Unfettered Hexes – Neon Hemlock Press
After a brilliantly successful Kickstarter campaign, Neon Hemlock are set to release ‘Unfettered Hexes’ this year, and I’m absolutely over the moon to say that my story ‘To Hell, with hope’ will feature in it.
I’m so excited about this project – “An anthology of queer witchery edited by dave ring about queer witches, the knife edge between the sacred and the profane, and infinite darkness.” Not only does the book sound amazing, with artwork, comics and story games alongside a load of new writing, it’ll be accompanied by a specially designed Oracle deck featuring art inspired by the stories. Chuffed is an understatement!
You can read more about ‘Unfettered Hexes’ and pre-order a copy here.
You can also check out and preorder cool stuff like a pin badge or the Oracle Deck here.
(I also believe that there’s a discount available using the code on the Neon Hemlock website, 3-7 March 2021).
Terrifying Ghosts from Flame Tree Press
Here’s some good news for the new year! It’s been tough to keep it quiet since I found out, but now I can share that I’ve had my story ‘Of Water’ accepted for inclusion in Flame Tree Press’s new anthology ‘Terrifying Ghosts’.
I remember a couple of years ago in Whitby for the goth weekend, looking at a display of this series of beautiful Flame Tree hardbacks in a bookshop and wishing that I could have a story in one of them (I’d submitted to quite a few calls, but hadn’t been accepted). Well, now I’m going to be and I could not be happier about it. I can’t wait for this anthology to be released in April. I’m thrilled to have a story alongside so many talented authors, and the cover is stunning.
You can read the official Flame Tree Press TOC announcement here.
XXXI – very limited edition zine out now
Last October I did the thing of one ink illustration a day (you know the thing!) and accompanied my illustrations with 6 word stories (and two 4 word ones – spot ’em!). I’ve now made this into a little book. It’s been a labour of love and I’m very proud of it. Only 31 will ever exist, so if you like rare, pretty, handmade things, or you want an investment in case I ever get famous (!) they’re available to buy now if you’re quick.
XXXI. Very limited-edition run of 31 signed, dated and numbered copies. 31 pages, micro fiction zine fully illustrated by me. Hand cut and bound with black card cover and William Morris lining. Hand stitched in red thread. Cover block printed with custom key stamp in gold ink.
£6 each plus postage.
Please contact me if you’d like to buy one (die.booth (at) gmail.com) – I’m happy to pass on in person if you’re local, or you can let me know how you’d like it posted (I can post for as little as the price of a 2nd class stamp in the UK – 61p – or tracked for more security. I can provide postage prices for any destination if you let me know where.) Payment via Paypal or in person if you’d like it passing on.
Exquisite Aberrations – out now!
It’s launch day for Exquisite Aberrations!
I’m so excited for this book to finally be out. It includes my story ‘Flaymire’s Light’ which is the longest story I’ve had published by a third party publisher to date and the first story I’ve had out a in a hardback book (I’m so excited!!!)
‘Flaymire’s Light’ is a gothic melodrama of wind-whipped battlements, ship wreckers, ghosts, murder, intrigue and queer romance.
Flaymire Hall was built on the headland, cannibalised from the very stone it stood upon and the timbers of wrecked ships. A ghastly edifice: staring, with a hundred blank-eyed windows, out to sea. Every winter the waves took another bite from the cliffs of Dislendowr, pulling Flaymire ever closer to their wet maw. But the house brooded unmoved, inching – from the moment it was raised – towards its doom.
If that sounds up your street and you’d like to read me fully get my goth on, you can order a copy from the Fundead shop or e-books are available via Amazon.
What’s more, Fundead are donating $1 from every book sold to the ACLU, who support the fight against abortion bans in the US, amongst other worthy causes.
From the Fundead website:
A familiar chill runs down your spine. You’ve been here before: the abandoned house on the hill, the dark hallway with the creaking floorboards, the ancient cemetery veiled in mist, the rutted pathway to a lonely place. You know these stories, or do you? These are the tales not told; the words pushed to the margins. These figures have been shrouded, forgotten, locked behind a creaking door, but now their stories will be told.
