Lost Pages, Hidden Cathedrals, and Stories Beneath the Surface
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Hello from Bath, There's a chill wind in the morning air, and the ripening blackberries and the first fallen leaves whisper of autumn. I love the turn of the seasons, and I hope it's good wherever you are in the world. I've just finished my last research trip for my gothic cathedral book to Rochester and back to Canterbury. I've also been narrating my short stories for the new collection, The Buried and the Drowned, launching 1 September. Need a moment to escape?Come on over to my Books and Travel blog and podcast, where I share lots more behind the scenes research trips, and also interviews with other writers about the places that inspire them.
Recommended booksI've been reading across the genres recently, with techno-thriller, horror, and crime sagas below. Hit reply and let me know what you've enjoyed reading lately! The Devil's Peak — Greig Beck. The lost page has been found. Crafted 3,500 years ago, the first Bible concealed a dark secret—a missing page, torn from its sacred binding. Rumors claimed it wasn't penned by a saint or prophet, but by the Devil himself, revealing the gateway to Hell. A fast-paced horror thriller. I really enjoy Beck's novels and this one is definitely based on Dante's Inferno (which was also the inspiration for my short story trilogy, A Thousand Fiendish Angels). Artificial Wisdom — Thomas R. Weaver. 2050. In the throes of a climate catastrophe, the world is left with a drastic solution: one global leader to steer it through the coming apocalypse. The final two candidates are ex-US President Lockwood, and Solomon, the world’s first political artificial intelligence. The God of the Woods — Liz Moore. August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. The daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found. As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. DELIO: Phase One — RR Haywood. When nearly every person on the planet becomes frozen a small group of survivors must navigate the darkest sides of human behaviour while learning about the creation of the world's first fully self-aware Artificial Intelligence. Esperance — Adam Oyebanji. Detective Ethan Krol has been called to the scene of a baffling murder: a man and his son, who appear to have been drowned in sea-water. But the nearest ocean is a thousand miles away. A speculative thriller about the scars left by the Atlantic slave-trade. Happy reading until next time,
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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 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...