March 17, 2026

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day and White Day!

A lot of national holidays this week in three countries that are important to me: St. Patrick’s Day (Ireland, 17 March), Mother’s Day (UK, 15 March) and White Day (Japan, 14 March).

Check it out on IMDB

Today, of course, is St. Patrick’s Day. My hubby, son and I had good intentions to go and watch some live trad music but, alas, Ireland’s only kung fu movie got in the way and tempted us to stay home. Have you ever watched Fatal Deviation? If not, then you must. This gem of a martial arts movie is set in Trim, Co. Meath and is an Irish martial arts extravaganza. I’m a huge kung fu fan; you may or may not know that aside from being a big Bruce Lee fan, I also love all kinds of kung fu movies whether low budget or blockbuster. Don’t miss Ireland’s answer to Bruce Lee! (The mad monk is my favourite, lol).

On Sunday 15th March, we celebrated Mother’s Day with dinner out and my son surprised me with a lovely card complete with a teabag treat…aww.

On Saturday 14th March, it was White Day in Japan. To explain this for those folks reading who have never been to Japan, Valentine’s Day over there is when women make a proposal to men they like by giving him chocolates; he then either accepts or rejects her proposal on White Day by giving her white chocolates (acceptance) or cookies (rejection). My hubby and I met over in Japan while we were both teaching English for rival schools in a kind of Montague-Capulet-esque scenario. We’ve celebrated Japanese style Valentine’s Day and White Day ever since (and yes, I do receive white chocolates, thank you very much!).

Happy Paddy’s-Mother’s-White Day, everyone!

Posted by on March 17, 2026 in Random stuff and tagged , , .

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March 13, 2026

Friday the 13th flash sale

How lucky are we to have a second month in a row with a Friday the 13th? Such a delight doesn’t often happen, so I’ve decided to run a 24 hour sale for four of my horror books, just to give you a treat to celebrate the spooky start to the weekend. All of these books will be only $0.99 if you shop on Amazon dot com:

The Blue Man, Book 1 in my Belfast Ghosts trilogy.

The Fairy Lights, Book 2 in my Belfast Ghosts trilogy.

Matthew’s Twin, Book 3 in my Belfast Ghosts trilogy.

Diabolical Dreamscapes, my collection of strange and macabre short stories.

Feel free to grab yourself a bargain while the sale lasts, and if you like what you read, please do leave a review on Goodreads, Waterstones, Amazon etc.

Posted by on March 13, 2026 in promotion and tagged , , .

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March 5, 2026

Happy World Book Day and Happy World Obesity Day 2026

Happy World Book Day and Happy World Obesity Day! As an author and an avid keto dieter, I’d love to share with you my novels that feature fat-shaming and body horror as part of the plot. Fat shaming is a topic close to my heart since, back in 2020, I had clinical obesity with a BMI of 31. By following a strict keto diet combined with intermittent fasting, I am currently 3 and a half stone (20 kgs/ 48lbs) lighter than I was in 2020. I keep the weight gain off by eating a mostly low carb diet and I’ve been off chocolate and baked goods permanently since December 2022. But this doesn’t mean I don’t struggle, and so weight gain and body image issues are topics that I explore in my books.

Matthew’s Twin, book 3 of my Belfast Ghosts trilogy, sees main character Matthew fat-shamed by his girlfriend Sonya, because of his large abdomen. But, all is not as it seems in this body horror novel.

In The Blue Man, book 1 of my Belfast Ghosts trilogy, Sabrina feels insecure about what her best frenemy, Megan, might think of her two stone weight gain, as Megan is judgemental about the girls in their friendship circle who are larger in size.

The Buddha’s Bone is a psychological novel featuring Kimberly, an English teacher in Japan who makes derogatory remarks about her roommate’s larger size.

Obviously the weight issue aspects of my books listed above are tangential to the main plots, so whether you’re celebrating one of these events today, both, or neither, my books are still worth checking out if you’re a fan of ghost horror or psychological fiction.

