David A. Riley's Blog, page 140
October 12, 2010
Malicious Deviance - Stories About Bad People
This is the proposed cover for the anthology Malicious Deviance, edited by Robert Essig for Library of the Living Dead. My story, They Pissed On My Sofa, will be included in it.
The Last Coach Trip
My recently finished story, The Last Coach Trip, has now been accepted for publication, but I'm not at liberty to say just yet where it will be published.
October 11, 2010
Alice the Musical
Alice - The Musical
This timeless classic is wonderfully retold in a creative combination of song and dance, narrative and drama.
Performance dates at The Civic Arts Centre -
Wednesday 1st - Friday 3rd December at 7pm.
Saturday 4th December at 2.30pm.
Tickets now available from http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/. Tickets are priced at £5.
This is the first production put on at the Civic Arts Centre by my daughter, Cassandra's new theatrical arts academy.
October 7, 2010
The Lurkers in the Abyss - Midnight House
There has been a long delay in this collection being published. Unfortunately, John Pelan, who is the man behind Midnight House, has had a tough time for the past couple of years. However, I received an email from him today which confirms that publication of my collection will be imminent in the next few months or so.
I know from the quality of those Midnight House books I already have in my collection, that the wait will be more than worth it when Lurkers in the Abyss finally appears. The quality of these books is second to none.
Curiously, one of the stories from that collection, After Nightfall, will be published in The Zombie Archives, edited by Otto Penzler for Random House, while Out of Corruption continually gets republished in Steve Jones's Mammoth Book of Zombies, which has appeared under several variations of that title in the UK, the US, Italy and now Russia! Even the title story will appear in Cemetery Dance's long-awaited Century's Best Horror Fiction sometime soon.
I know from the quality of those Midnight House books I already have in my collection, that the wait will be more than worth it when Lurkers in the Abyss finally appears. The quality of these books is second to none.
Curiously, one of the stories from that collection, After Nightfall, will be published in The Zombie Archives, edited by Otto Penzler for Random House, while Out of Corruption continually gets republished in Steve Jones's Mammoth Book of Zombies, which has appeared under several variations of that title in the UK, the US, Italy and now Russia! Even the title story will appear in Cemetery Dance's long-awaited Century's Best Horror Fiction sometime soon.
His Pale Blue Eyes
My zombie story, His Pale Blue Eyes, has been accepted by Johnny Mains for a forthcoming anthology from Obverse Books, tentatively titled Plugged Into the Mains, along with stories by Reggie Oliver, Conrad Williams and, hopefully, though it's not confirmed yet, David Case. All going well, the book should be published in January.
October 6, 2010
The Seventh Black Book of Horror
There's a nice review of this anthology at The Black Abyss. Glad he liked my turn on the zombie tale.
October 4, 2010
Prism - December Issue
I've started work on the next issue of Prism. The deadline for this is a bit earlier after all the changes that have taken place over its production. Normally I would have sent it off to the printers around the 18th November. Now, because someone else will be doing the layout, it needs to be off to the BFS chairman by the end of this month, three weeks earlier.
It's also strange not to be doing the layout, because that's something I would be doing as an ongoing task while setting everything out. Just saving everything on separate files, ie cover, inside front cover, editorial, each column, such as Ramsey Campbell's, John Probert's, Mark Morris's etc., film reviews, book reviews, etc, etc., then saving each picture under a separate name to be inserted by someone else, all this feels odd, and a bit of a separation for me from the finished product. I must admit I would prefer to continue doing the layout myself. But it remaions to be seen what the finished product looks like under this new arrangement. I certainly don't want to be seen as a Luddite, even though I do prefer a full hands-on approach to this myself rather than rely upon someone else to decide upon its final appearance.
It's also strange not to be doing the layout, because that's something I would be doing as an ongoing task while setting everything out. Just saving everything on separate files, ie cover, inside front cover, editorial, each column, such as Ramsey Campbell's, John Probert's, Mark Morris's etc., film reviews, book reviews, etc, etc., then saving each picture under a separate name to be inserted by someone else, all this feels odd, and a bit of a separation for me from the finished product. I must admit I would prefer to continue doing the layout myself. But it remaions to be seen what the finished product looks like under this new arrangement. I certainly don't want to be seen as a Luddite, even though I do prefer a full hands-on approach to this myself rather than rely upon someone else to decide upon its final appearance.
