It seems like I’ve been banging on about “upcoming” new works since 2016 and here I am…still banging on about upcoming works.  Over the last weeks and month, I’ve began the laborious task of going through files on my external drive stick I had somewhat of a mental block going near, let alone picking up the work and take it forward.  That was hurdle Number One cleared and it wasn’t nearly as horrible as I thought it would be.  It rarely is, I guess.

My immediate project is my upcoming..(there I go again!) novella The Locked Room, which is a project I’ve spent the best part of two years on and

it will be the first release of Strange Days Press (SDP), which is my own and new publishing label.  SDP’s website is currently under some construction changes, it needed some tweaks for ordering services and certain other facilities and the novella itself is also receiving a little polish and TLC in hair and makeup before it moves towards a release date.  I have no firm date for this right now, but it will be early 2019.  So behind the scenes, my minions are slaving away for minimum wage to try and help me make this happen and produce a quality product and a solid platform to launch it from.

Lurking in my notes and ideas, files and musings, I stumbled upon a small piece of flash fiction that I had forgotten about and to be honest, can’t remember writing.  It has popped up on my blog before but here it is again.

That’s it for now, but I’ll be back as matters make progress and I finally move towards announcing the launch venue for The Locked Room, dates and pre-order details for the book.

My humble and eternal thanks as always to those reading and supporting my work.

//Jonathan

                                                                    NIGHT OWL

He likes to stay a while.  Not too long, but just enough to take it.  What he wants.  What he covets. What he craves. Watching them sleep from the shadows, his cloak is made of a strange magic and he uses it well.

It seems like a hundred years since I released my debut short story collection Urban Chiller, when it was only 2015.  My writing style has evolved and grown to something different now, but I’ll always have a soft spot for some of the tales in it.  Below is a piece of flash fiction from Urban Chiller.

              THE VISITOR

She comes to me in the night as I lie awake in the thick darkness of the room, the changing neon display of my bedside alarm clock the only true sign I have that time has not completely stopped.

I hear the curtains by the window rustle and the now familiar padding of her feet across the carpet. She slips under the sheets effortlessly like she is summer breeze. Her touch is light as she cuddles up to me and I slip my arm under her head and hold her shoulder gently. She feels like porcelain in my fingers. She’s my very own porcelain doll.

The first time she came I was terrified. I yelled out and shrieked as I saw the curtain move. Her shadow appeared inexplicably and seemingly from nowhere from behind the curtain of a window that was locked tight. I fought against her the first time in panic, thinking I was lost somewhere between consciousness and a nightmare, that nether land of confusion and false images, tricks of a broken mind.

That first time she told me in whispers that she meant me no harm; but that she was cold and had been walking a long time. She asked to lay with me in bed and when I began to calm down, I let her in. Although I only ever see her silhouette, she reminds me of Sarah, my Sarah.  I cannot see her features in the dark of the room, but her skin feels just like hers and the scent of her hair is the same, before the cancer that ravaged her body took her away from me.  Forever.

When I first held her close, I asked her if she is Sarah, but she doesn’t answer. She never answers. She just says she is cold and tired.  After a while, I stopped asking. She doesn’t talk much but sometimes she whispers of others, others just like her. Shadows that move around close by, they just choose not to show themselves.  I ask her who they are. She pauses and says she doesn’t know. She just calls them the bright ones and says they are looking for her and that they offer her light and shelter if only she’ll go with them.

She also says there are…others.  Ones who do not shine; ones with dark in their hearts and they look for her, too.  They promise her things, great things. They promise her anything and everything if only she’ll take their hand and follow.  She seems afraid when she talks about them, I can hear her fear. It’s hidden in her whispers.

The house is dark, even in daylight, and each night I go to bed to wait for her, whoever she may be. When I hear that now familiar rustle of the curtains and that padding of her feet across the carpet in the dead of the night, I feel my heart skip over a beat as she slides in between the sheets, and into my arms again.  But she is always cold. So very cold.

One day she will stop coming and I’ll know that she’s chosen her path. I’ll be left alone again, in the dead of the night, without her.  When the silence is too great and the darkness too dark, maybe I too will choose a path.

A path away from the dead of the night.

Jonathan Wood

It’s been a long time since I checked in and updated my blog and that’s been for a number of reasons, but I can now offer some news on my upcoming works, particularly the release of my novella The Locked Room, which has been long in production.

The final cut of the novella is now complete and, as those who follow my work will know, will be the first release under my own publishing label Strange Days Press, which I founded last year.  Strange Days Press has it’s own website and details will be released via the site of the release date for The Locked Room, along with pricing and ordering information as soon as I know more.  But I’m aiming for the 8th November 2017 as the official release date.

I will, in the coming months, be working with the artist commissioned for the cover and formatting processes and there will be a Limited Edition hardback version of the book, along with paperback and kindle versions.

I am steadily working on a number of other projects right now, including a number of short stories, one of which I have set out in the Swedish countryside of Tångeråsa, where my wife is from.  It has the working title “Ferox Aper”  (Wild Boar in Latin) and I hope will offer something a little different and a nice mix of black comedy, a few scares and some sideways analogies of a silly Englishman from the city who finds himself caught up in the event of a mythical giant Hog on the loose in the Swedish wilds!

That’s it for now and I’ll post more details here in the coming months as The Locked Room gets closer to it’s publication schedule.

A big thanks to those reading, following and supporting my work, it’s truly appreciated.

Have a great summer

/Jonathan

Just a short update to confirm I now have artist Carolyn Craggs on board to provide the front cover for my upcoming novella The Locked Room.  I’ve been in talks with Carolyn for a little while, having seen her portfolio through Instagram, (which is great) so I’m delighted she’s going to be involved in the project and designing the front cover.

Now that I have Tracey F Poist on board for editing duties, securing a good artist was the next piece of the puzzle.

The novella is on track for completion in the next few months before it enters the editing process.

In time, I’ll be doing a feature on Carolyn and her work via the blog at Strange Days Press.

That’s it for now.

/Jonathan

I remember feeling emotionally exhausted reading Adam Nevill’s last offering No One Gets Out Alive (NOGOA hereafter) which put me through the wringer almost much as the main character in the novel.  But being a fan of Adam Nevill’s work, I found myself coming back for more with his latest offering, LOST GIRL.

There’s something that makes me deeply uncomfortable about the subject matter here and (surely every parents worst nightmare) is confronted head on with a desperate man, referred to as “The Father” in the book, searching relentlessly for his missing, abducted daughter in a near-future world ravaged by climate change, socioeconomic breakdown and the world on the brink of collapse.

Source: The Locked Room and other things

Since just before the Christmas break, I began working on a new novella which I have had plotted out for quite some time.  With the working title The Locked Room I hope to have it finished by late summer and ready to go to market by the end of the year both as paperback and kindle editions.  There will be a limited number of signed copies also.

The Locked Room is without question the most ambitious piece of work I’ve attempted thus far and it’s certainly proving to be a testing challenge.

Additionally, I have to be a little coy right now, but I hope to have some other news within the next few months regarding my work.  Something I feel quite excited about.

Finally, I have decided to step back from being so active on social media and limit my posts to mainly promote my writing and that of some of my peers with recommendations and reviews.  In short, I felt I needed to step back from the distracting and often irritating white noise of social media.  I trimmed a number of connections on Facebook and should you have found yourself “unfriended”, it’s certainly nothing personal.  If you are interested in still following my work, please do add me again and I’ll be only too happy to connect with you.  I truly value the interest and support.

That’s it for now, but I’ll post more in the near future on The Locked Room and other projects I have in the mix.

Best wishes for 2016 from me.

