Debbie Bennett - thriller/crime & fantasy writer

Faffing Around on Facebook

2012-01-28T17:30:00.000Z

A lot of us do it, don't we? Just to see if anybody has replied to our latest post - why on earth do we think anyone is interested in what we're cooking for tea? Or we "like" somebody's random status that is utterly meaningless in the real world. All these facebook "friends" that we've never met and are never likely to meet, who perhaps share some interest but in reality are probably just as boring and time-wasting as we are, desperately sharing our sad little lives with the rest of the world.

But reasons to be cheerful (part whatever it was - if you don't get that musical reference you're not old enough). Facebook keeps you in touch with what is happening out there. Local groups about your town or village have local events, newspapers and photographs. If you have a hobby, there'll be a group (or more) of like-minded people. Even if you have an illness, there'll be people there who can empathise with you and maybe offer emotional support. And mutual support is what it's all about, I think. Sure, there are "friends" of mine that I've never met, but they are people who have bought (or might buy) my books - they are interested enough in my life to comment on my posts, and I'm always careful never to post any personal details or exactly where I live. And there are the real friends - people I meet in the real world but perhaps don't see regularly, and it's a way of keeping in touch with each others' lives, making arrangements and supporting each other.

What about the ones in the middle? The people you've only ever met online but sound like they'd be fun to meet and you might have a lot in common? Well, I'm a big girl (yes, really) and I'd still never agree to meet up in a quiet place with people I don't know. In the past, I've met up with online friends and had a great laugh - in large groups in public places mostly, but there's a degree of common-sense and general world-experience involved. And I think everyone understands that and if they don't then they are probably not the people you'd want to meet anyway. I do know that I have online friends who I will probably never meet in the flesh, but they are good friends nonetheless and their friendship, support and advice is valuable to me.

I keep track of what my daughter does on facebook too. There's a degree of trust involved and in return for my promising not to reply to anything (and hence embarrassing her), she doesn't block her posts from me - mostly. I suspect there are a few things she doesn't want her mother reading, but I trust her and that's all part of being a parent. That one is probably down to the relationship every parent has with their child and we are all different.

But maintaining online relationships is a huge time-suck. Whole afternoons go past and I've done nothing other than banter with people, maybe offer opinions on book covers or pitches, or read some recommended blogs. And before I know it, it's time to go and cook tea and I've not actually done any writing.

And now it's 5.30 pm and I've forgotten to get the baked potatoes in the oven. But first I'll just check that last post....

Guest Post: Christine Cunningham - Please Respect my Intelligence

2012-01-27T11:03:00.000Z

I love books. Let me rephrase that I love good books. Though the course of reading throughout my life, I gorged myself on the informative, bizarre, fantastic, and hysterical. More recently I have chosen to function as a reviewer to the independent author community. I have a few requests before you decide to put pen to paper.

Unless you’re writing a book, specifically for children don’t treat me like one. I can handle three syllable and above words.
Attempting to infuse your character with depth by associating them with a culture outside your own is sketchy at best and purely racist at worst.
Please mention classical and modern literature in your text properly. “Title dropping” in a book is just as annoying as “name dropping” in a conversation.
Let your women breathe! The archetypal virginal, beautiful (but charmingly unaware of it), and flawless do-gooder is the bane of my existence. Please give your women characters a true voice.
Let your men be men. Reading a male character that sounds like he’s just a man’s skin covering a woman’s body is very frustrating. There is a difference between the sexes for a reason. It builds tension, and that, my friend is exciting to read.
There’s a difference between paying homage to an author/book and lifting a storyline from a book that has already been written. You have a unique voice and perspective. Please don’t shy away from using it.
Edit your work! This means more than grammar and punctuation. Ask a few people to read your story prior to publishing who will give you an honest appraisal. Consider the poor fools on American Idol, who had no one who would be honest with them. Save yourself much pain and heartache by asking always how you can improve.

I want to read your story, and I want to be the one that tells everyone in my social circle about you. I found you first, and all of my friends are drooling with envy. You are the only one that can make that happen.

Christine Cunningham writes fictional stories to uplift and inspire. She is a life-long student of happiness and how to attract it. She compiles what she learns and weaves it into an understandable, enjoyable story. She is the author of Eternal Beginning Amazon bestseller, First Snow Amazon bestseller and 30 Day Guide to apply Eternal Beginning.

Connect with Christine through: Amazon, Facebook, Twitter or via her blog.

Are you Homophonic?

2012-01-24T22:06:00.001Z

Diagram from wikipedia by Will Heltsley

Here is an interesting diagram I found today on wikipedia while researching what the correct term was for two words which are spelled differently but sound the same and have completely different meanings. The word I wanted was homophone.

Why? Well I found an interesting thumbnail image of a self-pubbed ebook cover in one of the many facebook forums I frequent. And yes, if I was being my usual pedantic self, I would probably have written fora, but forums seems to be the accepted norm these days and God forbid, I rock the boat often enough as it is.

This thumbnail looked interesting so I read the post and clicked on the link to amazon. The blurb didn't blow me away but I thought I'd look further so clicked on the "look inside" feature. And what did I find? The second line of the first chapter had a mistake that clearly indicated the author didn't understand the difference between a common word and its homophone. Now I'm not naming names or even the word, because that wouldn't be fair, but wake up, self-published and indie authors! This isn't a game. You're putting your book out there as "published"; you are asking people to pay money for it. Amazon is not a critique site and you can't expect readers to edit your work for you. If you can't afford to pay an editor, then trade beta-reads with a friend or writing colleague - sometimes just a fresh pair of eyes can be enough.

In my opinion, even typos are a no-no, but they are at least forgivable. Punctuation can be tricky and we don't always get it right, but we owe it to ourselves and our readers to do our best. But not understanding words - the tools of a writer's trade - is unforgivable.

Virtual London

2012-01-21T22:42:00.000Z

In my current work-in-progress, I wanted to engineer a prison visit. Not so that I could describe the inside of HMP Wandsworth - my first-hand knowledge of the inside of a prison is about 20 years out of date, and I don't entirely trust tv documentaries - but simply so I could have my main character in a set place at a set time that would fit the context of the plot.

So I googled HMP Wandsworth. I didn't expect to find much, but there's a wealth of information as to how the prison visiting system works, right down to times it is "open". I suppose there are real people who want to go and visit their loved one and friends and find this sort of information useful. Then of course, there's Google Maps and the satellite view that shows you the buildings and roads, so you can place a person and estimate distance and travel time.

And London Undergound has convenient tube maps online. It's over 15 years since I worked in the capital, so while I used to be able to count stops in my sleep (and frequently did in the mornings), I can't quite remember the order of the stations anymore. So I can have my character taking a tube journey with some degree of realism, even though I live 200 miles away in rural Cheshire. If you are interested in the many and varied alternatives to the standard tube map, have a look here at the alternative guide to the London Undergound. Bizarre, but fascinating.

But meanwhile... Michael took the District Line into town and got off at Embankment. He dithered around the interchange for a good ten minutes, reading the local street maps, the tube maps – anything really to take his mind off what he was or wasn’t about to do. Then he went down to the Northern Line platform and got the first train southbound before he changed his mind. By Stockwell, his hands were shaking again and he desperately wanted to light up. By Clapham North, his knee was bouncing up and down so hard people were looking at him strangely, and at Clapham Common he had to get off the tube before he threw up. He stood on the platform, watching the train speed away and kept his lunch down by sheer willpower. Out on the street, he lit up a cigarette and stood on the edge of the common, realising that by getting off the tube too early, he now had a long walk.

And then we are back on Google Maps again for a walk across Wandsworth Common and up to the prison.

Of course nothing is ever straightforward, is it? Michael actually ends up in a naff café up near Euston station, not entirely by choice, but that sparks off a whole new storyline.

Psst... Wanna Be a Spy?

2012-01-17T16:43:00.001Z

Today's Daily Mail reckons that women have been watching too many episodes of Spooks on television. So much so, that they've been put off applying to join MI5.

I remember watching the very first episode of Spooks. As I recall, a major character was murdered rather graphically by having his head stuffed into a chip pan of boiling oil - it set the boundaries for the rest of the programme in that no character was ever "safe" and MI5 went through officers with alarming rapidity. There were some glaring errors in the storylines in my opinion. How Fiona ever got recruited is a mystery - given that she was once married to some Middle-Eastern terrorist, yet somehow managed to keep it so secret that her second husband and the British Government never knew about it. And the ability of their techies to find and follow a suspect on the streets of London by security cameras alone remains more than improbable in my book. But it was a good series.

And women got their fair share of deaths and dirty jobs. No sex discrimination or chivalry in the BBC's MI5. Maybe that's what puts women off applying. Jo went from journalist to fully-functional operative in a few episodes, only to be deliberately shot by one of her own team (it made sense in the story context, trust me). We've had hangings, poisonings, kidnaps, shootings - I'm amazed anybody in MI5 is still sane. Of course, it's fiction, but it still conveys the idea that you can't be a spy and have a normal life and family. How can you have kids when you are putting your life on the line every day?

I have to admit, I never realised you could actually apply to be a spy. I thought it was one of those jobs you got the nod for, the tap on the arm in a lift somewhere, the passing of a business card, followed by a swift resignation from current job and a disappearance off the face of the known world, where you can't even tell your wife/husband what you do for a living. Now I've worked as an investigator; I've done jobs where you go to work on Monday morning and don't get home until a week later. I've spent several nights in one hotel room with six blokes and gone to breakfast with a different one each morning (and that got some interesting looks off the hotel staff, I can tell you). But there comes a time when you look forward to knowing you will be at home every night, when you can eat at more-or-less the same time and actually see your partner rather than just meet in the bathroom occasionally. The warm fuzzy feeling you get from knowing your small efforts might help to keep the country safer is replaced by the warm fuzzy feeling you get from tucking your kids into bed at night. So I have no desire to join MI5.

But now you can apply online! Like ordering your groceries or buying a book off amazon. You can take MI5's recruitment test and presumably if you score highly, you may be invited to proceed further. Here's the job description. Interesting stuff - if you're young, free and single. Good luck!

Trading In Teddies

2012-01-16T17:55:00.000Z

There was a news headline a few years back about a British woman living and working abroad in a muslim country who inappropriately named a teddy bear in the classroom where she was a teacher. This infringed the blasphemy laws of that country and I believe she was jailed. Leaving aside opinion as to the nature of the crime, the fact is that she broke the law of the country in which she was resident and paid the price.

But what if she hadn't been in that country? What if she'd been in Britain and committed the same act? It might be distasteful, maybe even disrespectful, but it doesn't infringe UK laws so you'd think she'd be OK. What if she'd set up a website, selling teddies with inappropriate names? Would that be illegal?

So why is the USA hounding student Richard O'Dwyer who built a website that had links to sites allowing illegal downloads of films? As far as I am aware, his site only contained links, not actual films nor the direct ability to download them. Yes, pirating films - pirating anything - is wrong and I'm sure he knew that and was making money off the back of it, but last time I looked, stupidity wasn't a crime the UK. There may even be a case of fraud or theft in this country but I don't see what that's got to do with the USA.

Now the internet is a grey area and the laws of supply of goods and services often don't bear much relation to the real world or common sense. For instance if you're a UK business and you supply goods via the internet, UK VAT law says that VAT is applicable according to the country of dispatch - if you sell a hardback book to America, you don't declare VAT on that sale as it's an export. However if you supply services via the internet, UK VAT law says that VAT is applicable according to the country of origin. So if you sell an e-book on amazon.co.uk (e-book sales are classed as supplies of services, bizarrely), the VAT applicable is that which is currently in force in Luxembourg (where amazon.co.uk is based). Which is why all the e-books appeared to reduce in price on 1st Jan 2012, when Luxembourg's VAT rate went down to 3%.

How does this relate to Mr O'Dwyer, website supremo? Well, I don't really know. Apparently he hasn't broken UK law, but where was his website hosted? I find it worrying that our government can even contemplate extraditing somebody who hasn't broken our laws and hasn't been to the country in question. Hacking the Pentagon's computers (or whatever Gary McKinnon, the other UK national currently facing extradition for computer-based offences did) is one thing - he directly accessed computers in a foreign country - but simply showing foreign website links is another altogether and a dangerous legal precedent to set.

Today's Daily Mail says that O'Dwyer's extradition will now go ahead, pending approval by Home Secretary Theresa May. And a British student might well spend 10 years in a US jail for what? Being greedy and foolish. Maybe I don't have all the facts. Maybe there's another layer in this that I am missing. But I find it really quite scary.

And where does that leave anybody else trading online in any way? Treading very carefully, I would say. Make sure you know who is hosting your websites, where they are based and what national or international law applies. And have the phone number of a good lawyer.

What's the Story?

2012-01-14T16:17:00.001Z

I just sent off an entry for a short story competition. It was a crime story and had to have the theme of "Ten" and the prize is a weekend at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival in July, which I'd love to go to but can't afford. Much as I love my husband, he's not remotely interested in writing or reading and therefore it wouldn't be a weekend break for both of us but would just be me spending money on me - something I'm usually pretty good at!

I don't find writing short stories at all easy: getting a whole story across in a few thousand words is a true art form and not something I think I've yet mastered. I'm a bit of a traditionalist and think that a story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, and I'm not much of a fan of the stories that just show you a slice of life with no real point to it. Having said that, I've edited a good number of anthologies for the British Fantasy Society over the years, and quite a few of the stories went on to win awards and be included in further "Best of" anthologies. I've also been a first round judge in the BFS short story competition on several occasions and am still involved in an online anthology.

My first short story sale was a crime story, which won a competition in the women's magazine Bella and was published way back in the mid 1990s. From then on I've written mostly fantasy, with the occasional nod towards sf and horror. I even had the opportunity to adapt a television script into a story for an anthology which was an education in itself - I pitched for a chance to be included, got it and then realised I had to deliver the goods! At 12,500 words, it was practically a novella but at least the bones of the story were actually there for me to work with.

Having the bones of the idea is always the problem for me. For this recent crime competition, I had the theme "Ten" and a vague idea of how I wanted to interpret the theme but that was it. For me a potential story is a hard shiny ball and I have to find the way in, mull it over for days, weeks - sometimes even months - until suddenly I'll find a chink in the armoured casing. A few paragraphs, deleted, rewritten and coated in a bit of literary semtex and if I'm lucky I can blow the chink wider and suddenly I'm inside the story and I'm off. From that point it's an easy run and I can have it written in a few days. Another couple of days for editing, then leave it to mature for a week or so, maybe pass it around a few friends for comment, edit again and it's done. In this case, I found a short scene I'd written a few months ago for no particular purpose - it was just a mum in a car on a school run and went nowhere. Suddenly I could fit the competition theme around it and see the direction it was going in. And I had it written within 24 hours (it was over the Christmas break).

You can see a list of my short stories and where you can find them on my Short Fiction page. It'd be nice to win the competition and actually get to Harrogate, but I won't be holding my breath!

Magic Mushrooms

2012-01-08T15:27:00.001Z

Do you believe in magic? I've always liked to think there is something else out there - other worlds, other dimensions. Things that if we knew about them, they'd explain all the odd happening, inexplicable events, strange co-incidences. The stuff we read about in Fortean Times. I mean there's got to be more, hasn't there? I remember reading books like Alan Garner's Elidor as a child and wondering if it was true. Anything other-wordly, that hinted there might be another layer to this world - and I'm hooked.

But real magic? The illusionists on tv look so convincing until you see the how-do-they-do-it shows, which make it all look so obvious and you wonder how you ever fell for it. And yet we want to believe it all, don't we? It's that sense of wonder you have as a child when the tooth fairy leaves a coin under your pillow, that acceptance of everything without trying to pigeonhole it into adult reality and common-sense. Are we trying to recapture our childhoods or is a genuine belief that there are other worlds, if only we could get to them.

