Wednesday 28 December 2011

At the time of writing, two of my fellow Abominable Gentleman, have some fantastic offers on their books; I'd urge you check these out posthaste (I've always wanted to use the word 'posthaste' in a blog post):

Iain Rowan's fantastic collection of strange fiction Ice Age (UK | US) is free. Yes free. It's worth approximately  £9969.0994 so you've got yourself a bargain whatever you pay for it.

Not to be outdone, Alan Ryker's new book, Blood Tells True (UK | US) has just been released at a bargain price of 86p for the rest of the year. It's the sequel to the excellent Burden, Kansas (UK | US) which is currently free. Yes free etc.

I know, I know. You can thank me later.

Saturday 24 December 2011

The Curse Of My Christmas Ghost Story...

Muriel Gray has an interesting column in The Guardian today about Christmas ghost stories. Part of the Victorians' reinvention of Christmas that we seem to have forgotten nowadays is the ghost stories of Dickens, Gaskell, MR James etc. It isn't just the famous names - the seasonal editions of various periodicals would always feature some supernatural creepiness, just begging to be read aloud around a crackling fire while the wind howled outside... (Maybe out modern equivalent tradition is sitting together to watch the creepier moments of the Doctor Who Christmas special?)



I tried my hand at this type of Christmas ghost story late last year - Snow doesn't specifically take place at Christmas, but as its title suggests the white stuff plays a prominent part. It tells of a man, on the run from his past, holed up in some crumbling and freezing cold mansion house, while outside the snow piles up at the windows... It isn't necessarily a ghost story either, although neither were many of MR James's so-called ghost stories - if it's good enough for James it's certainly good enough for me. (Probably no surprise to anyone who's read any of my stuff, but James wrote some of my favourite classic horror stories.)

I was pretty pleased when I finished Snow, which is unusual - I'm normally convinced for at least a week that I've wrote a huge pile of tripe. But it seemed to me then (and still does now) to be one of the best things I'd written. I'd kept the plot tight and the word count down, so I already knew there would be lots of potential markets to submit this one to. And I thought if any horror magazines were planning the modern day equivalent of the Victorian periodicals' creepy Christmas issues, it would fit right in. In short, I was as confident as I've ever been, sending this one out into the world...

Every magazine or anthology I've submitted Snow to so far has either gone bust or folded.

Now I know it's coincidence, and I know that the fact I've noticed it at all is probably an example of some psychological principle (most likely with the word 'cluster' in its name) - that it's no more significant than buying a new car and suddenly seeing that model every time you go for a drive. Know too that times are rough out there, with our economy being run by idiots or maniacs, and that magazines for short fiction (not exactly stable ventures at the best of times) are probably suffering as much as everyone else...

But still, the sheer number of times it's happened with Snow is odd.

So if you're reading this and you're in any way involved with the publishing world you may feel a slight shiver, for I am about to search Duotrope again for a home for poor ol' Snow and it might be about to wing its cursed way to your inbox... If you see it arrive, for God's sake don't open the mail, although by then I fear it will already be too late.... heh heh heh. (A suggestion: maybe the only way to break the curse is for someone to publish the damn thing!)

Anyway, Happy Christmas all, particularly to those of you who've offered me much encouragement this year. You know who you are and know I'm grateful. I'll leave you with one of the few Christmas songs that a) is good, and b) isn't The Pogues. Enjoy!


Sunday 18 December 2011

A Few Things...

Some stuff from around the web that I'm blatantly posting to revive my flagging ego:

A lovely review of The Other Room over at Eva Dolan's Loitering With Intent blog. Always nice to read a review by someone perceptive who's spotted things in the stories even I didn't think of.

How The Penny Dreadnought Was Born - a new posting by me over on the PD site.

And finally, the fabulous Eight Cuts have recently done posts of great digital and analogue Christmas presents for book-lovers. I'm delighted to say The Other Room was featured in the former, but do check out all the great books listed.

Thursday 15 December 2011

My Top Seven Plus Three Indie Books of 2011

I noticed many blogs are doing their Top Ten indie books, so I have shamelessly decided to copy. I limited myself to picking one book per author so as to include as many as possible, and set to work picking my ten favourites... and then stopped, frowning. As ever, I've made things needlessly complicated...

Firstly, I'm not even sure all these books were published in 2011. I certainly read them all this year, but they may have been published earlier. But aren't people always banging on about indie books and e-publishing meaning that people's books have a longer shelf life? Yes, they are, and if rather looser definitions of previously precise concepts like 'this year' are the price we have to pay for such literary longevity then I'm all for it.

