Delighted to announce that Screaming Dreams are going to publish their classic “The Screaming Book of Horror” in some dandy new formats.
The collection featuring numerous stunningly good horror writers also includes my story ‘The Iron Cross.’
Further developments to come.
Very encouraging review of The Ninth Black Book of Horror here
As one would expect from a cast of award winning authors and new contenders to that title, this offering from the Terror Tales series edited by Paul Finch is well worth a look. Beginning with Alison Littlewood, who sets the superior tone of most of the collection, we have ‘In The Quiet And In The Dark’ where young Steph comes from out of town to Willow Cottage, Long Compton and instantly hates it. The horrible prospect of the coming term at a new school is mitigated by a chance meeting with new friends and the fond hope of a `liaison’ with Kix, a handsome enigmatic youth who seems to take a shine to her. The young people have a strange way of talking and Steph wonders about their connection to the stone circles…. It’s a well written piece echoing many of the motifs that follow – strong, character based tales which include such delights as the flesh-eating fiend of St. John’s, the vengeful spirit of Little Lawford and the satanic murders at Meon Hill. Stuff to freeze the cockles of the horror fan’s cold heart.
As a man with a fairly old fashioned taste in horror I was struck at times by the high quality of the prose which sometimes competed with the terror invoked. This may sound contradictory but there were moments when I had to do a little too much thinking for my tastes. However, the modern horror fan will have no such quibbles and there was enough variety to please the most discerning.
Highlights for me were Reggie Oliver’s Charm a delightful tale of the degeneration of a Hooray Henry – impeccably told – and Thana Niveau’s ‘The Scouring’ a savage psychological drama about the White Horse Of Uffington. Thana, who never fails to inflict a suitable degree of pathos in her awful tales, is one of the best new female writers in the genre.
Ramsey Campbell in ‘The Horror Under Warrendown’ and Paul Finch in ‘Bog Man’ both pack a powerful punch in tales that seem perhaps to evoke a darker sense of ancient history than some other contributors: No surprises really given their maturity and scope. John Llewellyn Probert in ‘A Taste of Honey, A Horror of Stone’ also scores a big winner as he contrives to extract the maximum possible horror from a simple piece of yellow Cotswold stone. It would be churlish to dismiss the other stories, all strongly written and conceptually perceptive.
Interspersed with fascinating historical snippets of truly terrible history (I just love this stuff) there is something here for everyone. I haven’t yet read any of the other collections in this series but certainly aim to redress that.
Available from most sources and also http://www.grayfriarpress.com/catalogue/cotswolds.html which is well worth a look in any case
The wonders of the internet. While trying to trace a pirate download of my SF story “Soap 7″ I discovered that it had a very favourable review in 1991.
You can read it in the The Mouth of Sauron (III) June 1991 one the now virtually defunct zines of the time.
http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/oldzines/sauron7-3.pdf
Anyone purchasing ‘The Heaven Maker and other Gruesome Stories’ might be interested to know about this website
“Heaven Maker is a stunning, high-octane, sci-fi strategy game, developed and published by Smite Entertainment”
My computer slows down and dies when I try to go anywhere near it but I’ve no doubt the least electrical device owned by young people can operate it easily enough. I’m still kind of stunned to think that a paragraph from The Heaven Maker inspired the artist, Theo Stylianides, and as a consequence no doubt the entire virtual universe – especially as this is the kind of thing I would have killed for as a kid: http://sttheo.cgsociety.org/gallery/894055/
As a bumbling scrawler myself I take my hat off to Theo Stylianides but readers should be warned that the universe of my Heaven Maker is very different from his, and much more prosaic and earthly.
What is interesting though is that I originally conceived of The Heaven Maker’ as a novel and tried very hard to write an accurate description of Hell and the angels of Hell – I found that impossible and now along comes this – perhaps an indication that certain ideas are better served by other media- brilliant.
