Ellie Marney's Blog, page 4

The Black Hand, vol.39

Lucy Letby case complexities

(Friends, here’s a CW for discussion of infant murder; I don’t go into extensive detail, but if you don’t want to read this bit, you don’t have to, be kind to yourself.)

It all seemed so open and shut when it first came to light: Lucy Letby, a 34yo British nurse who worked at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital, was arrested following a high number of newborn deaths which occurred shortly after she began working at the hospital’s care unit. She was charged with eight counts of murder and ten counts of attempted murder, and was found guilty.

Her crimes shocked everyone in the UK, and seemed to follow a classic ‘Angel of Death’ pattern. The babies in her care were injected with air or insulin, overfed, or hurt in other ways. It was accepted at trial that some babies had been injected with insulin, which Letby blamed on others. She removed 250 confidential patient documents and apparently falsified other documents to remove suspicion. Letby pleaded not guilty, and was sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of release. She is now considered Britain’s most prolific serial child killer.

But the case has become complicated by the chorus of voices outside of court who raised concerns over the evidence submitted during Letby’s trial.

The prosecution’s case relied heavily on testimony from doctors and nurses at the hospital, statistical evidence, and expert opinion on complex medical issues. There was no forensic evidence that clearly showed Letby committed the crimes, and no witnesses who saw her causing harm.

Now people are coming forward with more information about how the hospital’s unit was severely understaffed, even while taking on pre-term babies with the highest risk of mortality; that the unit was outdated, under-resourced, and unsafe; and that babies on the unit were prone to infection. Some are saying Letby was made into a fall guy for people who didn’t want NHS hospital conditions examined too closely. Others have said that expert testimony in the case was neglected or ignored. Still others have indicated that some statistical evidence may have been based on shaky foundations, that the police jumped to unverified conclusions, and that expert opinions used by the prosecution may have been medically inaccurate and biased.

This courtroom drama has been dragging on for some years now. What appeared to be a very clear case of serial murder by a mentally disordered woman has now become deeply complicated. At the end of the day, no one really seems to know what happened, and even after two trials, Letby’s motives, character, and psychology continue to be a mystery.

Saaales

Not much happening right now – the Kindle Monthly Deal period for Some Shall Break ended on 31 June, sorry if you missed it! Both Some Shall Break and None Shall Sleep are still on Kindle Unlimited though. US Target is still selling both books at a discount.

Still no sale love for my feisty-WW2-codegirl-detectives in The Killing Code – sads. But I’m hoping to do a digital discount sale of my gothic-noir circus books – the Circus Hearts series – real soon, so keep an eye out for that.

Events

I’m running an online writing workshop called Thrills, Chills, and Spills through Queensland Writers Centre on Sunday 21 July – if you’ve ever wanted to get the skinny on how to write thrillers (for YA or adult), this is your chance. It’ll be run via Zoom, so you can still attend if you’re interstate or overseas, and I’ll be pouring out everything I know about thriller writing, plus giving participants a chance to write, and ask questions – you can find tickets here.

Aside from that, I’m not doing much else in-person in July, but I’m gearing up for August, which is a massively busy time on account of Book Week. I’m visiting a bunch of schools and libraries – I’m actually officially booked out for Book Week, although I’m still taking bookings for later in the month – so keep an eye out if I’m visiting your school and come say hi!

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What I’m reading

I’ve been on school break with my family and we spent some time at the beach – I’m still writing but I’ve had a lot of time for reading lately, and I got through some pretty awesome books! Here’s the rundown of some of the books I read:

Let’s Go Play At the Adams’ by Mendel Johnson – a horror classic from 1974. Incredibly brutal and horrifyingly grim story about a couple of kids who take their pretty young babysitter hostage while their parents are overseas; when they invite their neighbourhood friends to come join the fun, things get extremely Lord of the Flies. A horrible, unflinching, necessary book, which I can’t say I’d recommend as such, but is an important part of horror canon, as explained by Grady Hendrix in the intro. Please heed all trigger warnings, this is some absolutely void-dark shit. I’m glad I read this first, because it’s good to get the really depressing stuff out of the way early.

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher – this is Ursula Vernon’s adult horror pseudonym. A great antidote to Johnson’s book above, it’s about a woman who goes home to stay for a while and finds her mother is being terrorized by something in her house. While there are some scary images, I would describe this as ‘Miss Marple gothic’, if that makes sense. Kingfisher is such a delight; she writes gutsy, smart, funny characters who don’t put up with bullshit, and every time I read one of her books, I feel happy. I also highly recommend her book Things That Move The Dead.

