RAGE AGAINST THE NIGHT, my fundraiser anthology for Rocky Wood, hit the streets (well, Amazon and Smashwords) just before Christmas, and it’s been selling well.

On Christmas day, Rage Against the Night peaked at #13 on the Amazon anthologies bestseller list. This is a fantastic result as all proceeds will be donated to HWA President and author Rocky Wood to aid his fight against motor neurone disease.

Want to know more? Here’s the lowdown:

Under the onslaught of supernatural evil, the acts of good people can seem insignificant, but a courageous few stand apart. These brave men and women stand up to the darkness, stare it right in the eye, and give it the finger. These are the stories of those who rage against the night, stories of triumph, sacrifice, and bravery in the face of overwhelming evil.

Rage Against the Night features the megastars of dark fantasy and horror—including Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Peter Straub, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, F. Paul Wilson, Jonathan Maberry, Scott Nicholson, Nancy Holder, Sarah Langan, and many, many more.

The full table of contents is:

• The Gunner’s Love Song—Joe McKinney
• Keeping Watch—Nate Kenyon
• Like Part of the Family—Jonathan Maberry
• The Edge of Seventeen—Alexandra Sokoloff
• The View from the Top—Bev Vincent
• Afterward, There Will Be a Hallway—Gary A. Braunbeck
• Following Marla—John R. Little
• Magic Numbers—Gene O’Neill
• Tail the Barney—Stephen M. Irwin
• The Nightmare Dimension—David Conyers
• Roadside Memorials—Joseph Nassise
• Dat Tay Vao—F. Paul Wilson
• Constitution—Scott Nicholson
• Mr. Aickman’s Air Rifle—Peter Straub
• Agatha’s Ghost—Ramsey Campbell
• Blue Heeler—Weston Ochse
• Sarah’s Visions—Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• More Than Words—David Niall Wilson
• Chillers—Lisa Morton
• Changed—Nancy Holder
• Dead Air—Gary Kemble
• Two Fish to Feed the Masses—Daniel G. Keohane
• Fenstad’s End—Sarah Langan
• Fair Extension—Stephen King
• Rocky Wood, Skeleton Killer—Jeff Strand

Rage Against the Night (ed. Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Brimstone Press, December 2011, RRP $3.99) can be purchased as an ebook from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006P18LM2/) and Smashwords (http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/116718). It will soon be available from Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Diesel, and all other leading online retailers. The print version will be available in late January.

What do Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Peter Straub, F. Paul Wilson, Jonathan Maberry, Scott Nicholson, Sarah Langan (and many many more horror superstars) have in common? Rocky Wood and Rage Against the Night.

Rocky is the President of the Horror Writers Association, an award-nominated scholar, and a top bloke. He is also battling motor neurone disease.

Rage Against the Night, edited by Shane Jiraiya Cummings, brings together the megastars of horror in support of Rocky. Rage Against the Night features stories of triumph against the forces of  darkness from the biggest names in horror. All proceeds from the sale of the anthology will go to Rocky so he can purchase an eye gaze machine, which will help Rocky communicate as his disease progresses.

Rage Against the Night will be published by Brimstone Press in late December (ebook edition) and January (print edition).

To coincide with the publishing of “Graveyard Orbit” in Midnight Echo #6, the team behind ME have interviewed me and posted an excerpt of my story.

It’s worth checking out even if you’re only vaguely interested in my story, it’s origin, or my own dubious superpower. Check the interview out at the Midnight Echo site or on editor David Conyers’ website.

To further entice you, here’s an extract of “Graveyard Orbit”:

System: HD 209458 (designation: Osiris).
Distance from Earth: 150.4 light years (Pegasus Constellation).

“What in hell is that?” Walker pointed to the brown-yellow smudge on the central viewscreen.

Lost to his interface with the ship, Peng took a few moments to answer, “What?”

“You mean, ‘what, Captain,” Walker said with distraction. He’d spent the entire three month journey reminding his subordinates of his position, and correcting them had become an automatic response.

“Uh, yeah, what, Captain?” Peng said, although he remained interfaced with the ship and didn’t bother to turn to address him.

Peng’s crewmate—and the Wellington’s first officer—Huang was also interfaced, but he appeared to quiver slightly. Although his back was to Walker, he was sure Huang was suppressing laughter.

“Enough, you two,” Walker chided. “I want a full spectrum analysis on that planet. Thermal, radiation, gravity density mapping, atmospheric composition, the works.”

“Sure, Captain.” Huang swivelled in his chair to face Walker. “Although if you just interface… oh, very sorry, I forgot, you’re not enhanced.” The wireless pods embedded in Huang’s temples pulsed with lights. The magnetically insulated strips that ran up the sides of his neck and disappeared into his hairline strobed in a lightning-fast sequence of flashes.

Walker grimaced. The instant information Huang was accessing from the Wellington’stelemetry arrays was more of a slap in the face than his words—and Huang knew it. It wasn’t the first time his subordinates had mocked him for his humanity. Mundanes such as Walker were fast becoming obsolete. If he hadn’t owned the Wellington, he’d be unable to pick up work in interstellar exploration.

“Just show me what you have, Huang.” Walker sighed. “Main screen.”

The image was still grainy. Walker rubbed his eyes. The advanced telemetry of the *Wellington’s* equipment should have been able to display the visual with crystal clarity. Even with Huang’s tweaking, the image refused to resolve itself.

“Serious ionisation,” Peng muttered.

“Speak up, Peng,” Walker said.

Peng muttered something inaudible, lost as he was to the interface with the ship. Huang, too, was silent as he absorbed the data.

Walker thumped the arm of his chair. “Come on, guys! Don’t drift on me. I need answers!”

Peng straightened in his chair but took a few seconds to disengage from the data stream. “Osiris II has an atmosphere of approximately six hundred klicks. Apart from the ionisation, I’m getting no readings at all.”

“Something wrong with the equipment?” Walker asked.

“No,” Huang answered after a pause. “I ran a diagnostic and the arrays are in working order.”

Walker glanced at the planet on the main screen again. “Strange. It looks like pollution haze. Reminds me of home.”

Although his vision was unenhanced, Walker pressed his face to the nearest viewport. Until today, Osiris II had been an unclassifiable planet, identified only as a gravity distortion by telescopes in far orbit in the Sol System. Walker’s best guess was that it was akin to Venus, a rocky planet covered in a thick layer of gasses, but he needed a closer look.

“Move us into low orbit.” Walker commanded as he returned to his chair. “I want to pierce the veil.”

Within moments, the ship lurched to the right, and Walker’s stomach with it. The planet loomed in the viewport larger by the second.

As their approach vector changed, Walker spotted something.

“Stop the ship!” he called to the crew. Within seconds, the ship slowed and stopped. Walker’s stomach lurched a second time from the deceleration. He was forced to grip his chair tight to avoid being dumped on the floor.

“See that debris? What is that?” Walker asked.

Buy a copy of the print version here or download an electronic copy here.