London-based frights and other writing news

When Paul Finch (multi-talented author and editor bloke) asked me to contribute to Terror Tales of London, I got a bit of the fear myself. I actually venture to London fairly regularly, but it's pretty much always to the same bit: Charring Cross Road and Soho, the place with all the book shops and the arty folk. And that's where my knowledge of London pretty much comes screeching to a halt. Take me out of Zone 1 and ask me to go anywhere else and I start to feel the jitters. Wood Green used to be about as exotic as it got for me, London-wise. (That far flung and strange land). And that was only because that was where our distributors of the time were based. Oh, and thanks to various lunches with Christopher Fowler, I now know a bit more about the rapidly changing Kings Cross. But here was Paul asking me to write a story set in a city which I knew only a little bit. So, of course The Horror Writer is set on Charring Cross Road, but a Charring Cross Road from the past, one where Murder One was still in its larger store, and before it went the way of many other book retailers on that stretch. The actual story is inspired by two bookshops in Kent. The Bookmark in Rochester is one. It no longer exits and, sadly, the owner - my chain-smoking, sweary, jazz-loving friend Graham - died a few years ago. The other is still there, Baggins Bookshop, and those familiar with this literary haunt will recognise some of the labyrinthine corridors in my story.

And this anthology is not just brilliant because I'm in it! I find myself in the company of writers I've known and admired for years: Nina Allen, Adam Nevill, Christopher Fowler, Nicholas Royle, Barbara Roden, to name just a few.

Paul Finch is a terrific editor and this anthology, complete with its 'true' stories concerning London's dark history, is a real gem.

Which means you should buy it. And you can do so by ordering directly from the publisher here, Gray Friar Press.

I don't get to write as much as I like, but I'm thrilled to bits that after many years of tinkering I'm actually getting somewhere with my fiction. Today sees yet another story acceptance, and more on that soon.

Happy Reading.

A D20 saved my life

... not literally of course, though a D20 certainly saved the lives of Orlok the Dwarf, Albert the insane inventor with the monkey head in a jar of whisky, Tivian Stark the Paladin and a host of other strange characters played by me over the course of more than a decade of gaming. And while a D20 may not have actually saved my life, gaming has certainly saved my sanity (ironic coming from a Call of Cthulhu GM, huh?). My gaming group has provided a solid core of friendship and entertainment, a place we gather once a week to tell each other ridiculous stories and roll dice, and laugh (there's always a lot of laughter).

I actually got into gaming relatively late, most of my group have been rolling dice and slaying orcs since they were kids, but I actually only seriously got into the hobby in my 20s. I'd been put off RPGs fairly early on. In my teens I was a fan of the Ravenloft books published by TSR and, finding that it was also a game, I wanted to play it. When the guy in the shop told me that I'd have to fork out for the Dungeon Master's Guide, The Players Handbook and the Monstrous Manual on top of the Ravenloft sourcebooks, I decided not to bother with Dungeons & Dragons. Pocket money only stretches so far. Monetary consideratiosn were probably why I also never seriously got into Warhammer. There was just too much stuff. So, though I was a genre geek, gaming never really played a large part in my formative years.

And then, sometime in my late teens, a friend of mine told me about a game that was based on the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. That anyone could take anything as mental as Lovecraft's work and make an actual game of it, meant that I just had to play it. So, when I went to do my MA at Reading University, I signed up to the gaming group and decided to get into the hobby properly.

My first game wasn't actually Call of Cthulhu, however, it was Werewolf. And it wasn't entirely my cup of tea. A bit too gothy, a bit too serious. Some of the folk in that group, however, quickly became solid friends (even if I did piss a couple of them off in the first few sessions) and remain in my gaming group to this day. So as a social thing, gaming was brilliant. I was meeting lovely new folk and a few times a week we'd get together and do one of my favourite things - tell each other stories.

And then... then, I finally found it in the local gaming shop:

Yes, the Call of Cthulhu RPG was mine! And it was just as every bit as good as I had been hoping. You see, the reason that this is my favourite RPG is that it's so simple. You can get the rules on the first read-through and the game dynamic is such that it positively requires you to rely on story-telling and inventiveness to actually advance through the plot.

Even after I left uni, I stayed in Reading and the gamers I'd met during my MA became my friend base. And, yes, we continued to game. A hobby that has joined us together ever since. Gaming has been a huge influence not only on my social life, but my imagination generally. Both Call of Kerberos and The Wrath of Kerberos were not only hugely influenced by the works of Jack Vance and Fritz Leiber, but gaming, particularly Dungeons & Dragons (see, I eventually got round to it!). In fact, my gaming group appear as city guards in the first novel and are, obviously, messily and hilariously dispatched.

We've all grown up, we have responsibilties, jobs, wives, children, mortgages - but once a week we get together to spin tales and roll dice.

My family keep my grounded.

But Pete, James, Owen, Sam, Craig - you give me that much needed weekly dose of insanity.

Writing, and that...

Wow, so apparently I have a blog, who knew, right?

So anyway, apologies for all the radio silence etc etc. The main reason for this is that I have been busy as all fuck with the day job. All going well at Rebellion HQ and I'm delighted to say that David Moore is now the commissioning editor of Abaddon. David has some very exciting plans for the imprint and I couldn't be happier to hand over my literary mutant baby to someone who is not only a superb editor, but also a great friend.

Anyway, I have been tinkering a bit with words and there is a new thing for you to buy which has my words in it. It's even available as an e-book, so there is no excuse not to. My story 'Tea and Sympathy', a black comedy about growing old and desire, had been published in Horror Express 3, which you can buy here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Horror-Express-Three-Shaun-Hutson/dp/1482780194/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366195612&sr=1-3&keywords=horror+express

I'm also delighted to say that I have placed my latest story 'White Horse.' I won't announce where as yet, as I want the publisher to do the big reveal of the full line-up.

Anyway, the confidence boost from the recent publications and acceptance I've had means I'm back in the writing saddle. Which is mainly a nice place to be.

Overall, then, a pretty good year so far. All is well with the Olivers. Maia, our two year old daughter, is now super excited to be in her big girl bed. No more cot. Though I did check on her in the small hours of Friday morning to find her sleeping under the rocking chair in her room. Which is both (a) pretty cute and (b) a tiny bit reminiscent of Poltergeist. Fortunately for us our house isn't built on the site of an ancient Native American burial ground, those being in somewhat short supply in Abingdon.

Yesterday I had a day out in that there London at the Book Fair, which was nice. Though Earls Court is vast and airless and way too warm. Lovely it was too, to catch up with friends in the evening. I went for drinks and dinner with the variously hugely talented and lovely folk: Rebecca Levene, Ben Smith (of the Rebellion parish), Anne Perry and Lavie Tidhar. Jared Shurin also made a bonus appearance, but it was fleeting.

So, it was a really nice day, I got a whole bunch of writing done on the train and even had more of an inkling where to take the as yet pretty much unwritten Novel 3. (I know, that title is snappy as all that isn't it?)

Meanwhile I'm working my way through the tenth and 'final' book in Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen Series, The Crippled God. I'm absolutely in awe of the way Erikson keeps such control of his vast fantasy universe. It's been a hell of a journey and one I'm glad I took. After such a huge series, though, I will take a breather before plunging back into epic fantasy. I may re-read, at some point soon, the entirety of the Lankhmar stories by Fritz Leiber. I may even blog about it.

In the meantime, go buy Horror Express 3 or, failing that, sending me unmarked bills in a brown paper packages.

And here we go again...

So after the woeful outcome at the last General Synod not to allow women bishops, at least the recent decision by the CofE to allow gay clergy in civil partnerships to become bishops seems like a great step forward. Well, sort of. The problem is with the statement that new gay bishops should remain celibate and repent of past homosexual sexual practise. Which is obviously ludicrous, and impossible to police. The church has said that it is not obsessed with sex and I don't think it is to as large a degree as the general media claim. However, it is giving way too much thought about what goes on in the bedrooms of consenting adults. To be honest, this is none of the church's bloody business. I personally don't care how you conduct your sexual relationships as long as they are legal, safe and consensual. I do not judge people on the things that turn them on and get them going and nor should the church. Okay, so if we boil it down to the basic objection, it does seem to stand as: but that whole anal sex thing is just wrong, surely? Then if such a thing bothers you, don't think about it. Allowing practising homosexuals into positions of power in the church is not going to mean that anal sex becomes compulsory. And if such a thing repells you, really stop thinking about it so much!

Physical expressions of love within a long and stable relationship are something to be encouraged and not put down as some great sin that is against god. The church does seem out of touch on this, especially when there are much greater things to worry about in the world, which are actually sins, and deeply serious one at that. The situation in Syria. The way the government is allowing the rich to stamp all over our economy and make the rest of us suffer. Climate change. The treatment of women in various parts of the world, including here. These are things that the church should be addressing. Christ fought against injustice. Christ expressed eternal love and tolerance.

One of the elements that does wind me up about this, is the random comments I've seen on the internet where people have been expressing that if this is the church's line then it should be allowed to collapse and good riddance to it. I've been a practicing Christian my whole life, and in my general experience the church has been a place of great acceptance and the expression of the Christian message. Clearly this is not true for everybody, and we should fight until it is. But  I don't want to say fuck it then, let the church crumble. Rather I want to see the church healed. Ritual and structure are important to my faith. Yes, okay, if there was no church that doesn't necessarily mean my faith would dissapear, but the Christian community within my local community is massively important to me, and us as a family. So I'm dismayed, yes, but I will be praying for a way through this.

I think that progress has been made on gay clergy, but guys, seriously, let's get over this worry about how gay couples physically express themselves and concentrate instead on the spiritual enrichment that these people of God can bring to our Christian experience and the church.

The year in review

So, I was going to blog exclusively about depression again for my last blog post of the year, but really, as interesting as that may be to some people, it also isn't the most joyous of topics for this lovely season. Instead, then, a roundup of the good and bad and the things in between.

The beginning of 2012 found me in a bit of a difficult place in that my depression had got bad enough that I decided to seek out counselling. Fortunately that turned out to be the right decision. Also fairly useful was the online Beating the Blues course my GP set me on, which shows you how common depression is and helps with identifying and managing the symptoms. I must admit that I didn't finish the course as it gives you homework, and I'm not very good at fitting such things in around a full time job, parenthood and my writing. It became obvious that the main problem was self-confidence and the counselling really helped in letting me see through the shadows and becoming a bit happier living in my own head. Ali, my wife, was just amazing throughout this process and has shown so much love and patience that it's astonishing. Of course, I still have the odd dark moment, but I'm much much better at handling them than I was this time last year. Thank you so much to all my friends and family who helped me through. Particular thanks must go to Lou Morgan who gave me invaluable advice and support.

Of course, the best part of the year has been watching our daughter, Maia, grow and develop. She's now 22 months old, walks, talks, has opinions and is the light of our lives. Parenting is naturally not easy, but we've very much been blessed with Maia. We loved taking her to France with my folks, which she absolutely loved and she's adored spending time with friends and family this year.

Ali changed jobs recently, moving to work at Wiley in a role she loves and which fulfills her creatively. Very very proud of her. Before this move Ali went through a very difficult time at her old job, over which she had very little control and which, really, wasn't so much to do with her than another person she had to work with. Obviously I can't go into details, but Ali conducted herself brilliantly and professionally. With support from the National Union of Journalists and friends and work colleagues, she came through the whole process and landed a much better job at the end of it. Ali clearly enjoyed much of her time in her previous role, so it was sad that it ended the way it did, but she must take strength from the fact that she conducted herself brilliantly and moved onto a genuinely exciting and challenging role. Again, I couldn't be more proud.

Writing-wise, I haven't been the most amazingly productive of writers, but then I've always been pretty slow and steady. Beyond the release of my last novel for the Twilight of Kerberos series, The Wrath of Kerberos, I've written a handful of short stories. Very pleased to have placed a story with the Town Called Pandemonium anthology, along with a story appearing in the British Fantasy Society Journal. I've also got a couple more things on the way. I was also thrilled, and quite touched, that Ellen Datlow (an editor whose anthologies I've been devouring for a long time) mentioned my story 'Don't You Like the Bird Man?' as a notable horror story published this year, on a panel at World Fantasy Con. At some point I will start Novel 3 in earnest and hope to have a much more productive year next year.

Solaris and Abaddon have been as busy as ever and I'm very proud of our output this year.  I was again, delighted, to be able to produce another anthology of strange fiction for our list and I couldn't be more pleased with how Magic turned out. Short stories really are the lifeblood of genre and I shall go on continuing to celebrate them in this way for as long as I can. I'm already gathering folk together for the next one, The End of The Road, to be released next Autumn/Winter.

Other highlights of the year have included Ali's confirmation at St Helen's Church, which we have been part of for a while now. Anna, my sister, announcing her pregnancy, Dad buying a kiln (that's how serious his pottery hobby has become), the birth of Alban, our friends Sam and Elaine's first child, spending time with Maia and both sets of grandparents, Lavie Tidhar winning the World Fantasy Award for Osama (go buy the Solaris paperback now!) and continuing to work with people who inspire me and many of whom I count as friends.

So, have a good Christmas. Hope that 2013 turns out great for you all.

The Next Big Thing Meme

Okay, okay. So I'm massively late to this party and I'm far too slow at producing work to be considered anybody's next big anything. But that there lovely Lou Morgan done gone tagged me, so it would be simply rude not to play. So, here you go. Enjoy:

What is the working title of your next book?

Well, my next book has been percolating for the best part of 10 years, but I've still only written a couple of thousand words of it (I have written two published novels since I've been thinking about this one though), and most of those are probably going to go. Anyway, the title in my noggin is Heavy Metal Roadie versus The Satanists. Which won't be the actual title if it ever gets finished. And it may not even feature Satanists. The roadie is staying, though.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

The thought of a heavy metal roadie character who becomes a PI (however willingly or not) came into my head on a bus journey on Ali and I's first foreign holiday in Sardinia. I've always loved heavy metal and the warmth of the fans and the huge range of characters you find in the community. So the idea came to write a love letter to the music and tell a roaringly good story.

