Happy New Year

 

Bit late with this, but it’s still the first month of the new year.  Happy New Year all!

As usual, remember, Alyssa can be purchased at Amazon.co.uk HERE and at Amazon.com HERE

So, a lot has been happening in the last few months.

With book 1 out and launched, I spent most of the last few months of 2021 pitching Alyssa and hoping for sales.  I did indeed get sales but not as many as I had hoped.  Still, I learned a lot.

All of January I ran a series of Amazon free book deals for all 3 of my other books. I likewise advertised on Facebook and A LOT on Twitter.

The results were mixed.

On the one hand, I sold over 200 ebooks (as in they were picked up free.) And also a few people downloaded my books on kindle unlimited, reading well over 500 pages.  Additionally, my work on Twitter raised my follower count to nearly 4400.  And this time, not all of them were other authors!

But so far I’ve only seen 1 ebook purchased and no copies of Alyssa seem to have sold yet. I had hoped that purchases of the other books would in turn make people curious about book 1.  Still learning experience.

I intend to use February to concentrate solely on pitching Alyssa, but also, I hope to write book 5.

Yes, book 5 is officially being written!  I have a new idea on an old story plan and am now modifying and improving it.  A couple of thousand words already.

If I can maintain momentum, I hope to release it sometime toward the end of 2022 but I will see how things go.

Anyway, that’s my brief blog update.

Take care all of you.

Happy Christmas 2019

The most important event of 2019, is happening in the next few weeks.  My wife is expecting our second child.  She and I have been preparing for this event and very much looking forward to it.

But as well as this, 2019 has also been an extensive writing year.
At more or less the start of the year I found myself working hard on the latest re-write of my first book ‘Alyssa’.  From January until May I worked on the re-write, refining the story elements and applying Brad’s excellent suggestions to the character, structure and direction.  The result, as I’ve said before, was the same story just better told.  I once again acknowledge Brad’s excellent help in this; he really took hold of the detail of the story and made it considerably better.  I hope once it’s released, you’ll think the same!
A few months later in July Brad sent through the second edit.  This was a more minor review, with small details picked out here and there.  This was a further refinement what had already been changed.   I duly replied again at the end of August with my modifications.
This final edit was then officially submitted to the copy editors of Boyle and Dalton themselves.

Whilst waiting for Boyle and Dalton to get back to me, I took part in 3 separate writing competitions.  2 of them were ‘Kings of War’ related; a wargame system developed by Mantic games that I have an extensive interest in.  The other was for Black Library, a Sci-fi publisher run by Games Workshop, another wargames company.
I immensely enjoyed writing these pieces, one of which is included below. 
Sadly none of these applications were successful, but It was good to have something to write in between waiting on edits.

At the end of November, I was contacted by Boyle and Dalton with the final copy-edit, that included minor modifications to the book before the transcript is officially sent for formatting.  As of last week, I completed my review of the manuscript and sent it back to Boyle and Dalton.
With Christmas just around the corner, now I play the waiting game for the next stage of this journey.
 
2020 is going to be an interesting year.  Not only because I will be a father for a second time but also that Alyssa will be re-released, fully rewritten.  Juggling commitments will be hard, but to have both these wonderful events in the same year will be a truly marvellous experience.

I leave you now with my fiction submission for the Kings of War competition.  I hope you enjoy.
A very happy Christmas to you all, and to all a Happy New Year.
Till next time.

Charge of the Fire Elite
“With flaming hearts!” Dorack bellowed, kicking his spurs into the flank of his charger.
“And burning blades!” came the reply as he and his Rhinosaur borne brethren descended on their enemies.

