Book Review; A Collection Of Books For Halloween, Autumn and Winter

Hi readers, 

It feels like I'm writing this post a little late - should have been closer to the start of October then the end! As most of you know though, I've not been well and so I've not been writing a lot, not that I've been keeping on top of this blog anyway! Now, I'm trying to get back to doing things I enjoy and helps to keep me busy.

So, I wanted to write about some books that have the same theme and fit in with Halloween which is next week. I'm not sure if I'll get around to writing about them all individually which is why I thought it would be good to do a collective post. However, I've not read some of these books yet, so I can't give a full view so this is just going to be a quick look and first thoughts.

I'm going to be looking at 6 anthologies, 4 novels, 8 non-fiction books and a coloring book. I really enjoy reading short stories at this time of year because things are often so busy it's nice to dip in and out of stories and not have to fully commit to a single novel.   

My hope is that this post might be useful to other people and introduce them to some new books. Let's make a start with the books in the above photo and what better way to be began with the master of darkness and horror himself, Dracula.   

The Rivals Of Dracula, Stories from The Golden Age of Gothic Horror edited by Nick Rennison.

I saw this book in Waterstones a month or so back and decided I had to have it for my vampire book collection. The anthology contains 15 short vampire stories which were written in the late Victorian and Edwardian times. The blurb describes the stories as being 'classic tales to chill the blood' by well known and less known supernatural writers including, M R James and EF Benson. 

I'm looking forward to reading this because I like Victorian literature and reading about 'early' vampires. 

Haunted Nights, A Horror Writers Association Anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Lisa Morton.

Someone brought me this book as a Christmas present last year and I decided to save it to read around now. This anthology has 16 short stories that are themed around Halloween. I don't recognize any of the writers which can be a good thing as it's an introduction to new authors and the chances of re-reading a short story are low. 

The stories are described as being 'sly modern narratives to haunting traditional stories' and 'explore the many facets, cultures and traditions' of Halloween. I'm really interested in reading some of this stories as the titles sound so good and with them all being based around my favorite holiday just makes me want to read it more.  

Eight Ghosts, The English Heritage Book Of New Ghost Stories edited by Rowan Routh.

I saw this book whilst on holiday in Cornwall in the Tintagel Castle shop. I pre-ordered it in paperback when I got home. English Heritage, for those that don't know, is a charity that looks after over 400 historic sites in England, including Tintagel, many other famous castles and Stonehenge. 

This book contains 8 ghost stories described as 'a rich collection of unnerving ghosts and sinister histories,' set at different EH sites, some of which I have been too. I don't know any of the writers once again. I do like that there is no introduction to this anthology and it goes straight to the stories. The afterwards includes a list of EH sites that are known for being haunted which I really like and gives a nice finish to the collection.  

   

Complete Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens.

I found this book in a discount book shop along with 2 others. I'm a fan of Dickens, though often find his novels difficult and lengthy to read, so this collection of 20 ghost stories, including the super famous A Christmas Carol, is perfect for me. Dickens was interested in supernatural and liked telling ghost stories. In this anthology, his 'Gothic talents can be seen' and the stories cover, 'grotesque comedy...revenge, insanity, pre-cognition and dream visions.' 

I love the characters and plots Dickens has created in his other writings, so I'm sure I'll love reading these ghost stories too.   

Ghosts Of Christmas Past edited by Tim Martin. 

The last book in the photo, I brought with the Dickens one and they do go together. This anthology has 13 modern and classic short stories and some of the writers I know including; M R James, Jenn Ashworth, E. Nesbit and Neil Gaiman. The stories are Christmas themed and described as 'seasonal chillers,' 'a world of ghosts and horrors,' and 'real spirits of Christmas.' 

I'm looking forward to reading some of these stories at Christmas time. For me, winter evenings, especially when its rainy and windy, create the perfect back drop for curling up and reading horror stories.

The Mammoth Book Of Halloween Stories edited by Stephen Jones. 

This is the last of the anthologies and it's in the photo below. I love Mammoth Books, they cover so many different genres both fiction and fact and I've not found one I didn't like yet. This collection of 26 horror stories set around Halloween was published this year and is a new format from the other books; bigger, larger text and it's also the first to use Halloween in it's title.

The anthology is described as being, 'a dark feast of frightening fiction by some of the most successful and respected horror writers working today,' and is a 'spooky selection of stories set on the night when evil walks the earth.' Once again the writers are a mix and I known some of them including; Neil Gaiman, Nancy Kilpatrick and Ramsey Campbell.

