Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week …
Charity anthology, Black Dogs Black Tales, coming 17 May from Things in the Well
Featuring stories and poetry by John Linwood Grant, Alan Baxter, Kaaron Warren and more, along with an introduction by Tabatha Wood, Black Dogs Black Tales is an anthology created in support of the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand. Edited by Tabatha Wood and Cassie Hart, the project was carefully crafted with seventeen stories, reflecting the seventeen percent of people who deal with mental health problems in the country. The ‘black dog’ theme relates not only to the popular metaphor of the black dog being a personification of depression and mental anguish, but also because each story involves a dog which doesn’t die. The human characters in the stories may not be so lucky. Paperback pre-orders will begin soon, while eBook pre-orders are available now, here.
Featuring a foreword by Blair Erickson, writer and director of The Banshee Chapter, Distant Frequencies is the forthcoming collection from Poland-based British writer, Frank Duffy. Featuring eight stories, collected together for the first time, including ‘Permanent Hunger,’ ‘A Greater Horror,’ ‘And When The Lights Came On,’ Distant Frequencies will showcase the breadth of Duffy’s fiction, dealing with themes of horror, dystopian fiction, romance and more. With cover design by the acclaimed Adrian Baldwin, the collection will be released on 29 May in eBook format, with the paperback coming shortly after. You can pre-order your Kindle version here.
Studio of Screams, a collection of interconnected stories by some of the finest writers of horror, out now from PS Publishing
Featuring interconnected stories by Stephen R. Bissette, Mark Morris, Christopher Golden, Tim Lebbon and Stephen Volk, Studio of Screams is part homage to the Hammer films of yesteryear, part imagined film studio all of their own making. Available in an unsigned jacketed hardcover or a signed edition, limited to two hundred copies, you can get full information on the release and order your copy, here.
From Chris Kelso, one of the most unique voices in genre fiction, and Demain Publishing, comes the charitable mini collection, Vistas. On today’s excursion: bear witness to a realm where transhuman video store-clerks can project their souls at will. Occult Detectives get lost in Lagos. Or simply hop aboard a writers retreat on the good ship, Zarathustra. There’s a new vista for everyone. We hope you enjoy the view. Featuring cover art from Adrian Baldwin, Vistas is a charitable collection, with all of Kelso’s royalty share going to the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). Vistas is available for pre-order right now, here.
American Cryptic is an open-minded cynic’s take on the uncanny and sometimes frightening things which border our accepted reality. Through thirteen stories and essays, author and filmmaker Jim Towns examines several legends native to his own roots in Western Pennsylvania, and recalls some of his own unexplainable experiences as well. From legends of Native American giants buried under great earth mounds, to a haunted asylum, to a phantom trolley passenger, this work seeks not only to present the reader with new and fascinating supernatural tales, but also to deconstruct why our culture is so fascinated by their telling and re-telling. Available now from Anubis Press, you can buy your copy here.
KEV HARRISON