FLASHBACK: Ham & Ryan by Paul D. Brazill

VOTE in the Spinetingler Awards!

Yep, it's time to VOTE in the SPINETINGLER Awards. 

There are some books not on the list that I would have expected to see nominated but then one of my stories - The Tut -is in there so they must be a bit weird!

Some well deserved nominations though so VOTE over here!

Anne Billson - Stamp Of A Vamp

Anne Billson is a  John Carpenter and Charles Willeford fan, which can't be bad. She was born in Southport, lived briefly in Japan and now lives in Paris.  She has worked as a secretary, cinema cashier and photographer. She writes on film for the Guardian and is the author of three cracking British horror novels- SUCKERS, STIFF LIPS  and THE EX . SPOILERS is her essential collection of films reviews.

PDB) What was the first piece of writing that you had published?

Anne B) I wasn’t a professional writer at the time; I was a photographer, struggling to earn a living wage (plus ça change) and filling in for a holidaying friend in the listings section of the short-lived London magazine Event (started by Richard Branson as a rival to Time Out) which must have been around 1980/81. Jonathan Meades was editor at the time, and in retrospect I doubt anyone else would have even dreamt of publishing my very first article, which was a piece about inflatable rubber sex-dolls.

In fact, I used to have a blow-up doll; when I went to live in Japan for a year I lent it to a couple of gay friends, and when I came back the only thing left was her head, like Albert after he’d been eaten by the lion. 

God knows what they’d been doing to her. Poor dolly.


PDB) Was Salman Rushdie's praise of Suckers a blessing or a curse?

Anne B) Both a blessing and a curse, really. I guess it led to a lot of people reading it who might not otherwise have done so, and since one always likes to be read, that can’t be a bad thing.

But I suspect it also put the idea into people’s heads that I might have had literary aspirations, which wasn’t true. I’m not interested in either reading or writing so-called literary fiction, which with very few exceptions has always struck me as a complete waste of time; with Suckers I set out to write the sort of book I’d always wanted to read – a fast-paced potboiler, with vampires.

Rushdie describing my novel as a “satire of the 1980s” became an easy crutch for lazy literary commentators who wouldn’t normally have touched a vampire novel with a barge-pole. And after Rushdie’s remark, hardly anyone looked on Suckers as anything OTHER than a satire on the 1980s. Suckers WAS about the 1980s – but only because I’d started writing it then, and to a certain extent I was describing what I was seeing around me at the time (minus the fangs, of course). 

But I’m a slow writer and didn’t finish it until the 1990s, by which time it had turned into a period piece.



PDB) You're novels have a trace of the Ealing Comedy about them.Stiff Lips  especially. An influence?

Anne B) Ealing, eh? Maybe. If so, I would think more Dead of Night than Passport to Pimlico. I do think my novels are very English; I was a little surprised when Suckers was bought for publication in the United States because I used terms like “gazump”, which still baffles non-Brits.

There are a couple of British films I think must be influences, since I’ve watched them so often. There’s The Rebel, in which Tony Hancock quits his 9-5 job in the City and goes off to Paris, where he founds the Infantile School of painting. Best film ever made about modern art. There’s also A Matter of Life and Death, which I could probably quote by heart now.

And there’s also Launder & Gilliat’s wonderful comedy-thriller Green for Danger, which I quoted on the title page of my third (self-published) novel, a ghost story called The Ex. In the film, Alastair Sim plays a Scotland Yard detective investigating a murder in a rural hospital during WW2, and says in a voice-over: “When I took my departure that evening, it was not with the feeling that this had been one of my more successful investigations”. 

I loved the idea of this smug detective thinking he’s so clever, but actually doing everything wrong, so it’s his own actions which bring about the very disaster he’s trying to avert. I tried to carry that through into the novel, which had a psychic investigator as narrator, though not as smug as Sim’s character. He thinks he knows what’s happening, but he doesn’t. Not at all. My first male narrator, incidentally.

