I have been remiss with my updates lately, especially as the pre-order links for my new novel, The Barricade, are up – plus I’ve had a few interviews with folk talking about the book! Scroll down to see the links to interviews with Happy Goat Horror and Horror Realms.
Sometimes you get so busy with your next project, that you don’t realise the time passing. I wrote this book back around 2020, writing in parallel with a folk horror – I think it was The Woodcutter. From my records, I subbed it to two publishers, it got rejected, and then I left it for a while. Then I tried agents, again crickets. And then I left it, faffing about whether to self-publish or try again, and with me, that can actually take years! When I was on X/Twitter, I had one of my moments and decided to try PitDark. Cue one request to see mss from an agent, then nothing, and then the lovely people of Lycan Valley Press asked if it was still available and here we are. I think what this tells me is I should actually make a bigger push at getting my work out, upping the number of submission attempts but I do find that a bit soul-destroying … and so the years pass. Advice to other writers out there? Keep subbing, but yes, get the balance right for you. Rejection takes a toll and the nature of this industry is that rejection is normal. It happens to everyone, even the biggest names were rejected on numerous occasions!
Now it’s The Barricade’s time, it was only waiting for this moment.
A pre-order package is available here.
When the world threatened to end, a select few went into an underground complex and left those above to survive any way they could. Scientist Faith Hamilton and her grown daughter Josie are two of the abandoned. A Barricade around the entrance to the bunker ensures those below would never be allowed out. Twenty years later they start hearing strange voices, seeing shadows within. Those below start to appear in the inner circle of the Barricade asking to be let out. Those above still refuse. Faith and her friends discover it hasn’t isolated them as they thought, that in fact there has been communication and manipulation by those underground all this time.
Early praise for the book:
“Stephanie Ellis worms her way under your skin with The Barricade, a monstrously grim dystopian tale exposing the human condition with all its frailties. Uncovering themes of abandonment, trauma, and mental health, The Barricade examines exactly how far we might be prepared to go to survive the impossible, both as individuals and as a species. Provocative and compelling.” —Lee Murray, five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Grotesque: Monster Stories
“In The Barricade, Ellis presents the worst kind of dystopia: one which is all too believable, especially in the actions of the few who remain. With a diverse cast, and a compellingly underrepresented choice of protagonist, the author’s unique voice and perspective bring this post-apocalyptic world to chilling life.” –Kev Harrison, author of Shadow of the Hidden.
“With The Barricade, Stephanie Ellis has created a story where the strength of older women is celebrated. Topics usually shied away from, such as menopause, are part of the story just as they are part of everyday life for many of us. Her heroines are human, and it’s the limitations they overcome that make them special. A riveting story that doesn’t flinch from the worst in us and, in spite of this, somehow left me feeling stronger. An empowering narrative that will lodge in your thoughts for a long while.” —Angela Yuriko Smith, 2x Bram Stoker Award® Winner
Stephanie Ellis 
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