Occasionally Horrific

MAMMOTH BOOK OF BODY HORROR

2012-03-04T05:40:00.005-08:00

CONTENTS

Transformation - Mary Shelley
The Tell-tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe
Herbert West: Re-animator - H.P. Lovecraft
Who Goes There? - John W. Campbell
The Fly - George Langelaan
Tis The Season To Be Jelly - Richard Matheson
Survivor Type - Stephen King
The Body Politic - Clive Barker
The Chaney Legacy - Robert Bloch
The Other Side - Ramsey Campbell
Fruiting Bodies - Brian Lumley
Freaktent - Nancy A. Collins
Region Of The Flesh - Richard Christian Matheson
Walking Wounded - Michael Marshall Smith
Changes - Neil Gaiman
Others - James Herbert
The Look - Christopher Fowler
Residue - Alice Henderson
Dog Days - Graham Masterton
Black Box - Gemma Files
The Soaring Dead - Simon Clark
Polyp - Barbie Wilde
Almost Forever - David Moody
Butterfly - Axelle Carolyn
Sticky Eye - Conrad Williams

It's surprising that a history of body horror in literature hasn't been done before now - so thanks to Marie O' Regan and Paul Kane for this treasure trove of stories - ranging from some classics in the genre, The Tell-Tale Heart, Survivor Type and The Body Politic to some stories that will almost certinaly become classics of their time - the absurdist, very entertaining shocker Polyp to the brilliantly executed Sticky Eye - one of my favourite new stories in this anthology.

There are teeny let-downs with this anthology - no introduction from the editors - it would have been nice to read of how/why the anthology came to be, etc - and also a missed opportunity in not reprinting Spurs by Tod Robbins - which in turn was the source material for the greatest body horror story of them all, Tod Browning's controversial film Freaks.

But that aside - a corker of an anthology - always a pleasure to read Survivor Type again and an honour to finally read Who Goes There by John W. Campbell - the basis for The Thing and if I'm not mistaken this is one of the very first appearances of this short story in an anthology.

9.5/10

Has THE UNSPOKEN been silenced?

2012-03-03T10:47:00.004-08:00

Some sad news - THE UNSPOKEN charity anthology, edited by Willie Miekle and due to be published by Dark Continents looks like it won't be coming out in the forseeable future, as Dark Continents have pulled out citing that they have had 'internal changes and just can't take on much more'.

I'm going to be very brief but the artist, authors and the editor have given their talent and stories for free, Dark Continents would, I'm sure, get their cost of printing the books back and to all intents and purposes had ALREADY taken on the book and pulling out at this late juncture is all a bit crap and is a blow to the charity/charities that would benefit from the books publication.

Here are the contents:

Ramsey Campbell - Introduction
Tim Lebbon - Just Breathe
Simon Kurt Unsworth - Photographs of Boden
Steven Savile & Steve Lockley - The Last Gift
John Shirley - Where the Market's Hottest
Stephen James Price - Pages of Promises
Stephen Volk - Bless
Scott Nicholson - Heal Thyself
William Meikle - Metastasis
Nancy Kilpatrick - Alien Love
David Riley - A Girl, a Toad and a Cask
Allyson Bird - Oyster Pink
Johnny Mains - The Cure
Guy N Smith - The Big One
Pete Crowther - Cankerman
Steve Duffy - X for Henrietta
Gary McMahon - Bitter Soup

Now, this is a very attractive line-up with many big names and established authors involved. Surely there has to be a publisher out there willing and able to take on the book? You'll get kudos and be doing something for a good cause.

SCREAMING BOOK OF HORROR - UPDATE 3

2012-02-01T02:26:00.000-08:00

I am very happy to announce that Alison Littlewood, author of A Cold Season, will be joining The Screaming Book of Horror with her story 'The Swarm'.

M.R. James

2012-01-30T06:18:00.000-08:00

As with probably everyone I know, I am a massive fan of M.R. James. I recently framed a drawing of Montague Rhodes James by Les Edwards with an original letter signed by James himself. It looks stunning and am very proud to own both.

SCREAMING BOOK OF HORROR - UPDATE 2

2012-01-17T03:58:00.000-08:00

I am extremely happy to announce the inclusion of an unpublished story by the late John Brunner into THE SCREAMING BOOK OF HORROR, published by Screaming Dreams in September. Originally to be published in 1995/96 - LARVA was sadly shelved due to John's death and and has remained in a private archive until now.

SCREAMING BOOK OF HORROR - UPDATE

2012-01-11T17:17:00.001-08:00

Have spent the last couple of months working away on a new anthology, The Screaming Book of Horror which will be published in September, just in time for Fantasycon.

The line-up is:

One of the Family – Bernard Taylor
Larva - John Brunner
Glory and Splendour – Alex Miles
What Shall We Do About Barker? – Reginald Oliver
Cut! – Anna Taborska
Old Grudge Ender – David A. Riley
The Christmas Toys – Paul Finch
The Quixote Candidate – Rhys Hughes
Helping Mummy – Kate Farrell
The Iron Cross – Craig Herby
The Baby Trap – Janine Wood
The Club – Sara Brunsdon
Sometimes You Think You Are Alone – Alison Moore
The Tip Run – Johnny Mains

This will be my third anthology. I am very mindful that while I have been extraordinarily lucky with the way the previous books were received, now isn't the time to become sloppy and pick stories just for the sheer hell of it. Choosing the stories for SBOH has been very difficult but extremely rewarding. There are still three stories to come, but these will be written when the authors in question have time to fit them into their schedules. All I can say is that I believe I have chosen a range of eclectic, horrific and succinctly-told tales of terror.

This will be my second book with Screaming Dreams. The first was my non-fiction effort Lest You Should Suffer Nightmares and Steve Upham did a really brilliant job with the book; the end product looked stunning and I knew that I wanted to work with him again, and I'm glad that he felt the same! The cover to this new anthology is rather lush, evoking the old anthologies of the 70s and 80s which is no bad thing, but the stories are definitely of the here and now!

So, stories by such seasoned veterans as Bernard Taylor, Reggie Oliver, David A Riley and Anna Taborska amongst others, and tales from authors new to the genre - Alex Miles, Kate Farrell and Janine Wood.

More news on the remaining three authors and their stories as and when!

Hammer Film Reviews

2012-01-05T11:30:00.001-08:00

THE BRIGAND OF KANDAHAR:
Ronald Lewis plays Robert Case, a mixed race lieutenant who has been discharged from the British Army because he was having an affair with another soldiers wife, but it goes much deeper than that – the racism and jealousy of his fellow and commanding officers are the main reasons. Sentenced to jail for ten years, his servant kills the guards and frees him. Case escapes and joins rebel Bengali tribesmen led by the irrepressible Eli Khan (Oliver Reed) and together they fight the colonial enemy.

THE SCARLET BLADE:
Set during the English Civil War, love blossoms between two people in opposing camps – the Roundheads and the Cavaliers, however the Cromwellian Colonel Judd does not understand his daughters Royalist sympathies. Oliver Reed also stars in a very early role as the laconically sly Captain Sylvester.

Hammer Film Productions were not known for their horror input until the late 50s, and once the horror line was established non-genre films were few and far between, but they were still being made and in the 60s The Stranglers of Bombay, Sword of Sherwood Forest, Pirates of Blood River and The Viking Queen tried, sometimes in vain, to emerge from the shadows of their darker counterparts. Two films, both directed by John Gilling (of Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile fame) and both starring Oliver Reed have been released by Studio Canal.

The best out of the two is undoubtedly THE SCARLET BLADE, often lovely and rich set designs, a brooding and dangerous Oliver Reed and a film that has some lovely set pieces, lovely costume design and some swashbuckling sword fights. I really do enjoy films like this and it’s definitely worth an afternoon’s viewing – if only for the atrocious make up job Hammer stalwart Michael Ripper sports as the leader of the gypsy camp. No special features apart from an ‘alternative beginning’.

Sadly, THE BRIGAND OF KANDAHAR is a mess of a film, cheap wobbly sets, most of the battle scenes have been lifted from the 1956 film Zarak. It truly is laughable, actors fight in front of a screen projection of Zarak and this detracts from what could have been a rather enjoyable romp. Oliver Reed makes the most out of his screen time, playing a rather unhinged chap. Only to be watched once, and by completists only, but not without some humour. No extras.

2012 is the year I vowed to try and watch every Oliver Reed film he’s ever acted in, so am pleased to have been able to watch these two rarities, and one out of two aint bad.

Both films are available on dvd for £15.99 each. Available January 16, 2012.

National Short Story Day

2011-12-22T01:19:00.000-08:00

As today is National Short Story day - I thought I'd post a free tale for you to get your teeth into. This is one of the very first short stories I ever wrote - it's very amateur, not a horror story (sorry!) and only decided to post it when I discovered it on a CD last night and decided to give it a small clean up and make a few changes. I quite like it, it's quaint and a bit simple. Just like me.

The Remains of the Hypnodog
Johnny Mains

Hypnodog had, quite simply, surpassed legend. In our school he was worshipped as fervently as God was in morning assembly. One day someone brought in a ragged shard of newspaper with a picture of Harry the Hypnodog on it and we all stared at it, wishing we all had a dog that could make people become chickens or pretend they loved Margret Thatcher.

Then one day, Harry was killed by a man who didn’t like the way his wife cuddled up with Harry’s owner, Jericho Nights. Harry was found nailed to the front door of Flat 33b which was then Jericho’s current abode.

Harry’s death made the newspapers and he was buried with much aplomb and ceremony. The only local celebrity to have received such interest in the past was Jimmy Jinks, a train buff who wore women’s dresses. He was hit by the 3:15 from Stanwick after one of the heels on his new shoes snapped and he fell off the platform.

Harry faded from our hearts and minds and his owner tried to bring in a new act called Minky the Mindreader; a mongoose with severe biting habits. Minky failed to catch on and after losing all of his money with a bad gambling habit, Jericho skipped town.

*

My name is Terry Burke, I’m thirty two years old and one day, my closest friends and I were sitting in the garden, drinking beers and congratulating ourselves on a good barbecue well done. We were all sitting there, nice and sated, when Lisa Green who was my first girlfriend when I was thirteen but who went on to marry my best buddy Frank came out with: ‘Does anyone remember Hypnodog?’

We all burst into gales of laughter. Hypnodog! My wife, Angela, spat out her drink as she thought she was going to choke on it.

‘Wait up a moment!’ she said, going into the house.

She came back with a small shoebox that had childish scribbles all over it. I looked at her quizzically. She gave me an embarrassed shrug of the shoulders and sat down on my lap and opened the box up.

‘This is my secret box I had when I was a kid,’ she said to squeals of approval and more laughter. ‘And this is probably worth its weight in gold.’

She brought out a sheet of paper and started to unfold it. It was brown with age and quite big, and when it was fully opened we stared at it in silent worship. It was a flyer for one of Hypnodog’s shows that he regularly did at The Stour Tavern which sadly burnt down to the ground in an insurance scam in 1997 and was never rebuilt. Tesco’s bought the land and there the shop still stands.

‘My GOD,’ I whispered. ‘That’s amazing. Why haven’t I seen this before? It should be framed for the whole world to see!’ I gently took the brittle piece of paper from her and looked at Harry, sitting on a plump cushion, smiling with his tongue hanging from the side of his mouth.

Angela spoke softly.

‘I saw him perform, once. Remember when my dad was in the hospital after that accident he had at work?’ We all nodded silently. Amos had nearly lost his leg to someone’s slackness in the local curtain pole factory. He still walked with a limp today.

‘Well when he got better he promised me that he would take me to see Harry the Hypnodog. I was excited, but my dad swore me to secrecy. Anyways we went to The Stour, my dad bought me a bottle of coke and a bag of prawn cocktail and we sat at one of the tables at the front. The stage wasn’t much, just had a chair and a table on it. Well...the man who owned Harry came out and there was no sign of the dog. Then all of a sudden the bloody thing came tearing from the back of the room, past us on the table and leapt onto the stage!’