PDB) Hows the campaign for you to be the new Jonathon Ross going?

Anne B) We’ve got around 200 “fans” on the “Anne Billson Should Host Film 2010” Facebook page (which I didn’t set up myself, honest) which is pretty amazing considering none of them are my relatives. I don’t for one second think the BBC would offer me the job – my case is somewhat weakened by the fact that no-one, including the BBC, has ever heard of me – but I definitely think there should be more fiftysomething female presenters to break up the boys’ club and airheaded dollybird thing. They don’t necessarily have to be me.

In any case, there should be more programmes about cinema on TV. More arts programmes in general, in fact, but I suspect it’s all wall-to-wall reality shows nowadays. Last time I turned on the TV in a London hotel it was showing a programme about penises.


PDB) What made you move to Paris? Was it the famous warmth, hospitality and sense of humour of its citizens?

Anne B) I wanted to go to Paris and write novels. It was kind of an absurd adolescent dream, except that I was 47 at the time. I went to Paris, I wrote the novels, but what I didn’t foresee was that no-one would publish them, partly because Stiff Lips didn’t do too well – possibly something to do with no-one knowing it existed. I stil get people saying to me, “I loved Suckers. When are you going to write another novel?” I always thought it would be difficult getting one’s first novel published; it never occurred to me I’d have problems with the third.

I detect a note of irony in your question, by the way. Parisians get a really bad rap; they’ve always been good to me. The helpfulness and patience shown to me while I was still struggling with the language was astonishing. But what British visitors to Paris often fail to note is that the French are INCREDIBLY polite (strange but true) and so you MUST preface every interaction and transaction with a “bonjour” (or “bonsoir” if it’s the evening).

You say bonjour to the waiter or barman as you go into a bar, before you give your order. You say bonjour to shop assistants before you ask them for something, you say it in banks and post offices, and you say bonjour to people in the street when you stop them to ask for directions.

Thing is, if you DON’T say bonjour, and launch straight into your demands without preamble, you come across as rude and boorish, and the French will then treat you as such. It sounds rude and boorish even to me now. So remember – bonjour! I swear it’s like the Open Sesame to life in France.

PDB) You've been called the best film critic since Pauline Kael. Was she an influence on you?

Anne B) I have? Who said that? I guess I should be flattered except that – in answer to your question – she hasn’t been an influence at all. Started reading a collection of her writing in the 1970s – I think it was Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – and quickly lost interest. Found it unfunny and not very perceptive, and I didn’t like the style. Perhaps I’d think differently if I read it again today, but I’ve avoided her ever since, and suspect it would be counter-productive to start reading her again now.

Would say I’ve been more influenced by David Thomson’s Biographical Dictionary of the Cinema (the early edition; he goes a bit doolally in the updated one) though I don’t agree with all his opinions. Also – Joe Bob Briggs and my friend Kim Newman have both been influential. 

I don’t read many film critics nowadays; I try to avoid reading too much about a film before seeing it. I don’t like film blogs, on the whole, because the writers go on and on, and life’s too short. In retrospect, it was useful having to write 200-word reviews for Time Out in the 1980s. Today’s bloggers have no concept of being edited for space, and consequently they don’t edit themselves.

PDB) If your novels were to be made into films who would direct them?

Anne B) On the strength of Let the Right One In I would plump for Tomas Alfredson, since that’s pretty much a perfect book-into-film adaptation. Plus it was set in the 1980s, like Suckers. Though you’d probably have to get John Ajvide Lindqvist (who adapted his own novel) to do the screenplay. Not sure how they’d get on with the London settings; maybe they could transpose the story to Stockholm.

Otherwise, I would go for Edgar Wright, who showed with Shaun of the Dead that he knows how to balance comedy with horror. Before Doomsday I might have considered Neil Marshall as too, but Doomsday was such a huge disappointment after Dog Soldiers and The Descent.

