Kat Ellis writes… a newsletter
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October 2025: The Halloween issue! The Devouring Light came out in the US this month, so I shared (at least visually) one of my mother’s wonderful themed cakes. I also interviewed Freddie Kölsch about her brilliant new culty, queer YA horror, Empty Heaven.
‘[Kesuquosh] seems utopian, at first glance…but in reality, if something looks too good to be true, you can bet there’s a catch.‘ – Freddie Kölsch
September 2025: It was UK release month for The Devouring Light, and I celebrated with a giveaway! I also introduced Daisy – my excellent assistant for the summer.
August 2025: I made my last push to hit my new deadline, shared how The Devouring Light‘s cover evolved from its initial concept to the finished article, and held a giveaway for a new release I was excited to blurb: Cynthia Murphy’s Keep Your Friends Close.
July 2025: This month I made a delightful addition to my writing room, revealed some exciting news about The Devouring Light, and interviewed Josie Jaffrey about her fantastic new pirate-vampire-zombie fantasy trilogy, QuickSilver.
‘[Quick]’s brave in a way I wish I could be, so living that way vicariously was my favourite part of writing her.‘ – Josie Jaffrey
June 2025: I waited on tenterhooks for important news, recorded a really fun panel for StokerCon, and interviewed Ann Dávila Cardinal about her brilliant new YA horror, You’ve Awoken Her, where Gabriel finds something sinister waiting for him at the Hamptons…
‘Cthulhu has always been one of my favorite classic monsters. The elder god, tentacled sea monster combo was irresistible...‘ – Ann Dávila Cardinal
May 2025: I hit a last-last deadline for The Devouring Light, blurbed some excellent books, and shared a sneak peek inside Bryony Pearce’s Aphrodite.
‘I awake battling the sea: salt in my mouth, waves smashing into my lungs; the violence of drowning when I should have been taking my first breath.‘ – Excerpt from Aphrodite by Bryony Pearce
April 2025: I explore my attic for the first time, announce The Devouring Light being available to request on NetGalley, and shine an author spotlight on Marisa Noelle’s latest books.
‘I’d made it my mission to understand shark behavior, and although they were territorial and often defended their patches of ocean, this behavior was unprecedented.‘ – Excerpt from Secrets of The Deep by Marisa Noelle
March 2025: This month I explore a castle, learn something new, and share an excerpt from Dawn Kurtagich’s brilliant new adult psychological suspense novel, The Thorns.
‘Your hair is as wild as ever, lioness, eyes muddy and full of secrets, even now. And suddenly I smell the sand of the desert. I feel thorns between my toes, glass under my eyelids.‘ – Excerpt from The Thorns by Dawn Kurtagich
February 2025: I reveal The Devouring Light‘s gorgeous cover, give away a proof copy of Josh Silver’s mind-bending new thriller, Traumaland, and unleash a Valentine’s-themed short YA horror story – with an exclusive first look for my subscribers!
‘Someone was tapping at his window again. Soft, thrumming little taps, like the sound a wolf’s claws might make against a laminate floor...’
January 2025: My first newsletter of 2025 sees me finishing copyedits on The Devouring Light, taking a surprise trip to Edinburgh, and interviewing Dan Smith about The Deadsoul Project – the first in a brilliant new series from Barrington Stoke based on the casefiles of bizarre events from the past, including this instalment about 2 siblings who return home to their flat to find their recently-deceased stepdad not only back from the dead, but horrifically changed.
‘I’ve always been fascinated by the strange and the bizarre – UFOs, alien abductions, cryptids, that kind of thing – so I think that must be why the Nightwatchman first made contact with me; because he knew I would believe.‘ – Dan Smith
December 2024: In which I work on something not-horror, pick up a paintbrush, and interview Sarah Naughton about her festively chilling YA thriller, You Better Watch Out, where Eleri receives a series of increasingly threatening advent gifts from a sinister Secret Santa.
‘…there had to be shopping and Secret Santa, Elf on the Shelf and school Christmas dinners and all the other traditions. The fun was in making them all as creepy as possible.’ – Sarah Naughton
November 2024: This month I celebrate my birthday with a giveaway, paint on my best moustache for an online event, and interview Emily Lloyd-Jones about her amazing new YA fantasy, The Wild Huntress, where Branwen – a girl who can see and slay monsters – must join the magical and dangerous wild hunt to try to win a cure for her mother’s illness.
