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Nothing ever stands still in this world of ever-changing reality – so believes George Rr Martin, the author with the biggest recorded case of writer’s block in history. Be it a certain period’s nostalgia, culture, people, or parties, Martin has noticed a certain shift in the mood and tenor in his surroundings that never let him feel truly settled.

George Rr Martin at the 43rd Annual TusCon in Tucson, Arizona [Photo by Gage Skidmore, licensed under Cc By-sa 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons]

Since the late 1960s, George Rr Martin’s constant search for recognition through his works of imaginative creativity has kept the author occupied and hungry with ambition. After winning two Hugo awards and being a renowned name in the sci-fi world, he transitioned into the world of television after being invited to write a script for The Twilight Zone revival in 1985.

A decade later, A Game of Thrones was published...

Steve Rasnic Tem follows 2011’s magnificent Deadfall Hotel (Centipede Press and Solaris) and a recent string of short fiction collections, Ugly Behavior (New Pulp Press), Onion Songs (Chomu Press), and Celestial Inventories (ChiZine), with his latest novel, Blood Kin (Solaris). Blood Kin is an Appalachian Gothic in the vein of Cormac McCarthy’s Outer Dark or the stories of Manly Wade Wellman. The story alternates between Depression-era and contemporary Virginia, following Sadie Gibson and her grandson, Michael, respectively. The Gibsons are different than those around them, they feel things, know things. Michael is at a crossroads in his life, not sure where to go or what to do, when he returns to the hills where he was raised to care for his aging grandmother. Sadie has a story to tell him so that he can understand what’s in the iron-bound crate beneath the kudzu vine and how she put it there before it escapes.

In less than a week is Labor Day, traditionally the end of summer for many Americans, though the official end is not until Sept. 22nd, the date of the autumnal equinox. Time for fun in the sun is drawing to a close. I’d like to recommend some horror stories and nightmarish novels to give you some chills for the few hot days left in 2010.

Let’s start with some downloadable stories in audio form, and begin with some of the classics. These are all free (they’re in the public domain), and will remind you of some of the greatest monster movies ever made.

The first is “The Picture in the House”, a story by the influential horror author H. P. Lovecraft. With themes of cannibalism and insanity, it reminds me of Hannibal Lecter of Silence of the Lambs, of the mad clan in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and...

Director: Darin Read.

Writers: Darin Read, Danielle Stallings, and Manly Wade Wellman.

Up Under the Roof is a Dread Films Ltd. production of twenty-one minutes, which incorporates a ghost story in to the imagination of a lonely young boy. The film has been on the film festival circuit for two years now with stops at the Newport Beach Film Festival and the Dances with Films Film Festival in 2010. Up Under the Roof will make another stop at the Waterfront Film Festival June 13th and centrally this short period piece is about facing one's fears, whether you are ten years old or an adult, in a short time frame, while showing the positivity of dreams.

The film takes place on a "depression-era farm" in the 1920's where there has been no rain for "one hundred and seven days" (Up Under the Roof). With very little farming to take part in, a...

New from Centipede Press, Conversations with the Weird Tales Circle is a massive, oversize, celebration of the lives of H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long, Seabury Quinn, E. Hoffmann Price, Henry Kuttner, C.L. Moore, Lee Brown Coye, Hannes Bok, August Derleth, Edmond Hamilton, Manly Wade Wellman, Fritz Leiber, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Donald Wandrei, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, and many others.

Each writer has their own section in the book, complete with a custom drawing of the author by noted artist Alex McVey. 

The sections contain letters and essays by the writers, with many interviews and memoirs about the writers, often by other writers from the Circle.

With dozens of color and black & white photographs, and many of the articles never before reprinted (several coming from 1930s and 1940s fanzines that are now very difficult to find), this is an important and illuminating look at a...

Good news Centipede Press supporters! There are limited copies of Conversations with the Weird Tales Circle now available with the majority being released in late November and early December.

This book is a triumph of design! One of our lead titles for the Fall 2009 season, Conversations with the Weird Tales Circle is a massive celebration of the lives of H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long, Seabury Quinn, E. Hoffmann Price, Henry Kuttner, C.L. Moore, Lee Brown Coye, Hannes Bok, August Derleth, Edmond Hamilton, Manly Wade Wellman, Fritz Leiber, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Donald Wandrei, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, and many others.

Each writer has their own section in the book, complete with a custom drawing of the author by noted artist Alex McVey.  The sections contain letters and essays by the writers, with interviews and memoirs by other writers from the Circle. With dozens of color and black & white photographs,...