Kneel Downe's Blog: For Who Howls the Wolf?

Meet the members of the Vengeful Squad through the notes of psychotherapist Doctor Paul Nyman in a new audiodrama Audio Cascades, coming soon... *Feed Starts...

Are they evil, or just trying to help? This question has plagued the City since Dark Deliverance, Captain Photon and the rest of The Vengeful Squad first appeared. Quickly removed from sight and now housed in Mental Rehabilitation Centre Alpha, known locally as The Copper Cascade, no word reaches the populace of their meaning or their reasoning.

Thanks to the work of investigative journalist Roach Monroe though, we have been receiving audio leaks from within the facility itself and we can now publicly release the interview tapes of Doctor Paul Nyman, the psychologist who is overseeing the treatment and further investigation of the individuals in The Squad. These tapes are not an easy listen and the information contained within will be as divisive as it is shocking. You have been warned...

*Feed Ends
We have gained access to the filing cabinet of Doctor Paul Nyman to "liberate" the Patient Profiles of the Vengeful Squad. Read them below:







Audio Cascades: The Copper Cascade Chronicles, coming soon.

The rumours are true - hear those subversive superheroes of the VirulentBlurb universe speak out from 4th July 2017 in a new audiodrama...
*Feed Starts...

Are they evil, or just trying to help? This question has plagued the City since Dark Deliverance, Captain Photon and the rest of The Vengeful Squad first appeared. Quickly removed from sight and now housed in Mental Rehabilitation Centre Alpha, known locally as The Copper Cascade, no word reaches the populace of their meaning or their reasoning.

Thanks to the work of investigative journalist Roach Monroe though, we have been receiving audio leaks from within the facility itself and we can now publicly release the interview tapes of Doctor Paul Nyman, the psychologist who is overseeing the treatment and further investigation of the individuals in The Squad. These tapes are not an easy listen and the information contained within will be as divisive as it is shocking. You have been warned...

*Feed Ends




Kneel Downe's take on the superhero genre is already well known and was recently collected into the chart-topping chapbook The Copper Cascade, however everyone involved realised that this was never going to be enough for the Vengeful Squad. The transcripts of Doctor Nyman’s audio interview notes from the book were just begging to be realised in their original format – as audio files. DreamCage Media Group, in conjunction with Kneel, approached renowned voice artist RJ Bayley for some thoughts on how to accomplish this and discovered in RJ a huge fan of Kneel's work who passionately threw himself into the project. The possibility of bringing superheroes to audio is a task that not many would undertake. There's an almost cinematic reason that this genre of pop culture remains within the pages of comic books and on our screens.

Until now.

On 4th July, Audio Cascades will be unleashed upon an unsuspecting world as The Copper Cascade audiobook through Audible, Amazon and iTunes. You HAVE been warned...

You may not know this, but this Saturday, 20th May, is a Golden Day for the Virulent Master, Kneel Downe, as he celebrates his 50th birthday!

And we're starting the party EARLY because we've just read a wonderful NEW review of the ChapBooks by Romeo Kennedy (READ THE REVIEW HERE). Which inspired us to give you the chance to WIN ALL FOUR Virulent ChapBooks in paperback!

We also have plenty more fun stuff planned for through the week, including FREE KINDLES all weekend (20th & 21st May) of The JackPort Killer and An Owl's Tale.

And remember to pick up your FREE Blurb art, courtesy of Indigo Sketch Unit if you haven't already got it.



HOW DO YOU ENTER THE CHAPBOOK GIVEAWAY?


ON FACEBOOK, there's a PINNED POST with a #VIRFICRULEZ image on it on the top of the Blurbinfo Facebook page and all you need to do is leave a comment on it to enter.




ON TWITTER, simply RT any of the TWEET TO ENTER #VIRFICRULEZ tweets you see on the @Blurbinfo Twitter Page. That's it, you've entered.

GIVEAWAY SMALL PRINT - The competition will close at 23:23 BST on 19th May 2017 and Kneel will pick just ONE winner from Twitter/Facebook. The winner will need to provide a postal address by PM or DM - US and UK entrants only please. There's only one prize and it can't be swapped for anything else.

