David A. Riley's Blog, page 121

Shadow Plays by Reggie Oliver

Finished reading the M. R. James play in this beautiful volume from Egaeus Press. It's the only piece, apart from the introductions to each story, that I hadn't already read in earlier volumes. The play, though, is worth the price of the book alone. Included amongst the characters is, of course, James and A. C. Benson. I would love one day to see this performed on stage, though it was engrossing enough as a good read, by turns enlightening, amusing and, ultimately, quite sad. There is an ongoing Jamesian story which is brilliant too.

The Woman in Black -1989 TV Dramatisation

As a result of temporarily not having cable (till Virgin get round to replacing our box with one that actually works!) we watched the 1989 TV production of The Woman in Black on the computer last night. What an incredibly brilliant dramatisation (by Nigel Kneale) this was! I haven't seen the new Hammer version yet, but if that is only half as good I'd be satisfied. This TV adaptation is the second first rate ghost story we've watched this week, after the equally marvellous The Awakening.

Although, coming through Youtube, the picture quality was far from what you would expect via DVD, it was still more than well worth watching. One scene actually sent an ice cold shiver up my spine!

Goblin Mire - new cover, etc

I've had my fantasy novel Goblin Mire available as an ebook through Renaissance eBooks for about four and a half years, but it has not done very well. Part of this, I am sure, is because of the awful amateurish cover which my publisher slapped on it.

On his own initiative Joe Young produced an alternative cover, which I believe is considerably better and which I am really pleased with. As a result, I have emailed Renaissance eBooks to cancel my contract with them, so I can go through the novel and revise it before making it available again, probably through Amazon, as an ebook and a POD paperback, using Joe's cover.

Hopefully this time it will have more success.

This is Joe's cover:

After Nightfall - Russian version

This Russian anthology from 1992 arrived in the post today. It contains a translation of my story After Nightfall. The black and white illustration appears to be of this story - sort of...

Other writers in the book include Richard Matheson and Ramsey Campbell. Brought out not long after the fall of Communism, it's an odd little hard cover book.

Review of Back From the Dead

Paul Magrs does a review of Johnny Mains' award-winning anthology Back from the Dead.

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Interview of Otto Penzler re Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!

Just came across an interview with Otto Penzler about his massive anthology Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! (Zombies: a Compendium in the UK). The last question he is asked is: "If a reader has an opportunity to read only one story from Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!, which one would you recommend?" He would recommend two: "...the stories that jump to mind are Seabrook's "Dead Men Working in the Cane Fields" because it's such a comprehensive introduction in the genre, and David A. Riley's "After Nightfall" because it is, holy moley, so damned scary."

What can I say?

After Nightfall published in Russia 1992 - Surprise

I noticed that I've been having quite a few hits on this blog recently from Russia and, in particular, the Ukraine. Checking into this, one of the most common links was to a Russian website. Surprisingly, doing a bit of a search on it, I discovered that one of my earliest stories, After Nightfall, was published in a hardback anthology there in 1992. The stories in Tayaschiysya Horror 2 (Таящийся ужас 2) appear to have all been translated by Vladimir Vladimirova. If the details are correct the book had quite a large circulation - 100,000 copies!

It's strange what a bit of knocking about the internet can turn up.

Romero's Children

Received an email from the States last night from the editor of a zombie anthology to be published there in August and they would like to use my story form the Seventh Black Book of Horror, Romero's Children. Absolutely delighted at this. I'll post more details later.

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Watched We Need to Talk About Kevin last night. Now I know I'm going to upset some people, but I didn't much care for the way in which it was filmed. A strong story about a serious issue, but the style of filming annoyed and distracted me and only occasionally worked so far as I was concerned. I got the feeling much of the time the cast were making up their own lines, which I know is one particular type of "naturalistic" film making, but for me makes for monumental dullness. It worked in Vera Drake, but that had exceptionally talented actors and a skilled director. OK, the actors in this may be exceptionally good too. As may the director. I don't know. I'm not familiar with them myself. But I did feel this was a potentially great film which misfired. Just my opinion, of course.

The Satyr's Head: Tales of Terror edited by David A. Sutton

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Received my contributor's copy from Dave Sutton in the post yesterday and was delighted to see what a splendid job he has done of it. If this is an example of what Shadow Publishing will be bringing out, then it should be a great success. Forthcoming titles include:

The Female of the Species & Other Terror Tales: Writers from the Shadows series #1 is a first collection of short stories by Richard Davis. Due April 2012

Frightfully Mild and Cosy Stories for Nervous Types: A second collection from Johnny Mains. Shadow Publishing is delighted to be able to publish Johnny's second collection of horror yarns. The book will contain 16 stories, some reprinted from various sources and some new to this collection. Due Autumn 2012

Temple of the Fox: Writers from the Shadows series #2 is a first collection of the stories of James Wade.

The Shadow Book of Horror will be an anthology of new and obscure genre stories. "Phantoms of Venice", "Voices From Shadow" and "On the Fringe for Thirty Years" are currently in print and available.