Thai Ghost Movies - Shutter and Nang Nak

Watched two tremendously good Thai ghost movies this weekend. I never before realised just how good Thai films could be. These were a revelation, not only in their technical prowess (which was second to none) but also in the depth and sincerity of their story-telling.

Shutter is the more modern of the two, and is a tale of ghostly revenge, though not the one you may initially think it is going to be about. It also has one of the most chilling photos I have ever seen in a film.

Nang Nak is set in the recent past and is based on a Thai legend about a devoted and faithful wife who, even after her death, waits for the return of her husband from the war. It is chillingly beautiful with a unique sadness.

Glory and Splendour: Tales of the Weird by Alex Miles

Glory and Splendour is the first kindle book I have actually bought to download (all the rest have been free). It is also the first ebook published by Karoshi Books, whose purpose is to bring out new works by new and unpublished authors, a splendid idea which has been lucky in coming across a writer of exceptional talent.

The subtitle, Tales of the Weird, is acutely accurate. Although some horrendous things happen in several of these tales, they are not horror stories. Although the supernatural occurs in some strange forms in some of them, neither are they tales of the supernatural. Nor SF, though there are vaguely science fictional elements here and there. What is universal to all of them is a clean, distinctive writing style, which keeps a brisk, no nonsense pace throughout. If there are any influences in these stories they are, as Michel Parry puts it in his introduction, those of Eastern Europe, principally Kafka. There are six stories in this collection: The Judge, Glory and Splendour, Deep Stitches, Hitting Targets, Life Beggar, and The Lotus Device. The Judge is about a mechanical computer which has been entrusted with acting as judge, jury and executioner-cum-inflicter of maiming in a steam punk present day, which may not be as infallible as people are instilled to believe. Glory and Splendour is a tale of plague, decay and self deception, with a fairy-tale like red paint whose magical quality is to make the ugly look beautiful. Deep Stitches is another alternative science story, in which psychology utilises an insectoid version of nano-technology to change people's memories and sense of self. An unscrupulous estate agent in Hitting Targets comes up against an insane gamer turned serial killer, the nearest any of these stories comes to straight horror, combining extreme violence with the darkest of dark humour. In Life Beggar, approaching the end of an unfulfilled life, the protagonist visits a strange, maybe mystical pedlar who sells him a drink which enables him, on touching anyone, to experience their lives in a flash. The protagonist of The Lotus Device, on the other hand, has a job he hates and a boring life. From possibly the same pedlar as in Life Beggar, he obtains a watch that allows him to forget and skip those hours of the day he doesn't want to remember, leaving only the highlights, with unforseen, nightmarish results. 

Satisfying varied, with plots whose threads are unpredictable, this is an impressively original debut collection from a writer I am sure we'll see more of in the future.

Shadow Plays by Reggie Oliver

Finished reading the M. R. James play in this beautiful volume from Egaeus Press. It's the only piece, apart from the introductions to each story, that I hadn't already read in earlier volumes. The play, though, is worth the price of the book alone. Included amongst the characters is, of course, James and A. C. Benson. I would love one day to see this performed on stage, though it was engrossing enough as a good read, by turns enlightening, amusing and, ultimately, quite sad. There is an ongoing Jamesian story which is brilliant too.

The Woman in Black -1989 TV Dramatisation

As a result of temporarily not having cable (till Virgin get round to replacing our box with one that actually works!) we watched the 1989 TV production of The Woman in Black on the computer last night. What an incredibly brilliant dramatisation (by Nigel Kneale) this was! I haven't seen the new Hammer version yet, but if that is only half as good I'd be satisfied. This TV adaptation is the second first rate ghost story we've watched this week, after the equally marvellous The Awakening.

Although, coming through Youtube, the picture quality was far from what you would expect via DVD, it was still more than well worth watching. One scene actually sent an ice cold shiver up my spine!

Goblin Mire - new cover, etc

I've had my fantasy novel Goblin Mire available as an ebook through Renaissance eBooks for about four and a half years, but it has not done very well. Part of this, I am sure, is because of the awful amateurish cover which my publisher slapped on it.

On his own initiative Joe Young produced an alternative cover, which I believe is considerably better and which I am really pleased with. As a result, I have emailed Renaissance eBooks to cancel my contract with them, so I can go through the novel and revise it before making it available again, probably through Amazon, as an ebook and a POD paperback, using Joe's cover.

Hopefully this time it will have more success.

This is Joe's cover:

After Nightfall - Russian version

This Russian anthology from 1992 arrived in the post today. It contains a translation of my story After Nightfall. The black and white illustration appears to be of this story - sort of...

Other writers in the book include Richard Matheson and Ramsey Campbell. Brought out not long after the fall of Communism, it's an odd little hard cover book.

