HOLLOW HOUSE – 10 YEARS!

To celebrate 10 years since my debut novel Hollow House was first published, I’ve released a new special edition!

INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR 

Here’s my introduction from the book which explains how the idea for Hollow House first came about:

This is not your traditional haunted house story.

There are no ghosts—at least not in the spectral sense—but the characters within are indeed afraid. Not of the house that lurks on the corner, no—they fear memory—the memory of past trauma, past mistakes, things left unsaid, things left undone. And to me, that is more terrifying than any old spooky house.

This is what the story of the Hollow House is about.

Any writer knows that writing a novel is an enormous undertaking and when I decided to take that step way back in 2015, I knew I wanted my debut novel to be a very different haunted house story and one influenced by a past memory of my own.

Once, I was a journalist, like the main character in this novel, Ben Traynor. In 2004, I worked for a regional newspaper as its crime and court reporter and I did a story about a man who was the victim of a home invasion. He was attacked by a machete wielding intruder and almost lost his hand when he reached for the phone to call the police. Thankfully, he survived, but about six months later the police were called to his house once again. I remember returning to that neighbourhood to find it swarming with police and forensic investigators. What had happened to this poor man now? I thought in the car on the way to the scene.

The first thing I acknowledged was the smell—the unmistakable smell of death. Immediately, I thought the worst—that the man’s attacker had returned and committed the ultimate atrocity. Trying to ignore the scent of decay I set about interviewing the man’s neighbours – the people who knew him. It turned out that unfortunately the man had died following a seizure. Sadly, his neighbours didn’t know much about him, but I learned a great deal from them. Information on character and personality that would influence my novel 10 years later. 

I’ve always believed that horror’s strength comes from its characters—not the monster. You’ll find a multitude of characters between these pages. Some of them you might even relate to. They’re the primary focus of the story and the house is simply a symbol of their fear—a catalyst that ignites the latent worries we all carry.

I decided to re-release this special tenth anniversary edition of
Hollow House because I’m immensely proud of it. I’m proud of the reception it received and proud it was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. If you’re reading this story for the first time, I hope you enjoy it. If you’ve already read it then this is my gift to you to say thank you for your continued support over the years.

I can’t sign off without thanking the various publishers who have supported Hollow House—Kate Jonez at Omnium Gatherum, who released the first edition in 2016, Paul Goblirsch at Thunderstorm Books for his stunning limited edition in 2018, and Crossroad Press for the current paperback and ebook version, published in 2022.

So, I now invite you to enter the homes surrounding the
Hollow House—just make sure there’s a way to escape. 

I also called upon my good friend Ricky Grove (of Army of Darkness fame) to lend his soulful voice and record the opening of the book.

If you haven’t read Hollow House now’s a good time. You can purchase a copy of the new 10th anniversary edition HERE.