Well, I don’t think that was the year any of us were expecting. Another twelve months packed with enough chaos, confusion, cruelty, and crap to put dystopian writers like me out of business. Sometimes I close my eyes and think back to those innocent days of the pre-2020’s… it’s incredible how much the world has changed in a relatively short period of time.
It’s been a tricky year for me personally. I wrote previously about my mum’s sudden death last January. It’s literally taken until this week to finalise her estate. Dealing with her affairs has taken an unexpected amount of time and effort, distracting from (and frequently completely derailing) the day job. It’s not all been bad news here, though. I have an incredible family that I’m insanely proud of, and their numbers are increasing! As I reported in May, this year saw the arrival of Autumn, my magnificently named second granddaughter.
I’ve learnt not to take anything for granted anymore, but I’m cautiously optimistic about what 2023 might hold in terms of writing. AUTUMN: EXODUS will be hitting the shelves in January, and early feedback has been extremely positive.
A quick plug – signed copies of EXODUS have been flying off the shelves here. You can order limited edition hardcovers and signed paperbacks from Infected Books and the IB ETSY store. Get in quick if you want a hardcover – they’re almost all gone!
I’ve achieved exactly what I set out to do with THE LONDON TRILOGY. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my return to the grim, rotting world of AUTUMN, but I’m looking forward to working on a number of new projects in 2023. In the summer I wrote about how, at my current working pace, I calculated I have more than a century’s worth of writing ideas accumulated. In an effort to reduce the backlog, I’ve been cranking out a few short stories that I intend sharing on this site during 2023 and beyond. Watch out for 12STORIES – coming soon. I’m also planning to catch up on the plethora of film and book recommendations I’ve stockpiled to share here.
You might have noticed the less than cryptic comments in my recent posts about the screen adaptation of HATER. I still can’t say anything yet, but there’s been more movement on this in the last year than in the last decade. Of course, with projects like this there’s no certainty until you actually see them on the screen, but I promise I’ll share more details as soon as I’m given the go-ahead. Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.
Right, it’s time for me to shut the office door for a few days. I normally close these end of year posts with a randomly chosen, holidays inspired horror image. I’ve recently taken to sharing pictures of our cats as click bait – it works for other horror authors, so why shouldn’t I? So here’s a photograph of Sydney, our youngest cat. Another quick plug – Syd was bred by Steweart and Katie, parents of baby Autumn, and she’s an amazing creature. If you’re in the UK and you’re in the market for a British Blue, check out TOTS OF TUDOR on Facebook.
Some of you will have noticed that she’s a British shorthair, the same breed as Church in the original film adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Semetary. She has the same intensity, don’t you think?
She sees you when you’re sleeping
And she knows when you’re awake
She knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake…
Wherever you are and whatever you celebrate, I wish you and your families the very best for the holiday season. See you back here in early 2023.
