THE GHOSTS OF RICHARDS PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

I pretty much cut my teeth writing ghost stories. In fact, some of my earliest and best-remembered tales were written for R. Chetwynd-Hayes' Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories back in the late Eighties, and continue to be reprinted to this day. But that was only three of them. I've continued to delve into the realms of the supernatural since then, most notably with stories like 'Hanako from Miyazaki' in Cemetery Dance.

And now, I'm delighted to be able to announce that the excellent Dark Regions Press -- who have already published two collections of my work, Shadows and Other Tales and more recently the terrifically stylish-looking Going Back -- are planning to bring out a new book gathering together all my ghost (and ghostlike) short fiction. 'Our Lady of the Shadows' is due out early next year, and will consist of a full-sized novella and a whole bunch of shorter tales, including four brand-new ones written specially for the collection. They're 'After the Storm,' set in Penang, Malaysia; 'The Tappleworth Angel,' set on the Devon moors; 'Real Life,' a bitterly humourous take on New York literary life; and 'The Winter People,' the first short tale set in my fictional town Raine's Landing, Massachusetts.

There'll be internal illustrations for at least five of the stories, and if Dark Regions' past efforts are anything to go by this is going to be one hell of a fine-looking collection. I'll let you have more news when it reaches me.

Incidentally, Black Static magazine's book critic Peter Tennant has just posted an extensive review of 'Going Back.' You can read it here.