Tuesday. Slow, rainy. Writing. Deals.

The title sums up my day so far.

Promoting my second published novel Beach Town: Hope as it hasn’t had as many reviews as the first. Would love some more. Really not sure about the 3rd book. I have a plot, start etc. but haven’t wrote anything more than the first chapter. Focusing on Survivors seems to have taken the lead, Survivors Part II was finished before Christmas, I just need to edit the story and then I can unleash it to you all.

Woke up to yet another rain shower this morning, drilling into my ceiling I might add. I live in a top floor apartment, it’s not super loud or annoying but would rather wake to sunshine. I’m sure you all would.

Dawn Of The Dead (1978) Movie Review from Eye for Film

Writing a new short story on Wattpad again. The Mortuary is focused on Gareth as he conducts as autopsy, but then the deceased start to rise from the grave. I might carry on writing this at some point but for now you have a big chunk to read may be part I, or just the full story. Might writer more, see how I feel about it. Of course you also have The Zombie Lands to check out. A slow start, but I guess the dead are slow. The farmer hasn’t really had much luck getting out of the area yet!

Wattpad fans

https://www.wattpad.com/story/331515323-the-mortuary

https://www.wattpad.com/story/331062717-the-zombie-lands


Removed from Smashwords to make it Kindle exclusive. As such it is now always free on Kindle Unlimited! There will be a 5 day free ebook promotion starting tomorrow to boost sales and hopefully… get more reviews. Reviews are needed so if you could leave one I would really appreciate it.

Free eBook deal starting on Amazon tomorrow. Priced at .80p. Free on Kindle Unlimited.

New Year Story Coming to You

Aside from having a list of work in progress I need to finish I also have stories that are waiting to be unleashed on the world.

I have of course got Beach Town: Survivors [Part II] which is being edited as we speak. So it’s on the horizon. Hopefully it’s worth the wait for those who will buy/download it.

Next on the list is the surprise new story. Coming under many categories or genres although horror in nature. It’s a mix of; zombies, military, war, science, alternate history and politics. It’s spanning five decades although the majority will happen in present day Britain. It’s called Battle of the Zombies at the moment and I can’t think of more to say other than looking forward to showing you all

Winter Short Story Competition

If you enjoy writing blogs, short stories or even poetry then you might be interested to enter.

From 1st December you can submit a short story to me for publication on my site. Stories should be within 1,500 words and focused on the holiday season and or Christmas themed. Entry is free. This means anything around this season is okay. Follow the guidelines below:

  1. 1,500 words limit – anything exceeding this won’t be accepted
  2. Themed around the December holiday season/Christmas
  3. No abuse in an form
  4. ONE story allowed to be submitted
  5. Must include word count, name and any site details at top of story
  6. Correctly formatted. Ex. 12 point Times New Roman double spaced
  7. Submit to psychwizard@yahoo.com
  8. CLOSES 15TH DECEMBER- IF NOBODY SUBMITS I’LL EXTEND IT

Your story if accepted can be published on my site. You can’t distribute it yourself if you win. My site will have the exclusive right to post it. Any violation of this will mean the story will be removed.

Other than that this is a great bit of fun! I really am excited to see what comes up!

Penguin Classics

When you think of publishers you probably think of all the big names, including Penguin Random House. Before we go any further you might like to peruse the complete list yourself here https://www.penguin.co.uk/classicslist

Today I want to lay out those books for you. You may find the list useful. It is also a good way to mark down which classics you have yet to read. They say ‘you should read the classics’ but in reality, the majority of people haven’t even read their own mail.

It is not a full and complete list. You will find that there are thousands of books. I will simply list some here which may be appealing to you. 25 listed.

  1. Jane Eyre
  2. Pride and Prejudice
  3. Frankenstein
  4. The Count of Monte Cristo
  5. Wuthering Heights
  6. Dracula
  7. A Tale of Two Cities
  8. Sense and Sensibility
  9. The Picture of Dorian Gray
  10. Moby-Dick
  11. Crime and Punishment
  12. Great Expectations
  13. Anna Karenina
  14. The Odyssey
  15. The Art of War
  16. The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin
  17. 1984
  18. Meditations
  19. Oliver Twist
  20. Don Quixote
  21. Les Misérables
  22. War and Peace
  23. David Copperfield
  24. Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
  25. East of Eden

You can go to a variety of sites to buy these books, including Penguin, Amazon, Waterstones and more. I recommend checking out World of Books first; they offer secondhand books at reasonable prices. I’ve bought from them before with no issues in quality.

Buy Me A Coffee

Sneak Peak Time

Welcome to my post. I hope you are well and that you’ve been productive today – or are just great in general!

Given my recent stint over the last few weeks of being slightly less productive than normal, I am now back on track. I’m back writing my novella in the Survivors mini-series of Beach Town. By now you are all familiar with the town name and hopefully the first two novels, which you can find right here 👈 Let’s assume you are; which makes things a lot easier.

