Author Archives: Simon Kurt Unsworth

The Bellows #2 – On Writing a Novel

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Bosch's vision of HellFollowing last month’s introduction, horror author Simon Kurt Unsworth returns to chart the vagaries of writing full time for a living.

So, where in Hell are we? This is a pun, of sorts, but not one that’ll mean anything to you. I may choose to explain it later. Bear with me.

Last time we talked, I introduced myself; this time, I need to introduce my novel, seeing as that’s sort of what these columns are supposed to be about. Well, I can tell you it’s been a long, long time coming. Don’t believe me? Picture it: it’s 1995, and I’m 23 and sat in a fairly grim bedsit in Leeds, near the Faversham Public House. I’m waiting for my then girlfriend, Susie, to come home from work and three things collide like damp tissue paper in my head.

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The Bellows #1 – Meet the Author

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Simon at the ‘Quiet Houses’ launch

Impossible Podcasts is very proud to bring you The Bellows, a brand new monthly column by horror author Simon Kurt Unsworth. Regular listeners will know Simon from our interview at FantasyCon last year and our review of his excellent book, Quiet Houses. Now he’s back to tell you all about… well, we’ll let him explain, shall we?

I suppose the first question you’re asking is, “Who is this who is coming?” No? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway. There are, of course, many ways to answer this: I’m a husband, father, child, self-employed trainer, author and wearer of cowboy boots, and each of these realities exists alongside the others and has given me experiences and a history. For your purposes, the most important stuff is this: I’m a World Fantasy Award-nominated author, and I write horror stories.

I was first published in 2007, and I’ve got two collections out: Lost Places came out from the Ash Tree Press in 2010, and Quiet Houses, published by Dark Continents, came out in 2011. Lost Places was Peter Tennant’s (reviewer for Black Static magazine) favourite collection of 2010 on days when Angela Slatter’s Sourdough wasn’t (his words, not mine), and Quiet Houses was placed on the Edge Hill Short Story Collection longlist.

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