You’re never too old for a little adventure. That premise was the driving force behind the story of TNTDUK. When Mark Tullius approached me and asked if I would be interested in joining the world of Try Not to Die (a hugely popular and sprawling series of author-written Choose Your Own Adventure® style books), there was no hesitation in my answer: “YES!”
Writing the story was a challenge. I’ve never written anything like it before and had no clue how to go about formatting a book that takes the reader through various choices and pathways. Thankfully, Mark’s knowledge and passion for the series made the collaboration easy, and I believe that we have put something together that will appeal to readers of all ages!
Try Not to Die in the UK
Starting at Loch Ness in Scotland, journey down through the UK on a five-day quest to save the world and restore King Arthur to his throne. Test your wits, choose your path, and try not to die!
Here’s the official description:
Try Not to Die: In the UK is an epic, interactive dark fantasy where every choice you make determines whether you live, die—or fail the world entirely.
Your journey begins in the misty highlands of Scotland and stretches across the haunting beauty of the United Kingdom. From the shadowy waters of Loch Ness to the storm-swept cliffs of Tintagel, ancient forces are awakening. Myths are real. Monsters roam. And time is running out.
You’ve been chosen to undertake a quest like no other: uncover long-buried secrets, survive legendary creatures, and help restore King Arthur to his rightful throne before the world is plunged into eternal darkness.
But nothing is easy in this land of legends. With over a dozen deadly outcomes and five unique endings, every decision could be your last. Will you trust the wrong guide? Take the wrong path? Or rise as the hero destiny demands?
Perfect for fans of Goosebumps®, Choose Your Own Adventure®, and readers who crave darker, bloodier tales packed with danger, myth, and moral consequence.
Test your instincts. Defy your fate. Try Not to Die: In the UK—your adventure begins now.
On the 7th October, I had the incredible pleasure of taking part in the Dundee Horror Con, courtesy of the incredible Northern Frights. This was my first experience being a vendor at any kind of convention or event, so the whole weekend was a wonderful whirl of newness, nerves, and excitement.
Setting up my table the day before the event
We’d arranged to arrive the day before to set up. I came armed with my ghosty table-cloth and a jar of sweets to hand out to passers-by. Afterwards, we went to grab some food and a drink at Mollie Malone’s pub while I tried to settle my nerves. I had an overwhelming feeling that I was out of my depth, and that I wouldn’t sell a single book the next day. But, I reasoned, I was there for the experience. Everything else was a bonus.
The Night Before
Dundee’s dragon statue
Dundee is a beautiful city with lots of ghoulish and unusual things to see. Which is my favourite type of destination. I’m a bit of a “dark tourist” and always hit up Atlas Obscura to make sure I cover all the strange and unusual sites when I visit a new location. I was surprised to stumble across this incredible dragon statue in the town centre! A lovely bonus on top of the chilling Howff Cemetery, the Grissel Jaffray Memorial, and (not quite so dark but fun nontheless) the Lemmings statue.
After a lovely afternoon of exploration, it was time to get a good night’s sleep ahead of the Horror Con itself. I was relatively calm in the morning, finding that the build-up to the event was scarier than actually being there (as things so often are!). There was only one slight hitch in the morning. Upon arrival at the venue my contact lens decided to fold up on itself, then when I tried to fix it it ripped in two and had to be abandoned. If I was squinting strangely at anybody who met me that day, this is the reason! Needless to say, I will be taking spares at all future cons and events!
Dundee Horror Con
The view from my table – fantastic fun!
The event itself was better than I even imagined. Literally every single person who stopped to chat was lovely. When I was having my crisis of confidence the previous day, I set a soft target to sell 5 signed books. We smashed that in the first hour! I also had a lovely moment when I got to sign a book early on for a Janice, which is my mother’s name. Incidentally, my lovely mum had messaged me that morning with a photo of her wearing a The Suffering T-Shirt in support of me being at the event, which gives you a good idea of how kind and thoughtful she is! I’d like to thank anyone who stopped and took a sweet or a business card, chatted about the ghosts, and of course bought the book! I was blown away.
Obligatory event banner pic!
My gratitude also goes out to Laura, who runs Northern Frights pretty much single-handed! She is a huge reason this event was the perfect introduction to me getting into being a vendor as an author and learning the ropes for future events. I can’t wait to attend the next one – I’ll be at Glasgow next year, so please swing by if you can! All of the staff we chatted to were helpful and friendly, and I appreciate you all. It was torrential rain that day, which caused a lot of problems for many. I’m sure you all had your hands full, but you handled it like troopers, and dealt with any problems with class and professionalism.
I also got to meet two other authors who were at the event—John McNee and Bill Davidson. It was fantastic chatting to them both, and I picked up John’s Doom Cabaret and Bill’s The King of Crows. If you haven’t read these authors yet please do check them out. You won’t be disappointed!
