On Monday last I drove to Shepperton studios so that we could interview Craig Charles, hot off the set of the new Red Dwarf TV series, on the subject of his starring role twenty years ago in Ghostwatch. Craig was as funny and charming as ever, and we're very grateful for his time in a busy schedule! Here I am with the man himself, GW director Lesley Manning and Ghostwatch Behind the Curtains supremo Rich Lawden. Rich is editing the interviews (including Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith, exec Richard Brooke, myself, Lesley the director, Ruth the producer, Kim Newman, Andy Nyman and many others) for a putative anniversary documentary or DVD. Watch this space in 2012!
1 January 2012
GLITTER AND DOOM
Goodbye 2011!! Missing you already!! Not quite as much happened in the last twelve months as I wanted, but hey, it never does. And, hell, The Awakening was released in November to some fantastic coverage, so what do I have to complain about? Plus both The Guardian and Ghostwatch both got a brand new DVD release. Hurrah!! I finished two new screeplays, Playtime (with Tim Lebbon) and Sgt Bertrand. And I was a guest at both the Mayhem Film Festival in Nottingham and the Seriously Strange parapsychology conference in Bath. Both great fun. Not forgetting my fiction appeared in the prestigious anthologies House of Fear, Gutshot and Gaslight Arcanum.
So what's up for 2012, I hear you ask? Well...
Majorly, it is "kick bollock and scramble" for me come Jan because I have three TV series in development. One newly taken up (with great enthusiasm) by a new broadcaster, and two in the hallowed halls of the BBC just given the go-ahead to script. I can't give you chapter and verse yet, but I could say that artificial intelligence, black magic and a highly dangerous sexual offender are involved: (though not all in the same project!) On top of that, new scripts and new possibilities abound, including a novella I'm very excited about (watch this space for news!!) and new stories coming up in Exotic Gothic 4, The Unspoken and Slices of Flesh, to name but a few.
Keep tuned for more information!! (Remember, 2012 is also the 20-year Anniversary of the transmission of Ghostwatch, too!! Who knows what could happen??)
28 November 2011
RIP Ken Russell. You wonderful, insane, cantankerous sod!
Strangely saddened by reports of his death today at the age of 84. He was a fierce teddy bear, much maligned by the very people who will now, no doubt, queue up to lavish praise on his memory. At his maverick best, with remarkable visions like The Devils and Tommy, he was one of the best directors in the world, with more imagination and sheer nerve than almost anyone directing today.
I've given an extensive interview to Fangoria on the writing and making of Gothic which hopefully will appear in the magazine soon. Go on. Raise a glass of champagne to the old gent. He was one of a kind and will be sorely missed - though his unique body of provocative work, so packed with individuality and verve, lives on.
Read Ken Russell Dies aged 84 in the Huffington Post. Also take a look at his life in photographs, here.
Read The Life of Ken Russell, a Unique British Talent in the Daily Telegraph.
26 November 2011
I've been away of late on family business. Now I'm back, and proud to report that my daughter Julie has been giving birth to a beautiful baby boy, my second grandson, Henry Ernest Cartmel (8lbs 2oz).
In other news: The Awakening has been garnering some great reviews. Check out the quotes and links. Go to FILMS on the menu on the left then click THE AWAKENING. Particularly delighted with the ones from Steve O'Brien at The Fan Can, HeyuGuys and Fangoria. Also check out a few new interviews with me on the INTERVIEWS page, including one with Twisted Tales.
8 November 2011
Only three days to the nationwide release of The Awakening on 11.11.11. And great that Rebecca Hall has already received a nomination for a BIFA (British Independent Film Award) for her role in the movie.
Meanwhile, in other news, nice to see it's official on Digital Spy that Ghostwatch is the SECOND scariest thing ever to appear on TV! (The first - no surprise at the voting - is a two-bit show called Doctor Who.) Not bad when you consider the number one has been on the box for how many years now? And good old Ghostwatch only had one showing - never to be repeated.
26 October 2011
It always happens in the run up to Halloween! Here is new piece about Ghostwatch on the occasion of its DVD re-release at Blokeley.
Also a write-up at Left Lion about the coming screening of Ghostwatch and The Awakening at the Mayhem Film Festival in Nottingham.
By the way, here is the link if you want to join The Awakening's FaceBook Page.
24 October 2011
Well! SFX calls the new DVD re-release of Ghostwatch one of the sci-fi bargains of the week, while The Guardian newspaper (no less!) recommends its showing at the Mayhem Film Festival in Nottingham next Sunday as one of its recommended Halloween Film Specials.
Notwithstanding it is now being sold for £3 at Morrisons, the BBC are forging ahead with publicising the release with this big spread about the production on the Radio Times web site -- called "Ghostwatch: the cast of the controversial mockumentary speak out" (Read the inside story of the production the BBC banned!!!) (If you say so.)
20 October 2011
Gearing up to go to the Festival of Fantastic Films in Manchester tomorrow, followed next week by the Mayhem Film Festival in Nottingham (27-30 October) at which I'll be attending screenings of both The Awakening (Thurs 27th) and Ghostwatch (Sun 30th). It should be great fun: with a special psychology experiment underway at the same time. Goodness only knows what that means!
The new DVD re-release of The Guardian is due in time for Halloween. It contains new video interviews with myself, director William Friedkin and star Jenny Seagrove. There's a pretty fair-minded review of it by SFX magazine, here. And then there's this, suddenly...
It seems that a re-release of Ghostwatch is now on the market. Due for release on 24 October, yet a friend of mine bought it for £3 at Morrison's. This is news to me! And since they have not done a deal with the writer, yours truly (who co-owns the copyright) they will be hearing from my agents and/or lawyers!
Next week: the UK premiere of The Awakening at the London Film Festival (Tuesday 25 October). General release from November 11th. Yay!
19 September 2011
Nice to see a hefty 5 stars given to my story "The Comfort of the Seine" in the first Amazon.com review of Gaslight Arcanum: Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes (Edge Publishing). Out this month.
Also I am pleased to announce that I will be appearing at the Mayhem Film Festival in Nottingham over the end of October Halloween weekend. I'll be there to attend not only the screening of The Awakening (Thursday) with the film's director Nick Murphy, but also presenting a showing of Ghostwatch, followed by a Q&A (Sunday). It looks like it is going to be a tremendous, if busy, few days.
