Fantasy Author, Science Fictioneer, Writer of Worlds
I’ve been meaning to implement a proper shop on my site for some time, so readers can buy my books directly (and at a lower price) rather than via Amazon etc. Finally, it’s live! All my indie books have an Add to Basket option on them, and there’s also a full-on shop page here.
Implementing this involved a little bit of programming here and there. It turns out I can still remember how to write PHP code! In the end, it was fun – and surprisingly easy.
Now, I just need those customers…
Delighted to report that I’ve just signed a contract with Elsewhen Press for the second Office of the Witchfinder General book. Stay tuned for more details.
Danesh will be returning, pursued by English Wizardry and all manner of other horrors…
Once again, I’m taking part in Loren Eaton’s Advent Ghosts shared storytelling event. The premise is simple: tell a creepy or ghostly tale in exactly 100 words.
My contribution this year is called Moaning Stones.
Carol singers? He’d chosen the cottage to escape everyone, all that hassle and fun. Rented a converted barn set amid lonely moors, miles from everywhere. He’d liked the name too: Moaning Stones. Some nonsense about the nearby circle and legends of ghosts or devils or whatever the hell it was. People were idiots.
It wasn’t even good singing. Five figures wavered through the frosted glass. The tuneless dirge was more like … breathing. Or wailing. Did they expect money? Food? They didn’t even have lights. They just stood, waiting.
The door handle was weirdly, icily cold as he grasped it.
For more hundred-word advent ghost stories, check out Loren’s blog.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, all! As the man said, let’s hope it’s a good one, without any fear.
I’m delighted to be taking part in the Fall into Fantasy (and Sci/Fi) promotion this month, along with thirteen writer friends from the British and Irish Writing Community. There are some high-quality speculative reads to grab for free (my own Home World among them).
The full list of the books is here. Hurry though – this promotion ends November 30th…
I’m also delighted to welcome fellow author Steven McKinnon to this blog – the authors taking part in the promo are hosting interviews with each other to let the world know more about us. Over to the interview with Steven!
Hi, Steven – what do you write and what have you written?
Hello, Simon! Thanks for hosting this Q&A.
I primarily write Epic Fantasy set in an industrialised setting, with machines, airships and guns existing beside swords and magic. I’m currently writing Book 3 of The Raincatcher’s Ballad – the first volume, Symphony of the Wind, was released in 2018 and selected as a finalist in that year’s SPFBO. Some of it’s pretty grim, but the series is about identity, hope and redemption. And squeezing in as many movie and Final Fantasy VII references as I can.
What makes something a uniquely Steven McKinnon book?
Huge action sequences and mounting tension as our heroes face increasingly insurmountable odds, all while their world collapses around them (often literally).
And tell us a bit about your Fall into Fantasy offer…
The Fury Yet To Come is a prequel novella set in the world of The Raincatcher’s Ballad, featuring one of the series’ protagonists, Tyson Gallows. It can be read before or after Symphony. As one reviewer commented, it “Explains Gallows’ piss-on-the-world attitude”. It takes place over a few days, when our hero’s military unit gets pulled into dire straits. Things just get worse from there.
When you’re writing, who do you like to read?
Sometimes I’ll read something close my work in progress’ tone, like Joe Abercrombie’s First Law books or Chris Wooding’s Tales of the Ketty Jay. Joe’s work is definitely the grimmer of the two, but both series have brilliant buddy dynamics, incredible action sequences and a backdrop of political conflict. That’s my jam, right there.
Other times, I’ll go in the opposite direction and read something with a lot more humour, like Terry Pratchett, Gideon Defoe or (for a bit of non-fiction hijinks) humourists like Danny Wallace and Dave Gorman. Sampling different flavours adds a bit of diversity and, I think, stops the writing muscles from getting too stale.
Where else can we find you?
Amazon | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Symphony of the Wind is Steven McKinnon’s first fiction novel, and is Book One of The Raincatcher’s Ballad. Book Two, Wrath of Storms, followed one year later. The Fury Yet To Come is a prequel novella set in the same world.
His first book, the true-life tale Boldly Going Nowhere, was released in 2015.
Steven is 34 years old, and was born in the bathroom of a high-rise flat in Glasgow in March 1986.
He has since moved out.
A big event this week: the release of God Star, the third and final episode of the Triple Stars books, and a work of fiction that I’ve worked on for a number of years.
It’s great to have it out there.
