Things of the Week 11th March 2016 feat. Hell's Ditch Event at Waterstones Liverpool One

Well, another week, another blogpost.
First and biggest thing of the week, of course, is tonight's event at Waterstones Liverpool One, for which tickets are still available (hard to believe, I know.) I'll by aided and abetted by Conrad Williams and the legendary Ramsey Campbell, who'll both be reading from their latest works.

I've had book launches before, but this is my first in a proper bookshop where I'm 'headlining' - especially with the likes of Ramsey and Conrad on hand. So, maybe just slightly nervous. I'll cope somehow, I'm sure.

We're continuing our Babylon-5 rewatch, and thankfully the quality's improving. I'm not sure if Cate will ever fall in love with it - space-based stuff tends to be a hard sell with her - but I think she's starting to like it a bit more. No two ways about it, sadly - with no disrespect to the late Michael O'Hare - things started getting markedly better once Bruce Boxleitner took over as station commander. There's a lot less padding in series two, and the Shadows are finally moving to centre stage. The CGI, dazzling in 1994, still looks dated and weak now, but special effects are always the first thing to date.

I'm making good headway with the first draft of The Devil's Highway, hitting the halfway point yesterday. Still a long way to go on typing the bloody thing up, though.

Tachyon Press have revealed the cover for Ellen Datlow's Nightmares anthology, due out in

November. As you can see, it features some great artwork by Nihil. Here's that TOC in full:

• Shallaballah by Mark Samuels
• Sob in the Silence by Gene Wolfe
• Our Turn Too Will One Day Come by Brian Hodge
• Dead Sea Fruit by Kaaron Warren
• Closet Dreams by Lisa Tuttle
• Spectral Evidence by Gemma Files
• Hushabye by Simon Bestwick
• Very Low-Flying Aircraft by Nicholas Royle
• The Goosle by Margo Lanagan
• The Clay Party by Steve Duffy
• Strappado by Laird Barron
• Lonegan’s Luck by Stephen Graham Jones
• Mr Pigsny by Reggie Oliver
• At Night, When the Demons Come by Ray Cluley
• Was She Wicked? Was She Good? by M. Rickert
• The Shallows by John Langan
• Little Pig by Anna Taborska
• Omphalos by Livia Llewellyn
• How We Escaped Our Certain Fate by Dan Chaon
• That Tiny Flutter of the Heart I Used to Call Love by Robert Shearman
• Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No. 8) by Caitlín R. Kiernan
• Shay Corsham Worsted by Garth Nix
• The Atlas of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud
• Ambitious Boys Like You by Richard Kadrey

That is a stonking lineup, and I'm blown away to be included.

Right. Off to practice tonight's reading...