My first Survivors tale, part I was a very dark take on the group of survivors hiding out in the ‘rich’ estate where they rapidly succumbed to other people’s evil and the undead. I take you through that journey to now come to part II which is a continuation yet a self-contained story. Part II is different in the way it is played out, being seen from the perspective of different groups as opposed to one. It is also split into a familiar location within the town and a new, unseen location slightly outside of town. We meet familiar and new faces. We see the extent of the social structure of the groups. There is some political aspect I guess, but it isn’t that prominent yet. The vast majority of survivors are in dire straits but doing the best they can. Being in groups strengthens them. We have cases of survivors going insane. I also introduce some new concepts on the zombies, such as more evolved or somehow more attuned undead to this story.

The towns rats have come out as well with the lack of people and have caused issues of their own. This was an issue I wanted to explore in Beach Town: Hope, but ultimately decided against it as the novel already had its own storylines and it added nothing to the main plot. It wouldn’t have worked as a sub plot or even an interesting point. It does however make sense to add this detail to the novella as it is some time since the initial outbreak and apocalypse. The rats are a main source of disease in the new story. So, you’ve read the first part which was fairly settled compared to the second part.

In other words, a huge overhaul of characters, dynamics, plots, storylines and general arc are going to create a very fun, yet overwhelmed and busy world in a short amount of time. Fun in the sense that it is classic zombie horror stuff; back to plenty of zombie killing, plenty of character conflicts, silly tropes, devastating aftereffects, disease and illness (thanks rats), good old-fashioned fighting!

I hope it’s going to be quite the shock compared to the first part. That is the point, to take the idea of survivors and build on it. As it’s still in the first draft stage I might be telling you all this too early. I guess I just hope to bring you all into this world and make it a place you enjoy reading about. As a fictional town I created, it is quite the place to experience. I hope to bring to you a map at some point too. I know I should have done this for the first book so please forgive me. A map will bring things to life and make it easier to visualise the story.

One more point is that the setting of a once quaint town ravaged by the dead to me at least, is terrifying. The main reason being that it is isolated from another town or city, the island is literally home to one town and nothing more. There is no working dockland that the survivors can access, and even if they could, they probably couldn’t operate the ships.

The streets offer a dark, dreary chance of survival as people move between buildings. The nights bring harsh cold winds and storms. People cannot rely on the authorities who have since the apocalypse started, been killed or turned into rogue survivors themselves. There is no real power other than that the people give themselves. It’s brutal, yet it’s a normal way of life for these people now.

Politics is almost dead yet propaganda reigns supreme as the radio station broadcasts horrifying lies about the Resistance, intent on disassembling its structure.

Thanks for reading and I hope you read Part I. Or you could read one of the novels. Remember all the writings I talk about and the stories are copyrighted © Just a friendly reminder.

The title page for Beach Town: Survivors Part II

Lock Noir

Mr. Jules entered through the rear door of the small diner and maneuvered with ease around the lifeless countertops, sliding into a pale blue booth. Morning dew spread like wildfire across the concrete jungle outside and he waited as still as a rock in that café. His eyes set on the clock to his right – eight in the morning. A few more minutes and his target- one Albert Rochell – would come strolling in with a thick eared grin.

That wouldn’t last. Mr. Jules had a job, an assignment to complete. He reached into his long black coat and withdrew the black colt pistol, placing it cautiously on the table as to not make a sound. His figure hidden in the black shadows of the booths corner. His fixated gaze dwindled, and his iron lungs rose slow, like flowers growing in the field. Suddenly, the diner door clinked to life, the bell above rang out and in strolled… one Albert.

Mr. Jules retrieved the pistol from the table as quick as a deadly viper and shot three times at the man. The first bullet pounced across his face, barely scraping his chin and giving Albert enough time to glance his way. The second bullet, seemingly swirling around the man’s ears and the third straight through his chest. He’d never missed a shot in his life. Albert was keen though, agile, and he moved forward to the counter, dropping his jacket and hyperlight lunging across the top and into the kitchen area. Mr. Jules had no choice but to pursue. He jumped up out of the booth, slid across the diner floor and hobbled around the countertops.

Albert, the sorry bastard, was nowhere to be seen. The kitchen cold, lifeless. The drops of blood had even disappeared. Mr. Jules heard a click, span fifty degrees to his right to see Albert wielding a double barrel shotgun. Mr. Jules went to shoot but as he lifted his arm Albert squeezed the trigger and a buckshot rang out splattering through his chest, sending his ragdoll body into the cookers and pantry.

“Good mornin’,” Albert whistled, as he placed the shotgun down and began to prepare for the day ahead.


Thanks for reading. If you liked then please like, comment, reblog and follow. I’m trying to mix it up by bringing short stories today. There is a page of them, albeit not many. Have a great day!

