Reviews 19:03:2015

We have a couple of reviews for you this morning:

“Ricochet” by Tim Dry ©2015 Tim Dry/Theatrum Mundi. Artwork ©2015 John Oakey

First up is a new write-up of Tim Dry’s Ricochet, this one from Nic Parker and posted to her Devoted to Thrills website – you can find the review HERE and ordering buttons below:

PRICES INCLUDE POST AND PACKING

UK £10

EU £15

US & RoW $30

Tim Dry ans Simon Marshall-Jones talk “Ricochet”

Also, don’t forget that Tim Dry and publisher Simon Marshall-Jones will be talking to Nicholas Vince on Sunday evening 22nd March at 7pm UK time on Google+. They’ll be talking about Tim’s book and about Spectral Press/Theatrum Mundi amongst many other things.

BLACK MOUNTAIN by Simon Bestwick

The Dancers in the Pines ©2014 Simon Bestwick/Spectral Press. Artwork ©2014 Neil Williams

And here’s a review of the first Spectral serial, Black Mountain, published last year – this one appears on the British Fantasy Society’s website and has been written by Dave Brzeski. You can read it HERE.

The serial is still available to purchase from Amazon.

News and stuff

Photo by Liz Marshall-Jones

First, here’s the publisher, Simon Marshall-Jones, holding a copy of Ray Cluley’s ice-bound novellette Within the Wind, Beneath the Snow, a box of which arrived yesterday evening. This has the distinction of being the very first Theatrum Mundi title, and we couldn’t have chosen a better tale to start the new imprint with. Along with the main story, there are five bonus short stories included. Top that off with a stunning cover by the legendary Jim Burns and it all adds up to a winner.

“Within the Wind, Beneath he Snow” ©2014 Ray CluleySpectral Press. Artwork ©2014 Jim Burns

BUY YOUR COPY TODAY!

UK £15

EU £16

US & RoW $30

In January 2016, Spectral will be celebrating its FIFTH ANNIVERSARY, and to mark the occasion (amongst other things) Spectral will be publishing a novella by Gary McMahon, whose chapbook What They Hear in the Dark inaugurated the press in January 2011. Title TBC, but more details will be forthcoming within the next few months.

Also, contracts have now been exchanged with Kathe Koja for her dark fairytale The Prince of the Air, due out next year under the Theatrum Mundi imprint. Kathe has been on our ‘must-publish’ authors list ever since we began, and we were so thrilled when she agreed to let us publish something by her. Also next year, you can look forward to new works from Angela Slatter, Simon Bestwick, and Conrad Williams – 2016 is shaping up nicely already.

Don’t forget too that you can also preorder Tim Dry’s Theatrum Mundi novella Ricochet – see previous blog entry for full details.

Hallowe’en Delight: The Dancers in the Pines

The Dancers in the Pines ©2014 Simon Bestwick/Spectral Press. Artwork ©2014 Neil Williams

Yes, we’ve reached the final episode of Simon Bestwick’s Black Mountain monthly Spectral serial, titled The Dancers in the Pines. It’s now available at both Amazon UK and US – so get your copy today!

‘There was no counting the number of victims the Bala Triangle had claimed over the centuries. Rob Markland’s attempts to investigate it had left him a hopeless madman. 

But still some questions had to be answered. What had happened to his girlfriend, Laura Hines, or the scientists, Glenn and Angela Lane, who’d accompanied them on their doomed expedition to Mynydd Du? What had finally driven Rob over the edge?

Rob had the answers, and he was prepared to give them – but only to me. And so here I was, preparing to go in to meet him for one final interview.

When I’d got those answers, I’d never be the same again.

And nor will you.’

Watch out for a new monthly serial starting in January 2015, The Quarantined City by James Everington!

A gallery of future covers….

Today, we thought we’d do something different – present a gallery of covers from future publications…. and so:

The Dancers in the Pines ©2014 Simon Bestwick/Spectral Press. Artwork ©2014 Neil Williams

Black Mountain 11: The Dancers in the Pines is the final installment in Simon Bestwick’s monthly serial – the cover has been created by Neil Williams once more, and it’ll be available from Amazon later this week.

“The Hammer of Dr. Valentine” ©2014 John Llewellyn Probert/Spectral Press. Artwork ©2014 Nick Gucker. Layout ©2014 Neil Williams.

Of course, Dr. Valentine will be in the area very soon, and his rather fetching portrait (and those of his victims) features on John Llewellyn Probert’s second expose of his nefarious exploits, The Hammer of Dr. Valentine. Nick Gucker managed to get this one down on paper before narrowly escaping with his life…

BUY YOUR COPY TODAY!!!!!

 

The Hammer of Dr. Valentine: limited signed hardback (100 only). 

UK £21

EU £24

USA & Everywhere Else $45

“Leytonstone” ©Stephen Volk/Spectral Press 2014. Artwork ©Ben Baldwin 2014

And then, Stephen Volk gives us his follow up to the critically-acclaimed Whitstable – Leytonstone, which delves into the incident in Alfred Hitchcock’s childhood which shaped the director he was to become in later life. And it’s being graced by another fantastic Ben Baldwin masterpiece (PLEASE NOTE: TYPOGRAPHICAL LAYOUT WILL BE DIFFERENT IN THE FINAL VERSION).

