But the ZVR madness and hellacious zombie-blasting fun continues. A while ago I was approached by editor Jeff Conner to write a short story for an ambitious prose project—essentially a series of anthologies inspired by the ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS comics. Check this: IDW were willing to pay me to write a story about zombies and robots beating the unliving shit out of each other. Almost too good to be true, huh? But true it was. I gave it a big whoop-yeah and got to work, and a few months later turned in a 12,000 word novelette called FOR KING AND COUNTRY. And let me tell you … you can’t write about zombies and robots without having a whole whack of fun. Don’t tell IDW this … but I would probably have paid them for the chance to write it.*

The first anthology in this series, THIS MEANS WAR, came out last year (see THIS POST). It was followed by WOMEN ON WAR, which in turn will be followed by DIPLOMACY. Yeah, I’m going somewhere with this  … my ZVR story will feature in DIPLOMACY, to be published this summer by IDW, with gorgeous artwork by the always awesome Mike Dubisch. (Incidentally, I’ve seen Mike’s illustration for my story, and it’s jaw-droppingly great. I’ll post it on the site just as soon as I’m given the green light.) It also features top ZVR fiction from the likes of Gary McMahon, Simon Clark, and Simon Kurt Unsworth.

Oh, and IDW—in case you didn’t know—stands for Incomparable Dudes of Wonderment.**

ZVR: DIPLOMACY is available for preorder right now. Amazon. Barnes & Noble. Forbidden Planet. You know, the usual places. Order it now, and it should hit your mailbox in July.

*Not really.

**Not really.

But like I said, END TIMES doesn’t want to go away. The print edition is close to going the way of the dodo, but the E-BOOK is, and will be, available until such a time as we get complete novels implanted directly into our brains (coooooool!). Also, I am pleased to announce that the audiobook version has just been released.  Unabridged and expertly read by Michael Robles, it is available for download at the following online retailers:

iTunes

Amazon

Audible.com

So go one, treat yourself. You can’t listen to music all the time. It melts your brain. And rock ’n’ roll is the devil’s music – everybody knows that. Audiobooks (even dark-as-hell, violent ones like END TIMES) turn your ears into angel’s wings. Trust me on this.

If you want to find out a little more about END TIMES, click this here LINK.

There are a couple more audiobooks in the pipeline. EVERDEAD (kitsch as hell and out of print) and WESTLAKE SOUL will be turning your ears into angel’s wings very soon. I’ll let you know when, of course, so keep checking in.

It’s been a busy couple of months for me, though. I don’t need to go into all the details, but suffice to say that, just before Christmas, we moved into a house that needed a good deal of TLC. We’re most of the way there now (thank God), and just about able to focus on other things.

But yes, this blog (though I think of it more as a newsfeed) has suffered. What precious time I found to write was actually spent on, well … writing. There are two brand new stories sitting on my hard drive. One of them—SINS LIKE SCARLET—is a collaboration with British horror ace Mark Morris. More on that very soon. The other is called THE WIDOW, and I hope to give you more info on that soon, too.

I have also been chipping away at the new novel. Late last year, I ditched 30,000 words of a project I’d been working on (it was called CRADLE) because it didn’t feel like the kind of book I wanted to put my name to, and certainly not the kind of book I wanted to follow WESTLAKE SOUL. It felt like I was writing it for someone else—for a place in the market—and I just couldn’t get behind it. So I scrapped that puppy and started something fresh. Glad I did … and while I’ve only scratched at the surface so far, it already feels much more like a “me” kind of book. If the house doesn’t fall down, I should have it finished by the tail-end of summer.

I have a few other things to mention, but I’ll save them for future posts.  I will, however, take a moment to say just how sad I was at the passing of James Herbert a couple of weeks ago. I grew up devouring his books, and pretty much wishing I could be him. Novels like THE FOG, THE MAGIC COTTAGE, and (my personal favourite) DOMAIN, had a huge impact on me, and I readily point to them as major influences in my own writing. You can imagine how thrilled I was to meet Mr. Herbert, first at World Horror in 2010, and again at last year’s FantasyCon. Ramsey Campbell introduced me to him on this second occasion, and for five magical minutes the three of us sat at a table talking about stories and writing. I’ll never forget that moment, as I’m sure you can imagine.

