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.

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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

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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).

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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.