Longer Days, More Words

Welcome to my April 2026 newsletter. It’s been a great, productive month since we last spoke. I feel almost ashamed to admit this, as a horror writer, but the extra daylight hours as we head into Spring invariably make me feel more energised, more productive, and more upbeat about whatever I’m writing. And so it is that, in the last month, I’ve taken some fairly big steps forward with the work in progress. I hope to keep this up now, so I can perhaps hit the halfway point before I get to my summer break and then slog my way to the end while the inconvenience of the day job is left at the wayside. That’s the plan. Let’s see how it goes.

The end of March and beginning of April have been marked by the anniversary of Shadow of the Hidden. My publishers, Brigids Gate Press, put together a celebratory book tour with Zooloos Book Tours, who did a great job of finding the right readers, who seemed to get a lot out of it. Check out this post with links to all the accounts who covered the book on Insta.

If for some reason you’ve been unsure about picking up your copy of Shadow of the Hidden, but have correctly decided you need to read this book, you can grab yours wherever books are sold in eBook, audio and paperback, at this link: https://books2read.com/shadowofthehidden

A bit more author news is that I’ve been invited to do a reading at a local café, just along the train line from where I live, with a friend of mine. Sona Schmidt-Harris, whose debut literary fiction novel The First and the Last came out last year, was asked by a venue called The Happiest Coffee, in Estoril if she wanted to do a reading with a partner. Sona kindly invited me to join and so we’ll each be reading there on May 15th. I’ll try to snag some video and/or photos of the event to include in my May or June newsletters. If you’re local, it will be free to attend and I can confirm, having tried it it for myself, that the coffee is excellent, so do come down, listen to us read and ask some questions. We’d very much appreciate the support.

More reviews have been landing for Pyres recently, too. The Goodreads rating count is just shy of 35 and, while I’d love for it to grow more quickly, I know these things take some time, especially as an indie author and especially with ever more AI slop clogging up the bookshelves of the world. If you haven’t read Pyres yet, take a look at the reviews here, and see if it might be for you.

In normal life, after the madness of winter, things have settled a little, no doubt contributing to the increased time at the keyboard. At the beginning of April, we had the Easter holidays and I made the most of it in terms of rest and writing. One day I went over to the Cascais library where I used to write a few years ago and I was delighted to find the colony of street cats was still being cared for by the maintenance staff there. So I gave them some treats and wrote at the old wooden tables in the sunshine.

After that, I went on a short road trip up to Tomar with the missus. It was only one night, but we stayed in a hotel with a lovely terrace view across to the castle there - one of the last bastions of the templars. We also visited a medieval restaurant, whose refectory, where you eat, dates back to the 15th century. Quite a magical experience.

Recommendations

Reading - Of Beasts and Bones Edited by Robin Knabel

I was asked to read this anthology for a blurb and what a great example of the huge breadth of horror writing there is out there today. Some of the stories here trod the path between horror and comedy incredibly well, others were masterpieces of dread and tension, still others were so grotesque, I genuinely needed a pause before heading on to the next. Skilfully put together, mix-tape style, by editor Robin Knabel, if you’re a fan of monster stories or cryptids more generally, you really do need to add this one to your collection. Thank me later.

Listening - Pinocchio by We Stood Like Kings

If you’re looking for writing music or any kind of instrumental music with power, artistry and an amazing range of sweeping moods, look no further. Simon, the old bass player from my first band, Desolation, sent me this in the week to have a listen to. I haven’t really stopped playing it since. It obstensibly belongs to the post-metal genre, though the heaviness in places, and synth-heavy intricacy in others had me involuntarily grinning on my drive to and from work this week. Give it a spin on your chosen streaming service, here.

Watching - Vladimir - Netflix

I know this is about as far from horror as you can get, but if you’re interested in writing dialogue, (heavily dysfunctional) relationships and character motivation, this series is a great one to watch. I’ve still got one or two episodes to go, but the way they nail some of the idiosyncracies of working in academia are fantastic, too. It’s so well done. So, forgive me, this once, for including a recommendation which might be called ‘romance’. Check out the trailer here.

Bargains and Freebies

Author Raghu P has collected forty-four dark fiction releases featuring mystery elements, including my two latest releases. For all your thriller, horror and mystery needs, take a look at the full list here.

Writer Gomery Kimber has gathered fourteen occult and supernatural stories for fans of the sub-genre, including my debut novel, Shadow of the Hidden. Grab a bargain occult tome here.

Author Lynn M. Kristopher chased the Easter Bunny. But not the one you might expect. The Easter surprises it left behind - over a hundred of them - are all FREE spooky books, including my witchcraft-infused story, Warding. Check out the full list and grab some free books, here.

Well, that’s it for April. I’ll be back in May with another update on the new book, some possible release info for one of the 3 novellas I’ve been working on, life updates, photos from our public reading, recommendations, and all the usual good stuff.

In the meantime, be kind to one another and do give me a shout on Bluesky, Xitter, Instagram, or even TikTok. Stay safe, and I’ll see you in May.

Kev