Christopher Smith’s another possibility – he seems to be getting better with each film; wasn’t keen on Creep (though since it pays homage to Death Line, at least it proves he’s aware of his heritage), but I really liked his last one, Triangle. Also, I’m keeping an eye on Steve Bendelack; I liked The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse a lot more than most, and was impressed by Mr Bean’s Holiday – and I HATE Mr Bean.

PDB) Whats on the cards for you in 2010?

Anne B) Blood, sweat and tears. It’s not a terrific time to be a journalist or writer. I’m still getting freelance work, thank God, but my income has effectively been slashed in half and I’m struggling to pay the bills, which doesn’t leave much time for personal projects.

In a perfect world, I would like to finish at least two of the three novels I’m working on, even if there’s not much prospect of getting them published by traditional means: a sequel to Suckers- Vampire Island, a teenage vampire saga which I started writing as a riposte to Twilight, and a devil-baby novel called The Coming Thing, which I finished years ago, but which needs rewriting. I have a great idea for a short film I’d like to develop. I recently started my own blog, and I’d like to try and make some even shorter films to post on that, perhaps finding a way of combining writing, film and photography to tell a story. Preferably a ghost story, or one about vampires.

But I haven’t had a holiday since 2006. I’d like to take one of those in 2010.

You can read the first two chapters of Vampire Island at Anne Billson’s blog MULTIGLOM is here and: http://multiglom.blogspot.com/

MINICRIX is her film review database here: http://minicrix.blogspot.com/2010/01/sa-sy.html

You can buy her books here: http://stores.lulu.com/billson

And here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?_encoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books-uk&field-author=Anne%20Billson

(This interview was previously at PULP METAL MAGAZINE )

Books Of The Dead -Submissions open/ Daily Bites Of Flesh -Submissions open

From new publishers BOOKS OF THE DEAD:

Submissions are OPEN for Best New Vampire Tales One. See guidelines here: http://booksofthedeadforum.yuku.com/topic/5 ~


PILL HILL PRESS also have open submissions for their Daily Bites of Flesh anthology

Submissions Open for The Journal Horror Special

Frank Duffy & Steve Jensen's The Journal will be featuring Horror short stories in the weeks ahead. 

Those interested in submitting short fiction should contact Frank or Steve via email (addresses are on the Biography page of THE JOURNAL).

Criteria:

3,000 words. Horror-only, no particular theme.

 
They  plan to feature six stories per edition. 

Up at THE JOURNAL at the moment is a SHOWCASE of writer GERALD D. JOHNSTON.

FLASHBACK: The Last Supper by Paul D. Brazill

The Last Supper by Paul D. Brazill

The night crept up imperceptibly and smothered the whisky coloured day with darkness.
Leon’s bones creaked with shame and guilt as he smashed the hammer into Milton’s face.
Later, his stomach growled with hunger and fear as he fried the corpse of the only other human left alive.

The Last Supper was at BLINK INK in February.
Blink Ink is a site for stories of 50 words or less & is beaut.

Anne Frasier : Short Sharp Interview

 

Anne Frasier is an award-winning author of nineteen novels. She was a contributor to the 2009 Once Upon a Crime anthology published by Nodin Press, and is currently editing Bats In The Belfy-a short-story anthology of Halloween tales. She is working on a memoir to be submitted to major publishers in 2010.
 
Her website is: http://www.annefrasier.com/page/page/4368661.htm

PDB) Who would write the soundtrack to your books?


Anne F) I would have to say The Chambermaids, who happen to be my kids. They wrote a song for one of my book trailers and did a great job. But if I were to name someone else… Neil Young, because that would be awesome.


PDB)What's the worst job you've had?


Anne F) Back in the seventies I worked at the Levi Strauss factory in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I spent eight hours a day sewing right and left back pockets to jeans, adding that little red Levi’s logo. I would highly recommend this kind of work if you want to go insane.


PDB) Have you ever written anything based on ideas that come to you in dreams?


