Black Static

Well, I haven't been doing much blogging on here recently, but I have been writing lots of reviews, and as Andy uploaded it to the printer this morning I can now clue you all in on what the Case Notes section of Black Static #14 will contain.

Leading off, we have:-

The Story So Far: Gary McMahon

A feature on this up and coming author, who's had a couple of stories in Black Static already and might even have a third in this very issue (we'll have to wait to hear from Andy for the scoop on that one). There'll be in-depth reviews of Gary's double novella outing from Screaming Dreams, Different Skins, and his zombie novel from Abaddon, Hungry Hearts, which, in a marvellous moment of serendipity, I stumbled across in Dereham Public Library just yesterday - I logged off the computer and turned round to find it sitting there on its very own plinth and staring at me. We'll have an interview and sidebar factoids, plus photographs of the author for those who like to put a face to their favourite writers. It's all good stuff.

Upon a Midnight Scary: Yuletide Terrors

Reviews of two books, each with a seasonal theme. I Am Scrooge: A Zombie Story for Christmas by Adam Roberts is the best variation on Dickens' A Christmas Carol since I wrote A Halloween Tale a few years back (if you want a copy, ask me), and in fact it might even be marginally better, while Festive Fear: A Collection of Dark Tales is the latest release from Tasmaniac Publications and contains fourteen stories by writers from 'a land down under'. We also have a Dickensian sidebar.

The Killing Kind

Having reviewed clusters of books about vampires and zombies, I decided to take a look at one of the horror genre's other famous monsters, the serial killer. The names (and titles) in the frame are The Fifth Victim by Beverly Barton, The Crucifix Killer by Chris Carter, The Surrogate by Tania Carver (which I also saw in Dereham Public Library yesterday, right next to the McMahon - they're stalking me), The Kult by Shaun Jeffrey and I Can See You by Karen Rose. And there's a sidebar on serial killers in real life and the nicknames they get given.

Three Short Story Collections

The theme here was supposed to be self-published short story collections, but all the references to self-publishing got pulled for reasons of space, though I hope to follow up on this blog at some point. What we're left with are reviews of Stages of Undress by Steven Deighan, The Edge of the Country and other stories by Midnight Street editor Trevor Denyer and Remove the Eyes by Ralph Robert Moore.

The Others

Miscellaneous reviews of Night of Demons by Tony Richards and the first two chapbook releases from Nightjar Press, The Safe Children by Tom Fletcher and What Happens When You Wake Up In The Night by Michael Marshall Smith.

Usually at this point I write something about the books that haven't been reviewed as yet and are now grown so long in the tooth that they won't be, with links to reviews by other people so there's at least some feedback. I'm not going to though, as there are quite a few of them this time, including at least one that I actually got round to reading and might do a mini-review of, and so they warrant a separate post.

Instead I'll update everyone on The Advent Calendar (see previous blog entry), which is going swimmingly, with about two thirds of the dates covered. As yet, we haven't had many contributions from people who've appeared in the pages of TTA publications, and it would be nice to get a few more of those, so don't be shy, you guys and gals. About half of our links have been provided by people with no TTA affiliation at all, and many thanks to them for wanting to take part. There's a chance we may go over the required twenty five stories, so what I thought I'd do is post a single link per day, with the TTA affiliated taking priority, and then on Christmas Day itself do a bumper post with any and all other links, so everybody who takes part gets a nod (but I reserve the right to change my mind on that, or close to submissions early if hundreds of links start flooding in - I have to find time to watch the Queen).

Our first story, by Jim Steel, went up today, and is getting some good feedback on Interaction. Watch out for Gareth L. Powell tomorrow.