This Christmas I have one more special thing coming for everyone. It's a novella because I have been into writing those lately. I find the platform interesting and sort of liberating. There are a bunch of story ideas I've had clinking around in my head for some time and I had trouble finding an outlet for them. It turns out, condensing the story into a novella is what was needed for most of these ideas.
So, I have been cranking these short novels out pretty quickly this year and it will likely continue into 2020. The one coming out this Christmas is called Hellhound and it's set on the battlefields of World War One. Why is this my second story set during that war? Because I have always been fascinated by WWI. Much of what still happens today during wars was started during The Great War.
World War One was a truly unique nightmare as old ways of doing war met head on with new methods of dealing out death. Thousands upon thousands of men were hurled against machine gun nests. Gas was dropped on men while planes strafed the trenches. Tanks crushed men, while thousands of tons of explosive shelves buried them alive in the same trenches.
Within this nightmare were others. Old legends and strange tale of mysterious things which also collided with more modern sensibilities One of these legends was the Hellhound of Mons.
The Hellhound was a story that during one of the tensest parts of the war, German soldiers were attacked by some mythical monster. A huge dog-like creature supposedly stalked the trenches, tearing men apart.
When we think of World War One, we usually think of trench warfare. I know I always do. However, as I began to write this one, I started to wonder what it was like in the cities which found themselves caught in the crossfire. Certainly, there had to be urban fighting, too. A nightmare for those residents.
What would people firmly within those old timey beliefs do to try and stop the war from coming? What old magicks would come into play to try and stop the war from coming for their way of life?
Thus was born the tale of Hellhound. A nightmare starting in the trenches of World War One, but ending within a small town where the residents believe in the old ways. Old magic. Old monsters. Imagine surviving the nightmare of No Man's Land only to end up in a deeper nightmare just down the road.
This is what Hellhound is about. A nightmare happening within a larger one. It's creepy, weird and disturbing.
It's coming this Christmas and you can pre-order a copy now.