Len (1953) and Mick (1952) have been writing together as LH Maynard & MPN Sims for a long time. Try a Google search and find us. Or check us out at http://www.maynard-sims.com

Our latest novel from Leisure, BLACK CATHEDRAL, is an attempt at a faster paced novel. We’ve written lots of atmosphere into the story but kept the plot twisting and turning towards a climax that we’ve tried to make surprising as well as exciting.

Mick is married to Clare, Len is not, and there are two children between us, Iain Maynard and Emily Sims. We both live in Hertfordshire, about 25 miles apart.
The first supernatural novel, Shelter, was published July 2006 and the second, Demon Eyes, was a December 2007 publication, both by Leisure.

Our writing settles into four main periods - the early traditional ghost story period of about ten years from 1974: a middle period when we wrote a lot without sending much off for possible publication. During this period we wrote and broadly destroyed about 11 novels, and wrote numerous stories. This 'barren' period lasted about ten years from about 1984. The third period began around 1994 and is when we began again in earnest and happily continues to the present day. The fourth ten year period began around 2004 with the publication of what currently is our last story collection, Falling Into Heaven. This phase is dominated by the novels.

Black Cathedral introduces Department 18 http://www.dept18.com a unit within the British secret service that investigates paranormal events. This is the first in a planned series. The second novel, a loose sequel to Demon Eyes, is underway. The sequel to Black Cathedral, also featuring the Department is drafted out.
We’ve just re-designed our website to give it a fresher look. All our material and details are on there. http://www.maynard-sims.com As well as some free stuff and downloads.

Numerous stories have been published in a variety of anthologies and magazines, including the Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, the anthology, Strange Tales, which won the World Fantasy Award 2004 and the Del Rey anthology, The Children Of Cthulhu.

Story collections include, Shadows At Midnight, 1979 and 1999 (revised and enlarged), Echoes Of Darkness, 2000, Incantations, 2002, two retrospective collections of their stories, essays and interviews, The Secret Geography Of Nightmare and Selling Dark Miracles, both 2002, and Falling Into Heaven in 2004.
And novellas, Moths, The Hidden Language Of Demons, The Seminar, and Double Act, have been published in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2007 respectively.

The Black Cathedral back cover blurb says – ‘At an old manor house on a remote Scottish island, six managers of a large corporation arrive for a week-long stay. Within days they will all suffer horrifying deaths and their bodies will never be found. The government assigns the case to Department 18, the special unit created to investigate the supernatural and the paranormal. However, this is no mere haunted house. The evil on this island goes back centuries, but its unholy plots and schemes are hardly things of the past. In fact, while the members of Department 18 race to unravel the island’s secrets, the forces of darkness are gathering…and preparing to attack.’

We’ve done lots of other things as well. We worked as editors on the first seven volumes of Darkness Rising, and the two annual Darkness Rising anthologies. We co-edited and published F20 with The British Fantasy Society. As editors/publishers we ran Enigmatic Press in the UK, which produced Enigmatic Tales, and its sister titles. We wrote essays for the Mark Chadbourn website At The World’s End.

We are always happy to chat. Leave a message at HorrorWorld http://www.horrorworld.org/massmarket.htm or email us Michael@micksims.f9.co.uk. We are quite house trained and friendly. And we can also be found at http://www.myspace.com/maynardsims and on Facebook, separately under Len Maynard & Michael Sims.

Department 18 has its own history and back story that can all be accessed on its website. http://www.dept18.com

BLACK CATHEDRAL is available now at http://www.amazon.com and http://www.amazon.co.uk and other places.

$7.99 US ISBN 10 0 8439 6199 6
$9.99 CAN ISBN 13 978 0 8439 6199 7
£5.99 UK
$14.95 AUS

“Maynard & Sims -- two of my favorite literary necromancers -- have done it again! Turn down the lights, lock the windows, curl up by the fire, and prepare for a long night...” - Steve Susco.

“Maynard & Sims write with a voice that is both uniquely entertaining and profoundly disturbing. Creepy and wonderful stuff!” - Brian Keene.

“Maynard & Sims have proven their ability to effortlessly put horror readers through the wringer time and again. This is real, unapologetic, scary stuff.”
- Gary A Braunbeck.



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