2020


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.

 

 

 

 

Winter Tales Dec 2020 poster 

 

 


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