Anne F) I think almost everything I’ve written contains at least some small element of a dream. I use dreams to try to solve plot problems. Wake up in the morning, concentrate on problem, fall back to sleep and find the answer.Several years ago I dreamed a book title that I just recently got around to using for a short story.

This interview was previously at PULP METAL MAGAZINE

The new Pulp Metal Magazine is LIVE

The new Pulp Metal Magazine  is up. Inside you'll find my interviews with Keith Rawson, Matt Hilton & Danny Bowman. There's a ton of new fiction from the likes of Frank Duffy, Richard Godwin and Melanie Brown, a cocktail lounge and a top piece on Katherine Bigelow from my mate Gary Widdowfield. And much, much MORE! 

Here!

CRIME FACTORY # 2

CRIMEFACTORY ISSUE #2 IS LIVE!!!!!

New fiction by:
Ray Banks
Dave Zeltserman
Kieran Shea
Patti Abbott
Josh Converse
Stephen D. Rogers
Gerard Brennan

With features by:

Jimmy Callaway
Reed Farrel Coleman
Craig McDonald
Charlie Stella
Chad Eagleton
The Nerd of Noir

Guest Blogger: Stephen D. Rogers -SHOT TO DEATH

Stephen D. Rogers is the author of SHOT TO DEATH (ISBN 978-0982589908) and more than six hundred stories and poems.

He's the head writer at Crime Scene (where viewers solve interactive mysteries) and a popular writing instructor.

For more information, you can visit his website, www.stephendrogers.com, where he tries to pull it all together.

 

SHOT TO DEATH

SHOT TO DEATH contains thirty-one stories of murder and mayhem. "Terse tales of cops and robbers, private eyes and bad guys, with an authentic New England setting." - Linda Barnes, Anthony Award winner and author of the Carlotta Carlyle series

"Put yourself in the hands of a master as you travel this world of the dishonest, dysfunctional, and disappeared. Rogers is the real deal--real writer, real story teller, real tour guide to the dark side." - Kate Flora, author of the Edgar-nominated FINDING AMY and the Thea Kozak mysteries

"SHOT TO DEATH provides a riveting reminder that the short story form is the foundation of the mystery/thriller genre. There's something in this assemblage of New England noir to suit every aficionado. Highly recommended!" - Richard Helms, editor and publisher, The Back Alley Webzine -

--GUEST POST---

SHOT TO DEATH Blog March

'Wishbone Lane was a dead-end road, the last property a restored farmhouse used to rehabilitate kennel dogs.' - A DOG NAMED MULE

So begins one of the 31 stories contained in SHOT TO DEATH (ISBN 978-0982589908). Within that beginning lurks the ending to the story and everything that happens between the beginning and the end. Or at least it seems that way to me.

The composition of that opening sentence intrigues me. The phrase "dead-end" is buried in the middle rather than appearing in the power position at the end, but the awkward structure of the second half of the sentence seems to keep urging the phrase forward.

"Last property" echoes "dead-end." Restored farmhouse? Nope, a dead end.

Rehabilitated? Nope, a dead end.

Even the word "used" (employed for a purpose) is tinged with shades of "secondhand."

The idea of rehabilitating kennel dogs (whatever that means) sounds so noble and selfless. How can there be any money in it? But all that "dead-end" negativity. Either all is not as it seems or things are going to end badly. Or both.

"Rehabilitate." That's a fun word. It bounces out of the mouth. Prisons supposedly rehabilitate. People recovering from a physical trauma go to rehab, which I've never heard called "rehabilitation," which is interesting. More negativity? "Rehabilitate" echoes "restored," which echoes ... "Wishbone Lane"? No other possibility seems to make sense. "Wishbone Lane." "Lane" sounds nicer than the typical "road" or "street."

Two people each take an end of a wishbone and pull; the one who ends up holding the longer piece gets their wish. A wishbone thus promises both hope and conflict fueled by scarcity. For there to be a wishbone, a creature must die. (Not the dog, however, since I just lost one.)

So we have a setting and two characters competing for a final result, loads of negativity balanced by a sprig of hope. All that remains is the writing.

