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Showing posts from May, 2020

#HistFicThursdays - Ravenser Odd - Free Short Story

Later this year, a Ravenser Odd exhibition will be shared at Cleethorpes and Grimsby, not far from where the ill-fated island was situated. Last year, I was delighted to chat with Emily, whose PhD has been instrumental in the research and promotion of Yorkshire's Atlantis, and we talked about how the island had inspired this story, adding to the cultural evolution of the legend of of Ravenser Odd. It's a long read, but I hope you enjoy it... Ravenser Odd   I had lived all of my fifteen years in Ravenser Odd. In my earliest memories it had been a busy town, the docks lined with ships of all sizes, carrying garments and foods from the mystical continent beyond the mouth of the Humber. Then, aboard one of those ships, arrived the plague. Forced to anchor at the toll on the peninsula, the ship had paid a deadly tax upon Ravenser Odd, carrying away half its population on the riptide of the Black Death. When the low-lying land had flooded, forcing out many of the surviving inhabi...

Book Review - Ashes and Blood

I'm thrilled to be taking part in the blog tour for "Ashes and Blood" by Katie Zaber. BLURB “I’ll start at the beginning. Long ago, before roads, before we built structures, before medicine was discovered, before the government was created, before man gained any knowledge, there were The Five. Independent from each other, The Five had a mutual respect for one another. They knew their roles in the world and their duty. They were gods…” An adventure begins when an otherworldly tree captures the attention of Megan and her friends. The environment morphs around them, transferring them to an exotic planet. Stuck in a rural town still maimed by the plague, a chance encounter with a familiar face gives Megan and her friends some security during their adjustment period. While settling into new, promising lives, they are attacked and stalked by planet Dalya’s humanoid inhabitants, who focus on Megan. One dark night, after an epic, magical attack, the Fae King’s ...

Thank You and Goodnight - an #AuthorOfTheWeek blog

It's been great sharing this week with you all. I haven't missed a day with my blogging, although they tended to be pushing a little bit close to midnight, and I've loved sharing writing advice as well as my upcoming books with you. Time's a funny thing, isn't it? While I'm sitting here typing, I've lost track on the number of days and weeks since the lockdown began. In some ways it seems to have been an age ago, in others last year seems just like yesterday. My decision to make Time the evil character in Caledon was in part a product of this cruel trick. There's a writing-world adage, telling authors they should write what they know. It's when I look back at time, and realise all I've done in the last 35 years, that I see how fortunate I am. I'm not going to lie and say things have always been perfect, they haven't. But life has. It's been utterly inspirational! And there is no doubt in my mind that, if I didn't believe in ...

What's Next? - An #AuthorOfTheWeek blog

This is my penultimate (one of my favourite words!) blog as #AuthorOfTheWeek, but I hope you've enjoyed my tips about inspiration and writing. Today, I'm making an offering to the reading community, and giving you a small sample of four novels which are up-and-coming from me over the next couple of years. At the moment, two of them are still nameless and, although the other two already have covers, I'm sworn to secrecy about them! Allow me to introduce you to them! The third book in the Tenterchilt family saga Beginning on the field of Waterloo, this third instalment (although it was actually the fourth one I wrote!) follows the Tenterchilt sisters in a period of peace. But peace is a luxury which is denied to the family, partly owing to ghosts of the past, partly owing to the cruelties of outside forces. Among These Dark Satanic Mills This is a totally new style of writing for me -set in the here and now, which is way out of my usual comfort zone! This boo...

When The Inspiration Runs Out - an #AuthorOfTheWeek blog

During my #AuthorOfTheWeek interview, I mentioned (amongst a lot  of other things) that the lockdown has challenged my focus with writing. I've begun several things which have been fated to end up on the back-burner or just completely discarded. My #AuthorOfTheWeek interview! The truth is, when all those other things I'm mentioned so far this week fail to inspire me, there's one last-ditch attempt I have of getting writing. And that rests with a very significant group of people: my characters. I have a terrible - but incredibly rewarding - habit of allowing my characters the gift of Free Will. Sometimes they resist, sometimes they run wild, and then on other occasions they actually dictate the next development. I have utmost respect for each one of them, goodies and baddies, men and women, human and inhuman. Why? Because when I've completely run out of steam, they're the ones who make the story their own. I've had some great feedback on my characters,...