Hard Lines – zine out now!
I’ve made another mini zine and it’s called Hard Lines.
It follows on from Matchbook and Flashcard Riot.
Each tiny A7 zine contains 20-odd six word flash stories written by me. Each page is fully illustrated by me. I assemble every one by hand – fold, staple, razor cut, and block print the colour on the covers with ink stamps I’ve custom made for the project.
I love writing stories and I love every project I do, but there’s something particularly satisfying about these zines for me. Getting to imagine, conceive and create a fully-formed little book from start to finish in just a couple of weeks is a rare kind of joy in a vocation where it’s often long and isolating hours of poring over a computer screen.
If you’d like a copy of Hard Lines, email me at die.booth[at]gmail[dot]com and let me know. If I see you in person, you can have one for free. If you’d like it posting then I’m charging £1.50 for within the UK and £2.50 outside the UK (+50p each for additional zines), to help cover materials and increasingly outrageous postage costs! If you email me and let me know your address to post to, I’ll let you know my Paypal address.
Queer Sci-Fi – I won!
Once a year, Queer Sci Fi runs a flash fiction contest around a one-word theme. In their own words, “We receive hundreds of entries with almost as many possible interpretations, and we choose some of the best for this annual anthology.” And this year, I was the overall winner!
The 2019 contest theme was ‘Migration’ and I am absolutely honoured that my story ‘Mettle’ was selected as the overall contest winner.
The anthology of 120 flash stories is available to buy now, and from what I’ve read of it so far, it is absolutely brilliant. I’m so happy to be included in this collection, and so excited to have won. Thanks to everyone at Queer Sci-Fi for organising the contest and producing such a gorgeous book.
MI-GRA-TION (noun)
1) Seasonal movement of animals from one region to another.
2) Movement of people to a new area or country in order to find work or better living conditions.
3) Movement from one part of something to another.
Three definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell. Here are 120 of our favorites.
Migration feaures 300 word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.
If you’re not intrigued yet, here’s some excerpts from some of the featured stories:
“Darkness has substance. It is tangible; different shades within the black, sounds, a taste. It is accompanied by self-awareness of time and thoughts, even when other senses fail.” —Hope for Charity, by Robyn Walker
“The sky has been screaming for five straight days when the shrimps come to take us away. They’ve been boxing up the others and hauling them off. Now they’re here for us, soaking wet, dragging cords and crates behind them.” —Shrimpanzee, Sionnain Bailey
“Agnes is eight when she first sees the river. Cutting its way through town, the only thing she knows not coated in coal dust. She sticks her toes in, comes home with wet socks and a secret. See, the river hadn’t been there yesterday.” —Stream of Consciousness, by Ziggy Schutz
You can get hold of your copy here:
Gingernuts of Horror LGBTQ+ month
To prove how truly rubbish I am at keeping up this blog, this blog post is pretty much just going to link to a couple of blog posts I wrote for another website!
I’m delighted to have an article and an interview with me included as part of Gingernuts of Horror’s LGBTQ+ focus month, which is running for the whole of January 2019 and aims to spotlight LGBTQ+ horror writers, who are so often underrepresented in the genre (as in writing in general).
It’s really great to see such a popular and respected site run a feature like this, and to commit to better representation of diverse creatives in general.
You can read more about the LGBTQ+ month in an interview with site owner Jim McLeod here.
You can read my article ‘The Struggle: writing transgender representation’ here.
The Creative Artist -new documentary series
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to take part in the filming of a new documentary series ‘The Creative Artist’. Photographer and director Adam Pestridge of Portrait Films Ltd is producing this six-part mini-series to explore the creative arts in the Flintshire and Cheshire area – from writing, to music, to art and everything in between.
I’d like to thank Adam again for giving me the opportunity to be involved in this fascinating project. I’d never been filmed for an interview before, so the whole process was particularly interesting to me – and I now have a much greater appreciation for the film industry where the slightest change in natural light can affect a whole shot!
Each interview consists of ten questions and the end result for each episode will be made up of clips featuring the six interviewees for the particular creative art in question. I’m excited to see the finished series when it’s all finalised.
