Filthy Creations 6 and TTMC 4 Out Now!

[Calenture]

Filthy Creations 6 is the largest issue so far, with 84 pages, 10 stories,  and two serials beginning this issue.

I'm very interested in hearing from people who would be interested in reviewing this magazine. It was never the intention to make money from it - let's face it, there's less work involved in most paid employment. FC was always a labour of love. 

If you prefer to buy the magazine, there's a PayPal link at the end of this post. But primarily we're interested in feedback.

Filthy Creations is proud to present the serialisation of David A Riley's novel Sendings. David has described this as "a mixture of two influences at the time it was originally written, H P Lovecraft and Dennis Wheatley!" Sounds good to me. And if a creepy mansion housing an artist's community on grounds previously occupied by a baby-sacrificing cult gives you an appetite, possibly you'll agree.

Also beginning this issue, Craig Herbertson's novel The Death Tableau. This one's already gained the attention of a couple of the larger 'names' in the horror field. Dr Peralis' work takes her into the world of the drop-outs and down and outs, where young Kennedy introduces her to a silent giant. And a mysterious Mr Bowers wants Peralis' advice on an even more mysterious artefact. 

Both these writers have had previous stories published in the now-legendary Pan Books of Horror. And they're both brilliant at what they do.

Besides Riley and Herbertson, the magazine includes:

Robert Mammone
Penni McLaren Walker
D F Lewis (two stories)
Colin Leslie
Franklin Marsh
Charles Black
James Stanger
Stephen Bacon
Rog Pile

Above, illustration for Robert Mammone's The Devil At Your Heels, a story of death on the road... and hell on wheels. Robert's previous credits include a story in Dr Who Magazine, an audio presentation The Copse at Psudopod.org, and he had the cover story in Encounters Magazine 2 from Black Static, Along Came a Spider..

The illustration above is for Penni McLaren Walker's  Easy Money. Penni's established a name for herself as a singer-songwriter, and Easy Money has the feel of one of those portmanteau tales beloved of Amicus.

Filthy Creations 6 and The Thinking Man's Crumpet 4 cost £2.25 (including p&p) or £3.50 when bought together:

You can get them  here

Or PM me if you're interested in receiving the magazines for review.

TBC.

[Ed]

Good luck with it, Rog. Good lineup, and I like your style of illustrations -- they're unusual, in a good way.  

[Calenture]

Good luck with it, Rog. Good lineup, and I like your style of illustrations -- they're unusual, in a good way.  

Thanks, Ed.

Someone said once that people could assemble their own copies of the magazine by downloading parts of it and printing it themselves. But they'd have to search a lot of sites to find some of the parts, and a significant part of it has never appeared on the net.

Thinking back,  people rarely paid for small-press magazines in the past. You wrote a letter of comment and got the next magazine free. So again, we're more interested in getting comments than selling either Filthy Creations or TTMC. Anyone interested in receiving review copies for free, please either PM me or email me at: rogpile@hotmail.co.uk

Otherwise, there's a PayPal link below.

This one is for Rage by D F Lewis. Rage is one of those perfect straight-faced miniatures that Des does so well. A little while after reading it I started chuckling. Coral wondered what I might have taken. Then she read it, and she started giggling, too.

Craig Herbertson: "Rage deals with the solution to a macabre jigsaw puzzle and the The Fat Shrike simply abounds with unforgettable lines..."

For A Solace of Winter Rain by Stephen Bacon. Using the trappings of the smoking-room tale, this one has a discomfiting end which almost places it in another genre. Stephen has had stories in the final three volumes of Nemonymous, The Sixth Black Book of Horror, Where the Heart Is and others.

You can get them at this link

[Ed]

Did you go to the WHC in Brighton this year, Rog? I noticed DF Lewis there, along with Craig Herbertson (whom I chatted with briefly) and several of the Brit Pulp/Filthy Creations regulars. Could be that we bumped into each other without realising.

[elay2433]

Could be that we bumped into each other without realising.

But surely he'd recognise a mug like yours, right?

[Ed]

Could be that we bumped into each other without realising.

But surely he'd recognise a mug like yours, right?

Dunno -- you think I have a distinctive face, even without the help of a banana skin?

[Calenture]

Did you go to the WHC in Brighton this year, Rog? I noticed DF Lewis there, along with Craig Herbertson (whom I chatted with briefly) and several of the Brit Pulp/Filthy Creations regulars. Could be that we bumped into each other without realising.

No, Ed. John Probert did ask if Coral and I would be there, but by that time all the bookings had gone, even if work had permitted the time. I would love to get to a convention some day to meet some of the friends I've made online, but somehow I've never got to a convention. But I did rejoin the BFS a week or so ago, so I should be more in touch with things next time.

Ah well, on with the last of these promo posts. And again - I really miss letters (or emails) of comment. I would like FC to have a letters page, and that was how 'fandom' used to work. You wrote a Letter of Comment and you got the next issue of whatever it was with the letter printed therein. So if you're interested, email me at rogpile@hotmail.co.uk and ask for a free copy of FC, then LoC it!

Or if you prefer, there are PayPal links below...

The one below was for Reg Jones' The Hot Gates  in The Thinking Man's Crumpet 4:

You can get them at this link

OK, this should do it. Don't want to spam the place. Thanks for your patience, and happy reading.

From James Stanger's Crocodile Tears: "Streetlights were eerie and parked cars would take the form of hunched beasts, and the doors of houses become howling, gaping mouths."

Then I read Colin Leslie's equally paranoid Bad Manners (which defies illustration) and the houses seemed to gain staring eyes or watchers.

This copy of FC is dedicated to D F Lewis. After having stories printed in about 1500 publications, Des no longer submits work to magazines. But of course, his stories are all over cyberspace. I loved The Fat Shrike, which struck me as two stories in one, set against a typically British landscape where death lurks behind the counter of the local corner shop.

Other stories are by Charles Black (and about time too), Franklin Marsh (the nation demanded it) and some guy they'll never take seriously (thank God) with a name like Rog Pile. Consultative nagging by Coral King.
 

The Thinking Man's Crumpet 4 includes:

Inner Demons by Anthony Watson.

Horror writer Ross Warren wrote "you should read Inner Demons by Anthony Watson in the Thinking Man’s Crumpet – It’s simply brilliant," this quote lifted from a reply by Ross Warren  here

I’ve just read it and I agree. It’s a highly readable and (in a quite literal sense) stomach-churning piece of horror. Definitely required reading for pulp fans.

Coral finds this stuff and doesn't tell me.  

In Peter Tennant’s The End of a Strange Affair, a misogynist’s revenge on his stripper girlfriend goes ironically wrong, while David Thorpe’s bittersweet verse Till When? tells of an unemployed couple who create their own diseased corner of heaven in a stolen Mondeo under the Watford intersection.

Interrogation - More vicious stuff for strong stomachs by Anna Stephens, one of our more sadistic writers. A couple of the grimmer stories I’ve read recently have come from Anna Stephens in TTMC and Anna Taborska in The Fifth Black Book of Horror.  

So much for the weaker sex. Hah!

You can get them at this link