PRE-ORDERS:

£21 UK

£24 EU

$50 US & RoW

Then, a paperback edition of the Johnny Mains-edited Back from the Dead will be issued with this fabulous Les Edwards cover:

Terror by Night – cover for Johnny Main’s “Back From the Dead”. Artwork © 1974/2013 Les Edwards.

And now… for a preview of a book which will be published later in 2015 with another Ben Baldwin cover – Mark Morris’ Albion Fay… feast thy eyes upon this magnificence!

Albio Fay ©2014 Mark Morris/Spectral Press. Artwork ©2014 Ben Baldwin

News 07:10:2014

Spectral Book of Horror Stories, edited by Mark Morris – ©2014 respective individual authors/Spectral Press. Artwork ©2014 Vincent Chong

First off, let’s start with an interview with Mark Morris, editor of The Spetral Book of Horror Stories: this one’s been conducted by Teodor Reljic and posted to Schlock Magazine – you can find that one HERE. On the same website you’ll also find a Spectral Press publisher spotlight, written by yours truly – that one’s right HERE.

THE SPECTRAL BOOK OF HORROR STORIES – PRICES INCLUDE POSTAGE!

£12.50 UK

£15 EU

$30 US & RoW

BLACK MOUNTAIN 10: THE WATCHER by Simon Bestwick

“Black Mountain: The Watcher” ©2014 Simon Bestwick/Spectral Press. Artwork ©2014 Neil Williams.

Next up is the news that the penultimate episode of Simon Bestwick’s Black Mountain eBook serial, The Watcher, is now available at Amazon – the cover has once again been created by Neil Williams and the book formatted by Graeme Reynolds. The UK edition is HERE and the US one is HERE.

For centuries the Bala Triangle has kept its secrets. But now Rob Markland, having investigated it from afar for so long, was determined to make it give them up at last.

Into the woods of Coed Capel and Coed Dinas, the ruins of Maes Carnedd and Blas Gwynedd, four people ventured. Only one would return, driven mad by what he’d witnessed.

By the presence that still haunted the empty farmhouse at Ty Mynwent.

That waited by the lake of Llyn Daioni, in the long-abandoned pod houses of Hafan Deg.

By the Watcher.

News 07:08:2014

We have a great deal of news to report this morning, so without any more pre-amble:

The latest episode, number 8, of Simon Bestwick’s Black Mountain serial, A Lake of Fire, is now available through Amazon. Once again we have to thank the brilliant Neil Williams for the superb cover (above), which we happen to think is one of his best yet.

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Even more good news is that the slipcases for The Christmas Ghost Stories of Lawrence Gordon Clark have at last arrived, and they look lush – see the photos below.

The slipcases will be dispatched to purchasers from this weekend onwards

Next, in getting around to opening some boxes after having been in our new place for seven months, we discovered we have a couple of copies in signed and numbered hardback of the following titles:

The Nine Deaths of Dr. Valentine by John Llewellyn Probert (TWO only)

The Respectable Face of Tyranny by Gary Fry (TWO only)

They can be had for £12 UK/£15 EU/$30 US & RoW each – but only if you hurry. Please contact us first on spectralpress[AT]gmail[DOT]com to secure your copy on a first come first served basis.

Finally, please check out the latest issue of The Spectral Times (unrelated to Spectral Press), where you’ll be able to find an interview with two Spectral stalwarts: Lawrence Gordon Clark and Stephen Volk. Lawrence talks about his involvement with the A Ghost Story for Christmas dramas for the BBC in the seventies and about the Deluxe Edition of the Spectral Book. Meanwhile, Stephen discusses the infamous Ghostwatch, with a mention of Whitstable along the way. The electronic edition of the magazine is FREE, and can be obtained from HERE.

 

News 04:07:2014

A miscellany of bits and pieces here today, but the most important one is receiving an email from Reece Shearsmith (League of Gentlemen, Inside No. 9) about the Deluxe Edition of The Christmas Ghost Stories of Lawrence Gordon Clark. He didn’t need to say much, but what he did say was enough:

“It really is beautiful – no wonder you are proud of it.”

EDIT 17:30pm: We only have THREE copies left of the Deluxe, so grab one while you still can!

DELUXE EDITION – CONTENTS (50 ONLY – 3 LEFT!)

Foreword by MARK GATISS

Introduction by TONY EARNSHAW

Seven short stories by M. R. JAMES: The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, A Warning to the Curious, The Ash Tree, Lost Hearts, Casting the Runes, Count Magnus, The Signalman.

Exclusive new introductions to each story by LAWRENCE GORDON CLARK

Count Magnus teleplay by BASIL COPPER

Lost Hearts short stage play by LAWRENCE GORDON CLARK

Q&A with LAWRENCE GORDON CLARK by TONY EARNSHAW

Filmography, awards, of LAWRENCE GORDON CLARK by TONY EARNSHAW

Illustrated with unseen behind the scenes photographs, chapter heading vignettes by Nick Gucker,  as well as examples of storyboards by Lawrence Gordon Clark.

