reading and reviewing walking horatio

“It is a privilege to be reviewed by D.F. Lewis.” Nicholas Royle.

It is. An absolute honour. Over the last years, D.F. Lewis has turned reviewing books into something like performance art, marrying criticism with literary synchronicity and real-life crossovers. The result can sometimes be stunning, infuriating, exhilarating, perplexing, and luminous all at the same time. I have had the good fortune to have had a couple of short stories reviewed by him in the past, but this is the first time he has taken his considerable talents and intellect to one of my full-length works. I am pleased that he has found something of worth in my book.

Here is his real-time review of WALKING HORATIO.

To read it via that link, you might have to click on “Leave A Comment”. But you don’t have to comment yourself. It just opens up the comments thread, where the review appeared one day at a time, over the period of his reading.

I’d just like to add my thanks not only to D.F. Lewis for taking the time to review the book in such a way, and so generously, but also to Tony Lovell for bringing the book to D.F.’s attention in the first place. During the lockdown, it’s been a genuine pleasure following the review. Thank you, both.

Here are the links to the paperback of WALKING HORATIO:

Amazon UK

Amazon USA

Amazon Canada

Amazon Australia

making see

The remarkable Allen Ashley has a new anthology out. It's called SENSORAMA. It's published by Eibonvale Press. It's an anthology based around the five senses and contains stories by Gary Budgen, Aliya Whiteley, Rhys Hughes, E Lillith McDermott, Tim Nickels, and others.

As luck would have it, I am one of the others, and I'm very pleased about that. I have a story in there. It's called "Making See" and it's about invisibility. Here are the opening paragraphs:

My girlfriend turned invisible the first week of April. Just after the flowers bloomed and the skies cleared to blue – snap, out she went like a light bulb.

      It was a side effect of a rare virus she'd contracted. Unluckily the virus had already given her a severe case of laryngitis and had taken away her voice. She couldn't even cry out to warn me not to walk into her.

You can continue reading by buying a copy of the anthology. The book is available in paperback and hardcover. As far as I know, no ebook is planned.

Buy from the publishers in the UK, who will ship to the UK, USA, and Australia, by clicking through to their site here.

Alternatively, you can buy the book from Amazon in the UK here
and in the USA here.

If by some miracle the opening paragraphs of my piece haven't enticed you to take to your credit card and add to your misery of debt (remember, retail therapy is good when it involves buying things I appear in), then check out DF Lewis's "Real Time Review" of Sensorama by clicking here.

Do be warned, he says some remarkably generous things about my tale, the shameless flatterer . . ..

the reviews are in

So here are some things that've been said about a coupla things some of my pieces have been in. In other words, folks, the Reviews are in.

About Midnight Echo 9, edited by Geoff Brown, Horror Addicts said this. Good Reads gathered a few reviews together here. And Frank Errington said this.

About Horror Without Victims, edited by DF Lewis, Matthew Fryer said this. Frank Errington said this. The Kind of Face You Hate created this sort of maybe review. A Mad Man With a Blog said this. And The Future Fire was not impressed and says so, at length, here.

A few new reviews of my novellette/novella/long short story - how-so-ever you want to categorize/categorise it - What I Wouldn't Give, have been posted on amazon here in the UK and here in the USA. (And if anyone can tell me why the price of the eBook keeps fluctuating between a dollar and a dollar-fifteen in the US, I'd be most impressed, because I'm not the one who's changing the price.)

Of course, when it comes to reviews, if you believe the good, then you must believe the bad. And if you believe the bad, then you must believe the good. Why is it, though, that I always find myself agreeing more with the bad reviews of my work than I do the good?

Anyway, it's nice to be read, even if you're not always loved.

point and stick

I have a new story, "Point and Stick" in DF Lewis's anthology Horror Without Victims. It's a handsome publication, and features stories by, amongst others, Gary McMahon, Mark Valentine, Aliya Whiteley and a story and cover art by Tony Lovell.

Here're the opening lines from my tale:

It was coming up on Christmastime and my old sleeping bag was past threadbare. Nicholas, the guy who owned this place, told me there'd be a mattress included with the room. “But a bed-frame, that's something you'll have to sort out for yourself.”

        Procuring a bed-frame sounded ambitious to me, so I just nodded and said it sounded like a good deal I'd be happy to accept. I shook his hand, losing my paw in his, and counted out the last of my notes. He didn't give me a receipt. He sank the money in a pocket and poked a finger at me. “Remember, you provide the bed-frame. A mattress comes with the room.”

If you're in the UK, you can purchase a copy from Amazon here.

If you're in the US, you can buy a copy from Amazon here.

And if you fancy a copy signed by Des himself, jump over to the Horror Without Victims blog, and contact him directly. He'll be happy to scribble his name in the book and mail a copy out to you, for such a nice bloke is he.