Posted by on March 5, 2026 in Writing.

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February 27, 2026

Is being a weirdo good for creative writing?

Recently I went for coffee with a friend and among many things, we chatted about how we’re both weird. In my opinion there are two categories of ‘weird’: eccentric-weird and deviant-weird. My friend and I decided that we fall into the former category of eccentric-weird. We’re socially-acceptable weird, the kind that is creative and a bit offbeat, but generally fits in. It also happens that we’re both published authors, and that got me thinking about whether being a weirdo is good for creative writing.

I’ve always been considered a weirdo. Ever since I was a kid I’ve been called weird, and artsy, and a day-dreamer. At school I was often in trouble for doodling pictures of UFOs on my jotters instead of doing my schoolwork and it got so bad at one stage that my parents were called in for a meeting and I was assessed for my literacy and numeracy to see if I needed to go into the special needs class. Only when forced to focus during an on-the-spot test did I finally do the work and at that point my teacher realised that my problem is not with my academic ability, but with the fact that I prefer the world inside my head than the real one. Lol.

Don’t all weirdos feel the same way? We’re the creative minds, the ones who think outside the box. Eccentric weirdos are the makers and doers who come up with new and innovative ways of looking at things. I’ve never been normal; I can’t even pretend to be anything other than weird. In real life I’m a bit ‘marmite’ in that I either attract (some) or repel (quite a few) people; not that I care too much about that.

Yes, it seems to me that being a weirdo helps creative writing. Name me one fiction author who is normal and I think that’ll be a first, ha ha.

Posted by on February 27, 2026 in Random stuff and tagged , , , , .

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February 22, 2026

Does social media affect writing time?

I’ve blogged a couple of times about the positive impact of social media for authors, in terms of book marketing, but in today’s post, I’m going to look at the impact on writing time, not marketing time.

In case you’re confused, writing and marketing are completely separate aspects of the book publishing journey. Both are equally important, if you wish to be a published author. As a person, I’m quite an introvert. I have a limited amount of social energy and after expending it, I need to recharge in solitude for a long time. If given a choice about whether to go out to a party or stay home, I would rather choose home. As an author, it’s hard to market your books if, like me, you are an introvert. I don’t tend to seek out live events such as book fairs or signing events very much, preferring to put more resources into selling books online instead. This is for a few reasons, not just my introverted nature: doing book fairs and signing events as an indie author means that I need to keep a ready supply of copies to sell, and I just don’t have the space; I’ve also found that I make more in royalties from online sales than I do in profit from buying my books at an author discounted rate and selling them at full retail price. Plus, in between having a full time day job and managing childcare, that leaves only weekends free to do book fairs, and I’d rather spend my free time with my family instead.

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Posted by on February 22, 2026 in Biography and tagged , , , , , .

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February 14, 2026

How to make easy keto chocolates for Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day horror lovers…or should I say, Valloween? Today I’m going to share with you my special recipe for how to make super easy keto chocolates that you will love so much, you might just devour all of them in one go. Here, I’ve made mine shaped as hearts, skulls and gravestones to match my collection of ghost stories for Valentine’s Day, Love you to Death, but you can use whatever shape of silicon moulds that your sweet, spooky wee heart desires. Ready to get chocolatey? Here goes:

Ingredients – you’ll need:

Cacao buttons

100% cocoa powder

Honey

Peanut butter

Silicon moulds

Leilanie’s spookily slimline chocolate recipe:

  1. Melt 20 cacao buttons in a milk pan (takes about 30 seconds on high heat).
  2. Turn off the heat and add half a teaspoon of cocoa powder. You can add more if you prefer your chocolates very bitter.
  3. Add half a teaspoon of honey (or a full teaspoon of you want your chocolates to be very sweet).
  4. Mix in a heaped teaspoon of peanut butter for taste and texture (optional, but I like it).
  5. Put the mixture in your silicon moulds and leave to set for 15 mins at room temp or 5-10 mins in the fridge, if you can’t wait to devour your treats.
  6. Easy peasy! Enjoy your low carb Valentine’s Day chocolate treats minus the guilty conscience!

