. I have blurbs, people! From, like, writers. Rilly good writers. And I didn't have to bribe anyone or hold their pets hostage or anything. Honest.

First up: Tim Lebbon, author of Coldbrook, The Silence and the new thriller The Hunt. The man, the machine, the author:
"Grim, dark, uncompromising, Hell's Ditch is a gripping apocalyptic novel, with flawed and compelling characters scraping what they can from the ashes."

Next: Pat Cadigan. Oh hell yes. The Pat Cadigan. [Mindplayers, Synners, Tea From An Empty Cup. If you don't know her, you ought to.]
"This is one of those stories that grabs you and won't let go until you find out what happens."
[Pat's response when I messaged her to say thanks: "Well, it's only true. You've really written something good."]

Me, immediately afterwards:



 

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[Yes, it's from the '80s. I am old and grumpy. Deal with it.]

It's a bit difficult to do the Dance of Joy when there's only one of you without landing on the floor. But I managed. Mostly.

Anyway: this was a thing that happened - two things, if you want to be technical about it - and which was really nice. So there.

Tim, Pat - thank you. You guys are wonderful.

Ahem. Anyway. I'll get back to work now.