'Malaria-9' Kindle Freebie Starts Thursday

As has now become traditional when we launch a new Kindle book, there'll be a five-day freebie promo for our latest release, the Cyberpunk/horror action piece 'Malaria 9'.

The e-book giveway starts Thursday 22nd November and runs 'til Monday 26th, inclusive.

US readers can get it here.

UK readers cab grab it here.

'Malaria 9' - The Ten Week Wonder!

Well, my experiment to complete a full-length book in no more than 10 weeks for the Amazon Kindle shop succeeded - just! I finished the final edit and uploaded the thing yesterday, which made exactly 10 weeks to the day to conceive, write, and edit the text, as well as come up with a decent cover (to be exact: 3rd September - 17th November, with 6 hours to spare). Most of the donkey work was done during weekday teabreaks and lunch hours in the office - one of the benefits of having a small, easily portable netbook.

The book's now fully available for fans of the cyberpunk, horror and paranormal genres, right here.

The cover art also went through several complete transitions and these alternative illustrations are provided as extra illustrations in the text.

Angel of Vengeance - Episode 2 Now Available

After something of a hiatus, Chaz recently picked up the thread of the 'Angel of Vengeance' graphic fiction series and has just released episode 2 in downloadable e-book format - recent positive comments for episode 1 having been a main inspiration, and thanks to everyone on the Authonomy website who bothered to read the text and share their views.



"Episode 2 of 3 - the dark tale continues. Expelled from heaven for the sin of lechery, onetime angel Aldaraia finds herself alone in modern-day Hamburg, where she makes the acquaintance of an exiled demon named Bosch. Having rescued the bewildered fallen angel from a psychotic would-be rapist, Bosch's first mission is to find his new companion some suitable clothes. To this end they break into Max Overdrive's Leather Store on the Reeperbahn, only to run into the henchmen of Mr. Skinn - a being of diabolical evil, vomited from the foulest depths of Hell - who has his own abominable plans for Aldaraia. And they do not concern trendy motorcycle clothing, either. Can Bosch, against all the odds, hope to rescue his damsel in distress from Skinn's sick clutches? Graphic adult fantasy with a dark and twisted edge. Note: Strictly mature readers only (18+). Illustrated with over a dozen b/w drawings."

Episode 2 can be downloaded here.

Prey for Us: Exorcismus

Northern Spain, 1499 A.D.

Episode 2 of the supernatural medieval horror series debuted on Youtube last night. Picking up from the end of the pilot episode, Brother Domingo prepares to exorcise the Devil, who appears to have possessed the body of a strange peasant woman. Meanwhile Tacitus, our narrator, fears he may have inadvertently inspired Satan to come into the Benedictine monastery by his over-enthusiastic illumination of the temptations of Eve.



Will brave Domingo be able to expel the Prince of Darkness from the monks' wine cellar...? While Bernardo cowers in the cellar awaiting Domingo's return, the Abbot conducts mass, unaware of the supernatural drama unfolding beneath his feet. Here's the Youtube link for episode 2, 'Exorcismus'.

Prey for Us - a New Animated Series

Here's something dark and creepy from the FWB stable in time for Halloween - involving monks, madness, magic and medieval machinations...this is the pilot episode for a new (occasional) series of short films. Things start off badly for the monks at Navarre with a case of suspected demonic possession, but following a failed exorcism, the Holy Officers of the Inquisition are summoned to tidy up the mess...and then the real horrors begin...



This started life as a comic strip over 10 years ago, when Chaz and Frang were working on the first issue of Yokelore, a fantasy/sci-fi/horror comic which never got past the first issue. Chaz kept hold of the idea of a gang of creepy monks, and eventually the project has begun to see the light of day.

Here's the Youtube link to the pilot episode, which sets the scene and introduces Tacitus, the scribe and narrator of the tales.

An illustrated e-book, based on the series, is now also in production.

New Reviews for the 'Trinity Chronicles' !

Chaz came home tonight to find not one, but two, reviewes waiting for him in his email inbox.

These were provided courtesy of Readers Favorite.com, who provide a free-of-charge book review service (as well as a paid-for premium review service). Chaz decided he had nothing to lose and submitted both books in the 'Trinity Chronicles' for their attention.