Would it be Nice

It would be nice to feel the sand under my feet

it would be nice to watch the clouds in the sky

and it would be nice if we could meet

and maybe not to spend any time to cry


would it be nice

or would it be wrong

if we could skate on ice

or just accept that we belong


it would be nice to see everything

perhaps never seeing anything

or just let it breeze away like nothing

at all had existed in my heart these days


would it be nice I used to ask

all I had to ask for, would it be.

Burgers are Sluts

She sits opposite me in this leather booth. The restaurant is fairly busy, waiters and waitresses flock from table to table, taking orders, delivering drinks and food and gossiping about social media nonsense. I daren’t reveal to this brunette bombshell that I am vegan, after she took the leap to tell me on the way here. “I’m vegan,” she had said. I didn’t want to share my intimate life details or let her feel some connection, because honestly, the whole date was a big set up. I’d agreed to this after being paired with this lady by a friend. Yeah, she was okay, she chatted a lot about family and decided to tell me about her recently holiday with her ‘girlfriends.’ Not that I was bothered though.

But… the waiter came over and I knew there was no way for me to hide my diet preference, and that was all it was, a way to stay slim and healthy. I don’t care about animal activism. I’d rather let her do all the talking, but I have to throw in the occasional question to sound interested. “Been there before?” She’s forgotten her own holiday already, and she talked about it for like 20 minutes. The waiter hovers over our table, pen on his pad. After viewing the menu, seeing the little choice there was for vegans, I decided to brave it.

“Yeah loads of times,” she finally responds, blushing and batting her eyelids. Damn, this woman is really into me and we’ve known each other for about an hour or two. Essentially a blind date. I give her the silent credit, she is busty, slim and tall. Her wit is questionable, after telling me I look like Colin Farrell. I look nothing like him and was born in Brighton to a mother who worked in a factory and alcoholic father who beat me as a child after his drunken nights out. Maybe being a Colin lookalike was the career change I needed. She glances to the menu and looks to the waiter, he’s young, probably early twenties and for some reason looking down her bra. Kid, take the order and **** off.

“I’ll have the vegan burger,” she says.

“Fries or onion rings?” he asks, smiling. Little jerk is jerking me around, can he not see she is on a date? I with hold my frustration and give him some leeway, as he probably hasn’t even reached puberty yet. “Okay great. An you sir?”

All can be forgiven, he’s addressed me by my master title, sir. Maybe I should correct him, to for the laughs. “Actually, it’s madam,” I say. The waiters face drops and he blushes. The young woman chuckles, and I get a leg up.

“Excuse me, madam.” So far so good, obedient waiter. “What would you like to order?” Oh dear the shame is built up, and I have to look at the menu, but cannot contain myself and splutter, laughing my ass off, she laughs again, and grabs my hand.

“Stop it,” she laughs. Her skin is smooth, her eyes magnetic blue. “What are you eating?”

I really was tempted to push it and order a portion of crisps, I didn’t have the mental energy now. “I’ll have the exact same, thank you.” The waiter takes the order and leaves without another word.

“So are you vegan then?” She smells of rose perfume and has that peaky, coloured tone in her cheeks. Do I confess my intimate details to a stranger? It wouldn’t go anywhere anyway.

“No, but I thought I’d try it.”

“You should be, it’s great.” Oh no, que the long animals abuse rant. I cut her off as she goes to speak.

“Do you want to know a fun fact about burgers?” She draws closer, smiling, her pearly whites glisten under the dim light.

“I’d love to.”

“Well,” I say, hesitating. “Burgers are sluts.” She pulls away, flushed. “They told me they like to be eaten out.” I expect her to laugh, but oh well, there she goes, from the table and out the door. I enjoy the moment and thank God I didn’t have to dump her.


Final Cover

I decided to go and use the new font for the cover which I prefer. The title is in a shade of yellow, to reflect the tone of the sand on the beach. The cover stands in stark contrast to the story; it is calm and tranquil whilst the survivors are learning how to stay alive some months into the zombie apocalypse which has ravaged the town. Of course the island is now overrun and there is no way out since the bridge to the adjacent island and city is blown!

At the end of Beach Town: Hope we see the rescue team evacuate some of the survivors to the city (if you haven’t read the story then please go and grab a copy) however to those who did read, we know that did not work out so well at all. Not to mention the city is completely swamped with undead… but that is for another novel, which may be the 3rd, but everything is top secret. You will have to enjoy the Survivors stories in between the novels. I think it is a great way to show you some of the horrific things that have been happening in town since the outbreak.

The change in font and style was due to the other looking too ‘good.’ It is the zombie apocalypse and the new font I believe has a worn down feel, and kind of looks like someone painted it. Do you agree? Almost as if the survivors themselves painted it before they ran off into a horde of the undead… I am also looking for people to review this once it is ready to publish.

You can see the new font, and the use of a shade of yellow on the title. I like the glow as it stands out, it also looks like a painted sign almost.