The end and the beginning: CHRIS DABNOR on NIGHTFALLS

A few little plugs before I hand on to Chris - and there's some news here that's definitely worth reading.

Have you seen that Snubnose are offering their titles for 99c/75p?  They have some brilliant titles and I'm pretty sure that all of their books are worth picking up (I mopped up another 6 or so with this offer).  I'm sure you'll know what I mean when I say that and you'll be doing some mopping up of your own.

I'm going to recommend one in particular, but not for the usual reasons.  It's a title I haven't read, Blood On Blood by Jim Wilsky and Frank Zafiro.  The reason for my suggestion is that it's doing pretty well in the Amazon charts in the US and with a little more support might forge itself a position that will nudge the Amazon machine into action. It's not only the good writers we need to support, but the good publishers, so let's go out and make a difference.

And I'm also really pleased to see that McDroll's The Wrong Delivery is now available as a paperback, which might well make someone very happy on Christmas morning if they have the right kind of friends.

Another way to make a difference in the world it to donate to charity.  You can do that and be a winner in 2 ways if you pick up a copy of Nightfalls - you'll get a cracking read and the warm glow of giving at the same time.

Here's a note from Chris Dabnor about his story:

When Katherine invited me to write a piece for the charity anthology 'Nightfalls' (US), I didn''t have to think too long about it.  Since she first decided to publish one of my short stories, she's been supportive of me and my work.  So, I had a theme, I just needed a story.  My first idea was to have a protagonist who keeps hearing songs about the end of the world - REM's - End of the World, U2's Last Night on Earth and so on, and slowly begins to realise that they are portents.  I had the idea, but didn't feel I could tell it as a short story.  It also reminded me a bit of something that Gaiman had done with Constantine in an early Sandman.  I kept thinking about the music and decided on a story about a DJ who decides to host a radio phone-in running up to the end.  REM still make it in there, but only as a brief nod.  I realised, that, for the story to work, I needed a nice, pretty end of the world, something that could be accurately predicted and instant when it came.  So, I began researching extinction level events.  They're generally not as quick or exciting as you'd expect, it seems.  It was whilst researching the end of the world that I received the amazing news that my partner was pregnant.  Realising that you're going to be a father for the first time changes your perspective on the apocalypse.  Suddenly the world meant so much more to me - it had become the place that my baby is going to grow up in, and it is a beautiful and terrible place.

May I take my place in line and offer you and your partner the very biggest wave of warmth Sea Minor can manage here.  Yes, the world will never be the same again for you guys and I'm pretty sure it will never have been quite so wonderful.  Very good luck.

:)

One Man's Opinion: CHEAPSKATES by CHARLIE STELLA

 

 

I’ve been through a period of grieving these last

couple of months and it hasn’t been easy.

One thing that was radically affected was my ability

to concentrate upon any fiction longer than around a

thousand words. 

What I needed to conquer the reader’s block was a

book that would grab me from the start, would work

as a page-turner, had sharply drawn characters and

kept a really high standard of quality writing.

I tried 3 or 4 before finding my solution and in the

end it was Charlie Stella’s Cheapskates that whisked

me back to reader heaven.

I’m grateful to Mr Stella for that.

‘Cheapskates’ is a fantastic read.

Early on, the book visits a prison cell where a couple of inmates of very different personalities are housed just before their release.  The thing they have in common is a strong sense of justice and a need to see the right thing done.

For one of those inmates, Peter Rizzo, he’s all set to retrieve money from his ex-wife who owes him 50k plus interest. 

Cellmate Reese Waters is a placid man, a drummer and a reader and something of a sage.  He’s done his best to talk Rizzo after going after the cash and has persuaded his friend to allow him to act as a go-between in order to save Rizzo from a parole violation.

When the pair get out from Fishkill and go their separate ways, they agree to meet up and work things out.

Reese goes along to meet Rizzo’s ex as planned.  She’s as much of a cheapskate as he’s been told and he takes an instant dislike for her when she gives him the brush-off.

What Reese doesn’t know at that point is that the ex has had Rizzo bumped off, using connections to the mob via her lover Jimmy Valentine.

From then on the plot gathers apace and really thickens.

Reese needs to see justice done.  The cops get involved, the mob do what they can to tie up loose ends before they’re indicted for one thing or another, there’s a drunken bus driver, a mean old man who eats discount cakes all week for lunch, there’s a radical Muslim brotherhood offering muscle, a discredited officer from the organised –crime squad and there are solicitors with hearts and without.

