Genuinely a quick one from me today! I know, imagine that.
The next chapter of ’til the End of the World is out today, and things are getting darker in Calendar. After the storm, the group find themselves scattered – kidnapped, unconscious, or desperately searching for answers. As an ancient obelisk is found deep in the Earth, a vampyr queen makes her move, pulling the six deeper into a conflict they never asked for.
This story pushes the mystery wider, cracking open new secrets, and setting the stage for everything still to come. If you enjoyed Part 1 (still available to catch up), this is where the story really starts to bite.
Story 2 is available to read now. Dive in and let me know what you think!
‘til the End of the World is my new young adult supernatural series – an episodic collection of short stories set in Lancashire in 2005. If you love British YA fantasy, Buffy-style monster-of-the-week adventures, or nostalgic coming-of-age stories with a dark twist, this is the ensemble series for you.
You can skip the pre-amble if you want to avoid mild spoilers (or just want to cut to the chase) and pick up the first story on our dedicated‘til the End of the Worldpage. It will be available initially in PDF format, though I’m currently working on ePub versions for e-readers to follow. Below is the quick highlights, but if you fancy a bit of mildly-spoiler-ish pre-amble and backstory, read on beyond.
Quick Highlights
An ‘episodic’ series of short stories, one published per month
A ‘young adult’ supernatural series set in Lancashire circa 2005
Year One comprising of twenty-two short stories subtitled ‘Blood Ties’ begins today
Story one available in PDF today (ePub to follow)
Story two (second half of the ‘pilot’) available next Friday (30th January)
The Mildly Spoiler-ish Pre-Amble and Backstory
Photo by Rick Rawes
‘Til the End of the World, what by todays standards would be deemed a Young Adult Supernatural series, truly is the beginning of writing for me. Picture this, a somewhat awkward pre-teen, nose deep in a book on the primary school playground, or in the back of a car on the way to the latest family Scottish getaway. Or in a million other places. Those stories? Perhaps the mildly bonkers Animorphs (KA Applegate) or the incredibly underrated Spooksville (Christopher Pike). In these shorter, easily digestible tales, kids like me faced down vampyrs, demons and the forces of darkness (or alien slugs, but bear with).
Then puberty hits with all it’s hormonal, incredibly foul-mouthed, confusing chaos. So comes along your Buffy, your Smallville, your Vampire Diaries. Suddenly, as you’re dealing with the routine apocalypses (or is it apocalypi?) of your day-to-day teen drama, you see stories of people dealing with all that normal stuff – with like, vampyrs and stuff. Again, week by week, shorter snappy tales take us to prom with hellhounds, to football practice with pyrokinetics, to the end of innocence while being pursued by not one, but two, ‘handsome’ young vampyrs (or like incredibly old vampyrs, to be fair).
That’s the era in which ‘til the End of the World was initially conceived. A world of Linkin Park and Avril Lavigne. A world where moving from childhood to adulthood was drenched in the romantic, dark, twisted, horror filled world of teen angst. And demons. Where if the apocalypse came, one could just be beeped.
It was my way of getting into writing, taking the concepts I was seeing around and applying them more closely to my life. To my circumstances. To my challenges. And while there’s a deep, deep love of the DNA of shows like Buffy within ‘til the End of the World (the title itself comes from a Spike quote*), hopefully you’ll be able to feel unique flavour and Britishness of the era that flows through the series.
I use to write episode after episode of the series, plotting out entire seasons and mini-arcs and following the characters through their adolescence into adulthood. I explored monsters and themes and stories that interested me as a teen. Some friends read it, some didn’t, but mostly it was me in my room creating a world that was adjacent to, but in some ways far more safe and fantastical than, my own. Then I forgot about it, time moved on. It was shelved amongst my folders of old notes and files and never returned to. It was around then I tried to ‘grow up’ with what eventually became Heroes & Demons.
It was during the writing of the second book of that series and my fifth overall, Hope & Fury, that I actually found a place to include Miss Drake (and by extension a minor reference to the major ‘til the End of the World character Amy). It was a little easter egg or cameo, really only for my own benefit. But then, as I was conceiving the sequel to Avalon, I saw the perfect opportunity to bring in the world of Magickal, and it’s thirty-something director, the jaffa-cake obsessed Amy Donaldson.
That began the spark, the nugget of an idea. Perhaps, just maybe, there was a different way to regress and tell her back story. A way for her to reflect, me to try a different genre, and the dust-gathered tales of Amy and her childhood friends to finally get their time in the sunlight…
* Season 5 Episode 22 “The Gift” – 100th episode, one of the finest episodes of television ever made…in my humble opinion…
So What’s it Actually About?
Last chance to turn back before minor spoilers – or you can skip down to the next heading for the practicals!
‘til the End of the World is set in the small Lancashire town of Calendar, nestled amongst the valleys and hills of this part of the world. A world in which the surrounding nature – farmer’s fields, deep forests, rolling slopes and valleys – meets the human world.
New high streets adorned with a Café Nero and boutique shops, sitting next to greasy takeaways and cobbled ginnels. Old cotton mills half filled with small local businesses, with the bypass bringing an industrial area of cold grey steel warehouses. Kids walking to the one local high school under green oak trees. Stone terraced back-to-backs just down the road from that new build estate. A real, breathing Lancashire town, far away from the city streets of my usual Manchester settings, but one that still holds the fate of the world in it’s hands.
Beginning in September 2005, the story follows six teenagers as they navigate their final year of high school – GCSEs, romantic entanglements, PE kits and a massively unprofessional head teacher. Ricky Kent and Mark Matthews alone know what is happening out on the dark streets of Calendar – supernatural threats that stalk the shadows. For Ricky, his prophetic dreams of fire, ash and blood, and newfound strength lead him to question his destiny, while Mark faces down the secrets of his family – and their links to a mystery known as the Covenant.
Meanwhile, their blissfully unaware friends – kind hearted every girl Sara Carpenter, sweetly geeky Amy Donaldson, unusually sensitive jock Luke Cross, and queen bee Sam Summers, begin to circle the truth of their hometown – and one by one are drawn into the ancient battle to follow.
The first story, Stand By Me – Part 1, follows a typical pilot format – introducing us to this world, this setting and these characters. Vampyrs, vicious and definitely not sexy, have begun to creep into the darkness of Calendar’s ecosystem; drawing Ricky, Mark and their friends into the beginning of a war that will ultimately decide their fates, the fates of those they love, and perhaps even the world along with it.
‘til the End of the WorldYear 1: Blood Ties, starts today with the first story drop. The format will mimic the episodic storytelling of my youth, in that each year will cover roughly one academic year in the life of Ricky and his friends, over the course of twenty-two story drops. The first, Stand By Me – Part 1, is available today for free – over on the ‘til the End of the World page; while the second part of the ‘pilot’, Stand By Me – Part 2, will be released next Friday. Following this, each month a new episode will drop, again available on the same page with a little fanfare.