Posted by on February 14, 2026 in Events and tagged , , , , , , .

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February 12, 2026

Friday the 13th and Valloween: a horror author’s trip down memory lane

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.

Buy Gods on Amazon UK
Buy Gods on Amazon US

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.

Belfast Ghosts trilogy – UK
Belfast Ghosts trilogy – US

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.

Buy it UK
Buy it US

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’…

Diabolical UK
Diabolical US

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.

Posted by on February 12, 2026 in Books and tagged , , , , , , .

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February 8, 2026

My week in books

Here’s my week summed up in book photos:

1) Scholastic book fair at work. It’s amazing to know that young people are so passionate about reading; it was incredibly busy in the library. Borrowing books is one thing, but buying paperbacks involves commitment, so this was fantastic to see. Friday was so busy, in fact, that I needed to recruit a team of upper sixth prefects to help out, so that I could manage running the library as usual, and the additional book fair, which was only there for the whole week.

2) February author birthdays library display: an opportunity for me to promote a diverse range of authors and their books. This is a new display topic that I’ve started running this year to help promote books that haven’t been borrowed for a while. For February, authors include Charles Dickens, Toni Morrison, Amy Tan, Judy Blume and John Steinbeck.

3) Book shopping this week: I’m a big Bruce Lee fan, and with Chinese New Year coming up on 17th Feb, it’s a good time to read his latest biography. When I was an archaeology student at Queen’s University Belfast, I studied Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do and became hooked on both Bruce Lee’s martial art, and the man himself. I loved his philosophical approach to life, as well as his modern approach in teaching anybody who wanted to learn his modified style of Wing Chun Gung Fu, at a time when racial segregation was still commonplace. His teachings still resonate today, fifty years after his death.

4) This week was the one year bookiversary of Love you to Death, my collection of ghost stories for Valentine’s Day. Last year was a gamble to see how my spooky romance stories would be received by readers, but the gamble paid off; it has been my most popular seller of the past year. Always what an author wants to have happen: phew!

Posted by on February 8, 2026 in Books and tagged , , , , , , , .

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February 4, 2026

Looking for a spooky romantic read for Valentine’s Day?

It’s only 10 days until Valentine’s Day. If you’re a horror fan, as I am, I’m sure you’ll be thinking that spookiness and romance don’t tend to go hand in hand. But that’s where you’re wrong.

Here’s an excerpt from the titular story in Love you to Death, ghost stories for Valentine’s Day. My collection of 8 short stories is perfect for readers who prefer skulls with their hearts on February 14th.

Posted by on February 4, 2026 in Books and tagged , , , , , .

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February 1, 2026

Imbolc, the power of imagination and the use of interpretation

My blog post today is more of a random rambling than a focused topic, but sometimes life calls for random topics; or at least, I think so. The past week has been a bit of a blur. Storm Chandra at the start of the week, a hospital appointment at the end of the week and all the while, trying to carry on with life as normal.

Even when my writing life is on pause, my imagination always rumbles along, churning out ideas. Some are good, and I save them as tidbits for my writing and others are just nothing more than interesting thoughts as a byproduct of an overactive imagination.

The picture above shows one such byproduct of my imagination. While doing one of my 24 hour intermittent fasting sessions a couple of days ago, I made myself a Himalayan salt tea; it staves off leg cramps and headaches during ketosis by replacing electrolytes. Anyway, after I sprinkled the salt in my mug, I then added the boiled water and watched the salt disperse in the strangest pattern. As a horror fan, it seemed to me to form a rather intense eye staring up at me from the bottom of the mug. Creepy.

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Posted by on February 1, 2026 in Random stuff and tagged , , , , , .

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