Shadow of the Hidden Sale, WiHM and more

Welcome to my March 2026 newsletter and happy 2nd birthday to my debut novel, Shadow of the Hidden! Shadow was a huge step forward for me, and I thank all of you who have bought, read, or recommended it over the past two years. And if you haven’t read it, well, there’s never been a better time because, right now, it’s available in eBook everywhere for $0.99/£0.77/€0.99. It’s also available on Chirp books in audiobook format for just $1.99. The sale will only last for a few days, so if the book has been on your TBR, now’s the time.

And while on the subject of Shadow of the Hidden, one thing which people always remarked on when reading the book was the amazing range of food in the story, as Seb, Oz, and Deniz travel across Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt. So, when I asked Heather and Steve at Brigids Gate Press what we might do to commemorate the anniversary, Heather suggested putting together some recipes for me. So, if you go to the newly created ‘Extras’ page on my website, here, you’ll find three recipes from the Shadow which you can download and have a go at making for yourself. Massive thanks to Heather for working them out and trying them for me. Let me know if you try them, and if you like them!!

March is Women in Horror Month. Honestly, I read as many books by women as I do by men throughout the year, these days, but it was not always thus. A few years ago, I still engaged in the annual tradition of ensuring I read books by women exclusively during that month. The great advantage of this was that it made me aware of some of my now favourite authors. Here are a few for you to think about, if you need more women in your horror TBR:

Stephanie Ellis: One of the best in the business when it comes to folk horror, but Steph has many more strings to her bow (see this month’s recommendation, below).

Catherine McCarthy: McCarthy’s emotive, poetic prose dazzles in everything she writes. After establishing herself as a phenomenal writer of ghostly, ethereal horror, she’s recently been branching out into other sub-genres or even genres. Mosaic remains my favourite.

Beverley Lee: Small towns and communities, horror with heart, deviously-woven folklore behind every story, Lee is in her absolute pomp at the moment, with recent release The Haunting of Wounded Birds one of my favourites of last year.

T C Parker: Whip smart writing, making every single word count, and flitting between beings of ancient myth and modern day crime settings with aplomb, reading Parker’s work is always, always a delight. Hummingbird was my book of the year for 2022.

Katherine Silva: Making the grief horror genre her own at the moment with the most expressive depictions of loss in all its many forms, from despair, through rage to a million other shades of emotion. Start with Undead Folk, bring tissues.

I could go on and, if you’ve been reading these newsletters for a while, you’d have seen various female-authored books in the recommendations section many times. If your algorithm at Zon or B&N or wherever you get your books is still serving up only male writers, this month is the perfect time to give it a kick and try something different.

Meanwhile, in my own writer’s life, I’ve had a hit and miss couple of weeks. I managed to get to my face-to-face writing club last week for the first time in almost six months. Saturday morning working after late nights during the week really kills me and leaves me in no shape to write (and even less to drive home after without killing myself/others). But last week, with no Saturday evening plans, I went along and it was just so great and so inspiring to be in creative company, physically. I blasted through about 800 words and even read a bit of my work in progress, which is always fun. I’m hoping to go back next week, as this week is my better half’s birthday weekend, so a busy one.

In normal life, things have been pretty bonkers, with lots of grading of papers and writing student reports over the past month or so and, last night, on the way home, my car got a puncture in the front right tyre. So, I stood at the roadside in the rain until just before midnight waiting for and dealing with a repair. Happily, it was a micro fissure due to some broken glass and, having checked it today, the tyre wall, etc is all intact, so I can continue to drive on it in its patched up state for a bit. Regardless, is ate up my usual Friday writing time, which was extremely frustrating.

I’m very much looking forward to the Easter holidays in a couple weeks and five glorious days away from classes, in which I will likely do a few trips to some small oceanside towns near here, and try to get some writing done in cafés, carparks and all the rest, just to mix it up a bit, along with some walking and/or running. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please.

Recommendations

Reading - A Fragile Thing by Stephanie Ellis

Stephanie Ellis, as I mentioned above in the Women in Horror section, writes superb folk horror. Her Weald series of folk horrors are some of the most harrowing and well developed in terms of lore out there (and the final and best in the series will be landing this year, I’m told!!) But when she first started having work published, she put out a novelette, Asylum of Shadows in the Short Sharp Shocks series by Demain Publishing, set in Victorian London. It was remarkably atmospheric and creepy and with A Fragile Thing which landed this past week from Watertower Hill Publishing, she returns to the setting with a hypnotic, obsessive character, Isaac Bercow. I was delighted to provide this blurb for the book: “Ellis paints a picture of Victorian London so vivid you can almost smell the smog, and in Isaac Bercow, a man so driven by his thirst for power and control, you wonder if anything will remain of his fragile humanity.”

This one has hypnotism, spiritualism references and much more. Pick up a copy of the book, here.

Listening - The Fever Mask by At the Gates

My first ever gig, as a spotty fifteen year old, was to see At The Gates, Dissection and Reign. Sometimes you don’t realise how lucky you are in the moment but, over time, I’ve come to appreciate the incredible fortune I had to see At The Gates on the Slaughter of the Soul tour(s) three times. It still stands up as one of the great records of death metal, perhaps ever, and a place marker for the Gothenburg Sound. Last year, Tomas Lindberg passed away but, in his final months, the band put the tracks down for a new album. The Fever Mask is the first single. More stripped down than the last couple of records, it’s so fresh, but also like a punch in the face. Exactly what I loved about Slaughter thirty years ago. Check it out for yourself, here.

Watching - Scream 7 - Cinema

OK, so this one was not on the par of the last couple Scream movies (in my opinion). I think that was mainly down to the writing, above all else. Nothing wrong with the performances and the set pieces were exactly what you expect of a Scream movie. The introductory scene with the Air BnB experience at the Macher House was really well put together. It’s a lot of fun and worth a watch, but I do hope they change things up for the next installment. Check out the trailer here.

Bargains and Freebies

My friend and multi-genre author Miranda Kate has put together a list of over twenty-five books which are available with a discount in her Your Darkest Nightmares book sale. Take a look at the full list here.

Author Lynn M. Kristopher harnesses the spirit of St Patrick’s Day … kind of. There’s no luck here for the characters in almost a hundred free dark fiction books. Grab your free read here.

Well, that’s a wrap for March. I’ll be back next month with more writing news, life updates, cat photos, recommendations, and maybe some snaps from writing field trips during the Easter break.

In the meantime, be kind to one another and do feel welcome to say hi to me on Bluesky, Xitter, Instagram, or even TikTok. Stay safe, and I’ll see you next month.

Kev