Tasty Teeth by Guilermo Del Toro & Matthew Robbins, Odder Jobs (SSM)

In 1994, Mike Mignola created one of the most unique and visually arresting comics series to ever see print: Hellboy. Tens of thousands have followed the exploits of “the World’s Greatest Paranormal Investigator” in comics form and novels. In 2004, writer/director Guillermo del Toro made Hellboy the number one film in the country, reaching millions more fans. Now see Mike Mignola’s creation as seen through the eyes of some of today’s best writers in film and literature.

The above is the write-up from the back of the anthology: Odder Jobs as edited by that amazing man, Christopher Golden.

This is one of my favourite anthologies of all time. Not just because it's about Hellboy whom I love, but because Mr. Golden has pulled together some fantastic names to write some of the short stories including friend of MFB, Tim Lebbon, Frank Darrabont, Charles de Lint (swoon) to name but three of the big names. He also managed to entirce Del Toro and Robbins on board to play in the sandbox and their offering Tasty Teeth is both creepy and surreal and I loved it.

It's right at the end of the anthology and much shorter than I would have liked, but if you have seen Hellboy II (I loved loved Prince Nuada) you may remember that the team fight against a bunch of small creatures called the tooth fairies. This short story is very much the precursor to that scene.

In the story Hellboy is on the trail of some missing kids. He finds only dry bones within the lair of some kind of monster...soon he discovers two kids locked up and instead of being scared of Big Red the stare at the things behind him. It's the tooth fairies and they like nothing more than eating your bones.

Needless to say, Hellboy does things his way and with a giant explosion he saves the day, rescuing two of the missing kids.

The story is short, as I mentioned before. In fact, it's more a scene / vignette, but it's a pretty cool way for the anthology to end regardless. Stay tuned for other reviews from Odder Jobs.

Meeting Guilermo del Toro at Forbidden Planet London

From left to right: Sharon, Gav, Liz (with book) Mark behind Liz, then Ana in white coat, Gordon far behind, then Matt and right infront, MG.

WE GOT TO MEET GUILERMO DEL TORO - HOLY SMOKES, BATMAN!

And then in other news, WE GOT TO MEET HIM.

Ahem.

We turned up to FP in pouring rain. John had to give us directions how to find the queue to the back of the store, which is where the signing would be taking place....huh? It was pouring with rain - it was rubbish. We huddled with around fifteen other people and slowly the rain wore off. First Matt from http://www.teenlibrarian.co.uk/ appeared and we got to chat for ages about cool books and manga. Next to magically appear was Ana from http://www.thebooksmugglers.com/ shortly followed by Gav from nextread.co.uk, Alexander Gordon Smith, author of Furnace and The Inventors http:/to /www.alexandergordonsmith.com/, MG Harris who is the author of The Joshua Files and also Sharon of http://darkfictionreview.wordpress.com/ .

We formed quite the posse, much to the chagrin of everone else in the long queue but to be fair - once things got moving, it happened incredibly quickly and no one could say they waited very long.

I got my manuscript copy of The Strain signed, along with Adam from The Wertzones' proof. Mark got our hardback copy of The Strain signed AND then Guilermo (first name basis, baby!) chose to sign our limited edition cards which we got when we attended the premiere to Pan's Labyrinth all those years ago. Gav got my autograph book signed.

GDT was amazing - sweet, charming, and very personable, shaking every single person's hand and thanking us for turning up. I mean, REALLY? Like it was some form of hardship.

Kaz Mahoney appeared as we were leaving. Then we all strolled down to Wahaca for lunch where we ate ourselves to a standstill, talking signings, books, authors - it was amazing. It was lovely. Not to mention the food which was, as always absolutely scrummy and decidedly well priced.

I am so grateful to have met Alexander Gordon Smith face to face for the first time - we email-chat loads and meeting Gordon face to face was amazing. Funny, erudite and genuinely a cool guy - plus, he wore a Flash Gordon shirt. How cool is that? Plus, he had the chance to hand over a copy of Furnace to GDT. Who accepted it gratefully and with a kind smile.

MG Harris is one of my literary heroes. Or is that heroine? Her books, The Joshua Files are my go-to books to read when I'm feeling a bit blegh. They are crammed full of action and adventure and the pace is just fantastically insane. I am so looking forward to books 3 and 4 you have no idea.

