Sean Davies's Blog

It’s been a crazy few months with a last-minute move, the arrival of my 3rd son – Archer Winston Davies – and xmas and bdays too, but I’ve finally got around to putting the finishing touches on the first draft of the House of Thirteen!

It should be on the way soon if all goes to plan :D

Hi all,

Just a quick post to let you know that I'm currently four chapters into a much longer, more in-depth sequel to the House of Twelve!

Thirteen 'guests' - who are now able to recall their past ordeals within the paranormal prisons - will face off in a new house where true freedom and a shot of regaining their old lives is on the cards - alongside total and utter oblivion should they falter.

This time, redemption's not the only way out...

The House of Twelve is now listed on whizbuzzbooks.com - a great site for finding & promoting books, check it out! :D

https://whizbuzzbooks.com/the-house-o...

Hi all,

My latest book Terra in Bloom is now up on Voracious Readers Only - a great site that gives away tons of eBook review copies - check it out;

https://voraciousreadersonly.com

The House of Twelve, Dreamleaf Blues, and Gloom Rising & Reality Falling (2 Book Bundle) are already on Voracious Readers Only so if you haven't checked them out yet give the site a look :)

Hi all,

As you might have seen, I've got two Book Wielder Saga Goodreads-giveaways timing out soon (for the Complete Edition and the Gloom Rising & Reality Falling collection), and I hope that if you've entered you win a copy and enjoy the read :)

However, if you don't manage to snag a copy and you still really want to check out the core three books of the Saga I've just scheduled the ebook versions for a Amazon free sale from Friday, April 5, 2019, 12:00 AM PDT to Tuesday, April 9, 2019, 11:59 PM PDT, links below:

- Book 1: Gloom Rising (Revisited)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PDNM33K

- Book 2: Reality Falling (Revisited)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PJV62DR

- Book 3: Mydia's End
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NZDWL6D

And if you do enjoy the main stories don't forget to give the prequel Dreamleaf Blues a look too ;)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CK6TGXL

Hi everyone,

I've had a couple of requests now for discussion questions for The House of Twelve, and as there are none in the book itself (complete oversight on my part!) my wife & partner-in-crime Laura helped me come up with some below:

- Do you think the story was plot-based or character driven? Do you think the story would have been very different with a different set of characters?

- How did the main character, Sarah, change throughout the story? How did your opinion of her change?

- What did you think about the rest of the characters? Were there any deaths you were particularly happy or sad about?

- Do you think the forces behind the house are justified in their actions, considering the souls trapped within them have done bad things?

- How do you feel religion fits into this book (if at all), considering the recurrent themes of redemption and the afterlife?

- Do you think the house really would have killed all the guests if they hadn’t complied with ‘one death per night’ rule—or do you think their unwillingness to kill would have been rewarded?

- Do you think the house plays a significant role as the setting of this book? If the characters had been trapped somewhere else (perhaps in a more/less confined space), how would it have affected the events and tone of the story?

- What do you think will happen next to Sarah and Lucas?

In addition, if you'd like some insight into where I was coming from when writing this story, check out my spoiler-ridden post 'Inside The House of Twelve'.

Thanks as always :)

Sean Davies

The strange planet of Mydia is set in the same modern era as our own, except after a violent world war that stretched on for decades (and resulted in a victory for the northern continent of Imperia) technology has been left skewered in favour of military application and is only now flowing towards civilian use – bringing things like cell phones and decent computers to the wealthier side of society.

Vampires, Werewolves and Mages dwell in a massive underground network of tunnels and buildings known as the Catacombs, while a few riskier members of their hidden society hide (for now...) in plain sight amongst their human neighbours.

As the once fiery Autocrat of Mydia has grown apparently lax in the years that followed his beloved wife's death, crime has steadily increased with all but the most stoic of Governors, Councillors, and Military Peace Keepers resisting the tempting call of corruption. As such, crime gangs have made a killing selling drugs to college stoners and grizzled war veterans alike, safe in the knowledge that a get-out-of-jail-free card is only a bribe away.

Seeing an opportunity to get in on the action (and out of the tedium of living under the radar) Supernatural crime gangs took their place as the kingpins in Mydia's criminal underworld, and began peddling alchemically enriched intoxicants which blew their man-made competitors out of the water.

Book Wielders—Supernaturals with the ability to cross into a dark dimension known as the Gloom—had always crossed over into the bleak reflection of Mydia to gather rare reagents for use in potion making, but now many use their abilities to aid the rogue Vampires, Werewolves and Mages on the surface and supply them with all the ingredients they need to keep the Alchemy-enhanced drugs flowing.

However, the existence of the Supernaturals has not gone unnoticed, and the grieving Autocrat that once brought the world to its knees is nowhere near as complacent as many of the population believe. From his base on Central Isle, the ruler of Mydia once again prepares to bring the world to heel, and if he should fail then his son Edgar Aurelius II will surely take up the mantle.