October 2, 2010
Over-Hyped Books
I posted this on the All Hallows site, causing some discussion:
I have no objection at all to beautiful books, even ones that sometimes seem extravagantly expensive, and I have a number in my collection I would never part with. What I find incomprehensible is when a publisher, as has happened recently, publishes a leather bound version of someone's book when the writing is awful - or, at best, pedestrian, uninteresting and downright awkward. Especially when this is a slim book, padded out with extraneous material that needn't be there. It really makes me wonder what goes through the heads of publishers like this that they would go to such lengths for material that would be lucky to get into even a 4luv publication with a discerning editor. I just pity those who spend hundreds of dollars for something that never merited anything better than a POD paperback at best. Of which there is one also available - and which I now begrudge having bought.
I have no objection at all to beautiful books, even ones that sometimes seem extravagantly expensive, and I have a number in my collection I would never part with. What I find incomprehensible is when a publisher, as has happened recently, publishes a leather bound version of someone's book when the writing is awful - or, at best, pedestrian, uninteresting and downright awkward. Especially when this is a slim book, padded out with extraneous material that needn't be there. It really makes me wonder what goes through the heads of publishers like this that they would go to such lengths for material that would be lucky to get into even a 4luv publication with a discerning editor. I just pity those who spend hundreds of dollars for something that never merited anything better than a POD paperback at best. Of which there is one also available - and which I now begrudge having bought.
Romero's Children
This story, in Charle's Seventh Black Book of Horror, has received some nice comments, usually that the reader wished the story had been longer, they were enjoying it so much. Which is nice to hear.
The best comment so far, though, has come from Stephen Bacon on the Ramsey Campbell Message Board, where he said my story was heartbreaking. "I didn't want it to end the way it did."
I can honestly say that no one has ever said that about one of my stories before. Thanks, Steve. That's really appreciated.
The best comment so far, though, has come from Stephen Bacon on the Ramsey Campbell Message Board, where he said my story was heartbreaking. "I didn't want it to end the way it did."
I can honestly say that no one has ever said that about one of my stories before. Thanks, Steve. That's really appreciated.
October 1, 2010
Prism - an update
It looks as though my concerns for the future of the BFS Newsletter, Prism, were perhaps unfounded. After discussing things with the new BFS chairman, David Howe, I certainly feel better about the journal's future.
What I have decided to do is take a new look at its role within the BFS. Without the news and reviews sections, there are the regular columns by Ramsey Campbell, Mark Morris and John Probert. On top of these I aim to have at least two in-depth interviews per issue, plus articles on various aspects of the genre. I also intend to do regular columns covering as many of the professional magazines being published in the fantasy, SF, horror genres, something that has only ever received meagre attention before to my knowledge. There are a lot of small presses around today, and it would be interesting to have articles about these, discussing how they were set up, what their ambitions are and the kinds of books they publish. I would also like to cover something of the vast array of websites that specialise in these genres. With the space left vacant by the reviews section, there's scope for all of this. There will still be some reviews, but probably of books or writers that will not date. It would be interesting to see people discuss various writers or artists from the past, covering their lives and works in detail and perhaps controversially too.
These are all possibilities.
And there'll be more.
My task now will be to see how I can develop a revamped Prism and make sure it is as interesting and valuable to BFS members as possible.
What I have decided to do is take a new look at its role within the BFS. Without the news and reviews sections, there are the regular columns by Ramsey Campbell, Mark Morris and John Probert. On top of these I aim to have at least two in-depth interviews per issue, plus articles on various aspects of the genre. I also intend to do regular columns covering as many of the professional magazines being published in the fantasy, SF, horror genres, something that has only ever received meagre attention before to my knowledge. There are a lot of small presses around today, and it would be interesting to have articles about these, discussing how they were set up, what their ambitions are and the kinds of books they publish. I would also like to cover something of the vast array of websites that specialise in these genres. With the space left vacant by the reviews section, there's scope for all of this. There will still be some reviews, but probably of books or writers that will not date. It would be interesting to see people discuss various writers or artists from the past, covering their lives and works in detail and perhaps controversially too.
These are all possibilities.
And there'll be more.
My task now will be to see how I can develop a revamped Prism and make sure it is as interesting and valuable to BFS members as possible.
