Newt's Free Horror #85
Newt's Update provides subscribers with news on the author's latest work, upcoming releases, and events.
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NEWS
Nathan Schuetz, a fellow member of the HOWL Society, published this excellent interview with Christopher Christopher O'Halloran.
The HOWL Society is releasing a new anthology called HOWLs from the Wreckage. I originally wrote THE IRON DOOR for the anthology, but sadly didn’t make it into the final book. Having read most of the stories in the anthology as part of the submission process, I fully recommend it and will be getting my own copy on release day.
WHAT AM I WORKING ON NOW?
THE DRAUGR is a monster, but the first draft is DONE. What’s next?
Second Draft: I read it through, wince, make notes, then do the same again, but with Text to Speech as hearing it in a different voice lets me pick up on different aspects of the story. Then I rewrite each scene. This normally takes a fraction of the time of the first draft, unless I enter the realms of development hell.
ProWritingAid: Usually this doesn’t involve any rewrites, but occasionally I will spot something that needs fixing or could be improved. ProWritingAid (and Grammarly) have been a fundamental change for me. It allows a dyslexic author to compete with all the other more grammatically competent authors.
Line Editor: By now you’d expect the grammar to be flawless, but sadly, there are always hundreds of errors that are fixed. Ideally, I would get the story Beta Read first, but the story needs to be vaguely legible before the betas get to tear it apart.
Beta Readers: Predominantly Barny (the brother of the horror critic who modelled for my free AUDIOBOOKS) and Len (an Ozploitation specialist, mainly because he is from Oz and is frequently exploited). They run through the story and pick up on anything that lacks realism (for example, in Smoke in the Sewers, the eels had scales in the second draft which was incorrect) or are inconsistent. Sometimes, this leads to major changes which require another Line Editor read through, but usually it’s just little (but important) things.
WHAT'S NEXT?
I am 100% done with HS2 for the foreseeable future. Towards the end of THE DRAUGR (probably being renamed to THE BLOOD RAVEN), I was starting to wish it would actually come true.
I keep thinking I want to do an 18th century piece, but then I’ve been flirting with my first 1970’s piece.
UPCOMING EVENTS
19th May, SHADOW OF THE WOLF. Two templars ride into a rural town determined to battle the forces of evil, but not everything is as clear cut as their teachings promised.
10th June, NESTOR LYNCH. Book launch, Saturday, 18:00–22:00. Project Orange, Clapham Junction, London, England.
14th June - NESTOR LYNCH. Murder and revenge abound in this techno thriller. The debut novel of Newton Webb.
5th July, THE DRAUGR. Hacking their way through ancient woodlands, construction workers unearth a long buried crypt with murderous results.
6th September, TALES OF THE MACABRE, VOL. 2 is released. The sequel to the bestselling horror short story compilation.
Horror Story Compilations
FREE SUSPENCE, THRILLER, AND HORROR BOOKS. Featuring 103 free horror stories. Including: TREV RIDES FORTH and 12 MINUTES.
CREEPY THRILLERS. Featuring 84 horror stories. Including: THE HORROR AT HARGRAVE HALL and TALES OF THE MACABRE, VOL. 1.
SPINE CHILLING READS. Featuring 77 free horror stories! Including: THE COCONUT KILLER, THE IRON DOOR, THE ENIGMATIC SKELETON, TREV RIDES FORTH, 12 MINUTES and WELCOME TO PARADISE.
DARK VILLAINS, DARK WORLD. Featuring 63 free horror stories! Including: TREV RIDES FORTH and 12 MINUTES.
FREE HORROR READS. Featuring 35 horror stories! Including: THE COCONUT KILLER, TREV RIDES FORTH.
Recommended Stories
SOMBRE STROLL: FIVE HORROR STORIES, by Mark Tullius, free to download.
These bizarre and bloody tales will leave you begging for more.
An overworked father trying to protect his son.
An injured construction worker questioning reality.
A sensitive teenage girl watching a mixed martial arts battle to the death.
An aging DJ granting a sick girl’s glorious last wish.
The fifth and final tale is a shocking jaunt through the author’s mind, full of juicy revelations and admissions.
BEAST BE GONE, by A L Billington, free to download.
With no work left, Eric is broke and desperate. That is until a young woman equipped with mechanical gadgets becomes his apprentice. Together they uncover the mystery of a diabolical plot that answers the timeless questions about adventuring...