Each story will follow the same episodic format – an opening, followed by four ‘acts’, each of them split into smaller scenes that drive the story forward. Their length will vary – this first one is over 100 pages and is really more of a short-novella (but is doing much of the set up work), though later ones will be shorter. Some will tie to an over-arching year long plot, others will be your typical monster-of-the-week stories, which can be easily dipped into and out of.
Why follow this format? Well, I suppose this is the Tv series I’d always wished was around when I was growing up, and thanks to doing it this way there’s certainly no budget or network issues. An actor is never going to decide they need to find themselves or do movies and leave a storyline hanging.
If you’re like me, and enjoy a good actual book book though, you’ll be pleased to know I’ll be collecting stories into volumes of roughly five to six stories at a time. These will be released after their respective episodes are dropped onto the website and will be collections available in eBook and Paperback for pretty much cost price. Thrown in for some good measure with some bonus features, behind the scenes essays and other goodies to thank you, the reader.
Photo by Rick Rawes
Thank You (as Dido Says)
So that’s it, launched and away! I hope you enjoy reading about these adventures as much as I have enjoyed writing them. They helped me through my formative years, and being able to bring them back, polish them off and make them shine once more feels like a form of self-indulgent therapy. But sometimes you have to do that. Sometimes you have to take the past, dust off the old scars and recognise it for what it was. Painful, messy, funny, and deeply human. A place of darkness and hurt, whether emotional or supernatural, in the midst of which you are forged. A place in which you learn to hope and love and survive. That’s the heart of these stories, and I look forward to continuing to share them with you.
Read the first episode of ‘til the End of the World for free – available now in PDF, with ePub coming soon. If you’d like to keep up to date with all the latest goings on, please do subscribe to the site, or bookmark us. You can find me through socials on Facebook and Instagram, so please drop a like, follow or even just a lil’ howdy wave.
On a rain-soaked morning in West Yorkshire, this grown-up child wants to tell you about a rain-soaked night in Lancashire, some twenty odd years ago.
And so it begins…
Peace & Love y’all Rick Rawes 23rd January, 2026 Leeds, West Yorkshire
Blog post resuming every-other-week from Friday 23rd January
‘til the End of the World first two short story drops on first post, Friday 23rd January
Sinners & Saints, book 4 of Heroes & Demons releasing Friday 3rd July, 2026
Echo, the last New Knights solo novel releasing October 2026
Introduction
So the new year is upon us (or currently scrambling back to the safety of the side of the road in our rearview mirror) and here we are with an opportunity for a brand new start. This time of year is also the perfect time for reflection, as the quieter winter months allow us to huddle round in the warmth and light of our homes, telling each other stories of better days to keep away the gloom. Dickensian, yes. For those of you want a quick recap you can see the highlights above, but for anyone who wants a little more of a wandering tale, get yourself a brew, sit by the firelight and come with me for a little peek out into the gloom – and to the worlds beyond it.
Well my reflection begins here – why do I write? To answer that question, I need to go to an even more fundamental human question – what is the meaning of life? No, no, bear with. I’m not being dramatic (okay, maybe a little dramatic) or pretentious (okay, maybe a little pretentious). To understand why I write comes back to some of the things I was going to discuss in a December blog post on the spiritual and cosmological viewpoint of my books.
A common thread through many of the stories is that of agency, of control and free will. The universe may have plans, it may be alive, it may not be. There may be a God or deity beyond time and space that has seen it all happen with a wry knowing grin. There may not. You could go into the Beyond and simply see a sign saying ‘Welcome to Level 2’. Who knows?
But that is the point. Who knows? Who can know? And therefore, if the meaning of life eludes us, then it is the same as it having no meaning. Nothing inherent in our ego makes it significant in a universe 13 billion times older and stranger than each of us. In the end the only meaning our lives have is that they exist. They exist because they do, because they are. The only meaning of life is that we live it, we move, we grow, we change. We do anything to avoid being stagnant. To give life it’s meaning by doing something with it, to honour it. That’s why I write.
You might say that it boils down to a really fancy shmancy way of saying I write to have something to do. It goes a little beyond that, but that’s essentially true in a manner of speaking. I write because it is something I that gives me great pleasure to do so. I write sometimes to make a world and a universe that makes sense to me, with ideas and thoughts which show the best and worst of ourselves. I write to be in motion, to be shaping and changing a world at the tips of my fingers. In a world where I have little control, where things like cancer, psychotic world leaders, microscopic viruses and neo-Nazi thugs give little shit about me and my family, writing is a way to control a world. To know how it ends.
God, that’s a heck of a psychological truth isn’t it? Writing is a form of narcissism. A kind of God-like puppet mastery, an almost Freudian defence mechanism. But it’s also something to share. It’s a communication. Since the days of people sat around a campfire telling tales about the sun and the moon falling in love, we’ve told each other stories. They’re how we make the world make sense. So, even if it is a brain trying to impose order on a chaotic world, it’s nothing new – nor do I believe is it anything bad. It’s a pleasure, a pastime, a tradition. It’s waking up and saying to someone, come with me for a little while and see this world that’s safer than this one, that’s contained with pages and unbound in your imagination – and can take you away from the darkness around you. It is the campfire, the warmth and the camaraderie. And in that there is meaning.
I struggle with people, I’ll freely admit, and I’m okay with that. It’s probably one of the reasons I find the social media and marketing side of independent publishing so incredibly daunting. Reach out, communicate, interact. Historically that hasn’t gone so well. And yet…that’s exactly what I am doing. By writing, by sharing. And when people read, when people enjoy, and when they share that enjoyment, it gives me joy. And that is why I write. I may not be able to garner a million followers by understanding how to arrange my hashtags or put together a TikTok promotional advert. I may not be able to change the ills of the world. But I can sit by that campfire, I can tell you a story, and I can keep the darkness at bay for that little bit of a while.
And with that in mind, here’s what I’m building this year.
First off, there is a regular schedule for the next six months of blog posts, covering a whole range of topics and themes. These will drop on Fridays – roughly one every two weeks. The next will be on Friday 23rd January, 2026, and will focus on the launch of ‘til the End of the World.
Speaking of ‘til the End of the World, this young-adult skewed supernatural series, a throwback to the days of Buffy, Vampire Diaries and Skins, is launching on Friday 23rd January, 2026 with a double bill. The two short-stories comprising an opening ‘two-partner’ entitled Stand By Me – Part 1 and Stand By Me – Part 2 will be available for free from that date. You can download them in PDF form, or EPUB depending on your preferred reader. These short stories will form an ongoing episodic series, set around the autumn of 2005, and will show a corner of the Rawesian universe that hasn’t really been seen before.
