Unfortunately Steve Upham, the main man at Screaming Dreams has recently suffered from some pretty majot health problems. The good news is that Steve is slowly on the mend, and is at least home from hospital where he can recover in the comfort of his own home.
This means that the publication od Different Skins has been unaviodably delayed, and we won't get the FantasyCon launch we'd anticipated. All this, of course, pales into insiginificance alongside Steve's health issues, and I hope he returns to full health quickly and without any further problems.
EVERYDAY MONSTERS
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Best New Horror
Well, my author copies of THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR 19 arrived this morning, and the book looks great. I can still barely believe I'm in the same book as writers like Ramsey Campbell and Michael Marshall Smith, but...I am. Wow. A milestone achieved.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Best New Horror
BNH 19 Official Launch/Signing
The book launch (and signing) of THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR #19 will be taking place during Fantascon 2008 on Sat 20th Sept between 5:30-6:30pm, at the Brittania Hotel, Nottingham. Anyone who is atttending Fantasycon, please stop by the table and let me scribble on your book... now there's an offer not to be taken lightly.
Here's the full ToC in all its glory (lifted from the website of editor Stephen Jones):
THE THINGS HE SAID — Michael Marshall Smith
THE CHURCH ON THE ISLAND — Simon Kurt Unsworth
THE TWILIGHT EXPRESS — Christopher Fowler
PEEP — Ramsey Campbell
FROM AROUND HERE — Tim Pratt
PUMPKIN NIGHT — Gary McMahon
THE OTHER VILLAGE — Simon Strantzas
13 O'CLOCK — Mike O'Driscoll
STILL WATER — Joel Lane
THUMBPRINT — Joe Hill
LANCASHIRE — Nicholas Royle
THE ADMIRAL'S HOUSE — Marc Lecard
MAN, YOU GOTTA SEE THIS! — Tony Richards
THE FISHERMAN — David A. Sutton
THE CHILDREN OF MONTE ROSA — Reggie Oliver
THE WITCH'S HEADSTONE — Neil Gaiman
CALICO BLACK, CALICO BLUE — Joel Knight
THIS RICH EVIL SOUND — Steven Erikson
MISS ILL-KEPT RUN — Glen Hirshberg
DEADMAN'S ROAD — Joe R. Lansdale
A GENTLEMAN FROM MEXICO — Mark Samuels
LOSS — Tom Piccirilli
BEHIND THE CLOUDS: IN FRONT OF THE SUN — Christopher Harman
THE APE'S WIFE — Caitlín R. Kiernan
TIGHT WRAPPERS — Conrad Williams
COLD SNAP — Kim Newman
The book launch (and signing) of THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR #19 will be taking place during Fantascon 2008 on Sat 20th Sept between 5:30-6:30pm, at the Brittania Hotel, Nottingham. Anyone who is atttending Fantasycon, please stop by the table and let me scribble on your book... now there's an offer not to be taken lightly.
Here's the full ToC in all its glory (lifted from the website of editor Stephen Jones):
THE THINGS HE SAID — Michael Marshall Smith
THE CHURCH ON THE ISLAND — Simon Kurt Unsworth
THE TWILIGHT EXPRESS — Christopher Fowler
PEEP — Ramsey Campbell
FROM AROUND HERE — Tim Pratt
PUMPKIN NIGHT — Gary McMahon
THE OTHER VILLAGE — Simon Strantzas
13 O'CLOCK — Mike O'Driscoll
STILL WATER — Joel Lane
THUMBPRINT — Joe Hill
LANCASHIRE — Nicholas Royle
THE ADMIRAL'S HOUSE — Marc Lecard
MAN, YOU GOTTA SEE THIS! — Tony Richards
THE FISHERMAN — David A. Sutton
THE CHILDREN OF MONTE ROSA — Reggie Oliver
THE WITCH'S HEADSTONE — Neil Gaiman
CALICO BLACK, CALICO BLUE — Joel Knight
THIS RICH EVIL SOUND — Steven Erikson
MISS ILL-KEPT RUN — Glen Hirshberg
DEADMAN'S ROAD — Joe R. Lansdale
A GENTLEMAN FROM MEXICO — Mark Samuels
LOSS — Tom Piccirilli
BEHIND THE CLOUDS: IN FRONT OF THE SUN — Christopher Harman
THE APE'S WIFE — Caitlín R. Kiernan
TIGHT WRAPPERS — Conrad Williams
COLD SNAP — Kim Newman
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Review
OMENS by Richard Gavin
Here's a brief, belated few words about Canadian writer Richard Gavin's latest collection:
Richard Gavin comes from the school of writers who are influenced by Thomas Ligotti. he writes about the pointlessness of existence, random evil, the darkness that lurks beneath the thin veneer of what we like to call reality.
