December
Marie was given the opportunity to interview Peter Medak last month, something she’s been looking forward to for a long time. Peter was the director of the classic ghost movie, The Changeling (above) which Marie picked to write about for the award-winning Cinema Macabre book. The pair had a great time chatting about that film, but also about Peter’s other films such as Species II (below you’ll find a picture of Peter on set with Giger’s monster). Watch out for the interview soon.
Marie’s article about the use of humour in horror can now be found in the latest Writing Magazine (above), on sale at your local newsagents.
Marie has also been busy reviewing. Firstly, you can find out what she thinks of the novels Poison Study (above) by Maria V. Snyder and Simon Clark’s This Rage of Echoes on the Dreamwatch Presents Total Sci-Fi site.
You can also see a review of the documentary 666: The Search for the Great Beast in a future issue of Fortean Times. The film takes a frank look at Aleister Crowley’s life and works.
On to interviews now, and you can read the revealing insight into bestselling chiller author James Herbert’s life and fiction by reading Marie and Paul Kane’s piece on him in the latest issue of Writers’ Forum magazine, also out now.
On the website front, Marie has updated the Read-Us site with new stories – which you can enjoy by clicking here.
Before wishing visitors to Marie’s site a very Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year, there’s just time to mention that she will be at the British Fantasy Society’s Xmas Open Night party, held at Ye Olde Cock Tavern in London on the 7th December from 6pm onwards. So if you see her there, don’t be shy…
November
Marie has just got back from a very exciting weekend in Milton Keynes, where she attended Collectormania 12. As well as meeting stars from SF and fantasy shows such as Star Trek (George Takei and Walter Koenig, alias Sulu and Chekov), Andromeda (Kevin Sorbo), Stargate: SG1 (Michael Shanks and Chris Judge – Daniel and Teal’c), Star Trek: The Next Generation (Marina Sirtis alias Deanna Troi), Star Trek: Voyager (Ethan Philips and Robert Picardo), Dr Who (Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen), plus the hot new show Heroes (Matthew J. Armstrong and James Kyson Lee), she was also able to meet a few horror legends. Pictured above is Marie with George A. Romero, director of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead, in addition to Creepshow and The Dark Half. Marie also met two stars from Creepshow, Tom Atkins (who was in Halloween III: Season of the Witch too) and Adrienne Barbeau (also from The Fog and Swamp Thing). And lastly, she got to catch up again with Nick Vince and Simon Bamford (Chatterer and Butterball from Hellraiser), and then the lovely Clare Higgins who played Julia in that same series of movies. Below you’ll find a picture of Marie and Clare together, the two Queens of Horror having a whale of a time!
Marie's novella Mirror Mere, from last year's collection of the same name, is now live on the Screaming Dreams website. To download a PDF of the novella, just click here.
As well as reviewing Hellraiser director Clive Barker’s new book, Mr B. Gone, for Dreamwatch, Marie also gave the novel a glowing write-up in The Hub last month. She thoroughly recommends this book, arguably Clive’s first horror one in some time.
On now to site updates and Marie has two to report for last month. To begin with, award-winning publisher Elastic Press’ site which you can find here (insert link) and the Read Us writers’ group, where you can find more stories added here.
Finally, Marie has just reviewed the latest Best New Horror anthology edited by Stephen Jones, with a stunning skull cover from Les Edwards. The book had a pre-launch at FCon, with its official launch at Halloween and Marie wrote the new review for Dreamwatch.
October
Marie had a great time at FantasyCon at the end of last month. She got to meet up again with friends like Stephen Gallagher, Mike Carey, Stephen Volk, Tim Lebbon, Mark Morris, Sarah Pinborough, and of course Guests of Honour Stephen Jones and Michael Marshall Smith. She also made lots of new friends and meeting fantasy legend Terry Brooks for the first time was terrific, she reports. Though a lot of hard work over the weekend, it was well worth it and everyone she spoke to had a blast. Pictures will be up on the site soon so keep checking back.
On the reviews front, Marie last month wrote a piece for The Hub on the new DVD Bridge to Terabithia (above) and also a piece for Dreamwatch on excellent novel by Peadar Ó Guilín (who was also at FCon) called The Inferior (also above).
Marie’s review of Abaddon’s new Tomes of the Dead novel, The Words of Their Roaring by Matthew Smith, can be found in the latest issue of Rue Morgue magazine. She was very impressed with this new take on the zombie story. To go to the Rue Morgue website, just click here.
