World Fantasy Convention flyer from Shadow Publishing

 

This is the flyer that Shadow Publishing will be handing out at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton this November. 

Proof reading finished!

Finally finished my second bout of proof reading in the last month. The first was for my novel, The Return (Blood Bound Books). The second was for my much longer collection of short stories, The Lurkers in the Abyss & other Tales of Terror (Shadow Publishing). It feels like a marathon stint. All I have to do now is email Dave Sutton at Shadow Publishing with all the typos, etc., that I've found and I can go on holiday at the end of next week with a clean slate. May even find time to start writing something new!

Sudden upsurge in sales of His Own Mad Demons

Comparing the sales position on Amazon.com I suddenly realised that it's leaped by over 3 million places since yesterday. I have no idea what this represents in terms of sales. It could be a ridiculously small figure for all I know - and probably is. But it's nice to see. It also coincides with a surge in the number of people accessing that part of my blog as well.

Amazon.co.uk hasn't been too bad lately either, though it would be nice to see that improve too. Hint! Hint!

Dark Visions 1 from Grey Matter Press - cover art

This is the cover for Dark Visions Volume One from Grey Matter Press. The anthology is due to be published shortly and contains my 12,000 word story Scrap.

The Return

Just received a pdf copy of the galley proofs for my Lovecraftian novel The Return from Geoff Hyatt at Blood Bound Books. It's due for publication next month. Things are moving quickly now. The rest of the year is going to be quite exciting, what with my novel out in September and my collection of short stories from Shadow Publishing, The Lurkers in the Abyss and other Tales of Terror to be launched in October at the World Fantasy Convention.

I'm printing out a copy of the pdf of The Return so I can give it a thorough going over for typos, etc before it goes to print.

S. T. Joshi and August Derleth

The noted Lovecraftian scholar S. T. Joshi recently wrote an in depth review of John D. Haeffele's  A Look Behind the Derleth Mythos: Origins of the Cthulhu Mythos (Odense, Denmark: H. Harksen Productions, 2012).

The review is a fascinating critique of Derleth's interpretation of the Cthulhu Mythos and his involvement in developing it along his own lines. When I first became involved in reading Lovecraft back in the 1960s Derleth was the final word on everything Lovecraftian. Or so it seemed to me at the time. And I must admit I swallowed hook, line and sinker everything he wrote about the Mythos, even though I was never, even then, enthusiastic about his own Lovecraftian pastiches, which I thought pretty dull and formulaic. I did enjoy many of Derleth's non Lovecratian supernatural tales and was - and am - a great admirer of his skills as an editor. A Derleth anthology, usually reprinted in the UK by Four Square (later NEL) was always something to look forward to wading into. We don't seem to get anthologies of that calibre very often these days, and more's the pity.

Joshi's thoroughgoing demolition of Haeffele's defense of Derleth's version of the Cthulhu Mythos is ruthless, effective and convincing. Derleth's attempt to turn it into a warped version of the Christian creed always struck me as strange, given Lovecraft's atheism. Thankfully, this interpretation, though significant at the time, seems to have waned in influence over the years and it is good to see that Haeffele's attempt to give it renewed legitimacy has been cut short by someone as erudite and eloquent as Joshi  I still admire Derleth the editor and have fond memories of some of his non-Lovecraftian stories, but with so many writers using Lovecraft's creation today the last thing we need is for it to be warped into the Miltonic version Derleth seemed intent on foisting on us. The cosmic horror of a vast, indifferent universe that Lovecraft created is HPL's legacy to the weird tale and one that should not be softened with the safety net of benign Elder beings.

The Adventures of Kyle McGertt: Hunt for the Ghoulish Bartender - review

My review of The Adventures of Kyle McGertt: Hunt for the Ghoulish Bartender is up on Hellnotes.

This is the first YA novel I have ever read. It’s also the first horror Western I’ve read too. In both instances I had a pleasant surprise – I enjoyed it far more than I expected.
Charles Day has a very readable style and the action moves rapidly, though not at the expense of character and some vivid descriptions. The Ghoulish Bartender himself, though completely evil in his actions, is far more than a two-dimensional villain. He has a back story every bit as tragic as any of his victims – and an awareness of what he has irretrievably lost to become what he is – a fate that not chosen by him, but forced on him as a curse.
Nevertheless he has grandiose plans to spread the curse of the ghouls on every community he comes across. In this, only Kyle McGertt, inheriting the crusade of his dead father, can hope to stop him. Robustly violent, yet with some subtle humour, this short novel is the story of how these two opponents finally come confront each other for a final showdown.

Slightly altered cover for The Lurkers in the Abyss

The lettering on the front cover has now had some red blended into the black to make it stand out more clearly. I think it also gives it a 3D effect too.

