William Cook

The Devil and his Muses by Frank Walls The following poem was published in artist Frank Walls’s art book, The Order of the Black Triangle (link at the bottom of the page). It accompanies this amazing painting (above) by Frank Walls. DCLXVI Call me what you will, for I am he who they call Baphomet, Beelzebub, Satan, Lucifer, et al. They say I am evil incarnate — the profane one who fell But I am merely the sum of my muses Whose sins feed my freedom from above So below, my flock gathers to kiss my cloak And blaspheme and swear to me their pathetic, deathless love See Lilith twisting in the gloomy mire, her ashen flesh alluring She was my first tainted muse, fraught with every indiscretion She has since lured many with her sacred carrion call And a multitude of golden sins from now unto the ancient days When I, as Baal, roamed bloody Carthage streets with Tanit at my side Then on to Gehenna and Phoenicia, fat on the souls of slain brats Rivers of virginal blood scarred the earth Tributar...

My new collection, Halloween Horrors: Selected Short Tales of Dark Psychological Horror , is now available. This trio of stories deals with love, guilt, and madness colliding at the darkest time of year — when the masks come off and the real monsters are revealed. Each story takes place in and around Halloween and explores the fragility of sanity when fear, grief, and obsession begin to feed on each other. An elderly widower prepares a deadly Halloween treat for the boys who tormented him and his late wife. A child appears on a suburban doorstep, clutching a jar full of living nightmares. A desperate addict sets off a chain of horrors that summons something he can’t control. These are dark, violent, and psychologically raw stories — horror stripped to its nerve endings. Halloween Horrors is available in a Kindle edition via the links below: Amazon (U.S.) Amazon (U.K.) Of course, this digital edition will also be available at most other online book retailers.  Thanks to...

I'm thrilled to announce that Blood Related , my debut novel, now has a striking new cover design that perfectly captures the haunting essence of this dark psychological thriller . Are you ready for a bone-chilling plunge into the depths of a psychopath’s twisted mind? Brace yourself for an unrelenting psychological thriller that will leave you gasping for breath.  Step into the shoes of tough-as-nails Detective Ray Truman as he embarks on an intense battle with his own demons while tracking down a family of prolific serial killers. Set in the grim underbelly of the Portvale industrial district, Truman finds himself facing a series of headless corpses, their bodies grotesquely mutilated and arranged with sinister purpose. Truman, who knows the identity of the killer, becomes increasingly frustrated as the evidence needed for a conviction eludes him.  Faced with the imminent threat of the killer expanding his reign of terror, Truman takes matters into his own hands, venturing o...

You are going to love this interview with Dan! I’ve been following his career since he first broke onto the indie scene back in 2014, with the publication of his dark Vampire Horror novel: Storberry. Over the course of three years, he continued to make waves as an Indie Horror author, publishing a succession of well-received Horror novels and novellas. In 2017/2018, Dan took the plunge and re-emerged as a prolific writer of dark Serial-Killer Thrillers with the introduction of his Scarlett Bell series – followed soon after with the Darkwater Cove, Logan and Scarlett, and Wolf Lake series. With the popularity and success of his thriller books, Dan was able to commit full-time to writing as a career in 2021, retiring from his previous career as a Meteorologist. With over 40 novels and novellas to his name, and no sign of him slowing down any time soon, I talk to Dan about his writing process and how he measures success as an indie author. Without further ado, here is t...

Greetings. This post marks the end of three months of writing, editing, and formatting a new collection that brings together old and new stories. Psychological Horror Stories: A Collection of Psychological Horror Fiction for Adults is a 364 page collection of my best psychological horror stories. The collection is the omnibus edition of a 4-volume series and all covers are illustrated by artist and author, Jeffrey Kosh (see right sidebar for link). Some of the stories are from previous s eries, Serial Killer Thrillers , which have been rewritten/edited and are now included as part of this series ( Serial Killer Thrillers is still available as a single-volume) print/kindle edition collection). Psychological Horror Stories: A Collection of Psychological Horror Fiction for Adults Psychological Horror Stories: A Collection of Psychological Horror Fiction for Adults   is a collection of dark tales that deal with the horror inherent in the human psyche. Sometimes supernatural or macabre...

Hi all - as you may or may not have noticed I have not been posting much lately. Largely due to the completion of my Masters thesis, my fiction writing and posts have been on hiatus. Now, I am back but this time I thought I'd try something a bit different by opening up my site to some fellow authors. The first guest post I present to you is from fellow countryman and all-around good guy, Dan Rabarts. Dan is a writer of the dark stuff along with excursions into fantasy and further afield. Here he offers us an interesting perspective on his recent work as it relates to possible sources and origins of inspiration, found in the locale and characteristic anomalies of life in New Zealand. If interested, I myself discuss the 'dark' aspects of New Zealand literature here in a recent interview with fellow writer and Dan's co-author, Lee Murray. Give the below article a read and check out Dan's books via the links - you won't be sorry, he really is the real-deal and h...

This story recently won 'Runner-Up' in the P a rlor of Horror's 2016 short fiction awards and is also part of my collection 'Dreams of Thanatos' - now available to all new subscribers for free - click on the image at the end of this post to download your copy. Dead Memories 1. I had a dream on the anniversary of her death. In the dream, I heard her unmistakable voice calling me, then I saw her and she was so real, I could almost touch her again. Everything about her hit me deep in the chest, I sat bolt upright in our big empty bed. My breath gasped, sweat beaded itself on my cold skin. I could still hear her voice in the dark. I rationalized there were only two possible reasons why I could hear such a thing. I was either hallucinating, or what I heard was her ghost whispering in my ear. Then she was gone again.

Another fascinating interview is in store for you today and this time we have best-selling fantasy author, Michael J Sullivan in the hot-seat. A very interesting and generous writer who has taken the time to answer my questions about self-publishing and achieving success in today's tough publishing market-place. As usual, please make sure to check out Michael's links and books at the bottom of the interview and also take advantage of the subscription offer. His Amazon biography describes him as thus (abridged): After finding a manual typewriter in the basement of a friend's house, Michael J. Sullivan inserted a blank piece of paper and typed: It was a dark and stormy night. He was just eight years old and mimicking the greatest (or only) writer he knew at the time...Snoopy. That spark ignited a flame and the desire to fill blank pages would become a life-long obsession. As an adult, Michael spent more than ten years developing his craft by stu...