Review of Back From the Dead

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

Interview of Otto Penzler re Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!

Just came across an interview with Otto Penzler about his massive anthology Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! (Zombies: a Compendium in the UK). The last question he is asked is: "If a reader has an opportunity to read only one story from Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!, which one would you recommend?" He would recommend two: "...the stories that jump to mind are Seabrook's "Dead Men Working in the Cane Fields" because it's such a comprehensive introduction in the genre, and David A. Riley's "After Nightfall" because it is, holy moley, so damned scary."

What can I say?

After Nightfall published in Russia 1992 - Surprise

I noticed that I've been having quite a few hits on this blog recently from Russia and, in particular, the Ukraine. Checking into this, one of the most common links was to a Russian website. Surprisingly, doing a bit of a search on it, I discovered that one of my earliest stories, After Nightfall, was published in a hardback anthology there in 1992. The stories in Tayaschiysya Horror 2 (Таящийся ужас 2) appear to have all been translated by Vladimir Vladimirova. If the details are correct the book had quite a large circulation - 100,000 copies!

It's strange what a bit of knocking about the internet can turn up.

Romero's Children

Received an email from the States last night from Paula Guran, who is editing an anthology called Extreme Zombies, to be published by Prime Books in August, and she would like to use my story from The Seventh Black Book of Horror, Romero's Children. Absolutely delighted at this.

This makes the fourth story to be reprinted in recent months: The Lurkers in the Abyss in John Pelan's Century's Best Horror Fiction (Cemetery Dance), The Satyr's Head in Dave Sutton's The Satyr's Head: Tales of Terror (Shadow Publishing), and After Nightfall in Otto Penzler's Zombie! Zombies! Zombies! (Vintage).

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Watched We Need to Talk About Kevin last night. Now I know I'm going to upset some people, but I didn't much care for the way in which it was filmed. A strong story about a serious issue, but the style of filming annoyed and distracted me and only occasionally worked so far as I was concerned. I got the feeling much of the time the cast were making up their own lines, which I know is one particular type of "naturalistic" film making, but for me makes for monumental dullness. It worked in Vera Drake, but that had exceptionally talented actors and a skilled director. OK, the actors in this may be exceptionally good too. As may the director. I don't know. I'm not familiar with them myself. But I did feel this was a potentially great film which misfired. Just my opinion, of course.

The Satyr's Head: Tales of Terror edited by David A. Sutton

Received my contributor's copy from Dave Sutton in the post yesterday and was delighted to see what a splendid job he has done of it. If this is an example of what Shadow Publishing will be bringing out, then it should be a great success. Forthcoming titles include:

The Female of the Species & Other Terror Tales: Writers from the Shadows series #1 is a first collection of short stories by Richard Davis. Due April 2012

Frightfully Mild and Cosy Stories for Nervous Types: A second collection from Johnny Mains. Shadow Publishing is delighted to be able to publish Johnny's second collection of horror yarns. The book will contain 16 stories, some reprinted from various sources and some new to this collection. Due Autumn 2012

Temple of the Fox: Writers from the Shadows series #2 is a first collection of the stories of James Wade.

The Shadow Book of Horror will be an anthology of new and obscure genre stories. "Phantoms of Venice", "Voices From Shadow" and "On the Fringe for Thirty Years" are currently in print and available.

The Crazies & Creepshow

Felt in a retro mood today so I got the original George Romero The Crazies and 1982's Creepshow with Stephen King on DVD. I can't remember ever having watched The Crazies (though I love the remake) and I haven't seen Creepshow since we rented it in the early 80's. They'll make a nice change from the dross of normal TV!

The Unspoken

It looks like The Unspoken, a charity anthology in aid of cancer research, edited by Willie Meakle, has been dropped at the last minute by Dark Continent Publishing because of "internal changes" and because "they have overextended themselves."  Though this is devastating news at this stage, Willie is determined to find a new publisher. Good luck to him!

That this has happened is a great shame as Willie has assembled a great lineup, which includes:

Ramsey Campbell - Introduction
Tim Lebbon - Just Breathe
Simon Kurt Unsworth - Photographs of Boden
Steven Savile & Steve Lockley - The Last Gift
John Shirley - Where the Market's Hottest
Stephen James Price - Pages of Promises
Stephen Volk - Bless
Scott Nicholson - Heal Thyself
William Meikle - Metastasis
Nancy Kilpatrick - Alien Love
David A. Riley - A Girl, a Toad and a Cask
Allyson Bird - Oyster Pink
Johnny Mains - The Cure
Guy N Smith - The Big One
Pete Crowther - Cankerman
Steve Duffy - X for Henrietta
Gary McMahon - Bitter Soup