David Moody's Blog, page 26

Autumn: Dawn – pre-orders now open

I’m very excited to announce that pre-orders for the limited edition hardcover of AUTUMN: DAWN are now open. I think it’s a beautiful looking book, and I’m very happy with the way the story turned out, but I have a few other very good reasons why it’s a good idea to order a copy of this strictly limited edition:

if you pre-order the hardcover, you can download and read an ebook version of the new novel TODAYthe hardcover includes bonus material not available in any other format (a new essay about the history of the series and the new trilogy – 25 YEARS SINCE THE END OF THE WORLD)readers who pre-order will have early access to pre-order matching hardcovers of the other novels in the series – INFERNO (coming later in 2021), and EXODUS (coming next year).

Here’s the link. I’ll share much more information about my return to AUTUMN in the coming weeks before the official release date on 31 May.

Thanks again to Craig Paton for the exceptional cover art. Visit the AUTUMN website – www.lastoftheliving.net – to find out more. The ebook version of new book is also available to pre-order at Amazon, Kobo and Apple, with other sites being added regularly. Paperback links will be available shortly.

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This accelerating rate of change

The title of this post is part of a line from an old PETER GABRIEL song, and the fact I’m thinking of it as an old song just highlights the point I wanted to make. The song’s called ‘Downside Up’, if you’re interested, and the full line is “The only constant I am sure of, is this accelerating rate of change”. It was released over 20 years ago, but it doesn’t seem 5 minutes. All of a sudden, time seems to have sped up rapidly in my little corner of the world.

I’m telling you this for writing-related reasons, so bear with me.

A couple of weeks ago was the one year anniversary of my heart attack. Last November I turned 50. In March I became a grandfather for the first time. Now, I don’t feel any older or any different than I did at the beginning of 2020, but clearly time is marching on!

Long story short, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and reassessing; working out what I want from life for me and my family, and what I’m hoping to achieve. The first step happens this week, when I return to full-time writing for the first time since 2014. Those of you who’ve been following me for a while might remember that I had a bit of a ‘falling out’ with writing back in 2014 and I got myself a real job because I was in desperate need of a) human contact, and b) a reality check. I happened to find a job that I really enjoyed and that was suited to my skills, and in what felt like the blinking of an eye, the 12 months I’d planned to spend in employment somehow became 6 and a half years. I continued to write throughout, but the time I had to promote and talk about my work dried up. I love what I write, and I’m very proud of the body of work I’ve so far produced, but I regret not being able to make more of a noise about it recently.

That all changes with AUTUMN: DAWN. The book is going to be released on 31 May 2021 as a paperback, ebook and limited edition hardcover. Limited edition pre-orders will be opening within the next week, and ANYONE WHO PRE-ORDERS THE HARDCOVER WILL BE ABLE TO DOWNLOAD AND READ THE EBOOK VERSION OF THE NOVEL STRAIGHT AWAY!

Seriously, I can’t wait for you to be able to dive into the new trilogy. I’m planning on doing a Facebook Live thingy (or similar) shortly before release so that I can answer your questions about the new books.

Please follow me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook to make sure you don’t miss any news. There’s a LOT of stuff on the way.

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An AUTUMN update

A couple of bits of AUTUMN news to share. First, an update on the new books. The new trilogy is totally separate from the previous books – they just happen to take place in the same undead world. To make them easier to discern, I’m calling the new novels THE LONDON TRILOGY (you can’t fault the logic – three books, all based in London). The really important news is that book one is just about finished. The edits are being wrapped, and the cover art is in the process of being put together… it won’t be long before it’s unleashed. It’s looking like AUTUMN: DAWN will now hit the shelves in May. Pre-orders will be announced in April, including a strictly limited hardcover edition.

To bring new readers up to speed, and to give old-time AUTUMN readers a blast of nostalgia, I’ve relaunched the AUTUMN website – www.lastoftheliving.net. For now it’s focused on the previous books, but stacks of information about the new trilogy will be added over the course of the next 18 months.

I hope you enjoy all of this, and that my grim AUTUMN stories can still strike a chord in this strange old virus-riddled world of ours. After the events of the last 12 months, it’s been strangely cathartic diving back into AUTUMN. If you have any thoughts, images, or artwork you’d like to see added to www.lastoftheliving.net – AUTUMN or pandemic-related, I really don’t mind – then please drop me a line.

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The Bleed: Rapture – out today

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times recently, THE BLEED: RAPTURE, by myself, CHRIS PHILBROOK, and MARK TUFO officially hits the shelves today. Here’s a link to the ebook and Audible exclusive audiobook, and the paperback will be available shortly. Hope you enjoy it!

