Steve Griffin's Blog

The Woman in the Widow’s Lace – out now!

I’m excited to tell you The Woman in the Widow’s Lace is out now, in good time for spooky season – don’t miss the introductory price of £1.99 / $2.99 on Kindle!

Here’s what to expect:

Because the dead do not forgive…

Unable to find work, Alice Deaton, with her unique ability to interact with the dead, takes on a lead role in a psychic show touring London. When a young woman with a knife brings chaos to the inn where she’s performing, Alice finds herself drawn by the woman’s aunt into...

The Woman in the Widow’s Lace – Cover Reveal

The Woman in the Widow’s Lace, the next book in The Ghosts of Alice series, is releasing soon. Here’s a sneak peek at the cover – what do you think?

As with all the other books in the series this is a standalone story, although the characters and relationships develop throughout. If you’d like to read the others before this book is released, check them out here.

The post The Woman in the Widow’s Lace – Cover Reveal appeared first on Steve Griffin.

Why do we write?

Why do we write? There are lots of reasons – escape, thrills, status, defence, insight, creating a portal to new worlds…

For me, writing creates a magical space between the world and my mind that I hunger to explore. It helps me appreciate the real world and to value myself and my imagination.

Our perception of the world is often seen as a generative or co-creative process. We don’t see what’s undeniably just there – we see through the mind of a human, which comes with sensory and cultu...

Indie Author: An Introduction – New Release!

My news today is of a surprise new release about writing and publishing. Indie Author: An Introduction shares insights from my first 10 years of writing, publishing and marketing books. Designed to appeal to the writers (and aspiring writers) among you, it is (importantly) a short guide to the whole process. I say importantly because, if you’re like me, you’ll experience a sinking sensation at the prospect of reading hundreds of pages of a book that typically only focuses on one of these three t...

Dickens: Things You Might Not Know

Did you know A Christmas Carol was just the first of many Christmas books by Dickens? And whilst their quality was not as good as A Christmas Carol, they all made more money for him. This was because his publishers chose not to invest as much in the quality and wrapping of the later books, which Dickens had insisted upon for the first.

I was surprised how little I knew about Dickens before I read the remarkable biography by Claire Tomalin recently. He was more complex than I’d realised. He...

Black Beacon and The Ghosts of Alice are on sale!

It must be the arrival of spring – both Black Beacon and The Ghosts of Alice are on sale���

Not only can you get my Christmas ghost story��Black Beacon��for 99p (UK only) on Amazon’s Kindle Monthly Deal, the first two books in my Ghosts of Alice series are on sale at just 99p / 99c today!

Here���s what readers say about The Boy in the Burgundy Hood:
***** ���A compelling and spinetingling read���
***** ���Too scared to sleep��� extremely good book, I read it in one day!���

And about The Gi...

Flattery, not force

I asked Copilot how my first ghost story, The Boy in the Burgundy Hood, compared to other ghost stories (it suggested I ask it that). Here’s what it said:

“The Boy in the Burgundy Hood by Steve Griffin stands out in the realm of ghost stories for a few reasons:

1. **Atmospheric Setting**: The ancient English manor house in the book is richly described, creating a haunting and immersive backdrop that is essential for a compelling ghost story.
2. **Character Development**: The protagonist...

Black Beacon on 99p Kindle Deal this month!

My Christmas ghost story, Black Beacon is on 99p Kindle Deal this month ��� grab a copy today!

Here’s what readers say about Black Beacon:

***** I loved this book and read it in one sitting late at night with the aftermath of a storm whistling outside
***** What a great ghostly Christmas book
***** His best book yet
***** A deeply haunting ghost story
***** This was such an original Christmas ghost story, I could not put it down. From the first pages I was gripped and wanting to know what ...

Searching through cobwebs…

This one to the authors out there���

How do the ideas for your books come to you? Inspiration is a drip feed for me – and an erratic one. At the moment, I’m developing the storyline for the next Alice book. I have the setting, the mood, and some of the characters. I have some of the weirdness and scariness. But the detailed storyline is taking a while. It moves on at the pace of one new insight every day or two.

Sometimes, the ideas and plots race in, in quite a manic way. Last summer,...

A Walk in the Spooky Forest…

I went for a walk alone yesterday afternoon, in the nearby pine woods, just as it was getting dark. I don’t get spooked by being alone in the deep forest. But yesterday, on the shortest day of the year, something changed. I was standing looking at my phone to get my location when a crazy, raucous laugh started up – a crow, of course. Then it sounded like I was near the road, with the sound of wet tyres swishing past, somehow comforting. But it was only the wind, soughing through the trees, t...