Cover for The Lurkers in the Abyss by Paul Mudie

This is the cover as it will probably appear on my short story collection when it's published in October this year by Shadow Publishing.  All of the stories, which start with my very first professional sale, appear in chronological order and should show how my writing has developed over the years.

Dark Discoveries No 23, Spring 2013

Dark Discoveries issue 23, Spring 2013

This is the biggest issue yet, with over 100 A4 pages, most in colour. It’s a special dark fantasy issue, with related articles on Game of Thrones, Robert E. Howard, Dark Horse Comics, Karl Edward Wagner, Sword & Sorcery films, and an interview with Boris Vallejo, one of the most iconic fantasy artists. It also includes a Solomon Kane story started by Robert E. Howard and finished by Ramsey Campbell. The dark fantasy continues with a sword and sorcery story from Angeline Hawkes. The remaining four stories range from urban fantasy to out and out horror: Like Part of the Family by Jonathan Maberry, The Catastrophist by Weston Ochse, The Woman Who Collected McMannon by Joe McKinney, and The Sleeping Ute by Steve Rasnic Tem. Not a poor story amongst them, and a couple that are quite simply outstanding.

Other features include tributes to the late David B. Silva, who died recently, “Why I Hate Women Writers” by Yvonne Navarro, an interview with Jonathan Maberry, and the usual book reviews. 

As well as being the biggest issue yet there is without doubt a lot of meat in it, and even with a large part given over to dark fantasy there is enough variety to suit most tastes. Dark Discoveries had already been going from strength to strength under the able skills of James R. Beach. Since being taken over by JournalStone, with Beach at the helm as Editor-in-Chief, it has become even better. It is a lively, uptodate and fascinating magazine.

The Lurkers in the Abyss And Other Tales of Terror

 

This is the superb cover that Paul Mudie has painted for my collection based on my Lovecraftian horror story Fish Eye. 

Dark Visions from Grey Matter Press

For details of the two volumes of Dark Visions from Grey Matter Press please click on the link.


Dark Visions 1 - Contributing Authors:

The Troll - Jonathan Balog
Collage - Jay Caselberg
Delicate Spaces - Brian Fatah Steele
What Do You Need? - Milo James Fowler
Second Opinion - Ray Garton
The Weight of Paradise - Jeff Hemenway
Three Minutes - Sarah L. Johnson
Raining Stones - Sean Logan
Mister Pockets: A Pine Deep Story - Jonathan Maberry
Thanatos Park - Charles Austin Muir
The Last Ice Cream Kiss - Jason S. Ridler
Scrap - David A. Riley
Show Me - John F.D. Taff

Here's another short extract from my story, Scrap, from volume 1:

"It was barely dawn when the boys were wrenched awake by hysterical screams from their mother’s bedroom.

His heart thumping, Gary threw aside his duvet and leapt out of bed, bare feet skidding on the thin carpet. The door into their mother’s room was already open. In it, lit by a single bedside lamp, he could see his mother. She was sat up in bed, hands clamped to the sides of her head as she screamed and screamed. Other than this she seemed unable to move. Her eyes were transfixed on the other side of the bed. Bumping into each other in confusion, the brothers jammed the doorway. Karl’s side of the bed was dark and wet. There was a narrow lump where he lay beneath the duvet."

Ginger Nuts of Horror - Interview

I have just had a five-minute interview published on the Ginger Nuts of Horror site.

Dark Visions edited by Anthony Rivera and Sharon Lawson

Grey Matter Press have announced details of their anthology Dark Visions volumes 1 and 2.

This includes my story Scrap, set in Edgebottom, concerning the activities of two brothers who set out to make some money for themselves by scrounging scrap metal and make the mistake of breaking into derelict houses in the notorious slums of Grudge End.

This is a short extract from it:

"Which was when he caught sight over Eddie’s shoulder of the body curled beneath the kitchen sink. It looked bloated, its utilitarian feminine clothes straining against swollen, elephantine limbs; something wet had spread across the linoleum from under the body like rancid syrup that had dried into dark brown, yellowish crusts at the edges.

Gary turned away from it, felt his stomach begin to cramp, before he threw up against the wall. Whatever he had eaten all day was heaved onto it, splashing his jeans. Abandoning the pram, Eddie blundered into him. His face looked bleached and scared. He could barely speak, gesturing at Gary to get out of the house while making inarticulate sounds at the back of his throat like a strangled hen. At any other time Gary would have laughed at him, but now he turned and scrambled onto the street. Rain showered his face as he stared up at it, gasping for breath. Drops of it washed away some of the vomit from his lips, but not enough. He could still taste its acidic bite.

He saw Eddie staring at him, his eyes grown huge and frightened.

“It had no head.” His brother’s voice barely more than a whisper..."