‘You weren’t chosen were you?’ I asked, my voice tinged with foreboding.

‘No but my Dad was,’ Angela grinned.

We all burst out laughing.

‘That man...Jericho...went straight into the act,’ Angela continued. ‘He must have gotten Jeb the landlord to put on a tape because this creepy whale music started to hiss out of the speakers. He looked at the audience, there was about thirty of us and he just kind of fixated straight onto my dad. He pointed at him and told him to come on the stage. My dad told him to fuck off, then he realised that he was swearing in front of his little girl. I pleaded with him to go and do it. He downed his pint and stomped onto the stage, saying if he turned him into a bloody chicken he was going to rip the dog’s head off.

My dad sat down on the chair, and Harry jumped onto the table. Harry just looked at him, and you could see it unnerved my dad because he started to squirm about on his chair. Then Harry just let out three short yips and my dad was out for the count, just like that!’

‘NO WAY!’ we all screamed.

‘Jericho looked at us and smiled, one guy shouted ‘get his undercrackers on his head!’ But Jericho told Harry to get off the table and the dog did and jumped off the stage and sat by me and started to lick my hand. Jericho went up to my dad, bent down and whispered in his ear. My dad got up, looked into some blank space and...’ the smile slowly started to fade from Angela’s face.

‘...My dad started to cry. I mean he started to sob. His body was heaving. I got all scared and went to run on the stage, but the dog – he was gripping onto my sleeve with his teeth! The more I pulled the firmer his grip was. I started to cry and everyone was looking at my dad and no-one came to help me. Then dad started to speak – shouting about an old guy. It was as if he was 10 years old again. Jericho asked him what was happening and he sobbed that the man was dragging his friend away...under the bridge to the river. My dad bent right over and picked something up off the floor. He said it was a stone and he kept crying and throwing his arm forward. Jericho asked him what happened next – ‘the man’s kneecap’s broke’. He kept saying it. Over and over. No-one else could understand him after that. But I heard him say ‘his leg’s broke and he drowned.’

I gripped Angela hard as she started to cry at the memory.

‘It’s okay my love, you don’t have to go on, and that bloody dog has just slipped down a notch or two in my estimations’ I whispered gently.

‘It’s okay.’ She took a deep breath.

‘Harry let go of my sleeve, and I ran up to the stage and hugged my dad’s legs. Harry barked three times and my dad came to, looked down at me then realised that he had been crying. He got angry and nearly punched Jericho, when the landlord Jeb, came onto the stage and said it was okay – he had been making him peel an onion while in the trance. My dad looked at me and I nodded – and he looked at the crowd who all nodded in agreement. ‘It was some bloody onion!’ someone shouted, and everyone started laughing – dad didn’t notice my tears.

It wasn’t until I was much older, I bumped into Jeb – he had sold the pub on after his daughter died in that car crash – and he told me that he had been the boy that filthy old man had grabbed.’

We all sat there in stunned silence as Angela got up off my lap and gently took the flyer off of me.

‘Maybe that’s better being put back in the box for another day,’ she said.
Angela took the box and walked back into the house. I looked at my friends; Frank, Lisa and Alex who now spent most of his days sunning it up in Spain with his timeshare business. We had all grown up together in this town and had seen and heard of many things. But that little story was not one of them and one never to be repeated.

We all drank our beer in silence and after a while Angela came back out looking a bit more refreshed, though still red-eyed. Alex began to drink a little bit more quickly and more often. After the fourth visit to the ice bucket where the drinks were I made a funny comment about him drinking to forget the night. We all laughed but he started to look guilty about something. I met his gaze a few times and he just looked away quickly. His face was starting to go beetroot red.

‘What’s up, Alex?’

‘Nothing. Everything’s fine,’ he lied.

We were all on the case then, asking him what the matter was. You could see that something was eating him up.

‘Okay...I’ve got my own story about that bloody dog,’ he grumbled after coming back with another beer. ‘But I guarantee that whatever love you all feel for me will vanish...’ He let that hang for a moment as we all studiously disagreed with him.
‘That dog...he meant the world to me. I was having a rough time with it as you know,’ we all nodded in sympathy – his childhood had been by far the most traumatic. ‘Just hearing tales of this dog and him being able to put people under was magic. I even tried to do hypnosis on my cousin who came to stay for the weekend. I quite liked her, but after three hours of trying to get her to sleep and nothing happening, I wanted to push her off a cliff! Well, when I found out he had died, I was just devastated. I went to visit his grave down by the park every day after school. I would sit there and sometimes I would cry, and sometimes I would pick my nose and other times I would think about getting out; escaping. Which I did, but you lot keep bringing me back.’

Alex looked at us all and grinned widely.

‘Needless to say, if it wasn’t for you – I would never have kept my parent’s house on. I would have burnt it down to the ground by now. Anyway, fast forward a few years and it’s the night of my eighteenth birthday. I was in the pub from three that afternoon, and I remember us being together for a while…but didn’t you all have a gig to go to and I was being a twat and didn’t want to come?’

‘The Heligoland Bites!’ Lisa shouted with delight.

‘Well, anyway – I found myself wandering through the park and I came to Harry’s grave. The stone marker that had been placed for him was long gone – some idiot must have pinched it or something, but I knew exactly where the little bugger was buried. I sat by him, talking away and then out of the blue I got up, went home and when it was dark, came back with a flashlight and a shovel.’

Alex looked at us shamefaced as we all burst into a chorus of disapproval.

‘You never fucking did!’ Frank shouted with disgust. ‘You dug up the Hypnodog?’

Alex took a long deep drink of his beer. ‘Yeah. I still have his skull...’

‘I went back to the park when it was pitch black and started digging. I’ll tell you something, they buried that little fella deep, I’ll tell you that. After a good fifteen minutes, I started to sober up a little and I nearly gave up the whole thing then and there, but I just wanted to see him, you know? So I kept on digging and it wasn’t long until I came to one of those grain bags. I burst it open and lifted out this really manky skull. Even though it had been in there for years; well it stunk to hell and I lost quite a bit of my liquid dinner, let me tell you. I put the earth back as good as I could, took the skull home and hid it behind the shed. The next day when my dad went out to work, I boiled it in the big soup pot we had, scraped the rest of the shit that was stuck on to it and then when it was dry, I took a rag with some bleach on it and started rubbing it till it started to look a little white. I kept it in a little box of its own, and when I left home the next year to find my fortune, I hid it up in the loft where it still is – to this day.’

Alex finished off his tale by cracking open another beer and near finishing it in one. It was turning out to be the night for stunned silences; that was sure.
‘I can’t believe that you took the skull!’ I moaned at him. ‘Harry the Hypnodog for fuck’s sakes! That’s like stealing the bones of the Pope!’

‘I know, I know – but at the end of the day people have fox skulls and stuff in their house. And to have something of Harry, something tangible...ach, I’ve really fucked up haven’t I?’ That a thirty three year old man was looking at us all pleading for forgiveness was kind of sad. Angela spotted that right away and sorted the problem out.

‘Well – you still have the skull, right?’

‘Yes, still in the loft.’

‘It’s easy then. We take a taxi round to yours, get the skull and then go to the park and put it back with the rest of the body. Simple as.’

‘What?’ I said.

‘You heard me Mr Cautious,’ Angela said getting up and stroking my face. ‘We return the skull to its rightful owner.’

‘Let me just finish this other beer off,’ Alex said.

*

We all sat silently in the cab on the way to Alex’s house looking at each other excitedly. This was the first time we had went on a group mooch together since we were nineteen. As the taxi zipped past the spot where the Stour Tavern used to be, we all raised our imaginary glasses and said a toast.

Arriving at Alex’s house, he told the taxi driver to wait as he nipped out, saying he would be back in five minutes. Ten minutes later and there was still no sign, and Lisa wanted me to go in, just in case he had fallen off the ladder or something as he was three sheets to the wind. As I was about to get out, he came out of the front door, carrying a small holdall and was limping heavily.

‘What happened?’ I asked as he groaned his way into the back seat.

‘Fell off the bottom rung, think I twisted my ankle,’ he said.

*

Night was drawing in fast as the taxi dropped us off at the park. Lisa held the holdall as Frank and I hefted Alex between us and we made our way to the spot where Harry the Hypnodog was. After a good walk to the other end of the park, we were there by the big old oak tree.

‘The resting place of Harry,’ Angela said with wonder. ‘I’ve been past here hundreds of times since then, used to walk this way to cut through to college and I totally forgot he was buried here.’

‘Well, like I said before, there’s no stone or anything, that was pinched ages ago,’ Alex said, taking the bag from Lisa and hopping next to the tree. He collapsed to his knees and brought out a spotlight, two trowels and a very dirty looking shoe box. We all squatted down as Alex lifted the lid off and turned the torch on.

He hadn’t done a bad job with the skull; it looked as good as it could. I was expecting to feel over awed or something by being in its presence, but I just felt sad. Harry was just a dog who may or may not have had an amazing ability to make people zone out.

‘Let’s dig,’ I said, grabbing a trowel.

It took fifteen minutes of feverish digging to get through to the remains of the Hypnodog. The skeleton was dirty and broken up badly. Alex took the skull and placed on top of what looked like a rib cage. It gleamed under the harsh torchlight, almost looking out of place. As I went to put a swathe of earth back in to cover it up, Angela reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

‘The poster,’ she said, placing it gently on top of the skull.

We had a moments silence, and then put the earth back in as good as we could.

‘Do you think anyone will notice?’ Frank said, looking at the obviously dug patch of earth.

‘If they do, they’ll just think that a fox had been digging or something,’ I said, taking Angela’s hand and pulling her close, giving her a kiss on the lips.
Alex pulled out his mobile phone and rang through to the taxi firm.
‘Where do you want to go,’ he asked us all.

‘Isn’t that new pub by the by-pass having its grand opening tonight?’ Lisa enquired?
‘Yeah! And, God yes, that Derek Accorah is doing a show there. See if he can get us in touch with the spirit of Harry the Hypnodog!’ I said.

We all dissolved into gales of laughter whilst Alex tried his hardest to translate giggles into directions to where we were going. It was a bit of a struggle, but he won out in the end.

BERNARD TAYLOR IS COMING TO NOOSE AND GIBBET!

2011-12-21T13:59:00.000-08:00

I am very proud to announce that Bernard Taylor, author of the novels Mother's Boys, The Godsend , The Reaping and Sweetheart, Sweetheart and who has appeared in anthologies such as The Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories, The First Orbit Book of Horror Stories and Short Sharp Shocks has given me his blessing to publish his debut collection This is Midnight next year.

The late, great Charles L Grant was a massive fan of Bernard's, several of his books have been turned into films and he's another author who I have long admired and always wanted to see a collection of his in print. And now it soon will be. Bernard has told me that he's written several new tales for the book and all I can say is watch this space for more news!

The OH Awards 2011

2011-12-11T11:30:00.001-08:00

Hello folks!

This blog will introduce the start of the Occasionally Horrific Awards - the non-prestigious nods and mentions to whom I think truly made my life that little bit better. As long as this blog continues so will the OHA's! These awards will embrace works both new and old. Just so you're not confused if something from the 60's is my top of the year!

BEST NOVEL

It was a tight one this year, and it came down to two books, one old, one new. How do you chose between them if one is THE CEREMONIES by T.E.D. Klein and the other is 11.22.63 by Stephen King? But chose I must and just because I think that this book will have the greatest impact on my life, even if the ending didn't exactly reach the heights of the excellence that came before. So, the winner of the BEST NOVEL award is: THE CEREMONIES by T.E.D. Klein.

BEST SHORT STORY

Have read hundreds upon hundreds of short stories this year, not only submissions for anthologies I'm working on - but read the entire canon of FONTANA GHOST STORIES and as many BEST NEW HORRORS as possible. But the winning short story comes from a writer who I've only discovered recently and it is Rhys Hughes with his stunning tale THE CHIMNEY.

