Brent McGregor | Horror & Fantasy Author

Spinning tales of terror, and make-believe

Five Books I’ve Read Recently

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I’ve been getting back into reading lately. Finding time around work and family stuff is always a challenge, though. But I think it’s important to make time. Reading can be a great form of escapism. Despite the pull of Netflix and other streaming services, I’ve managed to make a dent in my ever growing TBR list. Here are several books I’ve read recently and really enjoyed:


The Fisherman, By John Langan ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Fisherman relates the story of Abe and Dan, both recently widowed, who form a bond over the shared pastime of fishing. Weary of their usual fishing haunts they decide to try Dutchmans Creek, a fishing spot with a dark and mysterious reputation, according to locals. Written by John Langan, and winner of the 2016 Bram Stoker award, it is easy to see why this book is a favourite among regular readers of the genre. The fisherman is an epic tale, uniquely told, but based on a common theme, namely the fisherman’s tale. “Epic” is right, because, just like the epic poems of old, the style of this story is very much in keeping with oral traditions. It is well paced, flowing easily and logically from one plot point to the next, like the proverbial river. In fact, the idea of storytelling is itself a theme of the book. I was surprised to find the story of the two widowers was in fact a frame story for a much larger, wider sweeping story, across generations. I agree with other reviewers that lovers of Stephen King and/or HP Lovecraft’s works will enjoy the story. There is much to admire in the symmetry of this well constructed novel. This is cosmic horror done well. Langan’s straight-forward, unadorned style makes for a refreshing reading experience. In time, who knows, perhaps, this book will be regarded as an American classic in the tradition Moby Dick, or Sleepy Hollow.


Collision, By J.S. Breukelaar ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

COLLISION is the remarkable short story collection by multi-award-winning, expat Australian author, J.S. Breukelaar. It is a wonderfully sensory read, with emotionally impactful stories. The underlying mood of each will linger with you for days afterwards. All of the stories are speculative. Some infuse science fiction or elements of the weird.  Many are experimental and employ clever literary devices. This is a showcase for the tremendous creativity and flair of the author. Definitely a labour of love.  There are 12 stories in total. There’s the tale of the unnerving girl, with no arms, who can play the piano like nobody’s business (“Union Falls”);  the one about the single mother, sent on a fool’s errand , trying to find her way back home (“Raining Street”); the one about the programmer trying to cling on to life before the accident (“The Box”); dismemberment, talking pets and ghosts (“Lion Man”); and many more. This was an excellent, captivating read and I recommend it.


Ariadne, I Love You, By J. Ashley Smith ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Set against the backdrop of arid Australia and alternative country music, ARIADNE, I LOVE YOU is a bittersweet meditation on the nature of death, love and obsession. A love story that transcends decay. Jude is an aging, has-been rocker, with a penchant for wine and chain smoking, who also happens to be in love with his best friend’s wife. If only he could convince her to leave her man. The only problem is she’s dead. J. Ashley-Smith really understood the assignment when he wrote this wonderfully dark literary ghost tale. Like the animal bones that litter its pages, this compact 76 page novella is a veritable treasure trove of brilliantly dark and macabre language, that will simultaneously sate and crush you in its melancholy embrace.


The Reddening, By Adam Nevill ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A folk-horror tale with some serious bite, The Reddening, by Adam L G Nevill, is brutal, unrelenting, often times poignant. It is everything you could possibly want in a reading experience.


The Final Winter, By Iain Rob Wright ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I really enjoyed this book. It was a lot of fun. A rag-tag group of characters, as well as the book’s protagonist, Harry Jobson, get holed up in an English pub, while the world undergoes a cataclysmic weather event. It’s like a cross between “Shaun of the Dead” and “The Day After Tomorrow.” I love stories like this with an ensemble cast; we really get to know the characters all the better. The snowy winter setting adds to the purveying feeling of doom and atmosphere. The author, Iain Rob Write, does a sterling job with the pacing of the story, describing his world and events as they unfold. ***SPOILER ALERT*** Some foreshadowing is used in the form of a character’s name, which gives things away little. But I didn’t mind this at all, as the story works well overall. A slight trigger warning for any ultra-religious readers, though, as the book plays it pretty fast and loose with Judeo-Christian themes. But so does 50% of the Western canon so there. If you’re thinking, “This book sounds just like my cup of tea!” Then you’d be right. This is a cup of tea is best served cold. A great read. Enjoy.