Here's some more info about the ChapBooks, all of which reached NUMBER ONE on the UK ChapBook Charts!
The Copper Cascade: A Virulent ChapBook

“The construction of Mental Rehabilitation Facility Alpha now began. Due to the materials used it soon became known as THE COPPER CASCADE.” - VirulentBlurb: Reflections

Are they evil? Or just trying to help? It may be too early to tell...

Dark Deliverance and his band of subversive superheroes are seeking vengeance on a hateful world bathed in endless night. From destroying property in the cyberpunk city to their run-ins with the wolf-splice detective Kurt Lobo, one thing is for sure...

The Copper Cascade mental facility may not be able to hold them!

Containing extracts pulled together from the previously published books of Kneel Downe’s VirulentBlurb Universe, and with a new Foreword by Steve Taylor-Bryant, this is the first in a series of four Virulent ChapBooks which introduces readers to the characters and concepts in Kneel’s writing in a smaller, cheaper, more easy to read way.




Out of Phaze: A Virulent ChapBook


"Lunar splashed. Fragile liquid wings. Spine cracking mornings. Keyboard played and fingers flitting... the upload begins... icon initialization."

So began the first phaze of a fiction experiment by author Kneel Downe.

Now, here are all twelve original "phazes" of Kneel’s vivid, poetic, image-filled writing, telling the story of his post-apocalyptic world - a science fiction dystopia of human/animal genetic splicing, ReGen drugs, DreamCages and DeadBoxes, in a city where nobody has seen the sun for 50 years.




#KillAllPoets: A Virulent ChapBook


“...an angry punk in a Victorian world of safe and sentimental verse...”

As noisy and incongruous as the man himself, #KillAllPoets started on Twitter as Kneel Downe’s rebellion against the saccharine torment of establishment poetry writing.

Now it is the title for this collection of his own work, set to shatter the sugar coating and expose poetry’s pulsating black heart.





Pack Mentality: A Virulent ChapBook



Detective Kurt Lobo.

The wolf-spliced detective is probably one of the most popular characters in the VirulentBlurb universe. Harking back to the pulp noir detectives of the 1940’s and 50’s, Detective Lobo is Mike Hammer with hairy hide, a furry Philip Marlowe. He appears, whether as a major or minor player, in every strand and reality of the books of the Blurb and his gruff, cynical humour is now an instantly recognisable voice in the darkness of the City’s neon splashed night.

Pack Mentality is the last of the four-part Virulent ChapBook set and it ventures onto the gritty streets of the City itself, gathering three short stories – one each from Lobo, his younger brother Lyca and a short report from his police partner Officer Geldof – alongside a taste of something yet to come that will have fans howling for more.

Contains strong language and violence. Much like Lobo himself.

The wonderful people at Indigo Sketch Unit, who did the cover art for the original VirulentBlurb book FRACTURES all those years ago, have given us some new art that you can download for FREE...
You all know the wonderful "butterfly" cover from book 1 of the VirulentBlurb:


[image error]

The iconic artwork was created by Graham Walsh at the Indigo Sketch Unit. Well, he's been back in touch with some beautiful new additions that we can share with you all.

As well at the square avi image at the top that works on Twitter and Facebook and header images for both Twitter and Facebook (as you will see on our @Blurbinfo pages) we have some wonderful device wallpaper that you can download and use. To save the pictures (on a PC) click on the picture to view it full size then right click and "Save Image As"

NOTE: These images are for personal use only and should not be adapted or sold for commercial use without prior written consent from the creator.

Let us know which one you like best!

Twitter Header




Facebook Header





Book Promo (note this hardback version does not exist as a real book.... yet)




Device Wallpaper




Butterfly Wallpaper




Find Indigo Sketch Unit on Twitter @t_i_s_u and see more on their website at http://indigosketchunit.com/

And buy the original book on Amazon

Kneel Downe announces the publication today of his fourth Virulent ChapBook with Pack Mentality...
The name’s Lobo... Kurt Lobo...

Detective Lobo to you and sometimes it feels like I'm the only damn thing in the city holding back true chaos.

The City?

Hell... the City's all we have left...
A cesspit of crime and loss...
Animal splices and tech I can't even pronounce most days.

49 years ago the mad bastards in the Pyramid broke and burnt our sky...
49 years of EverNight and falling dust...
49 years of wackos and nutjobs...
49 years of blood and sin...

