William Meikle's Blog: Latest, page 52

Featured Book for Halloween

THE HOLE reached the top 100 overall in the Amazon Kindle charts, and reached #3 in Amazon Horror for all formats.

The origins of this one are simple - I heard two news reports on the same day.

The first was about a sinkhole in small town USA.

The second was about a strange inexplicable hum plaguing a large area of country.

I wondered... what if they were both in the same place?

From there it was only a short distance to the town, a roadside bar and diner, and a couple of odd-job men down on their luck and about to literally fall into a hole filled with their worst fears.

There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Meikle is one of the premier storytellers of our time. The Hole is one hell of a story, a fun ride and a blast to read. If you are looking for some good summer entertainment, don't turn on the idiot box, pick up a copy of "The Hole", find yourself a nice tree to sit under and get lost in the magic of a great story. The Hole will certainly be time well spent and I highly recommend it.- Famous Monsters of Filmland

At the centre of this fabulous story is a pounding pulp rhythm, onto which Meikle has layered a philharmonic gemstone of plots, characters, and thrills to create a triumphant symphonic masterpiece of modern genre writing. - Ginger Nuts of Horror

Another tour de force of pulp fiction from the imagination of the best purveyor of out and out genre fiction currently plying their trade. - Dark Musings

William Meikle should be a household name if this is the sort of rip roaring story he produces. - The Horrifically Horrifying Horror Blog

A seriously creepy thriller – lights on for this one!- CAYOCOSTA72 Book Reviews

This is an intelligent and well-rounded horror story even with its tip of the cap to “The invasion of the body snatchers” and its pod people. Meikle shows adeptness in handling the story as he takes it right to the edge of absurdity but keeps from crossing that line. This is the first book that I have read by Meikle but I can guarantee that it will definitely not be the last. - Examiner.com

Musing on my writing career as I approach 60

I’ve been reflecting on my writing career so far as I rapidly approach my sixtieth birthday in January.

There have been many ups and downs over the years, but back when I started out in early 1992, if I’d been offered the publications I now have, I’d have sold my soul for them.

When I first started, all I wanted was to see my name in print. That was fine for a few years. I placed a whole shitload of stories in the small press for just a copy or two of the publications. I got quite cozy down there before I realized I wasn’t actually getting anywhere.

So then I wanted to get paid. Then I wanted a pro-rate story sale, then a novel sale, then a sale in a pro anthology, then a story collection…in hardcover… then I wanted to go full time… and lo and behold, it has all come to pass, and more, especially in the last 5 years. ( I also wanted to sell a film script to Hollywood – but let’s not go there. Okay? )

There’s still things I want to achieve – a story in one or more of the Year’s Best anthologies, a mass market book deal, a luxury yacht so I can just sail round the world all the time – that kind of thing. Some of them might even be achievable.

I recently sold my 80th pro-rate short story. Now I’m wondering whether 100 is feasible. Given that 25 years ago I was wondering whether 1 was feasible, I guess I’m doing something right.

But it’s in the nature of the beast that I’m never satisfied, always looking ahead to the next gold ring. ( I also get jealous of some of my fellow writers. Shush… don’t tell them.)

This past eighteen months has seen a necessary realignment for me with both Dark Renaissance and DarkFuse going out of business, bringing with that a load of stress I could have done without.

But the orphans are rehomed, and the new babies have also been adopted, so today I again decided to count my blessings and look at what I’ve achieved. I can’t quite say I’m content… but I’m happy.

For now, that’ll do.

In the meantime, I’ve got new and old works coming from Crossroad Press, a novella in the big I AM THE ABYSS antho from Dark Regions, a new collection, THE GHOST CLUB coming from Crystal Lake, a big bug novel, and another novel to write coming with Severed Press, I'm in discussions about a collection, and I’ve got a large secret project in the works that's two-thirds of the way done. So it looks like I’m busy for a while longer.

Onward and upwards.

To infinity and beyond.

