Martyn Chapman
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Martyn Chapman was conceived in South Wales and graduated in Marketing at the University of Central Lancashire.
His passion to write has always been a huge part of his personality, but like a petrified cross-dresser, he vowed to hide his shocking secret from family and friends. He hand-wrote an experimental novel in a student bedsit, his shame concealed behind a row of soggy pants that were strategically draped across a rickety old clothes horse. Yet concealing his depravity from an unsuspecting partner brought even darker periods of frantic deception. The terror of being discovered at his personal computer with a frozen screen, led to his subtle distraction of wearing obscure and decorative bonnets, but as fashions changed, he was forced to find another writing sanctuary. Like a deranged mid-wife, Martyn emerged from his garden shed covered in cobwebs, creosote and potting soil, and the fiendishly intriguing Hormones and Crumble was born. Literary ‘unmasked’ in 2014, the opening pages of his second book (Hassle Castle) were greeted with rapturous applause. Yet it took a chilly plunge into an Amsterdam canal, a cloth cap and a visit to a desolate Moscow fairground, before Martyn could finally complete this beguiling novel. Whereas Hormones and Crumble portrays an erotic and rugged northern tone, the endearing pastel book cover of Hassle Castle teasingly distinguishes a calmer, contemporary genre.
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Hormones and Crumble
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psychological thriller, erotica, fiction
Benjamin Rose's demise began on the day his son's tortoise committed suicide. Ten days later he apprehensively walks into a city centre hotel, his emotions teased by the cool evening breeze on the back of his thighs, the surreal sensation of a pleated mini-skirt nuzzling into the top of his stockings. Approaching the gleaming doors of the hotel elevator, he hesitates; his hand fidgeting nervously with his blonde wig, frantically summoning the courage to manoeuvre his debilitating red stilettos inside. As the lift begins to ascend, Benjamin closes his eyes and thinks of his failing marriage, his desperation to eliminate the threats of his blackmailer, and the sinister client who is waiting for him in Room 213 . . . Humorous, yet poignant, Hormones and Crumble unravels the humiliating downfall of a disillusioned civil servant. A young man who is forced to confront his dark family secrets, as he is drawn into the beguiling lives of his unemployed clients. Hormones and Crumble is a four hundred page, dark tragicomedy that subtly and gradually disentangles a contentious and disturbing story. Essentially a psychological thriller, although some readers may deem that an erotica genre is more appropriate because of the explicit and sexual content that covers the latter part of the book. 
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Hassle Castle
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Psychological thriller, general fiction
Lowry, the tormented and evasive narrator, is drawn back to the grounds of an empty mansion, where six letters: ‘M-O-S-C-O-W’ have been crudely burnt onto an old garden table. It is the abandoned scar of a tragedy that occurred three years before . . . Thirty-four year old Dooster purchases an alluring Playboy style mansion and his six male friends relish the elicit opportunities presented to them. The house is teasingly named Hassle Castle (‘the Castle’) by a disgruntled girlfriend and to escape the creeping perils of marriage, babies and the inevitable changes to their lives, the friends combine outrageous parties with enthralling adventures across the United Kingdom and Europe. But these humorous excursions are hooded by the men’s strained loyalty to their partners and their guarded, personal relationships with the beautiful, yet malicious Alexis, who has mysteriously disappeared. With family and police searching for her whereabouts, Lowry is haunted by Alexis’s link to the Castle and the disturbing memories from his childhood. When one of the group persuades the others to accompany him to Moscow, the friends are sucked inside the menacing atmosphere of this aloof Russian city and become the victims of a devastating event. Returning home, they attempt to rebuild their shattered lives, but the dynamics of the group have fatally changed and the Castle finally reveals its dark and sinister secrets. With the past now sadistically exposed, the friends are swept towards a brutal and shocking retribution. 
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Christmas on The Law
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Short story
Every Christmas Eve, a family make a short pilgrimage to the summit of the extraordinary and mesmerising hill that dominates their small East Lothian town. They celebrate this delightful festive occasion with food, beverages, and shadowy tales of the town’s historical past. But behind these seemingly innocent stories of whale bones, witchcraft, and retribution from times gone by, lies a tragic family secret that links to the present day. Will this be the Christmas Eve that the family can be reunited, and find the love and happiness that they once held so dearly? Christmas on The Law is a short story of approximately 12,000 words. 
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Saving Worms
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Romantic Comedy
It should have been a simple story: quirky boy meets delectable yet mysterious girl, and boy stumbles haplessly in love. Except, this forty-two year old boy has a humiliating secret. Although its inevitable discovery should lead to just one of two definitive outcomes, in the befuddled world of Adam Bennett the scenarios are boundless. Saving Worms is a romantic comedy that journeys from the tranquillity of the Black Forest in Germany, to the historical streets of York. And yet, ultimately, Adam’s destiny will balance precariously on the whim of a Chihuahua, the intriguing Mr. Darcy, and the foreboding cravings of the voluptuous Little Red Riding Hood. 
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