Out now! #DoctorWho #Gobbledegook

Celebrating the release of my debut Doctor Who audiobook Gobbledegook today with a nice cup of tea.

Suitable for framing!

It has been an exciting day & I even got a little mention on the official Doctor Who website! Not only that but my very own ‘TARDIS fam’ gifted me this beautiful framed cover art for my birthday in February. It’s now hanging in pride of place above my desk. I love how the artist included a steaming cup of tea in the Fifth Doctor’s hand, and Velar the space armadillo looks just how I pictured him.

Here’s the story synopsis:

Gobbledegook by Frazer Lee

Chief librarian Velar’s beloved books are being returned with their text completely garbled at planet Batear’s largest library. Batearian books are living things, organically linked via the ancient cave system where they are shelved. Unless Velar’s old friend the Doctor can detect a pattern in the chaos, Batear’s entire cultural history will become gobbledegook!

Gobbledegook is available as part of the Conflicts of Interest box set on download/cd from Big Finish Productions.

The box set includes two full cast audio adventures Friendly Fire by John Dorney and The Edge of the War by Jonathan Barnes. (I’m listening to Friendly Fire as I type this blog post, and it’s brilliant, really gripping!)

My 60min story Gobbledegook is narrated by the amazing Dan Starkey with music and special effects, and you can listen to it in the Big Finish app (just tap ‘Bonus’) or download via BigFinish.com under Bonus Content.

Tap ‘Bonus’ in the app to listen!

Or download via BigFinish.com

I really hope you enjoy my Gobbledegook as much as I enjoyed writing it! I’m grateful to John Dorney, David Richardson & all at Big Finish for letting me hop aboard the TARDIS.

Read more about the box set in Vortex Magazine – available as a free PDF download

Thanks for listening,

Frazer x

Read my #blakes7 story & many more in the 2023 annual – available now!

JANUARY 1978:
Young Frazer Lee was allowed to stay up (after 6pm!) to watch a brand new and very exciting sci-fi series on the BBC. He didn’t miss an episode and dreamed of one day writing (or directing!) something for the show.

45 YEARS LATER…

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MARCH 2023:
It was a real George McFly moment when this gorgeous special contributor’s edition Blake’s 7 Unofficial Annual arrived in the mail.

The book features my Blake’s 7 story ‘Planet of the Dead’ and over 260 pages of amazing artwork, insightful interviews, superb stories, fantastic features, and groovy games.

My thanks to Grahame and Carol at Cult Edge for this opportunity to fulfill a lifelong ambition, cheers to NESSHEAD for the beautiful illustrations, and congrats to everyone involved in putting together such a fantastic book.

It’s an expensive book, but if you are able to invest in a copy, I can promise you it’s worth every penny. And to tempt you further, you can get 15% off your purchase with the following checkout code: WELCOME15.

All proceeds from the 2023 Blake’s 7 Annual go to the Red Cross DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, a charity chosen by Jan ‘Cally’ Chappell who has an exclusive interview in the annual – a must for all fans of this beloved British S/F show.

“And coming up next on #BBCFrazerLee… It’s Doctor Who…”

Thanks for reading,
Frazer x

Short horror stories to give you the Yuletide shivers!

These beastly beauties arrived today!

Thanks to editor Darrell Buxton & congrats to all the authors & illustrators (i loved seeing the artwork for my stories — buy a copy & see!)

The Six-Six-Sixth BHF Book of Horror Stories includes my satanic story ‘Sixpack and the Angel’
Buy now: https://bit.ly/31sA89Y

The Seventh BHF Book of Horror Stories features my twisted tale ‘So Much to See’
Buy now: https://bit.ly/3EuNCQt

***All proceeds to charities FAST (Foundation for Angelman Therapeutics) & Bassetlaw Hospice***

Follow BHF Horror on Insta, Twitter, and Facebook.

Thanks for reading, Frazer x

News-splash! ‘The Beauty of Death Vol. 2: Death by Water – The Gargantuan book of Horror Tales’ is out now in ebook

Released today in ebook (with a paperback edition to follow soon) The Beauty of Death Vol. 2: Death By Water is a gargantuan book of horror tales, boasting stories from Clive Barker,‎ Ramsey Campbell,‎ Caitlìn R. Kiernan,‎ Peter Straub,‎ and many more (including yours truly).

