David Moody's Blog, page 49
August 4, 2016
The apocalyptic road trip has begun…
…in the second of this week’s chapters added to the 20th anniversary STRAIGHT TO YOU serialisation.
The apocalyptic road trip has begun… is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER
August 1, 2016
SCRATCH – new David Moody novella out today
My turn. It’s YEAR OF THE ZOMBIE month 8. Summer holiday time. Sun, sea, sand, buckets and spades… and the living dead. It’s been far too long since I released anything, so I’m putting that right today. You can pick up SCRATCH
right now from AMAZON.COM, AMAZON.CO.UK, AMAZON.DE and others, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
They don’t want to kill you, they don’t want to eat your brains, they just want to infect you – one scratch and you’re history.
Jody’s up against it this morning. She’s stuck in a tent on her own with three kids in the middle of nowhere, and it’s the beginning of the end of the world. Her car’s on fumes, they’re miles from anywhere, and things are looking bleak.
It looks like there’s only one place left for Jody to go. Trouble is, it’s the last place on earth she wants to be. Impending armageddon and massive hordes of sick, undead creatures have nothing on the personal horrors she’ll have to face here.
Either way, she’s screwed. One scratch and it’s all over.
Get SCRATCH
now from from AMAZON.COM.
SCRATCH – new David Moody novella out today is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER
July 30, 2016
A collision of two great things
Great thing #1: my friend PETER MCKEIRNON, author of the DEATH IN A NORTHERN TOWN
series is also the brains behind a cracking web-based zombie series, DEAD TOWN. You can watch the first episode below, and episode two is now online also.
Great thing #2: the folks behind one of my favourite magazines, STARBURST, are running a film festival in Manchester between the 26 and 28 August. STARBURST and I go back a long, long way.
The collision of great things? DEAD TOWN, alongside a whole host of other movies, TV shows and exclusive premiers, will be shown at the STARBURST INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL. There’s some incredible stuff showing and many special guests. More info at www.starburstfilmfest.co.uk.
And here, for your viewing pleasure, is episode one of DEAD TOWN:
Peter will also be appearing alongside me at the Birmingham Horror Con in February 2017.
A collision of two great things is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER
July 28, 2016
Pitch and Page competition – one week to go
A quick reminder that there’s only one week left to enter the Infected Books Pitch and Page competition. The phenomenal prize is to be published by Infected Books as part of our Year of the Zombie initiative with all the perks that entails (eg a proper contract, monthly royalty payments, and inclusion in the print anthology coming in 2017). Full details can be found here, and entries need to be in by 5 August via our dedicated Facebook thread.
Pitch and Page competition – one week to go is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER
July 26, 2016
Straight to You – updated
The first of this week’s free STRAIGHT TO YOU chapters has been added and is now available for your reading pleasure. The temperature here in the UK may have dropped dramatically since last week’s highs, but the heat in the book is continuing to climb…
Straight to You – updated is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER
Straight to You
The first of this week’s free STRAIGHT TO YOU chapters has been added and is now available for your reading pleasure. The temperature here in the UK may have dropped dramatically since last week’s highs, but the heat in the book is continuing to climb…
Straight to You is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER
July 24, 2016
Recommended Reading – On Writing
Stephen King’s ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT
was first published in 2000. Part-biography, part-toolbox and instructional manual, and part-something else entirely, it’s a unique read. But I’m guessing you already know that. I’m assuming many of you may have already read it. A lot of fellow horror/ suspense/ thriller writers visit here, and of those of you who are more interested in reading than writing, I’m sure a large proportion are die-hard King fans. So why am I recommending it now?
When I signed my first major publishing contract back in early 2008 (I’d worked almost exclusively by myself until that point, and the contract I signed for the first version of STRAIGHT TO YOU
definitely was not major), I began to mix with a large number of fellow authors from many different walks of publishing life. A number of them suggested I should read ON WRITING, and I duly followed their advice. I ordered a copy and devoured it quickly. I took on board a lot of King’s sagely advice, and thoroughly enjoyed the read. And then I put the book on my over-crowded shelf and left it there.
A few months ago, though, while looking for summer holiday reads in advance of getting on a plane and doing bugger-all in the sun around a pool for a week, I picked it up again. I read it voraciously in a single day, and it was revelatory.
A couple of years back I wrote a regular column for this site called What Works For Me – stuff I’d picked up about writing along the way, all presented with the disclaimer that this was what worked for me, and that it possibly wouldn’t work for anyone else. Various things happened in my life (I won’t bore you with the details again, but you can find the clues in the archives of this site), and I realised that, for a year at least, probably nearer two, absolutely NOTHING worked for me. Fortunately I got back into the swing of things a while back, and I’m happy to report that the words are now flowing again (and I’ll provide you with proof of that VERY soon, I promise).
Re-reading ON WRITING
by the side of the pool in Kos at the end of May, thousands of miles away from my office and my books, was a cathartic experience. If you’ve not read it, I’ll briefly explain that the book is divided into four sections:
CV – where King recounts parts of his life which shaped the writer he became
Toolbox – the nuts and bolts of writing, if you will – vocabulary, style, grammar etc.
On Writing – more writing advice, but offered with a personal slant
On Living: a Postscript – King’s near-fatal accident in 1999 and his subsequent recovery and return to writing
Each of these sections is a treasure trove, but what struck me most when reading the book again (after a. being a professional writer for almost two decades and b. having been temporarily derailed from doing the thing I love by life) was that King presents us here with an incredible formula. In effect, he’s saying that your writing equals the sum of who you are + your technical knowledge and writing ability + the person you are at the moment you start work on a piece of writing. I think that’s pretty profound, and it’s helped me get things in perspective and get everything working again.
So my recommended reading for today, and again if you have a writing dip or a crisis of confidence at any point in the future, is ON WRITING
.
Recommended Reading – On Writing is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER
July 19, 2016
Perfect reading for the heatwave – updated
We’re in the middle of a heatwave here – an ideal time for you to be reading STRAIGHT TO YOU. The first of this week’s free chapters has been added to the book at WATTPAD. Things are going from bad to worse for our sun-scorched hero Steven (and I’m not giving away any secrets when I tell you things are going to get a lot worse for him yet…)
And yes, this map shows the weather in and around Birmingham as I write. 31 degrees at 8:00pm – that’s not normal. Is this the beginning of the end? (probably not, but I’ll happily start the rumour if it’ll help me shift a few more books!)
UPDATE – 21 July – the second of this week’s chapters has now been added. Read it here.
Perfect reading for the heatwave – updated is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER
Perfect reading for the heatwave
We’re in the middle of a heatwave here – an ideal time for you to be reading STRAIGHT TO YOU. The first of this week’s free chapters has been added to the book at WATTPAD. Things are going from bad to worse for our sun-scorched hero Steven (and I’m not giving away any secrets when I tell you things are going to get a lot worse for him yet…)
And yes, this map shows the weather in and around Birmingham as I write. 31 degrees at 8:00pm – that’s not normal. Is this the beginning of the end? (probably not, but I’ll happily start the rumour if it’ll help me shift a few more books!)
Perfect reading for the heatwave is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER
July 18, 2016
Birmingham Horror Con February 2017
I’m very pleased to announce that I’ll be a guest at the Birmingham Horror Con at Edgbaston Stadium on Saturday 4 February 2017. Really excited about this one as it’s a). a brand new event that’s b). on my manor. Tickets are available now, and you can find more information at www.horrorfan.co.uk.
Other guests confirmed so far include Adam Millard
, Matt Shaw
and Peter McKeirnon
. Should be a cracker. Hope to see many of you there!
Birmingham Horror Con February 2017 is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER
