All the latest Shadow Writer news and announcements.   Current news can be viewed here 2023 news can be viewed here 2022 news can be viewed here 2021 news can be viewed here 2020 news can be vieweed here 2019 news can be viewed here 2018 news can be viewed here 2017 news can be viewed here 2016 news can be found here 2015 news can be viewed here 2014 news can be viewed here 2013 news can be viewed here 2012 news can be viewed here 2010 news can be viewed here 2009 news can be viewed here 2008 news can be viewed here 2007 news can be viewed here 2006 news can be viewed here 2005 news can be viewed here 2004 news can be viewed here 2003 news can be viewed here December Extra The Shadow Writer site brings you news now from Hammer films of a fantastic competition: Daniel Radcliffe, the star of upcoming ghost story chiller, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, has launched an initiative to find the UK and Ireland’s scariest story.  He is urging budding writers to submit their own original short story to THE WOMAN IN BLACK YouTube channel.  The winning entry will be recorded by Radcliffe and included on THE WOMAN IN BLACK DVD and the winner will win a trip to London to attend the Premiere of THE WOMAN IN BLACK in early 2012. Daniel Radcliffe announced the competition with a reading of an iconic scene from Susan Hill’s original novella. Radcliffe adds some advice for potential entrants, “For all you budding writers out there remember that it’s 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration so good luck and I can’t wait to see what spooky stories you guys come up with in the coming months” The competition will run exclusively on YouTube.   Entrants have to upload short videos of themselves reading their original ghost story through the film’s official YouTube page - www.youtube.com/thewomaninblackmovie.  The competition closes on the 20th of December 2011, whereupon ten finalists will be chosen and voted for by the public.  The winner will be announced on the 6th of January 2012. A full set of terms and conditions are available on the YouTube channel. ---------------------------------   December © Bob Keen We begin this month’s update with news of another Hellraiser project Paul has been working on for some time. Hellraisers is a book of interviews conducted with the people behind the film mythos over the years and will be published by Avalard. This from the press release that went live last week: September 2012 sees the 25th anniversary of the iconic Hellraiser film and the subsequent franchise. Based on the novel The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, Hellraiser cemented itself in the minds of filmgoers everywhere through the image of Pinhead (actor Doug Bradley), and grew into one of the most influential horror films of the 1980s. Avalard Publishing is delighted to announce the signing of award-winning writer Paul Kane’s book Hellraisers for their 2012 slate. Hellraisers is a brand new collection of interviews with the cast and crew of the Hellraiserfilms, many of whom have never spoken about the series before in print. The book includes all new and exclusive interviews with Clive Barker (writer and director of the first movie, plus creator of the mythology); an extensive interview with Doug Bradley (Pinhead) covering his involvement with the series; Ashley Laurence (Kirsty from Hellraiser, Hellbound and Hellseeker); Clare Higgins (Julia fromHellraiser and Hellbound); Nicholas Vince (Chatterer Cenobite); Simon Bamford (Butterball Cenobite); Bob Keen (FX man on Hellraisers I-III / Nightbreed / Candyman); Peter Atkins (Scriptwriter ofHellraisers II-IV); Christopher Young (composer for Hellraisers I-II); Tony Randel (director of Hellbound: Hellraiser II); Barbie Wilde (Female Cenobite from Hellbound); Kenneth Cranham (Dr. Channard from Hellbound); Anthony Hickox (director of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth); Ken Carpenter (Camerahead Cenobite from Hell on Earth); Kevin Yagher (director of Hellraiser: Bloodline, as well as the FX man behind Chucky and the Crypt keeper); Gary J. Tunnicliffe (FX man onHellraisers III-VIII, screenwriter on the new movie). Hellraisers also includes many exclusive behind-the-scenes pictures, which will make this an essential purchase for fans of the films and Clive Barker alike. Hellraisers will be published by Avalard in the third quarter of 2012. To register interest in the title send an email to orders@avalardpublishing.com with the title of the book in the subject line.’ To view the full thing click here and keep checking back for more news on the book itself.   ------------------------------ Paul and Marie had a great time as Guests at the Thought Bubble convention in Leeds last month, as you can see from the picture of them signing at the Travelling Man table above. Below are a few more pictures from the weekend (including the promo from friends of the SW site, Hellbound Media, but there’ll be a gallery of photos from it coming soon – along with the one for WFC.       In the meantime, you can find a comprehensive gallery of photos from FantasyCon 2011 here ------------------------------------ Paul and Marie also did a signing at Waterstone’s in Nottingham at the end of November. You can see a few photos from this above and below, including a shot of Bridlesmith Gate with the Christmas lights up.           ------------------------------------ Above you’ll find a terrific trailer to the Sherlock Holmes anthology Paul contributed to, Gaslight Arcanum, spotlighting all the authors involved. Reviews having been coming in of the book from places like FlamesRising, Examiner.com and Amazon.com; below is what these have said about Paul’s story ‘The Greatest Mystery’: ‘This is one of the more gripping stories in the book.’ ‘...Pits Holmes and Watson against their greatest opponent.’ ‘An excellent story ...that can be enthusiastically called a true horror...This is one that will stay with you...’  Paul also took part in an online event at the Bitten By Books site on November 30 – December 1 to promote this release from Edge Publishing, where readers could ask questions of the authors.  --------------------------------- Paul’s new collection from PS, The Butterfly Man and Other Stories, has also received a glowing review from the genre’s premier review magazine Tangent – four times Hugo and a World Fantasy Award nominee. Here are selected highlights of what reviewer Colleen Chen had to say: ‘When I first received Butterfly Man for review, I planned to read just a few stories a day, as the collection has 18 stories and appears quite long. But once I started, I was transfixed. I ended up spending the entire day reading. And once I finished, I probably could have rattled off synopses of every story, without looking at the book again once – they’re that unforgettable... Five of the stories here are originals to the collection. “The Greatest Mystery” is the first. Narrated by Dr. Watson, this is a Sherlock Holmes tale with a particularly sinister twist....As it’s written true to Dr. Watson’s voice and is a fitting addition to the Holmes legend, I believe that if you like Sherlock Holmes, you’ll like “The Greatest Mystery.”... In the next original story, “It’s All Over,” successful writer Brian is haunted by his wife—by the affair he had, by his last words to her—“it’s all over”—and now, literally, by what appears to be her, standing outside his home every night and calling his name, six months after her death by suicide. As he truly regrets his mistakes, he wonders if he’s being given a second chance with her. Once again, we see the theme of the successful man who treats a woman wrong, and gets punished by her in an appropriately bloodthirsty manner. Kane follows his formula predictably, although the particular way he fulfils it in the end is a surprise, and quite well done in my opinion. I think that “The Butterfly Man,” another original, is the best of the stories in the entire collection. It tells the story of Daren Grant, the man who was born and died of old age all within 24 hours, and the nurse, Yvette, who cared for and loved him. He was nicknamed by the public under the misconception that butterflies live only 24 hours...Although this story has a sad ending like most of Kane’s other stories, we’re told what it is right at the start, so there’s none of that hope being harboured throughout the story that this might be the one time Kane decides to give the characters a break. As it is, the ending feels complete and isn’t actually all that sad. The story is rich and thought-provoking, bringing up issues of aging, love, and motherhood, among other things. There is tension and emotional layers, and no horror; I found this a story to really savour. “Rag and Bone,” on the other hand, is definitely a horror story, and is packed with gore and creepy legend from the first moment... This is a story I never, ever want to see made into a movie, as the images in it are visceral enough in my own head... Kane does a very effective job of creating an atmosphere here. Very little violence is actually committed during the course of the story, but enough is implied, with glances here and there of piles of body parts, that we get a sense of long-drawn-out creepiness without any sharp spikes of horror. The other thirteen stories in the collection range from the gory (“Masques” and “Nine Tenths”) to the funny (“A Chaos Demon is for Life” and “Humbuggered,” which is a particularly clever take on the Scrooge story), to the absurd and slightly funny but also gory (“Life-o-Matic” and “Speaking in Tongues”). My favourites are the funny, non-gory ones, where I felt I got to take a breath and laugh a bit (albeit nervously, not quite believing that no one was going to get disembowelled or chopped to bits in a particular story)...I don’t think there’s a single story in this collection that could be considered “filler.” It’s a strong and varied set of stories that will hold most readers spellbound all the way through.’ The title story mentioned ‘The Butterfly Man’ has also been selected for Tangent’s Year End Recommended Reading List. To read the full detailed review, simply click here. You can buy the signed edition of the book here and the unsigned edition here. --------------------------------- The Shadow Writer site now welcomes Steve Mosby as its Guest for this festive season. Steve is, of course, the author of such stunning books as The Third Person (above), The Cutting Crew, The 50/50 Killer, Cry for Help and Still Bleeding. To read an extract from his latest book Black Flowers (below), just click here. ---------------------------------- As mentioned last month, Paul will be at the BFS Christmas Open Night in London on 9th December, at The Mug House pub at London Bridge. Hopefully he’ll see some of you there. But whatever you’re doing, have a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year! ------------------------------------ November Another late update for November, due to Paul being in San Diego at the World Fantasy Convention (above). He had a fantastic time and below you’ll find just a few photos from the trip, including the panel Paul was on about Faustian Pacts, his reading from Gaslight Arcanum at the Edge publishing launches, and the WFC 2013 Brit party. More pictures to come soon in a comprehensive WFC Gallery!    The convention hotel, set against the gorgeous backdrop of palm trees   Paul enjoying a quiet moment in the sun   Paul on the ‘If Wishes Were Horses Panel’ moderated by World Fantasy Award-winner Guy Gavriel Kay (sitting next to Paul).   Paul reading his story ‘The Greatest Mystery’ at the launch of Gaslight Arcanum   © Charles Prepolec And the Sherlock Holmes anthology itself   Paul with Marie and Michael Marshall Smith at the WFC 2013 Brit Party ---------------------------------- It was at the Brit Party that the committee also announced their MC for the 2013 event, none other than China Miéville (above), multiple award-winning and best-selling author of books like King Rat, Kraken and The City & The City (below). So, to book your place at the event just click here ---------------------------------------------- Returning to the Holmes theme for just a moment, Paul was also at the launch party for Ilsa J. Bick’s new novel, Ashes, at Marylebone – not far away from Baker Street (as you can see from the statue above). The novel (above) is the first in a trilogy of zombie adventures, and the event itself was introduced by horror editor and expert Stephen Jones – who compared the book to the likes of King’s The Stand. Below is Ilsa herself, signing copies of the book... ------------------------------------------ More YA horror action now, as we bring you our Guest Writer for November: Will Hill, author of the blockbusting Department 19! To read this exclusive extract from the HarperCollins novel, click here, or to find out more about the mythology of the series visit the website here ---------------------------------------------- Paul’s touching supernatural story ‘Grandpa’s Chair’ was reprinted over the holiday season in the special Halloween edition of Estronomicon magazine (above). To visit the site click here or to download the magazine just click here ---------------------------------------- And Paul has a brand new story called ‘Words to the Wise’ appearing in the anthology Phobophobia (above), edited by Dean Drinkel. The book is being launched at Forbidden Planet and the BFS Christmas Open Night in London on 9th December. -------------------------------------- Finally, just as a reminder Paul and Marie are Guests at the Leeds comic convention ‘Thought Bubble’, which also features the likes of Zombo creator Al Ewing, Dr Who comic scribe Tony Lee and co-creator of Watchmen (above), Dave Gibbons. They’ll be there 19th and 20th November, so to book your place visit the website here   In addition to this, Paul and Marie will also be appearing at Waterstone’s in Nottingham on November 26th to sign copies of their books. But in the meantime above and below you can see pictures from the Sheffield Waterstone’s Hellbound Hearts event with bestselling author Conrad Williams.   ------------------------------------ October A late update this month, because of FantasyCon – but worth the wait! The biggest FCon of all time with well over 500 people attending, the event was a massive success and you can read a few reports already on the internet that have cropped up: at Fantasy Faction here, Sci-Fi Now here and on Adam Nevill’s blog here. Above is a photo of Paul with Guest of Honour, OBE, Brian Aldiss and – on the right – author of The Prestige Christopher Priest, but there’ll be a full gallery of pictures coming soon... ------------------------------------ As part of the weekend, Paul’s PS collection The Butterfly Man And Other Stories received its launch on the Saturday at 5pm. Lots of books were sold and signed as you can see from the pictures both above and below, which include publisher Peter Crowther behind the mike and cover artist Dominic Harman sitting next to Paul.     Now officially on sale, you can buy the signed edition here and the unsigned edition here. ------------------------------------ Three more reviews of the book have also appeared. The first is from The Eloquent Page, who say: ‘My first exposure to Paul Kane’s work was the rather brilliant post apocalyptic remix of Robin Hood that he wrote for Abaddon Books as part of the Afterblight Chronicles series. The trilogy was set in my adopted hometown of Nottingham, and I loved every minute of it... The Butterfly Man & Other Stories contains eighteen horrific tales that should delight any horror fan. I have been sat here for the last half an hour trying to decide which of the stories were my favourites, a near impossible task when all of them are so damn good. After much umming and ahhing here, in no particular order, are my personal picks from this collection: “Speaking in Tongues” – What happens when your tongue decides it’s time to leave? This is gross-out body horror that nearly made my eyes pop out of my head... I’m a great believer that the very best horror is that which is the most realistic and there is nothing more tragic than the death of a child. In “Windchimes”, Kane covers this topic with a delicate, reverential touch. Deeply affecting, and as shocking as it is moving. “It’s All Over” – As this collection was launched at a convention, it seems only appropriate that a story about obsession, stalking and an author meeting his number one fan wormed its way into my heart. Add in a dash of vampirism and you have another winner... “The Butterfly Man” – The collection’s title story follows a man who lives his entire life from birth to death in a single day. The reader gets to follow his interactions and the highs and lows of his brief existence. I couldn’t help asking myself what would I do if I only had twenty-four hours? “Keeper of the Light” – Who hasn’t been afraid of the dark at least once in their life? It’s a primal horror for so many people and this story explores this fear. One man stands alone against the encroaching darkness that is systematically destroying everything in its path. Interested? Well the good news is that there are another thirteen tales included that cover the full gamut of emotions from darkly comic to deeply harrowing. I really can’t recommend this collection highly enough! I enjoyed every single entry. Kane has genuine skill when it comes to eliciting emotion from his readers. If you have never read any of Paul Kane’s work, or been exposed to PS Publishing’s impressive catalogue, before this would be the ideal place to start. A punchy, gripping and un-missable group of tales worthy of any self respecting horror fan’s attention.’ The second review comes from Warpcore SF, who report: ‘When I think of butterflies it brings to mind gentle, attractive creatures that bring a splash of colour to warm, sunny days. Despair, urban decay and violent death? Not so much. Paul Kane’s collection of horror stories may have a bright and cheerful-sounding title, but its insides are more than macabre enough. The first story, “One For The Road”, is set in an isolated Derbyshire pub where the owner is disturbed by the appearance of a filthy tramp of a customer. Then he and his increasingly odd companions start to upset the regulars, but getting them to leave proves difficult... “Masques” is a gruesome story about a doctor working in the midst of a fast-spreading plague no-one understands. He’s consumed by guilt and nightmares about the deaths he’s unable to prevent, and this feeling of responsibility is a theme that recurs throughout the collection. This is a razor-sharp story, vivid and to the point. “A Chaos Demon Is For Life” takes a black look at inappropriate Christmas pets. When Jacob Campbell’s parents summon a demon for him instead of getting him a puppy we know it’s bound to end badly, and it’s fun finding out exactly how badly things will turn out. “Cold Call” is another supernatural take on the hazards of modern life, when the tables are turned on a call centre employee who gets plagued by the kind of creepy nuisance calls he inflicts on others as part of his job. There’s a certain feeling of poetic justice, but Paul Kane’s universe is an unfair one and people often get much, much more than they deserve. Another highlight is “Life-O-Matic”, which is my favourite because of its sheer zaniness. Jeff is living the perfect life of suburban bliss with his wife and two children, and all the latest gadgets and consumer goods, which he feels compelled to tell everyone about. But he realises something is wrong when he tries to look his wife in the eye. This is a brilliant parody of the fantasy worlds invented by advertising people to encourage us to buy, buy, buy. Consumerism gets an alternative treatment in “Humbuggered”, a twist on the story of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Eric is a poor charity worker who lives in a grotty, desperate place yet devotes all his time and money to others. He seems too generous and quite a pushover, and his benevolence is not appreciated. This story is as depressing as the original is heartwarming... However the ideas behind the stories are inventive and interesting. “Speaking In Tongues” takes the feeling of wanting to bite one’s tongue after saying something stupid to its logical extreme, whilst “The Butterfly Man” is an unusual and moving story about a man who only has a very short time to live. The nicely gruesome “Rag and Bone” begins with someone hanging like meat amongst a room full of corpses, and just keeps on getting grislier. Then “Keeper of the Light” plays on our fear of the dark with a tale about a lonely lighthouse keeper. He seems a little neurotic about keeping everything in order until we reach the last nasty twist at the end and it all becomes clear. This is quite a varied collection in terms of its themes and style. Whether the author is out to shock, to terrify, or to make us cry, the evidence of his versatility and craftsmanship abounds... overall there’s a lot to enjoy.’ Lastly, The Ginger Nuts of Horror reviewed the collection, stating: ‘There are times when reading books for this blog, that I feel kind of embarrassed. This is one of those books, for an author who has been as widely published and prolific as Paul Kane, I’m embarrassed to say that prior to this collection...I had never read any of his work. Yes I had heard his name mentioned by those more in the know than I am. The Butterfly Man collects some of Paul’s finest works from recent years plus the addition of ”The Cave of Lost Souls”, Paul’s very first published short story. The 18 stories here range from the very light hearted to some very deep, harrowing and moving tales.  I was a little bit hesitant in picking this up, as it feels all I have been reading lately is short stories, and I was feeling a little bit burned out by the form.  But, after reading “One for The Road”the opener of the collection, my faith in the short story was reignited. This is a wonderfully light hearted and fun take on the beginning of the Armageddon... However, don’t for one moment think that this story sets the tone for the collection, for this is one of only a few light hearted tales on offer here. Paul has a gift for writing really interesting, satisfying and downright enjoyable tales, no matter the subject matter.   Some of my favourite stories of the collection were“Life-O-Matic”, a humorous tale of a society gone consumerist to the extreme. Imagine one of those classic 1950’s suburban streets full of perfectly mowed lawns and white picket fences. Now imagine one of those streets gone absolutely mental where the perfectly white toothy smiles are the least of your worries, and the banalities of QVC rules the world. ”Masques”is Paul’s homage to Poe’s classic tale “The Masque of The Red Death”, relocated to the modern world, where the brilliant doctor in charge of finding a cure for the bleeding disease is haunted by nightmares that are beginning to break out into the waking world. This wonderfully evocative tale is a prime example of what a great author can do when allowed to work on a classic.  “The Greatest Mystery” is Paul’s love letter to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and is everything I could ever want from a Sherlock Holmes Mystery. All of the elements are as they should be, Holmes acts and sounds like Holmes, as does Dr Watson, with one added extra: this time Holmes goes up against the Supernatural. I loved this story, and I’m sure I could see fog seeping from under the bedroom door as I read this fantastic take on one of my all time favourite characters. “A Chaos Demon Is For Life” is another of Paul’s stories that brings a smile to your face. This story shows that parents really shouldn’t try to get the perfect gift for their kids at Christmas... ”Windchimes”, for me, stands toe to toe with “The Butterfly Man”as the most moving and heartbreaking tale I have read all year. You know any story that starts of with the death of a child is never going to end happily, but the ending to this story is so bleak and shocking, it will stay with you long after you have finished this collection.  The titular title of the collection“The Butterfly Man”is a prime example of the power of emotion that a brilliant short story can hold. This is a terribly moving, heartfelt and evocative tale based around a day in the life of The Butterfly Man. I challenge you to read this story and not be moved, both by the story and by the level of writing talent Paul exhibits. This collection is a must if, like me, you have missed out on the writing talents of Mr Kane. The stories on offer here show a writer who is capable of writing many, many different styles with a panache, yet still being able to maintain a voice and style that is uniquely his own. This is another first class single author collection, and ranks up there with the best that is out there. Paul Kane and this collection in particular is one that should be in every reader’s library.’  You can read the full reviews here, here and here. --------------------------------------- Paul has also been doing interviews to promote the collection and his other work. You can find the first at One Metal here, the second at the aforementioned Ginger Nuts of Horror here and finally as part of the latest Morpheus Tales supplement here. ------------------------------------- Butterfly Man wasn’t the only collection of Paul’s available at FCon, though. The stunningly gorgeous Shadow Writer (the hardback tenth anniversary edition of Alone (In the Dark) and Touching the Flame) was present for the first time as well. For those of you who missed it at the con – in the dealers’ room or on the Forbidden Planet table – the link to buy from Mansion House Books is here. ----------------------------------------- Also launching at FCon was Guest of Honour Peter Atkins’ wonderful collection Rumours of the Marvellous (above) from Alchemy Press & Airgedlamh Productions, complete with cover art from Les Edwards. To find out more watch the video below... And here at the SW site we’re proud to have Peter as our Guest Writer for this Halloween month with an exclusive peek at one of the stories from Rumours... ‘Stacy and her Idiot’ which you can read here. And to order the book from Amazon, just click here. ------------------------------------- There’s still time to book your place at the ‘Hellraising Evening’ at Sheffield Waterstone’s Orchard Square, with Paul, Marie and Conrad Williams – see September’s News Extra for more details, or visit the Facebook page for this event here. -------------------------------------- Paul will be jetting off to the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego at the end of the month. Over the course of the weekend, as well as catching up with old friends and making new ones – hopefully – he’ll be doing a reading of his Sherlock Holmes story ‘The Greatest Mystery’ at the launch of the excellent Gaslight Arcanum (below) and also helping out at a party for the World Fantasy Convention 2013 in Brighton, which Paul is on the committee of (for a link to that site, click here http://www.wfc2013.org/ and a little reminder that ‘early bird’ booking ends on November 7th, after which membership goes up to £100 so book now!). ------------------------------------ News now of a couple of Paul’s other short stories. ‘It’s All Over...’ features in Morrigan Books’ forthcoming anthology Scenes from the Second Storey (above), while ‘Disexistence’ – mentioned in a previous News update – can now be read in the latest issue of Midnight Street by clicking here -------------------------------------- Finally, FCon-goers will probably have seen posters up and had flyers in their goodie bags about a new mass market anthology Paul and Marie have edited. The Mammoth Book of Body Horror will be released next summer from Constable & Robinson in the UK and Running Press in the US. This from the advance PR: ‘Featuring Stephen King, Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, James Herbert, Mary Shelley, Neil Gaiman, and including the stories those classic Body Horror movies – The Thing, The Fly and Re-Animator – were based on: The Mammoth Book of Body Horror... Edited by Paul Kane & Marie O’Regan With an Introduction by Stuart Gordon (Director of Re-Animator and From Beyond) Coming Summer 2012!’ You’ll be hearing more about the stories and the other contributors in the months to come, but in the meantime the title is available to pre-order on Amazon UK here and Amazon US here. ----------------------------------------- September EXTRA A special news extra now in the run up to FantasyCon. The Weeping Woman (above), scripted by Paul, will receive its British premiere at FCon on the Friday night at 10pm. Paul will be giving an introductory talk at the start and the short will also serve as a taster for the main event, a screening of Wes Craven’s Wishmaster (below), introduced by its writer – Guest of Honour Peter Atkins. This will all take place in the Russell Room of the Albion Hotel, Brighton. A framed copy of the poster, signed by star Stephen Geoffreys (from Fright Night) and Paul will also be in the raffle. ---------------------------------- As well as this, Paul is part of the signing for Hellbound Hearts on Saturday morning at 10am in the Regency Lounge, is doing a reading from The Butterfly Man and Other Stories at 11:30am in Room 134, and then launching the book later on that afternoon at 5pm, where cover artist Dominic Harman will also be on hand to sign copies. ------------------------------------------ Details now of another event, this time post-FCon. Paul will be doing a reading and signing alongside Marie and bestselling author Conrad Williams at Watserstone’s in Sheffield next month. As well as Hellbound Hearts, copies of Paul’s recent books – including The Butterfly Man – will be on sale. This from the official PR: A Hellraising Evening Inspired by the works of Clive Barker! Readings, Q&A and Signings With Conrad Williams, award-winning and bestselling author of One, Decay Inevitable, Loss of Separation, and Hellbound Hearts contributor Paul Kane, award-winning and bestselling author of the Arrowhead trilogy, The Butterfly Man and co-editor of Hellbound Hearts Marie O’Regan, co-editor of Hellbound Hearts and award-nominated author of Mirror Mere Waterstone’s 24-26 Orchard Square, Sheffield, S1 2FB. October 13th 6pm-7:30pm Tickets £2, redeemable against any one purchase on the night Instore or call 0114 2728971 -------------------------------------- September The first piece of exciting news this packed month of September is the release of Paul’s brand new novella collection Pain Cages (above), published by Books of the Dead. The book contains the novellas ‘Signs of Life’ and ‘The Lazarus Condition’, plus the brand new tale ‘Halflife’ and the title story itself ‘Pain Cages’. The cover is by the very talented Daniele Serra and the BAFTA-winning creator of Afterlife and Ghostwatch, Stephen Volk, has provided the excellent introduction. At time of writing, the Kindle version is available from Amazon.co.uk here and Amazon.com here with a 'look inside' option. The print version of the book launched last month at Rue Morgue’s ‘Festival of Fear’, which headlined guests such as Freddy Krueger himself Robert Englund (above), Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Eliza Dushku, A Clockwork Orange and Halloween’s Malcolm McDowell and Aliens and Millennium actor Lance Henriksen (all below)   ------------------------------------------ Paul’s other new release – the forthcoming The Butterfly Man and Other Stories, due to launch at FCon at 5pm on Saturday 1st October – is now also available for pre-order. For the signed edition click here and for the unsigned edition click here. Paul will also be reading from the collection at FCon (time and date TBC). But in the meantime here’s the first review by One Metal who said: ‘Despite his friendly demeanour, Paul Kane is a vicious man; as exemplified in the gut-wrenching twists concluding his stories, where he cheerfully shreds apart our hopes and expectations for the protagonists’ survival with gleeful abandon. Nowhere is this more evident than in Paul Kane’s latest collection The Butterfly Man and Other Stories, which comprises eighteen of his short stories. As any writer will tell you, short stories are a vastly different narrative art-form to a conventional full-length novel; requiring concise prose, tight plotting, and often a focus purely on character. It is a testament to Paul Kane’s writing ability that all of the stories constantly remain fresh and his characters are always distinct from one another. Whilst Paul Kane is a horror writer, he not afraid to combine genres in his writing, where we have the horror-comedy of living in a post-consumerist hell (where everyone speaks as if they were in an advert), to his ghost story with a vampire twist in “It’s All Over”… Neither is Paul afraid to pay homage to classic horror stories and write sequels. “Masques” works perfectly as the sequel to Masque of the Red Death, where Paul Kane re-envisions Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tale into the modern day, with a style reminiscent of The Andromeda Strain. Sherlock Holmes is also given the horror treatment – Paul Kane style – with “The Greatest Mystery”, written in the style of Arthur Conan Doyle... The titular short story of this collection takes a more Twilight Zone “what if” approach, and fully explores the idea through to its natural conclusion. Without spoiling the story, it is a haunting tale of the human experience, and the meaning of “life-time”. Paul considers this to be one of his strongest pieces of work in recent years, and I can see why... For the budding writers amongst you, an appendix concludes the anthology. Here Paul offers his thoughts and perspective on each story, explaining the inspiration behind each and where it was first published. Often this insight offers another textural level and background to the story... Unlike other horror writers who have a distinct tone and format from which they rarely differ, Paul Kane has a broad palette from which he writes. The Butterfly Man and Other Stories is an excellent collection of diverse stories which will remain with you long after you finished reading them.’ To read the full review, click here. --------------------------------- Photos now from the very successful Twisted Tales Hellbound Hearts event last month, held at Waterstone’s Liverpool One.   