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Read an eBook week

This week is the 12th annual READ AN EBOOK WEEK. I’ve talked previously about how important eBooks were to me when I began my career. In the early days there seemed to be an endless debate about which is best – print or digital. The answer is both! And audiobooks are equally grand. As long as people are reading (and authors and publishers are being properly compensated) who cares how they’re doing it!

As usual, here are a few shameless plugs to mark the occasion. Indie eBook firm SMASHWORDS are big supporters of Read an eBook Week. Here’s a link to their huge sale to mark the occasion. You can find a couple of my books on the site if you’re interested. I know it’s not released until next week, but if you want something fresh, new, and a little bit unhinged, THE BLEED: RAPTURE is out next Tuesday. And finally, if you’re new to my work and fancy loading up on some of my standalone novels, can I recommend the CHAOS THEORIES boxset?

 

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Two weeks until the RAPTURE

It’s March. How did that happen? Hopefully everyone’s doing well and feeling a lot better about the world than we were this time last year. I’m happy to be able to confirm that THE BLEED: RAPTURE hits the shelves later this month. The second book in the BLEED trilogy by CHRIS PHILBROOK, MARK TUFO and myself is released on 16 March as an ebook, paperback (link to follow), and AUDIBLE EXCLUSIVE audiobook. So happy with the way book 2 has turned out. There’s only one letter difference between this and last year’s RUPTURE, but this volume is a whole different beast. A whole different load of beasts, actually. I think you’re going to enjoy it.

The series rounds out in September with ARMAGEDDON. For now, though, here’s a taste of what to expect from RAPTURE…

Across all the worlds in all the multiverses, a handful of people have been chosen to defend us. They don’t know each other. Half of them don’t know where they are. Some of them don’t even know who they are. They’re using technology and magic they don’t understand to defeat THE BLEED – an ancient and impossible enemy that’s everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

To say they’re up against it would be an understatement, but they can’t fail. The multiverse is on the brink of annihilation. The outcome of this war will impact every corner of every reality.

THE BLEED has launched an attack on several fronts through different realities at once. Whole worlds have been lost while others have been sacrificed. Thousands are ready to fight, but millions more offer themselves up to the gods, praying that THE RAPTURE will bring them salvation. But when the gods are complicit, what hope do any of us have?

In the midst of this madness, these scattered survivors begin to understand what’s at stake and how they can avoid Armageddon. But the odds are against them, and impossible distances divide them. Will they be able to come together and turn the bloody tide against THE BLEED?

IT ALWAYS BLEEDS THROUGH. THREE WORLDS. THREE AUTHORS. THE MOTHER OF ALL APOCALYPSES.

 

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Stefan Cush (The Men They Couldn’t Hang)

Some sad news to share. STEFAN CUSH from THE MEN THEY COULDN’T HANG died suddenly last week from a heart attack. He was 60. As many of you may remember, TMTCH made a memorable appearance in the first HATER novel. While I was writing the book back in 2006, I was in touch with Phil ‘Swill’ Odgers from the band who’d enjoyed the AUTUMN books. We got chatting and he made an off-hand comment about adding him as a character in a future book. I’d just written the scene in HATER where Danny and Lizzie are at a rock concert and all hell breaks loose when one of the band members starts attacking the others, mid-set. Cut a long story short – the band in the book became TMTCH, and it was Swill who did the attacking, but the rest of the lads were very accommodating and they all made an appearance. I was lucky enough to see the band a few years later, and they were magnificent.

There’s not a day goes by when I don’t think about how lucky I am to still be alive after my heart attack last April. Since my illness, I’ve been in contact with many people who’ve either had a heart attack themselves or who’ve lost loved ones. Very sadly, a member of my family passed away unexpectedly last weekend after suffering a massive heart attack. Without wishing to preach, I’d urge everyone to be aware of their own heart health. I know that health services around the world are under unprecedented strain right now, but please do seek advice if you have any concerns. If I’d not received such brilliant treatment from the NHS last April, I doubt I’d be here today.

My deepest condolences to go out to Cush’s family, friends, fellow band members and fans. A Crowdfunder drive is currently running to support his children with funeral costs. You can find the details here.

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One Night Stand

Right, I’ve just finished another draft of AUTUMN: DAWN, so it’s time to catch up with a few posts. I thought I’d start with a film recommendation that I discovered over Christmas. Four years ago, back in the days when we were able to travel, my family and I saw in the new year in Australia. Here’s a pic of us outside Sydney Opera House welcoming in 2017.

Fast-forward to Christmas 2020, and I was searching for something to watch on Amazon Prime when I stumbled across an apocalyptic movie set in the Opera House on New Year’s Eve. I had to check it out, and I’m glad I did. ONE NIGHT STAND is by no means a great film, but the 1980’s Cold War setting, along with a wonderfully bleak ending, certainly make it worth a watch.

