Stephanie Ellis's Blog, page 3

Favourite Reads of 2023

I was invited by Ben Shepherd to give my 3 favourite reads of 2023 (running from October 1st 2022 to September 30th this year). This was really hard to do, especially as a real favourite – Beast by Lindz McLeod wasn’t published until October this year. I read it when I proofed it and again when I formatted and will be buying the print copy myself as it is one of those you do re-read!

One thing about this list, it’s about favourite reads and that includes books which were not necessarily published recently!

However, I had to stick to 3 and so I came up with these – but please note, the order is truly interchangeable. I loved all equally. Go here to read more: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/stephanie-ellis

And if you want to see an overview of the whole of this period, which books made the favourites, check this out https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023

I actually started listening to Demon Copperhead on an audio book at night but kept falling asleep and losing chapters. I need to go back to it. I also read Yellowface which was great and there are a few others on the list which I’ve picked up. Dip in and see if any of your favourites appeared!

Free Book!

The recent Terrify Your Tablet event run by Lyndsey Smith/Horrorsmith Publishing was a huge success and allowed many readers to download whole swathes of free books. Sadly, amazon did not change the prices of my two books (The Five Turns of the Wheel and The Woodcutter) to free although some lovely people did buy them. As a thank you to those and to hopefully make up for any disappointment, I’ve made my folk horror short story collection, As the Wheel Turns, free for five days on amazon starting tomorrow.

I wrote this collection after I’d finished Five Turns as I really wanted to explore the landscape and meet other folk dwelling in the Weald. Yes, you meet Tommy, Betty and Fiddler again, but you also meet others, such as the Boggins men, Vetch, Belladonna, Rampton Thatcher, Johnny Hedgerow, and more. The stories invite you to witness their own take on many a British craft or tradition and I even included a love story – of the Five Turns kind.

To get the book, head over to amazon tomorrow!

Paused – A Reading

I did a reading a few months back of Chapter 3 from my bio-horror novella, Paused. Although this is set around a pandemic (viral or other cause you’ll have to read to find out), it was written before Covid. In this particular chapter, the daughters of the doctor faced with this mystifying ailment, face their school bully. At the end of the reading, I do make a somewhat cynical comment about how I think people will behave when faced with events referenced in the book.

The idea for the book came to me after reading about Locked In syndrome and the horror of that situation remained with me. It must surely rank amongst one of the most terrifying situations to be in. In addition to this, I came across an article which showed advances being made in allowing sufferers to communicate, the basis for the ‘thinking cap’ referenced in the story. You can read that article here. Science and technological advance is a great source of inspiration for writing!

Paused Blurb:

A terrifying pandemic sweeps the world, rendering its victims completely immobile but leaving them conscious with their minds intact. The victims are helpless against the environment, completely at the mercy of wild animals, weather, out of control fires, and other dangers. There’s no hope for those safe in their homes either, as they slowly starve to death, unable to feed themselves or drink.

Dr. Alex Griffiths leads a team racing against time to find a cure before it’s too late. Will he succeed?

Get Paused here.

And as a total aside, that little teddy bear behind me I remember getting when I was about five years old. I can still remember standing in front of the shop window trying to decide between this one and one with brown paws. It makes him 54!

31 Days of Horror – Suspended

Another free story for the spooky season. Last week I shared an early tale, ‘Death is Not a Potato,’ via my Substack. This time you have me reading my short body horror, ‘Suspended,’ which features in my latest collection, Devil Kin as part of Brad Proctor’s 31 Days of Horror.

I hope you enjoy it!

The Woodcutter – A Reading

Here’s a couple of links to the Readers Intrigue recordings where I did a reading of a large chunk of the first chapter of The Woodcutter. Hard to believe it was summer not so long ago, you can tell as I’m wearing a short-sleeved top! This marks a huge leap out of my comfort zone. Readings are not something I normally do and you have no idea how many times I had to stop and redo things!

The Woodcutter:

A tragic accident, shrouded in mystery, leads to a family reunion in the hidden village of Little Hatchet, located in the smothering shadow of GodBeGone Wood, the home of the mythical Woodcutter and Grandma. Alec Eades rediscovers his bond with GodBeGone Wood and the future his father agreed to years ago as nefarious landowner Oliver Hayward schemes to raise money for the village by re-enacting part of the Woodcutter legend. Old wounds are re-opened and ties of blood and friendship are tested to the extreme when the Woodcutter is summoned and Grandma returns.

The reading is also available on Spotify link below.

The Time has come the Walrus said …

… to talk of many things, of X/Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and the stress that this all brings! (With apologies to Lewis Carroll).

Like many writers, I am on social media. It is a necessity in a horrible way, forcing the introvert out into the world to become known, direct readers to their books. With X/Twitter becoming abysmal – I don’t see people I used to, apart from a few, and with the rampant hypocrisy, judgementalism and inflamed egos that has become more apparent in recent months, I’ve decided to leave and will be closing down my account in 2 weeks time. Why wait you may ask? Well, I’ve set up at blue sky (https://bsky.app/profile/stephellis.bsky.social) and have been searching people to follow and I know there are a number on X/Twitter I want to trawl for and see if they have a presence on this platform. The people I follow will be authors and poets – and not all of the dark stuff! – historians and folklorists and things that interest me. I am also attempting to follow back those who follow me. If I haven’t yet, let me know! I will not be one of those who builds up a huge following and then promptly cuts down the no. they follow to make themselves look ‘big’. (Can’t people grow up?). My following at the moment is a few hundred and I think I’m in the right frame of mind to start again. I only ever had a small following on X/Twitter so I don’t think it’s a drastic step.

