Finding My Feet in 2026

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2026. After returning to a full time schedule in October of 2025, I found writing time hard to come by during the week but, slowly, I’m finding ways to make the time count, and managed about three thousand words last week. Hopefully this week will bring more of the same and Aaron Miles Book 1 (as yet untitled) will keep gathering pace and form.

It’s been a strange winter here in Portugal. Usually, we have the odd week of rain dotted between weeks of freezing cold, but sunny days. This year, we’re currently on something like day sixty out of the last ninety with heavy rainfall. The buildings here aren’t constructed with that kind of humidity in mind and, as such, I’ve been sick - along with many of my friends and colleagues - for most of the past two or three months. It’s a fairly miserable time, but we just have to get through it until brighter days arrive - maybe in February. I’ll cross my fingers, and hope that things are better where you are.

I’m acutely aware that for many people, in many parts of the world, the weather is the least of your worries. Dictatorial voices seem to abound more and more, wherever you look these days, but I don’t feel I can do that conversation justice in my monthly email, so suffice to say that if you are caught up in one of the many struggles around the world, I send you my best wishes and support.

Back to the writing and you have just a few more days to get Shadow of the Hidden for halfprice in audiobook format from Barnes and Noble. If listening to books is your thing, this creepy, far flung supernatural adventure horror can be yours for only $2.99.

Speaking of Shadow of the Hidden, it has managed to climb up to 48 reviews on Amazon UK so, if you are a UK reader who has read the book and hasn’t left a review on the zon yet, if you fancy going over there and writing even a very brief review - three words will do, really - please do so. When books hit the magic fifty review mark, Amazon’s algorithm will be more likely to push a book to people in searches, etc, and it all helps with visibility and, one would hope, sales. A huge thank you in advance, if you do take the time.

Sticking with the topic of reviews and promotion, but moving away from Shadow … I’ve spent the last few weeks reaching out to reviewers for some extra coverage of Pyres. The lovely people at The Horror Tree read it and enjoyed it, giving it a four crows out of five, in this review here, and writer and booktuber, David Royce left his thoughts on Goodreads, here, with a video review to come in future. I’ve got other reviews coming in soon, and some podcast appearances coming up. Remember that those are always posted to the ‘Media’ page on my main website, here, so do keep your eyes peeled there.

As with Shadow and all my books, if you’ve read Pyres and haven’t yet left a review anywhere, please do so. Studies have shown that readers who leave reviews for indie authors especially are up to 23% more attractive and 82% more awesome than regular people.*

^{*these statistics were invented and may not represent real data}

On the non-writing front, I spent New Year in Lyon, France, with my better half, and I was really impressed with the city. I went there for the food (I know, you’re surprised by this information 🤣), but what I found was a beautiful, historic city, bursting with culture, beautiful architecture and, yeah, okay, excellent food.

My favourite thing about the trip, though, was a museum called ‘Musée des Confluences,’ a place where the exhibits try to address questions of the origins of humanity and other species, the nature of death, community, and sustainability, all approached by representatives of various sciences, from biology, to psychology, sociology, philosophy and more. I came out of the place with so many thoughts and feelings flying around my head. I strongly recommend both the city and the museum, and you can see a bit of what I got up to on my instagram, here. Feel free to follow and say hello.

Before we get to recommendations, just a quick note to say that my novella length version of my short story, The Solstice, will be landing in December. Strangely enough on, the solstice (December 21st). I’ve also booked a cover development slot with the mighty Paul Stephenson for one of the two other novellas I’ve written for the spring, so those edits have taken on some new urgency. More news when I have it!

Recommendations

Reading - The Denizens by Brennan LaFaro

When the wonderful TC Parker of Nefarious Bat Press asked if I’d like to read an early copy of Brennan LaFaro’s new novel, I very nearly bit her hand off. A big fan of the Slattery Falls series (some of which have been recommended here), I was keen to see how LaFaro would approach the undead. The answer was: not in a conventional sense. What starts off as a portrait of grief (a theme that stays the course through protagonist Sam’s loss), moves into a small town horror narrative with a unique take on the undead both in the folklore behind them and the way they behave. When the finale kicks in, you really have to strap in, because the ride is breakneck. This one doesn’t land until the 17th of February, but I strongly recommend pre-ordering now.

Listening - Beyond Obsidian Euphoria by Tómarúm

This album is something that popped up on a list of progressive black metal albums from last year in December on my google news feed. For once it was useful and this album was the highlight. Progressive in that there’s so much going on in every track, yet still sticking to its black metal roots, this is an album which had me smiling involuntarily throughout. You can check it out on your chosen streaming service here.

Watching - Stranger Things Season 5 - Netflix

I’ve seen the hate for the final season of Stranger Things, but I’ve been invested since the beginning and, while I felt like season 3 was a bit of a let down, I’ve consistently enjoyed the others. So, I went in without seeing any spoilers (finally something good about social media’s increasing uselessness!) and actually thoroughly enjoyed it. I long ago stopped wishing creators had made the decisions I would have. It inevitably detracts from the fun of any viewing, reading or listening. Enjoying it for what it was and, actually, finding the ending fairly satisfying meant that it gets a recommendation from me. Check out the trailer here.

Bargains and Freebies

For this winter promo, I gathered together more than 25 horror books which are $1.99 or under or available FREE on Kindle Unlimited. Check out the full list here.

Newton Webb does what he does best here and compiles a host of spooky horrors to start 2026 the right way. You can find your next spooky read here.

Writer Joe Talon has picked up over a dozen free horror books for January and February, including my novelette, Warding. Grab a free spooky book here.

And with that, I’ll leave you to get on with your January. I’ll be back in February with more writing news, more recommendations, promos and all that stuff.

In the meantime, I hope the January blues haven’t been biting too hard at your side. Be kind to one another and feel free to reach out to me, on Bluesky, Xitter, Instagram, or even TikTok. Stay safe, and I’ll see you next month.

Kev