Switching Gears

Hi everyone, and welcome to my June newsletter. It’s been a pretty crazy month, what with heatwaves, the end of the school year, smacking my head on a road sign with ensuing colossal bloodshed, and a little weekend break down in the south of Portugal’s Alqueva region last week.

I wanted to add to the thank you I gave you all last month for supporting Pyres while it was on promotion at 99c and, later $1.99. I have to say, it sold really well. More than 100 copies in five days, in fact, peaking at number 3 in the British Horror Fiction category on Amazon UK. And with the sales, have come some more reviews. If you missed the sale, don’t worry, there will be more in future, and you can still read Pyres for FREE if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, so do check it out if you like supernatural horrors with an element of mystery and a literal hellfire ending.

Of course, if you prefer your books in paper format, rather than 1s and 0s, you can also find Pyres with its gorgeous, wraparound burning wheel cover in paperback literally anywhere books are sold. Find your copy here.

As mentioned above, I managed to get myself a pretty nasty head injury on Tuesday this week. I avoided a gentleman with a ladder, didn’t really pay attention to wear I was veering and slammed, top of head first, into a sign post. At first, I simply thought “what an idiot” and swore a fair amount. Then I touched the top of my head and found quite a lot of blood escaping a pretty nasty cut, so I had to go to the hospital. They saw me pretty quickly and used superglue (no, really) to stick my head together and sent me home to rest for the afternoon.

In happier news, I went down to Alqueva - Europe’s largest man made lake - last weekend, as Saturday was a public holiday, so I was off work. We visited the Dark Sky Alqueva observatory to see a multitude of stars with pro telescopes, which was terrific. The next morning we had a boat ride, followed by a lazy afternoon reading the first half of Paul Stephenson’s excellent new novel by the pool. You can see some shots from the weekend on my insta, by clicking the image below:

On the writer’s life side, I continued working on the novel, which continues to grow apace. I’m looking forward to assaulting the keyboard to get this one finished over the summer break (of which more in a moment).

I also started writing the story to submit to the anthology I mentioned in last month’s newsletter. The fun thing about writing is that sometimes things don’t pan out as you expect, but for good reasons. So, as I started writing, I liked my characters, liked my situation, but had a niggling feeling I couldn’t shake. As I sent my main character, a chap called Luke, up the mountain to his bereaved friend’s house, I realised it was there that the story should start. You might look at this as three writing sessions and a couple thousand words wasted, but I see it as a great exercise in knowing my characters, what brought them to this point, and how they are feeling when things begin to unfold. All invaluable stuff which has made the first couple of thousand words afterwards that much easier to write and stronger for it. I’ll let you know when it’s finished and if it’s accepted for the anthology. Fingers and toes crossed for me, please.

And now onto the main piece of news for this month, and that is the end of the school year. As of Tuesday 30th, I’ll be off work for a month. After that, I have an August in which I work Monday - to Friday, but only four teaching hours at the same time every day. Then September is off, too.

I do have holidays planned. A trip with Ana’s family to Menorca at the beginning of July, and a trip for the two of us to Greece at the beginning of September. I’ll also be flying into the UK for a few days at the end of July to see my sister, mum and a few other people. But, certainly in the UK and Menorca, I’ll be taking the laptop, ensuring I get a writing session in each day. So, I’m swicthing gears, back from being a teacher who writes to a writer who teaches, even if only for a few months. I need to make it count. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I did an author interview this month with Nora B. Peevy of The Butchered Writers’ Substack. It was a fun interview with some unconventional questions. You can read the interview and look at the other great work Nora is doing with The Butchered Writers, here.

One final writing related thing is that I’ve been asked to lead an online writing workshop by Alex Davis of Alex Davis Events. It’s part of the Summer Scares 6-Week Horror Writing School. My session is called ‘Cutting the Strings: Maximising Horror By Removing Control.’ Taking control from characters and using their strengths and weaknesses against them is something I love exploring in writing, so I’m looking forward to sharing some examples of this from my own work and notable fiction by other writers, as well as setting up some writing exercises for the participants, and encouraging them to share their work with the group. If this is something you think you might be interested in, my session is on the 24th September. Take a look at the other workshops, too, which are being run by some superb creators. I hope to see some of you there and hear some of your words.

Recommendations

Reading - Land of the Downtrodden by Adam Hulse

I’ve been waiting to shout about this one until it was available to buy, because I’d love to help the book find its audience. I loved (and shouted about) Below Economic Thresholds, a book which cemented Hulse’s place for me as one of the voices in working class horror. But with Land of the Downtrodden, he takes this a step further with a book which is smarter, both in its prose and its conceit, even more heartfelt, and just so engaging to read. There’s a story-within-a-story at the heart of the book, but I’m loathe to say more so as not to spoil it. Suffice to say if you want to read about a dystopian world as cruel as any before, but one which somehow clings to a real, believable piece of heart, look no further.

Listening - Solstice by AA Williams

Long time readers will know I went up to see Williams in a wonderfully small, intimate venue in Porto, in February of this year. It was a great show and she performed a couple of tracks from this new record with her band, along with many from the back catalogue. Now this album has landed and I’ve had the chance to fully digest it, I can confidently say I love it. Moody, brooding, atmospheric, with great performances by all involved. I still think the single, ‘Just a Shadow’ remains my favourite for now, but there’s not a bad track on it. Check it out on your chosen streaming service, here.

Watching - Obsession - Cinema

I somehow missed most of the hype for this movie and, as such, was able to go in more or less blind. What a treat it was. The set up is nothing radically new or different, but what we have here is a well written, tightly produced and brilliantly acted bit of curse-laden supernatural horror. And readers, you know I love curses! Special mentions must go to Inde Navarrette whose portrayal of Nikki in the film is so unflinchingly sinister in places, I was genuinely unsettled, and also to the sound director. They made this a film worth going to the movies for, in spite of the small set production - the use of sound very much set up to keep your heart rate all over the place. As such, if you can get to a theatre to catch it, do! Check out the trailer here.

Bargains and Freebies

You’ll find no fewer than five(!) of my books in this promo from author and Horror Author’s Guild chief, Newton Webb. There are over 40 books here to make sure your summer stays dark, even when the sun is shining. Take a look at the full list here.

Horror creator Steve Hudgins has gathered together over fifty horror stories priced at 99c/p or less, or available free on Kindle Unlimited. Grab a spooky bargain read here.

If free dark tales are your thing, you can indulge yourself here with ten of the darkest tales ever to come free, including my witchcraft-infused story, Warding. Check out the full list and grab a free horror, here.

Well, that’s it for June. Thanks so much for reading and, remember, if you know someone who you think might like my books or this newsletter, forward this on to them. No amount of advertising is ever as powerful as a word of mouth recommendation. I’ll be back in July, hopefully with a near-finished manuscript for the novel and a polished version of this short story sitting in the pile for the editor of the anthology I mentioned.

In the meantime, stay safe, especially with the crazy summer weather, and do reach out to me on Bluesky, Xitter, Instagram, or even TikTok. I’ll see you next month.

Kev