December 2023

A couple of months since my last post mainly because things have been pretty quiet. I’m still working on my current book (working title The Offering) which has taken over everything. It’s currently at 103k which is way too long especially as it will take another 15k or so to finish this draft. Problem was I started it without an outline which isn’t always an issue, but because it isn’t one of my fast-paced action type horrors, I wrote 30k without any real idea where it was going. 20k further in and I knew had to work out what the hell the story was. So I outlined from there which has now left me with this 100k+ beast. The plan is to keep at it as it is, leave it for at least a month and then see what can be fixed

In happy news, my new short story The Flies In The Next Room is now available to read along with other tales. I like this one very much and hope you do as well.

https://www.penumbric.com/currentissue/cover.html

I’ve also sold another short tale. The Cold Places In July will be published within the next six months. This one has had a fair number of rejections, but finally found a home which was a nice surprise. More to come when it’s available.

As we’re at the end of the year, I’m giving a lot of thought to my plans for 2024. I have a few ideas I’m excited about including branching out of full-on horror to slightly more grounded (but still dark) fiction. Saying that, The Ninth Circle will be published around April and it’s very much full-on horror. Looking forward to seeing that one out in the world.

Unless anything huge happens between now and 2024, we will speak again in the new year. Take care of yourselves and each other.

October 2023

It’s been a quiet couple of months at my end: day job and writing for the most part. I’m 35k into a new book (currently without a title) which I’m writing without an outline. My original intention was a fast-paced horror but I’ve somehow ended up with a slow-burn atmospheric and creepy tale. I don’t usually write slow-burn so there is a worry that it’s just slow. For now, I’ll carry on as I am and see what kind of book I end up with. While I’m a good writer, I’m not the best when it comes to publishing. If I were, I’d ensure that this book definitely was a balls to the wall action horror so I could follow up with The Ninth Circle (published next April), but even after doing this for close to thirty years, I’m yet to work out how to marry the craft of writing to the business of publishing.

In other publishing news, I had a request from an agent for the opening fifty pages to my most recent book. This was a hell of a boost as that book almost finished me off last year when things with my ex-agent went down the toilet. I left it for several months and finally produced a book I liked very much. Sadly, the agent passed on requesting the full manuscript but not before saying nice things. I’ve submitted it to another agent already, so this is either the start of a very long game or the next newsletter I send will be hurrah I landed a new agent. I’ve still got a couple of open submissions on the two books my agent had but zero requests so I figure they won’t be going anywhere. I’m chewing over my options with those – watch this space.

Social media – I’m still on Twitter (I’ll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I call it X) although as the current owner seems intent on forcing everyone to jump ship, I don’t know how long that will be the case. BlueSky is okay so far – feel free to follow me there if you can get on.

That’s it for now. Be good. Talk soon.

August 2023

Here we are in the tail end of the summer which, at least for Britain, has been utter crap since June. While it’s rained non-stop and the temperatures have barely nudged the mid-teens, I’ve been working on tidying up a couple of books, reading some good stuff and sorting out my social media. I’ve finally put everything together on a linktree which I should have done months if not years ago. I’ve also binned Instagram (got very little out of it mainly because I don’t take photos of everything in my life) and therefore Threads (it may improve, but I was distinctly unimpressed by being forced to see endless posts by people I don’t follow). Mastodon is probably on its way out for me, too. There’s only so much time in the day and it’s easy to spread yourself too thin on social media especially if you’re trying to connect with people and spread the word about your books. While Twitter still exists, I’m there along with recently joining Bluesky. Very quiet there at the moment, but if you are a member or planning on joining, please do say hello.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/lukewalkerwriter

Book-wise, I’m prepping the submission packages for two books – one to agents and the other direct to publishers. It never gets easier and it’s never fun, but it’s essential. Usually around this time, I’d write a couple of short pieces and while I do have some ideas, the market for short stories seems pretty thin at the moment. A lot of markets have themes for what they want which is fine, but I rarely write to a theme. I write the tale I want to read. If it fits a market’s theme, cool, but I can’t force it. So instead of a short story or two, I’m making notes for a new book which I hope to start in the next month.

Reading – I absolutely loved The Hollows by Daniel Church.

The Hollows

Along with this collection of apocalyptic tales.

https://www.hungryshadowpress.com/store/p/the-first-five-minutes-of-the-apocalypse

Both solid books which I definitely recommend.

In other news, I’ve pulled a muscle in my lower back and can barely move (the joys of being in my mid-forties) so I won’t be too active for a while. I’ll see if some good books and a few beers help.

Newsflash – new novel sold

Very happy to announce my first novel sale in a couple of years. The Ninth Circle will be out at some point in the next eighteen months. I had a lot of fun with this one (which probably says something about me). More info to come further along. In the meantime, here’s the blurb to let you know what to expect.

Sam Hampton and his wife Rachel have returned to Buxley – the village of Sam’s childhood – to decide if they should buy a home in this little piece of English pastoral beauty. They’re hoping for a chance to begin their lives and raise a family away from city life and the background threat of rising global tensions.

Which is when the missiles detonate.

Now Buxley and the surrounding countryside have become an inferno. Caught in the aftermath of a nuclear blast, Sam and Rachel join with a handful of other survivors desperate to find any semblance of safety. But they are not alone. The raging fires have released entities from the distant reaches of humanity’s self-destruction; demons made of shadow which exist only to hunt and reduce to ashes anyone left alive.

Racing through the ruins and the smoke, fleeing the shadow-creatures, Sam and the rest of the group must make their stand to have any chance of staying alive. Prepared to fight, to join together and not leave anyone behind, they will discover that escape is possible but at an unthinkable price.

For this little group of survivors to escape the flames, they must choose one to die.

First post

Hi. Introductions first. I’m Luke and I write.

Is that enough? No? Okay. Here’s more. I write dark stuff. Horror, thrillers, speculative fiction – if it’s dark, I write it. I grew up in the eighties, reading my brother’s James Herbert paperbacks, his Lovecraft collections, and my dad’s Stephen King books. This was the heyday of horror in the local library which meant I ate my way through a delicious feast – violence, gore, sex and the occasional gem. Each book was guaranteed to come with a lurid cover and a tagline comparing it to a bigger author. Great stuff. While I do like a good pulp horror, I also want to get under your skin, to make you wonder what that noise outside was. Alongside that, I want to scare you with a glimpse of the near future and all its ugliness. I write about bad people doing bad things…and those people who don’t just run away from those monsters. Who keep going, who keep pushing back. Because if they don’t, it’s game over. I write about the light down there in the dark. It might be a little light, but it’s there all the same.

My first short story was published around 2006; my first book in 2012. Since then, I’ve experienced all the usual fun of this industry. Publishers closing and leaving my books homeless; replies to submissions taking anywhere from 25 minutes to three years (no, I’m not joking) to arrive; signing with an agent in 2021 (22 years after my first submission to an agent who has long since died of old age), and then parting ways with her last year when things didn’t work out as either of us hoped for. As I write this, I have various pieces out on submission and am about to begin the read-through of my most recent book. I hope for good news on short stories, novels and a novella; I refresh my email and then I go back to the words. And I do that because this is what writing is. When it’s the only thing you’re good at, you do just that.

There’ll be more to come here and in my books. Stick with me, won’t you? We’ll have some fun. Down there in the dark.

Check out my work here: http://author.to/LukeWalker and sign up to my newsletter this way: https://tinyletter.com/LukeWalkerWriter