Tim Lebbon – horror and dark fantasy author

“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair – the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.”

Finally received my copy of Hellbound Hearts today, stories based on the Hellraiser universe created by the excellent Clive Barker.  Thrilled to see I’m on the cover along with Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean, Kelley Armstrong, Steve Niles, Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola, and there are loads of other stories from Conrad Wiliams, Sarah Pinborough, Mark Morris, Simon Clark, Chaz Brenchley and many others.  Can’t wait to dig in … after I’ve read King’s new monstrous tome, UNDER THE DOME.

Off to see Edie Izzard tonight!

A lot of you will be familiar with Vinny Chong’s wonderful artwork, which has graced the covers of books from writers such as Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Jack Dann, Richard Morgan, Paul Meloy and many, many others.   And if you’re not familiar with it, now’s your chance to put that right.

Vinny has updated and relaunched his website, and it’s definitely worth a visit.  A relatively new talent on the scene, still it’s staggering how many covers he’s done, and how consistently dazzling and awe-inspiring his artwork is.  Check it out!

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.