David Turton's Blog, page 6

Body Horror Anthology available to pre-order

[image error]C.P. Dunphey’s The Year’s Best Body Horror 2017 Anthology, due for release on 31 September, is now available to pre-order on Amazon.

The collection includes my horror comedy story Length along with over forty other stories from the best up-and-coming authors in horror for Gehenna & Hinnom’s debut collection, all containing visceral and disturbing tales focussed on the body.

Coming off the heels of an incredibly successful first two issues of Hinnom Magazine—one an H.P. Lovecraft-themed memorial collection—Gehenna & Hinnom launches itself into Late-September with unprecedented anticipation for their Body Horror Anthology. From tales of infectious diseases rotting flesh to cosmic horror stories of perversion and mysticism, horror readers of all audiences will love this collection.

See why Gehenna & Hinnom is quickly becoming the biggest name in horror. Order your copy today at the following link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075KXRTCS/

Horror Writing Prompt

I was recently shortlisted, along with several other writers, for a writing prompt competition.

Writing prompts are useful tools for authors, to help inspire you to build a story around a sentence or two.

My shortlisted prompt was:

Its evil red eyes burned into mine. I froze with cold terror as I realised the face staring back at me was my own.

You can see all the other writing prompts, categorised into genres on the Penguin Random House website.

Two horror anthologies to include my work

Keep an eye out for two anthologies from Gehenna and Hinnom Books featuring my fiction work.

Year’s Best Body Horror is an exciting publication that is out at the end of September. It [image error]features many stories relating to horrific bodily transformations – think The Fly, Alien etc. My story Length focuses on a character who is obsessed with the size – or lack of – of a certain part of his body. When an encounter with a gypsy witch makes it grow, all his problems are solved. Or are they just beginning?

Year’s Best Transhuman Science Fiction brings together stories about artificial intelligency, cyborgs or anything where man and machine are combined. My story, The Scrap Metal Man, tells the tale of a small town scrapyard owner, and the two teenagers who discover his terrifying secret.

Gehenna and Hinnom is a young company growing fast, one I expect to be a huge brand in horror fiction. Their monthly Hinnom Magazine is excellent and I hope to have a story published in there one day. The founder and editor, C.P. Dunphey, has had commercial success with his debut novel Plane Walker and I’ve been very proud to be associated with such a dynamic writer. I even have my own profile page on the Gehenna and Hinnom website – see it here. Keep an eye on Gehenna and Hinnom for news of their next projects.

A step into the unknown

So, after almost half a year of writing, I’ve decided to launch a website.

I have to admit, it feels a little vain to create a website entirely based on myself, but I suppose I’ll need to shake off any feelings of bashfulness about writing if I’m going to be a proper author!

I began writing in January 2017. I’m not sure exactly what prompted me to begin, but I sat down and typed 5,000 words in one setting. This was to become my first novel, The Malaise. After this was completed and sent to various publishers, I began writing short stories. For anyone interested in writing fiction, I would completely recommend this course of action – the rejections hurt but you learn from each one. The acceptances, on the other hand, feel amazing. There’s nothing quite like an editor telling you that they loved your story and feel fit to publish it.

I’ve been lucky enough to have thirteen stories published at time of writing. One of the most surprising aspects of this new journey is how overwhelmingly supportive the writing community is.

I’ve launched this website as a platform for readers, publishers and agents to see my work in one place and to contact me about anything relating to my writing. I’ll use the blog posts to announce news about my writing and any developments.