AFTER the chill horror comes the SHOCK

More ebook news now for those keen to join the electronic reading revolution.

My first published collection of short stories, AFTER SHOCKS - which came out from ASH-TREE PRESS way back in 2001, and subsequently went on to win the British Fantasy Award in 2002 for 'Best Collection' - is now available on Kindle (courtesy of ASH-TREE EBOOKS), and may either be purchased at AMAZON UK or AMAZON US for the bargain basement prices of £3.92 and $6.79 respectively.

I'm absolutely delighted that AFTER SHOCKS will now live again. Partly because it's been out of print for so long - several readers have contacted me in recent times while seeking a copy, and I haven't been able to assist - but also because it neatly represents what I consider to be my first wave of supernatural and fantastical writing.

Though I was already classed as a professional writer back then, in the distant candle-lit years of the 1990s, my efforts were primarily in TV. Running parallel to this, though, was my interest in short fiction - particularly short fiction of the spooky variety - for which there were very few outlets save those in the independent press.

Titles like ALL HALLOWS, THE THIRD ALTERNATIVE, GHOSTS & SCHOLARS, KIMOTA, PEEPING TOM, TERROR TALES, NASTY PIECE OF WORK, ROADWORKS, UNREAL DREAMS, STRIX, etc - and many others too numerous to mention (all the product of literary folk whose imaginative work within the genre was matched only by their determination to keep it going despite the lack of interest shown at the time by the mass-market) comprised the main horror and fantasy magazines wherein I first honed my skills as a teller of short stories and novellas.

I owe a lot to the many editors I worked with back then, not to mention those fellow writers who followed that same route at roughly the same time (many of whom went on to have great careers of their own, of course).

I particularly owe a lot to Chris and Barbara Roden of ASH-TREE PRESS, who thought so much of my work that they voluntarily showcased it in the beautiful hardbacked tome that was the original AFTER SHOCKS. Now that they're showcasing it again in this electronic version, I owe them doubly as it may entice a whole new generation of readers.

The book contains 18 short stroies, some of them originals and some of them reprints. Its full TOC is pasted in below, but I've interrupted the list here and there to include a couple of choice extracts, which hopefully will whet people's appetites to read more.

AFTER SHOCKS

The Knock At The Cellar Door
The After Shock ... he was clad in dark, badly stained overalls and was massive of build, with huge shoulders and great forearms covered in oil and coal-dust. He was also wreathed in black smoke, which seemed to be streaming up around him, so his face was hidden, but I didn't need to see it to know that he was peering directly at me and in no friendly way ...
Devils Of Lakeland
The Magic Lantern Show
The Wolfman’s House
Eleanor’s Garden
A Night on Dragon Rock
February
Teresa’s Torment
To The Castle
The Altar
August
The Hotel On The Borderland ... beneath the visage of this feral monster, there lay another kind of fiend. One he was far more familiar with; one whose preferred hunting ground was the urban wasteland rather than the marsh, the tenements and alleyways rather than the forest; whose weapons were bombs and bullets rather than claws and teeth. Yet all that, it seemed, had changed ...
The Punch And Judy Man
September
The Dandy Dogs
Enemy Ours
The Fimbulwinter