Adam L.G. Nevill's Blog, page 43
August 16, 2016
NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE PAPERBACK PUBLISHED IN US TODAY
The St Martins paperback edition of NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE is published in the US and Canada today.
Even though I often write at the glacial pace in which stalactites form, I find myself staggering amidst a blizzard of my own books this year. But there are worst things to endure … So here’s another one that’s come back to the light, mewling, and plain refusing to be buried.
In this story, I took my imagination and rinsed it like a wet shroud over a sacrificial altar. What dripped out even made me concerned about the author’s mind …
“A macabre, otherworldly tale of a young woman “swallowed whole and alive by the horror that refused to be sated.” Kirkus
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August 9, 2016
NEW HORROR FICTION RECOMMENDATIONS
While I’m in my threadbare horror fiction recommendations jacket, and looking back my recent reading, I can see that I’ve been on a “New Wave of North American Weird” jag of late (my own classification because this field now has its own book case), and what a strange trip of the imagination it has been. Here are a few titles that I really enjoyed.
‘Greener Pastures’ by Michael Wehunt. Literary horror that reminded of what I enjoy about the writing of regional American writers like Daniel Woodrell and William Gay, or Brian Evenson’s horror stories. Sensitive and sensory writing with some terrific descriptions and simple but poignant insights. Always surprising and never predictable. One of my favourite horror stories in recent times sits in this book too. I wanted it to be a novel. ‘October Film Haunt: Under the House.’
‘Creeping Waves’ by Matthew Bartlett, which I fell on after reading Gateways to Abomination. The equivalent to me of punk in horror, and a middle finger, in the most respectful sense, raised to, well … almost everything. I admire the energy and the absence of a safety catch. I think more of George Battaille and William Burroughs than I do of most horror writers that I have read, though with a dusting of Ligotti and Samuels. Funny and ghastly by turns. Not weird for the sake of it, but compulsively grotesque because of something that matters to the writer (where the good stuff comes from).
‘The Lure of Devouring Light’ by Michael Griffin – a writer doing something different with the cosmic, and I was most reminded of Nathan Ballingrud, in that finely detailed relationships occupy a close focus in the foreground, while the horrors that exist beyond the bounds of time have an influence upon events, situations and feelings. Particularly liked the strange powers of the natural world that were conjured in many of the stories. Favourite tales: ‘The Black Vein Runs Deep’ and ‘Far from Streets’.
‘Wylding Hall’ by Elizabeth Hand – really good creation of a time and place in British folk rock music, with an authentic folk horror haunting. Admirers of the author’s long story in a similar vein – ‘Near Zennor’ – will probably enjoy this novella as much as I did.
‘The End of the End of Everything’ by Dale Bailey. New writer for me, but another fine voice that seems to sweep effortlessly across styles and directions. The title story is superb. It seized me. Another distinctive collection of cosmic horror and all round strangeness that I really enjoyed was Christopher Slatsky’s ‘Alectryomancer and Other Weird Tales’. The title story is a very fine tale indeed.
Said it before, will say it again: it’s a great time to be a reader in this field.
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August 5, 2016
CRIES FROM THE CRYPT: SELECTED WRITINGS by Adam L. G. Nevill
CRIES FROM THE CRYPT: SELECTED WRITINGS by Adam L. G. Nevill is well on it’s way to 1K downloads from only one newsletter mailout, and a couple of Facebook posts. So here is the full goat salute, with both horns raised, to all who have supported this book by sharing my posts, picking up a copy, and registering for my newsletter (which ain’t spam, and never will be, I promise). Cries’ took a long time to compile and create, but it was all worthwhile as the early feedback has been terrific: thank you all from the soles of my hooves.
If you don’t have your free copy yet, just pick it up from my homepage: www.adamlgnevill.com
I’m currently working on something else too that won’t cost you a bean (though the psychic cost to readers may be irreparable) … Hope to have it ready for the next monthly newsletter.
Cries from the Crypt: Selected Writings by Adam L. G. Nevill. Full-length book available for free from www.adamlgnevill.com. Stories, missing chapters, advice for writers, recommendations, author interviews, and more.
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July 25, 2016
LOST GIRL REVIEWED @ WRITING IN STARLIGHT
LOST GIRL by Adam Nevill reviewed by Tom Adams.
“This is a disturbing book – the best horror is. It will lead you to question your own world-view and where you draw your own lines in the sand regarding the issues raised. But, make no mistake; there is no preaching in this narrative, just a vision of what might be extrapolated from events we see around us today. It will entertain and provoke you. Definitely one of my top reads of 2016.”
http://tomghadams.uk/lost-girl-adam-nevill-review/
Thank you, Tom Adams.
