Promoting my second published novelBeach 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.
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!
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.
Dale is twenty five, has short dark hair, a stubble, think body and peaks at five ten. He’s a former Royal Navy recruit come drop out, who determined the best bet for a career lay in the civil service. After background clearances, he made it into the crème da la crème – working as a civil servant in Buckingham Palace.
That was two years ago. Now though the story is very different. He lies in wait for a break in the screaming people outside the palace as they are torn to shred by the undead. A break to run, a break from the barrage of tormented cries. His ears, brain and eyes now beaten by apocalypse. A bloody unwinding, undead that stormed streets, ate people and had revolutionary strength.
He’s in the storage cupboard downstairs in the central hall of the palace; deserted of staff, military or royalty. The royalty replaced with gnawing at the gates, of distant peasants who whimper as they meet their gruesome demise. Dale holds his tongue, his breath and his position, with prayers focused on safe passage for the outsiders. Luckily for him the gates of the Palace are impenetrable, and so are the thick walls and doors of the Palace itself.
He’s burdened with one small grey backpack he carried to work, some days ago before the outbreak began. At first staff seemed unmoved, determined to stand ground with the assurance that the British military could overthrow a new, even more deadly type of threat then before. Behold they left en-mass, shaken and laden with betrayal. Dale thought it akin to treason to abandon London, to leave the pinnacle of British society – the Palace of the King. But they had, and he remained. His heart determined not only to survive, but to attempt to establish some sort of base. Given enough time he was sure he could open the gates to survivors.
Time was short, he had little food; his backpack carried a selection of some crisps, a ham sandwich, a chocolate bar and refillable water bottle, stuff he’d brought to work before being forced to ration it. So far he’d had half a bite of the sandwich but soon it would go stale, molded even. The Palace was well equipped though, and his ability to navigate the place were peak condition. He knew where the pantry was, the storage and the emergency storage – somewhere in the basement. The problem was Dale had spent so long in the room, peddled with thoughts of being eaten that he’d not managed to leave it yet. Tonight, or today, that would change. His silver watch on his left wrist showed around five pm, Tuesday, September. British weather being as it was would leave him cold, without heating he’d need some blankets.
The stuffiness of the dim room congested his nose, snot coalesced within his already irritated sinus passage. The smell that of dust and paper. The metal chair uncomfortable, digging into his lower back. He’d try to get out to look around soon, or so he hoped…
Stay tuned for more episodes. This is a story intended to be short, so it won’t be going all adventurous over London. I’ll write about London another 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.
Go Pre order for Kindle now. I am releasing on Amazon next week sooner than expected!
“I never thought the apocalypse would be so fucking boring, did you?”
Rose
The zombie apocalypse wiped out most of the population of Beach Town…
… now small pockets of survivors lay scattered throughout, each waiting for salvation, each struggling to make it another day…
… it started with a hit and run incident, quickly it was discovered to be far worse, but the authorities in the town could never have known, it was as bad as this…
… the disease spread over various corners of the globe, devastating the UK, Europe and yet Beach Town, being isolated had in fact been damned without knowing it…
… the bridge to the city was blown, and what remained of the police soon took a dark, supernatural turn when they ran low on food…
… a battle for survival, eventually the escape never proved successful, and now what remains are nothing but hopeful, dying and lonely…
Wow! The day is now here when you can go ahead and pre-order my new upcoming horror, zombie apocalypse tale of survival – Beach Town: Survivors.
What an emotional journey to write this haunting and horrific tale. You will not be disappointed because it is just stuffed full of drama, undead skull crushing and heart ache, fighting and survival that will honestly scare you. Hopefully.
I am so grateful to all of you for your support on this platform. I may not publish on Amazon as they are causing many issues. By pre-ordering you support me, and of course when the time comes if you review then you will also support me!
Lots of love to you all. Honestly, writing this novella was the best thing to happen this year to me. It made me realise that actually yes, I can write a shorter story and still have all the elements I want. Granted the cover is a lot different than one would expect from a zombie apocalypse tale, but the contrast with the serene water and coloured skies to the undead and fighting on the island is lovely.
As mentioned in some previous posts, I do intend to carry this ‘mini series’ on after this novella, having already started the second. Then there is the Dead Reckoning novella. It’s a lot of fun, and I hope you will join me and my stories.
