Hey, horror lovers! What a treat we get this week to have Friday the 13th followed by Valentine’s Day. The last time Friday the 13th went hand in hand with Valentine’s Day was back in 2015. That was so many moons ago. In fact, for me, an entirely different world. Back then my hubby and I were living in London. My debut poetry collection, A Model Archaeologist, was undergoing final edits by my editor, Les Robinson at Eyewear Publishing, before being launched in June 2015 at the Rugby Tavern in Holborn, London, as part of the 20/20 collection of upcoming poets. In fact, I wasn’t even a novelist at that point, as that was four years before my debut novel, Gods of Avalon Road had even been published by Blossom Spring Publishing, which happened in October 2019.
Ah, how time flies!
Back in 2015, I couldn’t have foreseen how my career as a psychological horror novelist would unfold. As of February 2015, I only had 4 short horror stories under my belt: 2 under a pseudonym in Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine and in Sex and Murder Magazine (I will probably republish these at some point in a collection), 1 under my own name in Blood Moon Rising Magazine, and another that I self-published as a novella. The latter two, The Woman and the Stiff, and Zombie Reflux have been re-published in my collection of strange and macabre short stories, Diabolical Dreamscapes.
Fast forward from February 2015 to February 2026, and I am the proud author of six ghost books and psychological horror titles that are perfect for this Friday the 13th and Valloween holiday combo. How perfect, since there won’t be another Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th in February for another six years, so here are my six books to help you celebrate:
Gods of Avalon Road, my debut novel, is an occult urban fantasy book with plenty of pagan debauchery and ritual sacrifice.
All three novels in my award-winning Belfast Ghosts trilogy – The Blue Man, The Fairy Lights and Matthew’s Twin – have elements of dysfunctional paranormal romance, perfect for Valloween.
Love you to Death, Ghost stories for Valentine’s Day, contains 8 short tales of creepy romance, featuring lonely-hearts who are often unaware that the recipient of their amorous affections are, in fact, ghosts.
In Diabolical Dreamscapes, a few of the tales feature bizarre romantic liaisons between ghosts, the undead, or the disturbed living and the unwitting deceased. Yep, er, cue graphic scene in ‘Zombie Reflux’…
Anyway, thanks for joining me on my horror author trip down memory lane. Whether you celebrate Friday the 13th and/or Valentine’s Day, I hope you have a disturbingly delicious couple of days, as there won’t be another horror combo like this again until February 2032.
Leilanie Stewart 
Well done you! Back in 2015 I was just playing around with the idea of writing, and now I can’t believe how many I’ve got under my belt. Best of luck with yours this Friday 13th – it seems an appropriate day for it! 🙂
We’ve both been very prolific over the past decade then it seems! Hopefully thirteen will be lucky on the sales front this Friday – an author can hope, anyway…🤞
A bit of positive thinking can’t hurt … 🙂