Shadow Writer - The Official Paul Kane Website

We begin February’s news update with a reminder that Paul is a Guest at SFX’s Weekender (above) convention at Camber Sands from 5th – 6th February. He will be reading from his books on the Saturday, then doing a Q&A and signing, plus featuring on a panel with Dr Who scripter Paul Cornell (below), Mark C. Newton, author of Nights of Villjamur and Jonathan Oliver, whose first novel The Call of Kerberos has just been released. Other genre names attending include China Miéville (The City & the City), Toby Whithouse (Being Human), Dave Gibbons (Watchmen), Richard Morgan (The Steel Remains), Robert Rankin (Retromancer), Joe Abercrombie (The Blade Itself), Al Ewing (I, Zombie), Peter F. Hamilton (The Temporal Void), James Barclay (Legends of the Raven series), Gareth David-Lloyd (Torchwood), Tom Baker (Dr Who), Justina Robson (Chasing the Dragon), David Moody (Hater), Stan Nicholls (the Orcs series), Liz Sladen (The Sarah Jane Adventures), James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Michelle Forbes (Messiah, Battlestar Galactica, True Blood), plus the creators of the E4 show Misfits. All this and the SFX Awards, Blastermind quiz, a masquerade ball, screenings and more dealers than you can shake a lightsaber at! Quite an event, which is probably why there are around 2,500 people attending. You can find out more by visiting the site here.

Paul was delighted when the creator of Robin of Sherwood (above) said the following about his Arrowhead novels recently: ‘I love the concept of the books, mixing a bit of myth and science fiction into a heady and thrilling piece of tough story-telling.’

February’s Guest Writer is Bram Stoker Award winning Editor-in-Chief of ChiZine: Treatments of Light and Shade in Words (which has been around since 1997), co-publisher of ChiZine Publications and the author of In and Down (above) and The Distance Travelled (below), Brett Alexander Savory. You can read his excellent short story ‘Messages’ simply by clicking here.

Paul was sent word last month of a belated review of his book The Lazarus Condition at the Scary Minds website. Here are some of the highlights: ‘Tasmaniac have really outdone themselves with The Lazarus Condition, and have pretty much jumped out of the trenches and gone over the top in a clear demonstration of going beyond the call of duty... Kane has taken the zombie sub genre, put it through a spin rinse with various dyes, and given us a completely new design on what can be done with the walking dead. I’m always up for a story centring around the big Z concept and Kane doesn’t disappoint. There’s some twist and turns coming at you during the course of the novella with the final revelation being completely different to expectations...The reader is thrust into a world where the dead are coming back to life, and Kane remains unapologetic about doing that. Initially I was wondering if zombie Matthew Daley was heading home for dinner, in a sort of Romero fashion, but Kane isn’t going to make it that easy on the reader...Without giving too much away there’s one hell of a shock ending coming that I didn’t pick up on. .. It’s a pretty decent strategy and Kane freaking nails it like a wild Friday night up the Cross. The Lazarus Condition is more than another pulp zombie book put out by a Yank publication in order to ride on the shirt tails of the current upsurge in support of all things zombie, Paul Kane’s novella is going after something far more grandiose in design.

‘If The Lazarus Condition is the main course in a five star restaurant then the short story Dead Time is the intoxicating dessert...We’re talking a yarn from the post-apocalyptic ashes that once again gives a different spin to the zombie genre. Paul Kane is certainly keeping the reader on his or her toes. Expect the unexpected would be my advice.’

To read the full 9/10 star review click here.

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Artwork for The Gemini Factor, by Paul Kane. Artwork by Steve Upham

More news about Paul’s forthcoming novel The Gemini Factor now. The launch party at the World Horror Convention in Brighton is at 1-2pm on Sunday 28th March at the Albion Hotel, with free wine. This from the book’s official press release:

‘It’s a miracle, pure and simple. The miracle of twin birth. But in the city of Norchester, being a twin also marks you out as a victim. Because someone is killing them and stealing their body parts. It’s up to Inspector Roy Mason and his Sergeant, Deborah Harrison, to track down the culprit before they can strike again. Their only lead? A man whose own twin was brutally murdered by the killer. A man whose brother is now helping him from beyond the grave.