The Spite House by Johnny Compton – love to see more horror written by Black authors, I’d have to say that authors of colour are writing some of the best stuff in the genre right now (take a look at Gabino Iglesias, Cynthia Pelayo, Stephen Graham Jones, Tananarive Due). This is Compton’s debut, about a father on the run with his two daughters who takes a job of necessity as a caretaker of a notoriously haunted ‘spite house’. Although I didn’t feel like the author had strong control of his material, it’s a solid debut – I’m looking forward to what Compton produces next.

SOME SHALL BREAK is Davitt-nominated

It’s rare for a sequel book to get a Davitts nod, so I’m thrilled! The Davitt awards are run by Sisters in Crime, and recognise the best books by Australian women crime writers in any given year – my book is up for the YA award, along with Amy Doak’s Eleanor Jones is Not A Murderer. You can discover the nominees in every category here, and if you’d like to attend the award ceremony in Melbourne, which will have fantastic adult crime author Sulari Gentill giving the keynote, there’s also a link for tickets.

What’s happening with NONE SHALL SLEEP 3

Jesus, what isn’t happening with this book? What a ride.

In a nutshell, my publisher doesn’t want it. I know, it’s a drag. But I was kind of ‘disappointed but not surprised’ about it. Publishing is insane right now. They’re still releasing the paperback of Some Shall Break in October, at least, so phew. But yeah, it’s sad news for book 3.

I’m sorry, this means your dreams of owning a complete matching set of the series hardcovers is probably out the window. But as I’ve already said, I’m going to get the book to you anyhow – other plans are afoot.

This month, my agent and I are trying one more avenue to see if we can get the book a traditional publishing release before we give up. I think it’s a long shot, to be honest, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I was hoping to start releasing the first chapters of None Shall Sleep 3 in my newsletters…in this edition, actually. But this puts off my plans until after we get a decision in August. Publishing is like the military, it’s all “hurry up and wait”.

If we sell the book to another house, I’ll be really happy! But if we don’t sell the book, I’ll also be really happy! Because if it doesn’t sell, then I can start releasing it to you guys. Probably that will be in August or (more likely) September.

Let’s see what happens. Keep your ear to the ground, because I’ll have more tell you next month. Until then, I’m freezing subscription costs for my paywalled newsletter Nailbiters, which will mean less annoyance for everybody - you’ll hear from me again late August, when I have the final update.

Again, I’m sorry about the None Shall Sleep 3 news – bad news may turn out to be good news in this case, though. It might mean I can get the book to you earlier.

But school holidays have been lovely. I’m back in the saddle, writing the final chapters of NSS3, and my third son is working at the same table as me, doing exam prep – we’re spurring each other on. My health has radically improved from last year. I’m feeling good! And I’m rip-raring to go.

Until we talk again, have a good month – UK friends, congrats on the big change! US friends, I hope your July 4th was a fine one, because it looks like a long rough road between now and your election in November – I’m thinking of you. And Au/NZ friends, hope you’re staying warm over winter.

Take care, read lots, and see you again soon!

xxEllie

Nailbiters #26

This is some real Ocean’s Eleven shit

Thieves broke into a GardaWorld money storage facility in Sylmar in California and made off with over $30million during the Easter weekend last April. Now that’s …

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The Black Hand, vol. 38

A Light in the Dark

We pay an awful lot of attention to serial killers in our culture – we cover their lives in documentaries, make films about them here and here and here, and write books about them, both non-fiction and fiction (hello, None Shall Sleep!). They suck all the air out of the room, and we rarely – if ever – give the same kind of acknowledgment to their victims.

But in this article, Kathy Kleiner – a survivor of Ted Bundy, a real life final girl – explains how she recovered after the attack that changed her entire life. On a Saturday night in January 1978, Bundy snuck into the sorority house where Kleiner lived, assaulted and murdered two other young women, Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy, then beat Kleiner herself almost to death; Bundy only ran when he was spooked by the headlights of a car coming into the parking lot nearby. Kleiner was left with horrific injuries, went through multiple surgeries, and never returned to university.

But she fought hard to get her life back. Without the benefit of therapy, she devised her own healing strategies, and eventually got a job in a lumberyard. She married, and testified against Bundy in pre-trial hearings and gave evidence in court. She had a son, got divorced, remarried, and lived her life to the fullest. She finally told her now-adult son about what happened to her back in 1978, and most recently, she published a memoir called A Light In The Dark which detailed her experiences.

Reading Kleiner’s story is a testament to her survival, and actually gave me a great deal of insight into the psychology of a serial killer survivor, something I’ve used before when writing my own survivor character, Emma Lewis. I’d like to see more focus on survivors and victims of serial crime – let’s know their names, see their faces, hear their stories, as a rebuke to the ‘sad little men’ who have wormed their way into the media, and our collective attention. 