BEST COLLECTION

Three contenders this year - Reggie Oliver's MRS MIDNIGHT, Rob Shearman's EVERYONE'S JUST SO, SO SPECIAL and Cynthia Asquith's THIS MORTAL COIL which I had been trying to track down for absolutely yonks and it's Cynthia's THIS MORTAL COIL that is the clear winner. The collection, published in 1947, retains a freshness and a genuine taste for the weird, and ghostly revenge that is still very readable.

BEST ANTHOLOGY

August Derleth was the man this year, finding a box of about fifteen of his books in the same charity shop. WHEN EVIL WAKES is the book I've enjoyed above all others if only for Sweets to the Sweet by Robert Bloch which is a brilliant wee story.

BEST AUTHOR

I seem to be rediscovering this author over and over again, no matter what books I find her in. Her output is truly staggering - and although there have been a few clunkers - mainly in children's anthologies where her style doesn't really translate, overall she is just superb and I would recommend her to anyone: ROSEMARY TIMPERLEY

BEST FILM

Lots of films watched this year and only because I checked my head in at the door and enjoyed the film for the silliness it was is LIMITLESS.

BEST SMALL PRESS

By far the most exciting, competitively priced and intriguing small press publishers whose books are challenging, mind-bending and genre defining. I've been sickened at some of the absolutely horrendous prices some anthologies and collections are going for, so CHOMU PRESS is a breath of fresh air. Long may they continue.

SADLY MISSED

John Burke, Alan Ryan, John Holmes, Francis King, Dulcie Gray.

Thanks for reading!

Mary Danby is coming to Fantasycon!

2011-12-03T01:25:00.001-08:00

Fantasycon 2012, which will be held at the Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton, Sept 27-30 have announced their first guests and I am delighted that my good friend, the legendary Mary Danby, will be the Special Editor Guest.

http://www.fantasycon2012.org/marydanby.htm

I believe that this will be Mary's first ever convention, so everyone bring your copies of The Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories and The Armada Ghost Book with you to be signed by her!

She will also be launching Party Pieces: The Horror Fiction of Mary Danby - her complete collected works, published by my imprint Noose & Gibbet, and I am also trying to persuade the cover artist, Jon Dixon to attend. I will also try and persuade Harry E Turner and Roger Clarke to come along too, as they were both published by Mary, but never got the opportunity to meet her.

Roll on September!

Johnny Mains

THE NASTY NEL SALE!

2011-10-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

HERE ARE THE FIRST 100 BOOKS OF MY NEW ENGLISH LIBRARY SALE!!!

NEW ENGLISH LIBRARY

1. COSA NOSTRA by Peter McCurtin (1^st ed 1972) Front cover slightly worn, spine creased, otherwise fine. Front cover photograph is of NEL artist Tony Masero. £2 MAFIA

2. TIGERMAN OF TERRAHPUR by Errol Lecale (1^st ed 1973) Front cover worn, spine creased, otherwise fine. £10 HORROR

3. KINGBLOOD by Stuart Jason (1^st ed 1974) Crease to front, spine lightly creased, crease on back. Otherwise fine. £3 SLAVER

4. THE VENOMOUS SERPENT by Brian Ball (1^st ed 1974) Spine lightly creased, back cover slightly worn, flatsigned ‘Brian Ball’ to f.e.p. Signature not verified. £8 HORROR

5. RUNNING by Chris Penn (1^st 1973) Spine creased, otherwise fine. Scarce. £12 FICTION

6. IN SEARCH OF DRACULA by R.T. McNally and R. Florescu (1^st NEL Mentor edition 1975) Remainder cut to bottom, stain on front cover, light crease to spine. £2 REFERENCE

7. THE MONSTER CLUB by Ronald Chetwynd Hayes (RPT 1981) Film-tie in, tiny snip from back cover, otherwise near fine. £10 HORROR

8. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS by Guy N. Smith (RPT 1975) Slight creasing to spine, otherwise fine. £5 DISNEY

9. VATHEK by William Beckford (1^st 1966) Slight stain to back cover, owner inscription inside front cover, otherwise fine. £2 GOTHIC

10. THE GIRL FROM H.A.R.D. : PERFECT ASSIGNMENT by James Moffat. (1^st 1975) Slight wear to front, otherwise fine. £5 SPY

11. THE KIDS by Tony Parsons (1^st ed 1976) Remainder cut to top of book, front cover creased, spine creased. Otherwise fine. VERY RARE - £30 CULTURE

12. KILLER CRABS by Guy N. Smith (1^st 1978) Slight wear to front and spine, otherwise a good, clean copy. £3 HORROR

13. GANG GIRLS by Maisie Mosco (1^st 1978) Remainder cut to top, otherwise a good, clean copy. £10 CULTURE

14. SKINHEAD FAREWELL by Richard Allen (1^st 1974) Slight wear to spine, otherwise a good, clean copy. £12 CULTURE

15. SORTS by Richard Allen (1^st 1973) Wear to spine, otherwise a good, clean copy. £5 CULTURE

16. TOP-GEAR SKIN by Richard Allen (1^st 1974) Wear to spine, otherwise a good, clean copy. £10 CULTURE

17. KNUCKLE GIRLS by Richard Allen (1^st 1977) Wear to spine, otherwise a good, clean copy. £15 CULTURE

18. SKINHEAD ESCAPES by Richard Allen (RPT 1972) Printer error on front cover, thin, white line runs down book. Other than that a good, tight copy. £10 CULTURE

19. PARADISE LOST by Laurence James (1^st 1984) Minor creasing to spine, otherwise a good, clean copy. £2 HORROR

20. EAT THEM ALIVE by Pierce Nace SOLD

21. THE TOUCH OF HELL by Michael R. Linaker (1^st 1981) A very good, tight, clean copy. £2 HORROR

22. THE SAVIOUR by Hugh Miller (1^st 1978) Remainder cut to bottom of book, otherwise a very good copy. £2 FICTION

23. THE SUCCUBUS by Kenneth Rayner Johnson (1^st 1980) Heavily creased spine, crease to both front and back covers. £1 HORROR

24. 144 PICCADILLY by Samuel Fuller (1^st 1973) Two punch marks that dent cover and first five pages – though not torn through. Remainder pen mark on top of book. Spine lightly creased. Still a very good copy of extremely rare book. £15 CULTURE

25. THE HOODS 3: THE POLITICIAN by Vincente Torrio (1^st 1976) Remainder cut to top of book, otherwise a good, clean copy. £2 MAFIA

26. THE RUN by Peter Cave. (RPT 1974) Front cover scuffed, biro graffiti from ‘Punk Rocker Aggro Louise’ on first three pages and on back page. £3 BIKER

27. SEXTRAP by Bill Turner (1^st 1969) Slight ding to top of spine, apart from that a very good, tight and clean copy of this book. £10 PORNY

28. THE WORLD OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Michael Harrison (1^st NEL Mentor 1975) Cover creased, otherwise a good, clean copy. £3 REFERENCE

29. NIGHT SHIFT by Stephen King (RPT 1982) A good, clean copy. £2 HORROR

30. THE SHINING by Stephen King SOLD

31. THE ELIXIR OF LIFE by W. Harrison Ainsworth (1^st 1966) Book very slightly warped, otherwise a good, clean copy. £3 HORROR

32. THE BAMBOO DEMON by Jory Sherman (1^st 1981) Spine creased, one page detached from book. £1 HORROR

33. THE PRISONER: WHO IS NUMBER 2 by David McDaniel (1^st 1982) A good, clean, tight copy. £8 TIE-IN

34. THE PLAYGROUP by Nancy Weber (1^st 1986) Spine lightly creased, otherwise a good, clean copy. £1 HORROR

35. IT by Raymond Hawkey (1^st 1984) Crease to front cover, spine slightly creased. £1 GHOST

36. PETER SELLERS: THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK by Peter Evans (1^st 1980) White cover has browned slightly due to age, spine slightly creased, otherwise a good, copy. £2 BIOGRAPHY

37. BOB DYLAN: POSITIVELY MAIN STREET by Toby Thompson (1^st 1972) Front and back covers very slightly rubbed, spine slightly creased, but otherwise a good, tight copy. £3 BIOGRAPHY

38. THE MAKING OF TANIA: THE PATTY HEARST STORY by David Boulton (1^st 1975) Front cover extremely rubbed by spine, spine sunbleached. £1 BIOGRAPHY

39. THE PHANTOM SHIP by Frederick Marryat (1^st 1966) Chips, dings and creases to front cover, back cover partially ripped up spine. Reading copy only. £1 GOTHIC

40. DEATH CLOUD by Michael Mannion (RPT 1977) Minor mark to front cover, but otherwise a tight, clean copy. £3 HORROR

41. THE APOCALYPSE by Jeffrey Konvitz (RPT 1979) Spine creased, otherwise a good, clean copy. £2 HORROR

42. THE TOMMYKNOCKERS by Stephen King (True 1^st 1988) This is the very rare ‘Early Export Edition’ – so rare it’s unlisted on the stephenkingcollector.com website (website owner pitched a fit when I told him about it). Front cover slightly creased, spine creased, blue sticker attached to bottom of spine. £30 HORROR

43. REBEKKA MOON by Michele Spence (1^st 1985) Book in overall good condition, spine slightly creased. £2 HORROR

44. THE NEW ADVENTURES OF FRANKENSTEIN 4: FRANKENSTEIN MEETS DRACULA by Donald E Glut (1^st 1977) Spine creased, otherwise a good, clean copy. £10 HORROR

45. JACKALS OF THE REICH: THE FIRST FULL ACCOUNT OF HITLER’S BRITISH CORPS by Ronald Seth (1^st 1973) Front and back cover rubbed, spine heavily creased. £3 NON-FICTION WAR

46. THE TRIBE by Bari Wood (1^st 1982) Spine creased, book slightly warped. £1 HORROR

47. THE WALKING DEAD by Guy N. Smith (1^st 1984) Faint crease to top right of front cover, otherwise it looks like new. £2 HORROR

48. THE SPACEMAN AND KING ARTHUR by Heather Simon (1^st 1979) Crease to back cover, otherwise in good overall condition. £2 DISNEY

49. PROPOSITION 31 by Robert H. Rimmer (1^st 1969) Creasing to front cover, spine creased. Good overall condition. £2 PORNY

50. YOUR NERVES: HOW TO REDUCE TENSION by? (1^st 1972) Overall a good, clean copy. £1 SELF-HELP

51. DRAGON SKINS by Richard Allen (1^st 1975) one crease to front cover, spine creased, a good, clean copy. £10 CULTURE

52. SMOOTHIES by Richard Allen (1^st 1973) Spine creased, apart from that it looks beautiful. £10 CULTURE

53. THE CONJURERS by David Gurney (1^st 1973) Marker remainder mark to top of book, slight crease on front bottom right, other than that a tight, clean copy. £3 OCCULT

54. THE HAMMER OF GOD by Alan Scholefield (1^st 1974) If it wasn’t so old it would look brand-new. A very tight, good looking copy. £3 HISTORICAL

55. OKTOBER by Stephen Gallagher (1^st 1989) Spine creased, overall a good, clean copy. £1 HORROR

56. EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENCOUNTER by Chris Boyce (1^st 1981) Some scuffing to the spine, but overall a good clean copy. £5 PARANORMAL

57. BLACKTOWER by Miriam Lynch (1^st 1967) Ripped sticker mark to front of book, spine ripped slightly at bottom. £2 GOTHIC

58. ‘SALEM’S LOT by Stephen King (Tie-in 1980) Spine creased, dings out of bottom of spine, scuff to front cover. Overall a good, clean copy. £2 HORROR

