Craig Herbertson's The Heaven Maker and Other Grue

[Calenture]

From Parallel Universe Publications

The first book published by Parallel Universe Publications is The Heaven Maker & Other Gruesome Tales by Craig Herbertson. This 254-page hard backed book is available now.

Click the above image to visit Parallel Universe Publications.

[Calenture]

Can't publish any sort of a review yet (I'm half-way through a John D MacDonald thriller). But can report that Craig Herbertson's new collection The Heavenmaker and Other Gruesome Tales arrived safely yesterday from Parallel Universe Publications.

And it's a very handsome volume, as you might expect from David and Linden Riley's publishing company.

It does need a lot more internet coverage though, with links going directly to the page I've linked above. Unless anyone knows a better target?

Added later:

I've added one more such page at Dreaming of Babylon. More to go yet as I now have more blogs.

[Calenture]

This house has been so damn cold lately that when I get home from work I just retreat to bed and switch on the electric blanket!

Since finishing the John D MacDonald thriller mentioned earlier (The Green Ripper), I've been reading two or three stories a day from Craig's collection, and writing them up as I go. For the moment, I'll just say it's superb! And having read several Bellport High School stories, based, I understand, on a school he once attended, I have come to understand more about Craig Herbertson than I ever really wanted to.

[Calenture]

I'd only logged in today to pay a belated visit to my inbox, but now I can see there are 3 guests at the site and I don't want to piss people off with definitely unintended delay over posting the review of The Heaven Maker. So for the moment... I've written over 3 pages about the 18 stories and now I'm trying to hammer that down into more accessible chunks for posting.

I was surprised that I'd written almost nothing previously about the stories in the book (or if I did the reviews vanished when my PC died earlier this year) - the only review to fall back on was one for Leibniz's Last Puzzle from The Fifth Black Book of Horror. I'd made a brief comment on the title story at the Vault after reading it in The 29th Pan Book of Horror Stories, but no review. I was baffled to see that The Janus Door hadn't been previously published as I know I once asked about it for FC, after seeing it in the workshop - a fine story. Could have sworn I'd written up Spanish Suite previously, but maybe when it first appeared I figured Demonik's review rendered any more comment redundant.

Anyway it's been a pleasure seeing some of them again, along with some real gems among the brand new stories - Steel Works, Not Waving and The Tasting are three beauties which come straight to mind.

The sensible place to post the review after hammering into shape will be the Vault, as hardly anyone looks at this place!

[Calenture]

I suppose I should post a link in case anyone new turns up while this is going on:

Vault of Evil

[Calenture]

I've been continuing posting my review for Craig Herbertson's new collection The Heaven Makers and Other Gruesome Stories, first with the full-length review on Dreaming of Babylon ( at blogger).

The review then had to be trimmed down to size in order to fit in with restrictions at Goodreads. Took a while, but got there in the end : The Heaven Maker at Goodreads. Probably the review was improved by trimming, it was a bit long, wasn't it?

I thought it would be simple to then put it in the Yola website, but guess what? They've 'improved' it since I logged in there last. Consequently, I'm still working on that page (bastards, mutter)

Anyway, I added the revised post to Roxana Runs Lunatic (blogger version).

And (nearly forgot) to Roxana Runs Lunatic (Wordpress version)

Look, I don't get out much!

P.S. If you don't have a copy yet, what's your excuse?

[Craig Herbertson]

I'm really grateful Cal. Its an embarrassingly good review. I should emphasize that i have been trying to review and rate more fiction by authors and publishers I know - it is sometimes neglected and makes a huge difference in the tiny world of publishing.

Dem on the vault has given us another prompt which was really decent and he has sealed off the fiction section on the Vault. I feel a little more writers privacy is a bit like dining in the living room rather than eating in the open plan restaurant with the landscape window.

[Calenture]

Jan 21, 2013 20:50:34 GMT Craig Herbertson said:

Its an embarrassingly good review. I should emphasize that i have been trying to review and rate more fiction by authors and publishers I know - it is sometimes neglected and makes a huge difference in the tiny world of publishing.

I think the only thing that would embarrass me would be finding I'd committed myself to a review then deciding I didn't like a book.

I think we'll never be able to promote our chosen fiction enough. Usually we're arguing for books (a medium perceived as outdated) and authors who, as you say, are sometimes neglected. It's annoying and depressing to sometimes encounter a mindset that purports to love books but shows little interest in supporting the work of today's active writers.

Jan 21, 2013 20:50:34 GMT Craig Herbertson said:

Dem on the vault has given us another prompt which was really decent and he has sealed off the fiction section on the Vault. I feel a little more writers privacy is a bit like dining in the living room rather than eating in the open plan restaurant with the landscape window.

I think it's as well that the original Filthy Workshop at Vault is sealed off. It did present difficulties, new stories becoming public before they should have, etc.

Possibly I missed that latest prompt you mention, not sure. But I'll always be glad that Dem and Franklin had that long-ago chat which led to the birth of Vault. It's a great place with so many friends and kindred spirits.