Angela Slatter's Blog, page 31

It Might Not Look Like It …

… but I am actually busy planning to launch Restoration in August this year.

Badges, candy, cupcakes, Dr Kim, the Brisbane City Square Library and its magnificent staff, my family heckling from the front row.

Oh, it’s all happening.

The Last Ghost: Marie O’Regan

Marie O’Regan is a British Fantasy Award-nominated author and editor, based in Derbyshire. Her first collection, Mirror Mere, was published in 2006 by Rainfall Books; her second, In Times of Want, came out in September 2016 from Hersham Horror Books, and her short fiction has appeared in a number of genre magazines and anthologies in the UK, US, Canada, Italy and Germany, including Best British Horror 2014 and Great British Horror: Dark Satanic Mills (2017). Her novella, Bury Them Deep, was published by Hersham Horror Books in September 2017. She was shortlisted for the British Fantasy Society Award for Best Short Story in 2006, and Best Anthology in 2010 (Hellbound Hearts) and 2012 (Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women). Her genre journalism has appeared in magazines like The Dark Side, Rue Morgue and Fortean Times, and her interview book with prominent figures from the horror genre, Voices in the Dark, was released in 2011. An essay on ‘The Changeling’ was published in PS Publishing’s Cinema Macabre, edited by Mark Morris. She is co-editor of the bestselling Hellbound Hearts, Mammoth Book of Body Horror and A Carnivàle of Horror – Dark Tales from the Fairground, plus editor of bestselling The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women and is Co-Chair of the UK Chapter of the Horror Writers’ Association. Marie is represented by Jamie Cowen of The Ampersand Agency.

1. What do new readers need to know about Marie O’Regan?

I’ve been writing for quite some time now; I started quite late, when my kids were small, and it was a while before I plucked up the courage to submit anything. My first published short story was ‘Suicide Bridge’ in 2001, and since then I’ve had two collections out (Mirror Mere and In Times of Want), a few novellas; and have had short stories in many magazines and anthologies – I was nominated for the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story for one of them, ‘Can You See Me?’. I’ve also edited a number of anthologies with my husband, Paul Kane: Hellbound Hearts, which was an anthology of stories inspired by Clive Barker’s ‘Hellbound Heart’, Clive even did the cover art for us, the first new Cenobite in years, Vestimenti; The Mammoth Book of Body Horror, Carnivàle: Dark Tales from the Fairground, and my first solo anthology project, The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women. Hellbound Hearts and The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women were nominated for the British Fantasy Award for Best Anthology. I was a member of the British Fantasy Society Committee for eight years, during which at various times I was editor for their newsletter, Prism, and their fiction magazine, Dark Horizons. For the last four years, I was Chair (2004-2008), and together with Paul have organized a number of FantasyCons. We’ve also been part of a World Horror Convention team (2010, Brighton) and World Fantasy Convention team (2013, Brighton), both organized by Stephen Jones, Michael Marshall Smith and Amanda Foubister. Currently, together with Paul, I’m co-Chair of the UK Chapter of the Horror Writers’ Association.

2. What’s your favourite branch of horror?

I love ghost stories, as is probably pretty apparent when you look at what I write, and what I’ve edited, such as my collections Mirror Mere and In Times of Want, or my latest novella Bury Them Deep, the last two of which are available from Hersham Horror Books. Or the anthologies I’ve edited, I prefer quiet horror, a growing unease, to splatter, and this can be seen in the anthologies I’ve edited, such as Hellbound Hearts, or A Carnivàle of Horror: Dark Tales From the Fairground.

3. What was the inspiration for The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women?

I got sick of seeing posts on Social Media saying women don’t write horror, women don’t submit their horror stories/books to publishers or editors, it’s a male dominated genre etc. Whilst it’s true there are a lot of male authors, there are a lot of women writing horror, including ghost stories. We’ve always been around, we will always be around, and I wanted to show that. I chose to include some classic ghost stories from women such as Edith Wharton’s ‘Afterward’, Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s ‘The Lost Ghost’, which is heartbreakingly sad, as well as some current female authors – not all of whom are well known, but are excellent. Hopefully I succeeded – although at a recent convention, a young girl was surprised to see the title, saying ‘women don’t normally write ghost stories, do they.’ Head desk moment, definitely.

