The
past couple of weeks have been a bit demanding at work and I was left without
much space for posting. The developed project enters in its final phase and
although that means a business trip for the rest of this week I believe I would
be able to return to a more steady posting rhythm next week. I hope to see you
again from next Monday on a more regular basis.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Video presentation + Book Launch - "NOS4R2" by Joe Hill
The
family ties between Stephen King and
Joe Hill lost their importance a long
time ago and hold no relevance what so ever when it comes to the fiction
written by Joe Hill. It is just a biographical detail and nothing more. It
cannot be otherwise since Joe Hill is a very powerful writer, talented and
brimming with imagination, and he proved that with the short stories collection
“20th Century Ghosts”,
the novels “Heart-Shaped Box” and “Horns” and the graphic novels “Locke & Key”, “The Cape” and “Road Rage”.
Last month a new novel signed by Joe Hill was released in the US by William
Morrow as “NOS4A2” and in the UK by
Gollancz as “NOS4R2”. “NOS4R2” is
one of my most anticipated novels of 2013 and I am little jealous on those who
will be able to attend a book launch such as the one that will take place in
Edinburgh on May, 31st. Especially when a signed copy could be
involved.
Don't miss the opportunity
to see horror writer Joe Hill at The Pleasance Theatre for the only Scottish
launch of Joe Hill's new book NOS4R2.
He will be taking part in a Q&A (hosted by Jim Mcleod, the editor of Ginger Nuts of Horror) as well as taking questions from the audience. Joe will also be reading an extract from his new book and signing for fans. For those who can't make it we are taking pre-paid orders for signed copies.
Joe Hill is the author of novels Heart-Shaped Box, Horns and 20th Century Ghosts which were all well received by horror fiction fans. Horns is currently being made into a movie starting Daniel Radcliffe and his graphic novels The Cape, Road Rage and the award-winning Locke & Key have had fans enthralled. NOS4R2 has now secured Hill's place as top of his generation in the world of horror and supernatural fiction.
The event takes place on Friday 31st May 2013 at 6:30pm at the Pleasance Theatre.
He will be taking part in a Q&A (hosted by Jim Mcleod, the editor of Ginger Nuts of Horror) as well as taking questions from the audience. Joe will also be reading an extract from his new book and signing for fans. For those who can't make it we are taking pre-paid orders for signed copies.
Joe Hill is the author of novels Heart-Shaped Box, Horns and 20th Century Ghosts which were all well received by horror fiction fans. Horns is currently being made into a movie starting Daniel Radcliffe and his graphic novels The Cape, Road Rage and the award-winning Locke & Key have had fans enthralled. NOS4R2 has now secured Hill's place as top of his generation in the world of horror and supernatural fiction.
The event takes place on Friday 31st May 2013 at 6:30pm at the Pleasance Theatre.
NOS4R2
Summer. Massachusetts.
An old Silver Wraith with a frightening history. A story about one serial killer and his lingering, unfinished business.
Anyone could be next.
We're going to Christmasland...
NOS4R2 is an old-fashioned horror novel in the best sense. Claustrophobic, gripping and terrifying, this is a story that will have you on the edge of your seat while you read, and leaving the lights on while you sleep. Will your soul be safe? With this horrific tale of Charles Manx and his Silver Wraith will you enjoy Christmas ever again?
Booking is essential.
Tickets are £5 and are available from the front desk at Blackwell's on South Bridge or by telephone for credit card purchases on 0131 622 8218.
For more information or if you would like a signed copy please contact
Ellie Wixon on 0131 622 8229
or
ellie.wixon@blackwell.co.uk
Summer. Massachusetts.
An old Silver Wraith with a frightening history. A story about one serial killer and his lingering, unfinished business.
Anyone could be next.
We're going to Christmasland...
NOS4R2 is an old-fashioned horror novel in the best sense. Claustrophobic, gripping and terrifying, this is a story that will have you on the edge of your seat while you read, and leaving the lights on while you sleep. Will your soul be safe? With this horrific tale of Charles Manx and his Silver Wraith will you enjoy Christmas ever again?
Booking is essential.
Tickets are £5 and are available from the front desk at Blackwell's on South Bridge or by telephone for credit card purchases on 0131 622 8218.
For more information or if you would like a signed copy please contact
Ellie Wixon on 0131 622 8229
or
ellie.wixon@blackwell.co.uk
I would have loved to take
part on this event, but for the time being this is extremely difficult to achieve.
