And this is what it will (probably) look like...

Here is the cover of the book. Those of you who are authors will know that the cover is the publisher's responsibility, so although I've been kept in the loop I don't have any say in what it looks like.

Personally I quite like the montage (though it's a shame that, of all the Shaun of the Dead stills in existence, we're using this particular posed photo of Simon Pegg which has already been on the front of another book about 'modern' British horror films). I particularly like the 28 Days Later image at the bottom over the Union Flag. The source of the werewolf and crawler are obvious; the flaming man is a zombie from a 28 Days Later still and the big face is Eden Lake.

The designer is Paul Watts, who has also done work for various Doctor Who publications and Little Shoppe of Horrors (the Dr Phibes issue). Paul did several other variant montages using the same basic images and I think this is the best.

What I'm really not keen on is the hideous fonts used for the title, but the publisher likes them so they're staying. The observant amongst you will have spotted that the book has changed its title yet again. Hemlock wanted to call it Urban Gothic but then got worried that would infringe the copyright of the producers of the Channel 5 series (I don't think it would - plenty of other people have used the term - and anyway I know exec producer Steve Matthews and could have asked him) so now it's Urban Terrors. Whatever. As Isombard Kingdom Brunel said when asked what he planned to christen his giant ship, "You can call it Tom Thumb for all I care."

I've asked for the dates to change from '1998-2008' (as originally planned) to '1997-2008' which, I discovered on re-reading early chapters, slightly better reflects the content. Apparently the 'Foreword by Sean Pertwee' bit will be on the back cover.

Comments on this design are welcome but I don't think it's likely to change again.