Coming in the first few months of the year, Avalon, Avalon: Faerie Tales and Proud Marys will be brought back in paperback form, with fresh new covers and ready to be added to the shelf. This will mean for the first time in several years, all Rick Rawes novels will be available in both eBook and Print. Similarly, I’ll be exploring ways to deliver eBooks and Paperbacks directly through this site, as well as in other online marketplaces.
The two major upcoming releases this year will have several teases throughout the next few months, with plenty of surprises and reveals along the way. Sinners & Saints, the fourth and penultimate story of the Heroes & Demons series, will soon be available to pre-order, with a release date of Friday 3rd July, 2026. Echo, the final standalone novel in the New Knights Saga, will also have more details revealed as we go further, releasing in October 2026.
Thanks for Listening
There you go, that’s my update, my reflection. That’s where I’m at right now, and where things are going. Along the way you can help. If you’ve read something, please rate or review – either through their respective pages on Amazon or on Goodreads. It does help me to know not only has someone enjoyed themselves, but really does help others consider reading them. Share perhaps with your friends, or make a recommendation to fellow readers. That is far more priceless and valuable than my clumsy attempts at advertising.
If there’s something you like the sound of – have a look at the pages for the Heroes & Demons Series, the New Knights Saga or the Rest of the Rainbow and see if there’s anything else that takes your fancy. Give us a follow or a like on Instagram (@RickRawesHD) or Facebook (Rick Rawes Author), and if you do pop along, say hi. Let me know you’re there, let me know your own story.
Let me know if you want to sit by the fire with me for a bit. And maybe tell me if you’d like to hear a story.
In that, there is meaning.
Rick Rawes 16th January, 2026 Leeds, West Yorkshire
I know, I know, I disappeared for a little while. I’m sorry to say that the end of 2025 has been a rough one. I don’t like to discuss my personal life, so all I will say is that a break was needed for private reasons, and I’m sorry to those looking forward to updates towards the end of 2025. 2026 remains a year of new things, a refreshed perspective on upcoming releases and fresh stories for readers, new and constant. In busyness, there is creativity; in creativity, there is meaning.
“Life’s only meaning is the living of it. It’s in motion, in change. Staying still is simply a slow way to die.” Dr Rick Carter
I’ll be back next week with a fuller update on upcoming projects, but just so you have a glimpse, coming up over the next couple of months will be:
A new schedule of blog posts covering all sorts of topics relevant to the worlds of Heroes & Demons, The New Knights and the Rest of the Rainbow (check back next Friday 16th January, 2026 for more)
The unfortunately delayed, but much improved launch of brand new Young Adult supernatural short-story series, ‘Til the End of the World (due by the end of January)
Paperback releases for the remaining back catalogue of Rick Rawes novels, Avalon, Avalon: Faerie Tales, and Proud Marys within the first few months of the year
And coming towards the summer, the highly anticipated fourth novel in the Heroes & Demons series, Sinners & Saints
That’s it, I promised it would be quick this time. I’ll leave you with this cliché: life is short. Inexplicably, incredibly. And for us temporal beings, it is on the rails – time will move on with or without our consent. Don’t wait for anything, don’t say ‘I will tomorrow’ if today is just as good. You do not have to change the world with every action, but an action, however small, one that you can do, means the world.
Today I wrote a chapter. And this. That will do.
Rick Rawes January 10th, 2026 Leeds, West Yorkshire
Bastet released early – now available in eBook and Paperback
‘til the End of the World – pilot short story drops 12th December 2025, free to read on the site
Avalon & Avalon: Faerie Talespaperbacks – artwork underway, coming soon to join the shelf
Heroes & Demons Series – penultimate novel Sinners & Saints scheduled for 3rd July 2026
Echo – solo New Knight novel arriving October 2026
Blog Posts – fortnightly Fridays continue:
12th December – launch of ‘til the End of the World
26th December – cosmology of the Rawesian universe
The Longer Version…
Here we are! The last every-other-month update of 2025. What a year it’s been! Not one but two new novels, a website launched and paperbacks flooding the online market world like minion teddies at a kid’s birthday party. Then all the other stuff like life, family, friends, ups, downs, work (boo) and pup birthdays (yay). And that’s just me. You will likely also look back and think ‘what the hell was that?’
Well, let’s have a chat about what’s happened, happening and will be happening in the future to give us something to think about before the winter solstice comes upon us (other holiday festivities are also available).
Bastet!
So there’s a whole ‘nother post about this from last week (check it out if you haven’t already!) so I won’t say too much about it. But the big news is that the release of Bastet has managed to happen four months earlier than intended! Instead of hitting the anniversary of the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb (16th February, 1923) we’ve managed to release it on the anniversary of the discovery itself (4th November, 1922).
It’s a hell of a ride, and one of my personal favourites (yes, I say that to every book). Do check the post, the page or even venture to the soundtrack, and as always reviews and ratings are very much encouraged!
’til the End of the World
There’s another final treat to come this year in the form of a mini-drop, on Friday 12th December. Previously you might remember me mentioning ‘til the End of the World, my own little attempt at a young-adult style TV series told through a series of short stories. Well, the first story (cheekily I’ll call it a pilot episode) is ready to drop as a way to round out the year.
And even better? They’re free! Yes, eventually I might put together some eBook (or even paperback) collections of stories for those so inclined – but for now they will be made available online through the site. When launched, there’ll be a page you can navigate to, find the stories and follow along as they go. Subscribe to the site to receive upcoming blog posts and not miss anything!
I quite liberally use the term ‘love letter’, I know (and yet have never written so much as a dirty limerick in real life). Yet, ‘til the End of the World is indeed my answer to the supernatural stories that defined my youth. I’ll give you a lot more info at launch, but for now you should know if you enjoyed things like Buffy, Vampire Diaries, or other typical young adult fiction (not you, Twilight), then you’ll find something to enjoy in these tales of six friends in the small, sleepy Lancashire town of Calendar – as they navigate both life as a late teen in the mid-2000s and the (un)usual forces of darkness around them.
Upcoming Blog Posts
So the fortnightly blog posts will continue – on Fridays – throughout the remainder of the year. There’s this one (28th November) and two more to round out the year (Friday 12th December and Friday 26th December). The first will be the drop of ‘til the End of the World, with fuller details about the series, key dates and information and also how to find and read the first story. As well as some behind the scenes tidbits about its creation and the influences to give you more of a taste of what’s to come.
Meanwhile, tune in 26th December (or several days later when the sprout-haze begins to die down) to read about spirituality in the Rawesian universe. At this time of year it’s always good to do a bit of reflection and consider the wider ruminations in the universe, so if you want to know a little bit of bonkers philosophy from an absolute non-expert, while learning about the influences behind some of the cosmic imagery and themes within the books you’ve read…it may be preferable to another game of Monopoly with Uncle Keith.
“New” Paperbacks
Another thing to drop shortly will be the paperback versions of Avalon and Avalon: Faerie Tales. Well under way with the artwork, they’re slowly coming together and ready to reunite with their other New Knight companions. While you can still pick up the eBooks of both stories through the website at the moment anyway, I always do love a good paperback – and am very much enjoying the painstakingly slow creative process.