Secondly, and more seriously, some of the best self-published books of read this year are by the authors I've joined forces with for Penny Dreadnought. It would seem somewhat dishonest for me to recommend authors whose success might, however tangentially, benefit my sales in the future. But equally, I read all three of these authors long before Penny Dreadnought was even a twinkling, and there's no doubt their work would have appeared in this Top Ten if we'd not decided to publish together... So after some deliberation I've decided to include them but not rank them. So my Top Ten starts with those three books in no particular order and then continues with a Top Seven counting down to my Number One...

I told you I'd made this needlessly complicated.

(All links to Amazon UK)




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#X. Arron Polson: These Darkened Streets

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#X. Iain Rowan: Ice Age

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#7. Jim Breslin: Elephant

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#6. Steven Baxter: Musings of A Monkey

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#5. Neil Schiller: Oblivious

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#4. Various Authors: Infinities

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#2. Marion Stein: Loisaida - A New York Story

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#1. Cate Gardner: Strange Men In Pinstripe Suits

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In other news, this is all sorts of brilliant:



Wednesday 14 December 2011

I've recently been interview by the good folks over at Hobbes End Publishing. If you'd like to read me talking mainly about me* (and who wouldn't?) then here's the clicky thing.

Hobbes End Publishing interview

* I do use the phrase "a genius violin playing cocaine addict" but that, at least, isn't about me.

Friday 9 December 2011

Introducing... Penny Dreadnought

I'm genuinely excited about the news I've got to share in this post.

Penny Dreadnought is a new venture from myself, Alan Ryker, Aaron Polson and Iain Rowan - if you're a regular reader you'll know these are all guys I think are genuinely great writers, and did so well before I knew there was a chance my stories might appear alongside theirs. Future issues of Penny Dreadnought will feature new stories from all of us, plus some exciting guest authors, all based around a particular theme.

The first issue is an introduction to our work and contains:

“Lilies” by Iain Rowan
“Cargo” by Aaron Polson
“First Time Buyers”
“Invasion of the Shark-Men” by Alan Ryker


Introducing Penny Dreadnought, Insidious Indoctrination Engine of the Abominable Gentlemen is approximately 22,000 words, or 88 paper pages, and can be purchased at:


Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
Smashwords

Also check out the Penny Dreadnought site for more info, including Alan's great introduction to the first volume.


Thursday 8 December 2011

In Defence Of Short Stories #19: Victoria Griesdoorn

Hi all. The latest guest post in the Defence Of Short Stories series is from the fabulous Victoria Griesdoorn, who has not only written a great post on an equally great Neil Gaiman story, but also provided a link where you can hear it for free at the end (I told you she was fabulous). That's proper free, not in some horrible illegal way.

She describes herself thusly: a scientist by day, reluctant writer by night, Clarion Write-a-Thon 2011 survivor, slush reader for Dark Fiction Magazine, and founder and contributing co-editor of the of Altered States anthology series. Victoria has short fiction published in City of Hell Chronicles Vol.I and Cruentus Libri Press's upcoming 100 Horrors anthologies [Me too! - JE]. She's also writing her first novel; a tale of magical realism. Find her at VDGriesdoorn.com or on Twitter @VDGriesdoorn


Take it away Victoria...


Harlequin Valentine 


 My love for reading rekindled when I stepped into my local library, as a 15-year-old kid, and discovered the horror section. Soon I went from King's Misery and Koontz's The Bad Place and Intensity to my real love, the gothic novel. I read my first genre book for kids, Clive Barker's The Thief of Always when I was in my twenties. And then I discovered Neil Gaiman.


I fell in love with the short story when I ran out of Gaiman novels and read Fragile Things. It was 'Harlequin Valentine' that showed me that a story, no matter how short, can have a beginning, middle and end, and feel as epic as a novel. 


 It's the tale of a Commedia dell'arte harlequin who on Valentine's Day gives his heart (literally) to his love, his columbine. The woman in question, Missy, goes around town trying to solve the mystery of how the thing ended up on her door. I won't spoil it, but in the end Missy takes matters into her own hands and the trickster is tricked. 


 The story does this wonderful thing of meandering at a pace. It goes from encounter to encounter, from meeting to meeting, from character to character. All of them are people and they all have something to say. The story is whimsical, but dark. Raw and thoughtful. Funny and morbid at the same time. It is the essence of an epic compressed into 3,500 words. 


 Since reading that story, it has not left the back of my mind. I have written a few shorts myself and have been fortunate enough to see one published. When writing, I now think about 'Harlequin Valentine'. I ask myself how I keep characters alive, and prevent them from looking like cardboard cut-outs. How do I lead the reader down an unexpected path? How do I take a familiar concept and do something new with it? And how do I do that on a hair's breadth? 


