The Spiraling Worm

PRESS KIT

Media Release

Horror novel written by two authors who are worlds apart
16 August 2007

Australian author David Conyers has teamed up with American author John Sunseri, to write their first novel, The Spiraling Worm recently published in the United States. In the process David becames the first Australian to write a novel based on the Cthulhu Mythos setting, made famous by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft.

The Spiraling Worm is a series of interlinked stories of two government agents fighting the cosmic horrors and alien monsters that Lovecraft created more than 80 years ago.

Written by two authors who have never met who corresponded only by e-mail, The Spiraling Worm is the first such collaboration to be published by Chaosium Inc., a Californian based publisher who are best known for their Call of Cthulhu role-playing game.

The writings of H.P. Lovecraft, a renowned New England horror from the 1920s and 1930s, have influenced a great number of contemporary horror authors over the decades, including Stephen King and Clive Barker. Since the 1930s, many authors have contributed to Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos setting, and this tradition is still alive today.

David said, “One aspect of The Spiraling Worm that I’m proud of is that my protagonist, Major Harrison Peel, is a Royal Australian Army intelligence officer transposed into a global setting. He is like a Jason Bourne mixed with a John Constantine, in that he’s a government agent up against terrorists and corrupt governments, and the occult and Cthulhoid monsters.

“Chaosium was very supportive of keeping him as an Australian character, when he could have so easily been adapted as an American character to cater to their market. That said John Sunseri’s protagonist Jack Dixon is an NSA agent from Illinois so he’s the US angle.”

Some authors like David and John opt to commence their writing careers in shared world setting, where it often easier to get published, and provides good exposure for a writer.

David said, “There are fans out there who constantly demand new works in shared-world settings, so it can build an author’s name quickly, assuming they write well. Star Wars, Doctor Who, Forgotten Realms, even Firefly and the X-Files have shared world novels and other media. I can’t help but notice these settings have large shelf space in bookstores, so their publishers and authors are getting something right.”

“The great thing about the Cthulhu shared world setting is that no one owns the copyright, so I’m not constrained by publisher conventions, and anything I write belongs to me. Other authors who have started their careers by writing Cthulhu tales are Charles Stross, Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley, and look at how successful they have become.

“I’m a science fiction author at heart, and what I like the Cthulhu Mythos setting is that at its core it is horror science fiction. I can take ideas from modern theoretical science, manipulate them in truly bizarre and weird ways, and remain true to the Cthulhu Mythos vision.”

The collaboration of The Spiraling Worm occurred between two authors who have never met and live on the opposite sides of the world. David explains how this came to be; “John and I shared space in an anthology called Horrors Beyond edited by Elder Signs Press in 2005. We liked each others contributions and contacted each other to say so, as authors often do.

“My story in Horrors Beyond, ‘False Containment’ featured the Harrison Peel character from The Spiraling Worm, whose job leads him across the globe to deal with unwanted monstrous cosmic intrusions wherever they occur. John wanted to use Peel in one of his stories so I said go for it. Then I wrote a sequel to his story and from there we realised we had half a dozen connected stories that would make a nice novel. We rounded off the collection with a true collaboration, the title story, and then submitted the manuscript to several publishers. Chaosium who had already published my shorter works picked it up pretty much straight away.

“Most authors that I know tell me they can’t collaborate, but for John and I, it was a great experience and we learnt a lot from each other, building on each other’s strengths to create what I believe to be a rather rounded conclusion to the collection. Our collaboration worked so well we will be working together again in the future.”

David has been writing science fiction and dark fiction for several years, but he is only starting to make a name for himself now.

In 2006 he was nominated for Australia’s top speculative fiction awards, the Aurealis and the Ditmar, up against well known Australian science fiction authors Sean Williams and Stephen Dedman. His science fiction has also been nominated for an international award in Ireland, the Aeon Award presented by Aeon Press.

For a time he was the Associate Editor of the US horror magazine Book of Dark Wisdom.

Photographs

The following photographs of the two authors are available for use in any press, reviews or promotion associated with The Spiraling Worm, or other publications related to each author. The cover is available for use in promotion of the book.

David Conyers
copyright (c) 2007 David Conyers

Large Photo Colour
Small Photo Colour
Large Photo Greyscale
Small Photo Greyscale

Web Resources

The following online resources provides further information on the authors, the publisher and the book.

Publisher: Chaosium Inc.
Home Page
Product Page
Contact Details
Wikipedia Page

Author: David Conyers 
Homepage
Amazon.com Author Page
Wikipedia Page
Interview: David Conyers (OzHorrorScope, 26 August 2007)
Interview: Adelaide author delves into Cthulhu Mythos (ABC News Online, 9 July 2007)
Interview: David Conyers Author Interview (Yog-Sothoth.com, May 2007) 

Author: John Sunseri
Homepage
Amazon.com Author Page
Interview: John Sunseri (OzHorrorScope, 26 August 2007)
Wikipedia Page

Novel: The Spiraling Worm
Amazon.com Reviews
OzHorrorScope Review
Wikipedia Page

Distributors
Baker & Talyor
Ingram Book Group