Paul Finch's Blog, page 24

Buy now and get STALKERS for only 99p

Anyone interested in buying my debut crime novel, STALKERS , can currently buy the electronic version for just 99p - though this special offer is available for a limited time only. If you're interested, just follow the link.

The above image shows me posing proudly with two of my hot-off-the-press author copies of the paperback; that's currently available for pre-order, but won't actually be published until February 14th.

Go on, I dare you ... treat the bloke or bird in your life to a heart-stopping crime caper filled with blood, terror and urban mayhem. How romantic would that be?

Still not convinced? Well, here's a brief snippet:

McCulkin laced his tattooed, nicotine-stained fingers in a tight, tense ball. ‘There are red flags all over this, Mr. Heckenburg. Any time it comes up in conversation, it’s like “you don’t talk about this”, or “do not even go there”.’

‘That’s Halloween stuff, Pat. It’s designed to stop people asking questions.’

‘Look, these people are bad news.’

‘And I’m not?’ Heck leaned forward. ‘These bastards are going to find out different. Now you tell me every single thing you know.’

‘You really going to spread it that I’m a snitch?’

‘Just watch me.'

Still not convinced ... well, the first review on Amazon gives it five stars. Read it HERE . Or check it out below, in full:

I was sent a copy of STALKERS for review by the publisher and loved it from page one. Paul Finch is a master of suspense, and he had me on the edge of my seat from the very first chapter.

Following a gang who kidnap women on demand for their clients, this is a tense cat and mouse chase between a gang so dangerous that no one dare mention their name, and a rough around the edges cop, Detective Mark 'Heck' Heckenberg. This is Heck's show, but he's joined by a great cast of supporting characters - including, refreshingly, a host of strong and very ballsy women - and some seriously distasteful baddies.

As I understand it, Paul Finch used to be a scriptwriter by trade and this shines through. The action is endlessly compelling, mixing up hard-nosed sleuthing and intelligent detective work with fast-paced fight scenes that are so vivid they may as well be happening right in front of your face. I don't want to give away anything here, but the fight with Deke is a scene I will never be able to forget. Paul is also a horror writer of some renown, and he certainly knows how to kill his victims. But there's nothing gratuitous in his violence, and whilst occasionally bloody, his murder scenes weren't too hard to stomach, and will satisfy both hardened crime fans and newbies to the genre.

Overall, this is a thrilling, unforgettable read from a fantastic new writer on the crime and thriller scene. I will be recommending Paul Finch wherever I go and I can't wait to get my hands on the next in the series in just a few months' time. I could easily see this book taking to the small screen, so if there are any TV producers out there, I hope they're watching Paul Finch closely, as I am in no doubt that he's a star of the future.

If I have any advice to you it's READ THIS BOOK!

(With thanks to the publisher Avon for providing a review copy.)

On a not entirely different matter, it's been quite a decent week for good reviews all round. Everyone in the UK's favourite horror mag, BLACK STATIC , has now got around to checking out my last collection of horror stories, ENEMIES AT THE DOOR , and the most recent volume in my round-Britain anthology series, TERROR TALES OF EAST ANGLIA .

With regard to the former, stories selected for special praise include: SLAYGROUND, which is described as "hugely enjoyable, with Finch ably counterpointing violent fire fights with the cheery camaraderie of men in arms and a final note that pulls the carpet out form under the characters' feet"; THE FAERIE, assessed as "a particular delight", WE, WHO LIVE IN THE WOOD, which "wonderfully builds its atmosphere of menace, escalating effects and mounting the tension", and DADDY WAS A SPACE-ALIEN, which is "a barbed satire of sensationalist tabloid reportage, made all the more apposite in the wake of Levenson".

For the latter, DEEP WATER by Christopher Harman, SHUCK by Simon Bestwick, LIKE SUFFOLK, LIKE HOLIDAYS by Alison Littlewood, ALDEBURGH by Johnny Mains and THE SPOOKS OF SHELLBOROUGH by Reggie Oliver are all underscored as notable highlights.

However, a question-mark is apparently raised against TERROR TALES OF EAST ANGLIA in terms of the various authors' credentials when it comes to knowing that part of the realm - simply because quite a few of them, my good self included, are not natives.

