Horror & Dark Fantasy 2000

File Updated: 14/12/00

New Horror & Dark Fantasy Titles 2000

Federico Andahazi The Merciful Women Published May 2000 by Doubleday at Ł12.99 ISBN: 0385 600534
It is Switzerland, in 1816. Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Shelley's wife Mary and Byron's physician Dr Polidori are ensconced in the Villa Diodati beside Lake Geneva. Polidori is a hanger-on whose presence is merely tolerated. Yet he will stop at nothing to outwit them all. He enters a Faustian pact with an elusive penfriend, Annette Legrand, who is the mysterious third member of the infamous Legrand sisters, the notorious vaudeville act. Annette will produce for him the most compelling vampire tale ever written, which he will read aloud the very night Mary Shelley is to reveal for the first time her tale of Frankenstein. But, in exchange, what can the effete Polidori offer this ghostly female predator, and what is her secret? How real is the insatiable thirst of the sisters for human male fluids? Dream and reality are fantastically blurred for Polidori as he strives to beat the Byron set at their own gothic literary game.
With his first novel, The Anatomist, Federico Andahazi showed himself to be a sly master of subverted history. In The Merciful Women he gives a new twist to the vampire novel, while casting an original look on the Romantic period. In this stylish gothic tale, opium and erotica provide the background for another ironic exploration of grand themes, sex and literature.
Praise for The Anatomist:
'The story has a gripping urgency to it… and a sly, ironic vein of black humour runs throughout the book. The Anatomist should do for the clitoris what Longitude did for the chronometer.' Francis Gilbert, The Times
'A cunning, witty and brave book.' Ranti Williams, TLS
'A fascinating book...gripping, a pleasure to read, and a very fine novel.’ Iain Pears, author of An Instance of the Fingerpost
'A hugely enjoyable, clever and sensual novel.' Jane Charteris, Literary Review
'Written with more than a nod to Gabriel Garcia Marquez in its heightened, flowing, dreamy language and often sublime imagery… This is a rich, well told story made from first-class ingredients: history, sex, religion, medicine and humour are bound together through vivid scenes, a decent plot and, even in translation, elegant prose. Make no mistake, this is a sexy book. Raffaella Barker, Frank
'Witty and audacious.' Kate Figes, Elle

About The Author
Federico Andahazi lives in Buenos Aims.
Federico Andahazi's first novel, The Anatomist, became a cause celebre when it won Argentina's foremost literary award, the Fortabat prize. When the sponsor, Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat realised what the subject matter of the book was - the 'discovery' of the clitoris in 16th century Venice - she denounced Andahazi as a 'communist porn artist' and attempted to withhold the award. Immediately, many leading authors and critics denounced this attempt at censorship and defended the book as an innovative, remarkable work of fiction.
The Anatomist went on to become a critical and commercial success worldwide.
The Merciful Women is his second novel. Alberto Manguel is a well-known translator and critic. He is the author of The History of Reading.

Titles by Federico Andahazi at Amazon.co.uk

Jonathan Carroll The Marriage of Sticks Pbk published August 2000 by Indigo at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0-575-40249-0

See Review by Jay Russell - one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears)
Just the smallest twist of the dial away from normal - one click - and everything we know for certain vanishes.
Returning to her class reunion after fifteen years, Miranda Romanac has her heart set on meeting James Stillman once again. Her first boyfriend, her life's never quite measured up to the ideal he represented for her. She is devastated, therefore, to learn of his death three years before, in a car crash.
Her life settles back into its routine in New York, but things start to change when she meets the fabulous Frances Hatch, mistress of many of the great artists in Paris in the twenties. At the same time, Miranda starts an affair with Hugh, a married man. Then she sees James Stillman again, waving to her across the street. Is it possible? Oh yes, and things are just beginning for her.
Through a series of extraordinary events, Miranda learns from both the living and the dead just who she really is and how far back her history goes. It is not a happy discovery but there is the possibility of redemption. If she has the courage and imagination to recapture a life she once thought her own, there is a chance. But if she fails, there will be hell to pay. And more.
'Beauty and terror are the twin poles of Carroll's fiction… exquisite prose' The Scotsman
'The unfolding of the plot pulls the reader through a succession of strikingly bizarre incidents which are recounted in a languid prose style at suggests a delicate and distant irony’ Times Literary Supplement
‘Carroll writes with a stark elegance that infused the everyday world with a hint of surrealism and a taste of the unreal. Highly recommended’ Library Journal
About The Author
Jonathan Carroll was born in New York City in 1949. He went to college at Rutgers and studied for his Masters degree at the University of Virginia, while working as an English teacher. A desire to teach abroad brought him to Vienna, where he now lives. His first published story was in the Transatlantic Review in 1976, entitled 'The Party at Brenda's House'. His first novel was The Land of Laughs (1980). As well as his novels, he has continued to publish short stories through the '80s, and was given the World Fantasy Award in 1988 for his story 'Friends Best Man’. Many of these were assembled in his collection The Panic Hand (1989). As well as writing fiction, Jonathan Carroll also writes screenplays.

Titles by Jonathan Carroll at Amazon.co.uk

Jonathan Carroll The Land of Laughs Pbk published September 2000 by Millenium at Ł6.99 ISBN: 1-85798-999-6

For schoolteacher Thomas Abbey there was no writer to equal Marshall France, a legendary author of children's books who hid himself away in the small town of Galen and died of a heart attack at the age of forty-four. Tom and his girlfriend Saxony, wanting to write France's biography, arrive in Galen, where they discover the writer's fiercely protective daughter Anna is waiting for them. Before long, they realise that this idyllic little town and its inhabitants - both man and animal - are not quite what they seem: France's magic has spread beyond the printed page …
'Carroll's first novel is an audacious game of puppets and masks, in which the roots of fiction, and the relationship between people and their favourite books, and the nature of belief, is laid bare in a way that is both heart-warming and utterly chilling. It's a book about love and abandonment: a ghost story, a romance, and a tale of the bad place - the place where dreams come true. The Land of Laughs is a book for anyone who has ever believed that a favourite book could be a safe place to go when things get hard.' Nell Gaiman
'A marvellous, exciting, beautifully written book, and absolutely riveting.' Ruth Rendell
'Part horror, part fantasy, part mystery, part love story, his novels reel you in quickly and effortlessly ... working a rich vein - the horror lurking on the shadowy edges of daily life.' Washington Post
'Tricky and undeniably high-minded, Carroll's novels demand, and deserve, to be taken seriously.' New York Times Book Review
’The sort of book an inveterate fiction reader hopes to escape with on a rainy day.' Los Angeles Times
'Jonathan Carroll is a profound, ironic, scathing poet of the terror of the prison of mortality.' The Encyclopedia of Fantasy
'Blending fairy tale, drama, magic realism and occult horror, the fiction of Jonathan Carroll is like no one else's. It begins with a careful sketch of 'real' life, takes a sudden turn into the fantastic, then careers toward ever more disorienting wonders until a final revelation or enigma' Washington Post
’Beguiling and original, this is an intricate, challenging, ultimately chilling tale, full of startling juxtapositions and surprises’ Washington Post
’I can’t remember when I’ve been so blown away by a fantasy novel’ Stephen King
About The Author
Jonathan Carroll was born in New York City in 1949. He went to college at Rutgers and studied for his Masters degree at the University of Virginia, while working as an English teacher. A desire to teach abroad brought him to Vienna, where he now lives. His first published story was in the Transatlantic Review in 1976, entitled 'The Party at Brenda's House'. His first novel was The Land of Laughs (1980). As well as his novels, he has continued to publish short stories through the '80s, and was given the World Fantasy Award in 1988 for his story 'Friends Best Man’. Many of these were assembled in his collection The Panic Hand (1989). As well as writing fiction, Jonathan Carroll also writes screenplays.

