The Black Hand, vol.43

(Until the Feb ’25 release of All Shall Mourn, early chapters are releasing for paid subscribers – chapter 4 is available for Nailbiters readers now! You can access all chapters with a cheap upgrade by following the instructions right here)

Walking out of the jungle

In 1971, Juliane Diller was on a plane with her scientist mother, both of them scheduled to fly from Lima to Peru to see her father, a rainforest researcher, when the plane they were traveling in was struck by lightning. Diller’s row of seats detached from its mounting and was thrown from the plane, which broke apart only fifteen minutes from its destination. Out of the 92 passengers onboard the flight, only Diller survived. She woke up to find herself lost in the Peruvian jungle, with a broken collarbone and limited vision after injuries (and losing her glasses). It was the day before Christmas, and Diller was 17 years old.

By some miracle, Diller had been stranded in a part of the jungle barely fifty kilometers from the area that her parents – who had degrees in biology, ornithology, and zoology – had been studying for nearly three years. She was still at a massive disadvantage: Overhead rescue planes couldn’t find her through the jungle trees, she couldn’t see, she was injured, and she had no detailed understanding of edible flora. Diller found a bag of Christmas boiled sweets (what I believe is called rock candy in the US) at the plane crash site, and rationed herself to four a day, which would be her only solid food for 11 days.

But she also found a stream near the crash site, and decided to follow the water to a village. The way was long – after a week, Diller ran out of sweets and lived on water. Almost at the point of critical weakness, she lay on the bank to rest and was discovered by a group of local woodcutters and fishermen, who initially thought she was a boto, a legendary river dolphin creature that can transform into a human. Once she finally made it back to civilization, Diller’s story went viral – it was made into a documentary by Werner Herzog called Wings of Hope. Diller moved to her father’s birth country, Germany, and became a scientist – she has continued to work with the Peruvian government to protect the biodiversity of the area which saved her life.

I don’t know about you, but like so many kids of the 70’s and 80’s, I spent a lot of time wondering how I would cope if I fell into quicksand, or was attacked by piranha, or got caught in the Bermuda Triangle…or had to walk out of the jungle. Just to say, I’m glad that I never had to prove myself on any of those points, because in Juliane Diller’s position, I probably wouldn’t have been so clear-headed.

Chapter 4 of ALL SHALL MOURN

Guanajuato, 29 October 1982

Sun is bright through Travis’s room as he stands by the window, pulling on a shirt. His most recent scar is an untidy keloid Z just below his breastbone – the entry wound scar on his back is much smaller – but it’s only a little red now, and Travis doesn’t pay it any mind.

The view through the window is a good one. Emma is out in the yard…

If you’re a Nailbiters subscriber, you should have the password that gets you into the vault. Now you’ve processed the Gutmunsson twins’ shenanigans from last month, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

If you’re not a Nailbiters subscriber and you want to sign up, click here to get instructions to upgrade your subscription, and you can enjoy 4 chapters of bloodthirsty lunacy, all the ongoing monthly instalments, the full Nailbiters behind-the-scenes archive, and my undying gratitude.

ALL SHALL MOURN – cover reveal & digital preorder link

I know you’ve all been waiting to check this out, and this is the bit of the newsletter I’m really excited about!

Ta-da!! Isn’t this magnificent??

SHE’S BEAUTY, SHE’S GRACE, SHE’LL PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE!

Excuse me while I scream a little - I adore this cover so much. Seriously, I am IN LOVE. Someone remarked to me that this cover teaches you how to read the covers of all the other books in the series, and I could not agree more. The colours, that amazing illustration, the way everything ties in together…I swear to god, I could not be happier! What makes this extra special is that the artwork and design for this cover were created by my son Ben, who is a graphic designer and animator, and this is his first pro credit, so everyone please give him a round of applause!!

You can also preorder All Shall Mourn in ebook at this link so go nuts! (that’s the US link and the AU link is right here)

Paperback readers: I’m afraid I can’t do a paperback preorder right now because Amazon doesn’t allow it - I know! It’s a total a bummer! But don’t stress, your time is coming soon. The paperback will be available exclusively on the day of release, 5 Feb 2025, and I really hope some of you are excited to get the physical copy in your hot little hands. I’ll also be offering signed copies from my website after release day, if you’re keen!