For a chance to win a signed copy of SHOT TO DEATH, click on over to http://www.stephendrogers.com/Win.htm and submit your completed entry.

Then visit the schedule at http://www.stephendrogers.com/Howto.htm to see how you can march along.

And then come back here to post your comments. Phew.

FLASHBACK: Snap, Crackle & Pop by Paul D. Brazill

Snap, Crackle & Pop! By Paul D. Brazill

Snap went Larry’s index finger when Mo bent it back. 


Crackle went the cigar that Mo slammed into Larry’s face.

Pop went the pistol that Mo shoved under Larry’s chin.


Snap went the paparazzi when Mo was led into court. 


Crackle went the electric chair when Mo was sent to meet his maker.  


Pop went the champagne cork in Curly and Shend’s hotel room.

SNAP, CRACKLE & POP was at Pulp Metal Magazine

Forgotten Music: Jayne Casey -Liverpool Punk & Post Punk

Eric's Club opened In Liverpool on 1 October 1 1976 in a basement opposite The Cavern Club - where The Beatles played in the 1960’s.

Buzzcocks, The Clash, Joy Division, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Stranglers, Wire, XTC, X-Ray Spex ,U2, New Order and Mick HucknallSimply Red) all played at Eric’s before the club closed down in March 1980 when the club was raided by the rozzers for drug offences. (pre

Local musicians such as Dead or Alive, Echo & the Bunnymen, ,Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, The Teardrop Explodes, and Wah! Heat also played at Eric’s - which was a members only venue that also gave membership for 'under 18's' so that younger music fans could see bands during a 'matinee' show.

One regular at Eric’s was Jayne Casey who left home at 14 and joined one of Liverpool's first punk bands, Big In Japan, in mid 1977. Casey would perform with a lampshade over her shaved head. The band broke up after a gig at Eric's in August 1978.

They recorded the From Y to Z and Never Again EP – featuring the classic, Suicide A Go Go – and later reunited and recorded a brilliant Peel Session in 1979, with a line-up of Casey, Ian Broudie, Holly Johnson and Budgie.

Holly Johnson later formed Frankie Goes To Hollywood; Bill Drummond, was in The KLF; Ian Broudie formed The Lightning Seeds; Budgie is the drummer in Siouxsie & the Banshees.

Jayne later formed the wonderful Pink Military Stand Alone - who I once saw play a cracking gig at Middlesbrough Rock Garden, with Tick Tick giving great support.jayne then formed Pink Industry. 

I asked Jayne a few rubbish questions recently for PULP METAL MAGAZINE.

PDB) Can you pitch me the life and times of Jayne Casey in 25 words or less? 

Jayne C) I 'm the cat that's enjoyed many lives....

PDB) Which posters did you have on your wall when you where 16?

Jayne C) I was in a children's home 'no posters allowed' but it would have been Bowie. Bolan and Hendrix

PDB) Erics. What was that all about?

Jayne C) It was a magical portal where a generation of Liverpool musicians discovered the lexicon of life .

PDB) Which of your own musical adventures has been the most satisfying?

Jayne C) Mmmm ' Maybe I'm just like my mother she's' never satisfied' ...

PDB) The Beatles : Inspiration or burden?

Jayne C) Both ... Roger Eagle who owned Eric's told us in 1977 never ever to listen to them.....

So although i have obviously heard loads of their music in the background ...To this day Me , Ian McCulloch and Pete Wylie have never purposely pressed play.

PDB) How did Big In Japan get together?

Jayne C) In 1976 Ken Campbell (RIP) the theatre director produced a play from a trilogy of cult books by Robert Anton Wilson called 'The Illuminati'

It took place in a semi derelict warehouse on Matthew Street where I had a vintage clothes shop. Bill Drummond was the set designer, Ian Brodie was the guitarist in the band

and I had a bit part in the play. Ken used to beg me to be the singer but i wouldn't do it cos I really couldn't sing.

