News and Updates

"It's been a while, it's been a while, it's been a while and OH!" As sang Rev Hammer and the Levellers of Freeborn John, one of England's most controversial freedom fighters.

I've been away from The Feardom for a few weeks, getting myself together and tying up loose ends - all with the aim of getting stuck into the novels once I'm finished.

What Has Lily Been Up To?

Thank you for asking. Succinctly:

• I've recorded a podcast as guest of Feardom friends Phil Ambler and Dion Winton-Polak for The Geek Syndicate on the subject of flash fiction. Two versions will be released - the first will be interspersed within the next Geek2Geek issue during late July/early August, and a longer one with readings of microflash fiction from The Prediction will be published soon at Scrolls
• Another Feardom friend John Xero is celebrating the second Xeroversary which starts today 1st July and runs for 8 days. He invited me to contribute and I'm proud that he accepted my debauch myth, A Song of Restoration which will be published on 7th July 2012.
• After working on a lengthy short story for a Spectral Press competition I finally completed, edited and submitted the 5,560 word tale with 1 hour and 5 minutes to go before the deadline. I have enormous respect for Spectral Press which publishes beautiful, limited edition chap books, as well as a great admiration for its owner - the inimitable Simon Marshall-Jones.
• I have been interviewed by Mr. Glamour author Richard Godwin for his Chin Wag at The Slaughterhouse. His patience has been unbelievable and I'm really looking forward to reading his interpretation of my gabble during July.
• My husband and I have been outlining plans for an exhibition of artwork and dark fiction. Lots more to come on that - in the meantime, here's his latest painting - a black and white watercolour interpretation of the Charles Bargue drawing of a horse-head from the Parthenon:

So, as you see - I've not been slacking!

Other Feardom Friend News

There's been lots going on with other Feardom friends and Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers contributors too. Good luck to everyone with your self-publishing endeavours! Please share your support.

The links below go to Amazon.co.uk - just swap the the co.uk in the link for .com to access them in Canada/USA.

• Edited by Joe Hunter best-selling thriller author Matt Hilton, Action: Pulse-Pounding Tales Vol. 1 is packed with old-style, non-stop crime/action stories by some of the best in the business at the moment, and includes some of our friends - Matt Hilton himself, Col Bury, Absolutely*Kate, David Barber, Keith Gingell, Paul D. Brazill, Graham Smith, Richard Godwin and many more. Suspend belief - and step into the extreme - you won't regret it.
• David Barber's new eBook From a Crowded Mind includes a fine contradiction of gritty and emotional short crime stories
• Chris Allinotte's Gathering Darkness eBook promises 230 pages of short horror madness
• Shaun Adams's eBook Jack Is Writing includes eight short stories and six 100-word flashes of gruesome horror and twisted evil. As is only right.

I'm also hearing lots of exciting rumours about forthcoming novels, agents and contracts from a few of you. A huge - yet tentative - congratulations. The bubbles, or perhaps in most of our cases - the Merlot - is awaiting. Onwards and upwards my dear friends - how times are changing. And that comes with a smile.

LIVING IN A BOX - Cabaret of Dread stories revealed

Every Saturday I’m revealing the tale behind the tale of Cabaret of Dread Vol.1’s main stories, together with a short excerpt of each to whet your appetite. 

And as a special gift from me, this week I'm going to let you read the entire story LIVING IN A BOX for free!  If you like it, perhaps you'll buy Cabaret of Dread, or tell your horror-loving friends.

LIVING IN A BOX

Grace Pearce is afraid of The Black. She is scared of The Spindle Queen and unnerved by Dr. Pipe. They seem to come and go in Grace's one-room world, and sometimes they bring others to watch. Will anyone ever take her home?

Living In A Box was written for Chris Allinotte's first March Madness dark fiction showcase in 2011 over at The Leaky Pencil.

Why not linger a while at Chris's place and read through the MADNESS series, maybe you'll even download the Madness collections EIGHT DAYS OF MADNESS and NINE DAYS OF MADNESS from Smashwords. They're free too!

