Cover Reveal: THE KEEPER OF THE KEY

Once again, the cover gods have been very, very good to me

Heeeeeeere it is: The brilliant cover for THE KEEPER OF THE KEY. I got the final image back in the fall and it has been killing me to have to sit on it for so long. This cover was done by the amazingly talented Cho-hyun Kim. See more of Kim’s work here: https://www.instagram.com/nong247/?hl=en

When Alexandra at Parliament House and I were talking cover design possibilities and she sent me the link to Kim’s portfolio on Instagram, my dark little heart went pitter-pat. I got to see the design process from the conceptual sketches onward, so I can proudly state that no AI went into this cover.

Also, I have pre-order links! Most of these are for eBooks, but there will be a paperback.

Parliament House: https://parliamenthousepress.store/shop/pre-orders/the-keeper-of-the-key-by-nicole-willson/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQFG8XWZ

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-keeper-of-the-key-2

Also, PLEASE add the book to your Goodreads shelves:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199912897-the-keeper-of-the-key

If you’re on social media, please share the cover and the links around. I’ll be posting about this all day, so you can always share what I post.

TRIVIA QUESTION: Which serial killer inspired three different movies (and the books a couple of them were based on)? The answer is at the end of this newsletter.

STRONG WOMEN, STRANGE WORLDS:

I had an absolute blast reading with Strong Women Strange Worlds last week, where I was lucky enough to be in the company of W.A. Simpson, Marie Bilodeau, Arlene F. Marks, Marisca Pichette, and Cynthia Gómez. Find out more about them here: https://strongwomenstrangeworlds.weebly.com/february-15-2024-handout.html I believe there will be a YouTube recording up eventually, and I’ll post the link when I get it.

Heads up: Cynthia Gómez read “A Girl Goes on a Date Alone at Night” from her upcoming collection The Nightmare Box and Other Stories. The recording was stopped for this because it hasn’t been published yet, but attention, horror fans: You will want to read this one when it’s available. The rest of us were awestruck by the time she finished.

I’m also really impressed by everything SWSW is doing to connect and promote female and non-binary authors of speculative fiction. Please check them out. They’re doing great work.

REVIEWS, REVIEWS, REVIEWS: If you’ve read The Shadow Dancers of Brixton Hill or any of my books or stories, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and any other review site you use regularly. It doesn’t need to be a long review—“I liked it!” will work. It doesn’t need to be a good review—“Bleah, that sucked!” will work just as well. I don’t attack reviewers for leaving less than five stars.

TRIVIA ANSWER: Ed Gein, who used skin and other body parts from his victims to fashion a lot of hideous items in his house, was one of the inspirations behind Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. (And probably a lot of other films and TV shows.) That’s…quite a legacy.

Thanks so much for reading, and if you know anyone who might be interested in my work, please feel free to pass this along to them.

Stay spooky and safe,
Nicole