Well, to lift my spirit I will feature this video presentation of “NOS4R2” made
by Joe Hill himself.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
2012 Shirley Jackson Awards nominees
One
of the awards I enjoy following each year is the Shirley Jackson Awards. Ever
since I discovered these awards I found its lists of nominees always fresh and
provocative and every year the awards celebrate some of the most original
titles I’ve got the chance to read. This year seems no different. With such
interesting titles on the lists of nominees I am looking forward to see who the
winners would be when they’ll be announce on 14th July at the
Shirley Jackson Awards ceremony held at Readercon 24, Conference of Imaginative
Literature, in Burlington, Massachusetts.
NOVEL
“The Drowning Girl” by
Caitlín R. Kiernan (ROC)
“The Devil in Silver” by
Victor LaValle (Spiegel & Grau)
“Edge” by Koji Suzuki
(Vertical, Inc.)
“Gone Girl” by Gillian
Flynn (Crown Publishers)
“Immobility” by Brian
Evenson (Tor)
NOVELLA
“28 Teeth of Rage” by
Ennis Drake (Omnium Gatherum Media)
“Delphine Dodd” by S.P.
Miskowski (Omnium Gatherum Media)
“I'm Not Sam” by Jack
Ketchum and Lucky McKee (Sinister Grin Press/Cemetery Dance Publications)
“The Indifference Engine”
by Project Itoh (Haikasoru/VIZ Media LLC)
“Sky” by Kaaron Warren (Through Splintered Walls, Twelfth Planet
Press)
NOVELETTE
“The Crying Child” by Bruce
McAllister (originally “The Bleeding Child”, Cemetery Dance #68)
“The House on Ashley
Avenue” by Ian Rogers (Every House is
Haunted, ChiZine Publications)
“Reeling for the Empire”
by Karen Russell (Tin House, Winter
2012)
“Wild Acre” by Nathan
Ballingrud (Visions, Fading Fast,
Pendragon Press)
“The Wish Head” by Jeffrey
Ford (Crackpot Palace, William
Morrow)
SHORT FICTION
“Bajazzle” by Margo
Lanagan (Cracklescape, Twelfth Planet
Press)
“How We Escaped Our
Certain Fate” by Dan Chaon (21st Century
Dead, St. Martin's)
“Little America” by Dan
Chaon (Shadow Show: All New Stories in
Celebration of Ray Bradbury, William Morrow)
“The Magician's
Apprentice” by Tamsyn Muir (Weird Tales
#359)
“A Natural History of
Autumn” by Jeffrey Ford (Magazine of
Fantasy and Science Fiction, July/August 2012)
“Two Houses” by Kelly Link
(Shadow Show: All-New Stories in
Celebration of Ray Bradbury, William Morrow)
SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION
“Crackpot Palace” by
Jeffrey Ford (William Morrow)
“Errantry” by Elizabeth
Hand (Small Beer Press)
“The Pottawatomie Giant
and Other Stories” by Andy Duncan (PS Publishing)
“Remember Why You Fear
Me” by Robert Shearman (ChiZine Publications)
“The Woman Who Married a
Cloud” by Jonathan Carroll (Subterranean Press)
“Windeye” by Brian Evenson
(Coffee House Press)
EDITED ANTHOLOGY
“21st Century Dead” edited
by Christopher Golden (St. Martin’s)
“Black Wings II” edited
by S. T. Joshi (PS Publishing)
“Exotic Gothic 4:
Postscripts #28/29” edited by Danel Olson (PS Publishing)
“Night Shadows” edited
by Greg Herren and J. M. Redmann (Bold Strokes Books)
“Shadow Show: All-New
Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury” edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle
(William Morrow)
Congratulations
and good luck to all the nominees!