‘I’ve loved Welsh myths and folklore for most of my life! I was always fascinated by all sorts of myths, and The Chronicles of Prydain was very formative for me.’ – Emily Lloyd-Jones
October 2024: In my Halloween edition, I begin a terrifying new writing project, hunt for forest fungi, and interview debut author Logan-Ashley Kisner about his brilliant YA horror, Old Wounds, in which trans teens Max and Erin are trapped in a small town where the locals sacrifice girls to the monster in the woods…
‘Some of my favorite scenes to write were the ones where the antagonists try and sort out who the “correct” victim is, and they’re tripping over pronouns and getting frustrated because neither Max nor Erin fit into the victim-shape they’re used to.’ – Logan-Ashley Kisner
September 2024: This month I worked on edits, visited a couple of castles, and shared an excerpt from Dawn Kurtagich’s chilling adult gothic debut, The Madness, in which Mina Murray hurries home to Wales after receiving a letter from her estranged best friend, only to find herself drawn into a web of secrets, missing girls, and the powerful, nameless force at its centre…
‘That morning, we knelt by his body for the Gwylnos, a ritual usually held the night before the funeral in which stories of the good nature of the deceased would be passed around like Christmas presents.’ – Excerpt from The Madness by Dawn Kurtagich
August 2024: In which I hit a massive plot hole, give away some goodies, and interview Kara A Kennedy about her supernatural YA thriller debut, I Will Never Leave You, where Maya knows how to banish ghosts, but can’t seem to shake the spectre of her dead – and extremely toxic – ex.
‘In so many ways, when you end a relationship, it can feel like a haunting, which was an idea I found compelling.’ – Kara A Kennedy
July 2024: I work on new projects, visit some legendary sites in North Wales, and share an interview with debut author L M Nathan about her spectacular dystopian YA, The Virtue Season, where debutante Manon’s right to find a genetic match is called into question when her mother draws the council’s unwanted scrutiny.
‘It seemed impossible that the future wouldn’t involve absolute equality, and the complete destruction of the myth of femininity. If Alicia Silverstone can get her belly button pierced and bungee jump off the side of a bridge in an Aerosmith video, how could anything go wrong?…’ – L M Nathan
June 2024: I work on edits for The Devouring Light, hear rumours of a book cover, and interview Helen Comerford about her YA superhero rom-com, The Love Interest, where Jenna is saved by brand-new superhero Blaze, only to find herself unwillingly cast as his ‘love interest’ while also catching the Villains’ attention…
‘I decided to write a tale of self-determination and the superhero genre’s ‘love interest’ was the perfect trope to subvert – not least because I am a superhero NERD and I like to pair my feminism with action and superpowers…’ – Helen Comerford
May 2024: I hit a big author milestone and celebrate with a giveaway, get out and about for World Book Night, and interview Blackfin Sky‘s UK editor, Penny Thomas – Publisher at Firefly Press.
‘…every book is a joy – and working with all our talented and really hardworking authors is just the best job there is!’ – Penny Thomas
April 2024: I work on edits for The Devouring Light, go to a publishing party in Cardiff, and send out my exclusive new short horror story, Phantom Image. (No link back to this newsletter, sorry – the contents are exclusive to my subscribers!)
‘There’s something not right out here.
This time, she didn’t question the clench in her guts, the sharp prickles of warning ghosting over her skin.
Lara didn’t hesitate any longer. She snatched up her camera and ran…’
March 2024: I celebrate St. David’s Day, go to a silver ring-making workshop, and interview A J Clack about her terrifying locked-room thriller, Lie Or Die, where ten teens enter a reality TV contest only to realise they’ll be lucky to leave with their lives, never mind the prize money.
‘I love the idea that you, as a reader, don’t see it coming in the first read, but if you were to go back and read through again, you would see the story in a completely different light’ – A J Clack
February 2024: Mister Jitters heads to France as Les Disparus de Harrow Lake is published, I plot and scheme over cream tea, and interview Lisa Richardson about her pulse-pounding YA horror debut, Channel Fear, where three teens follow in the footsteps of their ghost-hunting YouTuber idols and find terror waiting for them at Thornhanger House.
‘I have no idea how I would react to being in a creepy abandoned building in the dead of night. I like to think I’d be a fearless ghost-hunter, but I may just scream and run to the nearest hotel for the night’ – Lisa Richardson
January 2024: Kicking off a new year with a website revamp, a look at a new book cover, and an interview with Diana Rodriguez Wallach about her chilling new YA horror, Hatchet Girls, where modern-day killings in the town where the Borden axe murders took place in 1892 lead Tessa into supernatural waters as she tries to clear her brother’s name.
‘Sometimes, I just get that Aha! Moment when it all clicks. That’s what happened with the end of Hatchet Girls’ – Diana Rodriguez Wallach
December 2023: I have BIG BOOK NEWS, share an eons-old pic of me with my good friend and amazing YA horror author Dawn Kurtagich, and interview Sarah Wishart about her brilliant YA mystery-thriller, Four Good Liars, where four teens are caught in the crosshairs when they stumble across a bag of stolen money, and each of them has a reason for wanting to keep the stash.
