2012: Looking Back...

So, 2012.

Like everyone else I guess, my year was one of ups and downs, small triumphs and minor setbacks. Writing is an odd thing, emotionally, because it provides an alternative set of feelings running alongside whatever is happening in 'real-life': struggling with a story can sour on an otherwise sweet day (if you let it) but conversely during times when everything seems to be the same shade of shite writing can be a refuge, a source of achievement when nothing else seems to be.

But anyway, here's some personal writing highlights from the year just ending:

Being Asked To Provide A Story For Off The Record 2:

At some point in May I got a mail from Luca Veste asking if I'd like to contribute a story to his charity anthology Off The Record 2. That might not sound hugely dramatic but this was the first time ever that someone had got in touch and asked me for a story just like that - I like your stuff and I want you to write something for me. Quite a thrill, and doubly so from someone with as many writer's names in his address book as Luca. Predictably, he pulled together a great collection of stories and I'm chuffed to be a small part of it.

Edgelit 2012:
I'd never attended a convention before, so Edgelit was a first for me. Books, books (beer) and more books - what's not to like? From one of the workshops I came away with a piece of flash fiction called The Men Who Value Everything In Money which I revised on the train journey home, and it is to be published soonish by the editor of a magazine that I met on the day (more details soon hopefully). I'm a bit disappointed with myself for not talking to more people whilst I was there, but that social failing was my fault not Edgelit's (and one I feel in any social situation involving strangers). But I enjoyed ever minute of the day nonetheless and will definitely be back.

Penny Dreadnought Anthology 1:
Sod the Mayans - the Abominable Gentlemen know when the world will really end, because it will be our fault. The first Penny Dreadnought anthology looks great and having my stories sitting alongside those by my fellow Horsemen Alan Ryker, Aaron Polson and Iain Rowan was a real high-point of my year. But it's nothing compared to Stage 2 of our plans...

Selling A Few Books...
This year I actually started selling a decent amount of books. Not a life changing amount, at least not in the financial sense. But the knowledge that thousands (low thousands, but still) of people have now read some of my stories or at least intend to is life changing in a sense, because I never would have dared hope for such a thing even this time last year.

Writing Drones:
But the sales and the money, the little boosts to my ego and the low-level insecurities I've revealed above aren't really the important thing. The important thing is the writing, the stories. I'm using Drones (which was published in Sirens Call) as an example, but really this one is for everything I wrote this year. Drones just stands out because of how it was written - all in one go, one Sunday morning whilst I was still drowsy with sleep. And by the time the coffees had kicked in and I was fully awake there was a new story on the paper in front of me. It hadn't existed before, but now it did, flaws and all.

And that's the best feeling in writing, whatever the damn year.

Penny Dreadnought Omnibus! Volume 1 Paperback

The Abominable Gentlemen are the worst people you don't know.

And the first Omnibus of their works is now available as a paperback (UK | US) as well as an ebook (UK | US).

Penny Dreadnought Omnibus! Volume 1 contains all sixteen stories from the first four volumes of Penny Dreadnought, as well as a bonus gallery of alternative cover art. That's four stories apiece from myself, Alan Ryker, Iain Rowan, and Aaron Polson.

It makes the perfect holiday gift for friends and family, especially strange 'Uncle Pete' who you only ever see at occasional family gatherings and who doesn't seem to be allowed near pets, children, or real cutlery.

Enjoy.

Weird Tales; PD on Smashwords; BIG Skeleton

Book Review: The Modern Weird Tale by S.T. Joshi

I do enjoy books about the theory of horror fiction, particularly those that focus on newer authors - most academic textbooks are slanted towards older, 'gothic' works. There are few books around which deal with modern horror in an intellectually robust way, but S.T. Joshi's are among the best of those that do.

The Modern Weird Tale is the follow up to The Weird Tale and The Evolution of the Weird Tale, and it is mainly concerned with authors from Shirley Jackson onwards. Joshi basically groups the writers into two camps - those he likes (people like Jackson, Ramsey Campbell, and TED Klein) and those he doesn't (mainly 'bestseller' authors such as King, Anne Rice etc.) There are also some writers discussed that it is downright odd to classify as 'weird' - Thomas Harris?