R.I.P., Mr. Herbert. Thanks for rocking my world. And filling it with rats.

Also, I mourn the passing of my friend, Rick Hautala. I’d only known Rick for four years, but in that short time he’d become someone very special to me. He was one of my Necon brothers, and every memory I have of him is a happy one. I remember how he’d smile and pull his chair a little closer when I played “Redemption Song” on my guitar, and he’d sing along with a beer in his hand, eyes glowing. We had a little Necon tradition, too—just the two of us: we’d drunkenly recite The Doors’ “Horse Latitudes” in loud, obnoxious voices (Chris Golden would roll his eyes and walk away, which only made us louder), and we vowed to recite it—unbridled and brilliant—every time we got together.

We did it three times. Not nearly enough.

If you come to Necon this year, you will, at some point, see me reciting “Horse Latitudes,” as per tradition. And though I may appear to be on my own, you can rest assured that Rick will be right beside me.

R.I.P., Rick ol’ buddy. I’m going to miss you.

So, yeah … maybe you didn’t know James Herbert or Rick Hautala. But that doesn’t mean you can’t know them. Go to your local bookstore, or to Amazon, buy their books—read their books. And if you’ve read them once, read them again.

Invite them in.

They’re great company.

I’ll see you all next year, which is shaping up to be a good one. There are three audio books on the horizon, and look out for more short stories in some stellar anthologies. There should also—with any luck—be a new novella (THE ANGELS) and short story collection (ALL THAT I SEE). I have a few more things in the pipeline that I’m incredibly excited about, and if they come to pass, you’ll be the first to know.

Until then … take care of one another.

See you in 2013.

To celebrate its release, Wes ran a feature on his blog called 42 DAYS OF 666, in which writer friends and acquaintances commented on their favourite military-themed movies and books. He pulled in the likes of Tim Lebbon and Sarah Pinborough, Brian Keene and David Morrell. I had my turn on Day 7 … so head on over to WES’S BLOG to see what I came up with, and my reasons why.

Best of luck to Wes and SEAL TEAM 666. Personally, I think Santa is going to be lugging sacks of those books around this Holiday Season. Dude may have to make several trips.

Now, before I answer my questions, I should point out that my little portion of the web is somewhat delicate. A few of the strands are broken, in that I have only been able to tag two writers. Yeah, I had a couple of last-minute drop-outs, and some of the writers I asked weren’t interested, or had been tagged elsewhere. That’s all fine with me, but with my life being so hectic at the moment (and you can throw a hurricane in there, for good measure), I just haven’t had time to find replacements with new books to plug. Thus, I’m only tagging two writers … two stalwart Canadians, by God. We’ll get to them in a minute. But first, the questions and answers:

1. What is the working title of your next book?

My next book has the working title, CRADLE. It will be finished next year, and published God only knows when. But let’s talk about WESTLAKE SOUL, shall we? Yeah, that’s a great idea.

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

I’m not entirely sure. The idea—almost fully formed—came to me in that weird state between being asleep and awake. I even knew the main character’s first name. I got out of bed and scribbled the idea on a piece of paper, using the title, WHO IS WESTLAKE? There were a few blanks, of course, but I filled them in when it came time to write the book.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

All of them.

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

Jesus, I don’t know. I like the idea of an independent movie, using unknown actors. But if Señor Spielbergo put a gun to my head and forced me to choose (could happen) … I guess someone like Liam Hemsworth (Chris’s l’il brother) for Westlake, and Emily Browning for Yvette.

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

Surfer dude has a terrible accident and goes into a permanent vegetative state, but develops the mind of a super genius and must use this new-found ability to recover before it’s too late.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It was published by ChiZine Publications in May 2012, and is represented outside North America by The Cooke Agency.