‘I loved the relationship [Layla] shares with her little brother, Salih. It was interesting to explore how far she was prepared to go to help him.’ – Sarah Wishart
November 2023: Where I won an award (!), shared my favourite Halloween looks, and interviewed YA horror author Katya de Becerra about her brand-new release, When Ghosts Call Us Home, about a girl who goes searching for answers to her sister’s disappearance in the house where they filmed a cult horror movie.
‘…there’s something very appealing to me about the idea of art being haunted.’ – Katya de Becerra
October 2023: The Halloween edition, featuring Red Piano – a short story – and a chance to win a signed copy of ‘A Taste of Darkness’.
‘I reach for the lid of the upright piano, my fingers lingering only a moment before lifting it open.
Instinct tells me instantly that I’ve made a terrible mistake…’
September 2023: The start of spooky season, a wax museum, and an interview with Kate Anderson about her chilling supernatural YA debut, Here Lies Olive, about a girl whose need to find out what comes after following a near-death experience leads her down a sinister path.
‘And suddenly I had created an entire town that revolved around death.’ – Kate Anderson
August 2023: New books, a gothic fantasy house, and an interview with Triona Campbell about her gripping YA speculative thriller, A Game of Life or Death, where finding her sister’s dead body sends Asha deep into the belly of a corrupt tech giant while she searches for answers.
‘She comes from a background where she had to fight for everything. Nothing was given, and yet somehow, instead of making her crumble, it made her stronger.’ – Triona Campbell
July 2023: The smell of a monster, an upside-down house, and an interview with Jeanmarie Anaya about her stunning YA debut, In Between Them, about Cass, who always sticks to the rules of friendship – even when it hurts her – and steps aside when her best friend gets together with her crush… but when her crush decides he made a mistake and wants Cass instead, will she have to break her own rules?
‘The roller coaster of emotions — that’s my jam. And I especially appreciate how much more intense that roller coaster ride is as a teen.‘ – Jeanmarie Anaya
June 2023: A Read, Scream, Repeat cover reveal, a visit to an island with an ancient ruined church, and an interview with Cecilia Vinesse about her heart-warming YA romcom – The Girl Next Door – where two girls who’ve been cheated on decide to fake-date to make their exes jealous… but find their plan complicated when they start to develop real feelings for each other.
‘I really wanted to write a book that explores the differences and similarities between romance and horror and to create a character who’s figuring out how to deal with her own fear through art and stories.’ – Cecilia Vinesse
May 2023: A Point Horror chat, a visit to Flint castle, and an interview with Claire Fraise about her YA supernatural thriller, They Stay, where Shiloh races to find her kidnapped little brother and the only ones who can help are the ghosts haunting the local cemetery.
‘I have always used writing as a way to explore things in life that scare me’ – Claire Fraise
April 2023: An anthology announcement, a trip to Snowdonia, and an interview with Melissa Welliver, author of My Love Life and the Apocalypse – a post-apocalyptic romcom about a girl who crashes to Earth and the AI who helps her search for her lost family.
‘I like to imagine that the End Of The World wouldn’t really be the end of the world… There is something weirdly appealing which draws us all to the idea of shaking off the usual problems of 21st century living and having to go back to basics.’ – Melissa Welliver
March 2023: A visit to my favourite cemetery, some Canadian Harrow Lake fan art, and an interview with J.P. Rose about her chilling YA horror, The Haunting of Tyrese Walker, about Tyrese’s visit to his Jamaican relatives following the death of his father, and the terrifying events he encounters there.
‘…the beauty of horror is that you can explore difficult emotions through the genre, and I thought it was the perfect backdrop to explore death.’ – J.P. Rose
February 2023: A Wicked Little Deeds milestone, a book club pick, and an interview with Tess James-Mackey about her debut YA thriller, Someone Is Watching You, where Nia gets caught up in a dangerous situation when her friends dare her to explore an abandoned prison.
‘I wanted it to be high-stakes, high-action and the sort of novel you could read in one sitting...’ – Tess James-Mackey
January 2023: My new year’s reading and writing goals, a writing room renovation, and an interview with Naomi Gibson about her brand-new cyber-thriller, Game Over Girl – where newly-orphaned twin Lola is sent alone to a new boarding school and invited to join an exclusive group in testing an addictive new VR game…
‘I love discovering what will push characters to fall down a rabbit hole and cling to it because they feel they have no other choice.’ – Naomi Gibson
December 2022: A visit with author Cynthia Murphy, a trip to a museum of deadly diseases, and a festively frightful short story: Christmas Lights.
Excerpt
The box of Christmas decorations rustled as Ellie shifted its weight in her arms. She ought to open the door under the stairs and just shove it all in, but something stopped her reaching for the door handle. Maybe it was the way the keyhole seemed to wink at her darkly, like it, too, was thinking about the day Gran gasped out of existence on this very spot.