I've started reading this and am enjoying it.   

    

                                                                                                                                                                   

Blood Communion, A Tale Of Prince Lestat by Anne Rice.

This is the first of the novels and I've all ready finished reading it! So I'll be writing a review soon. Briefly though, one of the most famous vampires in the world, Lestat returns in a new novel about the coming together of all the vampires in the world and how he became Prince of them all. This horror story is so fitting to this time of year and I love to get swept away by Anne Rice's passionate and deeply descriptive writing. 

Colouring Heaven, Halloween Special edited by Sally Fitzgerald, Anthem Publishing.

Different from the other books in this post, but I still wanted to include it, is this coloring magazine. I've a subscription to Colouring Heaven now as I found myself buying this magazine each month and loving the art work inside. This edition is the Halloween one and there are '40 unearthly designs with spooky-cuteness.' I love all the drawings and each captures a different spirit of Halloween in a funny or horror way.   

Adult coloring has become really big now and I'm on that train. It's so calming and a different escape from everything else, plus I like bring the pictures to life and making them my own. Plus, I have found myself creating stories about the people etc in the imagines and I'm hoping this will inspire me to write some more stories.        

    

World War Z by Max Brooks

People in the past have recommended I read this novel written as accounts after a zombie plague has taken over the world. I've not had the chance to yet but my boyfriend has lent this book and the follow up one to add to my reading pile. I've never been a fan of zombies, maybe it's because of all the supernatural they don't interested me and when a biologist friend told me that there was actual likely-hood of there one day being a zombie, it put me further off! 

However, I'm willing to read this novel because it's different style, 'based on extensive interviews' in the 'finest traditions of American journalism' interests me and lots of people say it's good. I just hope it's not too scary!  

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

This book is the companion to the one above and is about surviving zombies, 'don't be reckless with your most precious asset- life.' So, I guess if the threat of real zombies ever happened this self-help book would contain useful information in dealing with a whole range of situations. The chapters look at zombie myths and realities, weapons and combat techniques, on the defense etc. It has a very fact feel to it and isn't something I'll be reading at bedtime! 

A Secret History Of Witches by Louisa Morgan

This book was the first I picked up for the discount book shop and I thought it was like a non-fiction book about witches, then I read the back and saw it was a novel. It kinda of sits on the edge of my normal supernatural reading but it interested me enough to buy it. It's about a family of witches who have lost their magic and need to rediscover it as the Second World War arrives in order to change history, 'a tale of family, sacrifice, love and magic.' 

Without reading it I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about.    

Wicca For Beginners by Lisa Chamberlain

Keeping with the witch theme here's the first of the non-fiction books. I have had an interest in magic for awhile now and I've been meaning to get around to learning more about how I can use it. This little book gives a brief guide to 'Wiccan beliefs, rituals, magic and witchcraft.' It's laid out nicely and simply, not going into too much detail and covering lots to get you more interested. 

I've had a flip through and found I can connect with some of the ideas about the religion of Wicca. I'm looking further to reading more.  

Wicca Book Of Spells by Lisa Chamberlain

I got this book to go with the one above as I wasn't sure how many spells there'd be in the beginners book. Each page has a different spell on it, a list of things need to cast the spell and instructions on how to do it. There are spells on how to make friends, find love, succeeded at job interviews, get more money and protecting the home, 'for success in magic, your state of mind is the most important factor.' 

I've not tried any out yet but I'm hoping too. I thought that this, in a different way, might help me to deal with some of the stress and anxiety issues I've been having, of which there are actually spells for! I'll have to give it ago and write about what happens.   

This next group of books don't really link in with the Halloween, horror theme but they do link in with autumn and winter times and how that change of seasons can effect your mental health. Most people at this time of year get depressed and it's something to do with the lower sunlight, the darker nights and the coldness too. I've had different battles with depression over the years and this time it's been mixed in with anxiety and stress, so I wanted to get some different books to help deal with some of my issues. 

The two animal spirit guide books, I brought because I've been turning more and more to my animal spirits and asking them for help. I wanted to find some information out about the different animals I had been seeing and how best to communicate with them. I have found both these books helpful. 

Animal Spirit Guides is a reference book of each different animal and though it's been fun looking them up, I've found that some websites have had more detailed information on them. Animal Magic is more of a guide book to understanding animal spirits and how to interact with them. 