Me, over the moon at Dundee Horror Con
After such an incredible event I’ve had a quiet couple of weeks to come back down to earth. I’m currently chipping away at The Suffering sequel and am excited at the thought of attending future Northern Frights events with two books on my table, instead of just the one. But regardless of how many books are out, I cannot wait for the next time. I’ll see you there!
If you spent all your money on the other outstanding stalls at the Dundee Horror Con and would like to check out The Suffering, grab your copy today!
This has been another crazy month full of exciting things. Here’s my run-down of all the latest happenings and September news as the seasons change and we start to get spooky…
The Books of Horror Brawl
The brawl was incredible! It’s still going strong, with the powerhouses that are Nick Roberts, Gage Greenwood, John Durgin, Duncan Ralston, Andrew Van Wey, Felix Blackwell, and Daniel J. Volpe scrapping it out to get to the top spot.
My round was exhilarating, and I was overwhelmed by the lovely comments and insane amount of votes The Suffering picked up! John’s outstanding The Cursed Among Us took the win of course, but I got a crazy 42% of the votes. This blew me away, so thank you to everyone who voted or left a kind comment about it being a tough decision! Best of luck to John for the rest of the competition (and to all the other competitors!).
Bookstagram Awards 2023
What an honour!
I was scrolling through my phone yesterday morning when I discovered that The Suffering has been nominated in the Bookstagram Awards 2023 for Horror Novel of the Year. I’ve had a lot of lovely bookish surprises this year, but this is definitely up there as one of the best! What an honour.
As you can see, it is very tough competition! If you’d like to vote for The Suffering or any of the other amazing books nominated, please visit Daniel J Barnes Facebook page, or message him via Instagram (@djbwriter).
500 Reviews in the US
On the day The Suffering was tussling it out in the brawl, I hit a huge milestone by reaching 500 reviews in the US. I am grateful to everyone who has taken the time to review the book and spread the word. It means the world. We are almost there in the UK, so if you have read the book and haven’t yet left your review, I would appreciate it!
Halloween 10k Run
I am currently in training to run my first ever 10k this Halloween at Lancaster’s Pendle Witches run. So far, I’ve worked my way up to 7k so I’m optimistic I can hit that magic non-stop 10k by the end of October. Best of all…I’ll be running it dressed as Lisa Vaughan! Well, it is Halloween, after all.
Dundee Horror Con
Come and join me on the 7th October at the Dundee Horror Con! This will be my first experience as a vendor, and I am very excited. I’ll be offering up signed books, mugs, T-shirts, postcard packs, stickers, keyrings, and more. Stop by and say hi!
I’ll be the one with the huge ghost banner!
If you can’t make it to Dundee but would like to check out my merch, you can pick up items with your favourite ghost in The Suffering shop! There is more merch to be added soon, including a beautiful new postcard pack that I am very happy to share with you.
I have a feeling my October news is going to be even more exciting than my September news, so watch this space!
Can you believe it? This time next week, the first round of the Books of Horror brawl will have begun. It starts on Tuesday, 5th September which means there is just 1 week to go!
In preparation, I have been running up flights of stairs, psyching out random passers-by with a killer ice-stare, and speed-skipping to stay in the zone. Well, okay, I just bought some boxing gloves and took some fun pics ready for the brawl.
Who, Me?!
But I am psyched! I still can’t believe how this has all played out. Back in March, The Suffering had only been out a couple of weeks when the brawl deadline was set. Authors had until the Sunday night to throw their book into the ring. After which the members of the Books of Horror group would vote on which 32 books they wanted to see go head-to-head.
I didn’t expect to get picked. But I was attempting to be bolder, forcing my introverted ass to put myself out there. Being selected was one of the most shocking things that has ever happened to me, and I have loved every second of being involved in the brawl readings, reviewing, and comments from the incredible BoH community in the months since the draw was revealed.
If you aren’t already a member of Books of Horror but have read many of these awesome books and would love to vote for your favourites, be sure to head to FB and join the Books of Horror community today!
The ghosts of The Suffering want you to suffer in any way possible. Including giving you the hangover from hell! Have the (last) night of your life with The Suffering cocktails!
The Suffering Cocktails
1. Jarvis Rice’s Exposed Brain Shot
Lose your head with Jarvis’s Exposed Brain
Ingredients:
50ml Limoncello
30ml Grenadine
10ml Baileys Irish Cream
A tall shot glass
(Hanging noose optional)
Method
Add the limoncello to the shot glass. Gently pour in the grenadine until it settles at the bottom so you have a layer of red and a layer of yellow. Pour the Baileys into the centre of the limoncello, until you get what looks like a congealed brain (you may not need much!).
Tip: Down this shot in one, as it’s as nasty as Jarvis Rice himself!
2. Lisa Vaughan’s Bloated Corpse Float
Share it with your horde
Ingredients:
280ml lemonade
50ml Curacao
25ml Dark Rum
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
Serve in a pint glass
Method
Pour the Curacao into the pint glass. Gently add the lemonade, leaving plenty of room at the top of the glass (Lisa likes to make a squall). Add the dark rum and watch it darken the stormy seas. Finish by placing a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and batten down the hatches!