What I’m working on right now

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At the moment I’m working on the second draft of my current work in progress, which I’ve codenamed ‘Project Green’ (I’m superstitious about book titles and so I either use placeholder titles or codenames until I publish). Progress has been slow because, like anything worth doing, these things take time. ‘Writing is re-writing,’ as they say. There is some line editing going on, sure, but mostly structural edits as I conjoin and suture more and more sublots and characters to my burgeoning Frankenstein of a novel (laughs maniacally). I don’t mind the process of revising. I enjoy culling unnecessary words almost as much as putting new ones down. Removing a word or two always seems to make a sentence stronger. The novel will be a cautionary tale dealing with themes of temptation and self-destruction, set again the backdrop of a storm ridden Florida coast. Something sinister has come to Fort Lauderdale and I hope it gives you nightmares. The manuscript should be ready to send to beta readers for feedback at the end of 2023. Fingers crossed! And, so I will start to put the feelers out for beta readers. Feel free to subscribe to the newsletter on my website for regular updates, and drop me a line if you are interested in being a beta reader. With any luck and someday soon I’ll be getting copies of ‘Project Green’ out into the ether, ready to be devoured by you the faithful readers. Until then, keep on trucking, stay in good health, and happy nightmares!

An Interview — The Sound of Horror

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Hi all, back in December I was interviewed on a radio show called Australians Love Italy. We discussed my new book, Strange Murmurings, as well as the time I spent in Italy. For those of you who missed it, here is the link to listen to the whole interview on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4GURZqCBFoMKgPib2bZBUY?si=f2b4b3f4d0234744

Or, read below…

Strange Murmurings is available now. Grab your copy from Brent’s online shop or on Amazon.

ALI: Can you tell us a little bit about you? When did you first start writing horror, and what does it mean to be a horror author?

BRENT: Well I started writing about five or six years ago. I’ve always enjoyed a good turn of phrase. I used to be in a band where I would write lyrics. I suppose at one point, just like a lot of writers, I sat down, wrote a few sentences, and then, when I read it back, thought, Oh, that actually isn’t too bad. Maybe I should continue with this? And six years down the track I’m only just beginning, because it is a learning process. As far as writing horror goes — I write horror because it’s what I enjoy reading most.  There’s nothing I love more than getting lost in a good Stephen King novel, or something by some of the other horror greats: Dean Koontz, Joe Hill etc. For me, the genre really deals with the big themes, y’know, death, good vs evil, courage and heroism. I also find that horror stories are always really character driven. As a writer you try to write some 3-dimensional characters and then you throw them into some horrific situations to see if they can come okay, to see if they can beat the big bad. Sometimes they survive and sometimes they don’t but hey that’s just like real life. If you’re reading a horror novel, for example, in your armchair at home, you can live vicariously through the characters. You can experience thoughts and emotions beyond the ordinary human experience. This is a concept they call ‘The Sublime’ in literature. Experiencing the sublime. The most important thing for me — as far as writing horror goes — is that I write Supernatural Horror specifically. The supernatural has always really terrified me. Somewhere along the line I had the realization that what really fascinates us as human beings is what scares us most.

ALI: Now, the other reason we have you on the show today is because we know that you have been to Italy a couple of times, and they were two very different experiences. Can you tell us a little about that? What was the difference between your first trip and your second trip?

BRENT: Well, they were two very different trips. My first trip to Italy was in 2004, as a young man/ backpacker. In Australia it’s almost a right of passage to go on these Contiki tours where you hop and off a bus. We did 14 countries in so many days, on a shoestring budget , and at breakneck speed. I went to Venice, Rome, and Florence — I love Florence.  But, when I went back to Italy in 2016, it was for my honeymoon with my wife. It was a completely different experience. One of the great things about travel is that you get to go back to the places you really enjoy. And on the second visit I made an effort to experience Rome like a local. When in Rome do as the Romans do, y’know? You get into the Café’s and enjoy the atmosphere, the culture, sights, sounds, smells…

ALI: Where is your favourite Italian spot, or city?

BRENT: Most definitely Florence. As a writer I am always interested in mythology and folklore. The renaissance art and the architecture there are so good. In Florence they have the Piazza della Signoria *Coughs* (I’m butchering the pronunciation I’m sure. You’ll have to forgive my Australian [Strine] accent). Well, there’s that statue of Neptune and the outdoor sculpture gallery there; with Cellini’s Perseus with the head Medusa — it’s a really ghastly statue. I love it. And the piazza usually has that screaming blue sky against the colour of the buildings there, y’know. It’s a great spot.

ALI: Brent, what tips would you give to your Australian friends wanting to visit Italy?

BRENT: I think the most important thing is that, when you go to Italy, don’t just be in a rush to visit all the touristy, landmark type places, but also make the time to sit in a café, have some espresso, get lost in the city. Because, you can’t truly find yourself, unless you first get lost and experience life like a local. Another thing is to maybe get one of these Lonely-Planet-type pocket books, y’know, with the fold out maps, and do like my wife and I did. We marked on the map with a pen all the landmarks and places we wanted to see. See where they fall in a radius. And then take yourself on some self-guided walking tours. That’s what we did. And at the end of the trip our Lonely planet guidebook and map were falling apart and held together with an elastic band. But we’d seen so much.

