Blog Post

The Books of Horror Brawl – 1 Week to Go!

Getting brawl-ready!

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.

I’m over the moon that the ghosts of The Suffering have resonated with so many of you.

Books of Horror Brawl Round 1 Schedule

Here is the schedule for the first round:

The first head-to-head begins on 5th September

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!

Want to know why The Suffering made it into the brawl? Pick up your copy now!

Just For Fun

Get The Hangover from Hell with The Suffering Cocktails

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.

Click here to learn more about the Ghosts of The Suffering!

Uncategorized

Would you want to live in a haunted Victorian murder house?

How about if the rent was dirt cheap?

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!

Next up: Meet The Suffering Ghosts! Which one will haunt you?