#Marmalade is a #movie that I can absolutely recommend for one simple reason, the #PlotTwist on it is completely #unexpected.
There’s only one thing that I dislike about it. It’s the #ending by far too #simple.
Not bad, just too simple. I was expecting something a little bit more elaborated.
‘It put the fear of God in the audience’: the incredible story of how Jaws changed Hollywood https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jun/20/jaws-movie-hollywood #Actionandadventurefilms #RichardDreyfuss #StevenSpielberg #Horrorfilms #Thrillers #Culture #Sharks #Jaws #Film
It’s that time of year when thoughts turn to #holiday breaks. But seaside or countryside? Which is less dangerous…? #crimefiction #thrillers #whodunnits
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0008372241/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1668256329&sr=8-1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0008372268/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0
On this final full day of my Kindle Edition Super Sale, I wanted to thank these fellow authors/creatives for helping to spread the word about it. Please consider giving them a follow and checking out their works!
Coy Hall
http://coyhall.com
Daniel Lorn
http://daniellornhorror.co.uk
Ronald McGillvray
http://ronaldmcgillvray.com
#books #bookstodon #booktodon #scifi #horror #specfic #thriller #thrillers #read #reads #reading #ICYMI
#sharkweek #sharks #books #thrillers #OceanPredator #SharkConservation
#SharkAwareness #sciencefiction
#sharkweek #sharks #books #thrillers #OceanPredator #SharkConservation #SharkAwareness #sciencefiction
My Kindle Edition Super Sale is winding down but there's still time to get great deals on the first four books set along The Nod/Wells TImelines in the US and the UK. If you love speculative fiction, these reads are for you!
US:
https://amazon.com/author/michaelshotter
UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Michael-Shotter/author/B07GVS37JF
#specfic #speculativefiction #scifi #sciencefiction #horror #paranormal #thriller #thrillers #book #books #ebook #ebooks #bookdeal #ebookdeal #read #reading #readingcommunity #bookstodon
My Kindle Edition Super Sale marches on! Today, a reminder that all four of the featured books are highly-rated and have been thoroughly enjoyed by a wide range of speculative-fiction readers. Source: Goodreads
US:
https://amazon.com/author/michaelshotter
UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Michael-Shotter/author/B07GVS37JF
#bookstoread #whattoread #books #readmorebooks #read #reads #reading #readingcommunity #specfic #scifi #horror #paranormal #thriller #thrillers #bestbooks #bestreads #bookstodon #booktodon
https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/MUTUAL1430023314... Host Rich brings the thrills with Hawk Chronicles #276, Super Suits: Episode 11- One Anger Harper, and The Count of Monte Cristo: Part 110 The Indictment! #thrillers #mystery #audiodrama
Echo Valley review – Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney suspense thriller stretches credulity https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jun/10/echo-valley-review-julianne-moore-sydney-sweeney #KyleMacLachlan #JulianneMoore #Crimefilms #Thrillers #FionaShaw #Culture #Stage #Film
Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author and former MI6 agent, dies aged 86 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jun/09/frederick-forsyth-day-of-the-jackal-author-and-former-mi6-agent-dies-aged-86 #UKsecurityandcounter-terrorism #FrederickForsyth #Thrillers #Culture #Fiction #UKnews #Books #Film #MI6
Jack Reacher author Lee Child: ‘More sex is medically implausible and I’m as rich and famous as I need to be’ https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/07/jack-reacher-author-lee-child-more-sex-is-medically-implausible-and-im-as-rich-and-famous-as-i-need-to-be #Lifeandstyle #Thrillers #LeeChild #Culture #Books
Jack Reacher author Lee Child: ‘More sex is medically implausible and I’m as rich and famous as I need to be’ https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/07/jack-reacher-author-lee-child-more-sex-is-medically-implausible-and-im-as-rich-and-famous-as-i-need-to-be #Lifeandstyle #Thrillers #LeeChild #Culture #Books
Straw review – Taraji P Henson rises above Tyler Perry’s tortured Netflix thriller https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jun/06/straw-movie-review-tyler-perry #TarajiPHenson #TylerPerry #Dramafilms #Thrillers #Netflix #Culture #Film
Author Spotlight: Miranda Kate/MK Boers
I wanted to be a film director. I could see it clearly in my mind throughout my teenage years. Then I went to college to study Theatre and realised it wasn’t going to be quite that easy, so I turned to directing words on a page instead. And it works – most days.
Under the author name Miranda Kate, I have been featured in several Flash Fiction anthologies, and write sci-fi fantasy, horror and dark paranormal fantasy. Under the author name M K Boers I write dark psychological thrillers. I originate from Surrey, in the south of England, but spent my teens moving round the country and travelling to other countries. Since 2002 I have lived in the Netherlands.
Author Links:
Website: mirandakateboersauthor.com
Bluesky: @purplequeenpub.bsky.social
Facebook: @MirandaKateAuthor
Instagram: @purplequeennl
As an author of horror, psychological thrillers, and dark sci-fi fantasy, as well as paranormal fantasy, what draws you to these genres, and do you see threads of connection between them in your work? If so, what?
I’ve always been drawn to the dark and disturbing, or slightly off kilter. Coming from an abusive childhood means that happy endings and feel good stories are not realistic for me.
Having witnessed and experienced such real, tangible horrors, dark fictional tales don’t affect me in the same way as others, in fact, back then, they helped me escape and see that it was possible that things could be worse. I could relate to the fear and the suspense of uncertainty in a much more visceral way.
It meant I consumed a lot of horror and sci-fi fiction through my youth and it informs my writing. I tend to try and write what moves me, makes me think, or what horrifies me. I also try and make it emotive, getting right into the characters and how they think and feel, so the reader can do that too. The more I do that the more satisfied I am with the end result.
The connection for me is that I write characters people might not like to begin with but then I give the reader another view or perspective that makes them soften and feel sympathetic, even supportive of that character. I did that in Sleep, my psychological thriller, or domestic noir. Lizzy murdered her husband and his lover, which is known from the outset, but I show the reader what drove her to it. I like to leave the reader thinking about the situations and the characters.
My ultimate goal is giving them a book hangover. Most of my horror is psychological – and it can get very dark.
Let’s talk about your Tricky series, Tricky’s Tales, a dark fantasy series set in a post-apocalyptic world. The first book is Dead Lake. What inspired this book, and did you know it was going to be a series, or did you start it as a standalone?
I used to host a weekly writing event called Mid-Week Flash Challenge, using a picture prompt to inspire writers to write a piece of flash fiction (anything under 1000 words – or in this challenge, under 750 words).
I started this back in 2017 and ran it for 7 years. It was a way to keep me writing regularly. It helped me come up with fresh ideas and characters, and Tricky, the main character in Dead Lake, arrived in one of them.
After that, she started to pop up fairly regularly and once I had about twelve pieces, I realised she had a much larger story to tell and started working on what that would be. And then I realised there was a series in her tales. She’s quite a persistent character when she has something to say, and one I really enjoy writing.
How did you develop Tricky’s world for Dead Lake, and what came first – the worldbuilding or the character development?
I’ve always loved speculating on what the aftermath of a post-apocalyptic might look like. And when I watched 2012 (the disaster movie) it very much provided me with a base for Tricky’s world (tectonic plates shifting).
I am more of a pantser than a planner in my writing process, so it formed along with the story as did the character development – though I’d say the character was there first.
Tricky has a very defined voice and way of talking in my head, and I’d already written about what happened to her mother in one of the pieces of flash fiction, so I used that as a basis for how she would show up in the world, and how it skewed her reaction to people and her ability to trust, feeding her suspicious nature. But she is also funny, (at least she thinks she is) and she loves men.
I also found I had to map the landmass out to stay on track. I kept a sort of running map while I wrote the trilogy, and that helped me keep things straight. The completed map appears in the books too.
Can you tell us more about the integration of New Age practices and crystals/stones with the post-apocalyptic world, and the powers that people possess? How did this come about and what is the internal world’s logic/magic system that makes this work?
I was originally inspired by The Crystal Singer series by Anne McCaffrey, which I read in my teens – how singing to crystals can activate energy – but I was then more recently inspired by a fellow writer, Lisa Shambrook, and her first book in The Seren Stone Chronicles (hopefully the second one will be out soon). In her book the apocalyptic history of the land had thrown up new and magical crystals, and so I brought a similar idea into Tricky’s books: that new elements had come to the surface and old elements were lost, and they can be combined to produce magical results.
