Tuesday 17 May 2011

ST 19 for Kindle

Having contacted the authors and won their approval, I've uploaded ST19 onto the Amazon Kindle store. It will be available to download in 2-3 days, assuming it is approved. Not sure if someone actually checks out the contents of each book or magazine uploaded - maybe they do. Anyway, the price of a download is $1.50 or its equivalent, and my royalty is 35 per cent, so as you can see I'm not going to get rich. But it might help defray postage costs, spread the word about ST, and generally make the world a spookier place.

Monday 16 May 2011

Blood! It's blood, I tell you...

Aldeburgh is, as any fan of the traditional ghost story knows, the place where M.R. James set 'A Warning to the Curious'. Well, you'll be pleased to hear that a genuinely eerie phenomenon has occurred there - a public pool has turned blood red. Not, though, because of some ancient curse - it seems they used a cleaning product that goes red in sunlight before dispersing. Well, that's the official story. But it still looks pretty weird.

Aldeburgh boating pond turned a shade of red

Sunday 15 May 2011

Hamster

Hamster: "This lively pet hamster will keep you company throughout the day. Watch him run on his wheel, drink water, and eat the food you feed him by clicking your mouse. Click the center of the wheel to make him get back on it."

A show worth checking out

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Delicate Toxins

Now available from the rather wonderful Side Real Press in Newcastle - a book of stories inspired by one of the most enigmatic and - some would say - bonkers German writers. Delicate Toxins is...

'an anthology of all new tales taking the life, work and cultural milieu of Hanns Heinz Ewers as their inspiration.'



Having nabbed a copy, I can testify to the sheer loveliness of the volume and the quality of the actual stories. If you want to know how wacky a dude Ewers was, check this out. The list of contributing authors is interesting from an ST perspective, because it's almost a roll-call of contributors old and new. There are also some new authors (new to me, that is), making this a fascinating and very well-balanced anthology. And if you're guessing by this point that I haven't read it yet, you're right - but a review will be in ST20. Anyway, those contents...
'A Pallid Devil Bearing Cypress' - Richard Gavin
'Salmacis' - Stephen J. Clark
'Crossing The Sea Of Night' - Mark Howard Jones
'Mathilde' - Ray Russell
'Dogs' - rj krijnen-kemp
'Tlaloc' - Angela Caperton
'Magicians And Moonlight' - Katherine Haynes
'Lotte Of The Black Piglet' - Colin Insole
'The Unrest At Aachen' - Mark Valentine
'The Naked Goddess' - Daniel Mills
'Singing Blood' - Reggie Oliver
'The Devil In The Box' - Orrin Grey
'The Rites of Pentecost' - Peter Bell
'Endor' - Michael Chislett
'Masks' - Mark Samuels
'White Roses, Bloody Silk' - Thana Niveau
'The Filature' - Adam S. Cantwell
'Holzwege' - D. P. Watt
The book also contains an introduction by Side Real founder John Hirschhorn-Smith, putting Ewers in perspective and - quite rightly - arguing that he is one of the neglected 'greats' of weird fiction. All in all, this is a collector's item as well as a veritable phalanx of authorial talent. Lucky you're already on the internet, so you can go right ahead and order a copy.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Black Pilgrimage to Suffolk

A Ghostly Company is a small literary society dedicated to the ghost story in print and on the screen. Every year we toddle off on what's termed a Black Pilgrimage (M.R. James fans will know the reference to Count Magnus) and have our AGM and a wander round picturesque and possibly spooky places. Over the Royal Wedding/Bank Holiday weekend we went to Bury St Edmunds, real Monty James territory, and visited the author's childhood home at Great Livermere. We also did a fair amount of eating and drinking. Pubs - they're everywhere, y'know. Anyway, here are some pictures of people other than myself, plus some interesting things.







That time of year again