Anthony Cowin

Paws: The Revenge.

2015-08-27T18:15:00.001+02:00

#InDogWeTrust

Science-fiction and horror – the perfect blend?

2015-07-05T19:29:00.000+02:00

A guest post from Alex Davis.

I've been wondering a great deal to myself lately about the correlation between SF and horror, which I think is in part due to having an SF book out but still actively writing horror 'on the side' of that main trilogy. I'm a big fan of both genres, although I would have to say that SF is done well far more often that horror is on the big screen. Finding a good SF film isn't a terribly rare occurrence, but finding a truly great horror film can be truly hard work. However one of the things that particularly floats my boat are those occasions where SF and horror combine, which is a genre blend for me that simply doesn't get done enough. So here's my top five examples of the subgenre...

1) Event Horizon. For me, personally, the daddy of them all. Fantastic performances, claustrophobic atmosphere and brilliant use of any number of horror tropes and some you don't tend to see as well. Genuinely twisted in places, and Sam Neill is on absolutely leading form here.

2) Alien. Yes, it is extremely good, and probably the obvious starting point for the genre. HR Giger's brilliant creations and some stunning good use of sound and visuals make this film genuinely edge of your seat stuff, and for me, a far superior film to the gung-ho action of the often-preferred Aliens. It's become so iconic with good reason.

3) Splice. For me personally this is a very under-rated movie, and stars a genuinely great actor in the shape of Adrien Brody. Looking at the dangers of genetic engineering, this film has a very strange and unsettling quality to it and a really human story at its heart. Well worth a look.

4) Existenz. By one of my favourite directors, David Cronenberg, this is another film that kind of went by without getting the credit it deserved. With echoes of Videodrome, this dark movie exploring the lines between reality and gaming, and features fine central performances all round.

5) Pandorum. Probably the darkest film on the list, this deep-space nightmare is a mind-bending tale of horror with elements of both the monster movie and psychological horror. A bit messy in places, but this one has a wonderful finale that really lifts this one for me.

To find out more about my debut novel, The Last War, visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00YQICMHQ

Find other guest posts from this blog-swap here- Alex Davis

The Nasty Snips Project from Pendragon Press

2015-04-04T17:31:00.001+02:00

Pendragon Press are a great independent publisher. I love the dedication to the work they produce. That dedication is evident in the quality of books they release, the writers they have published and the sublime artwork of their covers.

So I was thrilled when Pendragon owner Christopher Teague asked me to write a theme for a book trailer for the upcoming anthology, The Nasty Snips Project. This was an ideal request for a horror fan and musician. I spent some time working out exactly what to do. After I sent a piece to Chris with a few examples he pointed out what he liked, disliked and the route I should take. This advice, with the inspiration of the brilliant cover by Neil Williams, and my own love of soundtracks took me on a very experimental musical journey.

Each time I thought I had it nailed I felt something was missing. I cut bits, removed instruments, added new instruments, layered sampled sounds and messed about. It was great fun

Eventually settling on a part from the original example theme, adding guitars, strings and some crazy analogue synthesisers and manipulating samples of somebody saying 'nasty' I hit the right notes. Oh accidental pun. Anyway here's the finished trailer. Be sure to buy the book and share this as much as you like. :)

My reply to Mark's Blog challenge.

2015-04-03T16:38:00.003+02:00

I've been challenged by my friend Mark West to join in the Lovely Blog Hop to talk about some of the things that have shaped my life and my writing.

At the end of this post, you’ll find links to some blogs and writers I like. The writers have all agreed to participate in and continue this Lovely Blog Hop.

First memory.

It was around the time of my second birthday and I was sitting on a tricycle. One of those old heavy ones, so heavy I couldn't pedal it. The red and white rusting frame stood out against the concrete garden of the tenement square like a faded rainbow in an overcast sky. I remember being excited and happy climbing on the trike; though I have no idea if it was mine or if it belonged to one of the kids from the flats on the ground floor. Just sitting on it, unable to move its weight was a joy. I remember smiling and thinking it was the best day of my life- I have no idea if this is accurate as I can’t remember any other days before it.

Then out of the corner of my eye I see a kid approaching below the fluttering ghosts drying in the breeze from the upstairs balconies. He was older than me and scruffy like he’d just rolled off the back off the rag and bone man’s cart. I know I liked him, that he’d been a friendly face. But then he shouted at me, called me names I can’t remember and began hitting me hard in the arm. I wouldn't move though; couldn't make a quick getaway anyway and I had no intention of leaving the trike. I remember looking up at him through teary eyes and hoping he’d just wipe his nose. Looking at his sleeve I realised he had no more room.

Then I felt a smack. A flash of pain and the blue August sky became black. When I finally opened my eyes I saw a kid far too big for a trike pedalling off laughing and calling me a baby for crying. Then he rose up like he’d been summoned on his own personal Rapture. I too found my feet by invisible hands. My big brother had lifted me up, brushed me down, the bully’s mother had done the same to him, smacking his uncombed head as he flew inside the slamming door of the tenement flat.