Well ... ahem - and of course I can only speak for myself in this regard - I know East Anglia pretty darn well, having travelled its length and breadth, and having stayed there with relatives many, many times - so there! And to prove it, the picture above was taken of me outside the infamous cell in Colchester in which Matthew Hopkins, the dreaded 'Witchfinder General' interrogated so many of his unfortunate prisoners.

Feasts of blood on the best days of the year

Much sooner than I expected, I'm here able to showcase the new cover for SACRIFICE , the second book in the Mark Heckenburg series, my new trio of cop novels out from Avon Books (HarperCollins imprint) later this year.

This image is possibly a work in progress rather than the finished article, but Avon always seem very happy to get the news out at the earliest possible opportunity, so who am I to disappoint?

It's a lurid image, for sure ... but it nicely captures the horrific circumstances within the book. In a nutshell, SACRIFICE , which is the second adventure to date of Detective Sergant Mark 'Heck' Heckenburg, tells the tale of a truly bizarre and complex homicide investigation, which results when an unknown maniac (or maybe a group of maniacs!) commence a series of truly atrocious ritual murders.

But hey, don't take my word for it. Check the blurb accompanying the book:

One man blocked into a chimney alive at Christmas. Two lovers shot through the heart on Valentine’s Day. Three victims crucified at Easter.

A twisted and vicious serial killer is holding the country to ransom, publicly – and gruesomely – murdering his victims. The pattern is clear: a ‘calendar killer’ is on the loose.

On the case is Detective Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenberg, and he knows one thing for certain: when the killer will strike next. But he doesn’t know where and he doesn’t know how.

With the country’s eyes on him, Heck must find the killer before he executes more victims ... but is is the killer who is watching him most closely of all.

A heart-stopping and bloody thriller that will enthral fans of Stuart MacBride and Katia Lief.

As I say, this book is only out July 4th this year, so make that a date in your diaries (though be wary of those special dates ... at least as long as certain unknown menace is still prowling the streets, looking to celebrate them in graphic, gruesome fashion).

As I say, it's available for pre-order much sooner than I expected, but I can't say I'm not delighted about that. When I look at it online, it sits rather nicely alongside STALKERS , the first in the Mark Heckenburg series, the ebook version of which is available for 99p from January 17th this year - that's right, folks, next week! - and which was described by THE BOOKSELLER as: "Really terrific, compulsive stuff."

Those who prefer a bedroom filled with groaning bookshelves will need to wait just a little longer; the paperback version of STALKERS is due for publication on February 14th.

In slightly different news, I've this week been green-lit to write the script for my first ever graphic novel. It's called WAR-WOLF, and it's an adaptation of my novella, HELL-HAMMER, a dramatised account of a 9th century Viking invasion of eastern England, which degenerates into a near apocalypse as the natives resist with everything they've got. The original tale contains lots and lots of violence, plus lots of Norse demonology - this is war between gods as well as men - and thus far everyone seems pretty certain it will transpose neatly into comic book form (though some of the sex scenes may need to be toned down a bit, LOL).

Those who've followed my output over the years will know that I'm no stranger to writing Viking age sagas. Back in 2004, Sarob Press published two novellas of mine - THE BLOOD MONTH and TWILIGHT IN THE ORM-GARTH, in the aptly titled collection, DARKER AGES (you don't get any cheerful fiction on here). Sadly, that book is long out of print, but the two stories, which, if memory serves, are a good 25,000 to 30,000 words each, can be found in MEDI-EVIL 1 and MEDI-EVIL 2 respectively, both still available as ebooks.

THE BLOOD MONTH, set in 1030 AD, tells the tale of two Viking brothers, both newly Christianised and fleeing the vengeance of their pagan brethren. They hole up in their uncle's remote homestead on the frozen northwest coast of Greenland, only to find the local community under attack by an unknown entity, which seems to thrive in the permanent bitter darkness of the Arctic midwinter.

TWILIGHT IN THE ORM-GARTH is set 40 years later, in 1070, and concerns a Norman warlord's quarrelsome family, who hold a grand reunion in a their recently built castle, Wulfbury, in northeast England - when their constant bickering is interrupted by news that a Viking fleet is scouring the coast, seeking ingress, and that their new king, William the Conqueror, who doesn't trust them not to make a deal with the Danes, is sending a monstrous guardian - a malevolent horror from the mists of time, called the Korred - to both guard and terrorise them during this period of crisis.

Those tales of terror just keep on coming

Well ... it seems that the world didn't end in December 2012 after all, and most of us made it through to 2013.

