Tag Archives: The Spectre of Springwell Forest

BIG NEWS: The Spectre of Springwell Forest to be published by Dragon Soul Press

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I am very pleased to announce my next novel, The Spectre of Springwell Forest, is to be published by Dragon Soul Press this December.

Spectre of Springwell Forest sinister wood - for blog headerNeedless to say, I am utterly thrilled at this news. Having a traditional publisher has been a wonderful, eye-opening experience, and I am very excited to see where things go from here. My previous novels have all been self-published with varying degrees of success, but it is wonderful to now have talented publishing professionals working alongside me.

The Spectre of Springwell Forest is a mysterious, ghostly, gothic nail-biter. The story involves a young mother who is strangely drawn to a sinister painting of an abandoned railway tunnel. If you enjoyed my previous novels The Birds Began to Sing or The Thistlewood Curse, you’ll definitely enjoy this one too.

In the meantime, don’t forget I also have my short story Once in a Lifetime coming soon, as part of the All Dark Places horror anthology, also published by Dragon Soul Press.

All Dark Places is released on the 30th of October.

The Spectre of Springwell Forest is released on the 20th of December.

Update on current projects

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2018 is more than half over, so here’s a sort-of mid-term report on how the year is shaping up for me so far.

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Ravenseed – The first few months of the year were spent writing this Dark Ages set fantasy novel. Even though I have yet to test it on any Beta readers, I’m really very pleased with the results. A brooding, melancholy tale of knights, sorcerers and enchantment, Ravenseed simmers with love, lust, betrayal and revenge. However, alongside the Dark Ages narrative is a parallel framing story set in the present, featuring a journey that echoes the quest in the ancient past. It was a very tricky novel to write, but I honestly think my hard work paid off.

Peaceful Quiet Lives (title to be confirmed) – This week, I have just finished making a few final adjustments to the first draft of this dystopian novel set in a future America. I have set out to satirise both sides in the so-called culture wars, and at this point I honestly can’t tell if I succeeded brilliantly, or if the novel is a crash and burn failure. Perhaps looking at it in a few months with a fresh eye and the feedback of Beta Readers will shed a more accurate light on what I actually have here.

The Spectre of Springwell Forest – This ghostly, gothic nail-biter (which I wrote in the early part of last year) will be my next release. The story is set in the 1970s, and involves a sinister painting and an equally sinister abandoned railway tunnel. Full details to follow soon. Watch this space.

In addition, this year I have written a short story which I have just submitted to a publisher in the hopes that it will selected for a horror anthology entitled All Dark Places which his due for release this October. If my story is chosen, more details will follow.

Speaking of short stories, I’m currently writing another, a romantic fairy tale, to submit to a different anthology due for release in December. In fact, I’d better get back to it…

My Five Favourite Gothic Mysteries

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As regular readers of this blog (and indeed my novels) will know, I absolutely love a good gothic brew of mystery, melodrama, thrills and horror. To date I have written five novels of this kind, including The Birds Began to Sing and The Thistlewood Curse, as well as The Spectre of Springwell Forest, which is the next book I intend to publish.

Here are five classic gothic mysteries that I return to endlessly, that have proved a huge inspiration and influence. NOTE: Although undoubted gothic classics, for this list I have deliberately ignored Dracula and Frankenstein, since those are less mysteries and more full-throttle horror.

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Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier) – I adore Daphne Du Maurier, and this one remains top of my gothic influences list. For instance, how many other novels have their own variations on the manipulative, vindictive, psychopathic housekeeper Danvers? The central narrative is great too, with the famously unnamed, tormented protagonist living in the shadow of her husband’s dead wife. It also has one of the greatest gothic mystery plot twists of all time, and an appropriately fiery climax.

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Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) – This moody, brooding romance features one of the most iconic gothic subplots in the history of English literature (ie the classic, oft-imitated mad-woman-in-the-attic). A rich, melancholy, menacing work, brimming with vivid description, dangerous passions, and many other gothic touchstones (like Rebecca, this one ends in purging flames).

 

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The Hound of the Baskervilles (Arthur Conan Doyle) – I tend to think of this Sherlock Holmes story as a spinoff into gothic horror, rather than belonging in the main Holmes crime fiction canon. The quality of the suspenseful prose remains unsurpassed, not just in obviously scary sections, but in little moments, such as Watson’s unsettling first night in Baskerville Hall. The oozing dread and menace drips from every page.

 

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The Woman in Black (Susan Hill) – Despite the popularity of the long-running stage show and a successful film adaptation, the source novel is still one of the finest, most bone-chilling ghost stories ever written. The superbly abrupt, genuinely shattering ending (significantly different from the film) has lost none of its ability to shock.

 

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Coma (Film) – I’m referring here to Michael Crichton’s superb film version of Robin Cook’s novel, rather than the novel itself. The premise – a possible conspiracy in a Boston hospital whereby patients are being deliberately placed in irreplaceable comas – is a masterclass in escalating unease and paranoia, building to full blown suspense set pieces that are pure modern gothic. Genevieve Bujold makes a fantastic imperiled heroine, and Michael Douglas is also good as her is-he-or-isn’t-he-in-on-it boyfriend. A real nail-biter.

