Tag Archives: Books

Spectre of Springwell Forest – Influences and Inspiration

Posted on by

What writers inspired my latest novel Spectre of Springwell Forest?

Two undoubted influences on the story are Susan Hill’s seminal The Woman in Black, and the shorts of ghost story par excellence author MR James (such as The Ash Tree and Oh Whistle And I’ll Come To You My Lad). There’s also a smidgeon of Don’t Look Now by Daphne Du Maurier present, along with a dash of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. In fact, pretty much all my favourite ghost stories have informed this novel in some way, shape or form.

In the case of The Woman in Black, one of the major inspirations was the structure of the novel, including the framing device, and the famously upsetting, terse finale. I’ve always loved the way that book begins in a more settled present; at Christmas (like my story) but with a sense that the apparent serenity of the present masks long buried pain. Certainly as Arthur Kipps recounts his bone-chilling visit to Eel Marsh House, it becomes apparent that he is opening wounds that have never really healed.

With Spectre of Springwell Forest, I wanted to capture something of this tone in the framing device structure, and with the nasty sting in the tail right at the end. Thematically my novel shares other DNA with The Woman in Black – the apparent threat to children, for instance. Don’t Look Now also deals with the death of children and the supernatural.

On the other hand, I didn’t want Spectre of Springwell Forest to be one hundred percent clear cut in its explanations. The Turn of the Screw has an ambiguity that has always appealed to me, and in my novel, amid the spooky shenanigans I wanted to hint that there might – just might – be a natural explanation.

In the case of MR James’s stories, it was more the terrifying tone of those tales that proved an influence, rather than plot specifics. His superbly suspenseful prose remains unsurpassed. If my book contains a tenth of the churning dread conjured by his writing, I will have done very well. Of course, my novel doesn’t set out to copy his work or the other afore-mentioned classics, but seeks to be its own beast.

Spectre of Springwell Forest is out now. Pick up your copy here (in the UK) or here (in the US).

Spectre of Springwell Forest – An introduction

Posted on by

Spectre of Springwell Forest, my first novel published via a traditional publisher (as opposed to self-published) is out now.

A nail-biting, bone-chilling supernatural mystery, Spectre of Springwell Forest is a ghost story in the classical tradition, but with a number of important differences. Here is a more in-depth introduction to the story than I have previously written about on this blog.

SSF coverThe novel opens in Exeter, 2010. Lily Parker learns that her daughter Olivia is to move to the village of Springwell, near Plymouth. To the surprise of her husband Andy, this sends Lily into terrified despair. She tells him that Olivia absolutely must not move to Springwell, under any circumstances. Andy wants to know why, and Lily then tells him what happened to her many decades previously, in 1979, warning him that she has a horrifying secret that she had previously hoped to take with her to the grave.

In 1979, Lily and her then six-year-old daughter Olivia, along with her first husband Tom Henderson, move to the sleepy village of Springwell. Here they meet a tight lipped community of secretive villagers who seem to have something to hide. Lily then discovers a painting of an abandoned railway tunnel in her attic, by a local artist, Alison Merrifield. Lily is strangely drawn to the painting, particularly the dark maw of the tunnel, and ends up hanging the picture in her hallway.

After meeting her neighbour and other mothers dropping their children at the local primary school, Lily is surprised to learn they all have similar paintings in their homes, all of them painted by Alison Merrifield, all of them showing the same abandoned railway tunnel. The other mothers dismiss this as something of a village in-joke, and when Lily visits Alison in her local craft shop, Alison herself insists she cannot understand why the paintings of the abandoned tunnel are so popular. But Lily senses she is being lied to.

Shortly afterwards, when Lily and Olivia go for a walk in the local forest, they come across a fenced off area in the heart of the woods where the barbed wire has been mysteriously torn apart. Investigating further inside the fenced off section, they discover the very same abandoned railway tunnel of the painting, and enter the tunnel… where something I won’t tell you about happens.

After this incident, Lily starts to make out a mysterious figure in the painting of the railway tunnel. As time passes, the eerie figure becomes more and more clearly defined, but Lily is disturbed to discover no-one can see it but her. Worse still, as the sinister figure is revealed, Olivia starts to behave in an increasingly alarming manner…

Then things get really scary, building to a horrifying and unexpected finale.

I hope this introduction whets your appetite for the story.

Spectre of Springwell Forest is out now. Pick up your copy here (in the UK) and here (in the US).

Happy New Year 2019!

Posted on by

Happy New Year!

2019

Last year was a hugely significant year for my writing, not least because my first novel to be published by a traditional publisher, Spectre of Springwell Forest, has now been released. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, what are you waiting for? Click here (for the UK) and here (for the US) and dive into a nail-biting ghostly mystery that will brighten up your January with page-turning suspense.