I’ve moved from the bunker to an abandoned caravan park where base has been set up. 🧟
I think it gives me more freedom. I especially like the soft mattress in the caravan. There is also gas canisters for the cooker. The site is still fairly well stocked. The group is okay but morale has been low since food isn’t great and consists of beans and rice or whatever we can find… plenty of Spam though.
Welcome to this short story post. I decided to start a story on Medium to give me something to write on that platform. It really will be a short story. I don’t usually write in first person but oh well. I am also letting you go to read the first part by clicking the link at the end of this post. Hope you enjoy. This is an ongoing story.
…
The foul stench of death breezes under my nose and the woman cradles my torso. Lingering fear slips beneath my shallow breath and tickles my throat. “We fight to the death,” I add. She sits up and slumps her head on her hand and gazes into my eyes. I feel the doubt creep into my mind. We should fight, and we must. But the nameless wanderer like me, had that pale look of desperation and weakness.
“I can’t fight, I’m too weak,” she says, her thick European accent is hard to figure out, could be French. I was not in the mood to ponder such thoughts so I just glared back hoping she’d go to sleep. But sleep was not easy, wolves howled, seemingly closer than before, and seemingly in larger numbers.
“Don’t worry, we will be okay.” She lays back down and huffs. I know I can’t keep myself from worrying and have to open the tent netting. The fresh cool air brushes my face and the smell of mildew is already filling the fields. There is nothing to see and nothing to do but wait. Sunrise was many hours away, and they’d have to endure the isolation just a little longer. But no, through the thick black and slivers of moonlight I see not one but several corpses sway toward us. I go to move, and the stench creeps around the tent and claws inside…
Read the first part on Medium now 👇 All feedback is welcomed. Criticism is welcomed.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post today. I hope you have had an enjoyable week and are looking forward to the weekend celebrations. I read a post on social media describing someone’s writing goals on the Medium platform. I have published a few posts there myself, however my site is my main source of writing. Plus, you all get to see it! It would take a while to build up to the same amount of followers on there, so will add to Medium every once in a while.
So my motivation was sparked by that post to add my own writing goals for June. I listed 3 main goals in my notepad. I also listed 3 lesser goals. Here they are:
1) To Complete my Masters Submission for the 10th June.
As part of my law course I have to do a masters too, it is on clinical legal education and involves a critical reflective report. I have managed 2,500 words on it today taking the word count to just over 6,000. I have to write between 8000-9000 words overall. So tomorrow I will edit what I’ve written today. I am planning to have completed it by Sunday or Monday which will give me a few days to review and edit it.
2) Finish Beach Town: Survivors
The new upcoming and horrifying novella which I plan to release in August 2022. A summer release for what I think it quite the gruesome and dramatic story. I’ve managed to crank out 2,500 yesterday or more, and tonight I suspect I will be able to finish the story. There has been a lot of surprises whilst writing, namely that it is just full of bizarre twists and turns and unexpected happenings. You can see a little more about that by going to the post below, where you can also see what I hope is going to be a good cover!
I really enjoy connecting with you all here on WordPress and putting out content which is so well received. I would love to hit 600 followers by the end of the month. I don’t have that many to go and have exceeded my expectations massively this year, as I’ve gained so many great new ones and likewise discovered so many new and fascinating blog sites here.
4) To Write More About my Life
As I recently started counselling sessions I hope to be able to keep a more accurate diary of my days and to try and incorporate that onto this site sometimes. I think it will allow me to actually see where things are improving, and where things are still in need of support. Many people do this so why not dedicate more time to it?
Well that is all for now and as usual thank you for reading, if you enjoyed then like, comment, reblog and follow and share all over. Also, check out the Dawn of the Dead (1978) movie review below if you like.
I have a new short story coming this summer. It may or may not be published as an ebook. Either way I will be giving it to you all on my WordPress for free. The story is going to be a short story focused on a group of survivors in Beach Town who are trapped, low on supplies and full of ego, shame and guilt. I really hope you enjoy this. It was the ‘surprise’ I’ve been waiting to show you.
It is intended to be a collection of short stories under the title Beach Town: Survivors. I would have put the stories into one book however, to make things more fun, I will release a story at a time. Summer will see the first part. Autumn the second, winter the third etc. I think this is great. It is not a novel I know, but it keeps you living in Beach Town whilst the third novel is in progress. Thank me later.
psychedelicwizard 