Steph Bennion's Blog, page 2

Smashwords 'Read an Ebook Week' sale

THE ANNUAL SMASHWORDS 'READ AN EBOOK WEEK' takes place from 3 to 9 March. Hundreds of indie authors and publishers are offering fantastic deals on ebooks, including myself. It seemed rude not to. From tomorrow for one week only, the following ebook titles are on offer from WyrdStar at Smashwords: HOLLOW MOON and THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL will be available free of charge; PAW-PRINTS OF THE GODS, CITY OF DECEIT and THE AVALON JOB are half-price. Read an Ebook Week is a chance to grab a bargain, not just from myself but also from other great authors... who knows, you might discover your new favourite book! Steph.

Finally, some news on HOLLOW WORLDS...

HOLLOW WORLDS, the fifth and final novel in the Hollow Moon series, is edging closer to publication! Three and half years after the release of THE AVALON JOB, I have finally finished reading through and tweaking the completed draft novel. Ravana O'Brien, Detective Ostara Lee, the young Artorius and their robot sabre-toothed tiger are marooned a very long way from home. Priest Taranis is reaping his twisted destiny with a new apprentice at his side. The watchers Athene and Ares are bringing their great game to a close. The incompetent mercenaries Namtar and Inari are being idiotic as always. Dyson trees, biological skyships, space dreadnoughts, alien greys: the five systems are not big enough to contain the plot... HOLLOW WORLDS is somewhat of an epic finale to the series; wrapping up the various plot threads needed more space (in both senses of the word) to get right. I'm taking a break before starting the final editing, but if all goes well publication should hopefully be in the second half of this year. An extract from Chapter One is available to read online. Happy reading! Steph.

Hastings Fat Tuesday

ATOMIC TWITTEN, our shambolic folk-comedy duo featuring Taylor on vocals/guitar and myself on bass, is playing this year's Hastings Fat Tuesday festival, the seaside town's answer to Mardi Gras. On UNPLUGGED SATURDAY (10 February), we will be gracing the following venues in Hastings Old Town: 1pm - Ye Olde Pumphouse; 2pm - British Tea Museum; 3pm - The Albion; 4pm - The Crown; and 5pm - SEED. The Hastings Fat Tuesday five-day festival presents over 350 free gigs, gatherings, parties and parades alongside ticketed events, with acclaimed artists from across the South-East appearing alongside a wealth of local bands. Programmes can be grabbed from participating venues. See you there...? Steph.

Free seasonal short story - "Snakes On A Spaceship"

PUBLISHED TODAY is "Snakes On A Spaceship", this year's free seasonal tale from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon. This story is a science-fiction pastiche of the fairytale "Sleeping Beauty" and a certain movie featuring Samuel L Jackson cursing at snakes. Also, err... "Die Hard". Which is a Christmas film of sorts. The burb: "Interplanetary smugglers Hanuman and Ganesa are ferrying a party of gangsters and cargo of exotic snakes through Epsilon Eridani's asteroid belt to a festive get-together at a crime-lord's secret hideaway. A distress call leads them to a crashed spacecraft and a mysterious young woman, asleep in a medical pod within an overgrown biological photosynthetic garden. Then someone releases the snakes..." The ebook collection MERRY CHRISTMAS, MISTER WOLF has been updated and reissued to include the new story. Merry Christmas, one and all. Books and ebook readers make truly marvellous gifts! I hope you are all keeping safe, warm and well. Happy reading! Steph.

HISTORY REIMAGINED ebook bundle

OUT NOW is History Reimagined: A Historical Fiction Bundle, a collection of speculative fiction with a historical slant. Dive into these captivating stories and reimagine history! Included in the bundle is my own novella THE BATTLES OF HASTINGS, an alternate-history romp through the battlefields of England 1066. Elsewhere in the bundle you will find: short stories "When Thomas Jefferson Dined Alone" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch; "The Sword That Spoke" and "The Messiah Business" by Robert Jeschonek; "Cromwell's Echo" and "The Javelin in her Hand" by Joslyn Chase; "Temper and Temperance" by DeAnna Knippling; and "A Love Divided" (novel) by Belle McInnes. This ebook bundle is currently only available from PubShare, price USD 4.99. Happy reading! Steph.