Why are there so many Chosen Ones? Are goblins inherently evil or are they just misunderstood? Why do all the shopkeepers say they have the best swords in the land? What are the socio-economic implications of all these sword merchants?
INSIGHT, by Bruno Martins Soares, available for purchase or free on Kindle Unlimited.
Strange things begin to happen to Matt, a recent widower: his 9-year-old son seems to develop supernatural powers, apparitions of his dead wife become frequent, and he is being followed by a suspicious man. When his son is kidnapped, he dives into a spiral of unexplained events. He’ll have to do the unimaginable to save his family.
THE MERCY: ANGEL OF DEATH, by Sara Ennis, available for purchase or free on Kindle Unlimited.
Angel trains psychological service dogs. Olivia is a beloved author and talk-show host. They're part of Komorebi, a private "club" of people who survived long-term captivity. From the outside, these survivors have succeeded at creating satisfying lives. But not everything is as it seems. There are secrets everywhere. Unrequited love, custody battles, and revenge are just the beginning.
HANGING HOUSE: AN EMMIE ROSE HAUNTED MYSTERY, by Dean Rasmussen, available for purchase or free on Kindle Unlimited.
An unsolved murder. A reluctant psychic. Hanging House never sleeps, and neither will you.
Emmie just wants to get as far away from her psychic past as possible. Who can blame her? Seeing dead children isn’t a “gift.” It's heartbreaking terror.
But once she loses her job in the big city, there’s only one place for her to go: back into the heart of her trauma and fears. Her childhood home.
Hanging House.
TALES FROM FLOOR FIFTY-FOUR, by Ryan Hunt, available for purchase or free on Kindle Unlimited.
Real monsters don’t just go away. Neither do any of the curious horrors we pretend aren’t lurking for us in the shadows. The government hides them deep underground on Floor Fifty-Four, in the hopes they might be understood, perhaps even used as a force for good. Some have simple rules to follow, others are too dangerous to exist. There are hundreds of bizarre objects and creatures on Floor Fifty-Four. Every single one has a story.
TWISTED: A COLLECTION OF DARK TALES, by Daniel Willcocks, available for purchase.
Desperate for a fresh injection of dark tales designed to make the mind bend, warp, and TWIST?
For the first time ever in one collection, 'Twisted' collates 28 of the best dark horror shorts featured on the chart-busting, award-nominated podcast, ‘The Other Stories’ (plus a few cheeky extras stories thrown in).
If you like short bursts of dark fiction designed to make your eyes pop and your sphincter tighten, well… this is a collection for you.
GHOSTS OF GRIEF HOLLOW, by Shawn Burgess, available for purchase.
Reeling from a string of brutal murders in the small Appalachian town of Harper Pass, Brooks Raker and friends try to put the horrors of the summer behind them but soon realize their nightmare is far from over. The evil they thought they vanquished remains as unburied as their dead friends.
VISIONS AND NIGHTMARES: TEN STORIES OF DARK FANTASY AND HORROR, by A. F. Stewart, available for purchase.
With the odds stacked against them, can these ten women survive... or will they succumb to the threat of revenge, fate, and death?
Step through a looking glass of dark horrors with an Alice you never knew.
Join Zenna in seeking the truth before she succumbs to her deadly magic.
Journey with Olivia as she crosses paths with a monster of the forest and runs for her life.
Watch Isobel summon the faerie to solve her problem of an unwanted husband.
Shiver as Doctor Killbride experiments with corpses to create life from death.
Wander into the realm of the old gods with Elenora, who yearns for escape.
FURY, by Joan De La Haye, available for purchase.
An angry spirit bent on revenge is on a murder spree.
Two rival crime bosses fight for dominance on the streets of South Africa’s capital city.
And Alice, a university student, is caught in the middle of a bloody battle for survival.
Will she survive or get snuffed?
Newton Webb Bibliography
Available on Amazon
Collected Works
Contemporary
2022 – The Heir Apparent, Novella
2018 – The Morrígan, Novella
2017 – Nestor Lynch, Novel
2013 – Festival of The Damned, Novella
2012 – The Platinum Service, Novella
Historical
1958 – The Black Fog, Short Story
1864 – Smoke in the Sewers, Novella
1832 – The Horror at Hargrave Hall, Novella
1818 – The Ballad of Barnacle Bill, Novella
1194 – Hunted, Short Story
Read a collection of free short stories by Newton Webb on his website.