PAUL KANE: How have you found working for Humdrumming and are you pleased about the special editions they're putting out?

TIM LEBBON: The guys at Humdrumming are completely insane. Let me say that first of all. But in publishing, I think borderline insanity can be a boon, and I've had so much fun working with them [on The Reach of Children]. The editing process was in-depth and yet painless, they chatted to me about every major decision they made, and the books are going to look just fabulous. The Extra Special Edition especially will be something to treasure. I've worked with Necessary Evil Press a lot, and I have the gorgeous metal traycased limited editions of my books with them (with a couple more yet come), and I think this Humdrumming limited [edition] is going to be just as fabulous. Did I mention that they were mad?

[Read the full article here]

— Tim Lebbon talking to Paul Kane
(August 2008; Shadow Writer)

With a sprinkle of science fiction and a dash of fantasy mixed with a whole lot of humor, Less Lonely Planet stands out on its own with an originality and all-out humor that you don’t see very often within the sci-fi and fantasy genre. It seems that [Ryhs] Hughes has taken up the baton from such great humorous writers as Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman and run off in his own direction proving he is an author that stands out from the rest. Less Lonely Planet by Rhys Hughes is an extremely enjoyable short story collection that will leave you with a whole new humorous outlook on life.
     […]
     Never having the pleasure of reading any of Rhys Hughes [sic] fiction before, I went into this collection expecting some hardcore Science Fiction rich with alien confrontation and futuristic ideas, but what I came away with was so much more enjoyable that I could have imagined.
     […]
     …every entry in this collection is chock full of original and well drawn characters that bring each story to life.
     […]
     Aside from the silly ideas and goofy characters filling the pages of this book, the prose that Hughes writes is smooth flowing and an absolute joy the read. He writes with a rich descriptive style that perfectly paints the picture for the readers while never wasting time with unnecessary words that creates a clean prose that moves expertly along the pages throughout each story.
     If you looking for a quick read that is extremely enjoyable from the first page to the final sentence, you cannot go wrong with the humorously written Less Lonely Planet by Rhys Hughes. You will be sure to put the book away with quite a few favorite stories stuck in your mind for a long time afterwards.

[Read the full article here]

— Joe Kroeger
(June 2008; Horror World)

Gary M^cMahon is slowly but surely becoming one of my favorite authors when I am looking to submerge myself deep within a richly atmospheric and beautifully written horror tale. With his expert prose and shockingly original ideas, I have yet to find myself disappointed after reading any fiction that bears his name. […] With the publication of his newest book, Rain Dogs, Gary M^cMahon should be placed high among quiet horror’s greatest authors, like Ramsey Campbell or Charles L. Grant, as an exceptional author who truly understand what it takes to spin a spectacular horror story.
     […]
     M^cMahon has incredibly taken his writing to the next level with the smoothest flowing story I have read in some time… The exceptional imagery that he lays out with his writing brings this story to life so vividly that […] I found myself stopping to re-read passages alive with imagery just so I could slow down and fully grasp the beauty of his writing, which, I must say, was an extremely difficult thing to do with the blistering pace that McMahon sets for this story.
     […]
     He puts so much life into even to lesser characters that you feel as if you have been living within the town of Stonegrave you entire life.
     […]
     Gary M^cMahon has successfully taken this book and raised it above any preconceived notions about what horror has been or will be in the future to create an exception work of fiction that stands alone within it’s [sic] own ideal of the horror genre. Tightly written and perfectly plotted, this book is a fast moving read that begs to be read slowly and every word savored.
     I cannot recommend Rain Dogs enough… [This] is one of those rare books that is just about as perfect as a novel can get.

[Read the full article here]

— Joe Kroeger
(June 2008; Horror World)

The book is presented in the style of the original Pan Book of Horror Stories edited for nearly three decades by Herbert van Thal and Clarence Paget. … It’s very well done and neatly packaged and will clearly attract anyone interested in the original series. … Van Thal’s taste in horror fiction was for the conte cruel, the Grand Guignol story of violence and death.
     …
     Rhys Hughes is, in my view, one of the most creative writers of the last decade. He has brilliant, surreal ideas which he pushes to the limit and spares nothing. “One's a Crowd” is the story of one totalitarian state that overthrows and replaces another. Despite opposing ideals, sheer paranoia results in gatherings of people being banned, first down to no more than four people, then three, then two and, eventually, even less than one. In taking the story beyond where others would finish, Hughes not only satirises the whole concept of state control, with a generally horrific image, but takes the reader to a new level of perception, which is what all good fiction should do. The other story was “In the Absence of…” by Gary Fry. This is a genuine character study, of a boy who is frightened of his own shadow. Fry takes us into the mind of both the boy and his mother and, as a consequence, we also experience their fears and share the final resolution. It’s the best story in the volume, well written and frighteningly realized. Ramsey Campbell has already called Gary Fry “the master,” and he is certainly the master in this volume.

