Spectral Offer

Spectral Press are running a special offer at the moment. You can order the following three limited edition novellas in hardback as a package and save money:

Leytonstone by Stephen Volk
Albion Fay by Mark Morris
The Bureau of Them by Cate Gardner (oh, that would be me).

My book is minus cover art as we are awaiting its completion but should be here soon. All three titles will be launched at Edge-Lit in July and all prices include postage. The offer runs until the end of this month.

The Bureau of Almost Here

A wee announcement over at the Spectral Press website today:

THE BUREAU OF THEM by Cate Gardner

Cate Gardner’s new novella The Bureau of Them is due to be published this coming June and will be launched at this year’s Edge-Lit event in Derby in July alongside Mark Morris’ Albion Fay and Stephen Volk’s Leytonstone. To whet your appetite, here’s a teaser blurb from the back cover:

You’re not the first to talk to your dead here, the vagrant said. The living always chase after their dead until they come upon their own.

Formed from shadow and dust, ghosts inhabit the abandoned office building, angry at the world that denies them. When Katy sees her deceased boyfriend in the window of the derelict building, she finds a way in, hoping to be reunited. Instead, the dead ignore, the dead do not see and only the monster that is Yarker Ryland has need of her there.

You can pre-order at the Spectral Press page. Publication is due June/July 2015 and as per the announcement above it will be launched at Edge-Lit. This will be my first book launch and I'm very lucky to be sharing the event with such megastars as Mark Morris and Stephen Volk. If nothing else, I will be able to supply them with spare pens if their's run out.

Cover art forthcoming.

The Bureau of Spectral

Hot on the heels of my novella acceptance from Alchemy Press, I am (again) delighted to announce that Simon Marshall Jones has accepted my novella 'The Bureau of Them' for Spectral Press. It should appear in early 2015.

Spectral published my chapbook Nowhere Hall in 2011 and I'm delighted to be working with them again.

Spectral Press Competition

Spectral Press and Read Horror are running a writing competition where you could win publication in a Spectral Press anthology / chapbook plus a lifetime subscription to Spectral Press. Closing date is 31st January 2012 and they're looking for stories between 7,500 and 8,000 words. Full details   are available over at Read Horror.

You can also win a future Spectral Press chapbook of their choice without submitting a story. Again, details at the Read Horror site.

Good luck.

For Review

Nowhere Hall is going to the printers this week and Simon Marshall Jones (Spectral Press publisher and editor) is offering PDF copies to reviewers. If you're interested in a copy, contact Simon at spectralpress(at)gmail(dot)com with details of your blog or review site. And if you do take him up on the offer, thank you.

Also, David Hebblethwaite has reviewed Nowhere Hall. You can read it here...

In other Spectral Press news, head over to the website and check out Neil Williams' cover art for Paul Finch's chapbook King Death. It is a beautiful thing.

Includes Luggage Tag

Mark West has made a trailer for my forthcoming chapbook, Nowhere Hall...



...I heart modern technology.

And Mark has also added Nowhere Hall to Goodreads. Excellent.

The Spectral Competition

First off, look at my slightly updated cover and its blurb by Simon Bestwick. Not that I'm showing off or anything. You can read an interview with Simon at the Ginger Nuts website.

Now onto the almost as important bit... The competition. Or rather two competitions. One for those who bought Nowhere Hall and one for those who didn't (because I don't like to leave anyone out).

Competition One

As a thank you to everyone who snagged a copy of Nowhere Hall before it sold out, I'm offering the following prize:

A Spectral Press chapbook subscription, which will include the following books:

King Death by Paul Finch (released Dec 2011)
Rough Music by Simon Kurt Unsworth (released March 2012)
The Eyes of Water by Alison J Littlewood (released June 2012)
What Gets Left Behind by Mark West (released September 2012)

...all will be signed by the respective authors.

Competition Two:

And for those who missed out on a copy of Nowhere Hall because they sold so darn fast (what happened?), I am running a competition that is open to all.

As you may or may not know, Nowhere Hall is a limited edition of 100 and each copy will be signed and numbered. I'll be giving away number one with a special inscription by me but no doodles. I can't doodle.

So how do you enter? Send an email to catephoenix(at)gmail(dot)com saying if you are entering Competion One, Competition Two, or both and you're entered.

Closing date is midnight July 14th and prizes will be despatched at time of publication.

WIP - Building Bricks

I'm trying a new approach, we'll label it How I Write Method 230. As most of you know, I had a wander along the corridors of Writers Block a couple of weeks ago and to help combat it (and to ensure I don't sit down to a blank screen), I'm building my ideas before I start to write them. And then, in the case of my just completed short story (Glimpses of Beauty through Bleached Bone - 3700 words), I may write some stories out of order. That is, when I'm stuck, I'm jumping to another scene where I know what happens. It worked for Beauty. So today, I am working on building a new short story something to do with perfume and balloons and the Devil.

