The Heaven Maker & Other Gruesome Tales by Craig Herbertson

Some updates on Craig's book.

The book has a foreword by Janis Mackay and an introduction by Craig. The full list of contents is:

Timeless Love (originally published in Big Vault Advent Calendar 2011)
Synchronicity (originally published in Filthy Creations #2)
The Glowing Goblins (originally published in Auguries #16)
New Teacher (originally published in The Seventh Black Book of Horror)
The Janus Door
The Heaven Maker (originally published in The 29th Pan Book of Horror Stories)
The Waiting Game (originally published in Back from the Dead: The Legacy of the Pan Book of Horror Stories)
The Art of Confiscation
Gertrude
Not Waving
Spanish Suite (originally published in The Sixth Black Book of Horror)
The Anninglay Sundial
Soup (originally published in The Fourth Black Book of Horror)
A Game of Billiards (originally published in Tales from the Smoking Room)
The Navigator (originally published in Big Vault Advent Calendar 2011)
The Tasting
Steel Works
Liebniz's Last Puzzle (originally published in The Fifth Black Book of Horror)
Big Cup, Wee Cup
Gifts (originally published in Big Vault Advent Calendar 2011)

Copies will become available shortly through rileybooks.co.uk

Queries about buying copiers of the book should be sent either to rileybooks@ntlworld.com or to Riley Books, 130 Union Road, Oswaldtwistle, Accrington, Lancashire, BB5 3DR, UK. 

The Lurkers in the Abyss & Others

Just a brief update on my collection, which may be delayed till the end of the year for reasons out of the control of my publisher. The first story in the collection will be the title story, which first appeared in the 11th Pan Book of Horror and was recently reprinted in Cemetery Dance's massive 2-volume anthology The Century's Best Horror Fiction, edited by John Pelan. The final story, and the only one not previously published, will be Lurkers, which is a sequel to The Lurkers in the Abyss (and just over twice its length).

Review of Back From the Dead

Paul Magrs does a review of Johnny Mains' award-winning anthology Back from the Dead.

A Kindle for Christmas

Well, I've finally got one, courtesy of Cassie, Alan, Christy, Erin and Neil! Many thanks to you all.

I must admit I was unsure whether I would ever make much use of one, even though I have two e-books out of my own (Goblin Mire and Sendings). Somehow, though, because they have only ever existed as e-books they have never seemed all that real to me.  I will also have a hardback collection of my earlier short stories out in September from Noose & Gibbet Press, The Lurkers in the Abyss. I have spoken to N&G's owner, Johnny Mains, and we have agreed to publish an e-book version of this collection after the print version has been sold out. This will ensure the collection will remain available and widen its market potential. I know there are a people (probably a growing number these days) who prefer to get their books this way.

The debate over e-books and printed books is still a hot issue, and there are those who will never accept e-books as being "real". But for writers I can't see any argument against them. They are an extra market, and an easy one for readers to access as bookshops dwindle in number and as the variety of books sold by  those that remain dwindle even more. It doesn't worry me. There will always be a place for print versions; there will always, I am sure, be a substantial number of readers who will continue to prefer their books in print. On the other hand, there are already many who actually prefer to read their books in an e-book format. The market can cope for both tastes. And with printing technology advancing all the time, with POD becoming better, and more widespread even amongst mainstream publishers, it's good news to writers - and for readers too.

In the meantime I now have about 20 books downloaded onto my Kindle - and the very latest copy of Theaker's Quarterly and Paperbacks.

The Year

‘THE YEAR’ ANTHOLOGY NEEDS YOU!!!

Screaming Dreams and Noose & Gibbet are proud to announce a joint project, simply called ‘THE YEAR’. It will be published in 2013 and edited by Johnny Mains and Steve Upham. This will be an anthology which will showcase the very best writings of Crime, Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy. 52 stories, one for each week of the year...

This project will be open to submissions from today and while we are mainly focused on new, original fiction – there will be three classic reprints from each genre from different periods in that particular field’s history.
As the budget for the publishers will be rather taxing, payment will be £10 and a copy of the finished book. Stories will have to be no more than 3k in length. If you’re a horror writer but have always wanted to write a crime tale, give it a shot – if you’re a die-hard sci-fi scribe, why not jump into the land of orcs and magic talismans. What will NOT get in the book are mash-ups, emotive vampires and sadly there will be no room at the inn for zombies. Try and stay away from the drunk, emotionally scarred detective and steampunk shenanigans. TV and film related spin off stories will also be a no-go.

