Drive rides again...

Following Chris Teague's decision to close Pendragon Press (a fine outfit that published some great works), my  BFS-award nominated novella Drive was out-of-print and homeless.  Thankfully, that situation has now been rectified by those fine folks at Near To The Knuckle (an imprint of Gritfiction Ltd), who have republished it with spanking new cover art.

This all came about because of Paul D. Brazill who not only gave me a great blurb for the original edition but also mentioned me to Craig Douglas at NTTK.  I'm doubly thrilled because this not only means Drive gets another chance to hit the road, it's with a publisher I'm pleased to be associated with.

David Moore has one night left in Gaffney and is at a party he doesn’t want to attend. Natasha Turner, at the same party, is lost for a lift home.

Meanwhile, three young men have stolen a car, and as the night darkens and the roads become deserted, David and Nat enter into a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse. . .

“Drive takes you for a journey down the darkest alleyways of human savagery.  

A fast paced, high tension thriller that delivers on all fronts....”

- Jim Mcleod, The Ginger Nuts Of Horror

"West makes the material his own, ringing numerous changes on a familiar template, while we root for the good guys and hate the bad guys.  It doesn’t come with any heavy meaning or much in the way of a subtext, but it is a crowd pleaser, a horror story set in the urban landscape and tapping into our fears of what could so easily go wrong in this setting, a finely tuned tale that delivers all the thrills it says on the tin. I loved it, and I also think it would make a splendid little film..."

- Peter Tennant, Black Static

"Drive is a gripping, tense urban noir with prose as tight as a snare drum..."

- Paul D. Brazill, Guns Of Brixton.

Drive is a 25,000 words novella, originally published by Pendragon Press in 2014 and nominated for the British Fantasy Society Best Novella Award 2015.
Peter Tennant, at Black Static, also included "Drive" in his annual 'Best In Class' round-up

Available now!

Drive (Near To The Knuckle Novellas) - £4.99 in paperback from Amazon.co.uk

Drive (Near To The Knuckle Novellas) - $7.12 in paperback from Amazon.com

Drive in paperback - Amazon Universal Link

What others had to say about it...

Shelley Wilson, The Tuesday Book Blog
The ending was better than I could have imagined and added to the nail-biting suspense.  If you’re looking for a quick read full of suspense, thrills and mystery, then Drive is the book for you.  Highly recommended.
(read the full review here)

M R Crosby at his Stranger Designs site 
I didn't mean to sit up late in order to finish Drive, the new novella from Mark West, published by Pendragon Press. I really didn't. However, once I started to read, I found it difficult to stop. It's not often I get caught up in the moment with a book; usually I get drawn in slowly, soaking up the atmosphere. Yet here I was, quite unable to put the thing down, compelled to find out what happens next.
(read the full review here)

Matthew Fryer, at Welcome To The Hellforge 
I’ve been enjoying Mark West’s fiction for several years now, and his brand of atmospheric, uneasy horror always has me coming back for more. He is one of those authors that brings such investable humanity and resonance to his fiction that genre is rendered almost irrelevant. I was therefore delighted to discover that with this new novella from Pendragon Press, he wanders outside his usual discomfort zone into white-knuckle territory, but still manages to deliver his most terrifying piece to date.
(the full review can be read here)

Jim Mcleod's review at The Ginger Nuts Of Horror 
Many authors are limited by  style and genre, and when they write outside of their comfort zone the resulting book can feel like a letdown.  Regular readers of this website will be  aware of how I feel about Mark West's writing.  He is one of those  rare breed of horror writers that is capable of wrapping up a horror story within a framework full of heart and soul.  His stories have a deep emotional core that elevates them to a whole new level.  So what happens when Mark decides to take his writing in a new direction.....
(the full review can be read here)

James Everington, at Scattershot reviews
Mark West’s latest novella is in some ways a departure from the author’s previous work; there’s none of the supernatural horror of The Mill here. But despite its realism there are scares aplenty in Drive and its small-town English realism adds to the effect.
(the full review can be read here)

Paula Limbaugh, at Horror Novel Reviews
YES!!  A new novella by Mark West!  Okay, just to get it out of the way I’m a big fan of Mark West.  He has a way of plotting the course and leading you down the dark and twisted corridors of his mind.  Drive is another example of a top-notch tale.  Have you ever been out alone in the middle of nowhere driving?  Have you ever thought what if?  What if someone forced you off the road, what if you have a flat and a car full of men pull up, or  what if…..
(the full review can be read here)

Wayne Simmons, at Goodreads.com:
It's brilliantly executed, too: West's writing draws you into the story, his prose clean, clear and uncluttered. His characters are also great - very believable, none of them suddenly developing kung-fu skills or Hulk-like rage, dealing with the threat at hand in a very realistic way.  In short, one of the best novellas I've read in quite a while. Do yourself a favour and hit that BUY NOW button.
(read the full review here)

Kit Power, at Goodreads.com:
Fans of non-supernatural horror or jet black thrillers will find a lot to like here. Recommended for a quick, super-tense, one-sitting read.
(read the full review here)

