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2020
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R.I.P. Guy N. Smith. One of my very best friends. It won't be the same
without you.
A heartfelt thanks to all those who've watched 'Winter Tales' so far -
well over 200 in the first day alone. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I
did, and that it brought a few pleasant chills to your festive season.
One of my concerns when I started putting together these live (or, more
recently, online) events was that a contemporary audience - plagued by
all the numerous distractions of our times - might not have the
attention span to sit and listen to stories being read aloud; something
which I've always loved. I'm pleased to be proved wrong. Rest assured
I've already started planning the next one. If you haven't yet seen it,
or would like to again, 'Winter Tales' is online now and can be found
here.
It’s not been the best year for any of us; and if we still have most of
our health and our sanity by this point, we’re doing well. I thought we
all needed something nice to round the year off and so I’ve joined
forces with some of my good friends and put together another online show
for you - from our homes to yours. ‘Winter Tales’ features myself,
Ramsey Campbell, Mark Morris, Simon Bestwick, and Benjamin Langley, and will
be available to view from 1pm on Saturday December 5th.
Uncork the Port, pull up a comfortable armchair, and join us for the
afternoon/ evening/whenever you get around to it. A trailer for the show
can be seen
here.
From myself, Peter, Adrian, and Phil: many thanks to all who've watched
the 'Midsummer Macabre' show so far, and to everyone who's messaged me
about it. And I would personally like to applaud and thank the other
chaps for doing such great work, and for doing me - and themselves -
proud. If you haven't already seen it, the show is still available
here. And if you have already seen it... well, give it another
watch. You know you want to.
Even if we can't get together in person this Midsummer, the show must go
on(line)... Join me on my new Youtube channel (here)
on Saturday 20th June - with my friends and fellow authors Peter James,
Adrian Chamberlin, and Phil Sloman - for a day of
friendly faces and terrifying tales (I think I got that the right way
round). The links to the show will go live at 1pm, so make sure you have
a stiff drink to hand... you may need it. I'm really disappointed, of
course, that we couldn't get to do this event in the flesh - a large
part of my motivation behind arranging these is to promote the art and
the enjoyment of live story reading for an audience; and I'll certainly
do my best to capture the spirit of that in this new form. And if
nothing else, at least we'll have chance to reach some new audience
members out there around the world who wouldn't have had the opportunity
to make it along person. I do hope you'll be one of them, and I hope
you'll be suitably entertained.
This February marks 21 years since the publication of my first book, 'Love
Stories of the Undead'. Though I’d been writing stories since a very
early age, I only started in with any real consistency and success when
I turned 18 – and this book was a collection of much of what I achieved
in that first year. It’s hard for me to look back on it now without
cringing in embarrassment at one or two points, but I can also see
plenty to be proud of, and foreshadowing of some of my better
work to come. The book has been out-of-print for many years now, and
second-hand copies appear for sale at outlandish prices (usually well
over £100), but every so often a bargain will surface. Much has changed
in the years since (myself included), but my love for horror fiction
endures. So happy birthday to my first book. I hope it brought some
pleasure to the people who bought it at the time, and may continue to do
the same to anyone who dusts off a copy in future.
Happy new year everyone! 2019 was a
great year for me, and I'm looking forward to many more adventures in
the coming months.
But after the chaos and confusion of the festive season, I know you'd like something to look forward to. After the success of ‘Midsummer Macabre’ back in July, I’m pleased to announce two further events coming in 2020. There’ll be another big summer event, but more news on that nearer the time. First up, on Saturday February 1st, is ‘Winter Tales’, an atmospheric day of traditional ghostly storytelling, with book sales and signings, convivial company and conversation. One of my aims with these events is to bring back the art and enjoyment of live readings, and for winter I'm doing things a little differently; having chose less readers and allowed them more time. It should be a great atmosphere - I only wish we were doing it in a book-lined library with port and cigars! My glamorous assistants for that day will be Benjamin Langley and Paul Huggins. Food and drink is readily available at the venue, and entry is free – so mark it down in your calendar and come along and join us. Just what you need after the post-Christmas/January slump.
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