David A. Riley's Blog, page 122

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.

The Crazies & Creepshow

Felt in a retro mood today so I got the original George Romero The Crazies and 1982's Creepshow with Stephen King on DVD. I can't remember ever having watched The Crazies (though I love the remake) and I haven't seen Creepshow since we rented it in the early 80's. They'll make a nice change from the dross of normal TV!

The Unspoken

It looks like The Unspoken, a charity anthology in aid of cancer research, edited by Willie Meakle, has been dropped at the last minute by Dark Continent Publishing because of "internal changes" and because "they have overextended themselves."  Though this is devastating news at this stage, Willie is determined to find a new publisher. Good luck to him!

That this has happened a great shame as Willie has assembled a great lineup, which includes:

Ramsey Campbell - Introduction
Tim Lebbon - Just Breathe
Simon Kurt Unsworth - Photographs of Boden
Steven Savile & Steve Lockley - The Last Gift
John Shirley - Where the Market's Hottest
Stephen James Price - Pages of Promises
Stephen Volk - Bless
Scott Nicholson - Heal Thyself
William Meikle - Metastasis
Nancy Kilpatrick - Alien Love
David A. Riley - A Girl, a Toad and a Cask
Allyson Bird - Oyster Pink
Johnny Mains - The Cure
Guy N Smith - The Big One
Pete Crowther - Cankerman
Steve Duffy - X for Henrietta
Gary McMahon - Bitter Soup

Buzescu

On checking the statistics on my blog, one of the consistently most looked at entries is about the Romanian Gypsy town of Buzescu. Why this is I don't know, though the town itself is certainly one of the oddest I have ever come across in my travels and somewhere, having seen, no one is likely to forget. It's style of architecture is unlike anything I have seen elsewhere. Well worth driving through just to look at. We did think, when we first saw it, of returning one day for a longer visit, perhaps booking into a local hotel. At the time we didn't know it was a Gypsy town. I don't think there are any hotels there. I don't even know if it has any shops, cafes, restaurants, etc. We didn't spot any, though that doesn't mean there definitely aren't any somewhere in the town. Next time we pass through we'll probably drive around just to see. And perhaps take a few more photographs of its strangely extravagant buildings.