I’m very pleased to share the cover for my second novel, DON’T LET ‘EM TAKE THE CHILDREN, due to be published by the Book Guild on the 28th of September. The novel is a folk horror tale set in the Welsh mountains in the hot summer of 1983. I won’t spoil any of the story by explaining the details and rationale for the cover, but needless to say I’m very excited with the designer’s work. The unsettling imagery, strange bright colours and key visuals really work for the plot and overall tone (in my opinion at least!).
This book will be published over 2 years after my first novel and it has been a long journey getting to this stage. The different genre and style really pushed me to change my approach and I revisited a lot of my horror favourites (both book and film) to make sure I was on the right lines with the story. One feature this book and the last has in common is the Welsh countryside setting. As the place of my upbringing – and where I now reside again after over two decades of my adult life spent elsewhere – I found myself drawn to placing the narrative within this very familiar environment. As an 80s kid, the setting may be even more personal than I care to admit. For most of my childhood, I had a very strong (unhealthy?) interest in the paranormal and did spend a considerable amount of time investigating haunted sites and willing apparitions to show themselves (with no luck I might add).
As always, after such a long – mostly solo – journey, it is an incredibly exciting time to be looking ahead to the release of the characters and their tales to the outer world. I’m looking forward to hearing what people think and how the book makes them feel. My beta readers gave me hope that the story will bring fear, racing pulses and perhaps a few raised eyebrows. Ultimately, I hope readers really get immersed in the story and lose themselves in the adventure. Certainly writing it, took me back to a simpler time, before the internet, mobile phones and Netflix, when hot summers were spent outside exploring old buildings and cycling along country lanes from one paranormal investigation to the next.
DON’T LET ‘EM TAKE THE CHILDREN is available to pre-order now from the publisher’s website.
