James Rollins has been a busy man for the last few years; he however has been striving to spread his wings in all possible ways for his readers. He recently has started a twelve episode web series that focuses on various ways the world might conceivably end, including interviewing experts in these various end-world scenarios. 

Here’s the episode schedule: 

 EP 01 Introduction -- September 29th 

 EP 02 Black Hole -- October 6th 

 EP 03 Asteroid -- October 13th 

 EP 04 Plague -- October 20th 

 EP 05 Nano Technology -- October 27th 

 EP 06 Polar Shift -- November 3rd 

 EP 07 Nuclear Holocaust -- November 10th 

 EP 08 Solar Flares -- November 17th 

 EP 09 Alien Invasion -- November 24th 

 EP 10 Gamma Rays -- December 1st 

 EP 11 Super Volcano -- December- 8th 

 EP 12 Surprise -- December 15th 

So enjoy these interviews and for watching the remaining webisodes, check Jim’s blog on the dates mentioned above. Also keep an eye out for the last episode whose title reveals something crucial about its contents. 

The Newcastle Winter Book Festival is in its third year and looks to be going from strength to strength. The festival was created with the aim of creating a sustainable platform in the North East for authors and publishers, and to celebrate the distinctive culture of the region, engaging people in reading, books and ideas. 

So click here to check out the program schedule for this year’s event. Of particular interest to me are the following events taking place on the given dates: 

John Connolly A discussion on the Wrath of Angels and the Charlie Parker series 

Friday 23rd Nov
 7.30pm – 1 hour 

The Lit & Phil 

Tickets: £8/£6 

Join the acclaimed and internationally bestselling author John Connolly as he discusses the Wrath of Angels, the eleventh of the Charlie Parker novels. The Dublinborn John Connolly, who seamlessly mixes crime and horror, has won countless awards and has thousands of adoring fans all over the world. Not content with being a giant of the crime genre, Connolly is also a hugely entertaining speaker. He will be investigating and talking about the development of his protagonist Charlie Parker as well as the other characters, both heroes and villains, in the series. We get a step closer to Parker’s goal, and the reason for his being. 

Horror and Humour: Uneasy Bed Fellows or a Match Made in Heaven? Ramsey Campbell, Paul Magrs, Conrad Williams and Gail-Nina Anderson 

Saturday 24th Nov
5.30pm – 1 hour  
The Lit & Phil  
Tickets: £8/£6 

Does a healthy dose of humor enhance the impact of a horror story or undermine it? Why does a cinema audience immediately laugh after having a good scare? Many films, from Carry On Screaming to Shaun of the Dead, purposely combine horror and humour to arguably equal effect, but can prose fiction do the same? Is horror with a dose of humour just as relevant as that which takes itself deadly seriously? Join the irrepressible Ramsey Campbell, Paul Magrs, Conrad Williams and Gail-Nina Anderson for a witty debate as they describe and discuss horror and their own senses of humour and humour failures. 

Ramsey Campbell and Stephen Volk  
Saturday 24th Nov
6.45pm – 1 hour  
The Lit & Phil  
Tickets: £5/£3 

We are thrilled to welcome Ramsey Campbell and Stephen Volk to the festival. Ramsey Campbell is celebrating fifty years in print as a horror writer and he has been described as ‘Britain’s most respected living horror writer. His fiction spans psychological horror, social comment and satire, supernatural terror and comedy of paranoia. Some of his work, including Midnight Sun and The Darkest Part of the Woods, reaches for awe in the tradition of Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen. His latest novel The Kind Folk does so, and he will be reading from this and discussing his work before answering any questions the audience may care to raise. Steven Volk, a BAFTA-winning screenwriter, was the creator of ITV’s paranormal drama Afterlife, the BBC’s notorious 1992 Halloween “hoax” Ghostwatch and last year’s hit supernatural movie starring Rebecca Hall and Dominic West, The Awakening – which is being shown at this year’s festival. Today Volk will read from Whitstable, his forthcoming novella, which is set in the home town of a famous English horror actor who, for once in his life, comes face-to-face with a horror that is all too real... 

A Book of Horrors: What the Hell Happened to Horror?  
Saturday 24th Nov
8pm – 1 hour  
The Lit & Phil  
Tickets: £8/£6 

The festival is delighted to host Stephen Jones, Britain’s most acclaimed horror editor, and Ramsey Campbell, Lisa Tuttle and Peter Crowther – some of today’s most successful and exciting writers of horror and dark fantasy who are included in A Book of Horrors: an original anthology of all-new horror and dark fantasy fiction, in all of its many and magnificent guises. Join Editor Stephen Jones and his guests for a not to be missed discussion on ‘What the Hell Happened to Horror?’, and address questions such as what happened to traditional horror stories?, why are bloodsuckers more likely to show their romantic nature?, why do werewolves work for government organisations? and why can the walking dead be found sipping tea amongst the polite society of a Jane Austen novel?