ATHANASIOS RETSOS

BALKAN GOTHIC HORROR

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THE DEBUT NOVEL

NEKYIA

A figure standing before a bonfire at night

Slow-burn horror rooted in the underworld.

COMING 2027

The first readers circle

One email a month from the world of Nekyia. See the cover first, and receive a free copy before it reaches Amazon.

About the author

For more than twenty years I have told stories with a camera. Words came later, almost by accident. Waiting in a parked car for my daughter's lesson to end, I began writing down the things I wanted to tell her about my life. A few notes on my phone became a small notebook. Lesson after lesson, the notebook became a diary of memories going back as far as I could remember. Somewhere in those pages I realised two things: I loved what I was doing, and I loved what it was doing to me.Many of those memories led to the same place: the seaside village in western Greece where my father was born, and where I have spent every summer of my life. Summers there meant no phones and no shoes. We ran barefoot until our soles turned hard, and dived from the old wooden jetty until we were crusted with salt.NEKYIA, my debut novel, grew from that place. Some of what I lived there found its way into the book, but nothing arrived unchanged. Memory became fiction, and fiction became something darker. The salt on our skin became powder on a table. Our games of hide-and-seek became hunts. Summer love turned reckless, the wild boys of the village found guns, and the sea that once washed us clean began to taste of blood. Until a stranger came to the village...The result is a Balkan Gothic horror story whose places are real and whose events are not.Yet.

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 13 November 2026Who I am
This website and the First Readers Circle are run by the author writing as Athanasios Retsos, Epidavrou 82, Marousi, Greece. You can reach me at [email protected].What I collect
Only what you give me when you join the circle: your first name and your email address. If you reply to one of my emails, I also receive your reply.Why
To send you the First Readers Circle emails (about one a month), to show you the cover first, and to send you a free copy of Nekyia before it reaches Amazon. I do this because you agreed to it with the checkbox on the signup form (GDPR, Art. 6(1)(a)).Who helps me
My emails go out through MailerLite (UAB MailerLite, Lithuania). MailerLite keeps the list for me under a GDPR data processing agreement. It also records whether an email was opened and which links were clicked. I use that only to learn what readers enjoy. Your replies arrive in my Gmail inbox (Google). Carrd hosts this website, and I don't use any analytics or advertising cookies on it.What I never do
I never sell, rent or share your details with anyone for marketing.How long I keep it
Until you unsubscribe. After that, I keep only a note that you unsubscribed, so you never get an email from me by mistake. If you'd like that note deleted too, just ask.Your rights
You can ask to see, correct or delete your data at any time. You can also take back your consent: every email has an unsubscribe link, or you can simply write to me. If you think I've handled your data badly, you can complain to the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (www.dpa.gr).Age
The circle is for adult readers.Back to the site