Public Service Announcement: Devil's Highway Release Date and Crime Novel News

So, breaking the silence again to share some news:

The release date for Devil's Highway has been pushed back. This isn't Snowbooks' fault; as blog readers will know, I was late getting the MS to the publisher, and that's what's knocked things out of kilter. Also, because the novel was completed at white heat and warp speed, both I and my brilliant editor, Tik Dalton (more about Tik in a second) have found a host of minor errors that need fixing.

Personally, I'd rather wait a bit longer to see the book and have everything about it spot on than see it come out on schedule with things wrong with it. I don't have the new release date yet, but I'll be sure to share it when I do.

Tik and her brood of novellas.

Tik, by the way, is the newest addition to the Snowbooks staff, and has been editing Devil's Highway for publication. I met her briefly, for the first time, at Fantasycon, where she and Emma Barnes were handling the launch of Snowbooks' horror novellas (including Cate's The Bureau Of Them, Mark Morris' Albion Fay, Ray Cluley's Within The Wind, Beneath The Snow and John Llewellyn Probert's The Nine Deaths Of Dr Valentine and The Hammer Of Dr Valentine, recovered from the Spectral Press trainwreck, and also featuring Gary Fry's Scourge and Andrew Hook's The Greens.)


One of Tik's first assignments at Snowbooks was to design and typeset all seven novellas. They all looked great, as anyone who's seen them will tell you. And she's been a joy to work with - fast, professional, patient and helpful.

In other news, I have now signed my first contract via my agent, Tom Witcomb, relating to an audiobook of my crime novel. More details in due course!

In the meantime, thanks for your patience: Devil's Highway will be here soon!

Ramsey Campbell's The Searching Dead: Reviewed by Gary Fry

Ramsey Campbell's new novel, The Searching Dead, is launched at Fantasycon this year by PS Publishing. It's the first book in The Three Births Of Daoloth, a planned trilogy - something of a new departure for Ramsey...

Dominic Sheldrake has never forgotten his childhood in fifties Liverpool or the talk an old boy of his grammar school gave about the First World War. When his history teacher took the class on a field trip to France it promised to be an adventure, not the first of a series of glimpses of what lay in wait for the world. Soon Dominic would learn that a neighbour was involved in practices far older and darker than spiritualism, and stumble on a secret journal that hinted at the occult nature of the universe. How could he and his friends Roberta and Jim stop what was growing under a church in the midst of the results of the blitz? Dominic used to write tales of their exploits, but what they face now could reduce any adult to less than a child...


The novel also marks a return to the 'Brichester Mythos' of Campbell's earliest stories, revisited in more recent works like The Darkest Part Of The Woods and The Last Revelation Of Gla'aki. It promises to be something pretty special, I think.

Gary Fry, certainly thinks so, anyway; he's reviewed it over at his blog, and describes it as: a novel which looks set to become one third of Campbell’s masterpiece: a trilogy about who he is as a man and what he’s always striven to achieve as an author.

You can read the full review here, and order the book there.

Things of the Week: 26th May 2016

So this week has principally been about Getting Back Into The Groove.


Cate had another week off work after the honeymoon, allowing us to relax a little... and to get on with stuff like writing thank you notes (a lot of them!) and, among other things, buying a new bed! (Our existing one is a cheapo model with a knackered mattress.) Thanks to all the people whose gifts have made that possible.

Cate and I both decided recently to work together at losing weight and getting into better physical shape; that was after I was referred for a talk on bariatric surgery (aka weight-loss surgery) at the end of March. We both came away with a strong 'HELL NO' attitude to it, but if anything it made us more committed to living healthier lives. And it's been working. A couple of years ago, I was 24 stone (that's 336 pounds, to US readers) and had managed to drop to about 23, but my weight was stuck around there. By the time we got married, I was down to 22 stone.

Then came the honeymoon, and there was a lot of going out for meals and eating that extremely nice ice cream they do in Barmouth. By the time we got home, we'd both some - but by no means all - of the weight back on.

Initially I tried to go straight back to counting calories, keeping to 1800 or less a day. Didn't work; I kept getting hungry between meals, craving sweets and treats. So I indulged myself. A little. Not as much. But bit by bit, I've eased myself back into my old routine.

Today, I weighed myself, and for the first time in years, I'm under 22 stone. Okay, 21 stone, 13 and a quarter pounds, but psychologically speaking, that's a big milestone. Next target - 21 stone and less than ten pounds. Then less than 21 and a half stone. And so on. Baby steps. They work.

They work with the writing, too. While I'm still able to write full-time, I need to make every day count. That means not only Devil's Highway and the remaining Black Road novels, but short stories and a couple of other WIPs that I'm struggling to find time to work on, not to mention the 'admin' side of things - everything from finding writing markets for stories and submitting them, to putting together a list of my short stories for my agent, doing something about a tribute anthology I inherited, booking tickets for a show, applying for grants and bursaries, writing some spec non-fiction articles... all the little bits of stuff that need doing but keep getting put off because of the big tasks.

That meant working out a schedule for the day that would let me do all those things. But, like the dieting, you can't just impose a whole new regime at once - not least because I have to type up Devil's Highway from the dictated recordings in order to rewrite it, and that's a big job, still ongoing. But bit by bit, I'm getting there. Baby steps again. And the work is getting done.

Albeit slowly, and not without stress. Just this morning, I found the end of one chapter missing. I know I recorded it, but the file isn't where it's supposed to be. It might be on the old laptop, if I can get the damned thing running again. If not... well, I'll try not to panic. Get it typed up, then write in any missing bits. One problem at a time.

But as, piece by piece, the story materialises in concrete form, I find I'm getting excited about it again, remembering why Helen and Gevaudan and the rest got my interest in the first place. My only worry is how little time I've left myself to get everything fixed and ready. All hands to the pump.

I got in touch with my agent on my return; he's reading Black Mountain and enjoying it, which is good news! He'll have some notes soon, and hopefully a way forward for Mynydd Du to rise once more. In addition, I need to put together a full listing of all my short fiction for him... (see 'Admin') My Dad's reading Black Mountain too, mainly to make sure I haven't screwed up monumentally with my Welsh. Apparently he's enjoying it as well, though, even though he's not particularly a horror fan...

The final piece of news is a sadder one: Gary Fry today announced that, after over a decade, he is closing down Gray Friar Press.  Gary is, and has been from the word go, a class act. I have him to thank for publishing two of my story collections, Pictures Of The Dark and The Condemned, and it was also down to him that my short story 'The Moraine' first saw print (later to be reprinted in Ellen Datlow's Best Horror Of The Year.

 I'm just one of numerous authors given a break and a start by Gary. He's also been an absolute model of how to run a small press: when the printing firm Biddles went into administration, making it cost-ineffective to proceed with the hardback of The Condemned, he promptly refunded those who'd pre-ordered it, offered them copies of the paperback and also provided them with a PDF of the additional story the hardback should have included. On top of that, he took the hit caused by the money lost, while still paying me the full royalties owing for the book.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how it's done.

Gray Friar has been a solid bulwark of the UK small press, and it's very sad to see it go. Here's to Gary and all he does in the future.

And on that note.... have a good weekend, folks.

Things of the Week 18th March 2016

Well, the past week or so has seen plenty of developments.

Today, some great news for someone other than me: Snowbooks have announced they're reissuing Cate's novella The Bureau Of Them (which I've always said is a brilliant story) along with Mark Morris' Albion Fay, Ray Cluley's Within The Wind, Beneath The Snow, John Llewellyn Probert's The Nine Deaths Of Dr Valentine (to be followed by the sequel, The Hammer Of Dr Valentine) and Gary Fry's Scourge. All good books, and it's great to see them getting another chance (except for Gary Fry's, which is brand new!)

In other news: time ticks away towards the Big Day of the Bestwick-Gardner nuptials. We've sorted the venues for wedding and reception, sent out the invites, even managed to arrange a honeymoon after all! This week, we chose our wedding rings. It's feeling realer all the time as it gets closer. It'll be weird to have a ring; I've never worn one before...

Finally - developments with the crime novel! Tom sent back the MS at the beginning of this week, with more or less the last round of edits and notes. This is pretty much the final draft; in the next few days I'll get his final edit to go through, and then - well, hopefully, the first potential publishers will get to see it in the next week or two.

That's scary, as well, in a way. Up till now it's been 'yay! I have an agent!' and 'yay! I'm preparing my novel to send out to publishers!' Both of these make you feel as though you're getting somewhere - and let's be frank, you are - but without the risk of actually submitting the book and finding out that actually, no, nobody wants it.

Yep. Meet imposter syndrome. An old friend of mine. Well, not exactly friend. More like one of those people you started hanging out with in the '90s and still find yourself in the company of today, even though you have nothing in common any more and all they do is sit around smoking weed.

We all know someone like that, right?

Oh.

Well, anyway. The novel is ready to wing its way out into the wider world (well, a slightly wider world than before) and so the question of 'what's next?' arises. 

Black Mountain is with Tom, so hopefully he'll have some thoughts on that soon. Meanwhile, I'm nearly two-thirds of the way through The Devil's Highway (productivity slightly slowed by those final rewrites.) What comes after that will depend on a host of variables: I have a number of projects to crack along with, things to finish or to start. 

In the meantime, though, I'm going to chill a little this weekend... in between writing more of The Devil's Highway, that is. Anyone interested in being a beta reader, let me know...

