It’s been a busy month here in June, but there has been lots of exciting news, including hitting review targets, podcast interviews, and an exciting new deal.
300 Reviews in the US and the UK
My biggest goal for June was to reach 300 reviews for The Suffering in the US, and hopefully the UK, by the end of the month. I’m happy to report that it’s now the final day of June and I have 342 reviews in the US and 317 in the UK, well and truly smashing that goal!
I’m blown away by the amount of people that are reading the book and taking the time to review, and I’m very grateful to everyone who has done so. My fellow Wicked House author, Blaine Daigle, also let me know about another goal I had no idea about, which is the amount of people who have the book on their “to read” shelf in Goodreads. Blaine was celebrating reaching 1k, which is amazing! As of writing, The Suffering is on 932 people’s Goodreads shelf, so perhaps we can reach the magic 1k in July!
Audiobook Deal
Some more exciting news from June. A deal has been made to turn The Suffering into an audiobook! I have to thank Wicked House Publishing for making these incredible steps to put the book out there and I can’t wait to hear it when it’s complete. These things do take time, and we are in the process of confirming a voice actor so there is no definitive date as of yet.
Podcasts
This month, I had the pleasure of appearing on 3 podcasts. The first was with The HORRORific Podcast, which was a bit of a baptism of fire as it went out on a live stream on YouTube! I had a lot of fun with Colin, and you can check out the interview here. I’m looking forward to doing more with HORRORific soon so watch this space!
I also chatted with Vince Midgard for his The Dark Mind podcast, and this interview is due to be released on the 4th July. Vince had read The Suffering and pre-prepared the most thoughtful and engaging questions that were a pleasure to consider and answer. I am excited to hear how the chat turns out!
It was also lovely to chat with Oaky Tyree on her Tell Me About Your Book show. This will be available on Spotify (as will all of the above mentioned podcasts) soon.
Negative Space 2: A Return to Survival Horror
One of my favourite editing experiences has been working with Aric Sundquist at Dark Peninsula Press for the first Negative Space anthology, which featured my story, Six Weeks. I’m thrilled to announce that my short horror, Monastery Blood Moon, appears in Dark Peninsula’s latest release, Negative Space 2: A Return to Survival Horror. This was a fun story to write, and with Aric’s invaluable input it became one of my absolute favourites. The band Piss on a Gremlin are used to playing sleazy venues and that’s just how they like it. But when they are hired at the last minute to play at an art installation at the local abandoned monastery, they can’t really turn the money down. With a new look, a tamed-down setlist, and definitely a temporary new band name, Tidy Angela and the gang are on their best behaviour. That is until the installation of mirrors catches the red light during that night’s blood moon and opens a portal that releases nightmarish creatures into the monastery. It’s time for them to get back to being punk rock and use their instruments as weapons in order to survive the onslaught…
Books of Horror Brawl T-shirt
I’ve spoken before about my absolute shock at being chosen in the top 32 books to appear in this year’s Books of Horror brawl. This amazing group has been incredible, and I’m blown away by the support and encouragement all of the readers, authors, and admins have given me in this last few months. It all became even more exciting this week when I received my brawl T-shirt! Tiffany worked tirelessly with the design, manufacture, and posting of the shirts, and I couldn’t be more pleased. It’s like a band T-shirt, but with our books and names on the back:
It’s an honour to have my name amongst the greats that are featured in the brawl this year. It officially takes place in September, and I know it’s going to be a lot of fun. If you love horror books, don’t hesitate to join Books of Horror and come and say hi!