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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.

The complete Triple Stars trilogy box set is released!

Full details here.

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.

The first reviews of new books are always slightly worrying to read – especially when the book is the concluding volume in a series, when (hopefully) lots of readers will be looking for a satisfying conclusion to the story they’ve been following! I’m happy to say the first review of God Star was good:

The scale of this story is breathtaking. The pace is relentless. In this respect it is a classic space opera. But this story has characters who are given opportunities to shine, for us to understand them and the events which have shaped them into what they have become – for good and for for bad. This is what I enjoyed so much. We also get to see the darker side of what happens when Evil is let loose – there are ethical issues explored in the story too. It’s what makes it such an intelligent read. I loved this trilogy so much! I cannot recommend it highly enough!

More here.

Meanwhile, my creative writing MA is kicking off, which I’m thrilled about. I’ve been getting slightly ahead of the game, working through week 1 of the course. The emphasis seems to be very much on getting into the habit of writing – something which I recognize I need to be better at. So, the timing is perfect now that I have more time.

I’ve also been working through ALL the notes and scraps I’ve kept over the years. So many of them! Poems, short stories, novels, snatches of dialogue, nice words, character ideas, random scribblings – it’s all there! I’ve been through and put everything into some sort of order. It took a while, but it was worth doing – hopefully it will all be a really valuable resource.

My urban fantasy/thriller novel The Eye Collectors is published by Elsewhen Press today.

The Eye Collectors

Her Majesty’s Office of the Witchfinder General

Protecting the public from the unnatural since 1645

When Danesh Shahzan gets called to a crime scene, it’s usually because the police suspect not just foul play but unnatural forces at play.

Danesh is an Acolyte in Her Majesty’s Office of the Witchfinder General, a shadowy arm of the British government fighting supernatural threats to the realm. This time, he’s been called in by Detective Inspector Nikola Zubrasky to investigate a murder in Cardiff. The victim had been placed inside a runic circle and their eyes carefully removed from their head.

Danesh soon confirms that magical forces are at work. Concerned that there may be more victims to come, he and DI Zubrasky establish a wary collaboration as they each pursue the investigation within the constraints of their respective organisations. Soon Danesh learns that there may be much wider implications to what is taking place and that somehow he has an unexpected connection. He also realises something about himself that he can never admit to the people with whom he works…

Ebook available now from all good ebook stores, with a print version following in November. Find out more.