Shadow Writer - The Official Paul Kane Website

The first piece of major news this month is the announcement of the SW site’s Guest Writers for July. We’re very proud to give you an exclusive extract from The Strain (above), the new novel from Oscar and Saturn-winning director of Hellboy, Hellboy II and Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro (below) and thriller writer Chuck Hogan.

The first part of an intended trilogy, The Strain involves half-zombie, half-vampire creatures running riot in New York, so to read the extract simply click here. With a big thank you to Guillermo, Chuck and HarperCollins.

The finished cover for Paul’s forthcoming novel, Broken Arrow – see last month’s news for details – is above. The novel has gone up on pre-order now at places like Amazon here and Paul has just finished a short story called ‘Servitor’ which will feature in a major news-stand magazine soon to promote the release.

On a related note, Arrowhead has now gone on sale at the ‘Robin Hood Shop’ online. Selling everything Hood related – from books and DVDs to collectables and clothing – you can find the entry for Paul’s book by clicking here and scrolling down.

News now of the upcoming release of the Special Edition Box Set of Fear Itself (above in the gorgeous skull and tombstone box). As reported here on Shock Till You Drop this will feature all 13 episodes of the show, including ones not seen before, plus special featurettes. The set will also include the episode New Year’s Day, based on Paul’s short story ‘Dead Time’ – adapted by Steve ‘30 Days of Night’ Niles, directed by Darren Lynn Bousman of SAW fame, and starring Briana Evigan from S. Darko. Look out for it this September! In the meantime you can visit the section of the SW site devoted to New Year’s Day by clicking here.

You can find a set report Paul and Marie did about the new adaptation of Clive Barker’s Book of Blood (directed by John ‘Dune’ Harrison, and starring Jonas ‘Robin Hood’ Armstrong and Sophie Ward – the latter pictured above) over at the Total Sci-Fi site by clicking here.

Following on from last month’s great reviews of Paul’s novella, RED, we can now add Mathew Riley’s for BookGeeks. In it he says, ‘Paul Kane’s an author I’ve kept my eye on ever since his short fiction began appearing regularly in the genre small press in the late 1990s. Over the last few years his output has been unnaturally prolific and of a very high standard… RED is a contemporary take on the classic fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood…Kane cleverly uses the various characters and victims as visceral pathways and bridges for the beast. He plays with both the reader and Rachael, lulling us as it engineers its course towards her, circling her literally through the flesh and blood of those she encounters in her daily life. As it shapeshifts it takes on their personas as best it can, convincingly over short time spans (which is normally all the time it needs) it charms and confuses, until ultimately it is unable to hide its true nature as its century-spanning hunger and lust for revenge explodes from behind the thin facades it creates in scenes of bone-crunching ferocity. As with the beast, so with the book: over 70 impactful pages, and without wasting a word, Paul Kane has enriched the werewolf mythos with a seamless re-imagining of a hypnotically suggestive fairy tale, embellishing it with the harsh, alluring scent of an ages-old psychosexual predator who easily rivals that other undead villain from Eastern European folklore, the vampire. A relentless and grisly fairy tale for dark times, Red is filled with the blackest blood from the deepest parts of our bodies, and is thoroughly recommended.

To read the full review, click here.

------------------------------------

Raven

The Return of the Raven anthology, featuring stories inspired by Poe – including Paul’s ‘Masques’ (see April’s news for more details) is now available to buy through the Horror Bound website. You can visit the page for this by clicking here.

-----------------------------------

The Best of Judge Dredd

Paul’s latest reviews for Mass Movement magazine include The Best of Judge Dredd (above) from Prion Books, plus the DVDs Thirst and the recent remake of Friday the 13th starring Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki (below).

Friday the 13th

-------------------------------------

Torchwood, Bay of the Dead, by Mark Morris

Finally, Paul will be out and about in early July, attending the British Fantasy Society’s Open Night on the 3rd at The George, Fleet Street in London. This time around it’s a Torchwood themed event, featuring the launch of TW novels from Sarah Pinborough, Guy Adams and Mark Morris (above). The fun kicks off at 6pm.

