​SLADE HOUSE by David Mitchell
Remarkably, this is the first David Mitchell book I’ve read, but it certainly won’t be the last. A surprisingly scary and disturbing piece of work, this short novel apparently inhabits the same world as The Bone Clocks, but you don’t need to have read that one in order to appreciate the madness here. We follow several different characters as they encounter the titular building for different reasons, each of them seven years apart. Naturally, everything goes great and they all have a lovely time. Cough. It’s a brilliantly effective ghost story which makes especially great use of POV shifts and perspective shifts in general. Loved it. (UK | US)

LOST GIRL by Adam Nevill
What I particularly admire about Adam Nevill is the sincerity and passion he pours into every sentence. You constantly feel the work, and the depth of imagination, which fuel his novels. And in a publishing industry where horror is the genre that dare not speak its name and generally veers towards restraint, Nevill seems happy to stay hardcore. While Lost Girl, with its more bookseller-friendly title and cover, might initially seem to mark an attempt to reach a broader audience, it’s the most brutal thing of his I’ve read, which is great. A near-future thriller about a father determined to find his abducted child, it painstakingly catalogues every scrap of hell the man wades through. Seriously bleak and deranged, it’s a gruelling experience and one I highly recommend. (UK | US)

​DAY FOUR by Sarah Lotz
This, as the title kinda suggests, is the sequel to 2014’s blockbuster novel The Three, which was a stone-cold killer of a supernatural thriller. This one is a different beast, in a good and intriguing way. Whereas The Three spanned the globe, charting the global response to three plane crashes in which only three children survived, this semi-sequel takes place aboard a cruise liner. Yes, Lotz is heartlessly and systematically amping up our fear levels about every form of public transport. Really hope she doesn’t next turn to my favourite, the train. The eerie atmosphere is strong with this one, which again hints at a massive overarching storyline working away, virtually behind the scenes. And like The Three, it suggests that humanity has more to fear from itself than any creepy kids. (UK | US)

ZER0ES by Chuck Wendig
Mr Chuck Wendig, the human word machine, The Wordinator, is a veteran practitioner of whip-crack prose that comes atcha like an automatic rifle. I’m a big fan of that style, which carries you effortlessly along with it, and Zer0es is a mighty cyber-thriller about five hackers funnelled into working for a shady government op in order to avoid prison. This evergreen premise provides a springboard into pleasingly unpredictable lashings of sci-fi, action and horror: Zer0es ends up being quite a different novel from the one it started out as, which I tend to enjoy. By the end, it has explored man’s relationship with machine in profoundly disquieting ways, while piling on a whole bunch of cinematic carnage, body-horror and strong, mouthy characters. A riot! (UK | US)

TOUCH by Claire North
North’s The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August was awash with mindboggling metaphysical magnificence, and Touch again showcases her uncanny knack for existential thrillers with a dash of horror. I already waxed lyrical about this book in my blog post earlier this year about offering a safe pair of hands as a writer, so I’ll just say that it’s about an entity, our narrator, which has the ability to jump from one human body to the next, commandeering each like a coldly calculating joyrider. The writing is once again superb and if you haven’t had the pleasure, you’re really missing out. (UK | US)

A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS by Paul Tremblay
Definitely the coolest title of the year, and Tremblay backs it up with one hell of a scary ride. I was always going to love this book, given that he and I seem to share reference points, like The Exorcist, John Carpenter’s The Thing and the found-footage aspect of The Blair Witch Project, as well as Mark Z Danielewski’s House Of Leaves. It’s the story of two young sisters, Marjorie and Meredith, one of who begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia (or possession?) and ultimately attracts a TV documentary crew to the family home. Marjorie and Meredith’s relationship is handled beautifully, as are the framing devices, but what really stayed with me were some of the most insidiously creepy ideas I’ve ever read in a novel. And Paul Tremblay looked like such a nice man, too. (UK | US)

