Lee Mountford's Blog, page 5
September 24, 2017
Tormented – Chapter 1
As a little taster, I wanted to share the first draft of the first chapter for my upcoming book – Tormented!
Any or all of this could be subject to change, of course, but this is what I have so far. Hopefully, it is enough to pique peoples interest:
Chapter 1
The man looked down to the familiar form of his loved one below him as it begged for its life to be spared.
‘Please,’ the dying person said, ‘don’t. Not like this.’
But the man wasn’t listening. Nothing was going to stop what was about to happen.
Because it had already happened.
The act of taking the life was every bit as difficult and soul destroying as he remembered it to be; the continued pleading and the weak resistance—which was easily overcome as the last hold of life slipped away from the now still body.
The room, lit only by faint candlelight, fell silent after the death rattle, the last wheezing breath, petered out.
After the deed, the man slumped to the floor feeling incredibly drained. He studied his hands—the same murdering hands that had just snuffed out a life.
Was he a monster?
He felt something squirm inside, a knot in his gut that tightened and tightened. Then he purged, spilling the contents of his stomach across the dirtied carpet.
When his vision finally cleared he looked up at the walls of the room. Once white, they were now dull and yellowed.
And then the paint started to discolour further before his eyes.
Something was wrong here.
This wasn’t right.
This wasn’t how he remembered.
Dark pools of black formed in places along the walls, and from these pulsating pockets sickly yellow tendrils ran free, weaving their way around the remaining space. Spreading, covering the entirety of the walls.
A sickness running wild.
The man was crying now, wailing uncontrollably.
What had he done?
He was a monster. There was no question of that.
A killer.
A murderer.
He hugged himself and fell to his side, curled up in a foetal position as he continued his sobbing. He felt the sticky, wet patch of his vomit beneath him.
Then he felt a breeze around him and detected a foul smell, worse than the one that already permitted from the carpet.
He looked up just in time to see the room around him completely disintegrate away like it was never there; blown away like a vision of smoke.
And what lay beyond terrified him.
He screamed.
This wasn’t real.
It was madness.
Had to be.
The ground beneath him, hard and black, stretched out—on and on. A smooth, rocklike formation that seemed to secrete a thick red liquid. Enormous, jagged mountains broke through and clawed at the dark sky, and these mountains were themselves dwarfed by terrible, perfectly cylindrical black towers.
This alien landscape, however, was not barren of life.
Beings that defied sanity roamed, feeding off each other. Grotesque titans scooped up smaller, helpless monstrosities and thrust them into what may have been a mouth. One being was so vast it stood level with the mountains, screeching into the star-filled sky.
Other creatures, which were closer to the man, emerged from the ground—large, moaning mouths on long bodies lined with rolling eyes. They also devoured anything that was within reach. One of these snake-like beings was ripped from the floor by a rolling, formless mass. It was mashed and ripped apart inside the gelatinous thing.
A screaming, humanoid figure—my God, it actually was human—was pinned down by a twisted hoard of much larger creatures. Without legs, they pulled themselves along the hard ground, and toyed with the person, a man, tossing him around and dropping him from heights that should have ended his life. But he didn’t die, he simply moaned on and screamed in agony. Then the creatures got to work, not content with just pulling his skin from his body; they thrust engorged stalks into him that protruded from their underbellies.
The man watching all of this horror, who had moments earlier taken a life of his own, continued to scream at the madness that surrounded him. Immense noises echoed, booming in every fibre of the air, completely drowning out his own screams.
Then he heard something else amongst this chaos, something more focused. Something meant just for him.
He heard it and, even more disturbingly, felt it inside his mind.
Something was communicating with him.
It was not via a language he understood, yet he could still detect the intent.
This thing hungered for him. For his fears, for his guilt.
For his madness.
The man turned himself to face the direction he felt the pull coming from. A vast, raging body of thick, viscous liquid—a sea of boiling rage—was spread out before him. Whatever was communicating with him, he knew, was deep within that watery expanse.
It called to him and tore at his mind.
The man rolled to his back and continued his screams. The sky above was a never-ending cosmos. It was not a night sky as he knew it. Even the stars that sat high up behaved differently—pulsing, twisting and moving. They all coiled together at a certain point, swirling and mixing to form something that seemed familiar to him somehow.
The thing inside of his head now seemed fearful, scared of the cluster the man was gazing at.
He then realised what this formation of countless stars reminded him of; the slightly elliptical shape and the faint shape of an iris within.
It was an eye.
A great, cosmic eye.
It moved, and the man knew it was focused directly upon him.
–
He screamed again, but this time he could hear it—the sound of his own torment. His panicked cries reverberated around him and the other nightmarish sounds were no longer there.
