Devon De'Ath's Blog, page 2
September 3, 2020
What Floats Beneath
Up until now, I’d resisted the urge to write a vampire novel. Not because I don’t enjoy them (I like them a lot), but because I’m neither an authority on the topic nor did I feel I had anything original to offer the genre.
While researching ghost stories from around the world, I happened upon two Asian vampires: the Krasue and Penanggal. I remembered the latter (also referred to as a penanggalan) from teenage role-playing games, so decided to dig further. What intrigued me about the penanggal...
June 24, 2020
A Wash & Brush Up
To mark the two-year anniversary of this journey into writing horror/paranormal/supernatural suspense fiction, I decided to give my backlist a much-needed do-over. Hurried, experimental design choices I made while establishing the ‘De’Ath Brand’ were no longer working. Plus, some of the covers just plain sucked!
While I’m delighted to have attracted many readers who buy book after book (you people rock), it was time to dispense with the old, heavy medieval script author name which limited my ...
June 8, 2020
The Nine Steps
The title of this post is a nod to that classic 1915 John Buchan novel, ‘The Thirty-Nine Steps.’ A book that has seen more film and television adaptations than you can shake a stick at.
When I write articles at the time of a new book release, I often include one about featured locations. In ‘Pilgrim,’ a story that begins in Kent leads to a pair of wrongfully accused protagonists going on the run to avoid capture, clear their names, unmask a sinister cult and stop an impending atrocity via a v...
Inverted Veneration
Inspiration for my latest novel, ‘Pilgrim,’ came from a situation I encountered twenty-four years ago while I was a minister and missionary.
At the time of the incident in question, I was living and working at a combined mission station and plantation in the densely forested hills above Montego Bay, Jamaica. During the humid mid-summer heat, several staff fell sick with a curious, cold-like illness nobody seemed able to shake. Weeks dragged on with more falling ill. We were getting short-hand...
March 20, 2020
Scribe
Earlier than the planned date of 25th March, Ive decided to release Scribe today. Something to take peoples minds off all the virus doom and gloom.
The Kindle version will be available at 99c/99p (1/5 regular price) until 25th April. Please pass this information on to anyone you think might enjoy the book.
Enjoy, and keep well if you can.
Devon.
Amazon UK : Amazon US : Amazon CA
[image error]March 12, 2020
From Suffolk to Shillmoor
Regular readers will know that I like to base the locations of my novels on actual places. There will of necessity always be some artistic license and pure fictional content. But, youll find plenty of genuine sites recreated and featured throughout the course of each story.
For my seventh horror novel, Scribe, it was important to contrast the comfortable Suffolk life of protagonist, Michael Brooks, with a different setting as he seeks to recover from the loss of his wife. I opted for the...
March 10, 2020
Poison Pen
I’d put off maturing the premise for my seventh horror novel into a full-bodied plot by two books. While ‘the written word made manifest’ is nothing new in fiction (or religion), I kept throwing out obvious branching concepts. They all seemed too predictable to my brainstorming mind. Like many writers, I ended up keeping the best scene ideas, though the story they occupy is a world apart.
‘Scribe’ opens with a man named Michael Brooks, who lost his wife, Julie, to a Cerebral Haemorrhage. A...
March 6, 2020
De’Ath in the Box
Kindle readers may be interested to know they can now acquire my first six horror novels in two boxed sets. In terms of pricing, this works out around three novels for the price of two. ‘VIP Readers’ will be notified of any additional temporary discount dates, as and when they occur.
The sets are as follows:
Twisted Trios: Boxed Set 1
MARIA’S WALK, NEVERMERE, CAVEAT EMPTOR
Twisted Trios: Boxed Set 2
MAYPOLE, THE SHACKLED, THE LYCHGATE
You’ll find links to both sets on the ‘Titles’ page of...
December 16, 2019
November 27, 2019
Saints & Skeletons
My latest novel, ‘The Lychgate,’ allowed me to indulge in writing some good, old-fashioned, last person standing survival horror. I always have a strong pull towards ‘story,’ so there had to be more meat on the bone than pure situational hi-jinks. By the time everything kicks off, the reader should feel invested in the characters and back-story. A tale that makes sense, rather than offering some weak excuse for undead corpses going on a wild killing spree as an afterthought.
The premise...
