Most Popular Books by Kim Newman

The classic volume of cult film criticism, now brought completely up-to-date 'Encyclopaedic, insightful, and entertaining - no bookshelf should be without Newman's frighteningly readable Nightmare Movies' Mark Kermode

As a six-year-old in the school playground you are asked to choose your favourite 'Man From Uncle' character: Napoleon Solo or Illya Kuriakin? If you choose the latter you are small, quiet and sensitive, prone to screaming fits and bullied. If the former, you join a gang, can look after yourself, become a successful businessman, get married. You make the choices, the story is your life. LIFE'S LOTTERY is a novel you can play like a game, read like a book or live like a life.

Discover dark rituals, eldritch creatures, and monstrous secrets in this masterfully frightening horror anthology of 17 short stories inspired by the iconic works of legendary writer H. P. Lovecraft, curated by award-winning anthologist Stephen Jones. Featuring some of the biggest names in horror fiction, including Ramsey Campbell, Kim Newman, Brian Stableford, and many more. This newly redesigned edition also includes a revised and updated Introduction and Contributor Notes, along with additional artwork exclusive to this printing. Today’s masters of horror dare to conjure terrifying tales inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s classic works. In this anthology, discover a monstrous secret beneath a derelict church, a search for buried treasure gone terribly wrong, a blood sacrifice gone horribly right, and a return to the legendary forsaken New England fishing village full of sparkling treasure, loathsome denizens, and unspeakable evil. Featuring 17 chilling stories curated by World Fantasy Award-winning editor Stephen Jones, as well as the original masterpiece of horror by H. P. Lovecraft. This newly redesigned edition also includes a revised and updated Introduction and Contributor Notes, along with additional artwork exclusive to this printing. Including stories from: H. P. Lovecraft Basil Copper Jack Yeovil Guy N. Smith Adrian Cole D. F. Lewis Ramsey Campbell David Sutton Peter Tremayne Kim Newman Brian Mooney Brian Stableford Nicholas Royle David Langford Michael Marshall Smith Brian Lumley Neil Gaiman

Ripped from the pages of Empire magazine, the first collection of film critic, film historian and novelist Kim Newman’s reviews of the best and worst B movies. Some of the cheapest, trashiest, goriest and, occasionally, unexpectedly good films from the past 25 years are here, torn apart and stitched back together again in Kim’s unique style. Everything you want to know about DTV hell is here. Enter if you dare.

While digging an extension to the London Underground Railway, workmen discover an object which might be an ancient Martian spaceship – and Professor Quatermass of the British Rocket Group investigates a mystery which prompts frightening revelations about the origins of humanity itself. Before 2001: A Space Odyssey and Doctor Who, Quatermass and the Pit was the paramount British science fiction saga in film and television. Kim Newman's fascinating study focuses on Roy Ward Baker's 1967 film, written by Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale for Hammer Films, but also looks at the origins of the Quatermass franchise in 1950s BBC serials and earlier films. Exploring the production and reception of the film and series, Newman assesses the lasting importance of this landmark franchise.

Imagine the twisted evil twins of Holmes and Watson and you have the dangerous duo of Prof. James Moriarty - wily, snake- like, fiercely intelligent, unpredictable - and Colonel Sebastian 'Basher' Moran - violent,politically incorrect, debauched. Together they run London crime, owning police and criminals alike. Unravelling mysteries -- all for their own gain. A spin-off from Titan's highly successful Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series, The Hound of the D'Urbervilles sees acclaimed novelist Kim Newman (Anno Dracula) take on the fiendish Professor Moriarty.

Written by award-winning novelist Kim Newman, this is a brand-new edition, with additional 40,000 word never-before-seen novella, of the popular third installment of the Anno Dracula series, Dracula Cha Cha Cha. Rome. 1959. Count Dracula is about to marry the Moldavian Princess Asa Vajda - his sixth wife. Journalist Kate Reed flies into the city to visit the ailing Charles Beauregard and his vampire companion Geneviève. Finding herself caught up in the mystery of the Crimson Executioner who is bloodily dispatching vampire elders in the city, Kate discovers that she is not the only one on his trail...

ABOUT THIS BOOK... In 1961, Derek Leech emerges fully formed from the polluted River Thames, destined to found a global media empire. In 1978, three ambitious young men strike a deal with Leech. They are offered wealth, glamour, and success, but a price must be paid. In 1994, Leech's purpose moves to its conclusion, and as the men struggle, they realize to truth of the ultimate price.

