Hello friends, thanks for stopping by once more. I’m concious I haven’t posted in a while, so I wanted to bring you up to speed with my plans for the rest of the year.

First off, I’m going to be giving a limited number of signed paperback copies of my third book, The Church of Frey, away for free. That’s right, free. I’ll be working on a  first come first served basis and unfortunately, the offer is only available to UK residents, as I will be covering the cost of postage too. All I ask is that you take the time to leave a review.

I’ll be running the give away from 1 June 2018 to 1 Septemeber 2018 and an official post with instructions on how to qualify for a copy will be posted on 28 May 2018. In the meantime, checkout the free preview and the reviews left so far.

From September 2018, I’ll undertaking a slight re-branding. If you are familiar with my Dark Places trilogy you will know the series takes place in the small town of Raven’s Peak. A few of my short stories also take place their.. I have a few ideas for two novellas I hope to write, and while I hadn’t planned them to be set in the same place as Dark Places, it makes sense to do so. I therefore want to set the majority of my work moving forward in this town and market as a wider series.

My first stage of the re-branding is to change the name of the town from Raven’s Peak to Ravensfield. The first reason for this is, I have discovered a few books already go by the name Raven’s Peak or feature a town of that name with similar themes, so I don’t want to cause confusion for the readers. Secondly, the name Ravensfield is more in keeping with the towns and cities in my part of the country. Eg Huddersfield, Wakefield, Sheffield etc. As my surrounding area greatly inspries the setting for much of my work, the change to Ravensfield feels right. And thirdly, I have realised, in Raven’s Peak, there is no peak. It seems odd to name the town ‘Peak’ when there is no mountainous peak. There are, on the other hand, plenty of fields and moorland.

But what about the Darkness Triolgy? That was set in Raven’s Peak, I hear you cry… Well I am going to re-release the trilogy as a complete novel. Much will remain the same, but there will be name changes for one or two characters (as well as the name of the town). For those who have already read the trilogy as seperate instalments, there will also be some deleted scenes – an author’s cut if you will…

Within the Dark Places: The Complete Trilogy will be released in October 2018, just in time for Halloween and will feature new and improved cover art. It will also be published under my own lable Trig Point Books, making a better deal for the reader. Paperbacks will be between £5 and £7 (TBC), where as each previous instalment was £5.99 alone. In essence it will three books for the price of one. Publishing myself will also allow me to add the book to Kindle Unlimted, on which the first two volumes are, unfortunately, not available. The book will also be sold as Ravensfield book one.

If you follow me on Twitter (@dthompsonauthor) you will have seen my tweets about my current work in progress, but what is it I am working on exactly? Allow me to explain…

I’m currently half way through the first draft of what will be Ravensfield book two. The book will be my first novel, rather than a novella, with a targeted word count of 80,000. I’m making pretty good progress as I’ve reached the half way point in terms of plot with a current work count of just under 40,000 words written; which already exceeds the final word count of my last book, Where the Darkness Reigns.

Currently the novel is called Welcome to the Snake Pit. The book follows the story of Police Constable Rachel Cooper, who is trying to solve the murder of her father, a seasoned and respected detective. The official case file says her father was killed in a drug-bust gone wrong, an incident which occured in the city of Manchester. However, Rachel finds evidence which places her father in the town of Ravensfield at the time the drug-bust took place. And so, she transfers to Ravensfield constabulary in an attempt to undercover the truth. However, she soon learns from a few familiar characters, there is more than meets the eye in this sleepy, rural town. If you have read Where the Darkness Reigns, you’ll be familiar with the characters Chris Silversmith, Alexis Zukovsky and Layla Thorne, who will make a trimphant return.

The story is told over eight parts, which I have called episodes and I want to create the feel of a binge worthy TV drama. Shows like The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and even Eerie Indiana (hands up if  you remember that one!) have a big influcence here. I’ve been planning and developing the story/characters for circa twenty years and although they have changed somewhat significantly in that time, the initial concept I came up with back in high school remains at the core.

Welcome to the Snake Pit is still in its infancy, but the plot is fully developed and although the characters also seem to be fully evolved, as I write, they still keep surprising me.

I’m hoping to finish the first draft in the next few months and aim to release some previews by the end of the year. Unfortunaely, I can’t say when the book will be released, as this very much depends on the editing process, but naturally I’ll be keeping you up to date.

I’ve no immediet plans to appear at any cominc cons, but once Welcome to the Snake Pit is released, I’ll be back on tour.

Once again, thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment or drop me a message.

All the best,

Duncan