Introducing Gore

Happy news! Gore, a short graphic novel written by me and beautifully illustrated by Ivo de Jager is being published by Black Panel Press in July 2023.

“Victorian orphan Beryl Gore adores the guts-and-glory productions of the Palace Theatre where she lives and works. Preoccupied with dreams of pirates and revenge, she barely notices the squalor around her. As Beryl grows up, trying to persuade vainglorious manager Mister Perry to read the plays she pens by candlelight, she realises the theatre is falling apart around them. To save the Palace, Perry must take a chance on Beryl. But as Beryl discovers, scoundrels aren’t confined to the stage.”

The Others of Edenwell

I’m thrilled to announce that my folk horror novel, The Others of Edenwell, will be published by Titan on the 4th of July 2023.

I can’t wait to take you back to 1917 and introduce you to Freddie, Eustace, and Drummerboy.

A dark spirit haunts an isolated Norfolk retreat in this unsettling and sinister historical horror set in the early 1900s, perfect for readers of Michelle Paver, Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Andrew Michael Hurley.

Norfolk, 1917. Unable to join the army due to a heart condition, Freddie lives and works with his father in the grounds of the Edenwell Hydropathic, a wellness retreat in the Norfolk broads. Preferring the company of birds – who talk to him as one of their own – over the eccentric characters who live in the spa, bathing in its healing waters, Freddie overhears their premonitions of murder.

Eustace Moncrieff is a troublemaker, desperate to go to war and leave behind his wealthy family. Shipped to Edenwell by his mother to keep him safe from the horrors of the trenches, he strikes up a friendship with Freddie at the behest of Doctor Chalice, the American owner of the Hydropathic.

As the two friends grow closer and grapple with their demons, they discover a body, and something terrifying stalking the woods. The dark halls of the spa are breached, haunted by the woodland beast, and the boys soon realise that they may be the only things standing between this monster and the whole of Edenwell.

Happy news all round

Thanks to all your kind pledges, CloisterFox Zine is fully funded. What’s more, Indiegogo has made the campaign In Demand, which means that even though it’s officially ended, you can still pledge. So if you’re only just hearing about the zine and want to grab an enamel pin or pre-order a copy, it’s not too late!

We’re looking at April 2022 for publishing issue one. Stay informed by following CloisterFox on Twitter or backing the Indiegogo.

In other news, my story The Forlorn Hope has been longlisted for the British Science Fiction Association’s 2021 awards. I’m thrilled that it’s struck a chord with people. The anthology it appears in – Out Of The Darkness – is still raising funds for Together For Mental Wellbeing and is well worth a punt.

Tick tock

It’s the final week of the CloisterFox fundraiser. This is your last chance to help launch my new bi-annual zine of British speculative fiction.

CloisterFox will be hosting these six superb writers in the first issue in April 2022:

Robert Shearman (We All Hear Stories in the Dark)

Dan Carpenter (Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror)

Ally Wilkes (All The White Spaces)

Natasha Kindred (How The Email Found Me)

Ch?k?d?l? Emel?mad? (Dazzling)

David Hartley (Fauna, Incorcisms)

We have some tempting rewards for our backers, including paperbacks, huge ebook bundles, an enamel pin, and one remaining short story critique. We hope you’ll back the campaign and share the link. See you in April!

New perks!

The CloisterFox Zine fundraiser is a whisper shy of 50% funded. What a campaign it’s been so far. I’m so grateful to you all for you support.

We have an exciting new perk for fans of speculative fiction. Dan Coxon has kindly offered up the entire back catalogue of his strange fiction anthology The Shadow Booth in ebook formats. For £20, you get all 4 Shadow Booths, my novella Beauty Secrets of The Martyrs, and Issue 1 of CloisterFox.

That’s 56 unsettling short stories and a whole novella for £20! So if you haven’t pledged yet, (or you fancy pledging again!), there’s a wealth of dark treats awaiting you.