new book

The Mess Of Us Is Released Next Week!

~ ChanAtkins ~ Leave a comment

Only a week to go until my 23rd book is released…

https://books2read.com/u/4NNka6

Exactly one week from now, my 23rd book, which just so happens to be the sequel to my first ever book, will be released! The Mess Of Us came out way back in 2013.

This is very exciting for several reasons. Of course, it is always exciting to release a new book and it never gets old holding that book in your hands and knowing that you did it!

It’s extra exciting because it’s taken me so long to get around to writing the sequel. I did have ideas for it years ago but didn’t do anything with them for a very long time. Then, a couple of years back I started to think about how the first book ended and that got me wondering exactly what the characters would have done next…

I decided to set the sequel two years after the events of the first book. A violent altercation between Joe and his oldest brother, Leon, led everyone in the book to an uncertain place, fraught with anger, fear, resentment and guilt.

I started thinking a lot about Leon. He is a villain through and through in the first book. Main character and narrator Lou describes him best:

“Leon scares me. I don’t like being in his presence. He makes me feel uncomfortable, but I am unable to really articulate why. He wants to be a hard man; he wants to not care about anyone or anything, as if somehow, he believes this to be the best way to go through life. It is what he seeks to achieve. Not giving a shit. Dealing drugs, if that is what he is doing, (and we can strongly suppose that it is), is just his latest ploy to try to achieve this. He is bizarrely determined to live as crooked and brutal a life as possible, and you can see it in every inch of him – his empty, hard eyes, his lack of remorse or empathy for anything or anyone; the way his body ripples and bristles, as if every muscle within it has been injected with pure blind rage. I wonder whom he is trying to impress, and I can only imagine that it is himself.”

But there are moments in The Mess Of Me where Lou concedes that Leon didn’t exactly have a kind or caring upbringing. As the oldest, he is the scapegoat in their dysfunctional and often violent family:

‘Yeah, he grabbed the frying pan and clocked Mick over the head with it. Jesus Christ there was blood everywhere. He had to have eight stitches.’
‘And the police turned up.’
‘And arrested Leon. Mum and Mick told them to.’
I turn my head and look at the side of Joe’s face. ‘Joe, I’ve never really thought about it much until now, but you do know that is really disgusting, don’t you?’ I watch as Joe nods back at me. ‘He was about fourteen then? He was just trying to protect his mum. I’ve never ever felt sorry for Leon before, but thinking about it now, that was pretty harsh on him.’
‘He’s hard to feel sorry for.’
‘Do you think your mum and Mick ever feel sorry about that? Letting him get taken away, when it was them fighting in the first place? I couldn’t live with myself.’
Joe snorts again. ‘They always think they’re right,’ he replies. ‘Doesn’t matter what you say or do. Doesn’t matter if you prove them wrong or whatever. Neither of them are ever fucking wrong, ever. So no, I don’t think they would ever feel guilty about that.’

It was moments like this one that made Lou wonder about Leon. In The Mess Of Me, she was disgusted by him and frightened of him, but she was also endlessly curious about him and his secret, shady life.

It made me think what had driven Leon to a life of crime. Lack of money and parental support at home are often factors that drive youngsters towards crime. Children from deprived areas are far more likely to be groomed into running drugs for gangs, for example, and in The Mess of Us, as both Lou and Joe attempt to get past what Leon did, she finally discovers how he got into crime:

‘Leon, how old were you were you first started doing it?’
‘Thirteen,’ he replies without hesitation. My eyes grow wider. I think back, trying to picture him at thirteen. He had longer hair back then. He was always bigger than us but he wasn’t huge, or muscled. He was just a kid. I’m still staring, feeling dazed as the realisation hits me. He frowns back at me. ‘What?’
‘I mean… How? How did…’
‘This older kid at school,’ he says. ‘He let us try a bit of grass for free. After school, walking home. Me and Travis, some others. Not long after that he wanted us to pay for it and not long after that he wanted us to, you know. Run errands.’
Shit. I slump back and stare ahead. I had never imagined it like this. I had only ever seen Leon as the aggressor, the bully, the criminal. I had never once imagined that someone else had done this to him, lured him in, made him promises, got him on side. At thirteen…

The Mess Of Us is about a lot of things. The main plot follows Lou and Joe grappling with an unplanned pregnancy alongside dealing with the fact Leon has just been released from prison. But it is also a story about forgiveness and redemption and about what happens to people to turn them hard and cold…

And what is even more exciting for me is that by the time I finished writing it, The Mess Of Us gave me an amazing and unexpected gift!