He thrashed and kicked, but his arms and legs would not cooperate.
He opened his eyes, now seeing different surroundings. No longer the cosmic madness, it was now a more typical environment. Maybe even… familiar?
He was in a small, dark room, containing only himself and the bed he lay on. The only window was directly above him, lined with thick iron bars, and it showed only the dark of night beyond. He looked down, breathing rapidly, still fighting and squirming, and saw that he was dressed in ill-fitting, ragged cotton clothes. His arms and legs were restrained with wide straps, and he felt the damp of perspiration all around him.
Waking memories started to flood back, overwhelming the lingering nightmare.
The man then heard a metallic sound from the thick iron door to the room, as if something heavy was sliding along its surface outside.
The door creaked open.
The man no longer screamed, but still, he was confused. Why was he restrained? Did he know this place?
Four men entered.
Three were dressed in simple white uniforms, but the man in the centre in a smart suit. He looked to be in his fifties and he, too, seemed familiar. He smiled, though it wasn’t a warm smile.
‘Now, now,’ the suited man said. ‘All this screaming. What in the world is wrong, Anthony?’
Anthony? A name the restrained man recognised. It was his own name.
Anthony Craig.
His memories then flooded back completely. He knew the fantastical, horrific things he had witnessed only moments before was nothing but a dream.
A nightmare.
He knew where he was now.
Anthony was exactly where he was supposed to be.
Hobbes Hall Asylum.
‘Nothing,’ Anthony finally said, through a dry and strained throat. ‘Nothing is wrong, Doctor. I’m fine.’
‘Good,’ the suited man said and stepped forward. He patted Anthony on the shin. ‘I’d hate to think our treatment was causing more harm than good. And I’m quite certain we are on the verge of a breakthrough.’
Anthony heard the screams of the insane rattle around from beyond his room.
The Doctor smiled again.
September 18, 2017
Next Book Progressing…
Okay, so the third book is taking longer to progress than I’d hoped. However, given the arrival of my daughter, that is to be expected. BUT – progress is being made. I swear.
For one, I have a title.
Tormented.
I think it fits the story really well and I would be proud of it but… my wife came up with it in all honesty. For someone who claims not to like horror, she sure is good at coming up with ideas for it!
And the story is coming together as well. I always like to have an outline ready before I start writing, and I’m hoping to have that done in a week or two. Then the first draft should only take a month or so after that. I’m hoping for a release in November.
And to give you a little taste:
It opens with a vivid dream, well, something more than a dream. A nightmarish hellscape, filled with maddening creatures and entities far beyond our understanding. The sky is an expanse of a twisting, pulsating cosmos and, at its centre, something looking down…
Our protagonist then wakes, screaming. As the nightmarish visions fade, he is panicked. He is in a strange environment, retrained to a bed. He continues screaming, then his memory begins to seep back. He remembers where he is, and why he is here. The asylum. He came here voluntarily. The door to his cell opens, and The Director enters…
That’s all I’m going to give away so far but as you can imagine this asylum is not a normal one. Something very sinister is going on there, something that the protagonist is going to get caught up in.
All hell will break loose as unimaginable horrors and abominations are unleashed.
I’ve used Jacobs Ladder, Silent Hill and The Thing as inspirations for this one, but hopefully created something all its own.
And the audio version of Horror in the Woods is still progressing well, and we are still aiming to have it out for Halloween.
And that’s about it for this update. I was hoping to give my views on the new IT movie, as I’m really looking forward to it, but haven’t been able to see it yet. Hopefully next weekend, but we’ll see.
– Lee
September 5, 2017
5 Star Review for The Demonic!
Just wanted to throw a quick post up today as The Demonic has been reviewed by the awesome people at Horror After Dark (www.horrorafterdark.com) and has received a glowing write up!
You can check out the review here!
I’m thrilled at how well The Demonic is being received, as I was with Horror in the Woods, and hope I can keep churning out books that people like. I know you can’t please all of the people all of the time, but I can damn well try!
I would also recommend people have a look at some of the other books reviewed on Horror After Dark, as there are some fantastic works on there that are well worth you time.
Lastly, I’m not sure if people know, but the founder of Horror Novel Reviews, Matt Molgaard, has unfortunately passed away after suffering from a stroke. I had some brief discussions with Matt following my submissions to their site, and he was always an absolute gentleman. And Horror Novel Reviews is a fantastic site. Thoughts are with Matt’s family right now, who are obviously going through the most difficult of times. If you are able, any donation on their gofundme page would help them in this time:
– Lee
August 26, 2017
Demonic is a Bestseller!
Just wanted to throw out a massive thank you to everyone that has supported The Demonic. It has just hit the No 1 slot in British Horror Authors on the Amazon.com Kindle Store, and is now officially a ‘Best Seller’! Woop woop!