They struck with the force worthy of their ancestors; the charge’s effect on their target was nothing short of devastating.  Skulls were shattered and bones ground to powder as the horns and pounding feet of the Elite Salamander cavalry impacted.  The deathly constructs seemed to simply fall apart, one moment whole the next blasted to oblivion by the monstrous reptiles; Dorack hardly had to swing his sword.
On they rolled, carried by their fearsome momentum through the skeletons.  They might not be the quickest, Dorack thought to himself in those fleeting moments, but they could not be stopped!  The second rank of undead fared no better, and neither did the third, crushed to pieces by the thundering mega-lizards.  Before he knew it Dorack’s cavalry had smashed clean through the undead cohort and was out the other side, trailing dust, shattered bone and broken blades.

Before them, a Balefire catapult lay exposed.

If the undead crew were aware of their peril, they gave no outward sign.  Almost leisurely the dead men were reloading their weapon, dead eyes not even looking in the direction of their coming doom.
On Dorack drove his comrades, his warriors keeping pace and forming a phalanx of vengeance, trailing dust as they rumbled onwards.  At this rate they would roll up the whole of the enemies flank!
“Death and doom to the living!”

The challenge did not come from his comrades; it was not the second verse of their War Song.  Dorack had to steady himself in the saddle as the booming bow wave of the voice struck him, as if a physical blow. 
There, upon his exposed flank, a troop of Soul Reaver Calvary bore down upon him, seeking to blunt his charge.

Bearing his teeth, Dorack roared, and pulled the reins of his mount with all his might.  He hissed burning smoke as his steed fought him, caught by its own momentum, bellowing it’s anger at being denied the opportunity for more destruction. 

But by a supreme battle of wills, impossibly, Dorack the Ancient of Clan Fire Peak, turned it.  His muscles straining and eyes blazing white fire, he pulled the mass of enraged Rhinosaur round toward its new enemy.  Those warriors on his left and right did likewise, seeing their pack leader twist toward the danger.  There’s was the easier task now that their leader had shown the way.
Dorack took up the second verse as the two forces rocketed toward contact with each other.

“Winter’s woe!”
“Her doom in fire!” came the reply.
With a thunderclap, the two forces met.

To his right one of his brethren’s steeds reared up, the Rhinosaur kicking it’s legs before crushing down on a Reaver steed and rider, obliterating both in a burst of smashed bone and hissing vampire dust.  On his left a Salamander ancient took a lance to the heart as his opponent avoided the horns of the Rhinosaur and struck the killing blow with frightening speed.  Dorack’s mount rammed a skeletal horse casually out of the way, and they both came face to face with the vampire leader.  Helmetless, the war leaders pale features regarded Dorack with cold fury from atop his undead mount.

“Some sport at last!” He hissed, dropping a broken lance and drawing his sword, a heavy steel blade that trailed icy blue mist as it left it’s sheath.

Dorack willed his inner-flames into his axe blade.  The flame sparked from within the blade, crackling with power and burning white hot for a moment before cooling to a hissing orange glow.  Dorack rolled his shoulders before allowing his eyes to blaze.

He spat a globule of fiery flame in contempt.
“You are wrong.” Dorack said.
He smiled, showing sharp teeth.

“I shall prove myself more than mire sport!”
Both rider and mount leapt forward, and the blades of the Salamander and the undead met in a shower of sparks.

Where have you been?

Ah yeah, it’s been a while hasn’t it?  I’ve a good excuse though.

Boyle and Dalton sent through a developmental edit of my book ‘Alyssa’ back in November 2018. They did an exceptional job of diving deep into the style, characters, narrative and flow of the book. Brad, my editor, sent through extensive notes and since November 2018 I had been working my way through those notes.

Alyssa was my first book, written in 2011 and self-published in 2012. At that time, I was still developing my style and Alyssa was very much the test bed for future books. Returning to the book, I found Brad's comments to be right on the button.

Just over a month ago, I finished my editing and rewriting of the novel, and resubmitted to the publishers.

I will now wait and see if my edits are what they need. 

Strange as it may seem, I enjoyed the experience.  I had expected the process of rewriting my novel to be more painful, but instead I knew already that it was badly needed.  Looking at the writing style I used in ‘Anna’ (my fourth book) and looking at the style in ‘Alyssa’ before the edits, the books were very different.  I took the experience as an opportunity to bring the earlier book into line.  It also gave me the opportunity to develop the characters and world a little more, adding much-needed detail.

