New approaches to storytelling are running rampant through the jungles of Skull Island, it seems. Though the film based on artist Joe DeVito and writer Brad Strickland’s illustrated novel Kong: King of Skull Island hasn’t materialised as yet (see this article from 2009 and this from July last year for information on the film), the book has been translated into a new, very-up-to-date format, specifically designed for the iPad. An interactive app of Kong: King of Skull Island is up and running in the iTunes App store.

“It is part 1 of three in a whole new medium that I hope Kong fans everywhere will enjoy,” DeVito commented. “Right now it’s iPad only, though other versions are in the works. It’s Kong as he has never been seen or heard before!”

The Opening:

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Here DeVito talks about the app:

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Produced by Copyright 157 LLC, with production design by Colin Fuchs and Peter Coyne, project management by Kelley O’Connnor, motion graphics by Christopher Griffin, music by Nick DeGregorio and app design by Chris Coddington, the Kong: King of Skull Island iPad app is a magnificent re-imagining of the story.

With an immersive use of text scroll and intelligent reveals of the underlying artwork, it is indeed like plunging into a new kind of interactive reading and I for one found it effective and engrossing. The music, too, adds greatly to the effect.  If DeVito and Strickland’s original book was a worthy addition to the Kong mythos, the new app version expands and enhances the experience even more, taking it in yet another direction. It’s probably fair enough to call it a “groundbreaking experience”. This app doesn’t represent a mere re-design job, but a re-imagining of the way in which pictures and words can work together to tell a story. Spectacular enough here, it nevertheless offers lots of potential for future development.

The original book is out (with abbreviated art) in iBook, Kindle and Nook form as well.

Part 2 of the app, The Wall, is coming soon:

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Source: Joe DeVito via Avery Guerra. Writing and review elements by Robert Hood.

But it doesn’t end there. As announced at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con in July, the company plans on expanding the franchise into the area of prose fiction — even as a film of ZvR goes into development through Sony Pictures, with Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes as producer. Yes, there’s not only a major cinema release on the horizon but a massive anthology of stories set in the ZvR universe, edited by Jeff Conner and featuring a huge cohort of notable writers from around the world — including myself, the writer of this blog, and a bunch of other Aussies.

“It’s gratifying to see that ZvR has taken on an unlife of its own,” said Ryall, series co-creator and Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief for IDW. “Expanding from comics into prose is a logical progression, though as the heretofore sole writer of the series I must admit that letting other writers into our subversive little world was at first troubling. But now I’m fine with it. Really. Mostly. Especially since editor Jeff Conner has corralled such a talented array of writers to tackle some really bizarre and creative prose stories. As long as no one expects me to let them write ZvR comics, too…”

The list of undead authors is impressive. Apart from Ryall himself, it includes headliners John Shirley, Nancy A. Collins, Rio Youers, Brea Grant, Steve Rasnic Tem, Amber Benson, James A. Moore, Rachel Swirsky, Norman Prentiss, Mark Morris, Simon Clark and John Skipp & Cody Goodfellow — along with Dale Bailey, Amelia Beamer, Jesse Bullington, Lincoln Crisler, Stephen Dedman, Rain Graves, Rhodi Hawk, Robert Hood, Stephen Graham Jones, Nicholas Kaufmann, Steven Lockley, Nick Mamatas, Jonathan McGoran, Joe McKinney, Gary McMahon, Bobby Nash, Yvonne Navarro, Hank Schwaeble, Ekaterina Sedia, Sean Taylor, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Kaaron Warren, and Don Webb.

Editor Connor tells me that these good folk have had a gut-smashing marvelous time chronicling the wartime atrocities of the gun-toting machines and their cannibalistic enemies. For myself the experience has been the most fun I’ve had this side of the actual zombie apocalypse … hmmm, maybe I should rephrase that… Na! My story — “A Colder War” — grew into an epic tale of exploitation, betrayal and violence, set at an unexpected time in an unexpected place. No, I don’t intend to elaborate — you’ll have to grab a copy of the book when it appears to find out how domovoi get into the act.

And why on Earth wouldn’t you?

More about the film version when we hear about it.

• Source: Press release (and personal involvement). To learn more about IDW Publishing, check out their website.

With all 14 stories from the original Australian edition included (and re-edited), plus a bonus story that has a direct connection to the titular novella, you NEED to go grab a copy!

To celebrate the event, Morrigan has made a special offer to sell 50 copies direct from Morrigan Books at only $12.00 for both the book and shipping combined (though only for US delivery). Go to the Morrigan website to take up the great offer!