Superheroes and messed up zeros...
And you wonder why I drink so damn much?

The name’s Lobo...

Welcome to Hell.


Detective Kurt Lobo. The wolf-spliced detective is probably one of the most popular characters in the VirulentBlurb universe. Harking back to the pulp noir detectives of the 1940’s and 50’s, Detective Lobo is Mike Hammer with hairy hide, a furry Philip Marlowe. He appears, whether as a major or minor player, in every strand and reality of the books of the Blurb and his gruff, cynical humour is now an instantly recognisable voice in the darkness of the City’s neon splashed night.

Pack Mentality is the last of a four-part Virulent ChapBook set that started with the superhero inmates of The Copper Cascade, before going back to where it all began in Out of Phaze and adding a splash of poetry with #KillAllPoets. This time we venture onto the gritty streets of the City itself, gathering three short stories – one each from Lobo, his younger brother Lyca and a short report from his police partner Officer Geldof – alongside a taste of something yet to come that will have fans howling for more.

Contains strong language and violence. Much like Lobo himself then.

Pack Mentality is available in paperback and for Kindle on Amazon

Kneel Downe releases the third in his set of four Virulent ChapBooks and it shows his softer, more poetic, romantic side... or does it?...
"Kill the Poet
Burn the Church.
Smash the fence on which they perch.
Praise the Sky
And kiss the Moon.
Spill the Blood.
Raise the tune..."

Think of Kneel’s poetry as you think of Kneel himself – an angry punk in a Victorian world of safe and sentimental verse. His poems are noisy and incongruous, loitering on the corners, throwing imagery around and playing with emotions in a very “this is who we are, how we are, take it or leave it” attitude. That’s where the #KillAllPoets hashtag originally came from, as Kneel rebelled against the angst-ridden, self-obsessive, overly-precious poets on Twitter by twisting and throwing their own words back at them.

#KillAllPoets is now a ChapBook compilation of 27 of his own poems, and a myriad of additional verses, collected together in one place from being scattered throughout his previously published books. There are nods to characters that fans of his VirulentBlurb universe will recognise, homages to others of this world and beyond. Strong words and stark imagery take the place of over-wrought saccharine sentimentality but that doesn't mean there's a lack of emotional connection. Roller-coastering from joyous highs to violent darkness to fatalistic futility, even on the same page, Kneel never lets his readers off easily - there are no half measures.

As one of Kneel's own verses says:

The most interesting part
Of a bomb
Is
The fuse.

Once you understand this.
All mayhem
Is
Yours.

Welcome, then, to mayhem. Light the fuse and #KillAllPoets.

Today sees the release of the first in a series of Virulent ChapBooks from Kneel Downe, The Copper Cascade...
“The construction of Mental Rehabilitation Facility Alpha now began. Due to the materials used it soon became known as THE COPPER CASCADE.” - VirulentBlurb: Reflections

Are they evil? Or just trying to help? It may be too early to tell...

Dark Deliverance and his band of subversive superheroes are seeking vengeance on a hateful world bathed in endless night. From destroying property in the cyberpunk city to their run-ins with the wolf-splice detective Kurt Lobo, one thing is for sure...

The Copper Cascade mental facility may not be able to hold them!

Containing extracts pulled together from the previously published books of Kneel Downe’s VirulentBlurb Universe, this is the first in a series of four Virulent ChapBooks which introduces readers to the characters and concepts in Kneel’s writing in a smaller, cheaper, more easy to read way.

So what is a ChapBook? According to Steve Taylor-Bryant, who wrote the Foreword for The Copper Cascade, "Chapbooks are an old way of telling a story in small manageable chunks, but they remind us of a better time where you could read your favourite author's work without adding the expense of a huge hardback book to your weekly budget. You could pick and choose what turned you on, and now you can again."

This first chapbook sees Kneel’s version of a superhero story take centre stage. Media streams, monologues, meetings and medical notes make up a dark and twisted take on a popular genre that has some of the usual tropes but also some strokes of genius that makes his band of characters, like his writing, unique.

Welcome, then, to The Copper Cascade. Will you find your Deliverance?