So Happy New Year on that score.

Will it be a good one? I suppose that remains to be seen. Do you, for example, determine 'good' by its potential to transform you into a multi-millionaire, or simply by the quality of the books you read (and/or write) and the movies and TV shows you watch (and/or script)? If it's the latter, I suspect you have less chance of being disappointed. But of course it's early days on both of these counts.

The New Year started in reasonably buoyant fashion in this neck of the woods when my attention was drawn to this rather splendid review of TERROR TALES OF EAST ANGLIA , which came courtesy of DARKLING TALES .

Follow the link for the full details, but I've snipped out the following nice extracts:

"All in all a really good collection!"

"Finch does a super job of reflecting all the different glories and mysteries of East Anglia."

"Terror Tales of East Anglia deserves a place on the shelf of anyone even faintly interested in horror."

The reviewer, Joy Silence, congratulates me for exploring the wide variety of East Anglian scariness, but also points to the collection having a decidedly 'antiquarian' feel. I can't really deny this. East Anglia is the location for many of M.R. James's classic spook stories, and it was that Jamesian atmosphere of bleak landscapes, ancient monuments, rural myths, scholarliness and supernatural evil that I was specifically looking for when I sent my invitations out.



It's been a source of some minor controversy that I don't thrown these TERROR TALES anthologies open to all writers. There are two main reasons behind this: firstly, because the limitations of time prevent any chance of my wading through a huge slush-pool of submissions; but secondly and mainly, because, as I mentioned before, it's always my intention to create a certain kind of book. Maybe that's down to me being a writer myself, but I always know what kind of anthology I want to develop before I set out to do it. Even with my editor's hat on, I doubt I could ever put together an anthology entirely on the basis of hitting the green light and then sitting back and seeing what the fates throw at me.

That said, it is my aim to use as many different authors as possible in this series, so the line-up will be different with each new collection (though obviously there will be some cross-overs), and those who haven't had a go yet will get one in the near future.

Perhaps this is better illustrated by the next book in the line, TERROR TALES OF LONDON, which is due out around Easter, but for which the final table of contents has at last been established. Suffice to say that there'll be fewer 'antiquarian' outings in this one and distinctly less of that 'pleasing terror' that seemed to earmark TERROR TALES OF EAST ANGLIA . In this case we're going more for the urban jugular, and in proof, I'm going to break my own rule and give you an exclusive right now - a list of the contributors (though at this early stage no story titles or order of publication can be revealed):

Christopher Fowler; Barbara Roden; Nicholas Royle; Gary Fry; Marie O'Regan; Anna Taborska; Mark Morris; Jonathan Oliver; David Howe; Nina Allan; Adam Nevill; Roger Johnson; Rosalie Parker.

How does that little lot grab you? (Hopefully by the gonads).

In addition, there will be the usual plethora of short, anecdotal essays contributed by my good self, each one concentrating on a different aspect of allegedly true London horror phenomena. Again, no further details will be given yet (am I a tease, or what?), but some of you might recognise the various locations pictured in this column, and must draw your own conclusions about places and venues.

They are, topside: an antiquarian bookshop (oh drat, that 'A word' again) in London's fashionable West End - feel free to ignore the dimwit posing next to it; further down, a prison which even in Dickensian times gave lessons in hellishness; and near the bottom, London's most famous cemetery, now overgrown and derelict because it is long disused - and with very good reason (picture by Michael Reeve).

That's all at present. It's the usual thing: keep watching this space for much more info about these and other projects. With luck, it will be coming thicker and faster than ever in 2013.

Festive frights are just a button-push away

Alas, only time for a very quick blog post today. But then, on the upside, it is Christmas Eve, so there are plenty of other exciting things for us all to do in preparation for the big night tonight.

So this is just a quick Christmas greeting to everyone who checks in on here, and - as a sort of unofficial Christmas prezzie - a link to MIDNIGHT SERVICE , an entirely new festive horror story, courtesy of my good self, which you can find on KILLER READS , the HarperCollins blogsite. Hope you all enjoy and approve.

I won't give too much away, except to say that it may bring an entirely new meaning to that time-honoured phrase, 'Christmas Eve in the workhouse'. Anyway, why not pop over and have a read? Unlike many other things this Christmas, it won't cost you a bean.

Have a great Christmas and a splendid New Year.