With the latest draft submitted, I have now found time for other writing and non-writing activates.  My sister-in-law and family got me a Writing Magazine writing course for Christmas, and I have been slowly working my way through the course material.  This has been a very interesting experience, as I’m learning a lot about aspects of the craft I may have neglected, such as keeping a writer’s notebook and Commonplace book.

I’ve also taken the time to write a little fan fiction, writing some stories for some tabletop wargames that I play.  Whether these stories ever see the light of day or if they ever remain just an exercise to keep my writing skills sharp, I don’t know.  We’ll see.

My Instagram account has seen much more posts around painting models and wargaming than it has writing but this has been a good distraction.  Rest and recovery from an intense period of editing.  As enjoyable as I found the experience, it was intense.  I feel I may have put myself under more pressure than I should have to get it finished.  I have learnt from the mistake and will be pacing myself better next time!

The next stage will come after the latest edit comes back from my publishers.  I don’t know when that will be but I’m looking forward to moving the story along a little further upon the publishing path.

Until next time.

What should I write next?

Keeping to a trend, at last, a blog update!  Sorry for taking so long.

To update you all on my writing, I attempted Nanowrimo 2015 in November, but sadly I only managed 7,000 words on my concept novel ‘Haldred Chronicles: Titan’.  I got the characters and a lot of scenes fleshed out but I just didn’t make the time to finish it off.

However, I still started the novel well, and it now joins several other ideas that are more than just a few lines on a page.  Hence the title of this blog post.

2015 has been a great year.  Haldred Chronicles: Shade was released in August, and recently all 3 of my novels are now available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback format (check them out HERE for the UK and HERE for the US!).  I’m very glad I now have a proper starter ‘trilogy’ of novels and judging by reviews, people are liking my writing.

2016 is going to be a busy and exciting year for me outside of writing, but I still want to keep writing even a little bit.

To do this, I want to start 2016 by properly kicking off another project.

That’s where you, the person reading this blog post, come in.  Help me choose which idea to pursue. 

Here are the options:
• Haldred Chronicles: Titan = "Victoria and Co find themselves on the world's first ‘tourism’ ship, but someone plans on spoiling the party..." = This was my Nanowrimo 2015 novel and I got to 7,000 words with it.  Should I finish it in 2016?
• Haldred Chronicles: Anna = “Victoria and her team travel to the mighty Magra empire to investigate a series of deadly seaborne raids from mysterious attackers.” = this novel was originally to be my 3rd book but ‘Shade’ took over.  It’s set in the Magra empire, a Chinese/Japanese themed land were villages along the sea have experienced deadly raids by unknown enemies.  I’ve already written 19,000 words on this and developed some interesting characters.  Should I continue?
• Haldred Chronicles: Fey-hacking = “Courier-fey provide secure, reliable, almost instant communications across Larrick City…or do they?” = Courier-fey are like text messaging in the world of Haldred Chronicles.  After reading a brilliant book about the News of the World hacking scandal I thought to myself, what if something like that happened with the Courier-fey in my world?  This story at the moment has only a couple of introduction scenes, but I like them; one involves a talking cat.  Maybe this is the novel I should write in 2016?
• Adventure and other bad ideas: Sophie’s story = “Sophie Dalvich, a barmaid at the Broken Dreams tavern, finds her cartography and map making skill’s requested by a group of mercenaries.” = This was to be the BIG novel, way before Haldred Chronicles: Alyssa was written.  It was what established the Haldred Chronicles world but the story itself was never finished.  Despite this, even in it’s draft form it is over 75,000 words long and has an entire cast already created for it.  It concentrates on a group of adventures operating in Larrick City, from many different cultures and races, banded together on various mercenary missions.  I could go back to it, refine it, and produce it as a huge spin-off novel.  Should I?

