Dan Coxon's Blog, page 2

March Madness: Uncanny on the Road

It's taken a while to get around to writing this post, because I've spent more time than usual on the road over the last month. Book launches, panels, festivals and conventions are part of the writer's (and editor's) life these days, but in my experience that tends to come in waves. Sometimes it's attached to a new release, but this time it appears to have been nothing more complicated than Spring finally poking its head around the corner, and the festival circuit getting back into gear. 

At the end of February, I appeared at Leeds Lit Fest alongside Catriona Ward, Lucie McKnight Hardy, Mark Morris and Alison Littlewood, for a day of Contemporary Gothic-themed events. I'd helped curate this thread, so it was particularly exciting to see that both workshops sold out, and we had good crowds for the panel and my interview with Catriona. The Gothic resurgence clearly isn't showing any sign of dying off yet.

Next up was York St John University on 6 March, and an industry panel on getting published. Joining me on the panel was Una McCormack, as well as agents Donald Winchester and Ciara McEllin from Watson Little. The format for this one was driven entirely by audience questions - and what fantastic questions they were! Having travelled 210 miles to be there, I hope my answers made sense...

If you missed both of these, I'm pleased to say that I have one more event coming this month. On Saturday, 25 March, I'll be back in York for York Literature Festival, on a panel with Jeremy Dyson and Lucie McKnight Hardy discussing the Uncanny - what it is, why it's relevant today, and how we write it. You can still get tickets here: Writing the Uncanny at York Literature Festival.

I'm always in two minds about doing live events. Most of my time is spent tapping away at this laptop, so the opportunity to get out and meet people is too attractive to resist. At the same time, though, my imposter syndrome runs rampant. Why should anyone listen to what I have to say? Will I even have anything coherent to add to the conversation? Thankfully, the events so far this month have calmed my fears - and it's been great to connect again with other writers and readers. 

As for the coherency of my answers - come along on the 25th, and I'll do my best...

2022: My Year in Review

 

I thought I'd had a slow year for short fiction, but actually it turns out that 2022 was busier than I remembered. As well as editing Isolation: The Horror Anthology for Titan, I had four new stories published in anthologies, and one reprint. For those who want to seek them out, the new stories were: 
 'The Wives of Tromisle' in Mother: Tales of Love and Terror (eds. Christi Nogle & Willow Dawn Becker, Weird Little Worlds) 

My mother stands on the dock, her hands cradled in front of her as if in prayer. She wears a gray smock, the same as all the other women, her white hair pulled back into a severe bun. I wonder if she’s done it to iron out the wrinkles and creases in her forehead; if she has, then she has failed.

Once the ferryboat is tied off and the warped gangplank has been thrown ashore, I follow her through the streets to her cottage. She nods to a tall, bearded man who sits mending nets on the quayside, but otherwise she ignores the frothing sea of bodies around her, each welcoming their own loved ones to Tromisle.

 

 'The Darkness Below' in Terror Tales of the West Country (ed. Paul Finch, Telos Publishing) 

You asked so I’ll tell you, but you won’t believe a word of it. You’ll read the reports and assessments, the opinions of doctors and social workers, and you’ll take their theories as facts. And yet my story – the story of someone who lived through this, and lost his world because of it? That, you’ll dismiss as fantasy. 

So be it. You don’t have to believe me. Just listen. 

 

'The High Priestess' in Great British Horror 7: Major Arcana (ed. Steve J Shaw, Black Shuck Books)

 

They’re on holiday when he sees the cottage. Julie and Nico are bickering in the back seat, Maggie searching through the glovebox for something – anything – that might shut them up for five minutes. He rubbernecks as they pass it at speed, pulls into a lane half a mile up the road.

“What are you stopping for?” Maggie asks, feeding an audiobook into the stereo.

“Nothing. Just want to check something out,” Rob replies.

 
 'The Devil's Well' in The Book of Carnacki the Ghost-Finder (ed. John Linwood Grant, Belanger Books) 

It was with some surprise that I received an invitation card to dinner at No.472 Cheyne Walk. While my own health had been good lately, apart from occasional spells of arthritis brought on by the cold, it was common knowledge that Carnacki had been unwell. His Cheyne Walk residence was not what it used to be, and a severe case of damp during the spring had ushered in the respiratory illnesses that too often afflict men of our age. I hadn’t seen him since May the previous year.