“Never open the door under the stairs. I barely got it out of me…”
READ ‘CHRISTMAS LIGHTS’ HERE
November 2022: News about my new Middle Grade horror story, a trip to the forest to hunt for fly agaric, and an interview with Nicole Lesperance about The Depths – a story about a girl trapped on a mysterious, haunted island riddled with underwater tunnels, ancient secrets, and a heartbeat of its own.
‘I’ve always loved the idea of writing a mysterious, creepy, sentient island…’ – Nicole Lesperance
October 2022: The Halloween edition! I share my best dragon face, see an impressive Viking turd, and interview Aislinn O’Loughlin about her debut Big Bad Me – an action-packed paranormal YA, brimming with werewolfish fun and romance.
‘I’m a huge Buffy fan – the first seeds of Big Bad Me actually came from a dream I had after binging some very Oz-centric episodes…’ – Aislinn O’Loughlin
September 2022: A Harrow Lake announcement, Halloween plans, and an interview with Rosie Talbot about her brilliantly spooky debut, Sixteen Souls – where Charlie, a teen seer, has to team up with infuriating (and hot!) new boy Sam to investigate when York’s most famous ghosts begin to disappear.
‘Charlie’s voice was a bright beacon in my head from the moment I sat down to write that first chapter…’ – Rosie Talbot
August 2022: Wicked Little Deeds turns one, I go axe-throwing (not related), and I interview Katharine and Elizabeth Corr about their stunning duology opener, Daughter of Darkness – inspired by the tale of Orpheus, this book is perfect for any reader who loves Greek mythology, adventure, and Underworld heists. Can you tell I’m excited for book 2?
‘We started with the idea of wanting to write about characters who could travel between life and death, and then decided to incorporate our love of Greek myth…’ – Katharine & Elizabeth Corr
July 2022: Fun times at YA Thriller Con; I horrify Cynthia Murphy and Georgia Bowers – authors and co-hosts of Delete My Browser History – with some facts about leeches, and I interview Aneesa Marufu about her sweeping YA fantasy debut, The Balloon Thief, where Khadija takes to the skies to escape an arranged marriage, and becomes part of a revolution involving forbidden magic.
‘Hot air balloons became almost symbolic with escapism and my longing for adventure…’ – Aneesa Marufu
June 2022: I venture inside a 3500-year-old copper mine, take a bookish trip to Manchester, and interview Holly Race about the epic conclusion to her YA urban fantasy trilogy, A Midnight Dark and Golden – where Fern, Ollie and the rest of the Knights face their greatest challenge yet as they defend Annwn, the realm of dreams.
‘I love the idea of unicorns grazing alongside the deer in Richmond Park, or being able to spot sea monsters in the Thames…’ – Holly Race
May 2022: I celebrate an author milestone, visit Gladstone’s Library with Dawn Kurtagich, and interview Tracy Darnton about her gripping new YA mystery-thriller, Ready Or Not – in which Millie tries to find out what happened to her best friend Kat after she disappears during one of their traditional holiday celebrations.
‘…puzzles, subtext, foreshadowing and misdirection are all very appealing to me. I get huge satisfaction from writing a good ending – that’s definitely my favourite part of the process.’ – Tracy Darnton
April 2022: Vive le bookish news – Wicked Little Deeds heads to France! I also explore some ancient castles and a shrine, catch up with a coven of horror authors, and interview Gina Blaxill about You Can Trust Me – a twisty YA thriller about a girl whose best friend gets spiked at a party, then realises the drink was meant for her.
‘…part of [Alana’s] journey was to gain a greater awareness of what is and isn’t OK, and that there are many completely different ways in which to advocate for female rights.’ – Gina Blaxill
March 2022: I share a brand new foreign book cover, visit my favourite cemetery, and interview Jennifer Killick about her latest Middle Grade horror-comedy, Dread Wood – a brilliant story about a group of kids trapped at school for weekend detention who uncover a terrifying secret.
‘Horror comedy is my favourite genre because it’s all about having fun. I love the slow creep of suspense and the thrill of being jump-scared.’ – Jennifer Killick
February 2022: I talk secrets and lies with Ben Oliver, M A Bennett and Tracy Darnton, fail epically at a quiz, and interview Josh Winning about The Shadow Glass – a fabulous retro fantasy about Jack, who gets dragged into a world of living puppets when he inherits his movie-maker father’s estate.
‘…there’s something really fun about letting rip with a character who is unapologetically and irrefutably evil.’ – Josh Winning
January 2022: I shared fun news about Wicked Little Deeds and the Harrow Lake audiobook, gave a few hints about my latest project, and interviewed Kate Brauning about The Ballad of Dinah Caldwell – a speculative YA thriller about a girl who’s out for revenge when a ruthless tyrant kills her family.
‘…there’s something captivating and so human about writing characters on the edge of no return.’ – Kate Brauning
Kat Ellis Writes 