----------------------------------------

First up this month is an exclusive look at the cover artwork for Paul’s forthcoming novel Broken Arrow (above) – the sequel to last year’s well received Arrowhead, Paul’s post apocalyptic reworking of the Robin Hood mythology. This instalment of Abaddon’s Afterblight Chronicles has once again been brought to life by the excellent Mark Harrison (of 2000 AD fame), and it’s a stunning snapshot of what to expect inside. The book itself will be out later this year, so keep checking back for more news, including an exclusive publicity tie-in with a major newsstand magazine.

To celebrate, last month Paul indulged in a spot of archery at… where else, but Sherwood Forest (above). With grateful thanks to Mark, Paul’s patient instructor – pictured with him – and Sherwood Forest Visitors’ Centre.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Afterblight world, Scott Andrews’ Operation Motherland has hit the shelves. Regular visitors to the SW site may remember that Scott has featured both De Falaise (Paul’s version of the Sheriff) and The Tsar (the main bad guy in Broken Arrow) in this one. Paul has read the novel and recommends it highly, saying, “Operation Motherland is even better than School’s Out, if that’s possible. Hitting the ground running – with a plane crash in Iraq – the action and tension never lets up, boasting one great twist after another. Believable characters and cracking dialogue round off a very satisfying read.”

You can check out Scott’s ‘Writer’s Commentary’ for Operation Motherland by visiting his site here.

Paul’s story ‘Life-o-Matic’ – a black horror comedy about consumer society and advertising – is in the brand new issue of Estronomicon (above), available from the Screaming Dreams site both as a PDF here, and as a Flip-Book version here.

A new interview with Paul has just been published over at the G.A.S.P etc site (Gruesome Art, Shocking People etc). To read what he has to say, just click here.

And G.A.S.P etc forms part of our review round-up for Paul’s latest books, Peripheral Visions and RED. In her review of the former, Alesha Brunell had this to say: ‘From clever twists and turns in the longer page-turners, to quickly familiar characters, to penetrating and deep thoughts. All this you can easily find in even the very short stories. Such is true, and why I enjoyed Peripheral Visions; one of four collections of Kane’s shorts…I like that Kane is not afraid to take sharp turns or end with the villain as the victor. He can make you believe the story could end happily and then it turns lethal. Or put the victim in a dire predicament and then shove them to a blissful state for eternity. I also admire his ability to quickly introduce familiar traits in people to give them instant dimension. I think several of his stories could have expanded to exciting and easily popular novels and/or screenplays. For this reason, I will always look forward to reading more from Kane.’

Talking about RED, she offered: ‘Paul Kane likes to skew known fairy tales and classic horror legends and give them an abrupt overhaul. Sometimes taking an old familiar character and planting them into our modern times or perhaps the future. Such is the intent with RED. It is a novella of a more modern Little Red Riding Hood and an intimate portrayal of the Big Bad Wolf. This time, Little Red also has gangs and dangerous urban environments to battle on her way to Grandma’s. I enjoyed having both characters’ perspective in RED. Though I wouldn’t have minded a longer novel, I do admire Kane’s style of bare-bones storytelling. He strips out a lot of the extra things that can sometimes weigh down a good book without sacrificing the important points.’

Peripheral Visions was also reviewed by Horror Drive-In last month, and here are just some of Andrew Monge’s comments about it: ‘How big is the rock I’ve been living under to have missed out on such a wonderful talent?!? What sets this collection apart from all the others is its undeniable creativity and originality. You won’t find tired retreads of common genre themes; hell, you won’t even be able to pigeonhole Kane into any one genre. Peripheral Visions runs the gamut from horror to suspense to dark fantasy, and the author nails each and every one of them. Take, for instance, “Yin and Yang”. Never before have I read a more eloquent story about the dichotomy of the forces of nature. It was not only my favorite story of the collection, but is one of the best short stories I’ve ever read…Paul Kane has a helluva toolbox at his disposal – characterization, visualization, creativity, success with multiple themes and genres, the ability to tell a good story at any length. Simply put, the man is wildly talented. I give Peripheral Visions a 9 out of 10 and highly recommend grabbing a copy.’

