All the latest Shadow Writer news and announcements.   2012 news can be viewed here 2011 news can be viewed here 2010 news can be viewed here 2009 news can be viewed here 2008 news can be viewed here 2007 news can be viewed here 2006 news can be viewed here 2005 news can be viewed here 2004 news can be viewed here 2003 news can be viewed here     May We begin this month with the first look at the striking cover to Paul’s next anthology, above. Published in mass market paperback by Titan this July, Beyond Rue Morgue contains all new stories featuring Poe’s detective, Dupin. Co-edited with Charles Prepolec (noted for his Sherlock Holmes anthologies), the book has stories from the likes of Clive Barker, Joe R. Lansdale, Mike Carey, Elizabeth Massie, Jonathan Maberry, Weston Ochse & Yvonne Navarro, Stephen Volk, Lisa Tuttle and Simon Clark. More soon about this exciting release, including a very special launch, but in the meantime you can pre-order the book from Amazon here or from the publisher here. ----------------------------------- Another first look now, this time at the gorgeous cover artwork for Paul’s forthcoming Ghosts collection of supernatural stories – launching at the World Fantasy Convention this Halloween. The suitably atmospheric image has been provided by Edward Miller and the publisher for this one is the same as Paul’s Creakers, Spectral Press. Again, more over the coming months about this one.   ---------------------------------- Speaking of Creakers, more positive reviews are in for the chapbook. The first is from Wag the Fox who said: ‘I might have thought a story with as many uses of the word “creak” would have irritated me, but it didn’t. I was too wrapped up in the horror of it all, especially one scene involving a sleeping bag that made my skin crawl off my bones as I read it…Ghost story fans are in for a treat!’ While Matthew Fryer at Welcome to the Hellforge commented: ‘From its spine-chilling opening in the house, this muscular tale holds the interest throughout with crisp prose and chills, and I enjoyed Ray’s developing friendship with an attractive, lonely neighbour. As well as character development, this element also served to balance the haunting moments with some cold light of day. I found the overall concept familiar, but the piece still builds to an assured – if not breathtaking – finale…the author keeps us guessing as to whether events are concrete, psychological or supernatural, or even a combination of them all. And tip-toeing around a scary house at midnight by torchlight is always a blast in safe hands like Paul Kane’s.’ And Theresa Derwin at Terror Tree stated: ‘As an experienced house re-builder, Ray knows that those old places that make noises in the night are called Creakers, so he expects some noise during the night, but not this much. The noises and the things crawling over him at night are not normal. The reader can feel his growing tension and fear as the noises and creaks in the house grow and grow. The story falls into that nice tradition of anthropomorphic horror, in which objects take on human personification and become the objects of horror, bringing back painful memories of his home, his childhood and his Mom. Filled with squirmy uncomfortable imagery, this is cheap as chips chills! Give it a go.’ Finally, Hellbound Times said: ‘Paul Kane is quite a diverse and highly regarded writer, perhaps known primarily as an author of dark fantasy and science fiction and for his editorial work (The Mammoth Book of Body Horror). Here, Kane uses the old fashioned quiet horror/ghost story as his foundation, slowly crafting a totally modern, yet Victorian mansion of a tale. The character of Ray is well fleshed out, revealed in a calculated fashion, his blue collar voice nicely realised and actually key to the underpinnings of the story. Kane’s prose here is tight and non-fussy; again, this augments the believability of the narrative.’ You can read the full reviews here, here, here and here.   And you can read Paul’s new blog posting about writing the book by clicking the ‘Journal’ button to your left, or just click here to go straight to it. ------------------------------ Photo © Peter Coleborn Last month Paul and Marie were at the launch of Sarah Pinborough’s reworking of Snow White, Poison, at Blackwell’s bookstore in London (above) – a thoroughly enjoyable event, made that bit more special by finding out the book is dedicated to the couple.    And to mark the arrival of not only this title from Gollancz (above, with cover art by Les Edwards), but also Victorian serial killer thriller Mayhem (below) from Jo Fletcher Books – a stunning double whammy – Sarah returns to the Shadow Writer site as Guest Writer (only the second person to appear twice). You can read extracts from the excellent Poison here and Mayhem here. Plus you can buy the books at the publisher sites here and here or from Amazon here and here. -------------------------------     Paul has been involved in a very exciting project recently, in conjunction with The Pyramid Gallery and the new Labyrinth website. Paul came up with the basic design and back story for ‘The Scribe Box’ (above and below). There’ll be more about this in the future, but until then you can visit the Scribe Box page on the Labyrinth site here and read Paul's interview with them here.     ------------------------------------ Photo © Tim Lebbon Paul was a Guest at not one, but two conventions last month. The first was Monster Mash in Margam, Wales, and you can see photos from this above and below including: Paul with an old friend giving a Hellraiser talk; the beautiful Margam Castle where the event was held – as seen in Dr Who recently; a Cyberman, Davros plus Dalek on bouncer duties; the book display and buyers; Paul with David Warner (Tron, Titanic, Star Trek V & VI); a Frankenstein print; Marie and Paul with Spencer Wilding (Green Lantern, The Wolfman, Wrath of the Titans); and Marie and Paul with Tim Lebbon against the fireplace seen recently on TV in Da Vinci’s Demons.                       Photo © Tim Lebbon But Paul also guested at the inaugural Event Horizon in Derby last weekend. Below you will find photos from this, as well, including: the book display and posters; Paul with Marie at their table; Sarah Pinborough – who also features in Hellbound Hearts – with Marie; plus some of the crowds and dealers in the main room.                       --------------------------------- You can read Paul’s thoughts on the newly-released Scanners trilogy on blu-ray in his review over on the Sci-Fi Bulletin site here. --------------------------------------- Finally, Paul’s Film Section has undergone a bit of a revamp, adding pages for Wind Chimes and the upcoming feature adaptation of Lunar, currently in development. To go to this page and see what else Paul has had made, just click here. --------------------------------- April First of two major book announcements this month, to begin with. First up, Paul’s Arrowhead trilogy is to be gathered together in a gorgeous mass market omnibus edition called simply Hooded Man (above). The weighty tome will also come with a little bonus extra that should please fans of the series. It’s out in paperback in June, but to pre-order Hooded Man from Amazon click here. And to visit the ‘Arrowhead Trilogy’ website, just click here. --------------------------------- The other piece of exciting news is a preview of the stunning wraparound zombie cover for The Spaces Between, by The Walking Dead’s Charlie Adlard. For more details about the collection – introduced by Kelley Armstrong – see previous news sections and visit the Dark Moon site here. -------------------------------------- And sticking with Dark Moon for a moment, their charity anthology Slices of Flesh, featuring Paul’s story ‘Hoodies’ and boasting cover art by Mike ‘Hellboy’ Mignola, has just been nominated for a Horror Writers’ Association Bram Stoker Award. Congratulations to editor Stan Swanson and all the other contributors to the book.   ---------------------------------- Paul was at the Salon Project last month at the Citizens’ Theatre in Glasgow, with Marie and Muriel Gray. Above and below are some photos from the excellent event, including Paul in 19th century Attire, one of the speeches given – about neuroscience – the crowd gathered, Muriel giving her performance and the group shot. With thanks to Muriel and the staff of the Citizens’ Theatre.        -------------------------------- And April looks set to be even busier. The first event Paul is attending is the launch of Sarah Pinborough’s new book from Gollancz, Poison (above) – a reworking of the Snow White fairy tale. This will be at Blackwell’s bookstore on Charing Cross Road on 18th April. Paul will then be appearing as a Guest at Monster Mash (above) in Margam, Wales, Saturday 20th – Sunday 21st alongside people like Tony Todd (Candyman, Final Destination), David Warner (The Omen, Time Bandits, Titanic and Madeline Smith (Live and Let Die, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell) – all below – as well as Marie and fellow genre authors Simon Clark and Tim Lebbon.     It promises to be a great event, so for more details and to book tickets visit the website here. And don’t forget, there’s also still time to book for Event Horizon in Derby – an ad for which is in the latest SFX magazine (above). Paul is a Guest at this one as well, along with Marie, Sarah Pinborough, Farscape’s Virginia Hey and Hammer/Bond Girl Caroline Monroe on 28th April. For enquiries mail ehmderbyevents@gmail.com  or visit the FaceBook page here. ------------------------------------- Paul’s Guest Writer for April is the chillingly brilliant Mo Hayder, and we’re very proud to give you an exclusive taster of her latest DI Jack Caffery novel, Poppet (above). Popular detective Caffery was, of course, introduced in the very disturbing thriller Birdman (below), one of Paul’s favourite novels, and has featured in several since. To read the extract click