David Moody's Blog, page 45

New releases

A couple of new releases to tell you about…

MATT SHAW’s THE DEVIL’S GUESTS is out now. Matt’s put together a really ambitious book, and it’s a project I was pleased to be a part of. I had far too much fun creating a particularly obnoxious character for Matt to ‘dispose of’ later in the book. Here’s the cover blurb:

From outside the hotel looks like any other in the city. Inside though, a maze of ever-changing corridors, rooms filled with death, traps and – behind the reception desk with a welcoming smile, a sadistic owner who can not wait to help his guests check-out permanently.

From the twisted imagination of Matt Shaw, and partly based on the serial killer H. H. Holmes, comes a new extreme horror and a new way of telling the story. While Shaw writes the part of Henry, the sadistic serial killer, he has invited some leading horror authors to write their own characters – introducing them to the hotel before Shaw finishes the story off. This is not an anthology. This is one story with guest authors Jeff Strand, Wrath James White, Kealan Patrick Burke, Shane Mckenzie, Sam West, Wade H. Garrett, Ryan Harding, Armand Rosamilia, David Moody, Gary McMahon, Jasper Bark and Mark Tufo.

Click here for more information and to pick up a copy of the book.

Also out now is the paperback edition of GREEN AND PLEASANT LAND, an excellent anthology edited by Steve J Shaw which includes my story OSTRICH.

Green and Pleasant Land is the first in an annual series showcasing the best in modern British horror. Every year, Great British Horror will feature ten British authors, plus one international guest contributor, telling tales of this sceptered isle. The 2016 edition features eleven original stories of small town, rural and folk horror from V H Leslie, Rich Hawkins, Laura Mauro, Ray Cluley, David Moody, Barbie Wilde, James Everington, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Adam Millard, A K Benedict and Jasper Bark.

Click here to order.

And don’t forget, my World War II zombie novel – THE FRONT: RED DEVILS – is out in a couple of weeks time!

New releases is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Birmingham Horror Con – this Saturday

Hope to see you at the BIRMINGHAM HORROR CONVENTION at Edgbaston Stadium this Saturday. I’ll be there along with a host of horror luminaries, including stars of the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, FRIDAY THE 13th and HALLOWEEN movies, and some excellent author chums like ADAM NEVILL, MATT SHAW, PETER MCKEIRNON, ADAM MILLARD and many others. It promises to be an absolute cracker of an event. Tickets are still available – click here for more information.

 

Birmingham Horror Con – this Saturday is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

The Front: Red Devils – out 15 February

My new book, THE FRONT: RED DEVILS will be released on 15 February. Ebook links are now live (Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de and others) and links to purchase both signed and standard paperbacks will be ready shortly.

The book’s a sequel to TIMOTHY W. LONG‘s book, SCREAMING EAGLES, and though it’s not necessary to have read Tim’s first book, I recommend you do (because it’s brilliant). Here’s the synopsis for RED DEVILS:

THE UNDEAD NAZI ARMY CONTINUES ITS MARCH ACROSS EUROPE IN THE THRILLING SEQUEL TO SCREAMING EAGLES!

The German stranglehold on the town of Bastogne has been released, only for the living dead to rise up and take their place. A ragtag group of men fight their way out of the chaos and make a frantic escape from the rubble and ruin. One of them, British soldier Lieutenant Robert Wilkins, uncovers crucial information about the source of the zombie scourge. Along with a crack team, Wilkins is dispatched to where the outbreak began – the ominously silent concentration camp at Polonezköy, Poland – to try and find a way to halt the undead advance.

The fate of the entire world rests on the shoulders of just a handful of men.

Pre-order now for $2.99 from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca and Amazon.de.

The Front: Red Devils – out 15 February is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Sir John Hurt (1940 – 2017)

I was saddened to hear today about the death of . I don’t usually write about individual actors on this site, but his impact was such that I couldn’t let his passing go unnoticed. He was one of those rare actors who, to me, seemed both recognisable and unrecognisable at the exact same time. His face (and voice) was immediately familiar and yet he completely inhabited the roles he played to such an extent that any familiarity quickly disappeared. When I see Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks or Johnny Depp on screen (something I try my best to avoid doing), I know I’m watching Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks or Johnny Depp, albeit in a different setting and with a different haircut. With John Hurt, however, I was only ever watching the character he was portraying. Does that make sense?

There are three particular roles he played I wanted to mention. When I was nine and was rapidly discovering my love for all things horror, ALIEN was released. I’m assuming anyone reading this will know that his character, Kane, has one of the most famous death scenes in movie history. Of course, as a bloodthirsty kid, all I was initially interested in was the chest-burst and the gore. It was only when I later learned more about how the scene was filmed – how he knew what was going to happen but the rest of the cast didn’t – and when I watched the film again (and again and again) did I realise how smart and clever Sir John’s performance was.

