Steph Bennion's Blog, page 3

Smashwords 'Read an Ebook Week' sale and Website Update

THE FOURTEENTH ANNUAL SMASHWORDS 'READ AN EBOOK WEEK' takes place from 5th to 11th March. A myriad of indie authors and publishers are offering lovely deals on ebooks, including yours truly. Over next week, the WyrdStar ebooks HOLLOW MOON, THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL, BREXIT: A HAIKU DIARY and DEMOCRACY: AN EPITAPH will be available for FREE from Smashwords (see website for links). In other news, the WyrdStar website is finally getting a long-overdue update. Phase two of the refresh, now almost complete, is introducing 'responsive' layouts so that pages display properly on mobile devices. And there is now a proper contact form! The final phase, which I'm still pondering, is to completely revamp the home page into something more cool and snazzy. Watch this space... Happy reading! Steph.

Free seasonal short story - "The Ivory Tower"

PUBLISHED TODAY is "The Ivory Tower", this year's free seasonal tale from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon. This story is a science-fiction pastiche of the fairytale "Rapunzel", because why not? Civil war might be raging on the moon of Yuanshi, but Raja Surya did not think that justified spending Christmas stuck in a room at the top of a tower in the middle of nowhere. Worse still, caretaker Amashilama was making him do exercise. But who is the mysterious stranger, lured by his terrible singing and bringing him gifts? The short-story anthology Merry Christmas, Mister Wolf has been reissued to include the new story. Merry Christmas, one and all. In the UK at least, it seems that as we recover from one crisis (coronavirus) we're hit with another (cost of living and a colder than usual winter), but I hope you are keeping safe, warm and well. Happy reading! Steph.

THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL half price at Smashwords

THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL ebook is on sale for USD 1.99 (half price) throughout November at Smashwords. 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 reading! Steph.

Aphroditus: A Rock Musical

APHRODITUS is a project I've been working on for a while: a genderqueer one-act rock musical, to be performed by a single narrator/singer backed by a live rock band. The play takes a darkly humorous look at the fight for transgender liberation in western society and how gender-variant people struggle to find a place in the world. Today I got the opportunity to pitch the musical at the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn, London, for inclusion in BEAM 2023. This was the first time I'd tried pitching anything like this face-to-face and the last few months of preparation have taken me through a steep learning curve! Given that there will be hundreds of pitches to consider - and that I'm coming at this from the world of rock music with no experience in professional theatre - I know it's unlikely "Aphroditus" will be selected. Nevertheless, preparing the pitch has made me look at what I've written in a different way, which has helped me reshape the script into something better. Anyway... In other news, I'm currently editing this year's Worlds Of Hollow Moon seasonal short story, "The Ivory Tower", which will be out sometime in December. I am still trying to finish the fifth and final novel Hollow Worlds, honest! Steph.

Atomic Twitten presents QUILTBAG CABARET I

ATOMIC TWITTEN, the shambolic Hastings-based comedy pop/folk duo for which I play double bass, proudly present QUILTBAG CABARET! This new open mic event aims to be something different: an open stage for live entertainment and queer perspectives, a venue for performance artists in the LGBTQ+ community, where we can try out new material with a friendly bunch of people we can relate to. If you're down Hastings way, join us for a night of quintessentially queer, unique and inspirational live performances, from the thought-provoking to the burlesque in an evening of all-round good fun. The inaugural open mic will take place on 29 March from 7:30pm in the basement bar of the White Rock Hotel, Hastings, East Sussex. Come, join the cabaret... Steph.

DITCH THE DEMON at The Acoustic Couch, Bracknell, Friday 25 March

THE DEMON IS RISING! I play bass guitar for Hastings-based psych-rockers DITCH THE DEMON and this is our first gig of the year! Formed in 2018 from the beer-soaked music scene of Hastings on England���s south coast, Ditch the Demon is a rising powerhouse of rock, assimilating psych and prog under a dark yet uplifting aura. Our upcoming gig on Friday 25 March is at the The Acoustic Couch, The Ring, Bracknell RG12 1JG. Tickets are available from Eventbrite or on the door. On the same bill is Bournemouth-based Solcura (bit of a seaside rock theme here!), who play grungy, heavy progressive rock, so this is definitely a night for those who like something a bit different with the amps turned up to eleven. Hope to see you there! Steph.

Smashwords 'Read an Ebook Week' sale

THE THIRTEENTH ANNUAL SMASHWORDS 'READ AN EBOOK WEEK' takes place from 6th to 12th March. A cornucopia of independent authors and publishers are offering marvellous deals on ebooks, including yours truly. During this week, all ebook titles in the The Worlds Of Hollow Moon series are half price (50% off) from Smashwords (aside from Hollow Moon itself which remains at a special price of USD 0.99). See the WyrdStar website for links. Happy reading! Steph.

Free seasonal short story - "Stealing Christmas"

PUBLISHED TODAY is "Stealing Christmas", this year's free seasonal short story from The Worlds Of Hollow Moon. This time, I've departed from fairytales and instead gone for a science-fiction twist on Dr. Seuss' 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas!' - "It is Christmas Eve and Laverna is in no mood for seasonal goodwill. Cashiered from military academy with zero career prospects, she is put to the test in a job trial like no other. The people hiding away in their smug little community are ill-prepared for her spirited sales pitch. Can she find her final target and show them what a girl of action can do?" - The short-story anthology TO DANCE AMONGST THE STARS has been reissued to include the new tale. But that's not all! This latest update of this collection now includes the three non-Christmas short stories previously published elsewhere: "In The Lap Of The Gods", "Rock Of Ages" (both extensively revised) and "The Non-Existence Of Gravity", thus bringing together all Hollow Moon prequel short stories in one volume. Merry Christmas, one and all. I say this every year: books and ebook readers make excellent gifts! Once again, I hope you are keeping safe and well as we conclude yet another strange, troubling year. Happy reading! Steph.

DITCH THE DEMON upcoming gigs

I play bass guitar with Hastings-based rockers Ditch the Demon, a psych-rock outfit with a growing repertoire of original tunes alongside a few covers of some fairly obscure songs. We've finally started gigging again after the coronavirus malarky and are playing The Dublin Castle, Camden in London on Friday 27 August; and then The Carlisle, Hastings on Friday 3 September - see the Ditch the Demon page on Facebook for more details. If you're wondering what we sound like, a couple of tracks we recorded last year can be found on the band's Bandcamp page. Happy, err... rocking! Steph.

THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL special pricing for Pride Month

TO MARK PRIDE MONTH, the ebook edition of THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL is available for GBP 0.99 / USD 0.99 throughout June (RRP GBP 2.99 / USD 3.99) at selected outlets. Writing this book was a personal labour of love and to date is my only novel with an LGBT protagonist... "THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL: 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...?" - "I've been reading for this blog from the very beginning, and I have never picked a book up like this. And to be honest, I'm not sure I've ever picked up a book like this from the cisgender world either. This book is unique..." (Trans Book Reviews). Pride month marks the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising in New York and is a chance to reflect on the on-going fight for LGBT rights across the world. Happy reading! Steph.