Shadow of the Hidden Sale, Chapter One and getting back to it

Welcome to my August newsletter. There have been about a hundred new subscribers in the past month or so. I’m grateful for all of you taking the time to read this so welcome. As you receive this newsletter, I’ll be on my way up to Birmingham, UK, for the first Indie horror convention in this country in a good while. Chapter One is taking place in Digbeth, near Birmingham city centre, at The Night Owl on 24th August. Excitement has been reaching fever pitch throughout the past month. You can see me reading from Shadow of the Hidden, buy books from me and dozens of other authors, get books signed, enter quizzes, watch panels and loads more. If you are in the midlands of England, do come along, I think it’ll be a lot of fun for readers and writers alike. You can find out all the info at the Facebook event page, here.

In other news, for the first time since release, my debut novel, Shadow of the Hidden, will be available for just $1.99 between August 24th and 26th in eBook format. Since its release day in March, Shadow has been retailing for $5.99, so don’t miss out on this chance to grab the book for a bargain price if you’ve been on the fence about picking it up. So far, the Goodreads rating is 4.6 out of 5 from 61 ratings and the Amazon one is 4.6 from 32 reviews. Not bad for less than 6 months of availability.

Two weeks ago, my brother got married and I was the best man, as I mentioned last month. There are no decent photos of me and the groom, as yet, but this is the view from the venue across Richmond park. One of the most beautiful parts of London, for sure.

It was a really beautiful day and an amazing wedding. My speech was not booed, so I think that’s a good sign. 🤣

This will be my last UK-based newsletter for a while as, in the first week of September, I’ll be heading back to Portugal via the English Channel, the Bay of Biscay and Spain. It’s thirty-one hours on the boat across to the continent, then a three day drive across north west Spain and then the Portuguese mountains until I am home to my cat children and full time writing. I love teaching on these summer courses, but by the end of the summer, I’m always ready to go home and start writing properly again. Two and a bit weeks. Phew.

But enough blathering, on with the recommendations!

Recommendations

Reading - Last Night of Freedom by Dan Howarth

This month’s choice is a book I’ve been wanting to tell you about for a long time. And now it finally has a release date. Dan Howarth’s Last Night of Freedom will be out on October 11th, right in time for Halloween. As you can see from the blurb I gave the book, in the image below, it’s a nasty piece of work, but one which grabs you by the throat in chapter one and doesn’t let go until it leaves you bloody and bruised at the brutal end. Dan’s been honing his craft over the past few years and I’ve been lucky to witness that development. Now he’s starting to get more work out there and this is a great starting place. And, as luck would have it, you can pre-order your copy now.

Listening - In the Absence of Wisdom by Anciients

Anciients are a band that were completely new to me until this 3-track preview of their new album arrived in my ‘suggested listening’ on Tidal a few weeks back. The combination of intelligent riffing, great clean and distorted vocals and some really terrific songwriting has me incredibly excited for the full length album, Beyond the Reach of the Sun, which drops later in the year. While we all wait for that, check out the single, here.

Because of the nature of the job here, I’ve not watched a single minute of TV or film since I got here, but rest assured that next month, I’ll return with a recommended film or series to accompany the books and music.

Bargains and Freebies

Eric from Defpix has enlisted a bunch of horror creators for the August to Dismember promotion, which includes books from me and more than twenty other authors. The books in here are chilling horrors with a focus on great covers to match Eric’s brilliant artwork. Check out the full list here.  

This Kindle sale promotion has been set up by Joe Talon and features work by authors like S. K. Gregory, Dan Howarth and many others, besides. Check out the full list and bag some cheap eBooks here.

This #KindleUnlimited promo, from my friend and author/editor Robin Knabel, allows everyone with a KU subscription to check out some amazing authors without spending a penny. Check out the full list here.

The Summer of Horror continues with this FREE eBook promotion from Jay Bower. The man is a machine in writing and putting out great indie horror books, and now he’s sharing other people’s free reads to keep you busy in the run up to Hallowe’en. Grab a free horror book here.

And finally, because Shadow of the Hidden has elements of mystery, I’ve joined up with a bunch of mystery/thriller writers, organised by Book Funnel themselves to try and find new readers and maybe put you in touch with the mystery writers you never knew you needed. Study the evidence here.

Well, that’s August done with, more or less. To finish up, here’s a quick photo of me meeting with mighty fellow horror scribes Dan Howarth, Paul Stephenson and apocalytpic horror legend David Moody this past Saturday. We talked shop, drank beer and ate curry, which is about a good a day as you could ever ask for.

If you’ve enjoyed my newsletter, do pass it on to your friends (or enemies?) - I know I pay way more attention to my friends’ recommendations than randoms I have no connection to. And, if you’d like to get in touch, tell me what you’ve been reading or to ask something about a book or an event, do leave a comment, or message me [email protected] - I love hearing from you all.

So, until September, take care, be kind, and keep reading the dark stuff.

Kev