So those are the options.  Titan, Anna, Fey-Hacking or Sophie’s story.  The titles will probably change but the concepts are there.

Vote by replying to this post with the name of the story you like.  Likewise, PM me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Tumblr (now that Tumblr has instant messaging!) and let me know which one you like the look of.  See links to the right of this post.

Then I’ll make 2016 the year of that novel.

Thanks everyone.  Till next time!

Happy belated New Year!

Yes it’s been a while; again!  However, we’re getting there.

Proofing by my proof readers has begun on the latest book.  The way it’s going to work is I’ll first being sending the book chapters, one by one, to one specific proof reader for spelling and grammar check.  Then, I’ll be passing those same chapters on to other proof readers to double check but also for comment on story structure, characters, dialogue etc.

It feels good to know that at last, things are really moving forward and will do so at a brisk pace.

I have chapters one to ten of Haldred Chronicles: Shade done and dusted.  Chapters eleven to fifteen still need to be completed.  For those who have read my previous two books, this will come as a shock; my previous books were only twelve chapters long.  Book three, put simply, needs more space for the story to be told.

The story is more complex, more detailed and involves more characters.  I hope, also, it will be more enjoyable for you, the reader.  It just means I’ve needed more time to get my head around the plot and the exceedingly tough and intelligence secondary Protagonist. 

As with all my books, this book will be ‘Dual Narrative’ so you’ll have not one but two points of view to follow.

Around the writing, Debs and I are doing well.  We’re now married seven months and enjoying this new routine of ours.  We’ve just had our first Christmas together as a married couple and now we’re in the process of putting our house up for sale.  We hope to move sometime in the summer.

So that’s the update!  I wish all of you a somewhat late Happy New Year, and once this book is done, expect another update.

Till next time!

Hello 2014!

First blog post of 2014!  Lots to report.

First, and most importantly, I’m getting married.  I proposed to my girlfriend at the start of January, and she said yes.  So my fiancée and I are very, very happy and celebrated by staying over at the fantastic Slieve Donard hotel that night.  A good start to 2014 I think you’ll all agree.

Even with the immense excitement of this new life event, I have still been writing.  ‘Tales of Larrick City’ I hope to have ready for proof reading by the middle of February at the latest, and out by the end of March.  This short story compendium will be free to download when it comes out and I hope to use the stories in it to further expand on the world of Haldred Chronicles.  I hope you will all enjoy once it’s released.

It’s turned into a good excuse for me to explore a number of different writing styles and expand on little plot hints here and there found in the first 2 books.  That, and it will also include a glossary of terms used in Haldred Chronicles; useful in particular for those un-used to some of the Northern Irish style humour and phases.  Well it is my home country, the mannerisms were bound to slip in!

I’ve also been making progress on the 3^rd official Haldred Chronicles novel.  I’ve written almost 30,000 words and I’m really happy with the way things are panning out.  The style will be closer to ‘Kalla’ than ‘Alyssa’ and will further expand on the relationships between the various characters, as well as keeping up with everyone’s favourite characters.

On top of that, I still have a lot of ideas for future novels.  14 if I’m being precise (the number varies from day to day).  I definitely want to keep Haldred Chronicles going and if things pan out properly, you’ll get not 1 but 2 books out in 2014!  Just don’t expect the official 3^rd book until maybe the summer.  Meantime, you should all have Tales of Larrick City to keep you interested!

So lots to look forward to and I’ll keep you all informed.  Have a great 2014 everyone.

Other peoples blogs!

A quick little blog post to get another aspect to this blog going.  That of blogging about other peoples blog’s!

I’ll try and do this every so often, just to high-light some posts I think are interesting or useful (or both!)