David Price, at Amazon
Mark West really cranks up the tension by making the hero a less-than-heroic figure who is, in effect, as helpless and terrified as 'anyone' would be in this situation. Belting along in real time, it is a hard book to put down and you might just find yourself with sweaty palms when you do. The day of the novella has come and thrillers like Drive can only enhance its popularity. A great read.
(read the full review here)

Drive (Near To The Knuckle Novellas) - £4.99 in paperback from Amazon.co.uk

Drive (Near To The Knuckle Novellas) - $7.12 in paperback from Amazon.com

Drive in paperback - Amazon Universal Link

Writing update

It's been a while since I did a post about my writing (last August, other than stories being published, which you can read here), so I thought it was about time I did a bit of an update.

Things are pretty good, I’m pleased to say and 2016 is shaping up well on the writing front.

So far this year, I’ve seen The Sealed Window (in The Hyde Hotel anthology, edited by James Everington & Dan Howarth) and This Is The Colour Of Blood (in the Chromatics anthology, edited by Dean M Drinkel) published and there are several more on the horizon.

I’ve also managed to keep up the pace with my writing, having completed two shorts - The Order Of Aries (featuring my recurring character Mike Decker for A Zodiac Of Horror, again from Dean M Drinkel) and the gruesome love story Deb Loves Robbie (for Easter Eggs & Bunny Boilers, edited by Matt Shaw).

Aside from some essays and articles for the blog (which I’m thoroughly enjoying researching and writing), my next project is a novella for Hersham Horror Books (Peter Mark May’s publishing imprint, for whom I edited the Anatomy Of Death anthology back in 2013).  He’s been asking me to write him a novella for ages but, for one reason or another, I haven’t been able to do anything.  I got an idea late last year that excited me so I pitched it to him and he liked it and that’s what we’re going with.  Currently untitled, it’s a gruesome, action-packed horror story featuring a group of friends and what they find in an old, abandoned factory that has a less than pleasant history to it.  It will be launched, along with novellas by Steve Bacon, James Everington, Phil Sloman and a collection from Marie O’Regan at FantasyCon-by-the-sea in Scarborough, this coming September.

After that, I’ve been invited to contribute a story to a charity anthology based around the music of a very famous singer, which I’m thrilled (and nervous) about (and will let you know more when I’m able).  I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet (truth be told, I’m a bit scared) but I’m looking forward to it.

Following that I’m going to start planning a new novel, which I’ll hopefully begin work on during the summer.  Following the success of Drive and the novella I’ll discuss in a minute, I’ve decided to edge slightly out of horror and into dark thriller territory with it.  I don’t have a lot of the plot worked out yet - apart from the main character and her situation, as well as a gruesome murder set piece - but I talked it through with my friend Sue Moorcroft as we sat on a train at Leicester station and she liked it.

My final piece of writing news is a project that I hope you’ll be hearing a lot more about in the weeks to come.  Last year, Neil Buchanan of Stormblade Productions emailed me, asking if I’d like to write something for them to be published in print, as an ebook and also as an audiobook.  I liked the sound of that - I’ve never been ‘audiobooked’ before - and even better, it would be narrated by Carrie Buchanan, who’d done an excellent job on Everett Smiles.

Knowing I'd be writing for Carrie to read, I decided to make my lead character a woman and then heard “New Sensation” by INXS which gave me the idea for an event that would lead my protagonist to Paris.  I pitched the idea to them at FantasyCon in October, wrote the first draft through November and the second during December.  I let it sit for a while and did the third draft, taking in pre-reader comments, in mid-January and Neil accepted it a couple of weeks later.

The novella is called Polly, it’s a thriller (complete with a couple of creepy moments and some messy violence) and I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out.  More details as we get closer to the publication date.

Like I said before, 2016 is shaping up very nicely indeed...

My Creative Year 2015

Continuing a tradition (now in its third year), here's my annual look back at 2015 from a creative standpoint.

During the year I wrote 5 short stories, 1 novella, 1 novelette (only in first draft at the moment), a couple of novella pitches, a load of book reviews and a host of essays/articles for this blog (which topped 600 posts in the year!).

I had 3 short stories published:
* The Zabriskie Grimoire in The Grimorium Verum: Volume 3 (Tres Librorum Prohibitorum), edited by Dean M. Drinkel from Western Legends Publishing
* Time Waits in Darkest Minds, edited by Anthony Watson & Ross Warren from Dark Minds Press
* The Penthouse Incident in Demonology, edited by Dean M. Drinkel from Lycopolis Press

My novella The Lost Film - as part of "The Lost Film novellas", alongside "Lantern Rock" by Stephen Bacon - finally saw the light of day from Pendragon Press.  Launched at FantasyCon (an event that went really well, I'm pleased to say), the book is available as a limited edition paperback and the ebook will be released shortly.

