THE FALL is out now, plus exciting Gulpepper news!

Apr 12, 2022

Everything is coming up Gulpepper lately and I couldn’t be happier or more proud. Firstly, the second book of Tales From The Gulp, The Fall, is out today! Go grab it, please!

It’s worth bearing in mind that this isn’t so much a sequel as a continuation. The Gulp contains 5 interconnected novellas, each one a standalone story, but across all five you can see a bigger story unfolding. The Fall is also a set of 5 novellas, again each one stands alone as a story in its own right, but those five continue to develop what began with The Gulp. And by the time you get to the end of The Fall you’ll realise there are 10 novellas, each a part of a much bigger narrative, and the two books make a kind of mosaic or episodic novel. The Fall answers a lot of questions readers were left with after The Gulp. It also asks a lot of new questions and answers some of them. Maybe not all… You’ll have to read to find out.

I took on a difficult challenge with these two books: could I write ten separate novellas, across two separate books, where each story and therefore each book stood alone, but together made something far greater than all its parts? I was terrified I wouldn’t pull it off, but if early reviews of The Fall are anything to go by, it looks like I did. I’m so pleased!

So if you enjoyed The Gulp, please grab The Fall today. I promise you won’t be disappointed. If you didn’t try The Gulp yet, now is a great time to jump on board. Grab them both and read right through.

But what did I mean when I said everything is coming up Gulpepper? Well, as anyone who follows my social media will know, The Gulp made the preliminary ballot for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection in the Bram Stoker Awards (although it didn’t make it through to the shortlist), and then last week it scored three Aurealis Award nominations – Best Collection, Best Fantasy Novella for “Mother in Bloom”, and Best Horror Novella for “The Band Plays On”. Three! Amazing. There’ll be a live and in-person awards night in Canberra to announce the winners on May 28th which is really exciting. I’ll definitely be heading down for that.

But that’s not all! The amazing folks at Thunderstorm Books approached me a while back and suggested an oversized hardcover, signed and numbered limited edition omnibus of both The Gulp and The Fall together. We’ve been working on that and the incredible François Vaillancourt made the super creepy cover art you see there on the right. For anyone who’s read the first book, you’ll know what story that art is based on. I was nervous about an expensive limited edition, hoping the publisher wasn’t going to be disappointed with sales. I needn’t have worried. The thing sold out in less than four hours. My mind, it is blown! I’m so humbled and grateful and happy about that. These books are being so well-received, my joy bubbles over.

And with that we come to the latest and perhaps most exciting news of all. I can announce now that The Gulp is under option to be developed for television. Woohoo! Now, before we all get too excited, being under option is a long way from it ever actually appearing on a screen anywhere, but it’s also a fuck sight nearer to appearing on a screen than anything not under option. So please, keep everything crossed for me and these books. Keep the love and reviews coming for them, those things help more than you would ever believe. Like I said, I couldn’t be happier with how these books are being received, and The Fall only comes out today! My mind, it remains blown!

Please tell people about the books if you’ve enjoyed them, and please give them a go yourself if you haven’t yet. I think they are among the best things I’ve ever written, if not the best so far.

And again, thank you!

 

Thanks for reading! Click here to subscribe to my newsletter or find me on socials here.