Vampire Awareness Month has begun!

And so, after countless chats, mails, checking over the shoulder, jumping at shadows...we can finally announce that Vampire Awareness Month is up and running. From today until 8th August we'll be talking about films, literature, popular culture, music and all manner of vampire related things for you enjoyment and edification!

So hop over to Vampire Awareness Month now, where you'll find P. G. Bell in situ with his introduction to the whole proceedings!

Requiems for the Departed - huge TOC and cover announced!

Another great anthology from Morrigan Books and yet another fantastic cover from Reece Notley:

Edited by Gerard Brennan & Mike Stone

Requiems for the Departed
Irish Crime, Irish Myths.

It has been said before, that every story has already been told.

Maybe so. But if you’ve got the gift of the gab, you can tell the same tale as often as you like and still give it a life of its own every time.

Requiems for the Departed flaunts that gift seventeen times over with top shelf stories from Ken Bruen, Maxim Jakubowski, Stuart Neville, Brian McGilloway, Adrian McKinty, Sam Millar, John Grant, Dave Hutchinson, and many more.

The children of Conchobar are back to their old mischievous ways, ancient Celtic royalty, druids and banshees are set loose in the new Irish underbelly with murder and mayhem on their minds.

Requiems for the Departed contains seventeen short stories, inspired by Irish mythology, from some of the finest contemporary writers in the business.

PUBLICATION DATE: 1st June 2010

Requiems for the Departed
Stories:

Queen of the Hill - Stuart Neville
Hound of Culann - Tony Black
Hats off to Mary - Garry Kilworth
Sliabh Ban - Arlene Hunt
Red Hand of Ulster - Sam Millar
She Wails Through the Fair - Ken Bruen
A Price to Pay - Maxim Jakubowski
Red Milk - T. A. Moore
Bog Man - John McAllister
The Sea is Not Full - Una McCormack
The Druid's Dance - Tony Bailie
Children of Gear - Neville Thompson
Diarmid and Grainne - Adrian McKinty
The Fortunate Isles - Dave Hutchinson
First to Score - Garbhan Downey
Fisherman's Blues - Brian McGilloway
The Life Business - John Grant

Pre-orders can be made soon

Behold the Spider! Dead Souls now available from Amazon.com

Dead Souls is now available through both the Morrigan Books website and Amazon.com.

Be sure to scare the bejeezus out of your nearest and dearest this Halloween by gifting them with some wonderful tales, penned by expert storytellers.

And a cover to make you squirm whenever you reach for your copy!

Interview

The lovely Mihai Adascalitei interviewed me for his Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews site:

Mark S. Deniz

You reading enough?

Well you may think you are but honestly if you've not picked up at least one of these, then you really need to be changing some priorities over the next few months...

Allyson Bird: Has a lovely looking site, designed by the wonderfully talented Vincent Chong. Bull Running for Girls has been nominated for best collection at this year's Fantasy Con and I'm lucky enough to be receiving my signed copy on arrival!

Jenny Blackford: Has released The Priestess and the Slave, I'm very much looking forward to this, and yes, I have ordered my copy - you got yours yet?

Carole Johnstone: Has a new novella out. Frenzy has already been released and guess what, yes, I will be getting my signed copy in September!

Kaaron Warren: Has already released Slights, and of course it's excellent and of course I've read it!

Robert Hood: Released his collection Creeping in Reptile Flesh. I have my copy and have started it. Anyone not having read Hood should do so immediately!

Gary McMahon: Is releasing Different Skins at Fantasy Con. Lovely cover and I've no doubt fantastic work within. I'll be buying a copy of that you can be sure!

Cate Gardner: Has released her little chapbook, The Sour Aftertaste of Olive Lemon. Much shorter than I wanted it to be but some lovely imagery in there and well worth a read!

So, off you go, go buy some books!

Dead Souls now available for pre-order!

Dare you order?

Dead Souls

How to Make Monsters review (yes another good one!)

This time from the wonderful Sharon Ring, deputy editor over at Science Fiction and Fantasy Ethics (SFEE for short).

How to Make Monsters review

The book can be ordered online, although there are few copies left…so grab yours before it’s too late!

Purchase How to Make Monsters and make sure to get some light bulbs while you’re at it, as you won’t want to turn the light off again!

Two reviews for Morrigan Books' titles

First up is a review of The Even, over at A Writer Goes on a Journey:

The Even

and then we have a review of How to Make Monsters at Horrorworld:

How To Make Monsters
(scroll down for review)

Both reviews are positive and while I am not so sure I agree with the charge of 'less than stellar editing' (from a reviewer who knows not where apostrophes live) and even though I wish the reviewer of How To Make Monsters would work on getting Gary's titles right, it seems these two are rather popular books just at present!

The Even can be purchased here

and How to Make Monsters here

Voices review

“Voices” is a nice collection of horror stories that deals more with the supernatural and paranormal aspects of the genre and less or almost not at all with the gory and macabre part. Also the anthology edited by Mark S. Deniz and Amanda Pillar presents new or established authors of the genre and I personally discovered through “Voices” a few names that stirred my interest.

Read the review over at Dark Wolf

And you can always buy the book at the Morrigan Books site!

The Phantom Queen Awakes: Line-up

(TOC to be announced soon)
It was just too cool not to be announced!