 The reprint was: 'Transmissions from the Vitality Pod' in Vital Signals (eds. Dan O'Hara, Tom Ward, Stephen Oram, Newcon Press)(This was its first time in print, but it had previously been performed as part of the Virtual Futures series.)  As always, if anyone wants to consider any of these for awards nominations, just drop me a line. Here's looking forward to 2023!

Obligatory Halloween post (and did I mention the British Fantasy Awards?)

Yes, it's that time of year again. Spooktober, horror month, scarefest - whatever you choose to call it, the run-up to Halloween seems to be the one time when even the most timid souls consider picking up a horror book. And because of that, it also becomes self-promotion month for horror writers the world over. I won't apologise - bear in mind that most of us barely make enough to pay for our overly intricate Halloween costumes, never mind make a living from it. So if you want some scares, step this way...

First up, I have to plug Isolation: The Horror Anthology, out now from Titan Books. We've already received some rave reviews, and I'm pleased to say that it's even wormed its way onto the high street shelves at Waterstone's. If you haven't yet picked up a copy, it includes stories by Paul Tremblay, Tim Lebbon, Nina Allan, Joe R. Lansdale, Laird Barron, Ramsey Campbell, Angela Slatter, Ken Liu, M.R. Carey, Alison Littlewood, Chikodili Emelumadu and many, many more. Check out full details on the Titan website, where there are also links to buy it in the UK and the US.

If you're looking for some of my own writing, then Black Shuck has the goods. As well as my collection Only The Broken Remain (which was shortlisted for two British Fantasy Awards) and my micro-collection Green Fingers, they've also just published Great British Horror 7: Major Arcana, which includes a brand new story of mine, 'The High Priestess'. I even have my own page on their website, and you can find Major Arcana here.

Given that it's horror month, it shouldn't be a surprise to hear that I also have another new story released on the 31st. 'The Darkness Below' appears in Terror Tales of the West Country, alongside stories by Stephen Volk, Lisa Tuttle and many others, and if you pre-order the ebook now it'll be delivered straight to your device on Halloween. Check it out on the Telos Publishing website.

Finally, last month Richard V. Hirst and I somehow won the British Fantasy Award for Best Non-Fiction, for our book Writing The Uncanny. We're absolutely thrilled by the win, and the reception the book has received in general. If you haven't checked it out yet, it's currently available from the Dead Ink Books website. And to sign off, here's a video of my improvised (and slightly shambolic) acceptance speech:

The horror, the horror... Isolation coming in September!

It's been quite a while since I've posted something on here... but that's because I've been busy! Never being one to rest on my laurels when I can work myelf to exhaustion, I've spent most of the last year working on a brand new anthology of horror fiction - and it's a big one...

Isolation: The Horror Anthology will be released on September 13th by Titan Books in the UK and the US, and it's my longest anthology to date. It comes in at about 400 pages, but more impressively that's around 125,000 words of prime horror from some of the biggest names in the industry. Riffing on our experiences during the Covid-19 lockdowns, but exploring isolation in all its forms, it feels hugely timely and I'm immensely proud of it. I genuinely can't wait to release it on the world!

Without further ado, the A-Z lineup is as follows:

Nina AllanLaird BarronRamsey CampbellM. R. CareyChikodili EmelumaduBrian EvensonOwl GoingbackGwendolyn KisteJoe R. LansdaleTim LebbonAlison LittlewoodKen LiuMichael Marshall SmithJonathan MaberryMark MorrisLynda E. RuckerA. G. SlatterPaul TremblayLisa TuttleMarian Womack 

Hopefully you'll agree there are a lot of heavy-hitters in there, as well as some of the most exciting emerging authors in the horror and weird fiction genres. I wish I could tell you more, but I'll have to keep it all under my hat for now - if it's already piqued your interest, you can click through to UK and UK links below to preorder from Amazon and other major retailers. 

UK - preorder from Amazon.co.uk

UK - preorder from Waterstones

US - preorder from Amazon.com

US - preorder from Barnes & Noble

It should also be available from all independent stores and your local bookstores, should you choose to support them (please do!).

