Just like buses, you wait ages...

...and then two come along at once!  It's all been a bit quiet on here lately as I've been ridiculously busy, but I thought it timely to give you an update about recent developments.

Firstly, FLASH FEAR is now available in paperback.  It's a horror anthology (edited by the excellent Jonathan Butcher) containing a shedload of bite-sized pieces or horrific or dark flash fiction. As well as a story by my good self ("Good Dog"), it features pieces by such great authors as Andrew Lawston, Theresa Derwin, Matty-Bob Cash and A Stuart Williams. 

Pat-a-Cake by Lily Childs
Love is Blind - Duncan Ralston
The Colour Red and Lost and Found by Theresa Derwin
Good Dog by David Court
A Mother’s Love by Jonathan Butcher
Things to Do in Whitby When You’re Dead by A. Stuart Williams
The Sofa, the Sofa by Matthew Cash Wise Monkey by Pauline E. Dungate
Candy by John Wesley
A King’s Plunder by Timothy Frasier
Polly Gone by Nathan Robinson
Souvenirs by Irene Kingshott
The Letter by Steve Cotterill
The Men Who Value Everything in Money by James Everington
Prey for the Dead by Andrew Lawston
Corpse Mother by J. Rodimus Fowler
The Moon-Lit Bath of Retribution and Resurrection by J Rodimus Fowler
The Notebook by Meredith Black
The Song of Restoration by Lily Childs
The White Room by Charlotte Baker
Hell of a Christmas by Timothy Frasier
The Computer that Would Not Die by Olli Jacobs
The Mirror by Lynn M. Cochrane

It's published by Quantum Corsets and is available on Amazon by clicking on this handy link.

Secondly, "Unleashing The Voices Within", a horror anthology from Stitched Smile Publications LLC, has an impending release of June the 22nd. It features the following tales:

A Mirror Never Lies by David Owain Hughes
A Voice in a Box by Katie MacMillan
Blasphemous Tumours by David Court
Brattle-Boro by Michael Freeman
Cabinet of Truth by David Golightly
Cult of the Angel Eaters by Mark Deloy
Cutting Lies by Briana Robertson
Final Delivery by Jeff Dawson
Jacob's Mind by Ty Schwamberger
Janie's Got a Gun by Author Lisa Vasquez
Lullaby and Goodnight by C.S Anderson
Night Train Fights by Justin Gowland
Normalcy by Kristina Brooks
One Last Conversation by Veronica Smith
Pure Soprano of Death by Norbert Góra
Sandy by R. R. Judas Brown
Scarab by J C Michael
The Darkness by Jeff Parsons
The Killer and the Clergyman by Kevin Hayes
The Voice of Absolution by Ash Hartwell
Watch Out by Jeffrey Blevins
What the Heart Wants by Frank Martin

In other news, the final draft of Version Control - my first full length novel - is finally completed, and I'm beginning to sort out the launch details for "Scenes of Mild Peril", my next bumper collection of short stories.

If you're not doing so already, come like my author page on Facebook or add me on Twitter. I'd love to hear from you.

Have a great weekend!

Free stuff!

For this weekend only (Saturday the 21st of May and Sunday the 22nd of May), and to celebrate the impending release of "Scenes of Mild Peril", the Kindle versions of both my first two collection of short stories - "The Shadow Cast by the World" and "Forever and Ever, Armageddon" are available for free on Amazon.

Clicking on this handy link here will take you to my Amazon author page.

Read them, and if you enjoy either of them, I'd much appreciate you sticking a nice review on either Amazon or Goodreads.

You don't have to have a kindle to read them - the free Kindle App is available for all smartphones, and is also available for both PC and Mac Platforms (The VIC-20, Oric Atmos, V-Tech My First Laptop and the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A are currently not Kindle compatible).

Weird Ales

Come on in, take a pew, and have a glass of whatever you fancy. Mine host welcomes you to your own personal lock-in at the Tavern of Weird Ales. In this delightful tome of beer and pub-flavoured stories, you will find a wicked brew of eleven glorious tales guaranteed to make you shudder. From a low-calorie lager that might be one beer too many, to a tentacled tavern of terrifying tipples, it's all here, in round-after-round of weird and wonderful fiction. The spirits are with us and your time has been called.

The first volume of "Weird Ales" from Quantum Corsets, an anthology of alcohol related horror, is now available. My story "In Vino Veritas, In Vino Mors" (the tale of a most unusual Oenophile and his mysterious acquaintance) concludes this fine collection of eleven tales.

Topped off with a beautiful cover by the brilliant Luke Spooner, it's a great read, especially accompanied by a good pint and a bag or so of your favourite pub snacks.

Click here to be taken to the Amazon page for the book, available in both paperback and kindle formats. I'd love to know what you think of it.

Safety Record

My short story "Safety Record" is the featured story on today's front page of the Flash Fiction Press.

It's a rarity in that it's not related to horror of science fiction, but something altogether different...

I hope you enjoy it. Click here to be taken to the tale.

Strangely Funny III

Strangely Funny III, number four in the series (!) is now available on Kindle and shortly available in print.

As the promotional blurb says

"The fourth book in the Strangely Funny trilogy. Enjoy stories from some of the usual suspects, plus others from authors new to the series. Meet a man who wakes up as a cockroach - again. Learn why you shouldn't opt for a cut-rate mummification. And beware the perilous pinkie!"

My story "The Digit That Was Death" indeed features that very same perilous pinkie.  

Paul Wartenberg, one of the other contributors to the book, did a short (and sweet) little interview with me on his blog which can be found by clicking here.

If you've read my story, I'd love to know what you thought. It's a rare stab at more comedic horror, and I'm really rather pleased with it.

The Revengineers

"I glance over at the bedside clock and the bright red digital display passively informs me that it's approaching 5 a.m. The irony is that I've spent so long worrying about how little I've sleep I've had, that it's ending up keeping me awake – and at this bloody rate I know I still will be when my alarm goes off in around ninety minutes. Even now I know I'll be watching each of those minutes count down, the clawing feeling in my gut tightening as they tick by. (I know that strictly speaking digital clocks don't tick, but forgive me – I'm exhausted).

I’d count sheep but thanks to a traumatic incident in my childhood, they terrify me.

I've had a restless night with my still wide-awake brain dedicating its valuable processing time into either worrying about what time it was or mulling over what she'd said to me at the party last night. She wouldn't be lying awake angry and upset – of course she wouldn't. She'd be fast asleep now, probably smirking as she's dreaming of how she humiliated me at the party."

One of my short stories, The Revengineers, is the featured story for today on the Infective Ink website. It's a tale of break-up, revenge and a para-dimensional Captain Mainwaring . That old chestnut.

Click here to read the full story.

Let it Cry

My short story "Let it Cry" has been posted on the Stitched Smile Blog, and can be accessed by clicking here.  It's a slight deviation from the kind of story I usually do, but I'm really proud and fond of it - I hope you enjoy it.

Stitched Smile will be publishing my short story "Blasphemous Tumours" in their anthology collection "Unleashing the Voices Within", which will be available later this month.  For more information about them and the great stuff they do, click here.