First up, this post about using LinkedIn.  I have to admit, I’ve not yet followed the advise on this one but it definitely has some very good tips.  Hope it proves useful for my fellow authors in particular.

http://m.entrepreneur.com/article/226895

Books and such provides this handy little guide, which was particularly useful when I was first starting out my Nanowrimo experiences but still rings true now.  It’s all about first drafts and not to worry about them!

http://www.booksandsuch.biz/blog/writing-a-first-draft/

Finally, something a little different for both mystery authors and those just interested in running a mystery themed RPG.  This gem was passed to me by my fellow Nanowrimo writing buddy Daireen and is an excellent article on the fine particulars of writing mystery fiction.

http://rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/write-a-gripping-mystery-adventure-in-four-steps/

Hope everyone enjoys.  Meantime, I have been writing away on both Tales of Larrick City and Book 4.  Tales of Larrick City has hit 10,000 words and Book 4 is coming together nicely with a lot of little modifications.  I’ll be taking a rest over Christmas, obviously, but will be back at things come 2014.

Just in case I don’t get posting up before then, I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a happy new year.

Till next time.

Happy New Year Story Extract

Something for you all to muse over. For those who have read the book this will give you something to consider. For those who haven't I hope it wets your appetite. Happy New Year everyone, see you all in 2013!

The Council of Peace: One year on...

Do you remember where you were when peace broke out? I do. Middle of Castle Square, Larrick city, selling this very newsletter you now hold in your hand. Well, obviously not this particular one, it was actually issue thirty four thirty three if I recall correctly.

I also remember where I was when the formation of the Council of Peace was announced, a day later. A vast organisation charged with maintaining the peace. That wasn't odd; in fact I commented to my fellow writers in the Broken Dreams Happy Warrior tavern that day that in my humble opinion it was a very good idea. What was odd was the fact the organisation seemed to just appear overnight. Almost out of thin air Council of Peace compounds sprung up across the country and beyond. In every nations major towns and cities.

Maintaining the peace by whatever means necessary, so goes their unofficial motto. But who are they? And what have they accomplished now a year after the World Wide Peace Agreement?

We'll start with who are they, despite the fact this is actually a very hard question to answer. They have recruited people and races from all across the land; Magra merchants, Argon investigators, Orc enforcers, Bearkin Berserkers Dwarfen builders...I could go on. Everyone is represented in some way or another and by canny recruitment the right people seem to be in the right jobs; for the most part anyway. They are managed by a so called Grand Council but apart from a name and obvious 'in charge' status noone seems to know who they are, including many of their employee's. Really, we can't answer who they are as they seem to be, well, everyone. Prehapes that’s the point? Represent everyone so you can never be accused of being biased. Clever.

What have they accomplished? That's a little easier to answer. The peace, despite the many logical explanations against it, has held. Argon has not invaded the Trima heartlands, again. Magra has ceased its raiding. Even the Darnhun have been quiet apart from their growing mercenary trade that thankfully, operates mostly beyond our shores (and beyond our sight and mind). The peace has held. Some of that might not be the Council of Peace's doing. Not to take away from them but after fifty years, the Six Nations War had drained pretty much everyone and whilst I can't talk with absolutely authority, I strongly suspect that the leaders of each of the nations were weary of war. All they needed was an excuse to stop. The World Wide Peace Agreement was that excuse. The Council of Peace was more of an icing on the cake than the cake itself.

So lets get to the big question. Do we still need a Council of Peace to keep watch over us?

One year maybe isn't enough time to answer that question with any accuracy. That plus we really don't know a lot about what the Council of Peace actually do. They have a News Department to keep Truth Seekers such as myself informed of activates that maintain the peace but these only report so much and often report activates long since completed. It is hard to measure, with the information available, just how effective they are in making sure we don't slide back into the abyss of total war.

This Truth Seeker isn't against them. At the same time, neither do I support them. I find myself quietly opportunistic that they are doing a good job, whilst a tiny voice in the back of my head is asking 'what are they really up to?'.

Time will tell I'm sure. Sooner or later, it always does.

Article from the Newsletter 'Larrick City Opinions' dated 31^st of the 12 month, 1AW (After War), 1432 (Old Calender)