Going for Number 1

I am stunned.

MAGENTA SHAMAN and MAGENTA SHAMAN STONES THE CROW have only been free to download from all Amazon platforms for a couple of days, and already both are alternating at top first and second positions in the Free Kindle Horror Bestsellers list, adjacent to horror master James Herbert in the paid lists, no less!

They're not quite there in the .com US charts but have still had lots of interest. To date, both books - short novellas that chart the terrifying journeys of Brighton-based, natural-born shaman Maggie Sweeney - have been downloaded over 2,500 times! That's across the US/Canada, UK, Germany and Spain.

I am so grateful to everyone that has picked up copies and hope you enjoy them. Your reviews and comments are very welcome.

All the best.

Lily/x

Download the MAGENTA SHAMAN stories for FREE!

Forewarned is forearmed... both MAGENTA SHAMAN and  MAGENTA SHAMAN STONES THE CROW will be **FREE** to download to your Kindle or Kindle app from tomorrow 4th September, right through to Saturday 8th.

Dark, urban fantasy woven with mild horror these short novellas introduce Brighton's natural-born shaman, Maggie Sweeney and follow her astral journeys to cursed lands and demon-infested pits.

Walk with Magenta as she gathers plants and poisons to use in battle; suffer with her as she faces death - again and again.

Sometimes it's not the supernatural you should watch out for, it's the devils on your own doorstep...

Free from tomorrow but more info - including a peek at the opening pages - at: Amazon UK  and Amazon US/Canada

MAGENTA SHAMAN STONES THE CROW *Free* over Easter

I've just pressed the button. MAGENTA SHAMAN STONES THE CROW will be FREE to download over the entire Easter weekend!

Yes, starting tomorrow, Friday 6th April I am giving away the second novella in the Magenta Shaman series. Magic, horror, dark urban fantasy and *love* - yes *love* - all yours for nothing, zilch.

To 'Look Inside', download a sample or read a 5* review written by the wonderful Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw nip over to Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk and get your freebie finger ready for the long weekend.

And if you missed out on the first, even shorter novella in the series and want to catch up, Magenta Shaman is only 99p/$1.55 right now. At just under 7,000 words - you'll read it in a heartbeat. Download it from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

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The Magenta Shaman series is (c) Lily Childs and published by Ganglion Press

News - GANGLION PRESS

Friend, best-selling author of the Joe Hunter crime thrillers, and Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers Ed. Matt Hilton said "Check this out for top horror and crime fiction from Lily Childs and Col Bury http://www.ganglionpress.co.uk/"

OK - so the cat's out of the bag :-) I'd better come clean.

It's true. I've started up a new small press GANGLION PRESS, ostensibly as a platform to publish my own e-books. But I'm very proud that Col Bury has joined me at Ganglion to relaunch his gritty crime collection MANCHESTER 6.

We have plans to publish future e-books, as well as further collections and anthologies, and may have a few other writers on board shortly too. The long-term plan is to also publish and sell my husband's esoteric artwork (he did the Magenta Shaman covers too) and run some exhibitions and events.

In the meantime the site is slowly coming together, though WordPress is not treating me as kindly as I'd like! And I need to set up Ganglion's Facebook, Twitter and other accounts plus a Mailing List - sooner rather than later.

But there you are. Feel free to pop on over to www.ganglionpress.co.uk to see what we're up to. I'll be shouting it from the rooftops soon enough. No, make that... howl.

Houska Castle - on TV (UK) December 2nd at 11am

Houska Castle (c) http://www.hradhouska.cz 

For readers in the UK that have bought or plan to buy Magenta Shaman Stones The Crow, you may be interested to watch or Sky+ the episode of Ghost Hunters International that features Houska Castle - the setting for Magenta's terrifying journey.

Tthe episode is being repeated at 11am tomorrow, Friday 2nd December on Sky Livingit (channel 122) then again at 12 noon on Sky Livingit+1 (channel 123).

Regardless of what one thinks of these type of programmes (believe me, I'm a cynic) I did find Houska Castle in Blatce near Prague incredibly eerie. I've done a lot of research around it and it has a very strange and disturbing history stretching back to the Bronze Age.

The question is - was the present 13th century Bohemian building constructed to protect the people from the demonic creatures that allegedly dwell beneath its floors, in the legendary bottomless pit known as The Gates of Hell?

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For more photos and history of Houska Castle visit the owner's website at http://www.hradhouska.cz. Google Chrome will translate from Czech to English. for you.

Magenta Shaman Stones The Crow - Out Now!

I promised; I kept you waiting... but finally here it is - the second novella in the Magenta Shaman series, Magenta Shaman Stones The Crow.

Book Description:

Natural born shaman, Magenta Sweeney is torn from the comfort of England's green coast and sent on a terrifying trance journey by the very guides and guardians that claim to protect her. This time she must do as she is told. This time – she has no choice.

In Magenta Shaman Stones The Crow Maggie finds herself eight hundred miles from home, wandering the Bohemian forests of the Czech Republic in a final, desperate attempt to rescue the father she'd long believed dead.

As the bleak stone walls of ancient Houska Castle loom through the trees the shaman must prepare herself as never before.