So what are my writing plans for 2019?

For a start, I have submitted a short story entitled Paper Cut for inclusion in the upcoming Dragon Soul Press romantic fantasy anthology First Love. More to be announced on that front in due course.

Aside from that, I have started writing my first novel for 2019 – an as yet untitled ghostly tale which is lighter on the terror than Spectre of Springwell Forest and The Thistlewood Curse, yet still falls neatly within the psychological/supernatural thriller/horror spectrum in which I greatly enjoy writing. I will keep my lips sealed on details so far… suffice to say it involves a famous dead actor, his rather less famous actress widow, a large sinister house, a medium, and a big mystery.

Also this year, I intend to finally stop procrastinating and write the science fiction novellas I have put off since mid-2017 (when I opted to write Echo and the White Howl instead). Those I really will say nothing about for now.

On top of that, I hope to have at least one other novel released this year, possibly horror mystery The Irresistible Summons which I wrote back in 2015, depending on what my publisher makes of it. Watch this space for more updates on that and other writing related matters throughout the year. Here’s hoping it’s a good one.

2018 in review

Posted on by

At the risk of sounding like a nauseating Oscar acceptance speech, 2018 has been an extraordinary year for me, and I am very happy to have made a number of significant breakthroughs with my writing.

Novels and Short Stories

Firstly and most emphatically, my first novel ever released by a traditional publisher is out now. Courtesy of Dragon Soul Press, Spectre of Springwell Forest, is a ghostly gothic nail-biter with a creepy central mystery guaranteed to keep you turning the pages… until the horrible truth is revealed. You can order your copy here (in the UK) and here (in the US).

Dragon Soul Press is a US based independent publisher specialising in fantasy, science fiction and horror. They also publish anthologies. One of these, a horror anthology called All Dark Places, featured my short story Once in a Lifetime. They’ve got another anthology coming soon, a romantic fantasy volume called First Love, for which I have sent another short story entitled Paper Cut. I am waiting (fingers crossed) to see if I made the, er, cut…

Works in progress

I have also been occupied with these two novels, outside of my “comfort zone” thriller/horror genres. I didn’t write these concurrently, because obviously my poor brain can only cope with one thing at a time (walking and talking can be a challenge). Anyway,  fantasy I find particularly tricky. I love to read it, but writing it requires a very different level of focus.

Said fantasy novel, Ravenseed, is a brooding, melancholy tale of knights, sorcerers and enchantment, set in the Dark Ages, simmering with love, lust, betrayal and revenge.

The other genre I’ve dabbled in this year, is dystopian future-shock. Peaceful Quiet Lives is set in a future America, satirising both sides of the so-called culture wars. I’m going to stay tight-lipped on further details, for now.

On the blog

This year I’ve enjoyed covering lots of different topics. It’s always great to write on subjects I am passionate about, and hopefully spark a bit of debate. If you fancy giving any of these a re-read or missed them the first time round, here are some of my favourites.

The Lord of the Rings: book versus film
My Five Favourite Gothic Mysteries
Book reviews: the good, the bad and the ugly
Horror and Weepies: Two sides of the same coin?
The Power of Resurrection Narratives

The Tangent Tree

 

If you hadn’t already heard, I co-host a film podcast called The Tangent Tree, with Samantha Stephen.

You can find the website here, and you can listen on iTunes, Spotify, Podcast Addict and so on (or on the website itself).

There have been many people who helped and supported me this year. Thank you. You know who you are. 🙂

It only remains for me to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Spectre of Springwell Forest – out now!

Posted on by

It’s finally here! My new novel, Spectre of Springwell Forest, is now available as a Kindle download (here in the UK, here in the US), and as an old fashioned paperback (here in the UK, here in the US).

SSF cover

My first novel to be published by Dragon Soul Press, Spectre of Springwell Forest is classic ghost story mystery that builds with gripping, slow-burn dread to a shattering finale with a devastating sting in the tail.

Here is the blurb from the back of the novel:

Lily Henderson has a horrifying secret buried far in her past. She hoped it would never be revealed. Now she has no choice.

To save her family, Lily must keep them from returning to the village of Springwell, where she lived with her first husband and young daughter decades previously.

In the past, after moving to Springwell, Lily encounters secretive locals, government scientists, and rumours of a ghost haunting the forest.

Are they linked to the mysterious deaths of local children? Do paintings by a local artist predict when tragic events are getting closer? Will Lily’s daughter be next?

“Two were taken. More will follow.”

Don’t forget to join me and other Dragon Soul Press authors for the online Spectre of Springwell Forest book launch event, live on Facebook here, today from 3pm – 8pm UK time/10am – 3am Eastern time. With games, giveaways and more, you really won’t want to miss out. I will host between 7pm and 8pm UK time.