Sales news

There are still some special deals to take advantage of – you can still get None Shall Sleep and Some Shall Break on special at US Target, and None Shall Sleep is currently on Kindle Unlimited, if you’re a KU borrower and you’d like to check it out.

But the big news is that Some Shall Break ebook is now on Kindle Unlimited, and it will be the Kindle Monthly Deal from June 24 (June 25 in Australia/Oceania) through to June 30, so maybe get on that!

While we’re at it, here’s another button to encourage you to subscribe (without a caption, which I’m apparently still not allowed to add? *shakes fist at Substack* Give me my silly captions back! Anyway, please subscribe! I promise not to be too annoying 😊)

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Aurealis! And Comic Con!

Some Shall Break missed out on winning the Aurealis award for Best Horror – but the field for the award was very strong this year, so I wasn’t disappointed (go check out all the finalists and add them to your TBR!). It was still really cool to attend the award night (which was super casual) and I was over the moon for my friend Katya de Becerra who won Best YA with her amazing book When Ghosts Call Us Home! Katya is a great writer and a lovely human, and she deserves all the recognition so I was really stoked for her 😊

And I was at Melbourne ComicCon this month, and it was amazing! Once again I set up a table in Artist Alley with books for sale, giveaway swag, merch, and I happily signed every book that people wanted to buy or bring my way (and people came with books they’d bought last year! 😊)

If you’ve never been to ComicCon before, let me encourage you to give it a try – it has a friendly, welcoming vibe which I love so much, and I’ll definitely be showing up again next year!

@elliemarneyauthorwe had THE BEST time at Melbourne OzComicCon - thank you to everyone for visiting my stall to say hi, anyone who wore amazing cosplay 🤗, and the entire crew for organising such a vibrant, fun weekend! ❤️😘 #elliemarney #yalit #booktok #booksoftiktok #noneshallsleep #someshallbreak #noneshallsleepsequence #thriller #horror #authorlife #authorevent #comiccon #melbournecomiccon #ozcomiccon #ozcomiccon2024 #cosplay #fandom #fans [image error]Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browserNone Shall Sleep 3 – what’s happening

Lots of people have been asking me about the progress on None Shall Sleep Book 3, and what the timeline will be on that book, so I thought I’d take a moment to give you the full story.

I’ve spent some time in my paywalled newsletter Nailbiters explaining how my publisher is still on the fence about releasing Book 3 (ikr? Publishing is like this sometimes, what can I say). They wanted to wait until after October – the month of the scheduled paperback release of Some Shall Break – and look at sales receipts before they made a call on it. Yes, it’s been very frustrating!

But…after a lot of back and forth, we’re hoping to receive word about it this month. If I don’t get a yes from my publisher, I still have something lined up for you, which I think will be just as exciting! So please stay tuned here, because shit is about to get real for None Shall Sleep 3 😊

What I’m watching

Omg, you HAVE to see Monkey Man – I have been absolutely raving about this film since I saw it in the cinema late last month, please allow me to go on an unhinged rant about it here. I loved it so much!

Written, directed, and starring Dev Patel, it is one of the most astonishing, hardcore, energetic, progressive, heart-wrenching, gorgeous action films I’ve seen in ages. It’s been described as the Indian John Wick, but I sincerely believe Monkey Man transcends Wick: The action is electric, the fights are brutal, the background music is fantastic – I’ve been playing the soundtrack for nearly two weeks – and the emotional highs (and lows) feel genuinely heartfelt and earned. It’s a virtuoso directorial debut from Patel, who pulls together fluid fight choreography, clever camerawork, and a stunning neon urban-Bollywood aesthetic that gives everything a shocking lustre. If you can, try to see it in the theatre, it’s very much worth it.

Patel has called this a revenge film about faith, and his character’s heroic journey is modelled on the legendary figure of Hanuman the monkey god from the Ramayana – if you have any understanding of this Hindu epic, your appreciation of the film will be even greater.

I had a rant about Western movie reviewers not really being able to negotiate some aspects of the film without an understanding of context…anyway, don’t mind me! Just obsessed with this film now!

Monkey Man is also really political – it makes some barbed points about Hindu nationalism and the current state of Indian government (the corrupt ‘leader of the Sovereign Party’ character is clearly a direct satire, so there’s been talk about the film being banned in India). And it addresses attitudes toward trans people by featuring an entire side cast of hijra/third gender characters who play prominent roles, an aspect of the film that felt organic and thematically relevant.