The main flaws in the book show when Joshi discusses writers he doesn't like - he seems to think he is skewering them with objective barbs, whereas viewed from the outside the subjectivity of his tastes is obvious. Thus Stephen King is castigated, in part, because his characters are middle-class people with middle-class woes. "Who cares about people like this?" Joshi says, without every wondering how that sentence would sound applied to any other social group... Similarly The Exorcist and its explicitly Christian viewpoint doesn't square with Joshi's atheism, and so by his logic must be a flawed book... Of course Joshi is quite entitled to like what he likes (and often I agree with him) but his apparent belief in his objectivity is annoying.

The most aggravating issues occur when Joshi critisizes an author he doesn't like for a 'flaw' that he is happy to ignore when applied to writers he does like. So some of Stephen King's stories come under fire for not explaining how and why the supernatural in them came to be - a claim that could be made against no end of weird fiction, including lots of those featured here.

Fortunately, Joshi is far, far better at explaining why he loves writers he loves - the chapters on Ramsey Campbell, TED Klein and Shirley Jackson alone are worth the price of the book. Here he really shines, highlighting themes and connections that I missed even on books I've read loads of times. I've never read any Thomas Tyron, but Joshi's discussion of The Other and Harvest Home really makes me want to - his writing is infectious in these sections, erudite but not dry, pointing out strengths (and weaknesses) of books with clarity and accuracy. (Only the chapter on Robert Aickman is somewhat disappointing, largely because Joshi seems unsure quite what to make of him...)

So - a good book to argue with, but a better one to be inspired by.

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In other news, Penny Dreadnought: Omnibus! Volume 1 is now available from those good folks at Smashwords (as well as Amazon UK | US). Rejoice!

And finally.... is this the best set for anything ever?

Earlier this week the amazing Cate Gardner wandered into the Jekyll & Hyde pub - either drawn there by mysterious, demonic forces or because she wanted to get out of the rain. Check out the results here.

Penny Dreadnought Omnibus Volume 1 Out Now

Very pleased to say that the Abominable Gentlemen's diabolical plan is coming to fruition, with the release of the first Penny Dreadnought Omnibus!

(For those who don't know, Penny Dreadnought is a series of themed weird fiction anthologies from myself, Alan Ryker, Iain Rowan, and Aaron Polson).

It contains all sixteen stories from the first four volumes of Penny Dreadnought as well as a bonus gallery of cover art. Side effects may vary from reader to reader, but are likely to include: trembling hands; creeping dread; visions of the end times; speaking in tongues; existential doubt, and an intolerance to sparkly vampires.

Experience it at Amazon UK | Amazon US

 

The stories are:

 

‘Lilies’ - Iain Rowan

‘Cargo’ - Aaron Polson

‘First Time Buyers’ - James Everington

‘Invasion of the Shark-Men’ - Alan Ryker

‘Falling Over’ by James Everington

‘All the Pretty Yellow Flowers’ by Aaron Polson

‘Ice Age’ by Iain Rowan

‘A Face to Meet the Faces that You Meet’ by Alan Ryker

‘Precious Metal’ by Aaron Polson

‘Only the Lonely’ by Iain Rowan

‘The New Words’ by Alan Ryker

‘He’ by James Everington

‘Occupational Hazard’ by Iain Rowan

‘The Aerialist’ by Alan Ryker

‘Packob's Reward’ by James Everington

‘Poe's Blender’ by Aaron Polson

Coming Soon...

Two New Stories

Awhile ago I was looking through some websites when I came across Sirens Call Publications. The second issue of their e-zine was accepting submissions for short stories based on the theme of 'horror from the point of view of the observer'.

The observer - that's interesting, I thought, but I haven't got any stories that fit right now, and the deadline is in a few days so I haven't time to come up with anything... Ah well.


Around this time I'd also been turning over a vague idea in my head about a story about a soldier in a modern day war, who did little but stare at computer screens all day like any other office worker. And about what he might see on those screens that wasn't strictly speaking there. Now you'd think my conscious mind would have been smart enough to think: computer screens? from the point of view of the observer? there's a connection there..! but no. But my subconscious, which is obviously the brains of the outfit, must have made the connection overnight, for the next morning I awoke with a story called 'Drones' in my head.

Not just the idea for 'Drones' mind you, but the whole shebang: the plot, the lead character's voice, the first lines, the last lines... This has happened to me only occasionally; when it does the story seems very fragile, like a soap bubble, and I know I have to get it written down as quickly as I can before it bursts. So I went straight downstairs, boiled the kettle, and wrote the first complete draft of 'Drones' in a couple of hours.

