We Only Went Out for a Smoke: A Gory, British Stoner Horror Novel

By Lee Brickley

TWO MATES. ONE JOINT. ONE VERY BAD NIGHT ON CANNOCK CHASE.

Every other Thursday, postman Gaz Riley and kitchen fitter Nath Crowe escape work, families and everything else for a couple of quiet hours in a van on Cannock Chase. They have been coming here for a smoke since they were teenagers. Nothing much ever happens.

Then Nath goes for a piss and finds their weed dealer, Macca, lying in the bracken with half his head smashed in.

They call 999. They go back to the van.

Nine minutes later, the body has vanished.

Then Macca comes running out of the trees.

Alive.

Unfortunately, Nath is holding a lump hammer.

From there, their quiet Thursday becomes a brutal fight to get off the Chase alive. Phones fail. The Transit doesn't last. Blood is spilled. And something in the darkness has started making copies.

At first, the copies are wrong enough to spot.

Then they start getting better.

They learn faces. Voices. Memories. The little things only somebody close to you should know. Soon Gaz and Nath have a much bigger problem than escaping the woods: making sure the person escaping beside them is actually the mate they arrived with.

WE ONLY WENT OUT FOR A SMOKE is a fast, gory, darkly funny British horror-comedy about friendship, terrible decisions and one disastrous night on Cannock Chase. A supernatural survival story in which the monsters get smarter, the choices get worse, and two ordinary blokes discover there are some nights you cannot simply smoke your way through.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HFXDG3QP
• ISBN13: 9798193866114
• Release Date: August 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 234 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"