An idea for a brand new book! A book connecting all of my characters who lives inhabit and cross paths within the same universe. A book that would tie up all of their original stories, whilst dealing with the mystery of a missing child, and delving into Leon more fully as a character.

I had the best fun writing it. It was the easiest and fastest book I’ve ever written, probably because I already knew all the characters so well!

It’s called The Dark Finds You and I hope to release it towards the end of 2025, so stay tuned. I will be posting a lot about it and how it connects to my other books nearer the time!

Meanwhile, I’d really appreciate it if you grabbed a copy of The Mess Of Us whilst it’s still just 99p for the ebook! It does help if you have read the first book, but it can certainly be read as a standalone.

Thank you!

Here is the blurb:

“Dear World, so, obviously we made a mess of it. Inevitably. Otherwise I wouldn’t be writing to you again, would I?”

What do you do when the man who beat your boyfriend into a coma is about to be released from prison? What do you do when that man is your boyfriend’s older brother who wants to make amends?

Now a couple, Lou and Joe are struggling to get over the traumatic events of two years ago. When Joe’s brother Leon is released from prison, they must decide if either of them are able to forgive and forget what he did.
Meanwhile, an unexpected pregnancy throws their lives into chaos and when tragedy reawakens Lou’s self-destructive tendencies, she faces losing everything they have built. Can she fight her body image demons once again? Can either of them trust Leon? As Joe and Lou try to decide whether bad people can truly change, they are about to have one mess of a summer.

Interview With Chantelle Atkins On Her Latest Release: At Night We Played In The Road

~ ChanAtkins ~ 2 Comments

Last week I was interviewed by author Sim Alec Sansford for the author news blog on the Chasing Driftwood Books website. Chasing Driftwood Books is an indie collective some like-minded indie authors have set up to help support and promote each other and I’m thrilled to be a part of it!

Here is the interview:

“When Tom Lane was born, he accidentally killed his mother and in the process, his father’s love.

Determined to protect Tom from their father’s criminal business, older brother Alfie must become Tom’s father, mother and protector. It’s the two of them against the world until the day Tom chooses a life of crime over Alfie’s dream of a normal life.
Ten years later the estranged brothers are reunited when a violent gang bring Tom to Alfie’s door with a gun to his head.

Tom’s partners in crime have turned on him and he needs his brother to save him one more time…

A darkly brooding story of brotherly love, belonging and the beginnings that shape who we become.“

Buy here: https://books2read.com/u/mBy7DZ

Your latest release is connected to your five-book series, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side. Can you tell us more about that?

Yes! The Boy With The Thorn In His Side Part 5 introduced two characters, Tom and Alfie Lane. They become unwittingly involved in Danny’s (the main character in The Boy…series) struggle to escape his crime ridden past. He helps them and they help him. As I wrote these scenes, I fell so in love with the characters I knew they had to have a story of their own. I was curious about their past, specifically their childhood and wondered what had happened to them to lead them to this point. For example, when Danny first meets Tom Lane, he is tied to a chair, about to be tortured by a violent thug Danny has tangled with before. But what led Tom to that chair? I saw a very troubled and co-dependent sibling relationship between Tom and Alfie and really wanted to explore that.

What is it about Tom and Alfie in particular that made you want to write their story, opposed to other side characters?

Good question! I have to be careful because I think all my side characters would like their own book one day! But these two did really catch my imagination. I think I was interested in the brotherly relationship and how Alfie had to be a father and brother to Tom. I was interested in that very specific dynamic too, one of co-dependency and how damaging that can be to both individuals. I wanted to examine it from both of their points of view, so I did. They love each other deeply and fiercely, which is incredibly beautiful, but they also hurt each other a lot over the years. Their family background was really interesting to me too. How sometimes you cannot escape your family, even if you don’t want to be like them. How some children hero worship abusive parents, while others see them for what they are and try to break free. Tom also has Tourette’s Syndrome which was something I was researching a lot at the time as my youngest child displays many of the symptoms. Tom is based on him, just a tiny bit. His energy, his optimism, his intelligence!

This book explores many dark themes as do your other stories. What is it about the genre that you particularly enjoy?

I think I am just drawn to the dark side of life and everything that means and entails. There are so many layers to humanity and being alive and it’s fun to pick them apart and see what flows out. I like gritty stories, topics you can get your teeth into. I like writing about outsiders and rebels, people who don’t fit in and don’t want to. I think there is so much to be explored there! I suppose it comes back to writing what I want to read. I want to read books with relatable flawed characters and dark themes, so that’s what I enjoy writing too.

You’re well known for your passion and dedication to writing, but what keeps you so inspired?

