Today we highlight some exciting new fantasy and horror books , a project after your pennies, and a project after a publisher. We are awash with… well, something. And half-chewed bones. Not only that, but Django found his Teddy. We have however chosen to picture Teddy in his prime, as his current condition is not one for sensitive listeners. And in a few hours we will be going on an expedition of momentous importance, especially for someone who thinks getting a lift down the road is fairly risky…
Firstly, I’ll mention that there’s an Occult Detective Quarterly update going up soon on the pages we host here, so check top right if you’re after that. It’s been hard work getting this far. A writer who accidentally becomes an editor is a deeply torn beast. As you read submissions with a writer’s eye (as opposed to inserting someone else’s, as my solicitor insists I add), you can often see what people were reaching for, or empathise with a difficult construction or style that didn’t quite work.
There is admiration, and shared disappointment, involved in some rejections. And there’s always the mercenary thought: Maybe I should have just filled the magazine with my own stories, written under carefully selected pseudonyms like Hermione Crispbucket and Hip Dog Kettlechip. It all engenders some funny feelings, and the occasional trip to the medicine cabinet. But the first full round of ODQ submissions has been processed, and so peace reigns for at least couple of days. Time to move on…
Back to the editorial ‘we’, representing the dozen of dedicated greydogtales staff who work tirelessly to amuse – Django, Chilli, the Editor-in-Chief, Interesting Tech Guy, and those quiet souls in the background who we never name (if, indeed, they even exist). If it weren’t for the tireless research activities of Django and Chilli, we would have little to report, although we would have more chicken carcasses. It’s a balancing act. Chilli, for example, will happily devour most of a horror novel in return for a couple of meaty treats, and give her expert opinion. So you can be assured that if you send us something to mention, it will receive serious attention.
However, as we said, we have a few new and fantastical things to mention. After that we’re off to Fantasycon in North Yorkshire to talk to actual physical people. In numbers. In a strange hotel. And Linwood Grant is an agoraphobic old bugger, but it must be done. Sadly, we will be without the longdogs for almost three days, having to leave them at home in another’s care. Boo. This is going to be a wrench, as we never normally go anywhere without the mad donkeys.
Summer Goddess
One of the books being launched at Fantasycon is The Summer Goddess, by Joanne Hall, and we have high hopes for this, as we’ve enjoyed her work in the past. We even interviewed her a while back – fight like a fantasy author
You can pre-order (or order, probably, by the time you read this) here:
the summer goddess on amazonThe Indiegogo campaign for Dark Region Press’s three new books is coming into its final days (see h p lovecraft and the brichester chronicles ), so we’ll give that another mention for the weird fiction and post-Lovecraftian folk.
Apart from being interested in the books as text, the art-work looks jolly nice, and stretch goals include additional art, including pieces by a friend of greydogtales, M Wayne Miller. Which must be good. We hope to share more of Wayne’s work here this autumn. Check out the Indiegogo for more details.
King Carrion
Rich Hawkins, whose work never fails to bring a smile to the lips and a song to the aching heart, has astonishingly produced another novella, King Carrion, and managed to use the word ‘vampire’ without immediately switching us off.
“In a town in southern England, people are going missing. Mason, a homeless ex-con, arrives in the town to beg his wife for a second chance and atone for past mistakes. A vampire god once worshipped by ancient Britons has awoken from hibernation and plans to turn Great Britain into a vampire isle. But first, people of the town must be converted, and the gospel spread. Within a week, the town is quarantined by the military, and the nights belong to the undead. There will be no escape for the survivors.”
Which sounds like Mr Hawkin’s now-classic tears before, during and after bedtime. We suspect the words ‘gripping’ and ‘harrowing’ will be used a lot for this book by one of the current masters of Post-Apocalyptic horror.
king carrion on amazonIn late September/October we’ll be saying something about two new anthologies, Stalking Leviathan and After Avalon, but here’s a nod to them both to get you interested:
Stalking Leviathan
Stalking Leviathan: A Bestiary of Tales from Blue Stone Press, is written by the Random Writers collective, edited by Matthew Willis, Shell Bromley and J A Ironside.
“Twelve stories go in search of creatures of myth, legend, and the spaces between the real and the imagined. From the confusion of the Irish Civil War to the eerie expanse of modern day Bodmin Moor; from Elizabethan England to the skies above Persia, the Random Writers quest for the answer to the question – What is the nature of the beast?”
Release date is the 29th September, and we’ll post a sales link then. Matt Willis said a little more about the Random Writers and what they were when we talked to him back here – sea serpents, saltwater and ship’s biscuits.
After Avalon
After Avalon, from 18thWall Publications, is edited/curated by Nicole Petit, who also put together the anthologies From the Dragon Lord’s Library volumes 1 and 2 for 18thWall. In brief:
“King Arthur is dead. Camelot has fallen. Britain drowns in Saxons. These are the stories of what came after. An all-new anthology from the award-winning curator Nicole Petit, featuring stories by Colin Fisher, Leigh Ann Cowan, Amy Wolf, Thomas Olivieri, Jon Black, Patricia S. Bowne, Claudia Quint, David Wiley, Christian Bone, Patrick S. Baker, and Elizabeth Zuckerman.”
after avalon on amazonThe League of Anonymous Sufferers
Another of our contributors, one of our cool South American friends, is looking for publishers who might be interested in his latest project. Diego Arandojo, who helps keep us up to date on Argentinian weird writings and art, is involved in a wide range of creative projects.
One of these includes writing short, sharp pieces about young people with unusual conditions or in unusual situations, highlighting bullying, isolation and identity in a unique (and dark). These are always interesting, and often very striking, even brutal. Diego has a dark eye and a poetic tongue.
He has now embarked on a new project utilising these tales, putting together a collection of them along with custom work from a talented artist, Jhonny Nunez. The League of Anonymous Sufferers contains twenty four twisted and tragic tales of children. All the text is by Diego Arandojo, and the illustrations are by Jhonny Nunez, a Colombian-born artist currently residing in Russia.
We have seen an advance pdf of some of this work, and it is very impressive. If any English-language publishers are listening and would like to find out more, a portfolio is available, and we can hook you up with Diego any time – or you can find him on Facebook and via his Lafarium site:
Nearly done. In October we’ll catch up on the magazine rack. We’ve already talked to Jeffrey Shanks about the mighty Skelos, and given a hurrah for the Sherlock Holmes themed edition of Mystery Weekly (previous post).
Next in line should be Ravenwood Quarterly and Turn to Ash – features to come.
It’s also blog hop and Halloween time. We’ll be taking part, as we did last year, in the October Frights Blog Hop, organised by the wonderful Clarissa Johal, and finding out, again as we did last year, that we’re the weirdest animal in the stables. But it’s fun. What we do around All Hallows Eve, on the other hand, is still a complete mystery to us.
october frights on facebook
We shall return next week, assuming that we survive Fantasycon – and it must be time for a Lurchers for Beginners post soon…