The Black Hand, vol.60
July 2026
Hello! I flew back from Indonesia last week and I’ve spent the last few days adjusting to the, er, bracing weather in my part of the world (south-eastern Australia). After three weeks of tropical heat, my body was not ready for something more akin to the Scottish moors. We’ve had frost, fog, and ice in the bird bath and on the car windscreen – friends, I’m not a huge fan of sweaty summer and prefer to micro-dose it on holiday, but even my jumpers-and-jackets-loving self was shivering upon this chilly return to Melbourne.
But yes, my trip was a good chance to relax and reset – I did a lot of writing and I read a ton of books, which I’m gonna tell you about below…
Cyborg cockroaches in scuba suits
Oh god – I didn’t want to keep writing about scientists doing whacky things again, I truly didn’t. Surely last month’s silliness was enough?
But scientists have made a diving suit. For cockroaches. That are also cyborgs.
The scientists are from Singapore and Tokyo, and the scuba suit is 3D printed, and it allows cockroaches with electrodes to move in underwater and airless environments for up to three hours. Because of course it does.
I’m literally begging scientists to just be normal for like, five whole seconds.
Why are they doing this? Well, apparently they hope “to be able to use cyborg cockroaches in search and rescue missions, pipeline inspection, and other complex tasks”. I mean, sure. I’m sure it will be great, and not at all a weird biomedical technology that will - in years to come - be used to put human workers into increasingly hazardous environments for low pay. (Not that I’m cynical or anything! I’m sure it’ll be fine!)
Lots of people reading this are now saying, “But Ellie, is this really a crime story?” and I am, this very moment, putting my hand on their shoulder and gently saying, “Yes. In many ways, it is.”
But seriously, I just want to go back to telling you about macabre crime. Really hoping that next month I can write about something more normal, like teenagers who kill pedophiles, or the sheep psychology of lone wolf gunmen, or something like that. And I’m sure we can all agree that this would be preferable to read about than diving cyborg cockroaches.
News
I hope you’re emotionally ready for the return of Simon and Nomi, because I receive the copyedit this week – and NO ONE TO FEAR releases in February 2027. We’re getting closer to a cover final (I have seen the drafts! It’s looking fancy!), and a descriptive blurb, and as soon as I have something cool to share, I guarantee you’ll be the first to know about it 😊
I also got some great publishing news and signed a bunch of Very Exciting and Important Paperwork recently – all that stuff is still embargoed, but once I get the greenlight to talk about it, I’ll be blabbing my little head off.
Events
This is your last chance to hit me up if you’d like me to come visit your school/library/book club for Book Week 2026 in August! Feel free to email me elliemarney@gmail.com or you can go through my booking agency, Booked Out, if you prefer. As I was saying to a book club organizer recently, I understand these are trying times, so if your budget is limited and you’re unsure, just ask – I try to work within a range of budgets and circumstances, although it can sometimes depend on travel distances. But you’ve got nothing to lose by asking!
July Live Q&A
Nailbiters friends, I’ll see you at the Live Q&A next week – our Lives are always a lot of fun, and I spill the beans on all the behind-the-scenes goings-on, plus answer any and all questions that come my way (last month, we got chatting about the juggle of parenting and writing, as well as talking in some depth about the NO ONE TO FEAR edit process, among other things).
If you have the bandwidth to join up and come along, you’re most welcome. You can join any time by upgrading your subscription with the button.
Book recs
I read a metric ton of books while I was in Bali, and while I don’t have the space to give you the lowdown on all of them, here’s a few I really enjoyed:
SPREAD ME by Sarah Gailey – Very cleverly written SF/horror novella, riffing directly off The Thing (and it does a saucy hat tip). Sexy themes of “What if you’re attracted to the monster?” and “What if the monster is attracted to you?” so don’t dive in if sexiness offends. Lots of body horror imagery but not super scary. Fabulous characters, and at least two non-binary characters in a small cast (I was taking notes on pronoun use, very well done). Great handling of trans and sexuality themes; this one is an enjoyable read that I found more memorable than Gailey’s last full-length novel.
THE EXTRA by Anne Neugebauer – Oh, this was great fun: cosmic horror novella, “What if you start leading a team of 10 campers on a wilderness hike, then realize you now have...11 campers? Who’s the extra?” Very clever and nicely written, more ‘increasing dread’ than jump scary. I had a lot of fun with this one and will be immediately looking up the author’s other work – the ending left me thinking for days.
THE FACE OF A STRANGER by Anne Perry – A clever and intricate novel about an amnesiac detective in Victorian London. Obviously my interest in ‘amnesiac detective’ was piqued, but I’m also a bit obsessed with Perry, who was one of the IRL girls who killed their mother and were subsequently separated and jailed in a notorious NZ murder case (see the Peter Jackson film ‘Heavenly Creatures’ or maybe go back and read the thing I wrote about Perry for The Black Hand, when she passed in 2023). Perry changed her name and reinvented herself as a crime author – and a very good one. Great book, if you can overlook a bit of POV hopping and you’re okay with complex plotting; it genuinely kept me guessing. Wonderful Victorian detail too, if you’re a historical fan.
REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier – I started reading this for research (my latest WIP has REBECCA as a comp title, along with a Hitchcock film, and VERITY by Colleen Hoover – I hope you’re intrigued!). But research aside, what a damned fine book. The final half, particularly, absolutely flies along. This was, I’m ashamed to say, my first experience of du Maurier, and what an experience – I now think du Maurier was a genius and I’m going to plunge into MY COUSIN RACHEL (du Maurier also had amazing taste in high-waisted corduroy trousers, have a look at this pic below:)
Also-rans:
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Harcastle (“What if an Agatha Christie murder mystery in a grandly decaying old English mansion in the 1920s, but weird body-hopping, time-wimey shenanigans were also involved” – the premise was hooky but I struggled a bit with this one)
A Patricia Cornwell Scarpetta novel (I’ve never been a huge Cornwell fan, but this is something like Scarpetta no.27 or something, and I’m afraid it’s a bit of a phone-in. I picked it up at random in a hotel lobby.)
Burglars Can’t Be Choosers (Lawrence Block never fails to entertain. This one is part of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series set in NYC about a very likeable fellow who just can’t stop stealing things – like all Block’s work, I loved it. Only putting it in the also-rans category because I think some of the dated language may put people off. If you want to start with Block, start with his Matt Scudder series.)
What I’m writing
As I mentioned above, I’ve started a new thing! It’s a standalone, and it’s set in the early 1960s, and it’s gothic af, so it’s taking up a lot of my attention right now…and of course, I’m not allowed to talk about it (although I do talk about it in the Live Q&A’s sometimes, because I am really terrible about keeping secrets when I’m excited about them).
At this stage, I also have a healthy plot outline for Simon Noone Book 3 – I even have a likely title – but I haven’t been given the greenlight to get started on that yet. The existence of a Book 3 is currently in the lap of the gods (ie. - my publisher). It may interest you to know that I have given Simon slutty little glasses in Book 2, so I guess we’ll see what happens 👀
Epigraphs of the NONE SHALL SLEEP series
I put quite a lot of thought into the epigraphs of each of my books, so I thought I’d tell you about some of them.
An epigraph, if you’d like the official definition, is a quote or inscription at the beginning of a book that gives the reader a taste of the book’s theme. You can have more than one epigraph and more than one theme. Authors who use epigraphs must ensure that they have obtained permission for use of the quoted text (if it’s still under copyright) and acknowledge the original author (which I always do) – the author must do this licensing work themselves, as the publisher doesn’t do it for them.
I’m very attached to the epigraph quotes I used for each book in the series. Some of them are very personal – and reading them again reminds me of how each book grew from a seed of an idea. For NONE SHALL SLEEP itself, I went through a lengthy process to obtain permission to use a quote by Ursula Le Guin (one of my favourite writers) from her poem “Travelers”:
Something about this quote absolutely hooked right into my soul as I was writing. Emma and Travis are on a journey together into a strange dark heart – and into the darkness of their own minds, their own traumas. Simon, too, could be the other person in the ‘oarless boat’ with Emma, powerless to control where the flow of the mind (and the story) takes them both. The psychological and emotional journey of the characters – and the journey of each of us, in this life – is one that never really ends. The quote captures the essence of this journey and also manages to convey an ominous quality that seems perfect for the book.
For SOME SHALL BREAK, I had to write personally to Palestinian American poet Naomi Shihab Nye to obtain permission for the use of the quote from her poem “Making A Fist”:
I loved this quote as soon as I read it. The theme of Emma’s courage, and her recovery from the trauma of her assault, and her sheer stubborn tenacity (which made her recovery possible), found its perfect encapsulation in this poem. I was so relieved and happy when Naomi wrote back, saying she would be delighted to give me permission! I am grateful for her generosity every day.
For ALL SHALL MOURN, I originally wanted to use an excerpt from a song by Leonard Cohen – but if you know anything about copyright, you will know that song lyrics are amongst the most difficult and most expensive quotes to license. So, with some reluctance, I looked elsewhere – and realized quickly that Mary Shelley had written the perfect quote to sum up who Emma had become as a person:
I love this quote so much <3 But it didn’t seem like quite enough, because ALL SHALL MOURN is also about endings, and love, and saying goodbye. I looked everywhere for a quote that was heartfelt and poignant, something that gathered together all these themes in a way that created a gentle sense of loss…And when I discovered this quote by Bengali poet, author, playwright, composer, artist and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore (one of my favourite poets!), I felt extremely lucky:
I hope you love these epigraph quotes as much as I do! There’s something satisfying about finding the perfect epigraph quote, like finding a key that fits into a lock. Once I hit on a good epigraph, I really feel like the book has found its center – and the writing often goes along more smoothly.
That’s it from me for July! I hope you’re having a good, hearty, satisfying mid-year, and that life is treating you kind. See you at the Live Q&A, if you’re joining us, otherwise catch you next month!
xxEllie