And touched to see that somebody HERE would bother to record the theme music of Afterlife (compused by Ed Butt) and post it on YouTube! Nice one!
16 September 2011
The first exclusive TRAILER of The Awakening has been posted on The Guardian newspaper website, also you can see it on YouTube. Possibly it gives too much away, but all in all, if you like the trailer, you'll like the film (I hope!).
"Awakening Trailer Haunts the Web" says Empire magazine here. They also say: "Directed by telly veteran Nick Murphy, the film features a script by Stephen Volk, a man who knows a thing or two about scary stuff, having created the TV drama Afterlife and being behind one of Empire's favourite spooky fake-outs, 1992's Ghostwatch. We've got high hopes for the movie, given a cast that includes Hall, West and Imelda Staunton."
14 September 2011
Wow. The Awakening was declared by Variety as "a buzzed title amongst US distributors, and there were several deals on the table" - however domestic (USA) distribution rights were bought by Cohen Media Group.
Yesterday an excellent review in The Hollywood Reporter (calling it "twisty and atmospheric) said: "With beautiful cinematography, restained use of effects, and acting much better than it had to be, The Awakening gives thriller fans more than they're trained to expect."
This was followed by another great review on collider.com saying: "If The Awakening had simply painted a rapturous, thrilling ghost story, it would have been fine... but (Nick) Murphy and co-writer Stephen Volk bring the sadness of loss into the proceedings." "The Awakening is for those who loved The Devil's Backbone and The Others. It's for those who want to be transported into a sumptuous and haunting place on the hazy line between life and death."
07 September 2011
The Awakening will be showing pre-Halloween as part of the London Film Festival, on 25 and 26 October. There are new photographs from the production at the BFI/ LFF web site. They call it: "A classy haunted house yarn that boasts a great cast, as deceptively moving as it is chilling." Do let me know whether they are right! ...I hope so!
18 August 2011
The premiere of The Awakening has been confirmed as forthcoming at the Toronto Film Festival, when they will be holding a gala preview, according to announcements in the Hollywood Reporter and Screen Daily web sites. Read more on these links.
12 August 2011
More pictures from the set of The Awakening... Which I am told is starting to have preview screenings soon.
11 August 2011
I have written the introduction to the following volume of novellas by the excellent horror writer (and my good pal) Paul Kane, collected under the title Pain Cages. It's a great book. I loved it.
7 August 2011
I can now announce with great glee I will be a guest speaker at the gala dinner during "Seriously Strange" - THE Paranormal Event of the Year, which takes place over the weekend of 10-11 September at the University of Bath.
This event is in celebration of the first 30 years of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (in other words, all things spooky, inexplicable and Fortean) of which I am a member. Other speakers at the event include Dr Ciaran O'Keefe, Paul Devereux, Rev Lionel Fanthorpe, Val Hope, Dr Hugh Pincott, Alan Murdie and many others. I am looking forward to it immensely.
In "other news": I have a story ("The Chapel of Unrest") in the forthcoming anthology from Evil Jester, called Help! Wanted: Tales of On-The-Job Horror, edited by Peter Giglio. Out September 2011. Check out the cool new book trailer here.
12 July 2011
Very happy and a little amazed to see this review of 7th Black Book of Horror on Endless Falls Up by the journalist who goes under the name "Ray Garratty". He not only praises my story "Swell Head" as the best in the anthology, but calls me "probably the best storyteller in Britain"!
11 July 2011
An exciting new book Death Rattles is published this month by Gray Friar Press, and I've written the Introduction. It's an attempt to capture the thrill of first seeing the notorious "lost" TV series Death Rattles, transmitted late at night in the early 80s by Channel Four and quickly deemed so abhorrent in content that the tapes were subsequently wiped. As a consequence, many people (even genre fans) are unaware the series ever existed. But those of us who did see it will never forget.
For contractual reasons we had to ask six modern horror writers to "reimagine" the old episodes from memory. The result, we hope, is as shocking, terrifying and extreme as the original taboo-breaking show. ...Not for the squeamish!
See also Simon Bestwick's blog about Death Rattles (11 July 2011).
06 July 2011
Editor Jonathan Oliver has just announced the full Table of Contents of "House of Fear" over on the Solaris blogspot. The book will be out in October and I'm delighted to be in there with a lot of friends in genre writing I admire hugely, including Adam LG Nevill, Robert Shearman, Christopher Fowler, Sarah Pinborough, Paul Meloy, Nicholas Royle, and Tim Lebbon.
Also, really pleased to get a mention in this blog by Jaspre Bark, a fellow resident of this madhouse called Bradford-on-Avon and fellow horror devotee.
And last but not least... Not forgetting This New Blog By Me on Steve Lockey's site, on the subject of the similarities between Horror and Comedy. Inspired by my recent reading of Steve Martin's memoir entitled Born Standing Up. I hope you find it interesting.
27 June 2011
Look out for this guy. He's mean. And he's comin' to get you...
17 June 2011
Another great review on Read Horror of the anthology The End of the Line (Solaris), which picks out my story "In the Colosseum" as "the most powerful of all" the stories.
3 June 2011
I will be attending the new, expanded alt.fiction event at the Quad in Derby (35-26 June) from the Friday to the Monday. I'm looking forward to a great weekend, and hoping to catch up with many writing pals. I will be on the panel alongside the likes of Pul Finch and Mark Chadbourne discussing Scriptwriting, and also presenting a short introduction to the screening of the BBC's acclaimed adaptation of the Charles Dickens ghost story The Signalman.
14 May 2011
New interview up on the Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains blogspot with Stephen Freestone. He is the guy who created Ghostwatch.info, the first substantial Ghostwatch fan information site, back in the day.11 May 2011
Delighted to announce a forthcoming screening of Ghostwatch in Bristol, followed by a Q&A with yours truly. It's on 24 May at 7.30 for 8pm at the Boca Bar in Paintworks.
27 April 2011
Exciting! Last week I attended an interview with Michael Parkinson near the pub he owns in Windsor, recording on video his thoughts and reminiscences on the subject of Ghostwatch, my 1992 drama in which he starred.
It was wonderful to meet him again and, as you might expect of the television legend, he was the consummate professional, a real gentleman, and utterly lovely chap, both to me and the rest of the crew.
