The Bellows #1 – Meet the Author

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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Interview: Philip Reeve – author of Mortal Engines, Larklight, Goblins and more!

Philip Reeve - a thoroughly nice chap

Philip Reeve – the nicest man in sci-fi

To celebrate our makeover, we’re very pleased to bring you an interview with multiple award winning author, Philip Reeve. Philip is the author of some of the finest YA sci-fi and fantasy literature on the market, including the magnificent Mortal Engines quartet, the Larklight trilogy, Here Lies Arthur and his new comic fantasy, Goblins.We’re big fans of Philip’s work, so it was a real treat to speak to him in-depth about the books and films that insprire his stories, his writing process, and why the current trend for dystopian fiction might be leading us down the wrong path. He also had a lot to say about the subject of Steampunk and why Doctor Who needs a bit of a rethink!

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Book Review – ‘The Whisper Jar’ – Carole Lanham

Some secrets are kept in jars – others, in books.

It’s book review time again, so join P.G. Bell and Olivia Cottrell as they tackle a collection of short fantasy tales from acclaimed author Carole Lanham. In The Whisper Jar, you will encounter a Blood Digger who bonds two children irrevocably together; a young woman who learns of her destiny through the random selection of a Bible verse; and a boy whose life begins to reflect the stories he reads…

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Author Interview – Simon Kurt Unsworth – FantasyCon 2011

Hundreds of fantasy, sci-fi and horror fans descended on Brighton last weekend for the British Fantasy Society‘s annual convention. Our reviews editor, P.G. Bell, was one of them.

There are lots of good reasons to attend the annual FantasyCon. Free wine is one. The chance to meet your favourite writers and publishers in the flesh is another. And that’s why I was there. (Well, also for the free wine. But definitely not for Saturday night’s tentacle burlesque show. Honest).

I got to chat with World Fantasy Award nominated writer Simon Kurt Unsworth, who was in town to launch his new book, Quiet Houses. (If you haven’t heard our review of Quiet Houses yet, you can download it here). He told me how the book came into being, how a series of long bus journeys led to him becoming a writer, and why he likes his characters to be “baffled”. Click the link below to hear the full story, and read on after the break for some photos of the launch and the rest of the weekend!

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Book Review – ‘Quiet Houses’ – Simon Kurt Unsworth

“Do you live in a haunted house? Have you ever been to a place and had an experience that you cannot explain? Do you have a story to tell? Serious researcher wants to hear from you. Must be prepared to go on record. No timewasters. Tel:01524 500 501 ext 23 and leave a message.”

Simon Kurt Unsworth is one of the rising stars of horror and dark fantasy fiction, and we’ve got our hands on his new book, Quiet Houses – a reinvention of the classic English ghost story. Our reviews editor P.G. Bell gives us his verdict with the help of a genre-appropriate (and slightly ghostly) guest star. Click below to find out what they thought!

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Title: Quiet Houses
Author: Simon Kurt Unsworth
Publisher: Dark Continents Publishing
Format: Paperback (£9.99)
ISBN: 9780983624516
Published: October 2011

Book Review – ‘Kingston to Cable’ – Gary Greenwood

There’s a new reviewer in town. Claire Fayers squares off against the latest offering from fantasy and horror writer Gary Greenwood. Who will be left standing?

Western crossovers seem to be gaining in popularity. First we had Western-martial arts comedy (Shanghai Noon), then Korean Western (The Good the Bad and the Weird). Cowboys and ninjas fought in The Warrior’s Way and, as I write this, Harrison Ford is doing battle in Cowboys & Aliens.

Kingston to Cable by Gary Greenwood takes the Western, shakes it up a bit and dumps it in a fantasy setting. The world is one of isolated towns separated by vast expanses of inhospitable territory and the opening scene is the most classic of all Western classics: a stranger rides into town.

Or, rather, a Stranger. In Kingston, Strangers are a recognised class – wanderers with names such as Slake and Hook and Justice. They stay in the town Station, drink in the town bar, stay for a few days or a few weeks, and move on. Some of them are pursuing their own agendas, some just appear to enjoy causing trouble. Many are reputed to have magical powers, which explains the townspeople’s reluctance to get involved with them.

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