I was reading a post on another blog earlier and it made me recall an incident from nearly 17 years ago. Andy & I had moved up to Cheshire from Surrey with his job. We'd been married 5 years and had wanted children but after 4 miscarriages and a lot of tests, we'd more-or-less decided not to waste our lives and money on something that clearly wasn't meant to be. So we bought a cottage that needed some serious renovation work and got stuck in.

The house was a mess - ceilings down, no plumbing and we were living in two rooms. Then I sat in the front garden in late August looking at the spectacular view across Cheshire towards Peckforton Hills (one of the reasons we bought the house) and saw a complete fairy ring in the grass. So I stood in it and wished. Just because.

I was pregnant within a month.

Maybe it was co-incidence. Maybe it was because we'd stopped trying and worrying and were concentrating on other things. Maybe it would have happened anyway. Or maybe there was a little bit of magic around that night.

But the fairy ring never came back.

You can just see the curve of the fairy ring on the right.

Give me an A ...

2011-12-30T22:45:00.001Z

Here's something light-hearted on which to end the year:

Hands up if you like fruit smoothies. Innocent do a great range in the UK, in handy little cartons for kids - expensive, I know, but they keep longer that way. Recently they've been doing a giveaway of fridge-magnet letters (3 per pack) and we'd managed to collect quite a few before they stopped. But we were missing a few letters - crucially an A. You can't spell a lot of words without an A and you can't spell my teenage daughter's name Clare.

So she wrote a rather tongue-in-cheek email to the company and asked them pretty-please to send her an A. This is a company whose lists of ingredients frequently say "no socks" or "no trumpets", so we thought they'd have a sense of humour. They replied back saying they'd be delighted to send the missing letters which duly arrived, so my daughter put together a short video of thanks...

Happy New Year!

Reflections

2011-12-22T21:41:00.005Z

And so this is Christmas and what have you done....

In the words of John Lennon, what exactly have I done with 2011? Well one of the most important things to me has always been writing and up until this year, it's something I'd neglected for a long time, for a variety of reasons. And then my wonderful dad bought me a kindle in early February and I don't think he'll ever realise how much he changed my life. It probably doesn't mean much to most of you, but apart from being a great present, it opened so many doors to me into the world of indie publishing. Suddenly I don't need to be commercial. I don't need to sell thousands of books, to prove to a traditional publisher I can earn back an advance.

So in February I released my thriller Hamelin's Child and a collection of short stories Maniac onto Amazon's kindle platform, followed by a young adult fantasy Edge of Dreams later on in the year. A bit more formatting and they were soon on Smashwords platform too - and from there distributed to Sony, Barnes & Noble, WHSmith, Apple and all the major e-book retailers. I've worked with some great cover designers and taken out some online adverts - which more than paid for themselves in volume of sales. It's been a steep learning curve but I've sold thousands more books than I ever imagined I would and had fantastic reviews from people all over the world - strangers I've never met and who have no vested interest in being nice to me. I've even had fan email. And I'm writing again and loving it all.

The negatives: the near implosion of the British Fantasy Society, seeing friends hurt and egos inflated, realising that the internet can sometimes be a bad place and that some laundry really should be cleaned in private. Hard lessons and ones that make me less likely to volunteer my time and experience in the future. But I've also strengthened friendships and come out wiser and in the end probably happier.

My teenage daughter made her tv debut as an extra on Waterloo Road this year. Tiny acorns, those fleeting seconds on screen, but she's set for a stage career and let's face it, she has as good a chance of a job in the entertainment industry as anywhere else these days. And hubby finally got his stained glass business up and running after more than five years renovating the outbuildings (he's not that slow, but he had to start by underpinning the entire building with reinforced concrete, rebuilding much of the walls and putting on a new roof). So Moulton Glass now has a proper home and he is already making local sales.

And what for 2012? My resolutions are as follows:

To stop procrastinating, get bum on seat, computer off facebook and actually write
To stop being embarrassed about what I do. I find it hard to promote myself - especially as I write some dark and graphic stuff. But I need to learn to be proud of myself and my successes. I AM A WRITER. More than that: I AM A BLOODY GOOD WRITER!

Watch this space, 2012.

Ebooks For Soldiers

2011-12-16T06:00:00.009Z

I'm involved in a new initiative to keep soldiers entertained while on active service away from home. Now, I don't have any friends or family currently serving in the military, but I can imagine that e-readers are an absolute boon to anyone with a limited amount of luggage or personal belongings. Ebooks For Soldiers was set up so that authors with books available in electronic format could donate free copies of their books to serving military personnel, especially over the festive period when our men and women are far from home and family.

One of the authors involved is Michael Lorde, whose thriller ebook Blind Veil is available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. Michael is also the instigator of the entire project and has put most of the hard work into getting it all up and running. You can find out more about Michael here, but in the meantime, I put some questions to this talented author:

So tell me a bit about yourself –where you are from and what you write.
I was raised in New York State. I lived in Virginia Beach for thirty years, but I missed the seasons and I’m glad to be back up north. I now live in Michigan with my ten year old daughter. It’s Christmas time and we have snow. I’m smiling.

I write fiction. Blind Veil is a psychological thriller, so it has creepy elements, so of course some of it’s pretty disturbing. The first few chapters are different than the rest of the book, and take place decades ago; but then the story switches up to the here and now. Everything else in the book occurs as a result of that unreported past crime.

I’m currently working on the second Blind Veil book as well as edits for a fantasy book. In the fantasy book, the main character is a young woman. That storyline is not as intense as the Blind Veil Series, though it has its own disturbing moments… just not as consistently. That book is a softer read.

I also dabble in scripts. I have two that I’d like to see produced and I work on new ones all the time.

When did you start writing seriously and why?
I’ve always written. Some of my teachers told me that I should pursue writing, but I didn’t pursue getting published until Blind Veil. This was the book that demanded me to pen it down and get it out; to share it with others. I’m probably happier now in this work than I’ve ever been; now that I’m writing all the time. Looking back, I don’t know what took me so long to make that decision.

How much and what type of research do you do for your writing?
I actually did no research for Blind Veil. I have a background as an investigator, so I knew the terminology. The rest came to me when I got the idea for the book. The plot came to me instantly. It was the first time that had happened, and I found it pretty amazing. I had a similar ‘epiphany’ with the second book, the fantasy book. Both are the first of a series.

What do you enjoy reading? Do you have a favorite author?
I love to read, though I stay away from reading novels when I’m heavy into a plot. That way I’m not picking up terminology, or writing styles from other author’s works. I read everything. I’m the type of person who has to learn things all day long. I’ve always been that way. As a kid, I read constantly and really loved school, so yes; I enjoy reading just about anything. As far as a favorite author… There are way too many to be able to pick just one. King is definitely on the list because I like oddities and he’s the ‘king’ of oddities. I also enjoy ‘Lord of the Rings’ type of story lines, so I’m a fan of J.R.R Tolkien. I like Baldacci, Grisham, Clancy. There are way too many to list. I’m big on espionage, conspiracy, and psychological thrillers; so I enjoy anything that includes those elements. A writer’s style means more to me than the ‘technical’ aspect that might captures some reader’s attention. I want to feel a strong pull into the characters and the storyline; not like I’m watching it, but as if I’m next to them the whole time, or close enough to walk a few steps in their shoes.

Tell me something about yourself that not many people know.
That’s easy. I have a water phobia that I’ve never been able to shake. I’m a great swimmer and was even on the dive team in high school, but I’m never totally comfortable swimming in the ocean, or in a large body of water. I went white water rafting years ago thinking that would rid me of it, but it didn’t. It was fun enough, but I wouldn’t do it again. I love boating and tubing and in the past I’ve water skied and wind surfed. I’m fine with all of that; but put me over my head in the ocean without a device nearby, and I am not a happy camper. I hated the swim training I had to go through in a dive tank that the navy seals train in. It was a grueling experience. Impressed? Don’t be… our training was nothing like Navy seals training; we just used their tanks. There was nothing intense or life threatening about it, and water boarding and survival training was the furthest thing from our instructors mind. Still, I would never want to go through it again. Like I said, I’m a good swimmer and more than capable. I just don’t like the feeling. I love being at the ocean, but not in it. So, now you know my secret. I have four kids who are all part fish. Go figure.

So Hollywood wants to make film of your book. Who is going to play your main characters?
Being very visual, I knew the answer to this when I was writing the book. Ioan Gruffudd (or Christian Bale), Denzel Washington, Ian McKellan, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Bridget Moynahan.

Oh no! The film director says that the sponsor will only put up the money if your book can be set on a desert island. How will this affect your story?
That’s funny! Okay, the way my main character’s feeling, he may as well be on a deserted island; and while part of the book does take place on the ocean, I don’t think the whole island scenario will work.

It’s a psychological thriller, so the main character is stuck with his situation. No matter where he tries to run, he can’t run away from his own thoughts. Nothing is easy for him. He faces challenges whether he’s on an island or smack dab in the middle of New York City. The problem with the deserted island is that it’s deserted. His situation requires that others are around and in fact things get pretty intense for him because they are around. I hope I bring the reader in close enough that they can feel that intensity of what he’s going through. Many of my readers have said that they couldn’t put Blind Veil down, so I’m hoping that I’ve accomplished that. One reader told me ‘I was there’ which being an author, was of course music to my ears. As long as I can bring the readers into my character’s ‘island’, I’ll be happy. But deserted island? We’ll just have to hire a different director.

And finally…

Vampires or zombies?
Definitely Zombies. I got bitten by a Great Dane once… while deciding whether or not to adopt him. He answered that question really fast, well before I arrived at the E.R. That was the closest encounter I ever want to have with a creatures teeth. (I’m a huge dog lover. The two great dogs I do have, know enough to keep their teeth in their mouths where they belong.)

Apples or bananas?
Apples.

Commercial best-seller or literary prize winner?
Commercial best seller would be nice. Recognition is wonderful, but it won’t pay for the kid’s colleges.

Thanks for answering those questions, Michael - and apologies for the oddballs. I have a strange sense of humour at times.

So if you're reading this and you are currently away from home and serving in the military, hop on over to Ebooks For Soldiers and take a look at what's on offer. Or email your son or daughter and get them to take a look. Sign up and you could soon be reading Michael's book Blind Veil for FREE on your e-reader. And if you're not eligible for a free copy, then why not buy one instead? There are more authors signing up all the time on the site and you're bound to find something you like.

Michael's website, blog and video trailer are all worth a visit and you can also read reviews of Blind Veil.

How can an unreported crime that occurred forty years in the past,and across the country, affect a New York City Cop today?

Can a seemingly innocent boat ride forever change the life of a former Marine?

Find out when a Police Officer meets an eccentric scientist who claims to hold secret knowledge that has been hidden from the rest of society.

Is this all truly happening, or is he slowly losing his grip on reality? Unfortunately, neither conclusion between the two worlds is better than the other as the clarifying line between reality and impossibility slowly disintegrates, turning his world upside down.

He must dig thirty years into his past; deep beneath the veil and the mesh of murder, lies and deceit to find answers.

Follow the trail of events that will forever shape his future… and maybe yours.

Available in English only at:

Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.es, Amazon.de, Amazon.it

Michael's Story

2011-12-14T20:13:00.001Z

Have you ever thought about killing yourself? I mean really doing it – topping yourself – not just messing about to get attention? It’s a scary place, that black hole in your mind, and sometimes I walk the edge, one foot in front of the other around the rim, and wonder whether to just shut my eyes and jump in. It’s like balancing on the railings on a motorway bridge – gives you a thrill, an adrenaline shot like nothing else on earth.

Except perhaps heroin.

You want to know why heroin? I’m not sure I know myself, but then I’m not sure about much in my life anymore.

I’m Michael. This is my story. It’s not pretty and I’m not proud of it. But it’s mine.

Find out more

KDP Select & Large Fries To Go, Please

2011-12-09T13:24:00.001Z

So I looked at KDP Select - amazon's amazing new offer for indie authors. Sign exclusively with us for 90 days and we will put your ebook in our amazon prime lending library. You get a share of half a million dollars in December alone. $500,000? Just for December? Where do I sign?

Read the small print. You get a share of the money pot depending on how many times your book is borrowed as a proportion of all borrowings. And the library is growing rapidly by the hour since amazon emailed all us indie authors yesterday. But in return, amazon demands exclusivity - you cannot sell or distribute your book anywhere during that 90 day period - that presumably means you can't sell your books off your own website and you can't give books to reviewers.

Where it really get complicated is if you have ever sold your book via smashwords. Quite apart from the fact that you have to wait for smashwords to pull the books from B&N, Apple, Sony and other sites (which can take a few weeks), you need to remember that even if you unpublish a book from smashwords, the site retains a copy to service previous customers of that book, which they will presumably distribute to said customers who wish to re-download. Bang go amazon's terms & conditions then. And once you violate amazon's t&c, the wording is sufficiently vague for them to get away with anything.

I'd maybe consider it for a new book. But you'd have to have a huge proportion of downloads (not numbers, but % of total downloads) to be making real money at this new game. So I'll pass for now and stick with smashwords and getting my books into as many different outlets as I can.

But KDP Select does sound like a menu option in a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet, doesn't it?

You Couldn't Make It Up

2011-12-05T21:59:00.001Z

It's 3.30pm and I'm finishing the design of a very complex universe at work - yes, really, I am. Not something from Magrathea, no, but that's what I do as a day job: design universes. Actually I work in business intelligence and the software I use to set up systems to interrogate big databases is called Business Objects - the resultant interface is called a "universe".

So it's half-three and the phone rings. It's my husband who I left at home in bed with man-flu this morning. He's been up and about and says that one of my catfish is stuck in the aquarium. Now this morning I remember seeing a bit of plastic pipe floating on the surface of the water - I pushed it back down to the bottom, weighted it with some gravel and realised the catfish was still in it. I thought he was probably a bit scared and he'd come out when I'd gone.

Now my catties came to me about two inches long and they are both about five inches now, if not bigger. They're big and clumsy, but very sweet nervous creatures who like to live in the pipe and the coconut shell. Unfortunately one had grown a bit big, tried to bend in the T-junction of the plastic pipe and got himself completely wedged in tight. Poor thing had been stuck there all day.

Husband insists this is a domestic emergency and I need to come home to rescue him (the fish or husband? I'm not sure). Fortunately, I only live 15 minutes from work, so after much hilarity in the office, I drive home. And the pipe is floating with poor cattie tightly stuck in the bend. I try to shake him out but he gets more agitated and more stuck. Husband says we'll have to saw the pipe apart, so I find a washing up bowl and prepare to transfer tank water, fish and pipe.

Then I have a brain wave. I find a tube of face cream with a lid diameter slightly smaller than the pipe. Insert it gently into T-junction and push very slowly. Visions of squashed fish, but I persevere - and he moves a bit. Take out tube and look inside and he's definitely straightening out. Bit more pressure and a shake to dislodge his fins and he's out, straight to the bottom of the tank.

The pipe is in the bin, but I now have a traumatised fish with a scratch along one side. He hasn't moved in a few hours but he's still breathing. If he hasn't moved by tomorrow, it's off the to the aquarium shop to see if I can get something to put in the tank to make him feel better. He probably needs a stiff drink - I know I did!

I told you - you couldn't make it up.

Code Cracking...

2011-12-02T10:35:00.001Z

Here we go. Starting at the Guardian's post, this is my pathetic attempt to crack the code created by GCHQ to attract high quality candidates for jobs in the security services.

Well to me that looks like hex code (base 16) from what I remember about computer tech courses way back. Our normal counting system is base 10 (0 units of '1' and 1 unit of '10' make the number 10) and binary is base 2.

No, I don't think they'll give me a job yet.

So, the first pair of characters above is eb. In hex, that gives me (14 x 16 ttp1) + (11 x 16 ttp0) where ttp = "to the power of", such are the limitations of blogger.

Any number ttp0 =1, so that gives us (14x16)+11 = 235.

No, I still don't think they'll give me a job.