It was so generous of him to give his time, and to wax lyrical about the project and his experience working on it. He also did not hold back in his criticism of the BBC. However, at the end he added: "but when all is said and done - they made it!" Hear, hear.
13 April 2011
Check out a brand new short interview with me at Read Horror: "the voice of horror literature".
23 March 2011
Nice to see a write-up of the Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains website on Suit 101.
Also, Ghostwatch fans will be intrigued to read that a film is going to be made about The Enfield Poltergeist. According to the Enfield Independent newspaper, anyway! The film is going to be made by "Enfield based production company" Blu-Ray (hey, not sure about the copyright issues there, guys). Producer John Kyriacou says it "inspired" the "infamous paranormal mockumentary" Ghostwatch. Really?
10 March 2011
Apparently the twittersphere has been hot as hell with tweets about Ghostwatch the last twenty-four hours! Charlie Brooker gave the programme a massive punch up the zeitgeist with a five-minute assessment of its impact on his programme on Tuesday night on BBC2, in his appropriately titled Why TV Ruined Your Life, in an episode called "Knowledge". Here's the link to the segment:
Brooker goes on to claim that my drama spawned the likes of Most Haunted and other paranormal based reality claptrap. An allegation I'd dearly like to refute. And something that I can certainly say, if true, I'm not proud of!
Interesting that in a clip of Biteback one of the disgruntled says that Ghostwatch "toyed with the emotions of the audience". Sorry, isn't that what drama is supposed to do?
1 March 2011
I'm excited to announce that later this year I will be having a short story, "White Butterflies" in this new anthology. I'm delighted because it's one of my favourite stories of all I've so far written. And as you can see below, I'm in great company.
Gutshot marks novelist Conrad Williams' debut as an editor. It is an anthology of 'Weird West' stories to be published by PS Publishing some time in late 2011, if all goes well. The book will contain 20 original short stories from new and established authors and features stunning cover art by Caniglia. Here's the close-to-finalised ToC (in no particular order):
Paul Meloy Carrion Cowboy
Alan Ryan Passage
James Lovegrove The Black Rider
Zander Shaw Blue Norther
Joel Lane Those Who Remember
Mark Morris Waiting for the Bullet
Gary McMahon El Camino de Rojo
Joe R. Lansdale The Bones that Walk
Peter Crowther & Rio Youers Splinters
Christopher Fowler The Boy Thug
Amanda Hemingway Ghosts
Simon Bestwick Kiss the Wolf
Stephen Volk White Butterflies
Gemma Files Some Kind of Light Shines from Your Face
Cat Sparks The Alabaster Child
Sarah Langan Beasts of Burden
Adam Nevill What God Hath Wrought
20 February 2011
I was asked by Peter Coleburn to contribute a quote to encourage people to join the British Fantasy Society. This is what I wrote.
The BFS is a great organisation, and I highly recommend that anybody, not just budding writers, but any fan of the wide-reaching genre of horror/fantasy/science-fiction gets right over to the British Fantasy Society web site and joins up -- immediately!!
19 February 2011
A very nice review of Solaris's The End of The Line and of my story in it, "In The Colosseum", here at Endless Falls Up. "Ray Garraty" is a Russian blogger. He takes his name from a Stephen King character!
I've just fiished revisions to my new screenplay, Sgt Bertrand. A historical drama. A vampire romance. A dark satire. Based on a true story. It's in with my agent to read, then it should be out to producers soon. Fingers crossed. This one is dear to my heard, and has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears over many years to get to this point. I wish it well.
I was the most notorious criminal in France... But I never hurt a living thing...
31 January 2011
Heartening to see some very kind words said about my short story "Three Fingers, One Thumb" at Gary McMahon's web site. He's no slouch himself, as a matter of fact.
27 January 2011
Just completed the send-out draft of a brand new "spec" screenplay, co-written with my good friend and brilliant collaborator, Tim Lebbon. It's called Playtime. Expect to see it in a cinema near you in about, oh, ten years? If we're lucky. Let's find a producer first. Wish us luck. Main thing is, we had a tremendous time writing it and both feel it was a fantastic experience. We can't wait to do the next one!
20 January 2011
My short story "Notre Dame" is now available to listen to as a podcast, nicely read by Sam Moffat at Dark Fictions Magazine. Let me know what you think.
17 January 2011
A couple more new shots from the filming of The Awakening starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton.
12 January 2011
Go to BBC Films and click on the brochure, scroll down to see new PR information about The Awakening together with a great new shot of Rebecca Hall as Florence. Also contains info on other new upcoming BBC Films releases, including Brighton Rock.
You can see the same information on The Awakening here on HeyUGuys!.
4 January 2011
It's nice to start the year with a positive review. This one of The Seventh Black Book of Horror by James Carroll at Page Horrific calls my story in that anthology, "Swell Head", a standout.
31 December 2010
Already 2011 is looking scarily busy! Or potentially so, at least. First up, I'll be deciding on American representation: it will be good to have someone batting for me on the other side of the pond.
Here, meanwhile, there's an interesting new genre TV series gearing up which I'm submitting a few ideas for, as well as talking to the BBC about new ideas of my own; one I describe as being X-Files meets Foyle's War meets The Avengers (I'm dying to write it!). And there are two novels in front of me to consider for adaptation. Also, the remake of a classic horror movie which a studio has asked me to think about and pitch for.
Also, I must get my head down and do final revisions to a new spec feature script called Sgt Bertrand, which has taken me more years than I dare admit to research and write. I'm very excited about it, even though it's got to be the most uncommercial thing I've ever written.
I've just completed a long novella I'm very excited about too. So that'll be out to a publisher in January. Various short stories in the offing for various anthologies, as well; on themes from the exotic gothic to haunted houses to cancer.
Plus The Awakening (Rebecca Hall, Dominic West) will be released either early or late 2011, and there is the possibility that either (or both!) of my scripts Telepathy or Burn might shoot next year. Watch this space.
One of the things I'm most looking forward to, though, is completing the screenplay I'm writing with Tim Lebbon. It has been a great experience and a learning curve for both of us and I've enjoyed it tremendously. We just need Christopher Eccleston to commit to star in it and Danny Boyle to direct!
