Shiny Shorts

Jenny Barber has created a new website / blog: Shiny Shorts. Here's why:

"Shiny Shorts was born out of a passion for a fiction form that perhaps doesn't get talked about as much as it should. Whether it's flash, short stories, novellas; podcasts, print or online magazines; anthologies or collections; horror, SF, fantasy or crime -- if it's story we're there, so drop by and share the love."

Now it's time to visit Shiny Shorts.

Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead

A new edition for February: Zombie – An Anthology of the Undead edited by Christopher Golden (Piatkus £8.99).

“The hungry dead have risen. They shamble down the street…” And so on…This anthology includes nineteen stories by, amongst others, John Connolly (with a story called “Lazarus”, so you see how far back the fear of the undead stretches), Tim Lebbon, Kelley Armstrong, Mike Carey, Tad Williams, Joe R Lansdale and Joe Hill. This book promises to be “new views on death and resurrection”. 

The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett

Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Troupe looks promising (due out in February on Orbit, £8.99).

“George Carole ran away from home to join the Vaudeville circuit. Sixteen years old, uncommonly gifted at the piano, he falls in with a strange troupe – even for Vaudeville. Under the eye of the enigmatic Silenus, George comes to realise that the members of the troupe are more than they appear to be. And their travels have a purpose that runs deeper than entertainment.”

Robert Jackson Bennett is the author or the acclaimed Mr Shivers (2010).

Recent and forthcoming books

Rachel Aaron - The Legend of Eli Monpress (omnibus edition) - Orbit £12.99
Adam Baker – Juggernaut – Hodder & Stoughton £12.99
Robert Jackson Bennett - The Troupe - Orbit £8.99
Jack Campbell - Jag in Space: A Just Determination - Titan £7.99
Jack Campbell - Jag in Space: Burden of Proof - Titan £7.99

Ian C Esslemont – Orb Sceptre Throne (a Malazan Empire novel) – Bantam £20.00
Christopher Golden (editor) - Zombie - Piatkus £8.99
Kim Harrison - A Fistful of Charms - Harper £7.99

M K Hume – Death of an Empire (Prophecy book 2) – Headline £19.99

Paul Kearney – Kings of Morning – Solaris £7.99

Tanith Lee – L’Amber – Immanion £11.99

Paul McAuley – In the Mouth of the Whale – Gollancz £14.99

Richelle Mead – Shadow Heir (a Dark Swan novel) – Bantam £7.99

John Meaney – Transmission (Ragnarok book 2) – Gollancz £12.99

Alastair Reynolds – Blue Remembered Earth – Orion £18.99

James Treadwell – Advent – Hodder & Stoughton £12.99
Walter Jon Williams - The Fourth Wall - Orbit £9.99

The Hammer Out Book of Ghosts

Now available from Fantom Publishing: The Hammer Out Book of Ghosts 2012. The editor isn’t listed but is, I gather, Dexter O’Neill. All proceeds from the sale of this book go to the Hammer Out charity, which was created to increase awareness of brain tumours and those affected by them.

The Hammer Out Book of Ghosts is a well-produced hardcover book containing eleven stories by Simon Guerrier, Raven Dane, Jan Edwards, Sam Stone and others. Tracey Childs provides the foreword. You can order the book via the Fantom Films website at £10.99 (UK price).

Stacy and Her Idiot by Peter Atkins

If you still need to be tempted, here is one of Peter Atkins' superb stories, "Stacy and Her Idiot", from the collection Rumours of the Marvellous (co-published by The Alchemy Press). The story is available via Paul Kane's website, Shadow Writer.

Scream Quietly. The Best of Charles L Grant

Scream Quietly, edited by Stephen Jones, is subtitled The Best of Charles L Grant.  This is a smart-looking collection of some 500 pages and 30-plus stories, along with short items by Stephen King, Peter Straub, Kim Newman, Thomas F Monteleone, Nancy Holder and an interview conducted by Nancy Kilpatrick. There are several full-page illustrations by Andrew Smith plus a portfolio of photographs by Peter Coleborn, Jo Fletcher, Kathryn Ptacek, Andrew I Porter and Robert Maslowski.

Scream Quietly is available in two editions from PS Publishing.

Dark Currents: due at Easter

Dark Currents, edited by Ian Whates and Ian Watson is scheduled from NewCon Press, and due to be launched at Eastercon this year. As far as I’m aware, there will be a signed edition as well as the standard one. The cover painting is by Ben Baldwin.