ALI: Can you tell us about your new book?

BRENT: The book that I have out at the moment, Strange Murmurings, is intended as a sampler, to give readers — and fellow fans of Supernatural Horror – a feel for my writing style. It’s a trilogy of horror tales that delves into the supernatural and the weird. It’s only a small book you could read it in one sitting. It’s available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. And the paperback you can get anywhere. It’s 3 horror tales. The first story is about a small town that is plagued by a strange persistent hum (“The Hum”). The second is about a first-year law associate who meets a beautiful yet mysterious stranger on New Years Eve (“Until Midnight”). And the third tells of a team of paranormal researchers who investigate the infamous Poynter House (“The Eye of Anunreshka”).

Strange Murmurings is available now. Grab your copy from Brent’s online shop or on Amazon.

ALI: And what is next for you, Brent? Are you going to write another book?

BRENT: Yes, I am. In 2022 I hope to release a novel. It keeps getting pushed back and pushed back of course, as is often the case with works in progress. It is a cautionary tale, of temptation and horror, and it will be set in Florida. 

Why Write Horror?

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I set myself the task recently of setting down in writing why it is that I personally write horror. I found it a more challenging task than I anticipated — because my thoughts on the matter were numerous and muddied. But as I delved deeper my thoughts and reasons became clearer. 

My first reason for writing horror, is that it’s what I enjoy reading most. I love getting lost in a good Stephen King novel…and reading the works of other such horror luminaries as Dean Koontz, Joe Hill etc.   I read other genres too, but, horror, for me, is the genre that deals with the big all-important themes the best. These are themes such as ‘Death,’ ‘Good vs. evil,’  ‘Courage & heroism,’ ‘Revenge,’ and, yes, even ‘Love.’

My second reason is that horror stories are all really character driven stories, filled with interesting characters. As a writer you try to flesh out some interesting 3 dimensional characters and then throw them into horrible situations to see if they can survive the big bad, and emerge triumphant. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. But this is true about life too, no?

Horror stories also have the ability to stay with the reader for many weeks and months after reading. They are stories that make you think over and over again about their underlying meaning, and leave you with a sort of cognitive dissonance. And so in this they are successful.

Horror stories allow us to live vicariously through the characters, experiencing ‘thoughts and emotions beyond ordinary experience’ (the idea of the sublime in literature) — and from the safety of an armchair, without the repercussions. They are cathartic and the ultimate form of escapism. 

I write supernatural horror specifically, and this is because of my fascination with the supernatural. The supernatural (and paranormal) have always interested me — but they also terrify me.  I guess that somewhere along the line, when deciding what to write, I had the realisation that what really fascinates us, as human beings, is what scares us the most.

Mary Shelley’s Elephants: A Cumulative Approach to Story Telling

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Something I often visualize, at the back of my mind, and each time I approach the blank page, is a picture of the world as a flat plane, sitting on top of four elephants, astride the shell of a giant turtle. Why? you may ask. Because of something that Mary Shelley, the 18th century author of the quintessential gothic horror novel Frankenstein, was once quoted as saying:

Everything must have a beginning, to speak in the Sanchean phrase; and that beginning must be linked to something that went before. The Hindus gave the world an elephant to support it, but they make the elephant stand upon a tortoise.

Like the elephants astride the turtle, the process of writing – putting one word painstakingly after another – creates worlds, fleshing them out, making them all the more tangible, offering more and more realism with each successive piece of description. Detail upon detail. What comes before giving credibility to its adjunct.

Scheherazade, the principal character and story teller of One Thousand and One Nights fame, for example, would finish a story and then begin a second, more exciting tale, each night, so that the King would continue to spare her life.

Red Smith, the Pulitzer Prize winning American sports writer, said, “Writing is very much like bricklaying. You learn to put one brick on top of another and spread the mortar so thick.”

And, you perhaps may be familiar with the popular campfire-side children’s game of collectively telling stories, each boy and girl contributing, a few twists and turns. Stephen King in his novel Misery referred to the game as “Can You?” as in “Can you finish the story?”

It is common writerly vernacular to talk about Architects versus Gardeners, Plotters versus Pantsers – those that construct Plots, perhaps arriving at their stories conclusion before setting out; and Pantsers who fly by the proverbial seat of their pants.  

If the above concept shows us anything, it is that there is more than one way to write a story: a cumulative approach to story writing. And, those of us who are plotters would do well to experiment, and from time-to-time think of Mary Shelley’s Elephants.