About the book: In each of these stories from some of greatest writers of horror and dark fiction, water plays the dual role of accomplice and executioner. With accidental drownings, irresistible calls of sirens from the deep, strange whisperings from household plumbing, faces of the dead in droplets of water, rabid fish, leviathan monsters, and more, these thirty-nine tales of death by water will make you think twice about taking that long-awaited cruise, going for a midnight swim, or taking your next shower.

Stories by: Joanna Parypinski, Lucy Taylor, Dona Fox, Eric J. Guignard, Lucy Snyder, Stephen Gregory, Daniel Braum, Simon Bestwick, Peter Straub, Lisa Mannetti, Daniele Bonfanti, Ramsey Campbell, Gregory L. Norris, Michael Bailey, Marge Simon, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Frazer Lee, Paolo Di Orazio, Dennis Etchison, John Palisano, Brian Evenson, Michael Hanson, Edward Lee, Tim Waggoner, Gene O’Neill, Jonah Buck, David J. Schow, Anthony Watson, Bruce Boston, Michael A. Arnzen, Adam Nevill, John Langan, Alessandro Manzetti, Clive Barker, Lisa Morton, Jodi Renée Lester, Jeremy Megargee, Nicola Lombardi, Adam Millard.

Edited by: Alessandro Manzetti & Jodi Renée Lester

Grab your copy from Amazon

UK readers, follow this link

Sweet dreams… (or Wet nightmares!)

‘So Much To See’ at Stage Fright: A Day of Theatrical Horror

Thrilled to announce that my short horror story ‘So Much To See’ will be performed by (Oxo ad Mum!) Morag McLean Peacock at Stage Fright: A Day of Theatrical Horror this Sunday Oct 29th, in Salford UK. My thanks to the event programmers and organisers for including my work in what looks set to be a goosebump-inducing day (& night!) out.

Find out more about Stage Fright & book tickets here!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1976398172601663/

The Beauty of Death II Anthology – T.O.C. Revealed

Cover Art by World Fantasy Award Nominee Artist Zelda Devon

The Table of Contents for horror anthology ‘The Beauty of Death 2 – Death by Water‘ has been revealed, including my story ‘To Take The Water Down And Go To Sleep’.

Follow the link to see the full Table of Contents, which features Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, and many, many admirable authors. I’m honoured to be part of such a wonderful line up of writers and their tales.

The book is edited by Alessandro Manzetti and Jodi Renée Lester and published (in print and digital) in October 2017 by Independent Legions Publishing.

 

Guest Author S.E. Sever introduces ‘Mash Stories’

Handing over the Frazerblog today to my good friend, author S.E. Sever, who has started an inspired (and inspiring) short story contest at her new website Mash Stories.

Read S.E.’s post below for more about this exciting new venture!

About Mash Stories

Are you one those people who have to align a tilted frame on the wall? Have you ever found yourself folding a piece of paper to stick it under a wobbly table?

If so, you’d know the instinct – and the pleasure – of correcting things that are desperate to be corrected. And Mash Stories is born exactly from this instinct.

I remember the day I looked into the short story competitions market for the first time. I found a website which listed competitions: The Grinder. At the time, there were over 2,300 competitions listed on The Grinder, and 28,638 submissions had already been made. I felt like a kid who had been taken to an astonishing playground with the queue of an airport security check.

In the time that has elapsed since then – roughly five months – the number of submissions on The Grinder website has nearly doubled – 42,668 as of 9^th April 2014.

The number of competitions left me not knowing where to start from, and the number of submissions made me anxious about the vast amount of competitors out there. I wasn’t ready to race against writers who had already won awards, while I simply had no publishing experience.

I had assumed short story competitions would allow me to get my voice heard, gather a circle of readers, and earn small amounts now and then to support my writing. But to start with, I was asked to pay to submit my work. And when a magazine accepted to publish a story of mine, they offered me less than their submission fee for the ‘exclusive’ rights to my work. I thought there was a typo there, but apparently there wasn’t.

