“The Noctuary” by HWA Member Greg Chapman

Author: Greg Chapman

Struggling writer Simon Ryan’s life has gone to Hell.

Shadows are pouring into his reality and his words are not his own anymore. He has been chosen to become a scribe for some of the worst creatures of the Underworld–the ones whose sole purpose is to torment human souls–The Dark Muses.

As Simon writes he falls deeper into the abyss and before long he has no sense of what is real. With the help of another scribe, old and mutilated, Simon comes to discover that his writing can mould people and places–that he can write things out of existence.

To become a scribe he has to pass a test and the Muses offer him a chance to rewrite his horrible past. All Simon has to decide is how the story ends.

“Both elegant and visceral, violent and darkly witty, Greg Chapman’s THE NOCTUARY is an insightful look at the processes of creation and the birth of horror. His sinister muse, Meknok, is one of the most intriguing new horror characters since Clive Barker unleashed Pinhead, and indeed THE NOCTUARY is occasionally reminiscent of Barker’s grim beauty, while being very distinctly its own beast. THE NOCTUARY is rich, compelling, and unsettling, and Greg Chapman is obviously a writer in complete possession of his own sinister muse.” — Lisa Morton, four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award and author of The Halloween Encyclopedia

“Greg Chapman’s THE NOCTUARY is straight from the depths of Hell. Here the past is a very difficult geography. Fresh and original it takes the reader on a frantic ride to regret; and may well provide the nightmares horror fiction often promises, but rarely delivers.” — Rocky Wood, Bram Stoker nominated author of Horrors! Great Stories of Fear and Their Creators and Stephen King: A Literary Companion

Publisher: Damnation Books
Release Date: 12/1/2011
ISBN_10=1615725490
ISBN_13=978-1615725496