Simon Bestwick Explained

Simon Bestwick (born 1974) is an English author of British contemporary horror.

Biography

Bestwick attended the University of Salford which he graduated from in 1996 with a 2:1 degree in Media and Performance.^[1]

Writer Ramsey Campbell has described Bestwick, along with Gary McMahon, Alison Littlewood and Joel Lane, as part of a class of contemporary British writers developing a “consciously political form of horror fiction, using the genre to examine and symbolise Thatcher’s Britain and the country’s subsequent decades”.^[2]

His short stories have been reprinted in Best Horror of the Year #1 'The Narrows', Best Horror of the Year #4 'Dermot' and 'The Moraine', Best British Fantasy 2013 'Dermot',^[3] and his short story ‘Below’ is due to be reprinted in Best Horror of the Year # 12 (September 2020).

Awards and honours

• 2009 – British Fantasy Award nomination for best novella for “The Narrows”^[4]
• 2012 – British Fantasy Award nomination for best short story for “Dermot”^[5]
• 2019 – British Fantasy Award nomination for best horror novel for “Wolf's Hill”^[6]
• 2019 – British Fantasy Award nomination for best novella for “Breakwater”^[7]

Selected works

Books

• Power of the Dog: Precinct 13 Publications, 1998.
• Tide of Souls: Abaddon Books, 2009.
• The Faceless: Solaris, 2012.
• Let's Drink to the Dead: Solaris, 2012.
• The Condemned: Gray Friar Press, 2013.
• Hell's Ditch:  Snowbooks, 2015.
• Devil's Highway:  Snowbooks, 2016.
• The Feast of All Souls: Solaris, 2016.
• Angels of the Silences: Omnium Gatherum Media, 2016.
• Wolf's Hill: Snowbooks, 2018.
• Breakwater: Tor, 2018.

Collections

• A Hazy Shade of Winter: Ash-Tree Press, 2004.
• Pictures of the Dark: Gray Friar Press, 2009.
• And Cannot Come Again: Tales of Childhood, Regret, and Innocence Lost: ChiZine, 2019.  (Out of Print), and reprinted by Horrific Tales, 2020.

As editor

• Oktobyr '98:: Precinct 13 Publications, 1998.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Bestwick. Simon. Simon Bestwick. 4 June 2020. Simon Bestwick.
2. News: Walter. Damien. 29 Jan 2016. The ominous ordinary: horror writers finding scares in the everyday. The Guardian. 4 June 2020.
3. Web site: 20 August 2014. TIH 020: Simon Bestwick on Writing Serials, Joel Lane and Plotting. 4 June 2020. This Is Horror.
4. Web site: 30 March 2009. British Fantasy Awards 2009: the Shortlist!. 4 June 2020. British Fantasy Society.
5. Web site: 5 July 2012. British Fantasy Awards shortlist announced. 4 June 2020. British Fantasy Society.
6. Web site: 23 September 2019. British Fantasy Awards 2019. 4 June 2020. British Fantasy Society.
7. Web site: 23 July 2019. British Fantasy Awards 2019. 4 June 2020. British Fantasy Society.