It’s been a while since my last short story collection (The Reckoning), and a lot has happened since then – including a growing body of shorter fiction which needed gathering in one place. In Devil Kin, I’ve mixed 6 previously published tales with 13 new ones, including a novelette. All, I believe, are amongst the strongest works I’ve written and range from gothic to folk horror to body horror and scifi/dystopian, and even some dark humour. With regard to the latter, I will happily admit to a soft spot for “The Book of Skin” which allowed me to have a chuckle with a pompous poet wandering the moors, though not quite as lonely as a cloud …

Catherine McCarthy, author of Immortelle, had these kind words to say ‘Devil Kin is a generous collection of folk horror and sci-fi/dystopian shorts, some of which have been previously published in anthologies while others are brand new. There truly is something for everyone here, and Ellis proves her strength at both genres.’ Go here for the full review.

Publication Date: 15th May

Pre-order here: https://books2read.com/u/mqe2Pd

For this book, I’ve decided to go wider for the ebook and so it is not part of Kindle Unlimited at amazon. Setting it up at different sites has been a learning experience! It may be that in the future I also move away a bit from amazon for the print version but one step at a time!

Ebook is available via amazon, Kobo and Barnes&Noble.

Print book will be available via amazon.

Table of Contents:

Dog Rose and Devilkin
Phantom
From the Mist
The Family Way
Moulting*
The Book of Skin
Suspended
Platform of the Righteous
Romany Rose*
Rat’s Alley
Family Reunion*
Milking Time*
Better to Close Your Eyes
To See with the Eyes of God
Cry me a River*
Skin to Skin
Unravelling*
The Last Word They Always Say
Of Blood and Stone (novelette)

*previously published

We knew that we had something special when we started to receive feedback from our earliest readers:

Their words have been reward enough for this little book which was truly a labour of love.

Foundlings is available via https://mybook.to/Foundlings

My bio-horror novella, Paused has picked up some fantastic recognition since its publication. Most recently, I was delighted to discover it has been awarded Scribble’s Worth Book Reviews Best Plot of the Year. https://scribblesworth.wordpress.com/2023/01/08/book-awards-2022/

First published via Silver Shamrock before the publisher closed, it found a new home and new cover with Brigids Gate Press (left).

Want to know what it’s about?

A terrifying pandemic sweeps the world, rendering its victims completely immobile but leaving them conscious with their minds intact. The victims are helpless against the environment, completely at the mercy of wild animals, weather, out of control fires, and other dangers. There’s no hope for those safe in their homes either, as they slowly starve to death, unable to feed themselves or drink.

Dr. Alex Griffiths leads a team racing against time to find a cure before it’s too late. Will he succeed?

I started writing this well before there was even a hint of the covid pandemic, my story being triggered by a what-if? moment after reading an article about locked-in syndrome. To be afflicted in this manner struck me as being possibly one of the worst things which could happen to a person. The idea of the ‘thinking cap’ is also developed from another article which talked about the possibility of reading thoughts becoming a reality, although this science is in its infancy. I love to find something in science, a possibility, and take it further. Sometimes I’ve even developed an idea and then found there is some truth in it after I’ve followed that train of thought – and I don’t know whether to be pleased – or frightened! – to discover that my ’cause’ for this particular pandemic has some basis in truth. If I mention what that aspect is, I give the story away, so I apologise, but you could always pick up a copy!

This Christmas, treat yourself to some cut-price ebooks and even a freebie as a Christmas thank you!

As the Wheel Turns – More Tales from the Weald is my folk horror short story collection set in the Five Turns world. It takes you through a year of rituals. From today and for 6 more days, it is down to 0.99.

https://mybook.to/AsTheWheelTurns

Poetry bonanza

Xmas Freebie! My twisted nursery rhyme collection, One, Two, I See You, is free from 12am Dec 21 – 11.59pm Dec 25th. https://mybook.to/OneTwoISeeYou

And watch out for poetry ebook sale! Starting 8am Dec 26th – 2nd Jan: Metallurgy, Foundlings & Lilith Rising will be down to 0.99 (US/UK).

https://mybook.to/Metallurgy

https://mybook.to/Foundlings

https://mybook.to/LilithRising

This has been a lovely way of seeing out a year which was initially fraught with publishing difficulty until the wonderful Brigids Gate Press came along.

The past few months have seen a real focus on both folk horror and poetry in writing and publication terms.