So while neither is a “new book”, if you’re looking to fill your shelf with good old fashioned paperbacks, then it’ll leave all but one of my books available in print. Which feels like a great achievement. For me, not for you. Unless buying thing is a great achievement for you, in which case look at you go! I’m getting distracted…anyway, watch this space! Or, y’know, bookmark the site for any paperback updates.
New Year and Beyond…
So with all that stuff going off before we reach 2026, it’s somewhat hard to imagine there’s a whole ‘nother year out there waiting to be explored. There’ll be plenty to come, lots of surprises and things to look forward to. And the same with the writing too!
Summer 2026 is going to be big for fans of the Heroes & Demons series as the penultimate novel is scheduled for release on Friday 3rd July, 2026 (Sinners & Saints), while in autumn of the same year we’re going to meet our final New Knight in his solo novel, Echo (circa October 2026).
Peppered throughout will be sprinklings of blog posts, short stories, and who knows how many surprises…so…yeah. A lot!
Parting Words
I wanted to say “final words” but that sounded too executorial – so let’s instead say, in parting for now, thank you once more. It’s only through the occasional click, read and review, that I’m able to keep sharing the worlds I’ve loved since I was young.
And, since this is the last update before the festive season gets going, I also want to wish everyone a safe and pleasant rest of the year. It’s the time for us to slow down a little, in between sprout-filled escapades of family drama. It’s a time to reflect, to look forward to the days ahead, and think about the days that have been. To reach out to one another as well as just spend a bit of time with ourselves.
And if that involves a Rick Rawes paperback in your lap, as you snuggle up with a little (potentially boozy) hot chocolate? Well, for me that’s a bonus.
Here’s to closing out 2025 with stories, surprises and a little festive magic!
Peace & love y’all.
Rick Rawes Leeds, West Yorkshire 28th November, 2025
3000 BCE, Ancient Egypt. The age of Titans is ending. Bastet, one of the last pure-bloods, walks a realm slipping from divine hands into human rule — a world of betrayal, exile, and shifting sands.
1923, Cairo. Linda Loache, forging her place in a man’s world scarred by war, stumbles upon a discovery in the desert — one that could ignite revolution and reshape history.
Across oceans of time, their fates entwine. As ancient grudges awaken and cosmic forces rise, Bastet and Linda are drawn together in a battle that will decide more than empires.
In a story of myth and memory, of sacrifice and survival, witness the return of a legend — and the tragic, timeless love of two souls bound for eternity.
The sands shift. Love endures.
The Release
On the 4th November, 1922, a flame flickered in the darkness. A man’s personal obsession hinged upon a single image – which would greet him as he peered through into an ancient tomb. Would it be riches? Would it be nothing but dust? Was it finally time to give up the search and head home in potential disgrace? As it turned out, it would be history made. It would be ‘wonderful things’.
That story – the finding of the Tomb of Tutankhamun – did indeed make it into the history books. However true the details may be (and honestly, when it comes to a good story do we really mind?), the story persevered and sparked a generation. Some, a love for the history of the ancient world and Egypt in particular, while some the stories of a curse became campfire chills that persisted even to the days of my youth.
So it had to be the 4th – 103 years later – that I released Bastet (more or less, thanks to KDP). It had to be that day, for my love letter to the sand and sandals epics I watched growing up. The culmination of a love of ancient Egyptian myth born from that wide-eyed youth watching Strange But True with a Friday night chippy on his lap, learning all about the Curse of King Tut. And now, it’s here!
What’s it About?
* mild spoiler alert *
I only mention in case the blurb above was too shockingly revealing for you. Otherwise, just a touch more flavour. The book is historical fantasy, taking place across two timelines. It is a tale told as though around a campfire, a reflection on the history of Bastet. In the time of Ancient Egypt, she is a God amongst a growing human population, finding the shifting sands of political court distasteful for a warrior such as she. Blood, betrayal and love amongst the oases combine.
Then the action moves to 1923, as the Tomb of Tutankhamun is about to be opened. We are brought into a world destabilised by World War I; a world in which technology is ramping forward and espionage is taking on new forms. Enter Linda Loache, a woman of a relatively newborn Strategic Intelligence Service, sent to bring stability to a recently independent Egypt. There, ancient power is awoken, old grudges resurfaces, and a love that lasted longer than the stars is reclaimed.
Darkly comic, wildly bonkers and deliberately anachronistic, the tale woven by these two women defies expectations and conventions. Saving the world, tackling the MacGuffins and ending ancient feuds takes more than just a hero.
It takes a God or two.
The Soundtrack
Once again, this new novel comes with it’s own playlist of songs that inspired the writing of it. However, the mood is not one of 1920s flappers and wartime ragtime – this is an out of time and out of the chaos kind of a playlist. Songs evoke mood as a simple act of defiance – a celebration of power and vulnerability, as well as the kind of mythic resonance only a God can bring to the party. Florence pairs with Sia, swinging through Self Esteem and Amy Winehouse. Robyn pops up with a wild bit of LaRoux and even some Halestorm. The sound is one of cosmic emotion, grand in scale and attitude – and I find myself coming back to it even after the writing is done.
If you have Spotify you can find it through this link, but if you want to compile it yourself through your own streaming service, the recommendations are below (the order is your own, however!)
Chandelier by Sia; Prioritise Pleasure by Self Esteem; Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up) by Florence + the Machine; In for the Kill by LaRoux; Dancing on My Own by Robyn; Fucking Wizardry by Self Esteem; Oh My God by Mark Ronson & Lily Allen; Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow by Amy Winehouse; You Forever by Self Esteem; Now I’m in It by HAIM; If I Could Change Your Mind by HAIM; With Every Heartbeat by Robyn & Kleerup; Unstoppable by Sia; Drumming Song by Florence + the Machine; Like a Woman Can by Halestorm.
Where to Find It!
Now for the important bit, right? eBook and Paperback now available across Amazon marketplaces! You can pick it up in:
If you are ever so inclined to pick up a copy, either eBook or Paperback and do partake in a read, I would really appreciate your support in one tiny other way. If you like it, please drop a review or even just a rating on Amazon or Goodreads. It does make a difference. I am a one man band with no backing from massive publishing firms or huge marketing budget, so every little bit of positivity helps – and is very much appreciated.
Peace and love y’all.
Rick Rawes Leeds, West Yorkshire 14th November, 2025
Sequels are hard, right? I mean, I’ve managed one so far (Avalon: Faerie Tales) and a trilogy (Hope & Fury, Fire & Water) – so I guess I’ve made it work. But it wasn’t easy. How do you do the same thing, while making its own distinct entity. Sometimes, I think it’s down to whether or not you knew you were getting a sequel when you wrote the first one. Not being subject to external publishing forces, I’m free to plan however many I like and write them as I do. So, sure, that’s made it easier.
