ABOUT TONY J FORDER
Long ago, back in the mists of time, when I was filled with ambition and brimming with ideas, I wrote a short story for a national competition. The competition was judged by an edior from Pan Books, who liked it enough to choose it as the winner, and to also publish my work in the forthcoming Dark Voices series, which had replaced the famous Pan Book of Horror Stories. And so it was that Gino's Bar and Grille became my first published piece, in Dark Voices II.
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Over a short period, three more stories of mine were published: Character Role, in Fear magazine; A Grim Story, in Rattler's Tales; and then Book End, my second story for Pan in Dark Voices IV.
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Following a conversation with author Brian Lumley, at a book signing for Dark Voices II, I began to feel as if I belonged amongst the writing fraternity. I also started to think that maybe, just maybe, I had a novel in me.
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What followed were two horror/dark fantasy novels of moderate quality. But, I told myself, I am learning my craft. The first book of mine I even came close to liking was Degrees of Darkness, and I delighted in scaring the crap out of friends and family who read it. A follow-up never really saw the light of day.
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In February 2017, Bloodhound Books announced they had signed me to their stable of writers. On 29 April they released Bad to the Bone. Bloodhound also signed me to write a second title in the series, which was released in February 2018, and is called The Scent of Guilt.
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With Degrees of Darkness published in September 2017, and Scream Blue Murder following swiftly afterwards in November, it was a wonderful first year in publishing for me.
In January 2018, Bloodhound signed me for a further three books. The first, If Fear Wins, was released in May 2018. On 1 November, my sequel to Scream Blue Murder was published. - Cold Winter Sun was my sixth book for Bloodhound. The fourth book in my best-selling DI Bliss series, The Reach of Shadows, was then published on 21 January 2019. The fifth book in the series, The Death of Justice, was published on 9 September 2019.
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In 2020 I decided to leave Bloodhound and subsequently published DI Bliss #6, Endless Silent Scream, DI Bliss #7, Slow Slicing, a Bliss prequel novella called Bliss Uncovered, and a standalone book, Fifteen Coffins - all under the Spare Nib Books brand.
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In January 2021 I released a 3 book kindle boxset containing the 3 DI Bliss books released the previous year. February saw the republishing of Degrees of Darkness, this time from Spare Nib Books after I claimed my rights back to the book from my previous publisher. I subsequently did the same with my Mike Lynch Books, Scream Blue Murder and Cold Winter Sun. In May I published The Autumn Tree, book #8 in my DI Bliss series. Finally in 2021, in October I published the first book in a new crime series, called The Huntsmen.
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In 2022 I published two books: the first was Bliss #9 - Darker Days to Come. Up next came Bliss #10, The Lightning Rod. In 2023 I released a second 5 book Bliss boxset, the second DS Chase novel, The Predators, and then What Dies Inside Us, which was book #11 in my DI Jimmy Bliss series. For 2024 I am planning on releasing just the one novel, which is Bliss #12, and is called Something More To Say.
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Out there in the real world, I was both a business manager and a business owner (on two occasions), and for more than twenty years I was an IT network engineer and manager in education. I am now a full-time author and live with my lovely wife in West Sussex.
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You can find out more about my writing below:
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