Image - VirulentBlurb

In March we asked for entries to a charity anthology where the theme was STOLEN. Kneel Downe's Stolen Indie Anthology is now out but we wanted to share some of the entries here on the website too. Here's This Old Heart of Mine by Ruth Sabath Rosenthal...
This old heart of mine no longer beats
down the doldrums, nor turns humdrum
bright as gold, as it did in my prime;

and nightly, in dreams high in my vessel
of wanting delight, it’s strangers acting
out my desires! Imagine that! Intruders

stealing my thunder in the quest for
hot sex: Moist bodies embrace, legs, twixt
& twain, heighten each twist & turn

of a lusty mind. And this morning I wake
far from alright, vowing to lotion my loins
daily, perfume my skin and, if my old man

again says, Not tonight, I’ll write this
craft of mine, shove it in his face, and ride
out the current into the sunset

with as much grace as I can muster.

RUTH SABATH ROSENTHAL is a New York poet, well published in the U.S., and internationally. Her poem “on yet another birthday” was nominated for a Pushcart prize. Ruth has authored five books of poetry: “Facing Home” (a chapbook) -- “Facing Home and beyond” -- “little, but by no means small” -- “Food: Nature vs Nurture” and “Gone, but Not Easily Forgotten” — all available from Amazon.

Please feel free to visit Ruth’s websites: www.newyorkcitypoet.com and www.poetrybyruthsabathrosenthal.com

In March we asked for entries to a charity anthology where the theme was STOLEN. Kneel Downe's Stolen Indie Anthology is now out but we wanted to share some of the entries here on the website too. Here's Stolen Identity by Ruth Sabath Rosenthal...
Body chilled by years of neglect,
my twin lies in a hospital bed

trying to grasp how she’s come
to this. The sum of my fears,

she’s the one person I dread
I could be, save for some kink

in our link of genetic fiber.
Struggling not to catch her death

of cold, I’ve steered clear of her
notion that our birth was not just

numerical happenstance. Yet,
at times, I find myself more

akin to that than sanity
permits, and though I fall

into the black hole of her undoing,
so far I’ve managed to climb back

out — into the asylum of my life.
Out, according to my twin

by climbing over, thus, stealing
her chance to be first

to exit the womb.
RUTH SABATH ROSENTHAL is a New York poet, well published in the U.S., and internationally. Her poem “on yet another birthday” was nominated for a Pushcart prize. Ruth has authored five books of poetry: “Facing Home” (a chapbook) -- “Facing Home and beyond” -- “little, but by no means small” -- “Food: Nature vs Nurture” and “Gone, but Not Easily Forgotten” — all available from Amazon.

Please feel free to visit Ruth’s websites: www.newyorkcitypoet.com and www.poetrybyruthsabathrosenthal.com

In March we asked for entries to a charity anthology where the theme was STOLEN. Kneel Downe's Stolen Indie Anthology is now out but we wanted to share some of the entries here on the website too. Here's Mother Sleeps by Ruth Sabath Rosenthal...
“A noiseless, patient spider, I mark’d, where on a little promontory it stood isolated.” Walt Whitman
Mother sleeps, wilting in her Geri chair,
the corners of her mouth cradling oatmeal
I’d fed her earlier. A lifetime ago

she told me she’d been a tomboy.
This stranger, once that girl, once
my father’s bride, wakes. Whimpers,

grimaces. Her hands grip the wheelchair,
eyes squint shut, head bows. If she prays
it’s to a god I don’t know. I search her

lined face for signs of pain, touch places
on her body thinking if I hit upon a hurt
she’ll wince. She’s still. I’m heartsick

not to know what she feels, thinks,
would say, if only the phantom spinner
hadn’t seized her & stolen her

last chance of speech weeks ago.
Now, through a vacant stare, a patient
noiseless spider eyes its prospective victims.

RUTH SABATH ROSENTHAL is a New York poet, well published in the U.S., and internationally. Her poem “on yet another birthday” was nominated for a Pushcart prize. Ruth has authored five books of poetry: “Facing Home” (a chapbook) -- “Facing Home and beyond” -- “little, but by no means small” -- “Food: Nature vs Nurture” and “Gone, but Not Easily Forgotten” — all available from Amazon.

Please feel free to visit Ruth’s websites: www.newyorkcitypoet.com and www.poetrybyruthsabathrosenthal.com