The end of 2024, Ghost Story Readings, Photoshoots and more

Well, we made it to the end of 2024. It’s been a pretty crazy year, I think it’s fair to say, wherever you live in the world. I hope 2025 is a bit more peaceful, more tranquil, but I’m not going to be staking any money on that outcome. At least we have stories, right? This month, I’ve got information on a charity ghost story reading I did this month (and a related free story for you!), an update on what I’m writing, and a fun photo project I’ve taken part in. Let’s get into it.

On Friday 13th (when else?), I joined forces with the people from my wonderful writing group, here in Lisbon, and some of us wrote and read Christmas ghost stories at Ma Lingua, a bar in the city. We were raising money for a charity who help refugees in the Lisbon area and, because the shelter they live in here does not have heating, we decided to buy them shoes with donations from our guests. We made enough to buy fifteen pairs of shoes in the end, which was wonderful. Included in the group were Cristóvão Correia, a multi-genre writer who writes in Portuguese and English, and Marina Pacheco who writes historical fiction and romance, amongst others.

In case you are interested in the story I wrote for the event - a classic Christmas ghost tale set here in the Lisbon area, I’ve cobbled together a little eBook for you to download. It’s only available to newsletter subscribers, so grab your copy by clicking the cover, below.

Also this month, I was asked by a friend of mine, Vasco Gomes, to take part in a photography project he is creating. Vasco is taking classic images of different professions and recreating them with people who do these professions in real life. I was honoured to be asked to be his writer. We had an old typewriter, a pipe and all sorts of other fun props. Recreating the images from a century or more ago was hilarious and his stylist was great fun, too. I’ll be able to share the website where you can see the project taking shape in January, as Vasco is still working on it right now, but here’s a sneak peek at one of my photos:

At the end of last month, Shepherd published my selection for my favourite reads of 2024. This was actually for books released between October 2023 and September 2024, but you can check out the books I loved the most here. I believe that all of these books were recommended here on my newsletter, but do take another look, if you’re curious about them.

I would love to know now what your favourites were. So, if you’re a bookish person, regardless of what genres you read, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, you can share your own three favourite books of the year on Shepherd. And, better yet, if you do it via this link, I will receive a notification so I can come and see which books blew your minds.

I was blown away to discover that my friend and fellow author, Miranda Kate, actually selected Shadow of the Hidden as her third favourite book of the year. I would never have expected to see something like that happen to one of my books. I’m honoured!

On the writing front, I’ve finally finished the draft of my second novel, whose working title is Pyres. I’m going to be hammering the draft into shape over the coming weeks, then will send it off to two to three beta readers for feedback. Once they’ve looked at it and told me what needs chopping, changing, or adding, I’ll start submitting it to publishers, with an eye on a late 2025 or early 2026 release. Cross your fingers for me.

I’m also hoping to get the final edits for The Siren of Armorique completed in the coming weeks. There are some changes required after the first pass by my editor, but I feel like I know what needs changing and how to go about it. Then it’s a case of getting cover art ready and it should be with you in the spring, ready for the fae as they come out of hibernation. I’ll bring you that character profile I promised a few months back, once it’s ready to go.

The end of a novel means, of course, ploughing on with a new one. I’m going to be breaking ground on the first book in a trilogy in the next month or so. The central character has featured in some sections of Pyres and he’s been telling me, loud and clear, that he’s ready for his own book(s) to start now. I don’t want to keep him waiting, so start I shall.

I do have an office-based black comedy involving accidental deaths which I’ve been writing between projects, so that may well see the light of day in 2025, too, as indeed may a haunted house novella featuring a black metal band who are recording an album in rural suffolk. That one is written, it just need polishing and then to be edited.

You fine people will naturally find out before anyone else about all of this.

Recommendations

Reading - Tradwife by T C Parker

It’s probably not news that I’m a huge fan of T C Parker’s work, so getting the chance to read Tradwife ahead of the crowd was a no-brainer for me. A very different work in some ways, this book takes a (fictional) true crime approach and begins with the carnage resulting from a gory mass murder at a tradwife commune in Nottinghamshire. The researcher investigating the crime for a sociological tome has uncovered myriad disturbing facts and promptly vanished. This is difficult read at times, more because of the types of people described in it, rather than the gore. As I said in my Goodreads review this is an important book of and for our times. Check it out here. 

Listening - Múr by Múr

My friend and fellow writer, Paul Feeney, sent me the single from this album, ‘Heimsslit’ a couple months ago. I was pretty knocked out by it and excited to hear the album. So, when it dropped recently, I immediately plugged it into my ears. Starting off with a melodic, almost tranquil song, it ebbs and flows between similar vibes and brutal, intensely heavy ones. There’s an industrial-style fuzz to their guitar distortion and the ‘foggy’ feeling of the synths lingering behind the sound. But this might really be my favourite album of the year. Masterful. Check it out on your chosen streaming service, here.

Watching - Heretic

Why, we might ask, has Hugh Grant waited so long to make his first horror movie? In this enclosed space, religious horror from directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, Grant excels as the sinister character who has solicited a visit from two mormon evangelists, and then seeks to engage them in debate and challenge their faith. The first hour or so of this movie had me absolutely locked to the screen. Great dialogue, and a fantastic premise. Check out the trailer here.

Bargains and Freebies

If you’re looking for FREE Christmas reads, you’ve come to the right place. Writer and editor Robin Knabel has set up this awesome promo with thirty five free books from authors like Brian Asman, Querus Abuttu and many more. Check out the full list.  

If you want to find out exactly what creeps in the night, look no further. over twenty-five terrifying tomes for you to check out over the darkest season. You can view the full list here.

After running one of these a couple months back, Dagmar is back with more than fifty disturbing books for you to check out. Pick up your discounted scares here.

The team at Bookfunnel have put together this selection of more than sixty suspenseful books, including a couple of mine. See the full list here.

Those of you craving zombies or other kinds of apocalyptic fiction will find more than twenty books in this apocalyptic promo, including A Silent Dystopia, featuring my story ‘The Courier.’ Check them all out here.

Well, that’s it for December and, apparently, 2024. I hope that, whether or not you celebrate Christmas, that you’re all able to relax a bit and see some of the good people in your lives.

Do look out for each other. I said this last year and it remains true - Christmas time can be lonely and difficult for some, so check in on those who are on their own if you can spare the time.

I’ll be back in January, with news on Siren and various other things. In the mean time, keep reading the dark stuff.

Kev