here, and to read what happened when Paul and Marie caught up with Mo a few years ago, click here. With special thanks to Mo, plus Simon Taylor, Sarah Adams and Joanne Williamson at Transworld. --------------------------------- The first review of Creakers, published by Spectral Press, is now up online, written by Tom Ruffles for his personal site – where he says, ‘Kane’s short story is tautly written, with an introduction by Sarah Pinborough. But I would not advise reading it alone, at night, in a creaking house…’ For the full review click here. ------------------------------------- Paul was very saddened to hear of the sudden death of two genre greats last month, both within just one week of each other. The first loss was James Herbert O.B.E., author of such bestselling books as The Rats, Moon, The Secret of Crickley Hall (televised by the BBC) and Ash (his final book, reviewed by Paul recently here. Paul had known Jim for a few years and had always been impressed with his kindness and willingness to give his time, especially for projects such as Voices in the Dark and last year’s The Mammoth Book of Body Horror. Above is one of Paul’s favourite photos of the pair of them sharing a joke at World Horror in Brighton a couple of years ago, while below Paul got the chance to introduce daughter Jen to Jim at FantasyCon just last September. He will be sadly missed. As will horror writer Rick Hautala, bestselling author of books such as The Wildman, Cold Whisper, Night Stone and Moon-Death (below), who also passed away in March. Paul only knew Rick briefly, as he was one of the producers of the film he wrote, The Weeping Woman, but his reputation preceded him. His work was first published in the 1980s and wrote and published over 90 novels and stories since then. A sad month for horror fans indeed, we’re sure you’ll agree. --------------------------------------- March The first piece of news for March is that the short film Paul wrote, Wind Chimes, which premiered at FCON last year, has sold to Shorts International to be screened on TV. This subtle ghost story, based on a short story of Paul’s from The Butterfly Man and Other Stories PS publishing) and directed by Brad Watson (who is also handling directorial duties for the feature adaptation of Lunar) stars Robert Carretta and Joanna Ignaczewska. For a sneak preview, check out the trailer below. And be sure to keep checking back for a Wind Chimes section on the SW site, coming soon. ---------------------------------- The second major announcement this month comes in the form of an award. Paul is delighted to report that FantasyCon 2012 won the prize for best event in the This is Horror poll, as voted for by the public. It narrowly beat FrightFest, which is quite an achievement, so congratulations to all members of the FCON committee and staff. To read the announcement click here and to see who else won in the awards click here. ------------------------------- Paul is also very excited to announce that #1 bestselling author Kelley Armstrong (above) known for novels such as Bitten, Haunted and, more recently Thirteen (below) has penned the introduction to his novelette collection The Spaces Between (see last month’s news section for more details). The book is due out around June from Dark Moon Books, features an exclusive cover and internal art from The Walking Dead’s Charlie Adlard, and contains three stories from Paul’s ‘Dead…’ series (one of which was filmed by Lions Gate) plus a tale from his bestselling Arrowhead mythos. ------------------------------- The SW site is proud to welcome Lisa Tuttle as our very special Guest Writer for March. The author of such titles as Windhaven (above, with Game of Thrones’ George R.R. Martin), A Nest of Nightmares and The Pillow Friend, Lisa has remained a popular genre favourite throughout her career. It’s with great pleasure that we offer the opportunity to read an exclusive extract from her most recent novel The Silver Bough (below) published by Jo Fletcher Books; just click here to go straight to it. ------------------------------------- Finally, Paul was out and about at the end of last month – at the Twisted Tales Serial Killer Evening at Waterstone’s Liverpool One. Giving readings and answering questions were Dark Room author Steve Mosby (above left), Last Days author Adam Nevill (above centre) and Stuart MacBride (above right), there to promote the latest Logan McRae novel Close to the Bone (below). A thoroughly enjoyable event, as always! -----------------------------------   February Welcome to another Shadow Writer news update. We start with an exclusive look at the terrific art for Paul’s forthcoming release from Spectral Press, Creakers. The cover is by Neil Williams and the publication comes with an introduction by the award-winning Sarah Pinborough, who had the following to say: ‘Paul Kane’s career is moving steadily forward, quietly creeping up around us and you know what? He’s good. That won’t come as a surprise to those who have