Author News!

It seems like only yesterday that I was moaning about horror being under-represented in the blogs I frequent (actually, it was only yesterday...) so it's great to be able to redress the balance a little bit with news of two authors whom I think are worth checking out...

Gary McMahon signs for Angry Robot!

Gary McMahon’s Pretty Little Dead Things and its sequel promise an astonishing mix of David Peace and modern Japanese horror cinema to create a truly unique fusion of intense writing and sheer terror.

Marc Gascoigne, Angry Robot’s publishing director, said: “Horror thrives in movies and graphic novels. Like our other recent discovery, Kaaron Warren, Gary is at the forefront of a new generation of writers bringing that energy back to horror fiction.”

McMahon added: “Working with the Angry Robot family, it feels as if I’m participating in something fresh and vital. Exciting times lie ahead.”

Pretty Little Dead Things will be published in the UK and Australia this July, and in the US (also by Angry Robot) in winter 2010. Its sequel, Dead Bad Things, follows in the Spring of 2011, with US publication shortly thereafter.

I loved Gary McMahon's 'Hungry Hearts' (Read my review Here) and am looking forward to 'Pretty Little Dead Things' on the strength of this.

Brian Evenson's Last Days Selected as Best Horror Novel of 2009 by Reference User and Services Association



Brian Evenson's Last Days, published by Underland Press, has been selected as part of the Reference User and Services Association's 2010 Reading List.

The Reading List annually recognizes the best books in eight genres: adrenaline (which includes suspense, thriller, and adventure), fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction, and women’s fiction, and is selected by the association's Reading List Council, composed of members representing libraries across the United States.

The association praised Last Days in a statement released this week: "Through spare language, a noir sensibility, and macabre humor, Evenson crafts a compulsively readable nightmare..."

I'm biased but I'm still going to say that I think 'Last Days' is a book that deserves to do well in any list that it's nominated for. If you'd like to read my review for 'Last Days' just click Here and you can also read my interview with Brian Evenson Here.