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

About eight months.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

THE DIVING-BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, by Jean-Dominique Bauby; THE COMA, by Alex Garland; JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN, by Dalton Trumbo; SPIDER-MAN: THE OTHER – EVOLVE OR DIE (various).

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

If I don’t write, I melt into a gooey puddle like that witch in THE WIZARD OF OZ. So that, coupled with the concept being so fresh and exciting, was inspiration enough.

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

A talking dog. He looks like this:

So there we have it. My answers. Short and sweet. And the two writers I’m tagging are none other than IAN ROGERS and RICHARD GAVIN—both fantastic, young Canadian writers. Check out their websites (just click on their names above), see what they’re about, and what they have coming out … and be sure to visit again next Wednesday when they answer the same questions.

Oh, and seeing as my portion of the web is missing a few strands, feel free to answer these questions yourself and post them on your own blog/Facebook page. Don’t forget to include a link in the comments section. Spam-bots will be shot on sight.

There … easy. 

Well, FantasyCon is almost here again—always one of the highlights of my year. It’s a great opportunity to meet readers, and to hang out with some of the wonderful friends I have made in the world of writing and publishing. We get a little drunk, a little giggly, and we always have a wonderful time … and yeah, it’s a wee bit sad when Sunday comes around and it’s time to say goodbye.

FantasyCon is the British Fantasy Society’s annual convention, held at the Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton, England, celebrating the very best in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Needless to say, it’s taken very seriously (it’s not all fun and games). Believe it or not, some of us even have work to do.

And with that, here’s my alarmingly full schedule:

FRIDAY 28^th SEPTEMBER:

20:00 – 21:30: Mass Signing.

SATURDAY 29^th SEPTEMBER:

13:00 – 14:00: Panel: Culture Shock: Why are Britain and America so different when it comes to the genres?

14:30 – 15:00: Reading. (I’ll be reading from WESTLAKE SOUL.)

17:00 – 18:00: PS Publishing Book Launch: A CARNIVÀLE OF HORROR: DARK TALES FROM THE FAIRGROUND.

20:00 – 21:00: ChiZine Book Launch: A belated British launch for WESTLAKE SOUL (along with a number of other ChiZine titles).

22:30 – ????: The Gollancz FantasyCon Disco. (I’m DJ-ing with Grandmaster Guy Adams, so get ready to dance your pretty little asses off.

SUNDAY 30^th SEPTEMBER:

13:00 – 16:00: Banquet and British Fantasy Awards Ceremony. (I’ll be co-presenting the award for Best Artist.)

After which, we’ll all be dead dogs at the Dead Dog Party, and then it’s home time.

If you’re attending this year’s FantasyCon, I’d love to see you at any one (or preferably all) of the above events. If not, I’ll be around, doing my thing, so you’re bound to bump into me at some point (particularly if you’re in the vicinity of the bar). It’s going to be another amazing weekend. For more information, click any one of the FantasyCon links in this post, or here … you can even click THIS ONE.

Now, I am extremely pleased to announce that my new short story, DEPTH, will appear in SHIVERS VII, edited by Richard Chizmar and published by Cemetery Dance Publications. And yeah—as you’d expect from CD—there’s a host of incredible authors on board, and once again I’m stoked to be included in such a stellar line up. The full table of contents is listed below, but how can I not draw your attention to two authors in particular? Clive Barker and Stephen King are high on the list of my all-time favourite authors. Over the last twenty-plus years (apart from writing some of the greatest stories I have ever read), they have inspired me to work harder, and reach higher. To appear in an anthology alongside them is doubtless one of the high points of my career.