To finish up, I couldn't resist a music video. This played in my head (and sometimes on my iPod) throughout the editing process, so it's only fair to share...

 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... 2021 in review

I'm not the first person to observe that the last twelve months have been particularly difficult, and I won't be the last. As we've all struggled to deal with the impact of a global pandemic, it's sometimes been hard to focus on the positives. After all, for many of us this is probably the most challenging year of our generation. As well as dealing with all the uncertainty, and anxiety, and frustration, and loss, writers have found it hard to get their work noticed in a world where many of the usual outlets are closed or inaccessible - unless you were already a bestseller when the pandemic started, it's hard to see how to make an impact.

I'm pleased to say, though, that 2021 has been a relatively good year for me, on paper at least. It may not have been as productive as some other years (blame home schooling for that), but the last few months have been particularly good for me, and include some of the best work I've done.

First, we had the release of Out of the Darkness, my charity anthology with Unsung Stories. Featuring no less than 17 horror and weird fiction stories about mental health, it has been raising money (and awareness) for charity Together for Mental Wellbeing, and I'm pleased to say that the first donation payment has now been made. Including brand new stories by Alison Moore, Nicholas Royle, Jenn Ashworth, Laura Mauro, Tim Major, Aliya Whiteley, Gary Budden, Ashley Stokes, Verity Holloway and many others, I think it's one of the most challenging and worthwhile projects I've done - and hopefully it can keep on raising money well into 2022.

Following hot on its heels was Writing the Uncanny, co-edited with Richard V. Hirst (who also has a story in Out of the Darkness) and published by the wonderful Dead Ink Books. A book of essays on the strange and the uncanny, it sets out to explore the work of writers such as Shirley Jackson, Robert Aickman and M.R. James, acting as a resource for both writers and readers. The response has been phenomenal - largely due to the outstanding essays by the likes of Jeremy Dyson, Catriona Ward, Robert Shearman, Lucie McKnight Hardy and more - and it already feels like it might become a textbook of sorts for anyone intersted in the Uncanny.

Finally, I had one new story published this year. 'Clockwork' appears in Beyond the Veil, edited by Mark Morris and published by Flame Tree Press (who also reprinted my story 'Ones and Zeroes' in their Terrifying Ghosts anthology), and it might just be one of my favourite things that I've written. Riffing on E.T.A. Hoffman's 'The Sandman', it quickly becomes its own beast - and sits alongside wonderful writers like Christopher Golden, Nathan Ballingrud, Priya Sharma, Gemma Files, Toby Litt and Matthew Holness. If you're only going to have one new publication in a year, make it a good'un.

As for my favourite things from this year, it's been rather sparse pickings at times. I thoroughly enjoyed David Lowery's The Green Knight (which also makes for a brilliant Christmas movie, incidentally). When it comes to music, Arab Strap's As Days Get Dark repeatedly blows my mind, not least because it includes a foxy tune that might almost act as the soundtrack to my story 'Stanislav in Foxtown'. Fever Dreams by Villagers has been a constant on the turntable too, mixing dreamy folk-pop with jazz (!) and an off-kilter Lynchian vibe. And books? Well, like everyone else I was blown away by Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street, as well as Alan Garner's oddly entrancing nugget of folk-horror Treacle Walker. I should confess, though, that my 'to read' pile has grown this year. Time to set some targets for 2022, I think...

Books News - Writing the Uncanny with Dead Ink this September!

Despite the effects of our various lockdowns, school closures and self-isolation, this past year has been surprisingly fruitful. I have an anthology coming out with Unsung Stories at the end of the summer, Out of the Darkness , raising funds and awareness for mental health charity Together for Mental Wellbeing. I also have a brand new story coming in Mark Morris's excellent, high-profile anthology Beyond the Veil, published by Flame Tree this October.

Earlier this month, another long-term book project was finally announced. Alongside Richard V. Hirst, I've co-edited a book called Writing the Uncanny for Dead Ink Books. Published this September, it works as a guide for both the reader of the Uncanny and the writer wanting to write strange stories. There's an intro from Richard and myself, essays from some of the best writers of weird, unsettling fiction, and lists of suggested further reading for those wishing to expand their knowledge of the genre.

