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The Green Book – issue 3
Today I received my contributor’s copies of The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature, issue 3. The Green Book is a handsome anthology of essays and reviews published regularly by The Swan River Press, edited by Brian J. Showers. Issue 3 is devoted to examining the work of Ireland pre-eminent 19th century supernatural writer – Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. It’s the 200th anniversary of Le Fanu’s birth this year, so it’s quite right the work of Dublin’s ‘Invisible Prince’ gets a proper celebration. This issue comes with a postcard as a lovely extra – it’s a rare image of Le Fanu’s death mask (© Anna &…
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la femme signs
Today I received 150 signing sheets for the forthcoming anthology La Femme, in which my story ‘Valerie’ is appearing. That’s just half the contributors. The entire Table of Contents is: Frances Hardinge, Storm Constantine, Ruth EJ Booth, Andrew Hook, Stewart Hotston, Holly Ice, Adele Kirby, Maura McHugh, Jonathan Oliver, Stephen Palmer, John Llewellyn Probert, and Benjanun Sriduangkaew. It’s an odd experience writing your name out 150 times – after a short period your own signature looks odd, and then you have bizarre moments when your brain suddenly doubts itself and shrieks, ‘Is that how you really spell it?’ My apologies to anyone who gets a sheet in which my signature…
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The Hanging Tree
That’s the name of my short story that’s appearing in the current issue of Black Static (issue 38), which should be posted out to subscribers in the coming week or so. Here’s the terrific cover by Joachim Luetke: The table of contents is: Stories A Knot of Toads by Andrew Hook The Last Fear by Tim Waggoner Passion Play by Malcolm Devlin The Hanging Tree by Maura McHugh Passchendaele by Danny Rhodes His Artist Wife by John Grant Columns Coffinmaker’s Blues by Stephen Volk Blood Pudding by Lynda E. Rucker Reviews Case Notes: Book Reviews by Peter Tennant Blood Spectrum: DVD/Blu-ray Reviews by Tony Lee I’ve been published a couple…
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Twisted Myths Available
It’s the 1st of October, and autumn has us in its damp grip. Today in the West of Ireland there is a flat, grey sky seeping dull light, and yet there is reason for happiness: Twisted Myths is now available to buy! (And as I type this post the sky the lightens…) Like my last project, Twisted Fairy Tales, it’s a large-format hardback book, with beautiful illustrations by the supremely talented Jane Laurie. The cover and interior design was put together by Martin Stiff, and it was edited by Samantha Warrington. It features twenty short story myths from around the world. It’s published by Barron’s Educational Series in the USA,…
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Twisted Myths in the house
It’s been a bit of an open secret that I’ve written a sequel of sorts to Twisted Fairy Tales, which is called Twisted Myths. It’s been up for pre-order on Amazon.com for a few months, and the eagle-eyed among you will have seen it mentioned at the end of my last interview with Dennis Abrams. Still, sometimes you’re not allowed to discuss these things until the publisher gives you the green light, or the advance copy of the book arrives in the door – which it did this morning. This collection contains twenty myths from around the world, along with an introduction by me. It features artwork by the fabulously-talented…
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Return from Brighton
I returned from a long, intense, fun-filled weekend at FantasyCon in Brighton to a package. This was inside: As usual thanks to Martin Stiff for his fabulous design, Jane Laurie for her interior art (a collage of which you can see here), and our editor Samantha Warrington. It will be a couple of months yet before the book is available to buy, but the entire team is delighted with how this project came together. My name is on the spine. That’s just… wonderful. I also want to add that my über-talented Clarion West classmate, Tina Connolly, is celebrating the launch of her début novel: Ironskin. I can’t wait to read…
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Twisted Fairy Tales
I'm delighted to announce that my first collection, Twisted Fairy Tales, will be published by Barron's in the USA in Spring 2013.
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Clarion West Write-a-thon 2012
In 2006 I attended the residential writing workshop called Clarion West, and can attest to it being a force for good as well as instrumental in my progression as a writer. This year’s workshop is now taking place in Seattle, and many of the CW alumni and teachers are setting writing goals for this period, and asking for sponsorship. We call this fund-raising drive the Clarion West Write-a-thon. All money from the fund-raiser goes to Clarion West – a non-profit educational organisation – so they can continue their excellent work. My goal during this period is to write ten short stories. I’m already writing story one. If you have the…
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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 category: The August Derleth Award for best horror novel and The Robert Holdstock Award for best fantasy novel. Novella ‘Alice through the plastic sheet’ by Robert Shearman (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books) ‘Ghosts with Teeth’ by Peter Crowther (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books) ‘Gorel…
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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 favourites. At last, the 2011 Shirley Jackson Awards Nominees has been announced: NOVEL The Devil All the Time, Donald Ray Pollock (Doubleday) The Dracula Papers, Reggie Oliver (Chômu Press) The Great Lover, Michael Cisco (Chômu Press) Knock Knock, S. P. Miskowski (Omnium Gatherum Media) The Last Werewolf, Glen Duncan (Canongate Books, Ltd.) Witches on the Road…