Katharine Kerr: The Lass from Far Away
Elaine Cunningham: She Who Is Becoming
Anya Bast: The Kiss of the Morrigan
C. E. Murphy: Cairn Dancer
Michael Bailey: The Dying Gaul
Peter Bell: The Trinket
Linda Donahue: Silver Branch
Lynne Lumsden Green: I Guard your Death
L. J. Hayward: The Plain of Pillars
Jennifer Lawrence: Washerwoman
James Lecky: The Children of Badb Catha
T. A. Moore: White Heifer
Mari Ness: Ravens
Sharon Kae Reamer: The Raven's Curse
Ruth Shelton: Rising Tide
Martyn Taylor: The Good and Faithful Servant
Donald Jacob Uitvlugt: Gifts of the Morrigan

Edited by Mark S. Deniz and Amanda Pillar
Will be released 31st October 2009.

More news to follow...

Grants Pass TOC announced!

Prelude: Kayley Allard
An Unkindness of Ravens: Stephanie Gunn
Boudha: KV Taylor
Hells Bells: Cherie Priest 
Ascension: Martin Livings
Animal Husbandry: Seanan McGuire
Men of Faith: Ivan Ewert
The Chateau de Mons: Jennifer Brozek
The Few that are Good: Scott Almes
Rites of Passage: Pete Kempshall
A Perfect Night to Watch Detroit Burn: Ed Greenwood
Final Edition: Jeff Parish
The Discomfort of Words: Carole Johnstone
Newfound Gap: Lee Clark Zumpe
Ink Blots: Amanda Pillar
Black Heart, White Mourning: Jay Lake
By the Sea: Shannon Page
Remembrance: James M. Sullivan
Epilogue: Kayley Allard

 

Two stories set in the Grants Pass universe, Warlord of Rhode Island by Rick Silva and Snake Oil by David Priebe, will be released online prior to the official launch!

Edited by Jennifer Brozek and Amanda Pillar.

Pre-order details soon!

Three Crow Press - The Morrigan Books Ezine

Three Crow Press

On the winter solstice, Morrígan Books will celebrate the divide of light and dark by launching its online magazine, Three Crow Press.

Three Crow Press is an online magazine specializing in quality speculative fiction, supernatural, fantasy (urban, dark and gothic), horror and steampunk as well as non-fiction pieces and articles. Well written young adult will be considered if the piece is within the 16+ market. We are prepared to consider all genre-related works and are looking for stories that capture the imagination of the Three Crow staff.

Winter Solstice Deadline: December 1, 2008

Fiction Word Count and Parameters: Stories should be between 500 and 3,000 words. There is no theme to the issue but story must fit within the specified genres. Payment for submissions are 1 cent (US) per word following acceptance.

Settings: Any part of the world, mythology or culture.

Timeline: We will consider any story set at any time in the past, present or near future as long as the story is within the specified genres.

All materials must be an original work by the submitting individual. Reprint copyrights will remain with you. No simultaneous submissions will be accepted. Previously published material will only be accepted if discussed with the editor first.

For more information please go to Three Crow Press Submissions at:

http://www.morriganezine.com/submissions.html

The Even - now available in Amazon and Waterstone's

T. A. Moore's The Even, is now available at Amazon, as well as at Waterstone's and will soon be arriving on the shelves of Forbidden Planet in Belfast too.

You've really no excuse now have you?

Fantasy Con 2008

I haven't written about the con yet for several reasons: one of them being time (or rather lack of it), one of them being a few disappointments whilst there and another wanting to get some final stats before posting.

Simon Strantzas (cover designer for How to Make Monsters) has posted a few pics on his Facebook account and I was rather taken with this one:

From left to right: Moi, Simon (behind), the mighty Gary McMahon (author of How to Make Monsters) and his lovely wife Emily.

This was one of my highlights of the con, having a good old chat with lovely people!

More to follow... maybe...

The Even now available at Waterstone's

The Even by T. A. Moore is now available at Waterstone's bookstores. If you order the hardback (or two copies of the paperback) you'll also get free delivery!

Time to grab a copy indeed!

Fantasy Con updates

It has now been confirmed that I will be attending the Fantasy Con in Nottingham, England and Morrigan Books will launch The Even by T. A. Moore and How to Make Monsters by Gary McMahon, Saturday 20th September, 11 am, bar and dealers' room.

Voices will also be available as a pre-launch limited edition before its official launch at Conflux 5, Canberra, Australia, Saturday, October 4th 2008.

I arrive in England, 17th September and will return to Sweden 24th September. I will be staying in Nottingham 19th - 21st and will be based in Burnley, Lancashire the other dates.

It would be great to meet up with people whilst in England and if you are going to the con or are free on any of the other days then let me know and we can try and organise something.

The Monsters are unleashed - How to Make Monsters available for pre-order

How to Make Monsters is available on pre-order today, with delivery during the weekend of Fantasy Con, 19th-21st September.

Voices now available for pre-order!

Please check the Voices page at Morrigan Books for all relevant details and payment options!

Press release regarding The Age of Blood & Snow

Due to contractual issues, Morrigan Books has been forced to remove The Age of Blood & Snow from its upcoming release calendar.

The anthology is to be repackaged, with a release date penned for March 2009.

More details will follow as soon as we have them.

Ed Greenwood to join Morrigan Books' impressive author list!

I can confirm that Ed Greenwood has agreed to join Cherie Priest and Jay Lake on the post-apocalyptic anthology, Grants Pass, co-edited by Jennifer Brozek and Amanda Pillar, and to be released summer 2009.

This is another step in showing Morrigan Books' dedication to supplying its readers with the best new and existing talent on the market!