The next day I attempted to decipher my cramped and frantic handwriting, and wrote out a second draft; the day after that it was typed up and sent off. It's been years since I've written anything so quickly, and although the story is only about 2.5k words, it's still a good feeling.

Anyway, given that the story wouldn't even have existed without the nudge from the Sirens Call submissions page there was no messing around on Duotrope with this one - the story went straight across to SR, a few days before the deadline closed. And I'm very pleased to say they accepted it.

I really like it, as a story, but then I would say that because the writing of the story was so quick and easy - writers tend to like best the stories they liked writing best I find, rather than the ones where they've had to slog through redraft after redraft. But whether inspiration and writer's cramp or hard graft and heartache produces the best stories for readers to read I'm not so sure.

Anyway, you can read 'Drones' in Issue Two of The Siren's Call e-zine, available to purchase here. I'm off to check it out, and see what kind of company I'm keeping...

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In addition, the Abominable Gentlemen have been busy in the lab again, and after much boiling of test-tubes and loss of eyebrows, I am pleased to say that fourth volumes of Penny Dreadnought is available now.

This issue's honorary Gentlemen is Theodor W. Adorno, whose quote “Behind every work of art lies an uncommitted crime” was the inspiration for the title. That was my idea; I'm the Abominable Gentlemen who brings unnecessary pretentiousness to the group.

The issue contains four tales of murder, malfeasance and malarky:

Occupational Hazard by Iain Rowan
The Aerialist by Alan Ryker
Packob's Reward by James Everington
Poe's Blender by Aaron Polson

Commit your own crime by downloading it from Amazon (UK | US), Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords.

Crime and Puni.... More Crime

Regular readers of this blog will know the name Iain Rowan, and also that I rate him as one of the best new authors I've discovered in recent years. Excitingly his début novel One Of Us has just been released by Infinity Plus - it was Shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Début Dagger award. 

It's available now in paperback (US | UK edition coming in early April) and as an ebook (Amazon US | UK). I recommend you all go out and buy ten copies. 

Anna is one of the invisible people. She fled her own country when the police murdered her brother and her father, and now she serves your food, cleans your table, changes your bed, and keeps the secrets of her past well hidden.

When she used her medical school experience to treat a man with a gunshot wound, Anna thought it would be a way to a better life. Instead, it leads to a world of people trafficking, prostitution, murder and the biggest decision of Anna's life: how much is she prepared to give up to be one of us?  

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In other news, the Abominable Gentlemen are readying the latest issue of Penny Dreadnought for its entry into the world; it is to be called Uncommitted Crimes, after this quote from Theodor Adorno: Every work of art is an uncommitted crime.

"Hi, how's it going?"

Hi, and thanks for asking.

February has been a good month, I think:

• I had three new stories out in one form or another, bizarrely all on the same day: New Boy on the Dark River Press site; Haunted in 100 Horrors; and He in Penny Dreadnought: The Lone And Level Sands.

• I've submitted quite a few stories to magazines and anthologies and had one acceptance so far.

• I've written two new stories, and am currently struggling with a third that might be called The Man The Dogs Hated. Despite its short length I'm having a lot of trouble with this one.

• I got £90 of book tokens from work and was like a kid in a candy-shop for a good few hours in the local Waterstones.

• Sales of both The Other Room  and The Shelter were really good; I presume this is still the after-effect of so many e-readers being sold at Christmas, but during the odd optimistic moment I like to think it's because I'm actually an okay writer.

• I won a copy of The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

So yes, not a bad month, all told. As to what comes next, I'm not sure. I have enough stories that I think are good enough to self-publish another collection straight away, if I wanted to. And given that sales of my other self-published books seem to be on an upwards path an the moment, the temptation to do this quickly is quite strong. 

But then I also worry that I need to be thinking long term, and getting as many stories out to as many different markets as possible, in order to build an audience the old-fashioned, slower way. And maybe I should be thinking of trying to get a second collection out via an independent press anyway, rather than all under my own, somewhat limited, steam. I'm honestly not sure at the moment.

But to end on a less self-absorbed, boring note, here's a song from the new Tindersticks album:

Find Out....

Find out why the Abominable Gentlemen think Romantic poet Shelley was a bit of dick here...

... find out what I had to say when interviewed on the E-Book Bin site here...

And find out that there's going to be a Phonogram 3 here...! (uh, well, maybe....) And if you don't know why that's such an exciting prospect, check out this essay on the Phonogram graphic novels here...)

Double Whammy

Not one but two new stories to tell you about today...

