Each author has a different reviewer policy, so here's mine.

If you want to review any of my books, I can offer a free e-pub copy of my self-published books. Unfortunately, anything I have out with publishers at the moment are either mobi's or I lost the files. 

Although reviews upon release are nice, I'm not fussy. I like reviews one year after something has been released too. I had one of those the other week for Name Dropping With Hayden that was nearly one year to the date of the book first appearing on godless. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter when a review comes in. Reviewers are unpaid and giving up their time. If I send a reviewer something and they don't get around to reading it for 18 months, I still want the review and I'm not going to nag you for not reviewing it right away. I find that behaviour incredibly unfair and mean. I don't know what is going on in your life, even if you are very open about it and plaster it on social media, I probably miss it. 

I repost good reviews and 1* reviews (provided I have the time). So, once you review it, send me a link or tag me on social media and you get a repost. I also understand, especially with #booktok that not all reviewers post text, but instead do video. I repost those too. 

Obviously, next year I won't have as many releases. I'm focusing on novels this year and these are novels I always intended to have released through a publisher. Some people may not realise this, but I started my writing career with publishers. I was typically relatively happy with publishers. I just wanted to learn how to self publish. So going forward, from next year onwards, it'll be a mix of traditional publishing and self publishing after focusing on self publishing through the pandemic. But anyways, the release schedule (even in 2018) when going with publishers is a bit longer between writing the book and it actually being released. There's other steps in there (although self-publishing has its own steps too, but with doing my own artwork etc, i'm not having to communicate with cover artists stuff like that, plus publishers release multiple books in any given year, so mine has to be on their schedule, not mine, and that could be two years after acceptance - fiction writing is an exercise in patience on top of everything else and obviously, the books may be rejected a few times before finding a home). 

This year will have less releases than the previous two years. And I've put Stef and Tucker on the back burner for now (they seemed a bit tired, so best to let them rest).

If you want advanced releases of what I have planned for this year: 

• ​56 Seconds is already on godless. It'll be reissued onto amazon on the last day of March/first of April. That's 5 years to the date that I first sent it to my publisher. 
• I have two godless only releases for the first half of the year that can be sent out in advanced. 
• I do not have a #31daysofgodless release ready yet, but I should have that by the end of August. 
• I have not put together my #antichristmas stories for godless yet, but those will work in the same way as The Dog Dies At The End. If you want a sneak preview, here you are. There are three of them. They may change slightly, or I may weave them together a bit so it is one long story rather than three short. Those should also be available around the end of August for advance reader copies (ARC). I will be participating in Christmas stories again this year (I will probably write those once I finish We Gave the World Synthpop Dreams), or at least, I intend to. 

​So, how do you get these books? Send me a message on social media. I may not be familiar with you as a reviewer, so blog links are welcome (or tiktok, youtube, whatever). I also take interview requests in the same way. And like with reviewers, I may not be familiar with you, so send a link. Don't assume that just because you have a big name, that I know who you are. I do have a life outside of horror and bizarro. Plus, Liverpool can be very insular (as I've mentioned before). 

Now for the readers: 
​A quick note on Ket Pandas and Snow White. I do plan on writing more Ketamine Addicted Panda books, but they are not on my schedule yet. With the first one, it was seven months to write and I was writing other things alongside it. I intend on self-publishing the rest of the series. With Snow White, it is pencilled in to finish from the second half of this year. That is subject to change, depending on how long We Gave the World Synthpop Dreams takes. I am still uncertain on how I am releasing Snow White. And yes, I know people want more Ghetto Super Skank. The Merpeople of Europa was always intended and I will one day get around to it. 

PS readers, you can take pictures of my books, whether you have them in print or on your e-readers and tag me in them and I'll give them a re-share. 

In terms of audiobooks. Both Night of the Penguins and Crackhouse in the Desert are only available on audible. At this point in time, I have no current audiobook plans for my self publishing releases. As I said, it is only no current plans. There's only so many hours in a day, and only so many days in a week. I have enough on my plate as it is. 

​And on that thought, time to get ready for the week. 

I've been seeing this a lot lately - people are once again really struggling to separate the art from the artist, especially in horror. This has proved exceptionally dangerous for me, especially since moving to Liverpool. When I get a chance, I will put this more eloquently but due to the nature of how dangerous this belief is, here's the quick ranty version.

