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Fourteen - a free short story

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  Last year I had a great time at Chillercon hanging out with my horror mates. One evening, a few of us were hanging out in the hotel lobby chatting away having had a drink or three. I can't quite remember how but we started to play a game which has stuck with me to this day. Below is a fictional re-imagining of that game undertaken by different players. Enjoy! Oh, and other than that conversation with friends, please remember that  is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Fourteen   by Phil Sloman   Seaside rain is different to rain elsewhere in that it is almost always unwanted. At the beach, the expectation is of sun-kissed sands covered with happy bathers eager to buy overpriced ice-cream which drips down the sides of cheap brown cones. All the while, gulls call raucously from above. When the rains come none of that is possible – except the gulls –and the air of holiday and eternal joy is banished. Th

FantasyCon 2023

 FantasyCon is an annual highlight for me. It's a chance for me to catch up with writing buddies, buy books, and generally immerse myself in the UK horror writing scene. My creative juices always feel recharged afterwards even if my bank balance is lighter and my need for sleep increased ten-fold! This year, FantasyCon is being held in Birmingham at the Leonardo Royal Hotel from 15 to 17 September. I'm delighted to be sharing a panel on the Saturday afternoon at 3pm with Kat Day (Moderator), Ramsey Campbell, Philip Fracassi, and Raven Dane. The panel is called Writing 21st Century Horror and the blurb says "What are the new techniques and innovations in Horror? Is there a new scare? How does the tradition of horror writing help us develop new stories and new ideas? Join our panel to discuss and pick up some reading recommendations." I also have a reading slot at 5pm on the Saturday alongside Trip Galey and Ruth EJ Booth. Hopefully I'll see a few folks there. If yo

No Happily Ever After: first review!

There's always a nervy period as a writer when you put your work out there. The doubts creep in. Is it good enough? Will people like it?  Well, the first review is in ahead of the official launch date for No Happily Ever After on Friday 26 May. Absolutely delighted with it.  " Phil Sloman has put together a truly wonderful collection here. Proper effortless storytelling with a genuine heart to create something different." Full review here:  No Happily Ever After by Phil Sloman | Goodreads Definitely a nice addition to a great weekend.
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No Happily Ever After cover reveal After a hiatus from writing, I decided I really should get back into the saddle and get some words out there. Over the past few months I have been pulling together a few of my short stories and writing a couple of new ones. All these will be part of a short collection of stories which I will be releasing in May 2023 under the title No Happily Ever After. In anticipation, here is a sneak look at the fabulous cover using art by Warm_Tail.    

The Man Who Fed The Foxes: free to read

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I got older today. As a little gift to folks, below is my short story The Man Who Fed The Foxes for your enjoyment which can be found in my collection Broken on the Inside or here if you are in the US . The man who fed the foxes by Phil Sloman   Paul Wilson sat alert on the decking, peering into the gloom. Even if the sun had been high in the sky rather than cresting the horizon, as it currently was, there wouldn’t be much to see. An overgrown garden in need of an industrial lawnmower and a team of willing volunteers. At the end stood a broken greenhouse, barely five years old yet virtually forgotten, the glass fractured and smeared the colour of pond scum by a colony of algae. A couple of abandoned compost bins nestled beside it, like giant salt and pepper shakers, overflowing and surrounded by flowering weeds. His borders, which had been so immaculate in a former life, flourishing with begonias, tulips and carefully cultivated roses, were now clogged with bindweed, nettles and

Fear The Future: publishing news!

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  I have been sitting on this news for ages and it is great to be able to share it with everyone (and some of you will already have seen this going round on social media). The brilliant  Corpus Press  are putting out the third in their In Darkness, Delight series called Fear The Future (great title!) and I am delighted that Evans and Andrew accepted my story What It Takes alongside works from an amazing array of talent including Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller fame. My story is a near-future tale about bio-tech and what happens when it gets hijacked. I had a lot of fun with imagining how someone might react when they thought what would be their saviour possibly becomes their route to destruction. Just what would you do to survive and to protect your loved ones? The blurb and full stellar line up (just soak up the talent on display!) are below and copies of Fear The Future can be purchased from  Amazon US   and  Amazon UK .  Plus take a look at that amazing cover; stunning!  I really t

It's been a while

So it's been a while since I posted on this site and the simple reason is essentially life coupled with a global pandemic. Last year was quite tough as sadly my mum passed away after a long battle with cancer and I also ended up losing my job. These things coupled together alongside the general world of Covid meant I reprioritised a few things and have spent a lot of time getting out and about in nature which I always find a comforting thing to do. Anyone who follows my Twitter feed will have had a taste of that. Things are not all doom and gloom though. 2021 has been kinder and I am back in employment again and was also able to get some writing done over the past year too. I was also proud as hell for The Woods to be nominated for Best Anthology at the British Fantasy Awards. Even though it didn't win it is always a huge honour to be shortlisted by your peers for such a prestigious award. I've also got some exciting publishing news but I will put that on a separate post. J