Book of the Dead – out now!

 books, Writing  No Responses »
Oct 292013
 

The Book of the Dead is out now!

 

I continue to be chuffed at the idea that the excellent Pandemonium team like my stories and desire me to write for them, to print my words on paper and e-paper, and send them out into the earthiverse. Along with (OMG look at the TOC below. Some amazing, brilliant company I’m keeping these days) all the lovely authors below.

 

As it turns out (according to our excellent introducer and nicest Egyptologist and über-Whovian John J. Johnston) this is the first ever volume of original mummy stories (other anthologies have been reprints), published in partnership with the Egypt Exploration Society. The Book of the Dead contains 19 original tales of mummies, drugs, mayhem, revenge, the Internet, romance, revolution, pharaohs, cats and candy.

 

Includes:

 

“Ramesses on the Frontier” by Paul Cornell

“Escape from the Mummy’s Tomb” by Jesse Bullington

“Old Souls” by David Thomas Moore

“Her Heartbeat, An Echo” by Lou Morgan

“Mysterium Tremendum” by Molly Tanzer

“Tollund” by Adam Roberts

“The Curious Case of the Werewolf that Wasn’t, The Mummy that Was and the Cat in the Jar” by Gail Carriger

“The Cats of Beni Hasan” by Jenni Hill

“Cerulean Memories” by Maurice Broaddus

“Inner Goddess” by Michael West

“The Roof of the World” by Sarah Newton

“Henry” by Glen Mehn (me!)

“The Dedication of Sweetheart Abbey” by David Bryher

“All is Dust” by Den Patrick

“Bit-U-Men” by Maria Dahvana Headley

“Egyptian death and the afterlife: mummies (Rooms 62-3)” by Jonathan Green

“Akhenaten Goes to Paris” by Louis Greenberg

“The Thing of Wrath” by Roger Luckhurst

“Three Memories of Death” by Will Hill

 

Illustrated by Garen Ewing and introduced by John J. Johnston, Vice Chair of the Egypt Exploration Society.

Get your copy now!

Paperback: £9.99 / $14.95

Kindle: £4.99 / $7.49

Kobo

Spacewitch

Join us (and many, many of the book’s contributors) at the launch party tonight – 7pm at the Phoenix Artist Club. More details here.

New publishing credit: Book of the Dead

 books, friends, UK, Writing  No Responses »
Oct 182013
 

I’m thrilled to be included in the almost-published Book of the Dead by Jurassic London. The table of contents includes some of the writers I most respect and admire scribbling words down today – from upstart newcomers like the inimitable Molly Tanzer and co-south Londoner/stand-up guy Den Patrick to heavyweights Jesse Bullington and Gail Carriger, I couldn’t be more chuffed.

A chunk of the proceeds will be going to the Egypt Exploration Society.

The stories are all about mummies. The brief – which wasn’t so brief after all: Mummies are like zombies, but with stories, minds, and passion.

Henry

My story is called “Henry”, and it’s a very personal story to me. The character is loosely based on a real person, who was a friend of mine, and who did die too young, though not in Egypt, and in unfortunate, but not mysterious circumstances.

Last year, just two weeks before Mohammed Morsi’s election, I went to Egypt for a week to run a creative entrepreneurship programme. It was a curious time – and I wanted to understand it, to walk around the streets of Cairo and talk to people. There was no government, there was chaos, but there were also people, hoping, helping out.

My hope with this is that I’ve merged the personal with the political. It’s one of the stories I’ve written that I’m most proud of.

You can pick up a copy of Book of the Dead here (UK) here (US) or at a good bookstore.

There’s also a super-duper limited edition – which comes mummified, for £30 at Spacewitch.

100 word review: The Lowest Heaven, ed by Jared Shurin and Anne C. Perry

 100 word reviews, books, reviews  No Responses »
Jun 112013
 

17 stories launched by objects in our cosmos, from Mercury out to Voyager I. What stories. What imagination. What tales of wonder. Adam Roberts’ 18th Century tale of a voyage to the moon turns itself inside out. Kaaron Warren delivers dreamchills in hallucinatory fashion. This idiosyncratic collection that fits together, somehow, like family, only without the awkward holiday dinners. Further shouts-out to Kameron Hurley’s “Enyo-Enyo” wanders through the system in an mysterious cycle, much like Eris. James Smythe caps off the system with “The Grand Tour”, his postapocalyptic paean to Voyager I. Make it a point to get this ebook.

 

Get it here

100 word review: Pandemonium: 1853, edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin

 100 word reviews, books, reviews  No Responses »
Apr 162013
 

1853

 

Three 1200 word stories. Free. What’s not to like? There are three stories, companions to the Town called Pandmonium anthology. Jesus’ brother, born in China, may need to be stopped before he grows in power. A museum thief makes a deal for his life, but at what cost? A young girl in Edinburgh writes a letter to her father at home, detailing the disturbances. These stories are unlinked, and each stand alone. They come in hard, hit fast, but refuse to fade away. Laura Graham, Jonathan Green, and Marc Alpin should be proud. Go read it. It’s free, after all.

 

Get it here.

100 word review: A Town Called Pandemonium, edited by Anne Perry and Jared Shurin

 100 word reviews, books, reviews  1 Response »
Dec 172012
 

The Jurassic/Pandemonium team heads to the old, weird, west. Not so weird – though often otherworldly and seriously creepy – don’t read Will Hill’s “Sad Tale” before bed. These ten stories take place over a year in a shared world fictional town in a fictional old west. The curation of the stories and the world created is top class – no easy task, with stories that range from funny to twisted and terrifying. And then there’s Sam Sykes’ “Wish for a gun”, a deep meditation on sadness and loss in a nonsensical world, my personal favourite in a top-quality anthology.

 

Get it on Kindle here (UK) or here (US) or on Kobo here.