Apologies for my sudden disappearance and lack of updates last month. I had a few things to deal with and deadlines to hit etc. etc. etc.

Anyway, I’m back now and there will be plenty of updates in the coming days and weeks. Not least, a look at how this happened…

Yes, that’s the IMDB movie meter and yes, that’s the Autumn movie making a gain of 5000% in popularity and hitting the top 50 movies last month!

More to follow…

By now I’m sure you’ve already heard the tragic news that David Carradine was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room today.

Unfortunately I never met the man himself (I missed him by a few days when I visited the set of Autumn) but I’ve heard many great stories from the Renegade team. He was a total legend who leaves behind a vast legacy of film and TV work and he’ll be greatly missed. I grew up watching him in Kung-fu then, as I got older and my taste in movies developed, I got to know him again through his role in classics such as Death Race 2000, Q: The Winged Serpent and the Kill Bill films. Hell, we’ve even got one of his Tai Chi videos kicking around the house somewhere!

As a fanboy and horror movie geek, I’ll never forget the thrill when, just minutes after landing in Canada, I took a call from Steven Rumbelow (the Director of Autumn) telling me that Carradine had signed to play the part of Philip Evans in the movie. I know that most of you haven’t seen it yet, but I can assure you his appearance is a highlight of the film. To have a story you’ve written brought to the screen is cool enough. To have a character you created played by such an actor is something else entirely. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know how ‘unsettled’ and naive Philip is. Carradine got the character to a tee – a powerful, heartbreaking performance.

I offer my sincere condolences to his his family at this terrible time.

Congratulations to Zombob (aka Robert Banning of Carpentersville, USA) who was the winner of the exclusive My Favourite Books HATER giveaway. Robert – your copy of the original Infected Books edition of HATER will be on its way to you shortly.

The French edition of HATER, RAGE, will be published by Milady on 5th June. They’ve put a great piece up about the book on their blog here.

And check out the cover! It’s more frightening than the book! At least I’ll have no problems proving I wrote it if ever I’m in France! Thanks to the team at SFX Magazine for giving their permission for the image to be used. You can order RAGE from Amazon.fr now.

I’ve been clearing out (more news on what else I’ve found later) and I’ve come across a few little gems hidden away. One of these ‘treasures’ is a mint condition copy of the original Infected Books paperback edition of HATER. For those who don’t know, the movie deal and the deal with Thomas Dunne Books came shortly after I originally released the book and very few copies of the Infected Books version were produced (no more than 1500, I think).

I’m giving the book away in conjunction with my friends over at the My Favourite Books blog. To enter, all you need to do is visit the site (click here) and send them an email before 31st May. Good luck!

A great interview has just gone live at Dogmatika. Click here to read it. Also, check the new issue of Deathray magazine for an excellent HATER review:

“It’s a bleak world view but one that transcends wallowing in self pity thanks to Moody’s intuitive characterisation. Make no mistake, this is humanity seen through a frighteningly dark lens, and while we may be unsettled by what we read, it’s the job of books such as this to make us confront the allure and repulsion of our taboos. Love it? Hate it? It really does not matter. Not to read it and not to have some form of opinion… Well, now that would be just hateful.”

The winners of the recent HATER / The Men They Couldn’t Hang competition were:

• Mike Pocock from Kent
• Simon Aston from Surrey
• Louise White from Aylesbury

Congratulations! Your books signed by Swill from the band and I will be on their way to you shortly. Thanks to everyone who entered – we had hundreds of responses.

Watch out for another HATER giveaway very soon.

It’s getting closer! There’s lots going on behind-the-scenes and I’m really hopeful that before long we’ll have some news about when you can see the AUTUMN movie.

I’m pleased to announce that a special midnight showing of the film has been arranged at the Roxy Theatre in Saskatoon, Canada on 30th May. Follow this link for more information.

And to all those of you who can’t make it… watch this space. More news coming very soon!

A few quick updates for a Friday afternoon…

mX, a free Australian newspaper, ran a feature on HATER this week. Click here to download a copy.

An interview I did with www.scyla.com in Spain is now online (in English and Spanish!) here. (An update to this update… another Spanish interview with www.fantasymundo.com is now online here in English and Spanish.)

And finally, Herbst: Läuterung (the German language version of Autumn: Purification) is attracting some great reviews like this one from www.roterdorn.de.

Have a great weekend (an extra long one if you’re in the UK!). Maybe I’ll bump into some of you at Sci-Fi-London on Sunday.

(By the way, the ‘The Men They Couldn’t Hang‘ competition is now closed. Winners will be announced next week.)

I’ll be appearing at Sci-Fi London this Sunday May 3rd, taking part in a panel discussion: ‘Where’s My Jetpack?‘

“Science fiction has promised us interstellar travel, flying cars, hoverboards, teleportation, universal translators, colonies in space and so much more. So where is it? In a world where London’s transport infrastructure can be brought to a standstill by 6 inches of snow and end-of-the-world scenarios play out in fiction, films and TV, is the mobile phone and the Internet really the best we can do?”

I’ve got two tickets to the panel to give away, courtesy of the event organisers. They’ll go to the first two people to email me at davidmoody@djmoody.co.uk with the subject line ‘Sci-Fi London’. These are tickets to the above mentioned panel only, not the whole festival, and you’ll need to get yourself to and from the venue and cover your own expenses etc. etc. etc.

Please take a moment to visit www.sci-fi-london.com and look at the full programme for the weekend. Until Friday 1st May you can get 2-for-1 on tickets for any of the literary panels if you book by phone (020 7451 9944) and say the words AUTHOR BLOG!

If anyone is going to the festival on Sunday, please let me know in advance and, if it fits in with everyone’s plans, we’ll try and meet up and say hello!