Terrify Your Tablet, Shadow Giveaway, Violent Advents and Back to Writing

Welcome to my September newsletter. And very nearly welcome to spooky season. The rain has arrived in Portugal, along with darker, cooler evenings and Starbucks bizarrely advertising pumpkin spiced everything but never having it in stock, much to my missus’ chagrin. With it being October in a couple days, though, there’s a lot going on, so let’s get into it.

This year, once again, I am participating in Terrify your Tablet. This is an event put on by Horrorsmith Publishing, for horror writers to offer their work for reduced prices or for free in the spookiest month of the year: October. So, for this year’s event, you will be able to get my novella, Below for 99¢ or 99p for your Kindle, as well as my collection, Paths Best Left Untrodden and my Kindle single, Alone with Myself for FREE. If you haven’t picked up any of these books, October 3rd is the time to do it. I will, just this once, send out a reminder with links for the three books on the day, so you don’t forget. And do check out Horrorsmith’s website for the full list of participating authors.

My debut novel, Shadow of the Hidden, turned six months old last week. So, over on my Instagram and Twitter/X pages, I’m doing a worldwide signed paperback giveaway. I enlisted the help of my two growing cat friends, Shelley and Marple, to market the event. It’s easy to win, you just go over to the tweet or the insta post (or both!) and follow, like and repost (to your stories on Insta). Next Wednesday, 2nd October, I’ll announce the two winners and get in touch to get an address and any dedication the winners might want in their books.

I have a new story out there in the world, via Paul Stephenson’s excellent Bleakwood podcast. This one, called ‘When the Trees Sing,’ is one of my more unpleasant, visceral horror stories. As I said when my previous Bleakwood tale, ‘Revitalisation’ aired last year, I love this world which Paul has created, and love playing in it. I already have a story idea for season 3, so watch out for that in a few months’ time. Anyway, have a listen to ‘When the Trees Sing’ below:

There’s also a new pre-order for you, which includes one of my stories. Violent Advents is a Christmas horror anthology which writer and editor L. Stephenson invited me to during the summer. The prompt for each story was the same:

My story focuses on a gift beneath the tree, and is something of a modern loveletter to the Victorian Christmas ghost stories I grew up with.

The anthology also features stories by Rebecca Rowland, Brian Bowyer, Ross Jeffery, J Grell and others, so, as you can imagine, I’m delighted to be involved. No-one is getting paid for the book, as the proceeds will all be given away to two heart health charities nominated by the editor. So, if you want to give something to some great causes this Christmas and read some spooky tales by great authors, here’s your chance.

And finally, finally, I am back to writing or writing related activities every day. I am currently working through the edits for my next novella, The Siren of Armorique, which I would still love to get out by the year’s end, but will more likely be next year. Simultaneously, I am using my morning writing sessions to finish the fiery novella I started at the beginning of this year. I’m in the middle of the final showdown and am having so much fun burning a lot of things (on the page!). My plan is for that draft to be finished by the end of October so I can start a new project in November, one that I have been intensely excited about for a long time and which I finally feel ready to write. I’ll give you a bit more on that next month.

One final thing - I am putting the finishing touches to a workshop I will be teaching on Tuesday, October 8th on the use of folklore in horror, as part of the Alex Davis Events series ‘Autumn Chills.’ My session is titled: ‘Folklore in Horror Fiction: Found, Fused and Fabricated’ and the aim is for participants to use the landscape, flora and fauna of their book or story’s chosen setting, along with existing folklore, to craft a folkloric horror story or gather the tools to write one in future. I’m really looking forward to the workshop, and you can check out the main Alex Davis Events page on Eventbrite here to see the other events and workshops Alex has coming up.

Recommendations

Reading - Darkness Come Alive by Paul Stephenson

A dash of Buffy, a sprinkle of Anne Rice, the heart-thumping action sequences of Blade but in York, England, and written with the cliffhanger-laden mastery of a peak thriller writer. That’s how I’d describe Darkness Come Alive, the first in a new vampire trilogy by Bleakwood creator Paul Stephenson. With the ingenious choice of a paramedic, Lucy, for the main character, the reader is thrown right into what first feels like a classic vamp tale. You quickly realise, though, as the world building happens, that there’s much more going on here. I devoured this, and as of its release yesterday, you can too.

Listening - Endtime Signals by Dark Tranquillity

I first got into Dark Tranquillity via 1995’s album, The Gallery (why yes, I am very old, thank you). As one of the vanguard of the 90’s feted Gothenburg sound of technical death metal, it was everything I wanted: aggressive, intelligent, melodic. I loved it. I’ve followed them ever since and this new record, one slightly odd ballad aside, feels like one of their best in a number of years. Check it out on your chosen streaming service, here.

Watching - Slow Horses Season 4 - Apple TV+

A bomb goes off in the car park of a shopping centre in London, the UK secret service completely blindsided. Within hours, one of the main characters’ family members narrowly survives an assassination attempt. I’m not even especially a fan of spy dramas, but the writing of this show (along with cast and performances, cinematography and lots more) means I compulsively devour every episode. Season 4 is only 4 episodes in, but I’m absolutely hooked. I love it for the entertainment, but it’s also a great teacher, from a writing perspective in creating good dialogue, characters, and of course in the use of writerly sleight of hand. Check out the trailer here.

Bargains and Freebies

Joe Talon invites you to Take the Darker Path with free horrific reads from myself and more than a dozen other writers. Check out the full list here.  

E.B. Hauk presents this promo with fifty free books from some of the best up and comers in speculative fiction. Spanning sci-fi, fantasy and horror and featuring work by me, Robin Knabel, award winner João F. Silva, and others. You can view the full list here.

Alongside my own claustrophobic subterranean horror novella, Below, you’ll find more than forty uneasy, uncomfortable works of dark fiction in this promo. Check out the full list here.

If you’re looking for bleak supernatural horrors, look no further than this promo, featuing my adventure horror, Shadow of the Hidden. Grab a bargain horror book here.

Well, September has just a couple more days left in it. So, wrap up warm, get something comforting to drink and something discomfitting to read and I’ll see you next month, and remember: keep reading the dark stuff!

Kev