My Creative Year 2019

Continuing a tradition (the seventh occasion!), here's my annual look back at the year from a creative standpoint.

During the year I wrote two short stories (one of which Phil Sloman was kind enough to ask me for, see below for details) and a lot of essays for this blog (which is always enjoyable).  Most of my creative time was focussed on novels and all the attendant work to do with the admin of submitting them.  The second thriller novel, with the working title Hunted, went out to a lot of agencies and got some decent feedback but no bites.  I revised my first novel Hangman and re-sent that out too.  In the meantime, I started work on Novel 3 (I'm calling it Death At The Seaside but that won't stick) and, once again, hugely enjoyed the plotting process while out walking with David Roberts and Pippa.

* * *
I had one short story published.

Compass Wood appeared in The Woods, a Hersham Horror Books PentAnth anthology edited by Phil Sloman.  It was launched at Edge-Lit 8.

At the launch of The Woods, on stage at Edge-Lit 8 with, from left - James, Penny Jones, me, Cate Gardner, Simon B and Duncan Bradshaw (pic courtesy of Laura Mauro)

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Ellen Datlow, as part of her Best Horror Of The Year anthology, included my short story Brooks Pond (which I wrote about here) in her Recommended Reading/Honorable Mentions List.  I was amazed and even more chuffed to see I got a mention in her round-up too and you can see more of her recommendations here.

* * *
My short story Mr Stix, originally published in For The Night Is Dark (edited by Ross Warren) and reprinted in my 2017 collection Things We Leave Behind, has been republished by PenMan Press as an e-chapbook available on Kindle.

When Sam Murphy's seven-year-old daughter Janey starts to suffer night terrors, he does his best to assure her that Mr Stix - a voice from the shadows who says "mean things" to her - can't hurt her.

Sam later finds the grotesque Mr Stix in the family bathroom and then his terrified wife tells him the story of her own childhood night-time fears.

If you're not in the UK, you can use this link - http://viewbook.at/Markwestmrstix

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Jim Mcleod, at Ginger Nuts Of Horror, included The Woods in his Picks Of Year, calling Compass Wood a "fast-paced and action-filled tale".  You can read his full listing here.

Drive was reviewed by Andrew Hook at Goodreads who wrote: "If there's a definition of a page-turner, then this novella is it."  You can read the full review here.

Brooks Pond from The Black Room Manuscripts 4 was reviewed by Chris Hall at DLS Reviews who wrote: "the sort of story that keeps you on your toes, thinking you know where it’s going, only for it to unexpectedly shift course.  And the ending.  What an ending!  It’s dark, twisted and executed to absolute perfection." You can read the full review here.

Compass Wood was reviewed by Ben Walker at Kendall Reviews, who wrote: "delivers some decent frights [and] the image of the lunatic in pursuit of the story’s lead character stuck in my head for a while after the punchy ending."  You can read the full review here.

* * *
The Crusty Exterior - or constituent parts - managed two gatherings.

The first, which Phil Sloman unfortunately couldn't get to, was a meet-up in Leicester for my 50th birthday and I wrote about it here.

The second, organised by James but without Steve Harris, saw a gang of us meet up in Nottingham to sample bookshops, the Paupers' graves and a fine curry house.  I wrote about it here.

Crusties in Leicester, 2nd February 2019
 from left: John Travis, Sue Moorcroft, me, Steve Harris, Linda Nagle, David Roberts, James Everington & Steve Bacon

Birthday meal at Carluccio's Leicester with me, Sue, Linda, Steve, John, Steve, James & David

Crusties in Nottingham, 15th April 2019
from left - Wayne Parkin, me, Simon Jones, Penny Jones, Selina Lock, Richard Farren Barber, James Everingon, Phil Sloman and Jay Eales

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To help celebrate the publication of her 15th novel, Let It Snow, I interviewed Sue Moorcroft at Rothwell Library in November.  A hugely enjoyable evening, we had a good turnout, a lively Q&A session and Sue did a reading - it also helped benefit the library, which I was really pleased about.  You can read my report on the event here.