And thanks to Paul Campion and the rest of his devilish crew, for letting me pinch their Devil's Rock seasonal greeting.

Share this slow, steady descent to madness

Well, it's now mid-December, and various Christmas-themed things are on the horizon, including a couple of online stories of mine, which people might enjoy checking out.

The grim picture above could illustrate either of them, but more about those later. In the meantime, I have a new post up and running at KILLER READS , the HarperCollins crime-writing blog.

This will be my forth since Avon Books commissioned a new series of crime novels from me, and it won't be the last - they are set to run well into next year. But in this one I discuss my early days as a professional author - joining the writing team for THE BILL while I was still finding my feet as a journalist (having just left the Greater Manchester Police).

I won't say too much more, otherwise there'd be no point in anyone going and reading it there, but I'm really grateful for the opportunity KILLER READS has given me to create a brief blow-by-blow account of my gradual transition into authordom (or my my slow descent into madness, as my wife, Cathy, would doubtless say).

I highlight several watershed moments from that early stage of my career: not just the obvious ones like the first time I was invited to THE BILL offices in response to my sending them an on-spec screenplay, but the later frustration I found in trying to produce tough cop thrillers in the slightly sanitised environment of pre-9pm TV, the spin-off of which was my search for other venues in which to extrapolate some much darker themes and my subsequent arrival on the horror scene.

Anyway, as I say ... you'll have to go THERE to see the rest of it.

On the subject scary stuff, that brings us rather neatly to the point I raised at the beginning of this session - Christmas is fast approaching, always a popular time for spooky tales, and this year looks like being no exception.

To start with, a brand new Christmas story of mine, a particularly creepy one, I think - MIDNIGHT SERVICE - will be appearing on KILLER READS sometime in the next couple of weeks. I haven't got an exact date for that yet, but it will be up there in time for Christmas (I hope). Watch this space for more details on that.

A bit sooner - in fact on Tuesday this week, December 18th - a story of mine entitled DOWN IN THE DYING-ROOMS, will appear on the always excellent VAULT OF EVIL website, which specialises in fun and scholarly assessments of horror and dark thriller literature. This will be part of webmaster Demonik's annual Advent Calendar, which presents us with a different terror tale each day.

To access it, you'll need enter the Vault's actual ADVENT CALENDAR section. It isn't just my story, of course - numerous luminaries of the horror game have contributed this December already, not to mention last December and the December before. So you'll have plenty to read. But first you'll need to register (in order to get the downloads). Don't be put off by that. It won't cost you anything, no-one is going to pester you or shower you with advertising, or even expect you to participate in the Vault's daily life. If you like your daily chillers, it's a good place to be at any time of the year, but you can always delete your account afterwards if you're not satisfied.

Just for your info, my story next Tuesday will be DOWN IN THE DYING-ROOMS, which not many people over here in the UK will have read as it has only appeared once before, back in 2005 in the cracking US horror mag, DARK DISCOVERIES .

Again, I won't go into further detail, but put it this way, if you like the macabre atmosphere generated by the two derelict hospitals displayed in this column - (top, Denbigh Mental Hospital); bottom, Cane Hill in Croydon), then this one could be right up your street.

Thanks to Howzey for these amazing images of two medical facilities that time forgot.

Cool to have a bit of power in your corner

I can't tell you what a nice warm feeling it gives you inside knowing that a publishing powerhouse like HarperCollins is throwing all its muscle behind the promotion of your next book.

Regular readers of this column will know that Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, are my new publisher, and that they'll be putting out a trilogy of my cop thriller novels next year, starting in February with STALKERS (in which Detective Sergeant Mark Heckenburg, originally a Manchester cop but now assigned to the Serial Crimes Unit at Scotland Yard, is put on the trail of 38 mysteriously vanished women).

As pictured above, each one of these beautiful slip-cased extracts - which I received through my letterbox only this morning - is representative of a new novel due out in 2013 from Avon. Apparently - and this is very flattering indeed - I'm told that these particular selections have been made because they are the "standout voices of the year". All I can say is that to see STALKERS on top of this pile makes me feel ten feet tall.

These slip-cased extracts will now go out to publicists and retailers all over the country, as part of a big marketing drive. For a writer I don't think there's any better feeling on Earth than being able to sit back and let your work do the talking.

And now from a future project to a past one, but one which nevertheless continues to reap rewards for all those involved.

