All the latest Shadow Writer news and announcements.   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 January A very Happy New Year to visitors of the Shadow Writer site! And we hit the ground running in 2012 as Paul is taking part in two PS Showcase events at the end of January. Organised by the Twisted Tales team, who put together the hugely successful Hellbound Hearts event last summer, these will be at Waterstone’s stores in Liverpool and Lancaster. Below is the official press release: “Twisted Tales presents... A PS Publishing Showcase Featuring readings by: Ramsey Campbell: ‘Britain’s most respected living horror writer’ (Oxford Companion to English Literature), ‘He must be given serious consideration as the greatest horror writer of our time, and perhaps of all time’ (S. T. Joshi) Pete Crowther: ‘Reports of the demise of the darker genres abound, but vigorous, genuinely fearsome work such as Crowther’s demonstrates that the genre is decidedly undead’ (Publishers Weekly) Paul Kane: Award-winning author of the bestselling Arrowhead trilogy and PS’s The Butterfly Man, co-editor of Hellbound Hearts and The Mammoth Book of Body Horror Plus a panel discussion, Q&A and signing session 6-8pm Friday 27th January 2012 at Waterstone’s Liverpool One, L1 3DL and 6-8pm Saturday 28th January 2012 at Waterstone’s King Street, Lancaster, LA1 1JN To book your FREE tickets, please email PS Liverpool and/or PS Lancaster at: twistedtalesevents@gmail.com   To coincide with the event, there will also be stories and extracts posted on the TT site. The first of these is Paul’s tale ‘Masques’ – a sequel to Poe’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ – which you can read here ---------------------------------------------- And this just in, ahead of the above showcases, Peter Crowther and his team have offered a veritable treasure trove of prizes – including copies of Paul’s hardback collection The Butterfly Man and Other Stories (above) – for a competition and are willing to post to anywhere in the world. To enter, simply email your name and address to twistedtalesevents@gmail.com with the subject line PS COMPETITION by Monday 23rd January. Winners will be announced at the Twisted Tales blog on Wednesday 25th January and their names and addresses will be passed on to PS Publishing. Below is the full line-up of stunning prizes. 1st PRIZE: CAMPBELL EXTRAVAGANZA THE INHABITANT OF THE LAKE GHOSTS KNOW SEVEN DAYS OF CAIN GRIN OF THE DARK THE LONG WAY HOLDING THE LIGHT JUST BEHIND YOU 2nd PRIZE: THE PS ROADSHOW GHOSTS KNOW THE INHABITANT OF THE LAKE THE BUTTERFLY MAN by Paul Kane DARKNESS FALLING by Peter Crowther BY WIZARD OAK by Peter Crowther 3rd PRIZE: SIX PS NOVELLAS THE PRINCE OF NOWHERE by Parke Godwin ONE FOR THE ROAD by Stephen King BLUE CANOE by T. M. Wright CLOUD PERMUTATIONS by Lavie Tidhar DEAD EARTH by Mark Justice and David T. Wilbanks OLD MAN SCRATCH by Rio Youers THREE RUNNER-UP PRIZES Prize # 4 = GHOSTS KNOW Prize # 5 = BUTTERFLY MAN Prize # 6 = DARKNESS FALLING ---------------------------------------- Following on from the exciting news that The Butterfly Man was included in Tangent’s Year End Recommended Reading List, we’ve also just found out that one of the stories in the collection has made it into Horror Bound’s Top Ten Issue. Originally published on the HB site, ‘Cold Call’ came in at number one for this ‘Best of’ edition selected by readers and staff. To visit the site click here The Butterfly Man collection itself also received another glowing review, this time from The Short Review, where Sue Haigh had this to say: ‘I chose to review Paul Kane’s seventh collection for this edition of The Short Review because I felt it might present something different, a challenge, to me as a reader new to fantasy/horror; a thick, bubbling brew which includes comic horror, the surreal, vampire literature and straight horror. OK, it’s not the sort of stuff I read every day, but would it be enough to entice me into the circle of fans? Looking at the online image of the extraordinarily beautiful cover, I thought it might be possible...The elements I expected are all in there, fighting for supremacy – tormented souls, ghosts, angels, avenging spirits from beyond the grave, the Spirit of Death, monsters of the night, side by side with chocolate-box sexy women... Opting not to look at the introduction by Christopher Golden or Kane’s own end-notes on the stories until after I had completed my own review, I was surprised by the colourful diversity of style, which ranges from pastiche, through cinematic sequence to straight literary, and by the unity of bloodthirsty theme. Sometimes a happy ending seems to be within a hair’s breadth before devastation strikes – read “Windchimes” to get a taste of the particularly unpleasant bitter aloes in the final twist – and sometimes the reader is led