You can see more details of the book - and pre-order a copy - on the Dead Ink website here. As an extra sneak peek, here's a list of the essays contained within:

Negative Spaces and Ambiguity: A Toolkit for Writing Uncanny Fiction by Lucie McKnight HardyA Many-Storied House by Michèle RobertsFinding the Comedy in the Blatantly Unfunny: A Personal Journey Through Three and a Half Tales of Unease by Robert ShearmanPersonal Experience in the Uncanny by Alison MooreHalf-Concealed Places, or a Particularly Humdrum Uncanny by Gary BuddenBeach Reading by Nicholas RoylePotluck: Making the Most of Your Little Horrors by Chikodili EmelumaduIn the Forest, Stories Grow: Writing Uncanny Fiction with Fairy Tales by Claire Dean Seeing by the Moonlight: Thoughts on ‘The Hospice’ and Robert Aickman by Jeremy Dyson Seeing Things and Saying Things: Writing the Ghost by Jenn AshworthHaunting the Text: Housing Ghosts in Fiction by Catriona WardAll You Have to do is Die by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan‘You Must All be Very Worried’: Freud’s Uncanny and Hoffman’s ‘The Sandman’ by Timothy J. Jarvis

We're thrilled to have already received a few glowing endorsements, too. Ramsey Campbell has called it "An impressively extensive survey of the themes and techniques of uncanny fiction, full of stimulating insights and routes for further exploration," while Daisy Johnson has dubbed it "A brilliant and winding exploration. The perfect companion to all things weird and wonderful." 

All of that should be enough to pique your interest, at least. If you're a writer or reader of the strange, the weird and the unsettling, then there's a Writing the Uncanny-shaped space on your bookshelf. And you know what to do about that, don't you... 

Pre-order Writing the Uncanny

Only The Broken Remain on (Virtual) Tour

My collection of weird fictions, Only The Broken Remain , was finally released into the world last week, and to celebrate we went on a mini-tour. Clearly actual tours are a bad idea (not to mention illegal) in the age of Covid, so we did our best online. Hopefully you'll agree that we kicked up a storm - or at least filled a few spare minutes while you waited for the world to go back to normal...

Now that it's over, I've gathered the main stops on the Only The Broken Remain Tour for your convenience. Links below will take you to the relevant blogs. There are also a few reviews already (all positive, I've glad to say) - you'll find those below the tour links.

 

Ready to hit the road (Jack)?

Signal Boost with Pete Sutton (posted on 12 November 2020)

Runalong the Shelves interview (posted on 14 November 2020)

Q&A with Sarah J. Budd (posted on 15 November 2020)

Weird Horror for Weird Times: in conversation with Gary Budden at Ginger Nuts of Horror (posted on 16 November 2020)

Why Do You Write Horror? at Kendall Reviews (posted on 18 November 2020)

 

And if you want to check out the early reviews, you'll find them via the following links at these sites:

Ginger Nuts of Horror review

Runalong the Shelves review

Sarah J. Budd review

 

Hopefully all that's convinced you to buy a copy (you mean you haven't already?) If so, you can buy it direct from Black Shuck Books here, from Amazon here (or in the US here), or via the independent online Bookshop.org here.

To finish up, here's a shot of me being shocked by my own book.

Only The Broken Remain - Out 12 November!

It's a bit too late for a cover reveal (that was done online a couple of weeks ago), but I'm thrilled to say that my debut short story collection, Only The Broken Remain, will be published by Black Shuck Books on 12 November. There's already word of some advance copies out in the wild, so be sure to place your pre-order here and grab a copy (as well as supporting an excellent indie horror press).

Tim Major, author of Snakeskins and Hope Island, has said that “Dan Coxon’s subtle, delightfully dark tales creep up on you from the shadows, then refuse to let you go. I devoured these stories about crises of identity and reality being undermined after glimpsing something inexplicable from the corner of your eye.”

Meanwhile, Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlistee, and author of The Beauty and The Loosening Skin, Aliya Whiteley says: “Coxon writes stories filled with surreal, precise menace. Only the Broken Remain gripped me throughout.”

