Tragic Life Stories by Steve Duffy

Tragic Life Stories by Steve Duffy is available from Ash-Tree Press: "Duffy's work has been described as 'exquisite' and 'heart-breaking' (Mark Flowers, School Library Journal), 'compelling' (Charles Tan, Bibliophile Stalker), and 'exceptional ... full of menace, thrills, and growing terror (Mario Guslandi, The Short Review). Tragic Life Stories demonstrates all these qualities, bringing the classic ghost-story up to date in a way that is as unsettling as it is terrifying. In these nine stories, nothing is what it seems, no one is safe, and there is absolutely nowhere to hide.

Steve Duffy lives in North Wales. Since the mid-1990s his stories have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies in Europe and North America. Several have appeared in Ellen Datlow's annual Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthologies, and in Best Horror of the Year. Ash-Tree Press has published two previous collections of Steve's work, both solo (The Night Comes On) and in collaboration with Ian Rodwell (The Five Quarters). His next collection, The Moment of Panic, is scheduled to appear in 2011, and will include his International Horror Guild award-winning short story from 2000, 'The Rag-and-Bone Men'."

The book, limited to 400 copies, costs £29.00 / $49.00 plus postage from Canada. Visit the Ash-Tree website to order.

Walkers in the Dark by Paul Finch

Due from the Ash-Tree Press: "In this new collection, Paul Finch draws on fact, legend, and myth to create five terrifying tales spanning the length and breadth of Great Britain, from the mountains of Snowdonia to industrial Lancashire, and from northern Scotland to a run-down district of Liverpool. Readers will encounter the shape-shifting Baobhan Sith and the horrifying 'Red Clogs'; search for the monstrous afanc of Wales; be haunted by the spectres of a war long past but not forgotten; and, in the spectacular title stry, take part in a treasure hunt that goes terrifyingly wrong. Walkers in the Dark is Paul Finch at his hard-hitting best, and a collection that will haunt you long after the last page has been turned.

Paul Finch is a former police officer and journalist. He first cut his literary teeth penning episodes of the British TV crime drama The Bill. However, he is probably best known for his work in horror, and his numerous collections and short stories have been published on both sides of the Atlantic. His first collection, After Shocks (Ash-Tree Press, 2001), won the British Fantasy Award, and he again won the award in 2007 for his novella Kid. In 2007, Paul won the International Horror Guild Award for his story 'The Old North Road'. A second Ash-Tree Press collection, Ghost Realm, was published in 2008. Paul lives in Lancashire, England, with his wife Cathy and children Eleanor and Harry."

For ordering details visit the Ash-Tree website.

Null Immortalis by Various Authors

To the casual browser, this book may look confusing. On the spine he (or indeed she) will see "Null Immortalis" and "Nemonymous Ten" and "Megazanthus Ress". The cover says "Short fiction by various authors" and on the prelims he'll note the absence of an editor's name -- but this is all in keeping with the track history of Nemonymous. Keep everyone guessing.

Seriously, Null Immortalis is the tenth book in the Nemonymous series -- and the last to be published. And it's a good-sized book with which to end the run, with 300-plus pages and 26 stories. Among the contributors are: Stephen Bacon, Mike Chinn, Gary Fry, Roy Gray, Andrew Hook, Joel Lane, William Meikle, Reggie Oliver, Steve Rasnic Tem and Mark Valentine. And in case anyone asks, the editor is the sagely D F Lewis.

Null Immortalis costs £11 in the UK, and can be ordered via the Nemonymous website.

Rare David Gemmell Legend story

A message has been issued to members of The David Gemmell Legend Awards website: Mihr from the Fantasy Book Critic website has posted a rare and previously little know short story by David Gemmell.

Mihir says, "This excerpt can be read as a preface to chapter one in The first Chronicles of Druss the legend. As the first three pages detail Druss’ wedding day (which has not been seen in any of Druss’ books) pages four and five deal with the first true fight Druss faces (parts of this are already found in the book; think of this excerpt as a first draft of that scene). So go ahead and enjoy this small tale which was almost lost and then, hopefully you will go on to read the rest of David’s work as well."

To read this story go to his website, link above. For further information on the DGLA, go here.

Judging a story by its title

They say, Never judge a book by its cover. They could add, Never judge a story by its title. Too true. However, in the attention-grabbing stakes either -- or both -- can really help to attract the potential reader. In my case, two recent stories had titles that said, Read me, read me. They are "The Creative Writing Murders" by Edmund White (in The Dark End of the Street) and "Advances in Modern Chemotherapy" by Michael Alexander (in Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August issue). So did they work, did the stories offer more than just an eye-catching title?

I admit that "Chemotherapy" may come across as the title of a paper in a medical journal. I guess that my previous existence as a biomedical scientist drew me towards this story. It begins with a run down of Larry's treatment for prostate cancer -- a list of drugs, essentially, and their side effects. Larry's on a new regime, a novel drug, with an interesting side effect: telepathy. But this telepathy is only available to patients in a similar position to Larry: they are all on the last leg of journeys to their deaths -- The Last Days Club. The story deals with the telepathists coming to terms with their imminent deaths and their new powers -- and trying to learn what they can do with Headtalk.

The story by Edmund White is set in an American university's creative writing department. It deals with Manuela, a tutor seeking tenure at the university. First, she needs to finish her book about the struggles of being a Latino in white America, which she really doesn't want to write. Maybe there is another way to obtain tenure? Then there are the other professors and tutors, including the supposedly gay Bert, head of the department; he's found dead, apparently by autoerotic strangulation. Bert is the first death.

Both stories start slowly, which is all wrong according to today's imperative to begin the story just as the action kicks off, to avoid the long build up. Mostly, I agree with that. But sometimes the quality of the writing, the style, transcends that and you quickly don't realise you've read a few pages of exposition. It also helps when the characters come over as real human beings, people you can empathise with. In both these stories, the title, style and characterisations all come together to form a near-perfect storm (as they might say).

There have been many other intriguing titles, not least "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" and "'Repent Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman", both by the inimitable Harlan Ellison.

2009 BBC National Short Story Award

The 2009 BBC National Short Story Award was launched on 26 March. This year's panel of judges are: singer-songwriter Will Young, broadcaster and journalist Tom Sutcliffe (chair), author Dame Margaret Drabble, Orange Prize winner Helen Dunmore and BBC Radio 4’s Editor Di Speirs. The shortlist will be announced on Friday 27 November with the five stories broadcast on BBC Radio 4 each weekday before the winner is announced. The five stories will also be published in a special collection. Entries are now open for the Award. The deadline for entries is 5pm on 15 June 2009

Go to the Beeb for details.