Firstly my story Haunted appears in the new collection of flash fiction 100 Horrors. The premise of the collection is simple: 100 authors, 100 stories, each 100 words long or less. (If you count the title, mine is exactly 100 words long - yes, I am a show off.) 

100 Horrors is the first release from Cruentus Libri Press and is out on Kindle now (UK | US) and there is also a forthcoming print version too.

Obviously there's a ton of different authors involved in this one, but suffice to say a number of them are 'alumni' from my In Defence Of Short Stories guest-blog post series, including: Colin Barnes, Victoria Griesdoorn, and Kate Monroe.

Secondly the gentlemen over at Penny Dreadnought have been busy again - the third issue, called The Lone and Level Sands is out now.

This apocalypse-themed issue of Penny Dreadnought contains four unique visions of the end:

Precious Metal by Aaron Polson
Only the Lonely by Iain Rowan
The New Words by Alan Ryker
He by James Everington

 Buy it at Amazon (UK | US), Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

Sneak Preview... The End Of The World

No this isn't another Mayan thing.

The third issue of Penny Dreadnought is under construction, and this time the Abominable Gentlemen are dressed as the four horsemen, for the theme for this one is post-apocalyptic. My story, He, is like a cross between a monster-movie and William Golding's The Inheritors.


As a sneak preview, check out the excellent cover art by Alan Ryker:

Previous issues are available now:

Volume 1: Introducing Penny Dreadnought, Insidious Indoctrination Engine of the Abominable Gentlemen. (Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes and Noble | Smashwords)

Volume 2: Descartes' Demon (Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes And Noble |Smashwords)

Other Indie Authors Are Available #6

Well, January has been a good month - a record number of ebooks books sold (a record for me, that is, not one in the Norris McWhirter sense), by far exceeding my previous monthly best. Plus a couple of new stories accepted, which I hope to be able to tell you about soon.

For now, though, you'll have to make do with this interview with me over at the Penny Dreadnought site. I know, another indie author interview. This one was conducted by a man without any flesh on this face though, so it has that going for it.

I've read a lot of good books too recently, including these ones by fellow indie-authors. Find one you like the sound of, download, and tuck in:

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Welcome To The Underworld - I.F. Rowan

Well this was a pleasure to read - four interconnected short stories/novellas about Dao Shi, a conman, fraudulent exorcist, and reluctant hero. The setting is an unamed imperial city, with the war in the mountains a constant background. These four stories do a great job in building up the detail of the world, and how Dao Shi's personal story might connect to its wider politics and machinations. There are moments of humour here, excitement (the descriptions of the various demons are particularly good), and moments of genuine sadness too. Throughout it all the author does a great job in writing from Dao Shi's point of view, and his character is what drives these stories - somewhat vain, lover of food, but always insightful and humorous.

The author says in his afterword that if enough readers enjoy these stories there may be more - here's hoping for a Volume 2.

From Catullus - Scott Robinson (Translator)


I review this from a position of complete ignorance, both of the original Latin poetry of Catullus or of any traditional translation of his works. So this was completely new to me & I enjoyed it a lot. I suspect a lot of of reviews of Catullus will use the word "bawdy" but it certainly fits - the tone is often conversational, lewd, or derogatory. Certainly a mile away from the lyricism that seems to be modern day poetry's default mode (which takes a bit of attuning to).

It's certainly intrigued me to find out more about Catullus, and the Latin poets in general, which I assume was the translator's intention. And I do love the fact that self-publishing has opened the door for projects like this, an obvious labour of love which wouldn't have seen the light of day in the pre-ebook age one feels.



Ill At Ease - Various

Ill At Ease contains three stories by three different authors; all are dark (huzzah!) and focus on the psychology of the protagonists; none end happily. (A collective of dark authors? What a fantastic idea...!)

 Stephen Bacon - 'Waiting For Josh'. A strong opener, this is a well-written story about a man returning to his childhood home town to see his ex-best friend, who is dying. Old secrets are revealed. Some really strong imagery and scenes; my only complaint was it was a tad predictable in places.

Mark West - 'Come See My House In The Pretty Town'. For me, the highlight of this collection - another old friends reunited story, but with a more sinister tone. With its small isolated English village setting, this is almost like The League Of Gentlemen played straight instead of for laughs. If you are afraid of clowns this will do nothing to help...

Neil Williams - 'Closer Than You Think'. A ghost story, or the tale of a man having a nervous breakdown accompanied by strange visions? You decide. Another good story, I particularly liked the way the horror seemed to take place in such mundane settings - supermarket car parks and rubbish tips.