For a free service, Chaz is very impressed, and would recommend this to any writer seeking reviews. The reviews, though not long, show careful reading and understanding of the texts which makes the reviewer's points (both good and critical) profoundly valid.

'Venus in Saturn' is reviewed here.

And 'Maranatha' is reviewed here.

These reviews are also scheduled to go live on Amazon.com in the next few days, another exciting and helpful aspect of the RF review service.

'Angel of Vengeance' Descends to the Web

After juggling various client commissions over the past few weeks, Chaz finally made some time to pull together his previously-abandoned angels & demons/urban fantasy comic book project that was started about a year ago.

Knowing he no longer has the strength or the time to draw full-length comics anymore (at least, not within a reasonable timeframe), he's compromising these days and developing 'graphic fiction' - heavily illustrated prose - in this case, featuring cut-up panels from the old comics pages interspersed throughout the text. He's always loved the characters, the dark humour and the backstory to this tale, and felt it a shame it never saw the light of day after some great feedback from friends on the artwork on Deviantart. It also brings together a few of Chaz's favourite subjects - dualist cosmology, Enochian angel mythology, epic storylines and a cast of characters who are painted neither 'good' nor 'bad', but complex beings with deep virtues and flaws.

As such, "Angel of Vengeance - Episode 1: South of Heaven" has finally materialised.

We're still limited only to publishing these works as digital downloads via Lulu.com as Kindle still doesn't like big illustrations. Once that platform is up to speed we'll seek to expand, but in the meantime it's been fulfilling simply to bring this thing all together and come up with something that is interesting and a bit different. A lot of so-called "urban fantasy" these days seems to be aimed at teenagers or feature friendly werewolves or jolly goth vampires. No such kid gloves exist in AoV - this is adult-only material, both in image and word. Darkness and evil abounds, but at the core is a rather human, story, with extraordinary characters torn between opposing poles of love, pain and morality.

But don't take our word for it: Episode 1's out now, right here.


Art from Issue 1. All works (c) C. Wood 2011.

Venus in Saturn: Just Published!

At long last, the prequel to Maranatha is out there, in a special illustrated edition available only from Lulu.com.

While Maranatha was in many ways an occult thriller with some horror trappings, Venus has more of a horror mentality with much of the action (and weirdness) taking place in the mind of heroine Vanessa Descartes, and contains some of the most disturbing material Mr. Wood has ever written to date. (He concedes that if a writer can freak himself out while writing something, then it bodes well for readers who enjoy that kind of thing!) While avoiding gratuitousness, Venus is nonetheless a macabre exploration of the deepest reaches of the human psyche, and is recommended for readers who like their horror with a cold, cutting edge, and a forensic level of detail.

Still as complex and layered, however, Venus has been almost three years in production, and sets up the cosmic background for the third book in the Trinity Chronicles series, The Keys of Heaven.

'Waiting for Anais' - a midwinter horror tale

Another horror story commission from the good folks at Freethunk, this may be one of the darkest things I've ever written. It was conceived as a story set around Christmas which wasn't remotely festive, and as bleak as the season and its weather can be (and looking out my window right now, believe me - it doesn't get any bleaker).

Here's the link.

The inspiration came from the accompanying illustration, something of a random sketch I started a few months back. It was nice to have a reason to finish it off.

Networking Works!

During a busy old week of being snowed in, Chaz decided to use all that time in the house to do some real networking online, meet like-minded people and even try to find a couple of book reviews. Result: success, in spades...

Facebook has been a bit of a revelation lately. At first very sceptical about its use for an unknown writer, Fenris managed to make some very interesting, and extremely helpful and kind contacts (you know who you are!), with the result that both the blog and the books are now getting some attention. In return, we'll be doing what we can to promote anybody via this very page, or on Facebook, with links, banners, or anything else that can be conceivably useeful.

Also highly recommended is the site Goodreads.com where authors and book fans can meet, talk, share views and texts.

On top of all this activity, Chaz has still found time to re-edit Venus in Saturn (again), keep on top of illustration commission works, and a new un-festive short horror story may also be making an appearance before too long. Keep watching this here space ;)