MY NEW BOOK! 'WYRD AND OTHER DERELICTIONS'.

By 2015, after researching my novel, ‘Lost Girl’, for a few years, I began, increasingly, to imagine a world without us in it (someone has to). ‘Lost Girl’ is about the consequences of runaway climate change, twinned with all kinds of other global catastrophes (including zoonotic spillovers from endangered ecologies & species).
Partly as a consequence of this preoccupation with extinction, I wrote a weird tale without characters, ‘Hippocampus’. Over the next few years, I then wrote another six of these “Derelictions”. Five of the stories I kept back for a planned themed collection, dedicated to the aesthetic of dereliction.
I collected all seven stories into my third collection of horror stories: ‘Wyrd and Other Derelictions’. And the book was published Halloween 2020, through my own imprint again: Ritual Limited.

Wyrdly, by 2020, this approach to horror stories, the very aesthetic of emptiness, no longer feels so strange. These “Derelictions”, uncannily, seem to have come into their own.
Folks who subscribe to my newsletter know all about the book. Some advanced reader copies have also landed with reviewers and kindly been shared in SM. So, it’s time I gave a heads-up about this new book on here too.

Wyrd has since been published internationally, in four formats: a high-spec’ limited edition hardback, trade paperback, eBook and audio-book.

The hardback is only available from my webstore and I have three copies from the 400 copy print run remaining; subscribers of my newsletter tend to order all of the hardbacks within a few weeks of presales starting (over 200 in the first 24 hours on Wyrd). The paperback, eBook & audio book are available at Amazon (ebook only available at Amazon and also included in Kindle Unlimited). If you want to collect future limited edition hardbacks, sign up. Once the hardbacks have gone, I sell the signed paperback edition.

The original cover artwork – the parasite – was created again by the marvellous Samuel Araya. Sam created the cover for ‘The Reddening’ too. I’ve also used the same team of freelancers and printers to create the three editions and Journalstone are producing the audio book. Lot of work from a lot of people on a long critical path.

Wyrd’ was ready to go at April’s Stokercon, but the pestilence fell. So, way back in March, I let subscribers of my newsletter choose a publication date and the majority opted for Halloween. So, that’s when it appeared in the world. The right season for us in horror.

It’s the kind of book I started my imprint for and I salute all in advance who embrace these unpopulated tales.

From the cover:
“Derelictions are horror stories told in ways you may not have encountered before.
Something is missing from the silent places and worlds inside these stories. Something has been removed, taken flight, or been destroyed. Us.
Derelictions are weird tales that tell of aftermaths and of new and liminal places. Each location has witnessed catastrophe, infernal visitations, or unearthly transformations. But across these landscapes of murder, genocide and invasion, crucial evidence remains. And it is the task of the reader to sift through ruin and ponder the residual enigma, to behold and wonder at the full horror that was visited upon mankind.
Wyrd contains seven derelictions, original tales of mystery and horror from the author of ‘Hasty for the Dark’ and ‘Some Will Not Sleep’ (winner of The British Fantasy Award for Best Collection).”

And I can tell you what the early reviewers thought of this most unusual horror collection too – I thank and salute them all with both horns!:

“WYRD and Other Derelictions is an inventive, fresh concept . . . I’m recommending it for horror fans who love getting sucked into elaborate exposition and world-building supplied with vivid imagery.” Cemetery Dance

“Recommended reading for any serious horror fan or for speculative fiction aficionados who crave intelligence in their weirdness.” Monster Librarian

“The imagery created is sublime and unsettling; symmetrically arranged stones, dimly lit rooms, buildings full of the dead … The power of suggestion has rarely been so effectively deployed.” Dark Musings

“Nevill guides us through ruined landscapes and describes the aftermath . . . Nevill then leaves it to the reader to piece together what happened. Each of these derelictions left me unsettled and I couldn’t put the collection down. 5 Stars.” Deadhead Reviews

“I thought it was terrific . . . Nevill’s already unmatchable back catalogue just got stronger, with many more shades of sinister.” Ginger Nuts of Horror

“I can’t recommend this collection of stories enough. This is experimental literary horror and the experiment has exceeded all expectations. Read this and enjoy the horrific scenes Nevill has laid out for you.” Horror Bound

“Quick, short blasts of nightmarish descriptions. Each of the stories details a scene that the reader seemingly stumbles upon . . . Completely unsettling.” Kendall Reviews

“If you need a bit of creepiness, if you want to travel a world essentially alone, if you want to experience the aftermath, then read this. 5 stars.” Sleepy Librarian

“I think that the first story in this book easily gets filed in my “scariest stories” section in my brain.

I give this book five huge stars.” Page and Parlour (Nightworms)

“This collection of short stories is unlike anything you have read before.” Gowsy (Nightworms)

“Unique, experimental, and majorly creepy.” She Reads With Cats (Nightworms)

“An ominous tour! Walking through these spaces where very bad things happened was so chilling yet so interesting. 5 Stars.” Marcy Reads (Nightworms)

“You are intrigued, you are disturbed, and you’re not quite sure what is going on . . . Each has at least one scene (usually the ending) that will haunt me for a long time. 5 Stars.” Reading Vicariously (Nightworms)

“Nevill manages to impose horror without even having a narrator or a dialog. Hell, there are not even ‘people’ here. Just the suggestion of the worst that happened at a moment in time. Think Polaroids of crime scenes with a supernatural twist and the reader floating around, inspecting, exploring, experiencing, reliving the moments.” Undead dad Reads (Nightworms)

“The first story gave me goosebumps and utterly creeped me out and that feeling remained for the rest of the book. I’d recommend Wyrd, but with two caveats: 1) be ready for nightmares 2) go slow… these stories deserve to linger. 5 Stars.” Reads With Dogs (Nightworms)

“This is an entirely unique collection of short stories! I would liken these stories to found footage horror films where you see events unfolding in real time. You don’t get closure as to why and how the events occur, nor what happens next.” Read By Dusk (Nightworms)

“Every story left me pondering what madness and terror had unfolded beforehand, long after I had finished each one. As always with Adam’s novels and short fiction, I was instantly drawn in and smothered (comforted?) by a big warm blanket of dread.” CJH Reads (Nightworms)

“The book strikes at the heart of everyone’s fears – the threat of the unknown. Of being wiped out of existence by the supernatural or powers beyond our control.” Sams Bookverse

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