THE DEATH HOUSE by Sarah Pinborough
I said these were in no particular order, and that’s true, but there’s no point denying that The Death House is my favourite novel of 2015. I put off reading it for a while, purely because the concept of a house where ill children go to die didn’t exactly sound like it would put a spring in my step. And God knows, this book is not full of knock-knock jokes. Pinborough handles death and illness here with much the same unflinching tough-love she employed in her excellent 2013 novella The Language Of Dying. Yet there’s such a beautiful flipside to The Death House: one which is all about savouring each moment to the full. I found myself entirely immersed, and tears escaped my battle-hardened head not once, not twice, but THRICE. Sweet Jesus. On the day I finished reading, I went down to Brighton beach and had a good, long, appreciative look at the sea. I can’t imagine that this unusual behaviour and reading The Death House were at all unconnected. Read it. (UK | US)

​I should add three things...
 
I’ve restricted myself to novels. If I hadn’t, then Stephen King’s The Bazaar Of Bad Dreams and Chuck Palahniuk’s Make Something Up – fine short-story collections which I’ve devoured over Christmas – would’ve entered the picture.
 
I’m not generally into straight sci fi or ‘other world’ fantasy, so books within those spheres tend to fall under my radar.
 
And like most people, I certainly didn’t read all the books I wanted to this year.  In fact, I was way off.  Just a few of the delights I’m still looking forward to absorbing are Tim Lebbon’s The Hunt and The Silence, Nathan Ballingrud’s The Visible Filth, Rob Boffard’s Tracer, James P Smythe's Way Down Dark, Adam Christopher's Made To Kill, Rebecca Levene's The Hunter's Kind, Mark Morris' Albion Fay, Stephen Volk's Leytonstone, Edward Cox’s splendidly-titled The Cathedral Of Known Things, Marlon James’ A Brief History Of Seven Killings, Gillian Flynn’s The Grown-Up and Stephen King’s Finders Keepers and Mr Mercedes. And I’ll wager there are plenty more I’ve momentarily forgotten about.
 
So which were your favourite novels released in 2015?  Lay 'em on me in comments. 

And hey, have you downloaded my free novelette Auto Rewind yet?  Get it here, in all ebook formats known to man or beast.

In January, I'll finally release a non-fiction book I've been working on for three years.  Titled 101 Writing Fears And How To Deal With Them, it aims to erase unhelpful fear from your writing life.

Around 2012, I asked Twitter folk for their biggest writing-related fears.  Even given that writers are famously prone to a dose of the terrors, I was still taken back by how many fears people shared with me, publicly or otherwise.  As you might have gathered, there were about 101 of them, and I set out to address each in the book.  When it came to areas where I didn't personally have enough experience or knowledge, I quizzed other people who did.

So here's Fear # 10 from the book...

“I’m dyslexic and several people have told me that means I can’t write.”

Obviously, I have no idea who these people are, but can assure you that they’re far more idiotic than they believe dyslexic folk to be.  Wow.  What a stupid thing to say.

Now, it would be ideal to start off by defining dyslexia, but it turns out that dyslexics are dyslexic in different ways.  There is no single, accepted definition of dyslexia.  Researchers use different definitions, as do the people who design the tests to screen for and diagnose dyslexia, although most agree there’s a phonological element: in other words, people’s awareness of the ‘sound structure’ of spoken words.

So dyslexia is basically an ‘umbrella’ term. There isn't even field-wide agreement on what the key areas of ‘dyslexic deficit’ are. Some people have short term memory issues, some have visual deficits (e.g. seeing words moving around or the letters in the wrong order), but equally some people describe this ‘letters in the wrong order’ business as part of a sequencing, rather than visual, deficit. In other words, even the professionals don't agree at a fundamental level about what dyslexia is.  As the British Dyslexia Association says, “Dyslexia is best thought of as a continuum, not a distinct category, and there are no clear cut-off points”.

Here are just some of the many successful writers who I believe are or were dyslexic: Agatha Christie, Hans Christian Andersen, Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams, A-Team creator Stephen Cannell, F Scott Fitzgerald, Edgar Allen Poe, novelist John Corrigan, fantasy author Terry Goodkind, award-winning poet Philip Schultz, mystery novelist Elizabeth Daniels Squire, poet William Butler Yeats... the list could take up this whole page, just like the lists of successful autistic writers and those with Asperger’s Syndrome.

