#halloween2021 | FrazerLee.com

Many of us have felt like this spider, clinging on for dear life during what has been a very challenging year:

Hang in there kids, it’s almost time!

But some of us are lucky enough to be emerging from our solitude – for a while, at least! And for that I, for one, am truly thankful. As the veil grows thinner this weekend I’ll be thinking of those I’ve lost to Covid-19, cancer, and old age this year, and finding ways to carry some of their light into the dark corners of the year ahead.

I think it’s very true to say that horror fans take great solace in spooky season. (It’s also true all year round, I know, but October is THE special month for many). And whether it’s an opportunity to party with family/fiends, go trick or treating, or hunker down and watch some scary movies (or all of the above!) I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all Spooky Samhain blessings, a Happy Halloween, a very merry little Goth Xmas, or whatever macabre moniker is the best fit for you!

And by way of a modest treat (or trick?) for this year, I have recorded the first ever reading from my new tie-in novel Damnation: The Gothic Game, with another to follow soon. Check it out below, or over at the Damnation Kickstarter, where you can pick up a copy along with the game.

Damnation awaits!

I hope the extract gives you pleasant nightmares! And if it does, perhaps it is testament to how important it is right now to treat yourselves, and those that you love.

Because if we try, we can also feel like this spider – feasting on the stuff of life – if only for one, perfectly spooky night:

Pleasant screams!

Beast witches,
Frazer x

As you all know, I’ve been working on something top secret and super spooky.

Now, at long last, I can reveal what it is…

But first, a little background info if you’ll indulge me.

Damnation: The Gothic Game is a brilliant new version of my all-time favourite board game. The original Gothic Game was created by ‘Blood on Satan’s Claw’ screenwriter Robert Wynne Simmons and Nigel Andrews, and became a horror fan favourite when it was released back in the 1990s.

My own experience with The Gothic Game began when I was working at The London Dungeon (where my Saturday job was scaring the life out of tourists!). The Marketing Manager popped down and said they had this preview copy of this creepy new game. He asked me to take it home and play it, and tell him if I thought it would be a good addition to the gift shop. The concept of the game took competitive play to dastardly new levels with the aim being to kill all the other players on the board. Terry Jones of Monty Python fame said, “This game will make you turn in your grave!” And of course it did! For me, it was love at first bite and I played it every Halloween after that fateful night.

Damnation, the updated version from Kris Rees & his talented team at Blackletter Games, expands beautifully on the original with a cast of cunning characters, tons of new traps, weapons, and artefacts, and also the added attraction of being able to haunt the other players from the graveyard if you get bumped off!

So what’s my part in this exciting revamp (pun intended!), you ask? Well, I’ve been hard at work in my candlelit crypt writing the official novelisation of Damnation: The Gothic Game, and you can pick up a copy as part of a crowdfunding perk over at the game’s official Kickstarter, launching today! I’ve always wanted to write a Dracula story, especially one with a unique twist, so this book is a nightmare come true for me.

Here’s the book synopsis and cover concept reveal to whet your bloodthirsty appetite:

The Carpathian Mountains, 1897. An impassable storm forces a group of travellers to disembark from their steam train and take shelter in a remote castle for the night. Their enigmatic host invites them to take part in some after-dinner entertainment. But as they each explore the castle’s rooms and passageways they discover they have become part of a deadly game. Only one guest may leave in the morning and it is up to each of them to use their wits, and weapons, to survive the night. For the others, Damnation awaits.

Check out the game trailer for a full icy blast of gothic atmosphere, then proceed to the Kickstarter page to make your blood pact with Count Dracula himself!