| Author | Message | ||
     Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
A few years ago, Ramsey and some other nice horror writers used to go round fairly regularly, I believe, doing readings/signings/promotions at books shops, etc. It was affectionately dubbed "The Horror Roadshow" I understand. I caught one of these some years back in Huddersfield - Ramsey, along with Pete Crowther, Steve Gallagher and Mark Morris. Brilliant stuff - most enjoyable! Anyway, my question is - is it about time someone brought back the concept of The Horror Roadshow? I'm thinking about The Write Fantastic - Mark Chadbourn, Juliet McKenna, Stan Nicholls et al. They have a well organised group of writers who go round bookshops, libraries, etc, doing readings and so on - promoting their own work, and also fantasy literature in general, ie. making it accessible to a wider audience. Wouldn't it be nice to do something similar with horror literature? Now I know there are lots of arguments against - time, money, effort, etc. If it was to follow the Write Fantastic model, it would need a website. There's a lot of organising to do - fixing events, and so on. But, what do you reckon folks - anyone feel the urge to set something like this up? I know those of you who write/publish do organise occasional readings, etc - like the one Simon B did in Manchester the other day - but I'm thinking of something more centrally organised like the Write Fantastic. By the way, I'm not a writer or anything, I don't have any contacts, but if anyone did want to set something like this up, I'd be willing to volunteer my services as a kind of "admin person" - maybe doing a bit of organising or something. | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
Great idea, Caroline.  | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.26.90.161 |
Caroline, that was probably the Hudds Roadshow I organised at Ottakers. Good turn-out as I recall. Lots of old dears getting scared by Gallagher's haunted flight-box tale. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.26.90.161 |
I just heard that Stephen Gallagher now lives in America. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
That was the one, Gary - only I had no idea who you were then! I was one of those old dears! That particular story - "The Box" is it called? - is superb, and Steve reads them so well. I think it must be his training as an actor. I don't know about living in the States, but he's certainly doing a lot of TV work over there now. I thought it might be just a matter of time before he moved over there too. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
You're right, just checked out Steve G's blog and he IS living in America now. But he also says on his blog he isn't going to make it to FCon this year - I know it was mentioned on the Fcon thread that he was. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.26.90.161 |
Hey, Caroline, that's cool. Another member here was there, too: Mark Lynch. It was a good night. We all went and got zoned out on curry directly afterwards. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
>>We all went and got zoned out on curry directly afterwards.<< I had to leave early - it was waaaaay past my bedtime!  But this is the kind of thing I'm talking about - not the curry, but the event itself (though drinks and curries afterwards are nice for you youngsters). And it struck me that perhaps the best kind of person for this "New Horror Roadshow" to centre around would be someone who runs a small press and has books to promote. D'you get my drift ...? | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
If you folks don't mind I'm just going to bump this thread back up to the top again. It may be that you all think it's a daft idea to start up a "New Horror Roadshow" as I'd suggested above, to complement The Write Fantastic - too costly, time-consuming, etc. But it may also be that some of you missed this thread and may well be interested. Like I said, I'm no writer, I've no contacts - and I can't even build websites - but I'd be a willing workhorse when it comes to organising things, sorting out events, etc. I'll just go find the website for TWF too and post it here, so you can see what I'm talking about if any of you aren't familiar with what those guys do ... | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Right, here we are - The Write Fantastic: http://www.thewritefantastic.com/ | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
I think it's an excellent notion, Caroline - I just wish I could get involved as an author. Alas, I have no books to promote *cries*. However, I can do a little (rather garish) webwork, as can be seen at the links below: http://stevejensen.eu http://theblackglove.wordpress.com | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Oooo, nice one, Steve. If some of the authors/publishers here (or elsewhere) are interested we might just have found our webmaster! | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
I'd be delighted to help. |