Category: News

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Straight to You – 25 years old

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A significant book birthday to mark… my first novel, STRAIGHT TO YOU, was published 25 years ago yesterday. That’s literally half my life ago! It’s crazy to look back at how pretty much everything has changed since that first release. Back then, in the analogue world of 1996, the book’s publication came after months of queries, submissions, and rejections, followed by many more months of long-winded edits and approvals, all done by post. All that work could be carried out in a fraction of the time now, without moving from my desk.

And I’m equally unrecognisable from the inexperienced dweeb who wrote that first book. I’ve written before about how I changed, and how that eventually resulted in me completely re-writing the novel in 2014. And I can’t stress this enough – if you’re going to read STRAIGHT TO YOU, please stick to the newer version!

But the one thing that has remained constant throughout – and forgive me here for being a little corny and pretentious – is the absolute buzz of writing. A quarter of a century further down the line, and it remains an incredibly rewarding job/hobby/thrill/passion. Thank you for reading my grim nonsense all these years!

If you’ve not read STRAIGHT TO YOU, it’s available as an ebook and paperback from all the usual retailers. An audiobook version is available here. And if you’ve the stomach for reading the original, a handful of hardback copies remain available from the original print run.

 

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Released today – The Bleed: Armageddon

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Today’s the day. THE BLEED: ARMAGEDDON, by CHRIS PHILBROOK, MARK TUFO, and I has hit the shelves. The book brings the wild ride of THE BLEED trilogy to a close, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it. Print, eBook, and an Audible exclusive audiobook versions are available.

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Aubrey Parsons – AUTUMN audiobook narrator

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I hope by now that you’ve had chance to listen to the audiobook version of AUTUMN: DAWN. I think it’s my favourite audio adaptation of any of my novels, and the reason for that is my brilliant narrator, AUBREY PARSONS. He’s done an absolutely stunning job of bringing the mass of characters that inhabit my dystopian AUTUMN world to life.

I thought it would be fun to ask Aubrey a few questions about his narration, to offer a glimpse into the huge amount of work that goes into producing audiobooks. It’s definitely not just a case of sitting down in front of a microphone and reading a novel out from cover to cover! First of all, I asked Aubrey how he got into the world of audiobook narration.

AP: I was a professional singer for 20 years. I spent a lot of that time working away and travelling the globe. It meant that I didn’t get to see much of my family and I had absolutely no social life. I did get to see a lot of the world and meet a lot of wonderful people but the toll it took on my social life and family eventually got to me. So, I decided to try something different. Since I already have my own small recording studio at home, I decided that maybe voiceover work was the way forward. I searched the Internet and found a couple of different courses and trained myself up to become a voice actor. I’ve always loved listening to audiobooks so it seemed to be the natural progression to work on them myself.

Obviously one of the most prolific suppliers of audio books in the world is AUDIBLE so I looked at their website and found out how I could become a producer for them. it took around three years for me to get myself trained and build a database of authors that I could work with to make things worthwhile. Then COVID came along which in a weird kind of way gave me the perfect opportunity to concentrate fully on my voiceover work. Everything happens for a reason I guess!

I asked Aubrey how he approaches narration. Does he read the book first, or just dive straight in?

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The Bleed: Armageddon

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September. How did that happen? 2021 is disappearing in a flash (though not quickly enough, some might say). A quick post to remind you that this month sees the release of the final book in THE BLEED series, THE BLEED: ARMAGEDDON, written by CHRIS PHILBROOK, MARK TUFO and I. It’s a breathless race to the end and if you’ve enjoyed the other books in the series, I know you’ll enjoy this one. It hits the shelves on 21 September as an ebook, paperback (links to follow), and Audible exclusive audiobook.

Reality after reality is being destroyed by THE BLEED. With their options narrowing by the second, and with their group scattered far and wide across the multiverse, it’s down to less than 10 people to try and save the lives of billions upon billions of others.

If they fail, THE BLEED will rule. Nothing and no one else will survive.

IT ALWAYS BLEEDS THROUGH. THREE WORLDS. THREE AUTHORS. THE ULTIMATE APOCALYPSE.

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Autumn: Dawn – audio version out now

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I’m pleased to announce that the AUTUMN: DAWN audiobook is now available from Audible, Amazon, and Apple. The book is expertly narrated by AUBREY PARSONS and I have a number of copies to give away, courtesy of Audible. Read on to find out how to get your hands (ears) on one.

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Autumn: Purification – book birthday

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I don’t tend to mark that many book anniversaries, but I noticed that the US release of AUTUMN: PURIFICATION is ten years old today. It’s frightening how fast the time passes. Even more frightening to think that the original Infected Books edition of the novel was released seven years earlier still. It feels like just five minutes ago.

I have a lot to thank PURIFICATION for. I learnt so much about writing while I was working on that book. The initial success of AUTUMN and then AUTUMN: THE CITY caught me off guard, and PURIFICATION was the first novel I wrote with the pressure of knowing that people were waiting for its release. It was the book where I realised just how much fun I could have with the living dead (I know how wrong that sounds), the book where I earned my chops and started to think big in terms of where I wanted the AUTUMN series to go.

On a personal level, much of the writing was done in my final year working in banking. I found myself managing a team of around 100 staff who’d all been given (myself included) around a year’s notice of redundancy – our jobs went overseas, and we didn’t. As the work volumes dwindled and the personnel issues mounted up, I used PURIFICATION as therapy. Their names were changed, of course, but quite a few members of my team ended up as featured zombies. When I got home from the office at night, I found there was something very cathartic about plotting imaginary fates for the folks who’d made my days such a challenge!