Horror World and Horror Bound have both also reviewed RED. On the first site, Michael McCarty reported: ‘Once upon a time, there was a British speculative writer named Paul Kane, who was well respected in the United Kingdom… Then one day, Kane wrote a devilish little novella named RED and decided to get it published across the pond, in a faraway land called America... He even dared to do a retelling of the popular Grimm Brothers fairytale “Little Red Riding Hood” but this time around puts a twisted horror spin to it… The novella is bloody brilliant – clever, classy and bound to chill you to the bone.’ You can read the rest of his review here.

Kerri Silva over at Horror Bound commented: ‘ RED by Paul Kane is a modern-day retelling of a classic fairy tale. The character of Rachael Daniels is one that many can identify with. The monster is a terrifying hunter who has the ability to shape-shift. He is intelligent, patient, and always hungry. He is the sort of monster that does not need any supernatural powers to make him terrifying, however the added abilities make him even more dangerous. It is entirely believable that he has been doing this for centuries in cities all over Europe because he is so smart and clever, and one is reminded of tales of a dark Trickster character from legends around the world when reading this story.

The suspense builds from the very fact that the reader has some idea of what is going to happen. When the woman is murdered in the restaurant bathroom, the reader knows that is not the end and is left to wonder what horrors are still to come. The whole story builds up to a rather fascinating climax…This is a good scary story for those stormy nights or bright days. It is strong enough to terrify either way and will stay in your mind for days afterwards. Stories like this don’t come along very often, as all readers know.’

Time again for our Guest Writer slot on the SW site, and we’re very excited to welcome bestselling author Simon R. Green, with an exclusive extract from The Spy Who Haunted Me, book three in his latest series: ‘Secret Histories’. The UK cover edition (from Gollancz, please click here) is above, the US edition (from Ace, please click here) is below, and you can read the extract by clicking here.

Paul will be attending the World Fantasy Convention for the first time this year, held in San Jose, California. He is very much looking forward to the event, as among the Guests are Jeff and Ann VanderMeer, Lisa Snellings and Garth Nix, author of The Seventh Tower series (above). More details closer to the event, which takes place between October 29th and November 1st.

News now of the short film Paul scripted, The Opportunity, directed by Lewis Copson (see last month’s news for more details). Both Lewis and cameraman Ed Williams (pictured above on set, with Lewis on the left) were in attendance for the film’s European debut at Cannes Film Festival (below). The film has received quite a bit of interest and very good feedback, and is already lined up to appear at more festivals in the future. A big thank you to Lewis and Ed for the pictures.

More good news, this time for the Wednesday night group Paul teaches. The aptly named ‘Wingerworth Wordsmiths’ came first last month in the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust Group Anthology Competition with their book Perspectives (the trophy is pictured above).

The ceremony took place on 19th May at the Society of Authors and above you can see Jane Croft accepting the award on behalf of the group. Very well done to all concerned!

Word has reached us that Wonderlands in Flesh and Blood (above), which Paul recently read and rated highly is now available. Written by Christian Daumann, it examines Clive Barker’s magnum opus Imajica and places it within the context of his other work. For more information and ordering details, just click here.

Finally, the DVD Mirrors starring Kiefer Sutherland is among the new titles Paul is reviewing for Mass Movement magazine and he calls this movie: ‘One of the best horror films in recent years.’

That’s all for now, but keep checking back as there’s much more to come soon…

Paul is thrilled to be able to spread the word that James Herbert, credited with being the creator of the modern mass market horror genre, is Special Guest of Honour at The World Horror Convention in Brighton in 2010. Author of The Rats, The Fog, Survivor, The Spear, The Magic Cottage, Portent, Others, Nobody True and, most recently, The Secret of Crickley Hall (below – which you can read an extract of here from James’ time as Guest Writer on the SW site), as well as countless more titles, James joins the other great names on the guest list: Tanith Lee and David Case as Author Guests of Honour; Les Edwards and Dave Carson as Artist Guests of Honour; Hugh Lamb as Editor Guest of Honour; with Gollancz’s Jo Fletcher as MC.

