WyrdStar News Books Media Music Publishing (c) Steph Bennion / WyrdStar Media 2026 en-gb Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:30 GMT http://www.wyrdstar.co.uk/news.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:30:00 GMT Books WYRDSTAR EBOOKS of the non-Kindle variety were for many years distributed through Smashwords, then Draft2Digital when this distributor took over the former. Perhaps inevitably, Draft2Digital has recently decided to increase the fees it charges to low-volume independent publishers. Unfortunately, this mean distributing ebooks via Draft2Digital is no longer a viable option for many WyrdStar titles. I'm therefore looking to move ebook distribution directly to online retailers on a store-by-store basis. WyrdStar ebooks for Kindle are already sold on Amazon this way - availability of WyrdStar ebooks at other online stores however may be disrupted over the next few months as I set up new arrangements. I'm not best pleased that I'm having to do this after years of great support from Smashwords, but I'd long suspected that it was only a matter of time before the new owners would seek a return on their investment by squeezing more out of indie writers. But that's capitalism, folks! Creators are always last in line to make a living out of culture... Steph. http://www.wyrdstar.co.uk/news.html#143 http://www.wyrdstar.co.uk/news.html#143 Thu, 05 Feb 2026 23:15:00 GMT Music ATOMIC TWITTEN, the shambolic folk-comedy duo with Taylor on vocals/guitar and myself on bass, have somehow once again been asked to play the south-coast English Mardi Gras that is Fat Tuesday. We're performing on Unplugged Saturday on Saturday 14 February (Valentine's Day! If music be the food of love...), a packed afternoon of free acoustic music sessions, with 60 emerging and established artists and bands (yeah, and us) across all genres playing 15-minute sets at lovely venues across Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex. We're in St Leonards this year, playing short 15-minutes sets at the following venues: Cactus Hound Bar (1:45pm), Day Glo Records (2:45pm), The Railway (3:45pm), Ritual Bar (4:45pm) and The St Leonard (5:45pm). Hastings Fat Tuesday presents over 350 free gigs, gatherings, parties and parades alongside ticketed events. A full schedule of what's happening over the five-day celebration can be found on Hastings Fat Tuesday website. Programmes are also available from participating venues. Support live music! Steph. http://www.wyrdstar.co.uk/news.html#142 http://www.wyrdstar.co.uk/news.html#142 Sat, 15 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT Music A CHRISTMAS SINGLE by DITCH THE DEMON is out now as a digital download! "Santa's Coming (Krampus Is Gonna Get Me)" is a satirical prog-adjacent Christmas song for those overwhelmed by the commercial side of festivities. This is a download-only single, available now as a pre-release exclusive from BandCamp (name your price!) ahead of its release on further streaming services from 1 December. Ditch the Demon's next gig is at The Pipeline in Brighton on 22 November, supporting The Roz Bruce Infusion. Gig details and more can be found at www.ditchthedemon.co.uk. Happy listening! Steph. http://www.wyrdstar.co.uk/news.html#141 http://www.wyrdstar.co.uk/news.html#141 Fri, 08 Aug 2025 10:45:00 GMT Books THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL has a special place in my heart. It's almost autobiographical: the main character Susan is also a heavy-metal-loving civil servant who happens to be transgender; and at the time of writing I too was living in South London, nursing fading dreams of playing bass in a rock 'n' roll band. The novel is a contemporary thriller of both comedy and tragedy, set in a world of superstition, psychiatry and the metaphysical. Here's the obligatory blurb: "Susan Jones, a transgender woman struggling to get by in the economic woes of 1990s Britain, is under the care of psychiatrist Doctor Mordussen. He in turn is obsessed by her disturbing nightmares. But are her demons real? An unexpected road trip to Ireland awakens traumas of the past. A seventeenth-century sorcerer, evil nurses, a castle reborn from the ashes and a bloodthirsty sheep do not making getting to the bottom of the mystery any easier. The old wise woman of the village knows more than she's telling. Susan must confront her demons in more ways than one. Can her love of heavy metal, her battered Volkswagen camper van and two best friends save the day?" Paperbacks are out now and available to purchase from Amazon, price GBP 15.00 / USD 20.00 (print-on-demand pricing can't compete with mass-market paperbacks, but they are higher-quality). I also hope to have a copy or two with me on the merch table at Ditch the Demon gigs. The ebook has been reissued with the revised text and is available from all the usual stockists with a recommended retail price of GBP 4.00 / USD 5.00. Happy reading! Steph. http://www.wyrdstar.co.uk/news.html#140 http://www.wyrdstar.co.uk/news.html#140