Rogue - The Second Near to the Knuckle Anthology
The second anthology from those fantastic folk at Near to the Knuckle, Darren Sant and Craig Douglas, is nearly with us and it feels like something very special is coming. They've been trailing the book for weeks now with some hugely impressive graphics courtesy of the creative talents of Ryan Bracha, slowly revealing who was going to be appearing in this collection with a brief quote from their story. I have to say the line up is really impressive, when the first graphic came out it wasn't just eye-catching because it looked cool, but also because it included the name Gareth Spark. I'll never understand how Sparky isn't one of Britain's most celebrated writers, honestly this man writes stories so poetic, so lyrical and yet so seat-grippingly entertaining everyone should be enjoying what he does. And, the beauty of this book is, it's filled with amazing talents that in no way look out of place next to Mr Spark. Honestly, I cannot impress on you enough just how good this book is going to be and I'm honoured to be part of it.
When the first Near to the Knuckle anthology, Gloves Off, came out I was pretty green in the writing scene. Being part of that collection really gave me the confidence that I might actually know what I was doing and encouraged me to keep at it. I'm so grateful to Daz and Craig for making me part of the Near to the Knuckle family. Since that anthology I've appeared in print and online dozens of times and I've even signed my first publishing contract for my short story collection, Urban Decay. That collection will be published by the very chaps that put out Gloves Off and are just about to release Rogue, and it means so much to me that they picked me to be their first author with his own name on the cover. When you look at the talent they've collected together for Gloves Off and Rogue, as well online at Near to the Knuckle, it's really a great honour to be the first off the blocks with them. In Gloves Off just seeing my name alongside so many people that I respected as writers meant the world to me, Paul D. Brazill, Chris Leek, David Barber, Allen Miles, the list was long and impressive. This time, with Rogue, it feels even more special though, I'm still impressed by the line up of names, but this time, two years on, I count many of the people that I'll be published alongside as friends. It seems weird that a bunch of people that write stories about some of the worst things imagineable are actually some of the nicest people I've ever met, but I have to say they are. There's a genuine sense of community, a desire to see each other succeed and that was no more apparent than when I signed with Grit Fiction Ltd and I received so many kind messages from other writers. Rogue will be a showcase of some of the best talent in that community, and as I've already said, it's great to be involved.
So, apart from Gareth, who I've already mentioned, and myself, who's in? We'll there are twenty-one of us and most of the names are very familiar to me and some I've only discovered since seeing they were going to be in Rogue. For me, some of the stand out short story writing that I read in 2014 came from T Maxim Simmler, Cal Marcius, Tess Makovesky and Matt Mattila (I know, right? I reckon they all made their names up too!), it's fantastic to see that they're all involved. Gary Duncan has burst onto my radar in the past year as well, as the Editor of the one of the hottest new flash fiction sites around, Spelk, he's not a bad writer either - in fact he's bloody good! Mark Cooper, Craig Furchtenicht, Gabriel Valjan and David Jaggers were all new names to me when they appeared on graphics advertising Rogue, but I've since looked them up and they do good things, in fact David Jaggers had a very good short up at The Flash Fiction Offensive just this week. Bill Baber, Robert Cowan, Richard Godwin, Liam Sweeny, Alan Griffiths, Walter Conley, Graham Wynd and Benedict Jones are names I've know for a while, solid names that come with the stamp of quality all over their writing. Last but not least, the Rock Stars of undergrond writing, Paul D. Brazill who's been an inspiration to me for a good few years, it was great to see his book Guns of Brixton published by Caffeine Nights last year. He's one of the hardest working people in noir, writing and promoting other authors. I was honoured to be in his Exiles anthology last year and I'm honoured to be appearing alongside him again in this collection. And then there's Ryan Bracha, the brilliant mind behind, Twelve Mad Men, the writer of The Dead Man trilogy and the proprietor of Abrachadabra Books. I ended the last two paragraphs telling you how great it is to be involved in this collection and so I wont do it again here.
No, I'll do it here, it's great to be involved!
Keep your eyes open for the release date!
When the first Near to the Knuckle anthology, Gloves Off, came out I was pretty green in the writing scene. Being part of that collection really gave me the confidence that I might actually know what I was doing and encouraged me to keep at it. I'm so grateful to Daz and Craig for making me part of the Near to the Knuckle family. Since that anthology I've appeared in print and online dozens of times and I've even signed my first publishing contract for my short story collection, Urban Decay. That collection will be published by the very chaps that put out Gloves Off and are just about to release Rogue, and it means so much to me that they picked me to be their first author with his own name on the cover. When you look at the talent they've collected together for Gloves Off and Rogue, as well online at Near to the Knuckle, it's really a great honour to be the first off the blocks with them. In Gloves Off just seeing my name alongside so many people that I respected as writers meant the world to me, Paul D. Brazill, Chris Leek, David Barber, Allen Miles, the list was long and impressive. This time, with Rogue, it feels even more special though, I'm still impressed by the line up of names, but this time, two years on, I count many of the people that I'll be published alongside as friends. It seems weird that a bunch of people that write stories about some of the worst things imagineable are actually some of the nicest people I've ever met, but I have to say they are. There's a genuine sense of community, a desire to see each other succeed and that was no more apparent than when I signed with Grit Fiction Ltd and I received so many kind messages from other writers. Rogue will be a showcase of some of the best talent in that community, and as I've already said, it's great to be involved.
So, apart from Gareth, who I've already mentioned, and myself, who's in? We'll there are twenty-one of us and most of the names are very familiar to me and some I've only discovered since seeing they were going to be in Rogue. For me, some of the stand out short story writing that I read in 2014 came from T Maxim Simmler, Cal Marcius, Tess Makovesky and Matt Mattila (I know, right? I reckon they all made their names up too!), it's fantastic to see that they're all involved. Gary Duncan has burst onto my radar in the past year as well, as the Editor of the one of the hottest new flash fiction sites around, Spelk, he's not a bad writer either - in fact he's bloody good! Mark Cooper, Craig Furchtenicht, Gabriel Valjan and David Jaggers were all new names to me when they appeared on graphics advertising Rogue, but I've since looked them up and they do good things, in fact David Jaggers had a very good short up at The Flash Fiction Offensive just this week. Bill Baber, Robert Cowan, Richard Godwin, Liam Sweeny, Alan Griffiths, Walter Conley, Graham Wynd and Benedict Jones are names I've know for a while, solid names that come with the stamp of quality all over their writing. Last but not least, the Rock Stars of undergrond writing, Paul D. Brazill who's been an inspiration to me for a good few years, it was great to see his book Guns of Brixton published by Caffeine Nights last year. He's one of the hardest working people in noir, writing and promoting other authors. I was honoured to be in his Exiles anthology last year and I'm honoured to be appearing alongside him again in this collection. And then there's Ryan Bracha, the brilliant mind behind, Twelve Mad Men, the writer of The Dead Man trilogy and the proprietor of Abrachadabra Books. I ended the last two paragraphs telling you how great it is to be involved in this collection and so I wont do it again here.
No, I'll do it here, it's great to be involved!
Keep your eyes open for the release date!
