Oops! I’ve been happily sharing the wonderful cover for my novel, The Five Turns of the Wheel, and realised I hadn’t even given it a mention here! In my defence, I will say I was buried in edits for the book itself, working on another anthology and trying to fit in Horror Tree’s Trembling With Fear amongst all that. Time to write on my own blog is something that seems to get pushed to the bottom of the list. So I’m remedying that – any excuse to look at the cover again! The artist behind this wonderful work is Kealan Patrick Burke who also created the cover for my novella, Bottled.
A folk horror/dark fantasy, the story revolves around the theme of loss and includes elements of my own experience in this respect. It is the first time I have shared anything from my ‘real life’ in my writing. As I wrote, I didn’t realise how angry I still was about my treatment at that time even though it was so long ago. In the Five Turns of the Wheel, the women in a corner of England known as the Weald. battle to hold onto their children – unborn and adult alike. They are up against three monsters – Tommy, Betty and Fiddler – who appear from the OtherWorld of Umbra to take members of their family as offerings for the rituals of the Five Turns. Are there any winners in this age-old conflict? You’ll have to read to find out. And it’s not long until you can! Roll on October 27th.
One thing I will say, despite the sadness and anger I still carry at my own loss, writing this book was a delight. There were some chapters involving the three creatures I’ve mentioned where I remember just grinning away as I let them rampage around the countryside. I don’t know what it is about them but this world really got its hooks into me.
Publication News Overview
A satanic offering here from me with Family Reunion.
And in other news:
Horror Writer’s Association Poetry Showcase Volume VII. Date TBC. Contains my poem, I am the Corruption.
Weirdbook Magazine Zombie edition. Hopefully November. Another zombie story from me, Life Unworthy of Life.
Kitchen Sink Gothic 2 (Parallel Universe Publications) – date TBC. A reprint of my 70s-set story, The Winter of Discontent. This one is a charity anthology in support of the homeless.
Inferno. Early Dec – date TBC. An anthology from the Infernal Clock, this time edited by myself and Alyson Faye. Featuring stories set in Dante’s Inferno and with a host of well-known names in the indie writing world, we can’t wait to unleash it. Look out for a cover reveal on October 1st and more information soon!
I hope you find something here to read and enjoy. If you do, please let me know. I’d love to hear what you think!
Steph
Stephanie Ellis 
That has to be one of the best covers I’ve seen in a long time. I can’t wait to read it.
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