Derek Rutherford

Latest News

The Bone Picker Review

My internet colleague Ed, from Cafe Doom, had these nice words to say about the latest western: "Sam 'Buzzard' Jones is an unlikely hero, but he's somewhat deeper than folks give him credit for. He is a 'bone picker', a bit like a vulture -- he takes possessions from the dead and redistibutes them to the living. Widely despised and living on the fringes of society, he gets pulled, reluctantly, into a cause that divides families, sets brother against brother and makes friends into enemies.

"I've never read a western before, and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised by the lack of John Wayne 'strong, silent' types, and giddyup-thur-varmint lines. The characters are all well fleshed out and believable. Some coldly horrific. It's a whodunnit mystery, a thriller and, in part, believe it or not, a horror story. There's a love interest, honour, betrayal, and sacrifice are all explored, culminating in a climax that will have you on the edge of your seat, with more twists and turns than a sidewinder in a twintub. A cracking read in just under 170 pages -- utterly refreshing."

15.08.11.

RuneWright Eye For An Eye Anthology

Early days, but I've just heard that my tale "Where The Pretty Girls Are" has been accepted for this anthology - which has a theme of revenge. My story concerns a group of sewer children from Colombia seeking venegeance on gangsters who have for too long taken terrible advantage of the kids' plight for their own sordid pleasures. More details.

15.08.11.

Escape Velocity Anthology

My story Silver has been reprinted in the wonderful Escape Velocity Anthology. Currently available on Kindle, paperback version due in a couple of weeks.

05.05.11.

Another Honorable Mention

I've just discovered that my story "Yellow Water Pike" from Blade Red's Dark Pages anthology (see below) has been included in the list of honorable stories in Ellen Datlow's Best Horror Stories 2010.

16.03.11.

Dark Pages up for Australian HWA Award

Blade Red's anthology featuring my tale Yellow Water Pike is currently up for an Australian Horror Writers Association for best anthology, which is nice.

06.03.11.

Doomology

Doomology featuring my tale The Only Child is now available.

18.02.11.

The Bone Picker is out...

Today's the day The Bone Picker is released. Buy it now before it's sold out. Or better still (for me), borrow it from the library!

29.10.10.

Escape Velocity Anthology

My story "Silver" has been chosen to be reprinted in the forthcoming Escape Velocity anthology featuring new material and the best of the old...

21.07.10.

Interview With Derek Rutherford

I was recently invited to be the featured author on the Yahoo Black Horse Westerns newsgroup. Extracts from the interview can be found here. It was a great experience and gave me chance to talk about my philosophy of writing - here, with a focus on Westerns, but it's pretty much relevant to all the genres that I dabble in.

26.06.10.

The Only Child

This story has been accepted by The Library of Science Fiction for their "Doomology: The Dawning Of Disasters" anthology. More details to follow.

19.05.10.

The Bone Picker

The release date for this Black Horse Western is scheduled for late October.

04.05.10.

Yellow Water Pike

The first Blade Red Press anthology of dark speculative fiction, Dark Pages Volume 1, feat. Yellow Water Pike is now available via Amazon and all good online retailers. An ebook edition should follow shortly.

13.04.10.

Better Late Than Never

I've just discovered that my ghost story The Making Of Mark, published in All Hallows back in 1999 actually received an Honorable Mention in that year's "Best Fantasy & Horror" anthology, which is put together annually by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. Okay, so it's only a mention, but it's still nice. Wonder what else is out there that I know nothing about...strange translations of "The Graveyard Boogie" for example!

15.01.10.

A Fistful Of Legends

A first review of a Fistful Of Legends (see below) has been posted here.

12.01.10.

Yellow Water Pike

Blade Red Press have just accepted this sci-fi/horror story for their forthcoming anthology "Dark Pages - Volume 1". Like "To Touch A Witch" (mentioned below) this is a 7000+ word story. It's always nice to place these longer pieces as many markets keep things to much shorter word counts.

11.01.10.

Austin

The "What If" anthology featuring this tale is now available.

05.01.10.

Austin

My story Austin has been accepted by the Short Story Library for their "What If" anthology.

27.09.09.

To Touch A Witch

My 7000 word horror story To Touch A Witch has been accepted by the Library of Horror for their Tales From The Cauldron anthology. More details to follow soon.

01.09.09.

Ahhh...the anthology was pulled before this was ever published. Real shame as I like this story a lot and at 8k it's not going to be easy to place.

09.11.11.

Not Clean

This SF story about an intelligent shower that refuses to let a man get away with any uncleanliness whatsoever has been accepted by Escape Velocity. Publication estimated late autumn.

01.09.09.

Ahhh again...the magazine went under before this was ever published. How many times has that happened to me?! (The answer is 8, by the way. Maybe I'm cursed...)

09.11.1.