Paul reading his story ‘Strobe’   Torchwood author Mark Morris and Paul during the Q&A   Marie O’Regan and the legendary Ramsey Campbell   Paul’s Arrowhead books in the ‘Brave New Worlds’ promotion the next day   And close up   On the shelves next to World War Z, which is currently being filmed with Brad Pitt   Before leaving for home, Paul encounters an old friend    You can hear audio interviews will all the guests from the evening in the ‘Scrolls’ podcast – part of the Geek Syndicate ring – by clicking here and read a report on the event by Simon Marshall-Jones on the Read Horror site here. There are more Hellbound Hearts events planned, including a signing at FantasyCon at 10am on the Saturday – click here to find a preview of what else is on during the weekend – plus others at various Waterstone’s branches in the coming months. ---------------------------------------- Our Guest Writer for September is the very prolific Jason V. Brock. As well as having work published everywhere from Dark Discoveries to Fangoria, Jason is the co-editor – with William F. Nolan – and contributor to the award-winning Cycatrix Press anthology The Bleeding Edge: Dark Barriers, Dark Frontiers (above), and forthcoming follow-up The Devil's Coattails: More Dispatches from the Dark Frontier (below). He is also director of documentaries such as Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone’s Magic Man,The AckerMonster Chronicles (about legendary agent and Famous Monsters of Filmland editor Forrest J. Ackerman), and the forthcoming Image, Reflection, Shadow: Artists of the Fantastic (featuring H. R. Giger, Roger Dean and Ernst Fuchs). Jason has kindly let us have not one, but two stories, so to read ‘Red-Wat-Shod’ click here, and to read ‘The Underground’, just click here. ------------------------------------ Speaking of William F. Nolan – the bestselling and award-winning author of the Logan books (above) and Kincaid – you can read a recent interview with him that Paul conducted on the Mass Movement site by clicking here. ---------------------------------------- A new story of Paul’s called ‘Disexistence’ is being published in Midnight Street magazine issue 16 (above), out towards the end of September. ----------------------------------- Finally, Paul and Marie are set to Guest at the comics convention ‘Thought Bubble’ in November (above) in Leeds, alongside people such as 30 Days of Night’s Ben Templesmith, Watchman co-creator Dave Gibbons, Batman and Robin and Doctor Who scripter Paul Cornell and Lucifer author Mike Carey, amongst others. They’ll be signing copies of their books and chatting to people at the con. So to visit the convention site itself, click here, and to visit Paul’s Guest page click here. ---------------------------------------------- August With the Hellbound Hearts event almost upon us (see previous news for more details), there has been more exclusive online content posted on the Twisted Tales site. This includes a piece about Nightbreed by Clive Barker here, an interview with Paul here, an extract from The Hellraiser Films and their Legacy focussing on the Cenobites here, a Clive Barker interview here, a piece about The Hellbound Heart by Suzanne Barbieri here, an interview with Marie O’Regan here and an essay on Cabal by Suzanne here. And there’s still time to book for this exciting event: Hellbound Hearts: The Influence of Clive Barker on 21st Century Horror Waterstone’s Liverpool One 6-8pm, Friday August 5th Tickets £2* *redeemable against any horror bought on the night. To book tickets please visit the Waterstone’s store or call (0151) 709 98 20 ----------------------------------------  Paul is also the subject of a PS Author Focus at the moment, which means that people who come along to the event and pre-order The Butterfly Man and Other Stories will get 20% off a future PS purchase... so yet more incentive to join in the fun. And while we’re on the subject, Butterfly Man has also got a time and date for its official UK launch. This will be at 5pm on Saturday 1st October as part of FantasyCon 2011’s celebrations. ---------------------------------- Which brings us neatly to the latest major announcement about FantasyCon. American author Christopher Paolini will be making a rare visit to the UK this September prior to the launch of his eagerly anticipated new novel Inheritance (above), the fourth and final title in the epic fantasy sequence ‘The Inheritance Cycle’, published by Random House on November 8th. Christopher’s previous novels, Eragon (filmed in 2006, below), Eldest and Brisinger, have been international publishing sensations. The first three books in ‘The Inheritance Cycle’ have sold more than 25 million copies world-wide, including more than 4 million copies in the UK alone. All three previous books in the series are reissued in July with cover designs that breathe new (dragon) fire into John Jude Palencar’s stunning artwork. Christopher will be attending FantasyCon 2011 on the Saturday, where he will be participating in programming and signing books. So to secure your place at what’s turning out to be the UK genre event of the year, co-chaired by Paul, click here. ------------------------------------------ The SW site is delighted to welcome author of Moxyland and this year’s Arthur C. Clarke award-winning Zoo City (UK edition above, US and Canada below): none other than Lauren Beukes. Published by Angry Robot, the novel has also been highly praised by places like Publisher’s Weekly, SFX and Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books. To read an extract for yourself, just click here. ---------------------------------- The Weeping Woman (directed by Mark Steenland from Paul’s story and script) has had a couple of successful screenings recently. The first was at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, Canada, where it opened for the movie Morituris and played as the midnight movie on Saturday night, July 30th, in the 700 seat Hall Theatre. You can find out more details of the festival here. Secondly, it was screened at the Northeastern Writers’ Conference – also known as Camp Necon – in Bristol, Rhode Island, where a prize of a signed poster was given away. You can find out more about NeCon, which headlined guests such as Jack Ketchum and Sarah Langan, here. ----------------------------------- Another great review of Bite Sized Horror now, which had this to say about Paul’s contribution: ‘Paul Kane provides the tense, well crafted “The Between”, featuring a group of people trapped in an elevator, facing an inexplicable horror lurking in the surrounding darkness... Kane displays a remarkable ability to depict credible characters dealing with a terrifying situation and to hold the reader’s attention throughout the whole story.’ To read the full version over at The Short Review, click here. ---------------------------------- This piece of PR was sent to us by former Guest Writer and head honcho of Anarchy Books, Andy Remic: ‘Jordan Reyne, New Zealand's premiere bloodthirsty Celtic rock and machine sounds superhero, has teamed up with Anarchy Books to bring you a dazzling short story writing competition! Jordan Reyne's new album, Children of a Factory Nation, is being released September 2011 and follows a family who lived in Wales in the late 1800s during the Industrial Revolution. Like many alive in their time, they faced problems relating to difficult working conditions, poverty, and the tyranny of circumstance. This album constructs stories from facts known about Johnathan, Mary, their children Molly & Thomas, and grandchild Wynne. The competition is to write a short story surrounding any character or sets of characters from Children of a Factory Nation using Jordan Reyne's lyrics or the facts about their real life counterparts as a starting point. The competition will be judged by Andy Remic, SFF author and co-owner of Anarchy Books, John Jarrold, esteemed agent with decades of experience in the publishing industry as both editor and agent, David Bradley, editor of the fabulous SFX magazine, Lee Harris, editor at Angry Robot Books, James Lovegrove, SFF New York Times bestselling author, Gary McMahon, rising star of the Horror Genre (and all-round nice-guy beer drinker), Jared Shurin of popular online magazine Pornokitsch, and the incredible Hugo award winner Ellen Datlow, veteran editor in horror and SFF fields. First prize is publication in the album's accompanying magazine and on the website, £100, a t-shirt, signed copy of the album Children of a Factory Nation, and the first three Anarchy Books ebook releases, in all digital formats. Three runners up will receive a signed copy of Jordan Reyne's new album. Stories should be no longer than 3000 words, and submitted digitally in a single file (either .doc, .rtf or .pdf) Deadline for final entries is Sunday 14th August. The winner(s) will be announced on Sunday 28th August. Authors must be willing to give 6 months exclusivity on the story (from the time of publication) if they win the competition. Happy writing!!’ You can enter the competition here. ---------------------------------------- © Martin Roberts Paul and Marie were out and about last month, first at the Terror Scribes reunion event on 16th July in Chesterfield (above and below). Terror Tales and the Scribe gatherings were, as people might already know, how Paul started off in the fiction writing world so it was quite an emotional event. Also present were veteran Scribes like Sue Phillips, Simon Clark, Mark West, Jay Eales and Selina Lock, Simon Bestwick and, of course, the original host of the events John B. Ford. © Selina Lock They were also present at Kim Newman’s annual birthday bash in London, photos from which can be found below – including a happy looking Kim and surprise guest Patricia Quinn (otherwise known as Magenta from The Rocky Horror Picture Show). -------------------------------------- July Following on from their previous hugely successful ‘The Killer Inside You’ event (see last month’s news for details and pictures), Twisted Tales are hosting an evening devoted to the influence of Clive Barker’s work in the 21st Century. This from the press release: It is our pleasure to be able to announce the next Twisted Tales event! On Friday 5th August at 6pm we are proud to be presenting... Hellbound Hearts: The Influence of Clive Barker on 21st Century Horror Aside from Twisted Tales’ resident legendary writer, RamseyCampbell, Liverpool has also produced another great master of horror: Clive Barker. Barker’s fiction came to international attention with the publication of his Books of Blood in the mid 1980s. His status was considerably enhanced when he adapted his novella The Hellbound Heart into the film Hellraiser, which conquered the world in 1987 and went on to spawn many sequels, as well as a series of comics that explored its mythology. Clive also directed cult film classics Nightbreed (1990) and Lord of Illusions (1995). He designed the creatures and wrote the stories for two successful computer games: Undying (2001) and Jericho(2007) and is the author of many novels, including Weaveworld (1987) and Imajica (1991). Join Twisted Tales for an evening celebrating and discussing Barker’s enduring legacy at the UK’s official launch of the Hellbound Hearts anthology - a collection of stories from some of the top names in contemporary horror that explore the Hellraiser mythology. Featuring readings by: Mark Morris: Award-winning and bestselling author of The Immaculate, Torchwood: Bay of the Dead and contributor to Hellbound Hearts. Paul Kane: Co-editor of Hellbound Hearts and award-winning author of The Hellraiser Films and their Legacy and the bestselling Arrowhead trilogy. Marie O’Regan: Co-editor of Hellbound Hearts and award-nominated author of Mirror Mere. Followed by a Q&A with the authors, who will be joined by Ramsey Campbell to discuss the influence of Barker’s work on 21st century horror. There will then be a signing session with all four authors. Hellbound Hearts: The Influence of Clive Barker on 21st Century Horror Waterstone’s Liverpool One 6-8pm, Friday August 5th Tickets £2* *redeemable against any horror bought on the night. To book tickets please visit the Waterstone’s store or call (0151) 709 98 20 You can find the full release here on the TT site, but in the run-up to the event they are also posting exclusive online content. The first of these is an interview with Mark, which you can find here and the second is a Hellraiser article written by Paul here. Keep checking the site in the coming weeks for more, and book your place early to avoid disappointment. ----------------------------------------- From a future event, to past ones now – beginning with the BFS Open Night in London at the Mug House pub last month. Paul and Marie were delighted to catch up with surprise guest Joe Hill (author of Horns, above) who was in town to do some signings. A good time was had by all, as you can see in the photo below. ------------------------------------- Some photos also now from the Alt.Fiction literary festival, held in Derby last weekend, at which Paul was one of the Guests. The event was held at the Quad, which you can see in the first picture, and the following show Paul on the Ghost Story panel on the Saturday alongside Mark Morris, Adam Nevill (author of The Ritual) and Conrad Williams (Loss of Separation), then doing his reading of the award-winning ‘A Chaos Demon is for Life’, and being quizzed by Un:Bound’s Adele Wearing during the Sunday podcast ‘Has Genre Conquered the Mainstream?’ with Dr Who’s Paul Cornell, NewCon press’ Ian Whates and Guardian writer and review Damien G. Walter. Finally, we have a really nice picture of Marie and Paul together – taken at the event.     ©Sharon Ring     © Jyoti Mishra   © Jyoti Mishra   © Martin Roberts ----------------------------------------- A very special treat now. The Shadow Writer site is happy to welcome a new, exciting voice in horror fiction in the form of Tom Fletcher – whose debut werewolf novel The Leaping (above, from Quercus) came out last year and has just been shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award. His latest book is the excellent The Thing on the Shore (above) but we’re extremely lucky to have for you a special advance preview extract (first draft) of Tom’s next novel The Ravenglass Eye (below) which is not out until next year! To read this, click here. ----------------------------------------- A review of April’s guest writer book, Kincaid: A Paranormal Casebook is now up on the Mass Movement site, written by Paul. To read this click here. The author of the book, William F. Nolan (above) will also be interviewed by Paul in the near future, so look out for this going online. William, of course, is probably best known as the author of Logan’s Run, famously turned into a movie starring Jenny Agutter and Michel York (below). --------------------------------------- An early PR has been released for Paul’s forthcoming PS collection The Butterfly Man and other Stories. To read this as a PDF download, click here. --------------------------------- Finally, another great review of Bite Sized Horror has appeared. Here’s what The Black Abyss had to say about Paul’s contribution: ‘Paul Kane’s “The Between” takes us right up to date when a father’s desperation at a custody meeting turns into a horrific nightmare in the lift journey from (or should that be to) hell. With Lovecraftian creatures set against the personal torments of the occupants this is an excellent dark tale, one to avoid if you suffer from claustrophobia.’ To read the full thing, click here. ----------------------------------------- June To begin another bumper news update this month, Paul’s forthcoming collection for the award-winning PS publishing now has a title. Named after one of the brand-new tales, The Butterfly Man and Other Stories will also come with stunning cover art (above) from Dominic Harman. Dominic was, of course, responsible for all those excellent recent Clive Barker HarperCollins reissue covers such as Cabal and The Hellbound Heart (below). More news as and when about what promises to be a great collection, including some reading events and other promotions.  ----------------------------------------- Also just announced, Paul has signed with Books of the Dead Press (Best New Vampire Tales – above – Husk, Best New Zombie Tales) to bring out a collection of four of his novellas. Named after the first of these, Pain Cages will also feature ‘Signs of Life’, ‘The Lazarus Condition’ and ‘Halflife’. To read the press release, click here. And for those who want to read an extract from ‘The Pain Cages’ online at Horror Reanimated simply click here. ----------------------------------------- Signing news now, and above and below are photos from Paul and Marie’s successful signing at Travelling Man in Leeds, where copies of the bestselling Arrowhead trilogy and advance preview copies of the UK version of Hellbound Hearts were on hand.     Below are photos from Paul’s Waterstone’s signing in the hometown of Robin Hood, Nottingham.               Paul was appropriately situated between the genre and Robin Hood sections (below)     The next event Paul will be at is the British Fantasy Society Open Night on Friday 3rd June in London, at the Mug House pub from 6pm onwards. ----------------------------------- Paul and Marie were also at the excellent Twisted Tales Crime event ‘The Killer Inside You’ in Liverpool last month (above). It was a chance to hear readings from Charlie Williams, Steve Mosby and John Connolly (author of the bestselling Charlie Parker sequence), who Paul and Marie got to catch up with again (also above: John, left, pictured with Paul). More photos from the event – which took place at Liverpool One’s massive Waterstone’s – are below... You can find a report about the event and other photos at the official site here. And watch out for news about a Twisted Tales event featuring Paul and Marie in the near future. ------------------------------------- Our Guest Writer for the month of June has been described as ‘The Tarantino of Fantasy’ – it’s none other than Andy Remic, author of the ‘Clockwork Vampire’ and ‘Combat K’ novels. And we have a treat for fans of Andy’s work, the opening chapters of not just one, but two of his new books: Serial Killers Incorporated (above) from Anarchy and Vampire Warlords from Angry Robot (below). To read the former, click here. To read the latter, click here.  ------------------------------------ Paul’s Alt.Fiction schedule has now been finalised, and it’s looking like a packed weekend. Running for two days this year, at the Quad in Derby on 25th-26th June, you can find out what Paul’s doing and where below: SATURDAY   CINEMA TWO 2pm-3pm: ‘Devil's Advocate – Is the Ghost Story Dead’? (Panel)   PARTICIPATION SPACE 6.30 pm: Reading   SUNDAY   THE BOX 12pm-1pm: ‘Has Genre Conquered Mainstream?’ (Podcast)   4pm-5pm: Genre Non-Fiction (Panel)   MEETING ROOM 3pm-4pm: Workshop To book your place at this event and see what else is going on, visit the website here ---------------------------------- More event news now, with the announcement of FantasyCon 2011’s next Guest of Honour, Fantasy writer Joe Abercrombie (above). Bestselling author of The Blade Itself , Before They are Hanged, Last Argument of Kings, Best Served Cold and The Heroes (below), Joe was most recently seen on TV interviewing George R.R. Martin prior to the UK launch of HBO’s stunning Game of Thrones (also below).   To visit the FantasyCon website, click here and to book your place at what’s promising to be one of the genre events of the year (co-chaired by Paul), click here. ---------------------------------- Some reviews now of Paul’s novelette ‘The Between’ in Bite Sized Horror. The first is from the Ginger Nuts of Horror blog, who said: ‘Wow, this is one hell of a story. Trapped in a lift with a bunch of strangers Joe is about to go to the place in-between, a place filled with darkness and terror. I loved this story right up to the pay off... For me the story ended too quickly, which was a great pity as it was shaping up to be my favourite of the anthology. This is just my opinion and I guarantee there are loads of folk out there who will love the ending of this story.’ The second comes from The Stars at Noonday, who comment: ‘Once the horror kicks in, the story proves to be a gripping, well-choreographed action-horror story of people thrown together in baffling circumstances, reminiscent of some of Stephen King's best work, with some appropriate grue.’ Finally, from Paul D. Brazil’s blog we have: ‘A gem, the Sartre and Serling-esque tale of an angry man trapped in a lift.’  To order your copy of the anthology, click here. ------------------------------------- The short film Paul scripted, The Weeping Woman, is going to be shown at the ‘Fright Night Film Fest’ (above) where the legendary director of Halloween and The Thing, John Carpenter, is the Guest of Honour. This takes place July 22nd – 24th in Louisville Kentucky, and you can visit the website here. It follows hot on the heels of a screening at the ‘31.Fanta Festival’ in Rome on 31st of May, where members of the cast and crew were in attendance. The website for this one can be found here. And to visit the Weeping Woman section of the SW site, click here. ----------------------------------- Finally, Paul was the subject of a guest Q&A at the ‘Work in Progress’ site last month – which you can read by clicking here. In this Paul talks about his average day and forthcoming projects. Paul was also delighted to be included in the ‘Who’s Who’ section on the Gothic.net site here, plus be a part of their panel of experts discussion. You can find the opening one of these – ‘First Fright’ – here where Paul and the other contributors talk about the first movie, TV show or book that scared them. ------------------------------ May We kick off this month with signing news. To begin with, above and below are a few photos from the successful Sheffield Waterstone’s signing event from early April. Paul has two more signings this month, the first a return to Travelling Man in Leeds where he was last Christmas. That event will be on Saturday 21st May from midday till 2pm. The second signing event will be at Waterstone’s in the hometown of Robin Hood, Nottingham, the following week: Saturday 28th May from 11:30 am. Once again, copies of the comics promo Paul did with David Bezzina will be available before and during the signings for free (in case you want that signing, too). So come along to one or both and get copies of the bestselling Arrowhead books scribbled on. ---------------------------------- For anyone who wants to check out the Arrowhead comic promo online, Abaddon have recently put up a link to a downloadable PDF version of this here. Happy reading! ----------------------------------- Sticking with the Hood theme for a moment, the latest book Arrowland (above) has just been reviewed by The Eloquent Page. Here’s what they had to say: ‘Arrowland by Paul Kane is the author’s third book, set in the Afterblight Chronicles universe. The world has been stricken by a pandemic that is fatal to all but those who have the blood type O negative. In the United Kingdom, from the ruins of Nottingham, ex-policeman Robert Stokes has started to create the beginnings of a new society. Adopting the mantle of the well known legend of Robin Hood he has successfully defended his community on a number of occasions. In the previous books I was pleased that Nottingham was used so effectively as the story’s backdrop. In the first two novels my adopted hometown has been central to the story... This time out, however, the action moves further afield. Robert and his men are forced split up to deal with two new potential threats, a psychotic witch called The Widow, who is using Edinburgh Castle as her base, and a mysterious character calling himself The Dragon, based in the heart of Wales. Robert also has to deal with the resurgence of old enemies from his past. There is quite a strong mystical element throughout the novel. As The Hooded Man Robert is becoming almost a creature of legend himself. His opponents all speak about his feats in hushed tones. His connection with Sherwood and the land he protects is also explored. Robert is visited by visions while he sleeps and these help prepare him for the challenges he has to face. This reminded me in many ways of the excellent nineteen eighties television series Robin of Sherwood. As the story has developed over the three books the reader gets more and more insight into the characters of Robert and his men. It’s nice to see that some of the characters bear a passing resemblance to the original Robin Hood myth. Robert/Robin has his own Marion in the form of Mary. There is a giant ex-professional wrestler called Jack rather than John. A reverend called Tate and even an ex-musician called Dale. Paul Kane has given all the characters their own story arcs and I enjoyed them all. There was part of me that didn't want the novel to end. At a trim two hundred and sixty nine pages the action and adventure never flags. This trilogy is the first of the Afterblight Chronicles I have read, but I will definitely be purchasing more... Do yourself a favour and pick up this series of books.’ To read the full version of the review, click here. ------------------------------------ Arrowland is also one of the novels that’s made it to the first round of voting in the British Fantasy Awards 2011, along with The Gemini Factor (from Screaming Dreams) and Of Darkness and Light (above, from Thunderstorm). Some of Paul’s short fiction is also on the list, including ‘Baggage’ which you can read by clicking here, ‘Cold Call’ which is online here, and ‘Nine Tenths’ which was published at Horror Drive-In here. If you’re a member of the BFS or attended last year’s FantasyCon, you can view the rest of the list and vote online by clicking here. ------------------------------------- This May we’re enormously excited to have New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris as our very special Guest Writer. Charlaine is probably best known for her phenomenally successful Sunday Times bestselling Sookie Stackhouse novels, beginning with Dead Until Dark (above). These novels were, of course, recently turned into the equally successful TV series for HBO, True Blood (above), starring Anna Paquin (below) as Sookie. The series is now in its fourth season in America, due to start over the summer. We’re delighted to be able to bring you the first chapter of Charlaine’s brand new Sookie novel, Dead Reckoning (below), which has only just come out. So, to read this in PDF format, simply click here. With a huge thank you to Jonathan Weir, Charlaine and Gollancz.  ---------------------------------------- Obverse Books have now put up pre-order details for Bite Sized Horror: The Obverse Quarterly Book One, edited by Johnny Mains. Featuring in this alongside Paul’s novelette ‘The Between’ are Reggie Oliver with ‘Brighton Redemption’, David A. Riley with ‘His Pale Blue Eyes’, Marie O’ Regan with ‘The Unquiet Bones’ and last but not least, Conrad Williams with ‘The Carbon Heart’. The anthology costs £9.99 or you can take out a subscription for the first year of the quarterly. For more information, click here. ----------------------------------- Following on from its successful world premiere at Motor City Nightmares last month, The Weeping Woman will now be making an appearance at The Pittsburgh Horror Film Festival in June, headlining people such as John Russo (who co-wrote Night of the Living Dead with George A. Romero) and Fred Williamson, who starred in From Dusk Till Dawn. For more details about the festival, click here. Plus, this great news just in: Fabio Frizzi is putting on a concert in Rome and he will be playing his score from The Weeping Woman just before he performs a medley of his classic Lucio Fulci scores! Finally, The Weeping Woman now has its own section on the Shadow Writer site. To visit this, just click here. ----------------------------------- April Extra Some great additional news about The Weeping Woman now. Not only does the film premiere have a date and time – April 16th, 2:50 P.M., Movie Room 1 at Motor City Nightmares – it’s also been featured on Ain’t It Cool News! here. One of the largest entertainment sites on the net, AIC have this to say about the movie ‘Starting off this week’s batch of new horror is The Weeping Woman, from Mark Steensland who brought us last week’s “And finally…” short film Peekers. As with that film, Steensland takes a simple concept, a man driving along a deserted road encounters a ghostly woman, and amps it up in both areas of creep and camp. As with Peekers, the budget is low, but Steensland turns up the chill factor with some strong performances and some effective dialog. The best thing about The Weeping Woman, besides the powerful ending, was seeing Evil Ed himself, Stephen Geoffreys who was elevated to cult icon status when he played Charlie Brewster’s giggling best friend in Fright Night. Geoffreys is back in this, a more subdued role, as the man driving down the road. Sure, it’s pure nostalgia pumping up this performance, but it was great to see this actor again in a horror role, even in this all-too-short short film. The Weeping Woman relies a lot on the “woman by the road” urban myth and counts on the viewer to know the tale. Because of this, the ending comes off as a powerful punchline. Having seen two of Steensland’s short films, I’m looking forward to seeing more horrors from this up and coming director.’ To watch a brand new trailer for the film, including more quotes from some of the top horror directors in Hollywood, click on the You Tube video player above. ------------------------------------------- April We kick off this Easter month with news of Paul’s latest book, The Adventures of Dalton Quayle. Gathering together all the Quayle stories from the last ten years or more, this tome weighs in at 120,000 words and comes with a gorgeous cover (above), plus introduction by Quayle fan and bestselling author Simon Clark. This from the Press Release: ‘Re-join famous detectives, adventurers and general rum-goings-on putter-stopperers Dalton Quayle and his sidekick Dr Humphrey Pemberton as they embark on some of their best, and most loved, investigations from the past decade. Thrill as they face giant carnivorous worms and fiercely vicious monster sheep; marvel as they visit far-off lands such as the Island of Haintithot and the sandy dunes of Egypt, coming across magical stones which can summon demons and a Mummy out to take over the world; gasp in disbelief as our heroes set sail to find the legendary lost city of Matalantis – by way of the fishy village of Outsmouth – and get saddle-sore in the Wild West as they attempt to put a stop to a devilish time traveling scheme; then, witness the dead coming back to life as the pair tackle their most dangerous foes yet – ones which simply cannot be killed! Villains, monsters, twisted conundrums, they’re all in here: In the very finest Adventures of Dalton Quayle (as previously noted down on the memoirs of Dr Pemberton and subsequently published in Strump magazine). From the fevered imagination of award-winning author Paul Kane (FunnyBones, Arrowhead, The Lazarus Condition, The Hellraiser Films and their Legacy) comes a collection of stories that will make you laugh, cry (with laughter), then laugh some more. Humorous horrors to brighten the day of even the most discerning genre connoisseur.’ It’s out now from Mundania Press, so to visit their page devoted to the book click here. --------------------------------- Some exciting news now regarding FantasyCon (which Paul is co-chairing). The third Guest of Honour has been announced as none other than author and Hollywood screenwriter Peter Atkins (above). Peterwas born in Liverpool and now lives and works in Los Angeles. He is the author of the novels Morningstar (below), Big Thunder and Moontown. He is also responsible for the screenplays Hellbound: Hellraiser II (below), Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, Hellraiser IV, Wishmaster, and Prisoners of the Sun, plus he has written for the stage and for television. He is the co-founder, with Dennis Etchison and Glen Hirshberg, of The Rolling Darkness Revue, who tour the west coast annually bringing ghost stories and live music to any venue that’ll put up with them. 2009’s Spook City was a three-author collection featuring him alongside his fellow Liverpudlians Clive Barker and Ramsey Campbell, and a new collection of his short fiction is to be published in October 2011. Regular visitors to the SW site will also recognise Peter as the person who wrote the cracking introduction to Paul’s novel The Gemini Factor (see previous news), which you can pick up here. So to book your place at the convention – which already has well over 200 people attending – just click here. ---------------------------------------- We’re sticking with the Hellraiser theme for a moment... As reported by friends of the SW site The Hellbound Web, BOOM! studios have just started releasing new comics based in the universe created by Clive (above). And for a free online comic story, just click here. This comes hot on the heels of the news that Hellbound Hearts – which Paul co-edited with Marie – will soon be available over here in the UK. The British Fantasy Award-Nominated anthology was originally released through Pocket (Simon & Schuster) only in the US. Good times for Hellraiser fans indeed! ------------------------------------- The Shadow Writer site is very proud to welcome an SF legend now as its Guest Writer for April. Best known as the author of Logan’s Run, which was turned into a major MGM movie (above) as well as a TV series – with a film remake on the way – William F. Nolan also has 90 books, 40 film/TV scripts, and over 700 magazine sales to his credit. Not only that, he won the ‘Silver Medal for Excellence’ from the Independent Publishers of America, is twice winner of the Edgar Allen Poe Special Award, was cited by the American Library Association, has won two Golden Medallions in Europe, and (in 2002) was voted an official ‘Living Legend in Horror/Dark Fantasy’ by the International Horror Guild. To read an exclusive extract from his latest collection of paranormal stories Kincaid (above) – in the vein of Kolchak The Night Stalker and The X-Files – courtesy of Rocket Ride Books, simply click here. --------------------------------------- More news about The Weeping Woman film now, and the first few reviews have appeared online. In the first, Fatally Yours’ Sarah Jahier says: ‘The Weeping Woman is a short film adapted from a short story by Paul Kane. It is about a man (Stephen Geoffreys) taking a short cut home to his family one snowy afternoon. After nearly running into a woman (Melissa Bostaph) standing in the middle of the road, he gets out to see if she is okay. She begs him to help “her children” and so he follows her into the isolated woods that border the side of the road. There in the snow-bound stillness he makes a shocking discovery… I’ve been a big fan of Mark Steensland’s work, from his horror anthology Beyond the Pale, kick-ass graphic-novel adaptation Dead@17, to his more recent short films Peekers and The Ugly File... Firstly, I enjoyed how Steensland decided to set the film in winter instead of the summertime setting of Kane’s original story. I loved the desolate atmosphere the wintery setting gave the film. Adding to the eerie feeling is Fabio Frizzi’s effective score... The film is also heightened by Steensland’s direction, which is polished and high quality. Many people think of short films as a filmmaker’s gateway to feature-length movies, but Steensland has shown time and time again that short films can be an art form in themselves and can be every bit as high quality and effective as full-length films. Besides boasting a professional look, The Weeping Woman also has a variety of camera angles that keep things visually interesting. Equally deserving of praise is Stephen Geoffreys’ and Melissa Bostaph’s performances. Geoffreys is most known for his memorable side-kick acts in films like Fright Night, and while some of his goofiness is on-screen in The Weeping Woman...he delivers a wonderful “everyman” performance that makes you genuinely like, and root for, his character. Melissa Bostaph is also wonderful as the titular character “the weeping woman”... This is one you do not want to miss and shows that Mark Steensland will soon become an even more well-known and respected name.’ The second review comes from Hyde and Geek, who comment: ‘Set in the rural snow-covered countryside of Erie, PA, The Weeping Woman follows the tale of Harry, a businessman who takes a shortcut and has a fateful encounter with the titular weeping woman. The cast includes Stephen Geoffreys (Fright Night’s Evil Ed) and newcomer Melissa Bostaph, with special effects from “Monster” Mark Kosobucki (Bloody Inheritance) and a haunting score from Fabio Frizzi (The Beyond). As an avid fan of anthology shows like The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, I've always been a fan of short films. The format allows for some great creepy tales that wouldn't benefit from the feature length expansions... Steensland has proven time and time again that he is a master behind the camera. He gets shots into his short films that one might expect from bigger-budget fare and The Weeping Woman is no exception. That great cinematography, combined with the snow-covered on-location filming and Frizzi's eerie score make for a film that the above mentioned shows would have been proud to include in their libraries... I won't give too much of the story away since The Weeping Woman will be making the film festival circuit throughout 2011, but if you get the chance to check it out, you won't be sorry.’ Finally, Dread Central had this to offer: ‘Keeping in mind the film’s brevity and low budget, there is a great deal The Weeping Woman does right. The camerawork shows real thought and a sense of style that is missing from many amateur productions. Similarly, the soundtrack is a step above canned music or quick synth recordings. The producers even managed to get permission to use 80’s rock band Autograph’s Turn Up the Radio in a humorous scene. The children in the movie are intentionally creepy, as is Bostaph in her first role. In fact, her last line uttered is genuinely chilling. The largest asset to the film, however, is the writing. Based on a short story by Paul Kane, the script reads one part Supernatural and one part Twilight Zone...The Weeping Woman is a short that shows a great deal of potential from those involved. The filmmakers’ passion for the art of filmmaking does come through with the care and craftsmanship put into every frame.’ You can read the full reviews here, here and here. And you might also like to know that the score for The Weeping Woman mentioned above, by the wonderful Fabio Frizzi, is available to download on iTunes at their store online here. --------------------------------- The Weeping Woman will have its official ‘World Premiere’ as part of the Motor City Nightmares Weekend of Horror in Detroit (above, April 15th – 17th). Featured guests at the event include Candyman’s Tony Todd, Jason actor Kane Hodder (both above), FX maestro Tom Savini and Dee (The Howling, Halloween) Wallace (both below). For more details, visit the website here. ------------------------------------- Cemetery Dance have begun stocking Graham Masterton’s The Sphinx from Mansion House Books here. CD will also be distributing Paul’s Shadow Writer book (above) from MHB soon, so it should give you some idea of what this will be like. In the meantime, visit the MBH page for Shadow Writer by clicking here. ------------------------------------- The first review of Paul and Marie’s Voices in the Dark interview book is now online. A featured review, no less, this is what Jason Rolfe of Horror Bound thought of the publication: ‘Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan dedicate Voices in the Dark “to horror fans…everywhere.” It is an appropriate dedication considering the interviews contained within this collection are a must read for horror fans everywhere. The questions posed and the answers given shed light on a genre often underappreciated for the contributions it has made to both literary and cinematic platforms. Those who write, direct, and star in these offerings are both talented and passionate about their respective crafts. Kane and O’Regan capture that talent and that passion perfectly in the pages of Voices in the Dark. From the limitless talent of Clive Barker and the creative brilliance of Rob Zombie, to the studied skills of Betsy Palmer and Ron Perlman, Voices in the Dark sheds new light on the people who inspire widespread appreciation for the horror genre... Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan have done more than dedicate a book to horror fans everywhere, they have gathered together a collection of insights and revelations, a small chorus of voices that together speak with knowledge and passion about a genre that has inspired and continues to inspire readers, writers, directors, and actors…everywhere.’ For the full mammoth and in-depth review, click here. Plus you can buy Voices... on Amazon here and here or directly from the publishers here. --------------------------------------- A different kind of Voices book now (above), this time the Morrigan Books anthology that Paul contributed ‘The Suicide Room’ to a couple of years ago. The book has recently been released electronically, and you can pick it up here. -------------------------------- In light of the recent tragic events in Japan, a group of professionals in the writing industry have set up ‘Genre for Japan’ and are auctioning off lots of books and other items. You can visit the website front page here and see what items Paul and Marie have donated for the auction here. So get bidding, the auction ends on 3rd April.   ------------------------------------- Paul has contributed a few reviews to the Mass Movement site which include the biography Boris Karloff: More Than A Monster (above), the horror movie DVD Finale and the boxed sets of the first series of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Land of the Giants (below). You can read these here, here and here. ---------------------------------- Finally, don’t forget as reported here, here and on the Waterstone’s site itself here, you can meet Paul and get copies of his books signed from 1pm onwards tomorrow at Sheffield Waterstone’s, Orchard Square branch. ------------------------------------ March Extra Paul will be doing a signing at Waterstone’s, Orchard Square, Sheffield (below) on Saturday 2nd April, from 1pm onwards – so come along to get copies of the bestselling Arrowhead trilogy signed. The store will also be stocking copies of Paul and David Bezzina’s Arrowhead promo comic (see February’s news for details) in the run up to the event if you want to pick one up for free. -------------------------------------- March Some more film news now, to kick off March’s update. The Weeping Woman, scripted by Paul from his short story, and directed by award-winning Mark Steensland, has been getting some major news attention, most recently at Fatally Yours here, Dread Central here  and the mighty Fangoria here with exclusive new pictures. And for those of you who missed the news report on US TV, you can now watch it on YouTube below: The big news concerning the movie is that Fabio Frizzi has just been hired to score it. Fabio, of course, famously worked with Lucio Fulci on horror classics like Zombie Flesheaters (above) and The Beyond (below). This from the official press release: Legendary composer Fabio Frizzi (The Beyond, City of the Living Dead, Zombie) has signed on to score award-winning director Mark Steensland’s latest short film, The Weeping Woman. The film, now in post-production for a May premiere, stars Stephen Geoffreys (Fright Night, 976-Evil) and is based on a short story by acclaimed British horror author Paul Kane (The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy). “Working with Fabio Frizzi is a dream come true,” Steensland said. “I’ve always thought his music was the best thing about [director Lucio] Fulci’s movies and I knew his style would be a perfect match for this film.” Frizzi, who has only scored one short film before, agreed to compose the music for The Weeping Woman after reading the script and watching several of Steensland’s previous short films, including Peekers, and The Ugly File. Frizzi’s fans will be excited by this new music from the master. “I wrote this theme just trying to go back to my old Fulci/Horror experience,” Frizzi said. “It’s something simple, but I think quite hypnotic.” “I have used Fabio’s music as temp score to cut my films for years,” said Steensland. “I just never imagined that I would actually get him to really score one of them.” Viewers will be able to hear the results for themselves when the film heads to the festival circuit later this year. For more information, visit www.marksteensland.com ----------------------------------------- The publishers of Paul’s supernatural serial killer thriller, The Gemini Factor, are having a spring sale at the moment. To go to the main sale page on the Screaming Dreams website, just click here and to go directly to The Gemini Factor page – where you can buy the novel for £6.99 (normal price £9.99) click here. Happy reading! -------------------------------------- Paul is delighted to announce that he will be attending the World Fantasy Convention again this year – held in San Diego in October. He thoroughly enjoyed the last WFC he went to, where Hellbound Hearts received its official US launch (you can look through pictures of that event here) and Paul will again be promoting various projects, along with Marie. The theme of this year’s event is, appropriately enough, ‘Sailing the Seas of Imagination’, and the Guests of Honour are Parke Godwin, Shawna McCarthy, Ruth Sanderson, Jo Fletcher and Neil Gaiman (below is a photo of Paul with Neil from WHC last year), with toastmaster Connie Willis. More details as and when in the run up to this con, but for now you can visit the site here. © Jenni Hill ----------------------------------- Our Guest Writer for March is the creator of the Changeling series of books for Macmillan, Steve Feasey. Beginning with Changeling (above) itself, the series is now on its fifth novel, after Dark Moon, Blood Wolf and Demon Games. You can read an exclusive extract from Steve’s latest book, Zombie Dawn (below), by simply clicking here. ------------------------------------ There’s a Special Guest to announce for FantasyCon 2011 (which Paul is co-chairing). OBE and author of countless books, such as Starswarm, Frankenstein Unbound (which was turned into a movie by Roger Corman), The Year Before Yesterday, HARM and Walcot, not to mention the story on which Spielberg’s A.I. was based (below) ‘Super-Toys Last All Summer Long’, Nebula and World Fantasy nominee, Hugo award-winner and SF legend Brian Aldiss (above with Paul at an awards showcase back in 2008) will be attending the convention this September in Brighton.  