Lastly, Marie is also one of the first few people fortunate enough to have read Clive Barker’s new novel, Mr B. Gone, which she has just reviewed for Dreamwatch as well. The story of a demon trapped inside the pages of a book, she gave this gem a 10/10. Look out for the review when it’s posted.
September
Marie has just interviewed bestselling horror author Shaun Hutson for The Hub, timed to coincide with the release of his new hardback from Orbit, Unmarked Graves (you can read a review Marie did of this online at Dreamwatch Presents Total Sci-Fi here. Marie asked Shaun about his experiences writing books like Slugs, Erebus and Deathday, plus his views on zombie films. It’s not to be missed, so to subscribe to Hub just click here.
Last month Marie also reviewed the latest release from that other genre veteran John Saul. To read what she thought of In the Dark of The Night, then click here. And look out for the review she’s just delivered to DWTSF of The Declaration by Gemma Malley, an impressive debut from this new author.
Marie penned an informative and authoritative essay for The Hub last month entitled ‘Give Me a J’. This focussed on the trends of Japanese horror, especially supernatural horror, and its influence on Western cinema. Included were examples such as The Ring (above), The Grudge, Dark Water and The Eye.
Marie also took time out to interview Dead Men’s Boots author Mike Carey for both DeathRay issue 5 (above, with the distinctive Heroes cover) and The Hub. In these she got to the bottom of Mike’s influences and asked the all important question: what was it like to follow in Neil Gaiman’s footsteps on Lucifer, the acclaimed spin-off from Sandman?
Finally, Marie will be attending The British Fantasy Society’s FantasyCon from 21st-23rd September at The Britannia Hotel. This year the Guests of Honour are bestselling fantasy author Terry Brooks, bestselling thriller and genre author Michael Marshall Smith (above) and award winning editor and writer Stephen Jones. The host for the weekend’s celebrations, which include panels, book launches and signings, plus the banquet on Sunday, is PS publishing’s Peter Crowther. To secure your place, go to the FCon website here – don’t miss out, book today!
Coincidentally, Marie has just reviewed Michael Marshall Smith’s superb novel The Servants (below), which you can buy from Earthling here. Be sure to check back for links to this in a future news section.
August Extra
A couple of events of interest to genre fans are coming up soon, and Marie has been asked to bring them to people's attention. Collectormania are organising events in London in September and Milton Keynes in October. For more details and to see which stars you’ll be able to meet visit the site here.
August
Lat month Marie interviewed horror legend Graham Masterton, bestselling author of books like The Manitou (which was turned into a movie starring Tony Curtis), The Mirror, Night Warriors, Spirit and Ritual, to name but a few. Marie asked Graham about his life, his inspirations, and his work – including the release of his new book Edgewise (below).
More details about when and where the interview will appear in a future news section.
Marie with Peter Chapman
Christopher Fowler
Stephen Jones and Mark Morris
Sarah Pinborough
Photos © Paul Kane, 2007
Marie had a great time at the British Fantasy Society’s Award Showcase in London on 7th of July. She got a chance to catch up with old friends like Christopher Fowler, Stephen Jones, Tony Richards, Andrew Hook, Sarah Pinborough, Mark Morris, Les and Val Edwards and many more. She’s now looking forward to FantasyCon in September. If you haven’t booked, then there’s still time if you visit the website.
Speaking of Andrew Hook of Elastic Press, Marie has just updated their site with details of their new title (above). The Cusp of Something, by Jai Clare. To go directly to the site, click on the link here.
Marie is delighted to announce that she has also started work reviewing for Dreamwatch Presents Total ScI-Fi (formerly Dreamwatch magazine – above). The site’s link is http://www.dwscifi.com so please drop in and have a look around. Marie’s first reviewing assignments are for the book Cloud Cuckoo Land by and Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society (below).
July
Marie has just completed an article for The Hub magazine on women in horror, featuring quotes from the likes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (above) creator Joss Whedon, creator of the Felix Castor novels, Mike Carey and Dr Who scriptwriter Paul Cornell (below) who was responsible for one of the best episodes this season: ‘Family of Blood’. All give their opinions about women in the horror genre.
