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American Horror Mixtape
After the success of his Brit Horror Mixtape, writer Mark West decided to give the American continent the same treatment, and asked me to contribute a suggestion for the American Horror Mixtape. Considering I had American and Canadian writers to select from I decided to pick a memorable writer in the field who is a bit more recent, and who hails from north of the United States. So I selected ‘Dead Bodies Possessed by Furious Motion’, by Gemma Files. It’s the last story in her debut collection, Kissing Carrion (2003), and one that lingers in my mind to this day. Thankfully, ChiZine Publications has re-printed that terrific collection, and you…
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World Fantasy Award Nomination for Cassilda’s Song
I’m pleased to hear that Cassilda’s Song: Tales Inspired by Robert W. Chambers King in Yellow Mythos, edited by Joe S. Pulver, has been nominated for a World Fantasy Award in the Anthology category. Congratulations to Joe for assembling such a super line-up of writers, and I’m so glad to be part of the project. The book is published by Chaosium Inc. and the artwork is by Steve G Santiago. It contains my story, ‘Family’. And congratulations to Selena Chambers, whose story in the anthology, ‘The Neurastheniac’, has also been nominated for a WFA, in the Short Fiction category. Here’s the entire Table of Contents of the anthology: Black Stars on Canvas,…
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Horror Expo Ireland 2016
I’m pleased to announce I’ll be a guest at the inaugural Horror Expo Ireland event, which is taking place at The Freemasons Grand Lodge, Molesworth St, Dublin on Sunday, 30 October 2016. There’s a terrific line-up of guests, and it should be a fun event in a splendid building. Tickets go on sale at 6pm on Thursday, 7 July (and there’s a limit of 250 Tickets) via Eventbrite. Get them while you can!
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Dublin Ghost Story Festival
I’ll be one of the guests at the Dublin Ghost Story Festival, which is taking place from 19 – 21 August 2016, at the Freemason Grand Lodge of Ireland, 17 Molesworth Street in Dublin. The Guest of Honour is Adam Nevill and the Master of Ceremonies is John Connolly. Other guests include: A.K. Benedict, Paul Kane, David Mitchell, Marie O’Regan, Sarah Pinborough, John Reppion, Lynda E. Rucker, and Angela Slatter, and the event is organised by Brian J. Showers of Swan River Press. It’s a terrific line-up of guests, and the venue should be conducive to our conversations about odd and uncanny stories. Tickets are limited, and popular, so grab…
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The Brit Horror Mixtape
Writer Mark West came up with the fun idea of curating a ‘Brit Horror Mixtape‘ by asking writers in the field to recommend a short story by a British horror writer that influenced their work. It’s pretty hard to pick one favourite – as I have many – so I decided to select based on the spirit of the mixtape: which is to collate a distinctive range of interesting work from a variety of people. I was unaware of what writers other people were going to choose, but I decided not to pick a ghost story or one that featured a supernatural event. When the entire, massive field of British…
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The Image at Hay Festival, Kells
In 2013 the prestigious Hay Festival opened a chapter in the picturesque town of Kells, and the town has been hosting the event annually since then. This year the Hay Festival, Kells is taking place from 23 – 26 June, and with technology journalist Karlin Lillington I’ve co-curated a stream of programming within the Festival called ‘The Image’, which features an array of talent from the arenas of illustration, cartooning, comic books, and computer games. Guests include video games and comic book writer Rhianna Pratchett, animation director and comic book artist Paul Bolger, comic book artist and stage production designer Maeve Clancy, comic book writer and YA novelist Michael Carroll,…
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Tea and Jeopardy
Thanks to the fabulous Emma Newman who invited me recently to appear on an episode of her (and Peter Newman’s) utterly charming podcast, Tea and Jeopardy. Where you have tea, cake, conversation, and some mild peril. I started the the wide-ranging chat discussing my vigilant keyboard companion, a colourful statue of Ganesha who watches me write. Here he is: //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js His benevolent, but steely, gaze encourages me daily.
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Wailing Heights is alive!
Wailing Heights, the game developed by Outsider Games, goes live on Steam today at 2pm. The game is described as ‘A coffin-rocking, body-hopping, musical adventure game, set in a horrific hamlet of monsters.’ I wrote a small comic outlining the back story of one of the characters (the vampire Lola Vita), which was drawn by Ron Salas. This appears in the game, and if you spring for the deluxe bundle of Wailing Heights, it includes the soundtrack and high-res comics/artbook. You can purchase the game on Steam at 2pm today.
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robot serendipity
Thinking about yesterday’s blog post about items in one’s home that have meaning, it reminded me of a funny incident that happened to me back in 2010. I was on my way to London, and stopped in a café (which is no longer in existence) to get a decent meal into me before the cavalcade of airport security, waiting rooms, flight, collecting luggage, train journey, and bus jaunt that would deliver me to my destination. The café was one of those cool joints with books and nifty knick-knacks arranging in pleasing ways, and I spotted this diorama of objects. (This has subsequently become of my favourite photos, so I was…
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adorning our lives
Over the years I’ve become increasingly careful about what new items I bring into my home. I’ve spent several years paring back book collections and ornaments to remove anything I don’t truly appreciate. I established my simple formula before Marie Kondo’s Spark Joy became a revolution, but from what I understand (as I haven’t read the book) it gels quite closely to her system. I ask myself is the item 1) functional or 2) beautiful? If it’s both it’s unimpeachable, but it should hit one of these criteria. What is lovely to one person is hideous to another, therefore this is a wholly personal exercise. I’m not entirely without sentiment,…