I have flashes of memory around that time. Dark stairwells up to our neighbour’s flats above. Twisting and black, smelling of horrible things. A shadow of a cowboy approaching on my bedroom wall. An iron gate that creaked an entrance to a foreboding tenements on the hill above on us. They’re are all just glimpses, moments. Maybe I remember the trike as was that the first time I realised not all people were nice. A year later we moved far away into our own big house with gardens of grass rather than concrete. That's a more pleasant childhood memory. Moving day, sitting inside the footwell of a big truck approaching a new world with new adventures.

Books/Libraries.

I wasn't really a big reader as a child. I remember going to get my first library card with my primary school class and watching the bookshelves elongate like a pull focus when I looked at them. I was intimidated right there. I remember my school teacher shouting at me because I was the only one who hadn't selected a book. So I picked up one that had a picture of a dog called the Westminster Abbey Mystery or something like that. I spent a lot of time in London as a kid because my uncle owned a pub outside the Houses of Parliament. So I recognised the place in the title. I’d not long come back from the Abbey on a trip with my parents too.

Outside The Westminster Arms as a child. Loved pubs even then.

I never read that book. I hid it under a sofa cushion when I got home like it was a dirty secret. Many months later after moving it around various hiding spots it was discovered by my mum. I confessed and cried that it was overdue. I had to take it back to school and owned up. I didn't, I hid it again and said I’d returned it. And the guilt layered up. That put me off reading for a long time.

Then one summer I found some books in my brother’s room. He was doing a summer job working on a bin lorry. He brought home lots of treasures that my mum usually threw out. But these books were like gold from the muck. Pan Books of Horror, Fontana, and Arrow all manner of scary paperbacks with their terrifying covers struck something deep inside of me as they did him. It was as though something woke up inside of me. I’d hidden books from my mum because I never wanted to read them, yet he’d hidden them from her because he did. I only scanned the pages as I was terrified of discovering what happened to all those poor people on the blood soaked covers, also in case my brother came in. Or even worse my mum. But I slowly found out similar stories. But it wasn't until a couple of years into high school that I really began reading novels for pleasure. The delights of To Kill a Mockingbird was like finding home for me. After that I read everything I could find. I flew through English Literature classes and read the whole list once it was given every September; always having to pretend the books were new when we came to them in class.

This cover always terrified me.

Since then I've loved books. I've loved words and I look back at the Mystery of Westminster Abbey under that cushion and think of the huge waste of my childhood life without books. All because libraries and books were made to feel intimidating to me at an impressionable age. Something I've tried to avoid with my own children who thankfully both love books as much as I do. Yet I still feel like I'm an outsider in libraries even though I think of them as places of sanctuary from a hectic and pixel painted world.

What’s your passion?

My daughters are everything to me. Beside my family and writing I love music. I play piano and write songs in my spare time. I played in various bands in my younger days and loved every minute of it. The gigging, the studios and being part of a gang. Now music is something that I do alone so the brotherhood aspect is no longer there but the passion for writing music is stronger. When I'm in front of a piano or a keyboard I feel at home.

Me kids keep on rolling.

I have a home studio which is my real passion. Recording music. I once had my own recording studio and started building up a good client base in the mid to late 1990s. My dream came true after so much hard work. This was everything I’d wanted since being 13. Then I started to be ill a lot of the time and being in a band and starting a company wasn't ideal with that. I quit the band hoping I could still build on my work of trying to be a producer. But just as things took off and I got investment I got really ill. After a year of tests and deteriorating health I had to close my studio. You can’t let artists down and I was doing it more and more. I went off music for years after that. Eventually I couldn't move my fingers enough to play. I gave up. I had my kids and my life. Music had hurt me. Until it healed me in some ways years later. Now it is a real passion and in its own way a healer.

Writing.

I'm an accidental writer if a writer at all. I wrote my first story when I was 9 about a spacecraft that needed a special key to get home but the only other key was buried inside an Egyptian stone in the British Museum. My next was many years later after a Twilight Zone marathon. Me and my two best friends decided have a competition. We had to come up with a twist tale by the next morning. Mine was weak, my other mate‘s was terrible and the lad who suggested it had a great one.

But I caught the bug. My mum even bought me a second hand typewriter. I wrote in spurts now and again and wasted so much paper.

It wasn't until much later in my life that I found a voice in writing. I also found horror. It was right under my nose all along. You see I thought to be a writer I had to be ‘serious’. I joined an adult learning class for beginner writers. It was heavily focused on literature and that’s all I wrote for a long time. Until one day the tutor wrote a note on the bottom of one of my stories,

“Everything you write leans toward the supernatural or horror. You do it well. Go with it.”

