Q1. What is your favorite word? Dude Q2. What is your least favorite word? No Q3. How has social media helped your career? I think it probably has, yes, certainly in terms of having more people know who I am and what I do. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career? Spending too long on it, having people I don’t know send me messages asking me to critique their work (for free) and then getting shirty when I say I don’t have the time. Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? I’m a Finance Manager, I’d love to be a professional writer. Q6. What profession would you not like to do? Anything that was too difficult really.  I’d hate to work in an industry that harmed you, I’d hate to work on the ocean. Q7. What is your favorite curse word?  Fuck Q8. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Hey mate, you did alright there, I don’t think you could have fitted much more in. Thanks for the insight Mark! For more information about Mark and…

Hersham Horror Books presents 5 more original stories from the minds of Stephen Bacon, Johnny Mains, John Llewellyn Probert, Stephen Volk and Mark West. The third anthology in our PentAnth range brings you five more chilling tales that all have their roots in the gloriously lurid style of 1970s horror. Anatomy of Death (In Five Sleazy Pieces)  So what gruesome delights can we expect from this short story anthology? Pseudonym by Stephen Bacon – A young man is given the opportunity to meet one of his horror idols, a notoriously reclusive author, but what is it that the old man is hiding? I rather like the tone that this sets for the rest of the collection. This is the subtlest of stories and had me reminiscing about my own introduction to the horror genre many years ago. I loved seeing the mention of Fear magazine, I remember reading it back in the day. It’s a bit sneaky really. I was successfully lulled into a false sense of security by this only for the next story to start messing with my brain. The Cannibal Whores of Effingham by Johnny Mains -A megalomaniacal Hollywood star with seriously homicidal tendencies, meets his match when he visits the ladies…

In 1981, Gaffney was terrorised by the Rainy Day Abductor. Local girls went missing. And two boys made a terrifying discovery. Now one of them has come home, to try and lay the past to rest. I read Mark West’s novelette, The Mill, last year and I was impressed by the author’s skill when it came to effectively conveying a sense of loss in his writing. What Gets Left Behind treads similar ground to The Mill, but rather than focusing on family this story is all about the bonds of friendship. West is part of a small group of authors that I’ve come across who are particularly gifted when it comes to capturing the sights and sounds of childhood. Part of the narrative is set in the early 1980’s and West’s writing certainly raises a knowing smile when he describes the boredom of a rainy afternoon when you were stuck indoors during the summer holidays. The other half of the tale plays out in the present day. The stories main protagonist, Mike Bergen, has spent many years trying to reconcile a horrific event from his childhood. He has purposefully stayed away from the town where he grew up. Circumstances draw him home and he is…

Michael struggles to come to terms with the death of his wife. He has visions of her calling to him, inviting him to the beyond. At the Bereaved Partners’ Group, he learns that he is not the only one left behind who can hear the departed beckon them… to the Mill. Over the last twelve months I have rekindled my interested in reading short stories. I’ve been lucky enough to read some marvelous anthologies and some fantastic stand-alone work. I was first exposed to Mark’s writing when a read the anthology Ill at Ease. I thoroughly enjoyed his entry Come See My House In The Pretty Town. I recently got the opportunity to read another one of his short stories, The Mill. It has always struck me that sadness and grief can be incredibly difficult emotions to convey in writing. When it is successful, however, it can produce work that is not only incredibly effective but also deeply moving. Personally I have only come across writing like this a few times in the past, I think I am going to have to include Mark West on this very short list.  The reader gets glimpses of the emotional turmoil that surrounds Michael at…