DEMONICALLY GOOD REVIEWS

Night of Demons has been on the shelves for nearly six months by this time, and the reception from reviewers has been unanimously terrific. Here's a summary of them so far:

"The action doesn't let up for a page as Richards pulls one menace out of the bag after another. Raine's Landing is a playground for (his) vibrant imagination, while the rest of us stand on the sidelines with eyes wide open at his audacity and wonder what he'll do next" -- Black Static magazine

"Richards is a master at suspending disbelief and combining horror, fantasy and humor in a way that will mesmerize readers from cover to cover" -- Romantic Times Book Reviews - sf/fantasy

"Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and the Sookie Stockhouse novels will thoroughly enjoy this enthralling novel. This urban fantasy horror thriller will appeal to fans of differing sub-genres as a riveted audience finish 'Night of Demons' in one sitting" -- SF Revu

"A fast-paced read with plenty of action. Tony Richards has written a great book with people you just want to read more about" -- Bestsellersworld

"Richards manages a true fantasy -- dragons, swords, magic and a whole town filled with magic users. But he doesn't stop there. By weaving this fantasy into a modern setting, (he) creates something unique. Take that, Harry Potter!" -- The Deepening

"If you are a fan of dark fantasy then you will enjoy 'Night of Demons'" -- Night Owl Reviews

"Well written and entertaining. Urban fantasy fans are sure to enjoy it" -- Shroud Magazine

"Another mind-blowing story in the innovative setting of Raine's Landing. The (town's) adepts are a fascinatingly strange group. The story contains terror, violence -- but no more excessive than warranted by the plot -- pathos, tragedy, and redemption. Recommended" -- News from the Crypt

"The pace was excellent. This is a supernatural suspense story that will keep you turning the pages and waiting to see what comes next" -- Fandomania

"'Night of Demons' is a great story and will be enjoyed by many, including non-fantasy readers"
-- MyShelf.com

"Non-stop action, unexpected twists. The book is a page-turner" -- Mysterious Galaxy

"I enjoyed every page of 'Night of Demons' and all I can say is it matches its predecessor in tension, good characterization, and sheer excitement. Now, of course, I'm begging for a third book" -- Amazon.com

"This is what Modern Dark Fantasy SHOULD be. After reading this 2nd book in the series, I'm officially hooked. I'll be eagerly anticipating more journeys into Raine's Landing" -- Goodreads

SEEING RED

The Internet is a great way of communicating with people and, if you're a writer, getting news about your work across. Perhaps the best way ever invented. That is, until something goes wrong. And when that happens, it's usually behind your back, without your knowing, and with little recourse.

A short while back, someone hacked into my website and left a pop-up advert there. And if you think that's the problem, then you're wrong. My site manager, the wonderful Marie, promptly got on it, removed the offending article, and that, so far as I was aware, was that.

Nope. A couple of days later, one of my followers on Twitter got in touch to inform me she'd gone onto my site and her virus protection software (I'll call it VPS from this point on) had warned her that she oughtn't be there. I went on myself and got the same result. During the few days that one unwanted little pop-up ad was present on richardsreality.com, a lot of VPS systems had detected that and deemed my site unsafe.

And I'm not just talking about a mild warning either. This was the full treatment. A red flag. A big X. An advisement to only continue looking at my site with 'extreme caution.' The kind of stuff, in other words, that sends sensible browsers fleeing, quite possibly never to return. All it needed to look worse was a skull-and-crossbones and a message from the Surgeon General.

Which would be bad enough at any time. But this time? My latest novel had gone into the bookstores one month earlier, and was getting great reviews across the board. Many of those were referencing my website, as were the interviews that I was doing. Loads of people would have been visiting my site around that stage, and being chased away by the red flags. Add to that the fact that readers who've enjoyed my latest book tend to go on richardsreality and use the 'contact' button there to email me and let me know they liked it ... and now there was little chance of them doing so. Which was just plain depressing. I rarely complain about the fact that writing is an isolated business, but I value those kinds of emails very much.

I could sit around and wait for the situation to resolve itself, of course. Wait until the VPS companies got around to retesting my site and giving it a clean bill of health. Which might take a couple of weeks or so. But in case you don't know it, when it comes to a mass-market paperback, the first couple of months on the shelves are pretty crucial and, in the case of some bookstores, all the time it really has. And two weeks is a big chunk out of that. So I decided to try and do something about it myself, by visiting the websites of the larger VPS companies.

To give McAfee credit, they provided me with an easy-to-fill-out online form with which I could explain the problem and ask them to retest my site promptly, which they did. But as for the rest? I spent a considerable time trying to figure out who I should contact to get something done, with no success whatever. Download our product? Sure. Customer support? Absolutely. But "we've just messed you over, and here's where you get in touch to put the problem right"? There was no such facility, anywhere I looked.

Okay, I know that the VPS companies mostly do a stand-up job. Without them, let's face it, we'd have computer viruses climbing out of our screens and chasing us down the stairs. And I understand how many websites exist out there, all of which need testing ... around 65 million at the last count. None of which alters the fact that their red flag was causing me considerable grief. So I have two suggestions for the VPS guys.

One: put a clear, obvious link on your sites where people who've been flagged can apply for a retest, pronto. And two: once you have red-flagged a site, implement a system where it is retested more frequently than most to find out if the problem has been cleared up. Because putting the IT equivalent of the Mark of Cain on someone's website and then ambling away for another fortnight isn't exactly helpful behaviour.