And when the Gates of Hell open to invite Magenta in, she is forced to make a decision – one that could be her last.

Book cover (c) Laurence Ranger and Lily Childs

Download Magenta Shaman Stones The Crow now from:

Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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Feedback... and would you write a review?

I would love to receive your feedback on Magenta Shaman Stones The Crow. Do leave your comments below - and if you would be prepared to write a review for Amazon or Goodreads, that would be wonderful (and helps others to decide whether to buy the book).

I am so grateful for your thoughts - as always.

Coming Soon on Other Devices

I hope to publish both Magenta Shaman and Magenta Shaman Stones The Crow through Smashwords in the next few weeks. This will allow you to download it in other forms (including PDF) to PC, Mac, Nook, e-readers, i-Phones/Pads, Android phones and more.

The books will be available through Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Sony and the Apple Store.

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What's Going On? I'll Tell Ya!

I've read so much great fiction these last couple of weeks it feels like there's a literary fest going on in my head.

Here's a little catch up on my and others' news:

• First things first. Hip, hip! I have finished the final draft of Magenta Shaman Stones The Crow. I'm just waiting for the cover to be completed and intend publishing it on Amazon by the end of next week.
  
  Twice as long as the first story in the Magenta Shaman novella series, this tale finds the shaman thrown to The Gates of Hell in the realms between modern and ancient Prague. Here's a little excerpt to tease...
  
  
  Heavy clouds sped across a waxing moon. At least the magnetic pull was on their side. Magenta hated journeying during the waning period – the closer to the dark moon the more difficult the trip. She lay back on the ground, Tom’s arms clasped around her from behind. To use her meditation cave to enter the trance was a first for Maggie but the protection she had built up in the chalk cavity over the years meant she’d be grounded; that nothing but she, Tom and her ethereal messengers could enter or leave the sacred place.
  
  
  A small fire flickered at Magenta’s feet, throwing light around the small space. Mugwort smouldered with sticky frankincense in a brass dish on one of the coals. Maggie had chosen the mildly noxious herb because of its dream recollection properties. She had returned from the previous Houska experience humming with nausea and grief – knowing she’d fought and lost to a demon more ancient, more vicious than any she had battled before – knowing her father Sam had been swallowed into the depths and killed – yet Magenta had no memory of it. The demon, if it were even that, had wiped her head of all but the emotions associated with the event. If her body hadn’t been covered with storm-bloom bruises that swelled and dissipated within thirty minutes of her return, then the emotions were the only residual evidence of the day Samuel French had died.
  
  
  Unlike the journey four years before, Maggie had prepared herself better this time. Her former, unfounded confidence had taught her a lesson and she was taking no chances. A thick line of salt made a circle around the couple, its crystalline make-up flecked with crumbled myrrh to protect the cave and its inhabitants.
  
  
  “Are you ready?”
  
  
  Tom stared down at his wife; her breathing had shallowed almost to nothing. She opened her lips. Tom took a laurel leaf and slipped it beneath Magenta’s tongue. As soon as he felt her weight shift, the flames at her feet died down and he sighed as his wife’s spirit evanesced into the shadows.
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  Not read Magenta Shaman, the first story yet? Grab it from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
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• 
  The UK's Writing Magazine recently commissioned me to write a couple of articles on why e-publishing was right for me, and a 'How To' on preparing and uploading your manuscript to Amazon using Kindle Direct Publishing.
  
  The articles have both been published in the latest, December issue of the Magazine. You can buy it from WH Smith and can also subscribe.
  
  I also recommend Writing Magazine's online forum Talkback; I joined in 2009 and - it sounds trite - but it has opened so many doors, and I have 'met' some wonderful writers and editors, including Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers Col Bury. And we know what THAT led to! ;-)


• And talking of Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers - as you know, I'm now hanging out as Horror Editor in its dark passages and am currently hosting a week-long Hellicious Halloween showcase.
  
  Thirteen stories from twelve excellent writers including Predictioneers Chris Allinotte, Phil Ambler, Erin Cole, Sean Patrick Reardon, Dorothy Davies (our Antonia) and our new and inimitable Absolutely*Kate. Plus more brilliant stories from J. Bramwell Slater, Harris Tobias, Keith Gingell, Patricia Abbott, Gill Hoffs and Kevin G. Bufton.
  
  Here's the line-up. Do give your feedback and support. Thank you.


• 
  Continuing the theme of TKnC, I simply have to recommend the new e-book by fellow editor Col Bury 'Manchester 6'.
  
  This collection of "Six Gritty Crime Stories" is a must-have. You can download it from Amazon.co.uk for just 86p (bargain!!!) It's also available from Amazon.com and in other formats - see Col's blog for more details.


• Finally, I was highly delighted to discover my Pentacle Drummers mate, the Big Man Draven - who has already drummed in Dizzee Rascal's Dirtee Cash video, also performed in Florence & The Machine's Dogs Days Video! How I missed him, I'll never know. Go Greg!!!
  
  I'm a big Flo fan. Her new album Ceremonials was dropped into my hands this very morning. Dropping it into my ears now...