Titles by Jonathan Carroll at Amazon.co.uk

Jonathan Carroll Kissing the Beehive Pbk published August 2000 by Indigo at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0-575-40291-1

When bestselling novelist Sam Bayer decides it's time he wrote his Great Book, he chooses as his subject the death of a teenage beauty, Pauline Ostrova - the 'Beehive'.
The town of Crane's View, upstate New York, never felt the same after Sam discovered her body, floating in a lake, over twenty years before. Her boyfriend, Edward Durant, was arrested for the murder, tried and imprisoned. He died in Sing Sing jail. Sam Bayer’s new book will tell her story, bring her to life again, restore something of what the town had lost.
Until, that is, he meets Veronica Lake. The perfect fan - the perfect woman at first Veronica is everything Bayer could want. But soon she's at the next stage of the story, before he's written it, leading and pursuing him into confusion, fear and desire. Bayer is drawn by an old childhood friend - Frannie McCabe, now Crane's View's Chief of Police into seeing Pauline's death as part of an incredible, and terrifying, conspiracy.
'A new book from Jonathan Carroll is still, as they used to say on the back of book jackets, a cause for celebration. He has the magic. He'll lend you his eyes; and you will never see the world in quite the same way ever again' Neil Gaiman
'Carroll orchestrates this smartly layered narrative with skill, and does force you to turn the pages ... Adroit entertainment. File under "beachwear" and use accordingly' Douglas Kennedy, The Times
'On the level of sheer sentence construction and his pellucid prose, Jonathan Carroll is among the most purely pleasing writers of the decade. Yet his elegant, entrancing novels have real depth' Kim Newman, Independent
'A spellbinding narrative. The literary world should be singing Carroll's praises' Nicholas Royle
'Imagine the sheer fun and imaginative sweep of something like Twin Peaks undergirded by an unwavering narrative touch and a very realistic concern with moral issues and character' USA Today
About The Author
Jonathan Carroll was born in New York City in 1949. He went to college at Rutgers and studied for his Masters degree at the University of Virginia, while working as an English teacher. A desire to teach abroad brought him to Vienna, where he now lives. His first published story was in the Transatlantic Review in 1976, entitled 'The Party at Brenda's House'. His first novel was The Land of Laughs (1980). As well as his novels, he has continued to publish short stories through the '80s, and was given the World Fantasy Award in 1988 for his story 'Friends Best Man’. Many of these were assembled in his collection The Panic Hand (1989). As well as writing fiction, Jonathan Carroll also writes screenplays.

Titles by Jonathan Carroll at Amazon.co.uk

Simon Clark Judas Tree Published January 2000 by Hodder & Stoughton at Ł17.99 ISBN: 0340739134
Amelia Thomas heads for the sun-soaked Greek island of Voros not only to escape her cold, dreary home town, but also to piece her life back together after a failed romance and a mysterious accident which has left her feeling an outsider to the rest of the world.
Voros should be an idyllic, peaceful place. Here there are no roads, no towns, only the Judas tree which grows in astonishing profusion, blossoming each spring into a vivid pink that lends the island an otherworldly air.
But the island is not what it appears. Nor are the people who live there. Something unexpected haunts Voros. A something that Amelia cannot see, but a something which has the power to shape events, to invade lives and to make people do strange, sometimes frightening things.
That dark power is about to reach out to Amelia and take her on a strange and ghostly journey of self-discovery. A journey where danger lurks…
In the classic tradition of The Haunting of Hill House, Rebecca and The Shining, Simon Clark has written a truly thrilling modern ghost story which will continue to haunt the reader long after the final page.
Visit Simon Clark's Web page at: http://www.bbr-online.com/nailed
‘A story as chilling as it is chic. Oppressive, poignant, tranquil and beautiful, Judas Tree is a modern-day classic’ Focus
More Acclaim for Simon Clark
'A master of eerie thrills' Richard Laymon
'The hottest new purveyor of horrific thrills currently working on these shores' Big Issue
'Simon Clark is a well-established horror writer whose stories are told with pace, style and always with a surreal twist' Newcastle Evening Chronicle
‘A master of eerie thrills’ Richard Laymon
'What gives Clark his lever into your own fears is taking the mundane and making it menacing' SFX
'The hottest new purveyor of horrific thrills currently working on these shores' Big Issue
'Simon Clark is a well-established horror writer whose stories are told with pace, style and always with a surreal twist' Newcastle Evening Chronicle
'Vampyrrhic is a dark and powerful novel which starts slowly and innocently and builds to a crescendo of violence and fear. Be prepared to sleep with the light on until the memories of the horror dim' Peterborough Evening Telegraph
'One of the best contemporary British horror writers' Deathrealm

About The Author
Born in 1958, Simon Clark lives in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. His short stories have appeared in several magazines and anthologies, including Darklands 2, Dark Voices 5 and The Year's Best Horror Stories (four time;). He has published a collection of short stories, Blood and Grit, and six earlier novels, Nailed by the Heart, Blood Crazy, Darker, King Blood, Vampyrrhic and The Fall. His work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and he has also written prose material for the internationally famous rock band U2.