Released today - "Ain't Dead Yet" by Ditch the Demon

"AIN'T DEAD YET", the debut album by DITCH THE DEMON, is out now! The CD release can be ordered online from Ditch the Demon's page on BandCamp, price GBP 12.00 (plus P&P). Digital downloads of the album are also available from BandCamp, price GBP 7.00; and also from Amazon Music, Apple Music and other online music services. With four songwriters in the band, Ditch the Demon assimilates power metal and psych rock under a dark yet uplifting aura, a journey of light 'n' shade through hard rocking numbers, epic ballads, psych and even a dalliance with rock-diva vaudeville. The band has been compared to Epica, Evanescence and Within Temptation. Intrigued? Ditch the Demon have a couple of gigs left to play this year: Saturday 2 December at the Brickmakers B2 in Norwich and then back in Hastings at The Carlisle on Saturday 16 December. Gig details and more can be found at www.ditchthedemon.co.uk. Happy listening! Steph.

AIN'T DEAD YET by Ditch the Demon released for pre-order

DITCH THE DEMON'S forthcoming album AIN'T DEAD YET is finally available for pre-orders on Bandcamp! After a few delays, I'm able to announce a release date: 1 December. This is the debut album from a certain Hasting-based psych-rock band in which I play bass. We're really pleased with how this has turned out. The album can be pre-ordered from Ditch the Demon's page on Bandcamp, price GBP 7.00 (digital album) / GBP 12.00 (compact disc). The title track (which I wrote!) is available straight away for those pre-ordering. The album will be released on iTunes and other digital music services for pre-order from 3 November. Finally, for those in London tomorrow evening, Ditch the Demon is playing a gig at the St. Moritz Club, 159 Wardour Street, London W1F 8WJ at around 8pm. Maybe see you there...? Happy listening! Steph.

Paperback Price Rises

The economic woes of the UK continue to make everything more expensive, including publishing books. Due to increases in Amazon's printing costs, the price of producing print-on-demand books went up as of yesterday: that is, the paperback editions of my science-fiction novels HOLLOW MOON, PAW-PRINTS OF THE GODS and CITY OF DECEIT. After running the figures, this unfortunately means a sizeable price hike to avoid selling books at a loss. From today, WyrdStar paperbacks will priced GBP 13.99 (USD 17.99). However... UK readers can continue to order paperbacks directly from WyrdStar at the current special price of GBP 9.00 (see book pages for the order form). Happy reading! Steph.

Pride Month offer on THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL

June is Pride Month, a chance to reflect on the contribution LGBTQ+ folk make to society and the ongoing fight for rights. My one contribution (so far) to the world of queer fiction is THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL ebook, which will be on sale at 75% off (coupon code KD26D) throughout June at Smashwords. Being trans myself, this remains my most 'personal' novel to date. Susan Jones, a transgender woman struggling to get by in the economic woes of 1990s Britain, is under the care of psychiatrist Doctor Mordussen. He in turn is obsessed by her disturbing nightmares. But are her demons real? Pick up a copy now... Happy Pride Month! Steph.

"Fright Night" - new single from Ditch the Demon

RELEASED TODAY IS "FRIGHT NIGHT", a furious explosion of sumptuous manic lust and high-speed heavy rock from Hastings psych-rockers Ditch the Demon! This download-only track is a taster of the band's forthcoming album AIN'T DEAD YET. I've been playing bass for Ditch the Demon for a few years now and couldn't wish for a better bunch of bandmates. We're all really excited about the album, which is due out this summer. "Fright Night" also marks the resurrection of Prozakville Records, WyrdStar's own record label, which was originally set up to distribute recordings by my old band Danse Macabre. "Fright Night" is available to buy and download from Ditch the Demon's page on BandCamp. Happy listening! Steph.