Luke Walker's Blog: https://lukewalkerwriter.wordpress.com, page 9

Dead Sun - first chapter

To celebrate Dead Sun being published this weekend, I thought I'd share the opening chapter as a sort of sneak peek at it. So, here it is (links to follow, obviously).

Hope you enjoy.


DEAD SUNCHAPTER ONE 
Standing beside her front door, Emma Cooper gave the car a wave as it followed the curve of the little road from Willow Court. There was a flash of white—Jo sticking a hand through the window for a moment to return the gesture before the car disappeared behind the flats marking the entrance to the Court. As soon as the car was out of sight, the silence of the evening crashed back down again and Emma remained still. Trying to keep her smile fresh even though there was nobody nearby to see it, she watched for Jo, hoping her friend would reappear. After long moments of listening to nothing but her own soft breath, Emma let her smile go and fished out her keys, not thinking of anything else. Refusing to let herself think of anything else.The metal dug into her palm and she squeezed her hand around it, relishing the discomfort. The approaching sunset covered her house with a warming red light, shining on each brick and on the windows that needed cleaning. As she inserted her key into the lock, she fought the urge to turn. Jo had gone; Emma knew that. Even so, she wanted to be with Jo and Rich, watching TV, talking to people she loved instead of having to face her empty house. “Get a grip, you stupid cow.” She turned the key. The musty smell of sealed rooms on a hot day ran past her as she opened the door. Out of nowhere, an unbidden mental picture of a month before fell over her eyes and blocked any sight of the entrance hall in her house.“No,” she whispered. “No.”The picture faded, leaving the memory of that horrible time in the delivery room to drift away. Still tasting the final cup of tea, Emma let her breath go. At the same time, the stale air inside the house hit. She’d have to give it a clean tomorrow. Keep the windows open, let some of the day in: air and light and fresh.Kicking off her trainers, she walked through to the living room and tossed her keys and phone to the sofa. Once the curtains and patio doors were open, the outside freshness entered and banished some of the closed-in feeling although not quickly enough. She stood in the doorway, took deep breaths and figured the best plan was to catch up on some box sets, have something to eat and go to bed. As she locked the patio doors, her mind threw up the picture again, too fast for her to stop it.She’s pushing when they tell her to, concentrating on anything she can other than the glassy pain, trying to think of how it will be after, of going home with her child and that’s when the hurt changes to something monstrous that isn’t physical. Instead, it’s far deeper than the stupid weight of her body because something’s wrong, something’s— Emma whirled around, breathing fast. Instead of letting her mind speak a name, she strode to the kitchen, grabbed a Budweiser can from the fridge and swallowed a few rapid mouthfuls. The lager slid down her throat fast, forcing her to concentrate on nothing else for several seconds. Lowering the beer, Emma belched and managed to laugh. The laughter slipped away as the name broke through her barriers.Leoni.The doorbell rang.Stifling a second belch, Emma placed the can by the cooker and returned to the hall to peer at the shape outside, the form indistinct through the frosted glass. A man was all she could work out. “Who is it?” she said, raising her voice. For a moment, the hall seemed warmer than it should have even with the sunlight dropping through windows.“Hi.” The voice was friendly and sure. There was a pause long enough for Emma to think: shit, it’s the godsquad. Just great. “I need to talk to you.”“Yeah, I’m sure you do,” Emma whispered. She slid a step closer to the door. “Thanks, but I’m not interested.”The man gave no reply. Still listening, Emma took a step back to the kitchen with the idea of having a quick look through the window at him. “I need to talk to you, Emma.”Still moving towards the kitchen, Emma froze. The warmth in the hall no longer existed. In its place, winter cold crept through the house and made the fine hairs on her arms rise.“Go away,” she said, grateful her voice held steady. “I’m really not interested.”“I’m sorry, Emma, but I need to talk to you.”The man still sounded friendly. Walking as lightly as possible to the living room, Emma grabbed her phone from the sofa and readied it.“Leave now or I call the police.”Although she knew it was impossible, she thought she heard the man sigh. “I wish I could leave, but I can’t. Now please open the door.”As she licked her lips repeatedly, Emma was dimly aware of a new feeling. Apprehension remained while rising from her mid-section, anger swam in closer. She stabbed nine three times. “The police will be here pretty quickly, so why don’t—”The man’s voice interrupted her. Instead of sounding muffled through the front door, it came clearly from the phone.“It’s about Leoni, Emma.”Unable to make a sound, Emma dropped her mobile and fell against the doorframe to slide downwards. A great thundering roared on all sides as her heart boomed in her ears. She swallowed repeatedly and tried to pull herself up with her fingertips on the doorframe. Failing, she stared at the front door and crawled to the hall where she slumped beside the bookcase. “Emma, please. We need to talk.”She made it another foot and managed to stand. With a hand against her stomach, she walked to the door. “Leoni?” she murmured. “Please, Emma.”Emma reached for the lock. As her fingers brushed the cool metal, her rational mind made a bid to control her actions. It failed. She pushed the lock down and opened the door.The man stepped back.“Emma. My name is Xaphan.”“Xaphan,” Emma repeated. The man extended his hand.“Will you come?” he said. Leoni, Emma thought. Ignoring the offered hand, she stepped outside.Everything turned red.