A couple of years later he starred as the titular ELEPHANT MAN in David Lynch’s adaptation of the life of the hideously deformed John Merrick. I rewatched the film recently and was again spellbound by his performance. Despite being unrecognisable and with limited movement under Christopher Tucker’s ground-breaking makeup, he succeeded in playing Merrick in such a way that the character’s pain and suffering was abundantly clear.

But my favourite John Hurt performance is as Winston Smith in Michael Radford’s film adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984. I’ve already written about the film here so I won’t go into much more detail, other than to say that the physical and mental transformation of Smith is remarkable. It’s a superb adaptation of a book which in these days of ‘alternate facts’ and the like, continues to feel increasingly relevant.

So goodbye Sir John, and thanks for the many magnificent performances. I’ve barely scratched the surface: V FOR VENDETTA, HELLBOY, HARRY POTTER, DOCTOR WHO, SNOWPIERCER… I could go on and on. Instead, I thought I’d post this compilation clip instead:

Sir John Hurt (1940 – 2017) is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Recommended Reading – Stiff

I’ve only ever seen two dead bodies – those of my father-in-law and my father. Regardless of the emotional attachment, it’s always a sobering experience. I’m not a religious man (in fact, I’m as far from religious as you can get – anti-religion, if you like), so I don’t believe any part of a person survives past the point of death. My belief is that once you die, you’re done. You immediately stop being you and become, well… nothing.

But what about your shell? What about the husk you leave behind? What happens to that?

It’s a sensitive and often taboo subject, but it’s one journalist and writer Mary Roach tackles head on in 2003 book, STIFF: THE CURIOUS LIVES OF HUMAN CADAVERS. Written in a hilarious style which feels at once both keenly respectful and also cheeky and impertinent, Roach looks at a large number of ways the human body is used after death. Let me give you some examples of the subjects of her chapters:

human crash test dummies
studying the process of decay
what the bodies of the victims can tell inspectors after a crash
the scientific search for the soul
human head transplants…

…and it goes on. It sounds grotesque, I know, and Roach often writes with an unflinching eye, but she achieves something remarkable with this book: in talking about death and decay, she somehow leaves you feeling happier about life and your inevitable end. I originally picked this book up for research purposes (you think I make this stuff up? I’ll have you know the decay of my zombies is medically researched!), but by the end of a couple of chapters I was just along for the ride.

My dad died just under a year ago, and I was with him at the end. I’d had STIFF part-read on my shelf for a number of years, but losing Dad gave me a surprising incentive to pick the book up again and finish it. And I’m glad I did. It helped put things in perspective. Highly recommended.

Recommended Reading – Stiff is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

The Girl with All the Gifts

On 26 January THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS hits US cinema screens. Here in the UK we were lucky enough to get to see the film in September last year. My advice to those of you in the States? Go see this movie as soon as you’re able. Based on the acclaimed novel by M R Carey, it’s a superb zombie tale with an excellent cast, which echoes the works of George Romero and John Wyndham in equal measure. Below you’ll find a synopsis, the trailer, and a link to click to read my thoughts.

The near future; humanity has been all but destroyed by a mutated fungal disease that eradicates free will and turns its victims into flesh-eating “hungries”. Only a small group of children seem immune to its effects.

At an army base in rural England, this group of unique children are being studied, subjected to cruel experiments by biologist Dr. Caldwell. Despite having been infected with the zombie pathogen that has decimated the world, these children retain normal thoughts and emotions. And while still being subject to the craving for human flesh that marks the disease these second-generation “hungries” are able to think and feel making them a vital resource in the search for a cure.

The children attend school lessons daily, guarded by the ever watchful Sergeant Parks. But one little girl, Melanie, stands out from the rest. Melanie is special. She excels in the classroom, is inquisitive, imaginative and loves her favourite teacher Miss Justineau.

When the base falls, Melanie escapes along with Miss Justineau, Sergeant Parks and Dr. Caldwell. Against the backdrop of a blighted Britain, Melanie must discover what she is and ultimately decide both her own future and that of the human race.

Ever since I started writing zombie fiction in 2000, I’ve been asked when I think the undead bubble will burst. Looking back, it’s interesting how my answer has changed. For a long time I thought us zombie authors were living on borrowed time, and that interest would begin to wane at any moment. It didn’t happen, and like the swarms of reanimated corpses which populate zombie novels and films, the zombie-craving audience just keeps getting bigger. Now, the best part of two decades since the first AUTUMN novel was released, I’ve come to believe that the zombie genre will continue to thrive as long as authors and directors continue to have original ideas. It’s not about the zombies, it’s about the survivors and their stories.