William Meikle

Carnacki and Me

Carnacki resonated with me immediately on my first reading many years ago. Several of the stories have a Lovecraftian viewpoint, with cosmic entities that have no regard for the doings of mankind. The background Hodgson proposes fits with some of my own viewpoint on the ways the Universe might function, and the slightly formal Edwardian language seems to be a "voice" I fall into naturally. I write them because of love, pure and simple.

The stories appear in three main collections. HEAVEN AND HELL and THE WATCHER AT THE GATE come from Dark Regions Press. Both volumes are in limited edition hardcovers, trade paperbacks and ebooks all fully illustrated by the great Wayne Miller. A third volume, THE EDINBURGH TOWNHOUSE, appears in the Lovecraft Ezine's fiction imprint in paperback and ebook.

I love exploring the Occult Detective sub-genre, in the Midnight Eye Files stories, in my Carnacki stories, and with Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger. I intend to write a lot more of it, and that will definitely mean more Carnacki to come.

THE DARK ISLAND novella in the Heaven and Hell collection is a focal point for Carnacki -- in it he has learned that the bounds of his research are much, much wider than he had previously thought. That's going to give me plenty of scope for further stories and explorations.

You may notice while reading that Carnacki likes a drink and a smoke, and a hearty meal with his friends gathered round.

This dovetails perfectly with my own idea of a good time. And although I no longer smoke, writing about characters who do allows me a small vicarious reminder of my own younger days.

I wish I had Carnacki's library, his toys, but most of all, I envy him his regular visits from his tight group of friends, all more than willing to listen to his tales of adventure into the weird places of the world while drinking his Scotch and smoking his cigarettes.

Sigils and Totems: A novella collection

The three Sigils and Totems novellas are now available in a compiled ebook collection from Crossroad Press ( paperback on its way)

It’s a simple enough concept.

There are houses like this all over the world. Most people only know of them from whispered stories over campfires; tall tales told to scare the unwary. But some, those who suffer, some know better. They are drawn to the places where what ails them can be eased.

If you have the will, the fortitude, you can peer into another life, where the dead are not gone, where you can see that they thrive and go on, in the dreams that stuff is made of.

There it is in a nutshell. There are houses where people can go to get in touch with their dead loved ones.

But this gives me lots of things to play with. To even get inside a room, you need a sigil; a tattoo or carving on your skin, and a totem, a memento of your loved one. Then there’s the fact that your loved one might be a parallel universe version rather than the one you actually know.

And where do these houses come from? What’s behind the walls? How do they work? Why do they work? And who chooses the concierges who run them? Or fixes them when they don’t work?

So I’ve got all that to play with, plus the fact that the houses can exist anywhere, at any time. They’re like lots of boxy, multi-faceted Tardis, spread across space time, places and situations into which I can hook in characters and stories.

I've also started linking it through to some of my other characters and ongoing work, so there's sigils and totems stories featuring members of the Seton family, Derek Adams, the Midnight Eye, and Carnacki. Augustus Seton will be getting involved in 16th C Scotland soon too.

I think I’ve stumbled into something that could keep me busy for a few years.

The novellas that used the concept, BROKEN SIGIL, THE JOB and PENTACLE were well received and are in standalone ebooks, and also collected in a single omnibus edition. There’s a novel that expands the idea further, SONGS OF DREAMING GODS, where a house is lying empty in the town center of St. Johns, Newfoundland after a brutal ritual murder, and, coming soon, THE BOATHOUSE, where the rooms are on an old whaling boat in a derelict shed and seem connected to an old chess set, and the arrival of a hurricane. Alonside them, there's a growing number of short stories, including the title story in my latest CARNACKI collection, THE EDINBURGH TOWNHOUSE.

I’ve also got an idea for a big honking fantasy trilogy using the concept, but that’ll have to wait until I’ve got time to do it justice.

Wish me luck, I’m about to knock on the door again.

Newsflash – Rowan Casey boxset offer

Most of you know that I’m involved in the VEIL KNIGHTS series under the pen name of Rowan Casey with 11 other fine writers. Today we’re running a promo to bring new readers into the series, with a box set of the first three books on sale at Amazon for only 99c in the US. It’s also now on offer for US NOOK, KOBO and ibooks readers.

