The Spectral Book of Horror Stories (41 page)

CONRAD WILLIAMS
is the author of seven novels:
Head Injuries
,
London Revenant
,
The Unblemished
,
One
,
Decay Inevitable
,
Loss of Separation
and
Blonde on a Stick
. He has also written four novellas and over 100 short stories, some of which are collected in
Use Once Then Destroy
and
Born With Teeth
. He is currently working on a sequel to
Blonde on a Stick
. In addition to his International Horror Guild Award for his novel
The Unblemished
, he is a triple recipient of the British Fantasy Award, including Best Novel for
One
. His debut anthology
Gutshot
was shortlisted at both the British Fantasy and World Fantasy Awards. He has also been a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award on three occasions. He lives in Manchester with his wife, three sons and a big Maine Coon.

MICHAEL MARSHALL SMITH
is a novelist and screenwriter. Under this name he has published eighty short stories, and three novels—
Only Forward, Spares
and
One of Us
—winning the Philip K. Dick, International Horror Guild, and August Derleth awards, along with the Prix Bob Morane in France. He has also won the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction four times, more than any other author. Writing as MICHAEL MARSHALL, he has published seven internationally-bestselling thrillers including
The Straw Men
,
The Intruders
—soon to be a miniseries with BBC America starring John Simm and Mira Sorvino— and
Killer Move
. His most recent novel is
We Are Here
. He lives in Santa Cruz, California, with his wife, son, and two cats. His website can be found at
www.michaelmarshallsmith.com

BRIAN HODGE
is the award-winning author of eleven novels spanning horror, crime, and historical. He’s also written over 110 short stories, novelettes, and novellas, and five full-length collections. His first collection
The Convulsion Factory
was ranked by critic Stanley Wiater among the 113 best books of modern horror. Recent or forthcoming books include
Whom the Gods Would Destroy
and
The Weight of the Dead
, both standalone novellas;
No Law Left Unbroken
, a collection of crime fiction; an updated hardcover edition of
Dark Advent
, his early post-apocalyptic epic;
Worlds of Hurt
, an omnibus edition of the first four works of his Misbegotten mythos; and his latest novel,
Leaves of Sherwood
. Hodge lives in Colorado, where more of everything is in the works. He also dabbles in music, sound design, and photography; loves everything about organic gardening except the thieving squirrels; and trains in Krav Maga, grappling, and kickboxing, which are of no use at all against the squirrels. Connect with Brian through his web site at
www.brianhodge.net
or on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/brianhodgewriter.

Specialising in dark fantasy and horror,
ANGELA SLATTER
is the author of the Aurealis Award-winning
The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales
, the World Fantasy Award finalist
Sourdough and Other Stories
, and the Aurealis finalist
Midnight and Moonshine
(with Lisa L. Hannett).

Angela’s short stories have appeared in such writerly venues as
The Mammoth Book of New Horror #22
and
#25
,
Fantasy
,
Nightmare
and
Lightspeed
Magazines,
Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet
,
Fearie Tales
,
A Book of Horrors
,
Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded
, and Australian and US
Best Of
anthologies. In 2014 she will publish three new collections:
Black-Winged Angels
(Ticonderoga Publications),
The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings
(Tartarus Press), and
The Female Factory
(with Lisa L. Hannett) (Twelfth Planet Press). She is the first Australian to win a British Fantasy Award (for “The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter” in
A Book of Horrors
, Stephen Jones, ed.). In 2013 she was awarded one of the inaugural Queensland Writers Fellowships. She has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing, and is a graduate of Clarion South 2009 and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop 2006. She blogs at
www.angelaslatter.com
about shiny things that catch her eye.

STEPHEN LAWS
is an award winning British horror novelist whose work has been published all over the world. His novels include
Ghost Train, Spectre, The Frighteners, Darkfall, Gideon, Macabre, Daemonic, Somewhere South of Midnight, Chasm
and
Ferocity.
His short fiction has appeared in
Year’s Best
collections and
The Century’s Best Horror Fiction
and can be found in his collection
The Midnight Man
. One of those stories,
The Secret
, was adapted as a short horror movie (in which he appears) and won the New York Macabre Faire Film Festival Award and AOL’s Best Short Feature award.