Paul recently joined the WHC committee as Hospitality / Events Liaison and you can find all the information you need about attending / registering / accommodation on the site here. Some types of hotel rooms are already close to selling out, so hurry if you want to secure your place at what will be one of the best genre events of recent times.

The second piece of extra news for May is that the stunning cover for Darc Karnivale has now been painted by Nick Rose. Nick is also producing artwork to go alongside each story, including Paul’s ‘One for the Road’ mentioned in a previous news update. Edited by David Byron, the anthology will be out later this summer from Evil Nerd Empire publishers.

The first very exciting piece of news this month is about a film Paul has scripted, based on one of his short stories (‘The Opportunity’, first published in Hidden Corners magazine, above, and reprinted recently in Peripheral Visions). The short is directed by actor/director Lewis Copson, who has worked in the past on BBC productions and has just starred in the new horror movie Cut alongside Zach (Gremlins) Galligan and Danielle Lloyd (below).

This from the official release blurb for The Opportunity: ‘Enter the mind of a killer as he stalks his latest victim. Through the streets of an empty town follow as he watches and waits for the perfect moment to strike. Will he or won't he?’

The film features rising star Clare Coleman (above – whose credits include work for Granada TV, Channel 5 and The Shakespeare Trust) and the vocal talents of Stephen Coates (below in the studio, recording the Opportunist’s voiceover).

Stephen is of course better known as lead singer of the band ‘The Real Tuesday Weld’ whose albums include I, Lucifer (below), The Return of the Clerkenwell Kid and The London Book of the Dead. Stephen has written music for documentaries and features, and the band’s music has been used frequently in movies, on TV and in adverts. You can visit The Real Tuesday Weld’s site by clicking here.

The film will receive its European premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this month and below you’ll find a couple of photos from the shoot earlier this year, including Clare and Paul on set.

Speaking of the Peripheral Visions collection, this is currently the subject of a ‘Featured Review’ over at Horror Bound. HB regular Kerri Silva had this to say:

‘The stories all start out in real life, then end somewhere horrifyingly closer to home. Any reader will find it difficult to read this without looking over his shoulder to check on the shadows in the corner and what they’re hiding.

“The Opportunity” is a story that sends shivers down your spine without any violence or obvious crime being committed. The monster hiding in plain sight is often the scariest type to be found, and he can be found here. In “Nightmare on 34th Street” Santa is overwhelmed by the cynicism of the world and turns New York City on its head. The image of Santa Claus with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a gun in the other is a haunting one…“Check-out” is a story of an abused young woman working at a supermarket with an idea of how to become important. As you read her thoughts and experiences, you can’t help but feel pity for her…“Life Sentence” is a story of a man who wants to die but is not allowed to because of his futuristic government’s anti-death laws after the discovery of immortality. After gaining what every human wants, Joseph discovers that there is more to life than just continuing to exist on earth. Being imprisoned in his own body, among others who feel the same, is worse than death to Joseph, especially without the elements that make life worth living – like his family.

Each of these stories, and the ones not discussed, are thought-provoking, disturbing, and stay with you after the book is over. You will find yourself looking at people differently, wondering what they could be capable of doing. You may even wonder what you are capable of doing. Paul Kane is a wonderful writer who is following in the footsteps of the man to whom this collection is dedicated – Clive Barker – and he will carve out his own niche someday soon amongst fans of horror.’

And another quote for RED next, with Kevin King from the Dave McKean Collector site writing in with this: ‘Paul Kane offers up a fantastic adult re-working of the classic children’s tale. A blood thirsty novella that you will devour in a single sitting and be left hungry for more. Beware though, this is not the Little Red Riding Hood you remember as kid, RED is something much...darker.’ Many thanks, Kevin.

RED has also been added to the ‘Book Cover’ section of Kevin’s site, which you can find by clicking here.

