How my Zombies Differ From Other Zombies

Hi all,

With the third book in the Curse of Anubis series coming out soon, I wanted to discuss the zombies in my books and how they differ from more traditional zombies that you might be used to.

The main draw that I think is different is that my zombies are sentient. They can see what they're doing from the world of the dead but they can't control their bodies. They can feel what their body feels, but all of this disappears when they're in the land of the dead. There's no pain, but it's more like a pressure. A sensation that doesn't go away until the wound is healed.

They can be controlled to an extent by certain gods, though this is extremely limited. Anubis, as the god of the dead, is the main one who can do this. As the creator of the plague, he is responsible for everything that happens to every person, turned or not.

I also like the fact that they're called mummies, rather than zombies. It ties them into the Egyptian mythology aspect of the books, which is a huge part of the book.

The mummies have no choice but to wait for their hearts to be consumed by Anubis in order to pass on fully. But when Anubis decides to become the ruler of the gods instead, no hearts are eaten. That means that mummies are left wandering in the real world while the person tries not to look at their real life.

I also loved the idea of the zombies being controlled by someone who was previously zombified. That was one of the first concepts that popped out to me and one that I went along with to the end!

I love reading zombie books but I have found that there are some that don't make their zombies different. While a traditional approach can be good, it can also be boring. When I decided to write about zombies, I didn't want to fall into that category. Hence why my zombies still have a state of awareness and can be controlled by Tahira, the only who has been cured of the virus.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles to find your next favourite author!

Kindle Unlimited with the occult and supernatural

Silver Winged September

The Frozen Eye Pre-Order Live

Hi all,

The third book in the Curse of Anubis series is now available to pre-order! It will be released in paperback and hardcover as well as ebook.

This book will come out October 7th 2025.

While you’re waiting for it to come out, why not sign up to my mailing list?

You get:

  • Five FREE enovellas.

  • Cover reveals before anyone else.

  • First chapter reads before anyone else.

  • Monthly news.

  • Character design polls.

  • Merch giveaways.

  • Free and discounted book deals.

  • Exclusive short stories.

You can sign up below:

That’s it for this week! If you’re enjoying the Curse of Anubis series, then I hope you’ll check this book out! See you next week.

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles to find your next favourite author!

Kindle Unlimited with the occult and supernatural

Silver Winged September

My Abandoned Book Ideas

Hi all,

This week I thought I'd talk about something a bit different - all the book ideas I've ended up not going through with. There have been a lot of book ideas that I've come up with over the years, but not written for various reasons.

NA Supernatural Fantasy Standalone.

I came up with the idea years ago of a story of a girl who suffers from PTSD after witnessing the death of a friend when she was little. Years later, the friend's ghost appears to her and asks for her help in solving his murder. Throughout the book she's accused of having a mental breakdown, until she eventually finds his body. But at the end of the book, as she says goodbye to the friend, the news shows that the body she found wasn't him. I abandoned this after feeling like the idea of being used before and I wasn't sure I could execute it properly.

YA Fantasy Series.

A girl is caught in a war between two sides. During the fight, she's killed. But she wakes up in a random town with no idea what happened. But the town claims that the war never happened, or that either side exists. I didn't really know how to flesh this idea out, so I decided not to pursue it.

Elemental Dragons Prequel.

I've spoken about this before, but Elemental Dragons originally had a standalone prequel. It would follow Hazel and Rocky's parents and how they're cursed by a Hydra. The curse eventually leads to the events of Elemental Dragons. This idea was left when the children were revealed to be clones rather than their biological children. Then I came up with the idea for Original Elementals, so this idea had to be scrapped.

YA Dystopian Sci-Fi Standalone.

This one is one of my oldest scrapped ideas that eventually would inspire me to think up a new series. This standalone would feature an alien species that invaded earth with a deadly plague. Eventually I opted not to write this idea, as I wanted to write a different Dystopian series which would eventually turn into Celestial Plague.

YA Fantasy Series.

When a girl's grandmother dies, she discovers that she's inherited her place in an elite origination. The organisation tracks down fantasy creatures and captures them. The girl thinks the creatures are being sent to a location that is better suited for their needs, but they are actually being sold off and slaughtered. When she discovers this, she turns her back on the organisation and tries to take it down from the inside. I just couldn't think of a good way to work with this idea, so it was abandoned. I also thought it was a bit cliche in places.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed an insight into some of my old ideas. See you next week! 

My Preferred Book Series Lengths

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about my how long I prefer my series to be. I love reading a series that has a load of books, but writing them is a different story!