I suppose life itself and all it’s mysteries, all it’s ugliness and beauty, everything! I love the quote that reading is breathing in, and writing is breathing out. It feels like that for me. Writing is me exhaling everything I have learnt, felt, seen, observed and wondered about life and people and society and families… Writing to me is pure magic. It feels incredibly exciting, like a natural high. People inspire me, families inspire me, the endless possibilities for stories inspire me! I don’t know how to live and not write.

Are there more books coming for The Boy With The Thorn In His Side universe? What can we expect?

It certainly is a universe, full of inter-connected books. Characters pop up in each-others stories and the locations used are familiar. I have two more books to release in this universe and then that will be it. Those two books should tie up everyone’s stories. I am releasing the sequel to my debut novel, The Mess Of Me in January 2025. The Mess Of Us is set two years after the dramatic events of the first book and see the characters Lou and Joe trying to come to terms with what Joe’s criminal brother Leon did to them, as well as dealing with an unexpected pregnancy, among other things. In The Mess Of Us we get to explore Leon a bit more. He was very much the mysterious boogey man in The Mess Of Me, and the main character and narrator, Lou, absolutely despised him, and quite rightly. But she sees another side to him in the sequel, and then he reappears as a main character with his own storyline in the final book in this universe, The Dark Finds You. I aim to release this summer 2025. This will unite many of my characters from other books! Lots of them already know each other so it was not hard at all to draw them all together for one storyline, which also helps conclude their own personal ones. It involves Leon from The Mess Of Me and The Mess Of Us, as already mentioned, Joe also appears from those books. Elliot from Elliot Pie’s Guide To Human Nature, plus his mother Laura and friend Leah are also main characters in The Dark Finds You. Danny from The Boy With The Thorn In His Side is now in his 40s, so fans of that series might like to see how he’s doing now! And Bill Robinson from The Holds End trilogy is another main character. I wrote the first draft in six weeks – it was that addictive and exciting and I can’t wait to share it!

You tease a lot of your work on your social media. What can you tell us about Black Hare Valley?

Well, mainly that it’s another universe that has totally sucked me in and is currently holding me captive! I am seriously addicted to this at the moment! Black Hare Valley was first created during lockdown, 2020. I had just re-read my favourite Stephen King book, ‘IT’ and wanted to write something similar as a sort of homage, I guess. I envisioned a close-knit town with a dark secret and a band of misfit kids drawn together to solve a mystery. That was all I had. However, me and my son, who was 12 at the time, designed a huge map of the town just for fun. We created a valley town set between two Iron Age Hill Forts, with farmland, forests and rolling hills, rivers and streams. We added everything they would need from schools and theatres, to pet shops and garages! I also created some character bios. It was a lot of fun. I left it alone for a few years while I was working on other books. Two years ago we had a prolonged power cut and no WiFi so I ended up writing Black Hare Valley in long-hand into five notebooks. I didn’t really know what I was doing. It just happened. I just let it flow. As I wrote it, I had to ask myself more and more questions and the story slowly unraveled. I then typed it up and left it alone again. When I’d finished The Boy… universe books, I could finally turn my attention back to Black Hare Valley and it sucked me in and wouldn’t let go. Essentially it’s going to be a three book series with the first book set in 1996, the second in 1966 and the third in 2026. It’s a very dark folk horror story about this very strange town tightly controlled by a well-meaning Neighbourhood Watch Committee. They are not what they seem however, and children, in particular, have a habit of going missing, never to be seen again… That’s all I want to say but if you love folk horror, creepy towns, misfit kids, and quirky traditions such as May Day celebrations, fairy rings, leylines, hill forts and more, you might just want to visit!

Who are some writers that influence you and what books do you enjoy reading?

I’m a huge fan of Stephen King, Charles Bukowski and Chris Whittaker, to name a few quickly. But generally I love reading anything dark and gritty with wonderful memorable characters. It’s all about the characters for me. As a teenager I was very influenced by Stephen King, and SE Hinton.

What made you decide to create Chasing Driftwood Books?