I very much believe we are all made of energy – in fact every thing in our world. That everything vibrates at different frequencies. I also believe in energy light healing and the different light colours they take, so it wasn’t a big leap for me to use that concept and entwine it in the idea of it being used by individuals with advanced sensitivities. And those skills can be taught and enhanced. The idea of witches started centuries ago (there’s actually a witch-weighing museum not far from me) and they were people that knew how to use nature and natural elements to heal, so I expanded on those concepts.
As for trees, and communicating with them, after reading Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, I really saw them as more sentient and finding out things like them creating the opal mineral in their structures sort of interconnects it all.
And I’m also fascinated by the concept of time, and have other books where I have dabbled in parallel worlds and time travel, so this had to be something Tricky could do, though it can be extremely tricky – hence the character’s name!
Tell us more about Tricky as a character – how did she evolve as you were thinking and planning and drafting, and were there any surprises along the way? If so, what were they?
Tricky, like many of my main characters, reflects a lot of the parts of me. I wanted her living in a world where she wasn’t shamed for enjoying men, and flirting, and having fun with them without having to commit to them – though she has experienced heart-break too. This leads to her always pushing away her feelings, which a lot of people do.
She reminds me a little of my best friend who lives in Australia, and I had her in mind at times. And I also had another writer friend in mind too, Michael Wombat, who I knew would love this character.
It helped me keep her light, and also bring humour through some of the very dark situations. She’s ballsy, sassy and full of attitude – and extremely stubborn. But she cares about people, is loyal. In some ways a lot of things I am and aspire to be! So far she hasn’t really surprised me, but there’s still time!
Will there be any more books in the series? If so (and even if not!) what can readers look out for in the future?
Oh yes. I am currently working on a collaboration with three other authors (Michael Wombat, Victoria Pearson and Lisa Shambrook), set in another fantasy world called The Summer Realm created by Michael Wombat. Each of our characters is sent on a quest, in a different area of the land (there is already a working detailed map), to save the realm which is under attack by dragon-like creatures from another world. The magicians in this world have been able to call Tricky into it to help them.
We each write our chapters, and then Michael Wombat will ‘pleach’ them together (weave). It’s going to be a trilogy from the word count we have gathered so far. The first draft is almost complete. I’m very excited to bring this to fruition. I’ve always wanted to write a story with this group of authors. There’s a lot of opportunity for spin-off stories from this trilogy, but also, at some point in the future, I plan to bring about another Tricky series, though other books are vying for my attention – I have another psych thriller gestating, and also an occult horror. As a writer my creative mind never stops!
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#AuthorInterview #AuthorSpotlight #darkFantasy #fantasy #Horror #NetherlandsAuthor #paranormalFantasy #psychologicalThrillers #SciFiFantasy #thrillers #UKAuthor
https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/MUTUAL1430023314?selected=MUTUAL5874502033 June is a hot spot in the Thrillers! Host Rich brings us Hawk Chronicles #275, Super Suits: Episode 110: A Few Good Jurors, and The Count of Monte Cristo: Part 109! #audiodrama #radiodrama #thrillers #mystery #adventure
I don't pay enough attention to who publishes the books that I like. "Sourcebooks has expanded the imprint to include thrillers, suspense, horror, and even cozy fantasy, making Poisoned Pen Press more of a dark genre than a purely crime fiction imprint." This is a promotional piece, but I was after the info about #publishing .
#bookstodon #CrimeFiction #mysteries #thrillers
Poisoned Pen Press Has Blazed a Trail in Subgenres to Become a Leading Mystery Imprint https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/97785-pw-studio-poisoned-pen-press-has-blazed-a-trail-in-subgenres-to-become-a-leading-mystery-imprint.html
On Crime Novels & Thrillers https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/04/on-crime-novels-thrillers/ #Bookstodon, #CrimeFiction, #Mysteries, #Reading, #Thriller, #Thrillers
Dangerous Animals review – shark-bait thriller boasts a gnarly Jai Courtney https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jun/03/dangerous-animals-review-shark-bait-thriller-boasts-a-gnarly-jai-courtney #Horrorfilms #Thrillers #Culture #Film