/Jonathan

It’s been a while since I posted here and I’m slowly grinding away at the current projects I have on my desk. I recently completed a short tale titled “White Faces” and I’m currently running this through it’s final polishing and beta tests.  I attempted something a little different with this story and it’s a little bit left of field from my usual style.

I am also on the lookout for a suitable anthology for my short tale “Crawlers” which is now the finished article.  Regrettably, I haven’t seen the right opportunity for this pulpy tale of a man being driven crazy by the infestation of strange looking cockroaches that try to overrun his apartment.

I still have two novellas in the mix, (Working titles“The Locked Room” and “Wish” and also my debut novel “Dark Places”). I have labelled July 2016 as a final completion date for the novellas.

My sincere hope is to find a home for these as well as my completed short tales, going forward. After a very difficult year, I’m regaining some hope and confidence in my writing.  And right now, that’s all I can ask for.

Jonathan

I don’t get too many visitors around here.  I think it’s the dried blood on the door handle and the pungent waft of offal that puts people off…

Anyway, my mate and fellow scribbler Rich Hawkins stopped by for a cup of cold coffee, a piece of cake and to answer some questions.

I met Rich through social media a few years back and meeting fellas like him reminds me why I still persist with social media. Rich is a good lad and a promising new voice in the genre.

Rich released his novel The Last Plague last year through Crowded Quarantine Publications and it was well received.  The word on the street is he’s working on a sequel.   Rich has also just released his novella Black Star Black Sun from April Moon Books which is now available for Kindle and Paperback.

So, on with the interrogation:

(Q) I’ve often felt as a writer the horror genre is misunderstood.  What attracts you to the genre as a reader and writer and what do you think of the label “horror”?

As a writer, the sheer possibilities of the genre appeal to me. Horror can be found anywhere, from something as fantastic as a Lovecraftian beast from outer space to something as ‘ordinary’ as an abused spouse. I’ve always been fascinated by ‘cosmic horror’, the idea of the universe as fundamentally hostile and uncaring to humans.

As a reader, much the same, especially when some of the best writers alive today are writing in the horror genre.

There is a certain snobbery towards the label ‘horror’, even from some in the genre itself…but sod ‘em. Let them call it whatever they want. It’s still horror.

(Q) What are you views on the self-publishing revolution within the industry and have you embraced the Kindle as a reader and consumer?

 I’ve never self-published and don’t plan to any time in the near future, but I have no problem with self-publishing and the massive amounts of self-published books now on the market. Some are excellent, some are good, and some are shit, just like traditionally published books. It all depends how much time, effort and skill is put into the book. Good front covers help, too.

I love my Kindle – I’ve found so many new writers through it that would have remained unknown to me if it weren’t for digital publishing, and it’s really helped to get my own work out there.

As Jordan and Peter Andre once sang – ‘It’s a whole new world’. Sorry…

(Q) How would you best describe your own work and what would you describe as your greatest achievement to date with your writing?

I struggle to describe my own work without sounding too pretentious. I try to make my stories bleak and dark; and I think a lot of my pessimistic, cynical nature bleeds into my writing.

Yeah, I sound pretentious…

I’ll always have a soft spot for my debut novel ‘The Last Plague’, no matter what happens in the future. And it hasn’t done too bad for itself, I suppose.

(Q) As a modern day hack, many of us struggle to juggle writing, holding down a day job and daily/family life.  Describe any given day at the Hawkins household and how you incorporate writing into your routine?

A usual day comprises of working my day job from 6 am till 2.30 in the afternoon, then once I’m home and knackered from hauling trolleys of milk from lorry trailers, I try to get some writing done between helping to look after the baby and any household jobs that need doing. Usually once my daughter’s gone to bed in the evening I have a couple of hours to write. It’s difficult, but I don’t have a choice. I have to write.

(Q) With the whole social media phenomenon, access to other authors is relatively commonplace these days.  What are your views on exposure to readers and other writers?   Have you ever crossed swords with another author for any reason?