ALL SHALL MOURN on Goodreads

You can add All Shall Mourn to your GoodReads shelf now – over 400 people have already done so, which is wild to me 😊

Goodreads numbers and early mentions online are part of the slow-motion machine that works to make a book successful. I’ve heard from a bunch of people that they didn’t even know that All Shall Mourn was releasing!! So yes, there are still people out there that the algorithm doesn’t serve. If you can help by sharing the news and by adding the book to your GR lists, that would be a small but awesome thing.

I’m on Bluesky/Threads

I’m no longer on Twitter/X because of the…*waves at the general cesspit that is Twitter/X* …I mean, I have a placeholder account there, so I don’t get impersonated (weird, right? It happens, though). Anyway, somehow, because this is the world we live in now, I am mysteriously on TWO alternative text-based social media apps! I’m on Threads and I’m on Bluesky.

This is me on Bluesky…

…and this is me on Threads! I mean wtf! Nobody wants this! But here we are, apparently, because no one can agree to hang out in one place 🤷

Bluesky at least gives you a header image! But seriously, I find the whole thing as bizarre as I’m sure you do.

Tbh, I don’t know how long my Threads account will last, as I recently saw that they might try to introduce ads next year, which will severely reduce its appeal. But for the time being, Threads is more fun-times and book recs, and Stephen King is there now. Bluesky, on the other hand, is where I’m more unfiltered, so you get a lot of dark humour and politics and articles about movie culture…as well as the book recs?

I like text-based social media more than video social media, but I still find this whole double-dipping thing very odd. I guess at some point the powers-that-be will put Threads and Bluesky into a giant MMA cage and make them fight to the death, and one will end up the victor…But for now, I am on both. And of course I’m still on Instagram and (to a much lesser extent) Tiktok. Anyway, basically I’m everywhere, so hit me up and say hi if you see me online!

Book giveaway winners from last month

Some of you were kind enough to share the pics from last month’s newsletter – thank you!! I’ve selected a couple prize winners, and I’ll be sending out their signed copies of Some Shall Break asap.

And just think – I’ll be able to start giving away 3-book sets of the None Shall Sleep Sequence soon!

We needed something good

So here we are in November, and I’d originally planned to send out the cover for All Shall Mourn last month, but a couple of things got in the way - 1. It wasn’t ready, and 2. I got covid. The covid thing was really not much fun at all, and honestly the “not being ready” thing took a lot of work to fix.

But you know, I’m really glad that this month is the month we get to see the cover for the first time. Because we (specifically, me, I, myself personally) really needed something good.

Last month was a lot of breathless anticipation of the US election, and then the election happened, and boy, I don’t think it’s possible that there could’ve been a worse outcome. It was…not good, and I’ve gotta say it made me feel pretty glum about the state of the world. Aaand then I got sick…

But this – this one good thing, seeing my kid slowly pull together the cover for the book that I never thought would see the light of day, that is now finding its readers – has been hugely helpful for my brain and my heart. I want to say a special thank you to all of you who’ve been getting in touch to say how excited you are to check out the cover and read the book: That is really giving me life right now, and as far as Good Things goes, I’ll take everything I can get (so say we all!) 🖤

So that’s it from me for November. Go forth! Gaze upon the glory of the All Shall Mourn cover, and add it to your GR lists/shelves, and preorder it if you’ve got a mind to do that! I also really hope that those of you accessing the early chapters of All Shall Mourn enjoy the hell out of this month’s chapter.

I didn’t do recs of books or media this month, because a) covid has been kicking my butt and I’m tired, and b) I figured the All Shall Mourn cover reveal was pretty good! Next month, I’m going to put together a giant list of recommended books for the holidays. Before then, I hope your plane isn’t struck by lightning, and that you’re not forced to wade through Peruvian jungle streams toward civilization while only eating boiled sweets. Be kind to one another – especially my US friends – and be patient and be cool. I’m wishing you all Good Things in the lead up to the end of this year, and lots of great books.

Until next time, happy reading 😊

xxEllie