David Moody's Blog, page 42

HATER timeline

With the release of ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING – the first book in the second HATER trilogy – fast approaching, I thought it would be interesting to start showing you how the two series are connected. They both tell different stories, but there are shared events and locations and… and I’m not going to tell you much more just yet.

With apologies for my limited graphics skills, here’s a handy timeline:

In case you’re new around here or need to catch up in readiness for the new books, HATER, DOG BLOOD and THEM OR US are available now. EVERYTHING AND NOTHING is a free ebook download which you can get here, and ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING hits the shelves on 5 December 2017.

HATER timeline is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

It’s always a buzz when the advance copies arrive

ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING – HATER #4. Released 5 December 2017 from Thomas Dunne Books.

It’s always a buzz when the advance copies arrive is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

20th Century Geek

I had the pleasure of chatting with Scott Weatherly on the 20TH CENTURY GEEK podcast recently about all things horror and my addiction to stories about the apocalypse. Click here to listen or check out the podcast on iTunes here.

20th Century Geek is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

RIP George Romero

I’ve just heard the terrible news that the Godfather of zombies, George A Romero, has passed away at the age of 77 after a short battle with lung cancer. This is awful, awful news. I’m hard pushed to think of a filmmaker who had such an influence on the horror genre. For me, I can trace my fascination with zombies to a particular dark and storm-filled afternoon when, with my brother and a bunch of friends, we sat down to watch the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD on laserdisc (yes, it was that long ago). That movie was revelatory, as was DAWN OF THE DEAD, and then DAY OF THE DEAD. Landmark. Without Mr Romero’s movies, myself and scores of other writers and filmmakers would have had to find something else to do for a living. His films – particularly the original DEAD trilogy and other classics like THE CRAZIES and MARTIN – struck a chord in a way very few movies did. The series which kickstarted my career – AUTUMN – would never have been written had it not been for Romero’s films.

George Romero is survived by his wife and three children. My sincere condolences go out to them at this very sad time.

RIP George Romero is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

It Comes at Night

It’s about time I started posting a few more film and book recommendations here, and what better place to start than with a well-made, lo-fi, slow-burn apocalyptic movie. IT COMES AT NIGHT is a really good movie, which appeared to have been sold really badly (perhaps intentionally) by the marketing team behind it. I thought it was a great film, but it wasn’t the film I thought I was going to see. Here’s a synopsis and a trailer. Click the link below for my brief thoughts.

Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorises the world, the tenuous order a man (Joel Edgerton) has established with his wife and son is put to the ultimate test with the arrival of a desperate family seeking refuge. Despite the best intentions of both families, paranoia and mistrust boil over as the horrors outside creep ever-closer, awakening something hidden and monstrous within the man as he learns that the protection of his family comes at the cost of his soul.

After you’ve watched the trailer for this film, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s just another ‘end-of-the-world-deadly-pandemic’ movie. It’s not. If you want scenes of bloodthirsty vampires or zombies surrounding the last few survivors, look elsewhere. If you want sex and violence and survivalism, this one’s probably not for you. If you want a tense, claustrophobic portrayal of ordinary people forced together in the midst of a far-from ordinary crisis, then you’ve just found the movie you were looking for.

As with many of the best post-apocalyptic movies, what’s happened to the rest of the world isn’t what matters here. We get hints, sure, but the cause of the apocalypse isn’t front and centre, instead the focus is on the impact of events. Joel Edgerton plays Paul, a regular guy who, with his wife and teenage son, are holed-up in a house in the woods, doing their level best to go unnoticed by the rest of (what’s left of) the world. It doesn’t take long, of course, before the rest of the world comes knocking.

So far, so formulaic. But it’s what happens next, and how the family deals with events, that separates IT COMES AT NIGHT from many other similarly set stories. Tautly written and directed by Trey Edward Shults, and with strong performances all round, the film is refreshingly bleak and cliche free.

I don’t want to say too much more, because to do so would inevitably spoil an excellent film for you. All I will say (and my family gave me a real hard time for comparing it to one of my stories as we walked back from the cinema last night) is that I got very definite echoes of THE COST OF LIVING watching IT COMES AT NIGHT.

IT COMES AT NIGHT is on an very limited release in the UK (most cinema screens are filled with sequels and glorified toy adverts right now), but I recommend you catch it before it disappears. And it would be great if you’d pick up a copy of THE COST OF LIVING too. Apologies for the obligatory plug, but it’s available as an ebook for 99c/ 99p, or in print as part of LAST OF THE LIVING.

It Comes at Night is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

The Spaces Between

It’s been so long since I posted about this I bet you’d forgotten about it. Or I bet you thought I’d forgotten about it. I first announced THE SPACES BETWEEN back in 2014 – it’s a long, multi-volume horror/ science-fiction series which is, for wont of a better description, like CHILDREN OF MEN meets BREAKING BAD (with a healthy dash of BLADE RUNNER to boot). It’s going to be good. Damn good. I’ve been keeping you waiting for years and… and I’m unfortunately going to be keeping you waiting a while longer yet. The first books are still more than a year away.

Those of you who’ve been following my work for a while will know that the last few years have not gone to plan. Various personal and family issues have repeatedly derailed my writing, and my family and I are right in the middle of another wave right now which is substantially affecting my ability to write. By the end of this year, however, we should be back to business as usual.

