You Must Have Choices
Choices being a brand new anthology from Pendragon Press, available in December, but ready to pre-order now. Look at how pretty it is…
Here are some reasons to get excited by it.
It contains six novelettes, by some very fine writers both established and up and coming. Stephen Volk, best know for his television work such as Ghostwatch and Afterlife? Check. Eric Brown, sci-fi novelist and short story writer filling shelves at your local bookstore? Check. Gary Fry and Andrew Humphrey, whose short fiction and collections are rapidly making them must-have authors? Check. Paul Finch, already one of the strongest new horror voices in the UK? Check. Erm… me? Check. Novelettes are, by the way, a perfect medium for good horror. Longer than a short story, there’s time for the atmosphere and characters to be built up fully, without the tale being dragged out to a novel length. Trust me, they’re brilliant.
It’s produced by Pendragon Press, one of the UK’s finest independent presses, and publisher of one of my favourite new novels from last year, Mark West’s In The Rain With The Dead.
Christopher C Teague’s last anthology, Tourniquet Heart, was critically acclaimed across the board, and there is every suggestion that this will be too.
It’s available in December, priced £7.99.
If you pre-order it today in the UK, you pay £7, and your copy will be part of an initial numbered run, signed by each of the writers. Pre-ordering is a very good thing indeed, and you’ll get the book sent straight to your door while it is still slightly steaming from the press. I can’t encourage you enough to put your money down in advance – it’s a tremendous boost for a small publisher, and really can help good books do well. What’s more, if you’re in America, pre-ordering at Shocklines online bookstore ($16) not only saves you international shipping prices, but also means that your card won’t be charged until the book physically ships to you.
My contribution, the novelette Radio Trauma, is adapted from my stage play of the same name (it originally toured Scotland in 2002 as the third act of my anthology show Black Hearts), and the result has worked out rather well, if I do say so. When you buy the book, you’ll meet John Brosnan, a jaded late night talk show host, and listen as he takes a caller who just won’t take no for an answer…
Go on, pre-order it today (UK or US). Support my writing without breaking the bank, and be rewarded with some subtle, satisfying horror stories that will linger with you for days.
Get to it.
October 16th, 2006 at 11:09 am
Sounds good to me, Rick, you silver-tongued devil!
How did you find writing at this length? I’m about 3/4 of the way through my first (which has, thankfully, gone a long way to killing my block) and it’s intriguing – you know you can’t go on, but you can go a little more indepth than for a short. Interesting.
October 17th, 2006 at 6:33 am
At the novelette length? It’s not really a fair test, as I was adapting a very tight one-act play (on paper, being mostly just dialogue, that’s not many more words than a short story). Rather than feeling constrained by the shorter length then, I was delighted at how much room it gave the story to breathe. I’m very pleased with the result (as you can no doubt tell – hope readers agree!).
October 23rd, 2006 at 11:08 am
The cover might change… *undecided*
Paul Finch’s story note is great, and I’ll be penning an “afterword” as opposed to an introduction, but I’m hoping it’ll sell well.
October 23rd, 2006 at 11:20 am
All right, gaffer? Thanks for popping by – I like the provisional cover, for what it’s worth, but then I don’t know what else might be inside your brain, trying to get out…
Very pleased to be a part of it, regardless…
October 23rd, 2006 at 12:50 pm
You’ve quite talked me into both…as if I needed much encouragement
October 23rd, 2006 at 1:33 pm
Excellent – and welcome back. Been watching you from afar, in a stalkerish, bloglinesey sort of a way