Newt's Nightmares #91
Newt's Nightmares provides subscribers with news on the author's latest work, upcoming releases, and events.
Newt's Nightmares
I am writing to you from my desktop PC. Usually this newsletter would be written on my laptop, but that’s been left in smouldering ruins, a victim of the relentless English sun. Yes, you read that right - English sun. No, the world hasn't gone mad. Well, not more than usual. Just like its owner, my trusty tech shuns the sun's rays, wilting faster than a vampire on a beach holiday.
Newton’s Macabre Tales are back! The first new audiobook is scheduled for release on the 19th. The Black Widow is a never before seen piece of flash fiction to kick of the season with a shudder. There are eight episodes scheduled this season, with more in 2024. Expect to see free audiobooks of the following Newton Webb original horror stories:
2023 Audiobooks:
The Black Widow, 12 Minutes, The Enigmatic Skeleton, The Wine Cellar, The Road Revenant, Trev Rides Forth, The Beast of Glenmara and Blade of the Blood God.
Do you have any favourite stories from the Newt that you’d like to hear performed? If so, reply to this email and let me know.
New Releases
Behind the Scenes
Book Recommendations
Free Horror Stories
Upcoming Releases
Unsubscribe (at the bottom of the email)
New Releases
Coming up this month:
12th July ‘The Blood Eagle’ free novella.
19th July ‘The Black Widow’ free audiobook.
26th July ‘The Green Man’ free short story.
Behind the Scenes
The Green Man
Two brothers find themselves trapped in a chilling drama of survival and betrayal. Set in a hauntingly barren Sherwood Forest.
Status: Ready for release.
I really enjoyed writing this one. It’s got a more surrealist feel to it. I always enjoyed my childhood trips to Sherwood, exploring the bleak beauty of the forest and imagining what it was like in the 11th century. You know how Sherwood used to be filled with merry men? Well, not in this story.
The Beast of Glenmara
Set in the bleak landscapes of the Outer Hebrides in the 16th Century, The Beast of Glenmara charts the tragic tale of shunned laird's daughter, Elspeth. An outcast in her own village because of her disfigurement, Elspeth is engulfed in family secrets and myths.
Status: Ready for release.
16th century Scotland, the outer Hebrides. Isolation, ignorance, fear and prejudice make you wonder who are the real monsters? A tale of castles, family secrets, crashing sea and highland cattle (complete with boy band haircuts).
The Blood Eagle
HS2, ancient woodland, and long forgotten crypts. Some secrets are best left buried.
Status: Ready for release.
Brace yourselves. It is a long, but intense story. It required little in the way of redrafting, which is always good! I was pleased to find it just flowed from the keyboard to the page.
A Chemical Connection
LSD, accountancy, rock music, 70s fashion crimes, and of course, the sweet embrace of death.
Status: Dungeoned
Ah, I’m struggling with this one. I love the story, but the shared thought processes are doing my head in. I just can’t nail that final chapter. It is driving me nuts! For now, I have banished it to the dungeon. It joins my other stories that are awaiting a fresh perspective.
Darius the Dazzler
The roaring twenties New York, glamour, stage magicians, cursed contracts and of course, murder.
Status: First Draft in progress
Early days and about as raw and unrefined as a prohibition-era bathtub gin, but fear not, dear reader. This tale will soon be as polished as a flapper's dance shoes.
But Newt? Your American accent is ghastly. Some would say it is borderline xenophobic. Don’t panic, I promise to spare you the horror of listening to me perform the audiobook for this one. I know you all come here expecting to be terrified, but there are limits for even hardened horror fans like yourselves.
Book Recommendations
Ah, the joy of freebies. Deaks has been kind enough to unleash upon the world a sequel to 'The Late Client'. It's called 'Derek’s Book' and it's got the official Newton seal of approval - a dubious honour, but an honour nonetheless.
This delightful tale weaves together threads of melancholy and wit, sprinkled with a good dose of creeping horror. Both 'Derek’s Book' and 'The Late Client' are available to read for the grand price of absolutely nothing.
Nothing says "I care" quite like providing you with a few sleepless nights, free of charge. Enjoy.
Free Horror Stories
Horror Story Compilations
Supernatural Mystery and Suspense: 75 horror stories, including 'Tales of the Macabre, Vol. 1', 'The Black Fog', and 'The Horror at Hargrave Hall'.
Recommended Stories
The Seeker of Solace, by Troy Young, free on Kindle Unlimited or available to purchase.
“Get up, scum. Time to die.”