So – what’s Living In A Box about? 

The story is narrated by a young woman, Grace, from her cell in an asylum. Pumped with drugs she drifts in and out of consciousness, her perceptions and personalities change and overlap, confusing both Grace and the doctors. Even in the most extreme throes of paranoia and insanity, Grace knows something is not quite right. And when a man she has never met arrives to take her home, the terrifying truth gradually becomes clear.

Inspiration

A constant fascination with mental health, psychosis and treatments. I wanted to be an art therapist at one stage when I was studying psychology, though sadly this never came about. No one thing beside the showcase prompt inspired me to write Living In A Box, but I suspect this story has always been in my head waiting to be written in one form or another.

Excerpt

Quivering, vaporous forms. They are indistinct as my eyes open to the familiar pale green of the box. Walking, talking photographs, paintings even - that morph back and forth.

My mouth is dry – it’s always that way. Someone sticks a tube between my teeth and I suck in the salty, pale-orange liquid. It tastes of electricity and saccharine.

The figures are clearer now. I recognise them from yesterday and the day before that. One’s a man – an old man. The other is young; his daughter perhaps. She is so thin I call her the Spindle Queen. Inquisitive, her tight face bears more lines than the father, but she has scarlet lips; lips that pout, lips that squeeze when she is angry. I’d like to eat them but she draws back as I lunge, a fruitless effort.

“God, she’s fast.”

They nod heads and play out a psst, psst, psst tittle-tattle game of whispers before turning back to face me. My head dips to one side and I carefully emulate the woman’s fake smile. Mine reaches my eyes where hers does not. With a little flare of the nostrils she backs away, fading though the door until it is an empty picture frame.

I would love to stand up. When did I last use my feet? There are straps at my wrists, at my ankles; around my calves, my thighs and up, up, up to my chest where, without warning my heart swells hot then cold – freezing cold; pulsing fast, fast, faster. I can’t bear the panic. I need to run away. The chair is bolted to the floor but still I try to rock my way out of it, going nowhere. Quickly, my body gathers momentum until with every spasm the leather cuts into my skin, spraying blood over the thin gown. It spreads.

The old man calls into the wall.

“Assistance!”

I’ve heard that word before. It makes everything go black.

From somewhere within my belly I feel the squeal. It mounts and grows, taking my soul with it to the ceiling as its pitch rises. From a great height I circle the seated echo of me and join in with the scream pouring from my other throat. We labour as twins to fill the room with unique harmony.

Assistance arrives through another door. It’s the Spindle Queen. She winces at my song. She calls me Banshee.

I can do that. I’ll visit her in her dreams later, steal her children.

My ethereal being flails at Assistance as the needle is rammed into my corporeal arm. Although she cannot see my wraith she swipes at it anyway, but no matter - I am already sliding back inside. I have just enough time to spit in her face. There is red in it. I have bitten off the end my tongue.

***

Black.

***

“She’s not who she says she is,” the old man tells a gaggle of bespectacled onlookers. He smiles benignly at me so I guess it’s time to show him my claws. Midnight blue. I stretch them out as far as I am able.

“Can you tell our guests your name?” He is bent towards me, not too close but near enough that I can smell pipe tobacco.

“Lompster. Snap, snap.”

The visitors scribble onto notepads and clipboards, muttering and frowning. Old Man Pipe speaks again without averting his gaze from my lovely claws.

“Miss Pearce believes she is a lobster, for today at least.”

One of the group stares at me longer than the others. I wiggle my antenna and hope he will fall into my trap. I’m hungry.

Sniggers and half-concealed smirks ripple through the rabble, and then I spot her; Pipey’s daughter. She’s telling them I claimed I was a doctor last week. That’s ridiculous. I’m only twelve years old. Look at them – they’re the deluded ones in their white coats, writing and gossiping as though they can see inside my head. It’s the reverse. It’s me that knows they’re all after Thermidor for dinner; wondering whether to cook me gently, turning the heat up until I fall asleep – or plunge me into a boiling vat.

