February Update - New Kickstarter and new collection.

Good morning from a chilly but sunny Lancaster!

I have two very exciting pieces of news to share with you this month. The first is that the Kickstarter campaign for If Ye Loathe Me is not only live, but also reached its target in just over two hours. Also, it has already surpassed my previous anthology Hide Not Thou Thy Face in the amount of money raised. At a time when folks are having to tighten their purse strings following the effects of lockdowns and pandemics, I am absolutely blown away by this generosity. I send my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has backed it so far and, if you want to dive in and grab yourself a copy, along with one of the numerous rewards that accompany them, then please click on the link here.

But, If Ye Loathe Me will not be my first bookbaby to be birthed in 2022. That honour goes to the Macabre Collection: Volume One. A few years ago, I published The Children of Cain Vampire Omnibus, collecting together all the vampire stories from my first three anthologies. I thought it would be only right to do the same for all the other weird and wonderful tales from those books. So for the first time, all seventeen horror shorts are bound together in one volume. I absolutely adore the creepy clown artwork and will be premiering it at Durham Comic Con on 6th March. 

If you want to order a signed copy direct from me, please drop me a line through the contacts form over at my website here. Alternatively, you can pick them up from Amazon by following the links on my site here.

Right, I’m off for a quick hike out up to the Crook O’Lune while this nice weather holds. Take care and chat soon.

A.S.Chambers.

www.aschambers.co.uk

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Writing Workshop: Be Flexible

So, hands up if you’ve set out on a path to write a particular story in a particular way. You’ve sat down and planned it all out, right to the smallest detail. You’ve micromanaged the interactions of your characters. You’ve set in stone themes that you know need to be explored. Hell, you’ve even got a title and a cover sorted for your grand project.

Then, horror of horrors, your main character goes and does something expected. They fly off piste and find themselves in a situation for which you hadn’t bargained, experiencing emotions that you didn’t realise that they have, hurtling to a conclusion that you didn’t foresee.

What do you do? It is very tempting to try and drag them back to this Magnum Opus that you had planned, to bring them back to the Light and convert them to the one true religion of the way you see their universe running. You can insert twists and turns that will force them to comply with your intentions, making their life hell until they finally bend to your will as their creator.

The problem is, in the long term, it just won’t work. You end up sitting staring at your screen, gawping at the words you have spent the last month frantically typing, trying to bring your story back on track and you come to the devastating realisation that it is utter garbage. In trying to divert the story back to where you want it to go, you have made up unrealistic scenarios, created over-convoluted plot twists and changed your protagonist into a warped and hideous two-dimensional simulacra of what you actually intended them to be. 

And, this is where the dreaded writer’s block sets in. You have dug yourself into a hole and thrown away the shovel. There is no way out. You just sit there and weep.

However, it is all easily avoided. If your story takes a turn that you did not expect, then explore that twist. Never forget that writing is a creative art form. It is not a precise science where an equation states that if you apply one element, another must automatically follow. Let your characters evolve like letting a child grow into their new experiences. Don’t be afraid to play around with new ideas. Write them up, examine them, see if they work. If they’re absolute pants, then save them somewhere and try again to see what else might happen. 

It is crucial to be flexible. In doing so, you will let your story, and indeed your own writing style, evolve in a much more natural way, producing deeper content and far more believable stories.

www.aschambers.co.uk

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Spalluccipedia: Spliff and His Origins

In this month’s Spalluccipedia entry, I want to have a chat about a much loved member of the Sam Spallucci books, the Reverend James Francis MacIntyre, or “Spliff” to his friends.

One of the longest running members of the Spallucciverse, Spliff first met Sam when they were students at Luneside University about nineteen years ago. Living on the same corridor, they quickly bonded and formed a friendship that would last way beyond graduation. 

Spliff acquired his nickname as he was known as the guy on the corridor who was always able to lay his hands on varying recreational drugs, something which he put behind him when, after university, he went to selection conference and was accepted into training for the Church of England. Ordination subsequently followed, along with a number of disastrous  postings in numerous parish churches. It was finally decided that he should be placed somewhere where he could do little harm and, at the start of the Spallucci series, we find him settled in for a few years as the chaplain of his old university.