I could go through the whole screen of hex and convert each character pair to its equivalent number. Then what? Presumably the base 10 numbers themselves are a code?

Just as well I never wanted a job in MI5. I'll stick to re-runs of Spooks on tv instead!

Oh, and feel free to correct my calculations if I'm wrong, which wouldn't surprise me in the least. It's a long, long time since I used to reconstruct deleted computer files by pulling bits of hex code together!

Is E-Cat a Con?

2011-12-01T18:13:00.002Z

E-Cat? Finally a source of clean renewable energy - or a giant con?

I heard about this via a techy bulletin board I use at work for my IT support. Some of the US members were discussing it and while I couldn't go hunting at work, I made a note to go and look when I got home.

E- Cat is "energy catalyzer", a supposedly clean way of combining nickel and hydrogen in a "low energy nuclear reaction". It looks like fusion (most of our nuclear energy comes from fission - splitting - rather than fusion - combining), has no radioactive waste products and is apparently practically self-sustaining.

Sounds too good to be true? In most real-life situations, there really is no such thing as a free lunch - and I'm sure if this really was the future of the planet's energy, I'd have heard a bit more about it in the news by now. The web site has lots of stuff on from October, but apparently there's been a sale of an energy plant to an anonymous US customer in the last couple of days.

The company is called the "Leonardo Corporation" - an Italian company (and no, the name isn't lost on me - Da Vinci was famous for a lot more than his artwork and he is still rumoured to have invented the concept of the helicopter) and the E-Cat's somewhat secretive inventor Andrea Rossi is keeping quiet about the "secret ingredient" of the nuclear process.

If it's true, he's going to be a very rich man. If not, there will be a lot of red faces and he'll probably still be a very rich man. Either way, Mr Rossi wins.

I think I'll sit on the fence a while longer and think about those little pecking birds you used to get in the 1970s - the ones that slowly slipped coloured water and were about the nearest things to perpetual motion in existence.

The Kindle Coffee-Break Collection Vol. 1

2011-11-26T20:00:00.002Z

I've got a short story out in The Kindle Coffee-Break Collection Vol. 1.

From the Amazon description:

"Welcome to the first volume of the Saffina Desforges Presents Coffee-Break Collection. Saffina Desforges is the Kindle-UK best-selling author of Sugar & Spice and Snow White: Book 1 of the the Rose Red crime thriller series."

I'm in some good company here, so feel free to go check it out!

Strike Action!

2011-11-25T11:14:00.000Z

There's a big union strike next week in the UK - several of the biggest public-sector workers' unions are striking in protest against changes to pensions. Now I've worked in the public sector all my life, mostly in what was HM Customs & Excise and more recently in local government for the police and I can see both sides of the argument.

Undeniably, people are living longer and therefore claiming pensions for longer. So it stands to reason that we have to work for longer. I don't like the idea but I'm lucky enough to have a job I enjoy and so I'm not complaining on that front. But when I joined the Civil Service back in the mid 80s, I went to London to work in VAT office (life got more exciting later - trust me - but that's possibly the subject of another blog and if you read it, I may have to kill you afterwards). It wasn't a well-paid job, in a naff office on the North Circular and there were no perks - no company car, private health care, gym discounts or annual bonus. Many of my colleagues left to go to the private sector - the big accountancy and consultancy firms - and moved on to better pay and conditions. Those of us that didn't had the consolation of the one good thing about the job. The pension. We endured years of rubbish pay knowing that at least we would be getting a decent pension. And now they want to change that? I'm talking about the workers here - not senior management or even middle-management, and I don't know who all these people are that are apparently getting gold-plated pensions. It isn't us. Will it happen across the board? Will ministers and the senior civil service take the same hit? Hmm.

I took HM Customs & Excise to an industrial tribunal many years ago. And won. It was more about taking a stand against bullying management than anything else, but I did get some money out of it. I couldn't have done it without the help of my union and it was one of the most stressful times of my life, but I was proud of the result and I hope I helped other people in the process who may have been too scared to speak out.

So I'm both for and against this strike. At the moment, given the state of the rest of Europe, I'm grateful to have a job and I hope I have a pension at all in 20 years time - or whenever I get to retire! And I'm proud of working in the public sector. I've done some boring jobs, but I've also seen and done the kinds of things you rarely see outside of the movies and television, which has influenced much of my writing since then. And I met my husband in that VAT office in North West London.

Being Bennett

2011-11-23T20:23:00.001Z

I wasn't born a Bennett. I married into it over 21 years ago. At the time I thought this was a Good Thing. I had no problems with giving up my maiden name, having spent all my life spelling it out to people. I was born Louie. Not Louis, Lowe, Lovie, Long, Louise, Louse or Lousy, but Louie. Yes, it's unusual - in the UK at least - as it's phonetic Chinese and came from my Cantonese grandfather who came to England in the early 20th century with the Chinese navy, where he met my Liverpudlian grandmother, fell in love and decided to stay.

I never knew my grandfather as even though I was 16 when he died, he never spoke a word of English that I could understand. I've never quite worked out how he managed to live the rest of his life in England, marry and raise 10 children and yet not speak the language - my dad says they all managed to understand each other, but I never could. I deeply regret not knowing him - he would have had such fascinating stories to tell of life in pre-revolution China as a member of the aristocracy who was cut off from his family and status when he married beneath him. In an attempt to appease the family he left behind, he sent his two eldest sons - my uncles - back to China as young children and they were never heard of again. It was always a taboo subject in the family as my grandmother was so upset at losing her children, so it was never spoken of when I was young. I do know my cousin (at the time a tax-exile living in the Caribbean - I have such interesting relatives!) spent quite some time and money looking for our lost uncles in the 1980s, even going so far as placing adverts in the Hong Kong newspapers, but with no success.

So my grandfather enters the UK and his name is written down as Harry Ying Louie. Bizarrely, half my aunts and uncles are registered with the surname Ying and half with the surname Louie - creating my family tree was a challenge even with the ones in this country! And I grew up forever spelling out my name to everybody and telling them that no, I wasn't French. And thank you so much to the creator of the 1970s cartoon series Hong Kong Phooey - it was a lovely nickname. Not.

Interestingly, there are lots of Louies in the USA - particularly around the Philadelphia area, which is coincidently where my grandfather apparently said that other members of his family had settled. So I may have relatives over there too.

I married a Bennett in 1990 and thought all my troubles would be over. And spelling-wise, I guess that's true as most people get it right, although it's sometimes spelled with just the one t at the end. But now I find there are so many of them. I never realised that Bennett was such a common surname. And Debbie too (although a great many of us were born within a few years of each other - it's definitely a mid-sixties name!). I've come across Debbie Bennett the singer, Debbie Bennett the racing car driver and even Debbie Bennett who runs her own PR agency (for a few months I got some lovely invitations to celebrity bashes as our email addresses were very similar). Being fairly computer-literate and having had an email address and internet presence for longer than I care to remember, I have enough hits to generally be top of a google search on my name - in fact I have most of the top 10 spots in one form or another.

The problem is that when I publish ebooks, it starts getting complicated. When I first published my thriller Hamelin's Child on amazon, the author was DJ Bennett. I went for just initials as being non-gender-specific tends to sell more books (sexist, but apparently true for crime and thriller genres). Plus when I published other genres, I wanted to be subtly different as my target markets are miles apart and I wouldn't want a teenage reader of YA fantasy Edge Of Dreams to jump straight to a an adult thriller. On smashwords, there's no facility for different books on the same author account to have different author names and when smashwords distributes to other e-retailers, all hell breaks loose.

So the Apple i-store currently has my books listed under Debbie Bennett (singer)'s account and I have no idea how to go about changing it! There doesn't seem to be a support email that I can find - it's one of those help sections that sends you round in endless circles like telephoning a call centre (I once spent 45 minutes in Vodafone's system pushing button after button and hearing so many recorded messages I would have verbally-murdered a human being had any ever actually answered). I'm not overly concerned as I'm sure Debbie's songs are lovely. I'm just not so sure she'd want to be associated with my books!

Why is tax so taxing?

2011-11-18T14:55:00.002Z

Having sold rather a lot of ebooks last month via Amazon.com, my US sales figures are – for the first time – remarkably healthy. However, nothing is ever easy and sales from outside the UK (as opposed to sales to outside the UK) are treated differently for tax purposes. Because I am selling from a US-based site, I become liable to US tax. Fair enough – I have no problem with that. Death and taxes are the only certainties in life, as somebody said (who was it?).

Amazon withholds a percentage of my profits to fulfil tax liabilities. It is up to me to prove to the IRS that I am not a US citizen. Again, I have no problem with this and I can then declare the US income on my UK tax return together with my UK sales. So I have found my way around the IRS website, downloaded the form I need to get a foreign-national tax number (ITIN), found the tax-treaty article number etc etc. It’s all ready to send off to the US embassy in London with my passport. The only thing I need is a letter from Amazon to confirm I have made sales from their site.

So I email Amazon. They can’t help me. They are still discussing legal requirements with the IRS. So they won’t give me my money and yet they won’t provide me with the documentation I need to claim it back correctly. Doesn’t seem right to me. The other ebook retail site – Smashwords – issues these letters automatically once sales reach a certain threshold. But hardly anybody seems to buy ebooks via Smashwords.

But things have changed a bit. The help texts on Amazon.com have changed and there is a draft letter there which you can apparently now use for tax purposes. But it says it needs to be on headed paper – how can I do that? I can only download it and print it, which makes it a copy and the IRS don’t accept copies. I email Amazon again – they apologise for giving me the wrong answer last time and yes, I can use this letter but they haven’t received approval for it from the IRS. And in any case, it’ll still be a copy, won’t it? There are discussions in the forums by people who’ve had the IRS reject their tax forms because the letters were copies. I give up. If anyone has had success, please let me know what you submitted.

So - in an attempt to get enough money in my Smashwords account to get a US tax letter from them, I'm offering a BOGOFF on any of my 3 books for a limited time only. Buy one via smashwords (they're not exactly expensive) and let me know and I'll send you a coupon for a **free** one of your choice.

This offer will end once I hit my target sales on smashwords.

Holiday Sirens

2011-11-14T17:30:00.001Z

Coming soon...

Word Clouds

2011-11-04T18:13:00.002Z

This is a wordle - a word cloud apparently made up from all the words on my blog. Not sure why the biggest word is get! It doesn't say much about me, does it? The sum of my blogging life and it has amazon twice. And why is tax so big? Maybe it's just the visible page in my blog - I can't see how it works.

But it's a cool idea. I might try chucking some other bits of random text in and see what it produces.

http://www.wordle.net/ if you fancy having a go.

The Power of Advertising

2011-10-27T22:41:00.003+01:00

I published my first ebook Hamelin's Child in February this year.By March, I was thinking of having a play with advertising and I paid for a small slot on a large-ish review site - I think the ad came and went a few weeks later with no noticeable increase in sales. I wondered whether it was a waste of money, but thought I'd try once more. So I picked Ereader News Today and paid for a book-of-the-day sponsorship. It cost me $25, but it doesn't seem much when you convert it to sterling. Got an email saying the next slot was October and I promptly forgot about it.

The ad went live yesterday (26th October). Not sure what time as it's a US site. I came home from work early as I was going out to the theatre that night and logged on about 3.30pm to nothing much. By 4pm, I'd sold over 100 books on amazon.com and by late that evening I'd sold over 300.

Amazon.com
#180 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#45 in Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers
#53 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers

Probably the highest ranking I'll ever see, but there it is. Sales are still trickling in more than 24 hours later and I'm hoping that I'll get more from sample downloads that convert to sales.

Trouble is, amazon.com has decreed itself the custodian of my US tax liability. Until I can get a foreign-national US tax id, amazon keep 30% of my earnings against tax. To get a tax id, I have to get a letter proving sales. Can I get one out of amazon? No - they are still talking with the IRS about what is legally acceptable (despite the fact that other UK authors have got letters out of them). Whereas the other US ebook distributor smashwords apparently automatically sends out tax letters once sales reach a threshold.

So if you have the urge to buy one of my books, please go to smashwords instead of amazon. That way I can get all of my money back from amazon instead of letting them keep it for the IRS!

Update 3rd November - I reckon I've sold close on 450 ebooks as a direct result of one advert and they are still trickling in slowly.

Introspection

2011-10-21T16:06:00.003+01:00

Been offline for a while. I'd like to say I've been writing, but I haven't even been doing that. Well, not much anyway - although I can report a couple of short story acceptances in e-anthologies coming from MWiDP. One was my blowing-up-Liverpool story, so I guess I can abandon my pathetic attempts at cover production (see an earlier post), although I have since attended two 1-day photoshop courses.

After the near-implosion of the British Fantasy Society towards the end of September (you either know about it or you don't - and believe me it's way too long and complicated to get into any detail here), I've been through a bit of a period of reflection. Two weeks being deluged in emails, blog posts and newspaper articles (broadsheet as well as tabloid) and I've realised how much influence the internet can have over lives and how quickly things can go viral online. It's actually quite scary and has made me pull back slightly from all this. For the first time in a long while, I wasn't checking facebook and twitter every night and I have to confess that a lot of emails were scanned and deleted when I realised I had nothing useful to contribute and was only stressing myself out by reading them. And although I wasn't directly a part of any of it, it's made me question a lot of things, not least how quick people are to be judge and jury. I know I will be less quick to jump in with both feet to volunteer in future, and that's sad.

But time to move on. There are worlds to explore and stories to write. And good friends to keep in touch with.

And I've started Christmas shopping!

New Cover, New Book

2011-09-21T21:42:00.003+01:00

So here is the final cover for my YA fantasy Edge of Dreams. Not quite ready to publish yet - it needs a last edit for typos and to murder any remaining extraneous adverbs - but I'm pleased with the way it's come out. I'll post links to it once it's uploaded but I just wanted to share it with the world now.

What do you do when you think that the bad guys might care more about you than the good ones?

Edge Of Dreams is now available in kindle format on Amazon UK, Amazon DE and Amazon US/Other. Also in all formats (including PDF and HTML) at Smashwords.

Every Day Fiction

2011-09-14T18:32:00.000+01:00

Checking through recent submissions, I remembered having a short story Moira accepted by online fiction site Every Day Fiction. I was sure they'd said August or September so I went back and checked their listings and found that I'd totally missed it on August 16th! I think I was supposed to get an email beforehand, but in fairness, the site had a major systems crash mid-August so I suspect my email was one of the casualties!

Anyway, it was a nice surprise to go back and read it online and find out that 56 people voted it at a 3.7/5 star rating. And lots of lovely comments too.

Sample Sunday: Paying The Piper

2011-09-11T14:36:00.002+01:00

An extract from WIP Paying The Piper:

The rear tyre blew at eighty-five miles per hour in the outside lane of the M25, just past junction eleven. Amanda didn’t hear it go, but she felt the steering wheel wrench from her grip just as Mika launched into Grace Kelly on the car’s CD player. The screech of tyres didn’t improve the quality of the music as the car swerved towards the central reservation, and the scrape of metal against metal seemed perfectly timed to the song.

She pulled hard to the left, narrowly missing the Renault in the middle lane. The driver flashed his headlights several times in succession, overtook on the inside and accelerated away out of danger, making a crude gesture with his fingers as he passed her. Just like a man. Anything to avoid trouble. Never wants to get involved. The car skidded on the wet road and she hit the brake instinctively, only deepening the skid as all four tyres lost contact with the tarmac.

Suddenly, the world reduced to four wheels and an engine. Frantically, she tried to remember what they’d said on the advanced driving talk which the office had laid on for them all. Two winters ago, when five company cars had been written off in as many weeks, the firm had decided that a driving seminar was called for. At the time, all the staff had been concerned about was the fact that they were expected to come in for an evening without pay; right now, Amanda reckoned that survival would be payment enough. She eased her foot off the brake and steered into the skid, thanking whatever Gods were listening that there were no other cars on the inside. The motorway was quiet and most sensible people would be at work, not speeding round the M25 with their life in ruins.