The stories in OMENS all fit this mould, but unlike some of his contemporaries, Gavin also allows his characters to live and breathe, which ensures that they are much more than ciphers or puppets. For example, I cannot imagine another writer in this sub-genre (if you will) producing a story like "Daniel", where a possibly psychotic father narrates horrors that may or may not be passed onto his son. There's a passion here I find missing from a lot of this kind of fiction, and as a result the tale is one of the best in the book.
Ramsey Campbell is another obvious influence - in fact the book is dedicated to Errol Undercliffe - yet Gavin does not allow his influences to bleed too much into his work. The prose is cultured and polished, the imagery individual and unsettling. In short, here is a writer with that grandest of things, a personal vision.
"The Pale Lover" is another winner. The story of a man in search of a forbidden book, the tale soon moves into less familiar territory and is a tour de force of Gavin's art.
I also loved "The Bellman's Way" and "Down Among the Relics", two stories which seem to me to have strong Lovecraftian elements, but these are blended so effortlessly into the framework of each piece that they take on a life of their own and become so much more than homage.
Not every story worked for me, but that's simply down to personal taste - even what I thought of as the lesser stories are admirable for what Gavin is trying to achieve. There's a cummulative effect to this collection, whereby the book becomes more than the sum of its parts while the stories can still be read in isolation. It's a rare and enviable trick, and one that works well.
In conclusion, Richard Gavin has produced a very fine collection of genuinely unnerving tales, and I eagerly await whatever he comes up with next. Our genre needs more writers like him: serious-minded, willing to experiment, able to conjure exquisite nightmares that stay with the reader long after the book has been put down.
Here's a brief, belated few words about Canadian writer Richard Gavin's latest collection:
Richard Gavin comes from the school of writers who are influenced by Thomas Ligotti. he writes about the pointlessness of existence, random evil, the darkness that lurks beneath the thin veneer of what we like to call reality.
The stories in OMENS all fit this mould, but unlike some of his contemporaries, Gavin also allows his characters to live and breathe, which ensures that they are much more than ciphers or puppets. For example, I cannot imagine another writer in this sub-genre (if you will) producing a story like "Daniel", where a possibly psychotic father narrates horrors that may or may not be passed onto his son. There's a passion here I find missing from a lot of this kind of fiction, and as a result the tale is one of the best in the book.
Ramsey Campbell is another obvious influence - in fact the book is dedicated to Errol Undercliffe - yet Gavin does not allow his influences to bleed too much into his work. The prose is cultured and polished, the imagery individual and unsettling. In short, here is a writer with that grandest of things, a personal vision.
"The Pale Lover" is another winner. The story of a man in search of a forbidden book, the tale soon moves into less familiar territory and is a tour de force of Gavin's art.
I also loved "The Bellman's Way" and "Down Among the Relics", two stories which seem to me to have strong Lovecraftian elements, but these are blended so effortlessly into the framework of each piece that they take on a life of their own and become so much more than homage.
Not every story worked for me, but that's simply down to personal taste - even what I thought of as the lesser stories are admirable for what Gavin is trying to achieve. There's a cummulative effect to this collection, whereby the book becomes more than the sum of its parts while the stories can still be read in isolation. It's a rare and enviable trick, and one that works well.
In conclusion, Richard Gavin has produced a very fine collection of genuinely unnerving tales, and I eagerly await whatever he comes up with next. Our genre needs more writers like him: serious-minded, willing to experiment, able to conjure exquisite nightmares that stay with the reader long after the book has been put down.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)