It didn't really surprise me last week to learn that Sean Foot, the hero whose team were behind the special make-up on THE DEVIL’S ROCK (the World War Two themed horror move I scripted, which was distributed to the cinemas in 2011), has scooped the prestigious Best Make-Up prize at the New Zealand Film Awards. Sean is pictured left, posing proudly with his trophy.

I think all those who have seen THE DEVIL’S ROCK will agree that the make-up was pretty extraordinary. The transformation of ever-alluring Gina Varela from pretty London housewife to lusty, cannibalistic devil-incarnate was a bit gob-smacking to say the least. The final product is pictured below right.

Equally amazing, handsome hunk Karlos Drinkwater morphed spectacularly from a stolid Maori commando into a grotesque shambling zombie.

(The image below was taken to illustrate how Karlos's own eye-socket was digitally replaced using the eye-socket of the skull).

On top of that, other members of the cast suffered an array of gruesome yet utterly believable injuries, including Jonathan King, who had half his head blown away (pictured bottom), Haydn Green, who got a rifle shoved down his throat until the firing mechanism jammed against his teeth, and master villain Matt Sunderland, whose entire head was bitten off and swallowed during a grisly Satanic ceremony that went catastrophically wrong.

All pretty grim, I admit. Why on Earth would someone celebrate this?, I hear you ask. Well hell, this is the movies, ya know, man. It's called tripping the light fantastic (or should that be 'dark fantastic'?).

Meanwhile, back on the self-promotion trail (am I ever off it?, you're probably thinking but this is my blog, so yaaah!), if anyone is dithering about whether or not to buy SPARROWHAWK , my Christmas themed horror / supernatural / romance / fantasy / period piece, etc, first published in 2010, please check out this exceedingly nice review from 'Wag The Fox', which has appeared on Amazon US. Before you do, make a note that SPARROWHAWK will be re-issued in a special illustrated hard back version this time next year, but it is still available, and will continue to remain so, in softback and electronic formats:

A Christmas Carol is a perennial favorite of mine this time of year. The movie that is, and has been since I was a little kid. Everyone has their favorite Christmas movie; that one's mine, namely the Alistair Sims adaptation. That's how I came to know the story, and always will, even after reading Dickens' own words. As for a Christmas read, I don't really have one. It's Halloween that gets my attention when it comes to seasonal books. For Sparrowhawk, however, I may make an exception.

Paul Finch's darkly-tinged novella is set against the sooty backdrop of 1840s London. Captain John Sparrowhawk is rotting away in a debtors prison (onga familiar setting in more than one Dickens story) until a mysterious and alluring woman, Miss Evangeline, visits him and offers him a job and a new start. His debts are paid in full and all he has to do is protect an anonymous man from three nefarious persons out to do him harm. Given Sparrowhawk's harrowing experiences in Afghanistan, he's well suited to do some muscle work, though he carries a good deal of emotional baggage given his fall from grace when he returned from the war, and that threatens to undermine his second chance at life.

In a modest 130-or-so pages, Paul builds a rich and memorable story of a tormented man whose torment has not nearly reached its end. London is captured expertly, warts and all, in this story, and the dialogue between John Sparrowhawk and Miss Evangeline is magnetic. The back-and-forth between them initially feels a bit familiar with the dashing rogue and femme fatale vibe, but it quickly develops into something all its own, with just enough sinisterness to make you wonder just which side she's on. The struggle doesn't come from Miss Evangeline, but from the powers that be out to harm the man Sparrowhawk is sworn to protect--and do so without the man ever knowing he exists.

The ending packs a punch and the allusions to Dickens' A Christmas Carol are a treat as the story progresses. It is 19th-century London, after all. I'm a guy who continues to struggle with appreciating historical fiction, at least the kind that steeps itself in the language of the time. As much as I'm a fan of Dickens for A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations, his prose is a chore to get through more often than not. Paul Finch, on the other hand, offers a style of writing that harkens to that time but offers enough of a contemporary feel to make a schlub like me get immersed in the story with little effort.

For those keen on truly devilish horror ...

If you fit that description, you might be interested in this first teaser-trailer for DARK HOLLOW .

The link will take you through to BLOODY DISGUSTING , which, despite its ominous name, is one of the premium horror movie websites on the planet. So don't be a wuss - get in there now and check it out.

