GARY FRY

Today sees the publication of my latest novella, EMERGENCE from US imprint DarkFuse . It is available as an e-book, the first time I've had a book produced with no hard copy. It will be an interesting experiment and I hope both existing readers and folk who've yet to read my stuff will take a chance on it. It's about 18,000 words, is gripping and spooky, and costs only £2 or $3 . I had the idea for this book while strolling along the beach one day. Wouldn't it be interesting, I thought, if an old guy living alone hereabouts woke up one morning and found a number of intricately carved sculptures right across the sand? A little like those amazing examples we've all seen on beaches, but these ones more ... alien, spooky, plain weird . What might such artwork betoken? Who might have created them? These were notions that troubled me for weeks, and the story went underground for a long time, until, maybe a year later, I decided to revisit. The back-brain had done its usu...

Absolutely stunning cover for my forthcoming novel from DarkFuse. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you . . . CONJURE HOUSE by Zach McCain . . .

Well, 2013 has gone crazy publication-wise, with no fewer than 3 new books in the pipeline. Let me take them one by one. EMERGENCE, a novella about strange beings pushing through from a proximate world will be published by DarkFuse early this year. It's an ebook-only publication, a taster for the next book due in July, which is . . . CONJURE HOUSE (DarkFuse), a Lovecraftian novel with a page-turning narrative and all manner of curious creatures, sinister history, subterranean searches, missing children, cosmic visions, creepy companions and more. I've been tweaking and refining this one for about 4 years, ever since its first draft in 2008 (when it was called GOD'S EYE VIEW, which is a relevant title but makes it sound like a religious manual and was thus changed). Really happy with this one and will reveal more news when I have it. I do know that a limited hardcover, trade paperback and an ebook will be available. My last new book of 2013 is LURKER (DarkFuse), which I'...

1) What is the working title of your next book? Lurker, a novella. It was originally called The Undermined , but the publisher didn't find that horror-y enough. I agreed, and so we changed it. We're flexible that way. 2) Where did the idea come from for the book? A walk north of my native town of Whitby, where the landscape is scarred and beautiful and harbours innumerable imaginary denizens, some of which demonic. 3) What genre does your book fall under? Cosmic suggestive creature feature horror. I'm waiting for when the bookstores have a shelf just for that. 4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? The central character is a middle-aged woman who's suffered a tragic experience. So maybe somebody middle-aged who can do tragic . . . Sorry, don't know many actresses. Not Brenda Blethyn, tho. Nothing's ever *that* sad. 5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? While walking along the north east English ...

Well, after another brief hiatus, I got down and wrote a couple of novellas this autumn, and . . . I have already sold one. THE UNDERMINED will be published by the US imprint DarkFuse next year. I'm delighted to have hit another US market. DarkFuse are a great outfit and I look forward to working with them. THE UNDERMINED is another of my north east coast novellas, like THE RESPECTABLE FACE OF TYRANNY. The idea came to me when my partner Michelle dragged me off on another seaside walk. I'm glad she does; otherwise I'd sit around looking at the wall. Anyway, the Sandsend Trail is a fascinating place - an old quarry which nature has reclaimed. Some stunning landscapes and creepy areas. The vegetation is lush and the wildlife profuse . . . But what's that, lurking in that abandoned railway tunnel? Well, you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? More news when I have it. My latest novella, the quirkily entitled THE SQUIGGLIES, is also out on submission, so finger...

Two weeks off work, three new tales, 20,000 words. Is this combination a coincidence, do you think? I certainly don't, and frankly now yearn for more time to do this writing malarkey. I'm an obsessive type, and tend to focus on one thing at a time. If I'm tied up with other responsibilities, it's hard for me to do anything else. I need to be in the zone, permanently. Hence my novels, which tend to come in spells of white heat, during holiday periods or Xmas breaks. Anyway, I continue to work towards freedom, when I can do this kind of thing whenever I wish, and in the meanwhile squeeze out what fiction I can. I'm really happy with the new pieces, all psychological horror stories. I got the ideas from tooling around the Whitby area, up on the moors, on a cycle ride along the cinder path to Robin Hood's Bay, and on the beach observing lovelorn sentiments youngsters carve into the sand. This all reminds me that to generate new fiction, you need to be out and about ...

So in April of this year I have a new book out: how splendid. For me, anyway. And for you, too, I hope. The book is a double novella from Spectral Press, the same fine folk who published my chapbook Abolisher of Roses . The central text is a new piece called 'The Respectable Face of Tyranny', a story I wrote after exploring the north east coast with my partner and dogs. I chanced upon a spooky little place called Saltwick Bay, whose rock goes back millennia and is as spooky as the earth gets. It also harbours - oh, can a writer ask for more latent symbolism? - a rotting boat left over from the First World War. Lots of ideas flowed from these basic elements, and - piff, paff, puff - the novella came into being . . . The book also includes a revised version of my 2006 novella 'World Wide Web', which I was never happy with in its published form and have worked some tricks with since. The signed limited numbered edition is almost sold out, so head on over to the Spectral we...