News

Where was I when Barack Obama was elected? Signing books in Dark Delicacies horror bookstore, Burbank, CA. Followed by a birthday party for Britain’s top freelance editor, Stephen Jones. A great evening, during which a lot of my good friends from LA showed up.

I’ve started up a blog on the subject of my new novels, called ‘Welcome to Raine’s Landing’. It will take a while to filter through to Google, but in the meantime the URL is http://raineslanding.blogspot.com. There are a couple of more links to it on this site’s home page.

And the manuscript of Raine’s Landing book #2 — ‘Night of Demons’ — is finally with my editor at Eos/HarperCollins.

My third story set in the fictional town of Birchiam-on-Sea — ‘Pages from a Broken Book’ — is now out in Black Static #7. What happened to the second one, I hear you ask? Well, despite the fact I wrote it before PfaBB, it isn’t out yet. It’s called ‘Birchiam Pier,’ and is due to be published in The British Invasion.

October means Halloween, and Halloween means World Fantasy. Met a load of old friends, made some new ones, got taken to dinner by my editor, and read from ‘Dark Rain’. Calgary is a nice little town with excellent restaurants and — though it should have been freezing and even snowing — the weather was kind to us for pretty much the entire convention.

British Fantasycon in Nottingham this year was one of the best ever. Saw a lot of friends, met a lot of people I only ever see that time of year, sat on a couple of panels, and did a reading from ‘Dark Rain’.

Which is now out, by the way, as is my bumper-sized US collection ‘Shadows and Other Tales’. Full details of both are on my home page.

Incidentally, if anyone out there knows the artist Peter Lloyd, who illustrated the cover of the June 1982 edition of Isaac Asimov’s SF Magazine — my story ‘The Tide Will Come’ — will you please ask him to get in touch with me, since I am trying to contact him about that painting?

If you’re attending World Fantasy in Calgary, please note that I’m reading from ‘Dark Rain’ on Friday afternoon. Look forward to seeing you there. I’ll be signing my work at the Autograph Evening later that day. And, of course, at Dark Delicacies bookstore, Burbank, CA, on November 4th, 4 p.m. onwards.

richardsreality.com has been updated, by the way, and now includes — amongst other things — a gallery of the very best art that’s accompanied my work in recent years. Go to the home page and check it out.

‘Going Back’ has made the short-list for a British Fantasy Award for Best Collection.

Oh, and it’s going to be made into an audio-book.

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror #19 is now out, and contains my story ‘Man, You Gotta See This!.’ I’ll be signing copies at British Fantasycon, and also on November 4th at the Dark Delicacies bookstore, Burbank, California. I’ll also be signing copies of ‘Dark Rain’ and ‘Shadows and Other Tales’ at the CA venue, and will sign just about anything you want — except a cheque — at World Fantasy 2008 in Calgary.

Additionally, I’ll be reading from ‘Dark Rain’ both at World Fantasy and at British Fantasycon, and will be appearing on a couple of panels at the latter.

My brilliant string of luck with covers for my books continues. I’ve just seen the one for ‘Shadows and Other Tales’, and it is absolutely superb. Looking forward to posting that one on my home page.

My story ‘Night Game’ — set in the imaginary Midlands town of Shaddaton (shadow town, geddit?) — has appeared in Black Static #5. If you don’t yet subscribe to the UK’s leading horror magazine, why not consider it? More can be discovered by going to Links and visiting ‘TTA Press’.

If you want a sneak preview of ‘Dark Rain’, then go to the Eos/Harpercollins website and click on ‘The Eos Reader’.

Oh, and talking of TTA Press, they have just bought ‘Pages From a Broken Book’, my third story set in the fictitious town — I’m rather fond of those places — called Birchiam-on-Sea. It will appear in, yes, Black Static.

This fall will not only see the publication of ‘Dark Rain’. It will see the US publication of a huge collection of my tales, both classical and modern. ‘Shadows and Other Tales’ will be appearing from Dark Regions Press, and will showcase twenty one examples of my fiction, including a full-length novella and my acclaimed novelette ‘A Night in Tunisia’. It has a foreword by yours truly, and I even wrote the back-cover blurb!

Last year’s collection ‘Going Back’ is now available on the web from Fictionwise. The direct link — get ready with your pencil — is www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/TonyRichardsBooks.htm. Is that case specific? I have absolutely no idea.

It looks like my new collection ‘Passport to Purgatory’ is going to be in print next month, after an unavoidable delay. I’ll let you know more as soon as I know more.

My story ‘Man, You Gotta See This!’ — which first appeared in last year’s collection ‘Going Back’ — has been selected by Stephen Jones for inclusion in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Volume #19.

The final issue for the time being — #30 — of Scheherazade is now out and includes, I’m very proud to say, my Madrid-based tale ‘The Spanish Portrait’. Thanks and congrats to Liz and Deirdre Counihan for producing such a consistently excellent magazine down the years, and best wishes to Liz in her retirement.

The completed version of ‘Dark Rain’ is in, exactly on deadline. And HarperCollins are very excited about it.

At last, my dark fantasy tale ‘The Sentinels’ has appeared in the long-awaited Black Static issue #3.

Still hard at work on the completed final draft of ‘Dark Rain’, and there is little else to report.