But it’s not all doom and gloom around here… a substantial amount of work is still getting done (just not as much as I’d like). THE OTHER HALF (HATER #5) is coming along nicely and will be delivered to my editor shortly. After that I’ll be writing AXXXXX: XXXXXX – a top secret novel I haven’t told anyone about – which should take me through to the end of 2017. In the new year I’ll be diving straight into THE LAST SUMMER (HATER #6), and then I’ll be cracking on with THE SPACES BETWEEN.

At this point I should add that all those folks who won the competition I ran back in 2014 to appear as named characters in the books will all still appear as planned. Apologies, folks, for the unavoidable delay.

Even though I’ve hardly written a word of the series, I’ve been doing plenty of planning. Part of the issue I’ve had is that it’s a HUGE story, and the overall length has fluctuated wildly during the planning process. There’s a lot of world-building to be done, but I’ve taken the decision to separate a lot of that out from the main narrative. So what began as a five book series has now ballooned to nine books which will, in effect, be two separate series which will conclude with a single final novel. The extra books will be THE SHADOWS BETWEEN – the future histories of key events which will define the world of THE SPACES BETWEEN. My plan is that the books will be released in pairs – one from each thread of the story at a time.

You’ve got to trust me on this – it’s all going to be worth the wait. I’m just sorry it’s taking such a long time!

The Spaces Between is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Straight to You: Postapokalyptischer Thriller

The German language edition of STRAIGHT TO YOU (my debut novel – written in 1994, published in 1996, re-written and re-published in 2014) is now available from my fine friends at Voodoo Press. You can find more information here. Special thanks to Craig Paton for revising his original cover design for the new release.

I’ve talked a lot about this novel in the past. For those who are late to the party or who missed it first (or second) time around, find out why the book was re-written, why the story takes place in very specific locations, and read about how Hollywood wanted to film the novel but didn’t buy the rights and kind of did it anyway!

Straight to You: Postapokalyptischer Thriller is available now in paperback and ebook.

Straight to You: Postapokalyptischer Thriller is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Deadly Eleven

I do love a good multi-author box set, and this is definitely a good one! Everyone’s a winner with these sets – the authors involved benefit from sharing the marketing and publicity and exposure to each other’s readers, and the readers benefit from being able to get hold of a load of top-notch books at a ridiculously low price. I’ll say no more on this one, I’ll just leave you to peruse the cover and the kick-ass contents.

Zombie Fallout – Mark Tufo

Strain of Resistance – Michelle Bryan

Strangers – David Moody

World-Mart – Leigh M. Lane

A New World: Chaos – John O’Brien

Trudge: Surviving The Apocalypse – Shawn Chesser

Black Virus- Bobby Adair

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot – W.J. Lundy

The Death of Kaylis – Jaime Johnesee

The Biomass Revolution – Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Return of The Phoenix – Heath Stallcup

The box set is available from all the usual outlets at a ridiculously low price:

Amazon

iTunes

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Deadly Eleven is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

THE FRONT: RED DEVILS – audiobook now available

Very happy to be able to let you know that THE FRONT: RED DEVILS is now available as an audiobook. You can snag a copy now on Amazon and Audible. iTunes links to follow shortly. Todd Menesses, who also narrated book one in the series, has done a grand job.

I’m really pleased with how the book has been received, with the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviewer site saying “If anything, Moody has managed to surpass the fantastic job that Timothy W Long did with Screaming Eagles, writing a book that has brilliant action scenes, a fantastic setting and atmosphere, and an exciting plot that ratchets up the tension until the last few scenes.”

THE FRONT: RED DEVILS is also available as an eBook and paperback. New to audiobooks? Try Audible and get two free audiobooks.[image error]

THE FRONT: RED DEVILS – audiobook now available is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

Normal service will be resumed shortly

It’s been a while – far longer than I’d intended actually. It’s over two months since I last posted here, and that’s a record I’m not particularly proud of. New words, old words, edits, deadlines, other jobs, family matters and many other things have combined to keep me off-line for an uncomfortably long period of time. I’m back now – for the time being at least – and have a number of things to tell you about over the coming weeks.

First and foremost, if you’ve pre-ordered the book, you probably know by now that we’ve pushed back the publication of ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING until 5 December. The copyedits were finished and returned to my editor last Friday, and I can’t wait for you to read the novel. It’s a very different perspective on the world of HATER which opens a whole host of new possibilities I’m currently exploring as I write THE OTHER HALF – book #5 – and prepare the (absolutely) final book in the series, THE LAST SUMMER. I’ve had a blast returning to HATER, particularly with THE OTHER HALF which is a parallel sequel to DOG BLOOD. There’s so much going on in DOG BLOOD that I didn’t realise until now…

I’ll be able to tell you more about the books over the next few months, along with news about new audiobook releases, ebooks, short stories, foreign language editions, film and book recommendations, interviews, events and – hopefully – a brand new serialised novel for the summer. Watch this space.

Until then, you can find out more about ONE OF US WILL BE DEAD BY MORNING here. Shelve it on GOODREADS here.

Normal service will be resumed shortly is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER