Things of the Week 19th February 2016

Hello again!

So, what's new? Well, my contributor copy of The Hyde Hotel arrived - edited by James Everington and Dan Howarth, it features stories from Cate Gardner, Alison Littlewood, V.H. Leslie, Ian Rowan, Amelia Mangan, Dan Howarth, S.P. Miskowski, Ray Cluley, James Everington, Alex Davis and Mark West. Oh, and me, with a tale called 'Wrath Of The Deep'.

The Hyde Hotel Welcomes You…
The Hyde Hotel looks almost exactly as you’d expect it to: a faceless, budget hotel in a grey city you are just passing through. A hotel aimed at people travelling alone, a hotel where you know so little about your fellow guests that they could be anyone… and where, perhaps, so could you. But sometimes things are hiding in plain sight, and not everyone who stays at The Hyde gets a good night’s sleep…
Enjoy your stay.

Also, here I am with Haunts Of Horror, formerly known as Houses On The Borderland. Edited by

David Sutton, the original of this suffered a non-release via the British Fantasy Society in 2008 and pretty much sank without trace. Now it's getting a new lease of life thanks to David's own Shadow Publishing imprint!

Houses on the borderland of madness and horror! “Houses are where we live, eat, sleep, love, dream. Houses are our private worlds, the places we find shelter from a cruel universe. But houses are also the venues of horrors and nightmares” Six terrifying novellas by top horror authors Allen Ashley - Simon Bestwick - Paul Finch - Gary Fry - Samantha Lee - David A. Riley.A seaside home, a school, a fantasy castle, a lighthouse, a wooden hut, a run-down tower block — all are tainted by an abnormal atmosphere. Be wary of what’s beyond the entranceway. For we have six dwellings eager to molest the human spirit at its lowest ebb, its most vulnerable time. Welcome… please step across the threshold…

Meanwhile, it's just over a week till the paperback release of Hell's Ditch! There'll be discounts! There'll be an online launch party with freebies! There'll be a launch party in meatspace at Waterstones Liverpool One! And there'll be a very excited Bestwick bouncing around and squeaking excitedly.

In other news, it's a little under three months now before Cate and I tie the knot. Yes, that's right: marriage. Feels like only yesterday that I popped the question. :)

Livia Llewellyn, who Lowdowned for this blog last year, has a new collection out called FURNACE, and it's gonna be epic. Hie ye to Amazon and buy thereof.

*pauses to kick language centres back to 'early 21st century' mode*

The Spectral Press fallout continues to... well... fall out, sadly - see this post from Gary McMahon.

An article of note this week was this one from Chuck Wendig. I hate HuffPo articles anyway because my laptop always ends up freezing up when I'm trying to scroll down them, so I never finish reading the bloody things. However, I won't be even trying to read the Huffington Post after this little gem:

Don’t write for Huffington Post. Don’t even share links to there. They’re so profitable by not paying writers? Fine. Demand they pay their writers and until they do, don’t click their links, don’t share their links, don’t speak their name while wearing anything other than a Mister Yuck face. Starve them of content and they will see how precious it is to them.

Pay the goddamn writers.

And I'll just add this, since it never gets old.

Get your own valid XHTML YouTube embed code

Finally....

Okay, at the end of the month, voting closes for the British Fantasy Awards. The longlist currently includes my eligible work from 2015:

Novel
Hell's Ditch (published by Snowbooks)

Stories
The Face Of The Deep (published in Game Over)
Horn Of The Hunter (published in The 2nd Spectral Book Of Horror Stories)
The Climb (published in Black Static#49)
No Room For The Weak (published on Mark Gunnells' blog)

If you read and enjoyed these, and believe they're worthy of consideration for your vote - well, then, you know what to do.

Have a good weekend, and all the best.

The Lowdown with... Mark Allan Gunnells

Mark Allan Gunnells loves to tell stories. He has since he was a kid, penning one-page tales that were Twilight Zone knockoffs. He likes to think he has gotten a little better since then. He has been lucky enough to work with some wonderful publishers. He loves reader feedback, and above all he loves telling stories. He lives in Greer, SC, with his fiance Craig A. Metcalf.

1. Tell us three things about yourself.

I have a phobia of large bodies of water and cannot swim. I am engaged to be married. I'm a total Scully about the supernatural, though with an open mind to the possibilities.

2. What was the first thing you had published?

The first thing of mine I ever saw in print was probably a poem called "Football Nights" that I wrote in Junior High. It was published in the local Paper, the Gaffney Ledger. Didn't see any money from it, but it was a thrill seeing myself in print.

3. Which piece of writing are you proudest of?
That's like asking a parent which child is their favorite. I'll say my sentimental favorite is a story called "Jam." It was one of the first things I wrote after a dark time where I had stopped writing and it helped me gain my confidence back. It just flowed and turned out exactly how I wanted it, and ended up being the first piece of fiction I ever sold for money.

4. …and which makes you cringe?
In my early days of selling stories, I had a story called "The Lost Gentlemen" appear in an anthology, and while I don't think it's a terrible story, it isn't a great story and several reviews singled it out as the worst in the antho. Ouch!

5. What’s a normal writing day like?
I'm very lucky in that I get to write at work. I'm a security guard, and throughout the day I have little pockets of downtime. I never know when or how long they'll last, but I've trained myself to write in those spaces. It's one of the greatest perks of my day job. I don't pressure myself with word count or page numbers, I just aim to do some writing every day and not beat myself up if it's not as much as the day before.

6. Which piece of writing should someone who’s never read you before pick up first?
Hmm, as a reader I like to start out with a new writer by trying a short story collection if they have one. It's a great sampler to give you a good idea of what the writer has to offer. I have several of those out. I'd recommend Tales from the Midnight Shift, Ghosts in the Attic, or Welcome to the Graveyard. [You can check out Mark's Amazon author page here, and browse his wares at greater length.]

7. What are you working on now?
I'm collaborating on a novella (now in the short novel category maybe) called "Where the Dead Go to Die" with the great Aaron Dries, while also continuing to write short stories. When the collaboration is done, I'll return to a solo novel I started called 432 Abercorn.