The fuse is lit - six weeks til Pyres ignites your bookshelves

You read that right!! Just six weeks until Pyres hits Kindles and doorsteps far and wide. Thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered so far. Every pre-order makes a huge difference, especially to indie/small press authors like me. Not only because it eats into the costs of covers, editing, etc, but also because it validates what I’m doing. Makes me believe that the hours, days, months that went into birthing this story were worth it.

I did an unboxing of the paperback proof this month, which you can see on my Instagram and my TikTok. As you can see from the videos, the book came out beautifully. Paul Stephenson has done a killer job of the cover, and the printed copies are exactly what I wanted them to be. You can obviously pre-order a paperback copy now from various online stores, but if you want to buy one from me directly, signed, you can do that at the Weston-Super-Mare horror book con, Chapter 3, run by the brilliant Indie Horror Chapter on September 6th, a full 28 days before anyone else on earth gets their mitts on them. I’ll also have copies of Shadow of the Hidden, Below and Paths Best Left Untrodden, all signed, and there’ll be some bundle deals, too, so you’ll be able to pick up books for less than you’d normally pay on the Zon, etc. Do come and say hello if you’re in the area, entry is free and there will be dozens of authors peddling their spooky wares.

If you haven’t done it already, and you are a Goodreads user, please do add it to your Goodreads TBR, here or by clicking on the screenshot, below.

Last month, I mentioned that my award-winning debut novel, Shadow of the Hidden, has finally made it to Audible, Apple Books, and pretty much every mainstream audiobook site. No sooner has it arrived there, than the fine people at Chirp Books have accepted a promotional pricing deal for it. So, from now until the 30th August, you can grab the full four and a half hour audiobook for half price - $3.49 instead of $6.99! Grab this bargain here, or by clicking the screenshot below.

On the author news front, I’ve managed some of my usual summer mingling with various writer types. At the beginning of the month, I caught up with purveyors of British horrors, CC Adams, Sarah Farr, Sara Townsend and Ben Jones for some dinner and chatter about what we’re all working on and how we plan to get more of our work out into the world. CC was, as always, the best London host and took us to a swanky pre-theatre dinner spot where we were well looked after and, more importantly well fed and watered.

And just this week, I caught up with Beverley Lee for dinner and a drink in her lovely rural village. We even discussed a devious plan to get the word out a little more about the quiet horrors we and others write. Watch this space for more info on that!

And next week, I’m off to meet even more horror authors for some lunch, a few beers and some shop talk in Birmingham. More on that next month! Now for some recommendations.

Recommendations

Reading - The Owl Men of Shanidar by Coy Hall

Like a few others, Coy Hall has become an author whose work I’ll now instabuy on release. I always know it’s going to be great whether it’s horror or in this case, sci-fi. There’s something decidedly retro about the feel of The Owl Men of Shanidar, from the design of the android character to the world building on the planet itself, there’s elements of old Star Trek and other sci-fis of yesteryear here. Peel back the surface, though, and the issues being analysed within the story here are bang up to date. I don’t want to say more for fear of spoiling it, but if you’re looking for a wonderfully written, thought provoking read, pick this one up here. 

Listening - Blackbraid III by Blackbraid

I recommended the last album, Blackbraid II, in these pages about eighteen months ago, and this album was too good not to also mention. The Indigenous American black metal artist, Blackbraid, returns with his trademark sound, at times incorporating elements of traditional instrumentation and, in this record, bringing with him motifs of the sound of the early Dissection albums, like The Somberlain. There’s an incredible, relentless energy to this album. You can have a listen on your chosen streaming service, here.

Watching - Bring Her Back - Cinema

Well, what a ride this was. I hugely enjoyed Talk To Me when I saw it a couple years ago, so was excited about seeing Bring Her Back. Once again, it appeared in the cinema in Europe when I was on my UK summer work placement, so once again, I booked a seat at the front of the theatre, alone, to take it all in. My friends, did I ever squirm during this one. Not so much because of the one truly gory scene in the film, but more the pure discomfort. The Philipou brothers have a wonderful way of teasing hope before dashing it in the most brutal ways in their movies. Check out the trailer here.

Bargains and Freebies

Free horrors, this month, come courtesy of Stephanie Tyo as she presents two dozen scary stories you can download for free. You can check out the full list and grab a free spooky read here.

The mighty Steve Hudgins presents 65 horror reads, including several of mine, all of which are available for $0.99/£0.99 or FREE with Kindle Unlimited. Grab yourself a bargain here.

Horror author Newton Webb presents more than seventy spooky books in this Screams for Sale promo. Dig into books from me and a bunch of others, here.

Well, that’s it for August. September is a busy one for me, with my Weston-Super-Mare horror convention appearance, followed by the journey back to Portugal via Spain, and then a holiday in Japan! I’m excited! I’ll be sure to share some of the highlights with you all. In the meantime, if you want to ask me something or just say hello, you can catch me on Bluesky, Xitter, Instagram and all the usual places. I love hearing from my readers.

In the meantime, take care of yourselves, be kind, and I’ll be back in touch towards the end of September.

Kev