59. HOW TO LIVE WITH A NEUROTIC HUSBAND by Stephen Baker (RPT 1977)Ding and tiny tear across spine, otherwise a good, clean copy.£1 ENTERTAINMENT

60. SCORPION: SECOND GENERATION by Michael R. Linaker (1^st 1982) Booksellers stamp to inside cover, wet ink bled through first two pages. Heavy crease to back cover. £1 HORROR

61. GOERING’S DIARY by Edward Andrew Mann and Maurice Scofield (1^st 1971) Light creasing to spine, overall a good, clean copy. £2 WAR TIE-IN

62. JUST ASK THE LONELY by Vivien Tenny (1^st 1971) Heavy crease to back, slightly creased on front, spine creased. Otherwise in good overall appearance. £5 CULTURE

63. MOLESKIN JOE by Patrick Macgill (1^st 1973) Scuffs to spine and back cover, but overall a good, clean copy. £4 CULTURE

64. KING’S SLAVES by Leslie Gladson (1^st 1971) Brown stain on front cover, surface tear to front cover, spine creased. £1 SLAVER

65. EYES by Felice Picano (1^st 1979) Crease to back cover, overall a good, clean copy. £2 HORROR

66. THE LOVED AND THE LOST by Morley Callaghan (1^st 1966) Faint creasing to spine, yellow sticker on bottom of spine, overall a good, clean copy. £4 FICTION

67. THE PRISONER by Thomas M. Disch (RPT (1983) Crease running down along side on front cover, small crease to back cover, otherwise in overall good, clean condition. £1 TIE-IN

68. THE HARRAD EXPERIMENT by Robert H. Rimmer (RPT 1967) Spine creased and dinged, overall a good copy. £2 PORNY

69. DRACULA RETURNS by Robert Lory (1^st 1973) Bookseller stamp to inside front cover, slight scuffmarks, overall a good, clean copy. £3 HORROR

70. SWAMP GIRL by Evans Wall (1^st 1971) Slight crease on spine, a little grubby but overall a good copy. £10 SLAVER

71. THE HAUNTING OF WAVERLEY FALLS by Hugh C. Rae (1^st 1981) Surface tears and sticker wear to front cover, spine creased, a tired copy. £1 HORROR

72. THE ECHO ON THE STAIRS by Martin Jenson (1^st 1977) A few slight dings to spine, overall a tight, clean copy. £6 HORROR

73. THE NEOPHYTE by Guy N. Smith (1^st 1986) Apart from a slight crease to the back, this book is near mint. A stunning copy. £3 HORROR

74. SNAKES by Guy N. Smith (1^st 1986) Overall a tight, clean copy. £3 HORROR

75. THE NEW ADVENTURES OF FRANKENSTEIN #1 by Donald E. Glut (1^st 1977) Inscribed ‘To Johnny’, doodled on and signed by cover artist Tony Masero. Few faint creases to back cover, otherwise a good, clean copy. £10 HORROR

76. STAND UP AND FIGHT by Emil Brigg (1^st 1973) Small crease next to spine, otherwise a good clean copy. £2 WAR

77. WHEN MICHAEL CALLS by John Farris (1^st 1970) Printer’s error on front cover (illegible NEL brand and book number) Scuffing to front cover, crease to front cover, otherwise a good, clean copy. £3 HORROR

78. CROC by David James (RPT 1979) Remainder cut to front page, few slight dings to spine, otherwise a good, clean copy. £2 HORROR

79. SABAT 1 by Guy N. Smith (1^st 1982) Creases to spine, otherwise a good, clean copy. £3 OCCULT

80. TIBBS HOUSE by Sam Holroyd (1^st 1977) Creases to front, running down book, slight creases to back, otherwise a good copy. £2 HORROR

81. TRON by Brian Daley (1^st 1982) Few faint marks to book, otherwise a good, tight copy. £2 TIE-IN

82. THE TOWN THAT DIED by Michael J. Bird (1^st 1977) Remainder cut to top of book, otherwise a good, clean copy. £1 APOCALYPSE

83. THE SURVIVOR by James Herbert (RPT 1977) Faint reading creases to front and back cover, overall a tight reading copy. £2 HORROR

84. ALL IN A NIGHT by Jean Cayrol (1^st 1962) Book slightly warped, but otherwise a good copy of hard to source book. £5 EXISTENTIAL HORROR

85. THE STRANGE CASE OF Dr. JEKYLL AND Mr. HYDE by Robert Louis Stevenson (RPT 1975) Woolworths sticker to back of book and some faint scuffing, otherwise a good, tight copy. £2 HORROR

86. BLACK PRINCE by Stuart Jason (RPT 1974) Booksellers mark to front of book, spine creased, initials on front page. Otherwise a good, clean copy. £6 SLAVER

87. DOWN AND OUT IN BRITAIN by Jeremy Sandford (1^st 1972) Remainder mark in pen to bottom of book, otherwise in good, clean, condition. £3 COUNTER-CULTURE

88. SABLE DIANA by Clint Rockman (1^st 1973) Spine creased, sticker to fron cover, front cover scuffed, back cover scuffed. Otherwise a good copy. £3 SLAVER

89. SCORPION by Michael R. Linaker (1^st 1980) Overall a good, tight copy. £2 HORROR

90. JUDGEMENT DAY by Nick Sharman (1^st 1983) Apart from slight crease to front cover and a minor scuff to front, this is an excellent copy. £4 HORROR

91. THE ZONE 5: OVERKILL by James Rouch (1^st 1982) Sticker to spine, overall a good, clean copy. £5 WAR

92. FEAR AND TERROR GRIP THE CITY by Hal Ross (1^st 1977) Remainder cut to top, front cover creased and slightly grubby. £2 RESISTANCE

93. THE CORPSE by Carter Brown (1^st 1966) Apart from a few faint creases, a tight, clean copy. £1 CRIME

94. BAMBOO GUERILLAS by Guy N. Smith SOLD

95. THE OUTSIDER by Colin Leinster (1^st 1980) Small red sticker to spine, otherwise a good, tight copy. £2 TIE-IN

96. BOOT BOYS by Richard Allen (RPT 1972) Scuffing to front cover, otherwise a good, clean copy) £3 COUNTER-CULTURE

97. THE RATS by James Herbert (RPT 1976) Heavy crease to front cover. £1 HORROR

98. HERO AND THE TERROR by Michael Blodgett (1^st 1983) Faint crease to spine, otherwise a good, clean copy. £3 THRILLER

99. THE SPEAR by James Herbert (1^st 1980) Creases to spine, crease to back cover, overall a good, clean copy. £2 HORROR

ROGUE ANGELS by Peter Cave (RPT 1973) Creased spine, grubby back, inscribed by ‘Bob Law’ (minimalist artist?) overall a good copy. £15 BIKER

ALL WANTS, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO johnnymainsATrocketmailDOTcom and have NEL in the subject title. I WILL THEN SEND YOU PAYMENT DETAILS ETC.

ANOTHER 100 LISTED IN A FEW DAYS!

My FCON blog

2011-10-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

I said I wouldn't, but I have, so there.

It's been a weird old time since I won the BEST ANTHOLOGY AWARD at Fantasycon. From the moment I won it, I was congratulated by ten people who I knew didn't believe I had won it fairly, or I didn't earn the win or just didn't like me plain as day but smiled and bullshitted to my face. Within 24 hours of winning the award I had 60 people on Facebook request to be 'friends' with me - many whom I don't know and presume they think it's a high point of their life to be an online friend with someone who's ego may have been stroked a little by the win, but still has to be told by the wife to scrub the skidmarks from the shitter after an exuberant dump. Most of those are still hanging. At the end of the day I am beyond honoured and it was the highpoint of many years of work. I never did the book with the hope that one day I'd be getting an award, I just wanted to get a book out to say thank you to loads of Pan Horror authors who scared the shite out of me when I was a lad. The competition was immense, and I was surprised, but really, really grateful to the portion of 111(final number?) people who voted in the BEST ANTHOLOGY category... :P

And then of course there was the hoo-ha. This I shall continue to be quiet about as people who I like are on both sides of the argument and it's not my place to make comment on that. Sorry. There it is. I WILL say however, I thought that God was a bitch for making the weekend too hot and that the really obese man standing behind me at the awards ceremony was a bottle of wine away from dying. If he's dead now, I'm sorry, but jesusmaryandjoseph he was ill.He should have bought a battery operated fan or something.

I had a really awful time getting to Brighton from Devon and it cost me a £90 taxi ride to get there from London because there was a problem on the track and I was stuck in the middle of no-where. Then the taxi I was in was stuck in a massive queue going down to Brighton. With it being the hottest day and all, every idiot thought it would be a great time to go to the seaside.

After I finally made it, I checked into the lovely B&B called HOME only ten minutes walk away from the convention hotel and a place I shall recommend to everyone wanting to take a trip to Brighton. Then at the convention hotel I had a pint, said hello to a few people and then went to the dealers room, bought a few paperbacks, had a few more drinks and then it was time to launch my new book, LEST YOU SHOULD SUFFER NIGHTMARES, published by Stephen Upham's SCREAMING DREAMS. It was the first time I saw the finished book, and what a job! It was lovely and really great to see Stephen Jones come up and buy a copy for Randy Broeker (one of my heroes) and also to give Steve a review copy for next years BNH.

Saturday night was a blur, but I DID have a lovely dinner with the one and only Anne Billson - one of the sweetest people I;ve ever known - and we had a good old jolly chat. There was the ALT-DEAD launch at around 8pm, sat next to Mr. SKU, and had a giggle with him. He was signing copies of his new collection. I was signing copies of ALT-DEAD which contains my story THE JACKET. Then after that it was to the hotel next door to catch the launch of A BOOK OF HORRORS and grab my copy and get it signed. Then after I took all of my books home I went back, straight to the dance floor and partied like it was 1999. Or something. Rob Shearman looked lickingly sweaty. Cavan Scott looked intense. Tom Fletcher was beautiful. Nicky from Quercus was stunningly awesome. I was fat, bearded, but grooving as only a fat bastard from Scotland can; with unnerving grace...

After a great chat until 4am, I went to bed - then back to the hotel for 8:30 am. I think I wandered around for a bit - chatted to Cavan who kindly looked after my bag, I think I ate something. Then the awards. I only had two beers after I won because I knew I would have a fucker of a train journey home on the Monday. Spent that evening being congratulated, (what was very cool was that Brian Aldiss and John Avide Lindqvist both came up to me personally to congratualte me) congratulating others and I THINK that was the night Anne, Maura McHugh and I just talked about Footloose and other films that made an impact on us for whatever bizarre reason. Went to bed around 1am - then got up and buggered off to Devon when I moved into a house I had never seen before and had to unpack 80+ boxes of books...

So thanks to everyone I met, bought books from, had drinks with, spewed shit with, had fun with. It really WAS fun. And I will be there next year. You betcho life on it!

THE JACKET TO BE FILMED AS A MINI-SERIES

2011-10-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

Am very proud to announce that my short story THE JACKET, first published in ALT-HORROR (Hersham Books - 2011) will be turned into a mini-series for ZOGHOGG TV. The story, set post WW2 and in my fictional town Effingham-on-the-Stour, concerns a bullied young girl who is given a jacket from her Grandad and it has protective but destructive powers.

Originally David from ZogHogg and I talked about making the story into a short film, but we both decided that there was more scope in turning it into a mini-series. Due in 2012 - and hopefully will have lashings of claret!

A new house, a new office...

2011-10-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

After the excitement of Fantasycon and the British Fantasy Awards, where I was thrilled to have won the award for Best Anthology, it was time to go home to Devon and to my new home. Greeting me was my new office, crammed to the gunnels with all of my boxes and bookcases. So on Tuesday I started to take everything out of the room box by box, put together the bookcases and then section the books into their respective sections: Paperback anthologies, hardback anthologies, paperback novels, small press novels and anthologies, John Burke books, signed books, single author collections, my stuff, reference books and Herbert van Thal books.

