Carl Barker's Blog, page 4
December 20, 2015
The Twelve Days of Dismemberment
For those of you who like your Christmas a little more macabre than most, here’s a little something to keep you in the horror spirit over the festive season:-
The Twelve Days of Dismemberment
On the first day of Christmas, my true love’s stalker sent by mail …
A ransom note written in blood.
(Not being rich or serious folks,
We paid it no heed and thought it a hoax.)
On the twelfth day of Christmas, he sent her back to me…
Twelve clumps of hair,
Eleven yards of skin (freshly flayed)
Ten sau...
Cursed Contents
Haunt Jaunts have now released the Table of Contents for their upcoming Shadow People & Cursed Objects anthology, which you can find below. After a couple of reschedulings, the book is currently due out on 1st February next year, and you can find all the latest updates on the project over at the relevant page on the Haunt Jaunts website, here.
Alice J. Black – “The Busby Chair” Carl Barker – “Murder for Dummies” Ken Teutsch – “The Storm on Promised Land Road” S. Mickey Lin – “Lady Winter’s M...September 17, 2015
New Haunts
Just heard that my story “Murder For Dummies‘ has been accepted for inclusion in the upcoming inaugural anthology from the Haunt Jaunts travel website, due out towards the end of next month.
For those interested in visiting haunted buildings and locations, Haunt Jaunts functions as a dark travel guide of sorts, providing information and guides to a variety of paranormal hot spots around the globe, as well as collecting first hand accounts from those in the know.
The anthology collects togethe...
July 22, 2015
In the running
Great to see that The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2 has been shortlisted in the Best Anthology category for this year’s British Fantasy Awards.
The full details of all nominees can be found here, and winners will be announced during the Awards Ceremony which takes place on Sunday 25th October, at this year’s FantasyCon in Nottingham.
Not sure yet if I’m going to be able to attend this year’s event yet, as some substantial day job orientated changes have taken rather more of a toll on...
July 11, 2015
Demi Double
My recent reviews of the last two books in Rod Rees’ Demi-Monde saga are now available over at the British Fantasy Society website. Links can be found here and here, as well as in the BFS tab above as usual.
June 19, 2015
Terror set loose and TOC
As of yesterday, Terror Tales of The Scottish Highlands has been set loose upon an unsuspecting public, so I thought I’d share the table of contents for 
anyone wishing to know who the contributors are to this latest volume in the series:-
Skye’s Skary Places – Ian Hunter
Phantoms in the Mist
The Dove – Helen Grant
Prey of the Fin-Folk
Strone House – Barbara Roden
The Well of Heads
Face Down In The Earth – Tom Johnstone
The Vanishing
The Dreaming God Is Singing Where She Lies – William Meikle
...June 8, 2015
A taste for Terror
It’s been a bit quiet on the old writing front of late, what with some sizeable changes going on in various aspects of my life. But now that I’m finally finding some time to get back into the swing of things, I’m very pleased to finally be able to announce that my story “Broken Spectres” will be appearing shortly in the Terror Tales of The Scottish Highlands anthology, edited by Paul Finch and published by Gray Friar Press later this month.
I’m a big fan of this series of location themed horr...
March 2, 2015
A Wolf in Sheafed Clothing
Out this month is Tacitus Publishing‘s inaugural anthology “It’s A Grimm Life”, which includes my story “Who’s Afraid?”.
As you may be able to guess from the title, the anthology collects together various modern reworkings of classical fairy tales, each one based on a Grimm tale and each embracing the darker side of humanity and the world that we know to exist in the shadows, just out of sight.
So if you’re in the mood for a bedtime story, why not huff and puff your way over to Amazon, where yo...
January 13, 2015
Starting the New Year at a canter
After a somewhat sparse publication schedule last year, it appears that 2015 is already shaping up to be a tad busier, with not one but three imminent publications on the horizon:-
First up, my dark fairy tale piece, ‘Who’s Afraid‘, will be appearing in Tacitus Publishing‘s inaugural ‘It’s A Grimm Life‘ anthology, currently due for arrival at the beginning of March. Previously known primarily for their gaming support products and resources, this is Tacitus’ first foray into the world of anthol...
October 18, 2014
Horror Selfies
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has launched a new promotional campaign for the genre – Horror Selfies. The campaign highlights the exceptional work, both literary and cinematic, produced by the horror genre. The HWA is utilizing the vast reach of social media to provide a platform through which people can tell the world why they love horror, and to promote literacy and reading among children and Young Adults, ot to support a local library.
Authors, readers, actors, directors, fans and fo...
