I talk a lot. It’s not that I don’t enjoy listening to flesh-people (I find them jolly interesting), it’s not a defence mechanism, and it’s not meant to overwhelm others – but my brain is one of those busy, shallow things, always on the go. If you’ve seen a pond with loads of mad little insects skimming across the surface in constant, frenetic motion, well, that surface is me. All the other writers are the deeper, contemplative waters beneath.
So, apart from my regular agoraphobia, meeting flesh-people is peculiar. Last week I went to a meeting of the Scandalous Bohemians, a group of Holmesian enthusiasts, and very nice it was too. Being well-mannered, I tried to not chip in all the time. Because of my shallow trivia-packed mind, I had things to say on almost every topic, but I sat back listening as much as I could. I was a Good Dog. Relatively.
In the next fortnight, I’m also making myself go to the annual UK Fantasycon, and speaking at the Ryedale Spookfest, part of their Literary Festival. More flesh-people. The first will be eased by my minder being present, there being a bar, and the fact that there are some nice folk I know there. The second may be helped by the advantage that I’m being interviewed, where you’re expected to talk. Phew.
I was reminded, looking at these commitments, of Mr Edwin Dry, the Deptford Assassin, who represents my alter-ego, the soul who neither talks a lot nor really wishes to hear the ins and outs of other lives:
“Arthur Hill was of modest county stock, a junior manager in his father’s engineering firm. Mr Dry was not greatly interested in his targets, but had endured the half-drunk father’s long, sometimes tearful explanation. A good boy, a credit to his late mother, bright at school. Arthur and his beloved gun-dog, the delightful country walks with his father and cousins… there had seemed no end to it.
“Mr Dry had been reminded why he merely killed people. Living with them must be intolerable.”
‘The Intrusion’, John Linwood Grant
And I sort of admire Mr Dry for simplifying things by making a decision early in his life: get on with your work, and filter out the nonsense that flesh-people produce. It does, unfortunately, make you into a quiet, lethal assassin working to a morality no one else can understand. Swings and roundabouts.
I don’t think my chattering self would last long if the Deptford Assassin was around. Mr Dry asks questions only when he wishes to know something directly of value to his work. Most people decide they’d better answer, sharpish. He listens only when necessary, when useful. It’s a fine discipline when you pad the streets of London with purpose.
Perhaps he’s the Anti-Linwood Grant, who will save us all.
By the way, in all of these social situations I’d prefer to have the little donkeys (the lurchers, to you) with me, but practicalities of hotel policies aside, they have their own quirks. Chilli is very dominant, and bashes people in the groin to say hello, plus she tells almost every other dog to submit. And Django, who is affable and bumbling, likes to urinate on things and make them his. Not everyone likes a large black lurcher leaping into their lap whilst a half-kangaroo beast claims their briefcase, funnily enough.
So should you really wish, you can meet me and hear me mutter at Fantasycon 2018, in Chester from 19th – 21st October, and the Ryedale Spookfest, in Malton, Yorkshire, Saturday 27th October. Or you can be like the Deptford Assassin, and get on with something useful.
OCTOBER FRIGHTS BLOGHOP
Time has been horrendously pressing this year, and we haven’t had time to do the October Frights Blog Hop justice – here are some writers (who are also flesh-people) we meant to mention . Organiser Anita Stewart has been busy with a series which we want to cover on greydogtales in the future, as one of our reviewers says it looks very promising – The Saga of the Outer Islands. Dark fantasy, with the second book out last month.
Amazon UK http://amzn.eu/d/jbeaTyJ
Amazon US http://a.co/d/4MjXeYZ
Another participant in October Frights, Christine Verstraete has released her second ‘Lizzie Borden’ re-imagined horror novel, Lizzie Borden Zombie Hunter 2: The Axe will Fall.
Amazon UK http://amzn.eu/d/06yFDz0
Amazon US http://a.co/d/6pyM4n2
Finally, with Halloween on its way, we’ll nod to a further participant, one who has something coming out on October 26th 2018, deliberately timed for the season (so obviously, we haven’t been able to read it yet). Last autumn, writer Stephanie Ayers put out the first of a series of collections of short fiction, The 13: Tales of Illusory, and this year’s offering is The 13: Tales of Macabre.
“Killer watermelons, murderous jewelry boxes, centenarian sea whisperers, creatures of myth/legend, and more…
“This supernatural story collection will make you reconsider everything you thought you knew. At night you’ll hover under your covers while looking over your shoulder in the day. Down, down in the depths they fell; bodies in the dark of a liquid hell. Can you survive all 12?”
Stephanie adds:
“I write a lot of short stories, 90% of them creepy, spooky, horror-ish. I decided I would do one book of short stories a year, released around Halloween. Thus the whole The 13 series was born…
“Next I had to pick through all my stories and figure out which ones belonged in this volume. I revised and added to many of them and even wrote a few new stories, so several of them are never before seen, not even on my blog. I expect readers to get a little grossed out, feel a little squeamish, cower under their blankets, and look over their shoulders. I hope each story plays like a movie in their head and their spine crawls.”
Stephanie Ayers can be found on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/theauthorSAM
Pre-order links for the Kindle:
Amazon US http://a.co/d/2Ixdal1
Amazon UK http://amzn.eu/d/iqjtJ8o
You can still have a look round all the sites involved in the blog hop here:
