I received an email on Monday evening from the multi award-winning editor Ellen Datlow, to say that she was taking my story NONE SO BLIND for inclusion in her annual reprint anthology BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR 5.

I was absolutely floored by this news. I own every single edition of the 21 Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror anthologies that she’s edited, together with the first 4 Best Horror of the Year editions that have been published so far by Night Shade Books, and I regard them as the byword in quality fiction. It has long been one of my writing goals to nab a spot within its pages, so it was unbelievably thrilling to hear I was going to be sharing space with such a wonderful collection of writers. The full table of contents has been released –

Nikishi  by Lucy Taylor

Little America by Dan Chaon

A Natural History of Autumn by Jeffrey Ford

Mantis Wives    by  Kij Johnson

Tender as Teeth by Stephanie Crawford and Duane Swierczynski

The Callers by Ramsey Campbell

Two poems for Hill House by Kevin McCann

Mariner’s Round by  Terry Dowling

Nanny Grey by Gemma Files

The Magician’s Apprentice by Tamsyn Muir

Kill All Monsters   by Gary McMahon

The House on Ashley Avenue by Ian Rogers

Dead Song  by Jay Wilburn

Sleeping, I  Was Beauty    by Sandi Leibowitz

Bajazzle  by  Margo Lanagan

The Pike by Conrad Williams

The Crying Child  by  Bruce McAllister

This Circus the World  by Amber Sparks

Some Pictures in An Album by Gary McMahon

Wild Acre by Nathan Ballingrud

Final Exam by  Megan Arkenberg

None So Blind    by Stephen Bacon

The Ballad of Boomtown  by Priya Sharma

Pig Thing by Adam Nevill

The Word-Made Flesh by Richard Gavin

Into the Penny Arcade by Claire Massey

Magdala Amygdala  by Lucy Snyder

Frontier Death Song by Laird Barron

The book is scheduled to be published in June. The artwork at the top of this may not be the finished version, but suffice to say I’ll be looking forward to getting my hands on it however it looks.

Peter Tennant was kind enough to review my debut collection in issue 32 of Black Static, the UK’s best horror magazine.

I was a little anxious about what he would say. He’s a seasoned reviewer, he knows his stuff better than most, and I realised he would tell it like it is. In other words, I was not going to be able to pull the wool over this eyes. His honesty and integrity are second to none.

So it was doubly pleasing to have him say some nice things about the book. He describes it as “a very impressive first collection, one in which there are no duds at all, and confirm the arrival of a talented newcomer in horror circles.” Which was incredibly thrilling to hear.

The book was also very favourably reviewed in depth by Robert Morrish on his Twilight Ridge website where he says “Overall, Peel Back The Sky is an impressive debut, for both Bacon and the New Blood imprint. The variety of the contents means there’s likely something here for every reader.“

I was tagged by the fantastically talented writer, Thana Niveau, in the Next Big Thing networked blog interviews series which is basically a cross-section of writers talking about their forthcoming books. As I’ve only had one book published so far – and face the very real possibility that it may be the only one I ever have published – I thought it would be better for me to talk about that instead.  I’m nothing if not a maverick.

1) What is the working title of your next book? Have you not been listening? I just said I was going to talk instead about my LAST book. Which was called Peel Back the Sky.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book? Well, it’s basically a collection of short stories. They are 21 in total – 15 of which have been published already in various magazines and anthologies (and on-line in a couple of instances) since 2006 when I started writing. I wrote 6 original tales for the book. I’m not that lazy.

3) What genre does you book fall under? I suppose it would be classed as horror, although there are definitely science fiction stories and very dark fantasy tales in it. Some crime too. Many of the stories don’t feature supernatural elements at all, although I hope you’ll find most of them contain a sense of horror. I’d like people to just take the stories as they find them.

4) What actors would you choose to play the parts of the characters in a movie rendition? The only way it would work as a movie would be in an anthology-style, like the Amicus portmanteau films from the 1970s. I could have a framing device set in a circus sideshow and the four stories that would make up the film would be The Trauma Statement (starring Anna Maxwell Martin), Persistence of Vision (starring Andrew Garfield), Room Above the Shop (starring someone unknown) and Cone Zero (starring Benedict Cumberbatch).

5) What is the one sentence synopsis of your book? Stories that shine the light on the dark side of the human condition.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I just told you – it’s already out! And it was published by Gray Friar Press, one of my favourite UK independent presses.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? Well 15 of the stories had already been published, so all I had to do was go through them individually and make sure they were as I remembered them. In a couple of instances I had to tweak several bits so they didn’t clash thematically. It took me almost a year to write the 6 original stories (I’m a slow writer). Only one of them had already been done, so the others were incredibly fresh and current to where I am at the minute with my writing. The short answer is approximately 6 years in the making, but I guess that’s a cheat because when I started having the stories published originally I had no idea that they might one day end up in my collection. But from the date the book was accepted for publication to its actual release it took about 18 months.

8) What other books would you compare your story to in the genre? This is a difficult one. There are books I’d list as influences, not specifically on this book, but to me as a writer and a reader. I’m not particularly interested in the usual horror tropes so I tried to avoid writing about them. Having said that, there are a couple of stories in Peel Back the Sky which touch on zombies, ghosts, etc, but I sense that those are themes that don’t really interest me too much. The type of short stories that I like to read defy genre, defy traditional viewpoints, sometimes even defy plot! I prefer atmosphere and ambiguity and a sense of otherness. I can’t say I’ve managed to achieve that with this book, but it’s definitely a target I’d eventually like to achieve.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book? It’s a combination of things really. Back in 2005 I was working a day job I absolutely loathed. As a way of getting through the mundane aspect of the work, a work colleague and I decided to have a go at collaborating on a Doctor Who novella (he was a huge Doctor Who fan with no desire to write, I was someone who wanted to write but had no knowledge of Doctor Who). Anyway the novella, Fogbound, never saw the light of day. But my desire to write – obsession to write – was fuelled by that initial process. Shortly afterwards I changed jobs and found I had far more free-time on my hands – and this enabled me to write. I had also recently become a father, and I was finding that the world in general was a very scary place. So all these things collided into launching me towards writing. Now, I write about things that frighten me as a husband and a father (I’ve now got 2 kids), and also as a friend and a son and a brother and an uncle. The world is a truly terrifying place.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest? It has a wonderful piece of artwork gracing the cover, painted by the talented Les Edwards. And one of my favourite authors, Nicholas Royle, was kind enough to write an introduction. And then you just might enjoy the stories…one about a desolate walled-garden that’s blighted by a centuries’ old curse, one about some shop mannequins that seem to have a life of their own, one about a monstrous insect that consumes thoughts, and many, many others…

Now it’s time for me to tag my suggestions – step forward Mark West, Robert Mammone, Robert Shane Wilson, Peter Mark May and Frank Duffy.

Just wanted to post the links to 2 recent reviews of my collection.

First up is the real time review by D F Lewis, which can be found here.

And secondly is a cracking review by Anthony Watson, which has been posted on his blog here.

Edited on 31st October – Matthew Fryer has also posted a great review of my collection on his website, The Hellforge.

At last I can officially announce that my debut collection, Peel Back the Sky, will be published by Gray Friar Press. It is available for pre-order on the GFP website. It can also be purchased From Amazon UK or Amazon.com

Here are the contents –

Introduction by Nicholas Royle

Last Summer

The Trauma Statement

The Strangled Garden

Catch Me If I Fall

Persistence of Vision

Girl Afraid

The Other Side of Silence

A Solace of Winter Rain

The House of Constant Shadow

With Black Foreboding Eyed

Daddy Giggles

The Toymaker of Bremen

The Shadow Puppets

Room above the Shop

Inertia

Hour of Departure

I Am a Creation of Now

The Devourer of Dreams

Concentric

Forever Autumn

Cone Zero

Story Notes & Acknowledgements

The beautiful cover is by Les Edwards, one of my favourite artists. The book will be shipping in the next few weeks. It will cost £8.99 + £2 shipping in the UK, $17.99 + $6 to the US, and €11 + €5 to Europe.

In the next week or so I’ll put up a dedicated page on my site with more info.

Just a quick note to report that my story The Ivory Teat will be published in D F Lewis’s forthcoming anthology, The First Book of Classical Music. It is due to be released in the next few months by Megazanthus Press. Here is a brief look at the contents, with a couple of more yet to be added –

THE IVORY TEAT by Stephen Bacon

BEYOND TWO RIVERS – A SYMPHONIC POEM by Adam S. Cantwell

ANEMNESIS IN EXTREMIS by Dominy Clements

REVERIE by Lawrence Conquest

THE FOURTEENTH by Nicole Cushing

HUMAN RESOURCES by Karim Ghahwagi

THE UNIVERSE AT GUN POINT by Andrew Hook

WINTER’S TRACES (working title) by John Howard

THE TRILLING SEASONS by Rhys Hughes

THE APPASSIONATA VARIATIONS by Colin Insole

CHAMBER MUSIC by Rachel Kendall

HOLES by Tony Lovell

DE PROFUNDIS by Daniel Mills

BORIS’ ARIA by M. Sullivan

GRACE NOTES by Carmen Tudor

STRINGS by S.D. Tullis

WITHOUT INSTRUMENTS by Mark Valentine

VERTEP by D.P. Watt

SONGS FOR DEAD CHILDREN by Aliya Whiteley

The artwork above is not the finalised version, but I think it will suit its purpose here. More information as I receive it.