DARK HOLLOW is the movie adaptation of Brian Keene's 2008 best-seller of the same title, which I wrote for director of THE DEVIL’S ROCK , Paul Campion, about a year ago.

Brian's original novel - which can still be purchased HERE - is set in rural Pennsylvania, and tells the tale of a mysterious woodland entity summoned back to life by ancient magic. To add anything else would be a big spoiler, but suffice to say that it features an extremely nasty monster, plus lots of sex and lots of violence, and that it is laced with ancient mythical rites of a distinctly dark and devilish nature.

For those among you who like their horror served with a side-dish of arcane lore and eldritch mystery, this one will definitely be for you.

Between Paul and I, we've produced several drafts of the movie script, and have even shifted it from one continent to another, and back again, during the relatively brief period that has passed since the release of THE DEVIL’S ROCK , but with the recent attachment to the project of an international sales agent, things are moving along rapidly and a 2013 shoot is not by any means impossible.

The top two illustrations speak for themselves. But above left, we have the visuals maestro himself, Paul Campion, busy grading the trailer. And below that, a piece of Paul's original conceptual art for the project.

Memories of terror both real and imagined

Lots of people have seemed to want to interview me this last couple of weeks, which is rather nice (if a little baffling, knowing me as I do).

However, for those whose interest in my opinion extends beyond the inane ramblings you'll read in this column, please feel free to check in at ARMED WITH PENS , where parts FOUR and FIVE of the rather prolonged chit-chat I had with top man Dan Howarth, can be seen.

In addition, the latest instalment of my new blog on the HarperCollins crime website, KILLER READS , can now be read and assessed. In this latest episode I talk about my journalist days, and how they prepared me to write dark thrillers.

I also drop in a few anecdotes, which may be of interest - covering everything from copycat Ripper murders to comical exploding devices, but I suppose if you want the actual nitty-gritty you'll have to get over THERE .

You may be interested to see the above photograph, which is one of a pair that I dug up specially for my latest piece on KILLER READS . This was taken during my days as a reporter on the Wigan Observer newspaper, some time in the early/mid 1990s.

In actual fact, there's a rather grim story behind it. There'd been a series of prostitute murders in nearby Liverpool - which, as of this time (as far as I'm aware), remain unsolved - and two of the victims, having been abducted from Merseyside, were dumped on wasteland in Wigan borough. They'd both been stabbed and slashed to death in ritual attacks ghoulishly reminiscent of Whitechapel during the days of Jack the Ripper. In the above picture, I'm in the process of going through a file of 19th century newspapers, specifically from that long autumn of 1888, cross-checking the recent details with the accounts of the original murders as written by reporters at the time.

It's all seems a long time ago now, and of course it is. These days I make my living penning imaginary horrors. But occasionally things crop up, as this photograph did, to remind us that reality can be far, far worse.

Now ... on a less gloomy note, I have a very exciting announcement to make in regard to SPECTRAL PRESS , who, if you recall, published my short story KING DEATH last year, helping it to gain selection for the prestigious YEAR'S BEST DARK FANTASY AND HORROR, 2012 , edited by Paula Guran, and who, in time for this year's festive season, are putting out the rather marvellous 13 GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS .

It also concerns SPARROWHAWK , my Christmas novella of 2010, which thus far is one of my best ever sellers. In short, this time next year, SPECTRAL PRESS will be publishing a new hardback edition of SPARROWHAWK , specially illustrated. Alas, it's far too early to give you any small details yet - such as prices, publication dates, etc, but rest assured I'll keep you all fully informed if you keep checking in.

For those who've never read SPARROWHAWK , it tells the story of Victorian soldier, Captain John Sparrowhawk, of the 16th Light Dragoons, sole survivor of a brutal massacre in Afghanistan and a man who then returns home to London to find his life in ruins - his wife dead, his property repossessed. Broken and embittered, Sparrowhawk gambles and drinks away the little money he has left and finds himself in the debtors' prison, which is literally the next stop to Hell. Salvation of a sort finally arrives in the shape of the enigmatic and beautiful Miss Evangeline, who bails Sparrowhawk out on the condition he will stand guard over a house in Bloomsbury throughout the month of December. Sparrowhawk undertakes the mission, but it isn't just the ice and snow he must contend with. An unknown entity, a supernatural foe of the most ruthless and unrelenting kind, is soon stalking him. Sparrowhawk has never been one to back down from a challenge, but it seems this adversary has some very nasty (and very personal) Christmas tricks up its sleeve.

