You can do anything you want but you can’t do everything you want | Submit Your Book Details For Our New Upcoming Releases Page | Brian Asman on This Is Horror Podcast


You can do anything you want but you can’t do everything you want.

This was something I must have said almost every week, circa 2016–2020, when talking about writing and ensuring you’re prioritising your time effectively. It’s something I stand by to this day and it governs a lot of my decisions when it comes to writing and life in general.

Each day we have a finite amount of time and must use it wisely. That’s why I also advocate deciding on the most important task for the day and doing it first thing. That way you ‘win the day’ early.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what I want to do a lot. I have four focusses:

  1. My writing.
  2. My podcast and This Is Horror.
  3. Japanese learning.
  4. Fitness and exercise.

A lot of my ‘why’ for doing things has always been to help others and bring joy to their lives in some way.

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about This Is Horror and the podcast.

And I’ve been thinking about: You can do anything you want but you can’t do everything you want.

Because the truth is, however much I do with This Is Horror and the podcast, I can never do as much as I truly want to.

I want to help everyone, I want to promote every single book, I want to chat with every single author.

But there are limits. And given the huge amount of amazing writers, the limit is fairly small.

So I’m asking myself, how can I do more without burning out? How can I give a platform to more people? How can I showcase the work of amazing writers more than I presently am?

These answers are only ones I can really arrive at with time and through experimentation, but there are two things I am currently working on that I think will be of benefit to both writers and readers because they will help get more books to more people, or at least spread more awareness.

The first is a page on This Is Horror in which I highlight upcoming books. You can see it here: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/upcoming-books/

It’s a work-in-progress, and if you are a writer, publisher, or reader that has or knows of a great book coming soon, please reply to this email and let me know in the following format:

Release day month year
Book Title by Author
(Publisher/Press)
Genre

If you reply in this format, I’ll feature the book on the page. If you reply in a different format, I may not be able to.

Not only is this page a good place to let you know what’s coming and to get your work out there but it also will help us know who to consider for the podcast, who to feature on the website, and who I can perhaps shoutout at the end of podcast episodes as I do want to incorporate forthcoming releases into the podcast, too, as a way to give authors a signal boost.

As to what the second thing I’m doing is, I’ll save that for another post.

Check out all the posts below, including our conversation with Brian Asman.

Prefer video? We've got you covered. Watch the conversation on This Is Horror Podcast YouTube here. We are almost at 1,000 subscribers and we're putting out new videos every 2–3 days. So, reward our hard work and become a subscriber if you like what we're doing. I'd love that!

I'd also love it if you bought my new book, Daddy's Boy, here are the links below.

Buy Daddy’s Boy on Amazon UK

Buy Daddy’s Boy on Amazon US

Buy Daddy’s Boy from This Is Horror

And look at the cover. You've seen it before? Well, it's so good, look again. Top work by Vincent Chong. And apparently the story is good, too, John Teel over on Goodreads said:

"I absolutely loved this one. Weird as shit, silly, surreal and laugh out loud funny with something to say about fathers and sons deep down in its cold little black heart. Highly recommended for lovers of dark comedy."

Have you read Daddy's Boy already? Leave a review. Let me know what you think. Help it get to the modest milestone of 20 ratings on Goodreads. This is a slow and steady race, folks, but every rating, every review, every sale counts. Are you a member of Kindle Unlimited? Read it there, it's free.

Do you like audiobooks? Become a free patron on MDW Patreon and grab a code to listen to it free on Spotify here.

This writing business, it's a tough old game but it brings me joy, and all the support I get from you good people makes it worth it.

So with all that said, have a great, great day, and I'll catch you in the next newsletter.

Michael David Wilson

P.S. If you like this newsletter and want to support my work and This Is Horror, please become a This Is Horror Podcast patron. It would make me happy but only do it if it will make you happy, too. ​

P.P.S. If you’re ready to take your writing to the next level with some professional editing or a writing consultation, you can find out about my rates here and reply to this email. ​

P.P.P.S. There are a limited amount of This Is Horror Podcast advertising slots available for July and August. Please reply to query.


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5 Must Read Horror Articles 2 June 2025

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TIH 618: Brian Asman on Writing Fiction Fearlessly

In this podcast, Brian Asman talks about writing fiction fearlessly, and much more. About Brian Asman Brian Asman is a writer, actor, director, and producer from San Diego, CA. He’s the author of Good Dogs, Man, F*ck this House, I’m Not Even Supposed to Be Here Today from Eraserhead Press, Neo Arcana, Nunchuck City and …

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News Round-up Week Ending 30 May 2025

Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week … Out today from writer Stephen Barnard, Ringrock Four students, travelling back to university from a friend’s party, crash their car in a desolate part of the Yorkshire moors. They stumble across a village that has no right …

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Look Out For … My Ex, the Antichrist by Craig DiLouie

“With his latest, DiLouie puts his own spin on the classic ‘rock-n-roll is evil’ tale  with a devilish punk band ready to start the end of the world.” 1998: Lily Lawlor and Drake Morgan begin a punk band. The charismatic Drake inspires faith in some, fear in others, but Lily is a believer. 1999: A …

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5 Must Read Horror Articles 26 May 2025

Welcome to Must Read Horror, where we search the internet for the best horror articles of the week so you don’t have to.  Without further ado: Crime Reads discover when a witch is not a witch in this fascinating folklore article Bloody Disgusting shortlist their top candidates for the next R. L. Stine Fear Street …

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News Round-up Week Ending 23 May 2025

Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week … Available now from author Andrew Cull and Vermillion to One, While I Was Gone In his new collection, While I Was Gone, Andrew Cull returns from the woods with more tales of terror. Written in Andrew’s signature …

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This Is Horror

This Is Horror is a podcast that interviews creatives and writers weekly including Chuck Palahniuk, Dean Koontz, Josh Malerman, Jennifer Lynch, Tananarive Due, Charlaine Harris, and Joe R. Lansdale. Michael David Wilson is the author of books such as The Girl in the Video and House of Bad Memories and the host of This Is Horror Podcast. Every week we bring you horror fiction news and writing tips.

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I often like to take stock of what I’m doing with my life and career to make sure I’m utilising my time effectively and achieving what I want with my life. As a number of you know, there are four big areas of focus right now: This Is Horror Podcast Writing Fiction Studying Japanese Teaching/My Day Job At different times in my life, different areas have taken centre stage. There’s a fire in me right now that desperately wants to take This Is Horror Podcast to the next level. The dream would be...

Hello, friends. I hope you are having a great day. Thank you to those of you who have bought, read, reviewed, rated, or engaged with my brand-new dark comedy, Daddy's Boy. If you have yet to do so and you have a Kindle Unlimted subscription, you can actually read Daddy's Boy for free as part of that subscription. Here are the links for Daddy's Boy below for your ease. Buy Daddy’s Boy on Amazon UK Buy Daddy’s Boy on Amazon US Buy Daddy’s Boy from This Is Horror Speaking of Daddy's Boy, I have...

The great Jack Ketchum spoke about ‘writing from the wound’. Something similar but distinct that may be helpful is ‘writing to heal the wound’. Writing as therapy and as catharsis. It’s something I certainly did with my last two books, House of Bad Memories and Daddy’s Boy, and it’s something I’ve done to some degree for a long time now, but only recently have I become aware of just how much I do it and of its potential benefits. There are various ways you can ‘write to heal the wound’ and I...