Heralding the release of ‘Seances with the Living’ and ‘Souls of the Southern Stars’ — two modern works of horror from an internationally acclaimed, award-winning young British author. Already tipped to be the next great thing in dark fiction, Johnny S. Geddes is responsible for the current shake-up of horror fiction with two lethally potent books — one novel and one short story collection.
Horsham, UK (PRWEB) April 30, 2007 — Heralding the release of ‘Seances with the Living’ and ‘Souls of the Southern Stars’ — two modern works of horror from an acclaimed, award-winning young British author.
Award-winning author Johnny S. Geddes was compiling his best short stories into an anthology when he received a curious request to re-release his 2000 debut, Souls of the Southern Stars. Allured by the prospect of a double-barrelled event, Geddes wasted no time completing his trawl through the sea of dark tales he has penned since 1992 to finalise ‘contestants’ before streamlining his Gothic novel to deliver maximum punch on both counts.
Geddes’ fiction, which has received accolades from both sides of the Atlantic, draws heavily from his love of suspense and ‘questioning reality’. At the same time his work is flavoured by his experience as a world traveller. His stories are set in many of the places he has visited, from Sydney to New Orleans; from L.A. to the Canary Islands; from Belfast to Winnipeg.
Both books, published by Double Bay Books and available on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk (and also in Canada, France, Germany and Japan) appear today.
Séances with the Living is a kaleidoscope of horror, featuring everything from demonic credit cards and shopping catalogues to the victims of warps in space and time. There is a man-eating island, a child genius bent on a horrific vengeance, and a dream-shaping machine that malfunctions with ghastly results. Each tale examines the mayhem of ‘reality gone wrong’ in a different way and, although the title suggests it, no Ouija boards were used in its production.
Souls of the Southern Stars features a man who has become possessed by the spirits of Confederate cavalrymen after some road workers disturb an unmarked war grave. Losing his family and career, he is on the verge of suicide when he decides to drive south to learn why his mind his quaking with the thunder of long-dead voices. He unwittingly reanimates their corpses when he arrives in Tucumcari, New Mexico. So begins an apocalyptic assault on the town by psychic and demonic forces.
Geddes, president of the freelance writing and editing service ‘The Text Vet’, is a lover of history and travel who has turned his hand to many jobs in many places world wide. He has helped build houses in Australia, sold designer vacuum cleaners in Canada and written technical manuals in the UK. Before settling with his wife and cats, he had lived in the relative grandeur of the former Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba’s house in Winnipeg and in the squalor of a converted garage in London – all, he claims, part of his plan to experience everything. ‘I have an Everyman perspective on the world,’ Geddes says: ‘I love plugging what I know about the hidden elements in life into everyday things. That’s how these stories happen.’
His work has been acclaimed as ‘highly recommended’, ‘not a little scary’ and ‘unusual’ by the prestigious Jacqui Bennett Writers Bureau. Geddes himself has been dubbed ‘an author of great potential’ by John G. Nettles (of ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Casey’ E-zine). Geddes, who has seen print on several occasions since 1980, boasts a constant need to express himself, a drive that has spurred him on to write two novels since Souls of the Southern Stars. Details for Covenant of Aries, due out in November this year, and the novel Geddes is currently finishing, The Hell Eaters, along with more information about the author and his other works can be found on the official website at www.johnnysgeddes.com .