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS is a beautiful movie which takes the genre in an unexpected direction. It’s reminiscent of THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS and NIGEL KNEALE’S QUATERMASS, and that’s a very good thing indeed. Directed by COLM MCCARTHY from a screenplay by M R CAREY from his novel, the film feels decidedly personal and small in scale, yet tells a story with vast implications. The cast is uniformly strong, with excellent performances from PADDY CONSIDINE, GEMMA ARTERTON, GLENN CLOSE and SENNIA NANUA as Melanie, the titular girl.

Visually the film hits the mark, particularly in later scenes where my beloved hometown of Birmingham doubles-up as an alien spore and dead body filled London. There’s a decidedly creepy vibe as the military lead a dwindling pack of survivors though a forest of frozen infected, knowing that a wrong movement at any moment could have devastating implications.

But it’s the human, rather than in-human conflicts which make THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS such a success. On the face of it, it’s a relatively simple and straightforward story, but Carey’s smart script forces us to ask a number of uncomfortable questions which are probably best summed up by the tagline from one of the British movie posters – our greatest threat is our only hope.

An excellent film, which I recommend without hesitation. While you’re waiting to see the movie (as well as the US theatrical release, this month also sees the release of the UK Blu-ray), I’d also recommend Carey’s original novel. There’s a sequel – THE BOY ON THE BRIDGE – out in May.

The Girl with All the Gifts is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

The Front II: Red Devils

Happy New Year! I’ve been telling you for a while that you’ll hear much more from me in 2017, so it’s time to start making good that promise. Here’s my first release of the year – THE FRONT: RED DEVILS – which will hit shelves in paperback and ebook formats in February. I was thrilled to be asked to be involved in Craig DiLouie and Tim Long’s THE FRONT series, and I’m delighted with how the book has turned out. Set during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, Tim’s first volume, SCREAMING EAGLES, introduced an undead Nazi army to the mix. In RED DEVILS a British officer uncovers crucial information about the undead threat and is dispatched as part of a task force to the source of the deadly infection. Can they find a way to stop the advance of the living dead before the whole of mainland Europe is overcome?

If you haven’t yet read SCREAMING EAGLES, then click here to put that right. More details about RED DEVILS coming very soon.

The Front II: Red Devils is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Is this our LAST CHRISTMAS?

Very pleased to be able to announce the release today of LAST CHRISTMAS – the final book in Infected Books’ YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE series, and the first time WAYNE SIMMONS and I have collaborated on a story. It’s silly. It’s bloody. It’s Christmassy. It’s a whole lot of fun and I hope you enjoy it.

The Office Christmas Party can a nightmare at the best of times but when it coincides with the end of the world, things get even messier.

For mild-mannered security guard Howard Stanton, this was meant to be an easy shift. A chance to keep his head down and watch Die Hard movies while the rest of the staff get wasted. But then the zombie apocalypse happened and peopled expected him to do something about it. Was that even in his job description?

It’s going to be a long drink- and drug-fuelled night. The world’s going to hell and it’s down to Howard to hold it all together. He’s in charge tonight, and if he screws up, it’ll be everyone’s last Christmas.

It’s been a quiet couple of years, but things will be cranking up a gear or two (or ten) in 2017. THE FRONT: RED DEVILS will be out in February, ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING (HATER #4) will be out in August, and there will be other surprises along the way. Oh, and important paperwork has just been signed for the screen adaptation of HATER. More news coming soon…

Pick up LAST CHRISTMAS now from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and Amazon.de. I hope you have as much fun reading it as we did writing it. And if I don’t get to post here again before Christmas, wherever you are and whatever you celebrate, I hope you and your families and friends have an excellent time.

Is this our LAST CHRISTMAS? is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

I Am Legend (2007)

You might remember that a couple of months ago I started looking back at Richard Matheson’s landmark novel, I AM LEGEND, and the various film adaptations which have followed. I wrote about LAST MAN ON EARTH here, and eviscerated THE OMEGA MAN here. Now it’s time to look at the version I was dreading most. Alex Proyas’ 2007 I AM LEGEND starring Will Smith.

It’s funny how time affects your perception and enjoyment of movies. I originally loved THE OMEGA MAN back in the day, but hated it following my recent re-watch. Similarly, whilst I despised I AM LEGEND first time around, it didn’t annoy me anywhere near as much when I watched it again. It’s still horribly flawed, it still takes huge liberties with Matheson’s story, it still stars Will Smith (and I still can’t stand him), but it was… well, okay, I guess.

Here’s the trailer. Click the link for my thoughts.

