January Update

January is proving to be a busy month! A good distraction following a recent loss and some other, unrelated, stress factors. I started off by recording an interview on the Unveiling Nightmares podcast with Crystal Baynam. It’s not available yet from what I can see but hopefully soon. I’m also on two online panels and it’d be great (albeit nerve-wracking) if you came along!:

British Fantasy Society

I’ll be taking part in the first panel of the day (so I’ll have to be up early!).

‘Panel 1 (10:15–11am): Fairytales, Gods & Monsters. A discussion on how myths and legends inspire works of fantasy and horror. Why do the old stories still fascinate us? How do we keep them fresh and new? Join moderator PS Livingstone and panellists Stephanie Ellis, Shauna Lawless and Wole Talabi as they chat about the fairytales, gods and monsters that awaken their imaginations. Find out more about our guests in this panel.’

Much of my own inspiration, particularly as I develop a certain thread of folk horror, has been delving into Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and especially, Norse, mythology. These old tales are fascinating and ripe for retelling or incorporating into fiction, provided you avoid tropes which have been done to death. I mean, I love Loki, but he’s everywhere these days!

Tickets are available here.

Writing the Occult

This panel is more familiar territory for me as we dive into ritual and how it is used within our writing. Those of you have read my folk horror novels, The Five Turns of the Wheel, Reborn, and The Woodcutter, will have come across enough examples of ritual to see that it does provide a pivotal role in my tales.

But ritual is never there for the sake of it, it has to have a purpose otherwise it is gratuitous.

Come along, at a very civilised hour, to join us.

Tickets are here.

To get you in the mood for a ritual, here’s a short reading I recorded for The Five Turns of the Wheel. Come join the Dance at the First Turn of the Wheel.

I was well-wrapped up when I recorded the above as it was – and still is – freezing in Wrexham.

What else for January?

Mothers Night (Rise of the Hare Witch), the third of my Five Turns novels, is now with a trusted beta reader so I’m trying to focus on tying up a couple of poetry projects and then start a completely different type of book. It’s one I wrote a couple of chapters for a few years back, intended to get back to last year but didn’t, so I’m diving into it again now. I was going to leave it until February but I actually started adding to it and enjoying myself. It’s not horror, it’s an alternative history/murder mystery with humour and considering everything, it’s been good to chuckle as I write.

There are plans for more ‘dark’ tales and a new individual poetry project but I think these are enough to be getting on with.

Signed Books!

I have a number of signed author copies (well, they will be once I’ve actually done it!) which I will be selling through my website in some way. Currently working out price/postage but details soon. Word of warning, it may just be for the UK at the moment, unless someone wants to pay the price of posting abroad, which I know is not cheap.

Happy reading everyone,

Steph