Surprisingly enough, the car responded. She could feel the difference through the steering wheel as the remaining tyres began to grip the road. She touched the brake once, twice – cadence braking, just like she’d been taught – and the car slowed and straightened as she eased it across to the inside lane and onto the hard shoulder. Coming to a standstill, she switched off the engine, cutting Mika off in his prime. The sudden silence was overwhelming, the smell of burning rubber filled the car and she wondered what she was going to do now.

For the third time that day, Amanda burst into tears. It hadn’t exactly been a spectacular success so far. She’d been on the move three hours now, ever since arriving at the nursery at lunchtime and discovering that Paul had already picked up Melanie. At home, she found he’d taken a suitcase; some of his clothes were missing, and a stack of nappies had gone with some sleepsuits from Mel’s room. And three hours later, where had she got to? Halfway across the country, with what seemed like days stuck in a motorway tailback on the M4, and no nearer finding her daughter than she had been when she’d set out with just her handbag, and only that because she knew it contained her credit cards and phone and the one thing she was going to need was money. Money for petrol and food, probably somewhere to stay the night and no doubt cash to bribe his family. Because that’s where he’d be, running home to mummy and that awful interfering sister of his. Running home with Melanie.

Mel. The thought made her cry even harder. How could he have taken their daughter with him? Aside from the fact that he knew next to nothing about caring for a nine-month old baby, Paul had never given any indication about the way he felt before. True, he’d never been a man of many emotions; that’s what she’d loved about him – his calm competence, easy acceptance of redundancy and the optimism with which he’d set about finding himself a new job, even when it had involved a move across the country. She’d gone willingly, six months pregnant and excited at the thought of a new life together. And then it had all started to fall apart.

Damn Bristol. She thumped the car horn loudly with her fist, wishing it was somebody’s head. Damn Carroll’s Limited; there was nothing limited about the liberties the directors were apparently prepared to take with their employees. And damn to Hell and back Mark Cartland for taking her to the office post-Christmas party and then to his bed. She hadn’t meant it to happen, hadn’t set out with the idea of adultery in her mind, but Paul had been working late again, keen to impress his new boss and she’d been lonely in the new house. Mark had been so understanding when she’d had to take time off at short notice when Melanie was ill. She couldn’t refuse his invitation. She hadn’t wanted to. He was a nice guy in his own way, though not really her type. Besides, nobody else had asked her to accompany them to the dinner at a local hotel and as usual Paul had been too busy.

Stop making excuses, Amanda. You slept with your boss and your husband found out. End of story. Who could blame Paul for the way he’d reacted? But how could he run off like that, without giving her the chance to explain, to apologise and try to make up for what she’d done. It was as if he didn’t want to know any more. Perhaps he would never be able to forgive her. Perhaps he’d never let her see Melanie again.

A Long, Long Time Ago ...

2011-09-05T17:24:00.003+01:00

... in a galaxy far, far away, I used to be into live fantasy role-playing (aka LRP/LARP to those nerds in the know). In the early 1980s, LRP was really only starting out in the UK and I spent many weekends with a group of like-minded nerds - and I mean that in the most affectionate way - from Liverpool University at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire, playing Treasure Trap. If you really want a laugh, click the link. I knew these people. I was one of them...

So there we were, spending weekends camping in a real live castle, with one toilet between however many people were staying. I think there was a shower put in much later, but let's just say it wasn't a health spa. Mostly in bizarre costumes, we'd eat down the local pub and drink into the small hours in the top of one of the towers. Then there were the adventures: many hours enacting various quests throughout the castle. I say enacting, but those of you who have ever played Dungeons & Dragons will understand it's more like free-form acting, with an overall end objective, but you kind of make up the rest as you go along, keeping in character of course. Anything can happen - and often does.

I was writing back then too, and if you are a fantasy writer, you really can't beat the experience of living some of this - I can give you an exact reaction to creeping along a stone corridor in the dark, rounding a corner and coming across a 6ft long-haired, bearded bloke, built like the proverbial brick shit-house, wearing studded leather and wielding a steel sword. Or watching an execution on the drawbridge by flaming torchlight. Or abseiling from a tower while a horde of mad people are firing arrows at you. I've lost touch with most of the people from this part of my life, which is a shame as they were a great bunch of guys and we had some fantastic weekends.

Fast-forward a few years and I'm supposed to have grown up as I'm married with a mortgage and a job. But I'm talking to some like-minded people on CIX and get invited to participate in a Star Wars event in South London. I get a kit list sent to me, with joining instructions and a character sheet. Bear in mind I've never met any of these people before, but I venture off to some disused warehouse that has been decked out for the day, get my laser tag equipment and we're off on a 12 hour adventure loosely set in the Star Wars universe. I had one of the best days of my life, totally immersed in an alternate reality, trying to steal a secret CD and divulge vital information to the opposition (yes, the traitor was ME, mwha ha ha...). Came back through Waterloo station in costume late at night with some of my compatriots and we did get some strange looks, although this was fortunately well before all the terrorist alerts.

So I apologise to anyone who knows me. I was a nerd. And I loved it!

Rebecca Hamilton: Common Mistakes Writers Overlook While Editing

2011-09-03T18:35:00.002+01:00

Today’s guest post is by writer and editor Rebecca Hamilton. Rebecca is a writer and editor and you can find out more about her on her website and blog. In this post, she offers some helpful tips for editing your own writing.

I’ve edited for and exchanged with many writers. And, being admittedly picky about who I edit for, I will say that many of them were extremely talented. As I edited for them, there were times where I pointed out things that I knew they knew, but they had just missed. How did I know they knew these things? Because they pointed these same things out to me, even though they knew I knew, too. These are problems that are just all too easy to make when you are too close to your writing.

What does it mean to be “too close to your writing”, anyway? It means you are unable to see problems in your own work that you would see in others. It’s not because you think your writing is better, or that your writing is “the exception”, or even that your writing is too precious to you. It’s that you simply know the bigger picture. You know where that train of thought leads, and so at no point are you confused about what you are trying to say.

This leads me to the first thing on my list. This is the one I see the most – very often in writers who aren’t aware to edit for this, but also occasionally in the works of authors who do.

CONTEXT

This is what I use to describe the order events are relayed. Sometimes there is disconnect between this, and the order events happened. Or it can just be the context in which something happens. Most specifically, this happens on a sentence level, and it’s easy to miss because by the end of the sentence, the entire idea has been relayed. And to the author writing it, they can see that whole sentence as a single idea/moment. But for the reader, that’s not always the case. Sometimes to the reader, putting context at the end of the sentence can make an idea seem “tacked on” or like it’s materialized out of nowhere. This is because readers “fill in the blanks” as they go. This is automatic, and it happens on a moment-by-moment (not sentence by sentence) basis.

Here I will give an example. Let’s say your character just got in a huge fight with her sister. You are now jumping in time to your character working on a birdhouse she’d started building at some earlier point in the story. I’m going to force you to read this like a reader now:

I headed back to my work station to put some final touches on the birdhouse…

I will stop the sentence there. As you are reading, you can guess where that sentence might go (though you don’t know yet). You can also make some assumptions about what happened between the fight with the sister and the working on the birdhouse. Most likely, you’ll assumed nothing happened in between. So when the sentence finishes….

…after calling mom to tell her about the fight with Kara.

Well, that feels a bit tacked on, doesn’t it? If she called her mom first, and THEN worked on the birdhouse, then the reader should be given that information in that order. To a writer, something like this can be a single idea, because we already know the order of events. This is why it’s a common mistake among writers, even those who know context needs to come first.

The good news is, that when you DO spot it, it’s easy to fix. Just reverse the parts of the sentence:

After calling mom to tell her about the fight with Kara, I headed back to my work station to put some final touches on the birdhouse.

So how can you catch these errors? There are two solutions:

1) Have someone who isn’t close to the work read through for this. The average reader might only know it feels “off” but another writer might be able to help you figure out why.

2) Give yourself some time away from your MS. Wait a month, then come back to it. A lot more of these instances will pop out at you.

The above two solutions can be used to readdress any common editing mistakes. I’ve listed more of them below:

PUNCTUATION ERRORS

Especially where commas are concerned. A lot of writers struggle with commas as it is, but even those who know them inside and out have trouble. And it’s with certain commas in particular:

a) The introductory phrase comma (these are often left out intentionally by UK writers). Introductory phrases are usually phrases that show context – they introduce the main clause. For example: With a thick pair of mittens on, I could barely feel the rollercoaster safety bar I was grasping. Or After the sun set, I set out on my journey to Lemming Cliff. Or When she told me about what happened to Hank, I nearly vomited up last night’s chilli cheese dogs.

b) The parenthetical phrase comma – this one is a bit more specific. The error with the parenthetical phrase comma is usually that the comma that would close the phrase is left off, and this is most often done by those who don’t use oxford/serial commas and have an and directly following the parenthetical phrase. For example: I went to the store, hoping to buy bread and met with Mark along the way. There should be a comma after bread. Your independent clause is I went to the store and met with Mark along the way. The hoping to buy bread was a parenthetical pit-stop along the way and needs to be encapsulated with commas. This is different from: I went to the store to buy milk, bread and eggs. Which doesn’t need a comma (if you don’t use oxford/serial commas) after bread because bread wasn’t a parenthetical phrase. I went to the store to buy milk was the end of the independent clause. That said, you can use a comma after bread there if you use oxford commas.

c) This leads me to a problem more common with US writers than UK writers – using a comma before a small conjunction. In the US, we are supposed to use commas before a small conjunction only when the next part of the sentence is an independent clause. Too often we (myself included) leave it off more than we should or add it more than we should. For example, you need a comma before and here: I went to the store, and Mark went home. But you don’t need one here: I went to the store and bought cheese. The bought cheese isn’t an independent clause. But Mark went home is.

LAY VERSUS LIE

When trying to figure out which to use, there’s a simple little trick: Objects lay, people lie.

WEAK POINT OF VIEW

A lot of writers use character “filters”. I think this has its place when trying to create narrative distance, but when hoping to engage the reader in the experience, you’ll want a deeper POV. A deeper POV will allow the reader to experience the story, as opposed to have a character narrate it to them. For example: She could see the silhouette of a man outside her window. This isn’t her seeing, it’s saying she could see. Example 2: She saw the silhouette of a man outside her window. We’re hearing what happened, but we aren’t seeing it for ourselves. Example 3: The silhouette of a man walked past her window/shifted outside her window/approached her window. There are lots of options there. Now we’re deeper in POV. We’re seeing it, and we know she saw it, too, because it’s her POV and it’s being narrated to us. It wouldn’t be narrated to us if she hadn’t seen it (unless you’re writing in an omniscient POV). But instead of telling us the obvious (that she saw it) we get to see it for ourselves. It allows the moment to come to life.

The best way to fix this is to do a search for filter words, such as: saw, see, felt, feel, hear, heard, taste, tasted, smell, smelled, knew, know (I knew I shouldn’t do this versus I shouldn’t do this). And so on. This also helps to reduce some of the personal pronoun starts, without unnaturally convoluting your sentence structures. (And the same could be true of fixing the first common error I mentioned: Context)

UNNEEDED SENTENCE ENDINGS

So many times, in my work as well as others, I see sentences that didn’t end soon enough.

For example: He smiled at me. The at me isn’t needed if the two are having a conversation and there is no one else in the room. That sounded like a horrible idea to me. The to me is implied. It’s that person’s POV after all.

Looking for opportunities to cut unneeded sentence endings can help make your voice carry more authority and will also strengthen the impact of your sentences. Emphasis goes at the end. Do you want to emphasize to me or do you want emphasize horrible idea. Which words carry more power?

I’ll sign off here, as this post is already a mile long. But for those who haven’t looked out for these things in their writing, I think you’ll find these 5 simple tips help you improve your MS a great deal!

Other Indie Authors: Marita Hansen

2011-08-22T20:47:00.001+01:00

I've decided to feature some other indie authors on my blog. First up is Marita Hansen whose novel Behind the Hood is now available on Amazon kindle & Smashwords. Marita is also a talented artist - the cover art is her own work.

Life on the rough side of New Zealand.

In this South Auckland neighbourhood where gang culture, drink, drugs, sex and violence is already a way of life; a vicious attack on a teenage girl sparks a ripple effect of revenge and fury. Live the carnage through multiple viewpoints as the tale unfolds to a bloody climax.

Warning: NOT for the fainthearted. *This book contains strong scenes and adult material.

Here's the start of the book to whet your appetite:

Maia

Maia Daniels knew she should just ignore the boys. Walk past, don’t listen, she told herself. Don’t talk back.

It was ten o’clock on a Saturday night. The gang were sitting on a wall outside Claydon Pub, passing around a smoke. She’d seen some of them at high school, when they decided to turn up that is.

Whooping and yelling came from the pub. A television blared loudly, no doubt replaying the All Blacks’ rugby match against the Wallabies. Maia stopped at the driveway as a purple Holden drove into the car park. Music blasted from inside the souped-up machine, the bass pumping its steady beat out into the night.

“Maia, c’mere,” Tama Harris yelled.

The gang leader was eighteen, tall and solidly built, with a wide, flat nose. He’d shaved off his hair recently, replacing it with a curved pattern called a moko. Usually, the tattoo adorned the face, a sign of a Maori warrior—something to be proud of. But Tama was no one to be proud of, nothing but a dreg who constantly harassed her. Unlike the other boys, he wore his hoodie tied around his waist, his ripped jeans and muscle shirt unsuitable for the cold autumn weather. Maia figured he was probably high on something, either from the weed in his hand or the empty bottles at his feet—or both.

“Hey, Maia! Are ya a double d?” a podgy boy with spiky blond hair shouted.

“They sure felt like it,” Tama replied, his hand actions eliciting laughter from the gang.

A blush ran across Maia’s cheeks. Shit, she hated her breasts. Even in her oversized sweatshirt they still grabbed attention. She pulled her hood further over her head, and rounded her shoulders. After another car passed, she hitched up her track pants and walked across the muddy driveway.

Tama hollered, “Oi! I told ja to c’mere.”

She looked back, aching to give him the finger, but instead jammed her hands into her pockets. God, she was a moron for sneaking out, but ... Ben’s raves were always awesome. Why couldn’t her mum let her go? It wasn’t like she did drugs, and the boys at the party were just mates.

Tama’s scowl changed into a grin. He threw his joint onto the ground and jumped off the stone wall. With a jerk of his head, he indicated for the gang to follow.

Maia’s heartbeat picked up. Still concentrating on Tama, she stepped off the kerb and onto Waiata Crescent. The blast of a horn made her leap back. The front passenger leaned out of a battered sedan, and swore at her. Ignoring the pimply git, she scooted around the car and across the side road.

A loud wolf-whistle made her jump. She glanced over her shoulder. Tama’s eyes were fixated on her, promising things she didn’t want.

He grabbed his crotch. “I like ya from behind, Maia.”

All the boys, except for Mikey Thomas, laughed. Tama’s cousin looked away as though uncomfortable with what was happening. He was fourteen and in her class at school. She thought he liked her; either that or he had a staring problem. Yeah, she’d only noticed because she was usually checking him out too.

Maia wondered if she could lose the gang by cutting across the highway. Traffic was heavy, making this option just as dangerous as stopping for Tama. Further up the road, past the tyre yard, the video and liquor stores’ lights were on. The neon sign of the happy video man was a welcoming sight. It was maybe a hundred metres away. She thought she had a chance of outrunning Tama. She was fast, damned fast. If she’d showed up to school enough, she probably would’ve been on the track team.

“Maia, pretty Maia,” Tama taunted. “I’ve got sumpthin’ to show you.”

Maia wasn’t sure whether it was a knife—or something else in his pants. She knew he carried a switchblade. He’d stabbed her brother in the arm once when Nike attacked him with a baseball bat. She’d always wondered whether this was why Tama harassed her. But she couldn’t blame Nike for it. Leila, his girlfriend at the time, had caused the fight. The bitch had cheated on him with Tama, then cried rape after he found out.