The residents of a sleepy English village are dreaming—and their nightmares are turning into realities—in this “brilliantly nasty” horror novel from the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Anno Dracula (Sunday Telegraph) Paul, a young academic composing a thesis about the end of the world, and his girlfriend have come to the tiny English village of Alder for the summer. Their idea of a rural retreat gradually sours as the laws of nature begin to break down around them . . . It would appear that the annual rock music festival held by the bizarre Agapemone sect is the only thing shattering the peace of Alder. But as the temperature rises, it becomes clear that the tiny village may not be the Heaven on Earth that their leader, Reverend Anthony Jago, is trying to create. Residents’ nightmares are coming true—unleashing creatures from local legend, science fiction, and the dark side of the human mind upon the town.

“There are no vampires in Japan. That is the position of the Emperor. The Emperor is wrong...” In 1899 Geneviève Dieudonné travels to Japan with a group of vampires exiled from Great Britain by Prince Dracula. They are allowed to settle in Yōkai Town, the district of Tokyo set aside for Japan’s own vampires, an altogether strange and less human breed than the nosferatu of Europe. Yet it is not the sanctuary they had hoped for, as a vicious murderer sets vampire against vampire, and Yōkai Town is revealed to be more a prison than a refuge. Geneviève and her undead comrades will be forced to face new enemies and the horrors hidden within the Temple of One Thousand Monsters…

More spine-tingling tales of Lovecraftian horror inspired by the classic novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth—with stories from Caitlín R. Kiernan, Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, and more Respected horror anthologist Stephen Jones edits this collection of 17 stories inspired by the 20th century’s master of horror, H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth, in which a young man goes to an isolated, desolate fishing village in Massachusetts, and finds that the entire village has interbred with strange creatures that live beneath the sea, and worship ancient gods. “Introduction: Weirder Shadows…” by Stephen Jones “The Port” by H.P. Lovecraft “Innsmouth Bane” by John Glasby “Richard Riddle, Boy Detective in ‘The Case of the French Spy’” by Kim Newman “Innsmouth Clay” by H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth “The Archbishop’s Well” by Reggie Oliver “You Don’t Want to Know” by Adrian Cole “Fish Bride” by Caitlín R. Kiernan “The Hag Stone” by Conrad Williams “On the Reef” by Caitlín R. Kiernan “The Song of Sighs” by Angela Slatter “The Same Deep Waters as You” by Brian Hodge “The Winner” by Ramsey Campbell “The Transition of Elizabeth Has Kings” by Caitlín R. Kiernan “The Chain” by Michael Marshall Smith “Into the Water” by Simon Kurt Unsworth “Rising, Not Dreaming” by Angela Slatter “The Long Last Night” by Brian Lumley

Novelist and critic Kim Newman assesses the horror noir Cat People (1943), produced by Val Lewton and directed by Jacques Tourneur. This important and influential film is considered in the light of its place in film history and as a work of ambitious horror. The new edition includes a postscript about the sequel, The Curse of the Cat People.

Praise for Anno Dracula: "Kim Newman's Anno Dracula is back in print, and we must celebrate. It was the first mash-up of literature, history and vampires, and now, in a world in which vampires are everywhere, it's still the best, and its bite is just as sharp. Compulsory reading, commentary, and mindgame: glorious." - Neil Gaiman "Politics, horror, and romance are woven together in this brilliantly imagined and realized novel. Newman's prose is a delight, his attention to detail is spellbinding." - Time Out “Stephen King assumes we hate vampires; Anne Rice makes it safe to love them, because they hate themselves. Kim Newman suspects that most of us live with them… Anno Dracula is the definitive account of that post-modern species, the self-obsessed undead.” - New York Times “Anno Dracula will leave you breathless... one of the most creative novels of the year.” - Seattle Times “Powerful... compelling entertainment... a fiendishly clever banquet of dark treats.” - San Francisco Chronicle 'A ripping yarn, an adventure romp of the best blood, and a satisfying… read' - Washington Post Book World "The most comprehensive, brilliant, dazzlingly audacious vampire novel to date. 'Ultimate' seems an apt description... Anno Dracula is at once playful, horrific, intelligent, and revelatory." - Locus "A marvelous marriage of political satire, melodramatic intrigue, gothic horror, and alternative history. Not to be missed." - The Independent "Once you start reading this Victorian-era thriller, you will not be satiated until you reach the end." - Ain't It Cool "Anno Dracula is the smart, hip Year Zero of the vampire genre's ongoing revolution." - Paul McAuley "Kim Newman brings Dracula back home in the granddaddy of all vampire adventures. Anno Dracula couldn't be more fun if Bram Stoker had scripted it for Hammer. It's a beautifully constructed Gothic epic that knocks almost every other vampire novel out for the count." - Christopher Fowler "The most interesting take on the Dracula story... to date. Recommending this one to all those that love Dracula and historical fiction!" - RexRobotReviews -- WAR IS HELL... It is 1918 and Graf von Dracula is commander-in-chief of the armies ofGermany and Austria-Hungary. The War of the Great Powers in Europeis also a war between the living and the undead. Caught up in the conflict, Charles Beauregard, an old enemy of Dracula, his protegé Edwin Winthrop,and intrepid vampire reporter Kate Reed go head-to-head with the lethal vampire flying machine that is the Bloody Red Baron... In the brand-new novella Vampire Romance, Geneviève Dieudonné,newly returned to England, infiltrates a singular vampire gathering in the service of the Diogenes Club. A brand-new edition, with additional novella, of the critically acclaimed, bestselling sequel to Anno Dracula. Written by popular novelist and movie critic Kim Newman, The Bloody Red Barontakes the story into the 20th century.

