DARK DUDESS:
Horror Editor.
When Col Bury read a flash fiction ‘nasty’ by Lily Childs on a writers’ forum in 2009 he suggested she submit it to Thrillers Killers ‘n’ Chillers – the e-zine he co-edited with best-selling author Matt Hilton. Lily cheekily asked if she could submit something a bit longer, which “might be too gory”. Col had a good laugh at that – until he read it. He accepted Fashion Victim, and Lily got her first crack at the whip on TKnC.
Writing Bio:
Lily's latest eBook Cabaret of Dread: a Horror Compendium Vol. 1 is out on all Amazon platforms. A collection of eleven full-length stories, sewn together with another thirty-two flash teasers.
A dozen TKnC appearances later Lily has now been published in various print anthologies including The Infanta Triptych and Walls of Flesh in Their Dark Masters; Tales of Extreme Vampire Horror (Red Skies Press), Spangles and Pustula Peculiar in Daily Bites of Flesh 2011 (Pill Hill Press), Softly in Caught By Darkness (Static Movement)... and more.
Only mildly lighter, Lily’s new urban fantasy series Magenta Shaman has kicked off with the first episode in the series now available to download to Kindle. Let’s face it – it’s horror. But it is also very spiritual – and personal. Follow-up Magenta Shaman Stones The Crow is available now, with the next episode out late summer 2012.
The disturbing short story Carpaccio, first published on TKnC gained the Dark Dudess a nomination for Best Story on the Web in the coveted Spinetingler Awards 2011.
And Lily’s favourite piece, Dressing-Up Box won the Inaugural TNF Flash Fiction War, Eye In A Pickle Jar contest over at New Flesh Magazine. The star of the tale, her ‘fetish’ (as the French would say) demon likes to wear tutus of entrails whilst dancing with other people’s feet – screwed on. This delicious creature still peeks its peeling head around wardrobe doors from time to time.
Dark verse is always stirring in Lily’s periphery; you can now download 'Courting Demons - a Collection of Dark Verse' fro Amazon.
There is always a novel on the go. Sometimes it’s piled up on the bedside table gathering dust; sometimes it’s being used as an excuse to go on a research trip. The current one would get Lily excommunicated – if she belonged to the club in the first place.
She blogs at The Feardom where she runs the annual showcase of dark fiction and poetry by female writers February Femmes Fatales, as well as her popular, weekly flash fiction challenge Lily’s Friday Prediction.
Non-Writing Bio:
The south coast of England is the beautiful land where Lily lives under the gaze of the South Downs, just two minutes from the beach. She has a beautiful, incredibly imaginative and intelligent daughter and is married to Laurence, an esoteric artist. An eponymous cat shares their little house.
Lily manages and designs websites and intranets for her day job, is directly descended from Anne Boleyn’s auntie Margaret and loves dark, emotional music from Placebo to Satie (surprise, surprise). Her favourite authors are Clive Barker, Joanne Harris and Sarah Waters. Barker's Imajica is Lily's bible.
The Feardom: http://lilychildsfeardom.blogspot.com
Cabaret of Dread: a Horror Compendium Vol. 1 Amazon UK and Amazon US
Magenta Shaman on Amazon UK and Amazon US
Magenta Shaman Stones The Crow on Amazon UK and Amazon US
Courting Demons - a Collection of Dark Verse on Amazon UK and Amazon US
Magenta Shaman on Amazon UK and Amazon US
Magenta Shaman Stones The Crow on Amazon UK and Amazon US
Courting Demons - a Collection of Dark Verse on Amazon UK and Amazon US
Lily Childs on TKnC
CRIME DUDE:
Col Bury
The youngest of three siblings, Col Bury was born and raised on a council estate in Manchester in the northwest of England, in the 70's and 80's. Money being sparse, he had to find inexpensive ways to occupy his time. Football (soccer) was the answer - jumpers for goalposts, wind rain or snow, under a street-lamp, 5- hour matches of 20-aside, 'n' all that. He represented his town team of Eccles when he was just 10 years old. Known as a ‘creative player’, he's won numerous cups and medals, and went on to captain several teams. For his sins, Col is a season ticket holder at Manchester City FC, which has been a character-building experience, to say the least!
Col’s school report read: ‘easily distracted’. He developed a sharp wit and formed a trio (akin to 'The Three Stooges'), who sat at the back of the class making the girls laugh. At last, he’d found a subject in which he excelled!