To book your place at what promises to be a superb event (now with over 200 members already attending) just click here. ----------------------------------------- Paul’s story ‘Keeper of the Light’ has just been published in the new Fear of the Dark anthology from HorrorBound. Featuring stories from writers such as Christopher Fowler, Lisa Mannetti and Adrian Chamberlin, the book also comes with an introduction from Paul. You can order it now at http://www.horrorbound.com and the anthology will be available later on this year via Amazon and other booksellers. ---------------------------------------- February Hi everyone and welcome to another Shadow Writer news update. Above is the intro page to a very special two-page comic promo for the Arrowhead books, scripted by Paul and drawn by David Bezzina. Below are the stunning pages of artwork David has come up with. The promo is being circulated around book and comic shops at the moment, in particular Travelling Man in Leeds and Sheffield Space Centre, both of which Paul visited back in December for signings. -------------------------------------------- For those wanting to know more about past, present and future Kane projects, Paul has just been interviewed by Dominion, the online magazine. To read what the Shadow Writer himself had to say, just click here. --------------------------------------------- Paul will be contributing to new imprint Spectral Press’ line-up of chapbooks in the not too distant future. The brainchild of reviewer and blogger Simon Marshall-Jones the imprint specialises in supernatural stories – its most recent publication being What They Hear In The Dark by December’s SW Guest Writer, Gary McMahon (below). More as and when about Paul’s story, but in the meantime check out the Spectral website by clicking here. ---------------------------------------- Our Guest Writer for February is the author of the phenomenally popular supernatural novel, Apartment 16 (above), none other than Adam Nevill! One time commissioning editor for the Virgin horror line, Adam’s first book was the acclaimed Banquet for the Damned first published by PS. But it’s an extract from his forthcoming Macmillan novel that we’re delighted to present to you today. Out in May, ladies and gentlemen for the prologue of Ritual (below) just click here. -------------------------------------------- Paul and Marie caught up with X-Men comic scribe and author of the Felix Castor books, Mike Carey, during a signing at Cape & Cowl Comics in Chesterfield last month. Mike spent a few hours chatting to customers (above)... ...And signing copies of his books (above). But he also took time out to celebrate with Paul and Marie the official launch in February of Voices in the Dark (above). A book of interviews with horror writers, directors and actors, as well as including Mike it also features the likes of Clive (Books of Blood) Barker, Neil (Stardust) Gaiman, James (The Rats ) Herbert, Sarah (Matter of Blood ) Pinborough, Joe (Horns) Hill, Steve (30 Days of Night) Niles, John (The Fog) Carpenter, Stuart (Re-Animator) Gordon, Eric (The Hitcher) Red, Rob (Halloween) Zombie, Betsy (Friday 13th) Palmer and Ron (Hellboy) Perlman, plus an introduction from the author of the BFI Modern Classics’ book, The Thing, Anne Billson. Voices in the Dark (above) can now be ordered on Amazon UK here, Amazon US here and from the publishers themselves here. ------------------------------------------- Paul’s story ‘Speaking in Tongues’ has just been published in issue #13 of Necrotic Tissue with an eye-catching Nick Rose cover (above) – and at 65,000 words it’s more like an anthology than a magazine. You can find out more and how to subscribe to NT by visiting their website here. ------------------------------------------- As announced on the editor's blog here last month, Paul has also just delivered a 10,000 wd story for a forthcoming anthology edited by horror dynamo Johnny Mains (who introduced the re-issue of the first ever Pan Book of Horror Stories last year – above). ‘The Between’ will feature alongside stories by Conrad Williams, David A. Riley, Reggie Oliver and Marie in the Bite-Sized Horror book. More details in the coming months, so keep checking back. --------------------------------------- February is, of course, Paul’s birthday month – here’s the nice cake we made and presented to him above. So would you all please join us in wishing the old man many, many happy returns! -------------------------------------- January Happy New Year everyone! And we kick off 2011 in style with a look at the final cover for Paul’s Shadow Writer collection, due out in February from Mansion House Books (for more details, take a look at the previous news extra from December by clicking here). With artwork by the very talented David Magitis, we’re sure you’ll agree it looks stunning.  But that’s not all. The Shadow Writer site can now exclusively reveal that one of the stories featured in the collection, ‘The Weeping Woman’ has just been filmed, based on a script from Paul. Check out the excellent poster (above) designed by Mark Welser. Directed by Mark Steensland (above, left) the film stars Tony Award Nominee Stephen Geoffreys (of such horror greats as Fright Night and 976 Evil – pictured above on the right). It also stars Melissa Bostaph as the Weeping Woman herself (pictured above in costume, and below acting opposite Stephen). The film was produced by Lisa Knight, Mark and Rick Hautala, with Cemetery Dance’s Richard Chizmar on board as executive producer. You can watch a short news piece about the film’s production which was shown over in the States by clicking here. And you can visit the Shadow Writer page on MHB to reserve copies of the book by clicking here and here. It’s sure to be a very sought after collectors’ item, especially after this. -------------------------------------- News of the Arrowland signing tour now, which continued apace in December. First up for Paul was a signing at Leeds’ famous Travelling Man shop (above) and you can see pictures of both Paul and the book display below. Then, just before Christmas it was a tour of various Waterstone’s branches in Burton, Derby and Sheffield (below) Finally it was on to the Sheffield Space Centre to sign for customers there (below) © Colin Yates © Colin Yates And below, Paul with Dave of the Space Centre and Richard Fortey of Simon and Schuster who looked after Paul during the tour. Thanks, Rich! A great time was had by all and here’s to the next lot of events! --------------------------------- © Mark Harrison/Rebellion While we’re on the subject of Arrowland, the Waterstones.com and Amazon bestseller received a couple more positive reviews last month, the first from Pete Allison at Dominion, who says:  ‘Whilst the universe may be shared, Paul Kane’s story is unmistakably his own, and the Robin Hood mythos in Arrowhead blends itself wonderfully into this dark future... Paul Kane drops you straight in at the deep end, and his efficient writing style leads the story along at break-neck speed without losing any of the texture or emotion that permeates the book. Paul’s concise narrative allows ease of reading whilst losing none of the emotional depth. Although the novel comes in at 270 pages, and carries a lot of plot, the story never feels rushed. Arrowland may have global scale, but the story remains focused upon the characters. As with any great novel, it is the characters that matter, and here they are given scope to breathe. It is to Paul Kane’s credit that he juggles three separate storylines (which later merge into one), and that we never lose track of the characters as each has their own unique voice. Despite the overtly fictional elements, Paul consistently portrays a plethora of realistic and diverse characters, and contrasts how they currently survive against their lives before the cull, giving added depth and credibility for their actions. I especially enjoyed the character of Dale as the maverick undercover agent, for he combines a fascinating blend of human vulnerability with skilled capability... Whilst Arrowland was Paul Kane’s final book in the Arrowhead trilogy, I did not find myself needing to read the previous books, as any elements previously established were explained without feeling forced or contrived... One aspect I appreciated is how Paul Kane portrayed the supernatural elements within Arrowland, for they were never overtly present and could always by rationalised as improbable, but not impossible, coincidences... Hood’s link to Sherwood has a distinctly shamanistic flavour that was both well represented and researched and fitted well with the character... There were undeniable parallels with the Mad Max films, especially Thunderdome, given Arrowland’s conclusion (I will not explain further as I do not wish to spoil the story for you). I also found the overall feel of Arrowland mirrored the Mad Max style, given the prevalence of dementia amongst the warlords...Overall, Paul Kane’s Arrowland was a gripping read filled with action and suspense and a “ripping yarn” in the truest sense of the word, which many books aspire to but rarely achieve.’ Meanwhile, Stanley Riiks over at Morpheus Tales commented: ‘Coming into a trilogy for the final instalment can be a tricky, intimidating and confusing experience. Not so with this third book in the post-apocalyptic tales of Robin Hood. Or actually Robert the Hood. This action-packed book gives you enough of the back-story so you know these characters have a history, but not so much that it overwhelms the action; Kane plays this well, intricately embedding history into the thrill-ride plot. And what a thrill it is!... It doesn’t get much more action-packed that this, starting off with an attack on a convoy, and ending... well, I’ll leave that for you to find out. If you like your fiction fast-paced, action-packed and completely over-the-top, then you’ll love this... Kane certainly provides a whole lot of entertainment in this book.’ --------------------------------------- Our first Guest Writer of the New Year – and the New Decade – is Bedfordshire author, Mike Shevdon. Mike caused quite a stir with his first novel, Sixty-One Nails (above) from Angry Robot, which C.E. Murphy deservedly called ‘Neverwhere for the next generation’, and followed this recently with The Road to Bedlam (below). You can read his wonderful story ‘After Image’ by clicking here. ---------------------------------- Those on the lookout for more of Paul’s short fiction this month might like to know that the latest Dalton Quayle story has just been published in Tales of Moreauvia magazine Vol. 1, No. 3 (above). For more info, click here. This paves the way for the Quayle collection due out this year from Mundania Press. Paul has also contributed a story called ‘Keeper of the Light’ to the forthcoming Fear of the Dark anthology from HorrorBound (above). Not only that, but he has written the introduction for this excellent gathering of tales from the likes of Christopher Fowler, Lisa Mannetti and Adrian Chamberlin. For more details, simply click here.   -------------------------------------------------------------- Current news can be viewed here 2023 news can be viewed here 2022 news can be viewed here 2021 news can be viewed here 2020 news can be viewed here 2019 news can be viewed here 2018 news can be viewed here 2017 news can be viewed here 2016 news can be viewed here 2015 news can be viewed here 2014 news can be viewed here 2013 news can be viewed here 2012 news can be viewed here 2010 news can be viewed here 2009 news can be viewed here 2008 news can be viewed here 2007 news can be viewed here 2006 news can be viewed here 2005 news can be viewed here 2004 news can be viewed here 2003 news can be viewed here

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