Poorly Printed Small Press Book

I'm not going to name the author, title or publisher, but I recently received a small press short story collection through the post and, quite honestly, if I had been the publisher I would have sent it straight back to the printer with an angry message.

It must be one of the worst printed books I have ever come across. The pages have been gummed in a most peculiar way, both too tight, so that the book is difficult to open, and unevenly, so that the parts of the pages nearest the spine have wrinkled. It is not a pleasant book to read, not because of anything the author has written, but because it is difficult to hold open and creaks in protest when you leaf through it. On top of this a small number of the pages near the middle jut out along the outermost edge like a blunt knife blade.

No printer's name included in the book, but definitely someone to avoid.

Which is a real shame, both on the small press that is trying to get itself established and on the author who, if their copy is as bad as mine, can hardly feel satisfied with what they have got.

As I say, the publisher really should not have been willing to accept such sloppy work from the printer and should have had the guts to send any copies like this back to them. I just hope mine is an aberration, though I doubt it.

Horror! Under the Tombstone edited by David A. Sutton

Here are some more details of this reprint of Dave Sutton's 1971 anthology for Sphere Books, New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural, now retitled Horror! Under the Tombstone and to be published by Shadow Publishing.

This includes my story The Farmhouse.

Beyond: Fantasy & Science Fiction

I have entered details of our short-lived fantasy/SF magazine Beyond back in 1995.

The Return

Just signed and returned the contract for the publication in the States of my Lovecraftian horror novel, The Return which, hopefully, will be out next year. I'll post more news about this as and when I have it.

Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes Films

Just ordered a set of all eight Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films, digitally remastered. Looking forward to a Holmesian marathon in the near future.Although he's not my favourite Holmes (that would be Jeremy Brett, of course), he's still up there alongside Peter Cushing, if only for the atmosphere, which is a strong element in these films.

The Screaming Book of Horror

There's a new link to The Screaming Book of Horror.

 Contents are:

Larva – John Brunner
The Swarm – Alison Littlewood
Natural Selection – Robin Ince
One of the Family – Bernard Taylor
What Shall We Do About Barker? – Reginald Oliver
Cut! – Anna Taborska
Old Grudge Ender – David A. Riley
Bird Doll – Claire Massey
The Christmas Toys – Paul Finch
The Quixote Candidate – Rhys Hughes
Helping Mummy – Kate Farell
The Iron Cross – Craig Herbertson
The Baby Trap – Janine Wood
Sometimes You Think You Are Alone – Alison Moore
The Tip Run – Johnny Mains
Christenings Can Be Dangerous – John Llewellyn Probert
Jack and Jill – Steve Rasnic Tem
The City of Plenty – Alex Miles
Imagination – Christopher Fowler
The Blackshore Dreamer – John Burke

Snow White and the Huntsman

While we had our day out at the Lowry, we also watched Snow White and the Huntsman, a brilliantly conceived alternative to the Disney classic. The sets were incredibly realistic, especially the castles, while the dark forest was as atmospherically ominous as any I have ever seen. The storyline created a much more adult plot, helped along by some great acting. I was especially interested to see the dwarfs, played by such iconic actors as Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, Nick Frost and Toby Jones and others. The best dwarfs since The Time Bandits, even though none of these actors is an actual dwarf! The CGI special effects were for once excellent, especially the troll, and helped to create a special sort of dark fairytale realism.

Charlize Theron, as the wicked queen Ravenna, was especially well cast, at once beautiful, cold and stunningly evil.

Although there were quite a few young children in the audience when we watched this film, it is perhaps a testimony to how good it was that they stayed virtually silent throughout.

Prometheus

Went to see this at the Vue cinema, the Lowry Centre, Salford on Friday. I had been looking forward to watching this for some time and, gladly, was not disappointed. It definitely lived up to my expectations, with some superb special effects, solid acting and a well written script, which answered some questions about the whole Alien mythology, but intriguingly created many more.

Perhaps only Ridley Scott could have come back and created a prequel to Alien as good as this.

Horror! The Darkness and Horror! Under the Tombstone

I have just heard from Dave Sutton that he will be reprinting the anthologies New Writings in Horror and the Supernatural volumes 1 and 2, originally published by Sphere Books in 1971 and 1972. These included my stories The Farmhouse and A Bottle of Spirits.

The Farmhouse will now be republished in Horror! Under the Tombstone, and A Bottle of Spirits will be in Horror! The Darkness.

Screaming Book of Horror

Steve Upham and Johnny Mains have created a special facebook page for The Screaming Book of Horror.

The Screaming Book of Horror edited by Johnny Mains

Johnny Mains has just issued a list of the contributors so far (I believe there are still two more stories to be included):

Larva – John Brunner
The Swarm – Alison Littlewood
Natural Selection – Robin Ince
One of the Family – Bernard Taylor
What Shall We Do About Barker? – Reginald Oliver
Cut! – Anna Taborska
Old Grudge Ender – David A. Riley
Bird Doll – Claire Massey
The Christmas Toys – Paul Finch
The Quixote Candidate – Rhys Hughes
Helping Mummy – Kate Farell
The Iron Cross – Craig Herbertson
The Baby Trap – Janine Wood
Sometimes You Think You Are Alone – Alison Moore
The Tip Run – Johnny Mains
Christenings Can Be Dangerous – John Llewellyn Probert
Jack and Jill – Steve Rasnic Tem
The Blackshore Dreamer – John Burke