In other news, there are just 3 copies of Nowhere Hall left. Thank you so much to everyone who has pre-ordered the chapbook. Three copies!!! Scratch that, Nowhere Hall has SOLD OUT! I think I owe quite a few people a drink should I ever meet them.

Nowhere Hall

You may remember that last October I announced Spectral Press would be releasing my story Nowhere Hall as a chapbook, well that time is almost upon us. The chapbook will be published on September 5th and is now available to preorder. Here are the details:

The chapbook costs £3.50 UK / £4.50 EU / $8.00 US / $12 RoW (all prices included p&p). You can pay via paypal and the payment address is spectralpress(at)gmail(dot)com - please state that you are preordering Nowhere Hall.

If you don't have a paypal address or if you'd rather not pay the overseas postage cost (these things can get expensive) then email me at catephoenix(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll pre-order the book for you at the UK price and mail it to you in September.

Oh and the book is a signed limited edition of 100, but there are only 23* copies left thanks to a subscription deal Spectral Press are offering. More details about the subscription option are available at the Spectral Press website and include chapbooks by Paul Finch, Simon Kurt Unsworth, and Alison J Littlewood.

I've said it before but, gosh I do love Daniele Serra's cover.

*Mr. Marshall Jones (Spectral Press head honcho) has informed me that only 6 are left now. Thank you so much to all who have preordered the book.

If only they were fifty-two...

Gary Fry's chapbook 'Abolisher of Roses' is now available to pre-order from the Spectral Press website for £3.50UK/£4.50EU/$8US and $12 RoW. The chapbook, in a limited edition of only 100 signed and numbered copies, is due to be published in the first week of May.

You can also get a four issue subscription (£13.50UK/$30US/£16EU/$40RoW) which will of course include my chapbook, Nowhere Hall.

Other Monday news...

I have three stitches in my head - I'd have you believe they are a luminous blue, but they're possibly just blue, I guess only nighttime will tell. I do hope I glow in the dark. I haven't decided whether to tell folk I've had my muse removed (could confuse the non-writing people) or I've had a lobotomy (most suspect I had one years ago).

I have a box of chocolate vampires and I haven't eaten them. I may never eat them.

Last line I wrote in my WIP before venturing here (and twitter, and facebook, and twitter, and statcounter, and goodreads etc etc rinse and repeat): "So about this minion business," Rose said.

Guess I should get back to work.

Shopping, Museums and a place Named Nowhere

Simon Marshall Jones' has revealed the cover of my chapbook 'Nowhere Hall' over on his blog. It's by Daniele Serra and is gorgeous. So excited and I can't believe I get another awesome cover. Luck can't keep spinning my way. I've printed the cover out and pinned it to my inspiration board.

Finally opened the file for 'The Museum of Impossible Artefacts' today. Okay, I've opened it on other days, but today I actually added words. Phew!  I wrote myself into a corner on the 30th while trying to get as many words as possible down and I think I've just about crawled out. Gosh, it was dark in there. I'm hoping to finish the first draft this week (I'm off work - yay! Supposed to be Christmas shopping - boo!), and maybe then I'll write a short story and edit another. Or I may just twitter the week away. Goodness, I hope not.

Aaron Polson has added a Weird and Creepy Shopping List for Christmas on his blog, but he forgot one book... This. I've said it before and I'll say it again, typing 'Loathsome Aaron Polson' is just wrong.

Tease

First off some pretty news from Spectral Press regarding my chapbook, Nowhere Hall. Daniele Serra will be providing the artwork. Forgive me while I squee. Daniele provided the cover art for this gorgeous book which just so happens to be sitting on my to read shelf.

Now onto boring NaNoWriMo stuff. It needs reporting or I'll slip into naughtiness and do nothing at all:

Saturday's Word Count: 1020 (family day - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it)
Sunday's Word Count: 2451 + 1331 (other projects) + editing
Total Word Count: 28.067 + 3350 (other projects)

Look out for an extra-special blog post tomorrow. Something, I'm really excited about.

Spooky

Simon Marshall Jones has announced the line-up for the initial chapbooks to be published by Spectral Press.

What They Hear in the Dark, by Gary McMahon (April/May 2011)
The Abolisher of Roses, by Gary Fry (September 2011)
Nowhere Hall, by Cate Gardner (January 2012)

Gulp!

Subscriptions for the first year (all three chapbooks) will open shortly (more details on Simon's blog). I imagine as Mr McMahon and Mr Fry are involved, sales should be pretty healthy.

Excited.

The Spectre of October News

In my last blog post, I hinted at a super sekrit project. The super sekrit is still super but not so secret.

Simon Marshall Jones has announced that I along with - oh my goodness, wait for this list of names - Gary McMahon, Gary Fry, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Simon Bestwick, Steve Lockley, Willie Meikle, Thana Niveau, Alison Littlewood, Mark West, RB Russell, Nicholas Royle and Johnny Mains - will all have chapbooks forthcoming with his new imprint, Spectral Press.

I'm super excited.

And this will be my second chapbook, and my fourth (huh!) little book just by me. I'm slowly filling my bookshelf shadows.