Black Static

Listed below are the books received for review since the last update, which was back on 19 October.

Lots of interesting stuff in, and yet more reasons to be cheerful for those who have been depressed by the horror genre's perceived lack of commercial appeal. On the back cover of the ARC of 'Mr Shivers', publishers Orion note that the book is 'Reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy and early Stephen King - Robert Jackson Bennett is the new voice of mainstream horror.' In related news, in an e-mail a PR lady from another major publisher told me that 'horror, especially vampires and zombies does seem to be flavour of the month.' A while back nobody in publishing was even thinking the H word, but now the times they are a-changing, and long may they continue to do so.

One book that stood out for me, and not just because it's ruddy huge, is Dedalus hardback 'The Devil is a Gentleman' by Phil Baker, which is a biography of Dennis Wheatley, a writer who was hugely influential in his day, though now his reputation has sunk considerably. I can still remember the thrill I felt as a teenager, turning the pages of books like 'The Devil Rides Out' and 'To the Devil a Daughter', each with the ominous trademark warning from Wheatley not to dabble in the occult, adding an extra frisson. Unfortunately I had to go and sully those childhood memories by reading one of Wheatley's books as an adult - I found it badly written and with subtexts that made the now socially conscious me feel very uncomfortable. 'The Devil is a Gentleman' has footnotes at the end of the book, which is something I find extremely irritating. I don't want to have to keep breaking off from my reading to turn to the back of the book. Footnotes are meant to be placed at the foot of the page - it's why they are called foot-notes. Does anyone else find this annoying?

A couple of titles in from the British Fantasy Society - their 'Yearbook', which contains work by a host of familiar names, many of whom have appeared in the pages of Black Static, and 'In Conversation: A Writer's Perspective', a book of interviews with leading horror writers conducted by James Cooper. The latter caused controversy when news first broke that no female writers had been interviewed, and BFS chair Guy Adams quickly apologised for the omission. The criteria for inclusion, according to editor Cooper's introduction, is 'the most accomplished horror writers around', and I expect I'm going to have a thing or two to say about his choices, if and when I review the book.

Special call outs to a couple of the undersung heroes of the small/independent press. Steve Redwood is a writer whose work ranges far and wide, treating genre boundaries as if they are only in the imagination, and it's good to finally see a collection of his idiosyncratic stories in print. Kudos to Dog Horn Publishing for making it happen with 'Broken Symmetries'. Trevor Denyer is best known as editor of Midnight Street, the leading UK magazine that's not put out by either TTA Press or PS Publishing, something that has come to overshadow his career as a writer. Issued by his own Immediate Direction Publications, 'The Edge of the Country' is a fine and long overdue showcase for Trevor's literary talents.

One last thing, March 2010 sees the World Horror Convention return to the shores of Blightie, and to mark that I intend making the Case Notes section of Black Static #15 (February 2010) a horror special, ignoring slipstream, crime, urban fantasy etc and concentrating on the real McCoy. As part of that, I'd like to do a feature on world horror, stuff that's not written by Americans and Brits. I already have in the kitty books from Australian, Canadian, Swedish and Japanese authors, but the feature is still looking a tad anglo-heavy, so if anyone knows of any recent titles in translation from foreign authors then please get in touch and let me know about them pronto. The address is whitenoise@ttapress.com

The Standard Offer and Disclaimer - If anyone wants to query with me the suitability of their book(s) for a review in Case Notes, then I can be contacted by writing to whitenoise@ttapress.com and, as ever, an expression of interest in seeing the book does not guarantee that a review will be done.

February 2010

• Carla Buckley - The Things That Keep Us Here - Orion hardback (ARC)
• Michael Shea - The Extra - Tor hardback (ARC)

January 2010

• Robert Jackson Bennett - Mr Shivers - Orion hardback (ARC)

November 2009

• Max Brooks - The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks - Duckworth paperback
• Paul Magrs - Hell's Belles - Headline paperback
• Edited by James Cooper - In Conversation: A Writer's Perspective - BFS hardback
• The British Fantasy Society Yearbook 2009 - BFS hardback

October 2009

• Phil Baker - The Devil is a Gentleman - Dedalus hardback
• A. E. Moffat - Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter - Hodder paperback
• Don Roff & Chris Lane - Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection - Simon & Schuster paperback
• Charlaine Harris - A Touch of Dead - Gollancz hardback
• Karen Rose - I Can See You - Headline hardback

August 2009

• Steve Redwood - Broken Symmetries - Dog Horn Publishing

July 2009

• Trevor Denyer - The Edge of the Country and other stories - Immediate Direction paperback