If you’re unfamiliar with the multi-award nominated collection of scifi/horror fantasy stories, check out this Backbrain article about the launch, which includes a lengthy interview.

For those who don’t know the book, check out the earlier Backbrain announcement of Morrigan Books’ re-print of the collection. More information can be gleaned from the Morrigan Books website and Smashwords website, from which you can buy the e-version. A Kindle-friendly e-version and a print edition available through Amazon will be announced soon.

Those who already own the Aurealis Award-nominated book in the form of the first Altair Australia edition should note that while the same stories appear in it, there has been some effective editing done (supervised by Morrigan editor Kari Wolfe and senior editor Amanda Pillar) and an additional story has been added as a bonus (one that reflects on, and takes place in the same “world” as,  the title novella). If you liked the first edition, you’ll love this one — and at US$3.95 why not pick it up again for the bonus content.

As part of the launch, I was interviewed by editor Kari Wolfe. My response to a question about the stories in Creeping in Reptile Flesh is reproduced below, but you can read the whole interview here.

What is your favorite story from this collection?  Is there one that stands out for you, the most inspired, the one that you’re most eager to share with your readers?

RH: Well, they’re all my babies and I love them all for different reasons, even when in hindsight I see the flaws. I have a great affection for ‘The Slimelight, and How to Step into It’, for example, for its bizarre and somewhat gooey humour, its origins in my experiences in amateur theatre and its rather naive romanticism — something I don’t do all that much. I love ‘Rotting Eggplant on the Bottom Shelf of a Fridge’ for its surreal extravagance, the way it creates meaning on a level beyond plot and how, in order to “get” it, readers need to grasp its oddball absurdity — in which lies, I think, the underlying nature of human existence. I love the creepiness of many of the stories, from the gross-out of ‘Heartless’ and the Cthulhan tentacle horror of ‘The Black Lake’s Fatal Flood’ to the subtle eeriness of ‘You’re A Sick Man, Mr Antwhistle’, and the unexpected menace of the last two paragraphs of ‘Getting Rid of Mother’ (which, of course, only work because of what comes before). I love the dark introversion of ‘Groundswell’, the quirky pessimism of ‘Rotten Times’ and the wistful melancholy of ‘Casual Visitors’. ‘Dreams of Death’ is classic Hitchcockian noir — a sub-genre I adore.

But the stand-out for me is the title story, ‘Creeping in Reptile Flesh’. It’s a long story and one that took me a long time to get right. I think its complexity, in terms of both plot and thematic impact, represents some of the most successful writing I’ve ever done. I don’t think it’s an easy read, not if you want to get full value out of it. It demands attention at a level we don’t always give to works within the genre, yet it has all the right ingredients: horror, suspense, humour, politics, interesting characters, startling imagery, symbolic layering — even a zombie or two — and a plot with some hopefully unexpected turns, all forming a theme that I as author find profound and compelling. It’s about Australia in a way that may not be obvious, exploring how ferality becomes an indigenous reality of its own — and it’s about the transcendent bestiality of human nature. It’s also fun. It was fun to write — and reading it now, I still find it wildly entertaining.

But maybe that’s just me.

Order a copy today — and also go to the book’s Facebook page and “Like” it. If you’ve already read the book, leave a comment. If you buy it now and read it for the first time, let me know what you think.

Above all, enjoy.

“I have agreed to produce four American Kaiju comic books for Bluewater Productions,” he reported. “These will also be released as a graphic novel upon completion.”

For those of us who have followed Tennant’s free online comics on his American Kaiju website, this news will certainly provoke howls of joy. Bluewater Productions is well-known as a producer of biopic comics, but also horror-fantasy epics, such as Tennant’s upcoming It Came From Beneath the Sea … Again graphic novel.

Want a sneak peak? Say hello to one of Tennant’s more imposing monster characters, Poseidon:

Tennant’s Bluewater American Kaiju comics will involve story ideas and characters developed by both writing collaborator Mike Bogue and Tennant himself. “The plots and characters have been updated,” he said.

“It will feature eight … that’s right, eight Kaiju characters battling it out in various and sundry parts of the Globe. I’ve already introduced you to Poseidon [pictured above], and some of my website readers may remember Gigante, Aligon … and oh yeah, a large Megalanian-mutation named King Komodo will be there in the mix as well. KK’s former sparring partner Snow (to be renamed by the news media as King Yeti) will also be making a return visit. There will be three new kaiju rounding out the action, along with some other surprises.”