The other four books are about learning to overcome different problems; I got The Happiness Trap because I was looking for a self- help book about dealing with stress at work, anxiety and depression which this book covers. It comes across different from other books that deal with these problems as it sets out to explain that having strong emotions and feelings is normal and that humans aren't always meant to be happy. I've read the first chapter of this now and I'm starting to understand how this book is going to teach me how to deal with my mental health problems better. 

The This Book Will Make You... series has lots of different titles, I picked 3 that I felt would be most useful to me. they are cute little books, packed with simple information to help bring around changes to help you achieve the title. I've had a quick scan through all of them and they look easy to read and have practical information in them. I'm hoping that they will help me progress into a new job and improve my motivation and passion for things. 

That brings me to the end of the post and shockingly it's taken much of the day to write this. But it has made me happy and kept me busy. Let me know if you decided to get any of these books now or your thoughts if you've all ready read any of them. I'm looking forward to dipping into each of them during the coming long, cold winter nights. 

Book Review: The Mammoth Book Of Haunted Houses Stories

Hi readers, 

Today I'm reviewing an anthology of short stories that I have half previously read but never finished and once again, I probably won't finish because as much as I love and have raved about The Mammoth Books before, I just enjoy dipping in and out of them instead of reading them cover to cover. This is because I use them as something to read in between novels or when going on trips/holidays (I'm weird and don't actually like reading on holidays, guess because I'd rather be off exploring!) or like this time around, I couldn't make my mind up about what to read next, so I just decided I needed some inspiration for the short novella I've been writing over on my other blog. Thus I choice a collection about haunted houses!  

To make life easy, I've decided to focus on the stories I've read, but first let me say something about this collection as a whole. I have the expanded edition which has the added stories picked by famous horror movie actors as the last section. Unfortunately, I've not read any of those yet! This anthology is divided into different sections so that stories on the similar themes are group together. I've read Haunted Places; Fact or Fiction, Avenging Spirits and Little Terrors. I like the idea of doing this because you can just read a section that takes your fancy and avoid ones that you might find scary. 

Speaking of, I haven't been scared by the stories I've read so far, but that's mostly because they are mega old dating from 1800's and early 1900's. These stories don't really appeal to me due to their old fashioned style and language. Though there's nothing overall wrong with the writing and characters. Each story opens with this 'fact file' of information about the haunted house in question and a bio of the writer. I found these interested and a good introduction to the stories. There's a mixture of British, American and other places setting, which is nice and keeps the interested up. There's also a range of authors, but they all have one thing in common and that's they are well known for writing supernatural stories. Authors included are; Stephan King, James Herbert, Bram Stoker, Ruth Rendell, M. R. James, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Virginia Woolf.

The first story, The Haunted And The Hunters, has the main character and narrator investigating an an haunted house which is based on a true story. The narrator claims the house has been sent up to keep people away and he is proven true. I did like this one because of the twist at the end and that it reflects the tricks the Victorians used to get people to believe in ghosts. 

The next one, Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House, sees a family moved to the coast and stay in a very haunted house. The two daughters see ghostly figures and the father believes them to be burglars. Though it turns out that the remains of a old woman are buried in the back garden and she has been haunting the house. I found this one okay and the descriptions of the ghosts are good.  

A Case of Eavesdropping is set in a New York boardinghouse. A young man gets a room on the top floor and starts hearing a German son and father arguing over marriage and money. He complains about the noise, but nights later he over hears the killing of the son and thus learns that it happened years ago and he's been overhearing these events. I really liked this one because of the tension and the fact that you don't find out the truth till the end. 

Moving on, The Old House in Vauxhall Walk, is the story of a young man who's had an argument with his father and has left home. Luckily he meets an old friend/servant who invites him to stay the night in the house he and has family have just moved out of. There the young man is haunted by a old woman, who turns out hide all her riches and can't rest because of her selfish behavior. I liked the set up to this one and the ending too. 

My favorite has to be No. 252 Rue M. Le Price, which has a group of men stay in a haunted house were dark magic has taken place and the house is now haunted. I liked the creepy feeling to this story and it has a traditional ghost tale about it. It gripped me, though the opening is long, because I really wanted to know what was going to happen!  

The Southwest Chamber is another story set in an America boardinghouse. A teacher comes to stay in a boardinghouse run by two sisters and is put in the room where their aunt died. It turns out she wasn't a good person and there's this whole family saga along side the ghost aunt moving stuff and changing the bedroom around. I liked this story because of the interesting use of the mirror and the ghost making things not as they appear. 