I put a warning in my books (the self published ones, at least):  
Warning: I am never in the mood for sexual harassment or an armchair diagnosis.

And lately I've been a bit more elaborate. Here's the one from The Dog Dies at the End: Seriously, I made this shit up. It is not real. I really shouldn’t have to explain that to adults but there’s always at least one idiot who fails to separate fiction from reality. And, yes the dogs die in both stories and some cats and raccoons. You won’t be attached to any of them.

There was an incident in 2018 that led to these warnings and warnings related to avoiding Liverpool. And sometimes when I'm promoting my books on social media, I include them too. Just because of how dangerous people that think that an author is what they write are. 

Firstly, the people that can't separate fiction and reality are fucking unhinged. The scary thing is that some of these people are teachers and social workers, sometimes police officers. So people that really need to not be unhinged to do their jobs proficiently. 

Secondly, the wannabes that are writing their fantasies, whether sexual or violent, are just that - fucking wannabes. Loser edgelords, basically. There aren't many of them because the community of authors root them out. They get blacklisted. I'm not joking. Maybe they exist in little pockets of isolation (Liverpool, anyone?), but for the most part, they're blacklisted.

The authors that "make it" no matter how fucked up the shit they write is, are pleasant people who are nice to be around. They certainly are not doing the things described in their books. They may not be my besties, but that's because they usually aren't into knitting and watching 13 Going on 30 or Enchanted and feeding pigeons and I still don't have enough money or energy for much of a social life. 

Thirdly, a lot of fiction isn't even fucking realistic. Let's take one of my books for example. Ketamine Addicted Pandas - ket isn't even strong enough for a panda and do I need to say more, the characters are fucking pandas that escaped from the goddamn zoo. Nor do pandas reproduce in those levels. What the hell is wrong with you people? I wear pink and sleep with my fucking teddy bears and feed pigeons and listen to synthpop. Jeez! Who I am in person is very different to the books I write. I even surprised the checkout worker in ASDA when I mentioned that I write (I was reading a book of the shoulder of the person in the queue in front of me). She asked what I write and when I replied horror and some erotica, she didn't believe me. Because I'm cute and was wearing a dusty pink coat. 

Seriously, the creatives aren't the problem. It is the people going around saying that authors that write certain things are writing from life that are the problem. Apart from being unhinged, they create situations in which women creatives are dealing with personal problems because too many people are listening to the unhinged idiots and wannabe edgelords. I've personally been grabbed and worse because apparently "you write it, so you must want it". I had an ex go and spread a bunch of made up rumours about me because he was upset that I wasn't living the life described in my books. He was reading too much into them. And guess what, I no longer date because he wasn't the first man to do that. Even if I had the time for dating, I wouldn't. Because people read too much into things. 

When one of these unhinged idiots can't separate reality and fiction people approach me, I now report it directly to the police for harassment and also suggest that they need to be sectioned. Because these people are dangerous. They are seeing things that aren't there. They do it because they're insecure and not all that bright. And when people aren't all that bright they lash out. They want to feel smart and powerful so they tear down others and try to ruin lives. 

It is like the dragons in Game of Thrones are going to fly right on out of the TV screen (or book) and fuck shit up! I'm still waiting for these dragons. Where are they? And the ice zombies? 

I present to you I Am the Walrus by The Beatles. The song a) makes no sense and b) I believe Lennon wrote it and he was a wife-abusing controlling douchebag. The song however, is pretty good and in no way implies that he was that way inclined. 
Please try and make sense of this song and the "yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog's eye" the next time you decide that an author is what they are writing. 

And if you really can't stand The Beatles because of what John Lennon did, here's Nik Kershaw who as far as I'm aware isn't a douche but the song is just as much nonsense as I Am the Walrus.

​PS. If you watch the Nik Kershaw one, that's where the lips in the wall in the Neon Dream come from -a fucking music video. Nothing from life. And genetically engineered glory hole lips (as that's what they are in my stories) are pretty fucking scary and let us all take a moment to hope that they never become real. But the words themselves: "The walls have lips in the Neon Dream" sound pretty together and it gives some atmosphere and a clue to the nature of the Neon Dream. 