I think it’s good for authors to talk to readers and other writers on social media. It’s a lonely job, so it helps to be in contact with other writers. I’ve had a falling out or two with other writers, but nothing serious. It happens. People will always disagree on certain things.

(Q) Many authors struggle with negative reviews for a variety of reasons.  What are your views generally on receiving negative reviews?

They used to really bother me and make me question my competence as a writer, but over the last year or so, and since the release of The Last Plague, I’ve realized it’s pointless to worry about bad reviews; I can use that energy to write instead. To be honest, I’m just grateful to get reviews.

(Q) Have you ever had the dreaded “creative block” and what do you do to tackle it?

I struggle to get through lean periods when writing seems pointless, especially when the black dog is sitting next to me and telling me I’m useless. All I can do to get through is to wait it out until it passes. And it does eventually. That’s the only good thing about it.

(Q) We have previously talked about the awkwardness that accompanies self-promoting our own work, which is essential for indie writers without a publisher or agent behind them.  How do you handle marketing and promotion?

I really struggle with promotion. It makes me feel cheap. The internet, especially Facebook and Twitter, is teeming with spammers who have no problem spunking Amazon links all over the place. Which, in itself, is not such a bad thing, but when it’s done every day without respite it becomes tiresome. I try to do some promotion once a week, in the way of posting links to my work. I’m also trying to blog more and see if it helps. Crowded Quarantine Publications, who published ‘The Last Plague’ have done a great job of promoting the book, by placing adverts in horror magazines, and ezines, so that’s definitely helped gain exposure for it.

I think the best thing you can do is just write and hope people enjoy what you’ve created and that word-of-mouth will do the rest. Maybe a lot of it is just luck.

(Q) Describe your writing style and how you feel you have honed your craft as a writer since you began writing?

I’m not sure I have a style, to be fair. A lot of it depends on the story. I try not to be too ‘flowery’ with my prose. Hopefully I’ve improved since those early days of sending off submissions to literary agents in the forlorn hope they’d take me on. I feel that I’ve tightened up my writing and improved the way I structure sentences. I just have to keep improving.

(Q) Do you believe an elitism culture exists within the mainstream industry, in that an acclaimed author who has a solid reputation behind them can knock out a dud and still achieve publication with mainstream publishers/anthologies because their name sells books?  Or do you believe all work is judged on its individual merits regardless?

Oh, definitely – big names sell books. I wish it were different, but it is what it is.

(Q) Who are the authors you most admire and why?

There are many, but if I had to name a chosen few it’d be David Moody, Wayne Simmons, Adam Nevill, Gary McMahon, Laird Barron, Tim Curran, Conrad Williams, and HP Lovecraft. They’re all great storytellers, and for different reasons, but they all have in common the skill to draw in a reader and keep them enthralled with the story. I’ve met David and Wayne a few times before, and they’re great blokes full of advice and encouragement.

There are also a lot of new and lesser-known writers coming through. They have big futures. I think the horror fiction genre is in good hands at the moment.

(Q) What are you currently working on and do you have any planned release dates for any new material?

At the moment I’m working on the sequel to The Last Plague, currently titled ‘The Last Outpost’. I’ve nearly finished the first draft, and it’s probably the hardest thing I’ve had to write. It’s been a struggle, but there are harder jobs and I’m not complaining. I’m also preparing a supernatural novel called ‘Sacred Relic’, which I hope to have done by the summer.

My novella ‘Black Star, Black Sun’ has just been released by April Moon Books, and I’ve got some short stories appearing in anthologies in the next few months.

You can keep up with  Rich at his blog at http://richwhawkins.blogspot.co.uk and also find his books by visiting the following links:

I’ve been raving about Adam Nevill for ages.  And in a good way.   Ever since I picked up his earlier novel “The Ritual”, I’ve been hooked on the guy.  Adam is one of the torch carriers of horror, for me and always hits that glorious sweet spot of combining genuinely frightening tales with thoughtful character driven plot, and he does it with originality too.