Me and Sue Moorcroft, Rothwell Library, 13th November 2019

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I only attended the one Con this year, Edge-Lit 8, held at The Quad in Derby on 13th July (see my report here).  Sledge-Lit was postponed for the year and FantasyCon was held in Glasgow, but the time-off requirements to travel proved sadly beyond me.

from left - me, Sue Moorcroft, Ross Warren, Peter Mark May, James Everington

from left - Simon Clark, John Travis, Steve Harris, Linda Nagle and me

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I'm feeling confident for 2020 too, as I crack on with the thriller novel and, whatever happens, I'll keep you updated as to how things go.

As always, thank you so much, dear readers of this blog, for all your support in 2019, especially those who bought, read and liked my work - I really do appreciate it.

Mr Stix returns...

I'm pleased to announce that my short story, Mr Stix, has now been published in standalone ebook form by PenMan Press.

When Sam Murphy's seven-year-old daughter Janey starts to suffer night terrors, he does his best to assure her that Mr Stix - a voice from the shadows who says "mean things" to her - can't hurt her.

Sam later finds the grotesque Mr Stix in the family bathroom and then his terrified wife tells him the story of her own childhood night-time fears.

I wrote Mr Stix in January 2013 at the request of Ross Warren, who asked me to contribute to his anthology For The Night Is Dark.  The brief, basically, involved being scared of the dark and I spent ages trying to come up with something, getting slightly panicked as the deadline approached.  Then, one night, I woke up to find Dude standing beside our bed and that was it - a kid, waking up and getting into the parents bed and the dad hearing/seeing something.

Whenever I wrote horror stories about fathers and children, it was usually me and Dude but since I didn’t have a firm idea of who was going to walk away from this, I made it father-daughter.  I used our house layout for the story (except the bathroom is, in reality, our study/spare room) and didn't quite know who or what Mr Stix would be until I wrote him/it.

The story was published in the anthology and seemed to go down very well, so much so that I included it in the line-up for my second collection, Things We Leave Behind.

"Went straight to Mark West's MR STIX to see what all the fuss was about. The fuss is warranted, it's a very good, creepy story. Maybe his best yet."

- Johnny Mains, author, editor and horror aficionado

I hope, if you decide to take a chance on it, that Mr Stix scares you too...

Sam Murphy opened his eyes.  The figure in white was standing in front of him, arms outstretched and he was so surprised he yelled out.  Emily, his wife, murmured sleepily.

       “Daddy?”

Sam rubbed his eyes and looked at his seven-year-old daughter, wearing her white Disney Princess nightie, with Apple the brown bear clutched tight in her hand.  “Janey?  What’s wrong?”

“Mr Stix is saying horrible things, Daddy, I want you to make him stop.”

“Mr Stix?”  Sam sat up, blinking away the sleep.  “Who’s…  I don’t know who Mr Stix is, love.”

“He’s the man that came to live with us today, he’s in my bedroom and he’s been talking all night and now he’s saying mean things.”

“Today?  Are you alright?”

“Yes, can you come?”

Sam got out of bed and followed his daughter along the landing.  His and Emily’s bedroom covered the width of the house at the front and the landing led to the back, where the bathroom stood at the top of the stairs.  Janey’s room ran parallel to the landing, with her door at the end.  The bathroom light was on, as it always was, since both Janey and Emily were afraid of the dark.

At the doorway to her room, Janey waited and Sam stood next to her.  “Close your eyes,” he said, “I’ll turn on the light.”

He squinted against the glare and looked around the room.  Nothing seemed to be out of place.  A desk, covered with papers, a drawer unit, a wardrobe and a bookcase filled to overflowing with books and comics and the cuddly toys that didn’t fit in the treasure chest under the window.  Her bed, with its pink princess duvet cover, was against the far wall away from the door and the pillow still showed the slightest indentation from her head.

“Looks okay,” said Sam.  “So where’s Mr Stix?”

“On the drawers,” Janey said.

Sam looked at them.  A few things were on the top of the unit - a clock, a calendar, a tub of Lego, some toys that had been positioned to watch over her during the night and various treasures that only she understood the importance of - but nothing out of the ordinary.