— Mike Ashley
(Spring 2008; Dead Reckonings No. 3)

Gentle at times, brutal at others, Cooper’s collection of 16 stories touches emotions at their peak.
     […]
     Obsession is a key player in this collection. The best example is precisely the story that lends its title to the book. […] The final scene is haunting and won’t leave the reader’s head for a long time.
     […]
     You Are the Fly is nothing but eclectic. Stories of madness (“Old Dull Eyes”) and grief (“And So Departs”) share pages with the haunting (“What Dread Hand” which includes one of the scariest scenes I’ve read in a long time), the disturbing (“In Fetu”) and the absolutely bizarre (the cryptic “A Frailty of Moths”, a surreal tale which you’ll have to read more than once and will leave you thinking for hours to come).      This is not a traditional collection. The stories in this book are unique in their essence and that is thanks to Cooper’s style. Recommended for anyone who wants to try something different.

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— Cesar Puch
(May 2008; Horror World)

An homage to the classic collection…[the book] starts and ends with quick madness explorations by James Cooper… “And Then There Was Blood” is disturbing enough by the time you read the last line, at which point it simply becomes too much to witness…
     Gary McMahon’s “Hum Drum”, a new take on the psychic detective…
     “Pale Light in the Jungle” by Simon Strantzas begins ordinarily enough… but takes a frightful turn…
     A nice collection of stories in the tradition of the classic anthologies from yesteryear. Very recommended.

[Read the full article here]

— Cesar Puch
(January 2008; HorrorWorld magazine)

    [World Wide Web (and Other Lovecraftian Upgrades)] begins with an excellent, dark novella of cosmic horror… [and] effectively conveys an upsetting sense of menace by hinting at the frightening Lovecraftian universe in many subtle ways.
    “Servant of the Order”… is a deeply atmospheric tale of paranoia and physical terror.
    Apparently just a psychological study of a case of insanity, “Three is One Too Many or Two Few” leaves the reader with the disquieting feeling that often reality is not what is supposed to be...
    Using the Lovecraftian Mythos as a distant background for contemporary horrors, Fry confirms [himself] to be a writer endowed with considerable insight in exploring the abyss of the human soul.

[Read the full article here]

— Mario Guslandi
(December 2007; HorrorWorld magazine)

…Humdrumming produce very nice books — in the hands of lesser mortals, a book of white-space would look cheap, but in the four-fingers and opposable thumbs of the affable Guy Adams along with the Canadian typefondler Ian Alexander Martin, it looks rather lovely.

[Read the full article here]

— Christopher Teague on You Are The Fly
(December 2007; Whispers of Wickedness)

…the last time I read such a peerless collection [before You Are The Fly (Tales of Redemption & Distress), it] was from Mark Samuels and his superb collection The White Hands and Other Tales. Cooper not just eschews the dynamics of modern horror, but also the classics of the genre…
     I did not find a single dud tale in the book...[with] “In Fetu” Cooper [gave] so much life to the married protagonists, he must have been entirely drained of emotion the moment he clicked SAVE. An absolute classic.
     “The Constant Eye” is just fantastic at displaying the darker side of growing up (reminds me of Roald Dahl and John Wyndham, through the eyes of Ken Loach).
     …the writing… has an almost Joycian quality to the prose…
     Thoroughly recommended and well-worth reading.

[Read the full article here]

— Christopher Teague
(December 2007; Whispers of Wickedness)

[You Are The Fly] comes with the subtitle “Tales of Redemption & Distress”, but madness and metamorphosis might be more appropriate terms. In tone he reminds me of [Edgar Allan] Poe, has the same obsessive quality and attention to minutiæ, with the ghost of Roderick Usher breathing down the reader’s neck as we turn the pages.
     […]
     [Stephen] King’s back catalogue is touched on in several of these stories, as with ‘In Fetu’ which reprises a core concept of The Dark Half… but Cooper gives it an interesting twist and produces something sharper and more poignant than the King novel…
    …comparisons with King are apposite… but Cooper owns the material.

— Peter Tennant (December 2007;
Black Static magazine; “Case Notes”, pp 26–27)

There's a sense about World Wide Web (and Other Lovecraftian Upgrades) of a writer who has found his own voice and is bidding fond farewell to the influences of his formative years…
    This is a bravura performance and worth the price of admission alone. Fry seeds the story with signs and portents, hints of the numinous, but at the same time leaves the reader room to manœuvre, to ask just how reliable our narrator is...
     Overall… this is a fine collection from a writer whose star seems to be on the rise and worth a few hours of anyone’s time.

— Peter Tennant (December 2007;
Black Static magazine; “Case Notes”, p 24)

Début collection from Humdrumming tips a nod to classics such as Dracula and Edgar Allen Poe but is full of brutal pieces that would make Victor Meldrew blanch.

