GET READY FOR TOMB WARS!

Soon I'll post the cover for WHITBY VAMPYRRHIC here(and it's a real beauty!). Meanwhile, just to let you know that Bad Moon Books have published my novella THIS GHOSTING TIDE. The inspiration came from when I made a series of ghost hunting programs for the BBC. I had a great time visiting supposedly haunted castles, mansions, jails and even a WW2 airbase. So THIS GHOSTING TIDE has a sprinkling of autobiography in there; it's also my first book that is intentionally humorous, albeit darkly, gruesomely and horrifically ;--) The tagline is 'When ghosthunters become the hunted.' And sums up the jist of the plot! Bad Moon Books have done a great job with the production and there are terrific illustrations by Zach McCain. For more on this title visit www.badmoonbooks.com

Until next time!

Breaking News

It's been a busy old bunch of months and as well as some video projects I've also continued writing my novels. The latest ones are THE MIDNIGHT MAN, featuring Vincent Van Gogh in the most turbulent year of his life, and VENGEANCE CHILD, a story of a child haunted by the ghosts of mass-murder victims. Next up will be GHOST MONSTER. Then just before Christmas sees the appearance of WHITBY VAMPYRRHIC. The latter is a return to the Vampyrrhic mythos, Viking legend, and vampires of course. But vampires with a difference.

You'll also notice commercials on this blog now. Any money generated here, less taxes, I'm donating to charity.

All the best,

Simon Clark

It's been a busy few months; here's a copy of my mailer to fill in some gaps. At the moment Tempus Fugit is available through Amazon unbox in the U.S. I'm currently looking for a global platform for the film

What's New on "Nailed by the Heart" / 22 October 2008
=========================================================
"Nailed by the Heart"
The official website of British horror writer Simon Clark

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HORROR ROCKS! MUSIC, FILM, FICTION, NOVELS & SHOOTING STARS

This time there are some unusual extra items to report, come to that
they are probably unique.

First off: Severn House has just released the paperback of LUCIFER'S
ARK. This is a hard-hitting horror-thriller about psychopaths being
secretly shipped to an overseas jail. The book was inspired by my
conversations with real-life mass-murderers in maximum security jails.

Secondly: Leisure have reprinted a number of paperbacks that haven't
been available for a while. These are my first novel NAILED BY THE
HEART, the Zombie-esque STRANGER, and DARKNESS DEMANDS, a
phenomenally popular story of supernatural suspense.

Thirdly: This is where we journey through the unusual into the
downright unique. The visionary publisher Steve Clark of Tasmaniac
has boldly created some fantastic items. He has published a novella
of mine, STONE COLD CALLING (Introduction: Kealan Patrick Burke; art:
Vince Natale). The story involves a group of treasure hunters in
search of a valuable meteorite. The downside for them -- it has been
located in a remote valley that is the site of a new dam. They must
race against the clock to find this chunk of cosmic rock before the
entire countryside is flooded. There is, however, much more to this
meteorite than meets the eye. The book is in two formats: a
paperback, and a special limited edition, which comes with a fragment
of real meteorite. The special edition has already sold out but the
paperback is still available from Tasmaniac and other outlets.

The VIP room at the Tasmaniac website is also playing host to a
unique e-package, THE CALLING & OTHER WRAITHS. Priced at just 99c
this comprises THE CALLING, a 9,000 word short story, set in the same
stretch of wilderness as STONE COLD CALLING. With that comes MAKE ME
FRIGHTFUL, an article containing some secrets for writing horror. And
finally THE HAUNTED PAGE. This is a short film I made which
illustrates some of the tips in the article. The film has a rocking
soundtrack courtesy of John B. Ford and Steve Lines -- you'll be
humming it for days.

For more about these special Tasmaniac publications and the e-package
visit: http://www.tasmaniacpublications.com

To order the STONE COLD CALLING novella in the UK drop in here:
http://www.jeffnjoys.co.uk/

With longer hours of darkness in the Northern Hemisphere it's a good
time to spot shooting stars of your own. So keep watching the skies!
And if you do see a meteorite fall, go grab it. Some are literally
worth their weight in gold!

Simon Clark
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'Nailed by the Heart' - the official Simon Clark website
---------------------------------------------------------------
c/o BBR * PO Box 625 * Sheffield * S1 3GY * UK
mailto:nailed@bbr-online.com * http://www.bbr-

'The Great Experiment' film is alive...

I've been dabbling with short films for a while now and have finally got round to completing a far more ambitious 25 minute documentary entitled VENTURE MAN: TEMPUS FUGIT. What we understand as television is changing at a ferocious rate. Soon it will be commonplace to select films from the Internet rather than simply accepting what the broadcasters offer. After all, when we visit the library we're not offered a choice of fifty books, we have thousands to pick from.