That was all the encouragement I needed. Since then I've slowly built up a small body of published work. But I still feel like an accidental writer that walked through the wrong door.

Mark West's original post can be found here.

King For A Year: The Shining, reviewed by Anthony Cowin

2015-01-05T11:10:00.001+01:00

King For A Year: The Shining, reviewed by Anthony Cowin: The Bad Thing In Room 217: Stephen King’s The Shining “Wendy is an extraordinary woman.” “And your son is also extraordinary?” That t...

Horror News.

2014-06-29T15:36:00.001+02:00

Well it's been a long lonely time since I've been here. I've been riding a locomotive coupled with carriages of a busy life and actually being productive. So much so that I've had a good flow of publications in the past couple of months.

First to report on is a short story called 'The Television Made Me Do It' published in Dark Eclipse volume 34. The monthly e-mag from Dark Moon Books. With so many news stories pointing fingers at television and video games to conveniently explain away violence I wondered what if it was real. What if televisions did start telling people to go out an kill? I had so much fun writing the story, which in turn raised many questions, that I may revisit the theme in a longer format later on.

Next up I had the lovely surprise at being announced as the winner of the Summer Flash contest from Massacre Magazine. My story 'Black is the Brightest Colour' took top spot. As well as a monetary prize the story is also printed as the first feature in the print and e-mag of Massacre Magazine Issue #3. You can also read my winning story online here- Black is the Brightest Colour.

The next piece of news is difficult to report on at the moment as I don't have a release date. But it's a big one. My first single author published work will be available soon. It's a chapbook from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing's One Night Stand series. It's called The Brittle Birds. It's a story that mixes many forms of folklore and myth from the Huxwhukw cannibal birds of native Canada to Norse trolls, right through to western superstitions and ghosts. It's essentially the story of the last day of a man that lived a life plagued with monsters both internally and externally.

I'll post updates and buying links when I'm given a release date by the publisher. As always keep up with my horror fiction reviews at The Horrifically Horrifying Horror Blog here- Anthony Cowin Horror Reviews.

Until next time, take care and keep scared.

Writing on the Brain.

2014-05-01T10:47:00.000+02:00

I'm always intrigued about psychology behind the practice and communication of writing. How does our brain process the written word? How do we translate that into thoughts and ideas? Here's a smart infographic that goes a small way toward answering some of those questions.

The Unquiet House by Alison Littlewood

2014-04-11T15:53:00.000+02:00

Alison Littlewood has taken a risk in using a type of fractured tandem structure for her haunted house story. Supernatural tales are usually best left to a straightforward narrative that drives the reader along. But this isn’t a normal ghost story. This is a story of how ghosts are created and more importantly how they change the living world around them. The author took a risk and it paid off in spades.

The novel starts in present day. Nothing too unfamiliar here. A large country place called Mire House left in a will to Emma, a protagonist battling her own internal ghosts, a mystery surround the house and Charlie an uninvited relative from her childhood. While this territory may be familiar what follows is anything but.

The present is used like a framing device for two strands set in the past. The writing in the first part is haunting and beautifully written. It’s the kind of opening to a book that power companies love, as it’ll keep bedroom lights on all night across the country. Spectral visions, mysterious relatives showing up unannounced and terrifying events build to a horrifying crescendo. Then we’re swiftly transported back to the 1970s and meet a group of young boys daring each other to enter Mire House.

This is where we follow the path of the dark woman who haunts the house and the adjoining cemetery. Alison Littlewood never allows you enjoy the exploits of these young scamps for too long without reminding you of the ghosts that lurk and the dangers they pose.

Read the full review here- The Unquiet House by Alison Littlewood

Whitstable by Stephen Volk

2014-01-05T18:12:00.000+01:00

This understanding and the empathy it evokes in Cushing is the catalyst for the dark thriller that follows. Volk places enough doubt in the reader’s mind to empathise with Cushing while worrying he may be making a huge and damaging mistake. This tension suffuses each page with a nervous energy in the first half of the book.

This spiraling of uncertainty locked together with threats and lies had me turning the pages with real enthusiasm and anticipation

Read full review here- http://thehorrificallyhorrifyinghorrorblog.com/2014/01/04/whitstable-by-stephen-volk/

Children of the Night

2014-01-03T21:31:00.000+01:00

Here's a short and spooky horror theme I composed. It's not for anything in particular but to experiment with atmospheric horror music. Imagine a camera swooping over dark farmlands as the music plays. Car headlights dip and shine through twisting country roads in the distance. As the camera pulls up on a large house with dark windows the car also pulls into the driveway. As the headlights are switched off and the family step from the car we see a swing and a roundabout moving with no children nearby.

These are the Children of the Night.

The Crying Boy

2013-10-31T23:01:00.000+01:00

My short story, The Crying Boy, is featured in the Thrills, Kills 'n' Chaos site as part of their Halloween special. I'm overjoyed to have landed the actual Halloween night spot and than David Barber for showing faith in the story.