Writer Clive Frayne has worked as an award-winning copywriter, as a movie/TV scriptwriter, freelance journalist and Scriptmag.com columnist.  “Not bad for a lad who can't spell ‘rhythm’, no matter how many times he tries to learn it!” he says.  “I only really figured out that I was dyslexic after I'd been working as a writer for 15 years.  It should have been more obvious, really, because my brother, my mother and my niece are all profoundly dyslexic. Me, I've got a much milder version of it, which means that despite writing everyday for more years than I care to mention, I still can't spell ‘desperately’ without having at least three or four runs at it. I also have the annoying habit of substituting one word for another.
All of which wouldn't be so bad if my dyslexia didn't make proof reading for errors a nightmare. In all of the time that I've been a writer, I don't think I've ever managed to submit a document without at least a couple of typos in it. Darn it.”

Author David Southwell has written many popular books on conspiracy theories and organised crime, as well as scripting various comics.  He pulls no punches when outlining his thoughts on dyslexia: “The condition is a problem whether you choose to write or not. It is neurological and until we reach a sci-fi future where alongside the jet packs, there’s also a nanite pill to tackle it, it going to be part of your life. You never overcome dyslexia. You outsmart it, outmanoeuvre it, but it is always there. As an author, words are my life and my living, but my dyslexia also makes them my battleground.

“The really good news,” he adds, “is that dyslexia has no impact on the strength of your imagination. On your ability to think of stories, create characters. To build whole worlds in your mind. Dyslexia does not rob you of core qualities that make you a writer such as a passion to tell stories, to use them to connect the amazing creations of your mind’s eye with others.”

“Your abilities to tell a story, understand a narrative, create relatable characters, and your abilities to format a sentence or be a great speller are completely unrelated,” asserts Mike Garley, the comics writer and editor behind the likes of Dead Roots and The Kill Screen.  “You just need a bit of self-awareness. I’ve never actually had any negativity about dyslexia. I think dyslexia is surprisingly common - including undiagnosed - and it’s not really a thing anymore. You and your ability to tell a story is what people are interested in.”

Clive Frayne even believes dyslexia has proven to be a distinct advantage when it comes to his written dialogue. “When I was in school, I always struggled with written work. I was bright, though, so I learned to pay much more attention to what people were saying. This has really worked for me as a writer. The fact that I had to learn language largely by listening to people, has meant that I developed a really good ear for the way people speak, as opposed to formal grammatical structures, which I have always struggled with. My writing has always had a conversational style and I've always felt that sensibility came from my odd relationship with language. Funnily enough, it’s a really useful trait if you want to write for radio or film. Actually, I'd argue that writing with its own unique voice is pretty much always a more interesting read than a dry, grammatically correct piece of prose.”

Technology is also at hand to help writers.  “I use Final Draft,” says Mike, “which ‘speaks’ your script to you, which is great for spotting mistakes.  I also have some trusted colleagues who kindly look over bits and pieces for me.”

“About seven years ago,” says Clive, “when I finally figured out what was happening, that I was dyslexic, I made a real effort to iron out the worst excesses of it, and discovered that I'd learnt how to spell specific words by the shape they make on the keyboard. I’m so glad I learnt to touch type! This means that on a keyboard my spelling is about 90% better than when I pick up a pen. If I use a word often enough the shape and rhythm it makes on the keyboard is how I know how to write it. Ask me to spell the same word and I'm lost, ask me to type it and I'm fine.

“The truth of the matter,” he goes on, “is I don't find writing that difficult. Yes, I substitute words, yes, I often have to have five or six goes at spelling quite basic words... but I'm used to that. And, I compensate by being able to type pretty quickly. The real struggle for me is proof reading documents. Proof reading is a bitch. I don't think I've ever sent out a document without typos in it, and I obsessively read and re-read documents over and over again. What I have discovered is that I can spot errors when a page is printed out, that I miss when I'm reading from the screen. But even reading and correcting stuff six or seven times, then printing it out, re-reading it another six or seven times, still won't let me catch all the errors... maddening.”

