GARY FRY

Man-Booker prize nominee Alison Moore was asked recently to name five ghost stories she particularly admired and, after tales by some geezers called M R James ("Oh, Whistle..."), Robert Aickman ("Ringing the Changes"), and Edgar Allan Poe ("The Tell-Tale Heart"), she chose my very own 'umble story "New Wave" (first published in Shadows & Tall Trees 5). I'm rather chuffed by that. Read the article here: http://www.curious-tales.com/news You can read the story by buying the journal here: http://www.bookdepository.com/Shadows-Tall.../9780981317724

MUTATOR a new cosmic horror novella by Gary Fry ​ James Parry thought he moved into his dream home in the country to enjoy his retirement from a stressful life of academia. But he soon finds out the house and its former owner share a peculiar history .  There's the mysterious underground room James finds tunneled into his basement, where he discovers an otherworldly machine adorned with strange levers and flashing lights, various handwritten notebooks containing pioneering scientific theories, and crudely drawn pictures of a being that appears anything but human .  And then there's the curious silver ball that falls from the sky into his front yard, forcing him to question everything he's ever believed about the nature of the universe .   Mutator -- it's come so far to dine... BUY NOW FROM AMAZON US AMAZON UK ONLY £2 / $3.70 " Mutator is a great read ... there's plenty plot to be getting on with, and enough gore and gloopiness to satisfy hardened fans of...

THINK YOURSELF LUCKY by Ramsey Campbell Review by Gary Fry   Many more years ago than I care to remember, I was interviewed about my thoughts concerning the horror genre and its relevance to the world in which we live today. I can’t remember the exact words I used in my response, but it went something like this: We live in an increasingly complex world, and I think it’s at least one of horror’s jobs to reflect that. Let’s consider, say, Jekyll and Hyde. Stevenson was writing at a time when social restrictions were becoming crucial to the functioning of the modern state, and people, newly subject to internal monitoring of behaviour, had begun to feel repressed. It’s little surprise, therefore, that this novella found its energy and appeal in such a period of history. I believe that more recently this duality of identity has been replaced by a multiplicity of selfhood, embedded in a social world in which our personalities can easily transcend their previously limited locations. The I...

1 James had just finished mowing his new lawn when he met his neighbor for the first time. It was a fine autumn evening, the sky full of strange cloud. A cool breeze swept across the Yorkshire Dales, bringing with it a scent of moist vegetation and pungent tree bark. For the first time in many years—maybe even decades—James felt relaxed, no longer harried by student grading deadlines or research project responsibilities. And he’d been considering a proposal he’d received from a Central American university—a visiting professorship, six months in Costa Rica—when a voice summoned him from behind…a rather stilted voice at that.             “I say, we’ve yet to be introduced. I’m Barnes, the fellow who lives in the next house along.”             At that moment, Damian, James’s aging beagle, who had a tendency to follow him everywhere, started barking at the newcomer, and as James t...

My new novella MUTATOR (DarkFuse) is hurtling through cyberspace as we speak. Expected time of arrival: early September. Prepare for impact... "At some point during the night, a thunderstorm filled the sky with light and noise, painting g ... audy colours into the corners of James’ room, each filtered by the temporary curtains he’d hung at his tall, north-facing window. But all this irascible cosmic activity failed to wake either dog or master, who snoozed on following all their exertions the previous day. Indeed, not even a tremendous thud out on the lawn, like a heavy hand dropping hard upon a tiny insect, did anything more than stir them from their private dreams."    

A very old friend of mine -- a composer called John Stones -- recently read my novel CONJURE HOUSE and felt inspired enough to write a short, moody piece of music based on it. I've used this as the basis of an equally moody promo film for the book. We'd both be pleased if you'd take a look.

THE SPECTRAL BOOK OF HORROR STORIES Edited by Mark Morris   Review by Gary Fry   We all love a good horror anthology, don’t we? Yeah, sure we do. Those of us old enough to recall the great days of horror – 70s and 80s – will fondly recall thumbing through gaudy paperbacks, seeking tales of decapitation and swimming pools full of acid. Such tales “got there first”, imprinting the genre on our juvenile minds the way goslings follow mother-goose. Flashbulb memories, right? That is, shattering flashbulbs, whose fragments violated our eyes, rendering the world henceforward splintered and edgy.   So much for waxing lyrical. All of this is a preamble to a review of an anthology that seeks to reinvest the field with some of this gaudy darkness, those stomach-pit frissons. And who better, I ask you, than Mark Morris to bring it together? More than anyone I know, Morris celebrates the joy of youthful encounters with speculative fiction. He’ll basically kill you if you say a word...