We’re already up to book eight of the proposed twelve. This set contains the first three books, and the third one, HOUND OF NIGHT, is my contribution to the series. Regular readers of mine will find a Seton family member in here, as well as the Concordances of the Red Serpent, and an opener of the way that is becoming strangely familiar.

Get it on AMAZON.COM

In the distant past the Knights were formed to serve as the protectors of humanity against the powers of darkness and the supernatural. A powerful sorcerer known as the Merlin served as their leader and mentor. Together they erected the Veil between this world and what they called the demimonde, or half-world, which served as the home to all the supernatural races. They took all the creatures, races, and demons that form the supernatural legends we know today and locked them away on the other side of the barrier.

For centuries that barrier has held and in time the Knights came down through history as nothing more than a legend about a group who supported their King and lived lives of chivalry.

Now Merlin needs them again, and calls them forth from their hiding places to do battle against the old foes.

These are their stories.

THE JOB - A Sigils and Totems Novella

A couple of years back in BROKEN SIGIL I wrote about a very strange house in New York. The Job is about another of these houses, following the same rules, but with a different set of problems to solve. It’s set in Scotland, and features Dave, a burglar in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

It’s a story that features many of the things I love – it’s got some Scottish history, a supernatural element, some guitar playing and singing, and Glasgow, an old stomping ground of mine. What’s not to like?

The House is out of sorts, its power corrupted by men after influence and wealth. Dave wanted some of that wealth for himself, but the house has other ideas. It has a problem. And it's Dave’s job to fix it… by any means necessary.

There are houses like this all over the world. Most people only know of them from whispered stories over campfires; tall tales told to scare the unwary. But some, those who suffer… some know better. They are drawn to the places where what ails them can be eased.

If you have the will, the fortitude, you can peer into another life, where the dead are not gone, where you can see that they thrive and go on, in the dreams that stuff is made of.

Dave Wilson is down on his luck, with gambling debts coming due. He takes on a risky burglary at a Scottish country house, but the job goes badly wrong, and all too soon Dave is embroiled in a fight he wants no part of—an ages-old battle for ownership of the house.

Opposing factions are at work, and both want Dave's help. There are demons to fight, both metaphorical and literal, and there are hard choices to be made, if Dave has the strength to make them.

Book Review: 5 of 5 stars to Three Days to Never by Tim Powers

Three Days to Never by Tim Powers My rating: 5 of 5 stars I do love Tim Powers’ writing. THREE DAYS TO NEVER marks me catching up completely, and finishing reading all of his novels, and they’ve all been brilliant... Continue Reading →

Sigils and Totems: A Meikle Mythos

It’s a simple enough concept.

There are houses like this all over the world. Most people only know of them from whispered stories over campfires; tall tales told to scare the unwary. But some, those who suffer, some know better. They are drawn to the places where what ails them can be eased.

If you have the will, the fortitude, you can peer into another life, where the dead are not gone, where you can see that they thrive and go on, in the dreams that stuff is made of.

There it is in a nutshell. There are houses where people can go to get in touch with their dead loved ones.

But this gives me lots of things to play with. To even get inside a room, you need a sigil; a tattoo or carving on your skin, and a totem, a memento of your loved one. Then there’s the fact that your loved one might be a parallel universe version rather than the one you actually know.

And where do these houses come from? What’s behind the walls? How do they work? Why do they work? And who chooses the concierges who run them? Or fixes them when they don’t work?

So I’ve got all that to play with, plus the fact that the houses can exist anywhere, at any time. They’re like lots of boxy, multi-faceted Tardis, spread across space time, places and situations into which I can hook in characters and stories.

I've also started linking it through to some of my other characters and ongoing work, so there's sigils and totems stories featuring members of the Seton family, Derek Adams, the Midnight Eye, and Carnacki. Augustus Seton will be getting involved in 16th C Scotland soon too.

I think I’ve stumbled into something that could keep me busy for a few years.

