The Outsiders

Very pleased to say The Outsiders, a shared world Lovecraftian anthology from Crystal Lake Publishing is out today. It features my story Impossible Colours as well as stories by Stephen Bacon, Gary Fry, V.H. Leslie and Rosanne Rabinowitz plus an introduction by Kevin Lucia. It's an absolute privilege to be published alongside such great authors and being in a book from the fantastic Crystal Lake Publishing is just the icing on the cake.

You can read the blurb below, as well as quotes from each author, including me, about their story.

The Outsiders is available in paperback (UK | US) and ebook (UK | US)

Inside Priory awaits a lot more than meets the eye. The people might seem friendly, but only because their enigmatic leader Charles Erich accepts nothing less.

The cottages within this gated community seem simple enough, and even though what lurks beneath them is more ancient than mankind itself, can anything be more evil than the people worshipping it?

If you dare follow this UK invasion of five prime authors as they each tell their own story of the people living behind Priory's steel gates and high walls, you'll quickly find yourself an outsider, as well.

Stephen Bacon – James Everington – Gary Fry –

V.H. Leslie – Rosanne Rabinowitz

The Priory. A community of one mind and purpose. A place of order, commitment, peace, and service. A perfect world, building on mind shattering secrets from beyond the pale. Enter…if you dare.

“As I wrote the story, I drew on my experience of returning to places where I grew up as an outsider, the 'home town' that was never home – an experience that many people share.” – Rosanne Rabinowitz

“I wanted to take this idea of digging deeper quite literally and write about not only the mysterious and potentially dangerous things the earth conceals, but the often beautiful things it relinquishes.” – V.H. Leslie

“Joe's (the editor's) notion of a gated community filled with various reclusive go-getters fired my imagination, coming as it did during a spell of unprecedentedly terrible activity during a perpetual interest of mine, the darker reaches of the UK economy, all its social strata and clench-palmed denizens. The secrecy and exclusivity of such an enclosed venue struck me as an able symbol for the nefarious activities of many folk involved in the national conspiracy of theft and concealment which characterised the credit crunch.” – Gary Fry

“Lovecraft’s racism (at least as it manifests itself in his fiction) has always seemed to me to be psychological as much as political or overtly fascist. The word ‘xenophobia’ (a rejected title for ‘Impossible Colours’) appropriately describes his unease towards all outsiders, not just those of different coloured skin. Indeed some of his best fiction is driven precisely by the horror of being overrun, of being subsumed by ‘the others.’” – James Everington

Compulsory 2014 Retrospective Post

So, 2014.

The Writing:
In terms of my writing, 2014 has felt like an important year for me, although from the outside it might not seem like it. Falling Over continued to pick up some nice reviews, and I had some stories published in anthologies this year, but no big releases. Nothing new purely under my own name.

But I've been hard at work on a lot of different things this year, most of which will see the light in 2015.

Most exciting is The Quarantined City, my monthly serial which will be published by Spectral Press, with the first episode The Smell Of Paprika hopefully being released in January. Spectral Press are one of my favourite publishers and the fact that they're releasing something of mine feels like a real achievement, something that if you'd told me a year ago I'd never have believed. In addition, in writing The Quarantined City (the episodes so far, at least) I feel I've written my most ambitious work to date. Without giving away too much at this stage it's part horror, part fantasy (sort of), part head-scratching weirdness. I've stretched creative muscles I've not stretched before and had a blast doing so.

Max Ernst's Europe After the Rain II will provide the basis for the cover art for each episode of The Quarantined City.

In addition, I've a story in the Lovecraftian anthology The Outsiders from Crystal Lake (another dream publisher) coming out early 2015,  my chapbook Dark Reflections from Knightwatch Press, plus a few other acceptances and thingabobs that I can't mention as yet.

The People:
This year conventions and book launches have gone from being things I was pretty nervous about (because I knew no one and am shit at introducing myself to strangers) to things I actively look forward to, in part through the realisation that the horror community are among the friendliest people I've met (especially those who like a good curry). I've done a few readings this year as well, which went okay, I think. So 2014 felt like an achievement in that sense as well. I certainly hope to attend as many events as is realistic next year. And not forgetting the friendship & advice from people I've only ever met online, which is just as appreciated.

So lots of people I should thank, but too many to list here without it becoming interminable. Here's to you all; you know who you are. The first pint's on me.

Top Ten Books:
The Language Of Dying - Sarah Pinborough
No One Gets Out Alive - Adam Nevill
The Southern Reach Trilogy - Jeff VanderMeer
The Spectral Book Of Horror Stories
Gifts For The One Who Comes After - Helen Marshall
Into The Light - SP Miskowski
Best British Horror 2014
Shadows & Tall Trees 2014
The Sleeping Dead - Richard Farren Barber
Dream Of The Serpent - Alan Ryker

(See also my massive favourite short stories post)

Top Five Films: American Hustle; The Double; The Grand Budapest Hotel; A Most Wanted Man; The Wolf Of Wall Street

Top Ten Albums: 
EMA - The Future's Void
Martin Carr - The Breaks
Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
King Creosote - From Scotland With Love
Allo Darlin' - We Come From The Same Place
Lana Del Ray - Ultraviolence
Chvrches - The Bones Of What You Believe
Bob Dylan - The Complete Basement Tapes
Stephen Malkmus - Wig Out At Jigbags

Coming Soon - The Outsiders

Very pleased to say that my story, Impossible Colours, will appeared in a collection of Lovecraftian fiction from Crystal Lake Publishing called The Outsiders.

All the stories are set around a gated community in England called Priory, and the other writers are V.H. Leslie, Ray Cluley, Stephen Bacon, Gary Fry, and Rosanne Rabinowitz. So I'm alongside some of my favourites of the current crop of horror writers, and it doesn't get much better than that does it?

The cover art is fantastic as well.

The book is due out early 2015 I think; more details on the Crystal Lake site.