   The Sinister Horror Company once again team up with EyeCue Productions and welcome back Duncan P. Bradshaw after his stellar success of Cannibal Nuns from Outer Space, and this time round he’s getting even weirder. Don’t believe us? Well, this time Bradshaw has channelled his creative exuberance into a choose-your-own-adventure style book called Congratulations! You’ve Accidentally Summoned A World-Ending Monster. What Now? The book will be released on 24th September 2021, coinciding with the planned first day of FCON, happening in Birmingham UK. The cover was designed by Matthew Revert, an artist who works regularly with Bradshaw, and who designed his book covers for Mr Sucky, and Don’t Smell the Flowers! They Want to Steal Your Bones!  For those not familiar with the author: Duncan P. Bradshaw is home to vast tracts of arable land. Among the many varied animal species that call him home, there are three kinds of Bloatfly which are only found within his frigid hinterland. At night, when the second sun sets, he dreams. Visions of weirdness and horror merge together, plaguing the inhabitants of this land. No rest is possible when these ruinous portents are beamed directly into the brain pods of the residents of this land. Then, one day, Gretchen Inno found that these visions could be captured and translated into the written word, and lo… his books were born, and the populace found peace. Known initially for his books on zombies, Duncan is better known for his GoreCom series of books, which marry this heady blend of bizarro, comedy and horror. This, the fourth book in this series of unconnected books, has been five years in the making. Is it any good? Pick it up and find out!  Dunk has this to say about the book: Hey, I get it, you want some information on what this book is about, huh? Here you go: Are you frustrated with your mundane existence? Fed up spending day-after-day drinking hot, milky beverages, endlessly pressing ‘refresh’, and chowing down on copious amounts of biscuits and/or cake? Do you yearn for a world (or even a taste) of excitement and wonder? Then you’re in luck! With this ‘ere book, you’ll be transported to a fantastic world (well, the majestic city of Salisbury), where a rather pissed-off monster (hellbent on devouring everyone on the planet), has been summoned completely out of the blue. On a Wednesday, of all days, AND it’s sunny outside! Hence, instead of enjoying the uncharacteristically wonderful weather, you find yourself armpit-deep in mild-to-moderate peril. Have you pictured that in your brain? Got it? Good. Because the ending is completely up to you. Does humanity stand, or does it fall? Do disasters happen, beyond all mortal comprehension, or do you opt for a more traditional approach? What devilish secrets have I hidden away? Do I have any more tedious and not even terribly inventive questions to ask you? Why yes, yes I do! Are you still reading this? If so, then stop right there at the end of this sentence so you can jump in and find out for yourself, as you get to… dictate your fate. What? Why? How? Just explain yourself! Friday 25th March, 2016. A nondescript day for most, way before global pandemics, murderous vacuum cleaners and hungry alien nuns. I had just started writing a book simply called ‘Summoned’, and at that point in time, it was the silliest thing I had ever written. The idea for the book came about, when I saw this picture posted on Facebook:  For those who don’t know, this is Rachel Riley from UK show Countdown, where contestants get given random letters and have to come up with words from it. The idea that Cthulhu, or any other world-ending monster, could be summoned accidentally via a gameshow, really appealed to me. I figured that would be a good setup, but instead of a gameshow, I opted to use the medium of a harmless game of Scrabble. With the setup in place, my brain then did its usual and went into overdrive. I love trying to do different things with books and whether that’s the presentation or flipping tropes around, it’s interesting to me to try and do something different. As a kid, I loved the choose-your-own-adventure books and thought it might be fun to do that with this. But… there were a number of bizarro CYOA books already out there (Ocean of Lard for example), and merely copying this format was not something that interested me. So, I decided on a multi-story book, where you choose which path you take, without the granular decisions usually associated with CYOA books. I finished the first draft in August 2016, and sent it off to Garrett Cook to run through it and give me some feedback on what I could do to make it POP. Due to various reasons, that wasn’t forthcoming until late in 2017, but the things he said really helped to shape the final book. One entire chapter, for example, is as a result of Garrett’s input, and a number of other little changes really helped to get it closer to how it would be. But by then, I was writing other things, and Summoned took a back seat for another year or so. I think it was only when I finished Cannibal Nuns that I went back to it, determined to finally finish it up and get it ready for release. By then, I had also found my bloody marvellous editor, Linda Nagle, and she went through the manuscript with her usual vim and vigour. I think getting back those edits, was when I knew I actually had something that might work. The book itself is set in Salisbury, where I was born and lived for nigh on a decade. A number of places are either genuine, or based on reality, but with a twist to make it work better in the book. There’s even an appearance by me in one chapter, as a nameless character. For me, going back through it recently as I put it together, ‘Summoned’ showcases what my writing is about, and I can see the old me and the new me, joined by a bridge which is Linda’s eagle eye and excellent editing. It’s something different to the other books I’ve written, and with ten different endings, and one MASSIVE secret contained within its papery innards, it serves as a good marker of the progress I’ve made as a writer since I started. I hope you enjoy it! Congratulations! You’ve Accidentally Summoned A World-Ending Monster. What Now? will be available on Kindle & Paperback from Amazon and the Sinister Horror Company website from the 24th September 2021. Kindle and physical pre-orders are available right now on Amazon. Head here to snag your copy: smarturl.it/Summoned Dunk’s novel, Cannibal Nuns from Outer Space, is available via the Sinister Horror Company: https://www.sinisterhorrorcompany.com/cannibal-nuns-from-outer-space For any enquiries or further information visit: SinisterHorrorCompany.com  THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR FEATURES Comments are closed.
|
Archives
April 2023
|
RSS Feed
|
|