What genre does the book fall under?

Crime, obviously. But I'm still wandering how horror to make it.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

I honestly haven't thought that far. I'd like that Toby Jones to be somewhere in the mix. Not as the lead character. But he's just a brilliant actor.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

Heavy metal roadie encounters murder and more.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

See, this presumes I'll finish the bastard. I like to think I've got a wide enough experience of publishing to rep myself, but you can't underestimate the important of a good agent.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your book?

See above. The MS currently numbers at around 2000 words. I'm not kidding.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

None I'd hope. I just want to write it and hope it stands up (and out) on its own.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Heavy metal fans and musicians.

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

A bloody good cover will help.

Right. Who to tag? Clearly I can't do any of our authors as that's going to look a bit like favouritism. So Paul Meloy, Sophia McDougall, Gemma Files, Lisa Tuttle and Helen Marshall... you're up. (If you want to play that is).

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

So, it being the season of mists and all that, I decided that I needed to re-read some much loved ghost stories, and so, I have started with this:

(Be warned, fellow traveller, here be spoilers)

The Haunting, Robert Wise's adaptation of Jackson's novel, is perhaps my favourite horror movie. And reading this I can see again what a brilliant adaptation the film is. Wise, wisely, chose not to show any ghosts in the film, and one can argue that the reason for the absence, visually at least, is that there aren't any ghosts in the novel; not in the popular sense of the term. From the start of Jackson's novel, it is clear that we are in the hands of an accomplished writer. The Haunting of Hill House has one of the most oft-quoted opening paragraphs of any horror novel. I won't quote it here, but you can easily look it up.
     From the start, this is Eleanor's story. She is our focus character and her journey to Hill House reveals much about her psychology. She is desperate to escape her drab life, a neurotic spinster living with her sister and her family. She fantasies about the houses and landscapes she sees on her journey, often imagining herself being rescued by some princely character. It becomes clear that Eleanor is fleeing towards Hill House, bringing her insecurities and emotional problems with her, thinking of her coming time at the house as an escape. But, as a writer friend of mine once said, the best ghost stories are when a haunted person meets a haunted place. And Eleanor is very much a haunted character.
     What makes this such a fascinating read is Eleanor's interaction with Theodora, a seemingly liberated woman who, like Eleanor, has escaped towards Hill House, leaving behind a fragile relationship. The sexual tension between Eleanor and Theo becomes clear very quickly. Theo realises a truth about Eleanor that she herself cannot see. Theo is also possessed of some small pyschic ability that enables her to read people more clearly than others. I would argue that it's a combination of Eleanor's insecurities and the focusing nature of Theo's ability that brings about the core hauntings in the novel. Consider that the majority of the supernatural instances are focused around Eleanor. To begin with they are messages telling Eleanor to go home. The wall of one corridor is daubed with just such a message. Could it be that this is actually Eleanor somehow warning herself, that if she stays in Hill House her true nature will be revealed to herself? She clearly comes to fear the feelings Theo is stirring up within her and we know, from Doctor Montague's research, that strange physical occurrences have taken place around Eleanor before. At times of great distress, she appears to have a talent to make things happen. Once Eleanor releases that she isn't going to escape the things Hill House, or Theo, have found within her, she turns her anger on her companion. Theo's clothes are found to be torn and covered in blood. Again, Eleanor denies she has anything to do with it, but reading between the lines we can see the origins of this haunting.
   That's not to say that Hill House doesn't have a certain power of its own. Jackson makes it clear that this is an evil house. She describes it as almost pulling itself together as it's constructed, as though some dark force has built this shell of brick and wood about itself; a place to which it can gather the disturbed and broken.
    But this isn't a relentlessly bleak novel. There are humorous moments to be found in Jackson's book. Mr and Mrs Dudley, the dour care-taker couple, are a joy and Doctor Montague's wife barrels into the last act like some 50s Derek Acorah, ready to guide the disturbed spirits of the the house to their rest. Naturally she doesn't succeed, but it's because she doesn't understand the haunting that she doesn't get the results she craves. Doctor Montague does finally understand what is going on and, realising the danger she's in, sends Eleanor home. But, as we know, Hill House had Eleanor from the first and won't let her go. On driving away she accelerates towards a tree on the drive of the house and ends her life in front of the place that tormented her so with her own insecurities.
     The Haunting of Hill House is undoubtedly a masterpiece of horror fiction; a revelatory tale showing us the true nature of ghosts which was written at a time when ghosts were only just emerging from their shrouds and their chains to be something more interesting and much much more frightening.
     This is the touchstone for the modern ghost story and, in itself, truly a great of American literature.