Hello and welcome to today’s Track of Words guest post where I’m delighted to welcome the brilliant David Annandale to discuss some of the ways in which visual media and horror fiction are influenced by, and in turn influence each other. David will be familiar to a lot of readers as the author of all manner of dark fantasy and science fiction for both Black Library and Aconyte Books, and whether he’s writing all-out horror or not everything he writes has that dark DNA at its core. With two new books already announced for 2022 from Aconyte Books – Reign of the Devourer, a Doctor Doom novel as part of the Marvel: Untold range, and In the Coils of the Labyrinth for Arkham Horror – I can’t think of a better time to hear David’s thoughts on this topic!
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EDITOR INTERVIEW: Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells Talks The Devourer Below
Hello and welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview – or in this case Editor Interview – where today I’m talking to Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells about The Devourer Below, a new anthology of Arkham Horror short stories from Aconyte Books. Featuring eight stories from seven different authors, whether you’re an established Arkham Horror fan or taking your first steps into the IP, there’s plenty to enjoy in this anthology – and who better to talk more about it than the editor herself? It’s out now in all the usual formats, so you can check out this interview and then go straight ahead and buy your copy!
Continue readingThe Devourer Below: an Arkham Horror Anthology – edited by Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells
Edited by Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells, The Devourer Below is part of Aconyte Books’ growing range of Arkham Horror fiction and features eight short stories from seven different authors all exploring a sinister presence rising in Arkham. Dangerous deals are being made, threats issued, lives devastated and plots hatched, monsters emerging and reluctant heroes standing up, all in the name of or in defiance of a darkness that few truly understand. From local landmarks to the dark countryside that borders the city, detectives and grieving widows to bootleggers and vagrant children, these stories explore Arkham and its inhabitants in dark, unsettling detail, united by a common theme – sometimes overt, other times implied – of a monstrous, corrupting power and the sinister servants it can call upon.
Continue readingAUTHOR INTERVIEW: Ari Marmell Talks Litany of Dreams
Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, in which I’m chatting to Ari Marmell about his upcoming novel Litany of Dreams, the latest instalment in Aconyte Books’ growing range of Arkham Horror novels. It’s due out from Aconyte Books as a global ebook and US paperback on the 13th April, with the UK paperback following on the 24th June, and if you’re on the lookout for something supernatural which leans towards the cosmic horror end of the spectrum then this might just be the book for you. Read on to find out more about Arkham Horror and what to expect from Litany of Dreams.
Continue readingThese Lifeless Things – Premee Mohamed
The first title released as part of Solaris Satellites – Rebellion Publishing’s new direct-to-reader range of novellas – Premee Mohamed’s These Lifeless Things is a strange, unsettling, ambiguous tale of the costs of survival and the difficulty of piecing history back together. One of a handful of survivors from when They invaded, Eva ekes out a rough living in the city, avoiding the terrifying sentinels and all the other new dangers, and keeping a journal of her days. Decades later, young Emerson finds Eva’s journal on a research trip to the city, recognising it as a rare opportunity to gain an insight into what actually happened in the years following the invasion.
Continue readingRAPID FIRE: David Annandale Talks The Deacon of Wounds
Welcome to this instalment of my Rapid Fire series of author interviews – today I’m chatting to David Annandale about his new Warhammer Horror novel The Deacon of Wounds, his second book in Black Library’s growing range of Warhammer 40,000-set horror stories. If you’re keen to know more about this novel, and how a plague story came to be released in the midst of a global pandemic, read on to find out! The Deacon of Wounds will be be available to pre-order from Black Library on the 30th January, in both hardback and ebook formats (no word as yet on whether there will be an audiobook or not).
Continue readingAUTHOR INTERVIEW: Rosemary Jones Talks Mask of Silver
Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview – today I’m chatting to Rosemary Jones, author of Mask of Silver, a new Arkham Horror novel that’s coming out from Aconyte Books very soon. If you’ve ever fancied reading a horror story set in the Golden Age of 1920s Hollywood – or if you now realise that you absolutely do want to read such a story – this is the book for you! It’s due out as a global ebook and US paperback on the 5th January 2021, with the UK paperback coming a month later on the 4th February.
Continue readingQUICK REVIEW: There’s a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed – Edgar Cantero
Part of the ‘Amazon Original’ Dark Corners collection of spooky short stories, Edgar Cantero’s superbly named There’s a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed is a gleefully funny and beautifully observed tale of night-time terror at a children’s sleepover. Young bookworm Noah finds his evening derailed when his friend Ian calmly announces (from the top bunk) that there’s a giant trapdoor spider currently in residence beneath Noah’s bed (it dug a hole, so that it can fit). Thus begins a chain of bizarre events as Noah, Ian, Sam and Rina desperately try to keep clear of the giant spider, the antimatter shadows and various other hazards in the darkness of Noah’s bedroom.
Continue readingThe Reverie – Peter Fehervari
Peter Fehervari’s fourth Black Library novel, and his first under the Warhammer Horror label, The Reverie is his most assured book yet, an understated masterclass in balancing complexity and readability. Three travellers make their way to shining Malpertuis, homeworld of the glorious Angels Resplendent, in search of answers, inspiration, judgement or clarity. Amongst the tiered galleries of the capital, Kanvolis, they begin to understand the truth of the world – that behind the veneer of enlightenment and artistic sophistication, an insidious darkness lurks within Malpertuis and the Chapter of Space Marines who call it home. Each of the three has a part to play as the boundaries between past, present and future blur and a shadow leaks from a wound at the heart of the world.
Continue readingA Few Thoughts On: Downdraught by Gareth L. Powell
I love a good novella, and I’m a big fan of Gareth L. Powell, so picking up his new novella Downdraught was a bit of a no-brainer. It’s set in the same world as his short stories The Last Reef, Hot Rain and Flotsam – all of which are collected in The Last Reef and Other Stories – although unlike those other stories, this one is for the most part rather more down to earth (literally and figuratively). It’s labelled as a ‘science fiction horror novella’, and while the book is as much a small-scale character drama as anything else, it proves to be a good example of how closely linked those two genres are – and how both SF and horror can sit comfortably in grounded, human stories.
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