Welcome to Crick’s Hollow, the nightmare theme park that promises a killer time.
When a manhunt brings Detective Constable Reeves to Crick’s Hollow, she knows to expect a certain amount of weird from the actors staffing the park. But nothing could prepare her for just how off-kilter everything is once inside. Why are the guests lining up for a ride that drowns them? How does the Spider Lady make all eight of her eyes blink at once? Why do the bloody costumes stink of genuine human decay?
More importantly, is the murderer she’s chasing hiding somewhere amongst the fake cobwebs?
Welcome To The Fang-mily is Book 1 in my new horror-comedy series revolving around a Yorkshire terror attraction and its ghoulish residents. In this book you’ll find a healthy dose of black humour, blood-thirsty monsters just trying to scrounge a living, and a touch of body horror that may cause your brain to squirm a little.
While this book does skip happily into horror territory, you’re unlikely to find the content too extreme or obscene. So, if this sounds like the perfect Halloween read for you, grab your tickets, enter Crick’s Hollow, and enjoy the ride~
Here’s a Christmas gift for you! Over a year in the making, A Very Uncanny Christmas was originally supposed to be a 5,000 word short story for fans of Jack Hansard, but it turned into a 19,000 word novella that I’m proud to finally present for your enjoyment.
Funny urban fantasy with a magic(ish) salesman, a Welsh coblyn, and a misguided Christmas spirit.
A Very Uncanny Christmas is a standalone story that you can enjoy by itself or within the context of the main series. (It takes place after the events in The Jack Hansard Series: Season One.) Jack and Ang find themselves in Oxford for Christmas, up to their usual uncanny tricks in the corner of a festive market. But Jack’s keeping a secret from Ang about his real reason for being there: an ordeal like no other – he’s seeing his family for Christmas.
Although Jack’s prepared for a miserable holiday at home, he isn’t prepared for a cursed one. Everyone’s acting out of character; it’s all a bit too jolly, and the knitted jumpers are almost as weird as the freak snow that’s only appearing on their street. There’s obviously some Christmas magic afoot – but will Jack get to the bottom of the mystery, or succumb to the Christmas spirit himself?
When Jack Hansard, Purveyor of Occult Goods, takes a break from hawking dodgy potions and broken magic charms to go home for Christmas, he expects to suffer through a painfully normal family reunion. However, it soon becomes obvious his family is under some kind of Christmas curse: everybody is being too nice.
Then there’s the freak snow, and the weird knitted jumpers, and the elf that little Nicky swears he saw poisoning the mince pies. Whatever’s going on, it’s something that lurks beyond the ordinary.
Jack must face sinister singalongs, enchanted toys, and possibly even Santa Claus himself to get to the bottom of the mystery and save Christmas . . .
. . . Or at least, save his family from Christmas.
Granny Weatherwax is one of my favourite Discworld characters, and “I Aten’t Dead” is the phrase she famously hung round her neck for those occasions she appeared outwardly lifeless, while she was actually off Borrowing and experiencing the world in a different way. This, I feel, sums up my year (or at least, the online aspect of it) perfectly.
Much earlier this year, my Facebook account was hacked and subsequently suspended – I suspect an attempt to grab hold of my ads and any money that might be connected to them. (Don’t worry, I was sensible and cut everything off immediately.) It’s a common enough occurrence for businesses on social media that I should have been expecting it to happen one day, and I thought I’d taken precautions to lower the risk of a breach ever happening, but it turns out I was wrong.
The day it happened I felt utterly sick, watching years of my personal data get locked behind a digital wall. Especially because this was also my personal Facebook account, which contained years of memories, photos, interactions with friends, and connections with far-flung folks that I may never recover.
For a while, I pursued a solution. The route of appeal was effectively a brick wall, so I spent some time chasing down other ways to contact the famously uncontactable Meta, but soon ran out of steam. I’ve had other priorities to focus on. Baby Henry – who recently had his first birthday – and his five-year-old sister Evie have been the centre of my universe this year.
They’ve both grown so much, and their relationship as siblings has been a greater joy than I anticipated. There’s also been a great deal of sleep deprivation (alas, Henry was not a good sleeper for most of the year).
The time I’ve had for writing I’ve focused on more personal projects: short stories and submissions to magazines & anthologies. At the same time, I’ve been working on a gift for fans of Jack Hansard: a Christmas adventure that was supposed to be a 5,000 word short story, but which turned into a 19,000 word novella. Stay tuned – I’ll tell you how to grab it for free in my next blog post.
I’m now looking ahead to next year with the aim of rebuilding my online presence and making an unhurried return to publishing. While one child is now at school, the other is still at home and I’ve also gone back to work part-time – which is to say, time feels short even when it’s well-organised.