Autumn: Purification by David Moody (Thomas Dunne Books, 2011)

And here I am in 2021, writing even more AUTUMN books. AUTUMN: DAWN has gone down an absolute storm, and I’m making good progress on AUTUMN: INFERNO. But the fact is, if I hadn’t had such a positive experience with PURIFICATION, I doubt the series would have made it past book three.

There’s a vast amount of information about the entire AUTUMN series over at www.lastoftheliving.net. AUTUMN: INFERNO updates incoming shortly.

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Great new review of Autumn: Dawn

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I’ve disappeared from view again. As I’ve said many times before, this always happens when I’m writing. Right now I’m working hard on AUTUMN: INFERNO, the second book in the LONDON TRILOGY.

The reception readers have given to the first book, AUTUMN: DAWN, has been wonderful. I thought I’d break cover to share a great review from www.sfbook.com which you can find here. “Autumn – Dawn is impressive, offering a new perspective on the author’s past creation, resulting in strong, atmospheric and thoughtful horror.” Thank you to Ant for the very kind words.

AUTUMN: DAWN is available now in print and a range of ebook formats. The limited edition hardcover is sold out, but you can still get signed paperback copies from me via www.infectedbooks.co.uk. For those who are wondering, the audiobook version is still in production and will be released soon.

HERBST: MORGENDÄMMERUNG – the German language edition of the book – is also available in print and ebook.

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A rookie mistake

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I made a dumb mistake, and the next five people who order a signed book from www.infectedbooks.co.uk will benefit from it. I wanted to order in some copies of STRAIGHT TO YOU, but I clicked the wrong ISBN. So, instead of the beautiful 2014 edition shown below, I ended up with a number of copies of this abomination (click to reveal – I couldn’t bring myself to show the image here). This version of STRAIGHT TO YOU represents me at my most naive. I’d just started publishing independently, and I made just about every mistake imaginable with this book. I’ve written much about my disdain for the original version of my debut novel – this paperback represents the worst edition of the worst version of the book.

I don’t want these copies cluttering up my shelves, and I’m not going to just throw them away, so the next five people to place an order for a signed book from www.infectedbooks.co.uk, will also get a free lump of turd copy of the 2006 paperback edition of STRAIGHT TO YOU.

There’s some good stuff available from Infected Books right now – see the list below.

All books are signed, and postage is free for UK orders. Don’t forget, you also get free ebook versions with all Infected Books releases.

* Please note – the free ebook offer does not apply to books released by other publishers

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Coming next…

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In the weeks following the release of a new novel, I usually like to give readers an indication as to what’s coming next. Now that AUTUMN: DAWN has been out for the best part of a month (and huge thanks to everyone who has picked up a copy), it’s time for a brief update.

Coming in July, AUTUMN: DAWN will be released as an audiobook, and also as a German language paperback and ebook. Also next month, THE LAST BIG THING will finally see a paperback release.

By the end of July I fully expect to be deep into the writing of AUTUMN: INFERNO – the second book in the London trilogy – so my updates here may be a little less frequent. Picking up just a short time after the explosive (literally) end of DAWN, the story will see the survivors of book one trying to stay alive in the face of constant attacks from a) an unprecedented number of dead bodies, and b) each other. If the wind’s blowing in the right direction, the book should hit the shelves late this year.

This past weekend Chris Philbrook, Mark Tufo and I completed our edits for the final book in THE BLEED series – ARMAGEDDON. I’ve loved writing this series with Chris and Mark, and I think the conclusion is the best part yet. It’ll be out on 21 September, and can be pre-ordered on Kindle and Audible. A paperback version will be released alongside the ebook and audio.

Reality after reality is being destroyed by THE BLEED. With their options narrowing by the second, and with their group scattered far and wide across the multiverse, it’s down to less than 10 people to try and save the lives of billions upon billions of others.

I’m also working on another novel, and have been for a couple of years now. It’s a psychological horror in which THE WORLD DOES NOT END. Imagine that, a Moody book without an apocalypse! More details when I have something I can share.

I’ve been trying to schedule a Facebook live event for some time, and I’m hoping to make this happen later in July. I’ll share details nearer the time, but if you have any questions you’d like to ask about me or my work, please get in touch.

 

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The shipping forecast

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Please excuse the awful pun in the title of this post – I tried (and failed) to think of an interesting way of writing about the woes of sending international post in the times of Brexit/coronavirus.

I’m from a customer service background, and I strive to make sure everything that Infected Books does is done with the reader first and foremost. Unfortunately, sometimes circumstances conspire to trip me up. I’m hugely grateful to everyone who picked up a copy of the limited edition of AUTUMN: DAWN (there are two left, if anyone’s interested). It’s easily the most beautiful looking book I’ve produced, and I’m insanely proud of it.

Every order has been signed, sealed and posted by me, and it’s been brilliant to see photos appearing on social media from all around the world when copies have arrived. Except for Canada. It seems there is a black hole in the postal system between Birmingham and Canada, and packages are taking an inordinate length of time to arrive. There’s good news, though, as I’ve heard that the first books are getting through (thanks for the update, Mike!), but I just wanted to briefly post here to apologise to Canadian readers and to let you know your books should arrive imminently. Thanks for your patience. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any concerns.