My novella Drive, published last year, was nominated for a British Fantasy Society Award, which I was really chuffed about.  The Awards are presented at FantasyCon and the shortlist for Novella was a strong one (I was alongside Carole Johnstone, Ray Cluley and Stephen Volk - we're all friends and it was a very supportive list), with Stephen taking the honours.  Hey, if you're going to lose, you might as well do it to Steve Volk!

My Spectral Press chapbook, What Gets Left Behind, was released as an ebook via PenMan Press in April.

* * *
During the year I also curated the "King For A Year" project (which I wrote about in depth here) which featured 56 writers and fans reviewing 64 individual works by Stephen King.  I had a lot of fun doing it and the feedback has been excellent.

* * *
"The Lost Film" picked up an honorable mention from Anthony Watson at the Dark Musings 2015 review:  "I loved them both and think it’s one of the best things Mark in particular has written. His protagonists are often decent, honest and downright nice people so it was nice to see him have a “hero” who wasn’t quite as pure – and the concept underlying the story was brilliant."

"The Lost Film" also featured highly on Ben Jones' list - "I'd rate Mark's novella as probably the best I have read this year"

My short story "Mr Stix" made an appearance on James Everington's "Favourite Short Stories Of 2015"

* * *
I attended three great Cons in year.  The first was Edge-Lit 4, held at The Quad in Derby on 11th July (see my report here), followed by FantasyCon in Nottingham over the weekend of 23rd - 25th October (see my report here) and then it was the first Sledge-Lit event, also at The Quad in Derby, on 21st November (my report is here).

At Edge-Lit, with Alison Littlewood, James Everington, Richard Farren Barber, Wayne Parkin, Stephen Bacon

At FantasyCon, with Paul Woodward, Phil Sloman, Stephen Bacon, Alison Littlewood, Jim Mcleod, James Everington and Gavin Williams kneeling

From "The Lost Film" book launch at FantasyCon, photographs by Sue Moocroft

At Sledge-Lit, with Sue Moorcroft, James Everington, Steve Harris, Simon Bestwick, Peter Mark May and Dean M. Drinkel

In addition, The Crusty Exterior met up in London on 11th April for the first time (find the report here) and we had such a great time, there's a meet planned in Brum early next year.  I also did a reading and Q&A session at the inaugural KettFest Event on 5th June (which I wrote about here).

The Crusty Exterior at the Southbank Book Market, with James Everington, Phil Sloman and Steve Harris

KettFest official picture, by Liz Kearns

* * *
Creatively speaking, 2015 has been a pretty good year all in all.  Of the five short stories I wrote, four were asked for and subsequently accepted by the editors in question - the remaining one is still looking for a home.  The novella was also asked for and I accepted it for the challenge (I'd never written a wartime-set story before) but I liked the editor and publisher and had a good time with it. I'm excited about the novelette (which is still in draft) - I was approached by a publisher I liked who wanted to produce a paperback and audio-book version of a story.  It will be narrated by Carrie Buchanan, who I finally met at FCon and we got on like a house on fire - I've tailored the tale to her, set it in Paris and had a great time working on it.

I'm feeling optimistic for 2016 too, not least because I have seven stories scheduled to be published (including my first audio), but also because I've been asked to write two short stories (for different publishers) and a novella (for Hersham Horror Books) and I'm planning a new novel as well.  It's all go!

Thanks for all your support in 2015, dear readers of this blog, especially those who bought, read and liked my work - I really do appreciate it.

Drive nominated for a BFS Award!

Holy crap.

I wrote the first draft of “Drive” in early 2008, the germ of the idea coming to me as I drove to Luton in late 2007 on my way to the airport.  I’d left home at 3am and didn’t see another car until I got to Northampton and that feeling of dislocation triggered a series of images I bullet pointed as I waited in the departure lounge.

Chris Teague, at Pendragon Press, took the story late in 2008 and it finally saw publication in August 2014.  Since then, I’m pleased to say, it’s not only picked up some cracking reviews, it’s sold well too.  The story is a bit of a departure for me - I said we should market it as an urban chiller, since it’s a horror story of real life, rather than featuring supernatural frights - but I thoroughly enjoyed writing it.

Thankfully, it appears other people got it enough that it’s been nominated for the British Fantasy Society Award for Best Novella 2014, the shortlist of which was announced this morning.

The 2015 nominees for the British Fantasy Award for best novella are: 

Cold Turkey, Carole Johnstone (TTA Press); 

Drive, Mark West (Pendragon Press); 

Newspaper Heart, Stephen Volk (The Spectral Book of Horror Stories); 

Water For Drowning, Ray Cluley (This Is Horror). ‪

#‎britishfantasyawards2015‬

It should go without saying that I’m thrilled to have been included - it’s long since been my ambition to get onto the BFS shortlist on my own and to have done so with this story, against such a strong field (and in such excellent company), is brilliant.

I was already looking forward to FCon, now my excitement levels have gone up a notch!

Thank you to everyone who voted for “Drive” (and Chris, for taking it on), good luck to my fellow nominees and bring on the awards!