1.      Introduction by Ian Whates

2.      The Fall of Lady Sealight – Adrian Tchaikovsky

3.      The Age of Entitlement – Adam Nevill

4.      Electrify Me – Tricia Sullivan

5.      Alternate Currents – Rod Rees

6.      The Barricade – Nina Allan

7.      Things that Are Here Now – Andrew Hook

8.      Loose Connections – Finn Clarke

9.      Sleepless in R'lyeh – Lavie Tidhar

10.   Damnation Seize my Soul – Jan Edwards

11.   Home – Emma Coleman

12.  A Change in the Weather – Rebecca J Payne

13.   Bells Ringing Under the Sea – Sophia McDougall

14.   In Tauris – Una McCormack

15.   Lost Sheep – Neil Williamson

16.   The Bleeding Man – Aliette de Bodard

17.   George – V.C. Linde

The Weird!

A companion volume to Zombies is also available from Corvus. The Weird, edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer, is a “compendium of strange and dark stories”. To prove the point, here are 1100 pages stuffed with over a hundred stories selected from a century or more – plus a foreword by Michael Moorcock and an afterword by China Miéville.

Looking through the contents, I am reminded of reading some of these in previous years, and being engrossed by their mix of horror and the strange. And in my book, that’s about the best mix! I’m pleased to see Michel Bernanos’ “The Other Side of the Mountain”, this time translated into English by Gio Clairval, which I read as a short novel in the 1970s in an edition translated by Elaine P Halperin. I note that there are some minor differences in the translations…

Other modern favourites include “Sandkings” by George RR Martin, “In the Hills, the Cities” by Clive Barker, and “Smoke Ghost” by Fritz Leiber. Also included are tales by Algernon Blackwood, MR James, HP Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell, Joanna Russ, Harlan Ellison, Lisa Tuttle… You get the idea: the list goes on and on.

The Weird is published by Corvus at £25.00

Zombies, edited by Otto Penzler

Zombies: A Compendium of the Living Dead, edited by Otto Penzler, is a massive anthology weighing in at over 800 pages (published by Corvus at £19.99).  One sometimes asks, Haven’t we yet done zombies to death? The answer is, Quite possibly yes. However, this large tome shows that there has been life in the undead for a long time, and have been dealt with by many a fine writer. This is a reprint anthology, with tales selected across the years, from the mid-19th century to the 2000s – so you are able to experience a range of interpretations herein.

There are nearly 60 stories in this book, including tales by Edgar Allan Poe, HP Lovecraft, Lisa Tuttle, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King, Garry Kilworth, Theodore Sturgeon and Yvonne Navarro. This anthology promises to be a feast for your brains.

New and forthcoming UK books

Sarah Alderson – Fated. Simon & Schuster £6.99

Chris Beckett – Dark Edens. Corvus £18.99

Kit Berry – Magus of Stonewylde. Gollancz £7.99

Kit Berry – Shadows at Stonewylde. Gollancz £9.99

Simon Bestwick – The Faceless. Solaris £7.99

Cinda Williams Chima – The Warrior Heir. Indigo £6.99

Cinda Williams Chima – The Wizard Heir. Indigo £6.99

Cinda Williams Chima – The Dragon Heir. Indigo £6.99

Philip Emery – The Shadow Cycles. Immanion £12.99

Jasper Fforde – One of Our Thursdays is Missing. Hodder & Stoughton £7.99

Matt Forbeck – Carpathia. Angry Robot £7.99 (May)

John Fultz – Seven Princes. Orbit £7.99

David Gaider – Dragon Age: Asunder. Titan £6.99

MLN Hanover – Unclean Spirits. Orbit £7.99

Chris Holm – Dead Harvest. Angry Robot £7.99 (March)

Mia James – Darkness Falls. Indigo £9.99

Alison Littlewood – A Cold Season. Jo Fletcher Books £7.99

Helen Lowe – The Heir of Night. Orbit £7.99

Anne Lyle – The Alchemist of Souls. Angry Robot £8.99 (April)

James Maxey – Greatshadow. Solaris £7.99

David Moody – Them or Us. Gollancz £12.99

Philip Palmer – Artemis. Orbit £8.99

Otto Penzler – Zombies. Corvus £19.99

Rod Rees – Demi-Monde: Spring. Jo Fletcher Books £18.99

Brandon Sanderson – The Alloy of Law. Gollancz £12.99

Gaie Sebold – Babylon Steel. Solaris £7.99

Michael Sullivan – Rise of Empire. Orbit £8.99

Cate Tiernan – Darkness Falls. Hodder & Stoughton £14.99

Chuck Wendig – Blackbirds. Angry Robot £7.99

VM Zito – The Return Man. Hodder & Stoughton £11.99 (March)