Hello, Hello, Hello! I'm Baaack! Quick update:
     
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    For the second novella of utter speculation we at Speculation Publications have decided on a brilliant lo-fi, queer, weird fiction novella in the vein of "I saw the tv glow" about the urban legends of the Polybius arcade cabinet and the men in black titled "Loading...the maching child."  I'll let TT tell you about it...


Letter from TT Madden, Author of.... LOADING...THE MACHINE CHILD
     
     Dear Readers,
                  
    The Utter Speculation series speculates about what is behind real mysteries and legends. The stories can be based on facts or complete fiction. They can be rooted in real world explanations or supernatural causes, but they need to answer the question, "what causes this?"
  
    I've always loved urban legends, and I've always loved video games (I may have another unannounced video game-related book coming out in 2026…) so Polybius made perfect sense, and I started thinking about how I could explain the truth behind an arcade cabinet showing up for a month in Portland in 1981 and somehow driving people insane.
  
    But there is a point where once the mystery is solved, it isn't so special anymore.
Which is where I think this book kind of cheats. Yes, by the end you'll figure out who was behind the creation of this arcade cabinet and why, but my hope is that you'll close the book still intrigued, still wondering, that what you read will spawn questions of your own.
  
    Now, obviously I won't give away the whole game here, but there were a few things I deliberately attempted to do with this story. Some were practical, like writing a story with less overt horror and gore so that my family members could actually read my writing. Like eliminating much of what I termed "stage direction" that was in my previous books; there always being something happening right in front of the readers' eyes as if it were a screen, and to have more happen internally. Writing in first person. Ways to challenge myself as a writer.
  
    But on another level, I wanted to write a story that said something without saying it, something that followed emotional logic over literal logic (though, don't worry, it's not as overtly Surrealist as some of my other work). Something that was about art and people's reactions to it.
  
    So I hope LOADING…THE MACHINE CHILD affects you, stays with you the way a great game can.
  
—TT Madden

    Does this sound like your cup of tea? Then follow any of the links, including this one LOADING...THE MACHINE CHILD, and support our fundraising goals, and please 🔥 Support Small Business! 🔥

🎉 🎉 ALSO, This is the perfect idea for a holiday gift that won't change in price after Black Friday sales are over!! Did you know you can put the gamer you love in a book about the ultimate game and support indie books while you're at it?! 

Check out our kickstarter and support small business and creators this season!

Thanks,
River! 

     OH MY! 
     Holy moly, I'm so far behind! Our third winter lore book Aurora: Tales of Winter Dreams was released on November 4th, and I still haven't written about it! There are a few things about our winter lore series that bring me tremendous joy. One is the beautiful covers creatively crafted and expertly executed by LCW Allingham Author. All three, stunning winter lore covers evoke the exact feeling of the theme and stories inside.
     Another thing I love is that all three books are filled with diverse writers from—not just the east coast or even the country—but all over the world. I think all the authors in the winter lore series are on the strange side, the fringe, the odd. The dreamers. The kinds of authors that stare at roaring fires and blistering embers, curling smoke and scrying mirrors. Writing what they hear and see and waiting for an opportunity to share that intricate web with the world.
     I'm incredibly proud of this series, and not only are they the perfect winter read/gift for the witch in your life. They are the perfect gift for the book lover in your life.


                              AURORA: TALES OF WINTER DREAMS...
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     "When the winter solstice tucks the land beneath dark covers, and the frost hovers at the edge of warm beds, it is time to slow, to sleep and to let our minds escape. The dream world in winter can be many things; a place of refuge, of exploration, a fantasy to pursue, or a journey to the truth. The gods speak, the worlds shift, and our imaginations are free to explore all snowy paths. Like the Aurora, it swirls across our sleeping minds, lighting up places we cannot see when awake.

     Tales of Winter Dreams is a collection of short stories and poems that rest in the scattered, strange, magical myths and folklore of dreams. Pieces of a person can be found and lost, connections to other worlds and other selves float on the edges of slumber, in the long cold nights of winter.

     With literature dreamed from cultures and traditions from around the world, as well as lessons, lore and rituals to welcome in a season of rest and reverie, this third fiction anthology in the winter lore series is a companion for prophetic projections, cozy contemplations and visions of shadow selves."

        CLICK HERE FOR OPTIONS TO BUY AURORA: TALES OF WINTER DREAMS 

     Hey all, 
     I was fortunate enough to be invited on William J Donahue's podcast TAMING MONSTERS WITH DIRTY ROTTEN BILL. We had a blast talking about the art and therapy of writing, horror and vampires and what parts of the human condition I like to write about. Go here to listen. 

     On July 22nd Vampire Hunters: An Incomplete Record of Personal Accounts was unleashed into the world. It's now at #2 for New Release Vampire and New Release Horror Anthologies ... we happy wit dat, yo! 

