S.J.Budd

A collection of 12 brilliant short stories bought to you by Sirens Call Publications , that takes a fresh look at some infamous and dark myths and legends, and asks if they're myths or reality... But these are not the gentrified and harmless tales you could entertain children with. Delve inside and you will discover that things are not as they seem, old gods still walk amongst us and their powers prevail, riddles still need answering, and we can't escape our past. You can show your support for your fellow writers and independent publishers by buying this book, which is available through Sirens Call Publications or Amazon . They have a great selection of anthologies! It Lives In Us ~ Thomas James Brown In  the  picturesque village of Lynnewood in the New Forest, there's a terrible dark secret that hangs over this otherwise peaceful village. What are these things and where do they come from? What can be done to escape them? This deliciously dar...

I'm delighted to announce that one of my short stories has been published in Deadman's Tome. This is an online horror ezine that is published monthly for those who like their horror dark and morbid. "Lost, but not forgotten. Discarded, but not abandoned. Rumor has it that somewhere deep in the dark abyss lies an ancient relic of wicked men, a product of madness. A tome of horrors so unimaginable, so unfathomable that a few lines was all it took for people to go mad. There are documented accounts of this book shattering families, tearing through the strongest of examples of love, causing mothers and fathers to devour their young. Somewhere, lost in the ocean of misinformation, exist reports of small towns cursed with mass hysteria, mass murderous delusions, consumed by either fire, cannibalistic orgies, or both. Every time, this ancient tome, the very book you are reading, was found beneath the rubble. Of course, this is only a copy, and only a fragment of the origina...

I'm a Cornish expatriate exiled to London. But despite a change of scenery I love nothing more than spiriting myself back to my homeland through great works of fiction such as those written by Daphne Du Maurier, and after reading this; Poldark by Winston Graham. Surprisingly I'd never heard of these books until I began watching the current BBC adaptation which is marvellous. This may be due to Winston Graham not being Cornish himself, he moved down at the age of 17. Poldark is a series of novels, a family saga that spans 12 novels charting the highs and lows of the Poldarks. It is set in Cornwall in the 1780's onwards. The first novel centres around Captain Ross Poldark who returns from war to his home to find his fortune overturned, his father is dead and their estate is in ruins.Ross Poldark is a mysterious brooding character who is compelling throughout. He is dark yet a caring man, stern but soft. Winston Graham has remarkable skills and captures perfectly no...

Sanitarium Magazine is published by Eye Trauma Press and if you like dark and macabre tales you'll love this monthly magazine which is available to buy in print and e-format. I've been incredibly fortunate in having one of my short stories published in issue 28 of Sanitarium and have since become hooked. This magazine also features great poetry from Vince Rodriguez, James Michael Shoberg and H.H Bond. There's some great articles on everything horror related such as zombies, splatterpunk  and interviews with Wayne Simmons and Dark Pond Creations. This magazine is out on the 20th of each month, you can buy your copy from Amazon. The Vampyre - Charles Martin A tale that grips you from the first line and never lets go. Everyone loves a good vampire tale and this is one of them. Style is similar to Bram Stoker's epic Dracula, told via a diary mixed with a smattering of Lovecraft's impending doom. This is a great horror tale where Charles Martin creates fear ...

I found that my progress as an aspiring writer accelerated a lot when I learnt my first golden rule of writing. Writing is a creative process but selling them is purely business If you are serious in taking your creative writing further by getting published, you'll need to adopt a professional attitude. Here's how. Find and research your market You must consider your market. Is there a market that will want your story? If your only objective is to write great stories you won't need to do this, but if you want to have them published then make sure you have an audience to market them to. You can determine this by having a search on Google, and Facebook is also a great way to find places to submit to. If your stories are considered horror, dark fiction or fantasy then do check out Short Dark Fiction Markets  as the research has already been done for you. It provides details of numerous magazine that accept submissions and i...

In the last six or so months I've really devoted my time to writing short stories and have managed to see two of them published. (Yey!) Which has been really great fun and rewarding, so much so that I was starting to forget why I started writing them in the first place. Ultimately my aim is to one day publish a novel. To do that I had to get good at writing, really good. Which only comes with practise, I've read somewhere that states if you want to master a craft you need to put in a bare minimum of 1,000 hours of practise. So you  have to be very focused, dedicated and incredibly stubborn. So I think the time has come to start on the dreaded second draft of my novel. I have't looked at it for months and I hope that when I read it  I'll  hopefully still find it worthy of my blood, sweat and tears. For me, the joy I experience with writing is that you have to get inside your story, live it as much as possible. This isn't too much of...

Neil Gaiman is one of those authors everyone has heard of, even if you don't read. He's credited as helping to bring comics back to huge popularity. He's also is also considered a successful crossover artist who has brought fantasy literature into the mainstream book markets. He's written many books such as Coraline, Neverwhere, American Gods, The Graveyard Book and Anansi Boys. These books have become so popular that many of them have been made into very successful films. What I really admire about Neil Gaiman is his scope of imagination, it has no limitations, it just goes on and on and gives us these amazing stories that seem out of this world. Stardust is a prime example of this, a highly original yet mish - mash of every fairy tale you have ever heard. This is a tale of  a young man undertaking a heroic quest to find his heart's desire. If it were possible for words to dance upon a page it would occur in a Neil Gaiman novel. With stardust the...