This week is Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week, an entire week dedicated to appreciating self-published authors! This special week takes place between July 21st to July 27th and was started by Jodie over at the Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub blog. You can find out more about SPAAW on Jodie’s blog, as well as ways to take part.
For our third day of the week, we settled on Horror as our genre of choice. Unfortunately, I’m a bit of a chicken, and I tend to stay away from horror, so I couldn’t find a classic that I’d read that was self-published. As such, I expanded today’s category to also include Grimdark. I’m aware it’s not the same, but I hope it doesn’t overly offend anyone who isn’t a hard-line genre purist.
Want to take part? You can support self-published authors by leaving a book review or shouting about your favourite self-published books on social media. Don’t forget these hashtags: #SPAAW #SelfPublishedAuthorsAppreciationWeek
These are Nils’ picks for the day:
A Classic Horror & Grimdark Spotlight for…
Norylska Groans
Norylska Groans…
with the weight of her crimes. In a city where winter reigns amid the fires of industry and war, soot and snow conspire to conceal centuries of death and deception.
Norylska Groans…
and the weight of a leaden sky threatens to crush her people. Katyushka Leonova, desperate to restore her family name, takes a job with Norylska’s brutal police force. To support his family, Genndy Antonov finds bloody work with a local crime syndicate.
Norylska Groans…
with the weight of her dead. As bodies fall, the two discover a foul truth hidden beneath layers of deception and violence: Come the thaw, what was buried will be revealed.
Nils’ Comment
This one’s brutal. Read my review here.
Find Norylska Groans on Goodreads.
About the Authors
Michael R Fletcher
Michael R. Fletcher is too lazy to write his own Biography and has promised me a bottle of whiskey to do it for him. I know several things about the man and I’m sure I can string these out to fill the space. He’s Canadian, he recently placed 2nd in possibly the most prestigious literary contest for fantasy, and his middle name is just the letter R.
His debut book tops all the charts that rate books by grimdark content. So, open with tongs and leave at least an hour after meals before reading. Surprisingly, he has a wife and daughter!
To conclude. I was not coerced into writing this. Mr. Fletcher is a real person.
—Mark Lawrence, author of THE BROKEN EMPIRE.
(To be clear, I copied this from Mr. Fletcher’s website. I did not get Mark Lawrence to write a bio for us. I’m also lazy – Nils)
Clayton W. Snyder
Co-author of SPFBO finalist Norylska Groans, which Anthony Ryan (Blood Song) described as “Rich in bone crunching violence and a grimly convincing sense of place and character.”, and the final instalment of the Manifest Delusions series, A War to End All. Several of my other novels have been SPFBO semi-finalists. I’ve also authored numerous short stories, my most recent, Hounds, at Grimdark Magazine. I currently split my time between work and writing. I have worked as a systems admin, chainsaw operator, and once did an ill-advised stint as a bodyguard because I am ‘really tall’.
A New-Part-in-Series Spotlight for…
The Order of the Strawberry Circle
WHEN THE BLUE DOOR OPENS, WINTER WILL COME TO FELS.
11-year old Jo has finally managed to make a friend at her new Rani, the girl who runs like the wind. Together, Jo and Rani are planning the perfect winter cookie baking, caroling, and ice skating at the local pond.
But when the Fels Christmas market is vandalized and strange symbols are found on the stalls, Jo starts to worry that the chilling prophecy made by the monster who kidnapped her brother in the fall might be coming true after all, threatening the safety of all of“The price for peace in blood is paid, pay it now or pay it soon, only higher if you wait…”
To protect her family, Rani, and her no-longer-quite-so-boring hometown of Fels, Germany, Jo turns to the Strawberry Circle, the secret order monitoring supernatural activity in the area. Together, can they chase off the spirits that haunt the time between the years? Or will Fels pay the blood price after all?
Join Jo on a frosty and frightening adventure and explore the rich winter lore of Germany in the sequel to BBNYA finalist Bad Grains!
Nils’ Comment
This is a Young Adult horror series, and while it doesn’t pull any punches, it’s also not overly violent or gruesome in its details. You will find my review of Bad Grains here, and my review of Whiteout here.
About the Author
Susanne Schmidt grew up in Germany and fell in love with the English language reading Sabriel and the Earthsea Chronicles. She spent a year in New Zealand during high school and later studied in Spain and the US, eventually earning a B.A. in Journalism from Saint Louis University.
She created her first poems in fourth grade, and has been hooked on writing ever since. Currently, she is working on a epic fantasy vampire trilogy, a short and spooky Middle Grade series centered around Germany and German folklore, and a long, epic, genre-blending story about two immortals fighting each other in a brutal reality show.
When she isn’t staring down a blank screen, she is learning how to set up a garden, takes care of two spoiled guinea pigs, and watches too much Netflix with her husband.