And so, without further ado - some more pictures from today.

Part of the queue outside Forbidden Planet


MG Harris, author of The Joshua Files

Mark and I doing our best not to break out into some kind of chorus line dancing episode which would have been truly embarrassing.

Alexander Gordon Smith - Gordon to all - with a copy of Furnace:Lockdown.

And then, when we left Wahaca, we met with these artfully dressed charity collectors. We gave them money and got to take a photo of them. I admit it, I have no shame.

Thanks to Forbidden Planet, Danie Ware and John (one day I'll learn his name) for arranging this awesome signing. It was a blast.

Meeting Mark Newton

Thursday, 5th June 2009 at Forbidden Planet London

Legging it down to Forbidden Planet after work in time for a signing is always interesting. Last night I became quite intimate with a rather large man's smelly armpit in my face on the underground. I popped several mints and breathed out quite a bit, just to sort of "clean" the air. I think he thought I fancied him a bit, as my grimace may have been mistaken for a smile. I also tried not to think about zombie attacks, werewolf attacks or creature attacks of any sort. Thank you Hellboy, 28 Days Later and Mr. Romero and that other weird underground flick with the murderer in the underground...forget what it's called.

The upshot is I arrived at FP a little late. Mark Newton was doing his signing already. As I came walking around the corner everyone chorused: "There she is!" Am I a mini-celebrity or infamous? You decide...

I met Danie and John of FP, along with Graeme, legendary John Berlyne and two of the hardest working girls in the publishing industry, Chloe and Julie from TorUK, Mark's publishers. We chatted for a bit whilst Mark signed a STACK of books for a very avid fan.

Then it was my turn - I sidled up, introduced myself and immediately handed him something I had set up for Dave Brendon. Witness the coolness.

Then Mark signed our copy of Nights of Villjamur and I got his autograph in our tiny autograph book which is starting to aquire that really cool aspect of being well-thumbed and examined by various authors.

We chatted briefly (I spoke real words!) before Danie and John stepped in for a few photo opportunities and also to do a mini interview with Mark.

We retired to a nearby pub and I got a chance to chat to John Berlyne very briefly. I saw him several times at Eastercon earlier this year and I know he was promoting his book he wrote on Tim Powers. I had to confess and tell him about my epicfail at Eastercon when I asked one of the retailers in the Trader's Hall "Who is this Tim Powers?" ... and Tim Powers was standing RIGHT next to me. I kid you not. So once John found this out, he launched into a telling of who Tim is and what his books are about etc. I've resolved to buy in one or two, because I hate NOT knowing an author who has had such an influence on popular culture.

It was a lovely evening. Mark is incredibly funny and I think he and his editor, Julie, can quite easily pair up to do a comedy act. It was so nice to get a chance to chat to Mark the Author as I first got to know him in his role as the "face" of Solaris Books and the Black Library Guy (different to the Comic Book Guy in the Simpsons, Mark's much prettier) so we've only ever spoken "professionally".

Julie and I then legged it down to Charing Cross Station where we each went our way. A little bit high from lime and lemonade and from being around such witty and lovely people, I sat on the train, chatting to Karen, plotting our plan of action for the next few days as we are going to be together - a lot! Loads more signings and cool events coming up with YA authors.

Keep an eye out for a gushing blog post about meeting one of my personal heroes, Guilermo del Toro tomorrow...at Forbidden Planet. I love Forbidden Planet!

The Strain, Guilermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Synopsis

A plane lands at JFK and mysteriously ‘goes dark’, stopping in the middle of the runway for no apparent reason, all lights off, all doors sealed. The pilots cannot be raised. When the hatch above the wing finally clicks open, it soon becomes clear that everyone on board is dead – although there is no sign of any trauma or struggle. Ephraim Goodweather and his team from the Center for Disease Control must work quickly to establish the cause of this strange occurrence before panic spreads.

The first thing they discover is that four of the victims are actually still alive. But that’s the only good news. And when all two hundred corpses disappear from various morgues around the city on the same night, things very rapidly get worse. Soon Eph and a small band of helpers will find themselves battling to protect not only their own loved ones, but the whole city, against an ancient threat to humanity.