I don’t like it. I start to rock. Here it comes...

***

Black...

*************

Like the excerpt? Read the whole tale for FREE at The Leaky Pencil. The full tale is also waiting for you in Cabaret of Dread!  By visiting the book's 'Look Inside' feature on Amazon you can read the opening tale DRESSING-UP BOX, a few pages of SMILING CYRUS and a handful of mini-tales.

Of course, the best way to read this - and the many other stories in Vol.1 of Cabaret of Dread, is to download it. If you do, I am ever thankful... 

Buy/Download Cabaret of Dread from
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Prediction Winner

So who's it going to be?

I do have a winner, but believe me my final choice has shifted and changed, the entries twisting and confusing my ever-hungry brain. So here we go with a quick summary before I announce who will be next week's Prediction Challenge judge.

• Chris's new playmates are willing but volatile. They need teaching a Lesson(s).
• St Force's tourist does more than sightseeing as she studies someone about to take a dive off York Catherdral.
• AJ's Lucy loses and leaves the most precious of gifts Beneath the Oak.
• MuckieDuckie discovers another Jane Doe with Doctor Tiboy as her failing saviour in JD's Realm.
• Veronica's victim can think only of Nana as her own ear is chewed off in Zombie Sunday.
• My Resurrection sees a village destroyed by plague and religion revived by the manifested voice of Mother Earth.
• Antonia questions the validity of newspaper reporting as a typo turns out to be true in Local News...
• William delivers twice; Case Closed apparently sees the demise of Tench beneath the Devil's milk-bottle whilst M is for Inspiration is a poignant message from the heart.
• Aidan travels up and down heavenly escalators with Vaughn - who is not ready to go anywhere, despite the ratty angel's pleas in Stairway Guides.
• Reba takes us into the towering heights of deception before dropping Lorelei to the ground in Objective.
• Anthony paints the walls a sucking gloss that shimmers and moves, its shine a place of wandering thieves in Hush Little Baby Don't You Cry.
• Kim's executioner looks out for himself, regardless of the prize beneath his axe in 'Off!'
• Phil travels through coloured thoughts as his narrator 'ups and downs' in daily doses; Fluctuation.
• John reveals the truth of what man has done in the name of religion in our corrupted Gardens of Eden. 
• Joleen finds Inspiration as Ellen works her madness from the street onto the canvas, with a promise of more to come.
• ttofee tricks us into believing we are walking with a villain, only for The Watcher's vigilante morals to shine through.

The story that tickled my darkest corners, its writing a joy to read - and is therefore the winning entry is Lessons. Monsieur Allinotte, congratulations. You are the judge of next week's Prediction Challenge!

My runner-up, for its terrifying and daring Stephen King strangeness - Hush Little Baby Don't You Cry by Anthony Cowin. A film in the making. Well done.

Outstanding writing, everyone. Such a pleasure. Chris - I'll be in touch over the next few days.

In the meantime, there'll be a new challenge as usual in the morning. Au revoir. Bonne nuit. Dormez bien...

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Prediction Winner

Volatile and venemous I am seriously wondering if this week's entries haven't been the best entries ever. There is so little between them.. dare I not declare a winner? (Like in the 'old days.) Can't do it - someone has just crept over the line - but I truly am unable to choose a runner-up - you're all too astonishing (and therefore equal) for words.