Ascent (changes)

I found out a few weeks back that there was a high chance the publisher of my book Ascent, which was published last summer, was closing its doors which was obviously shit news for me and all their other authors (and shit news for the publisher, as well). As things were a bit up in the air, I didn't say anything publicly but as I've now had offical word, I can say Ascent is going out of print.

But.

Yesterday, I signed a contract with Hellbound Publishing to re-release it so while it is going out of print, it hopefully won't be for too long. Obviously, The Unredeemed and The Dead Room come first from Hellbound, but you can imagine I'm very pleased to say my tale of regrets, grief and a really nasty thing that exploits both with the poor bastards trapped in Greenham Place will return.

In the meantime, Dead Sun is published in less than a week and I'm working my arse off on the second book for Kensington Gore which is a prequel to the re-release of The Mirror Of The Nameless.

Another in the meantime - the paperback of Hometown (HOMETOWN) is under £6 on Amazon so get yourself a copy if you want to see what my stuff is like prior to the new books.

Interview time

Feels like a fair while since I've done an interview so it's about time. Head this way for a photo of my giant bald head along with info on the background to Dead Sun. Big thanks to Cat for having me on her site, again. As always, I hope you like.

INTERVIEW

And speaking of Dead Sun, I've just uploaded the final copy after making some last edits. It'll be availabke in a couple of weeks - links to follow as soon as they're live, obviously. In the meantime, feel free to sign up to my newsletter which I've just started. No spamming, just stuff about my books, covers and all that jazz.

NEWSLETTER

The Day Of The New Gods

Good stuff happening my end lately. I found this out a couple of weeks ago along with the news about The Mirror Of The Nameless but couldn't say anything publicily until now - I'm working on a prequel to Mirror currently titled The Day Of The New Gods which will be a novel rather than novella length and will also be published by Kensington Gore. Chuffed as you can imagine especially as Mirror went out of print last year, leaving me to wonder if anything would happen with it again. So, now it's coming back and I get chance to explore the world of my horrible gods at the start of their impact on our world.

And believe me, it's a big impact.

One more thing - there's an interview with me over at KS's site in which I talk writing, horror and other guff. Hope you like. Interview

The Mirror Of The Nameless - to be republished

I recently mentioned I had stuff going on that I couldn't talk about just yet. Well, now I can.

Thrilled to announce my Lovecraftian novella The Mirror Of The Nameless, which went out of print last year, is coming back to life. It will be republished as an ebook and in print from Kensington Gore. I had a lot of fun writing this one a few years ago (mainly because, by design, it's all story). Violent, hopefully frightening and fast-paced, Mirror is more action/horror than my usual stuff which I like. Think of it as the sort of film you might watch on a Friday night with a couple of beers.