Tennant gave Undead Backbrain this exclusive teaser:

Check out the American Kaiju site to expose yourself to some great Kaiju action. You can even read the 78 pages of Tennant’s unofficial graphic-novel rendition of the rejected Ted Elliott/Terry Rossio 1994 Godzilla screenplay — the one they dumped in favour of Roland Emmerich’s less-than-Godzilla-ish 1998 blockbuster. It’s wonderful stuff!

Source: Todd Tennant. Written by Robert Hood.

Editor Anthony Ferguson has compiled an outstanding collection of Australian stories that feature evil dolls and artificial humans. It includes my story “Regolith”, which was initially published in the excellent anthology Agog! Smashing Stories, edited by Cat Sparks back in 2004. That anthology is well-nigh impossible to get now, but the story remains a particular favourite of mine. I’m excited that it’s getting a second life in this particular context.

Devil Dolls and Duplicates in Australian Horror
Edited by Anthony Ferguson (Equilibrium Books, 2011)

Synopsis/Blurb:

Since time immemorial, men have dreamed of creating beings in their own image, and for almost as long they have endured nightmare visions of being overthrown by the beings they create.

Dolls and effigies have always been a staple in the horror fiction genre, for what could be more frightening than seeing that which is inanimate move of its own volition, or hearing words emanate from fleshless lips while staring into glassy, lifeless eyes?

Presented here for the first time are the collected ruminations on the theme of dolls and duplicates by some of the biggest names in Australian horror and science fiction. There are tales on reanimated corpses, beautiful gynoids, alien impostors, clones, golems, doppelgangers, and of course, dolls – effigies that exist to serve and protect, and others that want to mess with your head in the worst possible way.

Contents List:

• Marcus Clarke, “Human Repetends”
• Wynne Whiteford, “Automaton”
• Van Ikin, “And Eve Was Drawn from the Rib of Adam”
• Michael Wilding, “This is for You”
• Stephen Dedman, “A Single Shadow”
• Jason Franks, “The Third Sigil”
• Jay Caselberg, “Porcelain”
• Sean Williams, “The Girl Thing”
• Chuck McKenzie, “Confessions of a Pod Person”
• Lee Battersby, “The Divergence Tree”
• Rick Kennett, Excerpt from “In Quinn’s Paddock”
• Lucy Sussex, “La Sentinelle”
• Jason Nahrung, “Spare Parts”
• Robert Hood, “Regolith”
• Kaaron Warren, “Doll Money”
• Andrew J. McKiernan, “Calliope: A Steam Romance”
• Tracie McBride, “Last Chance to See”
• Martin Livings, “Blessed are the Dead that the Rain Falls Upon”
• B. Michael Radburn, “The Guardian”
• Daniel I. Russell, “Tricks, Mischief and Mayhem”
• Christopher Elston, “Hugo: Man of a Thousand Faces”

To order a copy of the book, go to the Equilibrium site.

For the record, the full list of shortlisted horror stories are:

• “Take the Free Tour”, Bob Franklin, Under Stones, Affirm Press
• “Her Gallant Needs”, Paul Haines, Sprawl, Twelfth Planet Press
• “The Fear”, Richard Harland, Macabre: A Journey Through Australia’s Darkest Fears, Brimstone Press
• “Wasting Matilda”, Robert Hood, Zombie Apocalypse!, Constable & Robinson Ltd
• “Lollo”, Martin Livings, Close Encounters of the Urban Kind, Apex Publishing.

The shortlists for all the categories are available here.

For more information on the Aurealis Awards, sponsored this year by HarperVoyager — and to buy your tickets for the gala event, to be held in Sydney (the Independent Theatre, North Sydney) on 21 May — go to the AA website. Bookings are now open.

Writing “Wasting Matilda” was quite a challenge as editor Stephen Jones’ brief for the volume, while open, was rather demanding, in my case requiring a story told through HF radio transmissions — tricky when you want to ensure that it has believable dramatic immediacy. As well as fitting into a sketchy but well-thought-out over-arching back-story, the story had to fulfil certain other criteria, some easier to realise than others.  Yet it proved to be a lot of fun to write, once I found a way of dealing with the logistics, and once I settled upon some enjoyable characters (members of the Royal Flying Doctor Service), an exciting situation (zombie refugees?) and a suitable location — or, as it happened, two locations. Though the story begins in the air and at sea off the east coast of Australia it mostly takes place in a small Australian country town, Gulargambone — a real place and one I eventually felt very familiar with even though I’ve never been there. The internet — and in particular Google Maps — certainly helped in that regard. I walked the streets of Gulargambone on my desktop and then killed off the entire population, turning most of them into zombies. I hope they didn’t mind.

