Something very strange has been happening in Warchester, and local pub singer Rik Suntan is about to have his doors of perception blown wide open. It seems that during the 1970s, Jimmy Page's experiments with the occult wandered into the art of soulshifting - namely, swapping the souls of celebrity rivals with those of newly born babies in the Warchester maternity ward. Obviously this news is a tad hard to swallow, and Rik's got other problems on his plate - his regular slot doing Cliff Richard covers at the local nightclub is axed, and his girlfriend's dumped him for a ginger bloke. But not nearly as jaw-dropping as finding out he's the reincarnation of David Bowie...
Check out STAIRWAY TO HELL at Amazon. No pic for public consumption yet but it's a long time till publication. Probably better to drip it out slow.
BTW, this was my "research" novel. Every other book I wrote, the whole point of it was that I had to avoid looking things up (ie: work). Not so this one. Behind this story (which is a work of pure fiction, your honour) there's a whole pile of facts. More later.
Happy Christmas. Make sure you have a good one because we're all going to be living on the streets next year, apparently. Have you seen MAD MAX? It'll be like that - fuel drought and strange clothes. Or maybe Neil Marshall's excellent DOOMSDAY - cannibalism and strange clothes. The message is clear: don't throw out your strange clothes just yet.
But next year won't all be about apocalyptic fun... there are cultural treats to look forward to as well. Francophone readers have got LE ROI DU MACADAM (King of the Road, trans. Thierry Marignac) coming out in February from Serie Noire/Gallimard. I think it's coming out in Italy too but, as ever, I'm not really sure about the Italian side of things. Later in the year, back in the U of K, my next book STAIRWAY TO HELL will come out from Serpent's Tail. You'll be able to get it in August, assuming we still have bookshops then.
While we're at it, check out the new blog to accompany Thierry Marignac's novel, RENEGADE BOXING CLUB. The book and blog are in French but there are some great photos. As well as two of my books, Marignac has translated works by Jim Thompson, Jim Carroll and Nelson Algren amongst many others. He is an interesting guy.
Anyway, have a good one this Exmas. Keep a bucket handy for vomitting into, and try not to set fire to yourself.
New Q&A with me - administered by the capable Declan Burke - up on Crime Always Pays*. In it we talk about rubber hoses, Hello magazine and urine. Consider it an early Christmas present.
* And crime does not always pay, kids. Staying in school and laying off the alcopops and glue pays, OK? And internet poker.
Noticed a nice little review of my short story YOUR PLACE IS IN THE SHADOWS in the SF Crowsnest: "[the story) fizzes with the rustle of knock off Burberry caps and a life lived stealing and waiting for the next giro." But it's not all good: "It felt like it had some element missing..." That would be the lesbian rottweilers. (I had to cut the out to make the word limit.)
Congrats to Joe Calzaghe on beating up and making fun of Roy Jones Junior. Like a lot of Americans, I felt sad seeing a former great pushed around in such a way, and I didn't really enjoy it. But come on, Joe is incredible. Europe knows it and American pros know it, but still the US public refuses to admit it. Would it help if he was American?
Novel news: expect a new one from me to come out in August of 2009. That's a long time to wait, and a massive 3.5 years since my last one. But it means I'm back. I'm not dead, despite coroners' reports. Dracula has risen from the grave! I can't tell you the title yet because it is so ingenious that it will be immediately stolen and sold on Ebay, but here are the initials: S t H.
Remember that industrial strength interview I herded you towards a while back? Well, the boys at Byker Books have got their heads down and, after a lot of blood, sweat and pork scratchings, inaugurated a new print magazine - Radgepacket.
Volume One will be available shortly and you can order now, so please check it out. As far as I'm concerned, small press mags like this are essential to the survival of the human race. Long live the Radgepacket.
Does anyone still hollow out turnips on Halloween? I'm sure we used to do that when I was little. Turnips and swedes (which are actually a nightmare to hollow out). As I understand it, the early settlers who went over to the States back in the day tried to do Halloween, but couldn't find any turnips or swedes, so they had a look around and found some pumpkins. And thank God they did, otherwise we would have spent the early 90s listening to The Smashing Turnips.
Happy Halloween.
...I totally forgot about this blog for a few weeks there. Hope you've all been OK. In truth I've been busting my balls for a while, trying to get a book written as well as all the other life-type stuff. Autumn is a good time for me, and I wanted to see how far I could ride the energy it seems to bring me. All the way, it seems. Here's to autumn...
This BBC article is so good on so many levels. Eg:
"We had to put matches in private, inappropriate areas and set them on fire whilst drinking more beer."
Crime fiction fans should check out the new issue of CRIMEWAVE magazine, which contains a story of mine called YOUR PLACE IS IN THE SHADOWS. Mangel completists should be aware that the story is set in that town. They should also check out the latest edition of "The Mangel Completist" magazine, which contains a full list of Mangel-related items, including the new "Take yer vittles and piss off!" T-shirt (one size fits all).
Back to CRIMEWAVE, also of note (besides the awe-inspiring cover, below) is a short piece by Steve Rasnic Tem, one of my favourite writers. He is the best at what he does, and so is Crimewave. But don't take my word for it. Listen to the man:
"A must-have collection of the hottest crime stories around" - Ian Rankin
Back in 2006, I raved thus:
Guess what?And then there's Paul Meloy, whose short stories quite simply remove me from the face of this planet of ours. Meloy lives and writes in the hinterland between dreams and reality**, which is the perfect place to set up a desk and typewriter, if you ask me. Reading one of his stories is like getting a beautiful kick in the subconscious. Of course, I'm teasing you. This is a guy, one of the best writers in the world, who has nothing published in book form. (Most of his stories so far have come out in The Third Alternative (now renamed "Black Static" - Ed.) It's well worth tracking down back issues down just for the Meloy material.) But that will change one day. Oh yes, you will know about him in time. And remember: you read it here first. When you finally discover the awe-inspiring visions of Paul Meloy you can come back here and thank me. And buy my books.
Hey, I've finally made it into the pages of the Internet Movie Database, a resource I've been poring over as a cinema fan ever since it started (the IMDB, not cinema itself). In that world I'm known as Charlie Williams VIII, like a cross between George Hamilton IV and Henry VIII and... erm... someone called Charlie Williams. Obviously this credit is down to my recent efforts working up the screenplay for the short film ARK (currently showing at a film festival near you, as long as you're in Palm Springs). However...
(There's always a however, ain't there?)
You will note that there are two writers down as writers of Ark. Charlie Williams and Charlie Williams. You click on one and it leads to me - CW8 (as they say). But click on the other and you get CW7, born 28 November, 2002.
The guy is not yet six years old, and I have to share a writing credit with him?