‘From the imagination of award-winning author Paul Kane (The Lazarus Condition, Peripheral Visions, RED, Arrowhead and Broken Arrow), comes a powerful novel, a supernatural whodunnit unlike any other – in which the very laws of the serial killer procedural are turned on their head. A novel which holds a mirror up to our very souls and asks us just who we are. You might not be quite ready for the answer…’

So if you’re coming to the con, be sure to drop in and buy a signed copy of the book.

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Happy Birthday!

February is also, of course, Paul’s birthday month so I hope you’ll join us in wishing him a very bloody birthday!

See you all again next month!

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Happy New Year! We hit the ground running in 2010 to announce that Paul’s new novel, called The Gemini Factor (above, with gorgeous cover artwork from Steve Upham), will be launching at the World Horror Convention in Brighton in March. Published by Screaming Dreams, the novel will be introduced by Mornsingstar, Big Thunder and Moontown author Peter Atkins. More about this exciting release very soon...

In the meantime another couple of great reviews of Paul’s forthcoming short novel, Of Darkness and Light, have appeared on the net. In the first over at the HorrorBound website, Jason Rolfe comments : ‘Kane’s atmospheric style is reminiscent of Ramsey Campbell, dark and truly terrifying, contemporary in content yet classic in terms of mood. Darkness is a universal fear, one that we can either relate to or empathize with. Kane plays on this fear quite well. More than that, however, he gives us a protagonist we can care about... Paul Kane has demonstrated an ability to bind tone and terror with this novel. Kane’s adroitness with the language of fear, his ability to convey suspense and cerebral terror, gives the story a much more classic feel than most contemporary horror novels. The end result is a truly frightening novel that brings you in, haunts you for the duration, and lingers long after the story has been told. Kane is a craftsman, and Of Darkness and Light is an extremely well-crafted piece.’ To read the full review click here.

The second is at HorrorNews.Net where Anton Cancre had this to say: ‘What a pleasant surprise this book ended up being... First off, Paul put together one of the best prologues I have read in quite a while. It was gripping, powerful and had me damn near quaking with anticipation... Something must be said for Paul’s effortless pacing and prose that generally flows like a nice, cool vanilla smoothie... He managed to take all of my expectations and punch me in the face with them... Incredibly entertaining and I enjoyed every minute of reading it.’ For the whole thing, click here.

There’s still time to pre-order the book by visiting the Thunderstorm website here.

News of another big release now, this time the fourth book in the popular Terror Tales series edited by John B. Ford and Paul (above, with cover artwork from Steve Lines). As well as the usual smattering of new talent, the anthology includes stories from the likes of Neil Gaiman, Peter James, Kim Newman, Simon Clark, Peter Crowther, Jeff VanderMeer and Tony Richards.

We’re delighted to welcome as the first Guest Writer of this new decade, the man responsible for bringing back the Daleks (above) to our screens with his episode of Dr Who appropriately entitled‘Dalek’ – World Fantasy Award-winner Robert Shearman. Following up his first successful collection, Tiny Deaths (below), he brings us Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical published by Big Finish in three editions: leatherbound here, limited hardback here, and paperback here. To read an exclusive story from this collection just click here and to read an interview with Robert from the Den of Geek site, click here.

Above is the artwork by Nick Rose which will feature alongside Paul’s story ‘One for the Road’ in the anthology Darc Karnivale (below, which Nick also painted the cover for). The book is being published by Evil Nerd Empire and edited by David Byron and Corey R. Scales.

Paul was out and about quite a bit in December, first of all at the official UK launch of Hellbound Hearts at the British Fantasy Society’s Christmas Open Night (above and below, photos by Martin Roberts).

From left to right: Editors, Paul and Marie, Christopher Fowler and Dean Drinkel.

Paul also hosted a reading and launch evening for his students' new anthology, Out of this World, photos of which you can see below (courtesy of Graham Godfrey).