Now with many horror films, sequels are decided on after the first one. Sometimes this makes for a continuation that feels like a fever dream (Halloween II springs to mind), while others are the same movie as the first one, done exactly the same but with a different set of bimbos and himbos (Friday the 13th: Part 2). And sometimes, my personal favourite, they’re so bonkers or awful because they act like they never watched the first movie (The Exorcist II…the less said, the better).
This falls somewhere in between. I’ll walk you through five other inspirations from film and print that have inspired my horror leanings, just like the first one. And maybe I’ll make a point by the end. Maybe I won’t. Maybe we’ll venture into the surreal, or maybe we’ll reach…The End? Well, anyway, let’s dive in.
Book Three: The Ritual by Adam Nevill
Now, often I like to watch movies before reading the books they’re based on. I know, this seems opposite to the way it should be, but for me a two hour experience gives me one understanding of the story. Those two hours are often ruined if I’m anticipating parts of the book and constantly critiquing and comparing. But when I’m reading the book after having watched the movie, I’m not getting less – I’m getting more. The experience is slower, more thorough. That was how I approached the Ritual, following a random moment of ‘go on, I’ll give it a go’ on Amazon Prime Video.
Do both. Treat both as separate because they are. This book, a lads’ holiday of hiking in the Swedish wilderness encountering something beyond their understanding, is an atmospheric, layered horror that creeps steadily on you. As they’re stalked in the woods by the thing in the trees, so are you. But underneath is the steadily creeping horror of a different kind: that of time. It’s a book that encapsulates perfectly what it is to be a man in your thirties – you enter this part of life, friendships, relationships with the hopefulness of youth – only to realise that all along adulthood has stalked you – waiting to expose the cracks in a life that never was.
Since picking up this one, I’ve gone through a lot of Adam Nevill’s back catalogue and have to say for me, some of the peaks of modern British horror are within those pages. This was my first, but it shan’t be my last.
Film Four: As Above, So Below
Okay, so found footage horror films are everywhere. Like, more frequent than Starbucks and yet a heck of a lot cheaper. Some can be very enjoyable, some can be so low budget you can’t even see what’s going on and others are downright bizarre. As Above, So Below does something I never thought I’d say about a found footage horror movie – it reaches the ranks of a comfort movie for me.
Yes, there’s some characters which are more one dimensional. There’s plenty of bonkers moments that never get fully explained – the creepy singing ladies in the catacombs are one. There’s characters who are acting relentlessly towards a goal, despite the fact that there’s swinging hallucinations of dead bodies in front of them. It has all the hallmarks of a movie which is playing beat-for-beat the tropes of modern horror. Stupid decisions, almost criminal ignorance of supernatural events, arguments for arguments sake and a convoluted plot that literally leads us to the gates of hell.
And yet, for me, it works beautifully: the descent into the catacombs, the building claustrophobia, the adventure, the reward and the sting in the tail. The ridiculous need to continue filming even as they literally cross over into hell itself. And the final, haunting shots that still make my eyes hurt. And yet…every time, I can’t tell you truly what brings me back, but something does. Maybe I’m the crazy sorority girl walking into the darkened room on the anniversary of the sorority girl massacre?
Book Four: The Stand by Stephen King
I know, it’s a cheat to have two of the same author on this list, right? Nah, not if it’s Stephen King. And forgive me, I only did two. I could have done a top ten list for Mr King all by itself. Anyway, onto The Stand. Two TV adaptations, a cut and an uncut edition (stop sniggering), and several decades of a legacy to hold onto.
In short, it’s a story of the end of the world. A global flu epidemic that kills 98% of the population (or there abouts). It follows the beginning days of sniffles, through the collapse of society and finally spends the last third in the ultimate battle between good and evil forming in a brave new world. It does it through love, through hope and through sacrifice. It does it with the help of an old woman in Colorado, and a slick demonic force in Las Vegas. It does it with a sprawling cast of characters whose fates are not always so easy to predict.
When I first read this book, I was maybe thirteen/fourteen. I’ve read it many times since, and each time found something deeper. Despite the ultimate battle between good and evil that frames the narrative, the horror at the centre is that every single one of us is formed of good and evil. Every single one of us can hurt other people, intentionally or unintentionally. That God, if such a being exists, is cruel in his demands. But the actions he demands combat a greater evil. Or do they?
Film Five: The Exorcism of Emily Rose
The last movie on the list I saw in the cinema when I was sixteen and honestly it both scared the shit out of me and made me feel. As I’ve said before, horror is always served by this, the humour and the heart within it. You can make a whole cast of characters and slaughter them intimately and uniquely, and yet no one gives a crap because you don’t care about them. This is not one of those movies.
It doesn’t rely on jump scares – though there are a few. Instead, it gives us a story of Emily Rose – a young girl who (not really *spoiler alert*) dies following a failed exorcism. The main narrative follows the priest on trial for negligent homicide, and the fantastic Laura Linney as his sceptical lawyer. The story itself is told through flashbacks, those which portray the demonic events that led to said exorcism, and those which suggest the alternative, medical explanation for her condition. As such this is not a horror film which explicitly states the truth behind everything that’s happened.
It is a story of a girl. A deeply religious young woman, who had her whole life in front of her. It challenges the notion of what exorcism is and does for us. Unlike the Exorcist itself (another fantastic movie and book), it does not show us the devil in all his forms. What it does do, is present a story that is horrific and tragic both as a supernatural battle of wills…and more so as a story of a girl trapped by her own faith into a death that was unnecessary. And by the end, the question of what happened, is down to a matter of faith.
Book Five: The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
This was another book where after reading I went and hunted down all the author’s other works. I was initially drawn to it by realising that it included a gay couple. Then I read the book jacket and realised the story sounded kinda cool so why not give it a go. Then, like a breath of fresh air, I found a story that was increasingly dramatic and disturbing, wrapped in believable gay characters in horror. Imagine that, not gay best friends there for sass. Not predatory homosexuals designed to bring about disgust. Not tragic victims of psychotic clowns and small town bigots. Just gay people. Finally.
The book has a simple premise. A couple are staying at a cabin in the woods with their adopted daughter. Three strangers walk out of the woods and tell them that the world will end if one of them does not kill one of the others. Off you go. Thus begins nearly 400 pages of increasing tension, as a series of calamitous events make us question are these guys crazy…or not?
We are forgotten and maligned in the horror genre. I can’t claim that this book is the first one to just authentically represent people of other sexual orientations to the same degree as their straight counterparts. But it was one of the first for me. Of course, the fact that they’re a gay couple brings very little to the story – but just in case I need to reiterate it for people…that’s the point. That’s why it mattered.
To Be Continued?