There's also some interesting notes from each author, explaining the inspiration behind each story. Overall a strong collection, and one that will definitely lead me to explore further work from all three writers involved. I've already bought another Mark West book.

Love Songs & The End Of The World...

Coming Soon To A Blog Near You!
I'm unlikely to be able to post about this tomorrow when it goes live, due to having to go to the office sometime between 2am and 6am tonight (don't ask) after attending a stag-do... but do check out the weekly post on 52 Songs, 52 Stories tomorrow, as the story Iain posts will be based on a song requested by me:

So check  52 Songs, 52 Stories tomorrow.

That is, if the world lasts that long. Forget all that Mayan calendar nonsense; The Abominable Gentlemen really know when the world will end, or at least be changed out of all human recognition.

Odds And Sods

Some more of my stories are slowly winging their way from my hard drive to your grubby little paws. In chronological order:

• My piece of flash fiction Haunted will be appearing in the first publication by Cruentus Libri Press - 100 Horrors will feature one hundred horror authors each with a story of one hundred words or less...

• New Boy, a tale of suicide, ghosts, and office politics, will appear either in the Dark Rivers Press print edition or web edition...

• The Second Wish, a modern day 'rewriting' of The Monkey's Paw will appear in a future issue of the fabulous Supernatural Tales, although likely not until 2013...

There will also be semi-regular stories appear in Penny Dreadnought, as and when the Abominable Gentlemen get their collective act together.

(Of course like always I've had my fair share of knock-backs too... Snow was rejected again, although fortunately the 'Curse of Snow' doesn't appear to have struck this time.)

All this means that I'm having to rethink my plans for my next collection of short stories, assuming I self-publish it again. I was planning to include some of the stories now tied up with other things, so I'm now under pressure to write more new stories. It's a largely self-imposed pressure, and probably a good thing; but pressure all the same. On the positive side, my third collection of stories is already half in the bag!

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Check out the interviews The Man With A Skull For A Head conducted with the Abominable Gentlemen over at the Penny Dreadnought site. They were conduced in our stomping ground of the Jekyll and Hyde pub. Alcohol may have been involved. So far interviews with Iain Rowan and Alan Ryker are up, but fear not! Ones from Aaron Polson and myself are on there way...

Penny Dreadnought Volume 2: Descartes' Demon

From the malignant minds of the Abominable Gentlemen come fearful tales of paralyzing epistemic doubt. What do you do when you turn a corner and you find yourself where you hadn't intended to go, and you turn back and find that what's behind you isn't where you came from? When nothing makes sense, do you doubt your own sanity, or the world’s?

You’ll find no easy answers within the following tales:

“Falling Over” by James Everington
“All the Pretty Yellow Flowers” by Aaron Polson
“Ice Age” by Iain Rowan
“A Face to Meet the Faces that You Meet” by Alan Ryker

Penny Dreadnought: Descartes' Demon is approximately 23,000 words. Available from Amazon (US | UK), B&N, and Smashwords.

My story, Falling Over, is a brand new tale not available anywhere else. You lucky things. 

Strange Stories #0: An Introduction

Introducing a new weekly(ish) column... 'Strange Stories'.

When I released The Other Room I called it a collection of 'weird fiction' rather than horror stories. Weird fiction is a term that was first used with reference to fiction by the likes of Lovecraft and Machen, and has been used intermittently by writers ever since. It's a term which seems to have come into vogue again, especially with the publication of The Weird, a vast (and I do mean vast) new anthology which you do need to get. You do.

In a similar vein, Robert Aickman called his fiction 'strange stories' meaning much the same thing, I think - horror fiction that wasn't quite horror, ghost stories that didn't necessarily feature ghosts - weird, odd, strange, ghostly, uncanny fiction.

In this weekly feature I plan to talk about some of my favourite 'strange stories' (I also plan to open up the slot for some guest posts). Each post will be about a single story, whether short story, novella, or novel length (although a lot of the best of this kind of fiction has been done in the short story form).

But what distinguishes strange stories, or weird fiction, from normal tales of horror?

Well, for certain it's a sprawling and largely undefined tradition of writing, but one I feel very much a part of. I don't think it has rigid boundaries or borders; some authors write almost nothing but 'strange stories' and some more traditional horror or literary writers occasionally wander into its strange territory, and report back on what they find.

