Five Things #1

I thought I'd start a new semi-regular feature where I link to various 'things' (stories, articles, reviews, whatever) that have interested me recently. It's the kind of stuff I normally tweet or post on Facebook, but that only gives people a fleeting opportunity to see them. So here's something more permanent.

1. And Then There Were (N-One) by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine)
This is a simply superb story, a clever mingling of Agatha Christie style murder mystery and multiple reality sci-fi. It is set at a convention in which all the attendees are different versions of the same person... and then one of the Sarah Pinskers is killed. But which Sarah Pinsker is the killer?

2. This Michael Wehunt blog-post about the types of horror and weird fiction he does (& doesn't) write. It's always interesting to read a thoughtful writer discuss their passions, but fewer talk about the roads they've not taken.

3. The Rage Of Cthulhu by Gary Fry: Gingernuts Of Horror review
If there's any current writer who can do something new and orginal with the Cthulhu mythos, it's Gary Fry (see also his story in The Outsiders). The Gingernuts Of Horror site agrees with me.

4. Red Hood by Eric Schaller (Nightmare Magazine)
I read this story blurry eyed one morning, drinking coffee while my daughter watched Peppa Pig in the background. And yet it still both impressed and unnerved me.

5. 9 Things To Do As A Notts Newbie (Left Lion)
I've lived in or around Nottingham most of my life, but I've not done some of these. I've including it here because of the book related ones, natch: a nice shoutout for the Five Leaves independent bookshop, where I had a launch for Trying To Be So Quiet. Also listed are the charity shops in Sherwood (where I live), in which I've found many a second-hand book-shaped bargain, incuding the Fine Frights anthology edited by Ramsey Campbell.