News

Richard Farren Barber

Horror and Dark Fantasy Author

Latest releases....

Closer Still | Buy online

One of the Dead | Buy online

Twenty Years Dead | Buy online

News

May 2025

03/05 I've taken over the Horror Addicts Blog post with my musings: Faking it!
02/05 Second edit finished on my novella "NPC" (No, it's not going to be called that when it's published)

March 2025

04/03 Ran an online workshop for the "Fears of the Dark" writing School. Beyond Brains and Baseball bats - Reimagining the zombie sub-genre, was exactly what it said on the tin. It was a great evening with a fantastic group who produced some incredible fiction. (Enough of the superlatives, I know, but...I'm never failed to be energised by the imagination and skill of other writers.)

August 2024 - November 2024

It's quiet here, innit?

Because of the nature of my job (I work at a University) the start of the academic year tends to be full on, and as a result my production dips. This year more than most, But I'll be back!

June 2024

21/06 By popular demand... Closer Still, my YA ghost novella, has been spruced up; given a new cover, a polish to the original text, and is now available from Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

May 2024

29/05 It's done! Final edits complete on my new novella. Just packing its bags to send it off to find a publisher. The working title is horrible, horrible (That's not the working title, the working title is "21" - I was just trying to explain it was a horrible title.)

14/05 New interview on HorrorAddicts.

08/05 New blog post: The accidental novel

06/05 One of the Dead is reviewed on Horror DNA. "a sad, melancholic quiet horror tale."

April 2024

23/04 One of the Dead is reviewed by Morbidly Beautiful as "A suspenseful and multi-dimensional story."

19/04 My appearance on the Coffee Fuelled Podcast

18/04 Live appearance on the Panic Room Radio Show

March 2024

19/03 One of the Dead is launched! Buy online
To celebrate, I've created a map showing locations from the book.

18/03 I'm interviewed by Lee Pletzers about One of the Dead

February 2024

17/02 Appearances at the UK Ghost Story Festival: Workshop lead for "The Modern Spectre" and panel member for "What next for the Ghost Story?"

December 2023

01/12 My short story "Landlocked" is published in "Under the Stairs"

November 2023

03/11 New blog post. Reflecting on writing Caborn & Reeves #2

02/11 Finished! Finally completed the first draft of Caborn & Reeves #2, which comes in at somewhere around 146,000 words.

October 2023

25/10 My short story "To be Alone" is published in "Madame Gray's Graveyard of Blood."

20/10 First draft of new short story completed: "Seven Years." Basically clearing the palate before returning to the novel.

July 2023

23/07 passed 100K words on my current work in process; a commercial novel intended to be about 90K. And I reckon I still have about 25K to write, which means there's going to be some serious editing needed when this is done.

19/07 My short story "Flash" is published in "Flashes of Nightmare"

May 2023

02/05 Okay, buckle up, I'm, going in! I started a trilogy a couple of years ago.. and it didn't work. I abandone the idea during the first third of the second book in the series (and then went on to write the third book as a stand-alone title, go figure.) So now I'm going to go back to that abandoned draft and see if i can breathe new life into it. Wish me luck, folks!

April 2023

30/04 First draft of new short story "Flash" finished.

March 2023

25/03 First draft of novella "Kilipgradska" finished - part of a secret project! Ssshh!

December 2022

08/12 First draft of new short story finished. "The Wrath" I've got to be honest, it's truly awful, but it needed writing... This one might stay in the bottom drawer a long time.

November 2022

26/11 Ran my workshop "Create your own Monster (TM)" at the Other Worlds writing conference. A fantastic crowd of people and I had a great time talking about writing and horror fiction.

October 2022

19/10 First draft of new short story finished. "Every Day"

August 2022

14/08 "Twenty Years Dead" picks up a great review over on HorrorAddicts.

July 2022

09/07 New blog post about the strangely creative task of copy typing.

June 2022

06/06 View my book recommendations over on Shepherd for "The Best books set in Graveyards"

06/06 Guest post on Mark West's blog about the challenges of editing.

May 2022

29/05 "Twenty Years Dead" is reviewed on Stalemate of Dust and Desire: "Not only has Richard Farren Barber introduced a unique, captivating idea, but he has also executed it with skill and precision. It is an evocative, chilling, absolutely absorbing meditation on family, mortality, and choices."

27/05 And we're off! "Twenty Years Dead" is now out in the wild.

25/05 Before release, "Twenty Years Dead" has hit the charts! Number 10 in the Amazon UK Top New Horror releases.

23/05 "Twenty Years Dead" is reviewed on Ginger Nuts of Horror: "Twenty Years Dead comes with the very highest of recommendation, turning a great idea into a very readable, funny and chilling page-turner."

17/05 My short story "The Rising of Ms Hazel Freeson" is published by Crystal Lake for the Patreons in advance of the release of "Twenty Years Dead."

09/05 "Twenty Years Dead" is starting to pick up early reviews over on Goodreads.

07/05 My flash fiction piece "The Hunted" is a finalist in the Crystal Lake monthly competition.

April 2022

05/04 First draft of new novelette completed: "Shirewood Road"

March 2022

31/03 New blog post: Cover reveal; Twenty Years Dead

30/03 It's coming! Cover reveal for my forthcoming novella: Twenty Years Dead

11/03 First draft of new short story completed: "20YD"

February 2022

15/02 New blog post: Review of John Illsley's book "My Life in Dire Straits"

01/02 New blog post: The perils of bad editing

January 2022

18/01 New blog post on my writing woes in 2021.

17/01 First draft of short story completed "Dust and Bones."

December 2021

26/12 It's alive!

After converting my site ... it stopped working. It's taken me nearly six months to figure out what was wrong with the configuration and thankfully I finally worked it out and it's now live once more. So expect to find more regular updates shortly.

14/12 First draft of short story completed "Bite me."

08/12 First draft of short story completed "Busy night."

July 2021

14/07 And we're live in 3... 2... 1...

I received a flurry of emails from Google over the past few months telling me my website needed to adapt or die, so I've just finished converting it to the new system and published it. I've restructured the site and hopefully made it easier to read.

June 2021

25/06 Passed the 50,000 word mark on The Killing List #2. I may be getting slightly carried away as I figure I'm about 1/3 of the way through the plot.

May 2021

13/05 Started first draft of "The Killing List #2" (It makes sense.. honest).

11/05 Edit #1222224545464 of "The Killing List #1" finished. And no, it's not the final edit.

March 2021

04/03 First draft of the novella "Dreamers/NPC" completed

February 2021

12/02 New Blog post about the writing of "The Screaming Dead."

12/02 First draft of new short story completed: "Helen O' MiLady"

09/02 "The Screaming Dead" is published by Crossroads Press

01/02 First draft of the novella "JT: Teevurcher" completed

December 2020

20/12 Edit 3 of "The Killing List #1" complete