Hi all,

First off, apologies for the slight delay in getting this blog post to you. I realise it’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted, which is crazy in Ryan Casey terms! But anyway, please rest assured that the sole reason this post is a little delayed is because of how hard I’ve been working on my writing.

So what better way to make up for last week’s blogging no-show than an insight into what I’ve been up to?

At the end of last week, I wrapped up the rewrites of a project I’ve been working on for longer than this website has been on the internet. It’s called The Hunger, and it’s a 100,000 word science-fiction horror novel (the longest novel I’ve ever written), and the first in a series that I’m calling The Turnstone Saga.

What’s The Hunger about? Well, I can tell you right now what it’s about. In fact, I can even give you a little bit of a blurb. How’s that for a treat? Here you go:

Jonny Ainsthwaite is dying.

At twenty-three years old, he should have a full life ahead of him.

Instead, he has HIV, and his immune system is growing weaker by the day.

But hidden away in a gigantic pharmaceutical lab, Sarah Appleton has discovered something big. Something that will change humanity forever. Something that will see her name etched into the history books. Something that will save lives around the world for decades and centuries to come. In principle.

What she doesn’t realise is that she has created the end of the world.

But she’s about to find out.

Everyone is about to find out.

And when they do, there is no resisting The Hunger…

Defying genre conventions, The Hunger is the first part of an epic trilogy chronicling the downfall of humanity. A unique twist on the zombie apocalypse and vampire formula, Ryan Casey transports readers to a world of misguided greed and dreams turned to nightmares. For fans of The Passage and the works of Stephen King, The Hunger is a suspense horror that will leave the reader’s stomach suitably nourished, but churning for more…

*

Hope that sounds intriguing to you!

I do have a cover for The Hunger, however I’m going to hold that back for another week or two just because… well. Because I can. 😉 However, I can confirm that The Hunger will be available in March of this year for all ereaders and eventually paperback. It marks my fifth full length novel too, which is something of a milestone.

Anyway, I’m just waiting to get that back from my editor so I can work on a few more rewrites before firing it off to a proofreader and doing the same again, so I’m confident in targeting March for a release date. To be notified as soon as it is available, head over here (as always): https://ryancaseybooks.com/fanclub

Dead Days Season Two

Okay, so filling the role of the “zombies” part of the blog title, I think it’s about time we talked about Dead Days Season Two, right?

First off, I polled my mailing list readers (sign up at the fan club link above) and asked them whether they’d rather Dead Days Season Two was released as a.) a box set with all six episodes all on day one, or b.) individual weekly episodes culminating in a box set after the six weeks are up (like Season One). So think of it as a Netflix model vs. a cable television model.

I polled readers about this because, well, my readers are the people who enjoy my work, so I wanted to know what they thought. But also, I had a feeling that we well and truly live in a binge consumption era, what with the likes of Netflix, Spotify, etc. And I kind of wanted to see proof that I was right about that.

Anyway, here’s the results of the poll:

So, yeah. Of the sixty-ish readers who answered, 85% of readers opted for the Netflix route, 15% went for the weekly serial route. Cheers, guys. Given me a whole load of hard work to do now. 😛

Anyhow, what all these stats boil down to is this: Dead Days Season Two will all launch as one big box set, with all episodes available to read on the launch day this April.

I’ll also put out the individual episodes for those who prefer to dip in and out, but as always, the best value option will be the full series. Again, if you want to be notified as soon as it is available, here’s where you go: https://ryancaseybooks.com/fanclub.

Oh, so you want to know what Dead Days Season Two is all about do you? Well, I can confirm that production is well and truly underway on the series. It has a definite end point that I’ve been working towards; one that is teased right at the start of Episode 7 (Season 2, Episode 1). And y’know, I don’t want to sound all biased, but I seriously think that Season Two is better than Season One. The premiere episode of Season 2, which is all drafted and rewritten and ready to go to an editor, was just amazing to write in places. If you enjoyed Season One… fuck. This episode. I think it’s my favourite of the entire series.

But we’ll see!

With Season One, I explored the theme of “how far would we go to protect ourselves?” This question caused a whole load of exciting and tense moments in the first series, which I won’t spoil in case you haven’t read it. Season Two, while continuing this theme, has another primary focus. It’s a focus that is deep, dark, and sometimes harrowing. It’s pure moral horror. And I think it really, really works in a zombie apocalypse scenario.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. In fact, there’s a ray of light that shines all the way through Dead Days Season Two. There’s a definite end goal. Whether/how the characters get there, though… well, you’ll just have to wait until April to find out.

Remember, if you haven’t started Dead Days, you can grab the first episode absolutely free for any device you want. It’s available in paperback too for about $5, I think. All info here: https://ryancaseybooks.com/books/dead-days

Right, I’d better get back to work. It’s currently 3.20pm on a very sunny Thursday afternoon in England. Starting to get a sense that spring is arriving (at long last). I truly dislike winter, so just looking out and seeing the sun shining is enough to motivate me for a day.

Oh, and we have a couple of cute rabbits in the garden at the moment. They’re wild rabbits, but they seem to have really taken to our place. Here they are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great day.

Ryan Casey.