My author page is up over at Kensington Gore, so have a gander. Author page.

More info on Mirror to come. . .along with another thing I can't talk about just yet.

Dead Sun: publication date

I've had a fair bit going on this month, most of which I can't talk about just yet, while also working through Dead Sun to get the file ready to upload and all that jazz. Everything is on track; the cover is sweet and a few jolly nice people have agreed to read a copy prior to publication (which is a massive help because all writers need reviews in a big, big way. Even shitty reviews are better than no reviews), so it's time to sort a publication date.

Unless anything hideous goes down, shall we say late April? The 28th? Grand. Decision made. You can get my tale of angels, demons and a shitload of dead people from the end of next month.

Now all I need to do is make sure everything is ready with it while working on the stuff I can't tell you about.

Yet.

Dead Sun cover

So, here it is. Presenting the cover to my upcoming book Dead Sun. I don't have an exact date set for publication although I should be getting that sorted over the next week, I reckon. Anyway, dun dun dun...

Going it alone: Dead Sun

For the last four years or so, I've been considering what to do with a book I had published in early 2013 after it went out of print soon after and the original publisher closed down. It was much more of a fantasy rather than the darker stuff I do now; that combined with how difficult it can be to sell new stuff to publishers let alone previously released work has left me uhmming and ahhing about what's best for that book. Long story short, I read through it again last year and re-discovered quite a lot about it I liked. It needed a polish and re-editing and while the issue of the genre being different is still true, it's probably not as big a deal as I thought - the book is dark fantasy (or light horror) so it's not a million miles from my current stuff.

Anyway, decision made over the last few months. I'm publishing this one myself and giving it a new title from the original release as well as the edits and rewrites. Although I don't have a date set, I'm looking at some point in the next few months. So, please be upstanding for the book published in 2013 as 'Set coming back to life as Dead Sun.



After an unbearable loss, Emma Cooper feels as if she’s simply surviving rather than living. That is until an angel and demon pull her from her fight against grief into a new battle.
Her daughter’s soul is trapped in the midway point between Heaven and Hell. By joining with the divine and the damned, Emma has a chance of helping her daughter and countless others escape what should be a world of peace but has now become the frontline of a war.
Someone is leading a rebellion against the injustices of life; they’re fighting for every human being to have an equal chance. But this conflict is heading towards something much worse than Emma or any demon or angel suspects. The forgotten remnants of Creation are breaking free; insane horrors from outside the universe eager to turn all of reality into suffering.
Unless Emma can stop this war, it will be too late to save her child’s soul. And the soul of existence itself.

New book sale - The Dead Room

Some rather jolly news has come my way. Not only will my next book The Unredeemed will be published by Hellbound Books, I've signed a contract for a second book from Hellbound. I know, two books. Madness. Anyway, I'm thrilled as you can imagine. No publication date yet but it's way too early for that. The second book is called The Dead Room and the blurby thingy is below. In the meantime, feel free to have a go at Hometown and Ascent which are great, if I do say so myself.

The Dead Room:

Fleeing from a horrendous event she refuses to speak of and desperate to find shelter in a dying country, Nicola’s sister-in-law Cate takes cover in a partly destroyed hospital. Terrorised by visions of mutilated bodies and the screams of phantom children, Cate joins with a group of survivors, all of whom are under attack by ruthless scavengers and looters.

If Nicola is to have any chance of finding her family and if Cate is to escape from the siege, they must reunite and then descend into the belly of the ruined hospital where the horrific truth of what truly connects the two women is waiting for them.

Waiting for them down in the dead room.

New short story - The Mouth At The Edge Of The World

Been a while since I've been able to say this - I've got another short story to be published. The Mouth At The Edge Of The World will be published this November in WeirdBook Magazine. A fair way off yet but then that's publishing. It exists in its own timescale unknown anywhere else in every universe.

Funny thing about this one. I came up with the title before I'd written a single word. I had the vague idea, then the title that felt perfect so I thought I better write my little tale. Anyway, give it til much later in the year and you can read it.