Interview with Simon Bestwick...

Hey kids,

Have you ever wondered, "I wonder what that Simon Bestwick, author of Tomes of the Dead: Tide of Souls thinks about stuff?"

Yup, thought so. Probably more than ever, with the release of Best of Tomes of the Dead 2 coming up, bringing with it a fresh chance to have his words fired into your synapses by your eyes.

Well, you need no speculate any longer than you wish (and, I dunno, maybe you're cool with the speculation thing; me, I like speculating from time to time).

Why, I hear you ask? Why, because Jimbo at... ahem, "Ginger Nuts of Horror"... has interviewed him!

Read his brains here.

Cheers,

David

Simon Bestwick's Tide of Souls ebook

Simon Bestwick, author of Abaddon's Tide of Souls, has been interviewed by fellow zombie author Wayne Simmons at his blog.

Which reminds us, Simon's zombie thriller Tide of Souls has recently become available to buy as a kindle ebook, on amazon.com, and amazon.co.uk.

IT’S NOT JUST THE WATERS RISING...

Flash floods devastate Britain. But the terror is just starting, as an army of the living dead emerge from the waters to hunt down the survivors. For Katja, after a year held captive by a brutal vice ring, it’s a constant fi ght to stay alive, but also a chance to win her freedom.
McTarn, an ex-soldier haunted by his past, is press-ganged into a mission to retrieve a scientist from an isolated village. When floods cut them off, he has to fight both the walking dead and his own demons to protect his men.
Stiles is the man they sent McTarn to fetch. Although apparently insane, he may be McTarn and Katja’s only chance to halt the legions of the dead closing in on their refuge in the bleak Lancashire hills. And if they fail, death will be the least they have to suffer…

“Simon Bestwick writes as if words were his – and our – only possible means of salvation.” – Joel Lane

“Simon Bestwick’s work is invested with the kind of emotional integrity that’s all too rare in fiction. His writing bears the indelible mark of quality.”
– Conrad Williams

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The Third Podcast is Up!

Hi all,

Sheesh. To think, only two months ago the first Podcast was going up. How young and naive we were. We thought we were changing the world. We thought we knew the lot. Now, two months on, we're putting up the third podcast, and we're older. Wiser. More seasoned. Makes you look back on old times and get all nostalgic.

Yes, you heard it right! The third Abaddon & Solaris Books Pocast is even now on your iTunes Store! Point your iTunes to this link, or search "Abaddon" (or "Solaris") in the "Search Store" box at the top-right corner of iTunes, to check it out. As usual, if you reeeeeeally luff us and have subscribed to the 'cast, iTunes should find and upload the new episode automatically.

Jenni, Jon and David, at Abaddon Books and Solaris Books thrill with the "most insanely groundbreaking instalment yet"* of their much-loved, widely-discussed podcast.

The Abaddon & Solaris Books Podcast #3: Staples of Horror! is introduced by desk editor David Moore, who they didn't let do any real interviewing this time as he scares authors. Editor-in-Chief Jon Oliver interviews Greg Staples, cover artist and comics legend, about his inspiration and his thoughts about different art media, and junior editor Jenni Hill runs around the World Horror Convention at Brighton interviewing our authors. Simon Bestwick, author of Tide of Souls, accosts Steven Savile, our new Knights of Albion author, and basically doesn't give him a chance to speak. How rude...

Now, this one's a doozy. It's, like, an hour and a quarter. We're going to try and rein that in next time, but basically, this is how much good stuff we had this month! Think of it as, like, two podcasts. Listen to Jon and Greg, put the podcast away, then come back later and listen to Jenni and various drunk authors. So you're getting two podcasts for the price of one. How cool are we?

Please listen to it, and once again, we'd love feedback. We got some great feedback last time, and have tried to make completely different mistakes this time.

Cheers,

David



*2010, noted talking head and vox pop specialist, David Moore's mum.

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• Not on iTunes, and have sworn to end your life rather than download a single Apple application? Here to help! Just point your RSS client here to download the feed without putting a penny in Steve Jobs' pocket. Keep an eye on the blog for updates, in case we change the host or something crazy like that.
  
