A.B. Finlayson's Blog

10 or 11 years old, scared, bedraggled, glimpsed from the corner of your eye before vanishing into the shadows; the lost boy of York is one of the more enduring legends of my favourite city, which is kind of strange when you realise the details are actually quite sparse. There is no name, no agreedContinue reading "The Lost Boys of York"

A few weeks ago, I had the honour of being a guest author at an event hosted by Redcar and Cleveland Libraries. I grew up in Redcar and set my comedy/horror novella, Rock Zombie, there. It is my hometown, it is where I went to school, and where most of my family still live. IContinue reading "The One Where I was a Guest Author at my Local Library… 10,000 Miles Away!"

The tale of Sarah Brocklebank is a relatively well-known “ghost story” in York. There are many people who will be familiar with her but perhaps even more who know aspects of the story… but not the name. She’s… The ghost on Micklegate Bar The girl who lost the keys Just a kid… it was herContinue reading "The ghost of Sarah Brocklebank"

The Book and the Blade started out as a stray thought in the back of a drunk kid’s head. Me. I was that drunk kid. I was 18 years old and trying to make my way back through the city of York to my student accommodation. I’d only been at uni for a few weeksContinue reading "The Black Cats of York"

In the build up to the release of The Saint and the Shadowman – the third novel in the Arthur Crazy series – Parliament House Press have made The Book and the Blade available for free on Amazon! As it turns out, listing my books for free seems to work quite well Remember when IContinue reading "The Book and the Blade is free!"

My little comedy/horror indie novel, Rock Zombie, has been shuffling along quite well lately. It was a finalist for the Aurealis Awards ‘best horror novel’ and garnered a little bit of attention around the block. Sadly, this didn’t really equate to sales but we can’t have everything can we? My favourite outcome from this smallContinue reading "Talking zombie apocalypses in my home town"

A few months ago I had a bit of an author’s nightmare. I lost a manuscript. It wasn’t just a first draft, either. It was the full shebang… a completely edited version of a story I really love. To make matters worse, it turns out I had been sending the first draft manuscript to publishers.Continue reading "Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Orcs? (because I forgot)"

To my absolute delight, Rock Zombie is a finalist in the BEST HORROR NOVEL category for 2024’s Aurealis Awards! I am completely over the moon and so grateful to the wonderful judges at Aurealis and to everyone who has read and supported Rock Zombie since its publication on Halloween last year. In fact, I’m gratefulContinue reading "Rock Zombie – Best Horror Novel Finalist – 2024 Aurealis Awards"

On July 22nd, 2025 – if Cyclone Alfred doesn’t wipe us out in the meantime – the third Arthur Crazy book will be hitting the shelves! The Saint and the Shadowman picks up a few months after the events of book 2 and takes place back in the beautiful, haunted city of York. But it’sContinue reading "Arthur Crazy #3 – The Saint and the Shadowman – and some other stuff."

Sleigh: Reindeer Games 3 is out now so get ready for the Christmas rush! The third and final instalment in my series of utterly bizarre Christmas comedy/horror novellas is available on Amazon – books2read.com/reindeergames3 – and as usual, it’s cheaper than a pint! (or two pints if you’re going for the paperback). I also stoleContinue reading "“There’s a bomb on the sleigh!”"