6 December 2010
Check out this Halloween party music mix. (Thanks, Rich, for forwarding the link.) It includes three clips from the soundtrack of Ghostwatch - amongst lots of other fave raves such as the Halloween theme and edits from The Exorcist. Half an hour long, cleverly done and well worth a listen: Andi Durrant Halloween Mix Tape
23 November 2010
Another review, this time by Lisa Tuttle in The Times, calls my story "In The Colosseum" "[a] savage tale of voyeurism and corruption". The stories by myself, Christopher Fowler, Pat Cadigan, Nicholas Royle and Ramsey Campbell are all singled out as "exceptionally good". Read the full review on the Solaris blogspot.
13 November 2010
A peculiar "review" of Gothic in Total Film magazine, this: 30 Insane True Stories: Gothic ...disputing that it is based on fact. How dare they! Especially since they say the film is set in 1916. (Duh! It was set in 1816!) As I posted in the comments below the piece: "Well, of course the eyes in the girl's breasts are pure Ken Russell. They just happen to be in Percy Shelley's diary too!"
09 November 2010
My short story "In The Colosseum" has been called "angry" and "a brilliant exploration of moral corruption" in last Saturday's The Guardian. The story appears in the newly published anthology The End of the Line from Solaris, out now. The full Guardian review of the book is here.
Didn't get the "Inspired by Science" gig. Ah well.
02 November 2010
A few new reviews incoming: Graeme's Fantasy Book Review of the anthology The End of the Line. Hellnotes review of The Seventh Black Book of Horror. Ghostwatch reviewed on British Horror Television.
Also a new interview with me on Beyond Fiction.
26 October 2010
Even *more* gobsmacked to be one of the 10 finalists in the "Inspired by Science" competition (see below). The winner is announced on Saturday.
25 October 2010
Today in The Guardian at the bottom of Charlie Brooker's page it said: "Charlie watched the 1992 BBC spooktacular Ghostwatch at four in the morning, and, having initially laughed at Sarah Greene's performance, soon found himself getting genuinely frightened." See? Pipes always gets you in the end! Heh heh.
Also... Gobsmacked to be in the "longlist" of 30 from 270 entrants to the "Inspired by Science" competition held by the Wellcome Trust/Screenwriters Festival. Next they have to whittle the 30 down to ten (announced Tuesday 26th Oct) -- then one, who'll get the £5,000 prize.
20 October 2010
Excellent review of my Electric Darkness column in Black Static, on SF Signal:
"Issue #17 opens with a blisteringly powerful column by Stephen Volk. In it, Volk tries to isolate exactly what it is about children that makes them dominate the landscape of Horror both as victims and protagonists. Skilfully evading old saws like Golding's picture of childhood red in tooth and claw or sentimental dross about innocence, Volk outlines an adult population obsessed with its own short sightedness and unhealthily intent upon either punishing or canonising children for their refusal to carve the world up into the real and the unreal. Despite being quite short, Volk's column draws on a dizzying number of references and shows admirable conceptual depth and density as well as a muscular and evocative style. This is precisely what writing a magazine column should be all about."
19 October 2010
Gosh! During my stint as Guest of Honour last weekend at the Festival of Fantastic Films in Manchester I was given a SOFFIA, the Society of Fantastic Films International Award for achievements in the genre... and very nice it is too! Thank you to all concerned.
11 October 2010
It's that time of year again. A flurry of pre-Halloween Ghostwatch blogging...
1. The drama that terrorized the nation...
2. Scroll down wonderful images of "dreadful villainy" until you get to Box of Delights part 1: Ghostwatch...
3. You can read this account of a traumatized viewer called demoncleaner (scroll down)...
4. And this summation of the GW experience on Toasted Goat...
5. This write-up on Halloween Specials.net...
6. And, in case the BBC One Show page on i-player isn't showing it any more, here is the clip of Kim Newman's 60 Seconds of Huge Hoaxes on Pass the Remote...
Last but not least, this strange one I found from the real mister pipes ...whoever he is! Shiver-tastic!
29 September 2010
Read the new interview with director Pen Densham about the making of The Kiss on "Big Daddy's Horror Reviews" web site. I wrote the original screenplay for TriStar Pictures which was rewritten by Tom Ropelewski and then by the director. Extensively. (But I guess it was the film he wanted to make, and he made it.)
25 September 2010
Last night (24/09/2010) there was a mention of Ghostwatch on The One Show (BBC1) during Kim Newman's "60 Seconds of Huge Hoaxes" -- unfortunately the spelled Ghostwatch wrongly, but it's nice to be in there! (The segment starts about 12.00 minutes in.)
22 September 2010
What those pages in FANGORIA actually look like... That's a recent photo of me with Ghostwatch director Lesley Manning. And that's Pipes. And that's Parky.
20 September 2010
It was a great FantasyCon weekend and congrats to all the British Fantasy Award winners including Conrad Williams (Best Novel), Rob Shearman (Best Collection) and Sarah Pinborough (Best Novella) -- the latter beating my good self (and deservedly so, in my humble opinion!). The awards ceremony was particularly moving. Now we are all back home with Legionnaire's disease from the Britannia Hotel air conditioning; or what feels like it! Nothing to do with too much beer and talking, then...
Allyson Bird and Simon Kurt Unsworth
Gary McMahon and Emily (Mrs McMahon)
Guy Adams and Rob Shearman
Liam Sharp and Tim Lebbon (separated at birth)
Tim, Emily, me and some drunks
Tom Fletcher and Mark Morris
Me signing; Paul Meloy and Tim L; Mark M in The Shining; Rob S having a larf; Mark M, Tim L and Rio Youers, and immediately above; me and Rob. All photographs copyright the various photographers
Also... breaking news!!: you can read about my talk at Pontypridd Library (with photos) from the Rhondda Cynon Taff web site!! Fame at last!!
12 September 2010
There is a piece on my BBC drama Ghostwatch in the latest edition of FANGORIA, the famous/infamous horror film magazine (Issue #297). The full table of contents is here, but the front cover looks not unlike this...
NEWSFLASH!... NEWSFLASH!... As a taster for The 7th Black Book of Horror (see below), acclaimed writer Lawrence C Connolly has recorded my story "Swell Head", read by and with music by himself. I think he does a wonderful job and I'm absolutely delighted with the result!
To hear it, go to this page on the website -- Part 1 and Part 2 are approximately 20 minutes long. There's also a link to other music by Larry inspired by his novel, Veins.
