“Almost midnight. Enough time for one more story. One more story before twelve. Just to keep us warm.”
Seeing out 2025 with one more publication. Happy new fear!
Captain Creepy’s Tome of Terror #3 is out now in print & digital, featuring my spooky new story ‘Eternity Room’.
*15% off with discount code 15DEC2025 until 11:59pm local time Dec 30th 2025.
https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/3230948
HIDING UNDER THE LEAVES, a folk horror anthology from The Slab Press is published today, featuring my story ‘Tumulus’.
Grab a copy of the e-book (epub format) direct from the publisher: https://payhip.com/b/HNdvM
Also available in paperback from your local indie bookstore! Order using ISBN: 9781738426867.
Or find it at Barnes & Noble, etc. https://mybook.to/hidingundertheleaves
We had a fantastic book launch event at World Fantasy Con in Brighton on Halloween with cake, drinks, readings, and book signings. Thanks to Donna & Neil from The Slab Press and to all who came along!
And check out the first review of the book here: https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2025/11/1/hiding-under-the-leaves-by-donna-scott
Thanks for reading & hope you enjoy Hiding Under The Leaves with us, like horror hedgehogs.
Here are some upcoming spooky season events!
Oct 18-19: My folk horror film The Stay is an official selection of Horror Movie Freaks Festival in NC USA.
Oct 29: I’ll be at Buzz Cinema’s Halloween Extravaganza at Funky Snake Escape Rooms, Leighton Buzzard UK – featuring my folk horror film The Stay.
Oct 31: I’m joining the official book launch of The Slab Press’ folk horror anthology Hiding Under The Leaves, featuring my story ‘Tumulus’, at World Fantasy Convention 2025 in Brighton UK.
More details/booking links over at my Events page.
Happy Halloween! 🎃
Feels like a sharp intake of breath is needed before contemplating what 2025 might bring…
I didn’t publish so much in 2024, for various reasons, but was pleased to have my story ‘To Take the Water Down and Go To Sleep’ included in the anthology Shadows on the Water.
I fulfilled an ambition to have work published in one of my favourite magazines, Hellebore, with my article ‘Rewriting the Landscape’ appearing in The Storytelling Issue #12.
My Goodreads profile makes it look like I hardly read anything in 2024, but I read/annotated/fed back on dozens of short stories, screenplays and full novel manuscripts as part of my day job. Always a pleasure to read emerging voices in various genres and styles! There was, and continues to be, much uncertainty in academia with diminished budgets and the threat of job cuts across the sector. Solidarity with and sympathy for all those affected, and I hope things improve. (No pressure on our new Labour-lite government of course…!)
The film funding landscape was also difficult to navigate in 2024, though I’m cautiously optimistic for better days ahead with the promise of better tax breaks for indie movie production. Sadly, nothing came of the shopping agreement for my feature film screenplay ‘Knock Three Times’ and rights have reverted to me so it’s back to the anvil with that project. In better news, my folk horror film ‘The Stay’ continued its film festival run, picking up its 31st award honour. I won’t curse myself by saying anything about future productions, maybe I’d better just say ‘watch this space’…
2024 was also the year that I completely failed to see The Cure play live, but tickets for their BBC Radio & Troxy shows turned out to be rarer than politicians with good intentions. Here’s hoping for some dates in 2025 so I can overcompensate! The long awaited Songs of a Lost World album exceeded all expectations — an instant classic. I did get out & see some fantastic shows in 2024, including Ride, Hawkwind, and Front 242’s final(?) UK gig.
Speaking of final(?) gigs… In 2024 I started but didn’t quite finish my 8th novel. Not making any New Year’s resolutions here but will aim to pick that up again in 2025 (in addition to finding a new potential agent/publisher for the book).
Last but by no means least, I had the most fun chatting all things vampiric & gothic horror with Blackletter Games’ Kris Rees and Happy Goat Horror’s Kayleigh Dobbs — and I was super honoured to see my novel Hearthstone Cottage on Kayleigh’s Top 10 Ghostly Horror Books list!
Fangs for reading & here’s wishing you a happy, healthy, or just plain tolerable 2025.
x Frazer
Had the most fun in the run up to Halloween chatting horror gaming and novelisations with Blackletter Games’ creator Kris Rees and our wonderful host Happy Goat Horror’s Kayleigh Dobbs.