Feet Foremost was one of the last stories I've read. A group of people gather in a house where a young bride was murdered. Her ghost has to be invited into the house and then she kills the person who invited her in. I found this one enjoyable, but the twist at the end just felt it was there as plot device to save the main character's boyfriend.

I've read a few more, but I didn't want to write about them all. I was hoping to have it close to finishing, but I've been busy doing other stuff and like I said at the start I do tend just to dip in and out. I did enjoy reading these, but I do find the age to some of the stories puts me off a bit. I would also say that it wasn't one of my favorite Mammoth collections and I do enjoy the vampire ones more!

Overall, this is a good anthology of short stories with a range of authors and different ghost stories. I'd so recommend this if you are in ghost/haunted house stories. 

Next Monday it's a life update! So, please come from that and also check out my other blog where you can get a story a day. Thanks for reading. 

     

Image from: 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580933.The_Mammoth_Book_of_Haunted_House_Stories

Book Review: Not Before Bed by Craig Hallam

Hi readers, 

This wasn't the post I set out to write today, it was meant to be a life update one, but I'm way behind with doing stuff and it's already 8pm. So, I thought instead of spending an hour or two writing and sorting out the photos for the update post, I'd write a review about the book I just finished reading instead. 

The back story behind how I came to own this book is interesting. Remember in December I went to the Leeds Steampunk Market? (http://hailscrazyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/leeds-steampunk-market-and.html) This is one of the books that came from there and spent a lot of time talking with the writer. I think he had like three or four different books for sale and I ended up picking this one because it was a collection of short stories and I liked it more then the others. He did sign the book for me, so I now get to add it to my collection of signed books! Don't worry though I'm still going to give this book a fair review.  

It's a collection of 13 short horror stories and though the blurb warns you to get ready to be scared, I didn't find them that scary. I don't know maybe I've just read too many horror stories? There was a recurring theme of tentacle creatures and my favorite story happened to involve one of those. Lovecraft is about a woman who decides to make her own man and ends up with a blob like alien creature instead. I loved how she and the creature connected and I did feel sad at the end. My other favorite story was Albert which is about a fisherman who is like the last person in this deserted seaside village which holds a dark secret. 

The stories are well written and there is enough subtle in them to grip you, but it is easy to work out what's going on. Like with the female werewolf story or the zombie one. The longer stories make it for me though because the suspense is kept up for longer in those. For me though, I did want it to be a lot more darker and threatening. The monster in the room story was interesting but I think a lot more tension could have been created. I didn't see any major faults with any of the stories or the writing really. It's a good mix of stories that covers the popular horror and supernatural aspects and characters.

I think if you are looking for some short stories that you can just dip in and out of or even some inspiration to write some of your own, then this would be a good book to get. It's small so easy to take places and doesn't take long to read. Though if you are looking for something bigger and better in the horror short story area then check out The Mammoth Books of New Horror. They bring a new one out every year, but there are also lots of other ones in the series. 

Reading this book has made me want to read Hallam's novel Greaveburn, which I think is a fantasy novel. Reading the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, it seems good and my type of book. So, it's on my list and hopefully I'll get it soon. I've got so many other books to read right now and I fear a clean out might be needed in the next few weeks as I'm running out of space again. 

I'll be back next time with that life update. Thanks for reading and please check out my other blog were you can read a new short story everyday.    

   

Image from: Amazon UK 

Writing Techniques : Writing Prompts

Hi readers, 

Today and to kick off the new ideas I've had for my blog, I'm going to look at writing prompts and how they can be useful to us writers. I'm sure that many people are already aware of them and for me in the last few months they have become something of a reliable source for generating ideas and starting my creative writing pieces for my short story blog. For those that don't know about them, prompts can take many different forms including single words, whole sentences, dialogue and images, (all of which sometimes come with instructions) and you can use them to inspire you to write.

There is no right or wrong way when using prompts and no one is going to judge you for using one! I normally start my opening line or paragraph with the word or sentence or dialogue, then continue the story from there. With image prompts I normally start with introducing the setting or the character, before trying to include as much as the image as possible. One of my favorite examples of this comes from a short story I wrote about a piano in the woods and it can be read on my other blog, here:     http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/the-soldiers-piano/ One of the best things I have also found about using prompts is that you don't have to begin the story with them, you could have them appear at anytime or not at all. For example, removing them in the finally draft or just not including the prompt at all. 

Let's now look at some actual prompts. The first one I chose was a written prompt and these kinds seem very popular. There are so many pages and websites out there that list a whole load of these and they can be so useful for starting off imagination and writing.   