        Here's the lowdown, y'all!! 
       "Vampires stalk us from the shadows. They’ve been feeding on blood, our very life force, since before words were pressed into clay. But we are not unprotected. For as long as vampires have hunted us, there have been those who hunt them. This is a record, fragments of journals, letters and transcripts, collected to chronicle how vampires can be identified, how they are evolving, slaying strategies, and the threat they pose to humanity.
         From Agamemnon to Edgar Allan Poe, Cape Canaveral to Kiribati, this Incomplete Record of Personal Accounts explains the appetites, habits and horrors of these creatures of the night. Testimonials have been gathered, organized, and passed on in a single book throughout history.
        With stories from Gwendolyn Kiste and A.C. Wise, as well as LCW Allingham, George K. Angelou, Juno Crew, William J. Donahue, River Eno, Henry Herz, Mina Humiston, D.C. Kugtima, Camellia Landman, Carter Lappin, Caolán Mac an Aircinn, Hope Madden, TT Madden, Lee Meeder, A.R.C Mitra, Bill Mulligan, Nico Martinez Nocito, Toni Owen-Blue, Dale Parnell, and Johan Robertsson.
         These incomplete records are now released to illuminate the darkness where evil thrives."        
        There you have it, Speculation Publications newest creation, brought to life by the talented and the macabre. Visit our website for more info on all our books, and click this link if you want to have your very own copy, Kindle or Paperback, of Vampire Hunters: An Incomplete Record of Personal Accounts


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     Hello fellow humans! Before anything else ... Happy Pride!
    I'd like you all to know that Speculation Publications is Queer AF. We love our LGBTQ+ friends, family, authors, icons, and peers, and we will continue to support their joy and  accomplishments as well as their rights and safety. Check out some of our LGBTQ+ creators and feel the pride. 

     I told you I'd be back sooner than later, and here I am! 
The Story
Vampires stalk us from the shadows. They’ve been feeding on blood, our very life force, since before words were pressed into clay. But we are not unprotected. For as long as vampires have hunted us, there have been those who hunt them. This is a record, fragments of journals, letters and transcripts, collected to chronicle how vampires can be identified, how they are evolving, slaying strategies, and the threat they pose to humanity.
 
From Agamemnon to Edgar Allan Poe, Cape Canaveral to Kiribati, this Incomplete Record of Personal Accounts explains the appetites, habits and horrors of these creatures of the night. Testimonials have been gathered, organized, and passed on in a single book throughout history. 
 
With stories from Gwendolyne Kiste and A.C. Wise, as well as LCW Allingham, George K. Angelou, Juno Crew, William J. Donahue, River Eno, Henry Herz, Mina Humiston, D.C. Kugtima, Camellia Landman, Carter Lappin, Caolán Mac an Aircinn,  Hope Madden, TT Madden, Lee Meeder, A.R.C Mitra, Bill Mulligan, Nico Martinez Nocito, Toni Owen-Blue, Dale Parnell, and Johan Robertsson.
 
These incomplete records are now released to illuminate the darkness where evil thrives.
​

I'm not going to pretend that am great at keeping up this blog, that's not really a blog, but the last eight months, from October 2024 til now, have been an absolute whirlwind. Between two, soon to be three, book releases with my publishing company, Speculation Publications, co-owned with LCW Allingham, and some personal stuff on the side, I feel like the these months have just ran their tire treads right over my skull.

So, I'm going to get right into it. Last December, 2024, we released our second winter lore book, "Evergreen: Tales of Winter Shadows." It's a beautiful book of stories and poetry and magick. I'm not even going to get into how amazing it is, just click the title and follow the link to the book page on our website, and find out for yourself. You'll be so happy you did. 

And Go Here to see LCW and me on the Aurura Airways podcast hosted by Jordan Bianchi, an author with a beautiful story in Evergreen: Tales of Winter Shadows: The Hunting Of Tulikettu.  

Then! On April Fool's Day, 2024, we released the first Novella of Utter Speculation, Pay the Piper by Sarah Connell. And I'm just going to leave you with this blurb and the link to get the book!
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“Sarah Connell’s Pay the Piper is a seamless blend of fairytale strangeness and nods to history. Mixing witches, rats, flutes, broken promises, blood-tithes and the value of family wherever you find them. Pay the Piper is both delightfully grim and Grimm.”
— Angela “A.G.” Slatter, award-winning author of THE CRIMSON ROAD

AND ... STAND BY because TOMORROW, June 6th, 2025 I've got something really amazing for you! ​

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​         Tuesday September 24, 2024 . . . 

Speculation Publications is pleased to announce the release of their fifth anthology GRIMM RETOLD: A Collection of Dark Grimm Fairy Tales edited by LCW Allingham and River Eno.

          The glossy veneer of happily ever after has fooled readers into believing fairy tales are bright and happy stories; but if you scratch the surface of any story collected by the Brothers Grimm, it bleeds. Manipulation and Murder, Tension and Torture. Grimm Retold cracks open the horror splattered between the pages of the old stories to reveal the thriving darkness within these classic tales.

          Grimm Retold is a horror anthology retelling classic Grimm Fairy Tales. With a foreword by Cecilia Dart-Thornton, Grimm Retold has twenty stories and poems, from twenty different authors including the late great Tanith Lee, Carol Gyzander, Ef Deal, Tiffany Morris and many more. 

“Perfectly dark and perfectly lovely. This collection reclaims the grimmest bits of Grimm, and makes them the star of each of these tales - told afresh for new audiences, but with a distinctly classical feel.” - A.C. Wise, Author of Hooked and Wendy, Darling

“Thank you to all the authors who have created this book. Phenomenal retelling of the well-known Brother Grimm fairytales. This collection is so much darker than even the original tales were. It's an adult only collection. Full of spice and gore to the extreme. Lovers of Splatterpunk are in for a real treat.” – Goodreads Review

          Available worldwide, September 24, 2024 in paperback, ebook and hardback through Speculation Publication’s website: Speculationpub.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and anywhere books and Ebooks are sold. 

Cover Art by LCW Allingham
Original Illustrations by Brian Lally
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