“I don’t know what I’m looking for, love, can you show me?”

Janey walked over but didn’t stand in front of her drawers, preferring to stop slightly behind Sam as if he was her shield.  She looked at the top of the drawers and frowned.  “He’s not there.”

Sam stroked the back of her head.  “Problem solved then, kitten, come on, back to bed with you.”

“Can I sleep with you and Mummy tonight?”

Sam glanced at her clock, it was a little after four.  “No, you stay here, Apple and the rest of the gang will look after you.”

“But what if Mr Stix comes back?”

“He won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do, I’m a dad, it’s what I do, you know.”

“You’re silly.”

“And you’re a munchkin, now get back to sleep.”

She snuggled down and smiled as Sam adjusted the duvet under her chin.  He kissed her forehead gently.  “Sleep tight love,” he said.

“You too.”

Sam walked out of her room, switching the light off as he went.  He could hear Emily’s heavy breathing from the bedroom and the faintest of drips from the bathroom but nothing else.  He got into bed and laid on his side, staring at the clock.  The glowing red numbers glared at him and he watched it mark off five minutes.

He rolled onto his back.  Emily turned, made a snuffling noise and cuddled into him.  Her added body heat made him feel drowsy.  He looked at the ceiling and heard the lightest of clicks, as if someone was tapping a ruler on the edge of a desk and then he was asleep.

If you're not in the UK, you can use this link - http://viewbook.at/Markwestmrstix

Things We Leave Behind

I'm pleased to announce that my second collection, Things We Leave Behind, will be published by Dark Minds Press and launched (alongside Laura Mauro's excellent novella Naming The Bones) at Edge-Lit in Derby on Saturday 15th July.

cover art by Neil Williams (Mr Stix is there on the back cover)

This second volume of short stories (following Strange Tales, which was originally published in 2003) features eighteen tales spanning the length of my published career to date (the earliest here, All The Rage, appeared in 1999).

It's been a pleasure working with Anthony Watson & Ross Warren at Dark Minds on this (I approached them back in 2016 to see if they'd be interested and was nicely surprised that they were), though Ross continually mocks my two-spaces-after-the-full-stop technique.  Searching through my back catalogue was fun, the editing process was interesting (re-reading a story that's seventeen years old and having to resist the urge to re-write it all is hard) and the cover (with art by Neil Williams) is perfect (and it's good to see Mr Stix make an appearance).  To top it off, Johnny Mains offered to write the introduction and that was the icing on the cake.

Where I've blogged about the stories before, the link will take you to that post.

ALL THE RAGE

first published in Unhinged Magazine Issue 4, 1999

A QUIET WEEKEND AWAY

first published in The Fourth Book of Terror Tales, 2010

A COTTAGE BY THE SEA

first published in Hauntings, 2004

MR HUXTON GOES CAMPING

first published in AltDead, 2011

COME SEE MY HOUSE IN THE PRETTY TOWN

first published in Ill at Ease, 2011

WHAT WE DO SOMETIMES, WITHOUT THINKING

first published in Shoes, Ships and Cadavers: Tales from North Londonshire, 2010

LAST TRAIN HOME

first published in Fogbound from Five, 2012

LOOKING AT ME, SEEING YOU

first published in Darker Minds, 2012

FOG ON THE OLD COAST ROAD

first published in Hauntings, 2012

WHAT GETS LEFT BEHIND

first published by Spectral Press (Chapbook #7), 2012

THE BUREAU OF LOST CHILDREN

first published in Ill at Ease 2, 2013

THE TASTE OF HER

original to this collection

THE WITCH HOUSE

first published in Urban Occult, 2013

MR STIX

first published in For the Night is Dark, 2013

THE GLAMOUR GIRL MURDERS

first published in Anatomy of Death, 2013

TIME WAITS

first published in Darkest Minds, 2015

THE ZABRISKIE GRIMOIRE

first published in The Grimorium Verum: Volume 3, 2015

ISSUES OF DISRUPTION

original to this collection

"Mark and I have an uncomplicated friendship. We met through Facebook, both probably crowing over ratty old paperbacks, which we both have an affinity for, and met for the first time at Alt-Fiction, Leicester 2012. We had a beer or three, had a great chat, and became firm friends. We always talk about...you guessed it…old ratty paperbacks. I love it when life is simple and you don’t need to talk about anything else except which author wrote what book about bubonic maggots eating spleens from a cabal of cannibal nuns…"

- Johnny Mains, from his introduction

With a range of stories, from quiet horror to gleefully gruesome, I'm very pleased with the collection and I hope - if you take a chance on it - that you are too.