One book.

A lot of my book ideas start off as standalones and then turn into a series. But when I do write a book that is a standalone, I love it. I like that I can delve into the world and tell the story within one book. Whenever I finished writing a series or need a break, I like the idea of writing a standalone to give myself something new to sink my teeth into.

Two books.

I've never planned a duology before, and I'm not sure if I ever will. I like the concept of splitting a story across two books, but for some reason my brain always says I need one more!

Three books.

I've actually planned a few trilogies over the years. But some of them do end up getting another book added on! Celestial Plague, for example, was originally planned as a trilogy before I decided to add another book. But, Empty Skies is a trilogy and I won't be adding any more to that series, so some of my trilogies are safe as they are.

Four books.

Elemental Dragons, the first books I ever wrote, ended up being a four book series when I finished it. When I first started writing, I really liked the idea of writing more but didn't want to fill the books with random stuff that I want integral to the plot. So it became four books instead of six. A lot of the series that I write now end up with four books, such as Celestial Plague and Curse of Anubis.

Five books.

I think I could comfortably write a five book series, though I haven't planned one yet. Four definitely seems to be my comfort zone.

Six+ books.

I know that Original Elementals is a ten book series, and that's why I've struggled a lot with it. Ten books are a lot when it comes to writing, and I often find myself wanting to explore other book universes. To write more than five books, the series would need a lot planning and I would need a lot of breaks in between.

That's it for this week, I hope this clears up the way I write and what I usually plan when it comes to series lengths.

Hope you enjoyed reading, see you next week! 

Why Most of my Books Contain Gods and Goddesses

Hi all,

I thought I'd write a blog post about something I've noticed about my books recently; why do so many of them contain gods/goddesses?

I never really thought about how many of my books focus on gods until I really put them together!

Elemental Dragons - dragon gods

Years - Mother Earth

Curse of Anubis - Egyptian gods

Empty Skies - Greek gods

Game of Air and Lightning - Aerus and Bolt

The Severed Pantheon - five goddesses

I think the reason that I gravitate towards gods is because of my love of mythology. I grew up reading and watching loads of Greek and Egyptian mythology. As an adult my interest in mythology has only deepened, and I'm looking into Norse mythology at the moment to write a series.

After reading about mythology for years, I really wanted to try to create my own. Elemental Dragons has been so much fun to create dragon gods and demi-gods and how they all interact with each other. I also want to write more blog posts about Elemental Dragon mythology in the future!

Game of Air and Lightning only had two gods and they had more of a background role. They do appear in the book, but it mostly focuses on Reema's survival.

But with The Severed Pantheon, I've created five brand new goddesses! They will have a direct role in the book and will appear throughout. I'm looking forward to writing more antagonistic gods, as the ones in this book are selfish and are extremely power hungry. The fact that I can write about gods in a new way is very exciting and I'd love to do more of this in the future.

I also have plans to write more books centering around mythology in the future, with a Norse mythology series I'm planning and another one that is still very bare bones at the moment.

For someone who was always told that they write about cats and dragons exclusively, I think it's funny that I've found another niche that I can add to that mix.

That's it for this week, see you next week.

PS; if you’re looking for something to read over Summer, check out these book bundles:

FREE Fantasy and Science Fiction for July 2025

The Perfect Books for Dragon Lovers

Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Horror Summer Giveaway

The Frozen Eye Cover Design

Hi all,

It’s time for another cover reveal! Curse of Anubis #3: The Frozen Eye has now had its cover designed, once again by the amazing Deranged Doctor Design!

  • Tahira and Bastet are on the cover, though now they are joined by a horde of mummies!

  • The cat stock image on this one is my favourite so far. Having the cat looking up is so cute!

  • This cover is the opposite of the previous one, as Ra’s Eye is now with Bastet and her friends. Now they are after Horus’ Eye, which holds the power of ice and the moon,

  • In this book the characters travel to a new city, one that is even more infested with the dead than they’ve seen before.

  • The blue on this cover is gorgeous and makes the area look like an undead wasteland, which is exactly the vibe I wanted.

  • I love how the series branding has changed its colour to fit with the cover too.

The Frozen Eye will be available in ebook, paperback and hardcover in October 2025.

That’s it for this week, see you next week!

PS; don’t forget to check out this fantasy book promo:

June is for Unicorns (and other magical creatures)

How to Choose a Colour Scheme for Your Book

Hi all,

This week I'm going to give you some tips on how to pick a colour scheme for your book. A colour scheme for a cover is crucial, as it then matches your advertising and can be associated with your author brand.