(for more information on "Drive", it has a dedicated page here)

The full list of nominees can be found here

"Drive" - free ebook (for a limited period)

Chris Teague, head honcho at Pendragon Press, has decided to make my novella "Drive" free to download (across ebook platforms) for today and tomorrow only.

So if you were waiting for a chance to read what Peter Tennant, in Black Static, called "a finely tuned tale that delivers all the thrills it says on the tin" (and a novella he included in his annual round-up of the year), here's your chance!

Download the Kindle ebook from Amazon UK here

Download the Kindle ebook from Amazon USA here

Download the Kindle ebook from Amazon Australia here

“Drive takes you for a journey down the darkest alleyways of human savagery.  

A fast paced, high tension thriller that delivers on all fronts....”

- Jim Mcleod, The Ginger Nuts Of Horror

"Drive is a gripping, tense urban noir with prose as tight as a snare drum..."
- Paul D. Brazill, Guns Of Brixton.

“Mark West writes the kind of fiction that gets under the skin where it lies dormant until you turn out the lights ...”

- Dave Jeffery, author of the Necropolis Rising series

"A crowd pleaser, a horror story set in the urban landscape and tapping into our fears of what could so easily go wrong in this setting, a finely tuned tale that delivers all the thrills it says on the tin..."
- Peter Tennant, Black Static magazine

Did I mention it was free...?

More information can be found at the dedicated "Drive" page on this link

Random Happiness...

Post-Christmas, it's been chilly in England and Dude & I have made the most of it, exploring the winter wonderland of the Rec and Mounts.  Last weekend, he was thrilled to discover that some of the puddles there had frozen over and he had a fine old time, walking on the ice and breaking bits of it up with a stick.  I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid but this time - not wanting to slip on the ice (blimey, how old am I?) - I stood off to the side, watching him and it was great to vicariously enjoy his delight.

* * *
As regular readers of this blog will know, I value my friendships.  This week, there was a programme on BBC Radio 2 that featured Sir Roger Moore (one of my all-time heroes, as if you needed reminding) and I was touched by the fact that several people contacted me to let me know.

Equally heartening was the picture my friend Gard Goldsmith posted to Facebook, featuring himself pointing at a box of Mark West wine (yep, it's a real thing).

* * *
I got an email this week from an editor, inviting me to appear in a themed anthology he was putting together.  That's always a very nice thing to have happen and, since I intend to do a lot more writing this year than I did last year, I chose my element of the theme, thanked him profusely and then thought 'oh bugger, what if I can't think of a story?'

Almost as soon as I thought that, I got an initial image that steadily grew during the day and when I went out for my evening walk - bundled up against the cold, Jarre pounding through my headphones - the whole thing slotted together nicely over the 3 miles.  It's always lovely when that happens (I wish it did more often, truth be told), let's hope it translates to the page as well.

* * *
"Drive" continues to pick up good notices and mentions in Year End Reviews, which makes me very happy indeed.  I'm keeping the section in My Creative Year post updated with the news.

My Creative Year 2014

Making a tradition of something I started last year, here’s a look back at 2014 from a creative standpoint (and yes, it might be a bit self-indulgent but this is, after all, my blog…)

During 2014 I wrote 5 short stories, a novel pitch, a load of book reviews, created some book covers and trailers (via Rude Dude Films) and wrote a dozen or more essays/articles for this blog.  I also suffered a heart attack, which put paid to my creativity through the summer (we now refer to it in our house as being my “Fall Guy Summer”, since Dude & I worked our way through the first two series of that early 80s TV show whilst I recuperated).

I had 2 short stories published:
* The Ilizarov Apparatus in Voices From A Coma #1, edited by Shaun Hamilton from Imaginalis Publishing
* Rhytiphobia in Phobophobias, edited by Dean M. Drinkel, from Western Legends Publishing

My novella Drive was published in print and digital editions by Pendragon Press and is available from Amazon.  Thankfully, it was very well received (including an excellent review in Black Static).

The Bureau Of Lost Children, which appeared in last year’s ill at ease 2, received an Honorable mention from Ellen Datlow.

My novel pitch for “The Witch House” was rejected and I was gutted.  However, I’m pleased to say that I’m back working on it now.

* * *
James Everington included "The City In The Rain" and "A Quiet Weekend Away" (both from my collection Strange Tales) in his Favourite Short Stories of 2014 round-up.

Kit Power, in his "What Kind Of A Year Has It Been?" round-up, awarded "Drive" an honorable mention in the Novella Of The Year category (which was won by Stephen Volk's masterpiece "Whitstable", itself my top read in 2012).  He said "Recommended as a one sit read, this one grabs you by the scruff and drags you though the intense narrative at a breathless pace."

Jim Mcleod at The Ginger Nuts Of Horror included "Drive" in his annual "Best Horror Of 2014" post, saying "While this is strictly not horror, Drive...is still a brilliant tense and fast paced story of urban horror."

Matthew Fryer at Welcome To The Hellforge included "Drive" as one of his three top novellas 'that linger...' and says "A true edge-of-your-seat cinematic experience that doesn’t let you pause for breath."

