Newsletter

'He dreamt of nightmares in the ocean depths and a pale burning sun and a long lost conversation beneath an apple tree. Her voice touched his face but she wasn’t there, she never was, and he awoke thrashing with a pressure in his chest like a fist squeezing his heart.'

Welcome! I'm CJ, an author & storyteller from New Zealand, or 'North Antarctica' as we call it (summer has not been warm). I'm the creator of Project Tempest.

The idea is to create a strange little Kiwi town named Tempest Bay and fill it with short, intense mysteries. The Twin Peaks of the south seas, if you will. And share the journey as we make it.

In this bulletin: 
- check out my first video diary
- 1862, Project Tempest book 3, is nearly done

VIDEO DIARY #1

15 minute novels are hard. Like many authors I prefer talking over writing. Much easier on the fingers. So it was good fun to sit down and go 'under the hood' of Project Tempest a little in the first video diary, linked at the start of this newsletter or direct here.

As you can surely tell, I'm still figuring video stuff out: I'd love to know what you want to hear about in these diaries, or any questions you'd like me to answer. Please let me know on hello@manonfire.org.

19th CENTURY SHENANIGANS

The next book is nearly done! 1862 goes back to the 19th century, and a lonely man sent to investigate a mysterious shipwreck on the wild New Zealand coast. It's a little more H.P. Lovecraft & The Wicker Man than the previous two episodes, let's put it that way....

I'm aiming to have 1862 out in early February, with a newsletter preview before that. Very special thanks to the amazing Kearin, who is creating such beautiful covers.

SPREADING THE WORD

Project Tempest is young and weird, and we’re still growing our audience. If the stories strike a chord with you, I could really use your help letting more people know about them.

Here are three things you can do that each make a genuine difference: Forward this newsletter to someone who might be interested Point people to project-tempest.net and the free copy of episode 1 available there If you’re super keen, short reviews on Amazon.com, for Hearts & Minds or The Island, are incredibly helpful. Because of the way the online store works, having more reviews (especially 5 star ones) helps others discover the books more easily.   If you’re able to help in any way, you're very much appreciated! And please let me know, so I can thank you directly.

More soon as we finalise 1862!

Thanks again for being part of Project Tempest with me. If you’ve any thoughts or suggestions about the stories, please let me know.

I hope your New Year's kicking off well, strange weather be damned.

C J Halbard