Here's a snippet:

He continued to walk around the exterior until he encountered the narrow side-gate that he and his sister, Nan, had used as children. It was made of wood, but had rotted with age. Its lock hung off, so he pushed it open. On the other side lay what had once been the Parsonage’s west lawn, though all he found now was deep, snow-covered bracken. He waded through it to a stone path, which he followed around to the front door. This stood half-open, icy blackness skulking on the other side.

Anyone else might have held back at this point, but Sparrowhawk was too perplexed to think straight. He entered a long, wood-panelled reception hall, which, though cloaked in near darkness, he could have walked blindfolded. A door stood ajar on the left. Through it, lay his father’s old study. Glacial moonlight spilled into this, revealing shelves filled with dust and debris, a desk and floor strewn with torn books and dog-eared papers. Further along the hall, on the right, a door stood open on the old dining room. Sparrowhawk gazed through at a scene of equal desolation. It had once been decked for Christmas, but now evergreen trimmings hung desiccated from the overhead beams. Goblets and wine bottles lay shattered. Bowls of dates, figs and scented candles had once adorned the sideboards, but the candles had long ago dissolved and the fruit was nothing but mulch. On the central table, the festive feast was a malodorous shadow of its former self. Mice, cockroaches and other vermin scuttled amid the odious relics: a goose that was now carrion; steamed vegetables that were cobwebbed husks; an ornate Christmas cake thick with fungal fur. Strangely, there was no fetor, though the temperature might have accounted for that – the few intact panes in the window were rimed with frost both on the inside as well as the out.

Sparrowhawk strode on. Ahead of him, the door to the parlour was closed but, spotting a ruddy light around its edges, he opened it.

The room on the other side had been the cosiest in the house. It looked through French windows onto a garden that in summer was a profusion of flowers and greenery. Its walls had been papered in pastel shades. It had always boasted comfortable furniture. Over the large mantelpiece there had once been an oil painting depicting his parents in their younger, more carefree days. Now the room was a shell: drab walls, bare boards on the floor, furniture shrouded with mildewed sheets. The ruddy light was cast by a few meagre coals glowing in the hearth, though these were sufficient to illuminate the elf figure, which waited for Sparrowhawk in the far corner, its arms raised above its head as if it was about to cast some fairy tale hex.

He approached it, frightened but at the same time fascinated.

The elf made no move, and when he got close he saw why. It wasn’t a real man, but a marionette. It was life-size, but its face and hands were carved from jointed wood and had been crudely painted. Its body and limbs were suspended by strings, which rose towards the ceiling but were there lost in dimness. It was also – and this was perhaps the most disquieting thing of all – a close representation of his father.

It seemed that Doctor Joseph Sparrowhawk, the one-time academic, philosopher, publisher and pamphleteer – was now little more than a comic mannequin. Its head lay to one side; its eyes were glass baubles containing beads designed to roll crazily around. Its chin and nose were exaggerated – Punch-like, in the tradition of the season – but the lank white hair was the same, the white side-whiskers were the same, the prominent brow, the small, firm mouth.

Sparrowhawk prodded at it, wondering how he could have followed this effigy all the way from Doughty Street ...

Great grue and sexy demons - will we win?

Amazing though it seems to me, it's almost a year and a half since THE DEVIL’S ROCK was released in the UK. Given how intensive an experience it was writing it, and then being a party - albeit over long distance - to a very rapid but equally intense production turn-around, it's quite breathtaking how quickly it all now seems to have been and gone, if you know what I mean.

But one of the nice things about writing movies (and the same applies to books as well) is that once they're out there, they continue to attract interest for quite some time and, to an extent, will continue to do business on your behalf. Though progress on the sequel seems to have hit a few snags of late, the details of which I won't bore you with, the original is still proving a hit in certain quarters, and is still earning the plaudits.

To begin with, it's up for yet another clutch of awards. In THE SORTA UNOFFICIAL NEW ZEALAND FILM AWARDS , it's been nominated in the capacity of Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup Design and Best Costume Design, illustrations of which are dotted throughout this column.

Top: Craig Hall looking suitably heroic; next down, Matthew Sunderland looking suitably fiendish, next down, Gina Varela looking suitably demonic (and just for the more red-blooded among you, lower down still, an extra one of Gina looking more her delightful self - even if some of that red blood seems to have got all over shirt).