“Leave me alone, Tama,” she said, remembering the last time he’d approached her. She’d kicked him in the balls for grabbing her breasts. “Nike said he’d beat the living snot outta you if you came near me again.”

“I’d love to see him fuckin’ try. Plus, you owe me, bitch.”

Maia knew she should keep her mouth shut; that whenever she spoke it got her into trouble. Her mother had told her countless times, “You speak too much, Maia, you should listen more.”

She grinned, unable to help herself. “What do I owe you? More bruised balls?”

She heard a slicing noise behind her, the sound of a switchblade being opened. Shit!

“Get her,” Tama yelled.

You can find Behind the Hood at the following distributors

Reviews

"INTENSE! I could probably leave my review at this one word and that would say it all. What a nerve wracking read. At first I thought there were going to be too many point of view characters for me to get involved emotionally, but they all tied back to each other perfectly. I had no problem keeping track of who was who and how they related back to each of the other characters. By the last three-quarters of the book I had the phones turned off and the Do Not Disturb sign hung on the door. I had to know what was going to happen and I didn't want any interruptions. Marita Hansen did not disappoint. I can't wait to read the sequel..." Amazon US Review.

"This may be a work of fiction, but the author has used her knowledge to give us an eye-opening and realistic look into a very rough culture. This book is quality, one not to be missed." Smashwords Review.

About the Author
Marita is a New Zealander, currently living in Singapore. She is married with two kids, and likes to write, create artworks, coach soccer, and occasionally referee a match.

maritaahansen.blogspot.com

Sample Sunday: Breaking Free

2011-08-21T13:42:00.002+01:00

A very brief extract from Hamelin's Child:

Eddie pursed his lips, still smirking. “I’m going to count to three,” he said. “You either put the knife down or I’ll take it off you. Your choice.”

Michael said nothing.

“One.” Eddie tossed the keys onto the bed.

Michael risked a quick glance at them. Too far away.

“Two. Don’t be stupid, Mikey. You’re far too pretty to damage.”

Pretty? Michael curled his lip contemptuously, fired up by adrenaline.

“Three. OK, if that’s the way you want it.” Eddie tightened the belt on his robe and stepped up to him. Right up – not just out of reach of the knife, but well into Michael’s range.

Michael slashed, but Eddie reached beyond the knife and knocked his wrist away. With his other hand, he punched Michael in the stomach and the knife fell to the carpet. Eddie picked it up instantly and before Michael had time to catch his breath, there was an arm across his throat, a face inches away from his own.

Moving On From Procrastination

2011-08-16T20:20:00.002+01:00

So what's new? A few posts ago I was debating what I should be working on right now. With too many projects on the go and not enough hours in the day, I wish I could apply some of the OCD organisation of my day job to my writing.

So I've bitten the bullet and asked the wonderful artist/designer JT Lindroos (who did my awesomely good cover for Hamelin's Child) if he could come up with something for my YA fantasy Edge of Dreams. Now Edge was almost picked up a few years back by a couple of traditional publishers (not enough money at the acquisitions meetings, I was told), and was eventually published by an independent ebook company, but I've got the rights back now and have another book in the series almost ready, so I thought it was time for a major edit/update and then it would be ready for kindling. Getting the cover art sorted is a real incentive to get moving, and JT's first draft last week was impressive - not how I'd have thought of doing it at all - which goes to prove that designers are worth the investment. I've been doing a bit of research on blogs, review sites and forums and covers are vitally important in getting a potential reader to get as far as a blurb or a click-through.

So watch this space. Edge of Dreams and its snazzy new cover will be up on kindle very shortly, followed in a few months by the sequel Flashpoint. Young adult contemporary fantasy, certified 100% vampire-and-werewolf-free. Not even any elves, faeries, wizards or dragons. And no zombies either. Although if a million people buy the books, I might be persuaded to write some into book 3...

Violence in Literature

2011-08-04T22:37:00.002+01:00

There's an ongoing discussion going on over at Soooz Says Stuff. This month's topic is Violence in Literature: When is Enough, Enough? There's a guest post up every day or so and it's generating some lively discussions. Today is my guest post, so feel free to hop over and join in!

Mermaid Magic!

2011-08-04T20:33:00.002+01:00

Nothing whatsoever to do with writing, but I just found this on an old blog - proof that I have other creative talents!

I painted this on my daughter's bedroom wall when she was about 5 or 6 and wanted to be a mermaid when she grew up. Took me about a week to do by drawing small squares on my picture and bigger ones on the wall and transferring the image bit by bit. In the fireplace was a dark green & sparkly grotto complete with seashells.

Daughter is 15 now and Ariel is long gone, replaced by purple and silver, mirrors and make-up. A shame really that I couldn't just roll it up and stick it on some other little girl's wall. My 4 year old niece would adore it.

Anatomy of a Cover (or an idiot trying to use photoshop...)

2011-07-27T22:21:00.002+01:00

I've been lucky so far. A talented friend did the cover for my short story collection and a professional cover designer did the jacket for my novel (with input from the wonderful Al Guthrie whose help was much appreciated).

I have a crime short story I wrote for a competition. I rather like it and there doesn't seem to be a huge market for shorts, so I thought it might be time to put a few single stories on kindle to generate some more interest in the novel. It turns out that the writing is the easy bit!


version 1

First off, I need an image. No problem - there are lots on google, aren't there? Well there are millions to search through and many have no known owners that I can find. A lot are tied down by copyright and creative commons licensing and it's such a minefield, I don't know where to start. I don't want to pay monthly fees for image downloads and I'm not very good at sifting through them all to find what I want.

So given that my short story is set in Liverpool, I thought I'd go and take my own photos. Hubby has a posh digital SLR and happens to work near Pier Head, so I sent him off on a mission to take me lots of photos of the Liver Birds, Pier Head, the Mersey Ferry and terminal etc. He came back with half a dozen Liver Birds.

Next I need software. I have an old copy of Photoshop that I bought some time ago (you can buy previous versions - mine is CS3 - quite cheaply when new versions are released). So I chucked the best photo in, cropped it a bit, resized it and added a title and author. I even managed to sample the colour of the Liver Bird and use that as the text colour. The result was version 1 - but the Liver Bird is so small, it will be invisible at thumbnail size (need to remember that anything shown on Amazon or used as a signature in forum posts etc will be *really* small, so the cover needs to be sharp with a lot of contrast and big type).

version 2

So I tried again. This time I cropped more of the image so the Liver Bird is bigger. This is an improvement, I think, although you don't get a sense of the sheer size of the building. Now you can clearly see the colour of the text matches the Liver Bird. I'm not sure what else I want to add to this image yet - might go and take some more photos of the ferry and I'm not sure where on earth I can find a royalty-free image of a rocket-propelled grenade (rpg) from as unfortunately I don't know anyone who can assist me there! Version 1 would be better to add secondary images to, but then the whole thing might look too complicated.

version 3

Version 3 and I've cropped the image so that the Liver Bird dominates the space. A different look again.

So what's next? Well I'm not fussed on the font. It needs to be something that's obviously not romancy-chick-lit, all the more so as the title itself doesn't say "crime" (it's a song title for those of you who don't know). I've exhausted the fonts within photoshop so I need to go hunt around the net for inspiration (and fonts seem as complicated as images...)

Sort the font, maybe add a couple of smaller images if I can work out how to do it without it looking tackily amateur. Format the story and upload it and I'm away!

Anti-Social Networking

2011-07-25T21:23:00.005+01:00

Much as I hate to admit it, I'm middle-aged. In the 45-54 age bracket on forms (turning 40 was a breeze, but that 45-54 was a killer). I've worked in law-enforcement for all of my career and in IT for a large chunk of it. So back in the very early 1990s - if not the late 1980s - I had an email account. Back then, I don't recall the internet existing outside of academia, but there were a very few ISPs around that offered email accounts if you bought a large and clunky Amstrad dial-up modem card that you stuck in a slot in your pc and plugged your telephone line into. Then there was a choice of basically CIX and one or two others whose names I forget. Not only did I get an email address, with a nice off-line reader (necessary to avoid tying up the phone lines while reading/writing emails), but also a set of community forums where you could chat to other account holders in various groups of threads - much like a non-pictorial version of today's Facebook.

For anyone who is old enough and/or nerdy enough to remember all of this, I was jale@cix.whatever.co.uk and I mostly used to haunt the cult.tv threads where we discussed equally nerdy topics such as Star Wars. I recall a mass meet-up at somebody's house in Birmingham, where we watched lots of classic tv (this is before dvds and internet tv, remember - most of us didn't even have a video player), ate lots of food and generally had a good time. There must have been 50 or so people there (it was a big house in Solihull), including an undercover journalist who promptly divulged the lot in the next day's national papers - claiming infringement of copyrights and public performances.

But it shows the power of social networking 20 years ago. There were no other quick forms of communication - mobile phones had shoulder-bags to carry the battery and were strictly for the rich and businesses. Private telephones were still ruled by British Telecom and an expensive way to spend time. Stamps and letters still ruled the masses, but it's not the ideal way to communicate, especially with people you've never met in real life.

I moved on from CIX as the internet gradually grew and lost touch with a lot of the great guys (and girls) I met back then. And now we are spoiled for choice with Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Twitter and now Google+ coming on line (I don't get Google - cloud computing? I mean what if it's raining?). I may be 47, but I love being able to keep in touch with old friends and make so many new ones all over the world, especially when they are people I choose to communicate and interact with, by virtue of the things we have in common - shared interests, hobbies or values.

Is it anti-social to be sat at a computer rather than talking to real people in real-time? Where are these real people? I live in a small village and have a family. I don't really have any friends who live close enough to drop in on - and these days, it's not really done, is it? These days you never call unannounced "just for a chat and a drink" like we used to. That's sad. But then I have all these people at my fingertips. They might be online and all over the world - but they are real people too and I know many of them would be there for me if I needed them. I've seen how they respond to others in crisis, whether that's financial, earthquake, fire or other disaster.

And friends like that are hard to find anywhere.

When Too Much Is (Still) Not Enough

2011-07-14T17:56:00.002+01:00

Today I'm guest-blogging over at Steve Lockley's website. He has a different guest every day at the moment, and I think this month it's all women too. So if you want to know what us girls think about stuff, go check it out ...

To Plot or Not

2011-07-11T20:53:00.000+01:00

I often get involved in online discussions (Facebook, Authonomy, UK Kindle Users Forum, wherever) about the merits of plotting a novel. Or not, as the case may be. I read posts where people detail the level at which they plan their writing – in notes, in synopses, on index cards, post-it notes, wallpaper above the desk. They outline their characters: What would Joe eat for breakfast? What sandwich does Sally prefer? If Wizard Beerbelly went to the Auld Tavern, what would he order to drink?

I am so jealous. I would love to be that organised – so in control of what I am doing. Or would I? I once wrote that one of my characters was scared. I had absolutely no idea why he was scared, but I knew it was important. So I wrote it in. Ten chapters or so later, I realised what it was he was scared of, and everything fell into place. I became aware of it when the character did. Lazy plotting or inspired genius? Maybe I won’t answer that one! But the point I am making is that I can’t actually write if I know too far in advance what is going to happen. I might have an idea of a scene coming up, or that somebody will discover something important, but generally the plot is unfolding as the characters live it. If I know what is going to happen, then the magic is gone and it all becomes a chore.

This doesn’t make life easy. I have written myself into more corners than I can remember and so I have lots of pieces of work on the go:

Young adult contemporary fantasy – Edge of Dreams – book 1 of a trilogy. No elves, wizards, demons or vampires. It’s finished but requires a light edit. This nearly got accepted by a one of the big guys once upon a time, but got bounced at an acquisitions meeting. It was then e-published by a small press a few years ago, but I now have the rights back and want to put it up on kindle.
Another YA fantasy – Flashpoint – book 2 of the trilogy which is nearly completed.
An as-yet-untitled follow-on novel to my kindled thriller Hamelin’s Child. About 18,000 words in.
Blue Flamingo – another dark thriller with a touch more of the supernatural and a touch less of the sex (so far, anyway). I’ve only written 3 chapters of this, despite some nagging by people who’ve read it, and have no idea of where it is going.
An adult fantasy Blood Ties, which I started writing about 20 years ago, under the mentoring of an editor from Orion. Of course, she left the company, I moved up North, real life happened etc etc. It’s 70,000 words done and is pretty damn good, but I just can’t summon up any enthusiasm to finish it!

So what should I do? I have ideas for other projects, snippets of scenes and characters, but I feel compelled to tidy up some of my loose ends before I unravel some more. And yet in the rest of my life I am structured and planned to the point of OCD. I make lists of my lists, I tick things off, I finish everything I start and on deadline. Why can’t I apply this mentality to my writing? I need to be orderly, organised, finish all these outstanding bits and pieces and not leave my poor characters in a limbo lasting decades! But I don't want to lose the sheer excitement of writing-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, of discovering the story with my characters, having them whisper in my ear and tell me things they've just found out. So do I go with my thriller branding or go back to my fantasy roots? Both ways I can gain – either way I will lose something.

All suggestions welcome!

Sample Sunday: Beyond Rescue

2011-07-03T07:00:00.003+01:00

Headlights were speeding towards them, looming out of the fog like the eyes of a huge monster. Yellow and unblinking, mesmerising, fixing their prey with a paralysing stare as the beast roared in anger, coming from nowhere out of the night.

The car swerved, wheels locked on February ice as Mark leaned across from the passenger seat and instinctively tried to grab the steering wheel from Jenny’s rigid grip. But it was too late. Much too late. The hedges were towering giants on either side of the country lane and there was nowhere else to go.

And in the fraction of a second before impact, Mark looked up and saw the lorry driver’s face with crystal clarity, frozen in a mask of absolute terror as the night exploded in a chaos of glass and fire.

Awake or asleep? Alive or dead?

Which?

Images changing, blurring, reforming. Flick to the next one. No – too far. Back. Back!

Wake up!

Can’t. Gone too far. Can’t wake up! Help me!

The pain was gone in seconds, sliding away from him like a blanket discarded in sleep. Only he wasn’t in bed – was he? Was this all just an elaborate dream? A nightmare of fire and twisted metal?

No, it was too real. He could feel nothing, yet there was an overwhelming stench of petrol and the angry crackle of flames.

No direction. Only a sense of urgency. Something important he has to do.

What is it? Where am I?

No time to think. Got to go. Find Jenny.

Jenny?

Mark sat up slowly. There was wet grass underneath him – he’d obviously been thrown some distance from the crash. Across the field the car was entwined with the lorry in an obscene embrace; a lover’s kiss of death.

He got to his feet as the lorry’s engine exploded a rocket of glass and metal up into the night sky. The noise was deafening.

The whole of the nearside of the car was mangled beyond recognition, embedded in the wheel arch of the lorry. Mark went round to the driver’s side and wrenched the door open, not feeling the flames licking at his hands. Jenny was slumped over the steering wheel, blood on her face and her blonde hair already singed. Mark unclasped the seatbelt.

Hands underneath her shoulders, he dragged the girl out, barely pausing to glance at the body next to her in the passenger seat. Or rather what was left of the body. Then he lifted his wife gently in his arms – not stopping to wonder that he couldn’t feel the weight of her – and carried her away from the wreckage. She was still breathing.

Mark put her down on the grass by the gate.

It’s done. Time to go. No place here any more.

I love you, Jenny.

In the distance, there was the wail of a siren.

How to Win Customers ...

2011-06-24T22:53:00.000+01:00

I was catching up on some guest blogs today and started another one. The title was going to be along the lines of How to Win Friends and Influence People, so I opened up Word and typed How to Win Customers.

The phone rang, or someone came to the door - I forget which. Distraction set in, quickly followed by procrastination and a dose of apathy.