Finally, this morning, the last picture was hung on the wall and the office is looking like a pretty comfy space to work in. I've lost a good 25 square foot from the old office in Norwich, and quite a few boxes of books have had to go up into the loft - but the overall effect is comfortable without looking too cramped.

Now the room is done, what will I be doing, I hear you ask? Well..

Slowly putting together THE SCREAMING BOOK OF HORROR STORIES for Screaming Dreams - got some very exciting authors and stories coming in thick and fast and the book should hopefully be coming out next September.

I've also joined forces with Peter Mark May to start up MAINS & MAY - a small imprint that will be solely dedicated to bringing out chapbooks containing three or four stories from unknown authors. The first person on the books is going to blow everybody away - his talent is just something else. More news on that in due course.

On the writing front I've been tooling about really - have been writing the prequel to my most favourably received story, WITH DEEPEST SYMPATHY, starring the elegiac tyrant, Mrs Primrose Hildebrand. This new story is called PRIM SUSPECT and deals with the issue of authors being unable to write about anything apart from authors who write about writing...

Other stories that I am working on is a Christmas story about a 300 year old pregnant Mrs Claus who hasn't had sex for over 150 years and a very strange tale called SELDOM SEEN that features the beheaded Simon of Sudbury trying to take his revenge on the ancestors of Wat Tyler.

That's it!

Johnny

John Burke (1922 - 2011)

2011-09-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

It was very sad indeed to learn that John Burke passed away on the 20^th Sept after a long illness. He was 89 and sincere condolences go to his wife Jean and his seven sons and daughters. With over 150 books credited to his name and ranging from science fiction to horror, non-fiction to Gothic Romance he has written it all; though to collectors of film tie-in paperbacks he his better known for works such as ‘The Hammer Horror Film Omnibus’, ‘Dr Terrors House of Horrors’, ‘Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines’, ‘Privilege’ and ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ to name but a few. But not only has John passed on, so to have the pseudonyms Jonathan Burke, J.F. Burke, Owen Burke, Robert Miall, Jonathan George, Robert Rodriguez, Martin Sands, Joanna Jones and Harriet Esmond.

My friendship with John was one of letters. I met him through Sam Youd (John Christopher) during the early course of my Pan Horror research in 2007. After a few tentative letters we were writing to each other a few times a week. With every letter I sent I would ask him a question about his career, and he would send pages of reminisces. It was these letters that spurred John on to look back over his correspondence, stories that he had written and discarded, one of which he dusted down, based on an outline he found from the 50s and shaped into a novel that was finished last year called THE NIGHTMARE WHISPERERS.

When I had made the decision to go ahead and try and edit an anthology of my own, containing stories written by Pan Horror authors, John was the first person I asked. In his letters he agreed to do so, and commented that he was having some problems with his foot, and the Doctor he had wasn’t helping much.

The next thing I heard was, in an email from his lovely wife Jean, where she told me that he had to have his foot amputated. For most people this would be a devastating blow, and John, in his twilight years would have to have a stairlift installed in his house, learn how to get in and out of his wheelchair and other challenges – but John seemed to handle it all with dignified stoicism. In fact, from his hospital bed he wrote the first story for my anthology ‘Acute Rehab’- sent to me a week after his operation and scribbled out on 10 pages of a reporter’s notebook. I spent that day typing it out onto the computer, printed out a copy and sent it back to him so he could make amendments where he saw fit. He contributed another story to the book, ‘The Stare’, which was a very melancholic and eerie tale, leaving you with a feeling of unease – an emotion he had wanted readers to experience from the early days of his supernatural writings.

It was also during this time I put together a website for him – www.johnburkeauthor.moonfruit.com – a place I will continue to build an archive of his life and works including photos, cover scans, letters and other emphera. I will use this as a plea to anyone who has anything to contribute the site to please do so.

The editor in John was as fierce as ever – once BACK FROM THE DEAD was published, he was glowing in his praise, but sent me a list of typos that should be corrected if the book was ever to be reprinted. And so it continued, from each book I sent him – he would be utterly fastidious with his proofing and at one point wrote a letter saying that the authors I emulated, “Lovecraft, Machen and James would be utterly appalled by my disregard of the English language.” I wasn’t offended, not in the slightest, this was just John’s way of getting me to really look at what I was writing, to strip down the English language to its nuts and bolts. I’m not there yet – but I now constantly refer to his letters where he teaches me how to write and edit to the best of my abilities.

I sometimes wonder why he took an interest in me – we were polar opposites – I’d like to think he knew that just sometimes enthusiasm wins out; and enthusiasm is something I have bucketloads of.

Due to working at Sainsbury’s and having a wife that preferred to holiday abroad rather than in this country it took two years to organise a trip up to see John and Jean. But finally we travelled up to Kirkcudbright, a town that utterly won me over with its charm, and stayed at the B&B two doors down from John’s house. We arrived just after lunch and left, drunk on fine whisky and full of good food just a touch before midnight. It was a day I shall never forget, not only was I meeting one of my heroes, I was allowed to see his office, all of his books AND get to spend time with him talking about everything under the sun. I was also allowed to ride the stairlift, but thought this would be taking John and Jean’s hospitality a little bit too far, so politely declined, though I desperately wanted to...

John signed the books I had brought up with me, and posed for the picture – where you can definitely see that three stiff drams have had their effect on me. And though I asked on a few occasions whether we were overstaying our welcome, we were assured that we were not. Jean and Lou sent a little time out in the garden, and John and I talked about the many different editions and languages his books had been printed in.

Lou and I left Kirkcudbright the next day, warm with the knowledge that we had cemented out friendship.

Over the years the amount of letters revealed that I could get a very decent interview out of it, detailing his life as one of the film tie-in writers of his generation. Of course, there were many strings to his bow as an author, non-fiction being another passion of his. Gradually I put together quite a big interview, sent it off to John for his approval and then sent it off to BEDABBLED magazine, a small press mag that ran it. John loved receiving it and it was brilliant to honour him and his work.

As John is known for predominantly for his tie-in work, there can be an oversight when it comes to his other work. He has had an utterly astounding life from working with people like Johnny Speight, Christopher Lee, John Osborne to being a pioneer of UK Science Fiction writing his historical non-fiction works and beyond.

Amongst the last contact I had with John was when BITE SIZED HORROR was published a few months ago. I decided to dedicate the book to him, so it was only fair that he got a free copy! He especially loved Reggie Oliver’s story and thought that my story was good enough, but I had a long way to go. Now John has passed on I feel I will always have a long way to go - but I will work hard on every story I write, with that the knowledge that John, wherever he is, will hopefully say – yes, much better, Johnny!

*This post has taken me a few days to write and I'm finishing it off while on the train, travelling to this years Fantasycon, where in a few hours I will be launching the biography of Herbert van Thal. The book is supplemented with interviews from several authors and John's interview, originally published in BEDABBLED is reprinted in it and I will be dedicating the book's launch in John's memory.

THE SCREAMING BOOK OF HORROR STORIES

2011-09-11T06:44:00.001-07:00

I am proud to announce that I will be working with Steve Upham at Screaming Dreams again, this time creating an original horror anthology called THE SCREAMING BOOK OF HORROR STORIES. Containing 15 tales from new, established and legendary authors it will be published next September. I will be open to submissions - from 2 - 5k in length, though longer works will be considered. More information will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

Any enquiries, please email screamingsubmissionsATgmailDOTcom

cheers

Johnny Mains

Lest You Should Suffer Nightmares

2011-09-06T00:19:00.000-07:00

Have just been sent the final cover to Screaming Dreams' next publication, my biography of Herbert van Thal, LEST YOU SHOULD SUFFER NIGHTMARES. Limited to only 100 hardback copies, this will be signed by both myself and the artist Les Edwards. This book is different to the first appearance of this biography which appeared in BACK FROM THE DEAD - more information has been added, letters from van Thal to several of his horror authors have been reproduced, a complete bibliography of van Thal's works are included here - as are interviews with Alex Hamilton, Conrad Hill, David A. Riley, the late Francis King, Gee Williams, James Jauncey, David Case and John Burke and to round the book off my SFX article on the Pan Horrors which originally appeared in the SFX Horror Special.

Launched at this coming Fantasycon - with copies available immediately afterwards from SCREAMING DREAMS - I can say that I am utterly chuffed that this book is coming out.

Johnny

John Holmes (1935 - 2011)

2011-08-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

It is with sadness that the family of the artist John Holmes have asked me to report his passing on August 17. He was 76. Known for his spectacular Surrealist artwork; including the iconic image of Germaine Greer's 'The Female Eunuch' and the paperback rendition of Peter Benchley's 'Jaws' - he has left behind a staggering body of work behind, be it the Ballantine Lovecraft books or the many covers for Mary Danby's 'Fontana Horror.'

Apart from doing an in-depth interview on his career for the Paperback Fanatic magazine, I also helped to exhibit the first showing of his horror works at 2010's World Horror Convention in Brighton and it was great to see him there amongst so many other artists whose work utterly defined the paperback landscape of the 70s and 80s. He was a very funny, dedicated and lovely person - and I will always think warmly of the times I spent with him, getting his painting's ready for the show, eating nice food and being staggered by the sheer amount of paintings he had stored under beds, down the sides of cabinets and in his shed. He was a true bear of a man, always a gent and he will be very greatly missed.

I can think of no better tribute than to let the man speak for himself - here is the interview in question. For those who wish to read it, can do so HERE. Journalists are free to quote from the interview, but must credit the source.

Johnny

Jimmy Sangster

2011-08-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

Jimmy Sangster has sadly died at the age of 83. He wasn't a friend, but he was an acquaintance - and is responsible for a little bit of what I have achieved today.

I first met Jimmy at the Hammer Horror 50th Anniversary at Bray. To be honest , he was the only person there I really wanted to talk to - I've always been more interested in the writers and directors than the actors (as nice as they all are). There was a massive group of people waiting to talk to him and get them to sign their stuff. I had brought my wee dictaphone with me, hoping to grab a few words. I grabbed him during a lull and had a brilliant chat, half of which I recorded for my allthingshorror website, half of which he regaled me with stories of certain Hammer actors and actresses and the ribaldry they got up to. Nothing too salacious, but it WAS off the record.

We swapped email addresses, and it wasn't till I had typed out the interview that I emailed him and asked if I could ask him a few questions. He obliged immediately and during the course of our emails, asked me what I was doing; I told him I was writing short stories and he asked me to send him one. I sent him 'The Trapper' - a tale about a man (the trapper in question) and his wife who are in the most desperate of situations. It was a bleak story, but really badly written. Jimmy looked at it and sent me it back, full of corrections and suggestions. I did as he asked and the story was immediately brilliant. Stephen Jones also looked at it, suggested a different ending - and the final story ended up in my collection 'With Deepest Sympathy' - and remains a story I am very happy with.

Jimmy was always very obliging, we phoned on a few occasions - and we got always on. I also interviewed his wife, the legendary Mary Peach who starred in one of my all time favourite films THE PROJECTED MAN.

Jimmy will be missed by many, but his legacy is enormous. I shan't go into it now, because many will, and tributes will come from everywhere. I will suggest this though. If you have the money, because it IS quite expensive, I implore you to find his autobiography, DO YOU WANT IT GOOD OR TUESDAY?, one of the best autobiographies I have ever read.

A legend. R.I.P.

Catch-up

2011-04-12T13:38:00.001-07:00

Lady Cynthia Asquith

Apologies for the lack of bloggage since the auction, we raised a MASSIVE £1015.13!!! Thank you to everyone who took part, be it donating some price lots or bidding - it's all went to a brilliant cause and I'm utterly over the moon by it.

Work on the Mary Danby book is coming along slowly - still waiting for Mary to find time to write her new story for the book, and once that's been done the book itself shouldn't be that far off, though I am wondering if I should delay the release further until Fantasycon and make a little occasion out of it. I'm loving the way the book is starting to look and how the Noose and Gibbet template is starting to take shape.

