INTERVIEW: MARK CASSELL - PART TWO

Welcome back to Part Two of Confessions interview with Mark Cassell.

In tonight’s session, Mark tells us all about his book The Shadow Fabric and takes on The Ten Confessions.

It’s only Tuesday but go grab some pizza and a beer, sit back, and mostly……enjoy!

CoaR - Moving on to The Shadow Fabric, what is that all about? What did you want to achieve with it?

MC - It's a tale of a sentient darkness, of 17th-century devices, and deceit among old friends, following one man's struggle to unravel his past. I wanted to write a book that I needed to read. Having been bored to death of vampires and werewolves, of zombies and goblins, I had to devise a new evil and so I created the Shadow Fabric.

I've never read a book that strips down witchcraft and demonology and turned it on its head, so I wrote it myself. Not once did I expect it to expand into the mythos it's become, and I still get demands for more stories.

INTERVIEW: MARK CASSELL - PART ONE

Welcome to Part One of Confessions of a Reviewer’s interview with an author who is, quite possibly, one of the nicest men you will ever meet at a con.

Tonight, we present Mr Mark Cassell.

I first met Mark at Emcon in Nottingham earlier in the year and was immediately impressed by his manor and his set up at the con. This has developed into meeting him a couple of times now and we have had quite a lot of contact putting this together and I have to say my initial impressions were spot on.

In Part One, tonight, Mark talks about himself and his writing in general. He also talks about his obsession with seventies singing star, Leo Sayer, and gives us some info on what he’s doing and how he does it.

Part Two, tomorrow night, features chat all about the new book, some more general stuff and of course The Ten Confessions where it turns out Mr Cassell has one or two demons of his own hiding in closets!

Wednesday sees the Confessions review of his book The Shadow Fabric followed by showing it off on Thursday.

Nothing left to say at this point other than go grab some nibbles and a drink and sit back, and most of all……enjoy!

GUEST POST: Confessions of my Past, Present and Future #50 - Mark Cassell

Confessions of my Past, Present and Future

by

Mark Cassell

The Past

I don't know when I first became aware of Brian Lumley's work, nor whether he indeed inspired me to become a horror writer. Atop that, I certainly cannot remember how old I was when I read his 1986 novel, Necroscope. Before I say anything more, I'll allow Mr Lumley to explain what a Necroscope actually is (pulled from his website www.brianlumley.com):

Tele- (Gk. tele: ‘far’.) A telescope is an optical instrument which enlarges images of distant objects. For example: the surface of the Moon may be viewed as from only a few hundred miles away.

Micro- (Gk. mikros: ‘small’) A microscope is an optical instrument which makes small objects visible to the human eye. Through a microscope, a drop of ‘clear’ water is seen to contain countless unsuspected micro-organisms.

Necro- (Gk. nekros: ‘a corpse’) A Necroscope is a human instrument which permits access to the minds of the dead. Harry Keogh is a Necroscope – he knows the thoughts of corpses in their graves.

The main difference between these instruments is this: the first two perform purely physical, one-way functions. They are incapable of changing anything. The Moon cannot look back through the telescope; the amoeba does not know it is under microscopic scrutiny.

That’s Harry Keogh’s big problem: his talent seems to work both ways. The dead know – and they won’t lie still for it!

REVIEW: David Bernstein - The Sludge

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Great Old Ones Publishing

Publication Date: 4^th July 2016

Pages: 131

REVIEWED BY NEV

A copy of The Sludge was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author, David Bernstein, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Great Old Ones Publishing.

Sometimes this reviewing game throws you surprises. A lot in fact. A lot of welcome surprises. One of them that never fails to amaze me is the fact that, sometimes you read someone’s work and rave about it. Then you pick up something else of theirs and it doesn’t do a lot for you. When you review it, you automatically think that is the last you will hear from that author. Think this reviewing lark is easy? It’s a minefield I tell you.

David Bernstein’s last book, A mixed Bag of Blood was a collection that I didn’t really connect with. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but it didn’t grab me the way some of his other stuff has.

I was delighted when David sent me a copy of The Sludge to review. Firstly, because he hadn’t fallen out with me, and secondly because…..well…..just look at that cover! It screams old skool horror! I couldn’t wait to get my teeth into it.

This is what I thought.

Bull and John are removing some toxic waste. They should dispose of it carefully but they are just going to dump it in Lolo National Forest.

They throw it in a lake and it mixes with some stuff they dumped years ago and starts a chain of events that will create a monster no one thought could ever exist.

Cole and Derrick are brothers. They are about to rob a bank with their friend, Dirk. The plan is to hide out in Lolo after the job is done.

Edgar, June, Kim and Tyler are hiking in Lolo when they stumble across the camp belonging to the brothers. Everyone is in for the shock of their lives.