Anthony Watson, in his annual "Dark Musings" round-up included "Drive" in his novellas category with "a tense, white-knuckle chase through darkened streets that will keep you gripped to the last page."

Peter Tennant, at Black Static, included "Drive" in his annual "Best In Class - 2014" round-up

* * *
I attended two great Cons this year, the first was Edge-Lit 3 in July, held at The Quad in Derby (full report here) and FantasyCon in September, held at The Royal York Hotel (full report here).  In addition, I was also involved in the Fox Spirit Writers Evening in November, held at Leicester Central Library (full report here).

top - at FantasyCon with Steven Chapman, Phil Sloman, Jim Mcleod, me, Sue Moorcroft, Neil Williams and Chris Teague
bottom - The Edge-Lit gang, aka The Derby Dhansak Daredevils with James Everington, Richard Farren Barber, Ross Warren, Chris Teague, John Travis, me, Paul M. Feeney and Steve Harris

* * *
Creatively speaking, 2014 hasn’t been bad at all, from the wonderful acclaim that Drive has attracted, the great projects and collaborators I’ve been involved with and the terrific Cons I’ve attended, though it was all tempered somewhat by my cardiac episode and the novel rejection.  Thankfully, 2015 is shaping up quite nicely with four short stories due for publication (as I write this) along with The Lost Film novellas (with Stephen Bacon) finally seeing the light of day and, as I mentioned before, I’m back working on the novel.

So all in all, a pretty good year and I’m feeling optimistic about 2015.  Thank you for your support in 2014, especially to those who bought, read and liked my work - I really do appreciate it.

"Drive" rolls on...

Since my last post (which you can see here), my novella "Drive" has continued to pick up some good notices from round and about.  As I'm really quite pleased with the story and the way people have responded to it, I thought I'd highlight a selection of the reviews...

Peter Tennant, writing in Black Static, wrote:
West makes the material his own, ringing numerous changes on a familiar template, while we root for the good guys and hate the bad guys.  It doesn’t come with any heavy meaning or much in the way of a subtext, but it is a crowd pleaser, a horror story set in the urban landscape and tapping into our fears of what could so easily go wrong in this setting, a finely tuned tale that delivers all the thrills it says on the tin. I loved it, and I also think it would make a splendid little film.
(pick up the magazine from any good newsagents for the full review)

Dawn, at Dawnzilla
Sometimes, situations that can actually happen in real life are much scarier than monsters, zombies, or other things that go bump in the night. This is the perfect story for those who want a change of pace from other types of horror and after reading Drive, you will definitely think twice before heading out on nighttime road trip.
(read the full review here)

Carrie, at Stormblade Productions
The great thing about Drive is the simple authenticity and confidence that flows through each scene, a real and tangible sense that this could happen to anyone - perhaps even you.  
One particular scene with Nat has to be every woman’s nightmare, executed brilliantly by West and written as only a woman could feel in that situation. An action packed, heart pounding thriller with car chases, deadly games of hide and seek and all the harsh violence of a bored and degenerative youth. 

(read the full review here)

Steve Harris, on Facebook
This novella perfectly captured that feeling of driving late at night through deserted neon lit streets that should be safe but you know aren’t, meeting fellow late night citizens you hope are harmless, but fear could be feral. A skulking Audi with booming bass could be next to you at the lights, and after reading Drive, you’ll certainly wish it wasn’t.
All this pulls together to drag you into the page, and make sure that you can’t leave until the author has finished with you. The tension ramps until you’re breathless.
Brilliantly evocative, finger on the pulse storytelling. If you enjoy a good page turner, I suggest you get your ass into gear, pop the clutch and rush out to snag your copy…

Wayne Simmons, at Goodreads.com:
It's brilliantly executed, too: West's writing draws you into the story, his prose clean, clear and uncluttered. His characters are also great - very believable, none of them suddenly developing kung-fu skills or Hulk-like rage, dealing with the threat at hand in a very realistic way.  In short, one of the best novellas I've read in quite a while. Do yourself a favour and hit that BUY NOW button.
(read the full review here)

Kit Power, at Goodreads.com:
Fans of non-supernatural horror or jet black thrillers will find a lot to like here. Recommended for a quick, super-tense, one-sitting read.
(read the full review here)

David Price, at Amazon
Mark West really cranks up the tension by making the hero a less-than-heroic figure who is, in effect, as helpless and terrified as 'anyone' would be in this situation. Weighing in a 86 pages and belting along in real time, it is a hard book to put down and you might just find yourself with sweaty palms when you do. The day of the novella has come and thrillers like Drive can only enhance its popularity. A great read.
(read the full review here)

If you're interested, there are still some of the limited edition paperback copies left (includes an exclusive afterword) and it's also available as an ebook.

The paperback can be ordered directly from the Pendragon Press website for £4.99 here

The Kindle ebook can be ordered from Amazon here

“Drive takes you for a journey down the darkest alleyways of human savagery.  

A fast paced, high tension thriller that delivers on all fronts....”

