July

Marie has just reviewed the entire of Stargate Atlantis Season 5 (above) for Total Sci-Fi online. The final series of this groundbreaking show is being released in volumes, and you can see what Marie thought of them by clicking here.

© Matador Pictures

Also for Total Sci-Fi, you can now read a set report that Marie did with Paul based on their trip to see the making of Clive Barker’s Book of Blood. Directed by John Harrison (from the Sci-Fi Channel’s version of Dune) and starring Jonas Armstrong from BBC’s Robin Hood (above, in a spot of bother) as well as Sophie Ward, you can read the report by clicking here.

You can now read the articles Marie contributed to issue 5 of Shroud magazine (above), namely about Absinthe, geographical confluences, and the Webley revolver. For more detail about this ‘Hiram Grange’ special of the magazine, visit the website link here.

Marie has also found the time to update both the Read Us site, with news of the Wingerworth Wordsmiths’ award win (see previous news update for details) and the award-winning Elastic Press, marking the announcement of its closure and with news of the remaining stock for sale. To visit these, click on www.read-us.com and www.elasticpress.com respectively.

And, to end, Marie will be attending the next BFS Open Night on 3rd July at The George on Fleet Street in London. The event will be a Torchwood evening with the launches of books in the series written by Sarah Pinborough (above), Guy Adams and Mark Morris. It starts at 6pm so she hopes to see some of you there.

June

The first piece of news for this month involves a book Marie typeset for the ‘Wingerworth Wordsmiths’ group. Perspectives (below) has won the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust Group Anthology Competition, which was announced at The Society of Authors HQ in London on 19th May. The cup the group received is pictured above and Marie wishes all the writers involved many congratulations.

Marie has also updated the group’s website recently, which you can find here on Read Us, which the Wordsmiths set up to showcase their work.

Marie is also delighted to announce that she will be attending the World Fantasy Convention for the very first time this year. Held October 29th - November 1st in San Jose, California, the convention boasts such Guests of Honour as Garth Nix (see a selection of his books above), Jeff and Ann VanderMeer and Lisa Snellings.

May

Marie is delighted to pass on the news that James Herbert has just been revealed as Special Guest of Honour at The World Horror Convention in Brighton in 2010. Beginning with his ground-breaking novel The Rats (below) first published in 1974, James has gone on to cement his reputation as not only one of Britain’s bestselling genre writers, but one of the world’s most popular authors. With more than twenty other novels published – such as Lair, Domain, Sepulchre, The Shrine, Jonah, Haunted, The Ghosts of Sleath, ’48 and Once… - James joins the other fantastic guests at WHC already announced: Tanith Lee and David Case as Author Guests of Honour; Les Edwards and Dave Carson as Artist Guests of Honour; Hugh Lamb as Editor Guest of Honour; with Gollancz’s Jo Fletcher as MC.

Marie recently joined the committee and will be handling registration over the convention weekend itself. But for more information on attending / registering / accommodation please visit the site here. Some types of hotel rooms are already close to selling out, proving what a popular event this is likely to be. So don’t delay, book your place right now.

In other news, Marie has just delivered a review of Maria V. Snyder’s latest novel Storm Glass to the Dreamwatch site, which has now changed its name to simply Total Sci-fi Online – click here to visit. Regular visitors may remember that Marie has read and reviewed all of Maria’s books to date, with glowing recommendations. To visit the author’s site to find out more, just click here.

Finally, Marie has just been sent the finished cover artwork for the Darc Karnivale anthology she is due to appear in with her story ‘Playtime’. The gorgeous art is by Nick Rose, who is also providing an illustration for each tale. The book is edited by David Byron and should be out over the summer through Evil Nerd Empire publishers.

April Extra

The British Fantasy Society has announced its awards longlist, and Marie was delighted to see that her short story In The Howling of the Wind (Estronomicon, Christmas 2008) has been recommended in the Best Short Story category. To read the story, click here - and if you're a BFS member, you can vote up to 31st May, if you click here.