Anyhow, I've dived into this new metaphorical wave of TV, got soaking wet (that is, spent weeks script writing, filming, editing); the trailer can be viewed here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmWr6smHKHw
If the link is cranky simply search 'Simon Clark' at Youtube. VENTURE MAN is now showing at Amazon Unbox in the US; soon it should be global.

Ooops

Ooops, the most recent addition is a copy of my e-mail newsletter, which I should have pasted into MySpace. But while I'm here, I've just heard that Ellen Datlow is reprinting my story 'The Extraordinary Limits of Darkness' in this year's volume of Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. It'll be my first appearance in that anthology and I'm thrilled -- or as we might say here in Yorkshire 'Right chuffed!'
Best,
Simon

Tis' the season for shorts

SIMON CLARK IS PLEASED TO BE IN AMAZON SHORTS!> > No, that isn't a confession for an exotic taste in fashion. > Amazon.com is featuring my new short story 'They Will Not Rest' in > its Amazon Shorts program.> > At the moment this is only available in the United States. I'll be > dropping them hints to extend it to the rest of world ;--) If you > want to read the story, currently exclusive to Amazon, simply hit http://www.amazon.com/They-Will-Not-Rest/dp/B000MR96S8/ref=pd_ts_b_15/104-9839473-0297534?ie=UTF8&s=books > the Amazon US website, go to the Simon Clark book pages and there > will be a link to take you in. To download the story costs 49 cents, > and if you have a compatible phone or handheld device you can read > the story on the move (not while driving or flying a plane, I hasten > to add).> > 'They Will Not Rest' is a gruesome story of sleep deprivation, set in > the English coastal town of Whitby. This is a place that keeps > dragging me back to use as a setting. So far, Whitby has appeared as > a backdrop to 'The Hand of Glory, 'The Whitby Experience,' and > features in the Vampyrrhic novels, too. If you've never visited > Whitby are intrigued by my continued fascination with this haunting > town it appears in the first part of the 'Secret Realms, Haunted > Places' video that can be found at my website.> > To give you a flavor of 'They Will Not Rest' here are the opening lines:-> > 1. The Price of Sleep Debt. Cemetery Exodus. Sundry Vistas.> > How long can you stay awake? Twenty-four hours? Thirty-six? The fact > is, forty-eight hours without sleep brings headache, disorientation > and those first all-too corrosive hallucinations. A rat deprived of > sleep is dead within twenty-eight days. Human beings last a little > longer, although they lose their minds to full-blown psychosis long > before they lose their lives.> > And yet when the coffins started appearing in our streets and in our > yards and gardens the only way to save your life was to remain awake. > Because those long, muddy boxes full of rot and oozing bacteria soon > began to accumulate around your home. See the problem?> > * * *> > In closing, just a couple of extra items. Robert Hale Limited will be > publishing my short story collection Midnight's Bazaar. I'll post the > publication date on the site as soon as I know it. And recently I > wrote the introduction to a collection of formidable, and extremely > hard-hitting short stories, by Paul Finch. Stains is to be published > by Gray Friars Press, and is thoroughly recommended if you like your > horror at its most uncompromising.> > Until next time...> > All the best,> > Simon Clark> --

Confessions of the paperless writer

Writers and editors would often complain that they felt as if they were drowning in a sea of paper and an ocean of books. If you visit the office of an editor at a book publishers you'll see what I mean. Manuscripts form perilous looking towers, everywhere there are books; the desks are awash with sheets of paper, book covers, letters, faxed agents' reminders, royalty statements that will cause woe for the author, more manuscripts, and the editor with a desperate eye will indicate the hiker's rucksack they use as a briefcase which is weighed down with yet more manuscripts, and which is likely to cause them permanent spinal damage.

It seemed as if this is the way it would always be - paper by the pound - but more and more stories and articles exist only as electrons speeding along cables to computer screens.

So, at last, I've dipped my toe into the world of virtual print. Amazon Shorts have published my story THEY WILL NOT REST (it can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/They-Will-Not-Rest/dp/B000MR96S8/ref=pd_ts_b_15/104-9839473-0297534?ie=UTF8&s=books )
It doesn't exist on paper. It might never be enclosed by the covers of a book. Nevertheless it has been published (in the US only unfortunately). Is this the way to the future of writing and reading? Time will tell.

The story was inspired by a jet-lagged train journey back home. We'd taken a short break to New York and as I dozed on the train reality and dreams overlapped in a surreal way. At times I thought I was still back in the City Diner on Broadway ogling at my delicious cheesecake, at other times I looked at a house on a hillside as the train hummed by, then I'd fallen into a micro sleep again and dreamed the house had begun to glide across the landscape like ship. There's a short film I saw recently called Lovecraft's Pillow that hints that the master of cosmic horror drew his inspiration from dreams. Dreams are a great place to find story ideas. And if Jung is right we are all dreaming the same dreams, in a manner of speaking, the language and imagery might differ, but the story is universal to all humankind.

Until next time... when I should have news of a new venture in cyberspace...