- Jim Mcleod, The Ginger Nuts Of Horror

"Drive is a gripping, tense urban noir with prose as tight as a snare drum..."
- Paul D. Brazill, Guns Of Brixton.

“Mark West writes the kind of fiction that gets under the skin where it lies dormant until you turn out the lights ...”

- Dave Jeffery, author of the Necropolis Rising series

"A crowd pleaser, a horror story set in the urban landscape and tapping into our fears of what could so easily go wrong in this setting, a finely tuned tale that delivers all the thrills it says on the tin..."
- Peter Tennant, Black Static magazine

More information can be found at the dedicated "Drive" page on this link

Some love for "Drive"...

My novella "Drive", available in a limited edition paperback and as an ebook across platforms, has been picking up some nice reviews over the past few weeks and here they are.

First up was M R Crosby at his Stranger Designs site (the full review can be read here)
I didn't mean to sit up late in order to finish Drive, the new novella from Mark West, published by Pendragon Press. I really didn't. However, once I started to read, I found it difficult to stop. It's not often I get caught up in the moment with a book; usually I get drawn in slowly, soaking up the atmosphere. Yet here I was, quite unable to put the thing down, compelled to find out what happens next.

Then there's Matthew Fryer, at Welcome To The Hellforge (the full review can be read here)
I’ve been enjoying Mark West’s fiction for several years now, and his brand of atmospheric, uneasy horror always has me coming back for more. He is one of those authors that brings such investable humanity and resonance to his fiction that genre is rendered almost irrelevant. I was therefore delighted to discover that with this new novella from Pendragon Press, he wanders outside his usual discomfort zone into white-knuckle territory, but still manages to deliver his most terrifying piece to date.

from before, here's Jim Mcleod's review at The Ginger Nuts Of Horror (the full review can be read here)
Many authors are limited by  style and genre, and when they write outside of their comfort zone the resulting book can feel like a letdown.  Regular readers of this website will be  aware of how I feel about Mark West's writing.  He is one of those  rare breed of horror writers that is capable of wrapping up a horror story within a framework full of heart and soul.  His stories have a deep emotional core that elevates them to a whole new level.  So what happens when Mark decides to take his writing in a new direction.....

Also The Ginger Nuts Of Horror (the full review can be read here), this from reviewer Paul M. Feeney
Mark West pens a short tale that's steeped in 70's and 80's chase films, yet retains a character all of its own.  [It's] a pretty simple premise – that of the innocents (David and Nat) being hunted and terrorised by unknown and violent assailants, through the dead of night where there seems to be nowhere to go and no one to help. West cleverly wastes little time in getting to the meat of the action and the bulk of the book details David and Nat's encounters with the gang and their subsequent attempts to escape. As such, there is very little room for prolonged character development and it's a testament to West's talents that he still manages to imbue both David and Nat with three dimensional and sympathetic traits. We really feel for these two people and their plight.

James Everington, at Scattershot reviews, had this to say (the full review can be read here)
Mark West’s latest novella is in some ways a departure from the author’s previous work; there’s none of the supernatural horror of The Mill here. But despite its realism there are scares aplenty in Drive and its small-town English realism adds to the effect.

Paula Limbaugh, at Horror Novel Reviews, wrote (the full review can be read here)
YES!!  A new novella by Mark West!  Okay, just to get it out of the way I’m a big fan of Mark West.  He has a way of plotting the course and leading you down the dark and twisted corridors of his mind.  Drive is another example of a top-notch tale.  Have you ever been out alone in the middle of nowhere driving?  Have you ever thought what if?  What if someone forced you off the road, what if you have a flat and a car full of men pull up, or  what if…..

If you're interested:

The paperback can be ordered directly from the Pendragon Press website for £4.99 here

The Kindle ebook can be ordered from Amazon here

“Drive takes you for a journey down the darkest alleyways of human savagery.  

A fast paced, high tension thriller that delivers on all fronts....”

- Jim Mcleod, The Ginger Nuts Of Horror

"Drive is a gripping, tense urban noir with prose as tight as a snare drum..."
- Paul D. Brazill, Guns Of Brixton.

“Mark West writes the kind of fiction that gets under the skin where it lies dormant until you turn out the lights ...”

- Dave Jeffery, author of the Necropolis Rising series

Drive, Dude and a guest blog

My complimentary copies of "Drive" arrived today, courtesy of Chris Teague at Pendragon Press and - if I do say so myself - they look very good indeed.  I asked Dude for a bit of a photo-opportunity and he agreed, opened the book and found enough swear words that I now owe him £4!  Ho hum.

In other news, my good friend Sue Moorcroft hosted me on her blog yesterday with a guest post, where I discuss how you can 'write what you know' when you're a horror author.  I had fun writing it and it seems to have gone down well, so if you have five minutes spare you might want to nip over (and Sue's blog is great anyway and well worth a read).

The guest blog can be found here.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the following too...