read him already…’ You can order your copy directly from Spectral here or why not take out a subscription, as there are many more fine releases coming soon. But hurry, it’s on a first come first served basis and stocks are running out (in fact they’ve just had to be increased to compete with demand). ------------------------------------ Viewers of Channel 5’s Fear Itself – originally broadcast in the US on NBC – can now own the DVD of the first series. The show contains episodes written and directed by the likes of John (American Werewolf in London) Landis, Ronny (Freddy vs. Jason) Yu and Victor (Jeepers Creepers) Salva. The series also contains the episode ‘New Year’s Day’, adapted from Paul’s story ‘Dead Time’ by writer Steve (30 Days of Night) Niles and director Darren (SAW II-IV) Lynn Bousman. To order the DVD (below) from Amazon, click here and to visit the NYD page on the Shadow Writer site click here. -------------------------------- And sticking with ‘Dead Time’, this is one of the stories contained in Paul’s forthcoming collection The Spaces Between. The book gathers together all of Paul’s longer short stories and novelettes, including two new tales in the ‘Dead…’ zombie universe, completing the trilogy, plus an Arrowhead Robin Hood story, as well as many others. The collection also boasts an exclusive colour cover and black and white internal illustration from The Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard (below), in keeping with the zombie theme. The book is being published by Dark Moon and is being introduced by a bestselling author – who will be announced very soon. Keep checking back for more details. --------------------------------- Guest Writer on the SW site for this month is the author of Babylon Steel (above), published by Solaris last year, and the follow-up Dangerous Gifts (below) – out this month! – Gaie Sebold. Click here for the excellent first chapter of Babylon… ------------------------------------ Paul has just been added to the guest list of Derby’s ‘Event Horizon’ one day event on April 28th (see poster above). Other guests announced so far include former Bond girl and Hammer regular Caroline Monroe (below) and Farscape’s Virginia Hey. For enquiries mail ehmderbyevents@gmail.com  or visit the FaceBook page here. ------------------------------------- Finally, as regular visitors to the site will know, February is Paul’s birthday month so I’m sure you’ll all join us in wishing the old man a very Happy Birthday! See you next month for more Shadow Writer news! ----------------------------------- January A very Happy New Year and welcome to the first news update of 2013 on the Shadow Writer site! First up, we have photos from events Paul attended last month, beginning with the British Fantasy Society’s annual Christmas Open Night in London. Above you can see Paul (left) with director Brad Watson, who made the movie of Paul’s short story ‘Wind Chimes’ and is attached to film the adaptation of his latest novel Lunar (see the announcement at Film News and This is Horror for more details). While below we have a snap from the fourth successful Wingerworth Reading Event, which raised money for Cancer Research UK – this proved to be the biggest of those yet! ------------------------------- And the first Guest Writer of this year marks a very special crossover event, as well. To promote Marie’s new anthology from Constable & Robinson/Running Press The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women – which was an Amazon bestseller over the festive period – we have an extract from Nina Allan’s story, ‘Seeing Nancy’. Nina is author of the books A Thread of Truth, The Silver Wind (below) and Stardust: The Ruby Castle Stories, as well as being a contributor to many other anthologies and magazines. To read this extract, simply click here and the book is available at all good bookstores and online.  ------------------------------------- Coming soon from Paul are a couple of publications from Spectral Press, the first of which is a chapbook called Creakers, introduced by the wonderfully talented and award-winning author of the Dog-Faced Gods trilogy – which concluded recently with The Chosen Seed (above) –  Sarah Pinborough. The second publication will gather together all of Paul’s supernatural fiction, including new material, and is coming out later this year, so keep checking back for more on that. In the meantime, Paul’s blog has had a makeover; to check this out, just click the ‘Journal’ button to your left.     -------------------------------------------------------------- 2012 news can be viewed here 2011 news can be viewed here 2010 news can be viewed here 2009 news can be viewed here 2008 news can be viewed here 2007 news can be viewed here 2006 news can be viewed here 2005 news can be viewed here 2004 news can be viewed here 2003 news can be viewed here

© Paul Kane 2003-2013. All rights reserved. Materials (including images) may not be reproduced without express permission from the author.