It’s a great pleasure to welcome James Miller as our Guest Writer for May now. James’ writing has been praised by, amongst others, The Times, The Independent, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Observer and Time Out. His debut novel is Lost Boys (the hardback cover is above, the forthcoming paperback is below) and we’re delighted to be able to present an exclusive extract from it here. A big thank you to both James and Little Brown.

In addition, if you click here you’ll be able to watch a sneak preview ‘trailer’ for James’ second novel Sunshine State, out in 2010.

Paul’s just done two reviews for Mass Movement magazine, one of Frank Miller’s The Spirit (above), which is out on DVD later this month, and one of the long-awaited Adventures of Mr. Maximillian Bacchus and His Traveling Circus (below) by Clive Barker, available from Bad Moon Books here.

Paul has a short story coming out in the new anthology, Return of the Raven in early summer (the stunning cover artwork for which you can see above). Published by Horror Bound the book marks the 200th Birthday of Edgar Allan Poe by presenting short stories inspired by or using the themes of his work. Paul’s story ‘Masques’, as the title suggests, is a sequel to Poe’s ‘Masque of Red Death’ set in modern times. More details about this as and when we get them.

Secondly, Paul is thrilled to report that his work has been recommended for several British Fantasy Awards. In the Best Short Story category (for ‘A Chaos Demon is For Life’ published in Estronomicon Magazine – see main April news section for more on that one; ‘Lifelike’ and ‘Yin and Yang’ published in Peripheral Visions; ‘The Suicide Room’ published in the Voices anthology; and ‘Windchimes’, published in Read By Dawn III), in the Best Collection category (for Peripheral Visions itself), in the Best Novella category (for RED and ‘Reunion’) and in the August Derleth Best Novel category (for Arrowhead). If you’re a BFS member you can vote on the long list until the deadline of 31st May by clicking here.

Paul is very proud to announce that he has won the Dead of Night (Editor’s Choice) Award for Best Story 2008 with his tale ‘A Chaos Demon Is For Life’, which appeared in Estronomicon Christmas Special a few months ago. The award is above and for those of you who have not yet read the story, just click here to find the entire issue in ‘flipping book’ format.

Meanwhile, Paul’s novella RED from Skullvines Press has been garnering some critical attention. Sheila Merritt had this to say reviewing it for Hellnotes: ‘ RED is a gleefully gruesome tale that moves at an excellent pace. Its length is a joy, reminiscent of a line from another fairy tale: “Not too big, not too small, just right.” Paul Kane does a rip roaring rendition of the Red Riding Hood story… He has the gift of summing up a situation in a sentence. RED is wonderfully written; it is easy to sink one’s teeth into it and devour it with relish.’ To read the full review, click here.

And in a review on Nick Cato’s blog, which is also due to appear in Horror Fiction Review in April, he commented: ‘Kane expands on the “Little Red Riding Hood” mythos with a sharply-written novella that pits a descendent of the classic fairy tale character against the “real” creature of the same story. But make NO mistake: this isn’t for kids! You can tell Kane had a real ball twisting time updating “Riding Hood”, especially in how he has crafted this new, psycho-sexual “wolf.” For the sake of not ruining anything else, let’s just say RED is a real BLOODY good time.’ To read his complete review click here.

As reported last month, April’s Guest Writer is David Moody, with an exclusive extract from his novel Hater (above) – which is currently being turned into a feature film by producer Guillermo del Toro and director of The Orphanage Juan Antonio Bayona.

To read this click here, or to visit David’s excellent website just click here.

You can read not one, but two brand new interviews with Paul that have gone online this month. The first is over at the great HorrorBound site, where Paul is the subject of their featured interview. To read this, click here.

The second is up at Mass Movement’s site here, or just click here to view the interview panel for Paul.

Speaking of Mass Movement, Paul has just reviewed The Midnight Meat Train (above) for them. The first of a new clutch of movies based on Clive Barker’s Books of Blood, Paul was extremely impressed by the film – as you can see by visiting the reviews section of the site.