Look, it won’t be for everyone – it’s incredibly violent and bloody, so ymmv – and I’m probably not allowed to say that it’s a perfect film. But as a storyteller, I appreciated the classic hero’s journey narrative that gives the entire film a mythic quality: It feels like it was created to resonate universally with film-goers, especially in Asia. Monkey Man seems destined to be either a cult film, or the start of an incredible new franchise (I’m hoping for franchise! I want part 2 so bad!), or both.

It’s certainly destined to be one of the highlights of my film year, so I encourage you to have a look. And if you’re on the fence, Dev Patel is incredibly, incredibly hot in this film, omg, in a way that seems completely unselfconscious, which I personally find wildly attractive 😂 😍

If you’re an action film fan, please don’t miss this one!

And that’s it from me for June – but I really hope you enjoy next month’s exciting None Shall Sleep book 3 news! I actually cannot wait for you all to read that book 😊 The journey for book 3 has been a wild ride, and it’s been amazing to have you all with me for the trip.

Happy reading and see you then!

xxEllie

Nailbiters #25

Hello friends! Amazing to be with you once again!

This month – thank god – I didn’t have a major computer malfunction, and while my hands are still pretty sore, I haven’t gone down with carpal tunnel …

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The Black Hand, vol.37

If you kill someone in your sleep, are you a murderer?

Apparently not, according to a criminal court in the 1987 case of Kenneth Parks, who fell asleep on the couch at home, and woke up to find himself 14 miles away, having attacked his parents-in-law (suspicious? Who’s to say). Parks strangled his father-in-law (who survived) and stabbed his mother-in-law to death. His lawyers used the defence of sleepwalking, or non-insane automatism, and Parks was cleared for the killings.

But this wasn’t the first time a defendant had tried to use sleepwalking, or somnambulism, as a criminal defence. Since the nineteenth century, at least, dozens of cases have hinged on whether the suspect was really awake or asleep, and if the suspect claimed to be asleep, whether or not it could be determined that there was a degree of consciousness.

There’ve been reported cases of sleep-driving (sounds bad?) – scientists have discovered that apparently the parts of your brain controlling vision, movement, and emotion appear to be awake, while the parts involving memory, decision-making, and rational thinking remain deeply asleep (still doesn’t sound great, honestly). In the Parks case, police who questioned Kenneth Parks, when he gave himself up at a local police station after the attack, noted that he seemed oblivious to the fact that he’d severed tendons in his wrist. Combined with Parks’ strong family history of parasomnias, the charge of murder was dropped in the case when sleepwalking proved an adequate defence.

But I wouldn’t suggest that you rely on sleepwalking as the best defence option if you find yourself involved in a homicide. It’s rare for a lawyer to say, ‘My client was asleep, Your Honour!’ during a murder trial, and it didn’t hold water during the Falater case in the 90s (which admittedly had way more red flags).

Crime oddspots

Look, let me know if the weird crime stories are getting tedious, because there is an endless supply of this stuff, and I find it endlessly fascinating. But that doesn’t mean you do, so please tell me if it’s getting boring! I have a few stories I’d really like to cover – including the mushroom poisoning case from here in Australia (deeply strange and mysterious!) – so as long as you’re all happy to hear about it, stay tuned for more weirdness.

Oh, and here’s a subscribe button! ⬇️ For some reason, Substack doesn’t want me to embed Subscribe buttons with pithy captions any more, so allow me to say here that I appreciate every subscriber, and that you all keep me writing!

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SOME SHALL BREAK on Borrowbox

Since it was signed by Bolinda, you can now get Some Shall Break on the Borrowbox app! Check your library Borrowbox for my books and you’ll likely find it there.

Continuum and the Aurealis Awards

I’ll be at Continuum 16: Reboot real soon – the con goes from May 17-19 at Jasper Hotel in Melbourne (tickets are available here). I’m hoping to have books available for signing, and so I can sit at a table and chat, but I’ll also be on a panel on Sunday 19, if you’d like to come say hi 😊

And Some Shall Break is in contention for Best Horror Novel at the Aurealis Awards, held during the con on Saturday May 18, woot! So I’ll be attending the ceremony along with other nominees. I don’t think my book will win (the field this year is very strong! My money’s on Maria Lewis), but I haven’t been to the Aurealis Awards before, so it should be fun!

Another heads up: I’ll be at Melbourne Comic Con in June. I’ll have my own table in Artist Alley, with books and swag, and I’ll be signing, as well as popping up on panels during that weekend. Don’t be put off by my serious-author-face in this promo pic, I’m actually very friendly - come say hello!

Quick sale news

 If you’re interested, you can still get None Shall Sleep and Some Shall Break on special at US Target!

Also The Killing Code is somehow still the Kindle Monthly Deal (although I don’t know how long that’ll last).