I guess the key learning point for me from this whole I AM LEGEND exercise is that while no one has made a wholly successful movie adaptation of the novel, there’s enough going on in Matheson’s post-apocalyptic world to keep even the most tenuous adaptations entertaining. In my mind there’s no question that LAST MAN ON EARTH is the best version by far, but the other two both have things to recommend. THE OMEGA MAN just about remains watchable because of its kitsch value. Similarly, I AM LEGEND can be enjoyed because of its huge budget and its glorious realisation of post-virus New York. Dodgy CGI animals apart (and more on the dodgy CGI in a minute), there are some truly epic visuals. According to IMDB, the film’s budget was in the region of $150 million. I’m guessing half went on Will Smith and the other half went on the CGI. Unfortunately that left quite a big hole…

I was in Canada when the movie was released, visiting the set of the AUTUMN film. As has been well-documented, the AUTUMN adaptation failed to capture the book spectacularly, but I remember sitting in the farmhouse set and chatting with members of the crew about how the newest adaptation of I AM LEGEND felt like the anti-AUTUMN. Immediately recognisable, wise-cracking action hero: check. Huge budget and action set-pieces: check. Vast, sprawling locations: check.

I’ve written at length about what a huge influence Matheson’s novel was on me and on my work. I like to tell stories about ordinary people who find themselves trapped in extraordinary situations. You’ll find no action heroes, super-soldiers, brilliant scientists etc. in my grubby little tales of the apocalypse. And I always got the impression that was what Matheson was angling for too… Robert Neville is a flawed and broken man who retreats into the more dangerous regions of himself to try and survive, and he frequently fails. Will Smith’s smart and savvy hi-tech character is a version of Neville I neither recognise nor can identify with. He’s so bloody smart that I almost want him to fail. I feel nothing for the character, just annoyance as he plays golf off the deck of an aircraft carrier and races around overgrown Times Square in a fancy motor. What a dick.

But the film-makers make an even more devastating miscalculation with this adaptation of the book, and that’s in the portrayal of the infected. Remember the ghastly figures who knew Neville and who taunted him each night in the original novel and in the first film adaptation? The tortured souls damned to an infernal undead existence who inspired George Romero to kick-start the modern day zombie genre? Even The Family from THE OMEGA MAN who resorted to a medieval lynch mortality to take their revenge on Chuck Heston for what the old world had done to them.

In this adaptation you get computer generated shadows. Cartoonish sprites without a hint of character or menace. Badly-animated ghouls that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a mid-range Xbox game. And that’s a real shame, because to my mind it leaves a huge part of the I AM LEGEND story untold, and that’s the real reason why this movie fails. For all of Mr Smith’s tortured face-pulling and his incredible dystopian surroundings, the lack of characterisation and thought afforded to his enemies leave an un-fillable gulf. We don’t care who lives or who dies. We feel nothing for Neville. We watch the credits roll up the screen and immediately forget about the movie we’ve just watched (and probably enjoyed). An enormous wasted opportunity, therefore, but one that’s not completely devoid of merit.

So there we go. One book, three movies. I know there are other adaptations (a BBC radio version and The Asylum’s I AM OMEGA), but that’s where I’ll leave I AM LEGEND for now. I do hope one day that someone returns to the book and makes a screen adaptation that’s worthy of it. Right now, though, I’d recommend you read the novel, check out LAST MAN ON EARTH, and leave it there.

I’ve really enjoyed this exercise. Think I’ll do it again next year with another of my major influences that’s been filmed three times… John Wyndham’s seminal THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS.

I Am Legend (2007) is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

The Black Fang Betrayal – now free to read

You might remember THE BLACK FANG BETRAYAL, a really interesting project I was involved in a while back. The book is a collaborative novel, coordinated by James Thorn and written by myself alongside TW Brown, Michaelbrent Collings, Mainak Dhar, J.C. Eggleton, Glynn James, Stephen Knight, T.W. Piperbrook and J.R. Rain. I’m excited to tell you that the book is now free to read.

Levi Phillips is a warlock living in the woods of rural Ohio. With his apprentice, Matthew, Levi operates one of the most ferocious covens in the world, known as The Black Fang. Managing the coven like an international corporation, Levi controls its enormous wealth while running a moonshine operation as a front. But when a plot to assassinate Levi is exposed, the warlock decides it’s time to destroy The Black Fang and the destruction could create a new beginning.

The Black Fang Betrayal features today’s best horror, dark fantasy and thriller writers collaborating on a unique and fascinating novel. Armed with nothing but a prompt and a character name, each author became a warlock of The Black Fang and wrote a first-person account as a member of the coven. Using themes and sequences woven throughout the complete narrative, a cohesive page-turner emerges.

Grab a copy for Kindle at getbook.at/blackfang and get all other formats here: books2read.com/u/38DPd6.

The Black Fang Betrayal – now free to read is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER