‘This may be the first book in history dedicated to a Portakabin ...’ claims the dedication of Blood Waters. Chaz explains:
‘All the stories in this book either fed into or grew out of the year I spent as crimewriter-in-residence on the St Peter's Riverside Sculpture Project in Sunderland, 1993-94. At the time, it seemed as though it had to be one of the strangest jobs in the country; retrospect assures me that I was too cautious in my judgement, and it was in fact the strangest job in the known universe.’
But the thread that links the stories making their first appearance in Blood Waters with those previously published elsewhere is that all are very firmly set in geographical locations, and all feature death by the water.
Val McDermid praised Blood Waters:
Chaz Brenchley straddles the borderline between horror and psychological crime thrillers, and his latest collection of short stories features a collection of chilling cameos to make the average reader reluctant to turn out the light. In deceptively nonchalant prose, he reveals twisted lives lurking beneath civilised surfaces, stripping bare the desperate, driven demons that possess those who seem least likely to offend against civilisation. Brenchley is a master story teller who has the uncanny and uncomfortable ability to get under the skin of his subjects, whether they be murderers or mothers, pimps or policemen. Writing about the underbelly of society, he reveals a talent for gripping the reader by the throat and refusing to let go. An anthology to open minds.
This description has been edited from the Blood Waters page on Chaz Brenchley's website, which has extended information and links to sound files of Chaz reading from Murder at the Red House.
Blood Waters costs £7.99 and was published in 1994.
ISBN: 978-1-873226-19-3
Chaz Brenchley has been making a living as a writer since he was eighteen. He is the author of nine thrillers, most recently Shelter, and a major fantasy series, The Books of Outremer, based on the world of the Crusades. A winner of the British Fantasy Award, he has also published three books for children and more than 500 short stories in various genres.
The first volume of a new fantasy series, Selling Water by the River, Bridge of Dreams, was published in the USA on 2 May 2006. You can follow developments in his weblog and his LiveJournal, both of which also include copious recipes and notes on life.
He is a prizewinning ex-poet, and has recently been writer in residence at the University of Northumbria, as well as tutoring their MA in Creative Writing. His novel Dead of Light is currently in development with a film company; Shelter has been optioned by Granada TV. He was Northern Writer of the Year 2000, and lives in Newcastle upon Tyne with his cat and a famous teddy bear.
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