Genres.

A lot of genres have popular colours and less popular colours. Have a look through books of your genre and note down any colours that pop up often. For example, romance books are often associated with red, pink or baby blue tones.

Series.

If your book is part of a series, try to find colours that will match across several books. You don't want the colours to be too different so they look like they're from a different series, but not too similar that it could be confused with a different book in the series.

Setting.

Is your book set in a certain season? Or a certain place? Try to match the colours with the setting. If you're writing a horror book, there's no point in using a colour scheme centred on bright pink. If your book is dystopian, try to think of the colour of the sky. Is it normal? Burning? Hidden by clouds?

Magic.

If your book contains magic of any kind, it's more than likely going to end up on your cover. This could become the main focus of the cover, so you want to make sure it stands out but doesn't look too out of place with other covers in your genre.

Discuss with your cover designer.

Your cover designer will be able to help if you’re struggling to come up with a colour scheme for the cover. Either ask them for options or let them choose. Either way, communicating with your cover designer is key to getting a beautiful cover.

That's it for this week! I hope this has helped someone with picking a colour scheme. See you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out this month’s book bundles:

Spring into a New Woo-niverse Giveaways: Supernatural, Fantasy, Paranormal, Magical Realsim, and Sci-Fi

Kindle Unlimited with the occult and supernatural

Witchy Ways: An All-Genre Giveaway for Stories with Witches or Magic

May Giveaway

Newly Edited Free Enovellas!

Hi all,

I've recently had all of my enovellas re-edited and they are now available to download when you sign up to my mailing list.

You can now download the latest versions of the following:

Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection

Famished

Solar Child

Seashine

Curse of Anubis Short Story Collection

With all of these free enovellas, you will be signed up to my mailing list. This means that you'll get monthly newsletters from me.

In these monthly newsletters, you get:

Cover reveals.

Short stories.

Monthly news.

Writing updates.

Free/discounted book promos.

As I publish more books, I will be making more free enovellas available to my subscribers! Empty Skies, Street Rats and Game of Air and Lightning are all on the list to get prequels or possibly a collection of short stories.

If you want to hear more from me, you can sign up here!

That's it for this week, see you next week! 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

FREE Adventures in Sci-fi & Fantasy - April

April: Free Fantasy & Sci-Fi

Swan Dive into a Stirring Spring Fantasy

The Blazing Serpent is now Available on Amazon

Hi all,

The second book in the Curse of Anubis series is now available in ebook, paperback and hardcover on Amazon! You can check it out below…

Ra’s Eye has been stolen… now everything will burn.

In the living world, a cure for the zombie virus is discovered. But when it’s accidentally spilled, it causes the zombies to mutate, making them immune to Tahira’s commands. With zombies unaffected by her, she can only watch as more die around her.

Bastet only has one chance to get Ra’s Eye back. To do that, she must get closer to her enemy. So close that if she is discovered, it will mean her permanent death. Without the assistance of her friends, she has to figure everything out on her own.

Separated in different worlds, the two of them need to make their next steps without the support of the other. With the never-ending heat and Anubis always watching, Tahira needs to figure everything out quickly before she succumbs to the humidity.

That’s it for this week! If you’ve read the Curse of Anubis so far, I hope you’re enjoying it! See you next week.

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

FREE Adventures in Sci-fi & Fantasy - April

April: Free Fantasy & Sci-Fi

Swan Dive into a Stirring Spring Fantasy

Holly & Broom

Hi all,

About a month ago, the sixth book in the Hawthorn & Ash series was published! This is a series that I have contributed to in the past was delighted to be included in the next installment. You can check it out below:

Holly & Broom is a compilation of fantasy, horror and speculative drabbles and flash fiction from authors worldwide.
Within its pages you will find enchanting stories of myth, legends and fairytales woven throughout.
Dive into the magic and wonder of these 50+ tales in Volume Six.

This is another anthology from Iron Faerie Publishing that I have been included in. I love this series and all of the drabbles are incredible. Mixing my favourite genres of fantasy, sci-fi and horror into one anthology is an amazing idea that I’m so glad to be part of!

I will be submitting to more Iron Faerie anthologies in the future and can’t wait to see what the next theme will be.

That’s it for this week, see you next Sunday!

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

Dangerous Women: Fantasy and Science Fiction with Women Who Kick Butt! (March)

March Fantasy/Sci-Fi Freebies

Dark Flights of Fantasy