The consensus, then, is that dyslexia will provide additional challenges for you as a writer, but is categorically not an impassable barrier between you and a career.

“Dyslexia will make writing professionally harder because it makes reading harder and to be a good a writer you need to read a lot,” says David Southwell.  “Dyslexia will also make the actual translating of your imagination into text harder as it makes writing harder. Words mean very specific things and 'hard' in this case does not mean 'impossible'. There are a range of strategies to adopt to tackle the problems it causes, from collaboration to the medium you choose to work in, but dyslexia should not stop you from being a writer.”

“Basically,” concludes Clive, “I don't think that dyslexia is the worst condition a creative writer can suffer from. It may seriously hinder your chances of being either an English Teacher or a pedant, but it shouldn't get in the way of creative writing. That's because, in my opinion, great writing is really about expressing interesting ideas and a fascination with telling stories. The skills you need to do that have very little to do with either spelling or the niceties ― a bugger of a word to spell ― of grammar. That's not to say that you don't need a feel for language, or even a love of writing. But, those aren't dyslexic issues.”

So. The next time someone insists that you can’t be a writer with dyslexia, ask them to read this.  Provided they can read, of course...

Thanks very much indeed to Clive Frayne, David Southwell and Mike Garley, for their tremendous help with this segment of the book.

As well as addressing every dread under the sun,  101 Writing Fears And How To Deal With Them features Q&As about fear with various writers, including Graham Linehan, Lisa Jewell, Toby Whithouse, Sarah Pinborough and Neil Cross.  All things considered, this thing will tie in very nicely with any writer's New Year's resolutions.

If you'd like to pre-order the ebook, you can do so for £2.99, which is half the planned price, for a limited time.  Order easily via PayPal and when the book is released I'll whisk it to your PayPal-registered email address in a handy triple-pack of ePub, Kindle and PDF formats.  If you're a book blogger and would like a review copy, drop me a line.  Good day to YOU.

Ho ho ho!  My new novelette Auto Rewind is now available to one and all, and it won't cost you a penny, a cent or whatever your tiniest unit of currency happens to be.

Yes, to celebrate the March 2016 release of my Orbit Books novel The Last Days Of Jack Sparks, I'm giving away short stories, every couple of months.  Auto Rewind is the first.  Set at Christmas, it's a dark thriller awash with 80s iconography, psychological horror and nail guns.

Stephen Skipp loves his mother, who he thinks is “really old” at the age of 27. They have a great time in their London home, renting films on VHS and watching TV, even if Stephen can hardly ever get her to watch Doctor Who on Saturday nights.

If their life is so very ordinary, though, then why is a dead body slumped in the corner of their living room – and another in the downstairs toilet?

Here's where to get Auto Rewind for free RIGHT NOW:

iBooks (epub): Grab it in your local iBooks store

Nook/Barnes & Noble (epub): UK | US

Kobo (epub): UK | US | CA

Smashwords (all formats incl Kindle): Click here

Inktera (epub): Click here

Scribd: Click here

Any problems with links, downloads etc? Let me know.

Enjoy!  Well, hopefully you will.  And if you're suitably moved, you might consider helping me out in one of three ways:

• Spread the word, either by quacking on social media, recommending the book to friends or leaving a review at your favourite retailer. All that stuff is so very helpful.
• Support me over at Patreon: the site which allows people to make a recurring pledge for each new thing a creator makes, starting at $1 per thing. In return, pledgers get exclusive perks. James Moran and I made a ludicrous two-minute pledge video over there for all to see.
• Whack me over some cold hard e-cash, via PayPal!

Needless to say, none of the above kind actions are in any way obligatory.  Auto Rewind is a free book, and I want you to have fun with it.  If fun's quite the right word.  Merrrrrry Christmas!

Want to interview me for your website?  Contact me here.

Wondering who designed that lovely cover?  It was Caroline Fish, whose site Mad Old Cat Lady you must visit.

(With thanks to this Tools For Authors page.)