Budding authors and existing authors in the horror and thriller genre, do not need the competition which Guilermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan created when they decided to tackle the vampire myth in their co-written novel, The Strain.

On The Strain website, there is an candid little video of Del Toro chatting about the concept behind the novel and I groaned inwards when he confessed that he collects vampire lore, it is one of the things he is passionate about. I groaned because I realised that even though I loved The Strain and was scared out of my tiny little mind, the next two follow-up novels are going to be equally insane and tense. I don't think I'll be able to cope.

The small group of people we follow in The Strain are average every day people who are asked, by the reappearance of something very old and evil in this world, to dig deep and become fighters on the side of humanity.

The novel is penned with great skill and the characters are brought to life in "show not tell" ways which is fascinating to read. We focus on Ephraim Goodweather for a section of the novel, getting to know him well. We are shown that he is a damaged hero, one with issues; an ex-drinker now dedicated to make the most of spending time with his very bright son, Zack, whilst fighting a running battle with his ex-wife and her new partner, and struggling to put a name to the relationship he had struck up with co-worker Nora. A complex hero and a likeable one.

My favourite character, the one with the most allure and an enigma, is the elderly Abraham Setrakian. Abraham holds the nexus of the story in the palm of his gnarled hand. He knows what they are up against. He knows because he had met this creature before whilst in a concentration camp in Poland. He has hunted the creature all his adult life becoming haunted by it, preparing for it. He appears unhinged when he first meets Ephraim but soon they are thrown together in their quest to uproot and kill the creature which destroyed all the passengers on the plane. His intimate knowledge of the vampire is invaluable and his presence of mind and logical ways during this highly unlogical time is well portrayed.

The story moves along at a tremendous pace. The reveals are done in a considered way, drawing you into the cinematically written storyline. I think, the most terrifying aspect of this novel is how real it appears - vampirism is seen as a disease, a virus that if not checked, will run rampant and destroy the world. It strikes a particular grim chord, especially considering the paranoid times we live in at present, with the continued fear of AIDS, SARS and Swine Flu and any other illness which you can get by human contact. It is an all too real fear and that is where the horror aspect of The Strain comes in. It explains the supernatural in terms of science and people, it is terrifying.

Del Toro and Hogan have plundered European folklore for the history and creation of their vampire mythos. It is, as expected, thorough and intriguing and compulsive. The horror is not Hollywood gore and splatter, it is contained, personal and intimate. They have stripped the vampire down to the terrifying creature he was since legends of blood drinkers surfaced in ancient Greek times. It is not romantic, it is terrifying and illogical, self centred and wholly on a quest to break the pact it had created with other Immortals back in history. It is keen on a war, humanity is firmly set between him and the very small group of ancient vampires still alive. And he is happy to destroy all of humanity for his own purposes.

The Strain is highly recommended as a read and the only sore point is having to wait until the next book in the trilogy is released!

The Strain will be released on 2nd June here in the UK by Harper Collins. Find the official website of The Strain here.

All apologies

...for not being very snappy and up to date with the olde blog of late.

Mark and I had a rush of holidays - a week and a bit away in Wales, and then a long weekend away in Bruges. And it was wonderful.

Bruges is one of the most beautiful cities I've had the honour of visiting. And the bookshops are excellent! I found a few favourite authors there, translated into Dutch/Flemish, which I can read as I am an intelligent bookwyrm. I now regret not buying Karen Miller's Innocent Mage to re-read in Dutch. I've promised her a pic of the book, which I will post here too.

I am finishing off two other novels I've started this week along with my first grow'd up interview (over breakfast) with Allison Goodman who has had some awesome reviews in The Times and over at SFX magazine this past month. She's done a whirlwind tour of the UK and the States and is currently in Paris, living it up, being the glamour doll that she is.

I have to squeel - my proof copy of Drood by Dan Simmons arrived whilst I was in Bruges. Any idea the rustlings in the undergrowth about this book? After the two books I've got lined up, Drood will take pride of place to read, luxuriate in and review. It's been lined up to be turned into a movie by HM (His Majesty) G Del Toro...twitches nose. Where will he get the time?