The gallows await notorious outlaw Orlan Bazhaev in a small backwater town on a Neg world until a Frontier Marshal intervenes and spares his life. The price for this freedom? He has to hunt down his former gang and kill his mentor.
Orlan hunts the gang systematically, using his intimate knowledge of them to his advantage, all the while struggling with his choice. Ready to leave this murderous life behind, he questions if he deserves to return to civilized life.
Filled with action, aliens, and intrigue, The Seeker of Solace is escapist science fiction at its best. Are you looking for a quick read you can consume in a day, something to take you away to distant planets and leave your worries behind? You love this at times brutal and other times introspective tale of a hardened criminal who wants to change and become a better man. Delve into his journey.
Sombre Stroll: Five Horror Stories, by Mark Tullius, free to download.
In this short story collection you'll find yourself:
An overworked father trying to protect his son.
An injured construction worker questioning reality.
A sensitive teenage girl watching a mixed martial arts battle to the death.
An aging DJ granting a sick girl’s glorious last wish.
The fifth and final tale is a shocking jaunt through the author’s mind, full of juicy revelations and admissions.
These bizarre and bloody tales will leave you begging for more.
The Red Scowl, by European P. Douglas, available to purchase.
The Black Death is approaching... but is there something more fearful in the forest outside the village?
Outside an isolated forest community, by the forbidden cursed 'Red Scowl', tracks are discovered that resemble no known animal. Fearful of getting in trouble with the village leader, Mor and Beathan keep this discovery to themselves.
Soon, however, Mor grows more alarmed as news of a great pestilence arrives and he wonders if these two things are somehow linked. He wants to speak up -- just as he wanted to speak up when a woman he loved from afar was burned as a witch --- but Mor is a simple man, and the more cunning Beathan keeps him quiet.
Storms, murder, a witch hunt, old secrets and something monstrous in the mist follow, before a stranger comes to the village.
The Haunting of Whitehall Manor, by L.V. Pires, free on Kindle Unlimited or available to purchase.
Thirty-three-year-old Anne Towry is a woman who knows little about herself and even less about her family. Sent away from Whitehall Manor when she was only ten years old, Anne struggles to make sense of her life. When she receives an urgent phone call from a Dr. Cornish informing her that her mother, Seraphine, has gone missing, Anne returns to her childhood home in an attempt to figure out what went wrong.
Arriving at Whitehall Manor changes everything for Anne. The longer she stays, the more immersed she becomes in the haunting beauty of the Marigold Garden. When she finds Seraphine’s journal she is shocked as page after page reveals bone-chilling confessions including a retelling of the night her family was changed forever. Unraveling the truth comes with a price when the true terror of a decade’s old family secret threatens to pull Anne deeper into the horror of the Towry family curse.
The Deadened, by D.E. Chapman, free on Kindle Unlimited or available to purchase.
The du Sang brothers have finally gotten their mate back, but she's not the same omega she was before. She's broken, scarred, and mute.
Now the hunt is on for her kidnapper, but without any significant leads, it's dead end after dead end. Surprisingly, it's their father who hands them to key to their mother's ruin, kickstarting the next phase in their plan.
It just so happens that their mate's abductor isn't thrilled about this plan of theirs, and makes it clear they need to stop before their omega pays with her life. Most alphas would call a ceasefire to protect their mates.
But no one ever said the du Sangs were sane.
Upcoming
July:
‘The Blood Eagle’. Who knew construction work could be so... lethal?
‘The Green Man’. Two brothers find themselves trapped in a chilling drama of survival and betrayal. Set in a hauntingly barren Sherwood Forest.
August:
‘The Beast of Glenmara’. The tragic tale of shunned laird's daughter, Elspeth. An outcast in her own village, Elspeth is engulfed in family secrets and occultism.
‘Darius the Dazzler’. New York in the roaring twenties. Glamour, stage magicians, cursed contracts and of course, murder.
September:
'Tales of the Macabre, Vol. 2' is released. Because one volume of terror just wasn't enough. (Note my primary line editor has a fractured spine and fractured wrist… so this might be pushed back.)
Newton Webb Bibliography
Available on Amazon
Collected Works
Contemporary
2022 – The Heir Apparent, Novella
2018 – The Morrígan, Novella
2017 – Nestor Lynch, Novel
2013 – Festival of The Damned, Novella
2012 – The Platinum Service, Novella
Historical
1958 – The Black Fog, Short Story
1864 – Smoke in the Sewers, Novella
1832 – The Horror at Hargrave Hall, Novella
1818 – The Ballad of Barnacle Bill, Novella
1194 – Hunted, Short Story
Read a collection of free short stories by Newton Webb on his website.