Author Archives: danieljamesauthor85

It’s been a while since I posted anything, but that doesn’t mean I dropped dead or went off the grid, or did anything exciting, to be honest. But damn! I find it hard to stay motivated with posts and social media. So, today I have a second horror/suspense short story (<6k). It is about aContinue reading “Black Hands Inertia & Some Exciting Hourglass News”

Having been recently bitten by the short story bug, I’ve been compelled to produce a horror and dark fiction anthology, if only to purge a number of my extraneous ideas from my head, where they continue to gather and swarm like flies about my spoiling brain. Eventually, when it’s complete, the collection will be calledContinue reading “A Horror Short”

First posted 16/05/2022 at the awesome Kendall Reviews. http://kendallreviews.com/book-review-cabinet-of-curiosities-guillermo-del-toro/ Pan’s Labyrinth, Cronos, Devil’s Backbone, Hellboy. What do they all have in common besides being visual works of art, treading the fine line between nightmarish fairytale and astounding beauty? They were all made by visionary director Guillermo del Toro. And of course these are only aContinue reading “The Introvert Reviews – Cabinet of Curiosities by Guillermo del Toro”

I was supposed to upload one chapter of Heathens each day following my previous post which included the novel’s prologue, see below! Alas, I was busier than expected. But during those few days I did come to one conclusion, and that was how ugly the prose looks when pasted onto this page: weird spacing, oddContinue reading “Druids with shotguns.”

The 90’s. The dawn of CGI and Culture Beat’s Mr. Vain. A lot of the CGI, once groundbreaking, hasn’t aged too well – unlike Mr. Vain, which is as infectious now as it ever was. But even if a lot of CG now resembles a cut scene from a PlayStation 1 game, they were alsoContinue reading “Favourite 90’s Horror/Monster Movies”

Since I started writing, my action scenes have been complimented on enough times for me to assume I’m doing something right. Now whilst I’ve dabbled in other genres like neo noir thrillers and horror, each of which require a more toned down and tense style of action, its my Hourglass series which has garnered theContinue reading “Boom or Bust? An Indie Author’s Guide to Writing Action Scenes.”

Revenge. It’s a captivating topic which underpins much of humanity’s existence, and storytellers throughout the ages have spun yarns of every conceivable fashion on the subject, from cautionary tales, to morality plays, to more base-level fixes of violent gratification. And as a species, we can’t get enough of this diverse and tragic genre. And soContinue reading “7 Reasons to Kill (7 of my favourite revenge films)”

Writing. It is a lonely, frustrating, and often thankless pastime. Sometimes us struggling author types get knocked straight back down five minutes after receiving a brief moment of joy. Yes, it can be a real kick in the Dickens (with the image of a punk giving the finger, I thought I’d clean up the languageContinue reading “Grumble-Grumble-Writing -Grumble”

Monsters. We all love them. Humanity has made a growth industry out of the nasties through books, cinema, TV, comic books, video games, toys. Hell, humanity itself is packed full of monsters, but I’m not here to talk about ethics and broken moral compasses, I’m here to talk about the things with claws, fangs, furContinue reading “Building the Perfect Beast (Not the Don Henley album)”

Should the value of art be kept separated from the artist? For some, answering this can be a thorny path. Not for me though. I’ll happily show my cards and admit that no matter how much of a dirtbag an individual may be, if I enjoy their book, music, movie etc., I have no qualmsContinue reading “Hate the Player, not the Game (or leave your bias at the door.)”