Highlander's Book Reviews have just reviewed "Conjure". And quite liked it, which is always nice.

Read the review here!

Woo hoo!

David Price posted this to the book’s Facebook group site (which is located here) and below is a lovely little excerpt:

Chilling stuff, Mark, [with] strong characters, and you've done a great job of adding menace to an idyllic setting. Above all, it is a real page-turner, as you never let us forget how much danger the central characters are in (that encounter with the one-armed boy and the crows is a particularly unnerving moment, and you build on that sense of dread) . I would almost describe it as quiet horror - in short, a good, old-fashioned tale of the supernatural. You can definitely be proud of this one.

Thanks, David!

Gary Greenwood was the first to post a review though, at his website

Brief bit - It's a good, solid horror novel about revenge from beyond the grave affecting the lives of a young couple who have their own, more realistic worries...

Thanks, Gary!

My appearance, in the Kettering Evening Telegraph, 30/9/09

Last weekend was FantasyCon and I went up to Nottingham for the Saturday only - one year, I’m going to do the whole weekend, I keep promising myself. Due to heavy traffic, I didn’t arrive until 11.30 but met up with Stuart Young straight away and we found a table and caught up. David Price joined us and conversation ranged wildly from what length we’re writing to at the moment (I’m definitely heading for novella/novel) to which era of Robert B Parker’s ‘Spenser’ novels is the best (perhaps unique to Stu & I, that gambit). I then went to Joel Lane’s reading, which went well and whilst there, Ally Bird bought a copy of “Conjure”, as did Gary Cole-Wilkin (and I bought a copy of his CD single).

After lunch, I bumped into Paul Meloy - who was impressed with all of the “Conjure” stuff - and Simon Bestwick and he & I went outside, so that he could have a smoke before his reading. Michael Marshall Smith also went out, but I still daren’t talk to him (one day, I keep telling myself, I’ll pluck up the courage to introduce myself) and then Gary Greenwood and Martin Roberts joined us. Gary & I caught up and had a good laugh and he bought a copy of “Conjure” too - all good stuff. Simon’s reading was poorly attended (it clashed with the launch of “Best New Horror 20” downstairs) but he carried it off well and we we stayed in the room (and were joined by more) for the John Probert/Gary McMahon double-act - both very entertaining, in very different ways.

Back in the bar, I chatted with David Price, Andrew Hook (who I’d met briefly the previous year, but we’d never really spoken), Steve Mosby (who I’d just re-connected with on Facebook, from back in the Terror Tales days) and Allen Ashley. With all of the other launches going on, the Abaddon one almost passed me by, but I picked up Gary McMahon and Paul Kane’s new books (and Gary and Simon both bought copies of “Conjure”). I went to check out the dealer room (there were less people around than last year and I feel guilty, doing all that looking and none of that buying!), then met Rob Rowntree and had a chat with him, catching up on his news and talking with members of his Crit-group, including Sharon Kae Reamer.

The day had whizzed by quickly and it was time for the curry, organised by Soozy and Gary Cole-Wilkin, from the Ramsey Campbell message board (to which I’d invited Jay Eales and Selena Locke - it was good to see them again, after Leicester and they bought a copy of “Conjure” too). Our merry band - including Stu Young, Adriana, Pam, Mick & Deb Curtis, John & Kate Probert, Gary & Emily McMahon, Terry Grimwood, John Travis, Simon Bestwick (and chum from Dark Smile), Joel Lane, Gary Fry and Simon Unsworth - trooped off, took over most of Chutneys, but still got our food quickly (and very nice it was too). Back at the hotel, I finally caught up with Paul Finch, who bemoaned the fact that we hadn’t had a chance to speak or that I wouldn’t be able to join him at the bar later.

Then it was the Awards ceremony (I had high hopes for “We Fade To Grey”, but it lost out to “Best New Horror 19”) and it was great to see Ally Bird win for collection and Tim Lebbon’s moving speech for “The Reach Of Children” brought a lump to my throat. After the ceremony, I headed off, saying goodbyes along the way. I’d had a great day and really enjoyed myself, meeting up with old friends and putting faces to previously-only-online-known names. It was great fun and I was filled with a drive to write too, which isn’t to be sniffed at. Roll on next year.
- - -
On Sunday night, back down to earth, I was watching “Top Gear” with Matthew and Clarkson was wheel-spinning in a Ferrari.

“Why’s it smoking?” asked Dude.

“It’s called burning rubber,” I said.