Instagram and TikTok accounts will remain but I won’t be active there. If I go to TikTok at all, it’s to check out my son’s music. I will continue with FaceBook, dipping into a few writer groups there but that platform is one where my family are, hence remaining. I’ve just remembered LinkedIn, but my presence there is random, so that may go too

I will continue to create HorrorTree.com’s weekly Indie Bookshelf Releases post, it has been the main way that I have been able to support indie writers in recent times.

So, moving forwards – my focus will be a more up-to-date blog and Substack (famous last words, but I’ll try!) and blue sky.

I am hoping that shedding these apps will allow me to write more by cutting down the time spent on them all, and to engage in a more meaningful way.

Manipulation and The Woodcutter

I’ve done a few interviews recently about The Woodcutter and have been asked what inspired it. One strand that I have referenced is that of wanting to incorporate a reality TV show type setup and using that to play with the reader’s understanding of what is going on.

The Woodcutter is set in the small village of Little Hatchet, edged by the overwhelming presence of GodBeGone Woods. These woods are the source of the legend of the Woodcutter and Grandma. Part of the legend was the need for the Woodcutter to claim an apprentice from the village and this process, the offering up of sons to the Woodcutter so that he could chose one of them, forms the re-enactment which is turned into a reality TV show. In addition to the film crew, the villagers also take part, videoing it for social media and YouTube. BUT is this just a re-enactment or is it real? Certainly as you read it, your perceptions will change and change again, much as the characters’ own understanding of what is going on is continually tested.

The idea of this level of manipulation came to me as I remembered a show, Apocalypse, created by Derren Brown which I caught on TV some years ago. It’s always stayed with me because it set up a person to believe that a zombie apocalypse had happened and he was the sole survivor. There has been much debate about whether this central character was an actor or not, but from what I remember, I believed then that he believed what was happening to him. And this was what I wanted to bring into The Woodcutter.

You can see Derren Brown’s show and decide for yourself.

Favourite Folk Horror Reads

Shepherd is a new site, one which asks authors for their favourite reads and to explain why they like them. They do not ask for an in-depth review for the books, but more a ‘response’, a human reaction to the book. And this is something which strongly appeals to me as a reader. I do not like to read reviews which analyse to nth detail, I like something which speaks to me in a more immediate manner. The ‘wow’ or ‘ugh’ which might be the only word in a review resonates more strongly, it is emotional and real. Such short responses draw me in to read the blurb and it is the latter which then determines my decision to read, or not.

My comments on my five favourites are not that short, but they are ‘me’, they are why I love the books in question. I hope you pick one or two of them, too, and enjoy them as much as I did.

https://shepherd.com/best-books/to-introduce-the-dark-delights-of-folk-horror

And if you want to see what else might be on my shelf at home, here’s a peek at part of my bookcase:

Coming Soon: Devil Kin

It’s been a while since my last short story collection (The Reckoning), and a lot has happened since then – including a growing body of shorter fiction which needed gathering in one place. In Devil Kin, I’ve mixed 6 previously published tales with 13 new ones, including a novelette. All, I believe, are amongst the strongest works I’ve written and range from gothic to folk horror to body horror and scifi/dystopian, and even some dark humour. With regard to the latter, I will happily admit to a soft spot for “The Book of Skin” which allowed me to have a chuckle with a pompous poet wandering the moors, though not quite as lonely as a cloud …

Catherine McCarthy, author of Immortelle, had these kind words to say ‘Devil Kin is a generous collection of folk horror and sci-fi/dystopian shorts, some of which have been previously published in anthologies while others are brand new. There truly is something for everyone here, and Ellis proves her strength at both genres.’ Go here for the full review.

Publication Date: 15th May

Pre-order here: https://books2read.com/u/mqe2Pd

For this book, I’ve decided to go wider for the ebook and so it is not part of Kindle Unlimited at amazon. Setting it up at different sites has been a learning experience! It may be that in the future I also move away a bit from amazon for the print version but one step at a time!

Ebook is available via amazon, Kobo and Barnes&Noble.

Print book will be available via amazon.

Table of Contents:

Dog Rose and Devilkin
Phantom
From the Mist
The Family Way
Moulting*
The Book of Skin
Suspended
Platform of the Righteous
Romany Rose*
Rat’s Alley
Family Reunion*
Milking Time*
Better to Close Your Eyes
To See with the Eyes of God
Cry me a River*
Skin to Skin
Unravelling*
The Last Word They Always Say
Of Blood and Stone (novelette)

*previously published

Foundlings is Flying!

I was delighted to learn that Foundlings, the found poetry collection written by myself and Cindy O’Quinn, has made it on to the HWA Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary ballot in the Poetry Collection category. This does not mean it has been nominated, but that it does have a chance!

Sourced from the stellar work of dark poetry masters Linda D. Addison and Alessandro Manzetti (who also kindly wrote the foreword), we distilled their words to create totally original poems in our own right.

We knew that we had something special when we started to receive feedback from our earliest readers:

Their words have been reward enough for this little book which was truly a labour of love.

Foundlings is available via https://mybook.to/Foundlings