{"id":2643,"date":"2016-08-20T17:41:26","date_gmt":"2016-08-20T17:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/?p=2643"},"modified":"2016-08-20T17:41:26","modified_gmt":"2016-08-20T17:41:26","slug":"weird-fiction-for-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/weird-fiction-for-august\/","title":{"rendered":"Weird Fiction for August"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we were very young, there were small, devious goblins living in the grandfather clock at the bottom of the stairs which adorned our rickety farmhouse. And possibly in the old mahogany armoire as well, underneath the fusty blankets. Slugs the size of bananas crept nightly across the stone-flagged floor to investigate the dog bowl, and the kitchen smelled of pigeon innards. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n

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a goblin, speaking to one of our reporters yesterday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anyway, where were we? Today we’re all about recent weird fiction<\/strong> and interesting books again, in an almost regular feature which we’re going to start calling \u201cNone of our Long Articles or Interviews Are Ready Yet<\/em>\u201d. But we do it because there’s so much good stuff coming out these days. Yes we do, cross someone’s else’s heart and look the other way.<\/p>\n

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An August Chiller<\/h1>\n

First up is the new book by a writer we’ve come to admire, having devoured his unusual novel The Surgeon’s Mate: A Dismemoir<\/em>. We interviewed him not so long ago, and now his latest book A Brutal Chill in August<\/em> is available for pre-order, to be published on 30th<\/sup> August.<\/p>\n

The world is full of stories concerning Jack the Ripper (not that they’re all bad, just that the sheer volume dilutes attention from the better ones). Alan M Clark<\/strong><\/span> brings new life to this area by writing what are essentially historical novels which explore the horror and darkness of the real lives of the women killed by the Whitechapel Murderer (alan m clark on greydogtales<\/a>). It’s a valuable and deeply researched approach, and we doubt that A<\/em> Brutal Chill<\/em> in August<\/em> will disappoint. Check here for UK purchase details.<\/p>\n

a brutal chill in august on amazon uk<\/a><\/p>\n

If this is your scene, either as a reader or as a writer interested in period detail and attitudes, Alan has also been blogging, section by section, about Jack London’s<\/strong> People of the Abyss<\/em>. You can check out where he’s got to here:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/wordhorde.com\/the-people-of-the-abyss-liveblog-part-21\/<\/p>\n

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The Graphic World<\/h1>\n

All greydogtales listeners will know that we have an inexplicable connection to Argentina \u2013 we can’t remember how it happened but we ended up enthralled by the sheer creativity of the comics and graphic novel people over there. One such chap is Luciano Vecchio<\/strong>, working with Totem Comics<\/strong> \u2013 he does some cool work, which can be seen on-line. Yes, it’s in Spanish, but the art is great in itself. This one’s Tribu Escondida<\/em> \u2013 the Hidden or Unseen Tribe.<\/p>\n

\"UnseenTribe07esp\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You can find more super Tribu Escondida<\/em> art here:<\/p>\n

the hidden tribe<\/a><\/p>\n

We’re also told that HOUNDS<\/em>, a graphic novel which we have mentioned before, should be available on-line in the next few weeks. An Argentinian masterpiece of classic supernatural\/occult detective tales, newly interpreted by some of our favourite artists, including Sebastian Cabrol<\/strong>, we have some links which we’ll post when the graphic novel is up. Editorial Pictus<\/strong> tell us that there’s no English translation yet, but that they hope to look into this eventually.<\/p>\n

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Bleak, Bleak, Bleakity-Bleak<\/h1>\n

Rich Hawkins<\/strong><\/span>, that surprisingly non-Argentinian writer, has shocked the world of bleak and apocalyptic horror this year by turning into a novella engine. We say shocked in the full knowledge that there’s probably another verb but that one will do for now. ‘Mildly intrigued’ has no headline value. Rich is a fine writer, though he doesn’t half kill a lot of people, and there are usually many tears before bedtime. Rich has recently been putting out glimpses of horror direct to Amazon, ranging from shorts such as Fallen Soldier<\/em> to full novellas like Scavengers<\/em>. Deathcrawl<\/em> is his latest one:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the village of Beacon Fell is hit by an epidemic of violence, Jed Kittridge is one of the few people immune to the bloodlust that has turned his friends and neighbours into killers and rapists. Insanity fills the air. Friends become enemies. And in the aftermath of such death and destruction, all that matters is survival\u2026 because the world will never be the same again.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Although most of our Friday nights are like this, we shall read with interest.<\/p>\n

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deathcrawl on amazon uk<\/a><\/p>\n

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At Swim-Two-Swans<\/h1>\n

No? Well, you have to like Flann O’Brien<\/strong>, we suppose. The title’s merely an excuse to celebrate more goodness from that stylish Irish publisher Swan River Press<\/strong>. Their main August release is You’ll Know When You Get There<\/em>, by Lynda E Rucker<\/strong><\/span>, the award-winning American writer. Inside, you’ll find nine unsettling stories of loss and the unusual, with an introduction by Lisa Tuttle<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Lynda Rucker said of her work, in a 2013 interview:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that (a sense of inevitability) is a feature of a certain type of horror, and it is often a feature of the horror that I write. In a way, I suppose, it sort of violates a central principle of storytelling in which the protagonist needs to keep making an effort to solve the problem\u2014the active protagonist, if you will. My protagonists often, though not always, tend to be more doomed than active.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is actually a really interesting question, and I\u2019m going to have to think about it some more; I have a sense that if the protagonist is really active, the story sometimes becomes something other than horror, but I\u2019m not sure about that!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Nightmare Magazine On-line<\/em><\/p>\n

Lynda has a website of her own here:<\/p>\n

lynda e rucker<\/a><\/p>\n

And you can find out more about this Swan River release, and other beautifully produced books from them, here:<\/p>\n

\"logo-high-resolution1\"swan river press<\/a><\/p>\n

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It’s on the Top Shelf in a Brown Paper Cover, Madam<\/h1>\n

Something which probably deserves a whole article in itself is the sudden arrival of many new dark, weird and horror magazines, both in print and on-line. This year sees the launch of Skelos, Gamut, Ravenwood Quarterly, Vastarien, Turn to Ash<\/strong> \u2013 and Occult Detective Quarterly<\/strong> (surprisingly co-edited by the old greydog<\/em> himself in one of those ‘oh, why not’ moments).<\/p>\n

We have a detailed interview\/feature with Jeffrey Shanks<\/strong> of Skelos<\/em> coming to greydogtales<\/em> soon, and we’ll cover Ravenwood Press’s<\/em> plans later in the year. You can always find out more about Occult Detective Quarterly’s<\/em> progress above right, where we stick regular updates, or you can join the Facebook group here:<\/p>\n

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odq on facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

Gamut<\/em> is on-line only, and dedicated to the noir side, whilst Vastarien<\/em> is intended to cater for the needs of those Ligottian lovers of the literary and liminal (smart stuff). We shall investigate and report back in another post.<\/p>\n

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As for now, let’s give a quick nod to Turn to Ash<\/em>. This is a print-only horror fiction zine, with its first issue due out at the end of this month and out to preorder on Amazon in the last week of August. Turn to Ash<\/em> Volume 1 includes:<\/p>\n