It's based on the legend of the Crying Boy painting. We had this picture hanging above our fireplace as a child and it always scared me. Tony Lovell recently reminded me of a long forgotten curse involving the painting involving house fires.

I took that inspiration and wondered what would happen if a fireman was called to his own home where his wife had hung the picture. The Crying Boy is the story that came from that germ. I hope you enjoy reading it. Any feedback, comments, shares or likes would be much appreciated.

Thank you, Anthony.

The Crying Boy

Moribund Tales by Erik Hofstatter

2013-10-30T15:43:00.002+01:00

Moribund Tales is a mix of campfire Gothic and rewritten urban legends.

"Erik Hofstatter’s Moribund Tales is a short anthology of very short tales written in a Poe influenced Gothic style. This toe dipping offers the right amount of time inside the warm treacle of words. Any longer gulping below the surface may leave some readers feeling breathless."

"So it was a wise choice between Hofstatter and his editor Lisa Knight to make these stories snapshots rather than epics. Because it works very much in the author’s favour."

Full review at The Horrifically Horrifying Horror Blog.

Lurker by Gary Fry

2013-10-15T18:11:00.002+02:00

I reviewed Gary Fry's upcoming cosmic horror novella from Dark Fuse for The Horrifically Horrifying Horror Blog.

Here's the opening of the review.

'Gary Fry treads similar territory in Lurker that he visited in his fantastic Novel ‘The Conjuring House’ also published by Dark Fuse. A move to the Moors, an imbalanced relationship and a missing child. Only this time it’s a miscarriage. This novella also journeys into the realm of cosmic horror, though with its feet firmly planted down to earth.

The author tricks you into believing you’re simply following a plot, stitching together clues and trying to understand the importance of the backstory. What he’s really doing is reaching into your mind with tentacles of fear that wriggle and scratch when you turn out the lights. Fry has the ability to set ancient monsters abroad in your imagination with terrifying precision.'

The review continues atLurker by Gary Fry- Review.

Please pop along and have a read. You'll also find a link to receive the book with a 33% discount link. So well worth taking a look.

Falling Over by James Everington

2013-10-10T13:13:00.000+02:00

I have a new review up at The Horrifically Horrifying Horror Blog for James Everington's fine collection of weird tales.

There are eight stories and two flashes pieces, all written with great style and an expansive imagination.

‘The Time of Their Lives’. An almost magical and occultist take on death and old age. It’s a story filled with childhood innocence that helps the reader peek through gaps of light as the author tries to shut the doors in our face. Eventually the doors are swung open and what we find is poetic and sad.

Why not check out the full review by clicking the link below.

Review- Falling Over by James Everington.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JUG FACE STAR, LAUREN ASHLEY CARTER.

2013-09-02T21:30:00.000+02:00

I recently had a chat with the star of Jug Face, Lauren Ashley Carter. I'm sure her name and face will be familiar with horror fans due to her brilliant performances in The Woman and Jug Face. Lauren gave some fascinating answers and had wonderful insights into horror films and the genre in general. Read the full interview here-

http://thehorrificallyhorrifyinghorrorblog.com/2013/08/31/exclusive-interview-with-jug-face-star-lauren-ashley-carter/

"In horror, the gift is sharing the fear. We’ve all seen some horror films, or thrillers for that matter, where the protagonist seems only mildly annoyed at the masked man following her, so why should we be afraid if she isn't? One of my favorite moments in sharing the fear is Mia Farrow at the end of Rosemary’s Baby. That look on her face when she sees her child affirms every horrible image that we've been conjuring up during the film. And it’s unforgettable."

Above the City. Sci-fi Theme Music.

2013-08-14T00:46:00.000+02:00

I wrote this minute long piece to attempt constructing a science fiction theme that may later develop into a longer work. This is a thumbnail of the bigger picture.

Make Your Own House of Horror.

2013-08-13T16:39:00.000+02:00

Have you ever been sitting there alone at night worried that all the ghosts and killers are someplace else having a good time? Yeah me too. I thought it would be so much easier if I could have my own haunted house. But as I live in a small place I need small houses. Thankfully I discovered a site that can help me and you.

What's that you hear from the window? Is that a silhouette of your mother calling? It can be now with a free project to build your own Bates House. You'll have to find a mini mummified mother to pop in there yourself however. Then pop over to Haunted Dimensions and check out there fantastic projects.

Click the photo to find the Bates House.

Just click the link and follow the instructions. What's that you say, you don't like serial killers for breakfast you prefer toast? Oh you prefer a ghost. Well if demonic possession is your thing then why not try the The Amityville House? Don't worry about repossession as this is free, no mortgage is needed. Possession may be a problem though.

Click the photo to find The Amityville House.

There's plenty more ghoulish projects on the site. If you like it why not donate a little too. Just never donate your soul.

