Nightmare Carnival edited by Ellen Datlow

Nightmare Carnival is for sale right now in trade paperback but only through the Dark Horse website but will be out in bookstores and as an eBook on 7th October.

I am chuffed to bits that I’ve been included in this collection and that it’s been introduced by Katherine Dunn, the author of the marvellous Geek Love, which I’ve raved about before.

Table of contents:

Preface by Ellen Datlow

Introduction by Katherine Dunn

Scapegoats by N. Lee Wood
The Firebrand by Priya Sharma
Work, Hook, Shoot, Rip by Nick Mamatas
And the Carnival Leaves Town by A.C. Wise
Corpse Rose by Terry Dowling
Last of the Fair by Joel Lane
A Small Part in the Pantomime by Glen Hirshberg
Hibbler’s Minions by Jeffrey Ford
Swan Song and Then Some by Dennis Danvers
The Lion Cage by Genevieve Valentine
The Darkest Part by Stephen Graham Jones
The Popping Fields by Robert Shearman
Skullpocket by Nathan Ballingrud
The Mysteries by Livia Llewellyn
Screaming Elk, Mt by Laird Barron

Shadows & Tall Trees

I was sad to hear recently that Michael Kelly has decided to put Shadows & Tall Trees, on an indefinite hiatus. The magazine was the flagship publication of Undertow Publications (UP), an imprint of ChiZine Publications. In the space of a mere six issues it had made a big impact, garnering praise and nominations. Its stories have been regularly reprinted in “Year’s Bests” and “Best of” anthologies, or else received Honorable Mentions on anthologists’ shortlists. Unfortunately, quality doesn’t guarantee sales.

As you’d expect, its roll call of authors was impressive, reading like a primer of “writers to watch” – Robert Shearman, Kaaron Warren, V.H. Leslie, Ray  Cluley, Karin Tidbeck, Gary McMahon, Stephen Bacon, Joel Lane, Andrew Hook and Nina Allen, to name just a few.

As for Michael Kelly, he’s a not only an editor, but a writer himself who is a Shirley Jackson Award and British Fantasy Award Nominee. Thankfully, Michael plans to continue with projects like The Year’s Best Weird Fiction and there will be a couple of other anthologies that he’s keeping under his hat for now.

Anyway, if you’re looking for something to read you could do worse than head over to Shadows & Tall Trees and buy yourself a copy of something beautiful while it’s still available.

Best Horror of the Year Volume 4 ebook at a bargain price

Best Horror of the Year Volume 4 is now available for $1.99 as an ebook from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

 

Table of Contents

“The Little Green God of Agony” by Stephen King (A Book of Horrors)
“Stay” by Leah Bobet (Chilling Tales)
“The Moraine” by Simon Bestwick (Terror Tales of the Lake District)
“Blackwood’s Baby” by Laird Barron (Ghosts by Gaslight)
“Looker” by David Nickle (Chilling Tales)
“The Show” by Priya Sharma (Box of Delights)
“Mulberry Boys” by Margo Lanagan (Blood and Other Cravings)
“Roots and All” by Brian Hodge (A Book of Horrors)
“Final Girl Theory” by A. C. Wise (Chizine #48)
“Omphalos” by Livia Llewellyn (Engines of Desire)
“Dermot” by Simon Bestwick (Black Static 24)
“Black Feathers” by Alison Littlewood (Black Static 22)
“Final Verse” by Chet Williamson (F&SF May/June)
“In the Absence of Murdock” by Terry Lamsley (House of Fear)
“You Become the Neighborhood” by Glen Hirshberg (The Janus Tree and Other Stories)
“In Paris, In the Mouth of Kronos” by John Langan (Supernatural Noir)
“Little Pig” by Anna Taborska (The Eighth Black Book of Horror)
“The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine” by Peter Straub (Conjunctions 56)

Horror Uncut: Tales of Social Insecurity and Economic Unease

Horror Uncut: Tales of Social Insecurity and Economic Unease from Gray Friar Press is now out, co-edited by Tom Johnstone and Joel Lane.

Table of Contents

A Cry for Help by Joel Jane, The Battering Stone by Simon Bestwick, The Ballad of Boomtown by Priya Sharma, The Lucky Ones by John Llewellyn Probert, The Sun Trap by Stephen Hampton, Only Bleeding by Gary McMahon, The Lemmy/Trump Test by Anna Taborska, Falling into Stone by John Howard, Pitchka by Laura Mauro, The Devil’s Only Friend by Stephen Bacon, The Procedure by David Williamson, Pieces of Ourselves by Rosanne Rabinowitz, A Matter of Simple Space by John Forth, The Privilege Card by David Turnbull, The Ghost at the Feast by Alison Littlewood, The Opaque District by Andrew Hook and No History of Violence by Thana Niveau

Tom Johnstone is an author and first-time editor.  After reading stories about the dismantling of the NHS by the late Joel Lane in the magazine Black Static and The Fourth Black Book of Horror, he suggested they collaborate on an austerity-themed anthology.  Tom’s post on the anthology is here.

Joel Lane passed away, aged 50, in Novemeber 2013. He was a British Fantasy Award winner and very highly thought of among the writing community.  Horror Uncut includes Joel’s ‘A Cry for Help’, which offers a darkly satirical representation of someone complicit in the privatization of the NHS.

As part of Manchester Metropolitan University’s Gothic Festival , Twisted Tales is hosting an evening exploring how the Gothic can critique the current mainstream political consensus surrounding poverty and the welfare state. There will be readings by authors from Horror Uncut  followed by a panel discussion and Q&A.  Twisted Tales of Austerity is on Friday 24th October 2014at Waterstones Bookshop on Deansgate, Manchester City Centre, from 12 noon-2pm. Tickets are £3.

 

 

British Fantasy Awards 2014

I’ve waxed lyrical about Carole Johnstone’s work before but I’m tremendously pleased that “Signs of the Times”, which appeared in Issue 33 of Black Static, won the British Fantasy Award 2014 short story category. It’s a fabulous, affecting story.

A massive congratulations to Carole and all the other winners who were announced on Sunday, 7 September 2014, at the awards banquet at FantasyCon 2014 in York:

Best fantasy novel (the Robert Holdstock Award): A Stranger in Olondria, Sofia Samatar (Small Beer Press)

Best horror novel (the August Derleth Award): The Shining Girls, Lauren Beukes (HarperCollins)

Best novella: Beauty, Sarah Pinborough (Gollancz)

Best short story: Signs of the Times, Carole Johnstone (Black Static #33)

Best anthology: End of the Road, Jonathan Oliver (ed.) (Solaris)

Best collection: Monsters in the Heart, Stephen Volk (Gray Friar Press)

Best small press: The Alchemy Press (Peter Coleborn)

Best comic/graphic novel: Demeter, Becky Cloonan

Best artist: Joey Hi-Fi

Best non-fiction: Speculative Fiction 2012, Justin Landon and Jared Shurin (eds) (Jurassic London)

Best magazine/periodical: Clarkesworld, Neil Clarke, Sean Wallace and Kate Baker (ed.) (Wyrm Publishing)

Best film/television episode: Game of Thrones: The Rains of Castamere, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (HBO)

Best newcomer (the Sydney J. Bounds Award): Ann Leckie, for Ancillary Justice (Orbit)

The British Fantasy Society Special Award (The Karl Edward Wagner Award): Farah Mendlesohn