Tim Lebbon – horror and dark fantasy author

Time flies when you’re having fun.  Maybe that’s true!  Yesterday I went to my dad’s place to help build a fence (his old one had rotted and almost fallen over … we breathed on it and it fell down).  Most of my family were there, and in 8 hours of solid work we’d taken down the old fence, dug new post holes and cast them in, fixed rails and nailed up featherboarding.  One new fence – job done.  It felt like 2 hour’s work, not eight, and the beers last night were well-deserved.

Whilst beering, I watched EDEN LAKE.  I wouldn’t have bothered – lost in woods and hunted by killers type movies lost their appeal for me long ago – but Empire gave it 4 stars, and I usually find that mag’s opinion is worth listening to.  I’m glad I did.  It wasn’t so much a viewing experience, but an ordeal, and it left me feeling exhausted, shocked and quite spooked.  It’s a staggeringly well-made debut from writer-director James Watkins, providing an unbearably tense, unpredictable take on the ‘couple being stalked’ theme.  The acting is superb throughout, the script fresh and impressively almost cliche-free.  I won’t say ‘enjoy it’, but … watch, survive, and then move on.

I’m four days away from delivery ECHO CITY FALLS, so this week is going to be spent editing and revising, drinking coffee, more revising, more coffee, and a couple of hour’s sleep here and there.  Once that’s delivered, I have a short story to start, and a few other things to get stuck into before I start my original 30 DAYS OF NIGHT novel.

So … it’ll be quiet here this week.  Forgive me.  I’m in the biggest city ever, trying to figure out what is rising from the Falls.

The long list for the British Fantasy Awards has been released, and I’m thrilled to see The Reach of Children on there.  You can go here to see the full list and to vote.

In other news, yesterday I finished my new novel ECHO CITY FALLS in first draft.  It’s the longest book I’ve ever written, and I’m sure it’ll remain that way even after rewrites and edits.   So I’m giving myself the weekend off before plunging in to that …

Reality TV ‘star’ Jade Goody is dead!  Oh … hang on … I can’t claim the scoop on this, because OK! magazine published her obituary last week before she’d died.  Nothing to do with … well, avoiding the rush, eh? Nothing to do with getting as much cash as possible out of a public grieving for the loss of this ‘TV Star’.

Prepare for pages and pages of coverage in the press and TV programmes dedicated to her.  Prepare for exclusives with people who went to nursery school with her.  It’s news, after all.

Times, they are getting busy.  I’ve got some exciting book releases over the next three months … Parcelforce are going to hate me:

April will see HELLBOY: THE FIRE WOLVES from Dark Horse, as well as FALLEN in mass market paperback in the USA (Bantam) and the UK (Allison & Busby).  BAR NONE (a novel of chilling suspense, apocalyptic beauty, and fine ales) should also surface pretty soon from Night Shade Books.

In May, Bantam release THE ISLAND in trade paperback in the USA, and June will see its release in hardback in the UK from Allison & Busby (yay!)

May will also see MIND THE GAP in mass market paperback from Bantam in the USA.

So, I’m making room on my shelves – I hope you are too!  As the release of each book draws closer I’ll be posting more information, along with some other exciting stuff.

If you’re interested in any of the above they’re all available for pre-order from the appropriate Amazon sites (.com or .co.uk).  Pre-orders are good.  My publishers like them, and therefore so do I.

So, in a week or two I’ll post more details about the Hellboy novel, including an exclusive extract, and a bit of an insight into the writing process.  Watch this space.

Right, I’ve just watched DOOMSDAY.  I think I need to go to bed and have a little rest.

As 2008 draws to a weary close (well I’m weary, don’t know about you … early mornings, late nights, too much food and booze), I thought I’d post my thoughts about what I thought were the highlights of this past year.

Firstly, I read a lot more this year than last (about 35 novels, and assorted graphic novels and novellas).  That was a conscious effort on my part, and I’m pleased it worked out, but next year I’d like to read more still.  As time ticks by – and I reach the big 40 next year – I realise how many books I have stacked on my shelves.

Book of the year (read this year, not necessarily published this year) – The Road, Cormac McCarthy. This is the first McCarthy I’ve read, and it was a staggering, shattering experience.  Horrible, challenging, beautiful.

Album of the year – State of Grace by Street Dogs.  A surprise winner – I’ve always like the Street Dogs, but this new album has classic written all over it.  Real punk challenging real issues, the songs are intelligent and catchy, the playing raw and honest.