As the world of Mydia teeters towards the edge of total chaos, individuals such as Winston Reynolds, Alice Eve and Genevieve Jameson find themselves enveloped within roles they could have never imagined playing, and the mysterious origins of the Gloom, the denizens within it, and very planet itself will be unfolded before their eyes...

Discover more by grabbing a copy of Dreamleaf Blues, and Gloom Rising & Reality Falling :)

Hi all, below I'll explain some of the background behind the House of Twelve and answer some of the common questions I get about it – be warned, there's massive spoilers ahead so if you haven't read it you might be better off looking away now :P

The Challenge

As I've always dabbled in writing sci-fi and fantasy stories, the House of Twelve was a personal challenge I set myself in-between writing my main series, ‘The Book Wielder Saga’. I also wanted to try writing a short story for a change, as I thought it would be better delivered as something short and ‘sweet’, rather than long, depressing and dreary given the subject matter (and I also didn't want to spend too long away from my main works).

I’m pleased with how the book turned out, and I never imagined that the House of Twelve would become my flagship story, but even in hindsight I don't think I could have made it longer or approached it from a different angle. To be honest, it was a struggle to write as I like to envelop myself in my stories—and to repeatedly plant myself inside the same desperate, anxiety laced environment was tough after a while, especially as world-building is one of my most favourite parts of writing and this book all played out in the same grim place.

As such, I'll go over the main questions I receive, while also pointing out the details I hid between the lines:

How are the victims meant to ‘escape' when they have amnesia?

In short – they aren't.

The amnesia is there to deliberately hinder the inhabitants’ ability to find redemption, adding insult to injury whilst still revolving around the idea that condemned souls can find forgiveness and salvation if they truly atone for their sins. When writing my first notes, I compared the scenario to being placed within a prison cell where the door has been left wide open but the corridors have been coated in razor wire; escape is a possibility, but an extremely painful and unlikely one at that.

Also, I tried to hint at the fact that the people who were actively seeking out their old memories regained them quickly if they struggled past the intense headaches (like Lucas) compared to the individuals who were completely remorseless or simply didn't care.

In truth, most of the people trapped within the houses know they've done something very bad to warrant their incarceration after the first few hours of waking up on day 1, but they don't want to face that realisation, and most fight against it even as the tension and the stakes rise.

Even if the occupants of a house die early on in the 12-day cycle, their soul will simply be planted in a new house and the process will repeat on and on until they work it out, but the inhuman forces at work on the dark side of the afterlife are more than happy for them to stay for all eternity.

Why does no one listen to ‘the Wreck’ or take the Redemption part of the rules more seriously?

The occupants of the house don’t listen to the Wreck primarily because they think he's completely insane, and secondly because on some level they know the awful things he's rambling about are true and they really don't want him to be correct—especially the souls who have suffered through dozens and dozens of houses.

The redemption clause is mainly ignored due to the fact that the characters believe it to be a mocking jest from their captor, as achieving it wouldn't help them physically escape, thinking from a purely logical standpoint. Of course, there are also the remorseless characters (like Sarah) who don't want redemption, even at a subconscious level, as they believe their actions in life are truly justified, no matter how horrific they were.

What/Who is the antagonist in the House of Twelve?

As the ‘victims’ trapped within the houses are the souls of people who have committed heinous crimes in life, I pictured an endless void (hinted at in one of Sarah's dreams) filled with various torture scenario; one of which was a vast plain of houses, all in different styles but sharing the common theme of being supernaturally unbreachable prisons.

I envisioned that all of the houses would be overseen by a malicious, yet arguably justified spirit, who takes condemned souls out of the cold void of nothingness and puts them into groups of twelve, picking a mix of the most clashing personality types to guarantee the most unpleasant experience possible for the tormented souls.

The Characters

This was one of my biggest difficulties when I put pen to paper, as most of the house's occupants are unpleasant, unstable and unfriendly individuals (who were maybe a little crazy even before suffering the same bleak scenario on a repeating loop). It was hard to write about them without revealing who they really were and giving away too many clues at an early stage. As such, I had to create ways to keep them out of the main spotlight until they played their respective parts, which meant having them act more as background characters rather than main ones. I had pictured the story like a movie, with the camera following the actions of Sarah, Lucas, and Komo, and it was definitely challenging turning what I'd imagined as scenes into words.

Will you return to writing in the Thriller/ Suspense/ Horror genre?

I definitely will someday, and I do have some ideas revolving around a similar premise as the House of Twelve, but for now my attention is fixed on a post-apocalyptic story called ‘Terra in Bloom' (think zombies and mutants spliced with alien flora and superhuman survivors), and maybe a bit of sci-fi after that.

Anyway, I hope I answered many of your queries and gave you all an inside view of the House of Twelve

Many thanks as always,

Sean Davies