Spectre of Springwell Forest released tomorrow!

Posted on by

My new novel, Spectre of Springwell Forest, is released tomorrow.

SSF blog header 2

Published by Dragon Soul Press, Spectre of Springwell Forest is a spooky spine-freezer guaranteed to keep you turning pages, desperately trying to get to the bottom of a nightmarish mystery. Just don’t read it late at night…

Here is the blurb from the back of the novel:

Lily Henderson has a horrifying secret buried far in her past. She hoped it would never be revealed. Now she has no choice.

To save her family, Lily must keep them from returning to the village of Springwell, where she lived with her first husband and young daughter decades previously.

In the past, after moving to Springwell, Lily encounters secretive locals, government scientists, and rumours of a ghost haunting the forest.

Are they linked to the mysterious deaths of local children? Do paintings by a local artist predict when tragic events are getting closer? Will Lily’s daughter be next?

“Two were taken. More will follow.”

Spectre of Springwell Forest is out tomorrow. Pre-order your copy on Amazon Kindle here (in the UK) and here (in the US). Paperbacks will be available from tomorrow.

Also, join me and other Dragon Soul Press authors for the online Spectre of Springwell Forest book launch event, live on Facebook here, tomorrow from 3pm – 9pm UK time/10am – 4pm Eastern time. With games, giveaways and more, you really won’t want to miss out. I will host between 7pm and 8pm UK time.

New special podcast from The Tangent Tree entitled “Simon Wrote A Book!”

Posted on by

In this special extra podcast from The Tangent Tree, Sam interviews me to discuss my new novel Spectre of Springwell Forest, which is released on the 20th of December.

Leaving aside the film chat for once (mostly), we talk about the novel, what inspired it, whether I have had any supernatural encounters of my own, my writing in other genres and more. Available on Spotify, Podcast Addict, iTunes and the other usual platforms, or just click here to listen on The Tangent Tree website.

Spectre of Springwell Forest is released on the 20th of December. Pre-order your copy on Amazon Kindle here (in the UK) and here (in the US). Paperbacks will be available from the 20th of December.

Spectre of Springwell Forest release – five days to go!

Posted on by

The launch event for Spectre of Springwell Forest – my first ever novel published by a traditional publisher – is a mere five days away! Don’t forget to turn up for games, giveaways and more. The event is taking place here.

NOTE: times given are EST, so my hour is 7pm to 8pm UK time.

48356874_802981833395143_1995333478056460288_n

Spectre of Springwell Forest is released on the 20th of December. Pre-order your copy on Amazon Kindle here (in the UK) and here (in the US). Paperbacks will be available from the 20th of December.

Spectre of Springwell Forest – one week to go!

Posted on by

Just one week to go before my new novel is unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.

Published by Dragon Soul Press, Spectre of Springwell Forest is a nail-biting ghostly mystery, guaranteed to rattle the bones and keep you checking the shadows and dark figures you think you can see out of the corner of your eye…

SSF cover

Here is the blurb from the back of the novel:

Lily Henderson has a horrifying secret buried far in her past. She hoped it would never be revealed. Now she has no choice.

To save her family, Lily must keep them from returning to the village of Springwell, where she lived with her first husband and young daughter decades previously.

In the past, after moving to Springwell, Lily encounters secretive locals, government scientists, and rumours of a ghost haunting the forest.

Are they linked to the mysterious deaths of local children? Do paintings by a local artist predict when tragic events are getting closer? Will Lily’s daughter be next?

“Two were taken. More will follow.”

Spectre of Springwell Forest is released on the 20th of December. Pre-order your copy on Amazon Kindle here (in the UK) and here (in the US). Paperbacks will be available from the 20th of December.

Spectre of Springwell Forest release party: You are invited!

Posted on by

47395241_799330497093610_9167722459133116416_n

You are hereby all invited to the online launch of my new novel Spectre of Springwell Forest on Facebook. This is my first novel published via the traditional publishing route (as opposed to self-published) and Dragon Soul Press, my publisher, has arranged this event.

Hosted by several Dragon Soul Press authors over a number of hours, it begins at 10am Eastern time (3pm UK time) on the 20th of December. The launch event will feature games, giveaways and other amusing things.

My “hosting” hour will between 7 and 8pm UK time, so please do drop in, if only for a few minutes, glance at the posts, interact and enter the competitions if you so wish. In addition, by all means check out the other talented authors, who will also be showcasing their work at this event, during the other hours.

The event link can be found here.

Thank you for your support of my writing endeavours over the years. It is much appreciated.

Spectre of Springwell Forest is released on the 20th of December. The Kindle version can be pre-ordered here (in the UK) and here (in the US). Paperbacks will be available from the 20th of December.