As a spotty teenager, he also found he had a flair for 8-ball pool; again representing his town team, then proudly, Greater Manchester County too. He even had a trial for England once upon a time, but, alas… the shark was sharked! Col’s garage contains over 100 pool trophies (the house-proud missus finally put her foot down).
Writing Bio:
In a big city like Manchester crime isn’t far away, and Col soon became street-wise. He used to meet up with fellow writer and old school buddy, David Barber, for a game of pool - he let Dave win the odd one to keep him interested - a pint 'n' a chit-chat about writing. They read each other’s naff short stories, and formed Eccles writers’ ‘line’, as two wannabes can’t form a circle! Aged around 20, Col read a crime novel that, in some ways, changed his life. Switch by William Bayer - more on this here... http://colburysnewcrimefiction.blogspot.com/search?q=switch
Col always kept a diary throughout his school days, and wrote amateurish poetry as self-therapy whenever times were bad. His love for horror and crime fiction developed, reading the likes of James Herbert, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker, Shaun Hutson, Paul Bernard, Thomas Harris, Val McDermid, amongst many others. All the while, Col dreamed of being a published novelist.
Aged 23, Col briefly embarked on a creating writing correspondence course and decent tutor feedback spurred him on. Over the years Col wrote: poetry, lyrics, a children’s books series (rejected en masse), short stories (all rejected), speeches, stand-up comedy routines (no bottle to act them out), half a novel, and then another half a novel. Life took over and Col married, got a secure job in the Public Sector (if he told you, he’d have to kill you!), and had two wonderful kids. Meanwhile, still reading 'n' writing avidly throughout, frustratingly, the dream still bubbled away in the background.
Things took a fateful turn when introduced, by a mutual friend, to Matt Hilton in 2008. Col was inspired by Matt’s story and they soon became great friends. Matt encouraged Col to join the blogosphere, which opened many new doors. Col, having enthusiastically supported TKnC from the start, was honoured to be invited by Matt to become co-editor a few months after its inception (Feb, 2009). This site and the feedback from its readers and writers, has proven to be a huge boost to Col’s development as a writer, and he’s even won a few writing comps. He was gobsmacked to be named, Preditors & Editors "Best Online Magazine Editor" in 2010.
Col’s ever-growing selection of short stories can be found here on TKnC, A Twist Of Noir, Six Sentences, Blink Ink, Flash Fiction Offensive, Ragepacket online (Byker Books), amongst others. His story MOPPING UP won a comp' to feature in the coveted anthology EVEN MORE TONTO SHORT STORIES (2010), and will feature in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST BRITISH CRIME (Feb, 2012). FLY BOY earned a place in 365 Days of Flash, and THE OAK TREE features in FLASH!
Col continued to experience the ups 'n' downs of the industry, and endeavoured to learn 'the craft'. In late 2009, he was stunned to be contacted via email by New York super-agent, Nat Sobel, who'd read his stories on-line. After many re-writes and a steep learning curve, Col completed his crime novel in August 2010, receiving encouraging feedback from top Editors... but, alas, no deal...
However, if at first you don't succeed...
Col is currently working on a crime novel series under the guidance of Nat Sobel, so fingers crossed...
Col has more short stories imminent in both print anthologies and e-books, and his début collection featuring six gritty urban shorts is Manchester 6...
He blogs and interviews crime authors at ... http://colburysnewcrimefiction.blogspot.com
THRILLER DUDE:
Matt Hilton
Contrary to popular belief, Matt Hilton is his real name. Well, actually it’s ‘Matthew’ but he wouldn’t thank you for his Sunday name. He was born the same year that England won the World Cup which is a very long time ago. Not that he’s interested in soccer, his sporting interests are in boxing, MMA and martial arts. It probably comes from having four brothers and scrapping his way through meal times when he was a lad. As you can see from the chunky build he looked out for himself OK.
Matt was born in Scotland, but followed his family south to England and grew up in Carlisle, Cumbria and has stayed in the county since (apart from a two year sojourn back to his ancestral land during his late teens). Growing up he listened to tales of horror and adventure told to him by his father, a natural story-teller, and it was only natural that his over-active imagination be funnelled into books, both reading and writing them.