Marie has also contributed reviews of the new Anime Highlander movie Search for Vengeance, John Connolly’s novel The Unquiet and horror movie Broken. To subscribe to The Hub visit their website at http://www.hub-mag.co.uk/
Marie is extremely pleased to report that her collection Mirror Mere has just been recommended for a number of British Fantasy Awards. The book itself for Best Collection, plus the novella ‘Mirror Mere’ from which the book takes its name, as well as the short stories ‘4.44’, ‘Cut to the Chase’ and ‘I’ll Call You’, which you can read online here, here and here. Marie will also be at the BFS Awards Showcase held in London at Ye Olde Cock Tavern on 7th July to talk about the book.
On 3rd June Marie was lucky enough to have been invited to a private screening of Stardust (above), the film based on Neil Gaiman’s novel of the same name. Neil introduced the movie to an audience including Stephen Jones, Kim Newman, Les and Val Edwards and Lenny Henry at a Paramount Pictures screening room on Golden Square. Marie is happy to say that the film – which stars Robert De Niro, Sienna Miller, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes and Ricky Gervais – was absolutely wonderful. US audiences will be able to catch it over the summer, but it opens nationwide in the UK in October.
You can find another of Marie’s reviews, this time of the novel A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore (above) in the latest edition of DeathRay (below). She thoroughly enjoyed this comic fantasy and highly recommends it.
In another busy month, Marie also typeset two books: Force Majeure by Daniel O’Mahony for Telos Books and The Lazarus Condition (below) by her husband Paul Kane, which was for Tasmaniac Publications in Australia.
June
Marie had a great start to last month when she had the opportunity to interview the delightful Betsy Palmer (above) for a forthcoming magazine. Betsy is, of course, the original Mrs Voorhees from the horror classic Friday 13th (in action below).
Marie chatted to Betsy for well over an hour, finding out some very interesting things about the movie (below), which was directed by Sean Cunningham back in 1980 and featured early Tom Savini effects. The success of that one spawned a franchise that is still around to this day. But what really came across was what a nice person Betsy is in real life. More details on where you can read the interview in a future news section.
You can find more pictures from the World Horror Convention and Derby’s Alt.Fiction event, which Marie attended, by clicking here and here.
And Marie will be attending the next BFS Open Night on 1st June at the regular venue: The Devereux in London.
You can find the Christa Campbell interview we told you about a few months ago in the latest issue of the magazine Red Scream (above). Christa is building up quite a reputation as a Scream Queen after appearances in movies like 2001 Maniacs and the forthcoming remake of Day of the Dead (see picture below, of Christa with the director of that film Steve Miner). To buy a copy of the magazine and read what Christa has to say click here.
Marie also found time to update the Elastic Press site with news of their latest releases, together with submission guidelines for their upcoming anthology Subtle Edens: The Elastic Book of Slipstream. For more details, see Elastic Press.
Lastly, Marie has just joined the Horror Writers’ association with active (Professional Writer) status. Since meeting some of the members over in Toronto at WHC Marie has been keen to get involved in the organisation. She encourages any other writers out there to do the same, by visiting the official HWA site here
May
Paul and Marie's wedding. Perfect day.
The pictures are now back of Marie and Paul Kane’s wedding and honeymoon in Toronto, which just happened to coincide with World Horror Con. Above and below are a few samples from these, but you can see many more by visiting the Shadow Writer site here
Paul and Marie at the Stoker Banquet at WHC
Paul and Marie with Peter Atkins
But if that little lot isn’t enough, you can also see pictures of WHC and Marie in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror editor Ellen Datlow’s collection by following this link
In a busy month, Marie also updated author Tony Richards' site with details of his new collection, Going Back, out from Elastic Press. You can access this by clicking here
Tony was also one of the attendees at Alt.Fiction in Derby on 28th April. Marie (above) was there to give a ‘How to Create Monsters’ workshop, which was very well attended and went down a storm. Also attending were authors like Stephen Gallagher and editors like Peter Crowther (below). The day ended nicely with a traditional curry and a night’s chat at the Midland Hotel. More pictures very soon.
Stephen Gallagher and Peter Crowther
Marie was also invited along to HarperCollins’ launch of Michael Marshall Smith’s new novel (under his Michael Marshall name): The Intruders. The launch took place at Sequoia at RubyLo in London on 19th April, and other attendees included Kim Newman, Stephen Jones and Mandy Slater, Les and Val Edwards, Christopher Fowler and Paul McAuley. You can see a selection of photos from this below.