The book will be available as both paperback and ebook editions.

My Creative Year

This might be a bit self-indulgent but hey, it's my blog...

During 2013, I wrote 6 short stories, 60+ book reviews, half a dozen film reviews, designed several book covers and trailers (via Rude Dude) and created a dozen or more essays/articles for this blog.  I also finally managed to get my novel pitch sorted (with thanks to James A. Moore for the 'kick up the ass').

I had six short stories published:
* Jack In Irons in The Bestiarum Vocabulum: 2 (TRES LIBRORUM PROHIBITORUM), edited by Dean M. Drinkel (available from Amazon)
* The Bureau Of Lost Children in ill at ease 2, (available from Amazon)
* The Glamour Girl Murders in Anatomy of Death (available from Amazon)
* Mr Stix in For The Night Is Dark, edited by Ross Warren (available from Amazon)
* Falsche See, On the North German Plain in The Demonologia Biblica: 1 (TRES LIBRORUM PROHIBITORUM), edited by Dean M. Drinkel (available from Amazon)
 * The Witch House in Urban Occult, edited by Colin F. Barnes (available from Amazon)

Conjure was published in print and digital editions by Greyhart Press and is available from Amazon

Anatomy of Death, the PenthAnth anthology I edited for Hersham Horror Books, was well received and I was well served by my writers - Stephen Bacon, John Llewellyn Probert, Stephen Volk and Johnny Mains - who helped it to garner respectable sales and some great reviews.

ill at ease 2 finally appeared, the second 'co-operative' anthology from PenMan Press, adding new writers to the original trio - the newcomers were Shaun Hamilton, Rob Mammone, Val Walmsley and Sheri White.

PenMan Press also produced a 10th Anniversary Special Edition of my Strange Tales collection.

Fog On The Old Coast Road, which appeared in Ian Whates' Hauntings anthology in 2012, received an Honorable Mention from Ellen Datlow

What Gets Left Behind, my Spectral Press chapbook that was published last year, was nominated in the Preditors & Editors poll and came 2nd (to Stephen King & Joe Hill) in the This Is Horror Awards.

* * *

In his Ginger Nuts Of Horror Christmas Gift Guide, Jim Mcleod included Conjure in the readers "who love their horror with an emotional punch" section.  The site also awarded me with the "Best Legs In The Genre" prize.

In the second part of his "Best Of 2013" section (anthologies), Jim highlighted Anatomy of Death, making special mention of mine and Stephen Volk's entry

James Everington included The Bureau Of Lost Children, in his "Best Short Stories of 2013 (Somewhat Biased & Woefully Uncomprehensive) list"

Anthony Watson included both Anatomy of Death and ill at ease 2 in his 2013 review

Ross Warren included Anatomy of Death, Mr Stix and The Bureau Of Lost Children in his "Faves Of 2013" list

* * *

I attended two great Cons this year, the first was Andromeda One held at The Custard Factory in Birmingham (full report here) and the second was the mighty WFC, held in Brighton (full report here).

* * *

2013 has been a great year for me, creatively speaking, with fantastic projects and collaborators, not to mention the scores of wonderful people I met at the Cons, so 2014 has got its work cut out to top it.  But with two new novellas coming from Pendragon Press (Drive and The Lost Film), some new short stories, hopefully more on the novel pitch and projects I haven't even started working on yet, I have good feelings about it.