Promise Me: Tara Fox Hall Talks Vampires, Books and Cat Beds.

2013-07-26T13:00:00.002+02:00

Gone Dark is delighted to have Tara Fox Hall over to discuss her new book, Taken for His Own, book #4 in her paranormal romantic drama Promise Me series. Tara Fox Hall is the author of the paranormal fantasy Lash series and the paranormal romantic drama Promise Me series. Tara divides her free time unequally between writing novels and short stories, chainsawing firewood, caring for stray animals, sewing cat and dog beds for donation to animal shelters, and target practice.

GD: Hi Tara. I guess the first question our readers would like to know is what drew you to vampire stories?

TFH: Hi. I’ve loved vampires since I saw Frank Langella in the first “hot vampire” version of Dracula years ago. That love intensified in my later teens with The Lost Boys, and reading Interview with the Vampire, along with anything vampire I could get my hands on. But I wanted more than the evil monster chasing young virgins; more than the sweet, misunderstood handsome fanged stranger that becomes the perfect mate for the woman who captures his heart after so many lone centuries. I wanted a vampire so well-crafted in detail that I could believe he was real. I wanted something different to happen in the story, other than girl becomes vampire, or vampire becomes dust. I wanted passion, tragedy, romance, suspense, action, and the haunting sweetness of poetry and song floating on a soft night breeze. So I penned my own vampires.

GD: Could you tell me about your latest book?

TFH: My latest book is Taken for His Own, the fourth instalment in my Promise Me Series. It takes up where the third book left off. Sar had done her best to rebuild her life when her fiancé Theo went missing. She’s partnered with her former vampire lover Danial to raise Theo’s daughter Elle (Elle’s natural mother is dead from childbirth complications). She’s also had a child of her own with Danial, Theoron, and is trying to come to terms with her inevitable turning from human to vampire. When she finds out Theo’s alive, she can’t stop herself from journeying west to find him, and confront him about where he’s been for the last year and a half. This is where Taken for His Own begins. After a passionate reunion and a hasty marriage, the two lovebirds are headed back east. But picking up the pieces is far from easy. While Danial is accepting of Theo’s return, Elle prefers her vampire adoptive father over Theo. More than one enemy is waiting in the wings, making repeat attempts on Sar’s life. Add into the mix Devlin, Sar’s old enemy who’s now turned good guy, and a new paramour for Danial and you've got a powder keg primed to explode.

GD: Is there a message in your book that you want readers to grasp?

TFH: That it’s never too late to take control of your destiny…and that you are the only one that really ever can. You may not be able to control what happens to you, but you can always control how you react to events. And that it’s important to always try to do the right thing…but that isn't always possible.

GD: The big question. After this book, what is next?

TFH: There will be more books in this series. Two more will this year, Immortal Confessionsand Her Secret, with more in 2014 and 2015, until the series is done. The next instalment in the Lash Series, Revenge, will be out this fall, and hopefully my second anthology of short suspense/horror stories will also be published. There's also the first Promise Me anthology and a Latham’s Landing anthology this fall. A new Lash short story,“Spiritwalker”, will début in the Shifters charity anthology from Hazardous Press, and I also have a short story called “The Lie” in the anthology Brief Grislys, both due out in a month or less. I'm also working on a sequel to my transgender short Grow a Pair, and another compilation of BDSM stories for the late summer/fall.

GD: Where can our readers keep up to date with your work?

TFH: I constantly update all projects on my website here-

Website: www.tarafoxhall.com

GD: Thank you Tara. Before you go could you give our readers have a taste of the new book in the Promise Me series, Taken for His Own, please?

Taken for His Own excerpt:

“What about what you did to me?” I whispered, gazing at him and biting my lip.

“That wasn’t a whim,” Devlin said, dropping his eyes. “That was my bad judgment. Sadly, it wasn’t the worst mistake I’ve made in my life.”

“What was?”

Devlin didn’t answer. I reached out and took his cool hand in mine.

“When you lead others you must do whatever you have to in order to save your people,” he said with a sigh. “Compromising values should matter less than saving lives.”

“I agree with you,” I said. “If you rule others, you have a responsibility to them above the responsibility to yourself. But even then, I think your family should come first.”

“They should,” Devlin said in a cracked voice. He swallowed hard. “But the past can’t be undone.”

I squeezed his hand. “What happened to Danial wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes, it was,” he said softly.

“How is it your fault?” I said curiously, easing closer to him.

“Because I should have known what the thing was when it attacked. I didn’t know anything back then, except strategy and tactics. I was too concerned about rising through the ranks as fast as possible, so I could leave my family behind and become someone important.”

“What did you want to be?”

“A commander of men, either soldiers or police.”

I was surprised that Devlin would want to uphold the law or spend his life guarding others. Yet it made sense. When he’d taken me from my house years ago, he’d insisted on taking me to Danial, because I wore the choker. He was here putting himself in danger now to keep me safe.