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
"Cleopatra's Needle", a new novella by Carole Lanham published this year
After the debut collection of short stories, “The Whisper Jar”, Carole Lanham has her first novel, “The Reading Lessons”, coming out this month from Immortal Ink
Publishing. However, more good news are coming from Carole Lanham with the
announced release of a new novella. Morrigan Books, the publisher of her debut
collection “The Whisper Jar”, will publish this year Carole Lanham’s novella “Cleopatra’s Needle”, first in e-book
format, followed by a paperback edition and a special hardback with extra
artwork. There is no information yet on the release date or who the artist drawing
the cover and the extra artwork of the hardback edition will be, only that “Cleopatra’s
Needle” is a story of Welsh superstition, love, murder and tempting red-haired
witches. Until we find out more and Carole Lanham’s novella is published Morrigan
Books gives us a taste of “Cleopatra’s Needle” with a small excerpt – which I
took the liberty to reproduce here – and offers the chance to one lucky winner
to receive a personalized, signed copy of the hardback edition when it is
released. To enter the competition you can leave a comment on the announcement post or at the Witch Awareness Month Facebook page entry.
15 April 1896
We’re taking turns doing it. Every afternoon, we sit in the wash house
and try our hand at calling him with our minds. Practice is vital, according to
Bethan. Well, it goes without saying, she got her turn first. Sure enough, five
minutes later, he appeared at the door, broom in hand, smiling sheepishly. Most
of the time, he acts grumpy about that time we tied him to the chair but when
Bethan called him, he behaved as though all was forgiven. ‘Do you want another
kiss?’ Bethan asked. ‘Yes please,’ he said then shook his head, as if to clear
it, and scurried away. We laughed to see him so rattled.
When it was my turn, I pictured him kissing me like he did that day in
the kitchen. I remembered the feel of his lips on mine and how hard he
was breathing when he opened his mouth. It took longer for me to summon him and
when he finally came, he looked hesitant. I closed my eyes and thought of what
I’d most like him to do. Boy leaned forward and ran his tongue slowly along the
seam of my lips. ‘M-mm,’ he said. Then he ran away.
Bethan pronounced it a failure because I wasn’t able to hold him there,
but I don’t care. He didn’t put his tongue on her. Gwendraith made him touch
her breast yesterday before he ran off but that only made her giggle. It wasn’t
good like when he kissed me.
Monday, April 29, 2013
2013 Ditmar Awards
The past week-end, in a ceremony held at the Conflux
Natcon, the 52nd Australian National Science Fiction Convention, at
Ridges Capital Hill in Barton, Canberra, the winners of the 2013 Ditmar Awards
were announced:
NOVEL: “Sea
Hearts” by Margo Lanagan (Allen &
Unwin)
NOVELLA OR NOVELETTE: “Sky” by Kaaron Warren (Through
Splintered Walls / Twelfth Planet Press)
COLLECTED WORKS: “Through
Splintered Walls” by Kaaron Warren (Twelfth
Planet Press)
ARTWORK: Kathleen
Jennings for the cover art of “Midnight
and Moonshine” by Lisa L. Hannet and Angela Slatter (Ticonderoga
Publications)
FAN WRITER: Tansy
Rayner Roberts, for body of work including reviews in “Not If You Were The Last Short Story On Earth”
FAN ARTIST: Kathleen
Jennings, for body of work including “The
Dalek Game” and “The Tamsyn Webb
Sketchbook”
FAN PUBLICATION: “The Writer and the Critic”, hosted by Kirstyn
McDermott and Ian Mond
NEW TALENT: David
McDonald
WILLIAM ATHELING JR. AWARD FOR CRITICISM OR REVIEW: Tansy Rayner Roberts, for “Historically Authentic Sexism in Fantasy. Let’s Unpack That.” (Tor.com)
With the same occasion the following awards were also
presented:
NORMA K. HEMMING AWARD: “Sea Hearts” by Margo Lanagan (Allen
& Unwin)
PETER MCNAMARA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Nick Stathopoulos
A. BERTRAM CHANDLER AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT:
Russell B Farr
Congratulations to all the winners!
Monday, April 22, 2013
Table of contents - "The Year's Best Australian Fantasy & Horror 2012" edited by Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene
One of the year’s best collections I enjoyed reading
in the past two years is “The Year’s
Best Australian Fantasy & Horror”. The anthologies edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene and released by Ticonderoga Publications are not only an
opportunity to discover the best of what the speculative fiction of Australia
and New Zealand has to offer, but also to admire a collection of quality and high-standard fiction. Although limited to only two countries in its selection to
name “The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror” a local collection would
be an injustice, especially since writers such as Kaaron Warren, Angela Slatter,
Lisa L. Hannett or Margo Lanagan are renown throughout the
world. Of course, there are other extremely talented writers whose reputations
went beyond the boundaries of Australia, such as Deborah Biancotti, Felicity
Dowker, Kirstyn McDermott, Stephanie Campisi, Andrew J. McKiernan and Jason
Nahrung, just to name a few who are also my personal favorites. Some of
these authors are present in the new edition of “The Year’s Nest Australian
Fantasy & Horror” too, edition that features 34 fantastic stories and poems
selected by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene from those first published in 2012 by
the New Zealand’s and Australia’s finest writers. “The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror 2012” will be
released by Ticonderoga Publications in July 2013 in hardcover, ebook and trade
editions and has a wonderful cover made by Yaroslav Gerzhedovich. Here is the full table of contents in the alphabetical order
by author.