All photos copyright Paul Kane, 2007
April
Last month Marie was fortunate enough to interview William Malone, director of Scared to Death, The House on Haunted Hill remake, which featured Academy Award-winner Jeffrey Rush, and Feardotcom starring Stephen Rea and Jeffrey Combs. In the in-depth interview, William talks about his influences, which begin with Creature from the Black Lagoon and Forbidden Planet, his early career as a mask-maker (he was responsible for the infamous ‘Captain Kirk’ mask from Halloween), right through to his involvement on the Masters of Horror TV series. You can read this interview in a future issue of The Dark Side magazine.
Marie has updated two of the sites that she maintains, the first being a new gallery from excellent French artist Michelle Blessemaille, which you can access by clicking here.
The second is for the Writing Group ‘Read Us’, which was the topic of an article in last month’s Writers’ News trade magazine (below). This can be found at www.read-us.com
Marie would like to thank everyone for their congratulations and warmest wishes for her wedding to Paul Kane which took place on 24th March. It was a wonderful day shared with family and friends, and the honeymoon which followed was just as fantastic. The couple had a great time in Toronto, visiting Niagara Falls, The CN Tower (having dinner in the 360 Revolving Restaurant) and seeing Casa Loma where parts of The X-Men was filmed.
They also had a blast at the World Horror Convention held in the Marriott Hotel, meeting authors such as Nancy Kilpatrick (above) Kelley Armstrong (Bitten, Haunted), Sarah Langan (The Keeper), Stephen Volk (creator of Afterlife), Tim Lebbon (Dusk & Dawn), Sarah Pinborough (Breeding Ground), David Morell (Creepers and creator of Rambo), F. Paul Wilson (The Keep), Brian Lumley (Necroscope), David Picaccio (artist Guest of Honour), Peter Atkins (media Guest of Honour), top US editor Ellen Datlow, Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-tep), Christopher Golden (Buffythe Vampire Slayer and Hellboy) and many, many more. New friends were made and lots of fun was had, with a huge thank you to organisers Stephen Jones, Mandy Slater and Amanda Foubister and co. You’ll be able to see more pictures from both the wedding, honeymoon and WHC on here soon.
Finally, Marie and Paul will be attending Derby’s Alt.Fiction event on 28th April, where they will be hosting a workshop all about how to create monsters. Also attending on the day are authors such as Iain Banks (above – Whit, The Crow Road), Harry Harrison (The Stainless Steel Rat), Mike Carey (Lucifer, The Devil You Know, below), Ramsey Campbell (Midnight Sun) and Peter Crowther (The Longest Single Note). Hopefully she will see some of you there on the day.
March Extra
Horror author Michele Lee conducted an interview with Marie recently - you can read it on Michele's website, here.
March
Marie has written an article for news-stand publication, Writing Magazine which is out this month. In the piece, ‘Helpless or Heroine’ she takes readers through what’s needed to create a believable and interesting horror heroine, using quotes and examples from fiction, films and television. This is the second article she’s done for the mag and more are on the horizon, so pick up your copy today.
Marie has a short story forthcoming in Screaming Dreams’ Dead Ends anthology, which also features tales by John Grant, C.J. Lines, Chris Morris, Steve Redwood and Rhys Hughes. The brand new short, ‘In My Mind, Mine Understanding’ is a taut psychological shocker about one man’s descent into madness. More details as and when they come through, but the cover art will be by Anne Stokes. You can find the website here.
Marie’s interview with 2001 Maniacs and Driftwood director Tim Sullivan, mentioned in a previous news section, can now be read in the April/May edition of news-stand horror magazine The Dark Side out this month.
In the interview Tim (above) talks candidly about his movies, his early career and his future projects.
And one of the stars of 2001 Maniacs – as well as the forthcoming remake of Day of the Dead – Christa Campbell is interviewed by Marie in a future edition of Red Screammagazine. The in-depth interview follows the actress (below with co-star Robert Englund) from her early modelling days to featuring in movies like The Wicker Man with Nicolas Cage and Lonely Hearts alongside John Travolta. More details about which issue this will appear in coming soon.
You can read a glowing review of the book Marie co-edited with Paul Kane, The British Fantasy Society: A Celebration in Interzone Issue 208 (below). The book featured stories by Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Robert Silverberg, Christopher Fowler, Kim Newman, Stephen Gallagher, Peter Straub, Mark Chadbourn, Brian Aldiss, Peter Crowther, Graham Joyce, Robert Holdstock, Richard Christian Matheson, Juliet E. McKenna, Mark Morris, Chaz Brenchley, Michael Marshall Smith and John Connolly. It also boasted a heartfelt introduction by BFS stalwart Stephen Jones.