Check out the interview below, and find out how the Damnation: The Gothic Game horror board game & novel were created!
More about the game & book:
https://www.blacklettergames.com/damnation-the-gothic-game
Happy to announce the publication of Shadows on the Water from Flame Tree Publishing, which features my short story To Take the Water Down and Go to Sleep.
This gorgeous book is stacked with so many amazing authors and stories, both classic and contemporary, and is a must for Gothic Fantasy & Horror readers.
Don’t delay, order your copy today!
https://mybook.to/shadowsonthewater
Cheers for reading,
Frazer x
Grateful to Happy Goat Horror for this thoughtful review of Greyfriars Reformatory. Here’s a snippet.
“Lee’s character work is great. We have five young women thrust together in this old girls’ reformatory, and Principal Quick who is in charge […] I had no trouble distinguishing between them as their personalities were all so strong and fully-formed. I love a writer who can just drop individuals into a story like that.”
Read the full review here, and then buy the book – it’s perfect reading for spooky season!
Thanks for reading,
Frazer x
Thrilled to have my short story ‘To Take the Water Down and Go to Sleep’ in this gorgeous anthology from Flame Tree Press (publishers of my novels Hearthstone Cottage & Greyfriars Reformatory).
Never in a million years would I have dreamt that my work would be in a book with Bram Stoker & so many luminaries.
Can’t wait to read them all!
The book is out January 2024 (February 2024 in North America).
Full Table of Contents and further details here.
Thanks for reading,
Frazer x
Celebrating the publication of my occult horror novella series The Daniel Gates Adventures in paperback by baking a batch of banana and chocolate mini muffins (with a fresh pot of coffee as standard).
Previously available in ebook or very limited hardcover only, this paperback release means all of my books are now in print!
I hope you’ll pick up a copy and let me know what you think of the stories.
Contained within the pages of this handsome paperback are four novellas: The Lucifer Glass, The Leper Window, The Lilyth Mirror, The Lucifer Gate, which take Daniel (and you the reader) on a hellish journey from the lochs of Scotland to the ancient castles and churches of Wales, from the occult secrets of Turin and maybe even into the depths of Hell itself. Bring coffee! And a muffin!
Content warning: Green-eyed demons, timey wimey weirdness, cursed grimoires, alcohol induced hallucinations, and (sp)lashings of blood n’ gore.
My thanks to the awesome two Davids at Crossroad Press/Macabre Ink for putting together another lovely book!
Buy your copy now!
And rate/review on Goodreads!
Thanks for reading,
Frazer x
Celebrating the release of my debut Doctor Who audiobook Gobbledegook today with a nice cup of tea.
It has been an exciting day & I even got a little mention on the official Doctor Who website! Not only that but my very own ‘TARDIS fam’ gifted me this beautiful framed cover art for my birthday in February. It’s now hanging in pride of place above my desk. I love how the artist included a steaming cup of tea in the Fifth Doctor’s hand, and Velar the space armadillo looks just how I pictured him.
Here’s the story synopsis:
Gobbledegook by Frazer Lee
Chief librarian Velar’s beloved books are being returned with their text completely garbled at planet Batear’s largest library. Batearian books are living things, organically linked via the ancient cave system where they are shelved. Unless Velar’s old friend the Doctor can detect a pattern in the chaos, Batear’s entire cultural history will become gobbledegook!
Gobbledegook is available as part of the Conflicts of Interest box set on download/cd from Big Finish Productions.
The box set includes two full cast audio adventures Friendly Fire by John Dorney and The Edge of the War by Jonathan Barnes. (I’m listening to Friendly Fire as I type this blog post, and it’s brilliant, really gripping!)
My 60min story Gobbledegook is narrated by the amazing Dan Starkey with music and special effects, and you can listen to it in the Big Finish app (just tap ‘Bonus’) or download via BigFinish.com under Bonus Content.
I really hope you enjoy my Gobbledegook as much as I enjoyed writing it! I’m grateful to John Dorney, David Richardson & all at Big Finish for letting me hop aboard the TARDIS.
Thanks for listening,
Frazer x
FrazerLee.com 