The paperback can be ordered directly from the Pendragon Press website for £4.99 here

The Kindle ebook can be ordered from Amazon here

Drive is out now (paperback and ebook)

My novella "Drive" is now available from Pendragon Press as a limited edition paperback (including an exclusive afterword) and as an ebook.

David Moore has one night left in Gaffney and is at a party he doesn’t want to attend. Natasha Turner, at the same party, is lost for a lift home.

Meanwhile, three young men have stolen a car, and as the night darkens and the roads become deserted, David and Nat enter into a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse. . .

The paperback can be ordered directly from the Pendragon Press website for £4.99 here

The Kindle ebook can be ordered from Amazon for £1.84 here

“Drive takes you for a journey down the darkest alleyways of human savagery.  

A fast paced, high tension thriller that delivers on all fronts....”

- Jim Mcleod, The Ginger Nuts Of Horror

"Drive is a gripping, tense urban noir with prose as tight as a snare drum..."
- Paul D. Brazill, Guns Of Brixton.

“Mark West writes the kind of fiction that gets under the skin where it lies dormant until you turn out the lights ...”

- Dave Jeffery, author of the Necropolis Rising series

The Rude Dude Films trailer is scored by gcw, who also produced the theme for my "What Gets Left Behind" chapbook trailer and who I interviewed here, last year.

He is releasing the music as part of the "Drive EP", which features this score, "What Gets Left Behind" and "Me" (a song from his next album).  The EP is now available to download on Bandcamp at this link - https://gcwmusic.bandcamp.com/album/drive

First review of "Drive" is in...

...and, thankfully, it's a great one from Jim Mcleod from The Ginger Nuts Of Horror.

Drive  is a  welcome addition to the hard, fast paced genre of british Noir.  It is a tightly written novella that goes from 0 - 60 at a breakneck speed.  This is a simple yet highly gripping story of a good guy, a dame in distress and gang of nasty bad boys.

The full review can be read here at the GNoH site.

If you're interested (here's the sales pitch), the book (print and ebook) can be pre-ordered from the Pendragon Press website.

Drive, the novella book trailer

This is the book trailer for my forthcoming novella "Drive", due to launch at the Edge-Lit 3 convention in Derby, Saturday 19th July. Published by Pendragon Press, it will be available as a limited (to 100 copies) edition paperback (which will contain an exclusive afterword) and unlimited ebook, across platforms.

“Drive takes you for a journey down the darkest alleyways of human savagery.  

A fast paced, high tension thriller that delivers on all fronts....”

- Jim Mcleod, The Ginger Nuts Of Horror

"Drive is a gripping, tense urban noir with prose as tight as a snare drum..."
- Paul D. Brazill, Guns Of Brixton.

“Mark West writes the kind of fiction that gets under the skin where it lies dormant until you turn out the lights ...”

- Dave Jeffery, author of the Necropolis Rising series

The Rude Dude Films trailer is scored by gcw, who also produced the theme for my "What Gets Left Behind" chapbook trailer and who I interviewed here, last year.

He is releasing the music as part of the "Drive EP", which features this score, "What Gets Left Behind" and "Me" (a song from his next album).  The EP is now available to download on Bandcamp at this link - https://gcwmusic.bandcamp.com/album/drive

Thanks to Gary, again, for the great music, Jim and Dave for the blurbs and Chris for taking a chance on my dark tale.

"Drive" and a bundle offer

This is the final cover for my novella "Drive" (as designed by me), which is due to be launched by Pendragon Press at the Edge-Lit convention in Derby, on Saturday 19th July.

David Moore has one night left in Gaffney and is at a party he doesn’t want to attend. Natasha Turner, at the same party, is lost for a lift home.

Meanwhile, three young men have stolen a car, and as the night darkens and the roads become deserted, David and Nat enter into a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse. . .

“Drive takes you for a journey down the darkest alleyways of human savagery.  A fast paced, high tension thriller that delivers on all fronts....”

- Jim Mcleod, The Ginger Nuts Of Horror

“Mark West writes the kind of fiction that gets under the skin where it lies dormant until you turn out the lights ...”

- Dave Jeffery, author of the Necropolis Rising series

Chris wrote, on the Pendragon website:

I've known Mark West for a long-time now – since his story in Tourniquet Heart (2002) – and it is safe to say that I like his writing. 

When I first read the manuscript to this, a novella which I believe is very much his strength as a writer, I understandably enjoyed it but moreso the fact it is very different to his usual horror stuff; in fact, there are no horror tropes – it is a pure, unadulterated gritty urban crime drama.

I'll be honest, I'm pleased with how "Drive" turned out and it was good fun to write a story set over the course of one evening and completely in my fictional town of Gaffney (though readers from certain parts of Northamptonshire will recognise roads and locations).

Pendragon Press are publishing it as a limited edition (to 100 copies) paperback (complete with an exclusive afterword) and an unlimited ebook.

As a sweetener, Christopher Teague - Pendragon's owner - is offering a two-for-one bundle, with "Drive" and Stuart Young's collection "Reflections In The Mind's Eye", where you can buy both of them for only £9.  The link for that is here

And if it helps, don't think of it as buying a book by him*, think of it as buying a book by me and helping him out at the same time.