3. Connor Rourke’s Vertigo Vertical Cocktail
You won’t be able to get up the stairs after a few of these!
Ingredients:
200ml Apple Juice
25ml Irish Whiskey
10ml Blue Curacao
Stirrer (a chopstick or straw is fine)
Be careful on the stairs
Method
Set your glass up in a precarious position on the stairs. Add curacao. Carefully pour in apple juice, followed by the whiskey, and gently swirl the drink with a chopstick or drink stirrer so the colour changes to green.
4. Anthony Pile’s Hellfire & Brimstone Hangover
Let Anthony take you straight to hell with this decadent drink of the devil
Ingredients:
25ml Violet Gin
25ml Vodka
125-150ml Tonic Water, depending on how evil you want to be
Champagne flute
A few stolen coins as garnish
Method
Light a candle. Add the violet gin and vodka to the champagne flute. Chant to Pluto. Gently pour in the tonic water. Descend into your cave and sip.
5. Po’s Peruvian Sunrise Slammer
You’ll want Po to rip your head in two the next morning
Ingredients:
50ml Cointreau
100ml Pineapple Juice
5ml Grenadine
Short tumbler
Stones for protection
Method
Mix the pineapple juice and the Cointreau (don’t shake too much or it will go frothy and Po will get angry). Add the grenadine so it sinks to the bottom and creates the sunrise. Using a straw or a chopstick, give it a gentle swirl so some of the grenadine bleeds into the pineapple juice. Po likes it when things bleed.
If you’re not already suffering with the hangover from hell after drinking all of the ghosts’ favourite cocktails, why not spend a day relaxing with a book. If you haven’t already picked it up, you can get your copy of The Suffering at Amazon US, Amazon UK and other international stores. The Suffering is also available at Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and other top retailers.
That was the dilemma faced by Cassie, Pete, Lance, and Tad, when they first moved into Brackenby House. And it wasn’t too much of a dilemma at the time. The house was famous in the local area, and it had featured in a few dark history books, but the students were sceptical about the rumours that the home was still haunted. Their friend Kyle (housemate and son of the current homeowner) liked to tell them regularly that his distant relative, the psychic Lucius Holgrove, had managed to banish the ghosts within the walls of Brackenby House after the séance massacre of 1876. So they accepted Kyle’s offer of low rent and the 5 of them settled into both university life and Brackenby in no time. That is until Halloween night 2016, when the group decide it will be fun to hold a séance of their own. Nothing bad will happen – not in this day and age. Right?
Plus, the jury was still out on what really happened that fateful night back in 1876. Did Lucius’s séance really pull forth 5 cursed ghosts from hell in order to fulfil a spell found in an ancient book? Did the hapless group of wealthy merchants and professionals, guests of Brackenby’s then-owner, Professor Josiah Grant, really die gruesome deaths at the hands of each of the ghosts? Or was Lucius the only survivor for another reason. A reason no-less dark. After spending months in jail awaiting trial, and then being freed into a sanitorium, Lucius was finally freed. The judge and jury hesitantly agreed – surely one young man couldn’t have been responsible for the carnage discovered at the house. A house that would claim another victim, when Lucius leapt from a cliff to his death shortly after being released. Victorian newspaper records detailed the initial carnage, Lucius’s graphic and terrifying testimony, and the news of his untimely death all too thoroughly. The séance was dubbed The Suffering, a sensationalist name that had lasted, almost 150 years later.
Kyle loves to big-up his distant uncle and his astonishing abilities not only to resurrect the dead but to send them back to whence they came. But trying to emulate him for a Halloween party trick doesn’t go the way he’d hoped. Now, the 5 ghosts are released back in the house: Jarvis Rice, a 17th century executioner who framed men for murder so he could get the thrill of killing twice. Connor Rourke, who died falling from the rafters of the grain factory he stole from, his footsteps a constant echo along Brackenby’s landing. Anthony Pile, a member of the Hellfire Club who struck a deal with the devil so he could keep his ill-gotten riches in the afterlife. Lisa Vaughan, a fortune teller who cursed the sailors who visited her, forcing them to jump into the sea and join her deadly hoard halfway through their next sail. And, most terrifying of all, the ancient pre-Incan giant, Po. Rumour has it Po has nothing in his eye sockets, and 3 eyes on his forehead. And he’s now residing in Brackenby’s basement.
Each of the ghosts latches onto one of the students, the individual hauntings driving them all to the brink. But the students soon learn that they can’t leave Brackenbury. When they do, the people around them are at risk, and the ghosts only grow stronger. Only Kyle’s uncle Caleb can help. Unlike their distant ancestor, Lucius, Caleb isn’t dashing, charming, or remotely psychic. But, as gruff and rude as he is, Caleb has his uses. He’s been trying to get to the bottom of the house’s secrets for years. And he may just have found a solution that turns the reported history of the séance on its head. The housemates must each do battle with their own individual ghost. But not all of them can make it out alive…
The Suffering, published by Wicked House Publishing – coming soon!