Sadly, the proposed anthology of Christine Campbell Thomson and Oscar Cook's stories has been mothballed for the present time - due to problems sourcing several magazines that featured unseen stories by both Thompson and Cook - and my insistence that to do the book right you should publish the complete canon of works by both authors - so hopefully I will return to this project if and when those elusive magazines turn up.

I am embarking on a pair of projects, one to be published next year, which will be a collection of Lady Cynthia Asquith's short stories and a biography of William Sansom which will be a long term project.

Have recently been given the go-ahead by the Asquith estate to get the project moving, so this will mean scanning in all of her stories and writing a mini-biography of her to accompany the book, much as I did with van Thal for BACK FROM THE DEAD. I've been informed there is an archive of Cynthia's letters etc - so it will be a real honour to be able to see if I can uncover some previously unknown nuggets!

As to the William Sansom biography, this will be a real labour of love, but have already uncovered some brilliant letters, stories and photos that have been for all intents and purposes 'lost'.

Right - quick news

My short story 'FINAL DRAFT' is being published in Guy N Smith's GRAVEYARD RENDEZVOUS this week, have had the contracts through for my Monkey's Paw homage for the THIRTEEN c.d., 'HEAD SOUP' has been accepted for publication in the AKLOMONICON, 'CURE' will be published in Willie Miekle's 'Cancer' anthology and THE JACKET is being published in the ALT-DEAD anthology. All happening later on this year. I need a holiday... :D

An auction to help aid the people of Japan.

2011-03-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

THIS AUCTION IS NOW CLOSED, THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED IT - EMAILS WILL BE SENT OUT TO THE LUCKY WINNERS IN THE NEXT DAY OR SO. IF YOU HAVE WON A LOT, PLEASE EMAIL ME A POSTAL ADDRESS TO SEND GOODS TO, IF THE GOODS HAVE BEEN DONATED BY SOMEONE ELSE, I WILL GIVE THEM THE ADDRESS TO SEND YOU THE WINNING LOT(S)

JOHNNY MAINS

http://www.justgiving.com/JohnnysJapanAuction

ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO TO THE BRITISH RED CROSS

Ever since the earthquake hit Japan, the seventh largest in recorded history, the images that have come from all aspects of social media have been overwhelming and heartbreaking and you would indeed, have to be made of stone not to feel for the bereaved and the displaced during this time.

I feel like I need to do something to help, and while my means may be limited - I do have several pieces that I will put up for auction in the hope that it raises some money for charity.

LOT 1: One of the last remaining copies I have of BACK FROM THE DEAD and signed by 8 of the contributors. Bidding will start at £50 for this book and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom. NOT BID ON

LOT 2: A letter from editor Herbert van Thal to one of his Pan Horror authors. These letters are very rare and nearly non-existent, so you will have a unique piece of genre heritage. Bidding will start at £30 for this letter and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom WINNING BID: £75

LOT 3: Is THE VAMPIRE STORIES OF R CHETWYND HAYES as published by Fedogan and Bremer. It is a slip-cased edition, only 100 of these were done, this is #85 and it is signed by R Chetwynd Hayes, Brian Lumley,Stephen Jones, Les Edwards and Jim Pitts - but what makes this book truly remarkable is that the artists Les Edwards and Jim Pitts have each drawn a one off, unique picture of a vampire inside this book and this is the only time that both artists have done so to my knowledge. Bidding will start at £70 for this book and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom. WINNING BID: £150

LOT 4: A very rare Italian PEEPING TOM film poster, flat signed by one of the stars Columba Powell who played the young Mark Lewis. A few nicks and tears to this poster, but in overall v. good shape. Bidding will start at £40 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom. WINNING BID: £50

LOT 5: A SIGNED copy of James Herbert's THE SPEAR. This is the rare NEL hardback version that James Herbert was taken to court over (and lost). Bidding will start at £50 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom. NOT BID ON

LOT 6: A SIGNED copy of R Chetwynd Haye's THE MONSTER CLUB. This is the Severn House 1992 edition and has been flat signed. Bidding will start at £40 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom. WINNING BID £40

LOT 7: A first Pan Books paperback edition of THE EXECUTIONERS by John D. MacDonald that has been flat signed by director MARTIN SCORCESE (who directed CAPE FEAR, based on the book). Provenance will be included and bidding will start at the super low price of £60 for this truly rare item, we believe it's the only time Scorcese has signed this particular edition of the book. All blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom. WINNING BID: £60

LOT 8: Complete run of 6 Mills and Boon horror titles that were published in the late 70s. These books are extremely hard to get a hold of and took me 5 years to source. Two of the books have been dedicated to me and bidding will start at £50 for these books and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom. NOT BID ON

LOT 9: Hardback edition of Gary McMahon's exquisite RAIN DOGS, signed by the great man himself! Bidding will start at £6 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom WINNING BID: £10

LOT 10: Signed copies of SPARROWHAWK and ONE MONSTER IS NOT ENOUGH from the one and only Paul Finch. Bidding will start at £20 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom WINNING BID: £25

LOT 11: Two unique proof copies of Joel Lane's BLACK COUNTRY and Alison Moore's WHEN THE DOOR CLOSED, IT WAS DARK published by Nightjar Press. These state on the imprint page that they were printed in Manchester, when in fact the finished books were printed in Penrith. These chapbooks are high quality test prints and can be signed by both author and artist. Bidding will start at £10 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom WINNING BID: £10

LOT 12: Two dot matrix printed drafts of BAD MOON RISING by JP Dixon with a few handwritten notes. This story was originally written by request from Clarence Paget and was intended to appear in THE PAN BOOK OF HORROR STORIES: VOLUME 31, which of course was never published. BAD MOON RISING eventually became DREAMING THE DARK and ended up in the BACK FROM THE DEAD anthology. Manuscripts come with two letters, one from Clarence Paget (on his own notepaper) and the other from Kathy Gale (Chief editor at Pan and on Pan headed notepaper) saying that she is sending the story on to David Sutton and that the story should be turned into a novel. Bidding starts at £40 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom NOT BID ON

LOT 13: A copy of BRITISH INVASION, published by Cemetery Dance and edited by Golden, Lebbon and Moore who have also signed this copy. Artwork by Les Edwards and features stories by Mark Morris, Sarah Pinborough, Ramsey Campbell and others. Bidding starts at £10 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom WINNING BID:£20

LOT 14: A limited edition Les Edward's print entitled DRAGONSBLOOD. This print is numbered to 25 only, signed and is 13 x 19 inches. Bidding will start at £10 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom. You can see what the print looks like HERE NOT BID ON

LOT 15: A limited edition Les Edward's print entitled STAR MAKER. This print is numbered to 25 only, signed and is 13 x 19 inches. Bidding will start at £10 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom. You can see what the print looks like HERE WINNING BID £25

LOT 16: An Obverse Books trio, THE PANDA BOOK OF HORROR, OBVERSE BOOK OF GHOSTS and WITH DEEPEST SYMPATHY. Bidding will start at £10 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom WINNING BID: £10

LOT 17: A very handsome copy of Ramsey Campbell's THE DECORATIONS, published by Alpenhouse Apparitions. This book has been signed by both Ramsey and the artist Ladislav Hanka. This is a stunningly beautiful book, and photos of it and more information can be found HERE. Bidding will start at £40 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom.WINNING BID: £60

LOT 18: A signed hardback of Robert Shearman's CAUSTIC COMEDIES, published by Big Finish. Bidding will start at £10 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom. WINNING BID: £10

LOT 19: POWERS OF DARKNESS by Robert Aickman. This is the forthcoming Tartarus Press edition, signed by Mark Valentine, who has written the introduction to it. This book will come with six pages of notes made in writing the introduction, one on the back of a brief note signed by the publisher, Ray Russell. This will be a unique association copy. Bidding will start at £25 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom. NOTE: THIS BOOK WILL BE POSTED AS SOON AS IT IS PUBLISHED - DUE APRIL.

WINNING BID: £125

LOT 20: 1st ed. hardback of THE WHITE HANDS by Mark Samuels (special copy, with gilt edges) and THE HOUSE OF THE HIDDEN LIGHT by Arthur Machen and A.E. Waite. Published by Tartarus Press. Bidding will start at £20 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom WINNING BID: £75

LOT 21: MORBID TALES by Quentin Crisp, THE COLLECTED STRANGE PAPERS (special copy with marbled endpapers) and THE PRINCESS DAPHNE both by Edward Heron-Allen. Published by Tartarus Press. Bidding will start at £25 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom WINNING BID: £50

LOT 22: THE RESURRECTED by Guy N Smith. This book is one of the rarer in the Smith mass market canon to get a hold of and is signed by the author. Published by Grafton in 1991, this is the only edition of this particular title. Bidding will start at £5 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom. WINNING BID £30

LOT 23: BAY OF THE DEAD by Mark Morris. A Torchwood novel, published by BBC Books and has been signed by Mark Morris. Bidding will start at £5 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom NOT BID ON

LOT 24: Portrait sized one sheet movie poster of NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF OZPLOITATION signed by the director Mark Hartley, Rod Hardy, Anthony Ginnane, Philippe Mora and the legend that is Brian Trenchard-Smith (director of BMX BANDITS). Bidding will start at £10 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmailDOTcom WINNING BID £10

LOT 25: An original pen and ink drawing by Tim White. These don;t come up for sale that often, so it's a rare treat for a Tim White fan. The piece is 5x4, but the detail os fantastic. Bidding will start at £15 and all blind bids will be emailed to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmail.com and the drawing itself can be found HERE NOT BID ON

I will then post the winners of the items on my blog and post proof that all donated money has been given to my charity of choice, in this case it will be The British Red Cross.

There is another auction happening, part inspired by this auction - concentrating on lots which side more on the SFF side of things and is run by the lovely Amanda Rutter and Lou Morgan. The more people raising money the better, I say, and their site can be found at genreforjapan.wordpress.com

warmest wishes

Johnny Mains

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO TAKE PART IN THE AUCTION - PLEASE GO TO MY JUST GIVING PAGE AND DONATE WHAT YOU CAN http://www.justgiving.com/JohnnysJapanAuction

With thanks: Val and Les Edwards, Ramsey Campbell, Colin Leslie, Jon Dixon, Nicholas Royle, Paul Finch, Gary McMahon, Mark Valentine, Ray Russell, Adrian Chamberlin, Candy Vincent-Smith and Rob Shearman.

New Ventures

2011-03-05T13:08:00.001-08:00

As if I didn't have enough on my plate, I am going to be undertaking a new venture this year. I will be starting up an imprint under the Noose and Gibbet label called ARMCHAIR HORROR. Armchair will be set up specifically to publish two hardback novellas each year featuring interior illustrations by some of the best artists out there at the moment, in a variety of different mediums.

This is, in my own way, a response to the chapbook interest of late. While I don't want to be seen jumping on the chapbook bandwagon, I do feel that a single printed story, up to a novella length has legs. However it won't be a specially signed, limited edition book. There will be a story, a maximum of five illustrations and that will be it. If you want signatures, find the authors yourself. The books will be hardback and due to the price of printing the bloody things will be £7 - £10 each, but before you grumble, the stories will be of such quality, you shouldn't complain.

I'm in the process of asking four authors (two for this year, two for next year) if they will write me a tale of woe, however there ARE a few out of print stories I would like to reprint for the modern small press market; I think with vibrant illustrations these would be lovely books to have indeed.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Film)

2011-03-02T13:16:00.000-08:00

I was 19, unable to sleep at one o clock in the morning, and I turned on my portable black and white T.V to see what was on. A film was just starting and it was called The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. I lit up my first cigarette of many and settled in.

For the next two hours I was utterly transfixed by the story of John Singer, a deaf mute who moves to the town of Norfolk to be near his friend Spiros Antonapolous, a fellow deaf mute who has severe learning difficulties and has been committed to an asylum by his cousin.