It’s a tangled web they all weave and it’s clear from the beginning that some of them are going to get caught up by their own dealings.  What’s not so clear is who that’s going to be.

Stella works the plot like a master plate spinner.  The points of view change at regular intervals and this is managed with immense skill.  The plot thickens at every turn and the twists make this interesting from start to finish.

I loved many things about Cheapskates.

Firstly, the characters are diverse and very-well defined.  They come from different backgrounds entirely and Stella uses the differences in ways that play with stereotype as much as they buck the obvious to find the unique.  What this allows is for changing the angle of story-telling with ease as the people involved are immediately recognisable.

Next there is the mob background.  I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for a good gangster tale.   What makes it all the better is that it feels like Stella has been there and lived the life.  It has a real authenticity to it all that you won’t often find in fiction.

There’s the dialogue.  It’s a pleasure all on its own.

And there’s the humour.  Amidst all of the serious plays is a really dry comedy that provided another dimension.  I like to laugh and I laughed a lot – with people like the ones on these pages, it would be difficult to keep a straight face.

The overall work is a piece of class.  If the book was in the mafia it would be the Godfather.  And you’d better believe that, believe me.

Apocalypse Tango: Dale T. Phillips

The new Nightfalls anthology is a good thing, a collection of fine stories where the proceeds go to help those less fortunate.


When editor Katherine Tomlinson asked me if I'd like to submit a story, I said yes, and told her I'd just published a collection of stories about the end of the world, Apocalypse Tango.

Uh... she said, well, that's what the new collection is about.

Okay, no problem, I'll just write another one...

But I'd used up my available scenarios.

When she told me about the charity the proceeds were going to, the idea began to form. Since the last night of 12/21 was so close to Christmas, it grew to having the apocalypse seen through the eyes of a young Latino child who's confused as to why the grownups are acting so strangely around the time Santa is supposed to come. And since the Los Angeles area charity was there, that became the locale, and even the theme. The prompt for the collection guided precisely what the story was to be.

Within the tale, I wanted to explore the different reactions that people would have: some lose themselves in drinking or drugs, some end on their knees praying for salvation or redemption, some who would like to end with pleasures of the flesh (going out with a bang, not a whimper), some in finally getting that one thing they've always dreamed of, and some, committing that last act of ultimate love.

And a nod to the apocalypse coming 50 years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, when we came within a whisker of having it happen then. Plus ca change, you know...

Religion, death, Christmas, love, and the end of the world, all in a few thousand worlds. Guess that says it all.

Green Day

This is a long piece. If you don’t have the time or the patience to stick with it, click on this link to Nightfalls (US) to avoid any complications.


When the invitation from Katherine Tomlinson arrived in my email, I was delighted. Being asked to participate in an anthology by someone you respect is something special and it can be a tonic to any flagging ego.

Needless to say, I told her I’d be there and, no doubt, I went around smiling for the rest of the day.

I was grateful for the time I had to write something down, too. 6 months I had. More than enough. All I had to do was to imagine the end of the world and tell a story about it. Simple.

My idea came almost immediately. I wanted to use a DJ. Have him working like it was any other normal day. Maybe let him reflect upon his life and his regrets and use his status and his radio studio to put out word that he wanted to speak to the love of his life. Someone he’d not been in touch with for far too long. Maybe make peace or find some physical comfort with the woman.

It got me thinking about what I’d want to be doing when the world came to a full stop. Sex was there. Drugs. Family togetherness and playing games. Finding a spot in nature and contemplating. Joining some big party. The final choice would definitely be a difficult one. I reckon for me, I’d go for being with my family and imagining it was Christmas day – food, celebration and love.

Then came the time when 6 months had all but passed. Katherine emailed me a reminder with a week to go to the deadline and the word-count was zero.

Sadly for me, when I got the message from Katherine it coincided with my mother falling, damaging her arm and her confidence enormously. I asked Katherine for a week’s extension and it was very kindly granted.

The Monday after I’d returned from my time seeing her, I set about the opening. It involved the DJ driving in to work. There were pros and cons about the end-of-the-world thing. There were lunatics and the frenetic out on the streets, but the roads were free of traffic and it was an easy journey.

The DJ found a name, Greene, and so the story found its title also.

I came to admire Green Day at the first time of hearing, something from Dookie as I played pool with a couple of mates in Hampstead. I even went to see them around 15 years ago and loved their energy and the fullness of their sound.

Things were coming together nicely. Another couple of visits and I’d have it polished off by the end of the week - all I needed was to decide on what was going to happen.