April

The first piece of news for this month is the publication of Femme Fatales of Fright: New Voices in Fiction # 4 featuring Marie’s tense story ‘Cat and Mouse’. As the title might suggest, this is a psychological study of terror not to be missed… The magazine comes complete with creepy cover (above) and also features fiction from the likes of Corrine De Winter, Jeani Rector and Kitty Taylor, as well as interviews with actress Cheyenne King (from Demons Rising) and Danica Decosto (from The Vampires of Zanzibar), plus movie reviews. Pick up your copy today by clicking here. There is also a website dedicated to Femmes Fatale, featuring more information on the contributors, here.

Marie was also delighted to see the following review of her story, 'World Without End', by Peter Tennant - which appeared in Issue 2 of The Thinking Man's Crumpet in February. For a review of the whole issue, see here.

"Marie O'Regan is featured author, and probably the best known and most accomplished of the magazine's contributors. In World Without End she cleverly builds what at first blush appears to be a simple tale of a young girl losing her teeth into one of global apocalypse. You can take this in several ways - as simply an externalisation of the girl's feeling that tooth loss is a monumental catastrophe, or as an actual scenario in which the macrocosm reflects the microcosm (and tempting to wonder if the girl represents Gaia). Either way, the idea is intriguing, and the story well written, managing to hold the attention all the way and make us suspend disbelief."

On the review front, Marie has just delivered her review of the horror DVD Dead Wood for Dreamwatch Presents Total Sci-Fi. All in all, she was impressed by this low-budgeter from directors David Bryant, Sebastian Smith and Richard Stiles, where the woods are definitely not all they seem! Check the review out when it goes online, here.

February

We kick off this month with news that Marie’s story ‘World Without End’ will be published in The Thinking Man’s Crumpet issue 2 (above is issue 1), in fact Marie is one of the featured writers in the magazine, which spotlights multi-genre fiction written by women.

Marie has also just been interviewed in Deadly Dolls (above), which features conversations with women working within the genre. Also included in the line-up are Roberta Lannes, Tamara Thorne, Andrea dean Van Scoyoc, Jeani Rector, Jade Eckert, Laura Bickle, Tamara Wilhite, Cindy Rosmus, Angie Hulme, Alexis Child, Terrie Leigh Relf and Amanda Underwood. To order your copy, just click here.

Marie's novella, Mirror Mere, currently available on the Screaming Dreams website, has now been added to www.issuu.com and converted into an e-book you can read online. Just click here to read more.

Marie has just reviewed the DVD Alien Raiders (above) for Dreamwatch Presents Total Sc-Fi. Produced and directed by the team that brought us The Blair Witch Project, you can find out what she made of it by checking out the piece on the site at http://www.dwscifi.com/ .

Marie has just signed up for The World Horror Convention in Brighton, 25-28 March, 2010. The World Horror Convention is a highly recommended event for anyone interested in the horror genre, with panels, readings and guests of honour. To sign up yourself or to find out more details, visit the website at http://www.whc2010.org/

On 31st January Marie attended the launch of Ellen Datlow’s new anthology, POE, which included readings from contributing authors Nicholas Royle and Pat Cadigan. Sadly Ellen herself could not attend due to ill health and Marie hopes she gets well soon. You can find pictures from the day below:

The superb cover of this Solaris book.

Kim Newman saying a few words at the start of the launch, holding ‘little Eddie’.

Pat Cadigan reading.

Nicholas Royle stepping up to read next.

Photographs © Paul Kane

On another note, award-winning artist Vincent Chong has redesigned and relaunched his website - full details can be seen here.

January

A very happy new year to everyone, and we hit the ground running in 2009 with an article Marie has written for news-stand publication Writing Magazine (above with the Penny Smith cover). All about creating suspense in your work, you can pick up your copy today.

And a brand new story from Marie will feature in David Byron’s forthcoming publication, Dark Karnivale. ‘Playtime’ is a chilling ghost tale which should greatly please fans of Marie’s fiction.

Marie has just reviewed the third book in the ‘Study’ series by Maria V. Snyder: Fire Study (above). You can find out what she thought of this one when her thoughts are published on the Dreamwatch Presents Total Sci-Fi site soon.

Below you can find pictures from the BFS Open Night Marie attended on 5th December at Ye Olde Cock Tavern, Fleet Street, London. She’ll be at the same venue later this month when she attends the launch of Ellen Datlow’s new anthology, POE.