M. Night Shyamalan's The Village

Watched M. Night Shyamalan's The Village last night for the first time. What a long, boring film this was. Well acted, with some first-rate sets, but the story was far too thin to sustain a full-length movie. As an episode of something like The Twilight Zone it would probably have been memorable. Instead it will be memorable to me for 100 minutes of tedium. Shame, because the "creature" outfits were genuinely imaginative and scary.

Ebay sale: Their Cramped Dark World & Other Tales by David A. Riley (signed)

The stories included in this collection are:

Hoody (first published in When Graveyards Yawn, Crowswing Books, 2006)
A Bottle of Spirits (first published in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural 2, 1972)
No Sense in Being Hungry, She Thought (first published in Peeping Tom #20, 1996)
Now and Forever More (first published in The Second Black Book of Horror, 2008)
Romero's Children (first published in The Seventh Black Book of Horror, 2010)
Swan Song (first published in the Ninth Black Book of Horror, 2012)
The Farmhouse (first published in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural 1, 1971)
The Last Coach Trip (first published in The Eighth Black Book of Horror, 2011)
The Satyr's Head (first published in The Satyr's Head & Other Tales of Terror, 1975)
Their Cramped Dark World (first published in The Sixth Black Book of Horror, 2010)

Cover Art: Luke Spooner

Signed on the title page by the author

Five-star review for my horror novel The Return on Barnes & Noble

I don't often check my books for sale on Barnes & Noble, so I was pleasantly surprised to see this 5-star review of my Lovecraftian novel The Return:
"A gritty noir novel that combines the best elements of crime fiction with genuinely frightening Lovecraftian horror."

Ebay sale: Flight or Fright edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent

The latest book I've put up for sale on Ebay is Cemetery Dance's hardcover anthology Flight or Fright edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent. Click on this link to check it out.

Contents:

Introduction by Stephen King

Cargo by E. Michael Lewis

The Horror of the Heights by Arthur Conan Doyle

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet by Richard Matheson

The Flying Machine by Ambrose Bierce

Lucifer! by E. C. Tubb

The Fifth Category by Rom Bissell

Two Minutes Forty-Five Seconds by Dan Simmons

Diabolitos by Cody Goodfellow

Air Raid by John Varley

You Are Released by Joe Hill

Warbirds by David J. Schow

The Flying Machine by Ray Bradbury

Zombies on a Plane by Bev Vincent

They Shall Not Grow Old by Roald Dahl

Murder in the Air by Peter Tremayne

The Turbulence Expert by Stephen King

Falling by James Dickey

Afterword: An Important Message from the Flight Deck by Bev Vincent

About the Authors

Cover Art: Francois Vaillancourt

Ebay sale: The Devil's Rejects: A Director's Script by Rob Zombie

Another surplus book for sale, this time The Devil's Rejects: A Director's Script by Rob Zombie.

It's a gorgeously illustrated book of the director's script, complete with alterations, etc written in by Rob Zo,mbie, plus numerous black and white and full-colour stills and behind the scenes photos from the film, all printed on glossy paper.

Click on this link to go straight to the Ebay sale.

Ebay Sale: Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr by Rudolph Grey

Another book put up on Ebay by me: Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr by Rudolph Grey.
Just click on the image below to go straight to Ebay.

Books for sale on Ebay

I'm downsizing my personal library and have placed a number of items on Ebay, which may be of interest to visitors to this blog.

Click on any of the book covers below to go directly to the ebay sale.

Phantasmagoria #12 - Halloween Special

Artwork by Alberto Segate

Phantasmagoria #12 will be a Halloween Special - and will also include my science fiction story Gwargens, which has only previously been published in 1995 in Beyond #3.

Post a review on Amazon

An offer from Parallel Universe Publications:
So far there have been no reviews for A Distasteful Horror Story on amazon. Parallel Universe Publications is offering a free copy of any of our paperbacks for the first person to post an honest one, without obligation. Just send us a link whenever it's been posted, together with your name and address.
paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk

Phantasmagoria Magazine #11 out now

Now available to purchase on Kindle - PHANTASMAGORIA MAGAZINE issue 11! The print version will be on sale by tomorrow (Friday 2nd August).
Fantasy artist Allen Koszowski! Stephen Jones and Randy Broecker talk 'Terrifying Tales to Tell at Night'! Lina Leandersson on starring in 'Let the Right One In'! 'The Exorcist'!
Interviews with horror authors Peter Coleborn, Jan Edwards, Sam Stone, David J. Howe and Dave Jeffery!