• Bewildered by the term "RSS" and unsure what all this means? No problem, ignorant Luddite! Just follow the exact same link, click on the link to the mp3 of the episode you wish to hear, and you can listen right on your browser! Everyone's a winner!

Reviewspam!

Okay,

Another flurry of reviews:

• Hub Magazine Issue 114 includes a decent interview of Simon Bestwick's Tomes of the Dead: Tide of Souls by Derek John.
  
  "‘Tide of Souls’ is an original take on a tired genre, perhaps showing a new way back to its traditional horror roots."
  
  
• The Novelblog's Daniel S. Boucher has written this very nice review of Jasper Bark's Tomes of the Dead: Way of the Barefoot Zombie.
  
  "Crap, just writing all that is giving me the willies again. I mean seriously, who reads this stuff? Oh, wait a minute..."
  
  
• Graeme Flory of Graeme's Fantasy Book Review has written this glowing review for Rebecca Levene's The Infernal Game: Cold Warriors.
  
  "Cold Warriors’ is a novel that’s just as good as hitting you with the supernatural as it is with all the other more mundane stuff... it makes the reader feel that this stuff could really be happening just beyond the corner of their eye..."
  
  
• On that subject, the guys at Falcata Times have written this very kind (if brief) review for Cold Warriors.
  
  "It’s a great setting, it’s got a lot of scope for follow up tales but perhaps best of all its the characters that really come alive to the reader."

Some good reviews there, which is always nice to see.

David

Interviews!

Here are the final two parts of Jonathan Oliver's interview with Pornokitsch. See the earlier parts here.

Part Four
Part Five

And here's an interview with another Abaddon author from the guys at Horror Reanimated.

Interview with Simon Bestwick.

I had the pleasure of meeting Joseph D'Lacey from the site and the dubious pleasure of interviewing Simon B myself over the weekend at Brighton World Horror. Let me just say, I admire Joe for being able to get a word in edgeways!

I've just been listening to said recordings I made at the convention. We're going to be using them in the next Podcast. I interviewed Simon Bestwick, Paul Kane, Steven Savile (who'll be writing the first Knights of Albion) story, Paul Finch (who'll be writing Stronghold for the Tomes of the Dead line) and several Solaris Books authors.

Most of these interviews took place in the hotel bar, which is, to say, in the natural habitat of this species we refer to as 'author'.

So, for laughs, I've sorted the interviews into two files entitled 'Drunk' and 'Sober.' And no, I'm not telling you which is which!

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Post the Second: Live-blogging from the Brighton World Horror Con!

Steven Savile looking pleased with himself 'cause he'd just received his advance for the Knights of Albion book. Welcome to Abaddon, Steve!

Read our first post about Brighton World Horror, over at the Solaris Blog!

This is just to show you guys a couple of photos and tell you about the interviews that'll be appearing on our next podcast! I spoke to Simon Bestwick about Tide of Souls yesterday, and Steven Savile, who'll be writing the first novel in our Knights of Albion series. But you'll have to listen to the podcast to find out why we'll be calling that podcast 'The Muffin Man.'

Simon Bestwick raising his eyebrows suggestively at the camera

Weston Ochse with Empire of Salt

Weston Ochse brought us a present from Arizona


See the full set of WHC photos over here on Flickr

I also interviewed Paul Kane, author of Arrowhead, for the podcast this morning! I listened to Ellen Datlow, Sarah Pinborough, Maura McHugh, Allyson Bird and Suzanne McLeod in the 'Femme Fatales' panel on women in horror, and then went out with Jon and Ellen Datlow to a very kitsch Chinese restaurant for a business lunch. Seriously, plastic swans and stuffed peacocks and blown-glass fish everywhere, to a soundtrack of obscure nineties pop music. It was out of this world.

Paul Kane is Kick Ass!

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'Tide of Souls' review

Matthew Fryer reviews Simon bestwick's Tide of Souls here.

"A recent addition to Abaddon’s 'Tomes of the Dead' line, I expected this to be a zombie horror-thriller. And while indeed it is, there’s far more to Simon’s novel than necrotic innards and masticated brains..."


P.S. Simon's a bestseller, too! Stats from the Dark Delicacies Horror Bestseller List in California. Outselling even zombie fiction author Max Brooks (World War Z), ey?