Contents
John Llewellyn Probert – The Anatomy Lesson
Craig Herbertson – The Mall
Simon Bestwick – Salvaje
Gary Fry -Pet
David Williamson – Ashes To Ashes
Anna Taborska – The Apprentice
Sam Dawson – Life Expectancy
Paul Finch – What’s Behind You?
Gary Power – Ben’s Best Friend
Thana Niveau – The Things That Aren’t There
Tom Johnstone – Bit On The Side
Marion Pitman – Indecent Behaviour
Kate Farrell – His Family
John Forth – A Song, A Silence
Marc Lyth – The Man Who Hated Waste
David A. Riley – Swan Song
Well, it’s horror on horror here with no punches spared and several right on the jaw. The Ninth Black Book edited by Charles Black is not for the squeamish. It begins with John Llewellyn Probert’s The Anatomy Lesson and I almost wish it didn’t. The author is at his most sickeningly nasty when he deals with medical subjects and this story of a twisted anatomist meeting another ‘entertainer’ is only marred by the impossibility of identifying with the main protagonist when the denouement arrives – which is in itself a testament to just what a damned good horror writer John Llewellyn Probert is.
The Mall takes a step into the commercialized Hell of Christmas while Gary Fry’s Pet deals with a rather incestuous family and their…pet. Simon Bestwick’s Salvaje is a well constructed story of the facisistic franquistas picking on the wrong girl. David Williamson, veteran of Pan Horror come out with a good tale of a man falling to bits in Ashes To Ashes and demonstrates that the later Pan Horror authors definitely still have the mojo. Anna Taborska in The Apprentice gives us an accomplished effort with a man who is clever at making bread and dishing out unwarranted violence. A short story I particularly liked is Sam Dawson’s Life Expectancy, which has an old phone bringing a bleak message to a poor lady.
As one might expect Paul Finch’s What’s Behind You? is a definite highlight. What I like about Finch is that he often tries to stretch the boundaries of the form and, in this case, one is vaguely lulled into a pattern before a moment of real psychological horror creeps up on you, after which, the denouement shocks again with its unexpectedness. Would make a very good short film.
Gary Power’s Ben’s Best Friend provides a warning leaflet about picking your friends carefully, a good story of external terror but for me Thana Niveau’s The Things That Aren’t There is a standout piece of brilliant childhood horror that really captures the essence of inner terror reminiscent of the kind of fear that Ray Bradbury so eloquently unveiled in his early work.
Tom Johnstone’s Bit On The Side and John Forth’s A Song, A Silence are enjoyable, creative and well told but as with Marion Pitman’s Indecent Behaviour seem to lack a little credibility – although in the latter, being haunted by a hand was rather neat. His Family by Kate Farrell provided a sickly disquieting image of hospital life but I felt the ending was almost unnecessary. Marc Lyth’s The Man Who Hated Waste is short and humorous.
Finally, the veteran, David A. Riley, provides us with Swan Song, another highlight of this edition. Riley’s work has the bleakness of P.K. Dick and he is the master of the almost Ballardian antihero. No holds barred here in a grim unrelenting tale of three old nasties about to have a last evil fling – with unexpected and awful consequences.
If the festive season is too comfortable for you turn immediately to the uncomfortable vault of evil which is doing is doing its regular horrible stories advent calendar.
I am delighted to announce that Parallel Universe Publications, which originally published Beyond magazine in 1995, will be publishing my collection, The Heaven Maker & Other Gruesome Tales.
The official launch is at Pulp Fiction in Edinburgh on November 15th.
The book is 254 pages of unremitting horror. it comes in hardback and is priced at £20,
The enigmatic D.F Lewis, hobbyist editor, publisher and writer offers a ‘realtime review’ of the ‘Sceaming Book of Horror’ edited by Johnny Mains here. .
My story ‘The Iron Cross’, comes off apparently unscathed
which is always good to hear from a writer who baffles many with his own brand of intentional Dadaismus.
Two very positive reviews of the The Ninth Black Book of Horror here