Double Horror Feature: NEMESIS and THE CURSE OF FROST LAKE MANOR Are Here!

Hello and welcome to the dark side of the year.

Halloween is just around the corner, and what better time to release two terrifying new stories for you to blanket snuggle with while hearing the wind moaning through tree branches, sending desiccated leaves to their eternal rest, knowing you’re safe inside.

The Dark Side of the Year

There’s something about the crisp autumn air, the longer nights, and the thrill of being scared that captures our imagination. It’s no coincidence that horror is so popular—there’s actually a scientific reason for our fascination with fear.

Studies have shown that experiencing fear in a safe environment can release dopamine—the so-called ‘feel-good’ chemical. According to Dr. Margee Kerr, a sociologist specializing in fear, our brains respond to creepy situations by stimulating pleasure responses, as long as we know there’s no real threat. It’s a kind of rollercoaster for the mind, giving us a controlled adrenaline rush that many find thrilling. This is part of why many love horror books and movies—it’s a way to explore our darker side.

If you’d like to explore the subject of Halloween, hell houses, and fear some more, I wrote a blog post about this very thing a while back. You can read it here.

Two Releases, One Terrifying Universe

This week, we’re celebrating not just one release, but two—NEMESIS and THE CURSE OF FROST LAKE MANOR. This is a first for me, and I can’t begin to tell you how thrilled I am that both titles are now unleashed for you to experience in different ways. Which adventure you brave is entirely up to you.

NEMESIS

—Book 4 of the Haunted series—is a psychological horror set on Thistle Island, off the coast of Scotland. Marco and Buddy are back, but this new story marks a departure from Marco’s origin trilogy. NEMESIS is the first book of the Haunted series to branch out into new terrifying tales, with each subsequent book exploring one of the world’s many dark and unexplainable phenomena. Writing NEMESIS was such great fun, and I’m very excited to see where the new stories will lead Marco next. I hope you are too.

NEMESIS is available in Kindle, paperback, and hardback formats from Amazon now. Click here to grab your copy.

If you didn’t catch my previous post, Jonathan and Katie Rand have returned to narrate the audiobook, breathing life into Marco once more. Principal recording has begun, and you may know that I like to get personally involved in producing my audiobooks to ensure the experience is as immersive as it can be beyond the written text. This will take several weeks, and the release is expected by the end of the year. The audiobook will be available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes.

THE CURSE OF FROST LAKE MANOR

THE CURSE OF FROST LAKE MANOR is a novella that I hadn’t planned this year, but when Dr. NoSleep Studios—the producers of the world’s #1 horror podcast—approached me, I knew this would be the perfect collaboration. Especially since I’d never written a short story before, and when they told me I could write about whatever I wanted, my imagination immediately kicked into overdrive. I just couldn’t resist.

If you’re not familiar with Dr. NoSleep’s podcast, I can tell you this—it’s no ordinary podcast. There’s a reason these guys are the best at what they do. If you’re imagining someone dryly reading the story, think again. Dr. NoSleep’s podcasts are actually like short audiobooks—narrated, performed, and enhanced with sound effects and music for a complete spine-chilling, immersive experience. This was one of the main reasons why I was so attracted to this collaboration.

THE CURSE OF FROST LAKE MANOR follows American property manager Kevin—you may remember him from CURSED, where he appears in a video conference call with Marco—who flies to England to oversee the conversion of the manor into a luxury holiday destination, completely unaware of what awaits.

This story tells exactly what happened after Marco Battista sold the property. Did the curse leave too?

What also excites me about this novella is that it bridges the worlds of both the HAUNTED and SINISTER series. So if you’ve read the SINISTER trilogy, you’re in for a treat!

THE CURSE OF FROST LAKE MANOR is available in Kindle, paperback, and hardback formats. Click here to get your copy.

To listen to the audio experience for free, simply search your favourite podcast streamer (e.g., Spotify, Amazon) for Dr. NoSleep and then THE CURSE OF FROST LAKE MANOR. Lock the doors, snuggle down, and enjoy. Yeah, I highly recommend you don’t listen alone—because, well, you never know.

Final Thoughts

And with that, there’s nothing else for me to say except to wish you the very best for a spooky Halloween and a delightfully dark rest of the year. Thank you, once again, for your support. While it may sound somewhat cliché, your enthusiasm for my work is what inspires me to keep writing bigger and better stories to give you that dopamine thrill.

Stay thrilled,

Tony