TM Ellis is the pen name of Tommy (he/him) and Margot (she/her) Ellis. They are Wales’ bestselling husband-and-wife horror writing team, and they specialise in short-form horror. They have released three books to date: Grisly Deeds, Grisly Deeds 2 and Grisly Deeds: Mini Edition. Their first book hit five, three and two in three separate Amazon bestseller charts as well as sharing a top five with Stephen King. “A Good Idea at the Time” was a story chosen from Grisly Deeds 2 for the world’s biggest horror podcast, No Sleep, which peaked at number two in the Apple Podcast Chart.
Tommy also writes under his own name and has a comedy-thriller trilogy called The Midas Cat and three middle grade adventures: The Puddle People, The Puddle People 2 and The Keepers of the Arkle.
AUTHOR LINKS:
Website: tommyellisauthor.wordpress.com
Book Links with Samples:
Grisly Deeds (Amazon UK – Look Inside to read a sample)
Grisly Deeds 2 (Amazon UK – Look Inside to read a sample)
Grisly Deeds Mini Edition (Amazon UK – Look Inside to read a sample)
Pitch for Readers/Book Clubs:
The Grisly Deeds series is an homage to the classic horror anthologies of the 1960s and 70s. Filled with tales of cold war experiments gone wrong, medical terrors, Victorian and Edwardian gothic, this is a collection to read with all the lights on. That shadow, though… The one in the corner… Did it just move on its own?
As a husband/wife duo writing horror, can you tell us how this works for you as a process, and how your publishing journey has been so far?
We both come up with horror short story ideas with Margot coming up with the majority of ideas.
Tommy writes them by hand, then does a second draft on the laptop.
He prints out the story, Margot reads it, suggests edits, then they both sit down and polish the story together.
Your latest releases are short story collections, Grisly Deeds. Tell us more about the themes of the collection, and how these stories fit together.
The books are collections of unrelated short stories ranging from Victorian and Edwardian gothic, through to weird cold war experiments that might have been.
They are a modern take on the old anthologies of the 1960s and ’70s, like The Pan Book of Horror series.
There are a lot of “what if” stories. E.g.: What if you could fast forward through time without aging? This would make prison sentences useless, therefore what crimes would you be willing to commit?
The series is also full of jet black humour, some of which is designed to make you feel guilty after you’ve laughed!
Margot comes up with most of the twists.
There are also a smattering of fairy tale retellings. You’ll never view Pinocchio in the same light again! (Grisly Deed: Mini Edition).
There are also a fair amount of medical horrors: The next time you go for an operation, be afraid!
How did you choose the order of the stories in the collection, and can you tell us more about the one you decided to be first? What do you think makes that one the best to kick off with?
We sit down and work it out between us, basing the order on how music albums are constructed. We front load the books with a twist shocker first. Something that will leave the reader exclaiming.
A few people have approached us having read book 1 and quoted the last line of the first story entitled “First Do No Harm”. This was a story of Margot’s.
Tell us more about the story you picked to be last – what makes that one a banger to end on, and what do you hope readers will take away from the collection once they’ve closed the book?
Again, we use the music album formula, ending on something memorable. The last story in book 1 is an atmospheric Victorian gothic piece entitled “Letters From the Attic”.
In book 2, we end with another Victorian, this time a ghost story.
In our latest release, Grisly Deeds: Mini Edition, we end with a Georgian tale which is based on a true story and entitled “The Bruton Street Murders”.
Which of the stories, if you absolutely had to pick, were your personal favourites to write, and why?
We both loved “The Bruton Street Murders” as it was an era we’d never worked with and great fun.
Margot’s personal favourite is “Line of Duty” because it’s in the realms of possibility.
Both tales are from Grisly Deeds: Mini Edition.
What’s next for you and your writing – what should readers look out for, and how should they keep updated on your work (sign up to a newsletter, subscribe to a mailing list, are you at any upcoming cons/events etc)?
We are working on Grisly Deeds 3 right now. More tales of terror!
Keep updated by logging onto tommyellisauthor.wordpress.com and, if you are in Mid or West Wales, look out for a solo saxophone entertainer performing one man tributes to 70s rock and roll, 80s ska, The Blues Brothers or 50s/60s rock and roll. There will always be a merch table set up, and you can get signed copies of all the books.
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