Let's talk some horror literature news: Brian Keene to be awarded WHC Grand Master and Faber Finds to reprint more Aickman

BLOT: (25 Mar 2014 - 09:29:32 PM)

Let's talk some horror literature news: Brian Keene to be awarded WHC Grand Master and Faber Finds to reprint more Aickman

Let me start out by being annoyed by this:

Look, I know Humble Bundle makes most of its money off of games, but them going "Oh, confused by books being on our front page? Well, don't panic civilians!" reminds me of the time, in my bookstore days, a woman snatched her book-wanting son out of the store with the exclamation, "Come on, you don't need a book, we're about to buy you a videogame!" Ah.

But let us not dwell on the nitpicks or the sighs, and instead look towards the hurrahs and the good jobs. First up on the hurrah list is applause to Brian Keene for being the 2014 World Horror Grand Master Award winner. I first got into Keene through Earthworm Gods, which remains [probably] my favorite of his longer works (with The Cage probably being my favorite of his shorter works) and have enjoyed pretty much everything of his that I have read. I am glad to see him get recognition. Not just for the written word, but for his active contributions to helping out the horror field in general.

The second hurrah is that with it being Robert Aickman's centenary, there are a few fun releases coming out. Faber & Faber are going to release "B Format" (I believe this means what we Yanks would call trade paperbacks) editions of four collections, with new covers. And Faber Finds will be releasing The Model and The Late Breakfasters, which especially excites me because I was pretty sure I would never get a chance to get affordable copies of those books. These are on top of all the high-quality hardcover Aickman books that Tartarus Press puts out, and the awesome Reece Shearsmith narrated audiobooks [I think they are exclusive to Audible].

The only quibble I have is that both of those covers are tapping unduly into the "haunted house" genre [by way of E.C. comics], a genre Aickman not so much avoided as rewrote in weird ways. People picking them up based on the cover alone might wonder where the ghosts are.

Horror

OTHER BLOTS THIS MONTH: March 2014