4. Which writers have been your biggest influences?

I love Stephen King; have done since I read Carrie at the age of thirteen. I also love Clive Barker, again, since I first read The Books of Blood. Before I started reading horror at the age of nine, it was Agatha Christie.  In a slightly different genre, I love the work of mystery novelist John Connolly. His Charlie Parker detective series is amazing, and he also writes wonderful supernatural short stories.

5. You can take five films to a desert island ? what do you choose?

Only five? But there are so many to choose from… Ah, okay. Let me think. I think I would have to take The Green Mile; it’s a brilliant adaptation of the Stephen King story, and gets me every single time I watch it. Then I would have to take The Shawshank Redemption, for the same reason. I’m a big fan of Christopher Nolan’s films, and don’t really like picking a favourite – but if I have to then I guess it would be Inception; love that film and have watched it so many times. Scream is another favourite, and for my last one I think I’d choose something very different: While You Were Sleeping. Not in the same vein as the others, but sometimes you need to watch a weepie and that’s a great one, plus Sandra Bullock is in it.

6. Can you remember the first story you read that made you think “I want to be a writer”?

Not specifically, no; I read everything I could get my hands on voraciously from being a very small child – from kiddie books to Enid Blyton, to Agatha Christie at about six or seven, horror at nine, taking in pretty much every genre on my way through the local library’s stock in my teens…at some point, I realised I could make up my own. Before I started to write, though, I drew. I could always be found either reading or drawing.

7. What is your favourite horror film?

Again, there are so many, and occasionally it changes… but I’d have to say The Exorcist, even though it’s the only one that’s ever given me bad dreams. That could even be why it’s my favourite, I suppose.

8. When you’re in the mood to read, who do you choose?

Stephen King. He’s always my go to, closely followed by Joe Hill, Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, John Connolly… I read a lot.

9. Who’s scarier: vampires or ghosts?     

Vampires. A ghost is haunting a place or a person for a reason; something needs to be resolved and they’re rarely deliberately physically harmful. A vampire is just this creature of mindless hunger – its sole purpose is to drain you.

10. What’s next for Marie O’Regan?

I have a collection, The Last Ghost and Other Stories, coming out from Luna Press in 2019 as part of their new ‘Harvester’ series. I’m editing an anthology of ghost stories for Titan UK/US called Phantoms, that will be released in October of this year – featuring stories from the likes of Joe Hill, John Connolly, Kelley Armstrong, Helen Grant, Tim Lebbon, and a great story from your goodself, to name but a few. I’m working on another anthology with Paul that I can’t really talk about yet but I’m very excited about; I have four short stories due out this year (one’s a reprint for a charity anthology) so far; I have a supernatural novel on submission via my agent, Jamie Cowen of Ampersand Agency. I’m also working on a novella, ‘Resurrection Blues’, to go with a novella written by Paul; they’ll be published in one volume by Black Shuck Books. Then there are a couple of short stories to write, a comic script, a screenplay, after which I can get on with the next novel, hopefully. There are always a few things on the go, at varying stages of completion. And we’re working on some more events for the UK Chapter of the Horror Writers Association, too. First up is our HWA Presents Highlighting Horror: Horror, Thrillers and Chillers in March, a one day event discussing crossover fiction, with authors such as David Mark, Paul Finch, A.K. Benedict, Steph Broadribb, SJI Holliday. Lots to keep me busy.

 

 

“New Fears” Book Review

Fantastic review of New Fears, the brand new horror anthology edited by Mark Morris (Titan Books)! Thanks, Shane D. Keene of HorrorTalk.

Includes a Sourdough world tale from me, called “No Good Deed”.

Edited by Mark Morris

2017, 400 pages, Fiction 

Released on September 19, 2017

Review:

Since the recent announcement of the closure of Great Jones Street, I’ve seen it bandied about on social mayhem sites that the short story as a viable form for speculative fiction is in its death throes. Well, I’m here to tell you that it just isn’t true. 2017 saw some of the best collections and anthologies of this generation produced by some of the greatest authors and editors in the business; some young, some grizzled veterans, all hugely talented and working at the top of their game, particularly in horror fiction. One such editor is Mark Morris, curator of the stories in this book I’m talking about today.

