Isolation shortlisted for the British Fantasy Awards - and a giveaway!

This will already be old news for some of you (that it's taken me three weeks to write this is testament to how busy I am right now), but I'm thrilled to announce that Isolation: The Horror Anthology has been shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award. The book came out last September with Titan Books, and if you haven't already grabbed a copy you should know that it includes stories by Joe R. Lansdale, Paul Tremblay, Tim Lebbon, M. R. Carey, Ken Liu, Nina Allan, Ramsey Campbell, Alison Littlewood, Brian Evenson, Angela Slatter, Jonathan Maberry, Mark Morris and many, many more. Everyone involved with the book has given it their best, and I wholeheartedly believe that you won't find a better set of authors anywhere.

Here's a snippet from the introduction to whet your appetite:

Of course, horror has always been aware of the dangers of isolation. From the Overlook Hotel to the Nostromo, there are perils awaiting us when we drift too far from society’s faint circle of light. We have an inbuilt fear of straying outside our communities, of setting foot in the dark woods—a fear that, many thousands of years ago, might have saved our lives. There is danger in the unknown, and the farther you stray into the wilderness, the less you know. In space, no one can hear you scream.

More than the monsters that lurk on the shadowed fringes of society, though, the real danger comes from within. Humans are social animals, and away from the pack we start to lose our identity, question our reason; eventually, we lose our grip on reality. The Overlook may have ghosts in its halls, but it’s Jack Torrance that they prey upon as he goes slowly mad. As Jonathan Maberry says in his Sam Imura story “Lone Gunman”, reprinted in this anthology: “Alone, though, it’s easier to be weaker, smaller, to be more intimate with the pain, and be owned by it.” Isolation finds the cracks in our psyche, and works its way insidiously inside.

It's up for the Best Anthology award against some stiff competition (including Great British Horror 7: Major Arcana, which features my story 'The High Priestess') but I'll be keeping my fingers crossed when the winners are announced at Fantasycon on 16 September. Best of luck to all the other nominees, in all categories!

You can, of course, still buy a copy of Isolation here. If you fancy getting your hands on a free signed copy, however, then make sure you sign up to my newsletter before the end of August. At the start of September I'll be picking one subscriber at random to receive a signed copy (and I'm feeling generous, so the draw is open to everyone outside the UK too). You can sign up on my home page, or just follow the link to sign up here.

I'll also be at Fantasycon for all three days, so if you see me wandering between rooms, grab me and wish me luck. I think I'll need as much as I can get...