I came back to the pc much later after teenage daughter had got home and found my one line had expanded to:

How to win customers

Win them in a raffle
Bid for them in an auction
Win them in a tombola
guess the name of the customer and you win them
Pay £1 and go on Hook a Duck, you might win one of the customers hanging up on the side.

Need I go on?

So that pretty much sums it up then, really. Blog done!

Sample Sunday: The Secret

2011-06-12T10:57:00.002+01:00

Music from the taverna below floats through the open window. It’s Greek, I think. Or Turkish. There are voices too, celebrating; the clink of glasses and laughter.

Does anybody remember laughter?

That’s from a song. I can’t remember what it is. I can’t remember much anymore, though I can recall—

—the secret—

—bringing the glass upstairs from the taverna the other night and finishing the entire bottle of cheap ouzo.

The glass is broken now; shards litter the table in front of me. I cut my foot earlier, and stained the bright poppy-patterned duvet on the bed. There are flowers everywhere in this village. Wisteria strangles the tiny villas, bougainvillea guard the entrance to every garden like aggressive soldiers, baskets and tubs adorn every balcony. The smell of the mimosa is overwhelming.

I hate flowers. They remind me of—

—the secret—

—saying goodbye to Sarah. But I couldn’t say goodbye, could only say au revoir, see you again, wait for me and I’ll be there soon. And I will. I promise.

The sun is almost on the horizon. It’s a wedding downstairs. Alexio the waiter asked me earlier if I’d like to stay. He looked kind and I nearly told him about—

—the secret—

—Sarah, and how I was going to meet her at sunset. In the place she was conceived. Five years ago tonight.

I pick up the glass shard in my right hand.

And I know the secret.

Commercial Activities in Libraries?

2011-06-03T21:27:00.001+01:00

So there I am in our local town library. On a Saturday it's often a busy place with art exhibitions in the foyer and the occasional local authors signing (and presumably selling) copies of their books. There's a small annex with computers and internet access, racks of leaflets and plenty of noticeboards advertising local events and activities.

Now I recently had some vistaprint postcards printed up with the new and rather impressive cover of my thriller. I'm not a graphic designer, but these were nice - all glossy and smart with quotes from reviews on the back. I was pleased with the result, which surprised me as vistaprint's last efforts with a business card were disappointing and I threw most of them away.

What better place to leave book postcards than the local library? But no - it's "too commercial". Eh? A PR postcard for an ebook is too commercial, but it's OK for local authors to sell books and local artists to sell art? I thought libraries were trying to survive all the cuts - surely embracing and including the community would be a good place to start? I realise that ebooks may be a politically sensitive topic with libraries, given that the big publishers want to sell them "self-destructing" ebooks, to mimic the wear-and-tear (and subsequent need to re-purchase) of a real book, but casually dismissing us indie authors is not going to win us over to their side of the argument, is it?

I'm not naming and shaming here (yet - unless you're one of my facebook friends and you can see it there). I have emailed the council and asked for their opinion and I will let you know their answer.

Sample Sunday: Blood Ties

2011-05-29T09:00:00.006+01:00

And now something different - a fantasy novel extract:

Andry wondered how long it would take to die. It was difficult to think straight, difficult to concentrate on any thought for more than a few seconds, but his eyes kept being drawn back to the rope on the dais at the far end of City Square and the crowd that was even now beginning to gather around it.

It was raining, a fine drizzle that soaked through the thin cotton shirt and made him shiver. He was finding it increasingly hard to stay awake – never mind keep warm – and since the last dose of whatever drugs he’d been given, he’d finally realised that there was no way out. This time he wouldn’t leave Ariathen alive and he wasn’t sure he cared anyway.

Why did you do it, Elene? When you had so much to live for? The only one of this violent and bloodthirsty race who had cared about him and she was dead, had been dead these seven years past and he hadn’t known. Not until now. She’d ended their affair, determined to make her marriage work and then she’d killed herself. He’d have cried if he’d had the strength, but all he could do was stumble across the cobbles and hope to meet her in whatever world she’d gone to.

A diversion up ahead and one of his guards stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to one side and saw a familiar face pushing his way to the front of the crowd. Jereth? But the cocktail of drugs was too potent and he couldn’t reach his friend’s mind. Words would have to be enough.

“Andry.” Not much more than a whisper, but the guards were looking towards the source of the disturbance across the square.

“Jereth.” What could he say? There was nothing his friend could do without jeopardising his own safety. “She’s dead.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

He knew? Was that why they’d kept him away from the city for so long? “There was a child. A girl.” The words kept getting stuck in his throat, but he was alert enough to see Jereth’s wide-eyed expression – he obviously hadn’t known this much.

“Yours?”

He nodded, but even the slight movement made him lose his balance and he fell against the guard. By the time he’d got his feet underneath him, he was pushed forwards again and Jereth had melted back into the sea of people, all jostling for the best vantage point to see him die. Someone spat at him, but his hands were tied and he couldn’t even wipe his face.

Up on the dais stood a familiar figure. Dressed in the uniform of the City Militia, the man’s complete lack of any badges of rank marked him out from the other soldiers positioned around the square – both Watch Guard and Militia had turned out for the event. Andry wondered if they knew what he’d done. Why he was really here. Not just because he’d broken the treaty.

“Andry. Are you prepared?” The man’s voice was low but the tone deadly.

“To meet Elene again? Oh, yes.” If he’d been capable of it, he’d have laughed at the effect her name had on Ariathen’s Guard Captain. He wished he could shout it out loud.

His last thought as he felt the rope was that he’d never even known his daughter’s name.

Love Story (Part 2)

2011-05-19T20:05:00.001+01:00

(read part 1)

They took mam away. For a rest, they said, though I didn’t know what from – she never seemed to do any work that I could see, apart from ironing Little Billy’s shirts. He was fussy like that, said it was important to look good, and it impressed the social enough for them to say he could look after me while mam was gone. I had to iron his shirts then and that’s when things started to go wrong, when I left the iron on for too long.

“Moron!” The back of his hand hit my face and I fell over, catching my foot in the cable and pulling the iron down on top of me. I screamed as it landed on my arm, but Little Billy grabbed me and dragged me into the kitchen and made me stick my arm under the cold tap. Then he said I didn’t need to go to school no more in case the teachers saw how stupid I was and they took me away too.

And now mam was gone, uncle Kenny came round more often. Sometimes he stayed all night and I had to make breakfast for them both and I thought maybe he should just move in with us. Little Billy said I was thinking too much again and I should just do as I were told and shut up whining. And he went into the bathroom and came out all shiny-eyed just like mam did.

When uncle Kenny brought uncle Liam to meet me when Little Billy was out. I didn’t want to let them in, not when I was alone in the flat and Little Billy said not to answer the door to strangers. But uncle Kenny wasn’t a stranger, and they brought me chocolate cake and I ain’t never had chocolate cake before, so I let them in and gave them Little Billy’s beer. They left me sixty quid, so I stuffed thirty in the drawer by my bed and put the other thirty in the kitchen. Then I had a bath. After that, I got the iron out and started ironing Little Billy’s shirts again as I’d messed up so bad last time.

“Thirty quid?” Little Billy stomped across the room. “Thirty quid? Nobody screws with Billy Martin, least of all Kenny-fuckin’-Briggs.” He threw the ashtray at the wall and all the dog-ends landed on the carefully-ironed shirts, which were my fault really, as I should’ve put them away before he got back from the Rocket. I tried to clean up the mess, but Billy hit me again and said I obviously hadn’t been nice enough while he was out. I heard him swearing, then punch the wall in the bathroom and then it went quiet for a bit and he came out again, only this time, his eyes were so shiny I thought they’d bug right out of his head, and his nose was runnin’ with snot.

“Look at ya, little whore. Just like your mam, you are – can’t be nice enough to earn a decent livin’.”

I backed away. Little Billy was scarin’ me and I wanted to tell him about the rest of the money uncle Kenny had left but he wasn’t listening; he was muttering to himself about how he’d be better off without me and I could go and work the streets for all he cared.

There was spit coming out of his mouth and he didn’t look like Little Billy no more as he stumbled towards me, and I was really scared then as I’d never seen him so angry and I didn’t know what I was s’posed to have done anyway, so I shoved the ironing board at him and he fell over it and the hot iron landed smack on his face and there was a God-awful stink.

I wish I'd been a nice girl and then p'raps Little Billy would've been OK.

How Long is a Piece of Rope?

2011-05-16T19:37:00.001+01:00

Just about long enough to hang myself. This and other interesting questions are debated over at Dan Holloway's Company Of Fellows website.

And this really should have been posted on Friday - but with the blogger outage last week, it got lost somewhere in cyberspace.

Sample Sunday: Blue Flamingo

2011-05-15T14:38:00.002+01:00

For my first #SS posting, here's an extract from my new work-in-progress thriller Blue Flamingo:

“So what do you think?”

Matt reversed into the parking space, pulled the hand brake on and turned off the engine. Ignition key in one hand, he folded his arms, not looking at his passenger. “I think you’re out of your league.”

“We’ll make a fortune.”

“So? Can’t spend it inside, can we?” He wasn’t convinced. Ever since Christian had suggested a change in business direction, Matt had been having second thoughts about the whole thing – not that he got any say in the matter; his status generally hovered somewhere between chauffeur and technical advisor, depending on Christian’s mood and financial state of affairs. And although the other man frequently asked for his opinion on other matters, he rarely took any notice of the replies.

Scrambling out of the car, Matt hit the button on the key fob. The indicators flashed once in response and he followed Christian across the wet tarmac to the motorway service-station. At nine-thirty on a Wednesday evening it was quiet, the commuter traffic long gone, the overnight truckers yet to arrive and there was a air of desolation about the whole place, from the bank of telephone kiosks outside the double doors to the empty foyer. Even the small arcade was deserted, the games machines flashing green and orange lights across dirty glass doors.

“Who is this guy, then?” He watched Christian’s arse climb the stairs to the footbridge over the motorway. Either he purposefully bought his jeans a size too small or he’d put on a few stone since he’d bought this pair – probably the latter since in the five years they’d been working together, Matt had never known the man buy any new clothes. Not even a pair of shoes. Christian was a slob. Correction – a pretentious slob, if such a thing existed. And why he thought Christian Valeccine was going to impress people more than plain old Christopher Williams was beyond Matt’s comprehension. He’d seen the name once, on a tax demand, and had almost asked him about it, before he’d changed his mind. Some things were better left alone.

The man turned on the steps, allowing his protégé to catch up. “He wants to buy me out.” He paused for effect, then carried on walking.

“He wants to what?” This was new. On the way up from London, Christian had been talking about using this man’s contacts and expertise to branch out, expand the business with some new sidelines – singers maybe, or theme evenings. He’d had concerns about Christian’s suggestions even then, but he’d heard only the briefest details so far. It was difficult to speculate at ninety-five miles per hour in the rain on the M1. However, a take-over bid wasn’t what he’d had in mind. Where does that leave me? he wanted to ask, but now was not the time. Not with an imminent meeting with Mr Mysterious. And anybody who insisted on conducting business at ten at night on the M1 was not the kind of man you irritated with trivialities. Christian was out of his league all right.

They were on the footbridge now, a covered walkway connecting both sides of the service station. Dull yellow squares of linoleum led a haphazard path to the Southbound carriageway and Matt wondered who was waiting on the other side. He tried not to imagine the drop beneath his feet, tried not to visualise the traffic hurtling through underneath him. He didn’t like heights; he never had – not since Jeff had made him climb out of the tree-house onto a particularly thin-looking branch and then left him there, clinging precariously until he’d fallen off some ten minutes later. Jeff had thought it hilariously funny, but all it had proved to Matt was that he couldn’t compete with a brother two years his senior.

“So what will you do, then? If you sell up.” He had to ask.

“Oh, I don’t know. Get out of the country for a while. Maybe America or Australia.”

“You’d give it all up?”

“All what? In case you hadn’t noticed, Matt, the club’s been half-empty for months. If we don’t pull in some extra trade somehow, we’re sunk. And I don’t see what you’re concerned about, anyway. You’re part of the deal.”

“Oh, no. Not me. You sell, that’s your business. I’m a free agent.”

“You think so?” Christian smiled. “You walk out and you’re on a one-way ticket to Her Majesty’s holiday camp, my son.”

Matt stopped walking. This wasn’t the way the conversation was supposed to go. Christian’s voice had lost its friendly bantering tone and taken on a harder edge Matt hadn’t heard before. He looked out at the night, but could only see his own water-streaked reflection staring back at him, eyes half-hidden under brown hair. His contacts were irritating his eyes again and he rubbed them, wishing he’d worn his glasses instead.

There was no point in arguing with the man. Not at the moment. In any case, he had the car keys and he could be gone in minutes if the situation got out of hand. And Christian wasn’t really threatening him; they’d gone through variations of this a thousand times before and it was the man’s way of showing Matt who was boss, because on an intellectual basis, both of them knew Matt would win hands down. It was all a game, an elaborate ritual to be played out whenever Christian’s ego needed a boost. Like the time Kit left, Matt thought. For a while, Matt had taken up the reins of the business, but Christian had survived the affair, then thrown himself back into work with a renewed vigour. He’d criticised just about every decision Matt had made, but it was wounded pride talking and things had quickly returned to normal. But this was different. Something had changed and Matt wasn’t sure what it was.

He heard footsteps behind them and could see the reflection, distorted colours bouncing across both sides of the glass corridor. A man stood at the top of the steps outlined in the neon glare of the strip lights. Black boots under black jeans, he stood there, hands in the pockets of his denim jacket like something out of a bad cowboy movie. He was watching them quite openly and Matt shivered. Who was this guy they’d come to meet? There was more than the Blue Flamingo at stake here.

To Market, To Market ...

2011-05-04T20:42:00.000+01:00

Another post over at the Harrogate Crime Writers' Website: You're Booked.

Criminal-E Good Interview!

2011-04-28T18:30:00.001+01:00

Today I'm being interviewed by crime author, agent & editor Allan Guthrie over at the Criminal-E blog!

Blowing stuff up

2011-04-17T15:35:00.001+01:00

Semtex or RPG - that’s a rocket-propelled grenade? Semtex will give you a big bang, but you need a detonator and a time-delay, unless you want to go bang with it. And you have to get your semtex pretty close to where you want your bang to be. An RPG can be fired from some distance away, so you don’t have to get into the building past security and CCTV. On the other hand, semtex is a lot smaller to carry around (if a bit smelly), whereas an RPG might be a bit noticeable were you to carry one round on your shoulder in the city centre.

So there I am, trying to blow up a national landmark in the name of fiction. Wikipedia and the internet are wonderful things, as is a husband with a background in the Territorial Army. And I’m wondering what on earth anybody would think if they were monitoring my browsing history. So this post will be a witness to the fact that I’m a writer, not a terrorist. OK?

Love Story (Part 1)

2011-04-07T22:18:00.005+01:00

I don’t know what to think. It didn’t matter when I was a kid, when Little Billy did the thinking for me. Wake up, stand here, hold this, be nice to uncle Kenny. I never knew I had so many uncles, but they came to visit mam every weekend. Little Billy said they was just being friendly, like, when they wanted to cuddle me too and I didn’t mind, not really. Uncle Kenny used to bring me comics and I’d sit on his knee while Little Billy was at the match, then they’d all go down the Rocket and I’d have to make the tea.

“Fish fingers, our Linnie,” mam said to me. “The economy ones, mind.” And she’d disappear into the bathroom and come out all shiny-eyed and sniffing. I used to think she’d been crying, but Little Billy told me to stop fuckin’ thinking so much and get the goddamn tea on. And he peeled a fiver off a huge wad of notes and pushed it across the kitchen worktop.

I gasped. “Where d’you get all that cash, Little Billy?” I never saw so much money before. Not even when mam won on the bingo and we had pizza for tea – real pizza that came in a box on the back of a motorbike.