Writing Bio:
From a very young age, Matt scribbled down short stories, and even attempted his first novel at age 11. In his early teens he wrote a ‘coming of age’ novel called 'AGGRO', followed by a couple heroic fantasy books before discovering a new love of action thrillers and crime. He was once shortlisted for a national 'write a novel' competition, and came fourth in another, as well as having some non-fiction articles in magazines. For more than twenty years he submitted his books to publishers without success (writing seven stand-alone action/crime thrillers), until in 2008 he finally managed to secure an agent and a record-breaking 5 book deal for his Joe Hunter series. Since then Matt has secured a 4 book deal in the USA, a further 4 book deal in the UK, and translations in Germany, Italy, Romania and Bulgaria. His debut novel - Dead Men's Dust - reached Number 11 in the Sunday Times bestseller list, and was named as one of the 'Thrillers of the Year 2009' by the Daily Telegraph. DMD was also shortlisted for the ITW Debut Thriller Award 2009.
Matt worked at various mundane jobs, before going into the private security industry for 18 years, followed by 4 as a cop. He quit his career as a police officer with Cumbria Constabulary to pursue his love of writing tight, cinematic American-style thrillers, and to date has six Joe Hunter books on the shelves with more to come, as well as a short crime story in the anthology Even More Tonto Short Stories, which is due to be included in 2012's Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, and a horror tale under a pen name in Wild Wolf Publishing's Holiday of the Dead anthology.
Known as a British thriller writer, you might be surprised to find that Matt’s influences incline more towards the horror and fantasy writers of the 1930s, the ‘men’s action’ writers of the 1970s, and American thriller authors including Robert Crais, Jeffrey Deaver, David Morrell and Dean Koontz. His favourite writer is John Connolly.
Matt also writes horror and humorous crime short stories under a pen name – the worst kept secret on the internet – but he still refuses to mention ‘that name’ here.
You can find more about Matt and his books here:
http://www.matthiltonbooks.com/
http://matthiltonbooks.blogspot.com/
http://joehunterbooks.wordpress.com/
CRIME DUDE:
The youngest of three siblings, Col Bury was born and raised on a council estate in Manchester in the northwest of England, in the 70's and 80's. Money being sparse, he had to find inexpensive ways to occupy his time. Football (soccer) was the answer - jumpers for goalposts, wind rain or snow, under a street-lamp, 5- hour matches of 20-aside, 'n' all that. He represented his town team of Eccles when he was just 10 years old. Known as a ‘creative player’, he's won numerous cups and medals, and went on to captain several teams. For his sins, Col is a season ticket holder at Manchester City FC, which has been a character-building experience, to say the least!
Col’s school report read: ‘easily distracted’. He developed a sharp wit and formed a trio (akin to 'The Three Stooges'), who sat at the back of the class making the girls laugh. At last, he’d found a subject in which he excelled!
As a spotty teenager, he also found he had a flair for 8-ball pool; again representing his town team, then proudly, Greater Manchester County too. He even had a trial for England once upon a time, but, alas… the shark was sharked! Col’s garage contains over 100 pool trophies (the house-proud missus finally put her foot down).
In a big city like Manchester crime isn’t far away, and Col soon became street-wise. He used to meet up with fellow writer and old school buddy, David Barber, for a game of pool - he let Dave win the odd one to keep him interested - a pint 'n' a chit-chat about writing. They read each other’s naff short stories, and formed Eccles writers’ ‘line’, as two wannabes can’t form a circle! Aged around 20, Col read a crime novel that, in some ways, changed his life. Switch by William Bayer - more on this here... http://colburysnewcrimefiction.blogspot.com/search?q=switch
Col always kept a diary throughout his school days, and wrote amateurish poetry as self-therapy whenever times were bad. His love for horror and crime fiction developed, reading the likes of James Herbert, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker, Shaun Hutson, Paul Bernard, Thomas Harris, Val McDermid, amongst many others. All the while, Col dreamed of being a published novelist.
Aged 23, Col briefly embarked on a creating writing correspondence course and decent tutor feedback spurred him on. Over the years Col wrote: poetry, lyrics, a children’s books series (rejected en masse), short stories (all rejected), speeches, stand-up comedy routines (no bottle to act them out), half a novel, and then another half a novel. Life took over and Col married, got a secure job in the Public Sector (if he told you, he’d have to kill you!), and had two wonderful kids. Meanwhile, still reading 'n' writing avidly throughout, frustratingly, the dream still bubbled away in the background.