SIGNED, SLIPCASED DELUXE EDITION:

£85 UK

£87 EU

$145 US

UNSIGNED HARDBACK (100 only):

Foreword by MARK GATISS

Introduction by TONY EARNSHAW

Seven short stories by M. R. JAMES: The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, A Warning to the Curious, The Ash Tree, Lost Hearts, Casting the Runes, Count Magnus

Exclusive new introductions to each story by LAWRENCE GORDON CLARK

Q&A with LAWRENCE GORDON CLARK by TONY EARNSHAW

Illustrated with photographs as well as chapter heading vignettes (by Nick Gucker)

UNSIGNED HARDBACK EDITION

£45 UK

£47 EU

$80 US

MONTHLY SERIALS

Due to the success of Simon Bestwick’s monthly Black Mountain serial we have decided that, beginning in January 2015, we will be publishing a couple of serials a year. And to start things off we will be publishing James Everington’s The Quarantined City, in six parts.More details will be forthcoming soon, so keep watching this space.

FUTURE PROJECTS

Spectral will be heading into London on Monday to meet up with director/screenwriter Michael Armstrong (Mark of the Devil, The Haunted House of Horror, The House of Long Shadows) to start discussions on an exciting project. We’ll tell you more when we’ve worked out the details.

Black Mountain 7: The Master of the House now available

Episode 7 of Simon Bestwick’s Spectral serial Black Mountain, The Master of the House, is now available on Amazon,with artwork supplied once more by Neil Williams.

1988: The farmhouse called Blas Gwynedd, standing in the very shadow of Mynydd Du, is the last human habitation within the ‘Bala Triangle’, home to a teenage boy, his downtrodden mother and his fanatical, tyrannical father.

Now, at last, the story of the farm’s desertion can be told: a tale of strangeness, insanity, violence and death. The tale of one man’s doomed attempt to prove himself the master of the house.

It can be purchased on the following links:

AMAZON UK

AMAZON US

NEWS

Yesterday, the Washington Post published an interview with Lee Harris, ex-Angry Robot Books and now Senior Editor at a new Tor imprint called Imprint, wherein he talked about novellas. One of the novellas he cited as being a great example of the format was Whitstable by Stephen Volk, which really thrilled us here at Chateau Spectrale. You can read the entire interview here.

 

Black Mountain 6: The House by the Cemetery

Just a short blog today, later than anticipated, just because Der Blogmeister decided to have a lie-in (oh okay… he fell asleep while reading… ), to let you know that the sixth episode of Simon Bestwick’s Black Mountain serial, The House by the Cemetery, is now available for purchase on Amazon. Once again the cover artwork is by Neil Williams.

The watcher by the lake…

It began with a dream; it ended in obsession, insanity and death.

 

The fire in the woods…

The old farmhouse stood on high ground near the mountain of Mynydd Du. Long-abandoned though it was, Ronald Ashington still saw potential in it.

The dancers in the pines…

The Ashingtons had a vision: a luxury hotel, a hidden gem tucked away in the wilds of the Welsh countryside, a home away from home for couples looking to get away from it all. Yes, this house was perfect, except for the name: Ty Mynwent. The house by the cemetery.

AMAZON UK

AMAZON US

Bits and pieces: News – 02:06:2014

NEW BOOKS FOR 2015

It is with immense please that we can announce the acquisition of two novellas from a duo of top class writers.

First, we have Albion Fay from MARK MORRIS, a name which should be familiar to many. It tells the story of twins Angie and Frank, about a weekspent in an isolated holiday home surrounded by a landscape which is as dangerous as it is beautiful. Set against the deteriorating marriage of their parents, that holiday will be about to change everyone’s lives. Date of publication TBC.

The second novella will be Leytonstone, by none other than STEPHEN VOLK, the author of last year’s bestselling Whitstable. This will be the second in his Dark Masters trilogy, of which Whitstable was the first, and for this one the subject is a very young Alfred Hitchcock. In the story, we get to learn of the many influences which went into the making of the adult, and how those influences collaborated in creating one of the foremost directors of his time. If you liked Whitstable, then we can guarantee that you will love Leytonstone. Also due in 2015.

The Christmas Ghost Stories of Lawrence Gordon Clark: Deluxe edition.

The books will be arriving either tomorrow or Wednesday – and we will be despatching them this week too.

Black Mountain serial

Episode six of Simon Bestwick’s monthly serial, Black Mountain: The House by the Cemetery, will be published very soon: it’s lateness is due to unavoidable personal circumstances which the author had to attend to. This means that there will be TWO episodes this month, so that the serial will be back on schedule by the end of June.

Chapbook packaging

From the next issue of the chapbook series, Volume XII (Robert Shearman’s Christmas in the Time of Ennui) and which will be published in July, they will be packaged in sturdier and more protective envelopes. This will mainly be to guard against spine damage and the wanton mishandling by postmen. Subscription prices will be held at current prices.