I have a wonderful husband and very supportive family who help me find time for myself and writing, but I don’t expect to be churning out multiple books a year any time soon. So, slow and steady it is. I’m looking forward to getting back into long-term projects and reconnecting with folks in this sphere.
I don’t post on my blog much, so if you want another way to find out what I’m up to, considering signing up to my newsletter (you’ll receive a free story) or following me on Instagram @GJefferyAuthor.
Here’s to keeping in touch – even if it is infrequently. 😉
It’s been four years since we welcomed my darling daughter Evie into the world, and it’s now my great pleasure to also welcome my son, Henry. Henry arrived somewhat earlier than expected two weeks ago, but everything went very smoothly and we’ve been recovering well at home. His big sister is thrilled to have a baby brother, and we’re all settling nicely into our new rhythm as a family of four.
It’s probably a truism to say that no two birth experiences are alike, and it’s been interesting to compare my son’s arrival with his sister’s. This time around, I had a mostly planned C-section that was very chill (despite Henry’s determination to arrive several days earlier than scheduled!) compared to a drawn-out and exhausting first-time labour with some injuries I won’t detail for the squeamish. If you’ve read any of my Dark Folklore books, you’ll know that my recent writing has been heavily influenced by my experience of motherhood and I’m fascinated by the inherent trauma of it (see Ecstatic Birth for a horror story on this very theme).
That’s not to say my experience of motherhood has been “bad” by any stretch, but I do find the relationship of mother to child to be one ripe for twisting in weird and interesting ways. It’s why themes of grief, shapeshifters, and monsters (both human and supernatural) wind through many of my stories, where the sense of self is questioned and the familiar is made unfamiliar: much like adjusting to life with a newborn. During this time we grieve our past selves, our old routines, and we take on new shapes to fulfill the needs of a brand new creature with bright, helpless eyes who simultaneously possesses the brain-breaking wail of a Lovecraftian nightmare alongside all the innocent, inexplicable warmth of a beautiful miracle.
The dark side of parenthood is a hot topic right now, if my various social media algorithms are anything to go by: the number of tired parents making Reels and TikToks about the less glamorous, more frustrating, and occasionally downright grim aspects of child-rearing seems to be hitting a certain zeitgeisty need. I’m not saying anything particularly new to add to this, but there is value in the empathy of shared experience.
Parenthood is a world of contradictions, in constant flux. I held some trepidation over how our lives would transform yet again with the addition of a second child thrown into the mix, but now that he’s here I’m excited by both the change and the challenge. I’m beyond happy, living in a state of domestic bliss… while also extremely fed up of having a babe latched to my breast for hours at a time, surviving on just a few hours’ sleep each night, and juggling the many needs of a four year old around it all. But I am beyond happy, and I’m curious as to what stories will come out of this latest metamorphosis.
A dark fairy tale in a modern German setting. After inheriting her mother’s dilapidated farm, Marion suffers nightmare visions and a monster from old nursery tales that stalks her daughter in the fields.
Among Strangling Roots is the fourth standalone novelette in the Dark Folklore series, inspired by tales of the Rye Aunt, or Roggenmuhme. The Rye Aunt is a type of Feldgeister, or ‘field spirit’ from German folklore. This is the darkest story yet, with a strong rural horror vibe and not-so-happy ending.
When Marion returns to the house she grew up in, she is haunted by her unpleasant childhood and her own inability to connect with her eight-year-old daughter, Lilli. As her mind unravels, Marion finds herself plagued by waking nightmares and visions of the Rye Aunt: a terrifying, tar-stained shadow that stalks the fields and steals away naughty children.
Among Strangling Roots is available from all popular eBook retailers, and a few more besides. Grab it from your favourite store today!
A dark fairy tale in a modern Welsh setting. The lives of a diver and a reclusive mermaid collide. Will one be the death of the other?
Across Screaming Seas is a standalone novelette in the Dark Folklore series, inspired by tales of Welsh mermaids – or ‘morgens’. Set on the south coast of Wales, this story follows a snorkelling instructor named Erin who comes to the aid of a sea creature caught in fishing nets. Erin is shocked to discover she’s rescued an injured mermaid – which swiftly disappears back into the ocean. Determined to find the creature again, Erin sets out to lure the mermaid into another encounter. A twist of circumstance finds Erin trapped in the mermaid’s lair, wrestling against her own conscience and the instinct to survive…
Across Screaming Seas is available from all popular eBook retailers, and a few more besides. Grab it from your favourite store today!
