My Fantasycon 2015 Schedule

So, Fantasycon 2015 is almost upon us, out in the wilds of Nottingham. And my schedule is as follows...

Friday 23rd October
5.00pm Chills, Shocks & Empty Bladders: Writing ‘The Fear’

Tapping into what frightens us is fundamental to the success of not only horror fiction but often crime, thrillers and SFF too. Our panel of scaredy-cats considers what scares them and how they create the effects of fear in their writing.

• what reader-response are writers looking for?
• using the ‘weird’ to unsettle vs using shock to terrify
• inside the mind: the use of PoV
• how to best to place your characters in jeopardy
• the technicalities of creating fear: language, structure, pacing etc.

Moderator: Emma Audsley
Panellists: Simon Bestwick, Neil John Buchanan, Ramsey Campbell, Lynda Rucker, Sara Jayne

Townsend

11.00pm I'll be reading a portion of Hell's Ditch for anyone who's a) stayed awake that late and b) can stay awake through it.

Saturday 24th October

1.00pm: Spectral Press
Mark Morris (editor) launches The 2nd Spectral Book of Horror Stories.
Available to sign the books are: Tim Lebbon, Adrian Cole, Nicholas Royle, Paul Meloy, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Ray Cluley, Alison Moore, Stephen Volk, Rob Shearman, Simon Bestwick and Cliff McNish, as well as Mark, himself. 

The rest of the time... there'll be panels, there'll be readings, there'll be launches. But most likely, I'll be in the bar. :)

Maybe I'll see you there.

The End Of The Line- The Guardian Review!

Wotcher folks. Just a quick one, this. The End Of The Line has been reviewed for today's Guardian by Eric Brown . It's a short review, in which only four stories are name-checked. These are Stephen Volk's 'In The Colosseum' (one of the most savage and disturbing stories I've read this year), Nicholas Royle's 'The Lure' (a subtle and elliptical psycholoigical... chiller? Thriller? I don't know what to call it, but it's great), Paul Meloy's magnificent 'Bullroarer' (further proof, were it needed, that Meloy is one of the finest, most original and idiosyncratic short story writers working in the field right now)... and 'The Sons Of The City'.

To say that I am delighted would be a dramatic understatement. But I won't say it... no, I won't...

Must... hold... back...

No, it's no use:

SQUEE!

Ahem. Sorry about that.

We now return you to what is laughingly called reality. Unfortunately this includes David C*ntmoron being Prime Minister and Simon Cowell existing. Sorry. It's not my fault.