An illicit visit to an abandoned hospital lit a spark that smoldered for 3 decades before emerging as an explosive novel

HULL, EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, September 6, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- When author, Penny Kot, joined a clandestine exploration of an abandoned hospital it sparked the idea for a novel that was 30 years in the making. “The weirdest thing,” Penny says, “was to see remnants of clinical procedures, blood-soaked bandages, broken stethoscopes, as though the place had been evacuated in a tearing hurry and no one had ever gone back. The key plank of the book was born right then.”

The finished novel, Death by Column Inches, launches in October 2023. “It isn’t just that it took me 30 years to get it right,” Penny tells me. “It’s that other things intruded. I’ve had 10 other novels published during those years, but I’ve always wanted to complete this one. It’s nothing like any of my other books.”

“I suspected this would be a marmite book,” says Dan Grubb, CEO of Fantastic Books Publishing. “I didn’t like the first draft that I saw, but there was something about the quirky twists and indelibly memorable characters that stopped me turning it down flat. We liaised with the author and, a few years later, the polished gem landed on my desk.” Dan goes on to say, “I don’t think everyone will like this one, but those who do will love it.”

I have to ask about that hospital. What caused such a panicked evacuation that medical detritus was left behind. Penny laughs as she explains: “Blood-soaked bandages strewn across corridors certainly made it a spooky place to visit, but it wasn’t because panicked medics and their patients had had to run for their lives – and it wasn’t real blood. After the hospital was closed, it was used as a film set for Threads. It was the hospital at the edge of a city that had just had a nuclear bomb dropped on it. As to why the film crew left it in such a mess, I can’t say.”

About the book:
Death by Column Inches will be launched on October 28th as part of Fantastic Books Publishing’s Massive Autumn Book Launch Event. Death by Column Inches is available here.

About Fantastic Books Publishing:
Fantastic Books Publishing is a dynamic and independent publishing company committed to discovering and promoting exceptional authors across various genres. Its 2023 Massive Autumn Book Launch Event (MABLE) takes place across 4 weekends from October 14th to November 4th, where 9 new titles will be launched, and several genres will be showcased.

The full MABLE schedule is available here.

Dan Grubb
Fantastic Books Publishing
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