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.

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.