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The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney – A Review
Another interesting read from the S.F. Masterworks series by Gollancz, this book was first released in 1955, and as such anyone picking it up should expect a novel which contains social stereotypes from that period, which it does, but has the book dated badly? Is it now just too out of touch with modern sensibilities to be enjoyable? The answer to both of these questions for me, is ‘No’. But let’s get into the details, which will contain some mild spoilers. Read more…
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Glass Darkly Bk3 First Draft
The first draft of my latest novel, A Shadow on the Sky, the third book in my Glass Darkly diesel punk series is now finished, coming in at just over 104k words. Artist’s sketch of cover art for Bk 3 – ‘A Shadow on the Sky’ 104k is a bit on the long side, so I’ll beparing this down by at least ten thousand words during the editing process, to something a bit closer to 90k. Read more…
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Writing Insights – Plotting: A Cat and Mouse analogy
I’m currently writing the third book in my Dieselpunk series, named after the first book ‘Through Glass Darkly’. This was a fun project I started after attending the Asylum Steampunk Festival in Lincoln @AsylumSteampunk, which was full of some fabulous people, with wonderful names, wearing amazing costumes along with some truly ingenious contraptions, from weapons and armour to hats, wings and mock scientific paraphernalia. Read more…
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Author inspirations – the characters of W. Somerset Maugham
I’m doing some research on 1930s China for the follow up to my ‘Flames of Time’ Archaeologic Adventure trilogy, and after browsing around one of my local bookshops I picked up a copy of W.Somerset Maugham’s ‘On a Chinese Screen’. Read more…
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On the writing road again!
With five published novels under my belt within three story-lines, I no longer feel like the complete novice writer I once was, though i’m still struggling to figure out what the best writing routine is for me. The difference is, that to begin with I was also trying to figure out things like: – How I wanted to format my print books – there is no one style. Read more…
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The Ghosts of Winter
What better way to start the new year than with a free Ghost story? Well, if you enjoy skiing, snowboarding or just the idea of visiting the mountains in winter, then my Ghosts of Winter story may well be for you. Here’s the blurb: The Fever can strike anyone at any time, even death is no guarantee of escaping it! Gazed upon from the valleys between, the high mountains may seem beautiful and serene places. The domain of wild things and of hunters, or wanderers with a little more wilderness in their blood. Read more…
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The Embers of Time
The Embers of Time, the second book in my Flames of Time is published. A cross between Indiana Jones and the Da Vinci Code, the Flames of Time is my Thriller/Mystery/Action Adventure series set in the 1930s. It follows a group of friends who discover hints of an ages old secret after they get drawn into a strange shamanic ceremony. This second book in the series picks up a year after the end of the first, when the group come back together after being forced to separate by the secretive religious order at the end of the first book. Read more…
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Beyond the Pyrene by John Williamson – A Review
A wonderfully bitter-sweet and poignant tale, Beyond the Pyrene is the second and concluding part of the Chronicles of Talakhonsu. [amazon-element asin=”B01N1FV8LU” fields=”lg-image,large-image-link”] Beginning directly where the first book Beyond the Black Earth leaves off, Beyond the Pyrene see’s Talak the former Egyptian slave boy now grown into manhood as he sails the Great Middle Sea aboard a Greek trading vessel as it plies its way between the different Mediterranean islands taking abundance from one to sell as a luxury on another. Read more…
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For the love of words
Come inside and meet the prologue. It is dark inside the prologue. Dark and cool and welcoming. Whatever is to come, the prologue welcomes you absolutely, accepts you unconditionally, receives you graciously, providing all that is necessary to endure the rest. The prologue is patient. She has been told often that she is wholly unnecessary, a growth upon the story that the wise doctor must cut off. Read more…
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Stepping between long shadows
It’s a terrible thing to admit to as a writer, but every now and again I need to be reminded to take note of the world around me. Taking the time to observe, but just as importantly and infinitely more difficult trying to maintain a frame of mind in which I also ‘notice’. Read more…