The key to these prompts is that it gets your mind asking questions, which hopefully will make you want to write in order to get answers. So, for example this prompt makes you ask: who is he? Why is he knocking on doors? What happened at the other doors? What is going to happen next? This really does kick start your brain into wanting to find out and from there you should be able to write a story all around this prompt. 

My next prompt is an image one. I'm a visual person, it's how I learn and think best, so I love image prompts more because I find I get a really good use out of them and can create much deeper stories. This is one my newest images on my Pinterest board (Pinterest is a great website by the way and it lets you group things together under different sections. I've included the link to mine below). So, if I'm going to use this image I'd start my story by describing a character walking down this road and coming across this gate. The image, like the word writing prompt, helps to raise questions, for example: where is this place? what's beyond the gates? what's going to happen, if anything at all? 

The last thing I want to look at is physical writing prompt books, like the 642 Things To Write About one below. I own this book and have found it useful, though I just enjoy looking through it and giggling to myself more then actually using it for writing. There is a number of books and also ebooks available now packed with prompts similar to the ones above and they do work in the same way - get your mind and writing going-. Some of them even have blank spaces or pages which you can write in, so you don't feel stuck to your computer and notebook all the time. Some of the ebooks are even free to download like this one;  

Four Seasons of Creative Writing: 1,000 Prompts to Stop Writer's Block (Story Prompts for Journaling, Blogging and Beating Writer's Block) [Kindle Edition] by Bryan Cohen. (linked below) I recently downloaded this myself and though I've not used any of the prompts, most of them look really interesting and do most of the setting up of the story for you.

Overall, writing and image prompts can be great tools to help with any writer's writing. They can get your mind and imagination working and your fingers typing. They can be used in a number of ways; as warm up exercises, the opening line of your story or perhaps in a group or teaching situation. There seems to be an endless supply of them too, so you are always sure to find one that you can use. Also genre and themes are always nearly neutral and you can use them how you want to. If you are just starting out using prompts I'd recommend searching around on the internet first and gathering lots of free ones - in fact I'd recommend that to anyone. Having the prompts in a physical book or ebook which you have to pay for can be useful if you aren't near technology, or you like your breaks from it. I'd never tell anyone not to buy a book, but in this case and with so much being free online, I'd recommend going down that route instead. 

I hope this has been a useful post and you can let me know by commenting if you wish. Also, if you have any other writing techniques you'd like me to look at and try out. You can follow me in a number of different places and these were linked in my last post, so feel free to check it out. Up next in a few days is my book review on Prince Lestat, so I'll see you all then.

Links and Images:

http://www.invyn.com/category/writing-is-like-quotes/

http://thesarcasticmuse.tumblr.com/post/82864997733

http://www.pinterest.com/hails9/fantastical-stories/

http://www.amazon.com/Four-Seasons-Creative-Writing-Journaling-ebook/dp/B009GLMF7U/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1420493456&sr=1-3&keywords=writing+prompts

http://poetryismedicine.wordpress.com/

The Mammoth Book Anthologies Review

Hi readers,

I have always liked Woolly Mammoths. I guess there's just something about the way they look that I like. I've been interested in dinosaur and ancient animals since I can remember. I still have a few toy dinosaurs knocking around and I've a number of Woolly Mammoth soft toys. I wonder if they do mange to bring Mammoths back-as science has been looking into-what they'll actually be like and if they are just elephants with fur and longer tusks? Of course, they actually have nothing to do with this post, because the use of Mammoth in this content means huge. So, let's get to it.

I am reviewing The Mammoth Book Of .... series.   Now, because there is a LOT of these books covering fiction, non-fiction, photos (as I recently found out) and puzzles. across all genres and mostly in the format of short stories, extracts and novellas, I decided to just write about them as a whole and touch upon the ones I own. In trying to do some research about this series, I found that there wasn't much out there. I was hoping for a complete list of books or a history about where, why and how the series came to be, but I've been unable to find out the information I wanted. (if you can help, please comment below). Of course there is a list of currently available books that does differ in each or most of the Mammoth Books. Also an up to date one appears on the publishers website, which I've included at the end.