The Sludge is brewing.

NEXT WEEK: A WEEK OF MARK CASSELL

Next week sees another of Confessions week long features on an author we think you should be reading more of, and certainly one we think you will be seeing a lot more of in the years to come.

If you have been to any cons in the UK recently you will probably have met him, and you will probably agree as well, that he is one of the nicest, most approachable guys in the UK horror scene.

We talk, of course, about the one and only, Mark Cassell.

SHOW-OFF AND TELL #41 - Angela Marsons - Play Dead

#41 in the Show-Off and Tell series is another one that I hold very dear to my heart. Play Dead by Angela Marsons.

If you have never heard of Angela Marsons or you have never read her books, I have two things to say to you. Shame on you, and go fix it right away!

I have been lucky enough to follow this woman’s career from the beginning of the journey, with her first book in her DI Kim Stone series, Silent Scream. When I first read Silent Scream, I knew Angela was in for a bright career, but I don’t think anyone was prepared for the explosion that happened.

If you need any more encouragement to go check her books out, then go read my reviews at the bottom of the page. If you don’t want to take my word for it then check out these facts.

WE PROMISED - WE DELIVER - TIJUANA DONKEY SHOWDOWN LINKS!

Last week we dazzled and amazed you with images and words connected to the cover reveal for the amazingly wonderful Tijuana Donkey Showdown by the equally amazingly talented Adam Howe.

If you missed it then go here immediately.

One thing we couldn’t do at that time was supply you with the relevant links to buy it. We promised we would rectify that. And we have!

REVIEW: Wayne Lemmons - The Story's Writer

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: 1^st April 2016

Pages: 172

REVIEWED BY NEV

A copy of The Story’s Writer was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author, Wayne Lemmons, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is self-published.

You know how I like a funny story of how I got a book to review? Well, Mr Lemmons doesn’t know this, but there is a funny story for this one. Someone recommended his writing to me and said I should check it out. Well, they didn’t, exactly. They recommended someone else. I got the name wrong. I didn’t find this out until a few months after we had made contact and the books were in the pile for review.

So, obligated as I was, I couldn’t do anything about it and had to go with my promises. Did it turn out to be a fortuitous mistake on my behalf?

This is what I thought.

Amy is a single mom. She works very hard to keep a stable household and a steady life for her son, Bailey. The only thing she keeps for herself is a lifestyle of one night stands that, while leaving Bailey to fend for himself, keeps her sane. Not ideal for anyone, but they survive.

On one of these one night stands, she meets Grant. A horror writer that seems to be very grounded, and very interested in meeting Bailey, when he can. Could this be Mr Right at last?

When things blossom and Amy and Bailey move in with Grant, all seems to be going swimmingly. Until Grant starts to write his new book about ghosts. It really seems to Bailey like Grant has brought some of his research home with him.

REVIEW: Rich Hawkins - King Carrion - Review #2

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Sinister Horror Company

Publication Date: 17^th Sept 2016

Pages: 132

REVIEWED BY ALEX

A copy of King Carrion was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the publishers, Sinister Horror Company in exchange for an honest review. This is said review.

Getting back into the spirit of posting multiple reviews for the same books, Confessions gives you the second review of King Carrion by Rich Hawkins.

Tonight’s review is brought to you by Alex Kimmell:

If you’re a fan of horror fiction, chances are pretty good that you’ve read at least a couple of books about vampires and zombies. You’ve seen the movies, television shows and maybe even flipped through the overabundance of comic books out there. You are familiar with the end of the world tropes where all of us humans are scraped from the face of the Earth like so many crumbs from a plate of chocolate chip cookies. As the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun, or even the moon.

However, there are a certain, special few who divert from these well-worn, shadowed paths just enough to impress new footprints in the muddy diversion of a fresh trail.

SURPRISE!! Tijuana Donkey Showdown - Cover Reveal!

Well it looks like the cat is out of the bag. I have no idea how that could possibly have happened!

I didn’t give anything away! I suspect there is a spy in the ranks somewhere intercepting my private messages. There is no other way people could have known!

I really do despair.

Anyway, now the secret is out, Mr. Adam Howe would like to tell you all about his new book, Tijuana Donkey Showdown and let you see, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, the wonderful cover. I have absolutely no idea what it is about because I have never, ever in my life heard that phrase before, honest gov!

If you have never read Adam Howe before then I can only suggest you check out my review of Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet, here, or my interview with him here, to see what he is all about.

Once you do that, then pay very close attention to the pre-order news further down the page and get yourself prepared to hit the important pages to do just that and pre-order this little gem, which promises to be another big hit.

Go Mr. Adam Howe……….