Titles by Simon Clark at Amazon.co.uk

Simon Clark Judas Tree Pbk published May 2000 by NEL at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0-340-73914-2

Amelia Thomas heads for the sun-soaked Greek island of Voros not only to escape her cold, dreary home town, but also to piece her life back together after a failed romance and a mysterious accident which has left her feeling an outsider to the rest of the world.
Voros should be an idyllic, peaceful place. Here there are no roads, no towns, only the Judas tree which grows in astonishing profusion, blossoming each spring into a vivid pink that lends the island an otherworldly air.
But the island is not what it appears. Nor are the people who live there. Something unexpected haunts Voros. A something that Amelia cannot see, but a something which has the power to shape events, to invade lives and to make people do strange, sometimes frightening things.
That dark power is about to reach out to Amelia and take her on a strange and ghostly journey of self-discovery. A journey where danger lurks…
In the classic tradition of The Haunting of Hill House, Rebecca and The Shining, Simon Clark has written a truly thrilling modern ghost story which will continue to haunt the reader long after the final page.
Visit Simon Clark's Web page at: http://www.bbr-online.com/nailed
‘A story as chilling as it is chic. Oppressive, poignant, tranquil and beautiful, Judas Tree is a modern-day classic’ Focus
More Acclaim for Simon Clark
'A master of eerie thrills' Richard Laymon
'The hottest new purveyor of horrific thrills currently working on these shores' Big Issue
'Simon Clark is a well-established horror writer whose stories are told with pace, style and always with a surreal twist' Newcastle Evening Chronicle
‘A master of eerie thrills’ Richard Laymon
'What gives Clark his lever into your own fears is taking the mundane and making it menacing' SFX
'The hottest new purveyor of horrific thrills currently working on these shores' Big Issue
'Simon Clark is a well-established horror writer whose stories are told with pace, style and always with a surreal twist' Newcastle Evening Chronicle
'Vampyrrhic is a dark and powerful novel which starts slowly and innocently and builds to a crescendo of violence and fear. Be prepared to sleep with the light on until the memories of the horror dim' Peterborough Evening Telegraph
'One of the best contemporary British horror writers' Deathrealm
About The Author
Born in 1958, Simon Clark lives in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. His short stories have appeared in several magazines and anthologies, including Darklands 2, Dark Voices 5 and The Year's Best Horror Stories (four time;). He has published a collection of short stories, Blood and Grit, and six earlier novels, Nailed by the Heart, Blood Crazy, Darker, King Blood, Vampyrrhic and The Fall. His work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and he has also written prose material for the internationally famous rock band U2.

Titles by Simon Clark at Amazon.co.uk

Mark.Z. Danielewski House Of Leaves Pbk published July 2000 by Anchor at Ł13.00 ISBN: 1-862-30110-7

I still get nightmares. In fact I get them so often I should be used to them by now. I’m not. No one ever really gets used to nightmares.

Johnny Truant, wild and troubled sometime employee in an L.A. tattoo parlour, finds a notebook kept by Zampanň, a reclusive old man found dead in a cluttered apartment. Herein is the heavily annotated story of the Navidson Record.
Will Navidson, a photojournalist, and his family move into a new house. What happens next is recorded on videotapes and in interviews. Now the Navidsons are household names. Zampanň, writing on loose sheets, stained napkins, crammed notebooks, has compiled what must be the definitive work on the events on Ash Tree Lane.
But Johnny Truant has never heard of the Navidson Record. Nor has anyone else he knows.
And the more he reads about Will Navidson's house, the more frightened he becomes. Paranoia besets him. The worst part is that he can't just dismiss the notebook as the ramblings of a crazy old man. He's starting to notice things changing around him...
Immensely imaginative. Impossible to put down. Impossible to forget. House of Leaves is thrilling, terrifying and unlike anything you have ever read before.
‘The pages in the labyrinth chapter, which has text printed upside down, backwards and in boxes that jut into each other, are designed to slow you down, give you the sense of being in a labyrinth,’ Danielewski explains. ‘Even if you skip parts of the text, you’re aware that it’s there, you get a sense of the size.’ The chapter is so complex that it took the author nine months to ‘story board’ it. When the editor suggested changing the order of a couple of paragraphs, Mr Danielewski figured that the revision would require 200 to 300 other changes. They decided to leave it.’
'...A great novel. A phenomenal début. Thrillingly alive, sublimely creepy, distressingly scary, breathtakingly intelligent - it renders most other fiction meaningless. One can imagine Pynchon and Ballard and Stephen King and David Foster Wallace bowing at Mark Danielewski's feet, choking with astonishment, surprise, laughter and awe. I feel privileged to be among its first readers. Will I ever recover?' Bret Easton Ellis
‘Although it may be consigned to the horror genre, this novel is also a psychological thriller, a quest, a literary hoax, a dark comedy, and a work of cultural criticism. It is simultaneously a highly literary work and an absolute hoot’ Library Journal
‘a surreal palimpsest of terror and erudition, surely destined for cult status.‘ Publishers Weekly
‘erudite and deeply frightening’ Wall St. Journal
‘House of Leaves will most likely either madden or electrify you... But there is no denying it is a work of (dare we say staggering?) genius’ Time Out, New York
‘Mark Z. Danielewski’s wonderful first novel is... funny, moving, sexy, beautifully told, an elaborate engagement with the shape and meaning of narrative. For all its modernist manoeuvres, postmodernist airs and post-post-modernist critical parodies, House of Leaves is, when you get down to it, an adventure story’ New York Times Rook Review
'Reports of the death of the book have been greatly exaggerated. Indeed, publication of Mark Z. Danielewski's stunning, mind-and-genre expanding novel, House of Leaves - the most impressive literary debut I've come across since Thomas Pynchon's V. nearly 40 years ago - renders any such commentary about the irrelevance and obsolescence of the novel irrelevant and obsolete. Like Melville's Moby Dick, Joyce's Ulysses and Nabokov's Pale Fire (to cite only the most obvious comparisons), Danielewski's House of Leaves is a grandly ambitious multi-layered work that simply knocks your socks off with its vast scope, erudition, formal inventiveness and sheer storytelling skills, while also opening up whole new areas for the novel as an art form... read it to see where the novel is heading, read it to scare yourself silly. But read it' San Diego Union Tribune
'one of the most ambitious, complicated and eagerly awaited literary debuts of the year... like no other novel you've read... Both daunting and brilliant, the novel is surprisingly fun to read, a sort of postmodern fun house where the reader becomes the author's partner in putting the story together... It is also flat-out terrifying’ Newsweek
'in a barreling, terrifying, staccato narrative that weaves in and out of at least two considerable subplots, House of Leaves takes the reader into the pitch-black no man's land of true fear’ Word Magazine
'The most ambitious and original first novel I’ve read since Pynchon’s V. ...Melville for mass, Poe for excitement... Danielewski’s design is ingenious, his mind rigorous and his purpose admirable. The novel itself is the monster, an intentional monstrosity wilfully hypertrophied and energetically deformed to make you feel ‘not at home’ in your homes, in your minds, and in the films you see and the books you read. The uncanny, not comfort, is great art's ambition. Some few novels we do not judge. They judge us and the courage of our consciousness. As the man-monster Caliban says in The Tempest, “Be not afraid”'Books
'Stunning... what could have been a perfectly entertaining bit of literary horror is instead an assault on the nature of story’ Exposure
'Intricate, erudite and deeply frightening' Wall Street Journal
'An amazingly intricate and ambitious first novel - ten years in the making - that puts an engrossing new spin on the traditional haunted house tale... The story's very ambiguity steadily feeds its mysteriousness and power, and Danielewski's master of postmodernist and cinema-derived rhetoric up the ante continuously, and stunningly. One of the most impressive excursions into the supernatural in many a year’ Kirkus (starred review)
About The Author
Mark Z. Danielewski is 33 and lives in Hollywood. It has taken him ten years to write House Of Leaves, his debut novel. The following is an extract from an interview in Publishers Weekly.
Mark Danielewski can't pinpoint the exact origins of his novel, an intricate, experimental horror story about a house that is larger on the inside than on the outside, but he says that its structure - a Nabokovian mix of narrated story, found manuscript and footnotes - somehow allowed him to incorporate years' worth of earlier writing into one complex, intertwining, terrifying stew: ‘it war able to hold not just various story lines but also thoughts of mortality, ruminations on the chasm between youth and old age, riffs on the past, present and future.’ ….. Danielewski got his first taste of fiction writing at 1O. ‘I wrote a book about a New York kid who becomes a cocaine addict, beats up a cop and goes to prison,’ he says. ‘My parents were shocked. My father thought it was immoral. And a teacher of mine in Utah called it a dirty book - it had the word ‘fuck’ in it. After that, it took me a long while before I would show my work around.’ ….. At Yale, he studied English Literature and got rejected from every writing seminar he applied for. He went on to UC Berkeley, where he did an intensive Latin programme…… Shortly afterwards, Danielewski headed off to Paris for a year, living on almost no money and writing constantly. Film school in LA followed. Then his father, an experimental filmmaker who had led the family to exotic locates around the globe, died. ‘That shook the foundations of a lot of things, ‘ he says. ‘I worked at a restaurant, tutoring kids, as a plumber - all the while writing. That's always been my source.’……
Once the book was finished, he quickly found a publisher in the States, Pantheon and was published in March 2000. It is attracting stunning reviews.

