This winter has been exceptionally mild in Cork, with very little rain and whole weeks of spring-like sunshine. It is hard to believe that Wiescka and I have been living here for nearly three years now. We still haven't mastered the Cork accent but then you wouldn't want to try, boy.
The year 2001 was very productive. I wrote two novels, the dark Irish-based thriller Katie Maguire and the young adult fantasy Jessica's Angel. Katie Maguire has been acquired by a major mass-market publisher in the United States (full details when contractual matters have been sorted out) and I shall shortly have news on UK publication.
I also wrote several short stories - notably 'The Scrawler' for the Urban Gothic collection published by Telos Books (also available as a limited-edition chapbook from Gauntlet Press in the US); 'The Burgers of Calais', which tells you what's really inside those hamburgers you've been eating; and 'Neighbors From Hell' for Cemetery Dance.
Spirit was published by Leisure Books. My novella Bonnie Winter was published as a limited edition by Cemetery Dance and as a mass-market edition by Signet under the title of Trauma. Trauma went back for a reprint only three days after publication on January 8.
Tor Books will bring out The Chosen Child in January, too.
There is no question that out-and-out horror is still very difficult to sell in the UK and US, although the French adore it and I can't write enough novels to keep up with demand. Sales are also healthy in Poland, Italy and Japan.
I have plans for at least two new novels this year ... one set in Portland, Oregon, an idyllic location which could do with a few dark shadows lurking amongst its trendy java joints and its chatty gay clubs. As far as movies are concerned, I am working to develop Family Portrait as a French/Italian co-production under the title Gray, and Bonnie Winter is making progress at Mostow/Leiberman in Hollywood.
Matt Williams continues to be an enthusiastic and creative webmaster, and the website attracts some of the most friendly and amusing people I have ever had the pleasure to swap anecdotes/views/opinions/grouches/recipes with.
It is impossible to say what 2002 will bring, but there is nothing as exciting as stepping into the unknown. I hope that you'll join me as we make our way into the world of the unexpected.
Graham Masterton
Cork, January 2002.
Earlier letters:
Letters from Ireland, July 2000
Letters from Ireland, February 2000
AGENT: My agent is Wiescka Masterton Literary Agency, tel 00 44 (0)1737 359838; fax 00 44 (0) 1737 361293; email manitouman1@yahoo.com
Fan mail to Graham Masterton: manitouman1@yahoo.com
