Happy Halloween: Hair and Skin 2

I remember the original tag line for the film 'Phantasm', it was: 'If this one doesn't scare you, you're already dead.'

Er, well I wouldn't go that far (and neither should Phantasm's producers), but I will go out on a limb and say, if this one doesn't entertain you, you've got your earbuds in the wrong holes.

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Hair and Skin Part 2: Update

Hello Listeners

I’ve been working on Hair and Skin Part 2 for three days now and I’m still not even half way through. I can honestly say it’s the toughest podcast I’ve ever done. Rich in character voices, lengthy and featuring strange vocal effects; it’s big, it’s bad and it should be completed in the next few days. Thanks for your patience and I apologise for the delay.

Hall of Mirrors Now on Podiobooks

Hall of Mirrors is now available from Podiobooks.com, so now you can get it from there as well as from Podshow.com

This means that you can go to Podiobooks and give me a nice bunch of fives - five stars that is - across the board. Of course, you could give me less than that, but as I say on Hair and Skin #1, you could also plunge a rusty knife through my heart. To me, it'd feel the same. So be a buddy and gimme 5s. Thanks.

p.s. A few kind words would also be greatly appreciated. I need this stuff like a rose bush needs a good heap of horse manure once in a while if it's to flourish. Just don't get confused - the roses want the manure, I want the kind words. Same goes for iTunes reviews. Thankee kindly, guvnors.

Cheerful Man with a Minor Headache

Oooooh! My Head is giving me the dull throb that comes after a night out with visiting chums from England. Went to pub, drank too much, then went to burger restaurant to scoff junk food a-plenty. After a night of indigestion, I wake to mosey around the web while the head aches merrily. Then, something to put the headache out of, or at least to the back of my head, as an impromptu celebration breaks out. One Among the Sleepless has entered the Australian iTunes top ten lit podcasts.

This is the first time I know of that I've risen above The Classic Tales Podcast, which always seems to be at the top of everything, everywhere (so well done, B.J. Harrison). If you haven't listened to that yet, do, it's well worth a listen. Among others, he's done the The Monkey's Paw, which is a wonderfully creepy yarn.

In addition, to Sleepless's charting in Oz, Hall of Mirrors: Tales of Horror and the Grotesque has also entered Australian chart at number 68... which is fab.

So, many thanks to listeners down under. Since the chaps are over for another night, we'll raise a glass of the amber nectar, or more likely the black nectar, to you this evening. Cheers.

Hair and Skin - Part 1

After nearly three weeks (and literally 24 hours of failed upload attempts using my home Internet connection with Irish f****** Broadband), the latest episode of Hall of Mirrors is now live at Podshow. In the end I had to come down to my local library and use their wi-fi connection. Bingo! Uploaded in 30 minutes. This morning I was uploading for an hour and a half and it still wasn't uploaded when I had to go to work; I left it running, and when I got back, sure enough, the connection had broken and the episode had gone nowhere.

Anyway, I got it up (ho ho) eventually and now it's there for you to retrieve and have a listen to. The story is Hair and Skin, originally written in 1997 and extensively re-written for this podcast airing. It's going to be a multiple episode affair; maybe as many as three (or even four!!) installments. The 'horror' content of the story really starts to roll later in the story, so if you find yourself un-horrified, don't despair - it's coming ;-)

Hall of Mirrors' Highest iTunes USA Position to Date

OK, so number 23 isn't exactly number 1, but it made my day. I'm sitting here re-writing Hair and Skin (again) and getting sick to death of the damn thing. I'm thinking of trashing it and moving to another story. But then I think, but what about the really great bits that come once the tale gets going? And I return to persevere with it... because the great bits, really are great bits. Click this link to see H.o.M.'s position in relation to its peers. Nice one!

New Series of 'Down the Line' on Radio 4

The new series of Down the Line started last night on BBC Radio 4. It's a bogus call-in show from the makers of the Fast Show, it's very funny and you can check out the site here:

Down the Line

Then click the 'listen to the latest edition' button near the top of the page.

"That's political correctness gone mad!"

Hair and Skin - Delayed by Re-Writes

Unhappy with the original 1997 text, I re-wrote the next entry into the Hall of Mirrors, Hair and Skin, while on holiday. Now however, I feel I've lost some of the rich vein of 'sick and twisted' that the original had, so I'm re-writing the re-write. This wouldn't be a problem if I didn't have to get up early and go to work (I know, I know, so do you) only to come home and nod-off over the keyboard every day.

What I'm saying here is: don't bust my chops. It's coming, it might just be a little delayed... But then, I did say this podcast was going to be 'irregular' time-wise. So expect it when it comes. Sign up for the mailing list at www.oneamongthesleepless.com and get the heads-up when my head is up - off the keyboard and uploading the finished product.

As for the story itself, it's one of my personal favourites. I can only say that when it hits your earbuds, I hope you'll agree. I also hope you like this other cover I knocked up over the weekend. I'm not sure of whether or not to use it on any potential book releases or not. Any feedback welcomed. And if you've got any ideas for cover art, I'd love to see them. I can't promise I'll use them, but I will put them on the website.
Cheers
M

Hey, Hey, Back from Holiday.

And so, lightly tanned and with a headful of sick and unpleasant ideas for stories, novellas and even a novel (it's amazing what your head can get done lying still on a beach and staring at the sand under your nose for hours on end), I got back from the holliers this afternoon.
We had a nice time (a few pics available here)and I'm all set to get back to work on Hall of Mirrors. The next story will be 'Hair and Skin', written 7 years back and currently being tarted up for podcast. In fact, it's being largely re-written as its original form is... well, let's just say it's a bit strong.