So I've been experiencing some stress. My life is specifically arranged to make stress easier to handle because it can kill me. That does mean I won't be on social media as much. But let's face it, with this year's projects I won't be around as much. And hopefully, the actual cause of the stress will calm down as I'm nearly out of stress-busters (tips from a medical professional, it doesn't involve any substances). 

There's a screenshot of what I'm facing with We Gave the World Synthpop Dreams. I would like to send this to beta readers by the end of June so I can spend the rest of the year doing the same thing to Snow White. And I have some short stories to write, interviews etc. 

First order of business. Thank you for picking up the ebook of 56 Seconds from godless. The amazon release, with paperback and hardback will happen in March. That'll be five years to the day that I sent the manuscript to the publisher. If you only read my extreme horror or bizarro, this one is very different. Here's a bit of background about Era Two to give you a general idea of the larger project it is a part of. There will eventually be a multi-media installation for 56 Seconds, but with losing all my skills etc, and still needing some equipment, I haven't put that together yet. 

Secondly, there's been some reviews:

At the top is The Dog Dies at the End, reviewed by fellow crazy pigeon lady Nat Whiston. The Dog Dies at the End is only available on godless. 

Below, we have a review for Name Dropping with Hayden from Mick Collins. This one is available on both godless and amazon. 

And don't forget to pick up your free ebook copy of Call Me Hoop from godless. It is free for the entire month. Read what I wrote about it the other week here. 

And finally, we have a video of me reading from my Call Me Hoop story The Scratching Post. There seem to be an awful lot of creeps on youtube but so far, no creepy comments on this video thankfully. I told off one of the creeps on one of my videos yesterday (he asked if I would do a private video call) and his creepy arse took offence to it. It really is not acceptable for creeps to objectify women. It pisses me off. 

That's right the entire first season of Call Me Hoop is free for the entire month of January on godless. You can read about Amy, who is one of my most vile characters. I think we all know someone like Amy. I've known a few. Some lived off bank of mum and dad while others tried to live off state benefits (given the poverty rates those are paid at, it didn't really work). They're best avoided. You can also meet Theo and all the other scumbags...

​From Drew:

It’s 2023. We would appreciate your consideration of CALL ME HOOP in the ANTHOLOGY category for all upcoming horror awards.
Rather than beg you to buy it… we’re giving it to you for FREE for ALL of January.
The word on the delayed season 2 of Call Me Hoop is coming very soon. You know what else is coming very soon?
The Call Me Hoop YouTube show on Chilling Tales for Dark Nights… narrated by the great Nick Goroff

https://godless.com/products/call-me-hoop-season-one
The Devil Knows Your Name. Learn his.
Earth has become a playground for the "Big Man Downstairs" to shell out punishment to the most disgusting and vile scumbags of our society. A racist cop, a murderous Karen, and a psychotic rapist are just three of the “touched by malevolence" targets on the devil’s personal damnation list.
CALL ME HOOP is a totally unique form of horror anthology where eight different authors bring you twelve entwined stories that will change everything you know about heaven… and hell!
Always one step ahead of you, when Sonny Hooper asks you to call him Hoop, the trap is already set. Be prepared to pay for your sins.
Reading CALL ME HOOP is an experience like binge watching 12 episodes of a TV show. All of the stories are connected to a bigger picture saga about the kingdoms of heaven and hell... and how they battle in the 21st century.

https://godless.com/products/call-me-hoop-season-one
For You Consideration: Anthology
Creating CALL ME HOOP as a horror lit experiment on the Godless platform, author Drew Stepek established a universe, a set of rules, and a menacing antagonist named Sonny Hooper. These elements were blended together into a seemingly procedural narrative more akin to a television series than a themed-anthology book.
Stepek then enlisted authors Lucy Leitner, Lucas Milliron, John Shupeck, Jr., Lewis Kelly, Peter Caffrey, Dani Brown, and Ryan Harding to help him bring this terrifying world to life. The writers were tasked with painting the most loathsome characters they could dream up... and then delivering fitting punishments.
Reading CALL ME HOOP is an experience like binge watching 12 episodes of a TV show. All of the stories are connected to a bigger picture saga about the kingdoms of heaven and hell... and how they battle in the 21st century.