The idea came the next day and it was something of a U-turn. No matter, now I knew my direction it would be simple.

The next day was Thursday. The day my mum was due out of hospital. The day it would come to feel like the world really had come to an end.

I got the call in the middle of a lesson. Mum had died. I cried – couldn’t help myself. I told the children I was working with how they could use what they know, tried and stop the quiver in the voice and sent them back to their own teacher. The motor-skills group finished off and left me alone. The adults were kind to me and told me to go home, not that I had any choice. First, what I needed to do was cry my eyes out until there were no tears left to make sure that I could be safe in the car.

I arrived home. Took a hug from my wife and got into bed.

Amidst a storm of emotions was some kind of clarity – I needed to clear my decks. A promise is a promise and my story needed to be finished. Besides, I needed something to focus on. Something to latch on to in a world that just wasn’t making any sense.

I typed at the keys. The words came. Sometimes I remembered what was really going on, so I quickly buried myself back into my fiction.

The words kept coming. The story seemed to hold. I found an ending and was done.

A couple of reads through and as soon as my wife stopped writing up her work, I grabbed the chance to get on the computer to send it to Katherine.

I explained the situation. Told her that I had no faith in what I had just produced and that I wouldn’t be in any shape to edit and entrusted that job to her.

And that’s when everything seemed to fall to pieces. When a brutal numbness took over my life.

I got back to some kind of normality after the funeral.

Katherine was great. Really lovely. So lovely that she suggested that the book might be dedicated to my mum, that plain old Irish woman who hadn’t managed to make it home. I didn’t want to be selfish, but at the same time couldn’t turn down such a warm and human offer. It’s in the book now and I’m so happy that it’s there. So delighted to see my story made the grade too.

And that’s how I came to write this story. It’ll be a marker in life for as long as I’m able to hold on to such things.

In so many ways it was the end of the world. Now, I suppose, it’s time to try and turn that into a new beginning. I can begin that process by recommending that you buy this book. My mum was big on charity and Nightfalls is for a very good cause. How neatly things can sometimes fit together.

With thanks.

Kaye George - THE LAST WAVE

by Kaye George

I’m thrilled to have a story included in the anthology called NIGHTFALLS: Notes from the end of the world, edited by Dark Valentine’s Katherine Tomlinson! When I first started considering my story, which was to include the thoughts of a person who knew it would be the last night on earth, I had to start with how I should have the world end.

Apocalypse literature is not new to me, as a reader and a moviegoer, but it sure was as a writer. I once wrote a humorous zombie piece, but it only involved the death of one person, within the story. The threat of world annihilation was there, but only implied.

But now I had to get serious and think how the world might really end, if it ends soon. I’ll have to give a little background on myself for this to make sense. I’m a teensy bit neurotic. When a new strain of flu is announced on TV, I have it. (A mild case not worth going to the doctor for.) When anything contagious is going around, I have it. (Same parenthetical statement as above.) When a new form of mental deviation is discovered, I’m prone to it. Some people call it hypochondriasis, others call it hysteria. Whatever, it works for me.

Another thing about me is that I like to read popular physics, Isaac Asimov, Brian Greene and the like.

One thing I worry about is radio waves. Every day there are more and more devices in the US, and around the world, that get data from waves. The towers surround us. Waves are being beamed for our TVs, our phones, our Ipads, wireless Kindles, WiFis are everywhere. I even have a router filling my house with waves. We can print, remote, with no wires, from anywhere in our house and even from across the street.

All those waves are everywhere! And they’re going through our bodies. The only thing controlling all this chaos is keeping track of band widths. I’m scared.

Throw in a little physics, like the fact that colliding waves give off heat, and I had my plot.

My story is called 'The Last Wave'.

Kaye is the author of a number of titles including Choke, the Imogen Duckworthy Mysteries and the collection A Patchwork Of Stories.

 

http://kayegeorge.com/index.html

APOCALYPTIC WALTZ - Richard Godwin

 

 

1)      Will you answer the last question first?

No, look at the last question.

2)      Is this question two?

It depends which numerical system you are using.

3)      Do numbers matter?

They do to mathematicians and salespeople.

4)      Are you in Nightfalls (US), the anthology of stories about the end of the world, edited by Katherine Tomlinson?

I am, and it’s a great anthology full of stories by some fine writers, among them Christopher Grant, AJ Hayes, Chris Rhatigan, Thomas Pluck, Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw, Col Bury, and yourself Nigel, to name but a few.

5)      Tell us about your story.