What hasn't been announced so far is the lineup of stories. So without further ado, here are the stories published in this volume:

Stanislav in Foxtown
Roll Up, Roll Up
Only the Broken Remain
Feather and Twine
Miriam is Not at Her Desk
Baddavine
Far From Home
Foreign Land
Ones and Zeros
No One’s Child
Rut
After the Reservoir
Static Ritual (with Dan Carpenter)
All the Letters in His Van

Of these, 'Roll Up, Roll Up', 'Miriam is Not at her Desk' and 'Static Ritual' (a collaboration with Dan Carpenter) are new and unpublished, while the rest have previously appeared in Black Static, Nightscript, Not One of Us, Nox Pareidolia and elsewhere.

I'll be doing a short blog tour starting on 12 November, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, though, if you've read this far then you might as well buy a copy - right?

Buy Only The Broken Remain from Black Shuck Books

Green Fingers Update: Reviews, Interviews and Readings

Since my micro-collection Green Fingers was published by Black Shuck Books back in April, we've had a strange few months - possibly the strangest in living memory. For obvious reasons, all our well-laid plans for launches, readings and publicity jaunts were thrown to the wolves of Covid-19, along with so much else besides. It's life, Jim, but not as we know it.

On the plus side, people still seem to have been reading books during lockdown, in some cases more than ever - and the reviews have rolled in. I'm pleased to say that they've been unanimously positive so far, which makes me think that we've managed to get this little volume into the hands of the right people after all, coronavirus be damned.

Ginger Nuts of Horror said: "Green Fingers demonstrates that short stories of nature gone awry can still have deep roots. These six unsettling stories will slither and ooze themselves into your subconscious."

STORGY said: "Green Fingers is a secret garden of horror stories: shadowy, motley, but robustly knotted together by one thematic root... this is an author in awe of nature, of its terrifying power and potential."

And this in the 5/5 review from Kendall Reviews : "If this is simply an appetizer for Dan Coxon, then you can send back the menu. I’m ready for the main course. Outstanding."

Runalong the Shelves called it: "a really strong collection of horror stories where we meet very different narrators who all find their world going 90 degrees from the norm... A wonderful collection to read in your garden…but watch out for what may be watching you."

Runalong the Shelves were kind enough to interview me too, so you can find out more of the inspirations behind the book here.

Aphotic Realm wrote: "Dan Coxon takes the strange and makes it seem probable."

Into the Gyre said that: "Coxon nicely manipulates our emotions so that we gleefully anticipate the inevitable horror."

George Daniel Lea also gave the book an extended review on YouTube, and it's positively glowing. He calls the stories "dark and resonant and unknowable", and compares them with Ramsey Campbell's earlier short fiction.

If you want to hear some of the stories for yourself, Andrew Jones did a wonderful reading of 'Invasive Species' and 'By Black Snow She Wept' (the first two stories from the book) as part of his May I Scare You Festival. You can listen to his readings here. 

And if you haven't already done so, you can buy a copy of Green Fingers from Black Shuck Books here.

Finally, here's the official launch video that I made for Black Shuck. Extra points for spotting the master of classic horror lurking in the background...

 

Spring is here... and so is Green Fingers!

I'm thrilled to say that my mini-collection of short stories, Green Fingers, has just been published by the mighty Black Shuck Books. It's part of their Shadows series - no. 19, to be precise - and collects six of my stories of horticultural horror: four previously published and two originals. Like all of their Shadows series, it's only £4.99 for the paperback, and a fine way of sampling new authors.

I've been interested in gardening for a while now, as well as wandering the common near our house and researching ancient trees - and this book is the culmination of all those threads. The stories span seven years and include everything from killer fungi to sentient trees, as well as a couple of stories that approach the theme from a more obtuse angle. I think it's fair to say that it's weird and unsettling rather than stomach-churning horror, so hopefully there's something in there for everyone. Unless you hate plants, of course. (Although it might just give you a reason to fear them too...)

It's already had a couple of lovely reviews, including one on the Ginger Nuts of Horror website which says that 'These six unsettling stories will slither and ooze themselves into your subconscious' (you can read the full review here). There's also a very nice review over at the Into The Gyre blog, where Paul Gorman says that 'we gleefully anticipate the inevitable horror that will follow' (read Paul's review here). 

There's more to come, including a brief video of me reading from the book - so keep an eye on my Twitter and Facebook pages. In the meantime, please check out more details of the book (and maybe buy a copy?) on the Black Shuck website .

Now, where did I leave that packet of seeds...