So here is some VERY exciting news I’ve been keeping (mostly) quiet for a little while. Earlier this year I signed a contract with MIRA Books, an imprint of HQ (themselves a division of HarperCollins), to publish my next two novels!

The first, titled What the Bones Know, is already written and awaiting editing in expectation of a mid-2025 release date. I’m drafting the second manuscript right now and although it has a working title, I’ll keep that to myself for now because it may change by the time I’ve finished writing it. They are both standalone contemporary Gothic novels set in regional Victoria and I’m utterly thrilled that MIRA has not only picked them up but are just as passionate about these stories as I am, and really understand what I am hoping to achieve.

It’s been a long while between novels for me with my last, Perfections, being published back in 2012. This was due partly to my PhD, partly to the lost Pandemic years, and partly to the fact that I didn’t really have an idea for a novel that compelled me to sit down with it for the length of time it would take to write. I did write and publish a LOT of short fiction and novellas in the intervening years – my collection Hard Places came out in 2022 and Brain Jar Press has published my Never After chapbooks, with a collected volume to follow later this year. Stretching the novel-writing muscles again has been a different challenge and makes me appreciate all over again the stamina and dedication required.

More details to follow over the next twelve months, of course. But suffice it to say that there are exhilarating, daunting and terrifying times ahead for this once again novelist.

The image below isn’t a sneak peek of a cover – we haven’t reached that stage yet – but for me it captures the emotional atmosphere of What the Bones Know very well. I’m so excited for people to read this book!