Gig of the year.  No competition – Flogging Molly playing Bristol Carling Academy.  This band has more energy in one of its seven members’ little fingernails clippings than many of the bands I’ve seen over the years, and more enthusiasm and enjoyment than most.  The music’s loud and raucous, but always powerful and moving.  They’ve quickly become one of my favourite bands.  You can read more about the gig here.

Film of the year – it’s been a good year – The Dark Knight, The Orphanage -  but I think In Bruges just wins out for me.  Very funny, brilliantly acted and written, this one sticks in the memory for many reasons.

There’s plenty more ‘of the year’ choices I could make, but frankly I’m crap at keeping note of things, and my memory isn’t what it used to be (indeed, isn’t what it ever should have been).

It’s a busy time here right now (my beautiful daughter is ten years old today), so I doubt I’ll post again until the New Year. There’s news of two major book deals incoming soon, and lots of other exciting stuff going,  so I hope you’ll keep visiting me here in 2009.   If you like my writing, or simply enjoy the site, please spread the word.

A Happy New Year to you all.  See you soon.

Tim

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I’d take time to comment on this more fully, but sometimes brevity is best: what a load of old bollocks.

The year’s not over yet, but already I’m looking forward.  Nothing wrong with that!  If you check out the Forthcoming Books box in the column on the right you’ll see info about future publications due out next year sometime.  As well as these there are a couple of unannounced projects (yes, one of them is the collection, and yes, I do hope it’ll be out next year, but who’s to say?), as well as some short stories and one or two novellas that might or might not surface in 2009.

Next year will also see the mass market paperback releases of Fallen (both in the USA and UK), and Mind The Gap (USA only).

Watch this space for more exciting 2009 announcements coming soon!  As well as many book publications, I’ll also be hitting the big 40 next year.  Will there be a party?  You bet.

There area a few shopping days left until Christmas.  All those presents you’ve forgotten to buy are worrying you, now.  Aunt Ethel doesn’t need another scarf, your father-in-law has enough baseball caps to warm the heads of a full stadium, and your best friend’s not really interested in chocolate now that she’s on a crash diet to impress that new window cleaner she’s having in once a week …. so what do you buy them?

Books, of course.  The answer’s so easy it barely needs thinking about.

Things are bad right now, with the recession biting deep, companies going bust all over, joblessness, and the doom-sayers in the media enjoying themselves more than they have for some time.  A new campaign has been launched called Books Are Great Gifts.  You can visit their website if you want, but really you shouldn’t need to because the facts speak for themselves.  Books are great gifts.  I can turn around and browse my heaving shelves now, and remember just who bought me some of my books, and when, and what I was doing when I read them.

That copy of Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman was bought by my mate Richard in our late teens.  A bit tatty now, I still remember reading it before we went off together to a Motorhead gig.

Ian McEwan’s Saturday was handed to me by my mother just before she went blind, and later passed away. It’s the last book she ever read.

King’s The Stand was bought for my eighteenth birthday by an old friend I’ve lost touch with (Anthony Joslin, where are you?)

And there are many more …

Books are unique (matched only perhaps by CDs) in that as well as a useful present, they become a part of your history.  Read the spines on your bookshelves and your past comes to life, in the same way that each individual world inside those covers develops a life of its own the minute you start reading.

Buy books.  Buy mine, that would be nice, but any books will do.  You don’t even need to get off your arse … just log on to any of the online booksellers.

Happy reading this Christmas.

My books have been out in the UK for a good couple of months now, but until today I hadn’t seen them in a bookshop (apart from the day of the launch in my local indie bookstore).  But today the family and I went to Abergavenny – Dan needed some new wellies, I needed fruit jellies – and I popped into Waterstone’s.  Never that hopeful, I approached the Fantasy and Science Fiction aisle … and saw the gorgeous blue cover of FALLEN staring at me.  And not just one copy, either … two copies!

Feeling a bit cheeky, I approached the staff and mentioned the book, asked if they’d like me to sign it.  A lovely lady there almost bit my hand off!  So I signed the books – happily – and they asked if they could have a proof copy to read, so that they can write one of those little ‘recommended’ cards and stick it in front of the books.

Ah, I do so love my job.

Right, tonight I am mostly drinking real ale and watching The Invasion.  Something tells me I’ll wish I hadn’t (watched The Invasion, that is) … but time will tell.