CHASING THE DRAGON

CHASING THE DRAGON
Mark Towse

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GENRE: Vigilante Crime Thriller/Horror

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BLURB:

A town on its knees, dread’s bony fingers wrapping around its throat and squeezing, death rattles soon to follow.

Drugs, filth, and a lack of human decency are starving it of hope.

Introducing Simon Dooley, our trauma-driven wannabe superhero, the relentless voice of his dead mother pleading with him to “end the chaos.” Dressed in a leotard and armed only with a dozen dog poop bags, Simon’s plight will find him falling in love and going head to head with the seediest characters walking the streets.

The town needed a hero… it got Reformo.

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EXCERPT

It’s happening. It’s finally happening.

I strip off in front of the full-length mirror, part self-admiration for my new frame and part sorrow for the shy and squeamish young boy who first walked the corridors of the youth detention centre.

Okay, not The Rectifier. What then? Captain Justice has been done, you muppet! The Shadow? Nope. Been done, too. The Silhouette? Too jazzy. Unable to wait any longer, the hairs bristling on the back of my neck, I carefully lift the costume from the bed and slip my arms through.

Oh, yes!

It’s as though electricity runs through my veins. I feel alive, reborn. I feel—

“I’m a superhero.”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Mark Towse is an English horror writer living in Australia. He would sell his soul to the devil or anyone buying if it meant he could write full-time. Alas, he left it very late to begin this journey, penning his first story since primary school at the ripe old age of forty-five. Since then, he’s been published in over two hundred journals and anthologies, had his work made into full theatrical productions for shows such as The No Sleep Podcast and Tales to Terrify, and has penned fourteen novellas, including Nana, Gone to the Dogs, 3:33, and Crows. Chasing The Dragon is his debut novel.

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mark-Towse/author/B07H8DBS31
Twitter: @MarkTowsey12
Website: https://t.co/icMAn0LFpd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/towseywrites/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.towse.75

Amazon Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Dragon-Vigilante-Justice-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0CR6PNZLQ/

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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

The author will award a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

Enter to win a $25 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Q & A With …

Tell us about you as a person.

I’m a 51-year-old English (Yorkshire, where t’puddings come from) horror writer living in Australia. My writing journey didn’t start until I was 45, but since then, I haven’t looked back, penning 185 short stories, 14 novellas, and two novels. Chasing The Dragon is my debut novel, a multi-genre dark fiction romp, and it means the world. Even my 19-year-old son, Adam, thought it was fantastic, and that’s the best critique I could hope for.

I’m married to my very supportive wife, Stephanie, and I also have a 14-year-old daughter, Sophie. In contrast, Sophie shows diddly squat interest in my stories. You can’t win them all.

My biggest weapon is my twisted sense of humour. Readers will notice this thread running through the majority of my stories, particularly ‘Chasing The Dragon.’

I love my family, writing, the stars, and a good whisky.

That’s it.

If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?

In all honestly, I wouldn’t be that bothered. It would have to be someone with a strong sense of humour. Some of my idols include David Jason, Leonard Rossiter, and Peter Sellars. David Mitchell, perhaps. Simon Pegg is on the list. Humour is everything to me.

What’s the story behind your latest book?

Our protagonist, Simon Dooley, AKA Reformo, is driven by trauma. He’s had a hell of a childhood, raised in a conformist environment dictated by his iron-fisted mother. If he left crumbs on the kitchen counter or a cup on the table, there would be hell to pay. And God forbid if someone parked outside their house or played loud music. Even when she’s dead, her voice lives in his head, “End the chaos” being her favourite line. The only way Simon believes he can finally put an end to his mother’s voice and escape her hold on him is to have a cape made by the local chain-smoking seamstress, Janice, and take to the streets as Reformo. He pledges to bring order to the world and to end the chaos.

This was an easy story to write. It’s me on the pages, enduring that traumatic childhood. If I used the wrong soap, I’d be mincemeat. Mother would be in my face if I left a cup out or got a stain on my clothes. By God, she’d spoil the entire day if someone parked outside our house or played loud music. And I was never allowed to have friends over, which was more than a little frustrating. To cut a long story short, 95% of the time, my childhood was claustrophobic and uncomfortable. My father was nothing but a shell, just like Simons’s father in the story. Without going into too much detail, this was one of the most cathartic and therapeutic experiences I’ve had in my writing journey to date. It was the perfect channel to release the bile, rage, and disappointment of growing up in such an oppressive environment.

What advice do you have for other writers who want to get the word out about their latest book?

Wow. That’s a tough one. If only I had the answer.

Build up social media—Instagram, TikTok—and start promoting early. Even if you don’t get preorders, you are getting the name out. Send out ARCs and get some decent reviews behind you.
This is the hardest part of the journey for me. I can write until the cows come home, but creating awareness feels like an uphill struggle. Plan, start early, and never feel like you are doing too much promotion. If you don’t, nobody else will.

List 5 things on your bucket list.

• Hike in New Zealand.
• To write a more popular book than my debut novella, Nana. Sick of being known as the man who wrote about farts and gas masks.
• Travel to American for an Authorcon.
• Visit Alaska.
• Get one of my stories adapted for Netflix. You have to dream!