Also None Shall Sleep is currently on Kindle Unlimited, if you’re a KU borrower and you’d like to check it out.

Merch

Coming into cooler weather in my part of the woods, I’m wearing my None Shall Sleep hoodie constantly:

So a quick reminder that I’m thinking of putting up some new things in the Merch store – and if you have preferences for what you’d like (Phone cases? Mouse pads?) please let me know!

I’m also toying with the idea of selling signed copies of my books from my website, but that would be dependent on demand – again if you want them, please sing out so I have some idea of how many people want them! – and whether I can make it affordable for people (postage can be expensive).

And hey, if you would like a bookplate, remember you can hit me up at elliemarney@ gmail dot com anytime – I’m happy to sign one or two (or three or four…) and pop them in the post for you!

What I’m watching

Shogun, with my kid, and Fallout, also with my kid.

We were totally into Fallout – I particularly loved seeing Ella Purnell (she’s British! I had no idea) from Yellowjackets absolutely killing it in that show.

We’re still halfway through Shogun, which I’m finding meatier and – as someone who’s really into backstage machinations and politics – completely fascinating. Son4 has also started reading the original book by James Clavell that the series is based on. Did you know that Clavell wrote the screenplay for The Great Escape? It’s true!

What I’m reading

Two more amazing books by Michael McDowell – The Amulet and Cold Moon Over Babylon – which were both incredible. It makes me so sad to know that McDowell has passed, he was such a talented writer… But his legacy lives on in his books.

I’ve started The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo, but I haven’t gotten that far into it yet for two reasons, a) because I’ve been writing, and b) because magical realism during the Spanish Golden Age is just not floating my boat right now (I am such a mood reader! Ye gads). While I’m looking forward to getting into the rest of The Familiar, it feels like one of those chonky books I would take with me on vacation, where I can lie in the sun and read all day…which is not a thing I have time to do at present (so maybe it’s not me! Maybe it’s just circumstances). Leigh Bardugo is an expert writer, so I have no doubt that once I’m hooked into the story it will be amazing, but for now I’m putting it aside to finish the adult book pitch I’m working on. Sads.

I feel like I’m looking for something to read that’s gothic-y and scary and also a bit crime-y? But I haven’t found it yet. If you have any recs along those lines, please do hit me up 😊

You should check out –

Fyrebirds by Kate Armstrong is coming soon! It’s the sequel to Nightbirds, and Kate is lovely and absolutely nails Great Gatsby-vibes fantasy, so I know you’ll love Fyrebirds when it arrives.

This dress worn by Zendaya at the Met Gala is giving Fyrebirds so much!Speaking of the Met Gala…

The theme of this year’s Gala was taken from a story by JG Ballard about an aristocratic couple listening to music in their luxurious garden while holding off a mob of angry serfs about to descend on their villa –the irony, it hurts. Such pretty dresses, though! Works of art. Anyway, the story is here if you want to read it!

Random giveaway

Look at this! I found it in my swag pile yesterday, it has somehow escaped my clean-up:

The character pics look like they have different coloured backgrounds? They don’t. I dunno, the light in my study is not ideal for photos, soz.

If you’d like to win this adorable little swag prize (one pocket square, one set of The Killing Code character cards, one lily-of-the-valley solid perfume, one signed bookplate – not pictured – all inside a cute red coin purse) just add your name in comments and I’ll pull a winner out of the hat at the end of the month.

Speaking of giveaways – a couple people who won giveaways haven’t contacted me with their postage details, so if you happen to be one of those people, drop me a line! I’m at elliemarney@gmail dot com

And that’s a full lid for this month! Hope you’re doing well, and reading something good. If you’re a Nailbiters subscriber, I have some fun things in store for you for May, so keep an eye out for that. Until next time, take care and all best!

xxEllie

Nailbiters #24

First of all, apologies for this being a late one, but my laptop died on Thursday night and I had to make a mercy dash to Bendigo to buy myself a new laptop. Love that for me! Setting up a new laptop…

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The Black Hand, vol.36

Mrs Sherlock Holmes

Did you know that women have been working as Private Investigators for as long as men? In fact, during the 1920s and 30s, it was one of the better paying jobs a woman could get, and as having children was not an obstacle and you didn’t need any particular qualifications or training, there were no barriers to women entering the field.

According to historian Caitlin Davies, author of Private Inquiries: The Secret History of Female Sleuths, women were hired because of their discretion, and their ability to move around largely unnoticed (and if you think that says something about women’s place in society, I imagine you’re right). One of the most famous British woman sleuths of her era, Annette Kerner, was a trained opera singer. She established the Mayfair Detective Agency just a few doors down from Holmes’s legendary address in Baker Street, and was renowned for being able to disguise herself effortlessly in a variety of roles – as a housecleaner, as a socialite, as an opium addict – to follow leads. She was described as The Woman of A Thousand Faces in one prominent magazine.

