Beast In The Basement

"I reached a certain moment and wanted to stop and applaud my e-reader. On a tube train" – SEBASTIAN PATRICK, journalist and writer/editor of the official RED DWARF site

"When the biggest turn in the story occurred, I actually exclaimed (out loud with great exuberance), "Holy ****, that is so ******* clever" – MICH MASOCH, CHS REGIME

"I can't get enough of writing like this" – PABLO CHEESECAKE, THE ELOQUENT PAGE

"Will leave its mark on the reader long after the last page" – CHRIS LIMB, THE BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY

In a big house in the countryside, a recently bereaved and increasingly unstable author toils over a novel which will close the best-selling trilogy of Jade Nexus fantasy books.

Speculation and rumour are rife among hardcore Jade Nexus fans that their heroine will die at the novel’s conclusion - a possibility against which they loudly protest via social media as the release date nears.

How do you deal with grief, under such intense pressure? How do you cope with distractions from your work such as a violent intruder, panicked messages from your agent and a potential love interest moving into the cottage across the field? And far worse than any of those problems... what do you do about the Beast in your basement?

BEAST IN THE BASEMENT is a contemporary horror-thriller novella about obsession, revenge, censorship, blame culture and personal responsibility. A dark tale with a kick like a mule.

Read it fast before someone spoilers you!

Author JASON ARNOPP's previous credits include the feature film STORMHOUSE, DOCTOR WHO: THE GEMINI CONTAGION, THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: DEADLY DOWNLOAD and the New Line Cinema novel FRIDAY THE 13TH: HATE-KILL-REPEAT. He is also the author of terrifying ghost story A SINCERE WARNING ABOUT THE ENTITY IN YOUR HOME and non-fiction book HOW TO INTERVIEW DOCTOR WHO, OZZY OSBOURNE AND EVERYONE ELSE.

Parental advice: this novella features strong bloody violence, profanity and some sexual scenes. Not recommended for minors.

PRAISE FOR THIS NOVELLA:

"This is enormous spooky fun and reads like lightning!" – JENNY COLGAN, author of THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE DUMPED, MEET ME AT THE CUPCAKE CAFE (as Jenny Colgan) and RESISTANCE IS FUTILE and DOCTOR WHO: DARK HORIZONS (as JT COLGAN)

“This short sharp shock of weird horror cuts right to the quick. Writing about writers is tricky, but Arnopp handles it with beastly aplomb” – CHUCK WENDIG, author of STAR WARS: AFTERMATH, ZER0ES and BLACKBIRDS

“Jason Arnopp snares his poor readers using inch-perfect plotting and compulsive suspense so that, once they're hooked, he can inflict his own dark brand of please-no horror on their unprepared psyches. BEAST IN THE BASEMENT is highly recommended for anyone who doesn’t realise how much an author can love and hate his readers at the same time. Hell’s teeth, what's the matter with the man?” – JMR HIGGS, author of STRANGER THAN WE CAN IMAGINE: MAKING SENSE OF THE 20TH CENTURY and THE KLF: CHAOS, MAGIC AND THE BAND WHO BURNED A MILLION POUNDS

"BEAST IN THE BASEMENT is the rarest of things, a story that manages to keep you guessing right up until the end. Arnopp obviously delights in messing with his readership’s heads... I really can’t get enough of writing like this" – PABLO CHEESECAKE, THE ELOQUENT PAGE
"It’s a clever, intimate and sometimes oppressive tale and Arnopp takes us deep into the dark recesses of his lead character’s tormented mind as he rushes from pitiful hopelessness to elation via an unhealthy dose of desperation" – PAUL MOUNT, STARBURST MAGAZINE

"The suspense is palpable and almost cinematic at times, the descriptions of some scenes painting themselves on the mind’s eye with HD clarity. This is a taut tale of the some of the worst excesses of human paranoia that will leave its mark on the reader long after they have finished the last page" – CHRIS LIMB, THE BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY