This week, I’ve been featured on
Enjoy.
And stay sane, unplug and read more books. 
Happy Sunday morning.
This week, my short story A Dwindled Dawn was published in Crab Apple Literary online magazine.
A Dwindled Dawn is set in 1880s Melbourne about a grieving father, a death photographer and his strange sister.
Read it here.
And in Radcliffe news, I’ve been over the moon with the reviews so far on goodreads and the Zon.
Don’t forget you can get the ebook here or order a paperback from Dymocks, Brunswick Bound, Waterstones or bookshop.org.
Great news, everyone!
My new gothic novella is out from Deadset Press on 26 August 2023.
A three-storey ramshackle house in North Melbourne is full of secrets. Tamsin is lead to the building by a voice inside her head – a voice that tells her ‘Death is Coming’. With no respite from the eternal summer heat, can Tamsin find out who death is coming for and solve the riddle of Radcliffe?
Pre-order the ebook version here. Paperback version coming soon.
I’m super stoked to share the cover for my new novella Radcliffe coming out from Deadset Press later this year.
For more details about Radcliffe, go to Deadset Press.
Interview with ‘dark and weird’ writer, Alison Littlewood
‘History, folklore, ghosts and spooky things.’
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‘Plot beginnings and endings and pants it all the rest of the way.’
‘People back away when I say I’m a horror writer.’
My latest novel The Flower and The Serpent is now available in ebook on Amazon or Kindle Unlimited/Prime.
Madeleine D’Este definitely does creepy well.
reviewer
The book has elements of Stranger Things with fine character development and kids that feel like real kids.
reviewer
the novel is genuinely frightening at times, but the characters are never overshadowed by the horror.
reviewer
Mysterious disappearances, a battle for the spotlight and terrifying nightmares. It’s just another day at Beacon Hill High School.
Auditions for Macbeth are over, and on the bus ride home, a mysterious driver gives sixteen-year-old Violet and her friends’ three strange predictions:
One of the girls will shine like a star.
One will invite darkness into her breast.
One will depart forever.
Please, how cliché. Besides, Violet clearly knows that she’s the star.
But when she isn’t cast as Lady Macbeth and strange things begin to unfold, and the eerie predictions begin to come true, Violet can’t help to wonder which one will apply to her.
Determined to be the one that will shine like a star, Violet will do whatever it takes to get the leading role – no matter the horrifying consequence.
Modern-day Shakespeare meets supernatural mystery with this nail-biting young adult horror by Madeleine D’Este.
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
“I like to be scared when I’m writing.”
“Write about what scares you.”
“It’s a basic human drive to be creative.”
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Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
“I like grit and blood and meat in my work.”
“Too much structure hinders the creative process.”
“The first draft is work but also play.”
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Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
“A love letter to New England set at this beautiful house.”
“Juicy relationships set against a dark background.”
“Making every word pull its weight in a sentence.”
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Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
“I couldn’t write po-faced literature if I tried.”
“Coffee as black as possible. As nature intended.”
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Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
“It’s not sipping a glass of wine and staring out the window.”
“Thanks to Malbec for its contribution to this book”
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Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
First drafts, Tea and Exploring the Shadowy Places
“The one thing a story hates is a nit-picky writer”
“With a global community, there’s always someone around to hold your hand or kick you in the pants.”
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Today, an anthology of short stories inspired by HP Lovecraft all written by women. The collection is called She walks in Shadows edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R Stiles, published by Innsmouth Free Press in 2015.
HP Lovecraft is a founding father of the horror genre but he’s well known for his lack of female characters and his dubious perception of anyone who wasn’t of English descent.
For those unfamiliar with HP Lovecraft, his work is filled with dark, gory, lush imagery and his stories often focus on scientists uncovering the paranormal in the course of their experiments and the revelations drive them mad. Or family legends of inherited guilt. In his writings, he built a rich pantheon of mythology including the all powerful cosmic entity Cthulu. Lovecraft never experienced fame during his lifetime but has inspired many writers since.
This collection, by all female writers, takes the Lovecraft universe and focuses on, or reimagines, the role of women in his world. The writers are from all across the world, each bringing their own unique spin on Lovecraft.
Usually I find short story anthologies are a bit hit and miss, but when I went back to write this review and looked through all the stories I liked, I was surprised how many I really enjoyed.
In the past few months, I’ve fallen in love with Shirley Jackson and her creepy weird normality. Today it’s The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, a classic haunted house story, first published in 1959.
Stephen King described The Haunting of Hill House as one of the most important horror books of the 20th century and inspired The Shining. It has also been the basis for two films. And today, a new ‘reimagining’ via Netflix was announced.
Dr Montague, a paranormal academic researcher, rents a haunted house for a summer to undertake a research project. Hill House has a frightening reputation and history of hauntings after a series of tragic events in the house. The local townspeople won’t come anywhere near the place, and any one who rents the house barely stays a week. Determined to document the phenomenon, Dr Montague seeks out a few research assistants to join him at the house for the summer.
I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Evangeline and the Spiritualist – Episode 3 of The Antics of Evangeline. Available from today at Amazon.
A sarcophagus, séances and seed cake, Evangeline is back with another adventure.
Mrs Picklescott-Smythe’s mummy unwrapping soiree doesn’t quite go to plan, and for once it’s not Evangeline’s fault. 
Evangeline is a seventeen-year-old ex-urchin and aspiring world-famous inventress, recently resettled in Marvellous Melbourne with her long lost father, the Professor.
It’s the infamous spiritualist, Madame Zsoldas, who interrupts the party with a sinister warning and she is not the only who feels something strange.
Today it’s one of my all time favourite books, Anno Dracula by Kim Newman, first published in 1992 by Simon and Schuster. Alternative history with vampires!
In the world of Anno Dracula, Van Helsing lost and Dracula triumphed, killing Jonathan Harker and taking Mina Harker into his harem of vampire brides.
I still don’t have my writing process down pat. This has become bleeding obvious with my two most recent projects.
The Production – a high gothic YA novel – was a constant struggle, getting out 60k words was like passing a kidney stone. Whereas my current Nanowrimo project – The Ravens of Ambrovna: fantasy – is flowing out like maple syrup.
Last week’s freebie sale on Evangeline and the Alchemist: A Novella: Mystery and Mayhem in steampunk Melbourne (The Antics of Evangeline Book 1)
In the past week, I’ve been exploring my shadow side with my new gothic horror work and finalising proofs/cover for Evangeline and the Bunyip.
When I read informative information on how “optimise my author platform”, there is always a mention of a consistent blog content strategy. Mmm, well, big fail here. This blog and my blogging is awfully random. I’ve decided to go with my randomness and only blog when I feel inspired, which waxes and wanes.
Today is a little round-up (and not the noxious chemical) on what’s going on with me. Something new, something old and some classroom time.
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