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Showing posts from January, 2024

Get Ready for Your Next Adventure...

 ...Meet All the Time in the World ! Our next release is the gripping Middle Grade adventure All the Time in the World by Elizabeth McKay. This book is released on 16th September, but you can pre-order your copy here . This book is perfect for readers aged 9-13, but it can be enjoyed by children of all ages and adults too! Imagine a world not governed by time. When twelve-year-old twins Jake and Abi stumble upon the mysterious Merchiston Hall, they think they’ve found somewhere to work, somewhere to sleep, and, if they’re lucky, a place to stay safe. Instead, they discover a world unlike anything they’ve ever known. A house with no clock. Unicorns roaming the grounds. And a bridge across the river that nobody wants them to cross. For the first time since their mother’s death, Jake and Abi begin to feel happy. They begin to feel at home. But there is an underlying threat of a stolen power - the ability to control all the time in the world. Now let's meet the author... Elizabeth stil...

#HistFicThursdays - Things to Inspire - Musical Instruments

 A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about Writing from Artefacts  about a box of historical objects I received as a gift. Each month of 2024, I hope to build on this and introduce you to some of the artefacts I've gathered over the years. These are all things which have been - at least in part - inspirations for me, and I hope they will give you a few extra ideas along the way for your own writings... The old organ in Thomaskirche It's probably unsurprising that I'm starting with musical instruments, since music is my day job! There tends to be music in all my stories, and there is something very special about connecting to the music of the past. When I went on my German adventure in 2013, it was very special to visit Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where Bach was the Director of Music for more than quarter of a century. Here are three of my own little musical treasures... Music is something which is here to stay - its forward-facing legacy at least as long as its past. Wh...

#HistFicThursdays - Invention, Nature's Child - Free Short Story

I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone that I took the title for this short story from a poem! If you are unfamiliar with the poem, I've included it at the bottom of this post rather than here since it gives away a significant part of the plot. So here is a little piece of historical sci-fi because, as fans of Doctor Who know, sci-fi is not limited to the future! Girolamo Fabrizio (from Wikipedia) Invention, Nature's Child Candlelight flickered in the small office, the pale stone walls alive with dancing shadows. They were monstrous, not in size but in shape. Deformed oddities and dissected organs in jars which refracted the flame’s glow. “Sir?” Harvey asked. There was no sign of his teacher. “Doctor Fabrizio?” “You’re returning to your language already?” came an amused voice from behind an amphora. It spoke in Italian, but Harvey had heard almost no other language in three years, making it easy to understand. Adjusting his own speech accordingly, he replied. “I am to leav...

#HistFicThursdays - 2024 Calendar, and Pictures in Stone

 Happy New Year, Readers! Because we're in a new year, I'm trying to be super-organised. There are so many things going on, I have to keep tabs on everything! So here's what is planned... This year for #HistFicThursdays, I am opening up a space every month for a fellow Historical Fiction writer to share a guest post. This opportunity is open on a first-come-first-serve basis, so please get in touch if you are interested in having a guest post. Each month, there will also be a free historical short story or poem, across a broad range of times and genres. There'll be one or two book tour posts, too, and I'm also aiming to write a post about the inspirations for aspects of different books. So, if it all goes according to plan, it will be a very busy year of #HistFicThursdays! To start off the inspirational posts, here's a quick introduction to my new release. It's not Historical Fiction, but it is all about the inspiration for the story I wrote in NaNoWriMo las...