“I knew something had attacked a few people on that road in that last month,” he continued. “I knew that there was a chance we might be attacked transporting the prisoner. But the road was the quickest way to our destination. I’d been assured that if I made the journey in good time, I’d get the promotion I wanted, and Danial would get my old position.”

“You aren't at fault for what you did. It wasn't for an evil reason.”

“Yes, I am,” he said despondently. “It was my greed and pride that doomed us.”

Carefully, I reached for Devlin and put my arms around him. He tensed at my touch, then relaxed.

“You did the best you could. You aren't damned.”

“Yes, I am. You have no idea what I’ve done.”

I shifted uneasily.

“And I wouldn’t want you to,” Devlin added, his arms snaking around me loosely. “My ends have always justified the means, no matter what they were. I’ve done great evil in the hope of averting worse evil. Sometimes it worked and sometimes not. Still, it’s likely that given the chance to do my life over, I’d do the same things, make the same choices. I’d find myself here, at this same point in time, a fallen king.”

“In case you’re wondering,” I said deliberately. “I’m waiting for you to add into your speech somewhere that you regret everything you did to me while you were king…um, ruler.”

“I regret hurting you,” Devlin said quickly. “Yet I don’t regret coming for you that night or taking you to Danial.” He looked up at me. “You might not have gone back to Danial after Theo went missing, if I hadn't. Theoron might not be here. I can’t regret any action of mine that led to him being born.”

I didn’t reply, considering his words.

Devlin laid his head against my chest, and his arms tightened on me slightly. We lay there like that for a few moments, not speaking, then I slipped into sleep.

I woke sometime later when Devlin stirred. According to the bedside clock, it was almost dusk.

“I have only one regret,” Devlin said finally, propping himself up on his elbow, his expression intent.

“What’s that?” I said, covering my yawn with my hand.

“That it wasn't me you found in your quarry that night,” Devlin said, kissing the back of my hand with cool lips. His golden eyes locked on mine, transfixing me, as he drew my hand away from my face.

He was going to kiss me. My lips parted as my breath caught in my throat.

***

Book Title: Taken for His Own (Promise Me Series #4) – Vampire romance

Format: print and e-book
Pages: 247
Date Released: late April 2013

Blurb: After learning Theo is alive, Sar immediately embarks on a mission to find him. Reunited, the lovers return to New York; Danial, Terian and Theo uneasily combining forces to protect Sar from Al’s assassins still seeking her. But when Sar is taken prisoner in an all-out attack, only one man can save her: her old adversary, Devlin.

Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Taken-For-His-...dp/B00CZ4IGC8/
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taken-For-Hi...dp/B00CZ4IGC8/
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/319416
Melange/lulu link for Print, PDF and HTML copies: http://www.melange-books.com/authors...forhisown.html
All Romance E-books: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/pro...15939-140.html
Barnes and Noble.com: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/take...all/1115457885

I Want To Build A Minecraft Wife

2013-07-09T18:22:00.000+02:00

I want to play on Minecraft

Build myself a brand new life

With a little blocky family

And a beautiful Minecraft wife.

I’ll spend all day just building

A relationship of bricks

Protect her from the creepers

With a few quick keyboard clicks

I want to play on Minecraft

It’s not some passing fad

Because I feel emotions

With the help of my touchpad

When I’ve build a fortress

And had enough crafty fun

I’ll shut down the software

And sign up,

To Match.com

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“Now when I die, I shall only be dead.” Goodbye Richard Matheson.

2013-06-25T13:40:00.000+02:00

My first experience of a Richard Matheson story is probably the same as most people, watching Captain Kirk being driven insane as a man in a woolly suit tormented him from the wing of an aeroplane. I was massive fan of The Twilight Zone as a kid; I still am I guess and along with Charles Beaumont and Rod Serling, Matheson brought some of the most fantastic monochrome tales into my living room. Tales I've never forgotten.

Matheson wasn't just a horror or sci-fi writer, he was a sci-if writer. What if a man was covered in a reflective mist that caused him to shrink to the size of a fly? What if a stranger offered a cash strapped couple a box that would bring them wealth but also cause somebody they know to die? Would you press the button?

That’s what the best writers do. They ask us the questions and let our imagination ride along with their own. Matheson did this throughout his career with great skill.

Of course his stories were never far from our televisions. Everything from Spielberg’s debut ‘Duel’ to the adaptation of Dennis Wheatley’s ‘The Devil Rides Out’. And who can forget Karen Black being hunted by a possessed Zuni fetish doll in Matheson’s ‘Trilogy of Terror’?

In later years I would discover Richard Matheson as a novelist and short story writer. In fact another of those horror films that played on my childhood TV set ‘The Omega Man’ was based on his superb novel ‘I, Am Legend’. That book along with, ‘A Stir of Echoes’ which was later released as a film starring Kevin Bacon and ‘Bid Time Return’, filmed as ‘Time and Again’ became some of my favourite novels of all time.

