The Lost Film Novellas are coming

"The Lost Film Novellas", a book of two linked novellas from Stephen Bacon & myself, now has an official launch agreed.

My story, "The Lost Film", features Gabriel Bird, a private detective who is hired to find Roger Sinclair, an exploitation film-maker from the 1970s.  It seems that the last film he made, 'Terrafly', has the power to drive people mad and clips from it are now appearing online.

Roger Sinclair began to see the Monochromatics in a London made fraught by the heatwave and realised that in them he had the basis for his magnum opus 'Terrafly'.

Now, as Bird delves deeper into the case, meeting Sinclair's old colleagues and finding out about the Monochromatics, he understands why 'Terrafly' might just be the most dangerous film ever made.

A trailer for "Terrafly" has surfaced!

Bloody hell!  Somebody's found - and uploaded - a trailer Walt Saxby made for Roger Sinclair's last film.  I thought this had been lost forever but here it is, in all it's glory.

(be warned, contains scenes of violence!)

Still not sure if I'd like to watch the whole thing though...

Agoraphobia, a Roger Sinclair film

Another old Roger Sinclair find - the copyright lists 1974, but it must be 73 or so (and perhaps explores themes he later used in 'Veronica'?).

Anyway, Lynne Frederick stars alongside Sinclair's regulars, Steve Bacon and Mick Curtis, with newcomers Tim Taylor and Paul Melhuish rounding out the cast.

An archive shot - fame in New York for Roger Sinclair

A blast from the archives. This recently discovered snap was taken by Walt Saxby, on a working visit to New York in the early 70s and shows Roger Sinclair's first major foray into the foreign film market.

Very chuffed!

"The Lost Film Novella" has been picking up some very good comments from my pre-readers, which is very re-assuring. Last week, in the midst of a conversation about something else, Gary McMahon offered to read it and I sent him over a copy. He read the first six chapters that day, emailing me and saying how good it was. Today, he finished it. And sent me a lovely message (calling it the best work of mine that he's read) and a blurb (should I want one). Here it is, in its entirety, followed by a mock-up cover with a bit of the blurb on it.

I'm chuffed.

"Lights, camera, action...Mark's West's lost film novella will grab your soul by the sprocket holes, pull you into a dark cinematic nightmare, and then re-edit the way you look at the world. Experience it at your peril."Gary McMahon, author of "Pretty Little Dead Things" (and many others too).

The Lost Film, more writing and some sleazy reading

"The Lost Film Novella" is picking up some excellent feedback from my pre-readers, much better than I could have hoped for, which I'm really pleased about. Especially since there were a couple of times where I thought "nah, this is stupid" - I'm so glad I carried on! I've yet to read back through it, though I'm looking forward to doing so.

And coincidentally enough, I've found another Roger Sinclair poster. This dates back to 1972 (it's got a really cool title) and stars the wonderful Martine Beswick - who'd made a big splash the previous year with "Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde" - and the lovely Judy Matheson. Sinclair's 'usual suspects' round out the cast.

In other writing news, I've finally had the idea and inspiration for my Spectral Press chapbook. Whether it gets accepted, of course, is a different matter but I like what I'm now calling "Wonderland". Most of it is in my head now (the story needs to run for about 7,000 words) and I'm going to start work on it - all being well - tomorrow. As is my wont, I've done some cover art for it already - see what you think:

And finally, my reading has kicked off this year with "Scourge", by Nick Sharman. In my quest for some sleazy, Peter Raft style horror, I found this in a great 2nd hand bookshop in Leicester. And you know what, this isn't half bad!

More Lost Film stuff

More of my pre-readers have come back on “The Lost Film Novella” and, in general, the response has been heart-warmingly good. I’m thrilled and itching to get back into it for the third draft, but I want to get all the readers reports back first.

In the meantime, here’s another poster from a Roger Sinclair film. This dates back to 1974 and was, I assume, an attempt by him and Sorrell Eve to cash in on the “Last House On The…” market that was gripping the US at the time. As a bonus, however, they cast Caroline Munro in this and that gets extra marks from me!

"Curse Of The Witch"

This is the movie poster from one of Roger Sinclair's earlier films, made well before he destroyed his career and several lives with 'Terrafly', his magnum opus

(from The Lost Film novella)

The Lost Film Novella - early reports in and they're looking good!

I started to give out my pre-reader copies of “The Lost Film” novella on Friday, with the last couple going on Saturday. I didn’t expect to see anything back much before Christmas and was quite happy with that - it’s not far off being a short novel, I know that people are busy now, I couldn’t see it happening.

Andrew Murray, my Antipodean chum, came back on Sunday evening saying it was very good. Tonight, my old friend David Roberts came back saying, amongst many other lovely things, that “they get better each one I read”. To top that off, my brother-in-law started reading it yesterday and finished this evening. He liked it a lot too.

I already had a good feeling about this - it’s just getting better now!

Thanks lads - and here's a rare picture of Roger Sinclair, drinking to our health!