So: what's been happening?

Well, we're into the boring phase of publishing. I'm currently checking (with an eagle-eyed, fine toothed comb) the manuscript for Quiet Houses, picking out where the software conversion has buggered the layout, where my poor typing and struggling brain have led to misspellings, etc – the intention is to have this done in the next week and then I genuinely think that we're done and it can be sent off. The launch event is shaping up well, and we'll definitely have free wine available! Rather nicely, Quiet Houses has already garnered three really positive advance reviews, from the award-winning Ginger Nuts of Horror blog, David Longhorn of the highly respected Supernatural Tales and Sean Smith at his blog. The reviews can be seen here:

http://thegingernutcase.blogspot.com/...

http://suptales.blogspot.com/2011/08/...

http://archaism.wordpress.com/

Also, my ebook, Uneasy Tales has received a nice review here:

http://nerinedorman.blogspot.com/2011...

Remember, Uneasy Tales can be purchased from Amazon or Smashwords! And Quiet Houses can be ordered from www.darkcontinents.com, or from me direct if you want a signed copy. Well? What are you waiting for?

So, other news. Some of you may know that I'm the chair of a small charity providing support to people who help care for their ill or disabled relatives or friends. Well, the charity (Lonsdale District Carers) has just lost most of its funding so we're looking at other ways of raising money, and one way is that I'm going to edit an ebook anthology with all the profits made going to the organisation. So far, having abused my friendships something rotten, the following people have agreed to be involved (in no particular order):

Sarah Pinborough

Gary McMahon

Dave Hutchinson

Guy Adam

Norman Hadley

Mollie Baxter

Paul Finch

Stephen Volk

Joseph DeLacey

Willie Meikle

Eric Brown

Mike Stone

Keith Brooke

Mathew F Riley

Daniel I Russell

Gary Fry

Ian Watson

Joel Lane

Simon Bestwick

Jason van Hollander

Mark West

Ray Russell

Rob Shearman

Rosalie Parker

Allyson Bird

Alison Littlewood

Laurence Clark

Pete Crowther

Stephen Lockley

Oh, and some bloke called Simon Kurt Unsworth will write something for it as well

Some line-up, huh? And we're hoping for more yet! It's going to be a big project, and I'm really pleased to say that Simon Marshall-Jones from Spectral Press has come on board as co-editor. Although it'll initially be an ebook, we're looking at possibly producing limited numbers of a treebook version, but first we'll see what the response to the ebook is… The title is The Unsung, and it won't be a book of stories about carers, although some of the tales will touch on illness, disability and the emotional responses we go though. It'll be mostly reprints, but there will be new some stuff in there – and it won't just be stories! No, we'll have poetry, some artwork, and each author will hopefully write a 'when it all went wrong' or 'when it worked out well' paragraph for us as well. Initial thoughts is to have this out at the beginning of December, and it'll be available from all the usual places plus directly from me and Simon. Of course, if you can't wait until then to support this great cause, contact me direct and I'll tell you how to donate to Lonsdale District Carers directly…

I'm writing again, incidentally: I'm most of the way through the story for the Cancer Research reading, and it's going well so far. The reading, on October 27th, is also shaping up nicely: I have a good idea of which 3 stories I'm reading, and have decided already which stories I'll produce as chapbooks to sell on the night. Wendy is definitely making cupcakes to sell, and the shop is already putting aside appropriate stock – horror and scifi novels and DVDs, etc.

Right, enough self-aggrandising and self-promotion! Back to your lives, Lords and Ladies, there's nothing more to see here…