Interview by Angela Slatter

The wonderful Angela Slatter has interviewed me. You can check it out at Angela's blog.


For those who don't know of Angela (do such people still exist), here's part of her bio:

Angela Slatter is the author of the supernatural crime novels from Jo Fletcher Books/Hachette International: Vigil (2016), Corpselight (2017) and Restoration (2018), as well as nine short story collections, including The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales, Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, and A Feast of Sorrows: Stories.  Vigil was nominated for the Dublin Literary Award in 2018.

Read 2020 - 13 - A Miscellany of Death & Folly

My story The Bone-Cage Blues is the opening tale in this anthology, A Miscellany of Death & Folly, edited by Mark Beech and published by Egaeus Press. I was ecstatic when Dom (my number generator) picked this book to read. It's a beautiful looking book, and as only 300 copies were printed it is a must for collectors. Inside there are stories, essays, poetry and artwork.

Glorious, glorious, glorious.

My favourite of all the tales was Kaaron Warren's Anodyne Solutions, an extraordinary tale about death omens and the girl who must neutralise them. So beautifully written. If she were a crueller woman she'd take them apple blossom, and yew, and mother-die, and parsley; all the plants that might bring them death, just to see their faces.

Other favourites include:

Angela Slatter's The Promise of Saints, featuring a bejewelled ancient saint and a bride with an ending to reveal all. The Hallowed Girl, it's said, was once a bride herself.

A sad wee tale Darkness by Ismael Espinosa set in the Paris catacombs.

The Greatest Folly by Leena Likitalo. Death learns about dying and grief courtesy of his not-so-pale horse. It follows the four horsemen/women over millennia.

I am so proud to be a part of this book - and I don't care if it's a deadly sin.

The Transfiguration of Blogging

Some awesomeness found its way onto my Facebook feed this morning.

The Transfiguration of Mister Punch (including my novella This Foolish & Harmful Delight) has made it onto the following list: The Literature of Fear: 12 High-Quality Horror Books for Sleepless Nights by Rick Kleffel.

Other books on the list include Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes, The Conspiracy against the Human Race by Thomas Ligotti, Last Days by Adam Nevill, and The Bitterwood Bible by Angela Slatter.

That's two blog posts within a week. Next thing you know a whole fleet of buses will turn up.

The Pinstripe Interview

Angela Slatter, author of The Girl with No Hands & Other Tales, Sourdough and Other Stories and Black-Winged Angels has interviewed me over at her blog today for one of her infamous drive-by interviews.

You can also read her other drive-by interviews here with folk such as John Connolly, Cherie Priest, Catherynne M Valente, Simon Marshall Jones, Amanda Pillar, Nick Gevers, Lavie Tidhar, and many other awesome people.