He nodded gravely, then looked at Alison and said “When me and Daddy go out for a drive, we burn rubber.”

An excerpt from the novel - the full first chapter - is now up for your perusal at Fearzone.com

Check it out!

http://www.fearzone.com/blog/conjure-west

I was in Germany, Thursday and Friday, on work business but I picked up an email from John B Ford - the proof is on it's way to me! Woo hoo! I don't know when the completed books will be ready (fingers crossed for FantasyCon), but they will be here very soon. Which is great!

So, another teaser image I think...



I don't have all the details yet, but the book will cost £8.99 and be available direct from the publisher, from the regular online sites and I'll have a few copies for sale too.

More info as and when.

www.markwest.org.uk

I've just heard from John B Ford, head honcho at Rainfall Books, that "Conjure" is just about to go to the printers. Woo hoo!

Newly pregnant, stuck in a job she doesn’t like and mourning the death of her cousin, Beth Hammond’s life isn’t working out the way she thought it would. So when her boyfriend wins a weekend away, at the east coast seaside resort of Heyton, Beth thinks this could be just what they need - some time to themselves, to get away and relax and make their plans for the future.

Unfortunately, as they begin their weekend, there's an accident at the beach and a centuries old memorial is damaged. Something escapes - a presence that was buried beneath the memorial, sealed in a stone tomb, that now wants desperately to get its revenge on the residents of Heyton.


"...a powerful and convincing piece of horror fiction."
- Gary McMahon, writer of "Rain Dogs" and "How To Make Monsters"

“Mark West is a talent to watch.”
- Peter Tennant, Black Static




www.markwest.org.uk

After spending the best part of six weeks working on it, I have just sent off the revamped version of “In The Rain With The Dead” to a well-known mass market publisher.

To be honest, I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while but one thing or another has always seemed to get in the way (most especially, my block before I wrote “The Mill”). But for some reason, at the start of June, I decided to take the bull by the horns (probably because I was halfway through “The Day It Rained” and you don’t get much better at procrastinating than actually working on a completely different project) and get cracking.

The original “In The Rain With The Dead”, as published by Pendragon Press in 2005, was 102.7k words long. The publisher stipulates no more than 90k, so I had some serious cutting to do. Some of it was fine - I finally adhered to my critiquing partner Sue Moorcroft’s wishes and cut a lot of “he got up and walked to the door” pieces - and some of it wasn’t (I had to lose a murder set-piece).

But as a process I enjoyed it and it was nice to read the novel again, even if it was with an eye to trimming it down.

Now I just have to wait. I feel nervous but, hey, that’s the name of the game.

Onwards and ever upwards.

For more details on the book, you can follow these links:

The Pendragon Press page

The dedicated ‘mini-site’ on my website

I got an email from the very nice Stephen Bacon, regarding my collection, Strange Tales, which was published by Rainfall Books in 2003. With his kind permission, here are some of the things he had to say about the stories:

“Just wanted to let you know I really enjoyed the collection”

'Infantophobia' gets the whole thing off to a disturbing start [with] a lot of imagery…that has stayed with me for a long time.
The tone of 'Empty Souls, Drowning' really struck a chord with me, as did the feeling of sadness in 'Together Forever'.
'Dead Skin' is one of the sickest things I have ever read (I mean that as a compliment!), and 'Up For Anything' is almost as grotesque.
I loved both 'Speckles' and 'The City in the Rain', [their] detached sense of alienation and 'otherness', [of] urban desolation and disjointedness.
[There was] a dark playfulness in both 'Dreaming of a Black Christmas' and 'The Darkest Hour', reminding me of the short fiction of Robert Bloch.
Overall, my favourite tale is 'Beach', a beautifully poetic story, full of haunting language and evocative emotion [that] in my opinion…is alone worth the price of admission.

How cool is that, eh?

If you’re at all interested, Strange Tales is still available from a few on-line booksellers and, as Mr Bacon quite rightly points out, is well worth a read.

As my novel “Conjure” rolls ever closer to publication, I’ve put together a little website for it, which can be found here.

At the moment, there’s a partial essay/afterword on how the book came about (which will be fleshed out on publication, as it will contain a few spoilers), some information on the illustrations and a breakdown of how I created the composite photograph of the memorial.

More material will be added as time goes on, including all of the teaser ads and purchasing details as they become available. Once the book is published, of course, I’ll include reviews.

I hope you get a chance to look around.

