Do Not Feed the Horses – read FREE now!
If you’ve not checked out Night Shades magazine yet, I highly recommend you do, for free little tales of weird a few times each month. There’s some incredibly beautiful stuff on there, so I’m very honoured that my creepy strange flash ‘Do Not Feed the Horses’ is now featured alongside them.
“The fields are lakes, a mirror shore erupting gusts of gulls and crows, squawking.”
Pre-order Saturday Mourning Television now!
Remember those days before Youtube and streaming, when Saturday morning TV was the only thing that would get kids out of bed before lunchtime?
Sliced Up Press are paying homage to those days with their new anthology ‘Saturday Mourning Television,’ a collection of horror tales themed around those shows we all knew and loved, even when they were often – well, a bit weird.
‘Saturday Mourning Television’ features my tale of existential dread ‘Rub a Dub’ and is due for release on August 31st 2026.
- You can pre-order it in e-book here
- Or in e-book or paperback from bookshop.org here
- You can also purchase other anthologies from Sliced Up Press here, including ‘Monstroddities’ which features my story ‘Rough Music’
Happy Pride Month!
Another year, another relentless assault on the human rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. I’m sure one year I’m going to have something more positive to say, but in light of the worldwide rise of fascism, the UK government’s billionaire-backed vendetta against trans people and the US’s continued backslide into right-wing insanity, things are looking pretty grim.
This is why the little things matter more than ever.
If everyone does their small part to stand up for the rights of marginalised people (including LGBTQIA+ people) then the world gets better by increments. No gesture is too small.
For my part, I’ll continue with as much activism as my mental and physical health allows (it’s been a rough year again health-wise for me so far, unfortunately) and I’ll continue to write stories centring queer characters and experience.
My print books are now 15% off until midnight on Friday 5th June 2026 with code BOOKSHOP15 at checkout.
- Visit my print shop here to use the discount code.
- You can also get ebooks and signed print copies over on my Kofi here.
- You can also still get rainbow Cool S pins for just £1 on my Kofi here.
You can also donate to the following fundraiser by the Good Law Project:
If you are in the UK, please write to your MP and ask them to sign EDM 240. Instructions on how to do this are here.
This is the one chance left to get Parliament to reject guidance that would lead to transgender people being excluded from public life, increasing discrimination and harassment against not only them but also all gender non-conforming people, particularly women who don’t ‘perform femininity correctly.’
And if you’re able to spread the word and ask anyone you know to do the same, that would also be amazing.
You can also sign the Good Law Project’s petition calling for the NHS to stop discriminating against trans people when it comes to all healthcare provision, not just gender affirming care.
To try and leave this on a positive note – whoever and wherever you are, you’re not alone, and we will all get through this rancid period in history together, if we all keep imagining and creating and supporting one another.
A new anthology to get your Teeth into!
Coming soon from DreamPunk Press – a new anthology of gothic horror themed around teeth.
This one’s due out on 6th October 2026 and will feature my tale of betrayal, adventure and strange anatomy, ‘His Precious Smile.’
I’m really looking forward to being a part of this collection. Until then, you can visit DreamPunk Press’s website here, or buy their books here.
New Cool S cover now available!
When is the worst possible time to do book launch stuff? Perhaps a Bank Holiday Saturday evening..?
WHO KNOWS?
Here it is anyway – the brand new Cool S cover in all its ’90s-esque glory, designed by Riley Santangelo, now available to buy at the following locations:
You can also pick up a now SUPER limited edition original cover Cool S at Books on the Walls in Chester, or snag a signed one on my Kofi. There are only a handful of these left now and no more will be produced EVER, so grab one now if you want one.
Have a very cool Bank Holiday weekend!
New Cool S cover reveal!
The time is upon us!
Feast your eyes on the brand new Cool S cover, with a title and author name and everything!
Thank you so much to graphic artist Riley Santangelo for giving Cool S an epic new lease of life.
I can’t recommend Riley highly enough if you’d like a book cover (or any other art or design project).
Copies of Cool S with the new cover will be arriving very soon, so stay tuned for that!
Cool S is getting a makeover!
It’s been a while since I released my cursed novella Cool S into the wild. I appreciate everyone who has bought and read it and the very positive response it’s received.
The original cover concept was simple: Cool S. I photographed some graffiti in an undisclosed location by a /cough/ anonymous artist, and I put it on the cover. Front: S, back: S, spine: S. No up, no down, no worries. I hoped this would be eye-catching and intriguing, drawing readers in with curiosity and mystery in the same way that Cool S draws Trace in, in the story.
Well, it was a nice idea, but I’ve since had some feedback. Not only did not having a written title and author name disqualify Cool S from Amazon (good) it also precluded it from premium catalogue distribution at Smashwords. Which is a moot point now because with some truly spectacular bad timing, Draft2Digital has just priced me out of distributing with them anyway. But I digress.