     From the opening, the profoundly disturbing yet oddly poignant “The Other Son”… the reader knows that they are in strange territory, made all the more appalling by the hints of the everyday…
    At their best Cooper’s stories tread ground rarely ventured into successfully by his peers...
     Cooper’s stories will [not only] appeal to both the hard-core horror buff, but also to the literate, for repellent though the surface detail is, the stories are thought-provoking... There are moments amid all the fist-in-mouth horror, of unexpected pathos and sheer beauty. You Are The Fly is full of horror, but also wonder.
     Read it; you won’t forget some of the images easily.

[Read the full article here]

— © Colin Harvey
(Nov 17, 2007; Suite101.com)

Humdrumming are one of the new wave of smart, savvy small presses… Humdrumming have an edge on much of the competition, because clearly they know what they’re doing! They have a quirky and engagingly eccentric web site and the quality of their output… is very impressive indeed.

[Read the full article here]

— John Berlyne (October 2007;
"UK Books", SFRevue magazine)

The First Humdrumming Book of Horror Stories is, I hope, the forerunner of many subsequent volumes. It’s a slim book, but inside there some chilling and disturbing tales from some excellent authors who are really beginning to make names for themselves.

[Read the full article here]

— John Berlyne (October 2007;
"UK Books", SFRevue magazine)

I expect Gary M^cMahon’s fan base to escalate beyond even his wildest dreams. This Lovecraftian styled novella, rich with stunning prose and dark imagery, will convince everyone [he] is a major writer…
     All Your Gods Are Dead… contains such a rich atmosphere to the prose you are literally pulled into the story as your senses are assaulted with his expertly crafted details... His characters have a haunting distinction about them while his monsters remained brief glimpses within the darken corners of his prose until they are ready to present themselves to the reader...
     He perfectly juggles quiet horror with the shocking jolts of terror, doling out whatever he deems necessary to keep the story moving. What you are left with is a chilling well-crafted tale that leaves you at the mercy of M^cMahon’s expert storytelling.
     ...My highest recommendation for anyone who wants to read the best new fiction that the horror genre has to offer... If Gary M^cMahon keeps up his horrific pace he will surely find himself sitting at the “grownup’s table” with all the grand masters of the horror community.

[Read the full article here]

— Joe Kroeger
(February 2007; HorrorWorld magazine)

Deadbeat [Makes You Stronger] is a cracking novella packed with invention, humour and downright grusome horror. Adams is a strong writer who creates memorable scenes that are liberally dosed with comedy and horror… The interaction between the two leads is instantly amusing and with alternating chapters written from the point of view of each — giving you two different opinions of the same situation in the best way possible. They could best be described as Reeves & Mortimer meets Karloff and Lugosi; they have a surreal sene of humour with a very black edge… The sequence when Max is hiding in a coffin is laugh-out-loud… The taxi driver incident is as charming as it is eccentric and is almost Ealing cinema-like in execution. If a film production company hasn't picked this up by the end of the year, then there's no justice in the world…
     Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]

— James Whittington
(May 2006; DarkSide Magazine)

The Imagineer is a real quality read for children and adults alike. I loved this book from the minute I read the first chapter. It's a rare treat for the imagination, written in the style of The Lion, Witch and The Wardobe and set in a childhood England that sadly no longer exists — a place where snowfalls were always waist high, days lasted forever and adventure was always around the corner fo your imagination. The book is littered with beautiful illustrations from Kay Whittaker that help put faces to the large cast. It's funny but they are just how I Imagined them to be. An absolute delight that knocks spots off Harry Potter. Young adults and mature readers have a new boy hero, and he's called Charlie Whittaker.

— James Whittington
(May 2006; DarkSide magazine)

I really think you're onto something with Humdrumming and that you've an angle and an identity that's all your own. The design of the books is seriously striking — there's many a mainstream publisher's art director who could learn by comparing their own photoshop-and-library efforts with Lee Thompson's simplicity and precision. And the content immediately catches the imagination; another area where the mainstream is struggling to keep its grip. Keep this up and I can easily see you on the racks with the Abacuses and the Picadors and all the other upmarket, cut-above imprints.

— Stephen Gallagher on Humdrumming
(author of Oktober, Valley of Lights and The Spirit Box)

…a world away from the bloated procedurals that have come to dominate the crime field, harking back to a time when fiction could be quirkier and less boundary-conscious. Tell a good tale, be scary, be funny… easy to say it, much harder to pull off… Deadbeat manages all three.

— Stephen Gallagher on Deadbeat
(author of Oktober, Valley of Lights and The Spirit Box)

I read Deadbeat on a train down to London on Saturday and enjoyed it. Some great concepts in there - and the blurb for the Dogs of Waugh looks appealing too…

— Andrew Hook (Elastic Press)

Zombies never looked so good…

— Sandy Aulden
(The Alien Online) on Deadbeat