Titles by Mark.Z. Danielewski at Amazon.co.uk

Laurell K. Hamilton Guilty Pleasures Pbk published September 2000 by Orbit at Ł5.99 ISBN: 1-84149-046-6

An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel
I don’t date vampires. I kill them.
My name is Anita Blake. Vampires call me the Executioner. What I call them isn’t repeatable.
Ever since the Supreme Court granted the undead equal rights, most people think vampires are just ordinary folks with fangs. I know better. I've seen their victims. I carry the scars…
But now a serial killer is murdering vampires - and the most powerful bloodsucker in town wants me to find the killer…
'This fast-paced, tough-edged supernatural thriller is mesmerizing reading indeed’ Locus
About The Author
Laurell K. Hamilton is the bestselling author of nine acclaimed Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. She lives in Arnold, Missouri, with her husband, her daughter, two attack pugs, three birds, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Titles by Laurell K. Hamilton at Amazon.co.uk

Laurell K. Hamilton The Laughing Corpse Pbk published September 2000 by Orbit at Ł5.99 ISBN: 1-84149-047-4

An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel
The older the zombie, the bigger the death needed to raise it.
After a few centuries, the only death ‘big enough’ is a human sacrifice. I know, because I'm an animator. My name is Anita Blake.
Working for Animators, Inc. is just a job - like selling insurance. But all the money in the world wasn’t enough for me to take on the particular job Harold Gaynor was offering.
Somebody else did, though - a rogue animator. Now he's not just raising the dead ... he’s raising Hell. And it's up to me to stop it.
‘I was enthralled – a departure from the usual type of vampire tale which will have a wide appeal to any reader hunting for chills and fun’ Andre Norton
About The Author
Laurell K. Hamilton is the bestselling author of nine acclaimed Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. She lives in Arnold, Missouri, with her husband, her daughter, two attack pugs, three birds, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Titles by Laurell K. Hamilton at Amazon.co.uk

Laurell K. Hamilton The Killing Dance Pbk published November 2000 by Orbit at Ł5.99 ISBN: 1-84149-051-2

These days my life is a cross between preternatural soap opera and an action-adventure movie
The first hit man came after me at home, which should be against the rules. Then there was a second, and a third. Word on the street was that Anita Blake, preternatural expert and vampire killer extraordinaire, was worth half a million dollars. Dead not alive.
So what’s a girl to do but turn to the men in her life for help? Which in my case means an alpha werewolf and a master vampire. With professional killers on your trail, it’s not a bad idea to have as much protection as possible, human or otherwise.
But I’m beginning to wonder if two monsters are better than one…

About The Author
Laurell K. Hamilton is the bestselling author of nine acclaimed Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. She lives in Arnold, Missouri, with her husband, her daughter, two attack pugs, three birds, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Titles by Laurell K. Hamilton at Amazon.co.uk

Laurell K. Hamilton The Lunatic Cafe Pbk published October 2000 by Orbit at Ł5.99 ISBN: 1-84149-049-0

You don’t volunteer for slugfests with vampires. It shortens your life expectancy
And you don’t fall in love with a werewolf. It interferes with your work. Especially when you’re a preternatural expert, like me. My business brings me up close and personal with all shapes and sizes of monsters. And not all of them want to kill me.
Take, for instance. the local pack of lycanthropes – they’re werewolves to you. A number of them are missing, and they've come to me for help. Maybe because I'm dating the leader of the pack. I've survived a lot - from jealous vampires to killer zombies - but this love thing may kill me yet.
’I was enthralled - a departure from the usual type of vampire tale which will to any reader hunting for both chills and fun' Andre Norton
About The Author
Laurell K. Hamilton is the bestselling author of nine acclaimed Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. She lives in Arnold, Missouri, with her husband, her daughter, two attack pugs, three birds, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Titles by Laurell K. Hamilton at Amazon.co.uk

Laurell K. Hamilton Bloody Bones Pbk published November 2000 by Orbit at Ł5.99 ISBN: 1-84149-050-4

When monsters are involved, it’s never just one dead body. One way or another the dead multiply
First there were the dead in the graveyard, two hundred years dead. I’d been hired to raise them to settle a dispute over who owned the land they were buried in.
Then there were the three dead teenagers in the woods, slaughtered in a way I’d never seen before.
And then they found the dead girl, drained of blood and left in her bed. I knew what that meant of course. It didn’t take a degree in preternatural studies to figure out that something was wrong. And I was right in the middle of it. My name is Anita Blake. Welcome to my life ...