In Australia, four teenagers in a Sydney theatre are astounded to hear the news that a nuclear war has broken out in Eastern Europe. They try to figure out the best way they can survive the coming conflagration.

If you’ve followed my work for any length of time, you’ll probably have picked up how much I like to play with the juxtaposition of the ordinary and the extraordinary. I tend to write about normal (if there is such a thing) folks trapped in situations which are anything but normal. I like to study their reactions, think about how they’d interact, what coping mechanisms they’d use, and so on. I think it’s fair to say, I don’t reckon anyone would react how the characters in ONE NIGHT STAND do.

In terms of character and depth, there’s a lot missing to this story. If I’d just found out that nuclear war had broken out and huge swathes of the US and Europe had been obliterated, I think hanging around a theatre playing cards probably wouldn’t be top of my list of survival strategies. That said, if you can look past these shortcomings and if you can sit through some cringy and overlong scenes, ONE NIGHT STAND still manages to pack a punch.

The film is let down somewhat by the performances and writing, but the central premise and the spirit with which the movie was made carry it through. There’s a performance from MIDNIGHT OIL to keep your interest in the early scenes, and things move along at a decent rate with the claustrophobia and fear building effectively towards an uncomfortably subdued and mournful climax with blood-red, lightning filled Sydney skies.

ONE NIGHT STAND reminded me of ON THE BEACH in terms of some of its settings and some of its themes, and even though it’s not in the same class as the movie adaptation of Neville Shute’s novel, it’s still effective. Can you even begin to imagine the horror of knowing the rest of the world is dead, when all you can do is wait helpless for the radiation to reach you and kill you too? It’s pure nightmare fuel and that’s why, in spite of its shortcomings, I recommend giving ONE NIGHT STAND a watch. The film is currently available on Amazon Prime in the UK.

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Isolation: Geschichten aus der Welt der Untoten

As you’ve probably noticed, over the last couple of years we’ve been working to increase the availability of my Infected Books titles in different formats. Recently the focus has been on ISOLATION which, as you might recall, was released as an audiobook in December just gone. I’m pleased to report that ISOLATION: GESCHICHTEN AUS DER WELT DER UNTOTEN (Stories from the World of the Undead) – the German language version of the book – is out now.

This book has always been one of my favourites. You might remember it started life as the script of a short film which, unfortunately, never saw the light of day. When ISOLATION came out in 2014 I desperately needed a break from the living dead, so I took the opportunity to include a few zombie shorts I’d had rattling around alongside the titular novella. I’m very proud of this collection, and I hope you enjoy it. The German edition is available here, the English version is here, the audiobook is here, and you can find the story in print (alongside THE COST OF LIVING) in LAST OF THE LIVING.

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New Year Update

How’s everyone doing? I hope you’re staying safe and sane during these astonishing days, weeks, and months. As inconsequential as my writing feels at such a tumultuous time, I thought I’d give you a quick update and let you know what I’m up to.

As anyone familiar with my frequent radio silences will know, if I’m not posting on here, it usually means I’m busy writing. My main focus over the last few months has been AUTUMN: DAWN, the first novel in the new AUTUMN trilogy. I’m still on target to have book one wrapped in the next month or so, and I’m planning for a late April release. It’s been so refreshing to have had the space to plan the whole trilogy as a single project beforehand, and I can honestly say the book’s been a joy to write so far. I do have a nagging concern at the back of my mind, though… are people really going to want to read my grim, germ-infected, post-apocalyptic zombie stories after everything we’ve been through? I hope so. You can decide for yourself as I’ll be sharing more details very soon.

Also coming up is the second book in the series I’ve been writing with MARK TUFO and CHRIS PHILBROOK. THE BLEED: RAPTURE hits the shelves and the ears (it’s another AUDIBLE exclusive) on 16 March, and you can pre-order it here. Book two is an absolutely full-on, non-stop ride which sets up the mother of all apocalypses. THE BLEED: ARMAGEDDON will bring the series to an end in September.

Like many other people, the last year was one of huge changes for me personally, and the ramifications of those changes are still unfolding. It’s almost a year since my heart attack now, and I turned 50 last November. Those milestones, combined with the impact of the ongoing pandemic alongside other personal and professional developments, have made me want to review my priorities, ambitions and aspirations.

Almost 7 years ago, I’d had a gutful. I fell out of love with writing in a big way and re-joined the real world to try and re-establish my connection with reality. It’s now time to head back in the opposite direction, with a return to full-time writing looming and a stack of new projects on the horizon.

For now, though, it’s back to AUTUMN: DAWN (big action scene to write tonight – one person corralling about 10,000 dead bodies singlehanded). I will be back with regular news, updates and recommendations in the coming weeks. Until then, I’d like to belatedly wish you a Happy New Year. Here’s hoping 2021 is infinitely better than 2020 was!

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