10 September 2010
Here is the highly suitable cover of The 7th Black Book of Horror, edited by Charles Black, available soon. It contains stories by myself, Thana Niveau, Reggie Oliver, Joel Lane, John Llewellyn Probert, Gary Power, David Williamson, Rog Pile, David A Riley, Paul Finch, Steve Rasnic Tem, Alex Langley, Anna Taborska, James Stanger, Claude Lalumiere, Craig Herbertson and Tony Richards. OUT NOW.
Also, if you want a chuckle, take a look here at some hilarious photographs of a Ghostwatch-themed party... or should I say "Parky"? If you can't get that link, click here to see the same photos on the GWBtC blog site. :D
27 August 2010
For the latest Screen International article on The Awakening go to FILMS on the menu on the left, then click on THE AWAKENING. The page has the full report as a PDF, including this latest photograph of Rebecca Hall in the lead role as psychical investigator Florence Cathcart.
You might be interested also to read the authors' notes on the stories in the forthcoming anthology Never Again, edited by Joel Lane and Allyson Bird. (The book contains a reprint of my short story "After The Ape".)
Meanwhile... Cinema Futura, Mark Morris's highly anticipated anthology of non-fiction pieces by a wide variety of genre writers on their favourite SF films, will be launched by PS Publications at FantasyCon in Nottingham next month. My own piece on one of my favourite movies, Westworld, features, but here is the full, mouthwatering table of contents and list of contributors.
11 August 2010
Here's a link to a podcast of the panel discussion I moderated at Alt.Fiction in Derby earlier this year on the subject of Writing for Television. The panel consisted of myself, Robert Shearman (Born and Bred, Doctor Who), Mark Chadbourne (Doctors), and producer Bill Boyes (Quatermass, Wire in the Blood).
02 August 2010
"Most Surpising Ghostwatch News Of The Year Award" goes to 16 Ghostwatch (feat. Pipes) which is no less than a rap single, yes, you read that right: a rap single based on Ghostwatch! ...Staggered? I was! Yes, Pipes the poltergeist has been reinvented as a rap artist, thanks to Dick Limerick Academy, who have created an impressive (if dubious) mix in their new album Merseycide. Take a listen folks, if only for the sampling of strictly copyright material.
In additional GW news, I recently found an interesting new review of Ghostwatch over here at TV Tropes.
Plus there's this great new graphic image created by Arfon Jones from the Ghostwatch: Behind The Curtains web site. Many thanks, Arfon!
24 July 2010
Simon Marshall Jones asked me to write a "Guest Blog" for his web site Ramblings Of A Tattooed Head. Here it is, on the subject of the strange and contradictory feelings on the experience of visiting the set of films "wot I wrote". Hope you enjoy it.
23 July 2010
Massive thanks to Neil Snowdon for letting me know that Gothic has been highly praised by no other than the most vocal enfants terrible of science fiction, the editor of the ground breaking anthology Dangerous Visions, HARLAN ELLISON!
He says (in Harlan Ellison's Watching:) "...I treasure this film. So may you. If you, as am I, are out of your head... you will cleave to this tortured bit of cinematic epilepsy because it is ALIVE... I came away from Gothic with my soul on fire... because it is dangerously conceived, impudently mounted, uncaring of its footing, determined to crawl the wall or tumble into the abyss, all in the name of disgorging the absurd demon in thought." Marvellous!
Read the full extract of Harlan on Gothic by clicking this pdf.19 July 2010
The highly-anticipated anthology Never Again is now open for pre-orders. For more details and to view the complete table of contents and list of contributing authors (including yours truly), click this web page.
14 July 2010
Click on this for a substantial new interview with me as a special feature on the "Black static" web site. Questions asked by the excellent Andy Hedgecock. I'm particularly pleased by this one. Andy is a particularly perceptive and thoughtful interviewer and I think he gets to the core of my work, in many ways. Recommended.
Also, a brief interview by Charles Tan about my Shirley Jackson Award-nominated novella, on the Shirley Jackson Awards blog, here.
09 July 2010
Visited the set of The Awakening on Wednesday, in Trinity Church Square, Borough, South London. Impressive to see the huge crew and all the vintage cars, lots of extras in 1920s costume, urchins, rag and bone carts, grit covering yellow lines, opium dealers, rain machines, etc, etc. Met the director Nick Murphy (briefly) for the first time, and star Rebecca Hall, also did a quick interview with Baz Bamigboye, Daily Mail's "showbiz" editor.
Lady passers-by.
BBC Films make rain. Urchins look on.
Getting ready for a tracking shot.
Producer David Thompson. (Not his car.)
Widescreen. Yummy.
Opium, anyone?
Hello, hello.
The long arm of the law?
Spiffing wheels.
Spiffing haircut.
Drug Enforcement Agency, circa 1921.
05 July 2010
Tickettyboo to announce that my short story "After The Ape" (yes, that one from the BFS Yearbook) will be included in the anti-fascist themed anthology Never Again, edited by Allyson Bird and Joel Lane. It's out in September from Gray Friar Press. This is a great and laudable project, the profits of which are going to relevant charities, including the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. As the editors say "Weird fiction is often stigamtised as a reactionary and ignorant genre -- we know better". We do! Hopefully the wider reading public will know, too, after this book.
14 June 2010
Great to hear I've just got another nomination for Vardoger, this time in the best novella category of the British Fantasy Awards: yet again up against the excellent writers Sarah Pinborough and Joel Lane and another mate, Robert (Doctor Who) Shearman. As Sarah says, it's nice to feel that, whoever wins, you'll be happy! ...I'll second that!
13 June 2010
Alt.fiction in Derby was a great weekend, if far too brief. An indication of the fun we had is indicated by the following photo of respected TV producer Bill Boyes doing his Jordan impression - with a little help from the "Bosom Brothers" (my good self and Mr T. Lebbon)
Meanwhile, on a slightly more serious note: another interview about Rebecca Hall here. She mention that she's shortly to be filming The Awakening in Scotland. (Though the interviewer calls it a "supernatural thriller", it's actually a plain old ghost story, IMHO.)
1 June 2010
Really, really chuffed to announce that my story "After the Ape" has been selected for inclusion in Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume 21, latest in the award-winning series edited by Stephen Jones. It will be published in paperback by Robinson in the UK and Running Press in the USA this coming autumn. It's always a cracking collection. Pre-book it here.
