#Blogtour Demon by Matt Wesolowski

Another intriguing episode by this innovative author – welcome to the BlogTour Demon by Matt Wesolowski.

‘Scott King’s podcast investigates the 1995 cold case of a demon possession in a rural Yorkshire village, where a 12-year-old boy was murdered in cold blood by two children. Book six in the chilling, award-winning Six Stories series.’

About the Author

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- an US-based anthologies such as Midnight Movie Creature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. 

His novella, The Black Land, a horror story set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was a bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WH Smith Fresh Talent pick, and TV rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller, Changeling (2019), Beast (2020) And Deity (2021) soon followed suit. 

Follow @ConcreteKraken on Twitter, for more on Matt click here: linktr.ee/MattJW

About the book

In 1995, the picture-perfect village of Ussalthwaite was the site of one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, in a case that shocked the world.

Twelve-year-old Sidney Parsons was savagely murdered by two boys his own age. No reason was ever given for this terrible crime, and the ‘Demonic Duo’ who killed him were imprisoned until their release in 2002, when they were given new identities and lifetime anonymity.

Elusive online journalist Scott King investigates the lead-up and aftermath of the killing, uncovering dark and fanciful stories of demonic possession, and encountering a village torn apart by this unspeakable act. And, as episodes of his Six Stories podcast begin to air, King himself becomes a target, with dreadful secrets from his own past dredged up and threats escalating to a terrifying level. It becomes clear that whatever drove those two boys to kill is still there, lurking, and the campaign of horror has just begun…

Review

This is the sixth book in the Six Stories series, I also highly recommend the previous books they are great reads. This one has the usual moral conundrum the author tends to play with within the myths, the rumours, the folklore and the cold hard facts.

Given the raw material and factual case this was very likely based on, because a lot of it veers on the factual precipice of the tragic Bulger case and the way the public still demands their pound of flesh from the perpetrators, I can imagine the points of discussion being quite divisive.

If a child commits the unimaginable is it possible for them to create a normal life after serving their time and completing the punishment considered suitable by the judicial system? If their crime is considered evil, do the actions of one moment mean they should be hounded, harassed and persecuted till they are gone too? Clearly many people think so, but this book looks at the crime and perpetrator from a different angle – the result is an intriguing read. 

This is the kind of premise that has endless opportunities going forward, that includes any visual on-screen representation. The modern element will appeal to a multitude of readers, and true crime as a premise is always a draw. 

The author doesn’t rest on the laurels of his trail of success, he is always looking for a way to keep the premise fresh and readers engaged. Going beyond the boundaries of the crime by introducing the limitations of his main character or in this case the implications of a failing judicial system and how the world in general reacts to crime, punishment and justice.

Buy Demon at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Orenda Books pub date 26 Nov. 2021. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Orenda Books.

#BlogTour Beast by Matt Wesolowski

Today it is my absolute pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Beast by Matt Wesolowski. It is the fourth book or episode in the brilliant Six Stories series. If you haven’t read a book in this series then I can only suggest you do so, because it is a fascinating premise.About the Author

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- an US-based anthologies such as Midnight Movie Creature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more.

His novella, The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick, and film rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller

Follow @ConcreteKraken or @Orendabooks on Matt-Wesolowski on Facebook , on Goodreads, on Amazon or visit him at mjwesolowskiauthor.wordpress.com, Buy Beast

About the book

Continuing the unique, explosive Six Stories series, based around six podcasts comes a compulsive, taut and terrifying thriller, and a bleak and distressing look at modern society’s desperation for attention. Beast will unveil a darkness from which you may never return…

In the wake of the ‘Beast from the East ’ cold snap that ravaged the UK in 2018, a grisly discovery was made in a ruin on the Northumbrian coast. Twenty-four-year-old vlogger, Elizabeth Barton, had been barricaded inside what locals refer to as ‘ The Vampire Tower ’, where she was later found frozen to death. Three young men, part of an alleged cult, were convicted of this terrible crime, which they described as a ‘prank gone wrong’.

However, in the small town of Ergarth, questions have been raised about the nature of  Elizabeth Barton’s death and whether the three convicted youths were even responsible.

Elusive online journalist Scott King speaks to six witnesses – people who knew both the victim and the three killers – to peer beneath the surface of the case. He uncovers whispers of a shocking online craze that held the young of Ergarth in its thrall and drove them to escalate a series of pranks in the name of internet fame. He hears of an abattoir on the edge of town, which held more than simple slaughter behind its walls, and the tragic and chilling legend of the Ergarth Vampire…

Review

Aside from the premise, which even four stories in hasn’t lost the capacity to captivate me, the author writes with such detail to authenticity when it comes to the characters – it’s remarkable. It also has me googling places, people and events, because he absolutely convinces me that everything is real. It’s a testament to Wesolowski’s talent as a writer.

Wesolowski uses darkness and the depth of inhumanity to create this almost imperceptible layer on top of his stories. No matter which character, scene or atmosphere – it’s always there lurking. You can feel it sift into your very being. Each word is saturated with the expectation of evil, fear and the inevitability of human failure.

In this fourth part or episode of the Six Stories series our narrator Scott King has taken a step into the limelight. After revealing his own story in Changeling (part three) he no longer hides his identity. In a strange way it creates a sense of equality between himself and the people he interviews. They are somehow all in the same boat, right?

This time we are on the hunt for vampires. We have a victim and her three killers, but do we really know the why? Was she really the lovable influencer with a penchant for having a bit of cheeky fun and saving the world at the same time? Or is there something more nefarious behind the way she tried to garner as many likes, shares as possible, and become famous? Scott King tries to find the truth in the midst of the rumours, half-truths and omissions.

It’s urban noir soaked in folklore, myth and imperfection of humankind.

It’s a riveting read. This author never fails to draw me in and keep me enthralled. I know people throw this out there all the time, but this would make a fascinating visual experience. Either way Wesolowksi is always a read I would recommend. He creates the kind of read that stays with you, which isn’t an easy feat at all.

Buy Beast (Six Stories #4) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Orenda Books; Publication Date: 6 February 2020 | Paperback | £8.99. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Orenda Books.

Read my review of Six Stories (Six Stories #1) – Buy Six Stories

Read my review of Hydra (Six Stories #2) – Buy Hydra

Read my review of Changeling (Six Stories #3) – Buy Changeling

#BlogTour Changeling by Matt Wesolowski

Today it is my absolute pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Changeling by Matt Wesolowski. It is the third book or episode in the brilliant Six Stories series. If you haven’t read a book in this series then I can only suggest you do so, because it is a fascinating premise.

About the Author

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- and US-based anthologies such as Midnight Movie Creature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, The Black Land, a horror story set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime WritingFestival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WH Smith Fresh Talent pick, and TV rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller.

Follow @ConcreteKraken or @Orendabooks on Matt-Wesolowski on Facebook or visit him at mjwesolowskiauthor.wordpress.com

Buy Changeling

About the book

On Christmas Eve in 1988, seven-year-old Alfie Marsden vanished in the dark Wentshire Forest Pass, when his father, Sorrel, stopped the car to investigate a mysterious knocking sound. No trace of the child, nor his remains, have ever been found. Alfie Marsden was declared officially dead in 1995.

Elusive online journalist, Scott King, whose ‘Six Stories’ podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the disappearance, interviewing six witnesses, including Sorrel and his ex partner, to try to find out what really happened that fateful night. Journeying through the trees of the Wentshire Forest – a place synonymous with strange sightings, and tales of hidden folk who dwell there, he talks to a company that tried and failed to build a development in the forest, and a psychic who claims to know what happened to the little boy…

Intensely dark, deeply chilling and searingly thought-provoking, Changeling is the latest in the critically acclaimed, international bestselling Six Stories series, written as six Serial-style podcasts, and which are being adapted for TV by a major US studio.

Review

Changeling is the third part of the Six Stories series, an innovative fresh idea in a sea full of stories.

This episode of Six Stories is different in a sense that Scott King immerses himself in a completely different way this time. In the other episodes there was always an element of distance to the people, the crimes, the myths and the folklore. In this episode the reader gets a deeper look into the main characters soul, and also into that of the author.

The disappearance of a seven-year-old boy over three decades ago is still a story that gets tongues wagging. He vanished into the darkness in the middle of the night near a forest. A wooded area connected to a lot of disturbing tales and a lifetime of folklore. The fairie folk have taken him, the monsters in the woods have eaten him or maybe the trees have made the little boy become one with them. All of that and plenty more is fodder for the curious, the gossips, the amateur sleuths and even the family members of the child.

I often think it is easier for society to believe the unbelievable than to accept the possibility that humans are worse than the monsters we imagine in our minds. The inability to acknowledge the inhumanity in some of us leaves us weakened and unprotected against the evil living among us.

Kudos to the author for giving a platform to the abuse featured in this particular mystery. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re experiencing or seeing when you encounter this kind of subtle, hidden systemic abuse. The problem is people are happy to pass on a malicious rumour or assume something they have been told is the truth without knowing whether it is or not.

Been there, done that, met the monster and got the t-shirt..

If you haven’t read a book in this series then I can only suggest you do so, because it is a fascinating premise. I can’t wait to see what the TV adaptation looks like. It is a dark menacing premise that Wesolowski has given a 21st century vibe to. He delves into the darkest depths of human nature, and plays with fractured memories, hidden fears and the ancient folklore and myths embedded in our culture. Podcasts meet rumours, theories and facts to create a fascinating murder mystery with a thriller come horror vibe. You don’t want to miss this series or the author.

Buy Changeling (Six Stories #3) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Publisher: Orenda Books; pub date 24 Jan. 2019

Read my review of Six Stories #1

Read my review of Hydra (Six Stories #2)

#BlogTour Hydra by Matt Wesolowski

Matt Wesolowski is back with another venture into his extraordinary premise and story format Six Stories. Hydra lives up to its name with its many heads and threads, as the author lops them off one by one only to be confronted by yet another unanswered question. I am thrilled to be participating in the BlogTour for Hydra and hope you enjoy hearing about it as much as I enjoyed reading it.

About the Author

Matt Wesolowski is from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- and US-based anthologies such as Midnight Movie Creature Feature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick, and film rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio..

Follow @ConcreteKraken or @Orendabooks on Matt-Wesolowski on Facebook or visit him at mjwesolowskiauthor.wordpress.com

Buy Hydra (Six Stories 2) here

About the book

A family massacre. A deluded murderess. Five witnesses. Six Stories. Which one is true?

One cold November night in 2014, in a small town in the northwest of England, 21-year-old Arla Macleod bludgeoned her mother, stepfather and younger sister to death with a hammer, in an unprovoked attack known as the Macleod Massacre. Now incarcerated at a medium-security mental-health institution, Arla will speak to no one but Scott King, an investigative journalist, whose Six Stories podcasts have become an internet sensation.

King finds himself immersed in an increasingly complex case, interviewing five key witnesses and Arla herself, as he questions whether Arla’s responsibility for the massacre was as diminished as her legal team made out.

As he unpicks the stories, he finds himself thrust into a world of deadly forbidden ‘games’, online trolls, and the mysterious black-eyed kids, whose presence seems to extend far beyond the delusions of a murderess… Dark, chilling and gripping, Hydra is both a classic murder mystery and an up-to-the-minute, startling thriller that shines light in places you may never, ever want to see again.

Review

When I read Six Stories I thought it was a refreshing premise. I think it is ingenious that Wesowloski has chosen to use the same format again, indeed now he has done it again a series wouldn’t go amiss.

We are back with our investigative journalist Scott King, who uses podcasts to engage with his audience. Hydra is a set of interviews by Scott with the killer and people who have something to add to the case. Friends, acquaintances and anyone who can give insight into why this young woman would decide to just annihilate her entire family one day.

This time he is re-examining the Macleod Massacre. A young girl called Arla has been convicted of bludgeoning her parents and sister to death with a hammer. She is serving her sentence at a medium security mental institution, because the court found there was enough evidence to suggest diminished capacity at the time of the event.

There doesn’t seem to be any reason why, and yet as Scott talks with one person after the other a picture emerges of abuse, stolen innocence and of betrayal on a massive scale. In a way it is a snapshot of how society fails so many vulnerable children, and how we are too willing to ignore signs of distress and calls for help.

What appears to be a tragic and yet simple case of girl gone psycho slowly develops, under the watchful and inquisitive eye of Scott, into a series of events that in the end cause an avalanche of violence.

Wesolowski pokes the bear and angers the hive with this poignant and introspective story. Embedded in this tale of assault is the power hungry drive of a specific breed of social media user, who thrive on the fear and pain of others. Anonymity allows them to leave any semblance of societal rule and order behind, and they use their online power to spread hate and cause havoc.

It’s time the troll living under the bridge was taught that the darkness of the web isn’t impenetrable. There needs to be accountability for both words and actions, and most importantly they need to acknowledge the hypocrisy of threatening others with exposure while they themselves sit behind a shrouded cloud of anonymity.

Once again Wesolowski delivers an engrossing read with a 21st century feel, and in the midst of this intriguing thriller, he takes a well-aimed shot at the more nefarious side of the world wide web. Hopefully this won’t be the last time he rolls out Scott King the investigative journalist, podcaster extraordinaire.

Buy Hydra at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Blog-Tour: Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski

I am especially excited to take part in the Blog-Tour for Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski today. It is an innovative read you won’t want to miss. Aside from my review, I also have a great guest post, My Writing Day by Matt Wesolowski, to share with you.

About the Author

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor and leads Cuckoo Young Writers creative writing workshops for young people in association with New Writing North. Matt started his writing career in horror and his short horror fiction has been published in Ethereal Tales magazine, Midnight Movie Creature Feature anthology, 22 More Quick Shivers anthology and many more. His debut novella The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013 and a new novella set in the forests of Sweden will be available shortly. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. He is currently working on his second crime novel Ashes, which involves black metal and Icelandic sorcery.

Follow @ConcreteKraken or @Orendabooks on Facebook or visit him at mjwesolowskiauthor.wordpress.com

Buy Six Stories here

About the book

One death. Six stories. Which one is true?

1997. Scarclaw Fell. The body of teenager Tom Jeffries is found at an outward bound centre. Verdict? Misadventure. But not everyone is convinced. And the truth of what happened in the beautiful but eerie fell is locked in the memories of the tight-knit group of friends who embarked on that fateful trip, and the flimsy testimony of those living nearby.

2017. Enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast examinations of complicated cases have rivalled the success of Serial, with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure. In a series of six interviews, King attempts to work out how the dynamics of a group of idle teenagers conspired with the sinister legends surrounding the fell to result in Jeffries’ mysterious death. And who’s to blame … As every interview unveils a new revelation, you’ll be forced to work out for yourself how Tom Jeffries died, and who is telling the truth. A chilling, unpredictable and startling thriller, Six Stories is also a classic murder mystery with a modern twist, and a devastating ending.

Guest post by Matt Wesolowski

My Writing Day

To the disbelief (and jealousy of my writing peers) there was once a time in my life when my writing day looked like this:

Up at 7.30 – 5k run, listening to an audio book.

8.30 Breakfast, hang with the family.

9am -2pm  – uninterrupted, glorious writing, lunch interspersed with cups of green tea.

2pm – 5pm – sit in the conservatory with a mug of more green tea and disappear into a book.

Yes, this was genuinely my writing day, albeit for just under a year. And so much got done! Two novels, blog posts and a load of short fiction.

Then life got in the way. Change of family circumstance, job, move of house, move of job. The structure of the bygone era is now a glorious and ancient memory.

My day job’s hours are sporadic and are in a constant state of flux. I live alone now and have food to make, a cat and child to maintain as well as my own constant cleaning compulsions.

An idyll of a full writing and reading day is a luxury. Unless you are in the position to write full-time, then it’s mostly unrealistic. I sincerely believe that when you want to write, if you really want to write, you have to make time. I often wonder why so many people say they ‘don’t have time’ to read but can sit, staring at social media on a phone for hours.

Writing is like any job, if you want to be any good at it, you have to do lots of it and you have to do it even on the days you don’t want to. For me, some days are plain sailing on a sunny sea of fiction and some days (more often) are quite simply not.

I often liken writing to sawing through wood. There are easy bits where the teeth of the saw glide through and there are knots, great big tough twists of dead branch where the saw won’t catch, let alone cut.

Personally, I work to a realistic daily word count. If I have a significant part of the day without work then I aim for 2000 words. Sometimes it’s 2000 words of rubbish, but hey, we all have bad days at work. For me, the most important thing is to get something done, to keep my mind used to writing, at least something every day.

So now, a typical day looks like this:

7am – feed the cat, get my son ready for school, make breakfast, school run.

9am – A combination of: cleaning/cooking/writing/reading/working.

3pm – School run, hang out with the boy, eat tea together, do homework, play Lego.

8pm – Writing or kickboxing.

10pm – Reading.

11pm Sleep.

Of course there are variations, as a single parent, I only have my son for half the week so there is more time when he’s not here but a lot of that time is spent on the week’s cooking and cleaning, making sure when he is here, that I am available.

Then there’s that thing where you see your friends and loved ones and do social stuff. Yeah, that sometimes happens too!

Above all, the drive to write inside me never diminishes, I can’t even sit in front of the television without a notebook and a pen to hand; I listen to an audio book whilst cleaning and true crime podcasts while I’m cooking.

But that’s just me, I’m not any better or worse than anyone else and everyone does things their own way. I think if you have a dream, you cannot sit back and wait for it to land in your lap, you have to chase it until you feel your own blood squelching in your

Review

The story is set-up as a series of podcasts by someone who investigates cold cases. The reader experiences the podcasts via written transcripts of interviews with the suspects. The cold case in question is the disappearance of teenager Tom Jeffries, and the subsequent discovery of his body a year later. Nearly all the suspects were also teenagers at the time the crime took place.

It might sound a little cold or clinical for a fictional book setting, however that couldn’t be further from the truth. One of the aspects of the story is the way the podcast listeners are captivated by the intrigue, mystery and gruesome details of the cold case. The followers play an integral part in the story, despite being an anonymous and unseen entity.

It seems more than likely that the teens involved in the case, who were also the last ones to see and interact with Tom, are also the people with the answers to all the questions. Is one of them lying? Did one of them inadvertently see more than they think they saw?

During the interviews the reader hears about the secrets, the fights and all of those tiny details the police never uncovered. The kind of details that would have led them straight to the killer.

Twenty years after the murder none of the people involved want to muddy the waters, get anyone in trouble or possibly reveal themselves as a culprit.

Although I figured out the who and the twist I have to admit I didn’t see the why coming. It is a really well-thought out crime. The author explores the complexities of social interactions and hierarchy issues between teenagers, and the implications for individuals in group situations.

Six Stories is an innovative, captivating and creative read. Wesolowski channels new technology and important social issues of our time, whilst integrating a nefarious crime into the mix. I think we’ll be hearing a lot more from this particular author in the years to come.

Buy Six Stories at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.