 The short story, if done well, does all of this and more. 'Harlequin Valentine' certainly does. 


 If you want to check the story out, pick up a copy of Fragile Things, or look for the Harlequin Valentine graphic novel. There is also a reading by Neil Gaiman himself, available for free at Last.fm

Tuesday 6 December 2011

The Internet: Here Be Monsters

I'm sure I'm not the only would be writer who worries I waste too much time on the internet - twatting around on Twitter and twittering around on Twater, when I should be writing god-darn-it.

But sometimes you stumble across something that reminds you how great the internet actually is, and how much it can aid as well as hinder creativity. Yesterday I found the site A Monster A Day.

It's a blog where someone draws a monster.
Every day.

I don't know anything about it or the person/people involved - I just know that the best drawings (like The Swap) are like those creepy illustrations for children's books you remember (from books by Roald Dahl or Neil Gaiman, probably) which seem like a story all in themselves...

So if you're pissing around on the internet rather than doing something productive (and if you're reading my blog, there's a good chance you didn't really want to be here!) then click on the link below and have a look at some of the monsters... and maybe you won't feel you've wasted your time on the internet tonight quite so much, after all.

A Monster A Day

Sunday 4 December 2011

The Booklovers

I can't imagine anyone who loves books not finding something to smile about in this music video. As you can imagine, my favourite moment is the Kafka one, although Anne Bronte always makes me chuckle too.


Thursday 1 December 2011

On Characters - A Rant In Two Parts

Okay, I suspect this isn't going to be my most popular post ever, but what the heck. (Feel free to comment and tell me why I'm wrong...)

Rant #1
No surprise, but I read a lot of books - but also a lot about books. Reviews, articles, interviews, blogs - and one of the great things about the internet is the how democratic this has all become. Anyone can share their views on books, and we can all read it. But reading all this stuff about books as I do, I believe something needs to be said:

The primary goal of every piece of fiction is not to depict realistic characters. There, I've said it.

Of course, depicting realistic characters is an honourable and traditional goal of much fiction, and drama - Hamlet would be over in about five minutes if the prince was an impetuous, bloody thirsty type of guy, rather than the procrastinating worrywort he is.

But would the outcome of The Trial be that much different if Josef K had a different personality? Isn't part of the point that he is caught up in a bureaucratic process that depersonalises those in its clutches? I think so, and I think part of The Trial's power is that K. is depicted as an 'everyman' - if he was a 'someone' the focus of the story would shift. Not only is the main artistic aim of The Trial not to depict a realistic individual, but I think its real artistic aims would be compromised if it did.

And it's not alone; books as diverse as The Road, Sombrero Fallout, any Agatha Christie murder mystery, Molloy, House Of Leaves, Tristram Shandy, Sum: Tales of The Afterlife and Animal Farm seem to me to be ones whose primary aim isn't to depict character, and indeed ones where a 'fuller' attempt to do so would make the books worse, not better.

None of this should be controversial, or need saying by little ol' me, if it wasn't for the constant attempts by some people writing reviews, articles etc. to judge fiction only by the characterisation yardstick. And books like the above will inevitably come a cropper if they're judged in this way. Don't judge a book by its cover, and don't judge it by its failure to hit targets it wasn't even aiming for anyway...

It riles me, I tell you.


Rant #2
But of course, many books do aim to make their characters as believable as possible (and where they fail in this that should be pointed out). A book like The Catcher In The Rye seems to me a masterpiece of using language to depict character. But you look at the customer reviews for this book, or for any like it, and you'll it. See someone has written something like:

"I don't like the characters in this book; they're so annoying! I didn't care what happened to any of them they were so unsympathetic..."

To which I always want to respond: maybe that's a problem with your internal empathy skills, and not the book! Ever thought of that, buddy boy?


Literature is not, repeat not, a popularity contest, and it's characters don't exist for you to judge whether you 'like' them or not. They are not Facebook pages... Maybe the point of literature (or at least, the character driven kind) is precisely to allow people to empathise with those other than them, to understand how and why people make decisions that we'd never make, in situations we've never been in. To be able to grasp, in an intuitive and intimate way, that even those people we might dislike or fundamentally disagree with might have a reason why they are as they are, and the same fears and doubts underneath as us...

It seems to me, if you read only to validate your own world-view, and throw the book down in some Daily Mail style hissy-fit every time you come across someone different, rather than give your empathy muscles a workout (and empathy is like a muscle, and in some people it seems to be atrophying daily) then you are spectacularly missing the point of books, and missing out.

Okay, rant over.



Secondly, a quick note to to say that a short extract of my novella The Shelter (UK | US), is up today at the splendid Short Story Symposium blog. Check it out - the characters in it are well drawn and really likeable, honest...