 

The Lowdown with... Gary Fry

Gary Fry has a first-class degree and a PhD in psychology, though his first love is literature. He lives in Dracula's Whitby, literally around the corner from where Bram Stoker was staying while thinking about that legendary character. He has been writing seriously for about 10 years, despite dabbling with prose since his teens. His first sale was rather a grand one: a short story, 'Both And', to Ramsey Campbell for inclusion in the international anthology Gathering the Bones.

Gary has had a number of books published, including short story collections, novellas and novels. His first collection included an introduction by Ramsey Campbell in which Gary was described as a "master". All these books reflect Gary's predilection for page-turning narratives, complex thematic development, and compelling characterisation.

Gary has a deep interest in psychology and philosophy; indeed, related concerns inform his fiction. He likes to think that every facet of his thought can be strung together by reading his assorted pieces, each adding to the whole -- a 'vision', if you like, and if that doesn't sound too pretentious. But he's never been one to flinch away from ambition.

1. Tell us three things about yourself.

I have a PhD in psychology and that suggests some grand masterplan to steer my life down worthy paths. But the truth is that I just kind of drifted into academia and then postgrad study and then university research. I sometimes think my entire life has been an effort to avoid getting a job which involves wearing a stiff collar.

I live in Dracula’s Whitby, just around the corner from the house in which Stoker stayed while planning his great novel. Indeed, every day I walk the dog past the building, keeping my eyes firmly averted lest a figure appear in one upper-storey window, red of eye and sharp of fang…

I play the piano, badly. Well, no, that’s unfair. I used to be quite good and got to grade 7 as a teenager. But I’ve badly neglected it as an adult and don’t see myself returning very soon. My problem is that although I’m technically adept, I’m just not particularly musical. My timing is good, but I cannot pick out chords like peers were able to do. It’s just not there. And when I do something which requires a lot of effort, I need to feel as if it’s all worth it. In that sense, my musical career is a damp squib.

2. What was the first thing you had published? 

It was a short story in my native Bradford’s local newspaper the Telegraph and Argus. The tale was as soppy as a Facebook user’s fondness for kittens – about a young girl trying to reunite her estranged grandfather and mother – but there are some worthy phrases amid the clunks. I was reading Ramsey Campbell at the time and this seems to have rubbed off in such lines as, “Buildings towered above her like God’s in an identity parade.” There are nascent bits of latter-day me in there, certainly.

3. Which piece of writing are you proudest of? 

A bunch of cosmic novellas set on the northeast coast, each exploring a genuine location and grafting such a sense of place on to personal considerations: the economy, grief, employment, freedom, etc. So far there have been World Wide Web, Lurker, The Respectable Face of Tyranny, Emergence, The Doom that Came to Whitby Town (forthcoming), and more to come. I really want to claim this territory as my own, and will endeavour to mark the entire coastline with monstrous tooth and claw.

4. …and which makes you cringe? 

Ah, far too many, alas. I went through a period, maybe 2008-11, of writing heavily, of abandoning my usual freewheeling approach and believing that I needed to try harder. But the fiction, which read okay at the time, now seems laboured and clumsy, and I’d happily edit the shit out of it if I could. I won’t single out individual pieces, but rest assured they’re there, in cold print. Very cold.

5. What’s a normal writing day like? 

I’m completely undisciplined. I either write all day long and put out 5,000 words or do bugger all. I really wish I was more organised, was able to split my day between rival passions – a little reading, a little writing, watch a film, stroll the coastline, etc. But my brain will have none of that. OCD, me. Tunnel vision. Monomaniacal. This has the effect of me burning myself out regularly, switching between preoccupations over cyclical monthly spells. Oh for a quieter mind…

6. Which piece of writing should someone who’s never read you before pick up first? 

I’m tempted to say Lurker (DarkFuse), which is compact and exciting, and contains what I consider to be some of my best descriptive writing. I really researched the location – Sandsend near Whitby – and managed (I hope) to evoke a real sense of place. Alternatively, for a novel, I’d encourage the curious to check out the ebook version of my PS Publishing book The House of Canted Steps (reissued by DarkFuse), which is a 60,000-word scare machine, as tightly plotted as I could make it and packed with twists and turns.

7. What are you working on now? 

A new novella set in another northeast coastal location called Ravenscar, otherwise known as the “town that never was”. Indeed, that’s the title of the story. It’s a creepy place to visit. Briefly, the Victorians planned to develop it as a coastal attraction, a town to rival Whitby and Scarborough, but the plans misfired, and so although a few properties were built, the great majority weren’t, leaving just isolated buildings standing upon deserted terrain. It’s said that the project failed because potential buyers didn’t like the unpredictable weather or the steep descent to the beach…but we all know better than that, don’t we? Yeah, suuuure we do…

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. :)