The first two novellas that used the concept, BROKEN SIGIL and PENTACLE were both well received and a third THE JOB is now available in ebook. There’s a new novel that expands the idea further, SONGS OF DREAMING GODS, where a house is lying empty in the town center of St. Johns, Newfoundland after a brutal ritual murder, and, coming soon, THE BOATHOUSE, where the rooms are on an old whaling boat in a derelict shed and seem connected to an old chess set, and the arrival of a hurricane. Alonside them, there's a growing number of short stories, including the title story in my latest CARNACKI collection, THE EDINBURGH TOWNHOUSE.

I’ve also got an idea for a big honking fantasy trilogy using the concept, but that’ll have to wait until I’ve got time to do it justice.

Wish me luck, I’m about to knock on the door again.

Why I write.

The black bird has been with me for a long time - around 50 years now.

I think I first saw The Maltese Falcon in around 1963.

My granddad was a big Bogart fan, and I remember long Sunday afternoons spent sitting at his feet watching movies on the tiny black and white TV that was the norm back in the UK in the early Sixties. Back then everything was Britain was still in black and white - the Beatles were about to change all that, but Bogey would stay eternally gray and eternally Sam Spade for me. Even at that early age there was something about the snappy dialogue and the larger than life character that spoke to me.

I saw the film several times before I got round to reading the book - aged around 12 so about 1970. In much the same way as the film had, the book also spoke to me, touched something in me - the stuff that dreams are made of if you like.

When I started writing for myself, back in school, my voice was heavily influenced by teenage longings - I hadn't learned enough of the ways of the world to be confident and sparse, I wanted to be flowery and intense and intellectual.

University, then ten years of being a corporate drone quickly drummed that nonsense out of me. I developed cynicism and from that my own voice started to emerge, enough to ensure I could cope with being an adult but not yet enough to turn me into a writer.

The booze did that. Booze and nightmares and a new wife that understood me better than I did myself.

The booze is part and parcel of being brought up in a working class environment in the West of Scotland. Beer came easy to me in my late teens, a love affair I still have to this day. Whisky I had to work a little harder at, but I persevered and developed a taste for single malts that means my habit is largely curtailed by the expense. It doesn't mean I don't get the thirst though.

The new wife came along in the late '80s a couple of years after the old one and I realized we didn't really get on very well and went our seperate ways. Sue saw that my drinking was getting out of control, and liked me well enough to help me do something about it. 28 years later, she's still helping.

The nightmare? I've been having it off and on since I was a boy. It's of a bird - a huge, black, bird. The stuff that dreams are made of.
In the nightmare I'm on the edge of a high sea cliff. I feel the wind on my face, taste salt spray, smell cut grass and flowers. I feel like if I could just give myself to the wind I could fly.

Then it comes, from blue, snow covered mountains way to the north, a black speck at first, getting bigger fast. Before I know it it is on me, enfolding me in feathers. It lowers its head, almost like a dragon, and puts its beak near my ear. It whispers.

I had the dream many times, and always woke up at this point.

Then, in 1991, I heard what it said.

"Will we talk about the black bird?"

The next morning, for the first time since 1976, I wrote a story. It wasn't a very good story, but something had been woken up, and the day after that I wrote another, a wee ghost story. It didn't have a black bird in it, but it did have some jazz, and a sultry broad, a murder and some dancing. When that one made me 100 pounds in a ghost story competition, I was on my way.

The bird comes back and whispers to me every couple of years - I've come to think of it as my spirit guide. Although it terrifies me, it also reassures me in a weird kind of way. As long as it's around, I'll still be a writer and not just a drunk with weird ideas he can't express.

One of its recent whispers led to one of the most personal things I've ever written, in BROKEN SIGIL

Will we talk about the black bird?

BROKEN SIGIL – A Sigils and Totems novella relaunches

A novella in the Sigils and Totems mythos, rereleased in ebook from Crossroad Press. I’ve been having a nightmare off and on since I was a boy. It’s of a bird – a huge, black, bird. The stuff that dreams... Continue Reading →