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July 19, 2016
CRIES FROM THE CRYPT – DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE BOOK.
Delighted to announce that A free full-length book, CRIES FROM THE CRYPT: SELECTED WRITINGS, is now available for download from my homepage.
Just register and download your copy of ‘Crypt. If you know people who might also like the book, then by all means please direct them to my homepage where they can register and take a copy too.
We’ve tried to make the download process as easy as possible, with as few steps between you and the Crypt’ as we can manage. Book Funnel is the company we are using to deliver the eBook to you, and they offer help with any queries on device or format. The two formats we are providing, however, should be compatible with anything you use and we’ve tested the download process across a wide range of devices and apps. From Book Funnel: “If you have trouble getting this book, just tap the Help Me link at the top of the book download page and our friendly support team will help you get your book!”
Anyway, here is a little more about what’s crying out from inside the crypt:
Story – ‘Little Mag’s Barrow’
Interview 1: With Joseph D’Lacey for Horror Reanimated (2008)
Deleted Scene 1: Banquet for the Damned
Advice for Writers 1: The Horror, The Horror of Becoming and Being a Horror Writer
A Book to Be Buried With: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The Omen: An Appreciation
Interview 2: With Peter Tennant for Black Static (2010)
Apartment 16: The Original Ending
Interview 3: With Michael Wilson for This is Horror (2011)
Deleted Scene 2: The Ritual
Interview 4: With Alan Kelly for Rue Morgue (2012)
Advice for Writers 2: ‘How to write a book so scary you cr*p your pants!’
Interview 5: With Justin Steele for Arkham Digest (2014)
Deleted Scene 3: No One Gets Out Alive
Interview 6: With Sean Kitching for The Quietus (2014)
Deleted Scene 4: Lost Girl
Apocalypse Right Now: Preoccupations of the End Game
Deleted Scene 5: Lost Girl
Interview 7: With Alex Cluness for Literature Works (2015)
Advice for Writers 3: Horror Workshop Crib Sheet
Story: ‘Estrus’
And thanks to all who take a copy of Crypt’ and I hope there is something inside that is to your macabre tastes. Meanwhile, I will return to work on a second free book – Before You Sleep: Three Horrors (details coming soon in my newsletter). I’ll also resume my intensive labours on the final stages of the limited edition hardback bundle and eBook for Some Will Not Sleep: Selected Horrors. I hope to makeSome Will Not Sleep available for presales sometime in August 2016, with an end of September 2016 publication date. More details on this coming soon.
Cries from the Crypt: Selected Writings by Adam L. G. Nevill. Full-length book available for free from www.adamlgnevill.com. Stories, missing chapters, advice for writers, recommendations, author interviews, and more.
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June 8, 2016
SUMMER OF IRON MAIDEN @ GINGERNUTS OF HORROR
I’m the opening act for Gingernuts of Horror’s most ambitious feature yet and it’s all about Iron Maiden: “The Summer of Maiden”.
I’ve written a piece about my first Maiden album, the debut Maiden record, and its impact on me from somewhere way back in time. Music and my writing are inextricably interlinked.
“If they’d only released this one album, they’d have been legends, and that is a true test of a band’s legacy.”
Scream for it, WordPress! Scream for it!
In support, here are additional pics of my Maiden 12 inches, and my treasured, signed, gate-fold sleeve, ‘Piece of Mind’.
The fuller story can be found at Gingernuts of Horror.
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May 28, 2016
SOME WILL NOT SLEEP: SELECTED HORRORS. FRONT COVER
SOME WILL NOT SLEEP: SELECTED HORRORS.
ADAM L.G. NEVILL
For my first collection of horror stories I wanted cover artwork similar to the images in my imagination that so often inspire stories, and then appear in them too. The title of this painting is ‘Vade Retro Satan’. The artist is called Mister Trece and he lives in Barcelona. This is my first collection and his first book cover. This face even reminded me of three stories in the collection. For me, it was perfect.
I searched far and wide for the artwork and when I first saw this image I tingled. The jacket and endpapers are designed by my old friend and colleague, Toby Clarke, at ClarkevanMeurs Design Ltd. But there’s a fuller story about how we arrived here in my May newsletter.
I hope to make the book available for pre-sales this July, with a publication date later this summer/Autumn. There will be a signed limited edition hardback and an eBook.
But for now I just wanted to put this face out there … and leave you with those eyes.
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May 27, 2016
ADAM NEVILL’S MAY NEWSLETTER. ANNOUNCEMENTS.