Welcome to the “Conjure” website

The “Conjure” site can also be accessed from my main website

As a writer, I love to get feedback from readers and this is all the better when said feedback is good. Richard Wright (a very nice man) has posted a review of “We Fade To Grey” over at GoodReads.com.

The full review is here but, with Richard’s permission, the bit I’m really excited about is this:

Even better is Mark West's The Mill, which is a little study in grief that gets under your skin in subtle ways, and makes the most of West's trademark humanism to make you empathise painfully with the lead character.

Trademark humanism, eh, how impressive is that?

I’m very chuffed with this, thanks a lot Richard.

Conjure is coming!

www.markwest.org.uk

The last Terror Scribes gathering I attended was held in Hinkley, in 2004, to coincide with the launch of Sue Philips’ book “The Waldorf Street Paradox” (where I heard just how much John Ford loved what he’d so far read of “Conjure”). Since then, a lot of water has passed under the bridge and a lot of things have changed but this year, Sue decided to get the TS back on track and so organised a gathering in the heart of Leicester.

I drove over, feeling more trepidation the closer I got - I’ve seen a lot of the old Terror Scribes at various FantasyCon’s, but for some people, it’d be the first time we’d seen one another in five years. I felt new again, as nervous as I did on my first gathering, in Sheffield back in 2000. I shouldn’t have worried though. I found the pub quickly, wandered into the reserved area Sue had arranged and it was like I’d never been away.

Rob Rowntree, Ally Bird & I discussed the parlous state of small press publishing and our hopes and dreams for our writing future, then Rob took me to one side to pass on some news that - quite rightly - has him chuffed to bits. I’m equally pleased for him and hope it all comes off. Back in our area, I sat, on a very low pouf that was difficult to get off of without resorting to a tuck-and-roll, with Jay Eales and Selina Locke, across from John B. Ford, Des Knight (who I haven’t seen since 2003) and David Price. It was quickly time for the readings - Joseph Freeman read from his collection “This Is My Blood”, Ally Bird from her “Bull Running For Girls” collection and I read the prologue from “In The Rain With The Dead”, before putting said copy into the raffle. Derek read a wonderful memoir, of he and a gang of mates getting in to see the Christopher Lee version of “Dracula” and then David Price took the floor, reading a short from his collection. To say it was a very theatrical delivery would, unfairly, be selling the experience short and when he pulled out a tissue, to mime covering a slashed throat that the character had just suffered, I was genuinely concerned that tomato ketchup would be involved!

Then it was time for the raffle, in aid of the NSPCC and I think everyone who took part won something. I was very lucky, winning four times and picking up a set of “Girly Comic”s that Selina and Jay produce. It was chatting time then, but as Jay & I had managed to get decent seats, we stayed put and discussed plenty of things to do with films and writing.

At 6.30, we headed for the curry house (a long standing tradition of TS gatherings) and Jay & Selina had picked a fine establishment though, once again, the more authentic cooking and spices were perhaps just a bit too much for my palete. As was the hot dip that John B Ford was downing as if it were cool yoghurt - we warned Des not to have any but did he listen? The meal was very nice, the company better, the conversation wonderful - old times, old friends, plans for the future both in terms of writing and gatherings. By the time the evening started to break up, towards 9pm, I was content and pleased to have come along. John, Des and Dave were billeted in a bizarre sounding hotel that entailed them walking by my car, so we hit the A6 hill together, pausing only to check out a blue plaque that proclaimed the building was where Tanky Smith, Leicester’s first Private Detective (died 1888) had plied his trade. A master of disguise, the plaque proclaimed, clearly illustrated by the multitude of busts that decorated the building. All of which showed a heavily bearded man wearing a variety of hats. Of course, this struck us as ridiculous and we made fun of poor old Tanky all the way up the hill. As we separated, shaking hands and promising that we’d meet up soon, John & I had a quick word about “Conjure” - Rainfall are going to publish it this year, which makes a nice symmetry.

It was good to see everyone again, it was good to get back into that creative spirit (I always come away from gatherings feeling really jazzed and ‘ready to go’ with my writing) and I hope we get to meet up again soon. Before, one hopes, John, Des, Dave & I confirm our deal to produce a novel-ised biography of a certain Tanky Smith!

Well done, Sue!

( Pics behind here )

So 2008 is almost over and, along with countless other blogs, I thought I’d post my “Best Of” lists for film and books.

I’ve been really pleased with my reading this year - I set myself the resolution that I’d read 12 books over the year (and have easily surpassed that), to try and get myself back on track after reading 7, 7 and 9 books from 2005 to 2007 respectively. Not only that, I also set myself the target of reading the first 30 Three Investigator books between mid-2008 and the end of 2010 and have accomplished the first stage of that too. So, without further ado, my favourite books of the year.

My Books Of The Year

1. My Word Is My Bond
2. If Chins Could Kill
3. Alison
4. Rain Dogs
5. The Vertigo Murders
6. Breeding Ground
7. Dark Hollow
8. Is It Me?
9. The Autobiography - Johnnie Walker
10. Classic Saturday Night Telly

and the rest (in order):

11. TV Cream Toys
12. Islington Crocodiles
13. Blockbuster
14. The Autobiography - Eric Clapton
15. Attack Of The Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons
16. Sculpting A Galaxy
17. Scientific Progress Goes Boink
18. Boys' Toys
19. Rain
20. George Lucas - The Creative Impulse
21. Postcards From Terri
22. Best New Horror 19
23. My Boring-Ass Life
24. Total Film 50 Greatest Interviews
25. Romeo's Pain
26. The Hollower
27. Don't Stop Me Now
28. On The Edge

Top 10 Non-fiction
1. My Word Is My Bond
2. If Chins Could Kill
3. Is It Me?
4. The Autobiography - Johnnie Walker
5. The Encyclopaedia of Classic Saturday Night Telly
6. TV Cream Toys
7. Blockbuster
8. The Autobiography - Eric Clapton
9. Sculpting A Galaxy
10. Boys' Toys

Top 10 Fiction
1. Alison
2. Rain Dogs
3. The Vertigo Murders
4. Breeding Ground
5. Dark Hollow
6. Islington Crocodiles
7. Rain
8. Postcards From Terri
9. Best New Horror 19
10. Romeo's Pain

In addition, I read 7 Three Investigator books to give me a total of 35 reads in the year, my best figure since 2003!


With films, this is my list of favourites of those that I saw for the first time this year. It might be that they were released prior to 2008 but since I haven’t been to the cinema in years, I generally have to wait for the DVD. Anyway, here we go…

My Films Of The Year 

1. Eastern Promises
2. Son Of Rambow
3. Them/Ils
4. Mamma Mia
5. Juno
6. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
7. Iron Man
8. The Bank Job
9. Vacancy
10. Cloverfield

11. Rambo
12. Planet Terror
13. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
14. Hancock
15. Doomsday
16. Transformers
17. In Bruges
18. All The Boys Love Mandy Lane
19. Run, Fatboy, Run
20. Over Her Dead Body
21. Deathproof
22. National Treasure 2
23. Shoot 'Em Up
24. Paradise Lost
25. Black Sheep
26. Undead
27. Catch & Release
28. Superhero Movie
29. Bee Movie
30. St Trinians
31. Rush Hour 3
32. Knocked Up
33. Walk Hard
34. Wanted


So that’s me - it’s been a good year, all in all and let’s hope 2009 has some great things in store for all of us.

See you next year!

At FantasyCon, in Nottingham on Saturday (full report to follow), “We Fade To Grey” was launched, both in hardback and softcover. Both editions look wonderful, but this is my first hardcover so I’ll go with that version!

Anyway, we were all there (except that Paul Finch to had leave, as he had been double-booked with a panel), sat behind a desk whilst Chris Teague and Martin Roberts rustled up a crowd.

I’ve never been involved with a signing session and it was really good fun. Chris did his spiel, then handed over to Gary who talked about the genesis of the project (it was all because of me, apparently!). He gave the floor to Stuart, who said he’d ignored everything and didn’t write what he was supposed to, before it was my turn.

I love talking about my own work, but was fully aware that Simon still had to go and the crowd might get restless, so I kept it to a riff on what appears in the book as my story notes. Seemed to go down well though, which was nice.

Simon talked about his story and then the signing began in earnest, with most of the gathered throng seeming to buy a copy - we’d already signed the hardbacks, so it was paperbacks only (though one chap did get us to sign his newly purchased hardback). Nice comments about the cover art too.

The great thing was, Paul Finch came back from his panel and so we have another wave of people wanting signatures!

