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#MGMonday... Middle Grade Settings

 Middle Grade Settings: An Introduction Having photos in front of you can help you write about your settings I’m going to make a confession. Settings are not something I often spend time planning. Perhaps my stories are the poorer for it, but the settings come as I’m writing or editing. The Glass Room, in Taking Wing, is not something I planned before I started writing. Personally, I’m a very visual writer, seeing my characters as though they are a video in my head, and I write what I see. As such, the setting just happens! There are benefits and drawbacks to this. The main benefit is that the writing process is more interesting. Not everything is set, and my story can still give me surprises. The drawback is that, similar to AI, I cannot know that I’m not stealing settings from films and books I’ve seen/read previously. I certainly don’t mean to plagiarise but the concern is a real one! With that in mind, I have started to at least have a vague idea of my settings before I start t...
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"Only One Death" Book Review

"Only One Death" by Alexander Crow

Book Review



☆☆☆☆☆

“Only One Death” is an engaging novel, which is quite dark in places, but creates a sense of urgency for the reader to read on…you need to find out what’s going to happen next!! As a result, this is a very difficult book to put down!
It is a fantasy novel and some of the names can be a bit tricky, especially as it is about a group of 10 people. Three characters, in particular, are very well developed. As it is a novella, it is quite short, but you feel like you really know some of the characters by the end.
The book is written by someone who knows how to survive in the wilderness, and this comes across in the writing. The wilds play an important role in the story, and is clearly important to the author. The reader is left pondering on a time when more of Britain was engulfed in wilderness, rather than the towns and settlements we know today.
I would certainly recommend this book to any lover of fantasy stories.


Book Blurb (from Goodreads)

“Amongst his people ten was an unlucky number.”

Dhinal is searching for a guide into the high mountains. With his mismatched band of companions, he knows he must find the legendary Red City.

Meanwhile, in Eastsea, Kees prepares to leave behind the Talking Races for winter.

Both Dhinal and Kees know that nature does not care whether you live, or whether you die. Both Dhinal and Kees know that even the best prepared of expeditions can falter and fail.

A journey into the mountains, with winter approaching. A group with secrets to hide. What could possibly go wrong?


The novella Only One Death is the first of three introductions to the Isthmus, and both a homage and an alternative approach to the standard fantasy quest.

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