Also, a brand new story, "Easter" will be appearing shortly in Gary Fry's new themed anthology from Gray Friar Press, Where the Heart Is. It's an unusual story for me and I'm very proud of it. Other contributors include: Allen Ashley, D F Lewis, Andrew Hook, Rhys Hughes, Mike O'Driscoll, Joel Lane, Mark West, Stephen Bacon, Simon Bestwick, Paul Finch, John Travis, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Gary McMahon and Carole Johnstone. The theme is home and what that word conjures in the minds of the writers above. More details here.
26 May 2010
Exclusive new interview with me by Martyn Conterio on Filmshaft.com covering my new feature film The Awakening, working with Ken Russell on Gothic and William Friedkin on The Guardian, film versus television from a writer's perspective, and assorted other goodies (if you're interested in that kind of thing!) includings Things To Come.
21 May 2010
A nice recommendation of my work from Yellowed Pages.
20 May 2010
STOP PRESS!! BIG NEWSFLASH!! FEATURE FILM ANNOUNCEMENT!!
Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imenda Staunton have all been signed to star in the film I co-wrote with director Nick Murphy, variously called The Interpretation of Ghosts, then The Buried, and now called The Awakening.
It marks the feature directorial debut of UK TV director Murphy, who made the stunning BBC1 television mini-series Occupation, in my opinion the best thing to appear on TV last year. David M. Thompson, whose Origin Pictures developed the project at BBC Films, is producing. StudioCanal Features will be lead financier alongside BBC Films and Scottish Screen, StudioCanal is launching sales at Cannes.
BBC Films' Joe Oppenheimer is executive producing alongside Will Clarke and Jenny Borgars of StudioCanal's UK distribution and production arm, Optimum Releasing.
"This is a riveting and very original script and we are thrilled that it is to be directed by Nick Murphy as his first feature," said David Thompson, whose first film from Origin, Justin Chadwick's The First Grader, is in post-production.
Rising star Rebecca Hall (Wide Sargasso Sea) is currently on US screens in Please Give and will next be seen in Ben Affleck's The Town. Dominic West is best known for his lead role in The Wire, and Imenda Staunton for Vera Drake.
Read coverage of the Cannes announcement at Empire Online.
Heyuguys.co.uk says: "Those in any doubt of the legitimacy of the creative team behind this one need look no further than the man who has co-written the script: Stephen Volk... He is among the very few writers to literally chill me with his prose. I have very high hopes for this one."
The Awakening will be shooting in Scotland in June 2010.
FOR SYNOPSIS SEE UNDER "FILMS" ON THIS WEB SITE
19 May 2010
This is a podcast I recorded recently: an interview with me by some parapsychologists on the Righteous Indignation web site, on Ghostwatch and how a skeptical person comes to write things he doesn't believe in. To listen, click on "Read more", go to "Episode 48" and click "Play". The interview with me begins at around 29.50.
17 May 2010
I will be having a new story, "In The Colosseum" appearing in the forthcoming themed anthology The End of the Line, launched on November 15 in both the UK and USA. Price: £7.99. This is the rather splendid cover:
Other contributors with dark tales set on and around the underground include: Ramsey Campbell, Christopher Fowler, Gary McMahon, Simon Bestwick, Mark Morris, Adam Nevill, Al Ewing and many others. The anthology from Solaris Books is edited by Jonathan Oliver.
Meanwhile, changing the subject slightly, an interesting blog on Ghostwatch on this blogspot, interestingly called "Look out! He's Got A Knife!"
25 April 2010
A thoughtful acknowledgement of my latest Electric Darkness piece in Black Static #16, by Colin Harvey of Suite 101. He says, amongst other things: "Black Static is a great magazine, and #16 is an exemplary issue, but in any case this month's Electric Darkness alone is worth the cover price." Thanks, Colin. Read his comments here.
19 April 2010
Just to let anybody who's interested know that I will be appearing at a one-day event, Alt.Fiction (Derby's Festival of Alternative Fiction), to be held in Derby on 12 July. Alongside me will be a whole host of names from the field of British "imaginative fiction" such as Mark Morris, Sarah Pinborough, Guy Adams, Robert Shearman, Peter Crowther, Tim Lebbon, Steve Jones, Conrad Williams and Graham Joyce. In particular BBC Books will be promotiong their Doctor Who, Torchwood and Being Human novels. Check out details via the link above.
18 April 2010
I've been away (getting my car broken into, amongst other things...) so I'm remiss in reporting the wonderful surprise that I have been nominated for a 2009 Shirley Jackson Award, for Best Novella (Vardoger, published by Gray Friar Press). The awards were established in the name of the legendary author of The Haunting of Hill House to recognise "outstanding achievments in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and the dark fantastic". I'm also delighted that other nominees in various categories include my friends Rob Shearman, Joel Lane, Sarah Pinborough, (editors) Tim Lebbon and Chris Golden, and those nice people at Ash Tree Press.
14 April 2010
There's a substantial section on Afterlife in genre fan Steven Savile's excellent book, Fantastic TV: 50 Years of Cult Fantasy and Science Fiction (Plexus, 2010). It covers every genre show from Doctor Who to Heroes. I also contribute several diatribes and opinions to the mass writer interview section (Joe Ahearne, Paul Cornell, Andrew Cartmel) towards the end of the book. Highly recommended! Plus...
Ghostwatch gets a hefty name check by Oren Peli, director of the scary mega-hit Paranormal Activity, who gave a tour of this DVD collection in London's "Time Out" magazine (1-7 April). Q: What currently unavailable films or TV shows would you love to see on DVD? A: Ghostwatch (1992) isn't available in the US, although I've already seen it.
12 April 2010
Nice to discover today that I have no less than 4 Honorable Mentions in Ellen Datlow's "Best Horror of the Year 2". Namely, for "After the Ape" (BFS Yearbook); "Fear" (Black Static 9); "From The Lips of Lazarus" (Exotic Gothic 3); and "Hounded" (Gaslight Grotesque). Thanks, Ellen!
1 April 2010
Yay!!!!! Finally I can announce TODAY the astounding news that both "Pipes" (from Ghostwatch) and myself are going to appear in a future episode of The Simpsons! It's all very exciting!!!!!
Brilliant (if unflattering) version of me on the left! See this link for more information.
