Tell-Tale is a Tiny Tale + #FNATB

My short ‘Tell-Tale’ which first appeared at Punk Noir Magazine is now a Tiny Tale, a new podcast that sees the return of Darren Sant reading stories for you — not soft bed time stories though, but dark crime fun! Check it out: it also includes a tale of Daz’s own as well as two by Frank Sonderborg and Andrew Briggs.

Check it out and spread the word.

Don’t forget: tonight is another round of #FahrenFriday #FNATB which features new video readings by Derek Farrell, A Den Bleyker and Cal Smyth. Subscribe to #FahrenNoirAtTheBar make sure you don’t miss a thing!

Pre-order Paladins!

You can now pre-order the crime collection in honour of Henrietta Furchtenicht, for which all proceeds will be donated to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. A whole bunch of crime fiction writers who know the real hero is the one who has empathy for those who fight every day in small ways.

Pre-order here!

Also that man Darren Sant has been busy recording audio teasers for the collection; check them out [my story ‘Inevitable’ up soon]:

 

Coming Soon: Paladins

About the end of February there will be a new anthology put together by Aidan Thorn to honour of the courage of Henrietta Furchtenicht. These gritty stories have one other thing in common: they’re all about people who step up to the fight because they see someone in need. All proceeds from the sales will be donated to Myeloma Foundation.

From Henrietta’s foreword:

A few years ago I would have never imagined myself writing these words on the night before Christmas 2015. When my oncologist first diagnosed me with Multiple Myeloma in June of 2012 he only gave me 6 months to live. I was already in the last stage of this rare form of blood cancer that attacks the plasma cells found in the bone marrow. At the time of my diagnosis I had seven broken ribs on my left side. He told me that there was no cure for my type of cancer. We could only treat it to the point of remission with high doses of chemotherapy and stem cell transplants. This is when I was first introduced to Dr. Guido Tricot, the finest oncologist that Belgium has ever produced. He has kept me alive, though at times I thought he was trying to kill me in the process…

Table of Contents

Foreword – Henrietta Furchtenicht
Heir to the Throne – Keith Nixon
Jabs and Uppercuts – Jason Beech
Free Fall – Bill Baber
Strangers in Vegas – Aidan Thorn
Regarding Henri – Darren Sant
Uncle Jim – Ryan Bracha
The Caller – Cal Marcius
Deathsmell – Linda Angel
Pass the Parcel – Robert Cowan
Then Tommy Came Home – Craig Furchtenicht
The Burned Earth – Gareth Spark
Take My Pain – Matt Mattila
Inevitable – Graham Wynd (Kate Laity)
Low and Outside – Christopher Davis
Balancing the Scales – Dave Jaggers
Back in the Day – Gabriel Valjan

My story ‘Inevitable’ is a creepy tale of nuisance neighbours that gets more and more dangerous as the hours pass by and the vengeance escalates. Yes, of course it’s also a Fall song title.

In the coming days I’ll give some more teasers of what’s in store from this great slate of writers, writing from the heart — and kicking you in the gut.

 

Win a copy of SATAN’S SORORITY!

I am giving away a prize package of ONE print copy of SATAN’S SORORITY plus one “I’m pledging Sigma Tau Nu” promo badge and a couple of little surprises to some lucky winner here at the blog on Halloween (Saturday, 31 October 2015).

Enter to win by posting here (or on my Facebook page) with your name and the declaration: “I’m pledging Sigma Tau Nu!” The winner will be chosen by random. Be sure to include your email or I’ll choose the person via random lottery.

Deadline: noon (GMT) on Halloween.

Big thanks to Lys Guillorn for making the swanky badges.

Listen to a snippet of the novella read by Darren Sant of Near 2 the Knuckle. They’re going to have a big Halloween extravaganza that includes my story ‘Masquerade’ that’s a kind of prequel to Satan’s Sorority.

Spooky Women

There are so many influences on Satan’s Sorority, some of them direct, others more subtle. There’s an offhand mention of the avant-garde artist ‘Leonorini’ performing rituals in the early 20th century. I just wrote a brief prequel of sorts for the Near to the Knuckle big Halloween Extravanganza. Keep your eyeballs peeled for that — and your ears! Darren Sant is going to be recording the works for your aural pleasure. In my story I write about Leonorini’s big debut splash in NYC, where art and magic cross paths.

I swiped her name from the very real avant-garde artist Leonor Fini, who has long fascinated me. Her work taps into the mythic and magic effortlessly. The illustration at the top is her sketch of a witch. She used masks and transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary. Benjamin Britten wrote a play about her. She designed costumes and decorations for theater, ballet and opera, and later in life she wrote novels. In short, genius.

I realised when it comes to the actual magic, however, what I was seeing was the singular vocal talents of Diamanda Galás. If you ever have a chance to see her perform, take it. There’s nothing like it.

Surreal artists like Leonora Carrington, Lee Miller, Remedios Varo and more have been too often overlooked by the mainstream. The newly released Eve’s Hollywood by Eve Babitz will doubtless stir up the wilder side of the art world. There’s revolution in the air, thanks to some spooky women. And I just discovered this lovely version of the Classics IV tune yesterday: lovely, ain’t it?

Sounds for a Saturday: Grotesque read by Darren Sant

Near 2 the Knuckle & Gritfiction honcho Darren Sant reads my Fall-inspired tale of mayhem, Grotesque. Check out his new line of audio recordings.

Gloves Off for the Rogues!

The Rogue anthology will be punching its way into the world very soon, but there’s still time to catch up with Near to the Knuckle’s first anthology of hard-hitting tales, Gloves Off. It’s got some of my favourite writers, so you know there’s quality in those pages. Here’s the scoop:

Gloves Off is a collection of dark stories from the cream of the literary crop. These stories have one thing in common: they will come at you, all guns blazing. There’s a story lurking down every dark alley. Just when your back is turned a plot-twist is ready to attack. The stories in this anthology are mainly crime, but there is also grim humour and the supernatural; dark tales for an adult audience featuring hit men, mobsters, bikers and stalkers. Are you prepared for the bloody scenes within? This anthology was spawned from the dark, talented minds of: Gareth Spark, Richard Godwin, Paul D. Brazill, Aidan Thorn, Pete Sortwell, B.R. Stateham Brian Panowich, Ryan Sayles, Chris Leek, David Barber, Vic Errington, Graham Smith, Walter Conley, Tom Pitts, Allen Miles, Jim Spry, Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw, Mike Monson, Alan Griffiths.

Get it Amazon.com and Amazon.UK