I won’t list all of Matheson’s credits here, I’m sure you all know them and they'll be elsewhere for you to discover if you don’t. But we have lost a great mind who gave so much to the genres of horror and sci-fi. He inspired my imagination along with some of the heavyweights like the aforementioned Spielberg and of course Stephen King. I know his films, TV episodes and books will always be there for us, yet I feel he left a different legacy behind. He left the romance of imagination for other writers to discover. That’s something I’m sure would make him proud.

Because like his friend Jack Finney, Richard Matheson was never about the here and now, he was always about the past and the future combined.

Richard Matheson February 20, 1926 - June 23, 2013

Red Ink And Blood On The Tarmac.

2013-06-17T18:38:00.000+02:00

I’m proud to announce that I won last week’s challenge at RR Kovar and Colleen Foley's 'The Prediction'.

It’s a simple process. Three words are selected at random and you have to write a story in a hundred words or less including those random three. This form is called a drabble and as flash fiction goes it's a lot more difficult than you'd think.

Last week for example the words were- Defeat, Crafty and Malefaction. Here’s my winning drabble using those.

Child Safety Locks As Standard

His car smelt of sugar and salt. My favourite boyband drifted from the grille under the missing window winder.

"Need a lift to school?"

I was late, left my homework till this morning. Four locks snapped.

"Child safety as standard." he grinned.

He was crafty, pulling into a layby. He killed the engine and grabbed my skirt.

Blood sprayed from his neck as he jerked like a drowning fish.

I twisted my red pen from his Adam’s apple and finished marking my student’s homework. My twitching malefaction stopped, defeated bedside me.

I’d make it back for lunch. Friday is fish day.

***

Speaking of flash fiction competitions I received news of a great looking one in my inbox this morning. The NOTLP’s first Flash Horror Contest is being judged by the Bram Stoker award-nominated author Jeremy C. Shipp.

Submission guidelines:

Word Count: 1000 words or less.

Reading Period: July 1 through July 31, 2013

Genre: Horror. The guest judge particularly enjoys character-based tales, vivid imagery, dark humor, unique monsters.

For full submission guide and details please visit-

CONTEST: NOTLP’s Flash Horror Contest 2013

'The Fox' by Conrad Williams.

2013-06-10T14:40:00.000+02:00

If there’s one reason I enjoy the chapbook format it’s due to the sharp arc required in its restricted size. It allows us into the characters world just long enough to discover what haunts, or more often, what is about to haunt their lives. 'The Fox' by Conrad Williams is the third limited edition signed instalment from the This Is Horror chapbook series. It's also my favourite so far. I even enjoyed the cover art by Neil Williams that hints at something sinister skulking between the pages.

With ‘The Fox’ the reduced form doesn't hinder but actually strengthens Conrad Williams own storytelling style. This layered tale deceives the reader into thinking they've read a much longer piece. Such is the skill of Williams as a writer.

A family camping trip for a stressed and overworked editor starts to disassemble when a blot of animal blood on sheets of snow scratches at his brain like red ink on the page. With a wife and young daughter to worry about, and a mid-life crisis collecting wood to stoke fires in his life, the narrator falls into self-analysis. Do the animal slaughters have their roots in his youth? Is it karma calling to collect?

This is more than man versus nature; this is man versus his past.

Williams interweaves some clever clues into this story. His wife Kit, the name for a small fox, suffers from a condition known as Raynaud's syndrome. This is a disease that sounds very close to the mythical Reynard the Fox. His daughter is also called Megan which was either a subconscious leak by Williams or a nudging joke toward the Transformers actress.

Though these may simply be playful games, Conrad Williams also displays his ability to stitch through many threads that belie the short word count here. The peek into the narrator's past could be a story in itself.

'The Fox' is a rich story about the passing of time in one’s own life and how closely reflected that is to death. It’s also about secrets and regret. But mostly it’s a thrilling tale that will keep you turning the pages as you devour the elegant writing of the author.

'The Fox' is available from This Is Horror website here- 'The Fox' by Conrad Williams.

Or why not be sure you'll never miss out by becoming a Premium Subscriber here-
This Is Horror Premium Chapbooks Annual Subscription.

Keep up to date with Conrad's writing at his website here- Conrad Williams.

The Ravenglass Eye

2013-05-15T13:45:00.002+02:00

Ravenglass Eye is part love story of Cumbria and its people, and part horror of what lurks deep within us all. Edie is a Londoner relocated to Ravenglass due to her grandfather’s love letters to her grandmother. Each part of the book is driven by these letters and it’s a good device to link love in the past to the anger of the present.

