A week alone in Iceland's most isolated church as an ancient darkness stirs ... Plus spring book updates, and recommended thrillers
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Hello from Bath, It's spring here which is lovely, and I am in the final phases of preparing for the launch of Bones of the Deep, my next thriller, and also starting to research the next ARKANE thriller, Crown of Thorns. While you wait for those, you might enjoy my short story, The Black Church, now available in ebook and audiobook, human-narrated by me! It's free for a limited time from my store, linked below, and it's also in my 12-story collection, The Buried and the Drowned. A week alone in Iceland's most isolated church. A grief too heavy to carry. An ancient darkness stirring beneath.Pastor David Thornwell has lost his wife, his faith, and any reason to keep preaching. A week-long retreat at a tar-blackened chapel on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula seems like the right place to let go. But the journals left by previous caretakers tell a different story — one of lights beneath the floor, claw marks on the door, and a dig abandoned without explanation. As the aurora blazes and the ground fractures beneath the altar, David realises this church was never a house of God. It was a seal. And something beneath it is waking up. Click here to get the ebook / audiobook from me Click here for Amazon and other stores It's coming soon on Audible and other audiobook stores, and reviews are much appreciated wherever you download it, or here on Goodreads. Recommended booksAs ever, I am a reader as well as a writer! I am pretty busy reading for my current Masters degree in Death, Religion, and Culture, but here's a few books you might like that are less academic! A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Becky Chambers. A cheerful little sci-fi story about a future tea monk who encounters a curious robot out in the reaches. I'm trying to read more positive sci-fi stories, so if you can recommend any, let me know! Scratch Moss - David Barnett. If you enjoyed my Blood Vintage folk horror, you will enjoy this story of an ancient evil that claims a sacrifice from an English mining community every year in order to keep the town prosperous. Red Empire - Jonathan Maberry. A bioengineered version of The Black Death surfaces and Joe Ledger and his team must save the world once more! One of my favourite series, and while it can be read as a stand-alone, I recommend reading the series in order. Let me know what you're reading — just click reply!
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J.F. Penn
For readers who want to escape ...
Hello from Bath, Spring is here and I recently attended a reunion back at my Oxford college, which was strange but also wonderful to see old friends and where they have ended up in life after 30 years. There was a moment in the old hall when a bell rung and Grace was said before dinner and the years fell away. Precious memories indeed, and you can read/listen to me talk about Oxford in this episode of my Books and Travel Podcast on Decadence, Discipline, and Dreaming Spires. Writing-wise, I...
Hello from Bath, One of the most common questions that authors are asked is: "Where do you get your ideas?" Well, for me, it's often about where I travel and what I find there. In 1999, I sailed on a tall ship from Fiji to Vanuatu in the south pacific, and something about that crossing never let me go. I just couldn’t find the right story for it ... until now. Bones of the Deep has finally arrived, with a setting that takes you out on the open ocean, the stolen bones of a merfolk culture, and...
Hello from wintery Bath, and happy new year! I hope you're getting back into the swing of things as we move into 2026. I'm just finishing edits on my next thriller, Bones of the Deep, details below. If you prefer a desert thriller to the ocean, Death Valley is on special, with the ebook free on Amazon 22 - 26 Jan, 2026. Click here to check it out on Amazon, or here on other stores. Reviews would be much appreciated! I'm also back at college, working on my Masters in Death, Religion and...