What are you currently reading..?

[David A. Riley]

"David... do you have news on your collection by the way?"

No definite date yet, Martin, as John Pelan has been having a few problems since moving from Seattle to New Mexico (which is one hell of a trek!), but hopefully Midnight House will be bringing it out in the not too distant future. I am learning patience.

David

[AdrianF]

I've started off with The Graveyard Book. Neil Gaiman writes so well.

That whole bit at the beginning about the knife being wet has me gushing with envy every time.  Until this book, whilst I've enjoyed Gaiman's work, I've always felt he wasn't writing to his full potential.  Of course, that doesn't mean his previous works weren't brilliant.

[Peter Coleborn]

Christopher Barzak's latest novel: The Love We Share Without Knowing (yeah, the title does seem a bit clunky). Also check out his debut: One For Sorrow.

John Grant's The City In These Pages. Joel Lane's The Witnesses Are Gone.

And just received a lovely edition of Fletcher Pratt's and L Sprague de Camp's fantasies.

[Rolnikov]

Finished The Graveyard Book - good, but not I think a major work (compared to other things he's done), and the story is pretty much the Harry Potter series done-in-one. My vote's definitely still up in the air.

Next up: Graham Joyce's Memoirs of a Master Forger. Have to admit I'm finding this hard work so far, but that may be because I was trying to watch it while a Rob Schneider movie was playing in the background! The demon stuff seems a bit intrusive in these early pages, like a bit of Piers Anthony being ladled into a much better book.

[Rolnikov]

Finished Memoirs of a Master Forger - not bad, but the fantasy stuff seemed like just a bit of icing to make an everyday novel about a middle-aged guy falling for a younger woman more interesting. There were some quite bad mistakes in it, to the point where I started to wonder if they were some kind of metatextual element that would lead to a flourish at the end...

Now I've started The Midnight Man by Simon Clark. So far seems like Anno Dracula with Vincent Van Gogh instead of literary characters. It's not one I'd have picked up to read if it wasn't on the BFA list.

[Andrew Hook]

Finished "The Beloved of My Beloved" by Ian Watson and Roberto Quaglia. An entertaining ideas filled ride through some sparky surrealism and extreme sexual practices, this was never less than fun even if sometimes the weight of ideas hung heavy on some of the stories.

Currently reading "Wild Ducks Flying Backwards" by Tom Robbins. One of my favourite authors, this is a collection of articles, musings, poetry, and a handful of stories. Probably for completists only.

[Rolnikov]

I wasn't really getting into The Midnight Man, so I've put it to one side for a minute to read The Victoria Vanishes. I've read about 100pp so far and though I'm thoroughly enjoying it, it doesn't seems to be fantasy at all...

I also read five of the BFA short story nominees over the weekend (the two from Black Static, the two from the Second Humdrumming Book and Allyson's The Birth Caul). They were all interesting, but there's not a lot to choose between them.

[Rolnikov]

I finished The Victoria Vanishes - an extremely enjoyable page-turner. Not at all a fantasy novel, but I suppose August Derleth wouldn't have had any complaints about mystery novels competing for a prize with his name on.

I'm reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman now while interviewing the author for the BFS website. Think Harry Potter with swearing, speed and blowjobs.

I also received a review copy of The Postmodern Mariner this week and couldn't resist reading the first couple of stories as soon as it arrived. Absolutely loved them.

[Peter Coleborn]

Stephen -- who does all the cooking, entertaining the kids, ironing, etc, in your household while you are reading all these books?
 

[Martin Roberts]

I asked him a very similar question a few months back Peter

I've completed Gary McMahon's Rain Dogs, which I was very impressed for a debut novel... its a shame that its hard to snag a copy of this book now.

And I've currently got one final story in We Fade to Grey to go... at present Simon Bestwick's tale The Narrows is the strongest here, an extremely bleak and claustrophobic post-apocalyptic tale.

Overall a very solid collection, which should also appeal to those who don't normally read 'horror'.

Not quite sure what I'll choose next from the BFA short list.

[Rolnikov]

Stephen -- who does all the cooking, entertaining the kids, ironing, etc, in your household while you are reading all these books?
 

Ranj sleeps 9 hours a night, I sleep 7 - leaves me two hours a day for xboxing or reading!

[Wayne Mook]

The Legend of Hell House by Richard Matheson. The film is very faithful, but as always the book gives more insight. I've also got the comic, so I thought it was about time I read the novel.

Wayne.

[Rolnikov]

I gave The Midnight Man another try and got on with it much better this time. It's an interesting gaslight thriller, but... not a fantasy novel in the slightest. Bit of a stretch to even call it horror (though that's how the publisher has categorised it on the copyright page).

It's very weird that two (arguably three) of the nominees for the British Fantasy Award for best novel aren't fantasy novels. Bit of a relief to start Rain Dogs and have someone casting spells in the first few pages!

[Rolnikov]

Finished Rain Dogs by Gary McMahon. For the first half it felt like reading a first draft - there were a lot of wasted words, things like "for the marriage they'd shared which had been doomed from the outset" or (later in the book) "She filled the kettle with water from the cold tap". But it was much better in the second half, once things really kicked off. The Rain Dogs themselves were a superb and terrifying creation. It's very easy to imagine an excellent film being made of the book.

Just a few days now to read Ramsey's Thieving Fear - actually the first of his novels I'll have read.

[joshua rainbird]

Legionary: the Roman soldiers' unofficial manual by Philip Matyszak which makes an interesting interlude between other stuff.