(* I'm joking, of course - Stu's a good friend of mine and a talented writer (he won a BFS Award!), so I'm sure his collection will be excellent.  Plus, he'd probably cry if I didn't include this bit...)

Drive - cover reveal and pre-order info

As readers of this blog will know (this post has a brief excerpt), Pendragon Press are publishing my novella "Drive" and launching it at Edge-Lit 3, held at the Derby Quad, on Saturday 19 July 2014.

Things are moving forward apace and I'm pleased to be able to share the cover with you.  I'm pretty chuffed with it (though, to be fair, I designed it so it'd be a poor show if I wasn't...)

The novella now has its own page on the Pendragon Press website and is available for pre-order.  Click this link for more information.

The paperback will cost £4.99 and be limited to 100 copies.  It will also include a bonus chapter and an afterword, neither of which will be available in the ebook edition.

As ever, more details as I get them.

Drive, a novella

I'm pleased to announce that my novella Drive is being published by Pendragon Press and launched at Edge-Lit 3, held at the Derby Quad, on Saturday 19 July 2014.

Chris Teague, of Pendragon Press, says that the novella is "a departure from Mark's horror writing, though still quite terrifying: a fast-paced thriller set in the darkness of Gaffney's streets."

I wrote the first draft in 2008 (before I knew of the James Sallis novella or, indeed, the film, so the title might change).  It was inspired as I drove down the M1 at 3am on my way to Luton airport and realised I was the only person on the road.  Chris picked it up in 2009 and I've revised it a couple of times since then.

It tells the story of David - who finds himself in Gaffney on a course - and a woman called Nat - a friend of a friend - he's giving a lift home to.  All is well until they have a run in with three thugs, who are cruising the town in a stolen Audi and looking for trouble.  Before the night is over, someone is going to get hurt.


This brief extract shows the first time that David & Nat encounter the Audi

There were still a few pedestrians in the city centre but hardly any traffic, other than taxis and so they didn’t have too many hold-ups.Apart from occasionally pointing out the dress sense of people they saw, they’d fallen into a comfortable silence, which David partly regretted - Nat was good company and nice to talk to.
     She directed him into Dryden Street and he drove to the end of it, stopping at the traffic lights.  A group of women were at the kerb and a couple of them looked towards the car and waved, as if they couldn’t seem to decide if he was waiting for them or about to go.
     He ushered them across and one of the women, wearing a denim skirt and jacket, her hair teased up into an approximation of a beehive, waved at him, smiling broadly.
     "Blimey,” said Nat, “now that’s loud music.”
     David looked in his rear view mirror and saw a red Audi coming towards them, in the next lane. 
    "He’s moving,” he said.  “Do you think he doesn’t know the road?”
  Nat twisted around in her seat.  “It’s a one-way street, so he might be going right, but he’s tanking it.”
     David looked at the crossing.  The women were about halfway across, apparently oblivious to both the flashing green man and the car heading towards them.  He checked the rear-view mirror.  The Audi wasn’t slowing down.  
     David looked at Nat, then at the women and honked his horn twice.
    Some of the women looked over, their annoyed expressions fading away as they saw the Audi.  The green man disappeared completely as the women at the back of the group pushed their friends forward.  The last woman on the road dived for the safety of the payment as the Audi slid by, brakes screeching and tyres smoking, before turning right and disappearing from sight.
     “Shit,” said David.
     “Should we check they’re alright?” asked Nat.
     Most of the women were now on their feet.  A couple were crying but none of them seemed injured, apart from ripped tights and a couple of bloody knees.

Drive is a 27,000 word novella.

For more information, go to the Pendragon Press website or keep checking back here for more details as and when I get them.

Drive is coming...

My novella "Drive" is now, indeed, coming soon with Chris Teague at Pendragon Press announcing that it's scheduled to be launched in June 2013.

Chris said of the story that it's "a departure from Mark's horror writing, though still quite terrifying: a fast-paced thriller set in the darkness of Gaffney's streets."

I wrote the first draft of this in 2008, inspired by a drive I made heading for Luton airport at 3am and finding I was the only person on the M1 and Chris picked it up a year or so later.

I'm looking forward to doing another quick read-through (and polish) and getting re-acquainted with David & Nat and their night of hell.

Drive, a novella

It's now public and official, so I can announce that Chris Teague's Pendragon Press will be publishing my 'dark urban thriller' "Drive", probably next year. I have a real soft spot for this (which was inspired when I was driving to Luton airport at 3am to catch a plane for a business trip and found I was the only person on the M1).

Chris writes, "A departure from Mark's horror writing, though still quite terrifying: a fast-paced thriller set in the darkness of Gaffney's streets."

This is the cover art test I did back in 2008 (when the novella was written), which is obviously subject to change, but I quite like it and thought I'd give it an airing!

Very chuffed about all of this, as you can probably tell!

More news as and when I have it.