I’ve been writing and independently publishing since 2013. I’ve published with indie collectives three times before, but each one eventually folded. They were all different, but essentially they were all allowing authors to self-publish for free and keep their royalties, but belong to a bigger community of authors who can support each other and help promote each other. I wanted to take all I had learnt from those platforms and create our own. We are very small at the moment but will open for submissions in due course! What I have realised since I started publishing was that it’s very, very difficult to land an agent and get a traditional deal these days, and also that the traditional deals are not always what they are cracked up to be. I’ve learnt that indie authors who do well are in the most enviable position of all. They have full creative control, retain full royalties and can very often earn enough to give up their day jobs. But to achieve that, they often have to pump a lot of money into their books. Paying for editing, proofreading and professional covers, goes without saying, but to really succeed they also need to be paying for advertising. Low income authors, disabled authors and other under-represented groups, are simply not in a position to do this. I’ve been an avid reader of indie books for some time and have read some truly extraordinary books by incredibly talented authors who should be selling far more and getting far more success and visibility. Money is so often the problem. What we are hoping to do here is draw quality authors together into a community that can help support and promote each other. That is just the start but the long-term aim is increased visibility for all our authors!

You have a prominent cast of male protagonists throughout your books. What is it about writing through their eyes that inspires you to do so?

I think I once sat down and worked out that by the time I have written and released all my works-in-progress plus all my vague ideas for books, I will have an equal amount of male and female protagonists! But I get what you are saying. With my published books at the moment, there are more male protagonists than female. I think partly this is pure accident, in as much as the characters just come to me and I can’t often control their gender. But also I think in the past at least I have been more curious about the male view and experience, simply because I am not one! So, that made it just a bit more interesting to explore.

Finally, what more can we expect from the world of Chantelle Atkins?

Two more books in the interconnected The Boy With The Thorn In His Side universe, as already mentioned, followed I expect a year later by the full Black Hare Valley trilogy. I have also started a fifth book in The Day The Earth Turned series, though that is taking a back seat at the moment! Works-in-progress involve a half-finished YA zombie apocalypse story told in a diary format, a family mystery called The 7th Child, and a story about two dysfunctional young adults who get bored of waiting for the apocalypse so decide to try and start one themselves… I am also planning to write a crime book with my oldest child, Daisy! She is about to start her Masters in creative writing and we have come up with an excellent serial killer plot set on a university campus! I have another YA post-apocalyptic story that has been planned with character bios done…. I think that’s it!

If you’d like to follow me and keep up to date with my books news, here are the links:

Website/blog: https://chantelleatkins.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/chantelleatkinswriter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chantelleatkinswriter/

Medium: https://medium.com/@chantelleatkins_17828

At Night We Played In The Road – Out Today!!

~ ChanAtkins ~ 3 Comments

It is publication day for my latest novel, At Night We Played In The Road!

I honestly feel like I have let this book down by not promoting it enough but all summer I have been glued to Medium and other things. I have been working on the current WIP Black Hare Valley when I can, but even that has taken a back seat to Medium! I have just launched my own publication on Medium, The Wild Writers Club, so that has been taking up some time, as well as writing for others.

However, I am super proud of this latest book and the way it connects to a bigger universe of books. If you don’t already know, it is a spin-off from The Boy With The Thorn In His Side series and although it will give you spoilers for that series, it can be read as a standalone.

It also connects to books I have already written as well as the next two books to come out.

You will find the blurb and the link below, but first I’m sharing a wonderful review that just came in from Karen J Mossman’s World of Stories blog. Karen is a wonderful writer, blogger and a great support to indie authors like me, so do check out her blog and her reviews!

At Night We Played in the Road by Chantelle Atkins

Here is the review:

The story begins when Tom the youngest child is a baby and his single father tries to kill him. Alfie is there just in time and the little boy continues to protect his brother as they grow up.

Their father manufactures drugs to sell, this means a chaotic life for the young boys. They find themselves in different foster homes, and even that is fraught with danger.

At Night We Played In The Road, is a powerful and heartbreaking story. But, it’s also a tale of courage and brotherly love. Right and wrong, good and evil present themselves. Some people are born inherently bad, and lure others in. Good people get drawn into bad situations and this is Alfie. I championed him right through to the stiy’sy satisfying conclusion.

This is a big book with over 500 pages. Personally, I prefer shorter reads, but if you don’t mind you are in for a treat.

The author has a wonderful way with words and her writing is compelling. It’s worth checking her out as Chantelle Atkins has a great selection of books. Many cross over or connect with each other in a way I’ve never seen anyone do before.

And here is a link to read a free sample of the book:

As always, your support is invaluable to me, an indie author on a very limited budget!

The Story Behind My Next Book

~ ChanAtkins ~ 2 Comments

Last week I shared the news that my 22nd book will be released next month!

If you’d like to check it out, here is the preorder link! https://amzn.eu/d/0gSeWqen

At Night We Played In The Road was four years in the making and today I want to tell you the story and inspiration behind the novel.

Four years ago I was in the process of rewriting and revamping The Boy With The Thorn In His Side series. I still think having the power and control to change and revamp independently published books is one of the best things about being an indie author.

