Tuesday, May 24, 2016


NEVER SAY NEVERMORE

Michael R. Hudson
Clearwater, Florida
727•364•3068
editor@ravensheadpress.com

ADVENTURE WRITER MAX CATTO'S BOOKS COMING BACK INTO PRINT

Clearwater, Florida (May 23, 2016) — President and editor-in-chief of Raven's Head Press, Michael Hudson, is proud to announce that a new licensing arrangement has been struck with the Estate of world famous playwright and adventure novelist,
Maxwell Jeffrey Catto (July 29, 1907 - March 12, 1992). 

Catto wrote adventure novels and dramas for more than four decades and also wrote under the pseudonym Simon Kent. Ten of his works were adapted for film, the most notable of which was the novel The Killing Frost, which became Carol Reed's 1956 film Trapeze starring Burt Lancaster, Gina Lollobrigida and Tony Curtis. This would be closely followed by Murphy's War starring Peter O'Toole. Although he was a holder of a degree in electrical engineering from Manchester University, Catto began writing novels and plays in the late 1930s. After a stint in the Royal Air Force during World War II, Catto returned to writing fiction. Exotic settings and fast-paced action were the trademarks of his novels, defying categorization into any one genre, instead blending elements of many popular literary styles. Much of his work has been translated into other languages.

Hudson says, "Catto's books have long been out of print and being able to locate his family and work out an arrangement to bring his marvelous works back is such a thrill. I can't wait to get started."

Spokesperson for the family, Robin Catto says, “The opportunity of getting to see our grandfather’s most famous works back in print after all these years will be a wonderful treat for me and my siblings. We look forward to working with Michael and Raven’s Head Press.”

The works selected for republication are as follows: THE KILLING FROST • 1950,
A PRIZE OF GOLD • 1953, A HILL IN KOREA • 1953, FIRE DOWN BELOW • 1954,
GOLD IN THE SKY • 1956, FERRY TO HONG KONG • 1957, THE DEVIL AT FOUR O’CLOCK • 1958, THE LIONS AT THE KILL • 1959, MISTER MOSES • 1961, THE TIGER IN THE BED • 1963, D- DAY IN PARADISE • 1963, MURPHY’S WAR • 1969

The first release will be A Prize of Gold and publication date is scheduled for the fall of 2016.


XXX



Friday, May 20, 2016

Wow! It has been a delightful and yet very difficult month for me in reading and culling down well over one hundred submissions for Raven's Head Press' upcoming horror anthology, Death Dances In the Moonlight. I've received so many truly excellent stories and that is what makes my job so darn difficult.
I have, hopefully, notified everyone who submitted but did not make the final cut. To all of you I want to say THANK YOU!!! Yes, in caps, because you ARE good writers and you made it hard on me. That is a problem every editor of an anthology wants to have.
To those of you who have not heard back from me as of yet, you will shortly and you can most likely expect good news. (Except for the one manuscript that did not contain a name or any contact information on it...SMH)
My original intent was for this book to contain ten short stories. It now looks like that will be twenty. And goodness knows, I did not plan for that to happen in my budget for the book. But the stories selected, each being unique, all have the cohesion I was hoping to find that fits so well together forming a very pulpish horror experience for me as a reader and I trust will so for our future readers as well.
Those selected will be announced very soon! Again, my sincere thanks to all who participated!