Welcome To My Nightmare...

I think you're gonna like it...

Well, OK, strictly they're not my nightmares - they're the ones created by the twisted talents of Richard McAuliffe and Mark Chilcott - but it's rare enough to be able to use a line from the almighty Alice Cooper in a publisher's blog and I couldn't pass up the chance.

Barry Nugent, intrepid reporter for The Geek Syndicate, bravely accepted an assignment to investigate the Damaged Goods themselves.

His first reaction:

"I have to ask…are you both mentally disturbed?"

Followed by some muttered comments about changing his number and calling the police.

So, in the way of a fiendish experiment, we thought we'd let you hear some of what the creators said to Barry, and give you all a little peek inside. Not too much for now. We don't want you to come to any harm...

Take it away boys...

"Some of the stories deal with stuff that makes me edgy"


"...a picture in my head, the bride with the severed head bouquet for example"


"I...spend most of my day fighting the urge to get creative with various sharp items in the office"


"...to get under the reader’s skin."


"...that twist that made it that little bit more disturbing, especially to any women reading it. "


"We’d rather go for the series of quick gut punches. "


"Mark though, he’s a weird puppy"



"They got in quick, fucked you up and left you battered"


"It's the lie of the painted on smile."




“I hate you and seriously want to push these scissors into your eye”

On that note, we'd better shut the box again for today.

Spare a thought for Jim Campbell in all of this. He's been lettering away and bringing some kind of method to the madness!

And if you liked that little taste there'll be plenty more in the back matter section of the book when it comes out in May.

The story Tea Party is available to read as a preview over on MyeBook.com

Richard is currently writing a dark fantasy Graphic Novel for Insomnia called Snow which is being drawn by Valia Kapadai which, as he says, "looks absolutely gorgeous". More on that at a later date. He also has book called Baby Boomers with Markosia before then which is about as different from Damaged Goods as you could imagine being totally kiddie friendly.

And look out for his Strontium Dog story in an upcoming issue of Dog Breath "which being a 2000AD fan I’m way more excited about than I probably should be ", he says. No one can blame him for that.

Once Damaged Goods is over Mark is going to "Sleep!!" then "try and evolve my style and see what comes out the other end."

All of you hush now and let the poor boy get some rest, or there's no telling what might happen!

So, get between the covers with some Damaged Goods at Bristol...

I think you're gonna feel you belong

...And We're Back

That's right, it seems a very long time since I wrote an Insomnia blog, due to moving house and internet connection problems, but I'm back in the saddle again now.

Thanks to Crawford for holding the reins. Old Red Eye can be a bit of wild one but he seems to have kept her in line very nicely.

Well, there's an awful lot to get through, as it might have been a bit quiet over here, but it hasn't been any less busy over at Insomnia Towers.

So, for this week it'll be a quick round up of quite a few things and then normal service will be resumed from next week on.

Cover Art

The first new cover of the year came in recently. This is still a work in progress, but I think you'll agree it's another absolute knockout from the wizard that is Paul Cartwright.

The Indifference Engine Cover by Paul Cartwright

“My name is Alan Blake.
I've got no resources, no skills and no friends.
But if I were you, I'd be the very last person on Earth
I'd want coming after me...”

The Indifference Engine from Cy Dethan (writer), Rob Carey (pencils), Mel Cook (colours) and Nic Wilkinson (letters) will be out later this year.

Comics on the Sony Playstation Network

Burke and Hare, Cages and Cancertown have all premiered on the PSN comic store around the world to great success.

The first chapter of each book is free if you want to try before you buy.

Next up on the PSN will be Buskers, and we'll have expanded editions of the original books with audio commentaries in the near future.

Burke and Hare on Tour

Edinburgh has been commemorating the anniversary of Burke's hanging these last few weeks, and Martin and Will have been very busy.

First there was the signing at Forbidden Planet which was then followed later in the evening by a "standing room only" talk by the creators at Edinburgh Library.

Thanks to Kevin MacLean Edinburgh City Libraries for taking these images and kindly allowing us to use them here.

A large and enthusiastic audience came along to hear about how the book was put together. Will Pickering gave an insight into the artistic process, stressing the need for detailed research in the quest to maintain historical accuracy, and writer Martin Conaghan talked about the development of the medium of comics, as well as taking time to dispel some of the myths surrounding the story of Burke and Hare.

Tonight will see them at a special event at the Edinburgh Dungeon, so hopefully someone will have photos for me by next week!

The book also got a great write up recently in The Drouth Review. There is no online version, but if you click on the images below you'll be able to read the scanned pages:








I'm just getting some previews of our Bristol Releases ready for the coming weeks, and more interviews and insights about all aspects of the creation process.