1 April 2010
Had a great time at the World Horror Convention (Brighton) last weekend. Much imbibing occurred, together with late nights and some odd experiences. Result? Sore throat and lurgy... but a small price to pay for meeting my heroes Christopher Fowler and Kim Newman for the first time, and new blood Rio Youers, as well as plentiful old mates including Tim Lebbon, Mark Morris, Paul and Marie, Simon Clark and Simon Kurt Unsworth, the genius that is Rob Shearman, the Canadian contingent Charles and Kris Prepolec and Christopher, Tim and Barbara Roden (not to mention many others!).
(From top: Paul Kane and me; me reading a story; me, Rio Youers, Rob Shearman and Mark Morris at Stephen Jones's celebratory bash; me at Simon Kurt Unsworth's signing; Kim Newman attacking Sarah Pinborough in the nicest possible way.)
Also, Christopher Fowler commented on his blog that he particularly liked my business card! (No, Chris, it isn't me with the saw!)
20 March 2010
This morning Ghostwatch was discussed (and praised) by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson (authors of the play Ghost Stories: see below) on Jonathon Ross's show on BBC Radio 2. You can listen to the whole interview here. Andy and Jeremy start at around 1.27 minutes in. They talk about Ghostwatch (and me) at around 1.39 minutes in. But listen to the whole interview: they are great ambassadors of Horror!
19 March 2010
It must be this damned hoax Russian invasion of Georgia. Because Ghostwatch featured in the comedy news quiz The Bubble on BBC 2 last night. You can watch it on i-player if you go through the following link. Move the cursor to around 6.50, following the end of the hoax invasion news clip. Host David Mitchell said: "If I'd seen Sarah Greene and a ghost called Pipes, I'd have shat myself!"
15 March 2010
Mention of my BBC "hoax" drama Ghostwatch in this article Bad News: Broadcast Hoaxes in The Guardian, dated yesterday. Along with Orson Welles and sgaghetti plantations, of course...
13 March 2010
Wow. A wonderful review by Peter Tennant of my story "After The Ape", which appeared in the BFS Yearbook 2009. He says:
This is one of the best stories I've seen from the pen of writer Stephen Volk, and the best story that I've read so far this year, bar none. A story that records the aftermath of King Kong's death in New York, there are echoes here both of 9/11, another time when the Big Apple found itself under the cosh, and a foreshadowing of the horrors of fascism that lay in wait for the world of 1933, seen most obviously in the character of a lowly hotel employee of Germanic background who deplores the decadence and weakness of America even as he fucks Ann Darrow and indulges in romantic and self-deluding fantasies of taking her away from it all. The story belongs to Darrow though, the woman who loved the great ape, but it neatly sidesteps the schmaltz and sentimentality of the Jackson reinvention, giving us the back story of a woman who has suffered at the hands of men, used and abused in her personal and professional life. The miracle is not that Darrow could love Kong, but that with her history she could still feel at all, and in the aftermath of Kong's death she is almost an automaton, emotionally numb and simply going through the motions, no longer caring what happens to her, a detachment captured perfectly by Volk's prose and the actions it portrays. This is a tragedy, and it can end in only one way, and Volk doesn't flinch. Beauty killed the beast, but beauty too must die.
The same story also gets a very favourable mention on In The Gloaming Podcasts, putting it second only to Rob Shearman's "George Clooney's Moustache" in the anthology. (Which is flattery indeed, in my book!)
9 March 2010
I was sooooooo delighted to be one of the questions in the Horror Quiz in the programme for "Ghost Stories", the marvellous new theatrical creation by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson now showing at the Lyric, Hammersmith. Q17: "What is the name of the ghost in the BBC's seminal drama Ghostwatch?" Go see the show. I saw it last night. It's great, creepy fun. Truly, not to be missed. For more details about "Ghost Stories" at the Lyric, click here
7 March 2010
I can now also be contacted on the British Fantasy Society Forum at the newly set up board called "Ask the Authors". Drop by. I'm in good company. Here is the link.
My Rhondda Radio interview will now be taking place on Tuesday (9 March) at 10PM. Listen online at: www.rhonddaradio.com.
Also, some really nice words about me and my work on Undead Backbrain (roberthood.net) (Robert has, like me, written a story for Exotic Gothic 3: scroll down to "News" for 29 December last.)
16 February 2010
As I posted recently on FaceBook, the gallery piece I created with my wife Pat, our "Cabinet of the Lost & Found", has caused quite a stir at New Brewery Arts in Cirencester. Two visitors said they were "APPALLED!" by it and thought it should be "BURNT!" (no less). Why? I can only presume it's because one of the drawers contains a syringe labelled "Blood of a fallen angel". Well... as they say in showbiz: Thats' Cirencester.
10 February 2010
Congratulations to Tim Lebbon, Chris Golden and James Moore, editors of "British Invasion", a cracking anthology which made it onto the Bram Stoker Awards longlist of the Horror Writers Association. (I'm proud to have written the Introduction.)
5 February 2010
Delighted with the review of my novella "Vardoger" at this this web site.
3 February 2010
You can read all about my personal selection of Horror's "Hidden Treasures" in the new SFX Magazine Horror Special. In shops now!
28 January 2010
A future screening of "Ghostwatch" plus Q&A with myself and director Lesley Manning in Camden, London, 11 May 2010. For more details go to: www.theinvisibledot.com.
9 January 2010
Check out this link to CKUA radio: an interview with Jeff Campbell and Charles Prepolec, editors of "Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes" discussing my story in that collection: "Hounded".
29 December 2009
You can read my latest short story, called "From The Lips of Lazarus", in Exotic Gothic 3 edited by Danel Olson, published by Ash Tree Press. (This is actually an extract from an as-yet unpublished novel The Gospel According To Lazarus.) The anthology also contains stories by, amongst others, my mates Steve Duffy, Simon Clark, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Adam Nevill and Barbara Roden.
23 December 2009
Mark Kermode has taken Ghostwatch's name in vain! How dare he! Anyway, he who laughs last... heh, heh... and thanks for this Xmas re-edit, Rich! Merry Christmas, Ghostwatchers! :-)
22 December 2009
Article about Sherlock Holmes, editors Charles Prepolec and Jeff Campbell, and the anthology "Gaslight Grotesque" (containing my story "Hounded") in the Calgary Herald.