It’s a slow starter of a book and I wondered where Tom Fletcher was leading me. We had nice descriptions of everyday life in a country pub interjected with a curious animal sacrifice. None of it appeared to be connected at first. Then it hits with a bang as Fletcher twists and weaves the plot and its characters in many dark directions. We have bigoted Little Englanders, immigrants trying to work hard to be accepted and the frictions that certain tabloids stoke between these two groups. It’s not long before murder and the supernatural take us on a terrifying ride through the mountains of the Lake District.

Fletcher builds the tension throughout the book with skill. Edie and the Candle, her otherworldly guide, have a battle of wills. The economic and political frictions tear people apart. It also examines how the isolation of living in a place like Ravenglass causes depression and an austerity of love. This is all set to the backdrop of the notorious Sellafield nuclear plant and the Eskdale weapons testing centre, and the dark expanse of the Irish Sea that stretches out of that coast.

Of course being a Tom Fletcher book we are treated to some fine supernatural horror. The Candle has plans for our world and Edie in her craving to fulfill her potential opens up a doorway to a place darker than Hell. This conflict between good and evil ramps the horror in the final third of the novel.

It’s metaphysical, Dantesque description of evil aboard are surreal and beautiful to read. Yes it’s bloodcurdling as hell and yes it’s a very dark section of the book. But this jump from a James Herbert style English country horror to cinematic brutality akin to Pasolini is a great asset and Fletcher’s forte.

Buy ‘The Ravenglass Eye’ if you love horror and are prepared to hitch a ride from a cosy English rose garden to the Inferno.

Ravenglass Eye by Tom Fletcher is published by Jo Fletcher Books.

Purchase 'The Ravenglass Eye' at Amazon UK.

Purchase 'The Ravenglass Eye at Amazon USA.

When Good Kids Go Bad. 'Let's Play Games'.

2013-03-29T19:14:00.000+01:00

My second story to feature in 10 Days of Madness 'Let's Play Games' is definitely inspired by a book that rocked me in my teen years. Mendal Johnson’s Let’s Go Play at the Adams’. If you've never read the book I urge you to give it a go. It speaks of something utterly dark and repulsive hidden inside the human psyche. It’s something that can escape so easily if the planets of insanity align just the right way.

Of course the cruelty and shock value in Johnson’s 1974 horror novel relies on the people inflicting the violence being children. It's a taboo subject to use a child that becomes a killer in fiction, we've all witnessed the horrific legacy of such cases in reality. Of course the book is based on real life events. It loosely taps into the murder case of Silvia Likens as a basis for the escalating violence and insanity. Jack Ketchum also used the Likens case as the base for his equally disturbing novel, ‘The Girl Next Door’.

Ever since I read Let’s Go Play at the Adams when I was a thirteen year old kid it’s compelled me to investigate the dark nature of such fiction. I must admit I sneaked the book from my brother’s bedside cabinet and put it back after reading a few pages. It wasn't until I was sixteen that I finally found the nerve to read the novel to the end.

While the new millennium brought torture porn to our screens nothing really came close to Johnson’s novel. It’s not about the horrific and debasing events but more about the sliding of man into monster; or in this case children into chilling killers. Other cinematic comparisons may include the French thriller ‘Ils’, Michael Haneke’s 1997 'Funny Games' or even 'Martyrs'.

I have an idea for a novel, or certainly a novella on the back-burner that touches on this theme. Unfortunately I've never found the nerve to sit down and write it. Maybe one day and hopefully soon now that my short tale 'Let’s Play Games' is out there in the big bad world for all to see.

The Thief of Hunger and Other Tales.

2013-03-25T11:00:00.001+01:00

Did you hear the one about the mermaid and the crazy genius inventor? No? Well you can today if you pop over to Chris Allinotte’s ‘Leaky Pencil’ and read my story ‘The Thief of Hunger’ for free. It’s part of the continuing Days of Madness that Chris has hosted for the past three years.

This time around Chris has pushed it up to ten days, which includes twenty short tales based on the theme of frenzy. We've already been treated to seven fantastic and varied tales. With three more today and the rest to follow each day this week there's a lot of quality writing to keep you entertained through this wintry springtime.

There’s something for every reader too. Check out Richard Godwin’s extreme piece ‘Saturation Point’, Benjamin Sobieck’s haunting ‘EVP’, Angel Zapata’s twisting ‘The Frantic and the Dead’ for example. While my mermaid tale isn't exactly horror, it is a chilling fantasy and quite bizarre. In contrast my upcoming story on Friday, ‘Let’s Play Game’s’ is a brutal violent slice of horror.

"Their tails flicking in curls, shimmering like silver dollar coins dropped into a wishing well". The Thief of Hunger.

Along with ‘The Thief of Hunger’ today, we are also treated to the return of Donald Jacob Uitvlugt with, ‘Trick or Treat’ and ‘A Mythical and Astonishing Woman’ by J. J. Steinfeld.

Please read those and all the other great stories while you can. Because as soon as '10 Days of Madness' is over all stories will be compiled and sold as an anthology.