Coming soon, later and perhaps never…

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Here’s an update on all the unpublished novels I have written, and when you can expect to read them.

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The Spectre of Springwell Forest – This 1970s set ghostly and gothic nail-biter for grown-ups will be my next release, one way (mainstream publication) or the other (self-publishing). All I will say at this point is that it involves a sinister painting and an equally sinister abandoned railway tunnel. Expect an announcement soon.

The Faerie Gate – A long delayed “horror story for children”  that will hopefully appear at the back end of this year. It’s the scariest novel I’ve written that is primarily aimed at children, and I really push the envelope in that respect. But this dark fairy tale is also a very compassionate story, about a young adolescent coming to terms with the separation of her parents.

The Deviant Prophet – Another dark fairy tale, but this time for adults. Fantasy and reality clash in a disturbing tale of religious oppression amid a vivid and surreal world parallel to our own. Incidentally, the initial inspiration for this came from a close friend’s extraordinary dreams. My projected release for this is early 2019.

Ravenseed – And the title is out of the bag… Yes, this is the Dark Ages set fantasy novel I have just finished (the first draft, at any rate). It’s a brooding, melancholy tale of knights, sorcerers and enchantment, simmering with love, lust, betrayal and revenge. Alongside the Dark Ages story is a parallel framing story set in the present. I think it’s rather good, and I hope to have it under your noses sometime in 2019.

The Irresistible Summons – Another spooky novel for grown-ups, this one set mostly in a haunted office building in London. Ghostly mystery meets digital horror as a shocking secret is uncovered by a television producer commissioned to make a corporate video for a software company. Projected release date? Late 2019 at the earliest.

The Wormcutter – I wrote this detective thriller/horror hybrid in 2007 (based on an idea I had researched and prepared on and off since 1996). What begins as an apparently open and shut murder investigation escalates into a humdinger of a conspiracy involving the Freemasons and much more… until it ends up in the most disturbing territory I have ever explored in a novel. Definitely 18 certificate stuff, if it ever gets made into a film. Projected release date? Possibly 2020, if not sooner.

The Balliol Conspiracy – This old fashioned, Hitchcockian romantic thriller is a conspiracy story of a different kind (much more PG territory, unlike The Wormcutter), and something of a change of pace for me when I wrote it. A strong, suspenseful central mystery results in an historic fact based treasure hunt, leading to a new lease of life for the bereaved protagonist. Projected release date? Depends if I think it’s any good when I re-read it, but possibly 2020.

Goldeweed – This is an epic, three volume fantasy saga I have been shaping on and off for almost eighteen years. Set in a vast imagined realm on many different planes of reality, it details three love stories that play out against an apocalyptic backdrop at the end of an era. Currently longer than War and Peace, it’s a tale I have rewritten and tinkered with for some time, and I’m still not entirely happy with. Projected release date? When I honestly think it can stand alongside The Lord of the Rings (so possibly never).

A Statement of Disbelief – A satirical novel set in the dubious world of Christian television fundraising. Projected release date? Probably never, but it was very fun and cathartic to write.

I’m presently working on my next novel, a dystopian tale set slightly in the future entitled… No, I’m hanging onto that title for now. Watch this space.

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year!

So what are my writing plans for 2018? Well, hopefully fairly early in the year, I plan to release my novel The Spectre of Springwell Forest, a gripping and chilling ghost story for grown-ups which I’m rather proud of.

Later in the year I plan to release another scary book, this time one aimed children: The Faerie Gate, which I know has been delayed for two years now. Adults can read it too obviously, if they are brave enough.

I am about to start writing an as yet untitled fantasy novel, set partly in the present and partly during the time of King Arthur. I will say no more about it now suffice to say it promises to be a challenging and unusual story. I think it will be more aimed at adults, depending on just how far I push certain envelopes.

I also aim to write the science fiction novellas I planned to write last year, but delayed on account of writing Echo and the White Howl. But as ever things can and could change.

As always, I look forward to sharing release dates, writing progress and other details on all the above here on the blog. Watch this space.

2017 in review

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So how was 2017 for me, in writing terms? Well, besides pursuing that ever elusive mainstream publishing deal (I keep trying, with every novel), I have had a fairly productive year, though not quite in the way I anticipated.

I had originally intended to release horror whodunit The Thistlewood Curse (for adults) and horror fantasy The Faerie Gate (for children – and any adults that didn’t find it too scary). However, ultimately only the first of those was released. I decided to delay the latter for another year, and instead I opted to release Echo and the White Howl – an animal fiction adventure about wolves in Alaska I wrote on the spur of the moment at the urging of my youngest son.

At the onset of this year I had planned to write two novels; another horror tale entitled The Spectre of Springwell Forest, and a satirical drama called A Statement of Disbelief. I had also planned to pen a collection of science fiction novellas.

I wrote the two novels as planned, but then the afore-mentioned Echo and the White Howl reared its howling head. As a result, the science fiction novellas will now be written next year instead.

All things considered, this year has been good to me on the writing front, particularly given the positive response to both The Thistlewood Curse and Echo and the White Howl. In the case of the latter, the positive response has (so far) come from my youngest son, and since I wrote the book for him, I consider that a big success.