That was when I decided to fold a piece of paper to stick it under the wobbly market of story competitions. I knew I couldn’t write to more than 7,000 competitions listed in the endless waters of the Internet and tell them my point, but I could set up a competition which would stand straight no matter how tilted the others were.

That’s how Mash Stories was born. I dreamt of a competition that evaluated my story, instead of its formatting; that paid me reasonably, rather than charging me fees; that gave me free feedback and helped me to promote my work, rather than demanding exclusive rights to limit it.

At Mash Stories, we keep the rules to a minimum and award the winning story a professional rate. We turn all shortlisted stories into a podcast, and provide free feedback for the rejected ones so that they can improve.

I hope our efforts will help the talented writers out there to get their voices heard. And I hope you will help us to set up a model competition, which will create a change in many writers’ lives.

Please support us by donating to us or by giving us a hand with editorial matters.

Thank you for your interest and support.

S.E. SEVER

About S.E. Sever:

S.E. Sever  is currently working on several projects in fantasy fiction and science fiction.
She has had several short stories published in fiction magazines across the US and the UK.
S.E.’s poetry book, Before Me, is published by Thought Catalog Books, New York.

Mash Stories website: http://mashstories.com/

Official S.E. Sever website: http://sesever.com/

 

 

 

In praise of: Whistle and I’ll Come to You

I really fell in love with the ghost stories of M. R. James while lurking in a sentry box, dressed as a Victorian serial killer (they wore top hats apparently), ready to jump out on unsuspecting tourists with an exclamation of “tickets please!”

Let me explain.

I worked weekends at The London Dungeon to help pay my way through college in the early 90s. To pass the time during each shift i sometimes listened to audiobooks, sneakily hiding my headphones beneath my costume. These were the days of books-on-tape, or cassettes (which, to explain to younger readers, were like mp3 files stretched across two reels of dental tape and listened to via an iPod device the size of a house brick). One of the audiobooks was a collection of M. R. James tales read by Michael Hordern. I had read a couple of James’ classics and knew i was in for a flesh-creeping time – and then i heard “The Ash Tree”. By the gods my heart nearly stopped in my chest at that one and for once it was me who got a fright when the tourists came asking for directions.

I then discovered the telly adaptations of some of James’ tales, presented by the BBC each Christmas. The tradition continued into the new millenium with a series of Christopher Lee-narrated adaptations, which i enjoyed during Christmas hols in the wilds of Ireland. And of course just last month, Mark Gatiss made his directorial debut with his fun, Hammer-esque M. R. James adaptation “The Tractate Middoth”.

But the one that got to me the most was “Whistle…” And to my delight, Father Christmas (or perhaps his pal Krampus) left a copy of the BFI’s double bill dvd “Whistle and I’ll Come to You” under the tree for me this year. The disc includes both the 1968 and 2010 versions, plus extras featuring contemporary master of the macabre, Ramsey Campbell. I’ve seen both versions before of course – and both are beloved to me in different ways. I think one exploits shaky denial in the face of fear and the other channels total, harrowing despair. If you haven’t seen them, do seek them out. But (ahem) a warning to the curious… both are utterly disturbing in the true spirit of James’ original short story “Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad” (also included in audio form as a nice bonus on the dvd – now all i need is a draughty sentry box. The garden shed will have to do).

Here’s to the traditional festive ghost story – long may they continue to scratch at our windowpanes, rattle our doors.

And tangle with our bedsheets.

So Much to See When Darkness Calls

Thrilled to announce my short story ‘So Much to See’ will be included in ‘When Darkness Calls’ from Screaming Spires Publishing. My thanks to Emma Audsley for including the tale.

‘When Darkness Calls’ is a charity anthology in support of a special needs school in Cheshire and Autism Awareness, two very good causes.

It’s an honour to be included with such amazing authors (including genre legends Ramsey Campbell and Graham Masterton)  – you can check out the full line up here.

A sneaky peek at the cover art (by the insanely talented Daniele Serra) is below.

I for one cannot wait to devour all of these dark tales when the book is released!

copyright Screaming Spires