to an inevitable and horrible conclusion. I have to show my hand right away and say that my favourite story in the whole collection is a delightful (would Kane approve of that description, I wonder?) page-turner of a pastiche. The style of “The Greatest Mystery” was just right on the button and did it for me. This could have been Conan Doyle himself speaking, immediately recognisable to both aficionados and casual readers. Here, Kane is word and plot perfect, that sense of place transporting us right into the world of Baker Street – post mortem. Actually it sent me right back to my own library and the original stories and novels. ”Windchimes” is a moving story of quiet, unseen madness, delicately balanced and expressed with ample grace. Kane writes with admirable understanding of the psychological disarray and guilt which might follow the death of a small child and of the suspicion which could fall upon the capabilities of a parent. The stresses which can, and often do, tear a marriage apart in such dire circumstances are examined in the character of Jon, the lonely, bereaved alcoholic. Kane examines, too, the emotions which might ultimately draw such a character to another partner who finds herself in similar straits (indeed, they meet in a children’s graveyard). I had to read this story (which has a very nasty, but just believable – given the background – ending) several times to decide whether it sits well in this book, a complex collage of stories and characters ranging from the surreal Fred and Rose West type individuals of “Rag and Bone” and “Baggage” to the pure comic horror of the television-ad world of “Life-o’-Matic” and the Dahl-like “A Chaos Demon is for Life”... In my view, “Windchimes” is a piece which reflects Kane’s true potential as a ‘straight’ writer and might probably belong in the pages of another collection. But that’s just my personal view. In the short space available to me here, it would be impossible to comment on every one of Kane’s eighteen stories – the Benjamin Button in-reverse of the title story, “The Butterfly Man”; “Speaking in Tongues”, about a Tourette’s Syndrome sufferer, which reminded me initially of Jonathan Lethem’s story, “Tugboat Syndrome”, but with a surreal, supernatural-horror aspect; the basically cinematic “One for the Road”, a tale to remind us all of our mortality... The unknowable and unstoppable demons of the night in “Masques” and “Keeper of the Light” threaten to engulf whole worlds, not only that of the despairing souls in “The Suicide Room”; every story echoes in those dark and hidden corners of the house of the human spirit. This roiling patchwork of a collection reveals all of Kane’s enthusiasm and the flexibility which has led him down many creative pathways and which will clearly point the way to others...’ To read the full review, click here, and to read an interview with Paul on the same site, click here And, lastly, the collection was included in the ‘Top 15 Reads of the Year’ over at The Ginger Nuts of Horror website here -------------------------------------- For our first Guest Writer slot of the year, we’re delighted to be able to spotlight a great new voice in the genre who’s set to make a big impact. Alison Littlewood’s debut novel – A Cold Season (above) – from Jo Fletcher Books ) is already a Richard & Judy Book choice here and we have an exclusive extract for you to enjoy here Paul and Marie will also be at the book’s official launch at Waterstone’s in Leeds this month, so check back in February for photos of that event. ---------------------------------- Now for some Guest announcements for conventions Paul is on the committee of. To begin with, the first Guest of Honour, first Special Guest and MC for FantasyCon 2012 are bestselling author of Savage Season, Mucho Mojo and Bad Chili, Joe R. Lansdale (above), legendary editor of The Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories series and author in her own right, Mary Danby, and New York Times bestseller Tim Lebbon, author of books such as Echo City and The Secret Journeys of Jack London novels (with Christopher Golden) You can find out more and book your place at the FantasyCon site here At the same time, the first two Guests of Honour of the World Fantasy Convention 2013 have also been announced. These are the one and only Richard Matheson and his son, Richard Christian Matheson. This from the official press release: “Richard Matheson is a master of modern science fiction, fantasy and horror, and Stephen King credits him with single-handedly regenerating a stagnant genre. His best known novels include the influential I Am Legend, The Shrinking Man, A Stir of Echoes, Hell House, The World Fantasy Award-winning Bid Time Return and What Dreams May Come, all of which have been turned into movies. His latest novel, Other Kingdoms (2011), is about witchcraft