The final anthology — though “anthology” is an inadequate word to describe this particular novelistic collection of interrelated stories — turned out to be a great pleasure to read, cleverly molded into a relatively consistent narrative by Jones and his chosen authors. These were an exciting bunch to share the book with. I’m in there with the likes of Michael Marshall Smith, Pat Cadigan, Kim Newman, Tanith Lee, Paul McAuley, Christopher Fowler, Paul Finch and many others. Reviews have ranged from cautiously positive through to wildly enthusiastic. The developing story of the zombie apocalypse is told via assorted documents, from diary entries, blogs and official reports, through to transcriptions of radio programs and other transmissions, Tweets, letters, film scripts … you name it. These are all formatted appropriately, sometimes complete with blood stains. The result could have been fractured and alienating, but instead it works brilliantly — and is often both poignant and terrifying in its impact, with engaging characters that are right there on the firing line. I heartily recommend that you check it out.

Zombie Apocalypse! is available from Amazon UK, Amazon US and other online sellers if you can’t find it in your local book store.

Frankenstein: Lost Souls

ISBN 978-0-00-735384-2
Reviewed by Robert Hood

Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein series began life as a treatment for a TV series. When best-selling horror author Koontz withdrew, citing creative differences, he took the concept with him, and turned it into a series of novels — the first two, Prodigal Son and City of Night, co-written with Kevin J. Anderson and Ed Gorman respectively. The third, Dead and Alive, and the most recent, Lost Souls, saw Koontz taking over the reins solo.

Conceptually the series develops and extends Mary Shelley’s original novel into the present, displaying considerable original invention while incorporating into the framework ideas reminiscent (to an extent) of those that Hammer Studios introduced into their six Frankenstein films between 1957 and 1974 — in particular, in Lost Souls, the concept that Victor Frankenstein might become his own creation. As in the Hammer films, Koontz’s Victor Frankenstein is the monster, whose arrogant, sociopathic thirst for godhood results in escalating apocalyptic horror — for such is Victor’s evolving scientific genius that he has succeeded in extending his own life indefinitely and seeks to perfect humanity, eventually replacing the flawed variety that currently inhabits the world — the Old Race — with his own “perfect” creatures.

After two hundred years — during which time he has re-enforced his old-style research into artificial life with modern genetic advances and from that base created virtual supermen in the form of bio-androids that he controls through flesh-based cybernetics — who is there to stop him? Well, for a start there are two detectives, Carson O’Connor and her partner Michael Maddison, who in the earlier books thwart, with help, the plans of Victor Helios (as Frankenstein now calls himself). By Book 4 they have married, had a child, left the force and become private detectives — content in the knowledge that Victor is dead. Of even greater importance is the creature known as Deucalion — Frankenstein’s original creation, who is still, perhaps, his greatest success, despite the monstrous nature of his appearance.

Where Frankenstein’s actions have become increasingly monstrous over the years, Deucalion (named after the son of Prometheus — Mary Shelley’s novel being subtitled “A Modern Prometheus”) has found a form of peace and has embraced his own supra-humanity without rejecting ordinary humans in the process. Totally free of his creator’s controlling influence (unlike Victor’s newest creations), Deucalion still seeks redemption for the monstrous violence of his past and focuses now on ridding the world of Frankenstein and his evil legacy. He is highly intelligent, determined, physically strong and so in tune with himself and the life-currents of the world that he is able to move instantaneously through quantum space. Deucalion is a true superman, in fact — and a hero to boot. Like all the best superheroes, he is conflicted and troubled by the past but honorable and self-sacrificial nevertheless.

In Lost Souls O’Connor, Maddison and Deucalion learn that Victor may be dead (they saw him die in the previous book) but that somehow a new plan to rid the world of the Old Race has been set in motion in a small town in Montana. Except to say that it involves some rather horrific and grisly concepts, I won’t describe how that can be, or explain the nature of the new apocalypse, as these elements are really all that the novel offers readers. Neither are big revelations (you’ll guess them well before they arrive) but at least they’re something. Sadly, no one will confuse Lost Souls with an effective stand-alone novel. Plot-wise, the 350-page book is really just set-up for what is to come in the next volume of the saga (The Dead Town, due out in 2011) — and this is its biggest flaw.

