Paul Finch – Terror Tales Of The Cotswolds

Paul Finch (ed.) – Terror Tales Of The Cotswolds   (Gray Friar Press, March, 2012)

Cover illustration: Steve Upham

Alison Littlewood – In The Quiet And In The Dark
Fury From Beyond
Gary McMahon – Straw Babies
A Bizarre and Terrible Event
Reggie Oliver – Charm
The Grimmest Castle in All England
Christopher Harman – Hoxlip And After  
The Undead Who Wander The Wye
Simon Clark – The Shakespeare Curse
Oxford’s Black Assize
Thana Niveau – The Scouring
The Cannibal Feast
Steve Lockley – Wassailing
Bloodbath Under A Spectral Sun
Joel Lane – The Silent Dance
What Walks In Ettington Park?
Antonia James – Waiting For Nicky
The Satanic Slayings at Meon Hill
Ramsey Campbell – The Horror Under Warrendown
Worcester’s Most Odious Relic
Gary Fry – The Lurker
The Beast of St. John’s
Simon Kurt Unsworth – The Cotswold Olimpicks
God’s Dire Warning
John Llewellyn Probert – A Taste of Honey, A Horror of Stone
Lovell’s Long Wait
Paul Finch – Bog Man

Blurb:
The Cotswolds – land of green fields, manor houses and thatched-roof villages, where the screams of ancient massacres linger in the leafy woods, faeries weave sadistic spells, and pagan gods stir beneath the moonlit hills …

The flesh-eating fiend of St. John’s
The vengeful spirit of Little Lawford
The satanic murders at Meon Hill
The ghastly mutilation at Wychavon
The demon dancers of Warwick
The cannibal feast at Alvington
The twisted revenant of Stratford-upon-Avon

And many more chilling tales by Ramsey Campbell, Simon Clark, Alison Littlewood, Gary McMahon, Reggie Oliver, Joel Lane and other award-winning masters and mistresses of the macabre.

Gary Fry – Poe’s Progeny

Gary Fry (ed.) – Poe’s Progeny (Gray Friars Press, Sept. 2005)

Michael Marshall Smith – Introduction

Mike O’Driscoll – The Hurting House
Mark Morris – The Places They Hide
Antony Mann – Save The Snutch
Melvin Cartagena – Bottom Feeders
Tim Lebbon – A Ripple In The Veil
Steve Savile – Idiot Hearts
Joel Lane – A Night On Fire
Greg Beatty – Dr Jackman’s Lens
Chico Kidd – Unfinished Business
Conrad Williams – Once Seen
Jon Hartless – Earth, Water, Oil
Nicholas Royle – Sitting Tenant
Kathy Sedia – Making Ivy
Dominick Cancilla – The Cubicle Wall
Stephen Volk – The Good Unknown
Gary Fry – The Strange Case Of Jack Myride And Company
Andrew Hook – The Pregnant Sky
Gene Stewart – Evidence
Rhys Hughes – The Jam Of Hypnos
Gary McMahon – While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Adam L. G. Nevill – Where Angels Come In
John L. Probert – The Volkendorf Exhibition
Allen Ashley – Turbulent Times
Richard Gavin – The Pale Lover
Kevin L. Donihe – Living Room Zombies
Neil Ayres – The Scent Of Nostalgia
Robert Swartwood – Goodbye
Simon Clark – One Man Show
Donald R. Burleson – Papa Loaty
Ramsey Campbell – Just Behind You

Blurb:

Too often contemporary horror fiction denies, forgets or is even unaware of its roots in classic dark literature. The man legitimately called the father of the genre, Edgar Allan Poe, thrust terror into the soul of humanity, while his illegitimate descendants located it in the cosmos, across nations, in science, through history, in nature, in the city — in short, wherever people come together and invariably attempt to dull their imaginations. But experience is always too cruel.

These themes are of course relevant today.

This book aims to show how the ideas and techniques of the greats might be utilised to explore the modern world. Here you’ll find neither pastiche nor period prose, rather thoroughly contemporary visions whose aging, tell-tale heart still beats with dismaying memory of the past and irrepressible fear for the future…

30 original stories from some of the finest practitioners in the field, including a brand new tale from modern master Ramsey Campbell.

Gary Fry – Bernie Herrmann’s Manic Sextet

Gary Fry (ed.) – Bernie Herrmann’s Manic Sextet (Gray Friars, Dec. 2005)

Mike O’Driscoll – Introduction

Paul Finch – Hobhook
Donald Pulker – Forced Perspective
Andrew Hook – Live From The Hippodrome
Gary McMahon – Like A Stone
Adam L. G. Nevill – The Other Occupant
Rhys Hughes – The Hydrothermal Reich
Simon Strantzas – Fading Light

Blurb

Edgar Allan Poe suggested that the short story was the ideal vehicle for the dark tale, yet some of the finest ever written — to take just two examples, Algernon Blackwood’s ‘The Willows’ and H. P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Colour Out Of Space’ — are far longer. The novella, or novelette, is an enduringly popular form in the field of imaginative literature, yet few books celebrate it exclusively.

This collection seeks to show how the longer short story, or the very short novel, is ideally suited to the demands of creating an atmosphere, telling an involving tale, and developing compelling characters. The authors here are all masters of their craft: they know how to combine economy with broad visions of fear.

Let their chill melody seduce you; discordant imagery awaits; infectious rhythms will drive you wild with dread.

Six outstanding pieces from some of today’s bleakest prodigies. Let the music commence…