The new novel in the acclaimed alternate history vampire series from Kim Newman. "Compulsory reading... glorious" Neil Gaiman on Anno Dracula It is the eve of the new millennium, and the vampire princess Christina Light is throwing a party in Daikaiju Plaza - a building in the shape of a giant mechanical dragon - in Tokyo, attended by the leaders of the worlds of technology, finance, culture and innovation. After a century overshadowed by the malign presence of Dracula, Christina decrees the inauguration of an Age of Light. The world is connected as never before by technology, and conquests have been made in cyberspace that mark out new nations of the living and the undead. But the party is crashed by less enlightened souls, intent on ensuring that the brave new world dies before it can come to fruition. The distinguished guests are held hostage by cyberpunk terrorists, yakuza assassins and Transylvanian mercenaries. Vampire schoolgirl Nezumi - sword-wielding agent of the Diogenes Club - finds herself alone, pitted against the world's deadliest creatures. Thrown out of the party, she must fight her way back up through a building that seems designed to destroy her in a thousand ways. Can Nezumi survive past midnight? Can the hopes of a shining world?

From the acclaimed critic and award-winning author of Anno Dracula comes a bitingly satirical story of superheroism, soap opera and alternative reality -- for readers of Austin Grossman’s Soon I Will Be Invincible and George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards. When Chrissie Chambers (model actress whatever) discovers her soap opera character is about to be killed off, she finally stops dieting and discovers hitherto untapped supernatural abilities. Meanwhile, Chrissie’s aunt - former national heroine Lady Shade - goes missing. Afraid for Jasmine’s safety and itching to costume-up, Chrissie and her ghost-possessed best friend Loulee break into Devil’s Dyke, the asylum where Jasmine works as a therapist with the most dangerous cutthroats (supervillains) in Britain… only to find the inmates have taken over… Chrissie debuts successfully as a cloak (superheroine), but who will become the arch-nemesis of Lady Shade II? In Chrissie’s timeline, the Beatles didn’t split up and recorded a hallucinodelic album in 1972 – Never Mind (strictly, Never Mind the Beatles) – which literally changed the world. Set in an alternative 2020s London, this hugely entertaining, darkly humorous superhero tale is packed with Newman’s trademark wit, and comes with wickedly sharp edges.

This book contains 383 film reviews listed in chronological order. Each decade is prefaced by an introductory chapter putting the films in context, and the review sections also contain features that either explore ideas behind horror's favorite monsters or introduce related fields of interest for the horror fan.

Welcome to the City made from a dream. But this isn’t any dream; it is the dark and haunting nightmare of a killer. It is the near future and old-fashioned movies, or “flatties”, have been replaced by Dreams, virtual reality scenarios written by professional Dreamers. When infamous criminal Truro Daine escapes imprisonment, he flees into the City, an artificial world of his own creation, where he rules as the all-powerful Night Mayor. Now, detective Dreamer Tom Tunney and Susan Bishopric, author of romance Dreams, must join forces to track him down. But how do you hunt the Night Mayor in a city populated by a dense crowd of strangely familiar characters, where it’s always two-thirty in the morning, shots never kill and the creator is omnipresent in every drop of falling rain…?

Vampiric journalist Kate Reed is a member of a secret cabal of anarchists called the Council of the Seven Days who have sworn to overthrow the despotic rule of the Prince Regent, Count Dracula. However when Kate learns of Council's plot to bomb Dracula's planned Tin Jubilee celebrations and the subsequent backlash that action would unleash she is forced to make a decision. One that could make her the enemy of not only the Council, the State but also her best friend, Penelope Churchwood, the mastermind behind the celebration. But with the clock ticking, Kate must act before it is too late...