The books themselves are amongst the best anthologies I've read. No matter which one I pick up, they have a good range of stories in them, due to the variety of authors old and new from around the world and eras. The books also cover all genres and some like the Best New Horror and Best New SF  are published yearly with the latest stories of the year before appearing. That's what actually got me thinking about writing this post. I brought the Best New Horror 22 (2011) off Amazon last week and realized that I'd not wrote about a Mammoth Book before. I am not sure what my first Mammoth Book was, but its possible that I saw it in a library or someone brought me one. The chances are that it was one of the vampire or horror ones. Since then I've got a lot of them, though my collection contents only the books on vampires, supernaturals, horror, fantasy and romance. I also buy the SF ones for my dad as he really likes them, (though I don't really read them as I'm not into SF).

I'd love to actually go and find out which ones I had. Most of them are together on my shelf due to the fact I order my books more on genre then anything else. Anyway, the other reason why I like MB is because I can dip in and out of them and just read the stories in any order. They make a good break from a long novel or else if I know I'm going on a trip or holiday or weekend away and fear that I might need something to read. I'm a bit strange with my reading away from home as I don't like to read during traveling and whilst away I prefer to be doing other things. I guess I sort of take a break from reading at these times because I do so much of it at home. The size of the book doesn't make it difficult to pack either. They are all paperbacks and are about the same length of a normal book. They do have 500-600 pages, which does make them a little bulky, but that's normally no problem. Also, I have always found them to be cheap. Normally they sell for £7.99, which is about the same price as a normal novel and you always seem to pay a bit more for anthologies. However, if you spend a bit of time online or in a book store and you don't mind buying second hand, you can get them for a lot cheaper. Horror 22 cost me a 1p plus £2.60 P&P.

One slightly negative thing I would say about them is that sometimes the covers of certain titles can differ. As I found due to a reprint of a title that has been out of print for a few years. Or, they update the title by adding and removing stories, but they decided not to make a new anthology overall. Sometimes it also has to do with country it was published in. Really, though it's such a small thing, but I'm only bring it up because it caught me out with The Giant book of Vampires (1992) and The Mammoth Book Of Vampires (2006). The editor, Stephen Jones explains on his website (below) that the publishers wanted to reprint the first book but change some of the stories. I have to say though that both these books are on my favorite list of vampire stories and I've read them a lot. I am sure I've got all MB relenting to vampires. There is those two and then, Vampire stories by Women, Dracula, Vampire Romances 1 and 2. 

From Jones' website I was able to find out that that first Best New Horror anthology was published in 1990. There's has been a new one every year since then. I've actually just gone and brought this book on Amazon and had a look at some of the others. They are all available on Kindle, which is great because some are expensive second hand. So I might do a post about that in the future. It'll be nice to have them all actually, there is 24 all together. And I own only numbers 18 and 22, I believe. I have got some others like the ghost story ones, but yeah it would be nice to have some more of these. I just brought 1, 4, 5, 11 and 15 though! Yeah, I need to stop digressing and get on with the review.

Having a quick look through the titles, it seems that MB have published collection on everything and anything. There are some interesting titles and I would like to have Dark Magic and Celtic myths now. So MB really caterer to everyone's taste and fantasies! These books would make great presents and they would be useful for writers of that genre and also students/researches. In the book of Horror 22, there is a list of useful address for readers and writers to use, it contents publishers and magazines. (not sure if all MB do this though). There is also a Necrology chapter listing the deaths of writers, artists etc. The introduction is also packed with lots of information about the horror genre and the latest books to be published. So really, MB could be just the beginning for many readers and writers!

Overall, I would recommend Mammoth Book anthologies to everyone. There is a genre/topic to suit everyone. The books are cheap and great value. They take up just a bit more space then a normal book does on a shelf or in a bag/suitcase. They are good for dipping in and out of and great if you don't have a lot of time to spare. They are useful to writers as they can keep in touch with what's popular and find inspiration. There is an introduction to new writers and subjects. The covers are also well done and look very interesting. I would differently say I was addicted to reading and buying them!

Images:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/evolution/10301194/Climate-change-killed-the-woolly-mammoth-researchers-claim.html
http://stephenbacon.co.uk/2011/06/15/a-nod-to-the-editors/
http://www.stephenjoneseditor.com/article-sj-undead01.htm

Web Links:
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?19097
http://www.stephenjoneseditor.com/book-01.htm
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_nr_n_0?rh=n%3A266239%2Ck%3Athe+mammoth+book+of&keywords=the+mammoth+book+of&ie=UTF8&qid=1392572692&rnid=1642204031
http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=books&series=mammoth_books&home_page_feature=4

Self-Publishing Update

I'm now self-publishing some of my short stories on http://www.readwave.com. You can find them here; http://www.readwave.com/hayley.hardman.7/

Thanks for your support!