Not this time! Well, I mean, I might have a hand pop up from the grave as a cash grab sequel promise that might never be made. But nah, actually I think for the Halloween posts this is it for now. We’ll move back onto our regularly scheduled programming/posts next time. I hope you’ve taken something away from this, even if only a single recommendation you’d like to peruse. You’re welcome!
Last time I asked you who the true monsters were? Is it obvious yet? Horror which works, which saturates to our bones does not come from without. Even in the beginnings of the genre, when monsters rumbled towards us, they were only ever projections of our own shadows on the wall. They lurked within the depths of the almost places, the borderlands between light and dark – just like the human soul.
We fear monsters because we know we create them. It’s in the selfish actions of a post-apocalyptic story as society collapses around it, it’s the fear of our own obsessions pushing us towards the very gates of hell. It’s the choice to sacrifice the world to keep our hands clean of known blood. To put our faith in faith knowing the horror it could cause. To go for a walk in the woods and realise how blatantly unprepared we are.
Maybe things do lurk in the shadows, real external threats to our safety and security. But maybe as we sit around the campfire, telling our ghost stories in the flickering firelight, under cold disinterested skies, we may realise the true monsters may not be escapable. They are watching with our eyes, they are thinking with our thoughts.
So, what do we do?
What can we do?
Rick Rawes Leeds, West Yorkshire 31st October, 2025
Where are the monsters? It’s Halloween soon, are they already skulking around the graveyards? Or are they much, much closer to home?
So, I’m not a critic. I mean, sure, I can be critical of something as much as the next guy, but at the end of the day it’s a personal opinion. It gets on my tits when someone is so definitive in their recommendation of something. I once immediately took to disliking someone when during a routine conversation they started going on about how ‘shit’ The Vampire Diaries was, in a derogatory tone that told you as much about their opinion of the show itself and the people who watched it. Have some humility, please.
With that said, I figured I’d let you know my fave horror movies and horror books, to give you some ideas of the types of stories that inspire me in my writing. You may like some of them too, you might absolutely hate them, you might even want to give them a go. And you might want to let me know your thoughts below. That’s cool. But just remember to check any egos at the door.
Film 1: The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Haunting
I toyed with the idea of doing this in order, but honestly argued with myself that I couldn’t. But if I could, there’s a sneaking suspicion that this may be number one. It all goes back to watching Strange But True on a Friday night as a kid, stomach full of a chippy tea. They did a whole half-hour special on the Enfield haunting from the 1970s, where two young girls were tormented by a spectral houseguest who may or may not have been a previous owner. It chilled me to the core then, a normal house like any other – behind which terrifying events took place.
So after the quite enjoyable first Conjuring film, in which husband and wife team Ed and Lorraine Warren are like Demon-busters in conservative clothing, I was already looking forward to seeing them take on this piece of my childhood. I wasn’t prepared for it. The oppressive atmosphere, the creeping dread, the rain soaked streets. The bloody nun! It was the slow burn horror with the modern jump-scares thrown in for good measure. Then deep within the heart of it, a gentle kind of love story. I walked out feeling not just like I’d had a good scare, but filled with a warm glow. The remembrance that in the face of unspeakable evil, simple small acts of domestic love keep the lights on.
Sure, there were a few too many world-building plots for my liking – the Crooked Man seemed particularly pointless. But the flaws seemed minor compared to the story. And boy, even if it may have gone a few steps away from what likely really happened – the story kept me going. Definitely a recommend, even if you don’t watch any of the others.
Book 1: Carrie by Stephen King
Again, I am denying rank here, but Carrie may need a special mention not only as my favourite horror book but perhaps my favourite book of all time. It’s short and in case you have never heard, simply put a teenage girl slowly coming to realise her telekinetic powers is bullied. At the senior prom, she has a bucket of pig’s blood thrown over her and goes into a full on murderous rampage. That’s the surface level, and is probably how you have had it described to you if you’ve never seen it.
The truth is, it’s a story of a human girl. Someone who could be any of us. Any of us that’s ever been the target of a bully, or different, or weird. It’s a story of the systemic abuse parents can enact on children because of their own trauma. It’s a story about what happens when people – teachers, students, adults, children, doesn’t matter – allow bullying to happen, or perpetrate it ourselves. It’s about what happens when someone who is victimised, finally has enough. It tells us that monstrous acts come in many different forms, and don’t always a monster make.
This is perhaps one of only two books who’s ending has ever brought me tears – and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Film 2: The Fourth Kind
The film you’re about to see, consisting of archival footage and reconstructions, as well as an interview between the director and the subject – is a complete fabrication. Yet marketed so heavily into the Blair Witch-esque meta world that it comes across with complete earnestness. Rest assured, not a word of it is true. But could it be? The answer is a resounding – possibly.
The story is essentially that of a single mother and psychiatrist, who lives in the arse-end of Alaska with her son and daughter. When several of her patients start describing the same thing – nightly visitations by an owl – she uses hypnotic suggestion to probe deeper into their subconscious – and comes face-to-face with ancient forces from another world.
Rather than outright terror, the movie goes for a slow disorienting build. Each segment, each side-by-side ‘raw footage’ with ‘reconstruction’ moment, grows in a quiet intensity. It shows little at a time, in breathless whispers – and culminates in a heart-wrenching, absolutely terrifying sequence simply unlike anything I’ve come across in space-horror before. It’s like if you were watching History Channel’s Ancient Aliens – After Dark. And somehow, for me, it works beautifully.
And at the heart of the story? A mother’s quiet love and desperate unravelling.
Book 2: Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
The second book on my list, Hex, takes us back into the more mystical world of witches and evil curses – which are fertile ground for any kind of horror. This book was recommended to me by a colleague once upon a time, after I’d joined the staff book club. I learnt quickly that in a school a ‘staff book club’ consists of the English department and a few brave other souls, meaning – and I mean this with love – all selections fall broadly into the category of ‘literature’. By which, if it has not been nominated for some kind of prestigious award, it is likely not to be considered. But, surprisingly, one of the members suggested I give this a go.
I was blown away. The basic story follows the town of Black Rock, a town which is subject to a curse from a 16th century witch. The witch wanders around town, half-naked and in chains, mouth sewn shut. There’s a few simple rules – don’t allow the witch to speak being one of the main ones. Thus, we’re thrown into a modern world of social media obsessed teens…and centuries old curses. I didn’t know what to expect going in – and it exceeded expectations I didn’t know I had.
Perhaps the key takeaway from this for me, was how little I understood towards the end. Foregoing easy answers, instead the end feels like some kind of horrifying fever dream, which chilled me to my core and set fire to my imagination at the same time. I don’t want to spoil it, but dear heavens I enjoyed this story to the final page. If you like books with phenomenal endings – go for this one.
Film 3: Alien
I’m rounding off the first part of my Halloween special by focusing on a classic. One which many people may argue isn’t even a horror film – but instead more firmly within the realm of Science Fiction. I would argue that if you can watch this film and not be terrified – then good for you. On first viewing, as a twelve year old boy, I was oddly bored and apart from a few bits of blood and guts, the film was just too slow for my adrenaline seeking mind.