RIO YOUERS
is the British Fantasy Award–nominated author of
End Times
and
Old Man Scratch
.
His short fiction has been published by, among others, St. Martin’s Griffin, HarperCollins, and IDW Publishing. His latest novel
Westlake Soul
was recently nominated for Canada’s prestigious Sunburst Award, and has been optioned for film by Hollywood producer Stephen Susco. Rio lives in southwestern Ontario with his wife Emily and their children Lily and Charlie.

JOHN LLEWELLYN PROBERT
won the 2013 British Fantasy Award for his novella
The Nine Deaths of Dr Valentine
and 2014 will see the publication of its sequel
The Hammer of Dr Valentine
(both from Spectral Press). He is the author of over a hundred published short stories, six novellas and a novel,
The House That Death Built
(Atomic Fez). His first short story collection
The Faculty of Terror
won the 2006 Children of the Night award for best work of Gothic Fiction. His latest stories can be found in
Best British Horror 2014
(Salt Publishing),
Psycho Mania
(Constable Robinson),
La Femme
(NewCon Press) and
Terror Tales of Wales
(Gray Friar). Endeavour Press has published
Ward 19
,
Bloody Angels
and
The Pact
—three crime books featuring his pathologist heroine Parva Corcoran. He is currently trying to review every cult movie in existence at his House of Mortal Cinema (
www.johnlprobert.blogspot.co.uk
) and everything he is up to writing-wise can be found at
www.johnlprobert.com.
Future projects include a new short story collection, a lot more non-fiction writing and a couple of novels. He never sleeps.

LISA TUTTLE
has been writing strange, weird stories nearly all her life, making her first professional sale in 1971.
Stranger in the House,
the first volume of her “Collected Short Supernatural Fiction” was published by Ash-Tree Press in 2010. She is a past winner of the John W. Campbell Award, the British Science Fiction Award, and the International Horror Guild Award. Her first novel, written in collaboration with George R.R. Martin,
Windhaven,
originally published in 1981, is still in print, and has been translated into many languages. Her other novels include
Lost Futures, The Mysteries
and, most recently,
The Silver Bough
(Jo Fletcher Books, 2013)
.
A native of Texas, she has lived in the highlands of Scotland for more than twenty years.

NICHOLAS ROYLE
is the author of
First Novel
, as well as six earlier novels including
Counterparts
,
The Director’s Cut
and
Antwerp
, and a short story collection,
Mortality
. He has edited eighteen anthologies including
Darklands
and
Darklands 2
as well as four volumes of
The Best British Short Stories
(2011—2014). A senior lecturer in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, he also runs Nightjar Press and works as an editor for Salt Publishing, where he has been responsible for Alison Moore’s Man Booker-shortlisted
The Lighthouse
, Alice Thompson’s
Burnt Island
and Stephen McGeagh’s
Habit
among other titles.

STEPHEN VOLK
is best known for inventing “Pipes” the poltergeist in the infamous BBC TV “Hallowe’en hoax”
Ghostwatch
, and as writer/creator of the award-winning paranormal ITV drama series
Afterlife
. Other screenplays include the recent big screen ghost story
The Awakening
starring Rebecca Hall and Dominic West, Ken Russell’s hallucinogenic biopic
Gothic
, predatory nanny flick
The Guardian
(co-written and directed by William (
The Exorcist
) Friedkin), and
Octane
starring Madeleine Stowe and Norman Reedus. He also won a BAFTA for
The Deadness of Dad
starring Rhys Ifans and his play
The Chapel of Unrest
was presented exclusively for one night only at London’s Bush Theatre starring Jim Broadbent and Reece Shearsmith. His short stories have earned selection in
Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror
,
Mammoth Book of Best New Horror
,
Best British Mysteries
, and
Best British Horror 2014
, and he has been a Bram Stoker, British Fantasy and Shirley Jackson Award finalist. 2013 saw the publication of his highly acclaimed novella
Whitstable
, featuring the horror star Peter Cushing (Spectral Press), and his new collection
Monsters in the Heart
(Gray Friar Press) which have both been nominated for British Fantasy Awards in 2014, for ‘Best Novella’ and ‘Best Collection’ respectively.
www.stephenvolk.net