It’s called 'Blackout', a Beckett type skit on two characters stuck in a building surrounded by corpses. They talk about the meaning of life and argue about who has ended up with the biggest sausage.

6)      Any other news?

Mr. Glamour, my second novel, is out in paperback with Black Jackal Books, and he is preparing to meet you. Consider him Hannibal Lecter in Gucci. This is a novel about designer goods and those obsessed by them. It is a novel in which identity is linked to brands. Here are a couple of review excerpts:

‘The writing of Richard Godwin is original, bold and gets writers talking. Mr. Glamour is a giallo extravaganza that would make Dario Argento blush and request movie rights right away. It's a novel that builds on its layers to reach an absolutely crazy climax that not only lives up to the story, but that rewards the readers with a huge jaw-dropper moment. Rare are the endings that live up to their stories, but this is quite the success. A great story about identity in an era where your ass belongs to a designer.’

Benoit LeLievre, Dead End Follies.

‘Mr Glamour is a striking effort from one of the most daring crime writers in the business. It is the noirest of noir, fatalistic, ultra-violent and hellishly addictive.’

Mike Stafford, Book Geeks Magazine.

Mr. Glamour is available here in the UK, here in the US.

7)      That it?

Apostle Rising, my debut novel, which has sold foreign rights in Europe, is now out for the first time as an E Book. In it a serial killer crucifies politicians. The E Book comes with some juicy extras, an excerpt from Mr. Glamour and four deliciously dark Noir stories, like the finest handmade chocolate. It is available:

Here in the US

Here in the UK

On Kobo

On Xin Xii

8)         Do you believe the end of the world is nigh and what is your answer to the first question?

No and yes.

You can find out more about Richard Godwin at www.richardgodwin.net

The Next Big Thing - Nigel Bird

I'm on a chain-gang.  The bracelets are killing me and I'm parched.

Never mind, it's what you get if you agree to be tagged in a never-ending book-blog string and it's what you get when you have good friends to tag you.

My tag came from Daniel O'Shea over at his blog Going Ballistic.  He's done a great interview over there and now it's my turn to give the questions a try.

At the end of the piece, I'll link to the folk I've tagged so you can find out about their great stuff as soon as they've been roped in, branded and put theirs up.

Thanks to Dan for the tag.  Now, here goes:

1 What is the working title of your next book?

Because I've only just put out Mr Suit (US), I'm going to refer to that as my 'next book' because I've not had time to think of a new story yet. 

2. Where did the idea for the book come from?

I was moved by the court-cases here in the UK by people with great physical difficulties who wanted to have the right to die – a man with locked-in syndrome was so incapacitated that he couldn’t take his own life and his close family couldn’t end things without being charged with murder.  It seemed crazy and I wanted to write a serious novel on the subject. 

As research, I read The Diving Bell And The Butterfly and also a brilliant novel called Senseless (by Stona Fitch).  They were so good, I needed to find another approach, hence Mr Suit.

3 What genre does your book fall under?

Screwball noir.

4   What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

I’d have a man with locked-in syndrome for the role of Archie just to get it right. His wife might be Joan Crawford and Mr Suit would be Broderick Crawford (I figure that’s OK because them being dead already doesn’t make the prospect of the film being made any less likely). 

Ritchie, Tarantino and Capra can collaborate on production and direction.

5)   What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

When a plan for a gangland euthanasia party goes wrong, someone’s bound to end up sleeping with the fishes.

6)   Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

 It’s self-published as an e-book and a paperback. 

7)   How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Though it’s only a novella, I spent a long time on the first draft.  A good couple of months fine tuning. 

Unusually for me, when it came to the edit I ended up adding words rather than taking them away to try and give this one a slightly different feel than my usual work. 

 

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

It’s a pretty crazy plot with a zesty pace and a fair dose of adult content.  For that, I reckon I’m blaming Anthony Neil Smith, Allan Guthrie, Matthew McBride, Douglas Lindsay, Charlie Williams and Donna Moore. 

9   Who or what inspired you to write this book?

See question 1.

 

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

It’s unpredictable – I doubt the twists can be fathomed in advance of coming across them.

It features the slowest getaway vehicle in the history of crime fiction.

There’s a little sex to add some spice it that’s your boat.

The humour runs through it from start to finish, so if you’re a fan of dark comedy it might well be for you.

Now for my first tag. 

Drum roll.  I mean McDroll.  She's funny and Scottish (you might have guessed), she's lovely (which you possibly know) and she writes great stories (should you not know that, maybe it's time to find out). 

Off you pop.