APRIL YATES is a writer of dark and queer fiction, living in Derbyshire, England. She has short stories appearing or forthcoming in Ghost Orchid Press, Black Hare Press, and Black Ink Fiction. She also suffers from a micro-fiction addiction, leaving them scattered across the web and in various anthologies.
April’s first novella, ASHTHORNE, was published by Ghost Orchid Press in 2022.
WHAT INSPIRED ASHTHORNE?
APRIL: Derbyshire’s landscape is varied. There’s soft rolling hills, harsh ravines, lofty peaks, and caverns. Lots and lots of caverns. It’s also an ancient one, home to Britain’s only known Ice Age cave art. Carved in the stone of those same caves are hundreds of ritual protection marks. What they are protecting us from, we don’t know, but it’s scary and fun to imagine what may lurk beneath.
The core of Ashthorne actually came from a micro fiction I wrote for the Beneath: Hundred Word Horror Anthology. It was only much later that I realised the concept had taken up residence at the back of my mind, waiting for the right time.
Also, expanding 100 words into 28K has got to be some kind of record in rambling. Right?
Find April at aprilyates.com.
