If you would like me to take a look at your manuscript, please check the EDITING section of the website.

Thanks for your understanding.

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And a HUGE thanks to everyone who came to our HORROR IS DEAD! panel (with Scot Stanford, Adam Millard and Jasper Bark). Special thanks to August V. Fahren, Ivor Goligher and Steve Balshaw for being there in spirit (I quoted you guys at the panel), and Tim West (who made it to the panel as well as participated via facebook).

It was great to catch up with old friends and make some new ones. Thanks to Mike Allwood and all the organisers for making it possible.

I’m taking a breather from events for a short while but should be on the road again before you know it.

In the mean time, here come a couple of pics from Bristol (courtesy of Vicky Stonebridge and Zoey Millard)…

The HORROR IS DEAD! panel (with Scot Stanford, Jasper Bark and Adam Millard)

In the dealers room at Bristol 2012.

I’ll be at the wonderful Bristol Comic Expo this weekend (12th and 13th May), leading a panel on Sunday entitled HORROR IS DEAD! Joining me will be fellow horror guys Adam Millard, Jasper Bark, Scot Stansford and Ryan Brown. I’ll be asking them, and the audience, whether traditional horror, as we know it, still has a place in the modern world, what with crime fiction becoming so gory of recent, and the surge in popularity of sub-genres such as paranormal romance and urban fantasy.

But you too could be involved, dear blog reader! I want to know what online folks think of this topic. So please comment below in response to the following questions:

1) What does the term ‘traditional horror’ mean to you? What films/ books/ types of horror do you think of when considering ‘traditional’ horror?

2) Do you think there’s still a place for traditional horror in the modern world? If so, what does its future hold?

Any thoughts you have would be most welcome. But be warned, I’ll be quoting some of you bloggers at the panel on Sunday!

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So, in no particular order, here are my brief thoughts on my convention experiences this year.

State Of The Art Derby

Derby is very much my local convention and as such holds a special place in my heart. It is certainly not the biggest show, but the atmosphere is always good. This was the 11th year of the show and after that length of time they do some things well, but others need updating.

Patrick Huttlinger at Derby

What SOTA does well is support their local artists, with one of the highlights being the excellent work of Ben Stone (Mr Benjamin) from Lifetime Tattoo in the city, but also have one or two other names from the UK and beyond. Impressing this year were Patrick Huttlinger doing his geometric work. What was also good to see was a spattering of artists who were new to me. The crew from Vida Loca in Bolton, Black Lotus Tattoo, Liverpool, Ben Fluxx of Octopus, Derby and Cock-A-Snook in Newcastle certainly made an impression.

On the downside footfall seemed low, but that seems to be an economic problem rather than one connected directly to this show, the competitions really need a revamp and, sad to say, there were one or two artists who, in my opinion, were not up to standard.

In conclusion, with a little updating and a level of quality control, this could be a really good show again.

Norwich Body Art Festival

Now in it’s 3rd year, this was my first visit to the show and I had a great time. The venue is a beautiful building right in the centre of the city, which is always a bonus for me, and this year the organisers had pulled out the stops to bring some “bigger” names to the show.

Oddboy at Norwich

The quality of artists invited was very good. Oddboy from Real Art, Hazel From D4L, Chris from Area 51 (USA), Simon Erl and Xed le Head were names that stood out. The standard of work being done was also very high.

Perhaps because of the presence of some well known artists, some of the local and lesser known names were quiet while I was there, although whether this was because they hadn’t taken bookings or whether they had also suffered due to the economy.

Despite this it was good to see some artists working their first conventions, who I have watched through their apprenticeships. Jordan Croke of Second Skin, Derby, who is rapidly developing into an excellent realism artist and Cat Scott of Institute Tattoo Gorleston, Norfolk, who seems to be an excellent all rounder.

Overall, I found this a pretty impressive show. With a little refinement this could be a big player on the scene, as it is obviously well organised by people who have a diverse idea of entertainment and a good eye for detail.

Female Tattoo Show, Leamington Spa

When I first heard about an all female show, I had quite severe reservations. I wasn’t sure of the need for such an event as I felt that tattooing is one field where artists are judged purely on merit regardless of their gender.

My wife however, took a different view. She pointed out that for people who are not as au fait with the current level of talent, it would be a good thing to illustrate just how many quality female artists are working at this moment in time.

Never one to disappoint my good lady we dutifully headed to the town of Royal Leamington Spa.

The Assembly is no doubt a beautiful building, although I would suggest that it is not ideally suited to a tattoo convention. Disabled access is not great and the main floor was not laid out particularly well, with a dead end on one of the isles. The narrowness of these isles made it very difficult to get an good photos.

There was no doubt of the quality of artist present. Jo Harrison, Rachel McCarthy, Leah Moule. Morag Sangster and pretty much every female artist you have heard of was there and from what I saw, the standard of work being put out was very high.

I have heard that the event is back on next year which can only be a good thing. Although the venue will never be ideal for this kind of event, if the kinks can be worked out, then it will be a valuable addition to the convention circuit.

Liverpool Tattoo Convention

The fourth edition of this show (LTC) saw a big decision to move from the relative safety of the Liverpool University Students Guild, to the much grander and larger Adelphi Hotel. This allowed for an increase in the number of artists and also brought the “alternative” tattoo culture very much to into confrontation with the more genteel setting of the former Cunard flagship hotel.

The venue was an amazing success. The high ceilings and great natural light, combined with the huge amount of space available meant that the artists were able to work in comfort and also exhibit their portfolios without having to compromise on their work.

The artists were laid out over four rooms, most of which were well laid out. There was a slightly more cramped area in one of the rooms on the first day which was thankfully sorted on the Sunday.

The artist list combined the best of the UK’s artists and some fantastic overseas additions. The regular “Tattoo Duels” were a great hit and the competitions were fiercely contested.

On the downside, there was very little seating within the main convention floor, although I later learned that there was a rather large bar which I, surprisingly, didn’t discover.

This year also saw the First Artists Gala Ball which included the presentations of the UK Tattoo Industry Awards, which was a great success.

Overall it was an impressive show which prospered despite the increase in size and the much mentioned current financial climate. One or two things suffered from teething problems but in the main it was a great show. Certainly the best I have attended this year.

So there you have it. My take on the four shows that I managed to get to this year. My message to the organisers is not to rest on your laurels. With another year of quality events coming, including old favourites such as Brighton, Peterlee and North Lakes, and new ones such as Tattoo Tea Party and Tattoo Camp, people running existing shows need to keep themselves ahead of the game and continuing to refine their current formula.

To be the best, you have to beat the best and that is what all tattoo convention organisers should be aiming for. Even if they are competing against their own event.

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Today, it gives me great pleasure to introduce Oz to you, perhaps my favourite artist working today.

Oz brings his experience as a comicbook artist to his tattoo work and the results, as you can see from the pictures below, are breathtaking.

WS: Tell us a little about yourself and how you got into tattooing.

OZ: I think I got badgered into it by mates and have hated them all ever since! Ha!

Honestly, I’m not sure. I was drawing different stuff but people kept showing me really crap tattoos and I kinda figured I could do better and so started to play around. Then it dawned on me how fucking different it is to other artwork, and it became one of those ‘I must learn to do this’ kinda things.

WS: Do you specialise in any particular style of tattooing? Anything you prefer to do over other work, or do you enjoy a mixture?

OZ: No, I think that’s just being lazy. I understand how hard it is to do everything well in tattooing, but the whole point I always thought was that 50 people will wander into your studio with 50 diffrent ideas, and you should, if you’re going to take their money, be albe to do what they ask.

Most people think that if you have a studio you can do everything, and we all know that’s just not the case. I want to learn to do everything well. Maybe one day it might happen…

WS: I know you’re a fan of the horror genre. What are your favourite films/ books/ comics?

OZ: Ohhhhhhhhhh man come on! The list would be from my house to yours hahah! And that’s a fucking long way!

Ok, short answer. With films, I  love Asian horror. Their monster movies can’t be beaten: THE HOST , CHAW, even the old Godzilla stuff makes me chuckle. Not so keen on contemporary horror stuff: it’s like teen popcorn stuff and just has no feel to it. Love the prequel to THE THING though –  that is how it should be done! I’m finding that foreign horror films are where it’s at that the moment. They get that you have to feel something, and it’s not just about how viciously someone gets killed.

With books, it’s a shorter list. There’s some guy called Wayne Simmons that whined at me to read his book – which turned out to be really cool –  so I read his now.

WS: Aw, shucks, Oz…

OZ: I liked Shawn Huston but then he got all explainy and left no room for your own imagination, so I went off him. Actually, apart from you and Terry Prattchet,  I don’t think I read many others at the moment.

With comics - same again: the list is so long its unreal. Horror-wise, anything by Steve Niles, Garth Ennis (love his Wormwood stuff. Just got the new one but not actually had time to read it yet). RIPD which is now a film, so not sure about that. Think it will be like WANTED – a cool film but nothing like the source material.

WS: Do many people request horror tattoos from you? If so, what kinds of things are they looking to get done?

OZ: I do horror stuff but don’t get asked for it that much: it’s all tied up with being relatively unknown as an artist: I don’t get asked for any one thing in particular – I do everything. I’ve done a lot of alien type stuff, but that’s more because people see it on other people and want it.

WS: What are some of your favourite horror tattoos out of those you’ve done?

OZ: Ha! Ok, honestly?  I don’t have favs of anything which has made answering most of your questions a fucking nightmare!  Most of the time,  I just think, ‘Cool’ and that’s about it.  Then I move onto the next thing.

WS: I know you do a lot of cover-up work. What are some of the challenges and restrictions when doing a cover-up?

OZ: Oh god, you had to bring them up didn’t you, you bastard!

WS: Hahaha!

Oz: Yes, cover-up tattoos suck. They’re the bane of my life. And, yes,  I like doing them simply for that reason: they take longer to think out; they’re more complicated and they make you scream. I lose money every time I do one because after a while,  I stop taking money as I want the freedom to play around with them and you shouldn’t charge just to make yourself happy…

Doing them is hard to explain cos the whole thing gets a life of its own once you get started. Often, I completly change my mind about what i want to happen while im doing it . Oh and the best bit is explaining all this to the customer before I even start drawing it… Well you know how it is, I’m sure they are very worried by the time they leave the shop hahah.

WS: Finally, you’re working one day in the studio when in come a horde of the undead. How would you dispatch them?

Oh man, we do this in the shop. So many well thought out plans have apeared over coffee and pain! There is enough stuff in the studio to slow them down. To start with, we have swords and stuff on the walls. We can make and crappy versions of napalm with stuff here too (yes we checked and no its not wierd).  The studio has two floors, so we have two bottlenecks to keep them from massing. When its getting bad, we can feed them the person we were working on that day and head out the window and up onto the roof. From there, it’s just a matter of picking a point with the least amout of walking dead and then it’s back to mine for more coffee and to watch the remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD,  laughing our asses off that it’s actually happening!

Find Oz at SINISTER SCRAWLINGS in Harlow, Essex. 

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Congratulations to Helen Brewer (Lincs), Faye James (Swansea) and Jade Turbull-Allen (Sussex) – all winners in my DOLL PARTS Goodreads giveaway. Your books are on their way!

Thanks to all 93 goodreaders who entered.

And don’t forget the DDG Special Edition comp, open to reader of DOLL PARTS worldwide…

More details right here! 

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I’ve been interviewing some of my favourite tattoo artists on the blog recently, as celebration of the launch of my latest tattoo-flavoured tome, DOLL PARTS. Today, I’m delighted to welcome the very talented Hazel Nicholls.

Hey Hazel, thanks for talking to us. Could you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into tattooing?

I’ve been tattooing for about 9 years now. I started off in a studio in St Helen’s. The studio was very old school, a lot of discipline and a lot of my way or no way from the owner. After two years I felt it was time to move on. There was a limited amount of work coming in and little opportunity for a challenge and to develop further. I needed to branch out and try new styles and techniques. So I took a big leap and setup my own studio. Luckily for me, Liverpool had just won the cup and as soon as the studio opened it was heaving, I was inundated with Liver birds and stars. I didn’t mind though, as it was getting my name and the studio name out there. Prior to tattooing I worked in theatre and set design and construction in particular, pretty much every job I’ve had has been based around art in some way or other.

Looking back opening my own studio was the best thing I ever did!!

Do you specialise in any particular style of tattooing? Anything you prefer to do over other work, or do you enjoy a mixture?

I love a challenge in a tattoo; I like to do a mixture of styles but I always gravitate back to semi-dark or horror tattoos. I like doing things that make you look twice… at first glance it’s ‘a cool piece’ and then ‘ Oooh what’s going on there then’.

Are you a fan of the horror genre? If so, what are your favourite films/ books/ comics?

I’m a big fan of the horror genre; ever since I can remember I have been fascinated by horror and anything dark and twisted. I remember as a kid sitting on the stairs in the dark when I should have been in bed, peeping through the door way at the horror films my mum and dad where watching. Often I’d get collared and by the age of 10 my mum conceded and let me watch the Hammer House films with her. These films have been a great inspiration.

Favourite horror film has got to be ‘Alien 2’ (although some may call this sci-fi). Best scene ever is when Ripley is about to fight the mother Alien and screams ‘Get away from her you bitch!!’ … gives me goose bumps every time and has me sitting on the edge of my seat. History has repeated itself and my son is now in to the Alien films, he loves them and of course I have an excuse to watch them over again.

I’m a keen reader and have a few favourite books but if I had to pick one book it would be ‘Weave World’ by Clive Barker. I haven’t picked it up for a few years deliberately so I can forget bits and enjoy it again.

Do many people request horror tattoos from you? If so, what kinds of things are they looking to get done?

I do get requests for horror tattoos. The clients like the twists I give to my work: for example, the fucked up Tweenies tattoo I did – the customer gave me free rein with the design and we both agreed that Bella was a bitch and she needed to be punished haha!

I’ve been asked to do a few horror nurses recently which I’m really enjoying working on, one of them is part of a sleeve and I’ve got some sick ideas for it. Another project is a Zombie Apocalypse sleeve and that’s been lots of fun, its great working closely with the customers and putting our heads together to make the story develop.

I paint when I can and a lot of my artwork is very dark and twisted. I have a lot of sketches and idea’s in my head I’d like to get on canvas when time permits.

What are some of your favourite horror tattoos out of those you’ve done?

The Zombie sleeve is one of my favs. I’m also working on a cinema chest piece with lots of well known horror characters in theatre style seats, it’s a bit of a challenge as there are 13 characters and as you can imagine the portraits have to be very small.

Along with your husband, Ant, you organise the awesome Liverpool Tattoo Convention. What treats do you have lined up for attendees of this year’s event? 

If I told you that I’d have to kill you… you’ll have to wait and see…

Finally, you’re working one day in the studio when in come a horde of the undead. How would you dispatch them?

Ha-ha this question I love! I worked this out a long time ago; I even bought a crow bar just in case…

The studio is 5 floors high and would be the best place to hide out – it’s shuttered at every exit point and there’s good roof access to other buildings. We’ve a takeaway on one side and a convenience store on the other, so plenty of supplies are at hand should we have to lock down. The only problem I foresee is that if my little boy isn’t with me I’d have to go and get him, I’d take a few people with me to use as Zombie bait… oh and the crow bar.

Visit Hazel online at the Design 4 Life website.

Find out more about the Liverpool Tattoo Convention here.

Hazel’s work is featured in the most recent edition of the awesome TATTOO REVOLUTION MAGAZINE, available now at all good newsagents or online.

Well, Chris is a busy little bee. When he’s not tattooing, and winning many, many awards, he’s co-ordinating genre charity project, STARBOARDS, where 51 tattoo artists have got together and put their own STAR WARS inspired twist on the blank canvas of a skateboard.

And, as I discovered during the project’s launch night at Chris’ PHYSICAL GRAFFITI shop, the results were amazing…

Get on over to the STARBOARDS website where you can donate to the project. And those feeling a little more flush can bid for any of the boards at the forthcoming LIVERPOOL TATTOO CONVENTION (more details here).

All money raised goes to children’s charity, Ty Hafan.

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Fellow horror hack and pal, David Moody, has already blogged about our most recent signing together, at Cardiff Waterstone’s. It was a wonderful success and I couldn’t have asked for a better launch for new book, DOLL PARTS. Hardly a copy of any our books left on the table after all was said and done. Plus, as Dave already mentioned, one of our customers was actor/ comedian, Mike McShane!

Well, it looks like we could be doing some more of these, based on the success of this one. So if you want us to come to your local Waterstone’s, get in touch and we’ll see if we can make it happen.

For now, thanks to Sam Cowling and all the staff at Cardiff branch for making us feel so welcome and to everyone who came down to see us.

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What? ANOTHER book giveaway, you ask? Yep, those good folks at Grimm Up North are offering you the chance to win BOTH books in the FLU series – SIGNED – simply by signing up to their newsletter and answering a simple question.

More details here.

I am good to you, so I am…

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