In her book, Davies describes how women have been running profitable detective agencies since the 1850s – and how some women, such as the Liverpool “Mrs Sherlock Holmes”, Zena Scott-Archer (what a name!) were pioneers in the field and had long careers.

Women are also prominent in the new crop of real-life detectives, making up a third of trainees – and yes, it’s preferred you have some training these days. Fortunately, while it’s handy to have a Masters in Criminology or Forensics, or some basic skills in Investigative Services, you still don’t need any of those things to hang your shingle as a private detective, so feel free to give it a shot!

THE KILLING CODE paperback is out!

The release of the US paperback of THE KILLING CODE has finally happened! It was pushed back a number of times but we finally got it out – you can find copies here.

Publishers seem to be doing this – pushing back the paperback release – more now, and I’m not sure why. I think it’s to give hardcovers a longer time to accrue sales? But it’s annoying for those who like to buy in paperback, so my apologies. The paperback release of SOME SHALL BREAK should be happening in June this year, but I’ve already heard it’ll be pushed back – I’ll keep you updated on that.

…and THE KILLING CODE is a Kindle Monthly Deal

Fortuitously, The Killing Code is also available for only $2.99USD on Kindle this month! If you prefer to read in digital, now is a great time to grab an ebook copy right here.

THE KILLING CODE giveaway is closed

Thank you to all who entered! I’ve contacted the three winners, and their parcels are on the way. I’ll let you know when I have another giveaway planned.

NONE SHALL SLEEP is on Kindle Unlimited! And on Borrowbox!

Meanwhile, in my other book universe, you can now borrow None Shall Sleep on Kindle Unlimited which is pretty cool. I haven’t been told how long Emma and Simon and the gang will be available on KU, so I guess take advantage of it while you can.

And in other excellent news, None Shall Sleep is now part of Bolinda audio, so you can grab it on Borrowbox with your library membership 😊

Btw, if you’re in the States, you can still buy a cheap paperback copy of None Shall Sleep (and a heavily discounted copy hardcover copy of Some Shall Break) through Target.

SOME SHALL BREAK is an Aurealis finalist!

I was extremely thrilled to hear this news! The Aurealis committee made the shortlist announcement late last month, and I was very chuffed.

I missed out on attending in-person due to covid when None Shall Sleep won an Aurealis, so I think it’s pretty likely that I’ll be attending the award ceremony this year – although I think it’s unlikely my book will win, because the field this year is really strong. But keep an eye out for more announcements about the Aurealis Awards and Continuum, and if you’re around for either of these events I’ll probably see you there!

Retreat! Retreat!

I’m going on writing retreat this month, which is awesome because I have a ton of writing to do.

I spent some time last week brainstorming a new YA thriller idea with another writer friend, and the inspiration came thick and fast. So I’ve already put together a pitch document (I talked about what selling on pitch involves in Nailbiters recently) and now I’m working on writing the submission excerpt pages.

I’m also planning to brainstorm ideas for a new adult pitch – I have a title and a concept, and they are both great, but I need to do significantly more work on the details. If I sit down with some butcher paper and coloured pens and do some mind-mapping, I reckon I can come up with some cool twists and turns…

Finally – I still have half a book to write! None Shall Sleep Book 3 is coming along well, and I’d just reached the midpoint of the story when I had to rudely push it aside in order to work on the new YA pitch. But once my New Thing submission pages are done, I can dive back in 😊

GUS AND THE MISSING BOY launch

This was so delightful! Troy Hunter is such an excellent human, and the turnout for the launch at Readings Books State Library Vic was huge.

The premise for this book is really fascinating: what if you were a teenager researching a school project, and you found your own photo on a Missing Persons website? You can grab a copy of Gus and the Missing Boy at your local bookstore or online, with my recommendation.

DEEP IS THE FEN launch

Very excited for this! If you’re in Melbourne on Wednesday 17 April, feel free to join us at 6.30PM at Dymocks CBD Collins St as we launch Lili Wilkinson’s new fantasy book Deep is the Fen!

Lili is in conversation with amazing fantasy author CS Pacat, of Captive Prince and Dark Rise fame, and it will be an excellent night all round so please do RSVP and come along 😊

Happy Easter! Selamat Hari Raya! Bon eclipse!

To all those who celebrate, happy Easter to you! I hope your Easter weekend was calm and joyous.

And happy Eid to all friends who’ve reached the end of Ramadan fasting month! Selamat Hari Raya to all my Indonesian friends, I hope your Idul Fitri celebrations are full of generosity and family time.