Now I’m aware that the novel is part of a series — more one episode of a serial in fact — and hence isn’t by definition complete, but these days one would expect that such a series would at least emulate current TV serial narrative structures and within the boundaries of each installment provide a climactic development that leaves the reader both satisfied and hungry to find out What It All Means and Where It Goes Next. The early books did this, offering a contained narrative sequence within the context of a larger arc — like a good episode of Buffy, where our protagonists deal with a minor Bad that in various ways progresses our journey toward the Big Bad at season’s end. Here, Lost Souls simply stops on page 350, offering some character resolve but no resolution, not even a minor climax. It is all set-up, quite literally ending just before the action to which it has been heading is about to start. You turn the page to find an ad for the next book, but are left dissatisfied with this book’s own narrative logic. Yes, it’s Part One of a two-part novel — though this is stated nowhere on the book.

That’s not to say that Koontz doesn’t offer interesting characters and situations along the way. He does, leaping frantically from one set of characters to another and gradually creating a quite complex picture of a fascinatingly horrific situation — bringing characters into place, putting the pieces on the board as it were. But the book, as a single entity, offers no sense of having even a minor identity of its own.

Here Koontz’s usual bestseller style is rather distended as well — too often stylistically confusing blandness for clarity. His skill at dialogue — particularly a type of folksy banter that helps both explain and endear the characters to us — carries on for too long, becoming space filler rather than driving the narrative or sculpting the characters for us. We get the point and then he shows it to us again and again. The whole thing — for all the inherent interest of its ideas, conceptual development and characters — seems like filler and speed-dial filler at that. Once upon a time this book, as part of a serial tale (like a series of pulp books featuring Frankenstein’s monster and his adventures I recall from the 1960s), would have been 200 pages long (or less) and would have done similar things. It would probably have offered a minor climax as well. Had Lost Souls been 200 pages long, with a more structured narrative, it would have been a more satisfying book in its own right — and a more telling link in the serial chain.

However, if Koontz’s imaginative development of the Frankenstein story and the other elements that I’ve described appeal to you, or if you’re a Frankenstein or Koontz c0mpletist, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend that you go fetch the previous books and read them. I enjoyed them thoroughly and admire the author’s invention. Lost Souls by itself mightn’t win you to the cause, but by the time you get to it, Book 5 may have been released and you can simply keep reading through, ignoring the anti-climactic, rambling inadequacy of this one.

• This review first appeared on the horror news and review site Horrorscope.

This third volume includes what amounts to a zombie tale set in the future — but not zombies of the cannibal apocalypse ilk. This one is a pseudo-scientific, technologically-driven offshoot of Haitian-style reanimation of the dead (or at least the mythic aspects of it), called “Behind Dark Blue Eyes” (and yes, for anyone familiar with The Who’s opus, that is a reference to one of the band’s quieter, more poignant songs). The story takes place in the context of Australian national politics. Is that exotic enough?

Here’s how it begins:

Like the rest of the press gallery I hadn’t been taking much notice of the Prime Minister’s address. It had been a long hot February sitting in Canberra, and we still hadn’t seen the introduction of the much-anticipated Corporate Representation Bill.

This was the bill, which, if passed through both Houses, would institutionalize big-business suffrage, finally giving corporations the right to purchase citizens’ votes put up for auction. That’s what we were there for, day after day. But in his usual manner, Titus Mulholland was keeping us waiting.

He’d always been a relentless speaker, equally at home with incisive political comment and prolix ranting. In either mode he was unstoppable, a demagogue who wouldn’t pause in the middle of a speech even if Parliament House were burning down. So when, right in the thick of some economic mudslinging, Mulholland shut up and looked blank, we all snapped to attention. ‘What’s the matter with the old bastard?’ Grace Everly from the Telegraph said to me. I shrugged. There was an odd expression on his face — not pre-occupation, not temporary unconsciousness, but sheer deadness. I’d have proclaimed him deceased there and then, except he hadn’t fallen over.

‘You think he’s had a stroke?’ I suggested.

‘Can strokes hit you like that?’ Grace said.

‘Like what?’

‘Like his puppetmaster got distracted and dropped the strings.’

After a moment or two, Mulholland snapped out of it and continued his speech to its end. No fuss, just a continuation. Within a few hours a press release from his Parliamentary Secretary appeared, denying the existence of any mental or physical problems. It stated that the PM had simply paused to consider important matters. Working an idea through, that’s all. I for one didn’t believe it. During his curious hiatus, Mulholland’s mind hadn’t been working through anything. It had been completely, and coldly, inoperative.

