Signing off... on another novella!

Very excited to reveal that I have signed a contract to publish a new horror novella with Damnation Books!

The Noctuary is scheduled to be released in e-book format on December 1, 2011 with the paperback edition to follow shortly after.

The idea for The Noctuary came about during my mentorship program with Aussie horror author Brett McBean in 2009.

Here's a bit of a blurb on The Noctuary, which means "Night Diary" or "Night Journal":


Struggling writer Simon Ryan’s life has gone to Hell.

Shadows are pouring into his reality and his words are not his own anymore. He has been chosen to become a scribe for some of the worst creatures of the Underworld – the ones whose sole purpose is to torment human souls – The Dark Muses.

As Simon writes he falls deeper into the abyss and before long he has no sense of what is real. With the help of another scribe, old and mutilated, Simon comes to discover that his writing can mould people and places – that he can write things out of existence.

To become a scribe Simon has to pass a test and the Muses offer him a chance to rewrite his horrible past. All he has to decide is how the story ends…

The Noctuary is much darker territory than my first novella Torment, which was also published by Damnation Books on March 1. 

The paperback edition of Torment is for sale now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Booktopia in Australia. The e-book version can be purchased direct from the publisher at www.damnationbooks.com

Stay tuned as more information comes to hand!

Victorian Times

So I've returned from my first trip to Melbourne, the capital of Victoria.

What was initially a trip to attend the Continuum 7 convention turned out to be much more...a bit of a magical history tour.

Of course I didn't just want to spend the whole five days attending the convention, I wanted to see the sights and catch up with some authors I had collaborated with over the years.

The convention was beneficial: I sat in on a few seminars and heard the speech of one of the guests of honour - fantasy author Catherynne M. Valente who delivered a short story that may or may not have been autobiographical about a science fiction writer's place within the universe and the multitude of creation myths surrounding her. I even learned some new things about copyright law!

I met Aussie horror author Brett McBean - the guy who tutored me through the Australian Horror Writers Association's mentor program and helped me achieve publication with Torment. Over lunch we shared our thoughts on writing and exchanged signed copies of our books.

Mark Farrugia, who I collaborated with on the comic strip story "Allure of the Ancients" also introduced himself to me and plans are already underway to create a sequel to the illustrated vampire tale.

But it was when I went exploring the city of Melbourne that I somehow tapped in to a cultural and historical wellspring that got the creative juices flowing.

A tour of Old Melbourne Gaol took me into a den of darkness, with claustrophobic jail cells, death masks of executed criminals - and of course Australia's most infamous outlaw Ned Kelly. As part of tour I was "arrested and processed" as a criminal, which gave me an insight into incarceration and isolation. Good fodder for the imagination!

Next was the State Library of Victoria and the fates must have intertwined at this place. For months I've been in the realm of the Middle Ages for the graphic novel Witches! but only seeing it online or from the pages of a book. As I walked the steps to the Library I was greeted by a monument I never expected to see - Joan of Arc! Joan of Arc will feature in Witches! so I couldn't resist but take her photo.

Inside the Library I found a free exhibition of some of oldest and rarest books in the world, which included pages from the Gutenberg Bible, and many other important medieval tomes (note the chain on one book!)

 

And finally, there was the once-in-a-lifetime Tutunkhamun exhibition at the Melbourne Museum (unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures here). It was truly amazing to see the treasures from the boy king's tomb and to have a deeper understanding of more than 3000 years of history.

Overall Melbourne was a great experience, one that I hope to call upon as I further my career as a writer and artist.

A long time between posts...

SO I haven’t posted a blog for a while …

I’ve been neglectful, but with good reason. Drawing, and not writing is taking up most of my time (outside my full-time job and parenthood).

The graphic novel, Witches! penned by Rocky Wood and Lisa Morton is progressing well, with dozens of pages and a cover now completed and sent to McFarland in the States.

The work requires a lot of attention to detail. I’ve been spending quite a lot of time in libraries looking at medieval art, clothing and locales, trying to get a sense of the period and its historical figures.

Rocky and Lisa’s scripts are utterly fascinating and I think readers will be shocked at the magnitude of the witch craze and puzzle at its origins. Drawing it is a privilege and I’ve included a few samples to give you a taste of illustrations (note: not necessarily the final look of the graphic novel)

Stay tuned for more progress reports on Witches! in the near future.

MEANWHILE, I’m looking forward to next week as I will be visiting the grand city of Melbourne to attend Continuum 7 (June 10-13), one of Australia’s premier speculative fiction, film and art conventions.

I’ve never been to Melbourne before or a convention, so it’ll be a real eye opener for me, but I hope to meet plenty of like-minded authors and creators. I’ll try to take plenty of pictures to share on the blog when I return.

For more info on Continuum, visit www.continuum.org.au

AMIDST all this activity, I’m endeavouring to read what is regarded as Stephen King’s seminal work, The Stand.

I regret to say that I’m not very far into the book, however I am enjoying it immensely. The slow-burning apocalypse King has created with his super-flu is so much more terrifying than any army of the undead Hollywood could muster.

I’ll be taking The Stand with me to Melbourne, but even if I do get it finished while I’m away, plenty of my writer friends have told me it will be the first of many readings.

AND last, but not least …

I’m working on two novels (reviewing one I’ve already written that needs quite a bit of reworking and I’ve plotted out the draft of another).

The novel that needs rewriting is a dark fantasy that explores the meaning of flesh, both human and monstrous.

The other book is a psychological horror, looking at the origins of madness. My aim will be to drive the reader to the brink of insanity.

I’ve always been fascinated by psychology and the cognitive abilities of the human mind and I’ll be exploring the science and fantasy of them in the novel.

Keep an eye out for more updates on these books very soon.

PS Damnation Books has just released a bunch of new books...check em out HERE!