Somewhat of a known maverick, he still managed to get himself into trouble with the authorities of  both the church and academia, however he was greatly loved by the students and was never fired, even though his libido often found him in embarrassing situations. Having said that, in the Spallucci series it is apparent that his ecclesiastical superiors are trying to persuade him that perhaps it is time for him to move to a country parish. 

Sam continually refers to his best friend as his rock and sees him as someone who keeps him continually grounded in the world of weirdness that is constantly unfolding around him. However, by Troubled Souls it is apparent that Spliff is, in fact, ill and is hiding the details of his condition from Sam, something which proves to create tension between the two friends.

A number of characters in the Spallucciverse have a certain amount of grounding in real life. Spliff is most definitely one of these. He is actually based around three characters (as I mention in the video), bringing to life a colourful character with real depth of personality who is always there for Sam through thick and thin.

www.aschambers.co.uk

Writing Workshop: Location

I just want to have a quick word today about the importance of location when it comes to writing, especially in works of fiction.

It is supremely important when we set our story somewhere that the place where it is set actually feels believable. This can be a real tripping point for books. We may be enjoying the characters, the dialogue and the plot, but there is something that feels somewhat askew, something that we can’t quite put our finger on. More often than not, it is the place where the story is taking place, most likely because it feels vague or unbelievable. It could be that the author has set a story in a city that they have never visited, so it lacks the smell of local cuisine or the sights that one would expect to see from that place’s landmarks. This would be like me setting my stories in New York. Sure, I’ve seen it on the television and in films, but there’s no way that I could do it justice. It would feel like a cardboard cutout of the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty which have been smeared in hot dogs and bagels! Or it could be a fantasy land where the writer is basically making it up as they go along, so the reader just does not feel engaged with a wishy washy background to an otherwise decent tale. The reader just sees elves and orcs battling it out on a landscape which is continually changing shape and not adhering to ever-changing arbitrary rules.

So, my suggestion, when you are starting out, is to take a place that is familiar to you and use that. It could be your country, your town or even your house. Explore details of the surroundings and look at what they mean to your characters. Include things about these places that are special to you, and your love (or even, hatred) of those places will shine through in your writing and help the reader to engage with your story.

This is why I set the bulk of my stories in my hometown of Lancaster. It is familiar to me; I know all its little quirks and details. I can then bring these in a neat little package to my readers, the vast majority of whom have never been here, and they can immediately pick up a sense of the city and its surroundings. Plus, they can see how the location affects my characters such as Sam Spallucci, my investigator of the paranormal.

Have a go. See how you can get on. Take somewhere that really means something to you and just play with it.

www.aschambers.co.uk.

Spalluccipedia - Sam Spallucci

     I often get asked, "Where did the idea for sam Spallucci come from?"

    The short answer to this is a teenage blend of Mike Hammer and, amongst other movies, a pirated copy of An American Werewolf in London. I was a huge fan of the former and terrified by the latter (I still can't open the front door if it's dark and the Muppets are on TV. I'm sure you know which scene I'm referring too...). I was also heavily influenced by an old Hammer werewolf whodunnit The Beast Must Die, as I explained in my little video from January 2021.

    So, one evening, when I should have been doing my chemistry homework, I sat down at this ancient Bulgarian typewriter that my dad had obtained from god knows where and wrote this, what I called, a novel (it was in fact just five or six pages…) about a fedora wearing private eye who gets called in to track down a werewolf that’s rampaging through a small village. The next day, I showed it to my mate as we sat at the back of the chemistry lesson avoiding being asked questions on a subject for which neither of us had prepared. He read it through and said that he really enjoyed it, especially the detective. He said that it was like Sam Spade meets the Wolfman. I took this as high praise indeed and as I had actually neglected to give my detective a memorable name, this suggestion got me to thinking. Sat on the other side of me was a girl named Maria Gallucci. I took Spade and Gallucci, then just glued them together and Sam Spallucci, investigator of the paranormal was born.