After Ken left town Bill continued to hound me and eventually I gave in and we formed Big In Japan.

PDB) Did you get pissed off when that Alphaville song was a hit?

Jayne C) No ... I groaned pulled the quilt over my head and turned over ...

PDB) ) The brilliant NME PMSA cover- by Kev Cummins- when Paul Morley interviewed you - was part of my 80's iconography.

I even remember seeing Did You See her? in Woolworths in Hpool!

What was that period like for you?

Jayne C) It was a weird period before the digital revolution kind off ' on the cusp' you could see the future and it looked very different but it was still way in the distance...

it was frustrating musically as it was really hard to find musicians who' got it' so although I really like the content of Pink Military I wish I had ditched the drummer for a drum machine and got rid of all the middle eights...

but I accept it is very much of its time ..... The NME interview was really interesting with its Post Modernist headline

It came out in Jan 1980 so it was the first NME of the 80's and in many ways it heralded the change that the 80s would bring...

PDB) What does Jayne Casey do on a Tuesday afternoon?

Jayne C) I work in and around culture so my working life is varied and unless i am in the middle of a big project I don't do Monday's ....So Tuesday is the start of my working week by Tuesday afternoon i am normally throwing daggers at my 19 year old PA who after a long weekend of partying is trying desperately to hide her obvious lack of serotonin : )

The Pink Military website is HERE

They're on YOU TUBE here

BIG IN JAPAN are on You Tube here

More Forgotten Music at Scott D. Parker's blog here

More

The Lame Goat Podcast is up!

Lame Goat Press

Lame Goat Press is primarily a 4-the-luv small press with emphasis on two things. One; a love of stories, and the other; helping aspiring authors reach their goals. Lame Goat likes to experiment and see what works, and we're willing to give anyone and anything a chance if we think it has promise. The Lame Goat Podcast brings you audio versions of stories featured in the Lame Goat Press anthologies.

The Tut is nominated for a Spinetingler Award!

Cripes! Amazed, I am. The SPINETINGLER AWARDS nominees are up and,well, I'm chuffed to see that  my story THE TUT-which was at Beat To A Pulp last year has been nominated.

The full list-which includes the likes of Hilary Davidson & Sandra Seamans - is here:
Thanks to David & Elaine at BTAP for accepting The Tut.

Exclusive Royston Blake Interview

I recently interviewed Royston Blake the force behind Facebook's FREE THE MANGEL ONE campaign

PDB) What is the Free The Mangel One Campaign?

Royston) FTMO, as it's coming to be known in the Paul Pry, is a political movement whereby we're trying to bring about change. Real change, brothers and sisters, not just the usual boring bollocks like the state of the pound and that.

I had a pound coin the other day and it was in a right state, by the way. Looked like Jaws from James Bond had been chewing it, thinking it was a chocolate one. I do like a bit of chocolate, actually. I prefer Galaxies myself. Dairy Milk reminds me of cows. What the fuck are you asking me about chocolate for, though? I got more important things to tell the punters about, such as our Facebook campaign, Free The Mangel One

What it is, right, is that I wrote four volumes of my memoirs, but only three of the fuckers have got printed.

The fourth one is called WRONGUN, and it is being blocked by the government because it contains official secrets, or summat. But if we can get enough punters joining our group, we'll overthrow the cunts and get my book printed.

PDB) Is your biographer Charlie Williams the same one that used to host the Golden Shot?

Royston) I might be mistaken here but I'm guessing that is a porno film. Am I right? Not only that but a bit of a specialised one, with water sports and that. You dirty bastard... But no, I don't reckon they'd have let Charlie Williams in a film like that. Could be he just made the tea or summat.

PDB) Your memoirs have been translated into French but they seem to feature a lot of lesbians. Why is that?

Royston) French birds love it, don't they? Mind you, I could have sweared I never had lesbians when I dictated these memoirs... but hey fucking presto - let the frogs loose on em and what happens? Lesbians. Fair play though.