“Tied To
The Waste” by Joanne Anderton (Tales Of Talisman)
“The Cook
of Pearl House, A Malay Sailor by the Name of Maurice” by R.J. Astruc (Dark
Edifice 2)
“Comfort
Ghost” by Lee Battersby (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 56)
“Tiny
Lives” by Alan Baxter (Daily Science Fiction)
“A
Moveable Feast” by Jenny Blackford (Bloodstones)
“The
Witch's Wardrobe” by Eddy Burger (Dark Edifice 3)
“The Stone Witch” by Isobelle Carmody (Under
My Hat)
“Beautiful”
by Jay Caselberg (The Washington Pastime)
“The
Fall” by Stephen Dedman (Exotic Gothic 4, Postscripts)
“To Wish
On A Clockwork Heart” by Felicity Dowker (Bread And Circuses)
“Nightside
Eye” by Terry Dowling (Cemetary Dance)
“Population
Management” by Tom Dullemond (Danse Macabre)
“Sleeping
Beauty” by Thoraiya Dyer (Epilogue)
“Hungry
Man” by Will Elliott (The Apex Book Of World SF)
“Pigroot
Flat” by Jason Fischer (Midnight Echo 8)
“The Bull
In Winter” by Dirk Flinthart (Bloodstones)
“Sweet Subtleties” by Lisa L. Hannett (Clarkesworld)
“Bella
Beaufort Goes To War” by Lisa L. Hannett & Angela Slatter (Midnight
And Moonshine)
“Stalemate”
by Narrelle M. Harris (Showtime)
“Kindling”
by Kathleen Jennings (Light Touch Paper, Stand Clear)
“Saturday
Night at the Milkbar” by Gary Kemble (Midnight Echo 7)
“Crow And
Caper, Caper And Crow” by Margo Lanagan (Under My Hat)
“You
Ain't Heard Nothing Yet” by Martin Livings (Living With The Dead)
“A Small
Bad Thing” by Penelope Love (Bloodstones)
“Torch
Song” by Andrew J. McKiernan (From Stage Door Shadows)
“Anvil Of
The Sun” by Karen Maric (Aurealis)
“Oracle's
Tower” by Faith Mudge (To Spin A Darker Stair)
“The
Black Star Killer” by Nicole Murphy (Damnation And Dames)
“The Last Boat To Eden” by Jason Nahrung (Surviving
The End)
“What Books Survive” by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Epilogue)
“Jimmy
Dean, Jimmy Dean” by Angela Slatter (This Is Horror Webzine)
“The Dog
Who Wished He'd Never Heard Of Lovecraft” by Anna Tambour (Lovecraft
Zine)
“The
Loquacious Cadaver” by Kyla Ward (The Lion And The Aardvark: Aesop's
Modern Fables)
“River
Of Memory” by Kaaron Warren (Zombies Vs. Robots)
Monday, April 15, 2013
2012 Australian Shadows Awards
The past Friday the winners of 2012 Australian Shadows
Awards have been announced. The awards are organized by the Australian Horror
Writers Association and recognize “the stories and collections that best typify the
horror genre, delivering a sense of creeping dread’, leaving the reader with
chills and a reluctance to turn out the light.”
NOVEL – “Perfections”
by Kirstyn McDermott (Xoum Publishing)
LONG FICTION – “Sky”
by Kaaron Warren (Through Splintered Walls / Twelfth Planet Press)
SHORT FICTION – “Birthday
Suit” by Martin Livings (Living with the Dead / Dark Prints Press)
EDITED PUBLICATION – “Surviving the End” edited by Craig Bezant (Dark Prints Press)
COLLECTION – “Through
Splintered Walls” by Kaaron Warren (Twelfth Planet Press)
Congratulations to all the winners!
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