• In Michael's Trial and Error a son perfects his culinary craft. 
• In Mimi's Fly Trap a woman's revenge is painful. Don't go there.
• Antonia's Amateur Serial Killer hones his skill, getting frustrated with lack of practice. 
• Sandra has the most bizarre of art installations going on in her Philistine? gallery. 
• AJ's collector makes a trembling pattern of horror with his victim in Sliver.
• David creates a completely new non-virtual game in the undertaker-genre, in Role-Play. 
• Ragemore evoked the alleged, legendary bloodbath of Elizabeth Bathory in Signs Following. 
• My God's Gift was a sordid little number for which I apologise. But Marlon will be back!
• Aidan brings the heat of Iraq with a war-blasted viewpoint in the cleverly-titled War Spoils. 
• Jenny's Mother's little angel hurts and abuses as his mother deliberately ignores the signs. 
• Chris expands the Homonculus's circle of friends to terrify us with the freak party in Homonculus, ça marche. 
• Kim crafts a human lampshade from the tattooed skin of a concentration camp victim in And there was light. 
• William brings Kook back in Kooks First, and we meet his terrifying mother. It explains everything. 
• John creates human cattle in the highly disturbing, and inky Cattle. Next, he tears us forward in time - but how far? Template for Extinction asks just that. 
• Reba speaks of fallen Angels with a desperate task on their hands in Penance.
• Pixie chills her readers by writing from the perspective of the wrong-doer in Tender Prey.

Everyone - outstanding writing, really. Congratulations to you all.

My winner though, and developed from last week's runner-up tale is Homonculus, ça marche by Chris Allinotte. This has everything from scary dolls to horrifying intrigue. And a lot of French. Make this major, Chris - 'people' will be waiting for the rest of this terrifying gothic tale. Well done!

And so you have a day's reprieve, thanks to hubby's birthday tomorrow. I shall be back on Friday morning - if a little hungover - with three new words. After this week's stunning prose, I can barely wait.

_______________________________

Eight Days of Madness - now available as a free e-book!

Chris Allinotte, host and editor of the marvellously dark Madness In March over at The Leaky Pencil has gone one step further. The seven stories plus the excellent bonus tale by Mr Allinotte himself have been gathered into an e-book at Smashwords, retitled Eight Days of Madness.

You can download the e-book in all formats - and best of all, it's free:

Download Eight Days of Madness here...

Featuring:

• Paranoia by Laurita Miller
• Blister Pack by Richard Godwin
• Mad Dash by Angel Zapata
• The Giver, The Taker, The Monster by Benjamin Sobieck
• Heart Shaped Hammer by Sean Patrick Reardon
• Still Alive by Erin Cole
• Living In A Box by Lily Childs
• The Dollmaker and the Rat by Chris Allinotte

____________________________________________

Madness In March - and Living In A Box

Mr Chris Allinotte, of Toronto begs your company at his table of fictional delights. For during this week where Winter prepares to give way to the bliss of Spring, screams of frenzied hysteria wreak through his palette, coupled with sighs of despair and delirium smiles.

I am, of course, referring to The Leaky Pencil, where Chris is hosting a whole week of guest writes in the theme of Madness in March.

It's a privilege to have my story 'Living In A Box' as the final piece in the showcase. Do pop over and take a peek...

My story is amongst dynamite company; each and every one worth a read:

• Paranoia by Laurita Miller
• Blister Pack by Richard Godwin
• Mad Dash by Angel Zapata
• The Giver, The Taker, The Monster by Benjamin Sobieck
• Heart Shaped Hammer by Sean Patrick Reardon
• Still Alive by Erin Cole
• Living In A Box by Lily Childs

This is a great idea. Thank you so much, Chris. I'd love to see it become an annual event. And having hosted February Femmes Fatales, I know just how much work it entails - great job!

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Catching Up

Hello. Long time no ramble on about meself much. So, now February Femmes Fatales has died down for this year (it is SO on for 2012!) I've been trying to get back into a writing schedule.

I've subbed three horror stories, an historical mystical poem and an article this month. From those, so far one story and the article 'How to Write Horror' have been accepted. More news on these later this month.

I have two interviews coming up - very humbled.

I've made a huge decision - novel-wise - to put Dispirited to bed for a while, for a whole load of different reasons. However, I have a much bigger novel idea to focus on. I have the concept, but need to do a fair amount of research. Very excited.

I'm also considering publishing an e-book collection of dark verse, illustrated by Laurence Ranger to sell on Kindle. What do you think...? Would you buy it?

In the meantime, look out for Chris Allinotte's upcoming Madness in March over at The Leaky Pencil - starting on 13th March. Promises to be a "seriously unsettling" week - can't wait.

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