PDB) You're a man with a big reputation. Have you ever considered a career in politics?

Royston) As the bloke once said, some are born great, some are born shite and some are born in the middle or summat.

I was born great, as you know. Feller like me, with my work experience and leaderships skills, I'm destined to find my way into that kind of job.

I was telling someone recently about how I'll have a go at being mayor of Mangel first, like as not, learn the ropes about smiling at babbies and doing speeches and that. Then it's a short step to prime minister.


PDB) There was a news report about Kebab shops in Moscow selling kebabs made from humans.

Did it put you off kebabs?

Royston) See, this is exactly why you need someone like me running the place. Folks make a lot of fuss over fuck all, and they need a strong person at the top, cutting through the shite and making decisions for em.

Everyone knows you get a bit of man meat in kebabs now and then, just like you get it in pies, snags, pasties and every fucking thing. It's like nuts - no matter how hard you try to keep em out, they turn up in every bit of food on the market.

I was talking to Alvin from the kebab shop the other day about this, and he told me the human content of kebabs is only a tiny proportion anyhow - about fifteen percent or summat.

What I'd do, as prime minister, is get a warning put on everything, just to cover our arseholes - "WARNING: MAY CONTAIN THAT BLOKE DOWN THE ROAD WHO CARKED IT OF CANCER"

PDB) You worked at Hoppers, which was a wine bar. Do you think it'll start attracting a lot of French lesbians because of the successs of your memoirs?

Royston) With all the nice food we got in Mangel, I'm surprised the French ain't here already. They love their scran, don't they? But like I said, I ain't never actually met a French person.

You don't get many in the Mangel area who ain't derived from it, truth to tell. I heard they dug a tunnel under the Pacific Ocean, connecting England and France. If they want to crawl through that fucking thing, with all them worms and centipedes and what have you, that's up to them.

But I'll tell you one thing - they won't find no frogs' legs for sale at Alvin's. THAT is just fucking barbaric.

Thanks Royston.

You can find out more about Roytson and his campaign here

And here

And here

And here

The North Will Rise Again - March updates

The NORTH Will Rise Again

March has been a good month for northern crime, thriller and horror writers.

look at this lot:

Broken Dreams by Nick Quantrill

‘Broken Dreams’ has been released into the world. If you’d like to buy, you can get it from any of the online links below, in any good bookshop or at the forthcoming events. It costs £7.99 and postage and packing is free if you order direct from, Caffeine Nights.

http://www.cnpublishing.co.uk/titles/broken-dreams-nick-quantrill

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Broken-Dreams-Nick-Quantrill/dp/0955407028/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267905715&sr=8-1

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/nick+quantrill/broken+dreams/7316156/

Matt Hilton

Judgement & Wrath

Judgement and Wrath is out in paperback, in the UK and will be featured in most high street bookshops, independents and at all the major supermarkets.

.Radgepacket 4 - Ray Banks, Danny King, Andy Rivers, Paul D. Brazill and many more.

Within these pages you will find gem after gem' - Author Sheila Quigley

Byker Books' ceaseless quest to bring you the the unsigned and the unhinged continues. If you like your fiction industrial strength then, with over twenty tales of murder, mayhem and madness from the Inner Cities, there’s something in here for you!

Available NOW from AMAZON!

Howl: Dark Tales of the Feral and Infernal

By Mark Anthony Crittenden

Thirty-three savage tales from Ramona Thompson, Gayle Arrowood, Gregory Miller, Cathy Buburuz, Lee Hughes, Jason Michel, Erin Cole, Carrie Clevenger, James Hilton, Barry J. Northern, B.A. Sans, Matthew C. Funk, Jodi MacArthur, Maria Protopapadaki-Smith, Deborah Walker, Paula Ray, Christopher Jacobsmeyer, Jason A. Lavertue, Brad Nelson, John "JAM" Arthur Miller, Annemarie Bogart, John C. Mannone, Paul D. Brazill, Richard Godwin, Rebecca Nazar, David Bernstein, Billy Burgess, Angel Zapata, Emma Kathryn, Mark Anthony Crittenden, and Brian K. Ladd.

