How Many Books? 1,075 at the Last Count
Let me tell you about Ryoki Inoue.
Inoue is a Brazilian author who holds the Guinness World Record for being the world's most prolific writer. He has published 1,075 books. I came across him the other day while feeling quietly pleased with myself about my own latest publication, and I have to say, he took the wind out of my sails somewhat.
My latest novel, The Standalones, is a Linford Romance title — and it brings my total to twenty-two published books.
Twenty-two. I was proud of that number. I'm still proud of that number. But Inoue is out there somewhere, probably finishing his 1,076th as you read this, so let's not dwell on the gap. Instead, let me introduce you to what twenty-two books actually looks like.
Where it started: young adult fiction
Before the vampires and the hitmen and the gangsters, I wrote for teenagers. The YA novels came first, and I still sell them directly to schools on my author visits. There's something satisfying about putting a book into the hands of a young person who didn't know they wanted it five minutes ago. They're available in both paperback and ebook from my shop if you'd like to take a look.
Inoue probably knocked out a few YA novels before breakfast. But I digress.
Where things got dark: Joe Coffin
Then I wrote Joe Coffin, and everything changed.
Joe is a Birmingham gangster, freshly released from prison and hunting the men who murdered his wife and young son while he was inside. It's a revenge thriller, except Birmingham turns out to have a vampire problem, and Joe ends up at the centre of it.
Joe Coffin is fresh out of prison with one goal: revenge. While he was inside, his wife and young son were brutally murdered. Now he's hunting the men responsible, and nothing will stop him. Then the bodies start piling up. And they're not staying dead.
There are six books in the series so far. Readers have described it as the kind of thing that would make an excellent TV series — which I choose to take as a compliment rather than a suggestion I should stop writing novels. If you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, the whole series is available to borrow right now
starting with the first book.
These are not comfortable books. The vampires in Joe Coffin are not charming or romantic. If you've got a strong stomach and a taste for Birmingham noir with a supernatural edge, this is where I'd suggest you start.
A brief detour into the genuinely unsettling: The Blackwood Hills Horror
I also have a standalone horror novel,
The Blackwood Hills Horror. I'm still not entirely sure what possessed me to write it. Make of that what you will.
Where things got brutal: Ms Vengeance
The Ms Vengeance series sits somewhere between thriller and action, and it does not pull its punches.
Madeline Graves is an ordinary mother whose husband is murdered, whose youngest child is murdered, and who finds herself being hunted by a professional hitman connected to a shadowy conspiracy she doesn't yet understand. The series tracks what happens when the hunter becomes the hunted — and Madeline turns out to be very good at hunting.
They murdered her husband. They murdered her youngest child. Now they are after Madeline Graves and her two remaining children. But they don't realise the hunter has become the hunted.
Reckoning is the first book, and it sets the pace for everything that follows: fast, brutal, and full of turns you won't see coming. The Ms Vengeance books are available from Amazon, Kobo, Apple, Google Play, and directly from my shop.
Click here for all platforms.
Where things got tender: Linford Romance
And then there are the romance novels, published by Linford Romance in their large print library range. Yes, the same person who wrote the Birmingham vampire gangster series also writes romance. Writing contains multitudes.
The Standalones is the latest, and the one that pushed me to twenty-two. I'll be bringing these out under my own imprint soon, so watch this space.
Twenty-two books. 1,053 behind Ryoki Inoue.
I have some catching up to do.
In the meantime, if any of the above has caught your interest, the best way to stay connected — and to get new fiction from me every week — is to join Writing in the Shadows. Paid members get access to a rotating library of my titles, free to read as part of their membership, along with access to the archive of posts.
That's enough of that for the moment!
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