So, again, thank you to everyone who took a chance on the book and has left positive feedback. I’m thrilled people are enjoying it.
Also, just wanted to mention that I know some people are having trouble signing up to my Mailing List. If so, please drop me an email at: leemountford01@googlemail.com and I will get you added manually, and make sure the free stories are sent over.
And lastly, still on cloud 9 about recently becoming a dad. My baby daughter Ella is absolutely perfect and, as you would expect, is taking up most of my time. The writing will continue soon, but I’m obviously taking a little bit of a break to spend some quality time with my daughter.
Hope all is well with everyone out there.
– Lee
August 23, 2017
Kindle Countdown Deal and Print Books!
Okay, pretty big update today!
First of all, both of my books (Horror in the Woods and The Demonic) are now on a Kindle Countdown Deal, so you can grab both for 99c / 99p – so pick em up now!
But also, if you prefer holding print copies of books in your grubby little hands, I have more good news! Print copies of both books are also available as well!
Go to my author page and then follow the link to the books you want, both versions are available:
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/aut...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-dbs/a...
What else? Oh yeah, the Horror in the Woods audio version is now being produced by the fantastic Han Hills (and he also has the coolest first name ever!): https://leapofhumanity.com
Also, I think people might have trouble signing up to my mailing list. Not sure what’s happening there, but if you are please drop me a line on Leemountford01@googlemail.com so I can sort it out for you.
And lastly – but most important – I’m a daddy! My beautiful baby daughter Ella was born on Sunday at 12.41, and I am absolutely besotted!
So lots to update on, but I’ll have to keep this brief as I have a certain little lady to get back to 
August 15, 2017
Print Books & Update
Just a quick update to say that the print versions of both of my books are incoming! They have been approved by Createspace (the site that produces them) and will be available on Amazon in 3-5 days. I’ll post another update when they finally go live, but looking forward to seeing both Horror in the Woods (freshly re-edited) and The Demonic in physical form, to hold in my grubby little hands.
In addition, both stories are also in the process of being turned into Audio books, so hopefully that shouldn’t be too much longer either.
In between all that and the day job, I’m also plotting my third novel, which will be set in an asylum and expand on the shared universe my books inhabit. If Horror in the Woods was my ode to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Demonic was The Conjuring, then this next book will be my nod to Hellraiser, The Thing and In the Mouth of Madness (and possibly The Void, though I have yet to see it).
Oh, and if that wasn’t enough to keep me busy, my wife and I are expecting our first child in less than a week! So pretty excited (and shit scared!) about that!
– Lee
August 6, 2017
Interview with Horror Novel Reviews
Following their review of my most recent book, The Demonic, the people over at Horror Novel Reviews kindly got in touch regarding an interview. Of course I didn’t hesitate to say yes, and that interview is now live on their website:
Interview: Lee Mountford – Author of The Demonic
Be sure to check it out, and I hope it is interesting!
– Lee
August 4, 2017
Review for The Demonic
Just wanted to share this, as I’m pretty pleased to say the least. I submitted my book for review at an awesome website, Horror Novel Reviews, and it has just gone live!
Click here to read the review.
Boom! A horror tour-de-force, no less
July 27, 2017
Paperbacks
So, with Horror in the Woods and The Demonic both out and doing better than I could have expected (yay!), I’m going to start work on the paperback versions of both, which will be available through Amazon.
I know some people prefer the old fashioned feel of a book as opposed to an e-reader, so hopefully some will see value in this. I’m also going to apply the matchbook feature, so those that have already bought the Kindle version should be able to get the paperback at a discount.
Who knows, there might not be a market for it, but hell, it can’t hurt to try. Right? And once these are out I’ll also start work on an audio book too, so keep a look out for that.
And in amongst all that I’m still hard at work plotting my third novel. I don’t have a title for it yet, so will just refer to it as Asylum for now (can you guess where it’s set???).
That’s all at the minute, just a quick update today.
– Lee
July 23, 2017
The Demonic is out now!
Exciting news! My second novel – The Demonic – is out now on Amazon! If you’ve been following my blog you will have seen me post about it, but it’s finally out, and I really hope everyone enjoys it. Where as Horror in the Woods was an ode to Texas Chainsaw Massacre and stories of that ilk, The Demonic is more of a ghost story in the vein of The Conjuring and Insidious (and, if you have seen it, Ghostwatch). Hopefully it will get under your skin and have you checking under the bed!
There are also a couple of short stories in there from two talented authors – Normal Turrell and Raven Backwood – which I’m sure you’ll enjoy.
Check it out The Demonic and let me know what you think.
