JULY

Marie’s panels for Edge-Lit 6 at the Quad in Derby on 15th July have now been finalised. At 12pm she is on the panel ‘From the Dead: Is Horror Fiction Climbing Back Towards Its Peak of Popularity Once Again?’ and then at 2pm she will be chairing the HWA sponsored panel ‘Dark Art: Has Horror Made a Comeback by Becoming More Literary?’. You can book your ticket for the event and see the full schedule by clicking here.

And staying with the Quad for a moment, Marie & Paul’s new HWA event in conjunction with Alex Davis (who runs Edge) is ‘Highlighting Horror: Scriptwriting’. This will feature such practitioners as (from L-R above) Stephen Volk (Afterlife, The Awakening), Jason Arnopp (The Last Days of Jack Sparks, Stormhouse), James Moran (Severance, Cockneys vs Zombies), Jennifer Handorf (Prevenge, The Devil’s Business) and Simeon Halligan (The Blood Lands, Habit) – with more to come. The day will take place on 19th August and you can find out more on the Facebook page here.

Fiction news now, though, and the first announcement is that Marie’s story ‘Sleeping Black’ will appear in Great British Horror Vol. 2, Black Satanic Mills, from Black Shuck Books, which will launch at FantasyCon in September.

Also launching there will be her new novella, Bury Them Deep (which includes a bonus short story ‘Ssshh…’and a reprint of her first published short story, ‘Suicide Bridge’). That will be published by Hersham Horror Books.

If you can’t wait that long, then you’ll find a reprint of ‘Can You See Me?’ which was nominated for a BFS Best Short Story award in 2006, in the June/July issue of the BFS magazine Horizons.  

JUNE

The first bit news this month is that copies of the new version of Stephen King’s Night Shift published by PS has shipped. As reported in previous news sections, this version contains gorgeous cover and internal art by Dave McKean and an afterword by Marie and Paul (photos above and below).

Marie is sad to have to report that Swansea HorrorCon (below) has been cancelled by the organisers.

However, it has just been announced that Marie is a guest again this year at Edge-Lit 6 on 15 July, where she will be on panels talking about her work and the genre. You can book your ticket for that event and see the schedule by clicking here.

Above and below you’ll find photos from author A.K. Benedict’s 40th Birthday Party Masked Ball, which Marie and Paul attended. The event was overseen by surprise guest the Goblin King who was DJ-ing for the evening.

MAY

In April Paul & Marie were invited to the cast and crew screening of Habit – directed by their friend Simeon Halligan (above and below). Based on the critically-acclaimed novel by Stephen McGeagh it stars Jessica Barden (Penny Dreadful), Elliot James Langridge (Hollyoaks) and Roxanne Pallett (Emmerdale).

But that wasn’t the only event Paul & Marie have attended recently. They just got back from attending StokerCon in Long Beach, California, where they were on board the beautiful Queen Mary (above). Here are just a few of the photos, including having a look around the neighbourhood, Marie enjoying the sun on deck, and Paul and Marie with Guest of Honour Peter Crowther of PS Publishing (all below).

Below you can see the couple celebrating at one of their tenth anniversary dinners, this one with the Crowthers and the Smiths – photo by Paula Grainger.

And here are just a few of the interviews and panels they attended, the Mike Flanagan (director of Oculus and forthcoming Gerald’s Game) interview, creator of Game of Thrones George R.R. Martin’s interview, and the horror panel with (L-R) Peter Atkins, Peter Crowther, Stephen Jones and Michael Marshall Smith.       

Finally, here are photos of Paul and Marie at the Stoker Awards Banquet on the Saturday evening.

APRIL

The big news this month is that Marie will be a guest at Swansea HorrorCon at Swansea Leisure Complex, Oystermouth on 1-2 of July, alongside stars such as Kane ‘Friday the 13th’ Hodder and Bond Girl Caroline Monroe.

To book your tickets and see a full list of the other Guests simply click here.

However, last month Marie was at the thoroughly enjoyable ‘An evening with Sally Abbott’ (creator of the highly successful show The Coroner, above) at MediaCity and organised by the Writers’ Room. You’ll find photos from that one below.

She was also busy signing the new PS edition of Stephen King’s Night Shift – signing sheets designed by Dave McKean. Marie and Paul provided an afterword to this, one of King’s most famous collections (see January’s news for more details) which you can order here.

FEBRUARY

February is Women in Horror Month, and as part of the celebration of Women in Horror, author Mark West has put a 'mixtape' of recommended stories by female authors, chosen by authors in the field, on his blog here. Marie chose an old favourite, 'The Lost Ghost', by Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman - a classic in the field, and a story Marie was delighted to be able to include in her anthology, The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women.

Marie was delighted to be able to attend a launch party for Sarah Pinborough's new thriller from Harper Collins, Behind Her Eyes, in London last month (pictures above and below).

The book, as modelled by Sarah below, went on to become a No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller – and you can get your copy by clicking here.

JANUARY

A Happy New Year to one and all, and we hit the ground running in 2017 with the huge news that Marie and Paul have been asked to provide an afterword for the gorgeous-looking hardback edition of Stephen King’s famous collection Night Shift (above), due to be published by PS soon.

As well as being a milestone in the genre, Night Shift was King’s first collection and brought together many of his tales that would go on to be adapted for film and television, including The Lawnmower Man (above), Graveyard Shift, Sometimes They Come Back (below), Children of the Corn and The Mangler (also below)…

This new edition of the book features stunning cover art and internal illustrations by Dave McKean, a selection of which you’ll find below.  

To pre-order your copy, head over to the PS Publishing website, here.

Marie also found time to review The Burning Page (above), which is the new novel from Genevieve Cogman – the latest in her ‘Invisible Library’ series. You can read what she thought of this release on the Sci-Fi Bulletin site here