Cold to the Touch: contents

In what is quickly becoming an annual event, I'd like to reveal a few secrets about my upcoming book, COLD TO THE TOUCH, now that the contracts have been signed and delivered and the proofs are being poured over.

It's with extreme pride and pleasure to announce that the book will be published by Tartarus Press as part of their new "contemporary fiction" line. Tartarus has a strong reputation in the field for high quality volumes, and I can only imagine what they have in store for this new imprint. I don't have a date as of yet for the release, nor is there cover artwork to show (what you see above is a placeholder, photographed by my good friend and fellow scribe, Ian Rogers), but these things are being hashed out right now and I'm hopeful there will be something to reveal very soon.

CTTT differs from my previous book in some significant ways. BENEATH THE SURFACE was tremendously influenced by ontological horrors — the world that is out to get us; the things from beyond that plot against us. This volume foregos much of that for a more internal and psychological look at the world. Where the first took place in the cities, this takes place in the world around the cities — in the suburbs, in the fields and in the woods. It also takes place in the hearts and the souls of its characters. I think if one has more of an affinity to spectres than tentacles then reading this second book, COLD TO THE TOUCH, will be a rewarding experience. At least, I hope it will.

Enough prattle. On to what you all came here for: the table of contents. Like last time, nearly half of these tales have not seen publication before. Those that have I think many people will be familiar with as they have appeared in some high-profile places such as THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR or have been recommended for British Fantasy Awards. In many ways, I consider these the best of my work over the past seven years.

Contents:

Under the Overpass (originally appeared in Shades of Darkness)
The Other Village (originally appeared in Strange Tales II)
The Uninvited Guest (originally appeared in Dark Doorways)
A Seed on Barren Ground (previously unpublished)
Writing on the Wall (previously unpublished)
A Chorus of Yesterdays (originally appeared in All Hallows)
The Sweetest Song (previously unpublished)
Pinholes in Black Muslin (originally appeared in The Second Humdrumming Book of Horror Stories)
Fading Light (originally appeared in Bernie Herrmann's Manic Sextet)
Poor Stephanie (originally appeared in Supernatural Tales)
Like Falling Snow (previously unpublished)
Here’s to the Good Life (previously unpublished)
Cold to the Touch (previously unpublished)
author's afterword

Please, keep watching here or Tartarus Press for updates and announcements regarding release dates. I'll of course be updating this site when more information becomes available. I must admit, I'm very excited to see what this book's reaction will be, and trust no one will come away disappointed. (Nevertheless, work has already begun on a third volume ... just in case).

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Spitting them out like a Pez dispenser...

I don't usually mention stuff like this here, but since he's part of the New Madness family in a way (considering the amount of trouble he makes for me in my own comments section) I thought I'd break my own rule and mention that my good friend "reanimated" has just today become a proud father for the third time. Congrats, PAL.

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Teenagers... sigh...

I don't write stories with teenage protagonists. Adults, usually; children, occasionally; but never teenagers. I find teenagers and horror rarely mix to form anything interesting. This happens more so in film than prose, nevertheless the idea of teenagers in peril bores me. Adults carry such heavy burdens, a lifetime of loss and regret, that there seems endless veins to mine. Children are so ultimately powerless and bewildered by a world that is far more complex than they imagine that there is inherent fascination in them, especially when looked back upon from an adult point of view. Yet teenagers lack these things. What makes teenagers unique is the inherent drama of growing up. Never are things as dramatic as when one is a teen. Social castes, puberty, that strange sensation of burgeoning independence... they all add up to a boiling cauldron that many make use of to tell their soap opera tales. I just can't find anything of interest in that, I'm afraid. Perhaps that's why I dislike most horror films, especially modern ones.

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Things change

The longer I do this — write, I mean — the more surprised I am by how things change ... and not always for the better. Opinions mutate and trajectories take a different course.

Take for example the implosion of Humdrumming, only six weeks after the launch of BENEATH THE SURFACE. Certainly, I managed to get a few copies of the book into the world, but not many, and not enough for anyone to really have had a chance to buy, let alone read, it. I've done what I could to raise its profile regardless, but at this point it's little more than a curio. A few months later, barely anyone remembers it ever existed.

Or take the introduction I was commissioned to write that I now no longer am. Or perhaps the anthology I had a story lined up for that during the editing stages the editor decided might not be such a good fit after all (I was asked to make changes, but I declined; it would have changed the story fundamentally into something I didn't intend). My projects seem to be drying up on me, and that's certainly not something I anticipated. There was also some more cover artwork I'd been scheduled for that also seems to have gone south.

By that same token, there have been attitude changes over the years that I didn't necessarily expect. One of the most surprising is my stance on the "art vs entertainment" argument that plagues Horror (specifically) and perhaps writing in general — or genre writing, at the very least. Though I still believe, in the case of my own work, that it's important to strive for some sort of artistic goal, it's become clear to me, perhaps in the last year more so than ever before, that good fiction hews close to neither of these two extremes and finds some place in the middle. Good fiction is a balance. Though it's not the direction for me, there is nothing inherently wrong with trying to tip the scale closer to "entertainment". It's not the sort of thing I have a lot of interesting in reading, but I can't begrudge people who do. There's no reason for in-fighting, especially in a field as small as Horror. Better each respects the other and does its best to elevate the entire group in the eyes of the world.

Lastly, a change that may or may not be permanent, I'm sure a few of you have noticed my erratic blogging schedule as of late. My heart really isn't into it lately. I'm not stopping altogether, rather no longer posting on such a regular schedule. I'll post now when there's news, or I have something to say, but I think I'm done for the time being trying to scrape up an idea just so I can hit an arbitrary deadline. My condolences to though who no longer have a guaranteed place to visit each week, but I'm sure you'll manage fine without me.

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A word by any other word...

How close can a translation really hew to the original story? I suppose plot is fairly easy, but beyond that I can't see how it can be a full experience. The nuance of words seems likely to be lost, taking with it all but the most obvious aspects of character and theme. Those who employ subtle word play are most likely ill-served. Even the most skilled translators, those who are writers themselves, couldn't possibly capture everything.

Is "almost as good" good enough? If we can't read the original language, is having a pale copy the next best thing? If you could only view the work of Matisse without seeing the colour red, would it be worth viewing at all?

These are things I wonder as I dip into the latest volume from Ex Occidente; "The Horrifying Presence and Other Tales" by Jean Ray (translated into English by António Monteiro).

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