The False Ones

Exciting news: my new novel, The False Ones, is due for release on 4th February 2025 from Macabre Ink, an imprint of Crossroads Press, and is now available for pre-order.

The Silence of the Heart

As a huge admirer of the work Rebecca Parfitt does on her 'modern day penny dreadful, The Ghastling, it's a real honour for me to have my work appear in it's pages.  'The Silence of the Heart' is another story about those shape-shifters that inhabit the Yorkshire Moors (more info here).Always beautifully designed and illustrated, with carefully chosen stories, The Ghastling is a wonderful thing to have plop through your letterbox, so why not visit their online shop and grab yourself a copy? Or two?

 

Conversation with Michael Wertenberg

Me and fellow Manta Press author, Michael Wertenberg, recently had a Zoom conversation about my novella Holburn, our writing processes, inspirations, and Michael's own books.  The video, which is part of Michael's 'Author's Talking Shop' series on his Youtube channel, can be viewed below.  It was a pleasure chatting with Michael.

  

The Secrecy of the Heart

Very happy to receive the news that my story The Secrecy of the Heart has been published in the latest issue of Supernatural Tales.  I'm doubly happy to be sharing the table of contents with some great writers such as Charles Wilkinson and Steve Ransic Tem.

The Secrecy of the Heart concerns a confused young man named Benjamin whose car breaks down on the Yorkshire Moors, forcing him to seek refuge at an isolated house.  Things at the house are not as they appear, but his time there will eventually lead him to an important revelation about himself.  This story is linked to two stories I've previously written, The Shape of the Heart and The Lies of the Heart, as well as an as yet unpublished novel called The False Ones.

Two stories long-listed for Best Horror of the Year #14

Writing fiction means getting used to taking disappointment on the chin.  But sometimes a writer  gets a glimmer of recognition when it appears all the hard work, and all those metaphorical uppercuts, might actually be paying off.  And so, I was very pleased to see that two of my short stories made Ellen Datlow's longlist for Best Horror of the Year #14.  First was my creepy costume head story 'Here Comes Mister Herribone!' which was published in Supernatural Tales 46.  Also getting a mention was my folk-horror story, 'The Daughters' which appeared in The Alchemy Press Book of Horrors 3.

I ain't lying.  See it with your own eyes here.

Holburn

 

Very happy to report that my novella, Holburn, was published by Manta Press on August 9th 2022.

The book is now available from Amazon.

A huge thank you to Tim McWhorter, and the rest of the team at Manta for accepting this story and putting it out into the world.

Here are a few nice things people are saying about the book:

"A layered mystery wrapped in paranormal intrigue that will have you racing to the end!" - Steve Stred, Splatterpunk-nominated author of 'Sacrament' and 'Mastodon.' 

“Holburn is a gripping tale of love, loss and the irresistible force of family ties.  Tim Jeffreys has created a headlong rush of a story, gripping the reader and not letting go until the final page.  An addictively readable combination of horror, the supernatural and the relentless pull of one’s own flesh and blood.  Join Gael Drake in the breathless search for his missing sister Ava, despite the apparitions she has raised.  Holburn Academy is a secluded girls’ school haunted by a mysterious death, ghostly spectres and a sudden disappearance.” - Martin Cosby, author of 'The Trains Don't Stop Here and Other Stories.

“Finally, a modern ghost story done right! One of the creepiest, most unsettling books I’ve read in a long while.” Tony Evans, author of Sour and Wicked Appalachia

 “Jeffreys’ HOLBURN is a chilling novella filled with academy intrigue, haunted corridors, teen angst galore, and vengeful ghosts around every corner. Moody and with great, deeply flawed characters, this Gothic tale will keep you up all night waiting to see what manifests in the end.” - Gaby Triana, author of Moon Child and the Haunted Florida series, and editor of Literally Dead: Tales of Halloween Hauntings.

"Author Tim Jeffreys pulls off a page-turner with his new novella Holburn. When irreverent Irish rock guitarist Gael Drake learns his younger sister has gone missing from her school on a remote island Drake’s laid-back life takes a deadly serious turn. Readers who like their writing pacy with shocks and splashes of humour may well rate this a rattling good read. A lively blend of mystery, thriller and chiller from an author well-tuned to the weird. Energetic, entertaining fiction from Jeffreys whose setting and characters may strike a chord with many. Admirers of Gael Drake may wonder if more adventures lie in wait." - Matthew G. Rees, author of Smoke House and other stories, and The Snow Leopard of Moscow.