Above you can watch a short ‘making of’ New Year’s Day film called A New Kind of Zombie,courtesy of Fear.Net, which contains interviews with the director Darren Bousman and star Briana Evigan. And below you can see a short film about the effects called Zombie Chic. New Year’s Day, as you’ll probably know by now, was based on the short story ‘Dead Time’ written by Paul and published in The Lazarus Condition.

Paul was absolutely thrilled to discover that the cover of his book The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy is now being used on the Wikipedia page for the Hellraiser series. The comprehensive hardback, which covers alls the movies and the comic series, has widely been touted as the definitive reference guide to the series, and is also mentioned as one of only two non-fiction books about the mythos – the other being Stephen Jones’ excellent The Hellraiser Chronicles. To visit the Wiki page for the series, click here and to visit the Hellraiser page on the SW site click here.

You’ll also be happy to learn that another new story by Paul called ‘Life-o-Matic’ has just been accepted by Estronomicon magazine for their March/April edition. More details as and when.

Time now for our very special Guest Writer for the month of March, New York Times bestselling author, Nancy Holder. Co-author of the popular YA series Wicked (above), author of Pretty Little Devils, and many novels in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (like The Book of Fours, below), Angel, Highlander and Smallville universes, Nancy has also won four Bram Stoker awards. To read her great short ‘Passion Play’ simply click here.

Two very special announcements now to promote friends of the Shadow Writer site. Firstly, next month’s Guest Writer, David Moody – author of Hater (above), which is being turned into a movie by producer Guillermo del Toro and director of The Orphanage Juan Antonio Bayona – has brought to our attention the US viral campaign for the book. You can check this out by clicking on the video below.

And award-winning artist Vincent Chong, who brought us covers for the likes of Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts (above), The Dark Half, Lisey’s Story and Stephen King Goes To The Movies (below), has written to us with news of a revamped website. You can take a tour of his other work now by clicking here.

Paul has just reviewed the latest horror DVDs, 100 Feet (above) – written and directed by Eric ‘The Hitcher’ Red – and the independent parasite movie, Splinter (below), both for Mass Movement online.

You can also find the article Paul wrote about Micro Machines, including sets such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Men in Black and Aliens in the latest issue of Collectors’ Gazette (below).

Last month, Paul MC-ed the first ever Performance Evening (above) for the group he teaches, collectively known as ‘The Wingerworth Wordsmiths’. The group gave readings celebrating the publication of their new anthology, Perspectives, which was on sale on the night. Below you can find a few more pictures from the enjoyable event.

As reported on Steve Niles' site here, the episode of Fear Itself based on Paul’s story ‘Dead Time’ is now available as a webisode to those in the US, at Fearnet.com. The short film was scripted by Steve as ‘New Year’s Day’, directed by Darren Bousman (Saw II-IV) and starred Briana Evigan (above). This from the tagline: ‘A young woman wakes up in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, and does her best not to become one.’ You can visit the section of the SW site devoted to ‘New Year’s Day’ by clicking here.

Paul’s ‘Shadows Trilogy’, published by Screaming Dreams, has now been converted into a ‘flip’ format so you can read it much more easily. To go straight to it click here.

The first piece of news for February is about an Afterblight crossover. Author Scott Andrews is including two of Paul’s villains in his follow-up to the very successful School’s Out: Operation Motherland (above) to be released soon. Both De Falaise (The Sheriff) and The Tsar (the new bad guy in Paul’s sequel to Arrowhead, Broken Arrow) are mentioned: the former pitted briefly against Scott’s heroes in the entrance to the Channel Tunnel. Paul’s read and approved the extracts and was highly delighted with them, especially as they contribute to the growing mythology of this series.

Speaking of Arrowhead, the novel has just received another very positive review, this time in the British Fantasy Society’s magazine Prism (above).

‘I didn’t want to read this book. Not because I was concerned about the quality of the work, but because the myth of Robin Hood is a precious thing to me. I come from Nottingham and spent my childhood being told the tales of the “wolf’s head”, who led a band of outlaws against the oppression of the Norman Sheriff. I grew up watching the Richard Carpenter TV show that moulded the story to include magic; I had read the comics and the original tales. I knew Robin Hood and I didn’t want him sullied.