About The Author
Laurell K. Hamilton is the bestselling author of nine acclaimed Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. She lives in Arnold, Missouri, with her husband, her daughter, two attack pugs, three birds, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Titles by Laurell K. Hamilton at Amazon.co.uk

Laurell K. Hamilton Blue Moon Pbk published December 2000 by Orbit at Ł5.99 ISBN: 1-84149-053-9

Richard was an alpha werewolf. It was his only serious flaw. We’d broken up after I’d seen him eat somebody.
You never forget your ex-fiance. And when the call came at three in the morning, I thought for a moment it was him. It wasn’t. It was his brother. And It wasn’t good news. Apparently, the former love of my life had got himself thrown into jail for assaulting a woman.
Since I make my living as a preternatural expert, I tend to believe almost anything’s possible. But though he may be one of the monsters, Richard would never harm a woman. So it’s Anita to the rescue. I’ve got just a few days to spring Richard and find out who framed him – and why. There’s a full moon coming, and if my werewolf love is still behind bars when it rises, he’ll be facing a lot worse than an assault charge…

About The Author
Laurell K. Hamilton is the bestselling author of nine acclaimed Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. She lives in Arnold, Missouri, with her husband, her daughter, two attack pugs, three birds, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Titles by Laurell K. Hamilton at Amazon.co.uk

Laurell K. Hamilton Burnt Offerings Pbk published December 2000 by Orbit at Ł5.99 ISBN: 1-84149-052-0

You can’t trust anyone who sleeps with monsters
That’s what I’ve always said. That’s what I’ve always believed. But now I’m the one sharing a bed with the Master Vampire of the City. Me, Anita Blake. The woman the vampires call The Executioner. From part of the solution, I’ve become part of the problem.
So it hits close to home when an arsonist begins to target vampire-owned businesses all over town - an arsonist who seems to want to destroy more than just property. It’s the monsters who are in danger now. And it’s up to the Executioner to save them from the inferno ...
‘This fast-paced, tough-edged supernatural thiller is mesmerizing reading indeed…’ Locus
About The Author
Laurell K. Hamilton is the bestselling author of nine acclaimed Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. She lives in Arnold, Missouri, with her husband, her daughter, two attack pugs, three birds, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Titles by Laurell K. Hamilton at Amazon.co.uk

Laurell K. Hamilton Circus Of The Damned Pbk published October 2000 by Orbit at Ł5.99 ISBN: 1-84149-048-2

Most women complain that there are no single, straight men left. I’d just like to meet one –that’s human.
I'm Anita Blake, expert on creatures of the night. I've dined with shapeshifters, danced with werewolves, and been wooed - but not won - by the Master Vampire of the City.
And now a darkly dangerous vampire named Alejandro has hit town. He too wants me for his human servant. A war of the undead has begun. Over me.
I would be flattered. If my life weren't at stake.
'I've never read a writer with a more fertile imagination - and fewer inhibitions about using it!' Diana Gabaldon
About The Author
Laurell K. Hamilton is the bestselling author of nine acclaimed Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. She lives in Arnold, Missouri, with her husband, her daughter, two attack pugs, three birds, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Titles by Laurell K. Hamilton at Amazon.co.uk

David Hewson Native Rites Pbk published April 2000 by HarperCollins at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0-00-651358-1

A countryside idyll… or a sinister, violent secret?
A young couple move to the country. Miles commutes each day to the city, leaving Alison to get to know the locals and recover from a difficult period in her life.
At weekends, Miles loves to be 'one of the lads' in the pub. Alison finds the ancient rhythms of country life altogether more unsettling.
Autumn comes, and with it the ancient bonfire festival. Alison could have been drunk, but she feels certain that she saw something terrible happen at the fire.
And her husband was involved.
Paranoia? Or a murderous conspiracy by an entire village?
Praise for Semana Santa
'The claustrophobia of an introverted society... is portrayed with subtle skill: the personal passions come across with intensity and power. Semana Santa is a satisfying full-blooded read' The Times
And Epiphany
'The atmosphere of mystery, menace and guilt is sustained with great skill, building tension to a seismic explosion as ghoulish characters squirm to escape a relentless past returning to destroy them'. Daily Telegraph
About The Author
David Hewson writes a weekly column for the Sunday Times. His first novel, Semana Santa, was selected for the WH Smith Fresh Talent promotion in 1996. He lives with his family in East Kent.

Titles by David Hewson at Amazon.co.uk

Stephen King Dark Visions Pbk published August 2000 by Indigo at Ł5.99 ISBN: 0-575-402903

An impressive showcase from three masters of the macabre
With George R. R. Martin and Dan Simmons
Take three of the leading names in contemporary horror writing, commission one third of a book's worth of stories from each, and the result is Dark Visions.
Stephen King, the world's bestselling writer, leads off with three stories, including 'Sneakers', about a very unusual haunting, and 'Dedication', one of the most powerful and unsettling of all his works.
Dan Simmons, who won the World Fantasy Award with his first novel, The Song of Kali, pays homage to Philip K. Dick with 'Metastasis', one of three highly accomplished stories.
And George Martin, award?winning author of the modern horror classic Fevre Dream, rounds off the book with the brilliant werewolf novella, 'The Skin Trade'.
Edited and with an introduction by Douglas E. Winter.

