All Hallows' Read: Solaris can give you the Hallowe'en heebie jeebies

Hallowe'en, All Hallows' Eve, Samhain - whatever festival you're donning the costumes for tonight, Solaris has the perfect terrifying tomes to accompany your spooky celebrations. From haunted houses to horror-filled council estates, make sure your Hallowe'en goes with a bump by picking up one of these chilling titles:

House of Fear
An Anthology of Haunted House Stories

Editor Jonathan Oliver and Solaris bring horror home with a fresh collection of haunted house stories by some of the finest writers working in the horror genre, including Joe R. Lansdale, Sarah Pinborough, Lisa Tuttle, Christopher Priest, Adam L. G. Nevill, Christopher Fowler, Paul Meloy and more.
£7.99 352 pages

Available through Amazon.co.uk

Redlaw

Solaris and New York Times bestselling author James Lovegrove unveils a very different kind of vampire novel – one where they live among us, abhorred, marginalised, despised. The job of policing the ‘Sunless’ falls Captain John Redlaw - London's most feared and respected Sunless Housing and Disclosure Executive officer. But when the vampires start rioting in their ghettoes, and angry humans respond with violence of their own, even Redlaw may not be able to keep the peace.

£7.99 416 pages

Available through Amazon.co.uk

The Concrete Grove

Book One of the Concrete Grove Trilogy

The Concrete Grove is a place where all your nightmares become real. Think of dark urban streets where crime, debt and violence are not the only things to fear. Picture a housing project that is a gateway to somewhere else, a realm where ghosts and monsters stir hungrily in the shadows...

£7.99/$7.99 432 pages

Available through Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Regicide

Carl stumbles across part of a map to an unknown town and is determined to find the city. But if he ever finds himself in the streets on his map, will they turn out to be the land of his dreams or the world of his worst nightmares?

$7.99/£7.99 384 pages

Available through Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Loss of Separation

Commercial pilot Paul Roan has survived a plane crash and cheated death. But terrible dreams of a crippled black airliner screaming through the night, its pitted engines streaked with carbon and blood makes him fear the jet – and its terrible cargo – is coming back for him.

£7.99/$7.99 448 pages

Available through Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Some Halloween events coming your way

Yes, that time is nearly upon us again, when kids in cheap horror masks demand treats from us in return for not covering our houses in toilet papers and eggs. Truly it is a magical time.

But Halloween also means horror and there are two events that you should certainly check out:

The first happens this Friday (28th October) at Waterstone's Liverpool One. House of Fear's Adam Nevill, Lisa Tuttle and Nicholas Royle will be on hand to read to you and chat about the genre. There will also be other writers attending, so it's well worth coming along to spend an evening with some of the finest genre practitioners around.

While on the 31st of October - Halloween Night itself - you should get yourself down to Warwick Art's Centre for another evening of horror, this time with Gary McMahon (author of The Concrete Grove), David Moody and Adam Nevill (who gets around a bit). Tickets are £8 and available from the Warwick Art's Centre website.

So if you fancy avoiding being mugged by tykes and handing over Haribos, then get yourself to these two events for an evening of literary horror.

Gail Z Martin - Days of The Dead Blog Tour

Solaris Books author Gail Z. Martin is hosting her annual Days of the Dead blog tour, and she’s kicking it off with plenty of giveaways, special interviews, downloadable treats and hot news. We’ve got the one of five different interviews Gail has done with her vayash moru (vampires), a group that play a significant role in all of her Chronicles of the Necromancer and Fallen Kings Cycle books.

Interview with Gabriel

By Gail Z. Martin, author of The Chronicles of the Necromancer and the Fallen Kings Cycle series



In honor of my Days of the Dead blog tour, I'd like to introduce you to one of my vayash moru (vampire) characters from the Chronicles of the Necromancer and Fallen Kings series. Vayash moru play an important part in my books, aiding - and sometimes opposing - Tris Drayke and Jonmarc Vahanian.



Here, I'd like to introduce you to Lord Gabriel, a four-hundred year old vayash moru who is a member of the Blood Council and an unlikely friend of Jonmarc Vahanian.



Q: What has immortality taught you?



A: The circumstances set into motion by our actions reach much farther than we can possibly imagine.



Q: You are ancient, a lord in your own right and a member of the Blood Council. Why serve as seneschal for Jonmarc Vahanian?



A: The Dark Lady came to me in a dream and asked me to do all in my power to enable her chosen champion. I am pledged to serve until Jonmarc no longer needs my help.



Q: The Winter Kingdoms have gone to war against the Temnottan invaders from the north. Yet you have stayed behind at Dark Haven instead of accompanying Jonmarc. Why?



A: I best serve him by assuring the safety of his family and manor. I have faced Temnotta before in battle. By holding Dark Haven and the river,we keep the enemy contained. This the vayash moru and vyrkin can do quite well, despite our limited numbers.



Q: What is your biggest disappointment about immortality?



A: Mortals do not learn from the mistakes of their ancestors. Crises repeat needlessly. In this, immortality is frustrating because the poor choices of mortals are obvious and repetitive.


Please check out my Days of the Dead online blog tour—there are lots of other free downloads, drawings for free books, excerpts, interviews and fun—details are at www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com

To be in with a chance of winning a full set of Gail's exciting Chronicles of The Necromancer series, please comment on this blog post with your e-mail address. The winner will be selected at random.

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Free books, you say? Also, Jon Oliver Interviewed

Hey all,

So, do you like free books?

What kind of question is that? Who the hell doesn't like free books?

Well, if you haven't already bought last year's top-notch underground-themed horror anthology End of the Line, edited by Mr. Jon Oliver, now may be your chance to get your hands on a free copy (or hell, even if you have, it could always be a Christmas gift for someone, right?).

The tenth issue of Haunted magazine (cover pictured below) comes with a free copy of the book for the first nine hundred buyers.

It's available at literally dozens of WHSmith outlets all around the country, from Aberdeen to Worcester. Check it out...

And while you're admiring your handsome new free copy of "a collection of innovative and disturbing stories on a classic horror theme," (Pornokitsch) don't throw away that glossy, glossy magazine just yet! Oh, no!

Quite apart from an engaging, informed, varied and bang-up-to-the-minute journal of ghosts, ghost-hunters and the paranormal in the UK, you get to read the thoughts of the anthology's editor, Solaris Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Oliver, on ghost stories and horror. Which is, I am sure you'll agree, a treat at the best of times.




Enjoy.

Cheers,

David

Fantasycon Photos

Two editors, one PR guy and lots of Solaris authors walk into a convention...

Just a quick post to share with you some of the photos that we took of the Big Solaris Book Event, and to say thank you to all the fans and readers who came to the signing and who told us how much they're enjoying our books.

A big thank you also to the British Fantasy Society, for organising such a fabulous convention, and to all the hardworking volunteers who made it happen.

Gary McMahon, Nicholas Royle, Richard Ford, James Lovegrove, Juliet E. McKenna and Conard Williams at the signing.

The view from the hotel.

Juliet chats with a fan.