John looks for lodgings and finds a room with a family, who includes the young Mick, (played by Sondra Locke in her first role) a dreamer who has hopes of becoming a musician but is hampered by poverty; her father is unfit to work, her mother constantly frets over money and shanghais Mick into giving up her schooling to work full time in the local store.

John lets Mick into his world, as he does with a drunkard called Blount (played by Stacy Keach) and the coloured Dr Copleand (Percy Rodrigues) who has hated the white man for as long as he can remember, but little by little sees John as friend. While these three people present their problems to Singer and he is able to help them as much as possible, none of them see that he is struggling with some major issues of his own which results in tragedy.

I was really affected by the film and it lingered with me for a couple of years afterwards - it didn't come on the telly again and I couldn't find it on video anywhere. Then one day I was in a bookshop, rummaging about and pulled out a battered Penguin called The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.

I bought the book, even though I had wanted to buy some trashy horror novel, and took it home and was utterly blown away by Carson's beautiful prose and how deeply descriptive the characters were. The blurb on the back of the book stated that this was her first novel and written when she was only 19. Quite simply it's one of the best books written in the English language and I completely lose myself in her world every time I read it.

The book and the film compliment each other well, though with a book as complex as it is, quite a lot is lost in the translation - and while I utterly adore the novel, I got to the film first and Alan Arkin completely brings John Singer to life, from the way he signs, to the anguish he can only portray with his face, unable to use words is heartbreaking and beautifully acted. Sondra Locke gives it as good as she gets and it's a shame that she never really seemed to get any other roles that she could sink her teeth into as much as her part of Mick.

As a snapshot of social history, the film portrays black life more than any film from that time; filmed mainly in Alabama, the houses are ramshackle and decaying with the locals clearly playing the parts of extras to give the film an edge. The issues of racism, on both sides is sensitively dealt with, but never unflinching and it is at times uncomfortable to watch - and whether he is just a very good actor - it looks like the person playing the role of the bigoted Sheriff is having more than just a jolly.

The film is a poignant masterpiece; one that demands more than one viewing and I think it has become a neglected or even lost classic.

The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

2011-03-01T04:13:00.000-08:00

The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories is an anthology series of two halves and indeed of two editors. The first eight books in the series were edited by Robert Aickman, widely acknowledged as being a master of the ghost story and then R. Chetwynd Hayes, author of over 200 short stories and whose first collection, The Unbidden was published in 1971, when he was 52 years of age. Ron would see the Fontana Ghost series through to its 20th and final volume.

Aickman nails his colours to the mast early on by stating that 'there are only thirty or forty first-class ghost stories in the whole of western literature,' in his introduction to the first volume, published in 1964 which by all accounts is a very self-assured selection, with L.P. Hartley's masterpiece 'The Travelling Grave' leading the charge and it shows how well read Aickman was as his run of books continue, the stronger they became, though it is only fair to say that at times his story selections would be more at home in a horror anthology than they would be in a ghost one.

Rumours abound that Aickman was pushed from editing the series to be replaced by the fresher and more contemporary-led Hayes, but this simply isn't the case. In conversation with Mary Danby, who was editing The Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories series told me that 'Aickman had simply gotten fed up of editing the books and he wanted to go on and do something else and RCH was willing to carry on...' It makes sense, the series had become a good money earner for Fontana, and while I prefer the Aickman volumes - the Hayes era certainly kept the series vibrant, though I feel that certainly with the last few books the standards in quality severely dip.

As a whole, the series is probably the best example of collected ghost stories to be found anywhere and should be the only starting point for anyone interested in this particular area of literature. The introductions by both Aickman and Hayes hold a wealth of information and while Aickman comes across as rather uptight at times it is plain to see the his love for the genre, even if he preferred to call his stories 'strange' rather than ghostly. Both editors included their own stories to the series, but it is again Aickman who produces the better tales.

The photos are from the rare Fontana Ghost box-set and I didn't even know it existed until fairly recently, and as I am a completist...

For a more concise and better written history to the series, please visit HERE.

On Reviews

2011-02-27T11:02:00.000-08:00

My collection WITH DEEPEST SYMPATHY has recently been reviewed by Craig Herbertson, an author who had a story in Pan Horror #29 and who recently featured in my anthology BACK FROM THE DEAD. We are friends, but any thoughts of nepotism are moot - Craig is not one of the fawning types and he does have some things to say about the book, such as 'the book is marred by typographical errors, there are occasional clumsy phrases, the pacing and grammar is sometimes questionable and the sheer variety of stories is at times bewildering. I have a strong feeling that this collection came too early for Mains. At times some stories seemed to be chucked in for want of anything else. Perhaps in a few years a collection would have a more consistent feel.'

Another review, this time from Stephen Theaker goes on to say: 'The book is also a bit old-fashioned and unsophisticated; deliberately so, of course, but some stories are weaker for it, and none feel particularly fresh or surprising....but what was gruesome and transgressive in the seventies seems less so today; for a collection of horror stories, With Deepest Sympathy is awfully cosy and mild...none of the stories are brilliant, some are downright poor, and it didn't really deserve hardback publication.'

Hands up here. Whatever problems there are with WITH DEEPEST SYMPATHY they are mine alone. While it is a book I'm incredibly proud of, there are failings with it - and being honest, reading through it, if I had a time machine and could zip back to when it was being put together, there are four stories that wouldn't appear. And while I'm not going to make excuses or bleat - I have learned a valuable lesson which is presented to you in two words SELF- EDITING.

I hate it. Utterly hate it. And I think I can be charged with being arrogant enough to think that some stories are finished after only the first or second draft, but with THE JUDGE'S HOUSE it took at least six re-writes before I was happy with the finished story.

I love editing other people's stories and it's a challenge I relish. I don't get it right all the time, but I have to remember I'm just starting out and have a lot to learn, and I can say I'm learning a lot from great editors such as Lamb, Danby, Dalby, Parry and Jones. But when it comes to trying to wade through my own stuff I get a weird blindness.

I will admit to having my ego dented by the negative sides to the reviews, but there are many positives also that I can take away with me and build on. I know I can create good, believable characters and that at times when I'm up and running I write stories that at least entertain people.

One thing I did fail to agree with in Stephen's review is that the tales in WITH DEEPEST SYMPATHY are 'cosy and mild.' I'm no Laymon and I don't really read the kind of horror where you just soak everything in blood and hope that the story doesn't drown, but I would have thought that tales like THE TRAPPER and LIFE THROUGH A LENSE (LENSE is an in-joke with a friend, I know it's wrong) show that I can create a fairly horrific tale...

If I am lucky enough to have another collection published lessons will be learned, but I am incredibly spurred on by the good things people have said about my writing - like Simon Marshall Jones who has said 'Certainly for a first collection it shows potential and a lot of promise for the future... the fact remains that Mains is a writer at the start of his career and as such has the ability to take things in his own direction. In which case, I suggest you invest in a copy of With Deepest Sympathy right now and follow how Johnny Mains’ writing develops from here on in…'

All reviews are subjective to the individual reviewers tastes and that as a writer as soon as you put anything out there, you expect to be judged and hope that more often than not, people get you and get your writing. Sometimes that doesn't happen - and one thing I don't understand is why some people shy away from re-posting or even getting angry at bad reviews. I think bad reviews are a valuable tool in the writer's kit - and if the writer is honest enough with themselves should be able to admit if the reviewer(s) got it right. If you can't handle bad reviews, you shouldn't be writing. End of. Become a gardener or a bird watcher.

I write from the heart, and will continue to write until the day I die. And I hope that I will be lucky enough to have a career of sorts making up my own particular brand of horror stories that have been heavily influenced by the Pan and Fontana horror era for people who like reading that kind of thing. I'm not literary, I'm not highbrow. I have a pulp heart through and through. And if writing that continues to get me bad reviews, then so be it, because I love writing it.

PEEPING TOM Screening at Cinema City, Norwich

2011-02-11T02:05:00.001-08:00

Last night at Cinema City, Norwich I was honoured to introduce PEEPING TOM to a packed out crowd, many who had never seen the film before and others whose last experience of watching PEEPING TOM on the big screen was over 20 years ago. There had been no plans to show the film at Norwich until I asked and was delighted when they agreed. I had known Columba Powell (son of the film's director and who plays the young Mark Lewis in PT) for only a short while and cheekily asked him if he would be prepared to come up from London to do a Q and A after the film and he readily agreed. The screening of the film went extremely well, Reggie Oliver turned up to lend his support (he confessed never to have seen peeping Tom before and was blown away by it) - the only thing that both Columba and I remarked on that there didn't seem to be a lot of laughter, PEEPING TOM has a notoriously wicked streak of humour running through it, but different screenings kick up different experiences, which is no bad thing!

After the film we did the Q and A, my first time for asking questions and Columba's second answering them, but we struggled on through with Columba revealing his insights into the film and tantalising snippets of information that were not in the public domain. The whole thing seemed to be over before it had even begun and afterwards in the bar we agreed that it was a bloody good show.

I'd like to personally thank Deborah who got the film to Norwich and who came up from London and I hope to work with her in the future on some other screenings (THE SHINING has been mentioned!) and also the staff of CINEMA CITY who looked after us and gave us the VIP treatment and Reggie for driving up and having a chat after the film.

Last of all, thanks to Columba and his partner Liza who were fine company indeed, and our wanderings around Norwich were very cool and the stories Columba told about certain projects his father had been hoping to get off the ground - including one where David Bowie and Christopher Walken would have both appeared just compound further the damage the broadsheet press did to Michael Powell when PEEPING TOM was released.

And lastly, while I'm still a fanboy at heart, I couldn't let Columba go without signing my rare Italian PEEPING TOM poster - he had never seen the Italian one before, but was more than happy to scribble on it.

Lest You Should Suffer Nightmares

2011-02-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

Great news: Genre imprint SCREAMING DREAMS will be publishing my ground breaking biography, LEST YOU SHOULD SUFFER NIGHTMARES, on the editor of the infamous PAN BOOK OF HORROR STORIES, Herbert van Thal this coming October at Fantasycon. This revised and expanded edition will have never before seen photographs of Herbert, plus letters etc. The cover artwork is by the superlative Les Edwards and I couldn't be happier; I always hoped that the biography would get picked up by someone - all copies of BFTD are all sold out and are selling second hand for serious cash - which is nice for the people selling them, but crap for the people who might want a copy.

Wish it was October already so I could see the book!

Johnny's New News

2011-01-30T01:34:00.001-08:00

Well, this blog has been utterly neglected for the past two months - something that I hope to redress this year. For the moment, I have a lot to catch up on, so here goes...

First off had to go for an operation and it took slightly longer than I expected for it to heal. Secondly I have been extremely busy with several projects. My second Noose and Gibbet book, PARTY PIECES: THE HORROR FICTION OF MARY DANBY is slowly creaking towards completion - I still have to wait for a new story by the great lady herself, but the stories are nearly scanned in and the cover to the book has almost been completed.

I'm really excited by the cover and it has a very 70s feel to it and will look fantastic alongside BACK FROM THE DEAD. I think that the book will come out in March/April, so if you would like to pre-order a copy send an email to oldwiggieATgmailDOTcom and ask to be put on the mailing list.

I have also finished editing a small anthology called BITE-SIZED HORROR and hopefully that should be published late spring/early summer. Can't say too much about the publishers as yet - but the stories are as follows:

Brighton Redemption by Reggie Oliver

The Between by Paul Kane

His Pale Blue Eyes by David A. Riley

The Unquiet Bones by Marie O’ Regan

The Carbon Heart by Conrad Williams

I am really please with the quality of stories and I'm really chuffed to have such a great line-up.