Peter Mark May, the head of HERSHAM HORROR BOOKS has announced that the print version of Alt-Zombie has now been published, with the ebook version available in a few weeks. Here are the respective links –

Amazon UK Link:  £8.99 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alt-Zombie-The-Alternative-Zombie-Anthology/dp/1466200472/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338371439&sr=8-1

Amazon  US Link: $13.79 http://www.amazon.com/Alt-Zombie-The-Alternative-Zombie-Anthology/dp/1466200472/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338371524&sr=8-1

The  Book Depository: £8.74 http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Alt-Zombie-Peter-Mark-May/9781466200470

Barnes  & Noble US: $9.99 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alt-zombie-mark-west/1111203343?ean=9781466200470

Just a quick note to tell you that I heard from Andy Cox, the editor of Crimewave, that my story What Grief Can Do will be published in the forthcoming issue. I’m thrilled to make an appearance in this fabulous series, which is published – as is Black Static – by TTA Press. I haven’t seen the full table of contents yet but it looks like other writers confirmed so far are James Cooper, Simon Avery, Janice Law, Tim Lees and Joel Lane. The glorious cover above is the one from the previous edition, Ghosts.

More information on this one as I get it.

From the website of Undertow Publications –

Issue 3 of Shadows & Tall Trees is now available. It looks terrific. Gorgeous Eric Lacombe cover art. Great John Oakey cover design. 55lb cream, forest-friendly paper. Perfect bound. 128 pages.

Our fiction is:

The Elephant Girl by Nina Allan

L’Anneau de Verre by Don Tumasonis

The Quickening by Andrew Hook

Night Fishing by Ray Cluley

Kill All Monsters by Gary McMahon

The Sick Mannes Salve by George Berguño

None So Blind by Stephen Bacon

Field Notes From the End of the World by Kirsty Logan

Within Canada – $12

Within the U. S. — $14

Overseas, RoW — $17

Please send payment, in Canadian funds, via PayPal, to: undertowbooks (at) gmail (dot)com

The editors of this forthcoming anthology have now announced the table of contents –

A Message from the HWA President ~ Rocky Wood

The Journey of Horror For Good ~ Mark C. Scioneaux

Autumn as Metaphor ~ G.N. Braun

On a Dark… October ~ Joe R. Lansdale

Mouth ~ Nate Southard

Blood for the American People ~ Lisa Morton

Reception ~ Ray Garton

The Long Hunt ~ Ian Harding

The Apocalypse Ain’t so Bad ~ Jeff Strand

The Gift ~ Monica O’Rourke

The Silent Ones ~ Taylor Grant

Sky of Brass, Land of Iron ~ Joe McKinney

Consanguinity ~ Lorne Dixon

Dead Letters ~ Ramsey Campbell

The Monster in the Drawer ~ Wrath James White

Baptism ~ Tracie McBride

Atlantis Purging ~ Boyd E. Harris

Returns ~ Jack Ketchum

The Other Patrick ~ Brad C. Hodson

A Question of Morality ~ Shaun Hutson

The Meat Man ~ Jonathan Templar

A Man in Shape Alone ~ Lee Thomas

Solution ~ Benjamin Kane Ethridge

To and Fro ~ Richard Salter

Please Don’t Hurt Me ~ F. Paul Wilson

The Depravity of Inanimate Things ~ John F.D. Taff

The Lift ~ G.R. Yeates

The Eyes Have It ~ Rena Mason

Road Flowers ~ Gary McMahon

The Widows Laveau ~ Steven W. Booth & Norman L. Rubenstein

This Thing That Clawed Itself Inside Me ~ John Mantooth

Somewhere on Sebastian Street ~ Stephen Bacon

June Decay ~ Danica Green

Shiva, Open Your Eye ~ Laird Barron

It will be published by Cutting Block Press on March 30th 2012. This is a charitable anthology. All revenues, less direct costs for production, marketing and distribution (net profits of each purchase, estimated to be at least 10% to 15%) will be donated to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. For more information on amfAR, please visit:  www.amfar.org

My story, Somewhere On Sebastian Street, is a homage to my friend and fellow writer Gary McMahon, and was directly inspired by a story called The Row which appeared in his collection It Knows Where You Live. I’ve been a fan of Gary’s writing for many years, and have seen him blossom into a major literary force. As well as being both generous and genuine, he’s an incredibly lovely bloke. I’m deeply honoured to be appearing alongside him in this book, as well as with loads of other greats from the genre.