Local author Jim Ody from Oakhurst, Swindon has teamed up with Entertainment Swindon to celebrate Halloween at the end of October.

To welcome in the annual spooky day at the end of October, Jim Ody is giving away one of his horror books ‘Little Miss Evil’ which tells the tale of three groups of strangers who all meet for the first time, all with something to hide. A tall tree woodland campsite on a picturesque lake as the backdrop leaves the strangers with nowhere to run, but plenty of places to hide. But someone knows all their dark secrets and now wants to play a game and this game is going to get deadly…

This book is just part one, the sequel book ‘Little Miss Evil 2 – Evil Returns’ is also available to purchase, click HERE.

To Win a signed copy of ‘Little Miss Evil’, just like our Facebook page Entertainment Swindon and share our Facebook page competition page.

Winner will be announced on 30th October, the day before Halloween.

Halloween dates its origins back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts who lived 2000 years ago, mostly in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and Northern France celebrated their New Year on 1st November and so this day marked the end of the summer and the harvest leading into the dark cold winter, a time of year that was often back then associated with human death.

The Celts believed that on the night before the New Year, the boundary between the worlds living and the dead became blurred. So on 31st October, they celebrated Samhain, when they believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.

For more details of the amazing catalogue of books by Jim Ody, click HERE for his website.

Meet Jim Ody:

Jim has always loved writing, right from the very young age of seven in a battered exercise book. However, it wasn’t until he was 21 that Jim finished his first book called Mojo Retribution. This was the late 90s and indie authors were predominantly dreamers with little or no means to breakout of their own world for people to read.

A couple of years later, Jim wrote a comedy crime novel which he has recently rereleased under the pen name Caper Juggins. Not realising how good an author he was, Jim began writing music reviews, articles and interviewing bands for the next ten years.

But, being an author was what Jim truly wanted and in 2014/2015, he wrote and released what Jim consider to be his debut novel, ‘Lost Connections’. A Dark mystery. After self-publishing this book, then went on to write his next book within 12months.

In 2017, Jim was signed by Zombie Cupcake publisher, then Crazy Ink in 2018, Spellbound Books in 2020, and Red Dragon in 2021, however Jim now self-publishes all his books having learnt the industry and realised it’s much more efficient and cost effective to do so. 

Jim has written a staggering 20 books and had over a dozen short stories published. Jim now writes mostly horror, but also likes to write dark mystery, psychological thrillers, comedy crime and YA. Jim’s last releases were in January 2023, where he released a co-wrote a book called Bloodline with his good friend, and fellow author ML Rayner, and my folk horror ‘The Last Weekend’.

With experience as a writer and self publisher, Jim went on to set up Question Mark Press, a non-profit publisher designed to help new authors, as well as authors who had experienced issues with publishing in the past. The idea was that via volunteers Jim had the resources to help them release their books whilst offering support, and a community to make them feel like they’re not alone. Jim dealt with around 20 authors, of which a handful when on to secure big publishing deals. 

After growing up on a farm near Wootton Bassett, Jim now lives in Oakhurst with one of his daughters and has 3 children. Besides putting pen to paper, Jim loves to spend his time playing football, reading, watching movies and travelling back and forth to Edinburgh to see his partner.