So here’s the full table of contents. And quite aside from Messrs. King and Barker, check out the other wonderful writers that fill the pages of this awesome anthology:

The Departed – Clive Barker
Red Rover, Red Rover – Norman Partridge
Breakbone – Bill Pronzini
The Storybook Forest – Norman Prentiss
Simple – Al Sarrantonio
Born Dead – Lisa Tuttle
The Baby Store – Ed Gorman
A Lonely Town in Alaska – Darren Speegle
Zombie Dreams – Tim Waggoner
Echoes – Don D’Ammassa
Bone by Bone – Scott Nicholson
Sleeping with the Bower Birds – Kaaron Warren
Memory Lake – Robert Morrish
That Long Black Train – Travis Heermann
Beholder – Graham Masterton
Feel The Noise – Lisa Morton
Plant Life – Greg F. Gifune
I Am Become Poe – Kevin Quigley
Arbeit Macht Frei – Del James
Bovine – Joel Arnold
Depth – Rio Youers
GPS – Rick Hautala
Room 8 – Roberta Lannes
Severance Package – Bev Vincent
As She Lay There Dying – Brian James Freeman
Weeds – Stephen King

My story, DEPTH, is about a man who—following the death of his son—buys an abstract painting that turns out to be cursed, and which awakens in him a deep and unsettling darkness. For what it’s worth, I think DEPTH is one of my strongest short pieces (although, at nearly 10,000 words, I guess it’s not that short).

SHIVERS VII will be available exclusively from Cemetery Dance Publications in winter 2012/2013. It’s worth noting that both the Clive Barker and Stephen King stories are rare reprints—very difficult to find anywhere else. So if you want to get dibs on a copy, make sure you preorder right HERE. Signed limited edition hardcover and deluxe signed & traycased lettered editions are (at the time of writing) still available.

So you can imagine how jazzed I am to be in A CARNIVÀLE OF HORROR: DARK TALES FROM THE FAIRGROUND. Not only does it boast a beautifully twisted cover from artist-extraordinaire Ben Baldwin, it also features circus-themed stories from the likes of John Connolly, Muriel Gray, and Robert Shearman. And yeah, I confess to getting a little giddy when I saw SPURS by Tod Robbins in the table of contents—the short story that inspired Tod Browning’s cult classic FREAKS (I remember watching this movie when I was a kid, and having nightmares for the next three weeks—Jesus, I’ll never forget Prince Randian lighting his cigarette). For me, though, the absolute showstopper is the master himself: the late and very great Ray Bradbury. A CARNIVÀLE OF HORROR opens with an excerpt from his wonderful novel, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, and I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am to feature in a line-up alongside this legendary author. No, it won’t make me rich, or earn me an appearance on Letterman. But on a personal level, it’s a massive accomplishment.

My contribution to the anthology is called TIGER, TIGER, a story about a sad and bullied boy who finds a tiger tooth in the grass after the circus has left town. I deliberately went for a Bradburyesque flavour, with a generous sprinkling of Roald Dahl. Basically, I wanted a children’s story for adults, and I think I pulled it off.

Here’s the full table of contents:

Introduction: Horror of the Carnivàle by Marie O’Regan & Paul Kane

Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury

A Flat Patch of Grass – Muriel Gray

Some Children Wander By Mistake – John Connolly

Spurs (AKA Freaks) – Tod Robbins

Tiger, Tiger – Rio Youers

Blind Voices – Tom Reamy

Mister Magister – Thomas F. Monteleone

Twittering From The Circus of The Dead – Joe Hill

The Pilo Family Circus – Will Elliott

Face of The Circus – Lou Morgan

Escardy Gap – Peter Crowther & James Lovegrove

The Circus of Dr Lao – Charles Finney

In The Forest of The Night – Paul Finch

All The Clowns in Clowntown – Andrew McKiernan

Nine Letters About Spit – Robert Shearman

To Run Away and Join The Circus – Alison Littlewood

A CARNIVÀLE OF HORROR is edited by the expert team of Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane, and will be available from PS Publishing later this month. Considering this is a limited edition print run, you might want to think about PREORDERING.  If you’d prefer the signed, jacketed hardcover (limited to only 100 copies), click right HERE.