But then I watched it as an adult. Alone, in the dark, on a big Tv with the sound way up. And I fell completely in love. You’re right, this might not be classifiable as horror, perhaps it is more terror. There on the edge of space, a team of regular joes are told to make a detour to a hostile world. Once there, they encounter an alien. But not some big-eyed grey little one, or some fella with a Cornish pasty engraving on his forehead – but a genuine alien organism. Slowly, but surely, they realise how far out of their depths they are as they’re picked off one by one. There are gruesome deaths, but what separates this from other space horror films is the underlying sense of terror.
Stephen King once said (more or less) the difference between horror and terror, is seeing a monster and feeling cold breath on your neck in an empty room. This is how I’d define what struck me about this film. It was the feeling of encountering something completely unknown, that looked, moved and behaved like nothing knowable. It was the sense of normalcy, a group of (as then) relative unknown faces – ordinary people – made idiotic decisions out of sheer instinct. It was the slowly mounting realisation that the humans in the movie were just as disposable to the unseen Mother as teens in a pulp slasher.
And then there’s Jonesy…
Until Next Time
Later this week I’ll finish this list and you can the other two films and other three books that make up my top ten horror experiences. I like horror which makes us think, which delves deeper than ‘oooh there’s a scary monster’. Some of the best horror films do everything without the need for graphic gore, or splashes and splashes of blood. It has it’s place – don’t get me wrong – and certainly does the job for a lot of people.
For me, I guess, true horror blends the gore with the terror. The seen with the unseen. The truly terrifying horror stories are the ones which lean into our own imaginations. That make us wonder what is around the next darkened corner, or try to anticipate what someone will do next. They make us question heroes and villains, the characters we see. Make us wonder where the monsters are – the ones within and without.
Perhaps that’s why horror of that nature works so well for me. It forces me to allow my imagination out. And when that happens we realise how dark our imagination can be by itself. It reminds us of that part of us, inside all of us, the existence of true evil – even if only in a shadowy imagination. With that in mind, I ask you again…
What happens when sleep becomes a luxury – and reality starts to unravel?
So, it’s been a while since we’ve done one of these. Almost since…well, summer. Now, before you get too excited it’s not a brand-new book (that’s still well on track for February 16th, 2026 – Bastet if you please). Instead, since my relaunch I’ve been steadily working on releasing all the Rick Rawes back catalogue in brand new refreshed paperback glory. I always will enjoy a paperback best. Thus, I’m happy to announce that Insomniac, my first true horror novel, is releasing in a refreshed paperback form just in time for 2025’s spooky season!
WARNING – *mild spoilers ahead for Insomniac (nothing too dramatic, don’t worry, but if you like to go in completely blind…simply go and purchase the book here…)
(see what I did there? Apparently, that’s called marketing)
Insomniac is a bit of an odd duck. It began life many, many moons ago as a story called “All Souls” – actually a movie script in the beginning. It was during the hay day of early 2000s slasher films – all of them blatant rip offs of the slasher films of the 1990s (which in turn were blatant rip offs of the slasher films of the 1980s… you see where this is going…). I could not get enough of them, and the worser the betterer. I would literally sit through an hour and a half of incomprehensible nonsense simply because it starred someone I knew from Buffy. Which led to films such as a confusing story about a car crash (I think?!) with Faith (Soul Survivors), and Anya kicking the ass of an evil tooth fairy a la Darkness Falls.
So in my teens I capitalised on this by writing a story where bunches of characters loosely based on my friends were bumped off unceremoniously by a shadow person – who, in a big twist, turned out to be a Shadow Person from some dark realm and not just a killer in a black onesie. It was awful. I can’t remember who ended up with their face in a blender in the school kitchen, but whoever it was I apologise for the gruesome demise.
There’s almost nothing left of the original DNA of All Souls in what eventually became Insomniac, but a nugget is still there. The central idea of taking a straightforward slasher-esque or Se7en-esque escapade and twisting reality around it into a knot, had a kind of Dusk ‘til Dawn genre bait and switch feeling I couldn’t resist.
Because I was going to go down a route of mashing genres – from a grim and gritty serial killer crime thriller to a psychological reality-bending horror, I also didn’t want traditional heroes. Enter, Liam Harper. A twenty-year-old psychology student, pushed beyond the brink. He is not a hero when we meet him, he is not doing anything in fact other than surviving.
His trauma as a character comes down to the simple truth that behind the veneer of civilised society lies people who have fallen through the cracks. The bright heady lights of student life, is not what is experienced by everyone. Many people struggle with the pressures and mental health impacts of the university light. Exam pressures, home expectations, being one of a thousand nameless faces on a course or in a system that sees you only as a number on a page. Liam broke. Liam started to recover. But when we meet him, you can still see the cracks.
Then, just as he’s about to re-enter the world, still struggling with the aftereffects of his chronic insomnia and his breakdown…people he once knew begin to die. Horribly, brutally…and it all leads back to him.
There’s a lot of layers and themes in Insomniac, densely packed with it some may say. I like questions, I like provoking – without always giving away easy answers. The Dark Man, Liam’s tormentor – is he real or not? And even if he is real, does that negate the impact on Liam’s mental health? Is he crazy or does that not even matter?
And then there’s the response. Someone is rapidly killing people in brutal ways – and the signs point to a young lad who’s just come out of psychiatric care. When all evidence points to him, is DI Lance Mercer wrong to go so hard after their suspect? Or his tunnel vision a kind of institutional prejudice that makes life so much harder for people with a label of ‘mental health’? What are the lines we can and can’t cross in the pursuit of saving lives?
The world of Liam Harper is a dark and intricate one, where hard truths blend almost inseparably into lived realities – and even the supporting cast are strange, flawed and unique beings that may or may not always be what they appear in the beginning. But, as the story territory grows stranger and ever more terrifying, I want you to bear with me – and know that in the end there is always hope. In darkness, there is often light. In horror, there can be beauty. In sorrow, there can be love.
Insomniac can be read on its own as a scary tale to tell ourselves in the dark. It can make you sad, make you cry, make you afraid all by its own merits. It does connect to the larger worlds I’m building – thus you will see familiar characters and themes running through this first Volume of the New Knights tales. So, if you do like it, maybe give the others a go as well. But if you’re okay with just a bit of horror, and happy with the self-contained story within – then hopefully you will be satisfied by the tale here.
Insomniac will always hold a special place in my heart, a cathartic self-exorcism of difficult times manifested into the life of a character. It reminded me of the power of the genre, not to celebrate darkness, but to honour the light. I will return to horror again, before too long. There’s something intoxicating about the darkness, about the monsters that look just like us. As I sit here writing, I feel my own Dark Man, just out of the corner of my vision, grinning that grin the colour of bone and whispering quietly with gentle promise.