The Adam Nevill newsletter for May is written … It will be spreading its leathery wings and leaving the eyrie soon. Couple of choice cuts in this one (that are still dripping). I’m actually quite excited about making two announcements.
If you want to signup, I only send one “considered” newsletter out each month. Only exceptions will be newsflashes, like if I get a photo of the bone-thing that hovers above my bed some nights. That would be an exception. Then you’d also get 17 seconds of blurred, dark, smartphone film, featuring lots of screaming as indistinct arms flail through my bedroom …
But these horns, my friends, are rising.
[signup link is on the front page of my website, top and bottom of the page www.adamlgnevill.com].
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May 24, 2016
Grey Friar News
Sad to hear that Grey Friar Press is withdrawing from the indie publishing fray. Gary Fry was the first editor to ask me to write a story (this was in 2004), at my first convention. I was so thrilled that I wrote two stories – inc’ ‘Where Angel’s Come In’ – which he published in separate G.F. anthologies.
Since then I’ve written a few stories for Gary and Paul Finch’s Terror Tales’ series – Ocean, London and Lake District – making G.F. the publisher I have written the most short stories for to date.
Two of my G.F stories clambered inside three ‘Best Of Horror’ anthologies, and another was reprinted in Ellen Datlow’s ‘Hauntings’.
As I’ve always acknowledged, most writers go places and find readers because agents and editors and publishers have faith in them. No one does it alone, though writers, like actors, get most of the credit.
Couldn’t have dragged myself this far from hellmouth without you, Gary, so thank you, from all of us over here who chitter and skitter in the sawdust.
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April 29, 2016
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM MY RECENT READING
I stayed up far too late one night recently (for a school night), to finish THE REVENANT, by Michael Punke. Parts of this novel reminded me of Algernon Blackwood:
“It was an interlude that he held as sacred as Sabbath, the brief segue between the light of day and the dark of night. The retreating sun drew with it the harshness of the plain. Howling winds ebbed, replaced by an utter stillness that seemed impossible for a vista so grand. The colors too were transformed. Stark daytime hues blended and blurred, softened by a gentle wash of ever darkening purples and blues.
It was a moment of reflection in a space so vast it could only be divine.
And if Glass believed in a god, surely it resided in this great western expanse. Not a physical presence, but an idea, something beyond man’s ability to comprehend, something larger.”
I think that is a great evocation of the wonder and awe often found in the weird and horror. I once had a similar experience, in that same stillness, but combined with a near suffocating terror in which I felt too close to the sky; this was on top of a mountain, Cadair Idris, in 2012 (my cellphone pic was taken after the descent).Too much beauty on an epic scale became terror. I’d guess that a few of us chase this kind of experience in the fiction we write.
THE NORTH WATER by Ian McGuire was another treat when I had a yearning for an epic adventure story. I thought this novel was superb. One for readers who love Cormac McCarthy’s novels (do we have an English McCarthy here?) and Dan Simmons’s THE TERROR. As gruesome, sensory, and as epic as a Shakespearean tragedy. Loved it.
Cavendish and Drax, what horrors.
I find the chapbook and novella great formats to read before bedtime (a short book that I can finish in one sitting) and the book specs in the chapbook format have come a long way too.
THE VISIBLE FILTH by Nathan Ballingrud was an insightful character study, and commanded an effective build of dread and of the inexplicable. It’s also, quite simply, as fresh and surprising as everything else that I’ve read by the author. One of the best final pages I can remember reading in horror too. I think I may have actually shuddered.
THE HARLEQUIN by Nina Allan is a clever and imaginative speculative story about the catastrophic effects of war (Great War) on its survivors. Had I’d been told that this had been written in the 30s or 40s by one of the leading writers of the time, I’d have believed it.
William Gay’s two story (plus a short essay) chapbook, WITTGENSTEIN’S LOLITA & THE ICEMAN is wonderful and worth collecting. Sadly departed, but what a master he was. I thought these two stories were as good as just about anything in the superb, I HATE TO SEE THAT EVENING SUN GO DOWN.
Right from the opening paragraph, the quality of the authorial voice in each of these works, assured me that I was in for a treat, and I was.
[From Wittgenstein’s Lolita]: “Through a deep blue dusk that fell at the very end of a season of ruin he came up past the landscape of ruin itself. Looming palely out of a coming dark were statuary, birdbaths, Madonnas, unarmed Venuses, capering cherubim, shapeless shapes past all indentifying. The yard as it climbed toward the yellowlit house at its summit looked like a dumping ground for sculptors, the repository for misbegotten art that resulted from clumsy hands, hangovers, dementia praecox. A yard sale from the attic of a madhouse.”
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