Okay, not so many northerners in the last one but Mazz is from Leeds. Now.

NEEDLE MAGAZINE

COMING SOON THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE NEW PRINT NOIR ZINE: Stories from Kieran Shea, Kent Gowran, Eric Beetner, Hilary Davidson, Cormac Brown, Nathan Singer, Chad Rohrbacher, Keith Rawson, Patti Abbott, Dave Zeltserman, Paul D. Brazil, Sandra Seamans, Jedidiah Ayres... yes, I'm in with that lot! Chuffed, I am... More info here.

Royston Blake at BRIT GRIT

ROYSTON BLAKE talks about the FREE THE MANGEL ONE campaign over at Al Griffith's BRIT GRIT blog. Get yer neck over there!

FLASHBACK: Old Town, midnight by Paul D. Brazill

Old Town, midnight by Paul D. Brazill

The moonlight oozed across the dank cobblestones like quicksilver; creeping between the cracks, crawling into the gutters. Howls, sliced the silence. Lara shivered, pulling the fur close to her flesh. Each heartbeat was like the tick of a clock. As the limousine growled into view, heavy footsteps shuffled closer.

OLD Town, midnight was at Blink Ink Print last year.

FLASHBACK: The Goodbye Kiss by Paul D. Brazill

The Goodbye Kiss by Paul D. Brazill

The Salutation Bar was stiflingly hot and cluttered with the usual hodge podge of misfits, waifs and strays. Walter sat at a table by the window watching the streamers of steam rise from his muddy coffee. Beside him, a gangling scarecrow of a man slurped his beer with all the enthusiasm of an ex-con in a bordello. Each sip was like leaky tap drip, drip, dripping throughout a sleepless night.


Outside, the cloak of darkness had draped itself over the city, and the moon bit into the sky like a fang. The night was suddenly filled the crackle of exploding fireworks as Lena oozed into the bar like mercury. She stood before Walter and a chill of recognition sliced through him. She nodded and he stood.

The next day a church bell echoed through the granite autumn morning as Walter lay slumped against a gravestone. On his forehead, a smear of lipstick and a perfect bloody circle were all that remained of Lena’s goodbye kiss.

The Goodbye Kiss has been AT THE BIJOU and at PULP METAL MAGAZINE

Warsaw Moon (Part One) at disenthralled #6

There is a stonking new issue of Waler Conley's disenthralled out now.

Flash and poetry by Bruce Brown, Petra Whiteley, Janeen Chabot, offbeatjim, Robert Crisman, Quin Browne, Michael J. Solender, Mary Mills .

Photography by Jenny May Peterson, Paul Dutra, Sarah R. Bloom, Steve Pacuk, Meredith Kleiber and Gwyn Michael ....

and the first part of my serial WARSAW MOON ... pop over THERE ...

Free Short Story from Nicole Hadaway

If you click on THIS link you can get to SMASHWORDS and download Nicole Hadaway's fab short story New Orleans, 1842 fro FREE.

It features her vampire protagonist, Miranda, in a New Orleans setting and it's got voodoo too!

Can't say fairer than that,eh?

FLASHBACK: Right IN The Kisser by Paul D. Brazill

RIGHT IN THE KISSER
By Paul D. Brazill

Looking at the photo, it was like being back in Dallas.

The motorcade was an uncoiled python creeping down the boulevard. Nick was crouched over on a grassy knoll, a high powered rifle in his hands.

Nick's arthritic hands shook as he stuffed the photo in a file along with the newspaper clippings and the photos of the other hits.

He'd hoped to retire and leave it all to the bad dreams but today he needed to do one last job.

Nick slowly walked into the bedroom, the rifle behind his back.

'Darling, it's time for your shot,' he said.

The end.

Right In The Kisser was at FLASHSHOT on 25 February 2010