The Horror Writers Association has announced BFS President Ramsey Campbell as their first Guest of Honour for the Bram Stoker Awards Weekend 2013. The event will be held in New Orleans from 13 – 16 June 2013.

Ramsey – who is a HWA Lifetime Achievement Award winner -  will be participating in all aspects of the convention, including an in-depth interview, panel discussions, a mass signing, and presenting during the Bram Stoker Awards Banquet.

See the website HERE for further details.

BFS Members should now be receiving their copy of the Spring BFS Journal. Edited by Lou Morgan, Guy Adams and Ian Hunter, the latest edition features a brand new look.

The contents include:

FICTION:
Don’t You Like The Bird Man? – Jonathan Oliver
The Call of Chavthulu – Neil Fulwood
Jenny Khan – Rhys Hughes
Mother’s Boy – Grant Quimper
Listen – Marie O’Regan
Faerie Mails – Allen Ashley
The Fabulous Beast – Garry Kilworth

NON-FICTION:
Why YA? – Tom Pollock
Worlds Which Never Were – Sarah Pinborough & Will Hill in conversation
A Glow Born of a Different Process – a cover artist spotlight on Chris Roberts
Laying the Foundations – Simon Bestwick
A History of THE SERVANTS – Michael Marshall Smith
BFS Masterclass #2: Writing for Children – F E Higgins
Enterprising Minds – Andrew Reid
Progressive + Inclusive = Popular? – Amanda Rutter
Anne McCaffrey: A Tribute

POETRY:
Morningmares – Zoe Elizabeth Barrett
Shadow Whisper at Black Hole Hotel – Kelda Crich
Doorways – David Glen Larson
The Wheel of Whumpus – John DesPlaines

Plus regular columns from Ramsey Campbell, Mark Morris, Sophia McDougall, and a special feature from Jared Shurin, interviewing Jane Rogers.

We would love to hear what you think of the edition. You can leave feedback at our Facebook page and at the forum.

For the first time, members will also be able to download the journal as an ePub, mobi or PDF file. Members should watch their email inboxes to find out how to access their digital editions.

John Jarrold is proud to announce that the John Jarrold Literary Agency now represents all international translation rights from BFS President and Grand Master of British horror fiction, Ramsey Campbell.  The agency already represented UK and Commonwealth rights.

“I and my sub-agents will be talking to publishers around the world about Ramsey,” said John Jarrold.  “I have read his work since the sixties, and known him personally since the eighties as a fan, publisher and agent.  I am delighted to make this announcement.”

Kay McCauley continues to represent Ramsey in the US.

Gray Friar Press is delighted to announce the second instalment in its new anthology series: Terror Tales of the Cotswolds. Edited by Paul Finch, this collection of fourteen original horror tales includes spooky entries from Ramsey Campbell, Simon Clark, Reggie Oliver, Alison Littlewood, Gary McMahon, John Llewellyn Probert, Thana Niveau, Joel Lane and Gary Fry. Cover art is by Steve Upham.

This volume follows the first anthology in the series, Terror Tales of the Lake District, also edited by Paul Finch.

For further details and information on how to order see the Gray Friar website HERE

The Horror For Good charitable anthology, edited by Mark C. Scioneaux, R.J. Cavender and Robert S. Wilson, will be published by Cutting Block Press on 30 March 2012.

Appearing in the book will be stories by Jack Ketchum, F. Paul Wilson, Ramsey Campbell, Ray Garton, Lisa Morton, Jeff Strand, Shaun Hutson, Joe R. Lansdale, Laird Barron, Gary McMahon, Stephen Bacon, and many more.

This is a charitable anthology. All revenues, less direct costs for production, marketing and distribution (net profits of each purchase, estimated to be at least 10% to 15%) will be donated to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research.

15 March 2012 marks the 75th anniversary of the death of H.P. Lovecraft. BFS President Ramsey Campbell has written an article for the BBC website describing Lovecraft’s legacy – the writers whose work he has influenced and why he has such a large fanbase nowadays.

You can read the BBC article HERE

New from Shadow Publishing: The Satyr’s Head: Tales of Terror, selected by David A. Sutton
Cover art by Steve Upham

This is the first new edition of the long out of print Transworld/Corgi Book The Satyr’s Head & Other Tales of Terror, first published in 1975. With stories by Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, Joseph Payne Brennan, Eddy C. Bertin, David A. Riley, James Wade and others, this new edition will bring back into print some ten chilling tales of the supernatural and the sub-human, of ghosts and demons, strange phenomena and the inexplicable.

