an ending that makes it worth the time it took to get there. Do that, and we’ll let the critics worry about what to label it later, after it’s been published. There is a lot of debate at the moment about ebooks and the future of publishing. How do you see it all panning out? Ebooks clearly are the future of publishing. Print publishing and distribution is hellishly expensive and wasteful, and while I’m certain printed books will never vanish entirely, I’m equally certain they’re on their way back to being what they were a century or more ago: luxury items, made in small batches, for those few affluent enough to afford to buy and keep them. But as for the rest of the future of publishing; look at your kids and their friends. They are practically surgically attached to their cell phones, and perfectly comfortable with reading content on pocket-sized touch screens. In a few more years, they will be thinking of books as more like retro decor objects than sources of information. For authors, or as they should be thinking of themselves, content developers - there is a wonderful window of opportunity that’s open right now. I pulled the plug on past ebook projects because I decided the existing technologies, at those times, were not ready. But within the last year or so, e-reader technology has really finally arrived. Right now, it’s an exciting time to be a writer! Cyberpunk FREE download as it appeared in Amazing Stories magazine:
originally
http://www.brucebethke.com/articles/cyberpnk.pdf Bruce Bethke: http://www.brucebethke.com/index.html Stupefying Stories: http://www.rampantloon.com/ HOUSE OF FEAR Edited By Jonathan Oliver www.solarisbooks.com Haunted house stories are a staple of horror, so it’s nice that this anthology brings together many established names to provide a set of haunted house stories that truly accomplish their aim: to scare you silly. Despite the seemingly limited theme, there are a wide range of stories in here; this is certainly
not a basic haunted house collection. This is an exceptional collection of ghostly house stories. Featuring fiction from the likes of Gary McMahon, Joe R, Lansdale, Adam Nevill, Christopher Fowler, Nicholas Royle, Garry Kilworth and many more, it’s too difficult to pick a favourite. All the stories stand out for their originality. Bringing a fresh and unique view to a sometimes tired horror staple, Oliver’s book will no doubt ignite a resurgence of spooky house stories. By Adrian Brady DOUBLE DEAD By Chuck Wendig www.abaddonbooks.com Abaddon Books’ Tomes of the Dead series is a remarkably diverse collection of undead novels, and this is another good book to add to the series. Not great, but definitely good. Coburn is a vampire, who wakes up after a zombie apocalypse, finding himself bereft of food (humans), and surrounded by zombies willing to eat his undead flesh. When he stumbles on a group of humans he is persuaded to become their shepherd, protecting them in exchange for them leading him to blood. What follows is an adventure across a zombie-filled America of Cannibals and religious fanatics. Ok, so none of this is going to win any prizes for originality, we’ve seen it all before, but it’s brought together very well, and Wendig, for the most part, tells a good story. There are the inevitable first novel blunders, the plot feels organic, growing out of the situations the characters get themselves stuck in, rather than running with the finesse of a well-plotted novel. There are also a few strange coincidental mentions of certain things just before they become relevant, which an editor really should have smoothed out too. The characters are pretty bog-standard zombie fair, Coburn the vampire is a typical vampire with a heart, but at least is given a semblance of conflict about it. All in all this is good fun, enough action, decent enough characters, and a good idea, with some really exciting moments. Shows a great deal of promise, and is perfectly good fun for the undemanding reader. Just don’t expect too much. By Stanley Riiks