Something Wicked This Way Comes... Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu

Today is possibly* William Shakespeare's birthday but it is most definitely his deathday.

As is traditional at this time of year, I like to remind people that you can read an alternative take on Shakespeare's life, work, and even death, in Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu, an anthology of stories inspired by the Bard and the literary endeavours of H. P. Lovecraft.

Featuring stories by the likes of Adrian Tchaikovsky, Graham McNeill, James Lovegrove, Jan Siegel, Andrew Lane, Jonathan Oliver, and John Reppion, if you've not already picked up a copy, do so today and treat yourself to what one reviewer called "a fun concept, that delivered on its premise."

And if you have read the book, a review on Amazon is always much appreciated.

* I say 'possibly' because we know when he was baptised, 26th April 1554, but not actually when he was born.

Happy Death Day, Mr Stoker!

Abraham 'Bram' Stoker, the author of Dracula, died at No. 26 St George's Square, London, on this day in 1912, after suffering a number of strokes. He was 64 years old.

Some biographers actually put his cause of death down to overwork, but on Stoker's death certificate it is recorded as 'Locomotor Ataxia 6 months', which may be a reference to syphilis. He was cremated, and his ashes placed in a display urn at Golders Green Crematorium in north London.

It is still not too late to place a late pledge to DRACULA - Curse of the Vampire, the sixth ACE Gamebook, and have your name appear in the Acknowledgements at the back of the book. In fact, there's still time to have your likeness included in one of the illustrations that will appear in the adventure.

If you would like to place a late pledge, follow this link. But do not tarry, for the dead travel fast!

Short Story Saturday: An Array of Audiobooks

I must apologise for the lack of blog posts recently, other than ones relating to my latest Kickstarter, HEOROT - Role-Playing in the World of Beowulf Beastslayer. I hope to start making more diverse blog posts again, but if you like the crowdfunding ones, there's another Kickstarter coming this summer. (And there's a clue as to what it might be about later in this post.)

Anyway, today I wanted to alert you to the fact that Judge Fear's Big Day Out and Other Stories is now available as an audiobook, from Penguin Audio.

The anthology contains all four of my Judge Dredd short stories in audio format, including One-Way Ticket that originally appeared in two parts in the Judge Dredd Megazine.

But of course, it's not the only audiobooks featuring my short stories available. In case you haven't come across them, here's the up to date list of all those currently available.

Features my short story The Hunting of the Jabberwock.

Features my short story Who Walks With Death.

Edited by Yours Truly.

In other short story-related news, I was delighted to receive this in the post today...

Kaiju Rising II: Reign of Monsters was published by Outland Entertainment in 2018, and I am very grateful to the team for sending me a slipcase edition of the anthology, which includes my Kaiju vs Mech short story The Ghost in the Machine*.

* It is particularly good timing, considering what I am working on at the moment.