M.J. Mars's Blog

Sick of talk of Valentine’s day? I have just the antidote for you. The second short in the Pestilent Perils series is out today! Get FLEA now.

Following an incident at a lab, a detective haunted by his past is tasked with investigating a spate of unusual deaths. Bodies drained of blood are showing up all over town, and the staff who worked at the lab the night of the incident are in hiding. Will police get to the bottom of the mystery in time to save the next...

I love monsters. That’s it, that’s the Tweet (as we used to say before everything went…well, everything went.)

I love monsters, I do, and I always have. From discovering dinosaurs and then Harryhausen movies as a kid, collecting Monster in my Pockets and realising that movies like The Blob and The Thing were giving me way more pleasure tingles than the blockbusters I was supposed to be enjoying on my screen, it became clear to me from a very young age that monsters were my jam.

Books tha...

“The rumours are true. MJ Mars, the punk rock princess of horror, is back…” Blaine Daigle, author of The Broken Places and The Ashes of August Manor.

Okay, okay, so Blaine’s words related to The Fovea Experiments being released and NOT to the fact that I just disappeared from the face of the earth for a few months, but there will never be a time I’m not ready and willing to use that quote. Can you blame me?? But forgive me.

And please forgive me for being away for so long. The last two yea...

One thing you may not know about me is, I really dislike talking about myself. Especially when things aren’t so great. I’m the type of person who waits until every problem is sorted and then, a couple of weeks later, will mention casually in passing that there was some kind of issue or trauma…”but it’s fixed now, so we never have to discuss it again!” This is just the way I am, much to my loved ones’ despair.

But I am going to be real with you and talk about it this month.

Firstly, the ma...

I’m excited to announce that my second novel, The Fovea Experiments, is out now from Wicked House Publishing.

So, what’s it all about?

An experiment gone wrong. A survivor under suspicion. A teen searching for the truth.

Ostracized by her friends, Nala finds solace creating true crime content for her YouTube channel. When she breaks into her mother’s private investigator files and finds evidence of multiple teen deaths during a sl...

You’re never too old for a little adventure. That premise was the driving force behind the story of TNTDUK. When Mark Tullius approached me and asked if I would be interested in joining the world of Try Not to Die (a hugely popular and sprawling series of author-written Choose Your Own Adventure® style books), there was no hesitation in my answer: “YES!”

Writing the story was a challenge. I’ve never written anything like it before and had no clue how to go about formatting a book that takes the r...

Happy March, everyone. The spring buds are starting to bloom, there has been some moments of blue skies and sunshine here in the UK, and it feels as though spring is finally on its way.

2025 has been full of surprises so far. The main news to share with you is that We’ve Already Gone Too Far WON the Books of Horror Short Smack competition. With every round, I expected to go hurtling out of the contest, as each of the 32 books in the smack were wonderful. ...

I usually wait until the end of the month to post news, but there has been so much going on in August so far I just couldn’t wait to share it.

Early on Friday 2nd August, I boarded a plane for my first ever solo flight. I’ve always had a terrible fear of flying, so getting on a plane on my own was not something I ever thought I’d be physically capable of doing. But then again, when you have somewhere incredible to ...

Welcome to the world my second book baby!

It’s crazy to think that this book was just a twinkle in my eye, even when I got back from Scares That Care Authorcon in April. I knew I wanted to create a book of short stories ready for the Books and Brews event, but apart from the two pre-published shorts I wanted to put in the book (In Bocca Al Lupo and Monastery Blood Moon), I had no idea what I might write.

The advice I received was ...

After a busy few months, I’m back with a brand new collection and some exciting news!

We’ve Already Gone Too Far is coming soon, with rave reviews coming in from early readers.

“This is chessboard horror. MJ Mars has arranged each story, each piece, into its proper place with sinister precision, daring the reader to make the first move. Narratively, she’s always three steps ahead of you, waiting to unearth fears you didn’t know you had. From urban legends to aliens, cryptids to curses, this aut...