One of the key things that distinguishes this kind of writing, for me, is ambiguity (a topic I recently touched upon in a guest post on the Greyhart Press site). Maybe it's perverse to try and define 'ambiguity' to any great degree, but the kind of things I mean are:

• Ambiguity of perception - how much of the story is real (in the context of the story) and how much is a product of the central character's distorted, confused perception? 

• Ambiguity of events - how certain can the reader be exactly what has happened?

• Ambiguity of significance - how certain can the reader be of what the things that have happened mean? Both to the characters themselves, and symbolically?

• Ambiguity of omission - do important details or emotional responses seem lacking from the story, stopping the reader make full sense of it?

• Ambiguity of reality - does the story imply in some way that we can't trust our senses, and reality may be slightly or completely different to how we perceive it?

I'm sure there's more, and I'm sure I'll feature stories that don't seem to meet the above criteria, but the literary weirdness or strangeness I'm after is more a feeling than anything. I'll certainly aim to feature stories by writers such as Julio Cortazar, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, T.E.D. Klein, and Algernon Blackwood. But first...

Next Week: Strange Stories #1. What Water Reveals by Adam Golaski

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Coming soon...! Volume Two of Penny Dreadnought.

A Few Things...

Some stuff from around the web that I'm blatantly posting to revive my flagging ego:

A lovely review of The Other Room over at Eva Dolan's Loitering With Intent blog. Always nice to read a review by someone perceptive who's spotted things in the stories even I didn't think of.

How The Penny Dreadnought Was Born - a new posting by me over on the PD site.

And finally, the fabulous Eight Cuts have recently done posts of great digital and analogue Christmas presents for book-lovers. I'm delighted to say The Other Room was featured in the former, but do check out all the great books listed.

My Top Seven Plus Three Indie Books of 2011

I noticed many blogs are doing their Top Ten indie books, so I have shamelessly decided to copy. I limited myself to picking one book per author so as to include as many as possible, and set to work picking my ten favourites... and then stopped, frowning. As ever, I've made things needlessly complicated...

Firstly, I'm not even sure all these books were published in 2011. I certainly read them all this year, but they may have been published earlier. But aren't people always banging on about indie books and e-publishing meaning that people's books have a longer shelf life? Yes, they are, and if rather looser definitions of previously precise concepts like 'this year' are the price we have to pay for such literary longevity then I'm all for it.

Secondly, and more seriously, some of the best self-published books of read this year are by the authors I've joined forces with for Penny Dreadnought. It would seem somewhat dishonest for me to recommend authors whose success might, however tangentially, benefit my sales in the future. But equally, I read all three of these authors long before Penny Dreadnought was even a twinkling, and there's no doubt their work would have appeared in this Top Ten if we'd not decided to publish together... So after some deliberation I've decided to include them but not rank them. So my Top Ten starts with those three books in no particular order and then continues with a Top Seven counting down to my Number One...

I told you I'd made this needlessly complicated.

(All links to Amazon UK)

#X. Alan Ryker: When Cthulhu Met Atlach Nacha

#X. Arron Polson: These Darkened Streets

#X. Iain Rowan: Ice Age

#7. Jim Breslin: Elephant

#6. Steven Baxter: Musings of A Monkey

#5. Neil Schiller: Oblivious

#4. Various Authors: Infinities

#3. Dan Holloway: Songs From The Other Side of The Wall

#2. Marion Stein: Loisaida - A New York Story

#1. Cate Gardner: Strange Men In Pinstripe Suits

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In other news, this is all sorts of brilliant:

Introducing... Penny Dreadnought

I'm genuinely excited about the news I've got to share in this post.

Penny Dreadnought is a new venture from myself, Alan Ryker, Aaron Polson and Iain Rowan - if you're a regular reader you'll know these are all guys I think are genuinely great writers, and did so well before I knew there was a chance my stories might appear alongside theirs. Future issues of Penny Dreadnought will feature new stories from all of us, plus some exciting guest authors, all based around a particular theme.

The first issue is an introduction to our work and contains:

“Lilies” by Iain Rowan
“Cargo” by Aaron Polson
“First Time Buyers”
“Invasion of the Shark-Men” by Alan Ryker

Introducing Penny Dreadnought, Insidious Indoctrination Engine of the Abominable Gentlemen is approximately 22,000 words, or 88 paper pages, and can be purchased at:

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
Smashwords

Also check out the Penny Dreadnought site for more info, including Alan's great introduction to the first volume.