More information HERE

Corvus Books have published an anthology, Zombies, originally published in the US as Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard.

“Horrifying ghouls, decaying corpses, body snatchers, grave robbers and flesh-eating monsters. In this gruesome anthology of the living dead, all these and more will try to catch your eye and devour your brain.

From the macabre pens of the world’s most spine-tingling horror and fantasy writers, the grisliest, goriest, ghastliest stories from the last two centuries have been plucked from the shadows by legendary editor Otto Penzler, to form the most monstrous volume in zombie history.”

Authors include: H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R. Chetwynd-Hayes, Clive Barker, Richard Christian Matheson, Edgar Allan Poe, Joe R. Lansdale, Lisa Tuttle, Graham Masterton, Robert Bloch, Charles Birkin, Mort Castle, Kevin J. Anderson, W.B. Seabrook, Steve Rasnic Tem, F. Marion Crawford, Michael Marshall Smith, Karen Haber, David A. Riley, Guy De Maupassant, Richard Laymon, Thomas Burke, Anthony Boucher, John Knox, Theodore Sturgeon and Seabury Quinn, among others.

Details and ordering information HERE

‘The Century’s Best Horror Fiction in two hardcover volumes, edited by John Pelan.

Featuring Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Shirley Jackson, Robert Bloch, Charles Beaumont, Jack Ketchum, Gary Brandner, Dennis Etchison, Michael Bishop, Ramsey Campbell, David Schow, Joe R. Lansdale, Elizabeth Massie, Thomas Ligotti, Robert Aickman, Poppy Z. Brite, Lucy Taylor, Stephen Laws, Brian Hodge, Glen Hirshberg, Tim Lebbon, W.W. Jacobs, H.G. Wells, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, Manly Wade Wellman, Theodore Sturgeon, David A. Riley, Joel Lane, Fritz Lieber, Ian Watson and many others!

Cemetery Dance Publications commissioned a spectacular two-volume anthology project under the editorship of noted author and historian of the horror genre, John Pelan.

John selected one story published during each year of the 20th Century (1901-2000) as the most notable story of that year — all 100 stories were then collected in this amazing two volume set to be published as The Century’s Best Horror Fiction.

The ground rules were simple: Only one selection per author. Only one selection per year.

Two huge volumes, one hundred authors, one hundred classic stories, more than 700,000 words of fiction — history in the making!’

Pre-orders now being taken at the Cemetery Dance WEBSITE

GHOSTS KNOW by Ramsey Campbell. PS Publishing £19.99

Reviewed by John Howard

Being a character in a Ramsey Campbell novel is never an easy option. Good, bad, and all shades in between: they’re all in it together and it’s usually hell – or even worse. Graham Wilde in Ghosts Know is no exception. Wilde is the presenter of a radio phone-in show. He stands up for the right things, challenging the views of his callers and refusing to let them get away with sloppy thinking or inaccurate comments. But all too often Wilde seems unable to actually say the right thing, to either his listeners or his friends. His very articulateness continually lets him down, and his rage grows. It’s Down the Line going truly toxic, barely remaining on the rails (or the air).

When a teenage girl goes missing, a psychic is brought in to provide his version of help and comfort. He also gets interviewed on Wilde’s show; the two men have something of a Past. From then on Ghosts Know develops into a narrative of the blackest humour and suspense. The novel is taut and intense. Campbell’s imagery never ceases to startle and makes sure that the reader is always kept off-balance and uncertain – just enough. Questions get answered with more questions; the main characters are always on the edge, ready to fall or get pushed by the unintended consequences of words and actions.

Ghosts Know is a story of seeing and sight. There is what a psychic sees and says he sees; what is seen through the eyes of anger, suspicion, and grief; and what can only be seen when un-regarded pieces finally and laboriously come together and understanding dawns into sight. The truth that Wilde eventually confronts is messy and ambiguous, in contrast to that apparently declared through psychic revelation. And then for our sake (as well as Wilde’s) Ghosts Know doesn’t seem to end entirely in the darkness, but rather in a new light made all the more worthwhile because of what had to be endured in order to be able to see it.