“Worked hard for it, our Linnie.” He looked at me then. Really looked at me, like – with his head cocked to one side and his bottom lip between his teeth. “D’you want to earn some money for yourself, then?”

And that’s how it started. A tenner for me and a tenner for Little Billy, he said. But a tenner was a fortune to me and I wasn’t to know that Little Billy’s cut was more than twice that and then some. So when mam was at the bingo, Uncle Kenny used to come round to see me too, while Little Billy stood out on the balcony and smoked roll-ups and watched the traffic on the North Circular.

“Gonna buy a car,” he said to me afterwards, flicking ash onto the walkway below. “Soon as I get out of this dump. We’ll have a nice house, you an’ me, Linnie. With a garage and a garden and all.”

“What about mam?” I tucked my vest back into my knickers.

He looked at me in that strange way again. “Yeah, mam too.” He gave me my tenner then and I stuffed it in my pocket and bought chips with it later.

(read part 2)

The Experiment Continues...

2011-04-04T17:38:00.000+01:00

See my guest blog over at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival Website.

When Worlds Collide

2011-03-25T14:48:00.002Z

I'm participating in an authors' promotional event at work on Monday. At Cheshire Police headquarters. In the canteen. There are four or five us involved and I think the others all have actual physical books to display and sell. I have 100 not-very-good cards from Vistaprint (the proof copy printed out way better on my home pc than on their cards). How do you sell an ebook other than online?

But I shall appear on Monday and put my cards on the desk. Maybe stick around and have a chat with the others. Possibly even put in an appearance at lunchtime when it gets busy (the canteen that is, not the queue to look at my cards). Because my jacket cover has been up on posters all week with my name on. And my guilty secret is out. I'm an author. And not only do I write - I write sex and drugs and other unspeakable nasty things. What on earth work colleagues are going to make of it all, I don't know, but I suppose "coming out" was inevitable as soon as I uploaded my book onto kindle. After all I want to sell it and if people don't know it's there, they can't buy it, can they?

Wish me luck!

Guest Blogging Again.

2011-03-15T17:37:00.001Z

Guest blogging here and here today. My, but I'm getting around a lot at the moment...

Sales Report!

2011-03-14T22:50:00.001Z

So we're up to a huge total of 30 UK kindle sales of Hamelin's Child so far. Can't hand in my resignation yet then. But I do have 4 5-star utterly fabulous reviews on Amazon UK - and not all from my mates either! Handful of US sales and no reviews as yet, but then I have only just discovered that the UK and US sites are completely different. I've been whoring myself around the UK discussion boards and it looks like I'll have to do the same on the US ones too.

I don't find PR easy. Despite the fact that this novel was long-listed (top 20) for the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Award a few years back, there's still a small part of me that wonders whether everybody is secretly laughing at me. It may well be as much do with the controversial nature of the content as anything else, but I've been doing some research over the past couple of weeks and there's a lot worse stuff out there.

So I've been contributing to facebook discussions, guest blogging, grabbing every opportunity to yell "ME! ME! ME!" on other peoples' blogs and generally trying to put myself out there. Not sure I'm ready for an all out assault at work yet (there are a couple of guys selling their books in the work canteen in a couple of weeks), but we'll see how brave I'm feeling. It's kind of hard to sell an e-book anywhere other than online.

Setting the World on Fire

2011-03-03T22:16:00.000Z

So OK, I haven't made the best-sellers lists yet. But this kindle thing is curiously addictive. I can't resist the temptation to keep checking the stats on Amazon. Some good reviews, but so far they're from people I know - what I want is for people I don't know to take a look. I feel like I'm coming out of the closet at work, as slowly people are starting to pick up on the fact that I write (mostly due to the amazingly talented Pete Gorrell who has designed my covers for me). It was lovely to get a response from a work colleague who'd bought and enjoyed my novel - a response from a reader, rather than a writer and somebody who is less concerned with plot and point of view and structure, and more interested in whether it was a page-turning read (apparently it was). So my confidence is slowly building, although I expect to be contemplating the motorway bridge when I get my first bad review, which will happen. Can't please everyone.

But I'm glad I did it. So far, anyway

Yorkshire Crime

2011-02-28T17:15:00.002Z

I'm guest blogging again on the You're Booked website...

Self Published!

2011-02-26T23:35:00.004Z

I've done it. Self published! See book link opposite. Can I give up the day job now?

Starting the fire with kindling

2011-02-25T11:17:00.002Z

My wonderful dad bought me a kindle last week. I'd been toying with the idea since well before Christmas, but hadn't been able to justify the expense. Wow. I didn't realise how much I wanted one until I got one.

So there's the fact that it's an e-reader. Straight away I bought a couple of books from Amazon's kindle site (Burn, Baby, Burn and Impeding Justice if you're interested - both thrillers and I can recommend them). So easy - one click on the kindle and two minutes later I have them. Where I live, there isn't a bookshop other than WH Smiths within 15 miles and a lot of the best stuff is no longer commercial enough for the big publishers to touch, so the only way we get to read these gems is via kindle anyway. Since I'm not interested in celebrity memoirs or chick lit, I'd far rather be able to read what I want, rather than what some arbitrary gatekeeper decides I can have. So I'm convinced. I love my kindle and I look forward to a long and fulfilling relationship.

Then there's the writing angle. Last week I had an epiphany of sorts. I've spent many many years trying to interest commercial publishers in my writing. And the key word here is commercial. I've been told I can write by people whose opinions count (friends and industry professionals). I've had some great reviews. But I'm not commercial enough. Publishing is a business, and in these days of recession, if you can't make guaranteed megabucks, you don't stand a chance. Only established authors and celebrities are sure wins; nobody can afford to take chances on unknowns, unless of course you are really good and commercial - like my friend Ellie whose debut fantasy novel is due out from Gollancz in June. Which is where kindle comes in. What have I got to lose? Readers will decide if they want to pay for my books - if they like them then hopefully they'll leave some good reviews and tell their friends. If they don't, well I'm no worse off than I was before, am I?

Watch this space...

Customer - over the top - service?

2011-02-12T22:25:00.000Z

Let's continue in the customer service saga, shall we?

British Telecom this time. Now normally I am seriously not a fan of BT's customer service. Minimum of 10 minutes on hold listening to tinny music before you get a call-centre employee with a script that you dare not deviate from. Customer says A - turn to page 2, customer says B - turn to page 3, customer says Z - panic and return to start...

BUT, I have to hand it to them with this new BT fibre optic broadband thingy - BT Infinity. I've had maybe 3 or 4 calls from them now. Would I like to upgrade? Would I like about 27M speed rather than 0.5M for a few quid more per month? Hell, yes. Can I upgrade? Er - no. Not until March 31st in your area. So why are you phoning me then?

Customer - actually pretty damn good - service

2011-02-05T11:44:00.002Z

In contrast to last post - B&Q, this time, where we just bought a posh Cooke & Lewis shower cubicle, on account of the fact that it was 50% off plus a further 15% last weekend. So we arrange a delivery date and go home, only to realise that it won't fit in the shower room, without banging the door on the loo every time the door is opened. So we phone up B&Q, expecting to be fobbed off but are told very pleasantly that it's no problem at all and of course we can swap it for a different model (corner door), even though the model we now want wasn't actually in the sale catalogue. And of course they can still deliver on the same date. And no extra charge.

Well done, B&Q. You shall retain my custom in the future.

Customer - lack of - service?

2011-02-01T18:04:00.001Z

Ten levels down customer service’s button-activated telephone helpline system….

“My washing machine won’t spin.” In depth detail about what I’ve tried to do.
Have you tried another full wash?”
Do I sound stupid? “Er – no. I don’t fancy a machine-load of soggy washing that I can’t get dry.”
“What type of washing was it?”
Does it matter? “Towels”
“How many towels?”
What make? What colour? “Just a couple.”
“Ah, it’s the sensors. These modern machines can tell how much of a load there is and if it’s too small, the machine will switch off to preserve the life of the machine.”
I can tell you’ve never washed towels before. They’re not exactly lightweight. “So can you get an engineer out to fix it?”
“I can arrange an appointment. But if the engineer can’t find a fault, there will be a charge.”
Of course there’s a fault. “So how do I spin my towels then?”
“Have you tried putting something else in with them?”
That’s not really the point, is it? “I have 2 towels and I want to spin them. It’s spun my very lightweight handwashing before with no problem.”
“And what type of washing was that?”
You want me describe my underwear? Over the phone? From my desk in an open-plan office at work? “Just some tights.”
“I think it’s probably that the sensors aren’t picking it up.”
I don’t want a technical report. I want my f***ed washing machine def***ed. It’s only 3 months old. “So can you send an engineer out to fix it, please?”
“It’s not faulty.”
“Just give me an appointment. Please.” Before I kill myself.
“I can arrange one for Friday.”
“Friday afternoon would be great, thank you.”
“Oh I can’t guarantee when on Friday.”

So I go home, put a full load of duvet covers and sheets in and it works perfectly.

Sigh.

The Gaudi Key? Keep the door locked.

2010-12-05T13:39:00.002Z

The Gaudi Key didn’t unlock any doors for me, I’m afraid. Shame. I like these kind of books and can normally lap up Dan Brown and the conspiracy theorists. And I love Gaudi and the art nouveau movement. But this was truly awful. Maybe it suffers from being a translation from (presumably) Spanish? I simply can’t sit and read huge chunks of exposition and back-story and listen to characters telling each other things they already know just to inform the reader. And while I’m all for multiple points-of-view, you can’t jump into a character’s head and have him/her conveniently forget pertinent plot points because it suits the current scene. The author pushes one-dimensional characters around the board like chess pieces lecturing the reader and nobody has enough depth for me to have a clue whether or not their motivations are genuine. And I don’t really care.

But enough of negatives. There’s a lot of history in here, both real and imagined, though its delivery is pompous and dull at times. Gaudi is linked with the templars (isn’t everybody these days?) and the masons and there’s a real depth in the interpretation of his work, particularly the Sagrada Familia. On that level, the book succeeds. But as a novel, it just didn’t do it for me.

Fallen Star

2010-11-22T21:05:00.000Z

A rare book review - something I read on authonomy a while back and have championed ever since. Fallen Star by Ian Barker and recently published by Rebel e Publishers, although fortunately there's a dead-tree version as well for those of us who haven't yet embraced the e-reader revolution. I bought this recently from Amazon and I wasn't disappointed. Fallen Star is the story of ex-rock-star Karl and ordinary Irish cafe-worker Lizzie. He's famous; she's a nobody. He's used to getting what he wants; she won't play second fiddle to anyone. And he's the son of a war hero while she's the daughter of a terrorist. Can they ever find any common ground?

But this is more than a love story - it's a bird's-eye view of the "cult of the celebrity" that pervades our lives these days. From auditions for porn films to chat shows to reality tv shows, this book covers what it means to be "famous" in the 21st century. And it does it so well, it's scary.

Barker has a real wit. There are some fabulous one-liners in here that made me laugh out loud (and I committed the ultimate sin of turning page corners so I could find them again). "He turned on the smile again and her resistance caved in so far it would have needed an army of potholers to rescue it." Fabulous! The audition for the blue movie seemed so realistic I'm wondering how Barker did his research. And when Karl and Lizzie get caught in flagrante delicto by a posse of Girl Guides, I practically wet myself laughing.

The ending was predictable but with a nice twist that I didn't see coming. I did feel that the story stopped quite abruptly and I'd have liked to have known more, but that's probably because I was so caught up in these peoples' lives that I didn't want to stop reading. And without spoilers - I think Barker should patent his idea for a reality tv show before anyone else gets hold of it!

This is indie publishing at its best. Buy it. Buy it NOW.

Test Message

2010-10-06T17:22:00.000+01:00

Trying to get Facebook to connect to this blog, but not having much success so far....

Crime & Psychology

2010-10-05T22:03:00.005+01:00

Today was week 2 (of 10) of my crime & psychology course at the local 6th form college. There are about 16 of us and an odd demographic - mostly women, mostly middle-aged (as expected) but there are 3 young blokes. One I think is still at school/college.

Last week we were looking at the history of criminal profiling - how in the past your physical appearance could have a bearing over whether you might have criminal tendencies. Not much change there, you might say, but certain "scientists" believed that your body shape and even your ears could mean you harboured latent criminal tendencies!

This week, we talked about eyewitness testimony. Fascinating. Let's say you show a group of people a short video of two cars colliding. You ask them what speed they thought one car was doing when the cars collided. Then you repeat the process with a second group but this time you ask them "What speed were the cars doing when they smashed into each other?" The responses from the second group will be higher. It's amazing how much information you can almost subliminally implant by asking leading questions. Or how people make assumptions based on what they see, just to fit in with their "world view" and the brain then thinks this was what actually happened. So the whole purpose of "swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth" becomes fundamentally flawed when everyone has their own version of the truth. I've spent time in court (with work, I might add) and I was always in awe of barristers who could argue black was white - and make you believe it! But then I once spent over 5 hours in the witness box reading out serial numbers, so it wasn't all excitement.

Next week we're doing psychopathy. Serious stuff!

Sex or porn? When too much is not enough.

2010-07-03T23:27:00.005+01:00

Still Missing. A thriller? Misery memoir? Porn? Not read it yet, but will let you know. It does annoy me that industry insiders tell me my sex-and-drugs thriller is not commercial, yet this apparently is? Anything with this amount of pre-publication publicity must be commercial by definition, surely? It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Edited to add: here's a link to an interesting debate on this very topic on HarperCollins authonomy site.

Hmmph.

Vampire fiction

2010-07-02T21:44:00.007+01:00

A timely post, since there's apparently some new vampire film just out?

What is it with vampires? They're fictional creatures that drink blood, for God's sake. And yet the media and youth of today are obsessed with them. 21st century vampirism is definitely cute and fluffy, with pin-up vampires and Hollywood overtones.

Personally, when I do vampires at all, I like them dark and broody - Mitchell style, I guess, in the awesome BBC tv series Being Human. But I got a vampire book for review not so long ago - called Blood & Ice, I was fully intending to write a review here but lost the publicity slip and can't remember when the publication date is. I emailed the publishers but they've not got back to me. Now while this has been published already in hardback, I'm loath to write anything pre-paperback-publication-date just in case my edition is different in any way. So you'll have to make do with the hardback review by The Independent in the link. But I have to say, that for somebody who doesn't generally do vampire fiction, I liked this one, despite the negative review. I thought it was rather original. But you make your own mind up.

Or if you like your vampires a touch more - shall we say? - erotic, check out this excellent unpublished snippet Bite on HarperCollins authonomy site. But please note - it's adults-only and, um, ever-so-slightly (well all right - quite a bit) graphic. Don't say I didn't warn you....

Legend or Action?

2010-05-15T16:46:00.003+01:00

Compare and contrast two books: Alan Fenton’s The Return of Arthur and Matthew Reilly’s Seven Ancient Wonders. The first is a modern retelling of the Arthurian legend – I had this in hardback many years ago and recently received a review copy of a new edition together with its sequel. The second is a bit like Dan Brown on acid. Reilly started out writing action books, some could only be described as military thrillers, but the recent stuff has a conspiracy-theory twist – at one point a character in the Louvre even says he’s having a “Dan Brown” moment. I read Seven Ancient Wonders a few years back but since I just got the third in the trilogy, I thought I’d start again.

So – Fenton tells (note that word – it’s important later) the story of King Arthur in modern Britain, where scientist Merlin teaches at a boy’s school and Arthur is the son of a politician. Now I’m a sucker for Arthurian legends, but while this is competently written, there’s no real pace or drama. Arthur does this, Merlin does that; nobody even seems to notice when Merlin does a vanishing act. I just don’t feel I know or care about these people. The book is still on my bedroom floor and I have doubts about whether I’ll find the enthusiasm to finish it, much less read the sequel.