At the time, I was changing what was two books (The Boy With The Thorn In His Side and its sequel, This Is The Day) into a five book series. The original book was huge, and when I got the idea for new material and events that could be sandwiched between that story and the sequel, I knew I had to turn it all into a series. The original book was split into two, a third book with new events was written and made into book three, the sequel became book four, and just doing all of that gave me ideas for material for book five.

It felt like a crazy and risky thing to do at the time, especially considering I had lots of other books lined up to work on, but it felt like the right thing to do. And it was. I am hugely proud of that gritty 5-book series. I feel like it is a whole universe you can really dig deep into. The series, of course, links to other books I’ve written, where characters are mentioned or the same locations are used. This led to me creating a universe of inter-linked books and At Night We Played In The Road is one of them.

But back to where the idea came from…

At the time I had ideas for book 5 in The Boy… series, and one day I was watching the TV show Supernatural with my eldest child in her bedroom. She had been badgering me for years to watch it and when I finally gave in, I loved it. I’ve rewatched the entire thing many times since then! And one of the things that really hooked me about the show was the relationship between the brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester.

Some might argue it is an unhealthy and co-dependent relationship, and they might be right, but essentially it is a loving and protective one, with each brother prepared to kill and die for the other. The older brother, Dean, has brought Sam up and throughout the show, is also a father to him. This really interested me and their unusual relationship was one of my favourite things about Supernatural.

During that period I was also rewatching Breaking Bad. That is another show I have watched multiple times! With these two shows playing on my mind, I started to get ideas for two characters. Two brothers.

Inspired by the relationship in Supernatural, I created Alfie, four years older than Tom. When Tom was born, their mother died in childbirth and their father, Fred, has never forgiven Tom for it. Unable to bond with the baby that caused the death of his beloved wife, Fred all but abandons Tom. In fact, Fred is unable to even look at his younger son. Instead, he throws his attention and his dreams into Alfie.

Inspired somewhat by Breaking Bad, I decided that Fred would be in the drugs business, something he has taken over from his own father and hopes to pass down to Alfie. A family business growing and selling cannabis.

I then wrote these brothers into book five of The Boy With The Thorn In His Side and they became part of Danny’s story-line as he attempts to finally free himself from his criminal past. I had no intention of giving them their own book, but I fell so in love with them I started to get ideas about their back story.

As I wrote them into that series, the characters of Tom and Alfie just exploded to life in my head.

That’s the way it works and it feels like magic.

Suddenly, they had a back story, their own individual mannerisms and personality traits and their own dreams for the future. I still find creating characters one of the best aspects of writing! I absolutely love it.

I wanted Alfie to be the more serious of the brothers, the one with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He does not like what his father’s criminality has done to their family. His father seems oblivious to the harm he has caused his sons. ( He abandons the boys every time his own mental health declines.) A mixture of simply not being able to cope and occasionally being incarcerated, leads to the boys going in and out of foster care as children.

I gave Tom Tourette’s Syndrome as it was something I was researching a lot at the time. My youngest child was displaying a lot of verbal and physical tics and I spoke to a doctor about the possibility of it being TS, but eventually they calmed down, and though he still likes to make his noises, I don’t think an official diagnosis is needed. However, the research was not wasted when I gave these attributes to Tom.

Compared to Alfie, Tom is more sociable, friendly and reckless. He will do anything to get his father’s attention – including getting himself dragged into crime.

Alfie constantly feels like Tom is in danger and that he must protect him. He cannot let go of that feeling so he is unable to live or even develop independently as his own person. For this reason, he sometimes suffocates and stifles Tom, who eventually begins to rebel.

Tom adores his older brother though, and as he grows older, he realises that Alfie has given up everything for him.

The plot sees them eventually estranged as they take very different paths in life, and it alternates between the past so we can see how that led them to where they are now. And where they are now is a very dangerous place.

Alfie has not seen his brother in years but one day he is brought to his door with a gun to his head. Alfie must save his brother’s life one more time. And to do that, they must face the past they escaped from.

Here is the blurb!

When Tom Lane was born, he accidentally killed his mother and in the process, his father’s love.

Determined to protect Tom from their father’s criminal business, older brother Alfie must become Tom’s father, mother and protector. It’s the two of them against the world until the day Tom chooses a life of crime over Alfie’s dream of a normal life.
Ten years later the estranged brothers are reunited when a violent gang bring Tom to Alfie’s door with a gun to his head.

Tom’s partners in crime have turned on him and he needs his brother to save him one more time…


Thanks for reading!

See you next week!