New Fears is an anthology that hearkens back to the old days, taking something that was the norm back in the ‘70s and ‘80s and making it seem almost new by comparison to the typical themed volumes that are being produced en masse today. This book, in the vein of such greats as Douglas E. Winter’s Prime Evil and Dennis Etchison’s Cutting Edge—not to mention everything Kirby McCauley ever touched—is un-themed because Morris wanted to create something that would demonstrate the varied and seemingly limitless possibilities of our chosen genre. So, he limited his contributors to just one simple and very important requirement: write a damn good story. And I can tell you that the authors within responded in fucking spades.

The rest is here.

Pulp Fiction Bestsellers of 2017

Very happy to see that both Vigil and Corpselight made the 2017 Bestseller list from Pulp Fiction Booksellers!

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Vigil (Verity Fassbinder 01) by Angela Slatter
Corpselight (Verity Fassbinder 02) by Angela Slatter
The Collapsing Empire (Flow 01) by John Scalzi
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Behind the Throne (Indranan War 01) by K B Wagers
Killing Gravity (Voidwitch 01) by Corey J White
Cold Welcome (Vatta’s Peace 01) by Elizabeth Moon
Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota 01) by Ada Palmer
The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor 01) by Jessica Townsend
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

Crime and Mystery

Dregs (William Wisting 01) by Jorn Lier Horst
The Dry (Aaron Falk 01) by Jane Harper
The Death of Kings (John Madden 05) by Rennie Airth
Prussian Blue (Bernie Gunther 12) by Philip Kerr
Death in the Dordogne (Bruno, Chief of Police 01) by Martin Walker
The Human Files (K2 01) by Hans Olav Lahlum
River of Darkness (John Madden 01) by Rennie Airth
Earthly Remains (Commissario Brunetti 26) by Donna Leon
The Templar’s Last Secret (Bruno, Chief of Police 10) by Martin Walker
Police at the Station and They Don’t Look Friendly (Sean Duffy 06) by Adrian McKinty

Bitterwood

Re-stocked The Bitterwood Bible cards today, and remembered how much I love the cover of the book. Kathleen Jennings’ artwork always seems to be drawn straight from my head.

When you accidentally become the subject of an academic study …

… and fear someone has made a horrible mistake …

And so, Restoration

Since I had word last night from The Beloved Publisher (AKA Jo Fletcher) that she doesn’t hate the new Verity novel, Restoration, (in fact she’s really rather fond of it), I shall post this in happiness and relief. Coming in August 2018.

 

Happy New Year (almost)

For me 2017 was still a challenging year – I wasn’t sure I’d still be doing the whole writing thing – but nowhere near as awful as 2016.

So all good!

Starting 2018 with good friends and a positive outlook. Plus champers.

Happy New Year to you all!

RAF

And here it is,the latest Review of Australian Fiction, with stories from yours truly and Mr Dennan Chew.

“Better Angels”

By Angela Slatter

‘How far down, missus?’

The woman’s staring not at the hole in the wet ground, nor at the tall bearded man who’s asked her a question, but back at the house behind her. She’s half-turned, the top of her torso twisted almost impossibly, almost fluidly, in defiance of the strictures of the steel-stayed corset beneath her plain black dress. The sandstone house is two storeys, wide verandahs running around both levels, walls punctured by doors and floor-to-ceiling windows, all of which are open, their shutters pinned back despite the cold and the rain.

‘Missus?’ His voice is low and rough, still thick with the accent of his native Bristol, but tender.

Fionnuala Farrell’s eyes are pinned on the small group clustered on the lower verandah: an older woman, plump, dark-haired, with a white apron over her navy frock; three small girls, hair as red-gold as their mother’s, not yet in mourning attire because no one had thought to make any for them so early in their young lives.

Review of Australian Fiction

I’m delighted to announce I’ve got a new story in next Tuesday’s Review of Australian Fiction.

“Better Angels” (I guess it’s my tribute to, maybe rehabilitation of, Barbara Baynton’s “The Chosen Vessel”) will be paired with new writer Dennan Chew’s “The Till” – and I’m equally delighted that he’s my third author to introduce via RAF!

Dennan Chew is an aspiring writer of dark comedy, crime and suburban gothic. He has variously been a copy writer, MMA fighter, and personal trainer. He has a Bachelor of Commerce and an MBA, and is studying in the Masters of Creative Writing program at Sydney University. Dennan is currently working on his debut novel, Plan B; “The Till” is his first publication.

I’ll post links next week … of course, if you subscribe the latest issue will appear in your inbox bearing coffee and a bagel …