In the world of folk horror, I have been able to share Reborn, the upcoming sequel to The Five Turns of the Wheel with people. It’s currently available on Netgalley for review and is also up for pre-order here. It’s already picking up some great reviews:

‘This is a world of monsters. Stephanie Ellis takes us back into the Weald, refining and deepening a world she created. The world building is sensational, the imagery is magical, the characters alive with nuance …’ – Coy Hall, author of The Grimoire of the Four Imposters

I recently did my first online workshop (Darkness In the Fields), on how to turn the landscape into character in folk horror, which went reasonably well despite some technical difficulties at the start and a few nerves! If you missed this, then Alex Davis has another folk horror day lined up for March 2023, Darkness in the Fields 2, amongst many other workshop and online event opportunities.

This Sunday, I took part in Buzz Book Expo as part of the Brigids Gate Team and read an excerpt from another upcoming novel, The Woodcutter, which is due out in Jan. 2023.

I gave a sneak preview of the cover in progress which I share here together with the synopsis:

This reunion occurs against the backdrop of incomer Oliver Hayward’s scheme to raise money for the village by re-enacting part of the Woodcutter legend – a scheme hiding Hayward’s own murderous intentions. Old wounds are re-opened and ties of blood and friendship are tested to the extreme – when the Woodcutter is summoned and Grandma returns.

In addition to the folk horror, my poetry collaboration with Shane Douglas Keene, Lilith Rising, has finally gone up for pre-order here. This work started during lockdown and was batted back and forth across the pond over a period of some months, often with long breaks between but what appeared is something we are both extremely proud of! This is a true tale of revenge.

What else is happening? Things! I’ve a gothic horror novella out on submission and am currently 40000+ words into a new novel, Women of the Witch Eye. This is a dark historical mystery novel set in 1649 Lancashire, with a focus on murder and witchcraft and the social and political upheaval of the time. There is also a new poetry project developing …

As I wait for my books to be re-released via Brigids Gate Press (soon!), I have continued to work on my dark found poetry project, Metallurgy. This time, my source material has been the lyrics of many favourite metal tracks, interspersed with a few songs some might not think of as metal but which to me share many of the attributes of this genre.

Many thanks to Wayne Fenlon for supplying the base image for the front cover plus another image which included Baphomet. I adapted the latter into the back cover and did a lot of merging and cloning to hopefully give a seamless transition between the two. I do enjoy working on covers as I’m learning new skills all the time.

There are 100 poems – derived from 200 songs – in this collection and some are even shape poems. Getting the latter formatted correctly for an ebook takes some doing, I will tell you. The easiest way is actually to use text boxes and group them together, but some tweaking was still involved. For once creating the print copy for upload was a lot easier than the kindle.

Metallurgy also contains a bonus poem from the wonderful Cindy O’Quinn. A Bram Stoker nominated writer, she has contributed her own found poem, Invitation to a Concert – A Heavy Metal Introduction, sourced from Time of the Season by the Zombies and Overdose by AC/DC. This poem is the intro to my ‘concert’. Whilst my collection focusses on the heavier side of metal, I have deliberately left the more classic rock out as Cindy has been playing in that particular playground on and off.

At the back of the book, I have compiled two indexes. One which lists the bands and their associated tracks, another which lists the poems and their associated bands. I have made this clickable for the ebook.

All poems are completely original. I do not subscribe to any form of plagiarism and I certainly don’t want big record companies chasing me! However, as is the way with found work, it is the norm to acknowledge the original source of inspiration, and I have done so for each poem. This is an homage after all!

I hope to be able to share pre-order links in the not too distant future. The project is almost ready. In the meantime, here is the playlist for the book. One or two tracks weren’t available on Spotify and one track has a different artist, though it is an associated band (Gorgoroth’s Sign of an Open Eye was only available on Spotify under God Seed that I could see).

And here’s one of the tracks I couldn’t find on Spotify:

I hope you enjoy listening to the music and that it might entice you to buy the book when it finally comes out!

Steph \m/

While I wait for my books to come down from amazon and be republished by their new home (I’m waiting on reversion forms to be signed by Silver Shamrock), I have created a new notebook range. Like Zodiecats, these are lined and 200 pages long and matte finish, but I’ve chosen a theme which mirrorss my home in dark fiction. Images were taken from those without use restrictions and adapted – apart from the angel in my Mary Shelley cover. This was my own photograph of The Knife Angel, a scultpure I saw when I was out and about and which travels the UK to support knife crime initiatives.

Why do I do these? Two reasons, one to try and earn a bit more money, two to develop design skills. It is also quite therapeutic!

Here are the first five wraps for Quotesques! Link to purchase is below each image.Ultimately, I hope to have a range of a dozen or so to choose from.

The Tempest – http://mybook.to/QuotesquesHellisEmpty

Macbeth – http://mybook.to/QuotesquesWicked

Frankenstein – http://mybook.to/QuotesquesShelley

The Raven – http://mybook.to/QuotesquesPoe

Dracula – http://mybook.to/QuotesquesDracula