The review commented: ‘If Interzone imposed the reviewing methodology used by governments to assess the efficacy of public services – evaluating the whole in terms of the average of scores given to each of its components – Kane and O’Regan’s celebration of the British Fantasy Society would top the league table of fantasy anthologies. There is certainly much to commend it. There isn’t a single duff story: none of them merits less than a B and several are worthy of an A+.’
This anthology is still available from the BFS Cyberstore here and if you join the British Fantasy Society, you get copies of Special Publications as part of the membership package.
Marie has just learned that the non-fiction anthology she wrote a piece about ‘The Changeling’ for, Cinema Macabre, has been nominated for a HWA Stoker Award. The book, edited by Mark Morris and featuring the likes of Neil Gaman, Douglas Winter, Muriel Gray and Stephen Jones, was originally published by PS Publishing and introduced; however, the paperback edition for BFS members only, was introduced by Marie and Paul Kane (below).
The winners will be announced at the Saturday night banquet at The World Horror Convention in Toronto, Canada, in March, held in the plush Marriott Hotel (below)…
Which brings us to Marie’s attendance at WHC (see previous news section for more on who else will be there). In her capacity as an organiser of FantasyCon 2007, she will be sitting on a panel about forthcoming events. Marie is also officially covering the event for The Dark Side magazine.
More importantly, though, Marie will be on her honeymoon with Paul Kane after tying the knot on 24th March. The couple are flying out the next day and then attending the convention which starts with a welcome for early arrivals on Wednesday 28th. As a consequence, next month’s update will be slightly later than normal. See you all back here in April.
February
Marie and Paul Kane will be attending The World Horror Convention next month in Toronto, Canada. The theme is ‘Diversity of Horror’ and Guests of Honour this year are Nancy Kilpatrick, Michael Marshall Smith, John Picacio, Peter Crowther, Don Hutchinson and Peter Atkins. Bubba Ho-Tep author Joe R. Lansdale has just been named the Grand Master winner and Sephera Giron is Mistress of Ceremonies. The Convention will include a welcome party, a banquet – at which the winners of the HWA Bram Stoker Awards will be announced – and various panels. Other authors and editors include Stephen Jones (one of the organisers, along with Mandy Slater and Amanda Foubister), Peter Straub, Mort Castle, F. Paul Wilson, Tim Lebbon, Mark Morris, Yvonne Navarro, Sarah Pinborough, and many more.
Marie has just finished typesetting two Telos titles for future release. These are Black Tide by Del Stone Jr, and The Long, Big Kiss Goodbye by Scott Montgomery. More details of each book can be found here, and on the Telos website, here.
Fiction-wise, Marie is currently hard at work on a few commissioned short stories and also a brand new novella which is nearing completion and promises to be some of her best work to date. Details, as usual, will appear here first.
January Extra
The British Fantasy Society are running a competition on behalf of Revolver Entertainment, who are releasing Terry Gilliam's movie Tideland on DVD. To win a copy of the DVD, just go along to the BFS website and answer a simple question. The first three with the correct answer will win a copy of the DVD.
January
Photo copyright Paul Kane
Marie had a wonderful time at the British Fantasy Society’s Christmas Open Night on 8th December 2006. Present were such genre names as Stephen Jones, Michael Marshall Smith, Simon Clark, Christopher Fowler (above with Marie and screenwriter Roger Grey), Adam Nevill, Peter Crowther, Christopher Teague, Andrew Hook, Frazer Lee, plus Hellraiser actors Doug Bradley, Nick Vince and Barbie Wilde, there to celebrate the publication of The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy, by Paul Kane .
You can find an article in the January issue of Writing Magazine which Marie has written. It’s all about doing your market research, so new writers would be well advised to catch it.
Now a report that Marie has written with Paul Kane all about the Stephen King event in Battersea back in November (see previous news sections for details). To read about his first live interview in the UK for ten years and to see pictures of the event, just click here.
A review of Marie’s collection Mirror Mere has appeared in the Jeff and Joy’s Newsletter – published by the book dealer Jeff Hill. To read the review in full, click here.
Finally, Marie is one of the authors in line for the first ever award given out by Estronomicon magazine for authors and artists featured in the magazine during the course of 2006. To vote for your favourite, and to read the latest editions of the magazine – including the Christmas Special which features Marie’s ‘Tabitha’s Angel’, visit the Estronomicon website at http://www.screamingdreams.com/estronomicon.htm
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