UNCERTAINTIES VOL. 4

I am very happy to say that my story ‘We Pass Under’ is included in the upcoming edition of Uncertainties, published by Swan River Press and edited by Timothy J. Jarvis

Numbered edition of 100 also available while supplies last.

You can PRE -ORDER here

Read More

THE SHADOW BOOTH Vol. 4

I’m pleased to have a second story in the excellent Shadow Booth series, edited by Dan Coxon. I was in the very first volume with my story ‘Where No Shadows Fall’ so I am delighted to be back with a new piece of short fiction, ‘Collector of Games’, that focuses on the hunt for mythical video-games and the pitch-black reaches of the dark web. Dan has gathered a really stunning lineup of writers for this volume, so I really recommend getting hold of a copy. You can pre-order a copy here: http://www.theshadowbooth.com/2019/08/the-shadow-booth-vol-4-coming-this.html

Table of Contents reads as follows:

  • The Devil of Timanfaya by Lucie McKnight Hardy

  • The Tribute by James Machin

  • The Larpins by Charles Wilkinson

  • Drowning by Giselle Leeb

  • You Are Not in Kettering Now by Andrew McDonnell

  • Hardrada by Ashley Stokes

  • Defensive Wounds by James Everington

  • The Verandah by Jay Caselberg

  • The Salt Marsh Lambs by Jane Roberts

  • The Box of Knowledge by Tim Cooke

  • His Hand by Polis Loizou

  • Terminal Teatime by Anna Vaught

  • Collector of Games by Gary Budden

  • One Two Three by Marian Womack

Read More

WRITING 'WE RIP HOLES IN THEIR PAPER FACES TO GIVE THEM SIGHT'

I have a short essay on The Lonely Crowd website about the writing of my new Verona-set story ‘We Rip Holes in Their Paper Faces to Give Them Sight’. It’s a story of tourist-horror, eco-depression and selfishness.

Read it here: https://thelonelycrowd.org/2019/08/28/writing-we-rip-holes-in-their-paper-faces-to-give-them-sight-gary-budden

Read More

EGRETS AND BOATS

The White Heron Beneath the Reactor is coming ever-closer to completion. Maxim is working on the final artwork and the book will be going to the typesetter ASAP. 

Here are two brand new images from the book to give more of a flavour of what the finished work will look like. 

Thanks, as ever, for your patience with us. More updates very soon!

Read More

THE WHITE HERON APPROACHES

I am happy to say that the text of The White Heron Beneath the Reactor is complete and being proofread, and that Maxim has been going above-and-beyond with the artwork – something you can now judge for yourselves, as we are pleased to be sharing some images from the book and a short extract. Enjoy!

Read More

BUILT ON SAND ARRIVES

Last week saw the arrival of the new novel published by Influx Press, BUILT ON SAND by Paul Scraton. I’ve been out and about with Paul, visiting various bookstores to sign copies of the book, and launching the novel at Burley Fisher Books in London, and the The Book Corner, Halifax

Read More

SUITE 212

You can now listen to my interview on Resonance FM, on the Suite 212 show hosted by Tom Overton and Juliet Jacques.

I was on the show discussing Hollow Shores, Judderman and the upcoming The White Heron Beneath the Reactor, covering a range of topics including Derek Jarman, Dungeness, punk rock, birdwatching and the apocalypse. Enjoy!

THE WHITE HERON BENEATH THE REACTOR

A fully illustrated 64-page hardback book about Dungeness, white egrets, climate change, Europe and apocalypse. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES.

White herons. Nuclear power. The desert of the south-east.

Gary Budden, a lifelong bird-lover, returned to Dungeness in Kent – famous for its shingle desert, its nuclear power station, and Derek Jarman’s cottage – in the autumn of 2018 on a bird-watching trip. In the car park of the RSPB reserve, he watched greenfinches on a bird-feeder for the first time in several years – birds once commonplace, now under threat of extinction.

Entering the reserve, he saw the bird he had come to see: the great white egret, a towering white heron among the reeds, visible to the naked eye even from afar. Common on mainland Europe, but, a rarity and a source of excitement in the United Kingdom. Until now.  

As part of Kickstarter's Make 100 initiative, and working with renowned landscape artist Maxim Griffin, The White Heron Beneath the Reactor is an illustrated landscape punk essay exploring the bleak, otherworldly and captivating landscapes of Dungeness, the effects of climate change and a warming world, our relationship with continental Europe, and the looming fear of apocalypse.

werner861.jpg

The author and artist have collaborated on a number of previous projects (such as Heaven is a Marsh in Winter), as well as continuing their ongoing solo investigations into the strangeness of the British landscape. They like working together and seeing how words and images can work together; how collaboration produces something unique that neither individual would have produced. 

Inspired by their favourite limited releases from obscure punk, psychedelic and folk labels, and the lavishly produced, extremely limited weird fiction books they covet, Gary and Maxim decided to create something similar. The Make 100 initiative seemed perfect for what they wanted to create. The White Heron Beneath the Reactor is a poetic interrogation of place and landscape in the current political climate; it is also a beautifully produced collector's item for the bibliophile in all of us. 

The book is LIMITED TO 100 hardback copies, with full colour illustrations.

With your help, we make this book a reality.  

Pledge here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1194866830/make-100-the-white-heron-beneath-the-reactor