Greg Lake

Just one snippet of news before closing-down for the Christmas weekend: two chapbooks ("Angel of Silences" and "Legend of False Dreaming") have been nominated in the chapbook category in the This is Horror Awards. Splendid!

And that's it, for now. I hope you all have a great time with your family and friends this weekend.

Take care.

Just two chapbooks are available at the moment – with permission from the authors – and priced at the very reasonable £1 each.

More will be added in due course, all depending on whether or not the respective author wishes to pursue their own e-publishing deal of course.

Once the forthcoming e-only sequel to Nasty Snips is ready, then it will reside here.

In addition, a review by Nathaniel Tapley of In the Gloaming who rather liked We Fade to Grey:

"The collection as a whole feels, in the best possible way, grim. No one gets out of it alive. Or at least, if they do, they’re bleeding heavily. . . This is British horror, and a great book, from an exciting small press."

And, another review of We Fade to Grey from Matthew Fryer:

"[S]ets the bar high from the off and doesn’t pause for breath. . . All five authors weave genuine human pathos with blood and don’t then go and spoil everything with a happy ending. Brilliant. Grab one while you can."

(. . . and it is also available has a limited edition, signed by all contributors.)

Essentially, this will work thus: you purchase and then I will personally e-mail the PDF to you. At the moment it isn't automatic, though if I am online when your order comes through then you will pretty much receive the document within minutes.

Of course, you don't need an e-reader to view these e-books since being a PDF file then they can be read on any PC with the right software installed (and the official Adobe reader is free of charge).

Needless to say, please do not e-mail your copy of the PDF to your friends, family or colleagues: these are still protected by copyright, and to be quite frank, a pound will not break the bank.

If this is the standard of work, then I foresee a string a books with a Neil Williams' credit.

Again, you can pre-order this for just £3… or, if you'd like to order a copy of the limited hardback of We Fade to Grey (which features Simon's Ellen Datlow-selected story "The Narrows") then you will receive a copy gratis!

In addition, anyone who orders a copy of New Writings in the Fantastic, will also receive a free copy of Toiya Kristen Finlay's chapbook.

Doesn't take a genius to know that the current financial status quo has taken hold, but thankfully I did manage to sell a few books – a heartfelt thanks to you, one and all! :)

In other news, apologies to all who have pre-ordered Angels of the Silences and The Legend of False Dreaming – alas, the printer I was going to use has fallen so I'm looking elsewhere and with luck copies should be available very soon. In actual fact, one idea I am contemplating is taking this process in-house so to speak…

Between last posting, a couple of reviews have surfaced – most notably, Des Lewis' "real-time review" of Terry Grimwood's The Places Between – unfortunately, I cannot easily take quotes from it so you'll need to read it in full!

In addition, M F W Curran has posted a review of Gareth L Powell's Silversands:

"… [A] thoroughly accomplished piece of writing… sits proudly on my bookshelf with other acclaimed genre authors (Dick, Bradbury, Baxter, Banks etc)… And you know, Gareth L. Powell doesn’t look out of place amongst them."

That's it for now… back to the process of publishing, with Kingston to Cable lined-up for publication very soon.

Apart from those two, I've also brought forward Terry Grimwood's debut novella The Places Between which I've been meaning to publish for ages – not just for the story, but also the superb cover art by Ben Baldwin (click on the thumbnail for the full-size):

Pre-ordering details will be added swiftly.

In addition, the winner of the July free book giveaway is Tara Noble also from across the Pond – she wins a copy of Feral Companions; at the end of this month, one lucky winner will receive a copy of New Writings in the Fantastic.

On a closing note, and something which I briefly touched upon earlier, it must be said this year so far has been tough; always thankful to all the loyal customers who have continued to purchase books. Despite these tough times, I am looking to the future and with a little luck October will see one or two changes – moreso in an effort to offer more for your hard-earned.

If you're reading this, and you have any comments or insights into what you would like to read, then please do get in touch: always welcome feedback, since it does feel at times to be working within a vacuum, with little interaction apart from the occasional Convention.

Anyway, enough of my warbling; keep checking the site, and if you are at FCon then tap me on the shoulder and if I'm close to the bar then I'll buy you a drink (of course, if a hundred of you turn up then I may have to ration it slightly…)

(By the way, been meaning to add this… Pendragon Press does have a group page on Facebook, if you're interested of course!)

I heard this morning from Ellen Datlow. She's selected "The Narrows" for her Best Horror of the Year 2008 anthology.

Just scroll down a little and you can read said novelette/novella (which is also one of three long-listed in the novella category for the British Fantasy Award).

:))

Well, it didn't work… so I took each individual novella and converted them individually to Issuu:

Heads

The Mill

The Narrows

These files will be deleted once voting is completed. Enjoy. :)