and fairies in a rural English village. Not only did Richard Matheson script fourteen episodes of Rod Serling’s iconic The Twilight Zone TV series (including the classic ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’), but his produced movie scripts include The Fall of the House of Usher, Pit and the Pendulum, Tales of Terror, The Raven, The Comedy of Terrors, The Devil Rides Out (aka The Devil’s Bride), Duel, The Legend of Hell House, Somewhere in Time, Jaws 3-D and the two ‘Kolchak’ TV movies, The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler, amongst many other credits Richard Matheson was awarded the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984 and the World Horror Convention’s Living Legend Award in 2000. In 2006 he was presented with The Legend Award by Ray Bradbury in Los Angeles. Richard Christian Matheson began his career in the late 1970s. At twenty, he became the youngest writer ever signed to an overall deal with Universal Studios and he wrote scripts for a number on network TV shows. He moved quickly into feature film writing, working with Steven Spielberg on Harry and the Hendersons and Three O’Clock High. To date, he has written, co-written and sold over twelve spec screenplays – considered a record. He has scripted three mini-series, including Sole Survivor for the Fox network, based on Dean Koontz’s best-selling novel; The Chronicles of Amber, for the Syfy Channel based on Roger Zelazny’s best-selling fantasy series, and the original Dragons, a six-hour for Matheson’s producing partner Bryan Singer and the Syfy Channel.  Richard Christian Matheson is considered a master of the short-short story and has published more than seventy stories of psychological horror in magazines and major anthologies. Thirty of his critically acclaimed stories are collected in Scars and Other Distinguishing Marks with a Foreword by Stephen King and an Introduction by Dennis Etchison. His second collection, Dystopia, gathers sixty stories with an Introduction by Richard Matheson and an Afterword by Peter Straub. The volume also includes tributes about RC’s writing from Clive Barker, Ellen Datlow, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Ray Bradbury, Stephen Jones, Ramsey Campbell and many others. Matheson’s debut novel, Created By, was a Bram Stoker Award nominee and his magic-realism novella, The Ritual of Illusion, will soon be available from PS Publishing.” Again, you can find out more at the WFC site here ----------------------------------- News now of a brand new story from Paul called ‘Hoodies’ which will appear in an anthology published by Dark Moon Books, set to launch at the World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City in March this year. Slices of Flesh (above), edited by Stan Swanson, also contains stories by the likes of Elizabeth Hand, Graham Masterton, Simon Clark, Jack Ketchum and Nancy Holder. The fantastic cover art is by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. For more details click here ------------------------------------- If you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan then you should check out the latest issue of Journey Planet, in which Paul and other contributors to the Gaslight Arcanum anthology (above) talk about their stories and Holmes in general. You can read the magazine in PDF format by clicking here Paul also took part in a 24 hour live online event at Bitten By Books recently concerning the anthology. You can see the results of that here. In addition, Paul was interviewed for the new Edge ‘Gaslight Gallery’ blog, which you can find here. ---------------------------------------- Produced in association with Writing East Midlands and Derbyshire County Council, Write Here, Write Now (above) features an abridged version of Paul and Marie’s workshop on Monsters, as well as fiction inspired by the talk they gave. You can visit the WEM site here and the DCC literature site here for more information. --------------------------------- Finally, here are some photos from the British Fantasy Society Christmas Open Night (above and below) which Paul and Marie attended at the Mug House in London – including a snap of them with ‘Female Cenobite’ and fellow Phobophobia contributor Barbie Wilde, there for the launch of the anthology (see last month for more details). While below we have a few pictures from the successful reading evening Paul and his students put on for charity in December. The night, which featured readings, a raffle and a buffet, was dedicated to Paul’s mother, who passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2010, and a considerable amount of money was raised for the Alzheimer’s Society.       -------------------------------------------------------------- 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

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