A.S.Chambers - April Roundup

Good morning all on a rather chilly first of April.

First, all pre-orders, Kickstarter rewards and Book Club editions of my latest book If Ye Loathe Me have been mailed out. These should be dropping through mail flaps over the next few days, so watch out for them. Selfies with books would be greatly appreciated over on my Facebook Page.

Second, it's been busy few days this weekend as I was over at Doncaster for Doncaster Unleashed Comic Con on Sunday. I had an absolutely cracking time and had a hoot being interviewed live on stage with my good chum Kelvin V A Allison. Who knew that pigeons could be so traumatic???

Third, I have entered the world of Reddit. For now, I'm using it as a convenient place to list all my monthly blog and YouTube posts, but, who knows, it might expand as I explore it. You can find me there at https://www.reddit.com/user/ASChambersAuthor/posts/

Fourth, my next Kickstarter launches on April 23rd. This one is for the third in the series of the Bobby Normal books. There will be, as usual, some cracking rewards with chances to bag some amazing artwork, journals and copies of older books that you need to fill your collection. Make sure you’re following me over on Kickstarter to receive a notification when it launches. 

Annnnnnd finally… did you know that I have a monthly newsletter that goes out via email. It is the easiest way to stay up-to-date with everything I do and write. You can sign up in less than a minute here.

Don’t forget to visit my website www.aschambers.co.uk for more details about my books. 

You can subscribe to my newsletter here for up-to-date details regarding all my writing and appearances.

You can check out my Patreon Book Club for advance screenings of my videos and free books.

Right, that's all for now.

Stay safe and I'll see you again very soon.

ASC

Back In The Old Home Town.

One of the questions that I get asked a lot about my Sam Spallucci books is, “Are all the places in the books real?” The easiest answer to this is, “Usually.” For example, most of the locations in Lancaster exist in the real world with the exception of Luneside University, which happens to be Lancaster University transported magically down onto the side of the river Lune. All the rest of the locations in Sam’s adopted home town are more or less as you find them. There is the Ashton Memorial in Williamsons’ Park, the Priory Church of St Mary, the Borough and indeed 15a Dalton Square, all of which are real locations.

But what about Sam’s originalhome town of Wellington which we first visit in Shadows of Lancaster? Does this have a basis in fact? 

Indeed it does. Wellington first came into existence when I wrote the as yet unpublished Fallen Angel. I needed a small market town with an impressive gothic church so I went with the old adage, “write about what you know.” All I reallyknew as a teenager, was my home town of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. So I used that.

Specifically, I used my parish church of All Hallows.

All Hallows was a perfect model for All Saints in Sam’s world. A gothic beauty, it is almost virtually identical in the books as it is in real life: a towering spire, next to a thriving market, the ornate rood screen with the lifelike figure of the crucified Jesus in calm repose.

And, yes, there is the font.

Now, the font in All Hallows may not have the enigmatic inscription “Knaves Are Not Our Responsibility”, but it is a fine piece of stone craftsmanship, nonetheless. As a chorister there, I witnessed many babies getting dunked in the large stone bowl. What I can absolutely testify to is that there is nothing supernatural about it and there are no mysterious

watery noises coming from beneath it, even though Wellingborough was a spa town in Tudor and Stuart times.

Speaking of All Saints, Songbird – A Nightingale Storyis now out online and in a select few shops. It tells the tale of a young girl who rises from the poverty of Victorian England, to become Nightingale, the leader of the Children of Cain, the group of vampires in the universe of Sam Spallucci. As we follow her journey, she spends time at the church of All Saints in Wellington, where she witnesses a number of supernatural events surrounding the font and is subjected to the sadistic wrath of the parish priest before being rescued by her vampiric father, Doulos.

If you want to treat yourself to a copy, it is available to buy over on Amazonor, if you want a signed copy, feel free to drop me a line at www.aschambers.co.uk.

Until next time, keep looking for what lurks in the shadows.

A.S.Chambers.

www.aschambers.co.uk

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Steampunkery and Vampires.

So, the last week has been somewhat manic for me.

Not only have I launched a Kickstarter for my new novella Songbird: A Nightingale Story (more on that in a bit), but I had the delightful pleasure of attending this year’s A Splendid Day Out at the Platform in Morecambe.

For those of you who don’t know, Steampunk is a fantastical fusion of high Victoriana and all manner of things futuristic. If you can imagine Sherlock Holmes hanging from a Zeppelin whilst blasting off a patented Tesla ray gun, then you are in the right sort of ball park. 

A Splendid Day Out has taken over Morecambe every year now for the past six years (if memory serves me correctly) and I have been lucky enough to attend the majority of the events. It is marvellous to see the little seaside town transformed into something quite spectacular. 

As well as the traders’ market with all sorts of goodies on sale, there was tea duelling, teapot racing, clog dancing, magical shenanigans and wonderfully eccentric music to name but a few of the array of attractions.

Then there was the authors’ tent, where Yours Truly had an absolute blast. I can safely say that I have never been to an event where I have been so inundated with enquiries (and indeed sales of) my books. My fellow authors were an absolute hoot and we all had a great time chatting to members of the public and basically causing general anarchy. I feel deeply sorry for the poor chap who had to try and control us during the panel on the end of the Sunday: it was like trying to herd LSD-infused felines!

If you haven’t been to the event, then I highly recommend it. The link to the ASDO website is here.

So, if having a blast over the weekend wasn’t enough to keep me entertained, last Monday I launched the Kickstarter for my next book Songbird: A Nightingale Story.

I have to say that I felt sick to the core when I clicked on launch for the crowdfunding for my vampire Nightingale’s origins novella. I was convinced that it would be a flop and I would just sit and watch tumbleweed drift through my campaign for the next thirty days.

Well, all those nerves were well and truly squashed when the campaign zoomed past its target in just six hours!!! Needless to say, I was totally gobsmacked and my thanks goes out to everyone who has contributed so far.

There are still approximately three weeks left on the campaign and there are still plenty of goodies left to be snapped up. Primarily there is the opportunity to preorder digital and paperback copies of the book which see Nightingale rise from the poverty of Victorian England to becoming the leader of the Children of Cain, the vampires from the world of my very own Sam Spallucci. 

Not only this, but there is also the opportunity to grab yourself some limited edition artwork by the amazing Liam Shaw. I have a very limited run of A4 prints of the cover art on offer alongside signed copies of Songbird, The Case of The Belligerent Bard  and The Casebook of Sam Spallucci.

Why not hop over to Kickstarter now and have a look for yourself? You can reach it here.

Until next time, keep looking for what lurks in the shadows.

A.S.Chambers.

www.aschambers.co.uk

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