Merry Christmas, folks!As you are probably aware by now, I try not to bombard you all constantly, but I felt it was time to touch base and say hello again, to keep you up to date with my writing and the projects underway.You might have read in my last newsletter, that I'm working on two books consecutively, The Masocheist, the second book in the series (which still doesn't have a name, but I'm leaning toward something based around "Apocalypse") started by The Sadeiest, and a stand-alone book called (hesitantly) The Dawn Chorus, about predators that were always amongst humanity, invisible yet effectively dormant, as they couldn't sense humans. After humanity developed the Covid Vaccine using animal DNA, humans started being perceived by the predators, and their diets changed radically.Both projects, I'm happy to say, have had interest expressed in them from publishing houses, so I'm rushing to get them completed. As a Christmas present from me, I'm giving you all a sample chapter part of The Masocheist to look at, it's the re-introduction of Pez into the series, an ant that hosts the horseman of the apocalypse - "Pestilence".I wanted to do a Pez chapter early on in the book that didn't reference him by name or show his distinct point of view but is rather using accumulated knowledge from the reader to provide context. As you might know, if you have read The Sadeiest, I'm a firm believer in the cognitive abilities of my readers, I believe it's not my job to tell you everything, that it is more fun to deduce things for yourself, and this is another example of that - I think readers generate the underlying tension here through the knowledge they possess. So you are effectively scaring yourselves.Thanks, I get the credit for it too :DThe freebie is included at the end of the newsletter.