Cosmic Horror, Ghosts and Gross Hot Dogs

First of all, I would like to welcome all the new subscribers, thanks so much! I hope you find some stuff in the back catalogues etc to read that you enjoy, there is more to come in the future.
I realised I haven’t done much of a writing update here in a little while, so thought I would take the time to do that now.

NOVEL/S UPDATE

I have finished a first draft of something that is currently titled ‘Toll and Spark” which is definitely more of a dark fantasy than a straight up horror novel, as it also has elements of mythology running through it story of grief. It is currently around 130,000 words (which is a bit of a problem!) and I hope to get back to it soon.

Rather than diving straight back into that (THAT WOULD NOT HELP ANYBODY!) I took the time to go back to a previous “finished” novel that I had queried to not much success a few years ago. At the time it was a different story, more of a straight-ahead possession/haunted house story, and when I read through it again after a year or so, themes that I wanted to present around relationships, metamorphosis and femininity (readers I am no way saying I am an expert!) were not as front and centre as I hoped.

I am also querying another novel which I have mentioned here before, called “The Bones Beneath The Skin” which is a religious/cult horror novel. I have had a few bites, which feels positive, but nothing concrete as of yet.

SHORT STORIES UPDATE
What I really have been enjoying lately though, is writing short stories. For a while I felt like I couldn’t get ideas across in a short enough amount of time, but with practice I have managed to get over that fear. I was listening to an episode of the Talking Sacred Podcast where Neil interviewed the great Joe R. Lansdale, who talked about early in his career, writing a new short story every day for a few months, just to get practiced at it and that inspired me a lot
I have included links to Apple Podcasts and Spotify below if you feel like you would want to listen to it. Joe is a RIOT!

In saying all of the above, I have written a lot of short stories lately (including one for the much sought after place in Jamie Flanagan’s Shining/Overlook Anthology) and really enjoyed sharing them with a fellow group of writers for feedback etc—also it was just fucking cool to read what other writers had come up with!!!
While the Overlook story wasn’t successful, how often do you legitimately get a chance to write in Stephen King’s world!!!! I just now have to think of a 3way to rework the idea.
In other news two of my shorts have recently been placed, one published a few days ago on Seven Story Publishing and you can read that here below. Be warned… it’s a story about those horrible petrol station hot dogs and it’s kinda gross!

Two Dollar Dogs

The other story will be produced for a podcast, more details on that to come soon, but I love the idea of an audio version of this story.

Silk-Lined Fiction is the story of a World War One soldier trapped in the trenches of Southern France who hallucinates a quiet, normal life as a noir detective, only to discover that the crime scene he is investigating is a fabrication of his own dying mind.
It’s a cool mixture of detective story and cosmic horror and will hopefully play well in audio form.