This page contains the latest announcements from WyrdStar Books & Music. If you'd like to keep track of the latest news, you can:
RSS news service;Older bulletins can be found on the WyrdStar News Archive page.
Thanks for visiting!
23 July 2026
THE AVALON JOB (Hollow Moon #4) is finally out in paperback! This has taken longer than I'd hoped, as like before with other paperback editions I took the opportunity to give the text a full editorial refresh, which includes a new ebook edition. This is now the definitive edition! The revised text flows better and corrects a few (very) minor contintinuity errors with other stories in the series. My hand-drawn Gods of Avalon map (the novel spoofs epic fantasy novels, amongst other things) has also been tweaked for clarity. On the whole though it has not changed much! The blurb is as follows...
"Ravana O'Brien is confronted by her past in more ways than one, none particularly welcome.
Secret agent Kedesh is back on the scene, seeking help to rescue Artorius from a shadowy American base on the moon of Avalon. Another ancient alien portal has been found, a mysterious machine that can twist space and time. Avalon is no ordinary world. The moon hosts the vicious celebrity show Gods of Avalon, where players fight to survive against robot beasts. The rejuvenated Priest Taranis, now with the might of the Federation at his disposal, has a new chosen one, a man called The Raven who seeks Ravana's doom. A rumour of hidden gold is sowing confusion. Artorius is the key to those who want the alien portal open. Not all interested parties are human..."
The paperback edition of The Avalon Job is available to buy from Amazon, price £15 / $20 (print-on-demand pricing can't compete with mass-market paperbacks, but they are higher-quality). As mentioned above, the ebook has been reissued with the revised text and is available from all the usual stockists with a new recommended retail price of £4 / $5.
The only novel in the series now without a paperback edition is Hollow Worlds (Hollow Moon #5). This is next on my 'to do' list, honest! I'll be reading it again to make sure it's as good as it can be, so it's unlikely to be ready for release this year.
Happy reading! Steph.
11 July 2026
THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY, a 70-metre embroidery illustrating events leading up to the 11th-century Norman Conquest of England, has returned to Britain for the first time in 900 years following a historic loan agreement with France. The year 1066 is ingrained in English history as a pivotal moment in time, while the Tapestry itself has inspired countless artists. Not least myself, in the amateurish parody I drew to create the book cover for my 2016 tongue-in-cheek time-travel novella The Battles Of Hastings. Yes, I know I wrote this ten years ago, but this feels a good time to plug my little ebook again!
So, do you want to read all about the juicy bloodthirsty bits of the Tapestry's story, served with a dose of humour and science-fiction 'what if' shenanigans? The Battles Of Hastings is a romp through alternate time lines in England 1066, which I actually did quite a bit of research for while writing. This novella carries a different by-line to separate it from my space-opera stories for younger readers. Here's the blurb...
Eighteen-year-old Jane Kennedy, a twenty-first-century Chicago girl on her first field assignment, had expected a simple mission to gently ease her into the time-bending realities of her new job. Yet here she was, lying semi-conscious amidst the wounded and dying of a particularly gruesome battle, wondering what the hell she had let herself in for. In this novella based on Jane’s memoirs, follow her strange journey through multiple realities as her fellow time travellers each realise they come from a future with a different past. Is there a rogue on the loose out to change history?
The Battles Of Hastings is available from most (if not all) online ebook retailers for a ridiculously low price. The Bayeux Tapestry itself will be on public display at the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027 at not so low prices. But hey, if you couldn't be bothered crossing the Channel before now to see it in Bayeux, here's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see it in London instead.
Happy reading! Steph.
21 May 2026
DITCH THE DEMON's NEW SINGLE is out now as a digital download! "One Kiss" (Prozakville Records), taken from the band's forthcoming second studio album Hail the Fallen, is currently available exclusively on BandCamp. The single will be released on all major streaming services from 12 June 2026. A video is also on the way!
Watch this space... Steph.
16 April 2026
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, especially when it comes to free ebooks.
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 and so are unaffected by Draft2Digital distribution. 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. It's something seen in the music industry too, like the terrible deal Spotify gives to grassroots artists. But that's capitalism, folks! Creators are always last in line to make a living out of culture...
Watch this space...! Steph.
5 February 2026
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 a stripped-down set at the following venues:
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 at Hastings Fat Tuesday website. Programmes are also available from participating venues. See you there...?
Support live music! Steph.
15 November 2025
A CHRISTMAS SINGLE by DITCH THE DEMON is out now as a digital download! (Prozakville Records).
"Santa's Coming (Krampus Is Gonna Get Me)", written by yours truly and embellished by the band, is a satirical prog-adjacent Christmas song for those overwhelmed by the commercial side of festivities. Featuring Terry 'Krampus' Keen's debut performance on crumhorn! (and myself shaking sleigh bells).
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. We recorded this while in the studio in September/October laying down tracks for our second studio album Hail the Fallen (to be released next year); the Christmas single will not be on the album!
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 on our website at www.ditchthedemon.co.uk.
Happy listening! Steph.
8 August 2025
THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL is finally out in paperback! This has been on my 'wish list' for a long, long time (the ebook came out in 2018), but I was keen to finish writing my Hollow Moon series first, which I did last year. I never thought it would take so long!
This novel 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. Oh, did I mention that I too drive an elderly Volkswagen camper van? Early drafts predate my time in the band Danse Macabre, way back before my first self-published novel Hollow Moon was even conceived. By the time the ebook of The Luck Of The Devil was ready to be released, I had moved to Hastings and was playing bass in an all-female covers band The Happy Maureens. Which was fun for a while, until that band too fell apart. But I struck lucky and was asked to join Ditch the Demon, the best bunch of musicians I could ever hope to be a part of! The luck of the devil, huh?
Anyway, enough of my musical dalliances. The Luck Of The Devil is a contemporary thriller of both comedy and tragedy, set in a world of superstition, psychiatry and the metaphysical. The book carries a different by-line to separate it from my space-opera stories for younger readers. 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?"
The Luck Of The Devil has had a full editorial refresh. Paperbacks are available to purchase from Amazon, price £15 / $20 (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 (direct from me they're £10). The ebook has been reissued with the revised text and is available from all the usual stockists with a recommended retail price of £4 / $5.
Happy reading! Steph.
Older news items can be found on the WyrdStar News Archive page.