Publication Newsbomb!

Hi all,

Goodness, it has been a while. Apologies for that, but I have been busy, promise. In fact, I've even, in part, been busy blogging. Which totally deserves an explanation. So here we go...

First up, I now have a regular writing gig. With thanks to Jim Mcleod, who is clearly working off some care in the community hours by allowing a lunatic like me to spout drivel on his deservedly well regarded website The Ginger Nuts Of Horror. The monthly column is called 'My Life In Horror' and will feature me rambling about a book, film or album that warped me as a child. The first post will be of great interest to the two or three of you who haven't already heard at length about my enduring love for the Guns n Roses album 'Appetite For Destruction'. This post actually forms the third part of the '.... that made me' trilogy. Part 1 'The Book', regarding Stephen King's IT, is here, and 'The Film', regarding the genius that is the 1987 movie Robocop (accept no substitutes, sequels, or remakes) is here.

Since then I've completed an article about the WASP album 'The Headless Children', with an article on movie The Thing to follow shortly, and many, many others in the pipeline.

As if that wasn't cool enough, the site is also hosting a series of articles that I'm co-authoring with the absurdly talented horror author James Newman. This five part series will be an in-depth back-and-forth discussion of the aforementioned IT, part one has already gone live, and a lively conversation is developing in the comments. So if you fancy it, grab your copy off the shelf and join us for the re-read - it's going to be one hell of a journey.

Phew! So far so good, eh? Oh, but there's so much more...

For starters, I've also had a guest post accepted by The Writers Drawer as part of a memoir series. If you want to read about the real life inspiration behind my new novella Lifeline, look no further...

What? Oh, right. Yes, I have a new novella coming out! It's called Lifeline, is a thematic sequel to The Loving Husband and the Faithful Wife and The Debt (new review with a chance to win a copy of that book is here, and if that doesn't work it's still available at a very modest price via Amazon) and will be available for Kindle and Kindle readers from 16th August. Advance notices have been very positive:


"This isn't a story to dip in and out of at your leisure, this is a story that will devour you in one sitting. A stomach churning, white knuckle descent into pain, futility and desperation, a hideous turn of events from which there is but one slender lifeline ..." – Jasper Bark, Author of ‘Stuck On You’ and ‘Way of the Barefoot Zombie’

"...drags you right in and gets the heart pumping." - Marta Salek, Author of ‘The Oracle’


"Very tense, edge of your seat stuff. Loved it!" - Jack Bantry, Editor of Splatterpunk Magazine

"Challenging. Intense. Hard Core." - Bruce Blanchard

 Sounds good, right? I'm really happy with this one and eager to get it into your sweaty little palms. Let's see, anything else?

How about two new short story publications? 'When The Pin Hits The Shell' features in the recently released western collection 'A Fistful Of Monkeys' (also available in e-book format, and thanks to those fine folks at MonkeyKettle Books for publishing another one of my tales). 'Time Out Of Mind' has just this week seen publication in Burnt Offering Books new time travel anthology 'Yesterday You Said Tomorrow' (dead tree edition also available). I'm really happy with both these stories, and recomend you check them out.

What's next? Well, aside from the aforementioned Lifeline release, my short story 'Baptism' will be appearing in the 'Widowmakers' anthology. This bumper book will feature almost 50 short stories, novellas and poems from some of horror's finest talents, and it's an honour to have been included. Every single penny this book raises will be used to help the family of James Newman defray some of the frankly horrific medical costs incurred by his recent unfortunate misadventure with a giant falling tree limb. Consequently, my story will only be available in this anthology for the forseeable future: you want to read it, you buy the big-arsed book. I'm doing you a favour, anyway, because the book is stuffed to the gills with awesome. How often do you get to fill your head with a ton of great horror talent AND help someone out at the same time? Exactly. Scheduled to drop 1st August. Look out for it.

In addition to another short story acceptance that I'm excited as hell about but can't tell you about yet (oops), I guess the only other thing to say is my novel should be out in the autumn, providing my critical readers don't tear it to shreds, and providing I can come up with a title that doesn't totally blow. So, you know, hopeful.

I think that's everything. For now. Again, sorry for the long radio silence, and hopefully a more regular service will resume shortly. It'd better, this is getting exhausting... :)

Talk soon.

KP

PS Kind of redundant, I realise, but life is GOOD.  :D