Hi all, and happy 2023. I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years break and are looking forward to seeing what this year has to offer. Some warmer weather would be nice, I know.
So, I thought I'd start off with some breaking news. I alluded to this in my last blog, but I can now confirm that alongside Chris Coppel and Ian Backhouse, two talented authors also from the Cranthorpe Millner stable, I will be exhibiting at this year's HorrorCon UK festival. The event will be held at The Magna in Sheffield on the 20th and 21st May, and will include such esteemed attendees as Doug Bradley from Clive Barker's Hellraiser (Pinhead himself) and Jonathan Breck (the Creeper) from Jeepers Creepers. If you have time in your diary (I mean, why wouldn't you?) then why not come up and see us. It would be great to sit and have a coffee and talk all things Luke Raven, genre fiction and anything else that's on your mind (within reason, of course). If you already have one of my books, bring it with you and I'll be happy to sign it. If you haven't (WHAT?), don't worry - I'll have plenty with me.
My next horror novel, 'The Faraway People', is in the bag and out with agents and publishers for consideration and, since the start of this year, I've been crunching away on a variety of short fiction for a number of online magazines. My nautical horror story, 'An Ocean Black', will be published by Scare Street early this year. In fact, we put the finishing touches on the final draft just last week.
Lastly, I've updated the 'Free Reads' section of this website with a story I originally wrote for a kids' anthology which sadly never saw the light of day. It's probably for the best - it's more than a little dark and the ending isn't necessarily happy (depending on your point of view). Anyway, I really liked putting it together, so I thought I'd share it with you guys. The whole thing is there for your reading pleasure. Enjoy.
That's it for now. More to come next month. In the meantime, enjoy yourselves and try to stay warm. Take care all.
SD