The year began with me losing my chance to spend another summer out on the boats with the whales. No great loss though, as I discovered that my "boss" was a lying scumbag, so I was well shot of that.

And it did give me a chance to get some serious writing done, for the first time in years.

The year got off to a smooth start with Black Death Books accepting the 3rd Midnight Eye novel. The Skin Game will appear in 2010 and marks Derek Adam's reappearance, this time investigating a werewolf cult in Glasgow and, in a break from his previous cases, it also takes him across the pond to Newfoundland.

January also saw a pro publication, in the Wrongworld "Teachings" edition of my story Variations on a Theme", my fourth sale to this market. Sadly they've gone on hiatus since then, but I look forward to their return.

February saw me finishing another novel, "The Concordances of the Red Serpent", a bit of a departure in style for me as it's more of a thriller than anything overtly horror or fantasy.

In early March I made another pro sale, with a Midnight Eye story, "Call and Response" to the forthcoming Mythos Books anthology Cthulhu 2012. I'm really looking forward to this one as it promises to be a blockbuster.

Also in March, I started writing for Neil Jackson at Ghostwriter Publications, little knowing then that this would come to dominate most of the rest of the writing year.

Neil has taken four novels of mine so far, and over fifty short stories. While the novels may not have appeared as early as either Neil or I had hoped, the success of Neil's Penny Dreadful Company chapbooks makes up for that. I've been flexing writing muscles I didn't know I had, in different styles and genres, and they're starting to pick up good reviews. The fruits of all the work are never more evident than in the just released Carnacki box set. I'd never have thought of having a stab at these without Neil's nudging, and I'm very glad I did so as I think they're some of the best work I've ever done.

April saw the appearance of the Watchers Omnibus from Black Death Books, a collected edition of my historical Vampire trilogy. This shiny new edition is also picking up many new readers and some very kind reviews, showing there's life in some old dogs yet.

Other anthology appearances this year included me rubbing shoulders with people I know and people I admire in Creature Feature, Cthulhu Unbound 2 and, most recently, in Gaslight Grotesque where I got to write a Sherlock Holmes in Edinburgh story that I enjoyed immensely.

I spent the summer writing three short pulp novels in a frenzy of blood and mayhem - Berserker (Vikings vs Yeti), The Valley (A lost world tale) and Crustaceans (Killer Crabs!) All three should see light of day from Ghostwriter Publications in the next year. The Valley is up first as a serialised chapbook box set, coming in February.

My novel mojo now seems dormant for the moment, but I'm sure it will return.

Autumn has mostly been taken up with writing one-off chapbooks and establishing some "series" characters in the Penny Dreadful collection.

In the new year I will be continuing to write stories for the Penny Dreadfuls, for as long as Neil will have them. I've also got stories out at several pro anthologies that I'm waiting impatiently on, and a horror novel "Hunters Dock" looking for a home.

On top of that, 2010 will see the production of at least one screenplay of mine. "The 5" is currently in production in South Africa. I also have high hopes that Dark Window Films will get funding to bring Derek Adams to the screen from my screenplay of The Amulet, but more on that as I get the news myself.

In the meantime, I'd like to wish a very merry Xmas and happy new year to all my readers.

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"One of the premier storytellers of our time" - FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND
William Meikle