The deadline will be July 1st 2012 – this will give you enough time to think of a story, write it and send it in. In the subject box put your name, title of the story and its genre. You will be informed of whether you are in the book by Sept 1st 2012. No multiple submissions allowed and the date for all authors to sign off their individual stories will be February 1st 2013 with the book being published at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton Oct 31st  – Nov 3rd  2013. Due to prohibitive postage costs in sending contributor copies, story submissions will only be accepted from authors residing in the U.K. Payment and contributor copies will be sent out the week of Monday 13th November, 2013 unless authors are in attendance at the convention.

All submissions and enquiries to theyearanthology@gmail.com

Good luck!
The Editors
http://www.theyearanthology.blogspot.com/

Revising Stories

I'm still working through the stories to go in Lurkers in the Abyss. While most have just needed the odd alteration here and there and a few typo corrections, the longest story in it looks like needing a major overhaul to me. Out of Corruption is also the most reprinted. It was originally published in Steve Jones' Mammoth Book of Zombies in 1993 (Robinsons and Carrol & Graf). Since then this anthology has been reissued as The Giant Book of Zombies (Magpie Books, 1996), The Monster Book of Zombies (Metro Books, 2009), ttranslated into Italian in Il Ritorno Degli Zombi (Mondadori, 1994), and into Russian in ЗОМБИ (АЗБУКА, 2010).

I could leave it mostly as it is, but it looks too wordy to me now and, though deliberately set in the 1920/30s, too anachronistic, sometimes in what I now see as not a good way. So it looks like I'm going to have to spend several days going through it far more throroughly, for my own peace of mind if no one else's.

The Lurkers in the Abyss

I have been working my way through my stories for the collection that Noose & Gibbet Press will be publishing next year, slightly revising them and checking for typos. Some of these stories, which I have arranged in chronological order in which they were first published, I haven't reread for more years than I care to think. It's been a fascinating voyage of rediscovery. And interesting to see how my writing style has altered so much since then.

The stories are:

The Lurkers in the Abyss was first published in The Eleventh Pan Book of Horror (Pan Books, 1970)

After Nightfall was first published in The Year’s Best Horror 1 (Sphere Books, UK and DAW Books, USA, 1971)

The Farmhouse was first published in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural (Sphere Books, 1971)

A Bottle of Spirits was first published in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural 2 (Sphere Books, 1972)

The Urn was first published in Whispers (Whispers Press, 1972)

Terror on the Moors was first published in World of Horror (1974)

The Shade of Apollyon was first published in World of Horror (1974)

The Satyr’s Head was first published in The Satyr’s Head & Other Tales of Terror (Corgi Books, 1975)

Prickly was first published in Death (Playboy Paperbacks, 1982)

Writer’s Cramp was first published in Fantasy Tales (1988)

Winter on Aubarch 6 was first published in Fear (1989)

Retribution was first published in Peeping Tom (1991)

The Shadow by the Altar was first published in Peeping Tom (1992)

Out of Corruption was first published in The Mammoth Book of Zombies (Robinson Books, 1993)

A New Lease was first published in The Anthology of Fantasy & the Supernatural (Tiger Books, 1994)

Gwargens was first published in Beyond (Parallel Universe Publications, 1995)

No Sense in Being Hungry, She Thought was first published in Peeping Tom (1996)

Help-plants was first published in Aboriginal Science Fiction (1998)

Hoody was first published in When Graveyards Yawn (Crowswing Books, 2006)

Inside the Labyrinth was first published in Alone on the Darkside (ROC Books, 2006)

Back from the Dead wins British Fantasy Award for Best Anthology

On returning home from holiday in Bulgaria last week, I was pleased to learn that Back from the Dead, edited by Johnny Mains, won the Best Fantasy Award for an anthology. This was well deserved and an excellent book. Doubly pleased because I have a novelette in the book, The True Spirit.

I have since learned that Noose & Gibbet will be reprinting the anthology as a trade paperback next year with a new cover.

Novel to be published

The Lurkers in the Abyss & Other Tales

My first collection of short stories, most of which were previously professionally published in magazines and anthologies here and in the United States, was set to be brought out by Midnight House. This project is now quite a few years old and, unable to contact John Pelan, the owner of Midnight House, and with its website down for the best part of a year now, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the book is not going to be brought out.

I had already turned down one alternative offer to publish this collection several years ago by Ex-Occidente. Since then, due to the delays from Midnight House, Johnny Mains, owner of Noose and Gibbet Press, has repeatedly urged me to let him publish it instead. Last night, recognising that my original arrangement with Midnight House appears to have died, I agreed. My collection will be published by Noose and Gibbet in the Spring/Summer of next year in hardback.

I am now going back to look over the stories which were originally to be in this collection and I will probably make a few alterations to the line up, probably substituting some newer ones.

I would like to thank Johnny for his kind offer and I look forward to working with him on this project, which I am confident at last will really happen.