Bloody War by Terry Grimwood is Now Available!

For a quiet stay-at-home sort of person, I seem to do a lot of moving around, which plays merry hell with my updating here!  But anyway – with suitable dark apocalyptic fanfare and only slightly delayed by travel and bank holidays, Terry Grimwood’s spectacular novel of a very familiar contemporary England at full-out war is now available!  This dark and dirty slice of UK paranoia and menace is a fitting foil to Royal Wedding euphoria.  Get your orders in for what may be Eibonvale’s most exciting page-turner yet – and for the reviewers out there, I will soon be whispering in your ear . . .

Allen Ashley, editor of forthcoming anthology “Where Are We Going?”, reports:

Where are we going? Well, we are actually now on our way! I have just made my first formal acceptance for the anthology. The story is called “Dead Countries” and is by up and coming British author Gary Budgen, who has been in “Jupiter” and one or two other places and is definitely a name to watch out for. If you like a touch of Borges, you will love “Dead Countries”.

I am holding several stories for the infamous “Second Reading” and hope to announce a few more acceptances shortly. If you haven’t sent me something yet, well there are six weeks of submitting left to go so all of you have still got a chance to impress me. Check the guidelines then send me your story as a Word or Rich Text File attachment to editorwherearewegoing@hotmail.co.uk

Sylvow reviewed in Black Static

Peter Tennant has reviewed Douglas Thompson’s novel “Sylvow” in the latest copy of Black Static Magazine (No.22). He compares it (favourably!) to the Bride Of Frankenstein! He writes:

“Thompson writes with the assurance of someone completely in control of his material, bringing the story alive on the page, with images of the beautiful and bizarre – a pirate queen sailing her galleon through flooded streets, a dog man hybrid with stories of mutation and science run amok, a tree that rapes a young girl in a scene that brings to mind The Evil Dead, strange plant life infesting a house and absorbing any and all human interlopers, art forms left to rot and decay as part of the natural process and thus achieving a new form of beauty…

…Douglas Thompson has produced a powerful new work of apocalyptic fiction, one that should appeal to readers of all stripes, but primarily those of horror and science fiction. He offers a highly original, fascinating and far from entirely bleak account of the interesting times to come, one that is both literary and humane, illustrating the book’s subtext that as long as the sun shines the world will go on, life will endure.”

Allen Ashley, editor of forthcoming anthology “Where Are We Going?”, posts:

I’ve been asked to elaborate a little on what I’m looking for with this anthology, so here goes. As I state in the guidelines, I’m not after quests with magic swords or rings of power and other sub-Tolkien or quasi-mythical material. One of the ways of seeing the remit is “Earth is still an alien planet”. It might be helpful if I can give an example from one of my previous projects, “Catastrophia” (PS Publishing, 2010). This had a disaster story theme but I took a couple of journey stories for the book. One of them was Joe Essid’s “Something For Nothing”, which reminded me strongly of J. G. Ballard’s early travelogues. In this tale, the author postulates a world where reality itself has been altered by people’s experiments with accessing a form of sub-atomic power (I think!). The opening line is: “Do not go into Bent places, the old folks tell us.” and immediately one knows that at some point in the narrative that stricture is going to be broken. Essid creates a warped world where the usual physical laws do not quite apply – objects are stretched out to impossible lengths; a suspension bridge hangs unsuspended; a legendary character – The Glass Man – prowls this crystalline jungle waiting to attack foolhardy explorers. It’s a tense, moving story as the youthful narrator sets off into the Bent lands, partly as a rite of male passage and partly to impress the female schoolteacher he not so secretly lusts after.  It’s near future and it’s slightly post-apocalyptic although the disaster is still unfolding as fissures and ruptures continue to appear regularly. The story is imaginative and thought-provoking with a sustained emotional impact. It’s about ordinary people – not superheroes or chosen princes – undertaking a challenging journey from which they will not emerge unscathed. All the characteristics one would want from a submission to “WAWG”, in fact.

So, be inventive, deal with important themes, take me somewhere I’m intrigued by but a little wary of visiting. Impress me, that’s all you have to do. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

More news soon. Thanks. – Allen

From Allen Ashley, editor of forthcoming Eibonvale Press anthology “Where Are We Going?”

OK, folks, I am so nice to you that, after several requests, I have now officially decided to extend the submission period for this anthology so that it will now close at 10pm British Summer Time on Tuesday 31st May 2011. That’s a whole extra month, bar a couple of hours of beauty sleep. And before all the quips start, I’m well up with the beauty but I could do with a bit more sleep! Joking aside, get writing and submitting. Further details from: editorwherearewegoing@hotmail.co.uk

Sylvow reviewed in Interzone

Ian Sales writing in the current issue of Interzone (No.233) says of Sylvow:

“…When read as a novel of disconnect, of humanity’s failed attempts to understand, or come to an accommodation with, Nature and her needs, Sylvow works very well indeed. Many of the passages set in the forest showcase some lovely writing …Sylvow is an intriguing blend of genres. With this novel, and his debut Ultrameta, Thompson has certainly shown he is a name to watch.”