Titles by Stephen King at Amazon.co.uk

Richard Laymon The Travelling Vampire Show Published June 2000 by Headline at Ł17.99 ISBN: 0 7472 2052 2

The summer I was sixteen, The Travelling Vampire Show came to town. I heard about it from my two best friends, Rusty and Slim.
Rusty pulled a piece of paper out of the back pocket of his jeans. Unfolding it, he said, 'These are all over town.' Slim came in close so she could look at the paper too. It had four torn corners. Apparently, Rusty had ripped the poster off a wall or tree or something.
It looked like this:

It’s a day like any other in the hot August of 1963. Sleepy little Grandville holds few excitements for three thrill-seeking teenagers with time on their hands. Except for the posters. They've appeared on the streets overnight and for Dwight, Rusty and Slim the message is irresistible - The Travelling Vampire Show is coming to town.
Not that getting in is going to be easy. For a start, the show's only for over-18s and they can't pass for that. And the performance begins at midnight, way past their parents' curfew. There's also the price of admission - ten bucks each will take some finding.
But the whole day stretches ahead of them. What's to stop them taking off for Janks Field, the spooky venue for the show, and watching the crew set up? Maybe they can get some idea of what the performance will be like - even catch a glimpse of 'gorgeous, stunning' Valeria, billed as 'the only known vampire in captivity'. There can't be any harm in that - can there?
The Travelling Vampire Show is the story of what happens to Dwight, Rusty and their tomboy pal Slim on the day they hike to Janks Field. Three teenagers who go where they shouldn't go, do what they shouldn't do - and run into big trouble.
'In Laymon's books, blood doesn't so much drip drip as explode, splatter and coagulate' Independent
'Stephen King without a conscience' Dan Marlowe
'A gut-crunching writer' Time Out
'An uncanny grasp of just what makes characters work… readers turn the pages so fast they leave burn marks on the paper' Horrorstruck
'Incapable of writing a disappointing book' New York Review of Science Fiction

About The Author
Richard Laymon was born in Chicago in 1947. He grew up in California and has a BA in English Literature from Willamette University, Oregon, and an MA from Loyola University, Los Angeles. He has worked as a schoolteacher, a librarian, a mystery magazine editor and a report writer for a law firm. He now works full-time as a writer. Apart from his novels, he has published more than sixty short stories in magazines such as Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock and Cavalier and in anthologies, including Modern Masters of Horror, Book of the Dead, Stalkers, Under the Fang and Dark Love. His novel Flesh was named Best Horror Novel of 1988 by Science Fiction Chronicle and also shortlisted for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award, as were Funland, his short story collection A Good, Secret Place and his controversial account of life as an author, A Writer's Tale. Richard Laymon is the author of many acclaimed works of horror and suspense, including The Stake, Savage, Among the Missing and the three novels in the Beast House Chronicles: The Cellar, The Beast House and The Midnight Tour. He lives in California with his wife and daughter.
For up-to-date cyberspace news of Richard Laymon and his books, contact Richard Laymon Kills! at: http://rlk.cjb.net

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Richard Laymon Come Out Tonight Pbk published July 2000 by Headline at Ł5.99 ISBN: 0 7472 5828 7

It's a hot, hot night.
Too hot to be making love unless your romance is young, like Sherry and Duane's. It's their first time and there's just one problem - they have no condoms. Of course they could wait until tomorrow...
In the usual circumstances, the twenty-four-hour Speed-D-Mart is not a place anyone would want to visit at night. But these aren't usual circumstances. Duane throws on his clothes - the store is just ten minutes down the block.
Now Sherry is waiting. Ten minutes has gone, so has twenty. She's not worried - what's another few minutes? Then she hears the noise from down the street. It might be a door slamming. It might be the backfire of a car. But Sherry thinks it sounds mostly like a gunshot... Richard Laymon was born in Chicago in 1947. He has worked as a school-teacher, a librarian and a mystery magazine editor. He is now a full-time writer. His novel, Flesh, was named Best Horror Novel of 1988 by Science Fiction Chronicle and was shortlisted for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award, as were Funland, and his short story collection A Good Secret Place. He lives in California with his wife and daughter.
'If you've missed Laymon you've missed a treat' Stephen King
'No one writes like Laymon and you're going to have a good time with anything he writes' Dean Koontz
'This author knows how to sock it to the reader' The Tiimes
About The Author
Richard Laymon was born in Chicago in 1947. He grew up in California and has a BA in English Literature from Willamette University, Oregon, and an MA from Loyola University, Los Angeles. He has worked as a schoolteacher, a librarian, a mystery magazine editor and a report writer for a law firm. He now works full-time as a writer. Apart from his novels, he has published more than sixty short stories in magazines such as Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock and Cavalier and in anthologies, including Modern Masters of Horror, Book of the Dead, Stalkers, Under the Fang and Dark Love. His novel Flesh was named Best Horror Novel of 1988 by Science Fiction Chronicle and also shortlisted for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award, as were Funland, his short story collection A Good, Secret Place and his controversial account of life as an author, A Writer's Tale. Richard Laymon is the author of many acclaimed works of horror and suspense, including The Stake, Savage, Among the Missing and the three novels in the Beast House Chronicles: The Cellar, The Beast House and The Midnight Tour. He lives in California with his wife and daughter.
For up-to-date cyberspace news of Richard Laymon and his books, contact Richard Laymon Kills! at: http://rlk.cjb.net

Titles by Richard Laymon at Amazon.co.uk

Brian Lumley Necroscope Defilers Published September 2000 by Hodder & Stoughton at Ł17.99 ISBN: 0-340-79245-0
E-Branch Volume 2
Jake Cutter is reluctantly learning how to be a Necroscope - how to use the Mobius continuum to travel instantaneously from place to place, how to talk to the dead - but the dead don't like him much. It seems Jake's got a hitchhiker in his mind, a dead vampire named Korath. Since Korath holds the key to the Mobius equations, Jake can't just kick him out ... though he's certainly trying!
Jake's not sure he really wants to be a member of E-Branch, the supersecret ESP-powered organisation that's dedicated to eradicating the vampire infestation of Earth. To the freewheeling, passionate Jake, the E-Branchers seem a little stuffy and hidebound - except for the lovely Liz, whom Jake wants to get to know better, body and mind. But Liz is a telepath, and if Jake's not careful, she'll find out about Korath. And that will likely be the end of Jake Cutter.
In Australia, Jake helped E-Branch destroy the aerie of the mind-master, Nephran Malinari, one of the trio of Great Vampires who came to Earth from the vampire world. Malinari escaped and went to ground with the hideously beautiful Lady Vavara. Vavara has taken over a holy monastery on an idyllic Greek island and turned the nuns into most unholy creatures of fearsome appetites for all things carnal.
Jake wants revenge against the Italian mobsters who killed the woman he loved, and nearly killed him. As far as he's concerned, E-Branch can search for Malinari, Vavara, and the metamorphic Lord Szwart without him until he's satisfied his own bloodlust. But it seems vampire-hunting is truly Jake's job now - the men he's trying to kill aren't men at all, but vampire spawn, hidden for two generations in human guise!
To defeat them, Jake will need every weapon in Necroscope's arsenal, including the power to call the unsleeping dead out of their mouldering graves ...
‘Necroscope fans will find themselves reading as fast as Lumley can type’ Kirkus Reviews
'Vast in scope ... This new novel carries on the tradition in fine form. During an explosive start, the novel introduces Jake Cutter, another of Lumley’s gutsy populist heroes. A climactic encounter in the Australian mountains gets the action roaring [at] the story's finale' Publishers Weekly (E-Branch: Invaders)
'Lumley is an excellent contemporary horror writer` The Guardian
'One of the best writers in the field' John Farris
'Wide-angle horror of a scope too rarely seen in modern fiction ... a feast for a horror fan' F. Paul Wilson