We also had a full solar eclipse this week (the Rapture didn’t happen though! Sorry if you’re disappointed about that) and for just a brief moment, everyone stopped looking at their phones and looked up at the sky (with the appropriate eyewear, I hope). It was an amazing moment, captured most brilliantly here, I think (click through for the video):

What I’m watching/listening to

I started watching The Zone of Interest really late at night on a whim, thinking I would watch the first half hour to see if it was interesting enough to complete the following day…

Friends, I sat up until 2AM to finish it. It’s an extraordinary movie, which was actually filmed in a pretty extraordinary way. But more incredible is how it reveals the banality of human horror, the superficial PG-ratedness of it all. This is a Holocaust film in which nothing awful happens onscreen. Seriously, the film could easily have been given a G or PG rating, because the action is so bland. But you’re aware of what’s going on just over the garden wall, because you know about it and you can hear it. Throughout the film, the soundtrack of horror continues in the background like blood-soaked wallpaper, and the subjects of this almost documentary-style movie continue to ignore it, excising more and more of their souls to do so…

It's a staggering work of film-making and witnessing, and if you have the bandwidth for something like this, I highly recommend you watch it.

In other culture news, it’s CARRIE’s 50th birthday (unbelievable that she’s almost the same age I am!) and fans like me are celebrating. If you love Stephen King’s first absolute barn-burner of a novel, I rec this essay here by Grady Hendrix on the genesis of the book, as well as Neil McRobert’s excellent essay here, and also recommend you have a listen to this fantastic deep dive into the story, the book, and the film on the Talking Scared podcast with host McRobert and authors Nat Cassidy (MARY) and Ally Malinenko (GHOST GIRL).

That’s all I can fit in this month – sorry for the late arrival of the newsletter, but my laptop crapped out last week and I had to go buy a new one (it gave me a little heart attack, but thank god for cloud storage, is all I can say). Anyway, I’m glad to be back in action! Until next time, stay well, have a great April, and happy reading!

xxEllie

Nailbiters #23

Tennessee Satan club

I like that the Tennessee After-School Satan Club just goes right for the throat and doesn’t let up.

When the US state’s first after-school club was organised, there were protests …

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The Black Hand, vol.35

Kansas City Mystery

How do you have beers with a bunch of friends in your backyard, say good night and go to bed, then find out days later that three of those friends froze to death on your back porch? I have no clue, and at this point, nobody else has figured out this mystery either.

In January, during a period of cold weather when temperatures dropped to 1.6C outside, a protein scientist named Jordan Willis invited some mates over to watch football on TV. Then, according to his story, he left the group to go to bed while his friends stayed on. He assumed they all safely returned to their residences after the gathering, while he worked from home for the next two days with headphones on – Willis maintains that he didn’t see or hear anything about his friends, failed to notice their cars were parked on his street, and didn’t check social media where other acquaintances had posted notices about the missing men.

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But he was interrupted by police on the third day, who arrived in response to a contact from the fiancée of one of the men – she had broken in through Willis’s basement, and found her boyfriend dead on the back porch. Tragically, the police found two additional bodies during a subsequent search.

I mean, do you have to be terminally unobservant not to notice that there are dead people on your back porch? Maybe I’m being nit-picky. Although congrats to Mr Willis for ignoring social media for two entire days - the dream.

There were no signs of violence at the scene, and at this point, Kansas City investigators are not treating the case as a triple homicide. Authorities are apparently waiting on the full results of autopsies and toxicology to make further decisions on the case, but recent reports suggest that all three of the deceased men had quantities of cocaine and fentanyl in their systems.

I don’t mean to make light, but I guess the takeaway here is “don’t do drugs and fall asleep on your friend’s back porch in freezing temperatures” because whoa. No, please don’t do that.

THE KILLING CODE U.S. paperback is arriving this month

Yes! My feisty codegirls are finally getting their paperback! You can find the new release of The Killing Code in US bookstores from 19 March – I hope the new price point makes it an easier buy, because I would love more readers to find my WW2 gals and fall hard 😍.

Paperback giveaway over on Instagram

To celebrate the US paperback release of The Killing Code, I’m about to open a giveaway of 3 signed hot-off-the-press paperback copies over on Instagram (and it’s not limited to US readers, anyone can enter). Follow me there, like the post and tag two friends, and drop your fave WW2 fact in the comments, and you’re in the running to win 😊

NONE SHALL SLEEP on sale

March is clearly a great month for US sales! You can get a Kindle copy of None Shall Sleep in the US store for $2.99 this month, which is crazy cheap. And you can get a paperback copy of the book at US Target for $8.99 right now, but get in quick for that one because I have no idea how long it’ll last.

SOME SHALL BREAK on sale

While you’re at US Target, you can also pick up a hardcover copy of Some Shall Break for $15.69 – I think this special lasts as long as the None Shall Sleep one, so get on that!

Events

No events this month! Last month was hectic, with flying to Queensland for the Beyond the Book festival, writing retreat, and teaching three Saturdays in a row for Writers Victoria. But keep an eye out for new events when I post them up here or online – and I’m taking bookings from schools, festivals, and organisations for 2024, so if you’d like me to come visit, give me a yell (elliemarney at gmail dot com)

I’m not on Notes!

I just wanted to let you know that I’m not on Notes! Honestly, I am on every other type of social media, but there are only so many hours in the day. So if you’re leaving Notes for me, I’m not receiving them or reading them, and I figured I should let you know about that. If you ever want to get in touch, feel free to drop a comment/reply on one of these newsletters, or send me an email! Or I’m frequently hanging around Threads, Instagram and Tiktok, so head over there and drop a ‘hi!’ in the comments and I’ll hi back 😊

What I’m reading

If you haven’t yet had a chance to pick up Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle, I rec it – it’s his first mainstream trad-published book, doesn’t involve being pounded by anything (lol, iykyk), and it’s a great spooky read about finding the courage to burn everything down. Set in a church community that runs a ‘gay conversion’ treatment camp, the main protagonist Rose slowly realises that the camp’s success comes from an unholy source… Camp Damascus has a few jump scares, gives great satire, and does an excellent job of reiterating Chuck’s primary message of ‘Love is Love’ – it’s on the Bram Stoker ballot and the Hugo ballot this year, so check it out!

Look, I’m not too proud to say I’m watching The History Gossip on Tiktok, and if you’re a fan of crass humour, British accents, and historically accurate but irreverent takes on things, I think it’s entirely likely that once you’ve seen one video, you’ll want to watch more.

@thehistorygossiphe was the ghost writer of “why u no love me” by john mayer Source: Professor Katherine Astbury for BBC Culture (2023) Napoleon and Josephine: Was their great love affair a myth? #history #napoleon #historytok #LearnOnTikTok #learnwithtiktok #historyfacts #funny [image error]Tiktok failed to load.

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I’ve also been working my way through Night Mother: A Personal and Cultural History of The Exorcist by Marlena Williams, and from someone who is still a massive wimp about horror movies but loves The Exorcist, it’s fascinating. Definitely also check out the podcast interview with Marlena from You’re Wrong About that tipped me off about the book’s existence!

Speaking of old movies, I watched Eyes of Laura Mars last week and it’s another fabulous contender for “bonkers vintage American giallo of the year” – and did you know Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Dourif, Raul Julia, and Faye Dunaway were all in it? And that it was John Carpenter’s (The Thing) first screenplay? Friends, I did not, but now I do. If you want some particularly obscure and fascinating Eyes of Laura Mars commentary, check out this podcast episode of Video Archives with Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth, and Roger Avary all talking about the movie (plus their breakdown of Dressed to Kill by Brian dePalma).

LoveOzYAbookclub

On a sadder note, it’s time to say goodbye to LoveOzYAbookclub.

It’s been more than seven years since I first started bookclub, and it went from strength to strength for a while there – so much so that I had to invite my mate Emmaly to co-host with me (and she did an amazing job!). But a series of shifts (Facebook group to Instagram, plus dwindling organic reach online, plus the decline of interest in OzYA in the market, plus me getting busy with my own writing) has meant that it’s become harder and harder to keep bookclub running.

Emm and I tried to hand off to another host, but alas there were no takers – I guess everyone is busy with their own stuff. So we’ve had to make the decision to close the curtain on bookclub, which is a bit 😭.

We’ve had an excellent time over the past few years, and personally I’ve had a ball – I’ve met heaps of authors, recced heaps of books, seen the rise of new debuts, and enjoyed the love shared for vintage OzYA classics. Thank you to everyone who engaged with bookclub while it was happening, and to all the Australian YA authors who joined in. I still love LoveOzYAbookclub, and I’m sad to say goodbye. But here’s hoping it’s a chance for someone else to do something exciting in the OzYA space, and for me to keep going with cool new things – fingers crossed.

That’s it from me this month! Some farewells, some new growth…I’m definitely curious about what next month will bring. I hope the year is treating you well so far! Remember to keep an eye out for The Killing Code in paperback, and happy reading!

xxEllie

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Nailbiters #22

Marijuana nuns

I considered whether this was really the most appropriate ‘crime oddspot’ to begin the year with in Nailbiters, but then I figured you folks could take it. This is an article in Al Jaze…

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