Each year I keep track of the writing submissions I put in to journals and anthologies, and it’s now practically tradition that I check-in at the halfway point to take stock of how it’s going. 2021 was a great year for my submissions record, including an acceptance from the NoSleep Podcast who produced my horror story Ecstatic Birth for their show! (You can listen to it for free here: https://www.thenosleeppodcast.com/episodes/s17/17×18)
But as you’ll see, things have slowed down quite a bit this year. Here are my stats so far:
Submissions to magazines, anthologies, and competitions
Number of Submissions: 8
Submissions Declined: 5
Submissions Accepted: 0
Still under review: 3
Despite last year’s success, it’s clear that I haven’t been prioritising journal submissions in 2022. (Last year I already had twenty submissions in by June.)
I’m fine with this. The lower productivity on this side is indicative of the energy I’ve put into other publishing endeavours: namely, my new Dark Folklore series. This is a series of dark fairytales written as standalone novelettes (8000 to 12000 words in length), each based on a piece of folklore from around the world. I’m pleased to have kept a steady publishing schedule with a new Dark Folklore story releasing every 2-3 months, which is very rapid compared to my usual writing speed.
Stories in the Dark Folklore series so far
So I’m feeling pretty chill about my stats this year. No unnecessary shame or self-loathing required. (An achievement in itself for any writer, amiright?)
Plans for the rest of 2022: Across Screaming Seas releases next week! I have at least two more Dark Folklore novelettes to write, and then will form them into a paperback coIlection due for release sometime around Halloween, if all goes well. Alongside this, I’m still drafting Season Three of The Jack Hansard Series which will eventually reach the free beta stage for your reading pleasure.
I also intend to keep pottering along with submissions, and will let you know my final stats at the end of the year.
Are you in the submissions game? If so, how’s it going? What have your wins been so far?
A dark fairy tale in a modern Polish setting. A grandmother cares for an ailing dragon… but her compassion puts her own grandchildren in danger.
Just released: the next installment in the Dark Folklore short story series. Within Trembling Caverns is a standalone short story (or novelette, if you’re feeling fancy) inspired by the Polish legend of the Wawel Dragon. Set on the outskirts of modern Krakow, an elderly woman named Truda feels a sense of duty to look after a cave-bound dragon near her home. But when misfortune strikes and she can no longer feed the beast, her own family are at risk of becoming meals for her starving, scaly ward…
Within Trembling Caverns is available from all the most popular eBook retailers, and a few more besides. Grab it from your favourite store below:
Today marks the launch of a brand new fantasy story, and a new series along with it. Beyond Thundering Waters is a dark fairy tale set in the lush surroundings of the Utladalen Valley in Norway.
Our young heroine, Ida, gets into trouble when she catches the attention of Maja, a huldra who lives in the forest. Maja is drawn by Ida’s grief – she’s still grappling with the death of her Mamma… and it seems Maja is keen to fill the void that was left behind. Will Ida end up with a huldra for a mother? Can she save her Pappa before Maja takes him away forever?
The Giveaway
To celebrate, I’m giving away a whole bunch of free copies of this eBook! Today you can grab one of TEN freebies using this special coupon code at Smashwords:
Simply enter the code at checkout to get the book for free. Remember, there are only ten copies available: the first ten people to enter the code, win! The code expires next week on 10th May.
This isn’t the only giveaway. You’ll find another code to use on Google Play via my Facebook page, and yet another code in my Reader Group. Current subscribers to my newsletter will get their own chance to win one of TWENTY free copies tomorrow!
And of course, if you want to purchase the story instead, you can find the ebook on all retailers via this universal link: https://books2read.com/b/4jgw9X
If you’d like to help out this little launch, please reblog this post, shout about the giveaways, and share the book link! Love to you all, and I hope you enjoy the story. 😊
Dark Folklore is a new short story series inspired by myths and monsters from around the world.
I love discovering folklore in all its flavors… from elusive beasties that stalk the aging forests to twisting fates in fairytales told from the shadows of a campfire. The more obscure and sinister the tale, the better.
Dark Folklore is a series to indulge this love. Each installment is inspired by a folk legend from a different country, reimagined in a modern setting with new twists and themes. More than just a retelling: each short story is a new, original tale. Expect some spooky vibes and a few unhappy endings… but also the odd uplifting one as well.
The first installment of Dark Folklore releases on Tuesday 3rd May: a story called Beyond Thundering Waters. With a lush Norwegian setting surrounded by mountains and waterfalls, this story draws on a menacing interpretation of the huldra (one of my favourite folkloric creatures). Ida, a young girl still grieving the loss of her mother, must race against time to save her Pappa from the clutches of her own wild valley and the huldra who would keep them apart.
This story is already live for preorder on all the usual storefronts. Stay tuned for a special Launch Day Giveaway: I’ll be handing out TEN free copies of Beyond Thundering Waters via my blog, and even more copies via social media and my newsletter!
So remember to hit the Follow button on my website, and check out my socials on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Subscribe to my newsletter (and receive another free short story) by clicking here.
Georgina Jeffery 