( Photo fun, behind here )

And you can buy the book here

We had our friends Jon & Sally over yesterday afternoon, along with their children Amelia and Harvey. Amelia loves little kids and Dude likes the ladies, so they got on like a house-on-fire. Harvey is a couple of years older than Matthew and it was quite interesting to see their initial squabbly reactions to one another, as they tried to work out who was top dog. It resolved itself quickly and by a fifth of the way into the walk (we went across the fields, rather than down through the gully’s), they were the best of pals. Good times…
- - -
The paperback edition of “We Fade To Grey” arrived on Friday (along with my cheque) and both were very nice. The book looks gorgeous, the paper is nice and heavy and the cover has reproduced beautifully. I’m very proud of this collection and really looking forward to the signing session next Saturday at FCon.
I’ve also set up a Facebook page for “We Fade To Grey”, if anyone’s interested in joining and it’d be worth your while as Chris is running a competition - I’ll post the details below here, to whet your appetite:

To celebrate the impending launch of this literary feast of supernatural thrills, which shares it's title with a well-known early 80s pop-song, both myself and the fount of 80s trivia Mark West have racked our brains to ask thee a single question:

"Who links 'One man on a lonely platform, one case sitting by his side, two eyes staring cold and silent, show fear as he turns to hide' with 'It's five and I'm driving home again, it's hard to believe that it's my last time, the man on the wireless cries again, it's over, it's over'?"

The winner shall receive the following:

- A free copy of the hard cover edition of We Fade to Grey, which will not only be numbered and signed by all contributors, but shall also be personally inscribed with whatever message they desire;

- Also, a free copy of any other Pendragon Press title (check out www.pendragonpress.net to choose).

Send your entry by e-mail to: chris at pendragonpress dot net - preferably with your message, just in case you're the happy winner...

Closing date for entries is midnight (GMT) Wednesday 17th September 2008 - the winner shall be notified on Thursday, with their books posted on Monday 22nd September 2008.

No correspondence shall be entered into and the decision shall be final.

So there. :)

- - -
I finally did draft 3 of “Drive” last week - for various different, silly reasons, I’ve been putting it off for a while but I decided enough was enough and got cracking. I also gave myself some pressure (I wonder why I tend to work better, writing-wise, when there’s a deadline looming?) - I asked someone to read it and I need to start work on a screenplay with a friend by the end of the month. Anyway, it went much better than I expected it to, I used the notes and comments from my pre-readers and cut about 800 words out altogether, bring me down to a little over 26k. The one thing I didn’t do was explain at the end what happened to Pete and Flic, which my sister and kiminorkey had both asked for!
- - -
Currently reading “Blockbuster” by Tom Schone, which is - for the most part - really quite enjoyable but he’s made a couple of elementary errors regarding “Star Wars” and George Lucas that, really, he shouldn’t have. It’s not that I’m the biggest fan in the world, or being particularly anal about this, but we’ve both read the same source - “Skywalking” by Dale Pollock, which I’ve read several times - and it pulled me out of the narrative flow for a bit.

After Sunday nights “Cloverfield” success, we followed it up with “All The Boys Love Mandy Lane” on Monday night and “Son Of Rambow” last night.

“Mandy Lane” is an interesting film, harking back to the 70s with it’s lense/sun flares, gritty image and stark locations and it generally works quite well, though you only really get one sympathetic character and that’s limiting. Also, (SPOILER ALERT), identifying the killer that early on (END SPOILER) was a mistake but it did trick me into not guessing the ending until a little while before the reveal. But overall it's a decent enough film that appears to have been treated badly by its distributors (though thank goodness for Optimum Releasing, who also put out “Dead Man’s Shoes” and “Rambow”), which is well worth a look.

“Son Of Rambow”, by contrast, is a hugely heart-warming film, that had me smiling broadly apart from when I was occasionally wiping away a tear. A story about two kids in the early 80s (difficult to pin down exactly when, but 83/84 by the pop culture), who decide to make their own film version of “First Blood”, I thought this was superb. It probably helped that I was the same age in the same time period and that I was involved in making cine-film ‘homages’ to popular hits (and we had a very interesting French exchange), but I loved this film. There are dark parts, of course, but in the main this is spritely, funny and a really nostalgic wallow in the early 80s. Very much recommended and this sits easily within my top three films of the year.

In fact, whilst I’m here, let’s do a top ‘10’ list. Why not, eh? With the film version, you have to bear in mind that I haven’t been to the cinema for a long time - it’s very expensive, we obviously need to find babysitters and, above all else, I don’t want to get everything paid and arranged and then have to endure other peoples noise. So my list is what we’ve seen on DVD this year (meaning it could have been released last year). Ah, you get the idea.

With the books, I’ve not included the Three Investigator ones that I’ve been working my way through. Or the Thomas The Tank Engine/Night Garden/Bob The Builder tomes I read every other night.

( My films of the year, so far )

( My books of the year, so far )