I’m very pleased to say that my novel The Spyders of Burslem has been published on Halloween, as planned. Available to buy now as a paperback. Kindle users will have to wait just a little longer, because the Amazon approval process holds things up for a day or two. Here’s the blurb…

The Spyders of Burslem. A dark historical mystery, brought to vivid life. It is the year 1869 in the English pottery town of Burslem, where a new age of industry and learning struggles to be born. A young graduate has arrived to teach the workers, but finds himself on the trail of a deadly evil. A new and original novel of 60,000-words, rich with authentic period details and characters.

Here are the chapter contents from the book’s website… with a link to a free sample chapter. Kindle users will, of, course, be able to read the first 10% of the new book for free.

CONTENTS:

Chapter One: Arrival.
Chapter Two: A Providential Meeting.
Chapter Three: The Raising of the Zodiac.
Chapter Four: A Pint of the Finest.
Chapter Five: In a Darkling Aetherstorm.
Chapter Six: Death and Time.
Chapter Seven: Discoveries.
Chapter Eight: The Scrying.
Chapter Nine: A Cunning Kiss.
Chapter Ten: What the Dark Brings.
Chapter Eleven: The Face and the Mind.
Chapter Twelve: The Shadows of the Blind.
Chapter Thirteen: The Workings of Men.
Chapter Fourteen: Lost and Dreaming.
Chapter Fifteen: A First Frost.
A historical note.

Where The Deep Ones Are. Another fab cultural re-mix of lovely Lovecraftian hybridity. This one mashes Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are with Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”. Wired magazine has the full story.

Phantasmagorium, a new horror fiction e-zine. Edited by Laird Barron. $4.99. No Kindle edition, but you can probably do a basic auto-convert of the ePub with the free Calibre software (my tutorial is here). A print-on-demand edition is said to be due soon.

The New Death and others by James Hutchings is a new Kindle book with 44 short stories and fragments, and a handful of new prose poems. Among these is a verse adaptation of Lovecraft’s “Under the Pyramids”. There are also verses and stories inspired by the works of Lord Dunsany, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard. I had a look at the first ten percent for free, which you can always get on a Kindle — and it must say it looks really very promising. Possibly from someone who seems to still be a young writer, judging from his blog? The first fragment, done in the Dunsany manner, was especially memorable. And I love how he describes cats in “How the Isle of Cats Got Its Name”…

“It is well known that cats have the ability to sense entrances to the infernal realms, and the desire to enter therein, in order that they may combat demons and devils. This explains why they spend so much time under houses, and why they often disappear, never to be seen again. At night they gather to share news of the things below.”

Some of the stories have been published online and are available at Daily Science Fiction and Fairy Tale magazine.