Fortunately Kane has done no such thing. He knows his history and has carefully moulded a story around the myth. Set in the future the story centres on ex-policeman Robert Stokes, a man devastated by the loss of his wife and child, who in his grief has gone native, cutting himself off from the ailing society. At the same time a band of mercenaries, led by the decidedly Gallic monstrosity De Falaise, leave France to begin their subjugation of England, in an attempt to re-enact the Norman Conquest.

The story plays on the imagery and mythic undertones of the Hood stories, pieces of the legend falling into place, the collective memory of Hood being brought to the forefront of people’s minds. Stokes has no desire to take on the role of the Outlaw but the people must have their champion. As well as playing with the fables of the “Outlaw” Arrowhead also falls into the tradition of English sci-fi disaster stories, in some places the work echoes Wyndham in the depiction of the survivors attempting to regain some normality in their lives. An excellent read that adds rather than detracts from the folklore of Robin Hood.’

Paul’s story from the excellent anthology Voices (above) has also received a mention on Horroscope here as one of the stand-out stories of the book. Voices was also recommended in the ‘Predators and Editors’ awards last month, and has almost sold out of its first print run in the UK. To find out more or to order Voices, visit the Morrigan site here.

Continuing the Shadow Writer site’s mission to bring you superb fiction, Paul’s Guest Writer for the special month of February is Shirley Jackson Award-winner, Glen Hirshberg, author of American Morons (above), The Two Sams, The Janus Tree and The Snowman’s Children (below). To read his brilliant story ‘The Muldoon’ then simply click here.

Paul has just registered for the World Horror Convention in Brighton, March 25-28, 2010, and encourages anyone interested in the genre to do the same. You can find out all the details on their website by clicking here.

Paul has just done a handful of reviews for Mass Movement magazine, which include DVD’s of Stuart Gordon’s Stuck (above), the 80s adaptation of James Herbert’s novel The Survivor (starring Robert Powell and Jenny Agutter), Blackout, Tony Randel’s The Double Born, Road Kill 2, Hit and Run and Trailer Park of Terror, plus the Earthling release of Peter Atkins’ novel Moontown (below).

Last month, Paul attended the launch of Ellen Datlow’s new anthology, POE (above) from Solaris, a collection of reworkings and remixes of Poe’s tales to mark his 200th birthday. Sadly Ellen herself could not attend due to ill health, and the Shadow Writer site wishes her a speedy recovery, but you can see a few photos from the launch below.

Finally, regular visitors to the site will know that February is Paul’s birthday month. So, we’re sure you’ll join us in wishing the old man many, many happy returns!

Happy New Year! And what better way to start than by watching the trailer for Paul’s new novella RED made by Skullvines Press (above). As mentioned in the last update, this publication features cover art by Dave (The Graveyard Book) McKean and an introduction by Tim (Fallen) Lebbon. To buy it, just click here.

A brand new short by Paul called ‘One for the Road…’ has been picked up and will feature in the forthcoming publication Dark Karnivale, edited by David Byron. The story is an interesting take on the end of the world and yes, as you can probably see from the title, drink is involved.

Getting the New Year off to a cracking start, Paul’s first Guest Writer of 2009 is Sarah Pinborough, author of novels such as The Hidden, The Reckoning, The Taken and, most recently, Tower Hill (above). The SW site is proud to present an exclusive look at Sarah’s forthcoming sequel to the very popular Breeding Ground (below) which you can read by clicking here.

Spotlighted in the latest issue of the magazine Wings (above) is the writing group Paul teaches every week. The group have just produced their own anthology for charity called Perspectives which is expected to do very well.

Last but not least, below you can find a few photos from the BFS Christmas Open Night which was held on 5th December from 6pm onwards at Ye Olde Cock Tavern, Fleet Street, London. The next event Paul will be attending is on 31st January at the same venue: the launch of Ellen Datlow’s new anthology, POE.

From left to right, Hellraiser actress Barbie Wilde, musician Georg Kajanus and Xtro and Star Wars actor Tim Dry.