Mon, 07 May 2012 British Fantasy Awards 2012 – nominees
The short-lists have been announced for the 2012 British Fantasy Awards:
Novel
11.22.63 by Stephen King (Scribner)
Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor Books)
Cyber Circus by Kim Lakin-Smith (NewCon Press)
A Dance with Dragons by George R R Martin (Bantam)
The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz)
The Ritual by Adam Nevill (Pan)
There will be two awards in the best Novel [...]
Mon, 23 April 2012 2011 Shirley Jackson Awards Short-list
For the past six months I’ve been serving on the jury of the Shirley Jackson Awards. It’s been time-consuming and far more work than I anticipated, but it’s also been richly rewarding. I’ve enjoyed reading extensively across the fields of dark fantasy and horror, I’ve discovered new authors, and developed a deeper appreciation for firm [...]
Wed, 21 September 2011 The Shirley Jackson Awards 2011
I’m pleased to be able to announce that I’ve been asked to be a member of the jury for The Shirley Jackson Awards 2011.
The Shirley Jackson Awards were established in 2007 to recognise outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and the dark fantastic.
Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting [...]
Sun, 10 July 2011 troll hunter
On Friday I went to the showing of the Norwegian monster movie TrollHunter (Trolljegeren, 2010), as part of the Galway Film Fleadh. It’s written by André Øvredal and Håvard S. Johansen, and directed by Øvredal.
This film follows a well-worn path of supposedly being the raw footage from a documentary that three college students were shooting [...]
Thu, 02 June 2011 be part of the solution
It’s no surprise to any of my regular readers that I’ve considered myself a feminist from the moment I understood what it meant. Most importantly, I have always stated that fact without embarrassment or the need for a self-deprecating modifier (‘but I like men!’, ‘but I never burned a bra!’, etc. etc.).
Yet, for me it [...]
Tue, 03 May 2011 Voices from the Past
Voices from the Past is a new e-anthology of flash fiction edited by Scott Harrison and Lee Harris from their fledging imprint H&H Books. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.
There are two editions available to buy (in both ePub and Kindle formats). The standard edition costs £0.99 and [...]
Wed, 09 March 2011 old horror
Today I was selecting photographs to post to my Flickr stream from those I took at the Church of Saint Bartholomew in Sóller, Mallorca.
One of them was the above photograph of the eponymous saint himself, Saint Bartholomew. As I was examining the photograph I realised there was another face hanging from the Saint’s waist. It [...]
Wed, 02 March 2011 sunset over mallorca
This was yesterday’s sunset in Santa Ponsa, where the local fisherman cast their lines.
Alas, my short break has run its course. Today I head back to Ireland.
The next time I hope to come away to a place like this with more free time. I spent most of yesterday in front of my keyboard, rattling [...]
Mon, 21 February 2011 it’s bedlam
Sky has been promoting its new supernatural show called Bedlam, and I decided to tune in for an episode. The premise is simple: an asylum that has been in the Bettany family for hundreds of years has been re-fitted into flats for Yuppies and creepy things begin to happen. This ain’t a new concept, but [...]
Fri, 11 February 2011 Water in Black Static 21
My flash short story, ‘Water’, is appearing in Black Static 21. Thanks to editor Andy Cox for taking the story. A shout-out is also needed for non-fiction editor Peter Tennant, who has devoted the Black Static’s Case Notes blog to the subject of women in horror for the month of February.
At the moment you can [...]
