Horror Gaming: DreadOut

I recall reading a newspaper retrospective on the film version of The Exorcist where the journalist authoring the article wondered if the movie’s reputation did it a disservice: for a first time viewer, how could a mere piece of story-telling on celluloid ever live up to that reputation? This is not to say that DreadOut is a hyped or famously scary game; on the contrary, it’s a localised-to-English version of an Indonesian game that had the potential to be an unexpected gem. It is more that once expectations have been set high, disappointment bites all the harder, and after a fantastic start, this game unfortunately lets itself down […]

Horror Gaming: Daylight

One of the first things I noticed on starting Daylight was that the protagonist is female. I nodded in approval, before a millisecond later reflecting it is sad that is still noteworthy. Protagonist gender is a peculiar topic. […]

Two short stories available on Wattpad

I’ve been rather enjoying Wattpad. As I have commented before, it’s not beyond the realm of reason that there are more talented authors out there than the conventional publishing world could identify and promote. One of the responses to that, of course, is e-books and self-publishing, and indeed that is something I myself am trying […]

Videogames and Violence: An Agenda Disguised as Reportage

Occasionally I joke that each morning I read the right-wing broadsheet The Telegraph and left-leaning The Guardian, then assume the truth is somewhere in the middle. Chuckle chuckle, ho ho. There is usually some kernel of truth in jokes, which is why they resonate, but my humorous description perhaps makes my reaching of my own […]

Horror Gaming – Haunted Memories (Episode One)

Haunted Memories is, without a doubt, an exceptionally mysterious game. As the nameless (but beardy) protagonist, you awaken in a rainy, gloom laden countryside scene. As you make your way down the path, there’s a car by the side of the road – empty, lights on. What is this place? There’s a note on the car – will this shed any light? Yes! It seems that mumble mumble mumble mumble. The plot thickens.

The Dam at Hiramatsu now available on Amazon!

I’m delighted to have finished the editing, re-drafting and proofing of The Dam at Hiramatsu, the second novel to feature the grumpy master of inventive swearing, Simon Aulus. Despite having read and re-read the manuscript numerous times, I have no doubt that now it’s available on Amazon I will immediately spot a bunch more typos and formatting errors. I hope it’s an at least fit enough shape to read.

Thank goodness for Goat Simulator

This is not going to be a full review (not least as I am not sure where to begin), about which I am glad as I try not to do spoilers in my reviews, and it would be hard to talk about what makes Goat Simulator so much fun without giving away some of the […]

I just discovered Wattpad; more gems to discover?

One of the many criticisms of self-publishing is that there is simply no independent quality control mechanism. This is a polite way of saying people without talent are able to spurt out cliched and/or badly written garbage without anyone standing between their fevered ramblings and an unsuspecting world. This is to say, conventional publishing is the hallmark of quality, and with the best will in the world, even a talented author on their own lacks the polishing resources of editors and proofers available to a publishing house.

New Shirley Jackson collection due out next year – excellent

From the UK Guardian: http://gu.com/p/3zgf9/tw It’s not often there’s an opportunity to read new material from the departed (outside of the plots of horror fiction, anyway). Very interested to learn a new collection is being drawn together. I am a big fan of Jackson’s work, very understated and unsettling. I agree with the author of […]