About The Author
Brian Lumley's list of published books now runs to some forty volumes. A prolific author, he has seen the bulk of his work in print in the last sixteen years, following a full span of twenty-two years of military service.
1986 saw the first publication of his groundbreaking horror novel Necroscope whose instant success led on to four more books (Wamphyri!, The Source, Deadspeak and Deadspawn) in the original series, the related Vampire World trilogy and, most recently, the two volumes of Necroscope: The Lost Years. In Britain all of these books have seen multiple reprints. In America, Lumley's books have sold well in excess of two million copies.
Meanwhile, Necroscope comic books, graphic novels, a role-playing game and quality figurines have been created from themes or characters in the books. The novels themselves have been translated into many languages and published all over the world.
Brian Lumley is a past winner of the British Fantasy Award for his short story, Fruiting Bodies. He won the Fear Magazine Award for Necroscope Ill: The Source. And at the World Horror Convention, Phoenix, 1998, he was awarded the title, Grandmaster of Horror …

Titles by Brian Lumley at Amazon.co.uk

Richard Matheson Stir of Echoes Pbk published May 2000 by Boxtree at Ł5.99 ISBN: 0-7522-7194-6

The novel that inspired the new movie starring Kevin Bacon
Tom Wallace lived an ordinary life, until a chance event awakened psychic abilities he never knew he possessed. Now he's hearing the private thoughts of the people around him - and learning shocking secrets he never wanted to know. But as Tom's existence becomes a waking nightmare, greater jolts are in store when he becomes the unwilling recipient of a compelling message from beyond the grave!
‘I Am Legend is the most clever and riveting vampire novel since Dracula. Stylish and gripping, [Richard Matheson's] stories not only entertain, but touch the mind and heart.’ Dean Koontz
‘I Am Legend may be one of the most influential works of fantasy written in this century.’ Fangoria #145
‘The author who influenced me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson.’ Stephen King
‘One of those who have moved imaginative fiction from the sidelines into the literary mainstream. May he be writing far into the twenty-first century.’ Ray Bradbury
‘Of all the many writers I've read and admired, only two have ever managed to make my knuckles turn white. Jack London is gone, but Richard Matheson, thank God, is alive and well and working.’ Loren D. Estleman
‘My hat is off to the genius of this author.’ R*A*V*E Reviews
‘Matheson inspires, it's as simple as that.’ Brian Lumley
‘Richard Matheson is one of the most respected living American fantasy/science fiction/horror writers... Matheson could not write a bad book if he tried.’ Hartford Courant

Titles by Richard Matheson at Amazon.co.uk

Kim Newman Dracula Cha Cha Cha Published May 2000 by Simon Schuster at Ł16.99 ISBN: 0684851830
See Review by Jay Russell - one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears)
Anno Dracula 1959
Rome, 1959. Remember? The Via Veneto, la dolce vita. Coins in the fountain, trysts in cafes, midnight bacchanals, parties till dawn. We danced giddily to the music of the Dracula Cha Cha Cha.
Jet setters, intellectuals, artists, film stars, socialites, vampires - everyone who was anyone among the living and the undead was making the scene in the External City that year. Celebrities rollicked; warm blood flowed. Paparazzi were flashing bulbs everywhere, and the vampire press had gathered to cover the upcoming social event of at least several centuries: the October wedding of Vlad, Count Dracula, in Italian exile from Transylvania, to the Moldavian princess Asa Vajda. Rumour had it that the marriage marked the first step in the vampire king's campaign to restore his power and position as Lord of the Undead.
Vampire star reporter Kate was there. She got detoured in her pursuit of a scoop on the royal couple not by coins but by corpses in the Fontana di Trevi. All over Rome, in fact, vampire elders were falling in the gory path of a flamboyant murderer known only as the Crimson Executioner. Undead British secret agent Bond, a vampire with a license to kill, was called in on the case, but ultimately the fates of all of us - the lovers, knaves, monsters, and revelers, as well as Count Dracula himself - were determined by the ancient-of-ancients Mater Lachrymarum: child, saint, harlot, crone, and Italy's own Mother of Tears.
You don't remember? Once you've read Kim Newman's blood-chilling new volume, which continues the vampire history of his Anno Dracula and The Bloody Red Baron, you will never forget.
Dracula Cha Cha Cha sees the reunion of the previous protagonists of Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series, together with a fascinating and iconic array of characters. From the unscrupulous American Tom Ripley, to a vampiric Commander Bond, from actor/director/story-teller Orson Welles to the Mater Lachrymarum - a spirit even older than the Lord of the Undead himself.
Praise for the Anno Dracula Series
'A ripping yarn, an adventure romp of the best blood, and a satisfying… read' Washington Post Book World
'Powerful... compelling entertainment... a fiendishly clever banquet of dark treats' San Francisco Chronicle
'Anno Dracula will leave you breathless... one of the most creative novels of the year' Seattle Times
'A major novel, original in concept, witty and inventive in execution' Science Fiction Chronicle
Praise for Kim Newman
'Newman's prose is a delight, his attention to detail spellbinding' Time Out
'Newman delivers a splendid congeries of fact fiction and nightmare' Daily Mail

About The Author
Kim Newman is a highly respected film writer and broadcaster, well known for his regular appearances on television and radio. He is the author of The BFI Companion to Horror (ed), and is also a multi award-winning, best-selling horror novelist, an enthusiastic pundit of SF writing, and one of Britain's great eccentrics.
Born in Brixton in 1959, he grew up in Somerset, graduated in English at Sussex University, before coming to London in 1980 working with the Bridgwater Arts and Entertainment Collective as a Kazoo player and cabaret performer. He is the author of several specialist film books and is a regular film reviewer for Empire and Sight And Sound magazines.
Kim has published several highly successful novels: The Night Mayor, Bad Dreams, Jago, The Quorum, Life's Lottery and his earlier reworkings of the Dracula mythology Anno Dracula and The Bloody Red Baron plus three collections of short stories: Famous Monsters, The Original Dr Shade and Seven Stars.
Anno Dracula won the Children of the Night Award for Best Novel from the Dracula Society and the Best Novel Award from the Lord Ruthven Assembly. It was also a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. The Quorum, Dr Shade and Anno Dracula have all been optioned for movies.
Kim is currently working on a new novel An English Ghost Story, and with Eugene Byrne, a novel cycle entitled The Matter of Britain. He also promises to continue the Anno Dracula sequence of novels. He lives in Islington, north London and has written 8 1/2 novels.

