From right to left there you have: David Bradley (editor of SFX), Joe Abercrombie, Justina Robson, Richard Morgan, Chris Wooding, me and Tom Lloyd. And just out of shot on either side of us (you can see a foot from each one) were two huge dogs from Ghostbusters. Nice!

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Back from the SFX Weekender…

Not got Sky or Virgin? Did you know that you can watch a stack of UK TV channels via www.tvcatchup.com? And Zone Horror just so happens to be available…

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The AUTUMN movie – another 2 UK TV showings

If you’re in the UK and you have 50 minutes to spare, can I ask you to consider watching ‘My Child Won’t Speak‘, a documentary which aired last night on BBC1. You can watch it on the BBC iPlayer here.

Selective Mutism (SM) is a strange, often bewildering condition which can have dramatic, long-term and very damaging effects on both the child who suffers from SM and their families. It’s thought to affect around 6 in every 1000 children. Put most simply, it’s an anxiety – it could even be described as a fear or a phobia – of talking in certain situations. A child who is affected may talk freely and normally to the members of their immediate family at home but if they are anywhere else or with anyone else, they probably won’t speak. Not a single word. At a very early age, SM can be little more than an inconvenience and a frustration. But, as the child grows and has to take an increasingly active role in society, their inability to communicate can become more and more of an issue and it can have devastating consequences.

Children who suffer from SM can often be ignored and excluded or written off as being difficult.People who don’t know about SM or who don’t understand the condition might try and force them to speak, or occasionally threaten to punish them if they don’t communicate. Sometimes, SM children are overlooked and undervalued because they’re not disruptive – put simply, they’re quiet and they don’t cause any real problems, so they’re prone to be forgotten about.

The causes of SM vary from child to child, and with the right support and therapies, children often learn to overcome their anxieties and talk in public before the age of 10.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because it’s something that really matters to me. It’s a subject very close to my heart. My youngest daughter stopped speaking when she was 3, and she’s only just reached the stage where she’s finally able to talk to her teachers and other people outside of the immediate family. She’s 9 and a half. More than 6 years of silence.

My daughter was incredibly fortunate. As a family we received a huge amount of support and help, particularly from her school. But we’ve heard about many other children who haven’t been so lucky. So I hope you don’t mind me using this outlet to try and raise awareness of Selective Mutism. Please watch the TV programme if you can and, if you want more information, contact SMIRA – the Selective Mutism Information & Research Association (www.selectivemutism.co.uk).

If you or anyone close to you has been affected by SM and you’d like to talk about your experiences, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Thanks for your time.

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Selective Mutism

Now, in an extremely cool move, Ian Berriman from SFX has posted my ramblings in full on the SFX website, and you can read the piece here.

This in no way excuses you from buying the SFX special, by the way. Not only is it chock full of horror goodness, it also comes with some excellent free gifts. I now have a ‘Slaughtered Lamb’ beer mat which, as An American Werewolf in London has always been one of my favourite films, has pride of place on my desk!

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Horror’s hidden treasures

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SFX Collection: Horror

I’ve been made aware of a couple of awards that HATER has been nominated for. Firstly, RAGE, the French edition of the book, is up for the prestigious Masterton award, and you can read more about it here on the Milady blog.

Secondly, HATER has been nominated in the Best Zombie Book (Fiction) category of the Mail Order Zombie Dead Letter Awards (it’s not technically a zombie novel, I know, but hey…!). Please click here to vote and pick your favourite zombie books and films of the last 12 months.

In similar news, Mihai, owner of the very popular Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews blog, listed HATER as number three in his top ten books of 2009. Mihai also listed Danny McCoyne as his favourite male character of last year! Cheers Mihai.

And finally, I was really pleased to hear that the audiobook of HATER recently won an ‘earphones award’ from AudioFile Magazine. For those of you who enjoyed the audiobook (you can download it from Audible and iTunes amongst others if you haven’t yet heard it), you’ll be pleased to hear that DOG BLOOD will also be released as an audiobook by Blackstone Audio on 8th June.

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Nominations for HATER

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SFX Weekender

Before you hit me with another thousand emails about the re-release of the Autumn books in English, here’s a little teaser for you. Book one, as you may know, will be released in September this year. The rest of the books, including the long-awaited debut of Autumn: Disintegration will follow VERY soon after. I’ll let you know exact dates as soon as they’re confirmed.

And by the way, if you were planning on picking up one of the spare copies of the Infected Books edition of Autumn I’ve been selling, you’d better get in quick. There are just a handful left. You can get them over at www.infectedbooks.co.uk.

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Septiembre Zombie

Down to business…

There’s lots going on here, and I’m trying to take advantage of the UK’s coldest winter and heaviest snowfall for 30 years to try and catch up. I’ve got a lot of book, film and other news to share, but my first priority for 2010 is to tidy up this website and give it a lick of paint. Over the next few days, therefore, you might find the site breaks or goes down for a while. Please bear with me.

If you’re in the UK, you can pass the time by watching the AUTUMN movie on Zone Horror. It’s showing again on Tuesday 12th January at 12:50am.

I also just wanted to mention that my sale of signed books is coming to an end over at www.infectedbooks.co.uk. I now have the last few copies of the Infected Books edition of AUTUMN to hand but please get in quick if you want one as they’re disappearing fast. I’ll be announcing the winner of the competition I mentioned here next week.

That’s all for now. Check back next week for more! Don’t forget, to be notified when I update, you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Goodreads, MySpace, Friendfeed and probably a few other places I’ve forgotten.

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A very belated Happy New Year!

I also wanted to thank everyone – particularly those of you who’ve followed my writing for some time and who’ve been incredibly patient – for your support throughout 2009. It was a landmark year for me as I finally made the switch from independent to traditional publishing. I know it’s been a long time since I actually gave you anything new to read, but all that will change in 2010. As well as DOG BLOOD, the re-release of the first AUTUMN book, and the US and UK release of the AUTUMN movie on DVD, there will be plenty more to announce next year… release dates for the rest of the AUTUMN series (sooner than you might think), news about the HATER film, free HATER fiction and much more coming very, very soon!

Enjoy the holidays. Have a great time. See you back here in 2010!

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Happy Holidays