5 December 2009
Just found this comment on Mark Kermode's blog (BBC film critic):
"It's not just you, Mark. I too wasn't particularly scared by Paranormal Activity, although I admit that there were a couple of nice jumpy moments.
"And I think it's for the same general reason - when you've seen the tricks before, then the shock value is infinitely less. The comparison for me is with the amazing BBC TV drama from 20-odd years ago "Ghostwatch" which used much the same techniques - start out with little things and gradually crank it up. Although that was far more scary because it was presented as a "live" studio show, not as a drama, which a movie can never manage."
1 December 2009
Wow!! Today a review in The Stage said that this year's biggest mega-smash supernatural hit movie Paranormal Activity isn't as scary as my own Ghostwatch. "What really killed it for me was the thought I'd seen the whole concept done so much better. By the BBC, in fact, in 1992's Ghostwatch."
Paranormal Activity? Pah. Sarah Greene is scarier
31 October 2009
If you fancy watching the whole of Ghostwatch courtesy of YouTube, click here
If you'd like to read about Halloween and Ghostwatch on Britishfilms.com, click here
If you'd like to read Peter Tennant's blog on Ghostwatch and Halloween, click here
29 October 2009
I was astonished to hear a clip from Ghostwatch on Radio 4 this morning! It was on Reece Shearsmith's Haunted House discussing scary TV and radio: he is clearly a fan. Excellent! Mark Gattiss called Ghostwatch "genius" and particularly liked the name of the ghost: "Pipes". Vic Reeves had never heard of it - (also excellent!) Here's the link if you want to catch it (for the next seven days):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nfsjy#synopsis
Also, if you missed my appearance on "Ghosts in the Machine" on Tuesday it is repeated on Friday at 10.35 on BBC Four, or you can catch it via BBC i-player.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00nk9yw/Ghosts_in_the_Machine/
25 October 2009
My three favourite novellas, posted here:
http://ttapress.com/712/their-favourite-novellas/0/5/
24 October 2009
I will be appearing next Tuesday night October 27 on BBC Four at 21.00hrs on a programme called "Ghosts in the Machine" about the depiction of ghosts on television. I was interviewed alongside director Lesley Manning about Ghostwatch. It sounds interesting; though I was bemused when they asked me my opinion of Rentaghost!
22 October 2009
You can read a review by Peter Tennant of my new novella "Vardoger" in Black Static #13 (Oct/Nov 2009). Out now. The issue also contains my latest Electric Darkness piece, "That's The Way To Do It".
5 October 2009
This year, I was thrilled to be asked by the prestigious Screenwriters' Festival to give a talk about the creation and impact of my TV Halloween "hoax" Ghostwatch.
The SWF (which runs from 26-29 October and takes place at Cheltenham Ladies' College) brings together international screenwriters and the industry in which they work, to a single dedicated event. "It provides an atmosphere where writers can meet directors, producers, agents, as well as have a chance to listen and learn from the best in the business with screenings, talks and workshops."
My session on Ghostwatch is on the Wednesday, October 28, at 10.30-11.30 (subject to change). More details can be seen here:
http://www.screenwritersfestival.com/
Also, Mark Morris has just announced that "Cinema Futura", the science-fiction follow-up to the British Fantasy Award-winning "Cinema Macabre", will be published by PS Publishing in September 2010. The book, edited by Mark, will contain sixty essays by an all-new line-up of genre aficionados, each of whom will spend 1000 words or so gushing about a favourite science-fiction movie.
I'm proud to say I am one of those writers, and the film I will be gushing about will be Westworld (1973). For more details go to:
Happily, FantasyCon is looming in the wing mirror (18-20 September). I'll be there to launch and sign copies of "Vardøger" and hopefully to do a reading. I will also, I'm told, be sitting on a panel discussing the end of the world (in fiction, luckily) alongside Tim Lebbon. So if you are capable (as opposed to incapable by that stage) come along: it's at midnight on the Saturday.
I am also involved in the Arts Festival "Tell Tale Trail" in my home town of Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire. On Tuesday 22 Sept at 7.30 I will be talking about short story writing alongside New York Times best-selling novelist Simon R. Green and acclaimed novelist and children's author Jasper Bark. Then on Saturday 26 Sept at 6.00 we three will be joined by other local writers to read from our work. Come along! Somebody has to.
http://www.theartsfestival.co.uk/
23 August 2009
My new novella "Vardøger" is now available for pre-order from Gray Friar Press.
100 signed limited hardcovers.
300 unsigned trade paperbacks.
A chilling psychological thriller, "Vardøger" is Gray Matter Novella #5 in the series (after "Rain" by Conrad Williams, "Hard Roads" by Steve Vernon, "The Appetite" by Nicholas Royle, and "Groaning Shadows" by Paul Finch).
17 August 2009
I have a story coming out in the British Fantasy Society Yearbook 2009; the first in the BFS's new series of exclusive annual anthologies.
"Twenty writers -- from seasoned award-winners to rising stars -- offer twenty never before published tales, offering a broad sample of stories with imagination the only limit." Nearly three hundred, hard-bound pages, 100,000 words of "the best in speculative fiction" from:
JAMES BARCLAY, ALLYSON BIRD, ANDREW CARTMEL, MARK CHADBOURN, CHRISTOPHER FOWLER, GARY FRY, GARRY KILWORTH, TIM LEBBON, STEVE LOCKLEY, JULIET E. MCKENNA, GARY MCMAHON, MARK MORRIS, ADAM L. G. NEVILL, DANIEL O'MAHONY, SARAH PINBOROUGH, NICHOLAS ROYLE, ROBERT SHEARMAN, STEPHEN VOLK, KAARON WARREN and CONRAD WILLIAMS.
My story is called "After the Ape" and I'm really delighted to be in such illustrious company within those covers.
The only way to own a copy is by being a member of the British Fantasy Society: it is given free exclusively to members and will never appear for sale.
The book will hopefully be launched at FantasyCon 2009 in Nottingham (Sept 18-20), with many of the contributing authors gathered under one roof and available to sign copies of the book. (I certainly will be!).
10 August 2009
Delighted to announce I have a story I'm very proud of, called "Hounded", in the upcoming anthology "Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes" edited by Charles Prepolec and Jeff Campbell (Edge Publishing); due to be out in November.
See here for more details and to pre-order:Gaslight Grotesque Blogspot