Titles by Kim Newman at Amazon.co.uk

Patrick Redmond The Puppet Show Pbk published June 2000 by Hodder & Stoughton at Ł10.00 ISBN: 0 340 74819 2

Michael Turner is still fighting the demons of his childhood. He grew up alone; an orphan lost in a maze of institutions and foster homes, surviving on dreams of success, and of finding a place where he was wanted and could belong.
Now, in his early twenties, he is at last beginning to escape his past. He has a loving fiancée and is taking the first steps in a promising legal career. And when, unexpectedly, a powerful father figure enters his life, it seems that all Michael's childhood dreams are being realised.
But dreams come with a price. Michael has allowed a dangerous cuckoo to enter the nest. One who is plagued by his own demons, who can manipulate the needs and vulnerabilities of others to dreadful effect...
Praise for The Wishing Game
'Other writers may be hailed as the new Patrick Redmond in years to come' Daily Mirror
'Redmond shows himself to be a scrupulously fair writer who refuses to stereotype his characters and views human behaviour with a high degree of compassion' Financial Times
'The setting is genuinely chilling, and the atmosphere of menace and sterility riveting' Daily Express
'Such is the hard-edged skill of Redmond's writing that the carefully structured revelations about the past have a bitter and compelling power' Times Literary Supplement
About The Author
Born in 1966, Patrick Redmond was educated in England and the Channel Islands, and studied law at Leicester University and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. For eight years he worked as a solicitor at various firms in the City. He now writes full-time.
Patrick Redmond's first novel, The Wishing Game, was published in 1999.

Titles by Patrick Redmond at Amazon.co.uk

Phil Rickman Midwinter of the Spirit Pbk published March 2000 by Pan at Ł5.99 ISBN: 0-330-37401-X

'Exorcism' is a word no longer favoured by the Church of England. Nowadays the preferred term for dealing with cases of possession and paranormal disturbance is 'deliverance ministry'. It sounds less cold, less sinister more caring.
So why shouldn't this be a job for a woman?
When offered the post once styled 'Diocesan Exorcist', the Reverend Merrily Watkins - single parent, rural perish priest, and unashamed nicotine addict - doesn't really see how she can refuse. For hasn't she already spoken out against the Church's reluctance to take a stance on psychic matters! Hasn't she also had inexplicable experiences of her own?
The young and progressive Bishop is keen to see a woman at the spiritual cutting edge. But the retiring exorcist - who strongly objects to women entering the priesthood not only refuses to be of help to Merrily but ensures that she's soon exposed to the job at its most terrifying and distasteful.
And things get no easier. As an early winter cuts through to the bones of the old city of Hereford, a body is found in the River Wye, an ancient church is desecrated and there are suggestions of dark ritual on a hill overlooking the city. Reports of psychic unrest in the Cathedral itself - where the famous medieval shrine of St Thomas Cantilupe now lies in fragments - reflect an undying evil.
Alienated from her teenage daughter, Merrily can only turn for understanding to their friend Lol Robinson, a songwriter and former long-term psychiatric patient. Together they confront an unimaginable darkness lying close to the heart of the Anglican Church itself.
Based on long-established 'deliverance' techniques, Midwinter of the Spirit is the first spiritual-procedural thriller: the electrifying story of a professional woman who must walk in dark places where an often-intangible evil thrives uncurbed by the forces of law and order.
'No shortage of excitement' Ruth Rendell
'Dark ritual and psychic unrest confront Britain's first female exorcist. Endearing, fallible and interesting… A series and a character to watch' Publishing News
'Authentic shudders with some wonderful touches of the bizarre’ Kate Saunders
'A massive, ambitious novel tight with atmosphere and thick with latent violence... brilliant' Peter James
‘Wonderfully spooky ... utterly compelling’ Jilly Cooper
'I loved this one. I believed in the characters and relished the wit' Joanna Trollope
'His most effective chiller yet' Christopher Fowler
'Remarkable… something new and creepy. Even my wife enjoyed it ... and she doesn't usually like horror’ Stephen King
'No one writes better than Phil Rickman of the shadow frontier between the supernatural and the real world' Bernard Cornwell
'I emerged shell-shocked and still so completely involved with the story, I was going round in a daze' Barbara Erskine
About The Author
Phil Rickman was born in Lancashire. He has won awards for his TV and radio journalism, and his highly acclaimed earlier novels are Candlenight, Crybbe, The Man in the Moss, December, The Chalice and The Wine of Angels. He is married and lives on the Welsh Border.

Titles by Phil Rickman at Amazon.co.uk

999 - New Stories of Horror and Suspense

Al Sarrantonio 999 - New Stories of Horror and Suspense Pbk published May 2000 by NEL at Ł7.99 ISBN: 0-340-74860-5

Never before published tales
An exciting landmark anthology featuring brand new stories from twenty-nine great modern masters which redefine the field of horror and suspense as literature.

A short novel by William Peter Blatty

Novellas by Joe R. Lansdale, David Morrell, Joyce Carol Oates

Novelettes by Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King, Thomas Ligotti, Eric Van Lustbader, Thomas F. Monteleone, Kim Newman, F. Paul Wilson, Gene Wolfe

Stories by Edward Bryant, P.D. Cacek, Nancy A. Collins, Thomas M. Disch, Neil Gaiman, Ed Gorman, Rick Hautala, T.E.D. Klein, Edward Lee, Bentley Little, Dennis L. McKiernan, Tim Powers, Al Sarrantonio, Peter Schneider, Michael Marshall Smith, Steven Spruill, Chet Williamson
'A new benchmark of excellence… a sturdy vehicle for delivering horror's literary promise and a celebrating of the primacy of haunting prose' Publishers Weekly
'Excellent' Shivers
About The Author
Al Sarrantonio is the author of over twenty-five books. He has been an editor, reviewer and columnist, and has been nominated in America for the Horror Writers' Association's Bram Stoker Award and the Private Eye Writers of America's Shamus Award. His short stories have appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies.

Titles by Al Sarrantonio at Amazon.co.uk