On top of all that, a few new reviews have come my way which have all commended us in the strongest possible terms. Here is just a handful:

"I was surprised that a movie who'�s entire cast is made up of four, maybe five people could be so good. The script is well done and the acting only serves to support it ..." 101 JOKES I TOLD MYSELF

"Devil’s Rock is about misdirection, simplistic style, and a lot of good writing. The movie is tense in a lot of spots that most horror can’t even begin to be ..."� THE HORROR SHOW

"Don't let the DVD cover art fool you, it's actually a taut, well-acted film that happens to involve a demon and buckets of gore ..." SSCREENPHILES

"It's a quiet little flick that delivers on almost every level. It especially delivers on the sexy Demon front..." THE HORROR CLUB



And now, on an entirely different matter, as I mentioned not too long ago, winter is fast approaching, that time of ice, snow, blazing Christmas fires and things that go bump in the long, dark nights. In celebration of this most enjoyable season, we have yet another anthology that I'm proud to have been included in THE 13 GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS , the first ever Christmas Annual from the inexhaustible SPECTRAL PRESS .

How does this cover art by VINCENT SHAW-MORTON grab you?

I don't think I've ever seen anything more atmospheric of the ghostly festive season. I've already posted the full TOC for this forthcoming box of delights, so check back through a few posts in case you missed it.

My own contribution is DECEMBER, which tells the tale of Brenda, an attractive widow, who is approaching her first Christmas without her husband, and absolutely dreading it. Her younger sister, Josie, rallies to the cause, determined to give Brenda a festive season she'll never forget, but there are other forces at work here. Brenda's past was not entirely sweetness and light, while Yuletide itself has always possessed some dark and vaguely sinister undertones ... and that's it for now. If you want to know more, I guess you'll just have to get your orders in.

Okay ... time for the next 'Next Big Thing'

I was quite honoured last week when the indefatigable TIM LEBBON tagged me as part of his ‘The Next Big Thing’ blog. For those not totally in the know, this is a kind of chain-letter thing in which a writer answers a bunch of pre-set questions, and then tags some other writers of his own choice, and they repeat the process the following week and so on.

Or something to that effect. Anyway, it's a fun process, which, if it works as it should, will take those interested - readers, fans, genre buffs, internet explorers etc - through a variety of authors' blogs, which all share a love of the weird and wonderful. Who knows, it may open up a whole new world of reading matter that you didn't even know was out there.

So here we go. First the questions, then my own taggees.

1) What is the title of your latest book?

STALKERS .

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

It’s the first novel in a trilogy due out next year from Avon Books, describing the investigations of Detective Sergeant Mark 'Heck' Heckenburg, an obsessive blue-collar cop attached to Scotland Yard's elite Serial Crimes Unit. Where did the idea come from? My own experiences as a police officer in Manchester, and just about every exciting, suspenseful and hardbitten cop movie or TV series that I've ever seen.

I'm a big fan of the horror genre as well as the thriller genre, so there is be plenty of dark stuff in there too - nothing supernatural I hasten to add, but this is not just a police procedural. It features some big action sequences and some very nasty killers. Those who read it - at least, this is my intention and hope - will be thrilled, intrigued and scared in equal measure.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

It’s an crime thriller, which goes heavy on action, suspense and urban grime.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

If I could pick absolutely anyone, the following:

Mark 'Heck' Heckenburg – Tom Hardy

Lauren Wraxford – Nathalie Emmanuel

Gemma Piper – Melissa George

Des Palliser – Malcolm McDowell

Mike Silver - Jason Isaacs

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

At least 38 victims; an unknown number of killers; one detective at the very end of his tether.

6) Who published your book?

Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

About four to five months.

8) What other books are similar in tone to this story?

Hell Is A City by Maurice Proctor, and Jack's Return Home by Ted Lewis.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My late-father, Brian Finch, was, and remains, the inspiration behind everything I've ever written.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

Violent action, dark mystery, even a dollop or two of romance (though that will be developed more in the later books). Plus, the eternal drama of working class heroes confronting darkness in the heart of the urban jungle.

And now … enough about me. Here are my recommended taggees:

ALISON LITTLEWOOD (mistress of the taut thriller, but always with a magical, mystical undertone), and SIMON BESTWICK (master of the brutal urban nightmare, but never without a cutting political edge).