I was chuffed, I admit, when I heard from the editor that “Behind Dark Blue Eyes” was a favourite of both his and the publishers and would open the anthology. It’s these simple things that make writers happy.

While I haven’t read the rest of the book yet, it’s patently a great line-up, with (on my estimation) four or five top Australian writers included. Seeing Stephen Volk’s name there sent anticipatory chills up my spine, too. Volk is responsible for two of my all-time favourite TV shows: the one-off, pseudo-documentary Ghostwatch (1992) and the brilliant — and by far most dramatically convincing and horrific paranormal “medium” series ever — Afterlife (2005/6). He also wrote the screenplay of Gothic, Ken Russell’s bizarre take on the origins of Mary Shelley’s most famous tale.

Contents

Oceania and Australasia

• ‘Behind Dark Blue Eyes’ by Robert Hood
• ‘Sanguma’ by Lucy Taylor
• ‘The Gaze Dogs of Nine Waterfall’ by Kaaron Warren

Asia

• ‘Bruhita’ by Dean Francis Alfar
• ‘Two Steps Along the Road’ by Terry Dowling
• ‘The Suicide Wood’ by Steve Duffy
• ‘Keramat’ by Tunku Halim
• ‘Extended Family’ by Tina Rath
• ‘From the Lips of Lazarus’ by Stephen Volk
• ‘Mine’ by Simon Clark
• ‘Mami Wata’ by Simon Kurt Unsworth

Europe

• ‘The Stranger’ by Isobelle Carmody
• ‘The Orange & Lemon Café’ by Dejana Dimitrijevic
• ‘Profanities’ by Paul Finch
• ‘To Forget and Be Forgotten’ by Adam L. G. Nevill
• ‘Meeting with Mike’ by Reggie Oliver
• From Paper Theater by Milorad Pavic
• ‘Citizen Komarova Finds Love’ by Ekaterina Sedia
• From Amarcord by Zoran Zivkovic

North America

• From Freak House by James Cortese
• ‘The Dismal Mirror’ by Brian Evenson
• ‘The Haunted House in Etobicoke’ by Barbara Roden
• From Deadfall Hotel by Steve Rasnic Tem

You can order the book direct from the publisher, or through booksellers.

“Don’t do it, Stefan. Please. Just let me go!”

“Go if you want. It’s not up to me.”

“Don’t do this, you stupid bastard!”

“Go! I won’t stop you. But you’ll be back eventually. I know you’ll be back.”

“Fuck you!”

As the door slammed shut, Merrin was still screaming at him.

Her cursing had defined Merrin in the end ― and had reconciled Stefan Clemens to her departure. What was the point in agonising about it? If all she could do during his time of need was swear at him, what sort of relationship had they had anyway?

His fingertips dragged through the condensation on the window, leaving a column of parallel lines that sliced through the reflection of a gaunt, desperate-looking man. The man might have been in his late 40s, though in fact he was only 36. Stefan stared past the lines and the man, out into a darkened street where the rear lights of Merrin’s car were lost in the gloom, swallowed whole and in an instant.

This is the opening of my story, “Ego”, which was written for the Morrigan Press anthology Scenes From the Second Storey (Australian edition — edited by Amanda Pillar and Pete Kempshall). The story — inspired by a song from The God Machine’s album of the same name — is about a man with some serious relationship problems, problems exacerbated by an egotism so profound that he can’t let anything go. It’s a nasty story, and though the anthology isn’t specifically a horror one, it’s in good company.

Contents

Dream Machine | David Conyers
She Said | Kirstyn McDermott
The Blind Man | Felicity Dowker
I’ve Seen The Man | Paul Haines
The Desert Song | Andrew McKiernan
Home | Martin Livings
It’s All Over | L.J. Hayward
Temptation | Trent Jamieson
Out | Stephen Dedman
Ego | Robert Hood
Seven | Stephanie Campisi
Purity | Kaaron Warren
The Piano Song | Cat Sparks

All the stories in the anthology were inspired by a track from The God Machine’s album Scenes From the Second Storey, which is a favourite of Morrigan Press editor-in-chief Mark S. Deniz. As the publisher’s website announces:

Quirky, dark, insightful and sometimes downright disturbing, these tales reflect the emotions and images our authors experienced when they heard ‘their’ song from Scenes from the Second Storey.

The excellent cover is by Reece Notley, and the book becomes available in September 2010.

Read more about it here.