Celebrating death in the Lake District mist

I'm pleased to be able to report that one of the contributions to TERROR TALES OF THE LAKE DISTRICT, Simon Bestwick's blood-chilling THE MORAINE, has been recommended for a BRAM STOKER AWARD in the capacity of Best Short Fiction.

THE MORAINE is certainly a scary one. It tells the tale of a couple who get lost on the misty Lakeland fells, becoming increasingly antagonistic to each other, only to then start to suspect that they aren't up there alone. But that's only the start of it. There are twists and turnes galore as the sense of horror and confusion (because this is no ordinary stalker who is on their tail) mounts.

As so often in Simon Bestwick's stories, the human heroes are flawed by weakness and self-interest, and as such are completely unprepared for the unexpected terror they are suddenly forced to deal wtih, but equally as always in Simon's work, these characters are so well drawn and realistic that you always end up rooting for them.

In other news connected to TERROR TALES OF THE LAKE DISTRICT, a rather nice review on Amazon gives it five stars and describes the book as "a creepy and entertaining set of stories, among which were a few absolute classics".


There is also an interesting new offer out from the book's publisher, GRAY FRIAR PRESS ... just in time for Christmas, no less

Visit the GRAY FRIAR site, and if you purchase TERROR TALES OF THE LAKE DISTRICT from there, you can get the previous anthology DEATH RATTLES, for only an extra £4 / $7. That comes out at £14.99 / $31 including shipping. Add an extra £4 / $7 to that, and you can also get the Gray Friar anthology published before that, WHERE THE HEART IS (£18.99 / $38).

In a separate offer from GRAY FRIAR PRESS, they still have a few signed, numbered editions of my most recent collection, ONE MONSTER IS NOT ENOUGH (though these have no jackets, I understand), and they are available at £8 / $20, including shipping. (I'm also advised that paperback versions of ONE MONSTER IS NOT ENOUGH can also be bought for only £7 / $18, including shipping). If you want to take advantage of any of these special offers, apparently you need to send funds by PayPal to gary.fry@virgin.net.

So there we are. Bargain offers, I'm sure you'll agree. In other news this week, my latest Dr Who audio drama, HEXAGORA, starring Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton, is now available from Big Finish Productions. It's a full-cast drama, which I adapted from an outline by Peter Ling and Hazel Adair (not, as some know-alls have posted online, from an original television script), and it tells the tale of an alien abduction from Earth which leads the Doctor and the Tardis crew to a distant planet and a street-for-street replica of Elizabethan London. Thus far, I'm glad to report, it seems to be going down rather well.