Soon.
Rick Rawes 13th October 2025 Leeds, West Yorkshire
P.S. Grab your copy of Insomniac now – available in refreshed paperback on Amazon UK, US, and more…
Music has always been a big part of my life. Big shock – and so unusual, right? Okay, so I say some obvious stuff sometimes. This time I want to take a bit of time to chat about how music has shaped the words that come onto the page. How it moves me, evokes emotions that tie into my creative process – and maybe to let you glimpse a little bit more of my writing process. This is how it works for me, maybe that’s how it works for you.
The Early Days
Growing up we weren’t a particularly musical household. I mean, I had a play on a piano and keyboard for a while, but with only a songbook of James Bond themes from Dr No to A View to a Kill, my range became rather limited rather quickly and I haven’t tickled the ivories since. Somebody did it better (sorry, had to). However, music was still important. And I think like many of us, the music of our parents is our first introduction to the world of sound. Long before our friends are going on about the latest band – or even before the music channels on TV started intruding into our everyday lives – we grow up hearing what they play.
I remember a country and western album. A compilation of the greatest love songs of all time. I remember a seventeen-disc Rolling Stones greatest hits CD that went straight in my dad’s boot (because that’s where the automatic disc changer used to be). I remember listening to cassette tapes on my Walkman that ranged from Meat Loaf to Chris de Burgh. I remember being bought a P!nk CD (Missunderstood, I think) and finding that transformative. There was a Whitney Houston Greatest Hits double CD at some point (if you’ve never beaten the Elite Four on the Gameboy with a Mewtwo while blasting One Moment in Time into your headphones…well, you probably got out more). Somewhere floated Tracy Chapman.
I think it’s safe to say there was no one musical identity I came across growing up. Not even when the music tellie started to catch my attention, did I find there any difference between the screaming of Chester Bennington, or the latest aggressively marketed Shania Twain banger (how she managed to be on every television simultaneously in the early noughties was nothing short of impressive…). What always drew me every time was not ‘oooh this is by that person I like’ or ‘of course, I only listen to pan pipe Swedish death metal’, but rather a kind of mental storm that it evoked. Sometimes it was visual, ideas and visions popping into my head like mad. Sometimes it emotions – my heart would thump and the goosebumps spread. And the best of songs? It was often both. From there sprang ideas, from there connections formed and the emotional journey of a story solidified.
The Rise of Spotify & Avalon: Faerie Tales
Music has remained a key component for me creatively for a long time (and again, I know I’m not alone in that). But with my discovery of Spotify particularly (other music services are available…) I began to have a way to add them to a playlist as I went. It was a way to capture key scenes as well as a vibe of a story as it was going.
Avalon: Faerie Tales was going to be that bit campier than it’s predecessor. Some scenes were already there – the hypnotic pop synth of “ET: Extraterrestrial” by Katy Perry was the genesis of the opening scene, the introduction to the world of faeries. “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele had a thumping beat with just the right hint of desperation, perfect for an underworld-meet-seaside battle between good and evil with swords and fur coats. The soft (and yet always desperately beautiful) voice of Whitney’s “How Will I Know”, was perfect for a celebration of love in the face of desperate sacrifice. The rest were songs similar in vein and tone. Ethereal, longing, otherworldly and just more than a little bit camp.
I kind of half-heartedly shared the playlist, which also contained a few throwbacks to what I was listening to during the writing of the first Avalon but didn’t do much else with it.
Fire & Water: A Book Soundtrack
Now my next novel, Fire & Water, started off quite a bit differently. There were still songs which sung to me at key moments. The tragic need of Cam’s “Till There’s Nothing Left” spoke of love in the face of apocalyptic odds, Placebo’s “Running Up That Hill” of a moment where we cross our own lines and boundaries – and not for the better, even Skunk Anansie’s “Weak” as the doomed catharsis of the final brutal confrontation. What was different was an order started to come through.
The Fire & Water playlist is probably the first ‘book soundtrack’ I’d ever done. The emotions of the tracks that I had in the background while writing dovetailed perfectly with the emotional transitions of the characters throughout the story. As I stand back, I see the book in macro-scale, told through these individual sounds. Starting light, foreboding, and gradually escalating in tempo and tone. Rock beats of Through Fire and Linkin Park build until the literal breaking point. In the second half, increasing fracture, harsher lyrics, the hopelessness of Stone Sour and Seether. The last stand, sorrowful and grand – with Snow Patrol’s “Run” and Biffy Clyro’s “Instant History”.
And finally, the one which hit me the most and lingered with me throughout the entire writing process. Johnny Cash’s rendition of “Hurt”. One of the most powerful and moving interpretations of a song I’ve ever heard, that never fails to raise the goosebumps and bring a tear. As our broken characters are thrown towards an uncertain future, it perfectly encapsulated the emotion I felt. The emotions they felt. The ones I hope come through for the reader.
The Future….Ooooooh….
So, what’s next? Well, the playlists are there, and I think if you’re so inclined to, go and take a look and a listen. They’re not strictly meant to be listened to while reading, but they can give you a bit more of an insight into this crazy brain of mine and into the worlds you’re reading about. I think from now on I’ll keep adding them to my various book pages so you can decide yourself.
And upcoming? Well, the soundtracks of my WIPs at the moment are…somewhat unique. Bastet is building itself around strong, chaotic music by some of the best female artists out and around. Florence + the Machine is the heart and soul with both “Drumming Song” and “Raise It Up (Rabbit Heart)” alongside company like Sia, Self Esteem, Robyn and Amy Winehouse. I’m definitely liking the sounds, the messages, the beats. Completely un-1923-like but anachronistic is not just a word, it’s a lifestyle choice for Bastet.
Meanwhile, Fire & Water’s follow up Sinners & Saints is turning out to take the darkness and run with it. Themes of brokenness, redemption, and the uneven path to healing lay alongside the darkness of mass oppression, questions of faith and belief, and walking the hardest roads with no hope. Moving from “Ain’t No Grave” by Johnny Cash and concluding with “Chop Suey!” by System of a Down, navigating the works of IAMX, Bear’s Den and 3 Doors Down in between. Oh, and “La Bamba” for good measure.
It’s a long way from the cassette tapes of Chris De Burgh and Meat Loaf in many ways. And in some others, not that far at all.
Peace and love, y’all.
Rick Rawes
29th September 2025
Leeds, West Yorkshire
P.S. As always like and subscribe and share and stuff – every little bit helps!
P.P.S., I don’t own any of the music, rights or anything else. All the above songs mentioned are hella recommended, and can be found on various music streaming platforms, but they’re just a personal preference. I tend to like Spotify (which is where my shared public playlists are), but you find your own and enjoy it. Music is to be shared and to help us connect, with others and with ourselves. If music be the sound of stuff…rock on.
Rick Rawes 