Reilly on the other hand. This guy breaks all the rules. The plots are preposterous – we have crack commando teams evading quicksand and finding bits of pyramid around the world and attempting to prevent some cataclysm and fulfil ancient prophecies (you get the Dan Brown analogy now?). The actual writing is littered with exclamation marks, bits in italics, odd paragraph breaks, explanatory pictures and maps. There are plane chases, impossible escapes, implausible action sequences, but God, do I want to keep reading?

So what’s better? Fenton telling us a story with no real depth or pace? Or Reilly’s edge-of-the-seat showing us the action at breakneck speed? I know who I’ll carry on reading.

Crime Pays

2010-05-14T17:15:00.004+01:00

Or it should do. Especially if you're writing it. Having failed quite spectacularly so far in selling my psychological thriller/crime novel, I've decided I need to be "marketable". So, given that I'm not about to murder anyone (not yet, anyway ...), what else can I do?

Short stories? I don't write many of them. I find them much harder to write than novels - how to produce something compact and satisfying in such a small number of words? But every now and again the mood takes me and I wrote three in the early part of this year, which are doing the rounds of various competitions and women's magazines. Maybe when I've won some competitions or have some more short publications to my credit, I'll tick a few more boxes on the right lists for marketability?

I've also contributed some content to a new website associated with the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. It seemed like a good idea as I've entered their short story competition too! Maybe if I can expose myself in as many places as possible (without getting arrested), I might then be classed as marketable? Then again, perhaps I should just get arrested.

Time Flies

2010-05-14T17:13:00.002+01:00

Ag. Where has the time gone? Blog? What blog? In my defence, I've succumbed to facebook lately, so anything interesting I have to say (and believe me, it's not much) is now mostly said there.

FantasyCon 2009

2009-10-08T23:25:00.003+01:00

It came and it went and it was a blast! Well over 300 people, including guests such as Brian Clemens (him of Avengers and the like), Gail Z Martin (lovely American lady writer), Sebastian Peake (son of Meryn 'Gormenghast' Peake), Jasper Fforde (another lovely writer). Not forgetting the hilarious magician-turned-author John 'Talking Toaster' Lenehan, who totally charmed my teenage daughter.

Fabulous weekend. A year of very hard work but it all paid off with a smooth and successful weekend. And that's it. Never again. No more. I've done 10 of them over the years and I publicly declare now that I am retiring!

Of Crows and Men

2009-07-27T22:28:00.003+01:00

So when I'm not writing or working, this is the kind of thing I get up to...

This is life in the wilds of Cheshire. OK, you have to be a bloke to be a crow and it's invitation-only, but hey - I was Crow Control this year (after being car-park nazi - oh, the power...)

FantasyCon Banquet

2009-03-18T18:57:00.005Z

Just confirmed the banquet for this year's convention. Still not sure if it will be on the Saturday like last year, or back to the old Sunday slot, but keep checking the FantasyCon and BFS websites for more information. Special diets can be catered for – just let us know when booking your banquet ticket.

FantasyCon Banquet Menu
Roll and Butter
~~
Melon and Grape Cocktail with Fruit Coulis
or
Tomato and Basil Homemade Soup
~~
Chicken Stuffed with Sage and Onion with a Red Wine Sauce
with
New Potatoes and Seasonal Vegetables
Vegetarian: Stuffed Roast Pepper with Zucchini, Aubergine, Red Onions & Cous Cous
and finished with a Tomato and Herb Sauce (must be booked in advance)
~~
Chocolate Fudge Cake
or
Fruit Forest Cheesecake
~~
Coffee and Mints
Including 2 glasses of Hawkes Peak Red or White Californian Wine
or
Fresh Orange Juice

Alchemy Writers ...

2009-03-16T18:11:00.002Z

... have now got their own blog. Not much on there as yet, but we're working on it.

FantasyCon 2009

2009-02-21T19:42:00.002Z

FantasyCon Guests of Honour this year are now confirmed as: author Jasper Fforde, Brian Clemens (he of The Avengers, The Professionals and many other 60s and 70s shows we hate to admit we loved...) and American fantasy writer Gail Z Martin. Tickets are selling fast so book quick to reserve your place!

Faery Tales

2009-02-15T21:53:00.007Z

Those of you who know me might be surprised to know that I’m quite into faeries. That’s faeries, not fairies – the latter being the cute winged creatures who may or may not live at the bottom of the garden, and the former being connected with Celtic mythology who may or may not be the lost race of the Tuatha De Danaan. Faeries have their own agenda, which doesn’t always complement our own.

The best faery fiction I’ve read must include Raymond Feist’s Faery Tale. Classic stuff, closely followed by Tom Deitz’s series set in Georgia, USA which dips into just about every mythos going. Then there are Mercedes Lackey’s urban faeries who ride fast cars for fun and live alongside humans in sometimes interesting relationships!

I was sent a copy of Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely a couple of years ago. Not sure if this is YA fantasy or not, but who cares? Awesome stuff. American urban faeries again – the yanks do this stuff so well. Why has nobody done faeries on the London underground yet? (makes mental note to get writing …) Anyway, I also got sent a review copy of the third in the trilogy Fragile Eternity a few weeks ago. Not having read the one in the middle, Ink Exchange, I asked the lovely Sam White at HarperCollins if I could have a copy, which duly arrived a few days later.

Wicked Lovely follows the story of Aislinn, falling in love for the first time with Seth. But Aislinn’s no ordinary teenager – she can see faeries. Everywhere. And they’re mostly a nasty bunch too, hanging around the streets and clubs – tripping people up, pulling out their hair. Now faeries can normally only be seen if they choose to be, or put on a human glamour and Aislinn’s spent her whole life trying not be noticed by them. And how do you not notice the most gorgeous faery of them all, especially when he wants to date you and just happens to be the Summer King? Aislinn’s not interested – her future is with Seth – but the Summer King wants her for his Queen and he won’t take no for an answer …

I loved this novel. Read it when I first got it and read it again recently as part of the trilogy. Like I said, I’m sure this was sent to me under the guise of Young Adult fiction, but it would appeal to anyone who likes the dark-and-dangerous side of faeries. Possibly pure escapism, but can you really be sure? Remember that dark charismatic stranger who held your eye contact on the underground this morning for just a fraction of a second longer than was decent? Remember what he was wearing? No, I didn’t think you would. But you may see him again tomorrow and the next day. He may speak to you in a voice with no trace of an accent and yet he won’t sound quite English. Read Wicked Lovely and you just may survive the encounter, but whatever you do, don’t agree to meet him for a drink. Because you can never really be sure, can you?

FantasyCon 2009

2009-01-10T23:28:00.002Z

FantasyCon 2009 is go! Just returned contract to Britannia Hotel in Nottingham and we're back there for a 4th year in September. The last Con I ran was in 2006 and we had Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker *and* Raymond Feist as guests - not sure we can top that this year, but it's early days!

Web site is still not up and running, so if you want a registration form, you'll have to email me and I'll email one straight back. Don't wait too long - you know you want to come and prices go up at the end of March ...

On Writing ...

2008-12-02T16:59:00.005Z

Check out Lauri Shaw's website, where she's written up interviews with a few writers (myself included) to find out what we think about the current state of publishing. Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Or is it just the headlights of the oncoming train ...

Meanwhile over on authonomy, I've added some more samples of my work. You'll have to look up my profile (Debbie), as I can't post a direct link to it.

HarperCollins editorial review

2008-09-29T22:43:00.010+01:00

'...very strong struff, but it’s an immensely powerful hook with which to kick off the book.'

... is what HarperCollins had to say about my psychological thriller novel Hamelin's Child, which was one of the top 5 most popular books on the Authonomy site in August, as voted by other members.

'Hamelin’s Child is well written and very engaging. You paint a clear and harrowing picture of the world of narcotics and its terrible consequences both on individuals and society at large. From the outset the reader sympathises with Mikey, and I was truly intrigued to discover what challenge he would face next - whether his sister Kate would ever be able to bring him back home.'

Great comments! All I need now is a publisher prepared to take a chance on a 'marmite' novel.

FantasyCon 2008

2008-09-21T22:31:00.003+01:00

Just got back from this year's FantasyCon in Nottingham. A great weekend with other fantasy, sf & horror writers and fans - plus a smattering of editors, publishers and book-sellers. Talks, drinks, panels, interviews, a demon-themed banquet (yours truly spent an hour inflating helium ballooons and running round decorating tables), drinks, the Raffle (capital R intentional - you have to be there) in which I actually won some prizes for a change, and drinks. Met up with all those people I only see once a year and generally had a fantastic weekend.

News - I'm back in control-freak mode as I've just volunteered to be on next year's committee! After 2 years off, I just couldn't stay away and 2009 will therefore be my 11th convention as a committee member (including at least 3 as organiser/co-organiser). So watch this space as I will be bullying everyone I know to register and/or donate goodies. Trust me - I have no shame ...

Made the top 5 on Authonomy!

2008-09-01T18:59:00.004+01:00

Yes, another Authonomy post, but hey - my sex-and-drugs thriller Hamelin's Child was voted as one of the top 5 best books on Authonomy for the first month! I'm thrilled to bits. It doesn't guarantee publication, but it does get me a proper reading and critique by a HarperCollins editor. Getting real live editors of the big publishing houses to read things these days is pretty rare as most of them no longer accept unsolicited submissions. So it's a step in the right direction. The book is now at number 3 in the all-time-favourites list, so go on over and have a read ...

Authonomy got serious!

2008-08-20T22:42:00.003+01:00

Oooh - Authonomy's gone and got serious! There's now a ranking system for people and books. My sex-and-drugs thriller is currently at number 5 - which means that if it can stay there until the end of the month, there's a chance it might get read by a real live HarperCollins editor! So if you want to take a look when it's open for public viewing, head on over to Hamelin's Child. Or any of my uploaded novels, for that matter - and don't be shy in registering and recommending my stuff (you don't have to be a writer, just a reader)!

Back from Winchester

2008-06-29T23:09:00.003+01:00

Just been to the Winchester Writers' Conference for the first time in 10 years. It was great to catch up with old friends and make some new ones. Made some good contacts, spoke to the lovely Carolyn Caughey (senior editor at Hodder), who I met at my very first writers' conference back in - ooh - 1991 and who changed my life in that she encouraged a whole group of us back then who wrote genre fiction - some of whom are now among my closest friends. Had a great meeting with a literary agent, who liked my submission and wanted to read the rest of it and also got to speak with the editor of Ebury Press' new list. Now I'd been a bit cheeky and sent something to her in advance of the conference - knowing full well that she'd be deluged with submissions afterwards and as I'd hoped, she'd spotted the word "Winchester" in my covering letter and taken my sub out of the mountainous slush pile! That's what I call pro-active, so I just hope she reads it and likes it now.

What else did we do? Succeeded in being in the first 5 of every queue for meals, despite just about every event over-running. Oh and managed to sneak out of the big dinner before the speakers started - not that I didn't want to listen, but the room was so hot and we'd already been sitting there for 2 1/4 hours.

And the best bit was going to the talk by the Authonomy crew and finding that Kate not only recognised me from the site, but had just added my book to her bookshelf. The system works!

So I have a busy few weeks ahead. Contacts to follow up and subs to prepare. Plus I have to make a load of gemstone jewellery for the village fair, help do the admin for the village fair, process 60+ orders for new Telos books, sort out all my daughter's end-of-term trips, concerts & what-have-you and I guess I'd better squeeze work in somewhere too. And the pile of washing since the machine was out of action for a week ... But I'm getting boring now.

Authonomy Again

2008-05-19T20:30:00.003+01:00

Spent most of the last week on this Authonomy site (see earlier post). I just hope that HarperCollins and other publishers actually sift through some of the stuff on this site, because it's fab! There are novels on here that would fly off the bookshelves if published, so why is it so hard for a new author to get noticed these days. Is it really all about marketing? Two authors stand out so far for me - Anne Brooke and Ian Barker. Both very different, both excellent.

Getting some good reviews for my own stuff too, which is encouraging. Is there anybody out there listening?

Looking for Lisa

2008-05-18T10:52:00.002+01:00

Odd title, I know - but I am. Looking for Lisa, that is. Lisa (Dachinger/Dorris/Petricca) is American and we've known each other for over 30 years, but lost touch recently. I was at both her weddings and she was at mine. She has 3 kids - Curt, Jennifer and Nathan and lives in Massachussetts. I keep seeing bits & pieces on the net about organic farming etc and trying emails but getting nowhere. Lisa' s one of my oldest friends, so if anyone knows her, please ask her to get in touch again!

Telos

2008-05-16T12:34:00.003+01:00

If you're wondering why I have a link to Telos' website, it's because not only is MD David a very good friend of mind, but I also handle their retail orders and do occasional editing work for them. It's an online book store - check it out for factual tv guides, novels and classic reprints, especially if you're a Dr Who fan as there are lots of Dr Who goodies for sale.

I once asked Stephen King to dance ...

2008-05-12T21:08:00.004+01:00

That's THE Stephen King. God of writing. And he plays a mean guitar too.

The man himself came to London to promote Bag of Bones and I was lucky enough to be invited to the evening party, courtesy of Hodder & Stoughton. We were all given special bottle of Bag of Bones beer, stored in large fridges with fridge magnets on them. Stephen gave a short concert with his band and we all drank a lot and ate very nice canapes.

And as the music got louder and we got drunker, I was talking to fantasy author Storm Constantine and between the two of us, we decided to ask Mr King if he'd like to dance. We almost got close to him as well, until his minder very kindly turned down our offer.

Shame, but probably for the best!

Authonomy

2008-05-11T23:58:00.005+01:00

Finally been given access to HarperCollins' new Authonomy site in beta test version. There are only 100 of us - the first 100 who signed up back at the start of the year on an HC blog site.

It's interesting - kind of like YouWriteOn without the rules. You can comment on anybody's book at any time. I can see it becoming the first electronic slush pile, with presumably HC editors looking at anything which generates sufficient interest. However even with only 100 of us, it's getting busy and it's only been live for a week. I can't help wonder how manageable it will be when let loose on the web in its full version for anybody to sign up.

Winchester Writers Conference

2008-05-06T23:00:00.003+01:00

Just signed up for Winchester again - first time I've been for 10 years! Well, it isn't as easy as it was when I lived in Surrey, and I didn't have kids to think about back then.

For anyone who hasn't been before it's a great place to meet fellow-writers & network - never mind the lectures, workshops and 1:1 appointments with editors and agents. I met one of my best mates on my first conference (it was Southampton uni back then). I'm going this year mainly to network - to meet up with editors I haven't seen for some time and remind them of my continued existence. I'm sure it will be great fun!

Welcome

2008-03-31T22:29:00.001+01:00

Yeah, OK - my pre-teen daughter could probably blog better than I can. She can certainly text quicker and work the DVD player. But I thought I ought to join the online community a bit more interactively than just by having a website.

If you've wandered onto this page at random or have perhaps come across me linked with the word "fantasy", I should point out now that it's not the under-the-counter brown wrapper variety, but more the Stephen King flavour. Writing, conventions, British Fantasy Society, magic, alternate realities, science fiction, other worlds, Tolkien, elves and wizards if you must (though I'd really rather not). So if you were expecting content of an adult nature, I'm sorry to disappoint you and thanks for visiting. Switch the lights off as you leave, please.

So who am I? As above - mother, writer, wife etc in varying orders of priority depending on who's shouting the loudest. I'm a member of the British Fantasy Society and was on the committee for over 15 years, edited the BFS newsletter Prism for 5 years and the BFS fiction anthology Dark Horizons for 4 years. And I've been on - ooh, about 10 FantasyCon convention committees.

I've had short fiction published in numerous places, including womens' magazines. I've been short-listed in the Ian St James Award and had a novel long-listed in the Crime Writer's Association Debut Dagger Award. I've won several competitions, but am still chasing that elusive big break. I do get past editors now and into second and third readings - but it's the marketing departments I can't crack! I'm just not famous enough.

So that's me. Can't think of anything else witty and exciting to say, so I'll sign off now and see what my very first blog post looks like...