Predictions and Poetry

The legacy of the weekly fiction Prediction challenge is that this week it has spawned bountiful fruit, in book form.

Firstly, I was absolutely delighted to receive through the post, a signed and dedicated, fully-illustrated booklet of Prediction contributor and artist Sandra Davies's extraordinary series:
The blacksmith's wife.

Such was the rolling, roiling emotion of this epic tale - packed with debauchery, manipulation and vice - that we were carried along on the journey with the characters as they battled between love and hate, passion and abuse.

How anyone could perpetuate such a story using only 100 words at a time, that had to include three words given by myself or Phil Ambler - well, it is a stunning skill.

Fans of The blacksmith's wife can buy a copy of Sandra's book from Lulu.com. And Sandra? Thank you for this wonderful gift. I shall treasure it.

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The second pleasure of the week was to finally see William Davoll's unique poetry up on Amazon, as a Kindle ebook. I am conscious of the pain and experience that went into writing The Five Daughters of Spite, some of which made their way onto The Prediction in one form or another.

William has brought together fifty poems under the headings of Fear, Revenge, Betrayal, Injustice and Loss. Some will chill your soul, others make you laugh in dark appreciation. And then more will make you question your own moral responses or perhaps bring a tear to your eye.

William was kind enough to thank me in his opening acknowledgements; it was genuinely a pleasure.

Please support our writer friend, and poetry as a whole by downloading The Five Daughters of Spite ebook from Amazon. As they say, you won't regret it.

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As a last nod to The Prediction; it is on the move again. Phil Ambler kindly took on the reigns from me last year and did a mighty fine job of posting the words from the old tome and judging the many posts from loyal and new 'Predictioneers.'

Phil's final judgement comes on Thursday 31 January - so rush on over, there's still time to enter! From Friday 1st Feb the tome will fall into the capable and talented hands of Colleen Foley over at http://predictionfiction.blogspot.co.uk. Do pay her a visit and perpetuate what has now become a tradition.

Thank you Phil; thank you Colleen! And the very best of luck and success to all Predictioneers.

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Demonologia Biblica - K is for Kilcrops

2013 has only just begun and I have news!

Back in August 2012 I was approached by Dean M Drinkel, editor and author (and award-winning screenwriter and director, blimey!) to ask if I'd be interested in contributing to an exciting anthology "about demons" for new publisher, Western Legends.

I um'd and ahh'd then bit his hand off and said "yes please", all very polite-like.

The remit was to write a story of around 5000 words to a given letter of the alphabet relating to demons, which would form The Demonologia Biblica. The cover would come from extraordinary artist James Powell. How could I possibly resist?

K is for Kilcrops

I was allocated the letter K, and despite a thorough trawl through the Malleus Maleficarum, Crowley tomes and a whole library of dark material I've accumulated over the years only one name really caught my attention. A Kilcrops, put simply - the offspring of an incubus and a mortal woman that roams, ravenous - ever suckling, ever hungry.

My tale, The Twistweaver's Son is the story of two Victorian sisters separated by the sea, by lust and by obsession.

In the depths of a French forest roams Le Chênard – Oak Man, or Twistweaver – an entity  that seeks out human souls, ever creeping, ever entwining itself into the fronds of mortal minds. And in the village of Noirchapel waits the Twistweaver's English lover Carolyn, nurturing a son like no other, Jacques - and Jacques is desperate to feed.

Contributors

I am so proud to be amongst the contributors to this exceptional anthology, which includes authors I greatly admire such as Mark West, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Barbie Wilde, Dave Jeffery, Jan Edwards, Adrian Chamberlin, Raven Dane, William Meikle, John Palisano... I cannot wait to read all the stories from these hugely talented writers.

Coming soon to Amazon...