Does anyone have any software that can protect me from the virus protectors?

BARCELONA ON MY EYE

Just recently back from a 3-day trip to Barcelona. So I thought I'd share some of my snapshots with you.

YES, I KNOW THE WAY TO SAN JOSE!

I'm recently back from this year's World Fantasy Convention in San Jose, CA (pictured). People who have never been to such an event always manage to ask the same question, namely: "Do you get a lot of people going around in costumes?" No, those are movie and TV conventions that you're thinking of. World Fantasy is mostly writers, editors, publishers and the like, and though we might be equally as crazy as those movie fans we hide it a little better and we don't dress up.

The plain fact is, I've been to more that my share of World Fantasies and World Horrors, and location apart they all have a tendency to blend into one seamless event these days. There are panel discussions and readings, a few of which I attend. And I read from my own latest novel, of course, and signed a load of stuff. But what really matters at any con are the people. The parties, the meals out, the chance encounters in the hotel bar. I always sum it up like this ... the real business of attending a convention is hooking up with excellent old friends and making excellent new ones. In my case, those in the latter category have become rather too numerous to mention, although I will mention Chris Roberson and his wife Alison, John Skipp, Cody Goodfellow, and Barbara and Chris Roden of Ash-Tree Press. New acquaintances this time around included debut author John Langan, Doug Cohen from Realms of Fantasy magazine, Ellen Kushner, Brent Weeks, the excellent Jeffrey Ford, who went on to win two World Fantasy Awards, Travis Heermann -- who'll be running an interview with me on his blog soon -- and not least Michael Shea, author of one of my favourite short novels, 'The Color out of Time.' It was a delight to meet them all, and thoroughly worth the eleven hour flight. And believe me, those last six words do not come at all easily.

Robert Morrish, former editor of Cemetery Dance magazine, now writes a column called 'Spotlight on Publishing' for that same publication. And in the current issue, he has some very nice things to say about one of my short story collections from last year, Passport to Purgatory.

And on Fandomania, you can now read an interview conducted between myself and Kelly Melcher, the same smart individual who gave Night of Demons such a glowing review last week.

DEMONS ON YOUR DOORSTEP

At long last, Night of Demons -- the second installment in the Raine's Landing saga -- is on its way to the stores and other outlets. That comes as a huge relief so far as I'm concerned. There always seems to be a horribly long, exasperating wait between reading through the galley proofs -- which look pretty much like a finished book without the cover -- and seeing the completed thing. Frustrating. Like being nibbled to death by mice, as Harlan Ellison once said.

But anyway, the novel will soon be available in all good stores, through sites like Amazon, and through the Doubleday and Science Fiction Book Clubs. Or you can order a copy right here.

A quick Raine's Landing factlet, by the way. When I first started on this second book, the working title was 'Shadow Town.' And when I told my editor, Diana Gill, that I was dropping it she was a little disappointed, since she liked it. It is good and -- who knows -- one day I might get around to using that pairing of words for another novel. But until that day comes, it's all about the demons.

JUDGING A BOOK

'You can't judge a book by its cover' goes the saying. But the plain fact is that people in bookstores do. Research shows that the majority reason (about 90%) why browsers even pick up books they're unfamiliar with is that the cover attracts them. Cover art and layout, therefore, are much bigger deals than most people suppose.

Which makes what follows rather interesting. Night of Demons, weeks before its launch, has picked up yet another good, enthusiastic review, this time by Kelly Melcher on the website Fandomania. And Kelly starts like this:

"While the saying goes 'one should never judge a book by its cover,' that is an excellent place to start here. It easily sets the mood, and really grabbed my interest. The mood? Dark and ominous. I know I don't normally comment on covers, but this one just caught my eye from the moment I opened the package it came in and tempted me to read just based on the artwork alone."

It would appear artist Don Sipley mixes a little magic with his paints, and that is very good to hear. And Kelly also goes on to say, "The pace was excellent. There was enough action to keep turning the pages and waiting to see what comes next." She liked the book inside and out, then.

FIENDS RE-UNITED

Way back at the very start of my writing career, one of the very earliest stories that I sold was a straight horror tale, set in Canada and called Child of Ice. It was bought by an editor called Herbert van Thal for an anthology series called The Pan Books of Horror. The tale saw print after a while, and I was glad to see it out. But other than that, I merely took note that one of the other contributors was a certain Ian McEwan -- impressive! -- and then pocketed my £40 and went on my merry way. How was I to know that, years later, the series would come to be regarded as a classic with a huge cult following.

And now all that is being drawn together by man-about-horror Johnny Mains, who is bringing out a book on the subject, has compiled a massive website, and has several other projects on the go into the bargain. One of which is BACK FROM THE DEAD: The Legacy of the Pan Book of Horror Stories. It's an anthology which brings back together some of the best contributors to PBoH. They provide new stories where they can, and where they can't one of their old-time classics is included. There's to be a Forward by Shaun Hutson, an introduction by David A. Sutton. Oh yes, and there's a brand-new tale of terror by yours truly on the contents list.

BACK FROM THE DEAD will come out from Johnny's own publishing company, Noose & Gibbet, and will be released -- you guessed it -- just in time for World Horror in Brighton. And the cover appears here by the man's kind permission.