I also got feedback from the bricks and mortar shop where I sell, that people seem put off by a book with no title, rather than curious about it.
So, I’ve taken the opportunity to give Cool S a makeover and relaunch, with a rad new cover by the incredibly talented graphic artist Riley Santangelo.
I can’t recommend Riley highly enough if you’d like a book cover (or any other art or design project). Not only is she a highly skilled professional designer with many years of experience, she’s also an incredibly talented artist, an absolute delight to work with and an all-round stellar person.
I will be revealing the new cover very soon and letting you know how you can get hold of a copy (with back blurb and everything!) Until then – stay cool!
Withdrawing my titles from Draft2Digital distribution due to yet more extortionate fees
I am sorry to say that my books will now no longer be available to buy from Smashwords / Draft2Digital or associated large retailers via distribution.
“Writing is your dream!” the Draft2Digital homepage reads. What a joke.
This morning, authors using the Draft2Digital platform to self-publish their work, including me, woke to an email out of the blue announcing that Draft2Digital would now be charging a $20 set up fee for all new accounts, and a $12 yearly fee for any author earning UNDER $100. Yep, that’s correct, yet again the poorest amongst us get charged fees, whilst the already successful are exempt.
Apparently this is to ‘combat AI slop books’ the idea being that a sign-up fee and yearly charge will put off the parasites pumping out AI books for quick profit. I don’t think that I need to say how flawed this logic is. This will not put off AI slopmongers, it will only serve to price out the small indie authors who are already struggling, and prevent new authors from starting out.
I’ve been with Smashwords (who were merged with Draft2Digital recently, which was another absolute ordeal that authors did not consent to) for 15 years. That’s 15 years of custom and loyalty. They used to be great until Draft2Digital took them over, and have gone steadily downhill in all aspects since then. Already in the past year they introduced new measures to extract more money from their authors, via an additional fee on top of Paypal fees, or a $20 threshold for wire transfer. This is on top of platform fees and tax – so how on earth are small indies supposed to earn $100 a year when we are receiving pennies on each book sale already, especially if it’s via a distribution channel which takes even more fees.
It’s also clear Draft2Digital are itching to allow AI writing on their platform. Their guidelines already state “While we support AI-assisted content, we do not accept content that has been generated entirely by AI/LLMs that has not gone through extensive editing from a human.” draft2digital.com/faq/ so I have to wonder what exactly they are hoping to ‘prevent’ by these punitive fees, forced without warning upon authors who are already paying them a cut of any earnings they make.
I can’t in clear conscience stay on a platform that treats authors so poorly. It is however quite difficult to delete an account (you have to first individually delist all of your titles and then contact them for a ticket in order to be free of them) and I am looking at losing the money they owe me because they recently also introduced a payment threshold of $20 before funds would be released to authors. My account is due to be charged their new $12 fee on May 9th, so I guess I’m losing that money either way. It’s Amazon all over again. They get to steal what little I’ve earned with them and there will be no consequences for them. I can only hope that the consequences are that enough people leave or boycott their platform that it damages them financially, too. But I doubt that will happen.
On top of this, as others have pointed out, this is only going to serve to push indie authors back to Amazon to be treated terribly there. Draft2Digital are actually playing into the Amazon monopoly by doing this. It will harm both authors and readers.
I’m trying to ride this one out like I have done with everything else, but I’m fast approaching breaking point. I still love writing, but publishing has been a nightmare for years now. Aside from the odd good experience with selling a short story (and I’m sad to say there have been as many bad experiences as good lately) it has been nothing but hassle, stress, bad news and let-downs and I am burnt out.
In an effort to leave this on a remotely positive note, here are some places you can buy my books that aren’t Amazon or Smashwords / Draft2Digital. I don’t know how much longer I can carry on this author business, so buy them while you can, I guess.
- Buy my books in print at Lulu
- Buy my ebooks at Payhip
- Buy my ebooks, signed paperbacks and zines at Kofi
My heartfelt thanks to anyone who has ever supported my work. Please don’t use AI, for anything, it is ruining livelihoods and lives, it harms everything it touches. Please consider buying your books on small platforms or direct from authors and avoid greedy corporates like Amazon and Smashwords / Draft2Digital.
Do Not Feed the Horses
It’s been a slow start to the year, but I’ve had a couple of fantastic story acceptances, and I’m delighted to announce that my surrealist flash fiction ‘Do Not Feed the Horses’ will be published in June over at Night Shades Magazine.
You can check out wonderful little bites of weird at Night Shades Magazine here.
You can also get 15% off my print catalogue with code NARRATIVE15 through March 27th here, including my own book of bite-sized lies 365 Lies, with all proceeds going to the MNDA.
diebooth.wordpress.com 