Veterinary Noir - The Forensic Casebook of Cooper Allen

19/12/2023

Four projects in progress for 2024. So I can talk about them more freely, some code names for those interested in following. Some prose, game, and TTRPG stuff in the mix…

Nyx, Glass, Noir, Helm

29/09/2023

One thing that would really help me and leave me in your eternal debt!:
If you read and enjoyed CONSUMED - if you leave a review/rating on Amazon and other sites, it really helps the algorithm!

Consumed eBook : Buchanan, Greg: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

18/09/2023

An introductory post as lots of new readers today:

Hi, I'm Greg Buchanan - BAFTA-longlisted author of the bestselling dark thrillers SIXTEEN HORSES and CONSUMED, starring veterinary surgeon-turned-detective: Dr. Cooper Allen. This page is what you need to follow for updates about new stories, releases, events, and causes related to the character.

The premise is this:
Thriller tales about the veterinary field that draw on the current realities of being a vet, rather than over-idealised depictions from generations past or the overly reality-TV-filled landscape of the present day. These are dark mystery stories about the way we treat animals as a society, the way we treat vets, and the way we live our lives. Gallows humour, the thrill and pain of facing down darkness, and elaborate mysteries await along the way, with a gothic crime atmosphere verging on horror...

SIXTEEN HORSES (2021) was Waterstones Thriller of the Month, a Paperback of the Year, BBC Two Between the Covers selection, and was longlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger award. Both SIXTEEN HORSES and the Amazon bestselling CONSUMED (2023) can be read in any sequence. A TV adaptation of Cooper's story, produced by Gaumont Television (Hannibal, Narcos), is currently in development.

In addition to the above, I write short stories about this character - one of which can be found in the Waterstones exclusive paperback of SIXTEEN HORSES (about Cooper's first year at vet school) and more of which will be announced on this page soon, so stay in touch! Early followers of this page will also receive some free content in the near future.

And... if you're still reading this... a little more about myself, the author:

A former bookseller and farm worker, Irish and Scottish, I live in the lowlands with my wife and two cats, working as a novelist, teacher, and game developer in addition to my volunteer behaviourist work with the charity Cats Protection. I am passionate about mental health and animal rescue.

Please get in touch to let me know how you find my work, how life is going for you, and what kinds of stories you are looking forward to in future! I'm available on this profile and my others below -- and if I don't answer, it's because I'm deep at work on my next stories (or, indeed, potentially covered in cats demanding food and attention...)

To follow my other profiles -- Facebook/Instagram/Threads/Tiktok: | Twitter/X:

18/09/2023

The vet surgeon starring, bestselling literary mystery novel CONSUMED is a Kindle 99p deal today!

The premise: in 1968, two children disappear in the woods. In the present day, the last witness to that disappearance is found dead - eaten by pigs - with all the photographs in her home now missing from their frames...

Dr Cooper Allen is called in for the post-mortem on the animals -- but soon finds herself drawn into a frightening conspiracy...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Consumed-Greg-Buchanan-ebook/dp/B0BVJ6GPHB

Consumed eBook : Buchanan, Greg: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

17/09/2023

A reading from the most recent Cooper story, CONSUMED, at Bloody Scotland.

After a war photographer is found dead, eaten by her pigs, the question is raised: was is an accidental collapse, or something more? Child abductions from the 1960s haunted the dead photographer's life after she ended up catching one of the missing on a camera shot by accident... a mystery that turns out to have surprising relevance in the case of her own death, all those decades later...

07/09/2023

Are you (or do you know) a veterinary professional (surgeon/nurse/anyone who works with animals) who has read SIXTEEN HORSES or CONSUMED? Or who is interested in doing so? Super interested in talking to you if so! Let me know

18/07/2023

I’ve been working at my desk for hours and when he popped his head out I almost shat myself, no idea he was right next to me! 😂

17/07/2023

Talking on my Discord server about working on major IPs that got canned 🌝

15/07/2023

If you go down to today you are sure for a big surprise (or indeed, in many stores including the amazing pictured here, you will find early copies of !)

It’s really strange releasing novels and stories. For me, the work on this finished ages ago to the point where my mind is now far more caught up in book 3 and other tales. in traditional publishing, a lot of the process at this point is far more down to amazing collaborators at publishers, agencies, and booksellers than me. I really hope people who enjoy my work try out new releases like this, that they love it, that they recommend to new readers. So I’ll share snippets of writing on here and other details hoping that they will intrigue people - but there’s so much stuff out there, isn’t there, and I have plenty of stuff I see and think oh great I’ll give that a go! And months pass and I completely forget! The problem is, early sales matter a huge amount in the momentum for novels - so I need to think of how to help other creators and commit to getting things earlier in the process, but it’s just Time, isn’t it! Too little of it to try what we already love, let alone new things.

And I do think that with Consumed and my previous novel that I am doing something reasonably new. I love cozy crime and the mechanisms of police procedural but these are far darker and messier than those types of stories. They take a lot from Ancient Greek ideas of tragedy and downfall and obsession — they draw from the idea of something being sick in an individual being reflected in sickness in a whole community, and are full of all kinds of anxieties we probably all share lurking in every corner, bizarre weather from a broken climate, the mechanisms of modern society just falling apart.

It invokes love or hate or both in many readers and I think that’s inevitable for trying something new - the ?!?! sentiment I see in one and five star reviews alike! I hope you try it and let me know what you think - it would genuinely mean the world to me. At their core, they’re emotional stories from my heart - which all stories should be.

14/07/2023

Staying at a hotel

13/07/2023

First conference type thing since the pandemic. Great catching up with friends + had some meetings about some fantasy and horror game projects. Also did a bunch of book 3 work by the sea.

I do want to release stories more often if I can - short stories and short games especially. Engaging more directly with my readers and players alongside my existing work. I love my collaborations but there’s something incredibly energising about just getting stuff out there into the world directly.

Are there any writers or creators you follow online who release short bursts of story like this? The main example I can think of is comics, and although I love creating those art is very expensive and you reaaally don’t want to see my drawing skills 😅 whenever I see most writers doing short stories online they just seem to sink into oblivion - I was talking with people at this conference about how little time everyone has and how even short bursts of content can struggle for attention. Free stuff especially bizarrely even if everything else the writer does is premium and charged for. Would love to know what like this has risen above the tide for you! If I were to put short fiction online, what lengths would you be most likely to read? What venue for finding it would most likely hit your attention? Etc. I write for myself and I write for all of you, so always great to know what you want as well!