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Great new review of Autumn: Dawn

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I’ve disappeared from view again. As I’ve said many times before, this always happens when I’m writing. Right now I’m working hard on AUTUMN: INFERNO, the second book in the LONDON TRILOGY.

The reception readers have given to the first book, AUTUMN: DAWN, has been wonderful. I thought I’d break cover to share a great review from www.sfbook.com which you can find here. “Autumn – Dawn is impressive, offering a new perspective on the author’s past creation, resulting in strong, atmospheric and thoughtful horror.” Thank you to Ant for the very kind words.

AUTUMN: DAWN is available now in print and a range of ebook formats. The limited edition hardcover is sold out, but you can still get signed paperback copies from me via www.infectedbooks.co.uk. For those who are wondering, the audiobook version is still in production and will be released soon.

HERBST: MORGENDÄMMERUNG – the German language edition of the book – is also available in print and ebook.

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Carnival of Souls

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UK readers may remember the excellent BBC film series, MOVIEDROME. Presented initially by ALEX COX (director of REPO MAN and SID & NANCY among others), during its run MOVIEDROME showcased more than 200 cult movies. The first few seasons in particular were a fundamental part of my weird film education, introducing me to gem after gem after gem. You have to remember that having just emerged from the era of the video nasty, genre film fans had been starved of decent viewing material. Week by week, MOVIEDROME introduced me and countless others to a whole host of incredible films. Don’t just take my word for it, here’s a full list of the movies that were shown between 1988 and 2000.

One film that’s always stuck with me from my first viewing on MOVIEDROME is CARNIVAL OF SOULS. I hadn’t heard of it until I saw it, and once I’d seen it, I couldn’t forget it. I recently re-watched it, hence my recommendation to you today.

After a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival.

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A rookie mistake

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I made a dumb mistake, and the next five people who order a signed book from www.infectedbooks.co.uk will benefit from it. I wanted to order in some copies of STRAIGHT TO YOU, but I clicked the wrong ISBN. So, instead of the beautiful 2014 edition shown below, I ended up with a number of copies of this abomination (click to reveal – I couldn’t bring myself to show the image here). This version of STRAIGHT TO YOU represents me at my most naive. I’d just started publishing independently, and I made just about every mistake imaginable with this book. I’ve written much about my disdain for the original version of my debut novel – this paperback represents the worst edition of the worst version of the book.

I don’t want these copies cluttering up my shelves, and I’m not going to just throw them away, so the next five people to place an order for a signed book from www.infectedbooks.co.uk, will also get a free lump of turd copy of the 2006 paperback edition of STRAIGHT TO YOU.

There’s some good stuff available from Infected Books right now – see the list below.

All books are signed, and postage is free for UK orders. Don’t forget, you also get free ebook versions with all Infected Books releases.

* Please note – the free ebook offer does not apply to books released by other publishers

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Recommended reading – Survivors

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I think perhaps the main reason I love dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction is the way it strips away all the divisions of society and (generally) puts us all in the same boat. It doesn’t matter what your background or beliefs are, how smart or rich or loud or quiet or well-connected you might be, when the shit really hits the fan, we’ll all likely have as good (or as bad) a chance of survival as the person next to us.

This is something I’ve been giving a lot of thought to recently, not least because we’re in the middle (or possibly the tail end, or maybe still the opening act) of a global pandemic which has had a profound and long-lasting impact on the entire planet, even those who continue to claim it’s a hoax. Far more trivially, I’ve also been thinking about the same themes as I’ve been working on the new AUTUMN books. Book one, AUTUMN: DAWN, was very much a straight-forward survival horror story in the style of the previous books in the series. AUTUMN: INFERNO and AUTUMN: EXODUS, however, will be altogether different. It’s not so much about picking up the pieces after an apocalypse; more about seeing if there are any pieces left to be picked up.

I’ve been catching up with some post-apocalyptic reading, and the novel I’ve just finished – SURVIVORS by TERRY NATION – makes this point very effectively. Unfortunately, it also drives home my earlier assertion that no matter who we are or what we’ve done, in the event of a global catastrophe, we’re all equally fucked. Grim, eh?!

I’m sure many of you will have heard of SURVIVORS – the two BBC TV series, if not the novel. The story, first published in the 1970’s, deals with the aftermath of a global pandemic. A disease with a 95% mortality rate spreads around the world in a matter of days, and the book documents the struggles of some of the remaining 5%. It’s sobering stuff.

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Joe McKinney

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So sad to hear of the passing of Joe McKinney. Joe was one of the first fellow zombie authors I got to know well, though I hadn’t spoken to him for a number of years. Way back when I was starting out (when the zombie sub-genre was first starting to become established, actually) Joe’s books were everywhere, and rightly so. DEAD CITY, FLESH EATERS and his other novels were hugely popular. Our paths crossed quite a few times, and I was honoured to write the foreword to DEAD WORLD RESURRECTION – an outstanding collection of his zombie short stories.

Rest in peace, Joe. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.