Have had a flying start to the New Year in regards to my own writing, I received five invitations to write for anthologies and have so far written three of those, George V, Cure and The Jacket. I'm thrilled with George V a very weird tale about haunted postcards. Cure was a very creepy story to write and The Jacket sees me return to my little slice of hell, Effingham on the Stour but an Effingham after the Second World War.

Of the last two stories I've been asked to write, the first one The Were-Dwarf (me writing in Harry E Turner mode) currently sits at 3000 words and the second, a re-working of The Monkey's Paw is just waiting for the go ahead.

I've also broke the 10k mark writing my first novel SENSATIONS OF PAIN: The Life and Death of Richard Stone, a fictional biography. It's coming along rather nicely...

I also recently lectured at the UEA, giving a talk on The Pan Book of Horror Stories and even though I left it to the very last moment, managed to deliver a cohesive and clear talk on the series and its editor, Herbert van Thal. Afterwards I read my story Reconvened: The Judge's House and everyone who attended really seemed to enjoy it.

I'll be introducing the infamous film PEEPING TOM at Norwich's Cinema City on the 1oth Febuary at 6pm. After the film I'll be interviewing Columba Powell, the son of director Michael Powell and who also starred in the film as the young Mark. If you're around, come on over!

Lastly a plug for the greatest magazine on the planet, and what may be the second greatest magazine on the planet! First off, THE PAPERBACK FANATIC. Issue 17 thumped on the doormat a few days ago and it's a blistering read with articles on the Nick Carter books, Blaxploitation publishers Holloway House, Fawcett Crest books with an indispensable checklist. Plus the letters page and Justin's run-down of the recent Zardoz book fair. Next few issues will see my interviews with David Case and Basil Copper appear and I cannot wait. Order the PF today from HERE.

The second magazine is BEDABBLED! And as it says on the tin, it's a magazine that's devoted to British Horror and Cult Cinema. I've been told that the magazine will be ready in February and it's yet another hit for me - I've interviewed John Burke, author of over 150 novels, may of them film tie-ins and it's this area of his career that I focus on. There's no website for the magazine as yet, but if you want to order a copy, send an email to bedabbledAThotmail.co.uk. I think this magazine will take off in a big way and I'm honoured to feature in its debut issue.

Right, that's enough from me - back to the grindstone!

2010-11-28T06:40:00.000-08:00

Picture of cake before it goes into the oven

Bits needed:

225g/8oz Plain Flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon (ground)

200g/7oz Butter (slightly salted)

200g/7oz dark brown sugar

2 tbsp Black Treacle

1 tbsp thick cut seville marmalade

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs (lightly beaten)

800g/ 1 and 3/4 lb mixed dried fruit

100g/ 3.5oz chopped mixed peel

150g/ 5oz cherries, halved

100 3.5oz almonds (optional)

When the cake is baked:

200g/ 7oz marzipan

1 - 2 tbsp apricot jam

3 egg whites

600g/ 1.5 lb icing sugar, sieved

1 and 1/2 tsp liquid glycerine

1 tbsp lemon juice

The fun bit

1: Heat the oven to 150c / 300f / Gas Mark 2

2: Grease a 7.5 inch cake tin of your choice and line with baking paper

3: Sieve the flour, salt, mixed spice and cinnamon into a bowl

4: Cream the butter and the sugar in a large mixing bowl and then mix the treacle, marmalade and vanilla essence until light and fluffy

5: Mix the eggs a little at a time adding a TABLESPOON of flour with the last bit of egg

6: Fold in the flour mix until well mixed in and then add in the dried fruit, mixed peel, glace cherries and then the almonds

7: Turn the mixture into the tin - make a slight hollow in the centre

8: Bake in the oven for three hours. Test with a skewer, if the skewer is wet with mixture, then bake for another hour, testing with a skewer every twenty minutes until clean.

9: Remove from oven and leave to stand for 15 minutes.

10: Using the skewer holes, dribble either 2 tbsp of brandy or 3 tbsp of pure orange juice if you prefer a non-boozy cake

11:whisk egg whites adding sugar at intervals and beat well until icing reaches soft peaks. Add glycerine and lemon juice until you are happy with icing.

12: Cover cake with apricot jam and marzipan, using jam to stick down overlay marzipan.

13: Cover cake with icing, add on your decorations and then cover with tin foil or put in an air tight tin until needed!

Ingrid Pitt

2010-11-23T10:21:00.001-08:00

Ingrid's photo at Bray Studios

Ingrid Pitt has passed away in a South London hospital after collapsing at home. She was 73 years old.

I had the pleasure of meeting her twice, the first time at the Hammer Horror 50th Anniversary bash at Bray Studios and the last time while at the World Horror Convention in Brighton earlier this year. She was an exceptionally kind person, genuinely happy to meet with her fans and meeting her is one of the only times I have been genuinely 'star struck'.

Only last night I was watching Ingrid in an episode of JASON KING where she plays the bewitching and dangerous Nadine. It wasn't much of a role, she just had to lie back on her bed a lot and look sultry - but my god she was the best thing in it.

Ingrid, you will be sorely missed, but fondly remembered. R.I.P.

Pan Horror reviews and mentions

2010-11-07T03:24:00.000-08:00

Here are all the previews, reviews and mentions I've been able to find about the Pan Book of Horror Stories...

GREAME'S FANTASY BOOK REVIEW

SPECULATIVE BOOK REVIEW

RAMBLINGS OF A TATTOOED HEAD

YOU WOULD SAY THAT, WOULDN'T YOU?

WDS has arrived

2010-10-12T06:07:00.001-07:00

Nice man from UPS came today and delivered WITH DEEPEST SYMPATHY, my debut collection. I'm very proud and pleased with it, it looks stunning and I do hope that people read it and like it!

You can order it from here or here

Roy Ward Baker 1916 - 2010

2010-10-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

I am very sad to hear that one of the greatest directors this country has produced, Roy Ward Baker has died. The first film of his I ever watched was Flame in the Streets starring John Mills and Sylvia Syms, about a Union leaders fight to try and get equal rights for his West Indian workers, but baulks at the idea of his daughter marrying a West Indian.

But I'll remember him for his horror films, mainly made for the Hammer studios and always good fun. Starting of with Quatermass and the Pit he went on to direct amongst others, The Vampire Lovers, The Scars of Dracula, the utter masterpiece that is Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. He also directed the Vincent Price film Monster Club and The Vault of Horror for Amicus.

These films are loved by many and shone a light on the British film industry when it was at its best.

Rest in Peace.

Pan Horror Bookmarks

2010-10-05T09:38:00.001-07:00

The publicity department at Pan Macmillan have been going all out; the latest thing to hit the doormat have been these gorgeous looking bookmarks. In the top photo, the left hand side book mark comes from my own collection, as does the red bookmark which was actually a rather large promotional banner which Pan have shrunk down to size. The bottom photo is the back of the bookmark that appears on all three.

I'm really quite touched that a small part of my Pan Horror archive has been reproduced for people to own - though the hunt is on to find them at most good bookshops I suppose! If you do find them, let me know where - and if you were charged for them!

Now this photo was kindly supplied by Simon Kurt Unsworth - and it would be cool to see your Pan Horror photos! Send an email to panbookofhorrorstoriesATgmail.com.

PANTHEON MAGAZINE

2010-10-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

Really digging the cover to the second issue of Pantheon Magazine which is available mid October. Contributors to the magazine Sarah Sanders, Simon Jones, Terri Lucas, Lizzie Fletcher, David Hartley, Tori Watson and Julie Del’Hopital. My short story Gun Money will also feature, a very strange ghostly tale set in Béal na mBláth in the Republic of Ireland.

Can't wait!

Click here to go to the Pantheon website

PAN HORROR '59 RE-ISSUED!

2010-10-01T00:26:00.000-07:00

Over 50 years ago, Pan Books published THE PAN BOOK OF HORROR STORIES. They became the longest running genre anthology in the world, publishing 30 volumes in 30 years, before ending in 1989. Now the very first volume has been re-issued and is available at all good bookstores today. I was very proud to have been the project editor on this re-issue and wrote a new introduction ('A Brief History of the Horrors') so readers new to the Pan Horrors can see what all the fuss is about.

It's interesting to view the stories today, and to see how tastes, cultures, social standing have changed. The biggest thing is that there was hardly any instances of swearing in any of the stories - today you would be hard pressed to find a story without 'fucking' or 'shit' in it.

Today is a very proud day for me, this was a brilliant project to work on, and I have my fingers crossed for the future. If you would like to buy a copy of the Pan Horrors online you can get a copy from Amazon.

JOANNA NEWSOM AND THE TINY

2010-09-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

top photograph - Joanna Newsom

bottom photograph - The Tiny

As the blog says, only occasionally horrific. My music tastes have changed quite drastically since I was the angry young teen, thinking I knew everything and that bands like The Clash and The Sex Pistols just didn't exist until I discovered them. I was only happy if I had my headphones on and the Walkman was blaring something suitable enough to kill off my eardrums.

Nowadays - I still listen to those bands, but with the sound turned down. I have to admit I really love listening to what a friend calls 'those bloody wailing women' - and seemingly that rather trite umbrella is big enough to cover those great icons such as Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Carole King, Tori Amos and Janis Joplin to recent pretenders to the throne; Katie Melua, Polly Paulusuma, Alana Davis and Norah Jones.

The one woman who does it for me every time though is the great Joanna Newsom. I'm a latecomer to her music, discovered one of her songs, Soft as Chalk after it had been posted onto youtube the day after she had appeared on the Jimmy Fallon show. I was stunned by what she was singing, and how she was singing it - and quickly looked for other videos and performances of hers.

I've been lucky enough to see her perform live - and it was a treat and a half - she even answered one of my questions I posed to her during the Q and A when she was tuning her harp. Even though I was just another faceless paying customer, she made my night!

If you want to start anywhere, buy the triple album Have One On Me, it's Joanna at her strongest, both lyrically and musically. I hope that she goes stratospheric, but I think that mainstream listeners might just not get her and what she's about.

Here for your pleasure is a link to the Jimmy Fallon performance. I hope you enjoy it!

Joanna Newsom performing Soft as Chalk

Right, next topic - The Tiny. I know next to nothing about the band, they're from Sweden, but they have done the greatest cover version of Pet Sematary by the Ramones that I've ever heard. So here is is.

The Tiny performing Pet Sematary

JOHN BURKE - MASTER OF UNEASE

2010-09-29T06:26:00.001-07:00

Last week I travelled up the west coast of Scotland and visited one of my heroes in the genre, John Burke. I first came across his work in THE PAN BOOK OF HORROR STORIES, but it wasn't long before I found out he had actually edited a trilogy of books for Pan called TALES OF THE UNEASE, MORE TALES OF THE UNEASE and NEW TALES OF THE UNEASE. He even wrote two short stories for my Pan Horror tribute, BACK FROM THE DEAD, and I have to say - they are tales which leave you feeling rather disquieted.

John was also responsible for bringing to life dozens upon dozens of film tie-ins, most notably DR TERRORS HOUSE OF HORROR, THE HAMMER HORROR OMNIBUS and one of my favourite tie-ins PRIVILEGE. John and his wife were excellent hosts, the whisky went down extremely well and John graciously let me into his office and look through decades worth of archival files - the biggest finds were his original contracts, letters and scripts for the film THE SORCERERS.

It was an honour to meet him at last; we have had a relationship of letters and emails for around four years now - so to get to spend time with the great man was a dream come true. To find out more about John and his work, please visit my fansite www.johnburkeauthor.moonfruit.com

WITH DEEPEST SYMPATHY

2010-09-29T05:21:00.000-07:00

My debut collection, WITH DEEPEST SYMPATHY is being published by Obverse Books this very month and I can't wait to hold the finished book in my hands. It's been a truly roller-coaster ride for me this year, what with BACK FROM THE DEAD and THE PAN BOOK OF HORROR STORIES re-issue coming out, so this is truly the icing on the cake.

To pre-order a copy, or even order a copy when it comes out - click HERE