Also, if you’re attending this year’s FANTASYCON, you can pick up a copy at its launch on Saturday 29^th at 5.00 pm. There’ll be a bunch of contributors on hand to sign copies, including yours truly.

So, here it is … SOUL MUSIC:

There’s a time for peace and quiet—on those meandering countryside walks, for instance, at one with your thoughts as the sunlight creeps through the branches and the scent of pine sap fills the air. And first thing in the morning, when you’re waking to a fresh new day and your mind is reluctantly extracting itself from that sluggish yet wonderful dream state. At such moments the only sounds you want are birdsong and the faint creak of the earth’s rotation.

Sometimes—and The Tremeloes will back me up on this—silence really is golden. At other times, what you need—what you really need, my friend—is rock and roll.

Driving down the highway, sun blazing, windows open, AC/DC’s “Whole Lotta Rosie” making the stereo bleed. Or how about when you’re getting ready for a night on the town? Putting on your gladrags, getting your hair just right. And the stereo in your room (maybe it’s playing Madonna or Pitbull or Cradle of Filth) makes you feel damn near eternal. Don’t you just love when that happens? When the right song hits you at just the right time … it feels like walking on air.

What I’m getting at here (in my roundabout way) is how music, or silence, can resonate with you, and create an incredible energy. I find this happens when I’m writing. Sometimes I need silence to get me through a certain scene, when even the sound of the kettle boiling, or my wife talking on the phone in another room, distracts me. Other times I depend on music. It elevates me. Pushes me forward. And when the song fits the scene, the words flow beautifully. It’s that walking on air feeling again—or writing on air, I suppose.

I reference music often in my writing, and have written three music-themed stories (Sister Free, Soulfinger, and Quoth the Rockstar). There’s definitely a creative link between melody, rhythm, and prose. I love when the words make a drumbeat sound, or when a sentence is enriched with cadence. Prose is like music, in that it has the ability to reach people, and create incredible energy (providing the timing and rhythm is right, of course). I have an iTunes playlist for most of the stories I have written, filled with the music that helped give the story its flavor and character. These playlists vary from mostly classical compositions (The Ghost of Lillian Bliss) to industrial/grunge (The Happy Bird and Other Tales). There are often songs that I would never listen to in my everyday life, but are right for the story … for helping me find the groove. And that, for me, is what it’s all about.

My new novel is called Westlake Soul. It’s about a twenty-three-year-old former surfing champion who develops the mind of a supergenius after an accident puts him into a permanent vegetative state. For a story like this, finding the groove was not just important, it was essential. Sometimes I found it with silence. Mostly, though, I turned to rock and roll.

I have included a portion of that playlist here—not every song I listened to while writing Westlake Soul, but perhaps the ten most popular. It’s a mellow list, for the most part (no Cradle of Filth here), because Westlake Soul is a mellow novel. Some of these songs are mentioned in the book, and are integral to specific scenes. Others, quite simply, helped me find the groove.

 1. Little Bird – Eels

2. Landslide – Fleetwood Mac

3. Fallin’ – Alicia Keys

4. Sonata Pathétique – Beethoven

5. She Loves You – The Gaslight Anthem

6. This Woman’s Work – Kate Bush

7. Famous Blue Raincoat – Leonard Cohen

8. My Hero – Foo Fighters

9. Memphis Guitar Soul – Anders Lewen

10. Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living) – Eels

Would Westlake Soul have been the same novel without these songs driving it forward? Somehow, I don’t think so. They gave me a rhythm, and a cadence, that I brought to the characters, and to every scene. And yeah, I know it’s a pretty mellow soundtrack … but it’s still rock and roll to me.

And sometimes, my friend, that’s all you need.

*Just a little postscript to this blog … the songs listed here aren’t supposed to impress you, or illustrate the diversity of my musical tastes (there are a few tracks here that I would never normally listen to). I list them simply to indicate my (bizarre, yet dulcet) mindset while writing WESTLAKE SOUL.