The SHAPE OF MONSTERS is out!

July 07, 2025

Stretch your ghost wings and scream

THE DAY HAS FINALLY ARRIVED

It’s been a long road, but The Shape of Monsters finally released last week Thursday, uncurling and baring its wicked teeth.

Judging from my terrible record keeping, I started querying this book around mid 2021, so the small gods only know when I started writing it.

THE SHAPE OF MONSTERS

Thanks to my lovely agent Caro Clarke at Portobello Literary, Monsters found its way to Audible, and was taken as part of a two-book deal in 2024.

Since the earliest drafts to the final one, I’ve worked with so many excellent readers, writers and editors to get Monsters where it is today — a very different creature to what went out in those original queries.

Actor Omari Douglas has done an excellent job bringing these characters to life in audio, and I’ve learned a hell of a lot of the process of writing for audio, which I’ll be applying to the sequel A Million Points of Light

Audible Originals are proud to present, The Shape of Monsters by CL Hellisen, narrated by Omari Douglas, star of Black Doves and It’s a Sin.

In a world where power is everything, Aleks and Vaira Kercheval have rejected their magical heritage. The lives they have carefully constructed for themselves are torn asunder when they inherit Aubrey House, their family's ancestral home. When the siblings cross the threshold, a long-dormant magic awakens, thrusting them into a world of ancient feuds and twisted powers.

As Vaira embraces her magical heritage, determined to claim her rightful place among the Mage Houses, the powerless Aleks accidentally summons Ilea, a monstrous prince from the Void, thereby binding himself to a creature of immense power and insatiable hunger.

Aleks and Vaira find themselves on either side of a magical divide. But dark forces are at work, threatening to tear apart the fragile peace between the ancient families.

When Vaira's quest for power leads her into the depths of the Void, Aleks must make an impossible choice - betray his sister to save her from corruption, or watch as she becomes something monstrous and inhuman. As the lines between human and monster blur, each must decide how far they'll go to survive in a world where even gods can fall.

The Shape of Monsters is a treasure trove of dark magic and family blood, where the price of power is paid with the ultimate sacrifice.

I went out on the Thursday with E.M. Faulds to celebrate with some delicious pistachio cheese cake, and we ended up in a pub with Hal Duncan, which seems to be a perfectly excellent way to spend a release day.

CHEESECAKE!

And some pub time in Glasgow.

ESE

Storyteller - The Tanith Lee Anthology

Tanith Lee was one of my biggest writing heroes, and I'm sad that I was too shy to go say hi to her when I saw her at World Fantasycon in Brighton nearly a decade ago. Such an incredible talent, and much missed.

I'm honoured to have a story included in Storyteller — the Tanith Lee tribute anthology put together by Julie C. Day and featuring some of the best writers working in that lush, fantastical space that Lee played in.

Making the BFA shortlist

It’s clearly been a run of good news, as my short story GODSKIN has been shortlisted for the British Fantasy Awards alongside some stellar writers.

You can read GODSKIN online at Strange Horizons

“Dead gods,” says Aunte Gull as she heaves the shimmering nets, “are almost as useless as live ones.”

We work together, numb to the sea cold. We haul our catch back to shore, and I save my breath for work, knowing my aunte’s way of speaking. She is weighing up what to say and none of it will be the kind of thing I should repeat. There is a reason no one has taken Gull as a wife, even as a second or third. She is too much herself, and learned too late to keep her tongue still.

Until next time,