Wolf-Girls: Dark Tales of Teeth, Claws and Lycogyny, Edited by Hannah Kate (Hic Dragones 2012)

Feral, vicious, fierce and lost… the she-wolf is a strange creature of the night. Attractive to some; repulsive to others, she stalks the fringes of our world as though it were her prey. She is the baddest of girls, the fatalest of femmes – but she is also the excluded, the abject, the monster. The Wolf-Girls within these pages are mad, bad and dangerous to know. But they are also rejected and tortured, loving and loyal, avenging and triumphant. Some of them are even human…

Seventeen new tales of dark, snarling lycogyny. Features Rosie Garland’s short story ‘Cut and Paste’

Order here -  http://www.hic-dragones.co.uk/#/wolf-girls/4565397194

An evening of Strange and Dark Fictions

Monday 27 May, 7.30pm

Tickets £6 (+booking fee) in advance from our Eventbrite online shop

For more information on Hic Dragones, check out the website: http://www.hic-dragones.co.uk/

To say it's an honour to have Rosie Garland performing for us at the Prestwich Book Festival is an understatement.

Rosie is a legend in Manchester. She's built up an impressive following on the cabaret circuit as Rosie Lugosi. Before that she sang in post punk goth band The March Violets. She's written several books of poetry and her short stories have been published extensively. In 2009 she was diagnosed with throat cancer: the experience inspired the poems in her most recent collection Everything Must Go (Holland Park Press 2012). She came to Prestwich last year to perform at Vocabaret and gave us a sneak preview of the poems in that collection - there was hardly a dry eye in the house. Now she's back to talk about her first novel The Palace of Curiosities. After many years of writing and getting rejection letters, Rosie submitted her novel in draft to a competition - and won. As a result, she got a six figure advance and a publishing deal from Harper Collins. It's fantastic to see her career going from strength to strength.

But we weren't content with bringing you just one great writer - no, Rosie is simply the topping on a very tasty, er, pizza of an evening taking place on Monday, 27th May. This evening will be a veritable feast of all that is strange and dark in writing. So you'll hear from local boy made good, first time author Toby Stone, acclaimed Salford-based horror writer Simon Bestwick and a showcase of talent from Hic Dragones:

• Jeanette Greaves: contributor to Wolf-Girls and Impossible Spaces
• Daisy Black: writer, medievalist and heavy metal morris dancer
• Nancy Schumann: author of Take a Bite, a history of female vampires in folklore and literature
• Richard Freeman: writer and one of the UK's few cryptozoologists
• Beth Daley: graduate of the Creative Writing PhD programme at the University of Manchester

It's worth pausing at this point to say that Hic Dragones are a small, independent publishing house, based in Crumpsall, They focus on strange fiction and aim to be "intelligent, but a bit weird". Right in the heart of north Manchester, they are making waves on the literary scene, and have published some big name authors, including all of the above. It's a pleasure to be working with them.

To top off the evening, we'll have a stall from Rock and Goth Plus, our own local rock and goth supply shop.

And did I mention this all takes place at the gloriously refurbished British Legion, right next to Heaton Park metro?

Get your tickets now. This will be one Bank Holiday Monday to remember.

Prestwich Book Festival - An Evening of Strange and Dark Fictions

The Palace Of Curiosities