Things took a fateful turn when introduced, by a mutual friend, to Matt Hilton in 2008. Col was inspired by Matt’s story and they soon became great friends. Matt encouraged Col to join the blogosphere, which opened many new doors. Col, having enthusiastically supported TKnC from the start, was honoured to be invited by Matt to become co-editor a few months after its inception (Feb, 2009). This site and the feedback from its readers and writers, has proven to be a huge boost to Col’s development as a writer, and he’s even won a few writing comps. He was gobsmacked to be named, Preditors & Editors "Best Online Magazine Editor" in 2010.
Col’s ever-growing selection of short stories can be found here on TKnC, A Twist Of Noir, Six Sentences, Blink Ink, Flash Fiction Offensive, Ragepacket online (Byker Books), amongst others. His story MOPPING UP won a comp' to feature in the coveted anthology EVEN MORE TONTO SHORT STORIES (2010), and will feature in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST BRITISH CRIME (Feb, 2012). FLY BOY earned a place in 365 Days of Flash, and THE OAK TREE features in FLASH!
Col continued to experience the ups 'n' downs of the industry, and endeavoured to learn 'the craft'. In late 2009, he was stunned to be contacted via email by New York super-agent, Nat Sobel, who'd read his stories on-line. After many re-writes and a steep learning curve, Col completed his crime novel in August 2010, receiving encouraging feedback from top Editors... but, alas, no deal...
However, if at first you don't succeed...
Col is currently working on a crime novel series under the guidance of Nat Sobel, so fingers crossed...
Col has more short stories imminent in both print anthologies and e-books, and his début collection featuring six gritty urban shorts is Manchester 6...
 |
| Available on Amazon |
He blogs and interviews crime authors at ... http://colburysnewcrimefiction.blogspot.com
THRILLER DUDE:
Contrary to popular belief, Matt Hilton is his real name. Well, actually it’s ‘Matthew’ but he wouldn’t thank you for his Sunday name. He was born the same year that England won the World Cup which is a very long time ago. Not that he’s interested in soccer, his sporting interests are in boxing, MMA and martial arts. It probably comes from having four brothers and scrapping his way through meal times when he was a lad. As you can see from the chunky build he looked out for himself OK.
Matt was born in Scotland, but followed his family south to England and grew up in Carlisle, Cumbria and has stayed in the county since (apart from a two year sojourn back to his ancestral land during his late teens). Growing up he listened to tales of horror and adventure told to him by his father, a natural story-teller, and it was only natural that his over-active imagination be funnelled into books, both reading and writing them.
Writing Bio:
From a very young age, Matt scribbled down short stories, and even attempted his first novel at age 11. In his early teens he wrote a ‘coming of age’ novel called 'AGGRO', followed by a couple heroic fantasy books before discovering a new love of action thrillers and crime. He was once shortlisted for a national 'write a novel' competition, and came fourth in another, as well as having some non-fiction articles in magazines. For more than twenty years he submitted his books to publishers without success (writing seven stand-alone action/crime thrillers), until in 2008 he finally managed to secure an agent and a record-breaking 5 book deal for his Joe Hunter series. Since then Matt has secured a 4 book deal in the USA, a further 4 book deal in the UK, and translations in Germany, Italy, Romania and Bulgaria. His debut novel - Dead Men's Dust - reached Number 11 in the Sunday Times bestseller list, and was named as one of the 'Thrillers of the Year 2009' by the Daily Telegraph. DMD was also shortlisted for the ITW Debut Thriller Award 2009.
Matt worked at various mundane jobs, before going into the private security industry for 18 years, followed by 4 as a cop. He quit his career as a police officer with Cumbria Constabulary to pursue his love of writing tight, cinematic American-style thrillers, and to date has six Joe Hunter books on the shelves with more to come, as well as a short crime story in the anthology Even More Tonto Short Stories, which is due to be included in 2012's Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, and a horror tale under a pen name in Wild Wolf Publishing's Holiday of the Dead anthology.
Known as a British thriller writer, you might be surprised to find that Matt’s influences incline more towards the horror and fantasy writers of the 1930s, the ‘men’s action’ writers of the 1970s, and American thriller authors including Robert Crais, Jeffrey Deaver, David Morrell and Dean Koontz. His favourite writer is John Connolly.
Matt also writes horror and humorous crime short stories under a pen name – the worst kept secret on the internet – but he still refuses to mention ‘that name’ here.
You can find more about Matt and his books here:
http://www.matthiltonbooks.com/
http://matthiltonbooks.blogspot.com/
http://joehunterbooks.wordpress.com/