Also: Neil Gaiman's 'Good Omens', 'Stranger Things', 'Midsommar', 'Black Mirror', 'Friday the 13th', Russell Holbrook, classic female horror authors, 1920s horror films, Aurora monster models, Comic Book Guys, Jim Pitts, Stevie Brennan, original fiction, reviews and much more!
Amazon UK link

Ginger Nuts of Horror reviews A Distasteful Horror Story

"A Distasteful Horror Story is an unusual and audacious debut novel, combining Mains’ love of genre with a rollocking and twisty narritive and a payoff that will, I’m sure, be hotly debated for some time to come. I found it to be a disturbing joy to read."

To read the full review click on this link.

A Distasteful Horror Story by Johnny Mains reviewed in Phantasmagoria Magazine #11

The next issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine will contain a review of Johnny Mains' A Distasteful Horror Story:

A DISTASTEFUL HORROR STORY by Johnny Mains

Review by Trevor Kennedy for Phantasmagoria Magazine. 

The narrator of this very darkly humorous novel is a horror fanboy - a huge fanboy, in fact. Especially for the British literary scene, excitedly attending as many of the conventions as possible with an enthusiastic glee. He’s been an obsessive collector of horror-related books, film props and other memorabilia all his life, growing up in the 1980s binging on Video Nasties and other related pastimes. All set to the backdrop and trauma of his girlfriend’s brutal murder at the hands of her father when they were mere teenagers, naturally. The Wonder Years, this is not (thankfully!).
The man at the centre of things is looking back upon his life so far - from the highs (interviewing Stephen King for Fear magazine and hanging out with other genre stars), to the lows (errr… let’s just say they’re pretty graphic and crazy) - from the comfort of his relatively new home, a prison cell where he is spending some time at Her Majesty’s pleasure for a little incident that resulted in him murdering the popular (and fictional) horror author, Carson Fisher. But as this reflective plot develops, it turns out that Carson is not quite the hero the narrator once thought he was and a revenge plan is soon on the cards. I mean, what would you do?
This book is a fascinating read on many levels so I’ll try my best to convey this without losing myself somewhat. Bear with me.
First and foremost, it works as an outright (very) dark comedy/revenge/horror story, at times rather extreme and almost flirting with the bizarro sub-genre. Fans of this type of material will enjoy it for that reason alone, especially if you have as warped a sense of humour as I do (it’s only fiction, people - calm down!). But there is a lot more to it than just that.
Admittedly, I often have a habit of personalising my reviews, and it’s one I’m conscientiously trying to break, but it is totally necessary in this case. Murder and much other nasty stuff aside, I actually found myself relating to a lot of what the ‘anti-hero’ in the prison cell is recounting, especially the nostalgic tributes to 1980s non-mainstream childhood pastimes, like the under-appreciated magic of VHS, watching obscure foreign films late at night on Channel 4, old horror anthology paperbacks, and more. The fact that the author and I were born in the same year and (presumably) have similar interests dating back to our younger days, is, of course, an obvious factor in me liking and ‘getting’ this book more than perhaps people with more mainstream interests will. But it’s not a mainstream book anyway, so my point here is sort of a moot one.
I also found myself smiling broadly at the narrator’s rants about modern life, especially certain aspects of social media. This book is arguably even in part an angry satire of twenty-first century life, Brett Easton Ellis-style, Johnny Mains looking back on those halcyon days of his youth through the eyes of his character, rose-tinted glasses affixed (maybe).
Another really enjoyable aspect of this book is how Mains blends real-life people and names within the genre community into his tale alongside his fictional creations like Carson Fisher, in a very humorous meta manner. They’re all there - Stephen King, Stephen Jones, Ramsey Campbell, Les Edwards, Harlan Ellison, Tanith Lee etc. And when the main character lands a job at Fear magazine, it really did bring a grin to my face.

Additionally, along with the extreme violence and horror, there are also some very well-observed digs at fandom in general, and other pop culture staples (Jimmy Savile included!). The picture it paints of prison life is remarkably accurate and well-researched (I think!) as well.

This book is never going to be everyone’s cup of tea - it is niche in quite a few ways - but so what? It wasn’t written to have a broad appeal anyway. Aficionados of the British genre scene (and the scene as a whole) will generally love it, and I include myself in that category too, of course.

It’s a read that is rather hard to put down, with all its erratic, deranged madness, brutal murders, horror lore references, and savage commentary on a plethora of issues.

Unfair amazon review

Just saw one of the most unfair and daftest reviews ever on amazon:
"I bought this with huge anticipation and a surge of nostalgia but read no further than the first 'story', which was just a very unpleasant account, not what I would call a story."
One story out of twenty read by this "reviewer" and this simpleton thinks that's enough to award the anthology one star out of five! I am constantly amazed at the sheer stupid effrontery of some people. I really am.

Link