Recent love for Mr Stix

Went straight to Mark West's MR STIX to see what all the fuss was about. The fuss is warranted, it's a very good, creepy story. Maybe his best yet.
- Johnny Mains, author, editor and horror aficionado

Shows you can have a powerful, cringe-worthy death without any blood!
- Daniel I. Russell, author of "Tricks, Mischief And Mayhem"

Thrilling, and edgy and downright bloody scary...  I love stories where the horror enters everyday life, ripping the folds of reality away to challenge readers with something that simply cannot be. This totally did it for me.
- Lily Childs, author of "Cabaret Of Dread"


"Mr Stix" appears in For The Night Is Dark, an anthology edited by Ross Warren and published by Joe Mynhardt’s Crystal Lake Publishing.  The book is available in print from Amazon here, as an ebook from here and on Kobo from here.

Mr Stix

For The Night Is Dark is a new anthology, edited by Ross Warren and published by Joe Mynhardt’s Crystal Lake Publishing, featuring 20 stories by a great variety of writers.  One of whom is me, with my story “Mr Stix”.

The book is available in print from Amazon here and as an ebook from here.

You can also get it on Kobo from here.

I first saw news of this anthology on Facebook and, having dealt with Ross before at Dark Minds Press, I sent him a “hey, don’t forget about me” message and thankfully he didn’t.  The brief was simple - make the reader afraid of the dark.  I sat for a while and nothing came, the deadline got closer, still nothing came and then one night, I woke up as Dude got into our bed and that was it - a kid, getting into the parents bed and the dad seeing/hearing something.

The story grew naturally from that point but it wasn’t until Sam, my lead character, went into the bathroom that I realised what the monster, the Mr Stix of the title, was going to be.  I did wonder, after the initial ‘hey, that’s cool!’, how far I was going to get with it but as it turns out, it works as quite a scary image (and I have a picture of him, if you're interested...).

I like it, I think it’s a good story that tells of parental fears, childhood demons and the past not letting go and it’s in very good company here.

Writing round-up

2013 is turning out to be quite a busy year for me - always nice to hear - so I thought I'd put together a little round-up to keep everything in the same place.

First to appear is Urban Occult from Anachron Press, edited by Colin F Barnes.  This features my story "The Witch House", which I'm really pleased with.  It's set in Gaffney in 1985 and is based on real locations in Rothwell that Nick & I used to play in when we were kids in the 80s.  Further details here.

Cover art by Sarah Anne Langton

My story "Mr Stix" will appear in For The Night Is Dark, edited by Ross Anthony Warren from Crystal Lake Publishing.  I was asked for a story about the fear of the dark and so I combined parental anxieties with the most unlikely monster - Mr Stix - I could think of but it seems to work well (with cover art by Ben Baldwin).

More details here

When Darkness Calls, edited by Emma Audsley from Screaming Spires Press, is a charity anthology (with proceeds going to Pictor School in Cheshire and Autism Awareness).  It features a revised version of my story "Empty Souls, Drowning" and I'm proud to be included in the line-up.

More details here

Cover art by Daniele Serra

The Demonologia Biblica, edited by Dean M Drinkel, will be published by Western Legends Publishing.  It features my story "Falsche See, On The North German Plain (N is for Nickar)", which is about a water demon and set in Germany (giving rise to some fun town names).

More details here

Cover art by James Powell

I'm really looking forward to ill at ease 2, coming soon from PenMan Press - I've read all the stories and it's an excellent collection.  Following on from our grand experiment, Steve Bacon, Neil Williams and I return, along with Sheri White, Val Walmsley, Shaun Hamilton and Robert Mammone.  It includes my story "The Bureau Of Lost Children", which was inspired by an incident where we briefly lost sight of Dude but takes that level of parental fear to whole new levels.

This will be available in print and as an ebook and I'll post more details nearer the time.

Cover art, once again, is by the superbly talented Neil Willams

Anatomy of Death (in five sleazy pieces) is edited by me and Peter Mark May, from Hersham Horror Books.  A loving tribute to the films and paperbacks of the 70s, this features stories by Stephen Volk, Johnny Mains, John Llewellyn Probert, Stephen Bacon and me - my tale is called "The Glamour Girl Murders" and features a foot fetishist, a beast and London suffering through the tail end of the 1976 heatwave.

More details nearer the time.

The cover art (this isn't the final version) is by the excellent Neil Willams