    Sam sort of stayed like that for about ten years or so until I drifted back to him in my twenties and started playing around with certain scenarios and realising that he could fit into the same universe as Fallen Angel, another novel that I was chipping away at. So it was that I finally knuckled down in my mid-thirties and, just after my fortieth The Casebook of Sam Spallucci was finished.

    At the time of writing this, I'm up to Sam Six (Bloodline) with four more due for release over the next few years before he catches up with the events of Fallen Angel. So, he's got a way to go yet and I hope we enjoy the journey alongside Lancaster's very own investigator of the paranormal.

    www.aschambers.co.uk

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Bobby Normal 2 is on its way!

Welcome to a slightly later than normal June update!

The month of May proved to be incredibly busy, albeit mainly on the editing front rather than the writing.

With regards to the second Bobby Normal book (Bobby Normal and the Virtuous Man) this is now all finished, formatted and ready to go. As you can see from the proof that dropped through my letterbox yesterday, I have another amazing piece of art from Liam Shaw for the cover. It is looking like the book should be published in August with the Kickstarter launching on 12th July. Number three, Bobby Normal and the Children of Cain is well under way and is steadily growing whilst I carry on with the huge task of editing Sam Spallucci: Bloodline.

Talking of which…

The main edit of Bloodline is now finished and I am onto the tidying up/proofreading stage. I am incredibly pleased with this one as it has taken me just a year from start to finish, which is a record for a Sam book. I have awesome cover art, again from Liam, and will be showing this off in a couple of months. All under wraps at the moment. There will be a huge Kickstarter for this project in October with lots of giveaways and, don’t forget, all Seraph members in my Book Club will receive a signed copy of this and BNVM as soon as they are published.

Another book they will receive will be If Ye Loathe Me, my next anthology. This is also down to the fine edit stage and should see the light of day about February next year, around the same time as  Bobby Normal and the Children of Cain. (In fact this could very well be a double release.) There are some cracking stories in here, including an extra epilogue to Bloodline and three (yes, three!) prologues to next year’s Sam Spallucci: Fury of the Fallen, when we follow the traumatic fallout from Bloodline and witness the arrival of fallen angels Asherah and Asmodeus in Lancaster. But enough on that for now, as that way spoilers lie…

Anyway, take care and keep looking for what lurks in the shadows!

Austin.

www.aschambers.co.uk

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The exciting month of May!

 Greetings one and all and welcome to this May update.

So, the big news of the month is that Bobby Normal and the Eternal Talisman is now published and available to be purchased. If you would like to jump into the adventures of Bobby and his kid sister as they are drawn into a world of intrigue in the post apocalyptic world of the Divergent Lands, then there are three ways to grab a copy for yourself (or even for a loved one).

The easiest method would be to nip over to Amazon. There are links for this over on my website. Also on my website, you can order a signed copy, should you want something a little bit more unique. Just drop me a line with your details on the contact page.

The third method, and the one that I am most excited about, is my shiny new Book Club. It has four levels of membership, offering you more and more weekly goodies depending on which level you subscribe to. Until the end of May, all new subscribers to the top level, Seraph, will have a signed copy of Bobby Normal and the Eternal Talisman posted out to them as part of their membership and at no extra cost. If, after that month you feel the Book Club isn’t for you, then you can cancel your membership. Details of all the membership levels are here on my website.

Now, I’m not sleeping on my laurels with the publication of BNET. Far from it. The second book in that series, Bobby Normal and the Virtuous Man, is currently at the proof-readers and I’m hoping to get that out late summer after a Kickstarter campaign, so watch this space for that. There will be all manner of rewards accompanying that one.

Also nearing completion is the next Sam Spallucci book, Bloodline. Set directly after the events of Troubled Souls, it will follow Sam as not only does he have to deal with the lycanthropic Bloodline of Abel setting their sights on Lancaster, but also the return of a romantic face from his past. I am currently targeting November as the publication time zone for this one. It’s been a blast to write and the artwork by Liam Shaw is outstanding. The Seraph members of my Book Club will be the first ones to see that, later this month.

Right, I’d better shoot off and let you get back to your lives.

Stay safe and keep looking for what lurks in the shadows!

Austin.

www.aschambers.co.uk

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