Somebody Else Saturday - Simon Bestwick

The hilarious, talented and insane Marshall Payne inspired this post. His blog post on Tuesday reminded me that a blog shouldn't be all me, me, me (except of course when it's about me) and that I should set some blog time aside to pimp others. Hence the birth of Somebody Else Saturday TM. Now let me introduce my first victim, ahem, I mean someone you should take a little time to stalk. Oh dear, that doesn't sound any better...

I am fortunate enough to remember Simon Bestwick from way back when he was the editor of the anthology, Oktobyr, in the 1990s. An anthology that attracted the likes of Simon Clark, Jonathan Aycliffe, Tim Lebbon and me. Grins and promises she's not pimping herself, she's only proving that as an editor he attracted the outstanding, the famous (who are also outstanding), and took pity on an unknown because he was kinda cool like that.

This week marks the publication of Simon's short story collection, Pictures of the Dark, published by Gray Friar Press, and the collection was put together by Gary Fry. Hey, how did Gary slip in here, if it can't be about me, then it can't be about him. Boo! :o Maybe I should take away the boo, I shouldn't really antagonise people higher up the food chain than me. Okay, that's everyone. Nice boo!

Here's the blurb from the back of the book:

There are dark places everywhere.
The world outside your front door, and the one inside your head. Dreads and longings. Pasts and futures.
Loneliness and relationships. Love and hate. Life and death . . . and what might lie beyond.

And then there’s the place the stories come from.
The council estate where the dead walk . . . The farmhouse attic filled with mummified corpses . . .
The old tramp’s blanket, and what slept in it at night . . .

Tempted. I was, hence the picture of the collection standing just behind Mr. Grim (out of shot, because it's not about him either). Oh dear, my too read pile is set at wobble.

And if the above hasn't tempted you to check out Mr. Bestwick. Perhaps the fact that his novella, The Narrows, has made the British Fantasy Awards 2009 shortlist, or that, The Narrows, has also been selected by Ellen Datlow (I refuse to boo Ms. Datlow for appearing here, instead I'll curtsey) to appear in Best Horror of the Year #1.

Now go stalk him, or buy his book, or lick the copy of Best Horror when it arrives later this year.