Richard Dee's Blog, page 60

Sharkham Point, wordless.

Back in the day, I used to join in a bloghop called Wordless Wednesday. In it, you posted a gallery of pictures based on a single topic, with no explanation except for the title.

I found some of these posts when I was going through my old blogger site and thought that I might share a few with you.

This set was taken in a place that’s ten minutes walk from my home.

I’ll be back on Monday, with another #Openbook blog hop.

I’m also taking part in a Bookfunnel promotion for my space opera Myra at

Bare Feet in June

Kick Your Feet Back! Add to your Library of Great Fantasy Reads in your Kindle Unlimited Subscription

and another, with my novella The Lost Princess as part of the lineup

Art of the Arcane’s June Science Fiction Giveaway!

Searching for your next favorite story? Look no further! These bestselling authors have teamed up to offer a delightful selection of new books. Available for free for a limited time.

Check them out, there are lots of great stories available.

All my publications can be found on my Amazon page, at

Author Updates

Follow Richard Dee and explore their bibliography from Amazon.com’s Richard Dee Author Page.

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.

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Two (More) Great Book Promotions

Organised by Bookfunnel, here are some great opportunities to add to your lockdown library.

Bare feet in June.

Myra is just one of the books on offer in this KU promotion, follow the link to see what’s on offer.

https://books.bookfunnel.com/elizabethrainkindleunlimited2/nc2ktnaals

Art of the Arcane Sci-fi Giveaway.

And there is also a giveaway promotion running, including my prequel to the Balcom series. As far as I know, these are all FREE downloads. Check it out and all the other books on offer at the following link.

https://books.bookfunnel.com/aota_science_fiction_giveaway/6spr4sbay8

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.

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A tale of the unexpected

Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.

What’s the most unusual experience you’ve ever had? Have you included it in one of your books?

Having spent a considerable part of my life at sea, I suppose I have had quite a few unique experiences.

Strangely enough, the ones that stick in my mind are not the things you might think. I was on a ship where the engine room flooded. I once had to go into an engine-room that was on fire to rescue someone. I’ve been around Cape Horn, up the Amazon. I was on a Jumbo jet that had to make an emergency landing. All these things were memorable.

I’ve been in some awful weather as well, the experience of a big ship at the mercy of nature gives you a unique awareness of its power. I always had confidence in the seaworthiness of my ship. My training had given me the ability to do the right thing at the right time to stay afloat and reach the next port.

The most unusual event I ever experienced happened one ordinary evening when I was third navigation officer. I was on bridge watch, in the Aegean Sea, during a thunderstorm. The sea wasn’t rough, we weren’t rolling or pitching. it wasn’t foggy, just rain squalls and a lot of thunder and lightning.

And then the ship, all 40,000+ tonnes of it, was hit by a bolt of lightning.

At first, I didn’t realise what had happened. I actually thought we had collided with something solid, even though I knew there was nothing in the vicinity. We were moving at about 15 knots, there was a flash, which seemed closer than the others had been, followed almost instantly by a tremendous blast of noise. The ship stopped, dead. Just for a split second, we were still. Then we carried on as before.

That sounds impossible but I don’t care. I know what I felt. I staggered forward into the radar. Dust, fluff, bits of paper and every loose item in the wheelhouse shot to the front and made a pile on the deck.

At the same time, all the lights went out and every alarm on the ship started buzzing, ringing, beeping or warbling. The lookout was sprawled on the deck and I helped him back up.

The Captain appeared as I was trying to reset everything and get the steering working. The engine hadn’t stopped but the rudder was stuck, we were swinging around. I cancelled alarms and changed to manual steering (we had been in autopilot), which did the trick.

“What happened?” he asked as we settled back on course. I had to tell him that I didn’t know but that we definitely hadn’t hit another ship or even a Greek island.

“I think we must have been hit by lightning,” he said.

We took the battery-powered Aldis signalling lamp outside and shone it on the mast, above the wheelhouse.

The once white mast was now black, with a large scorch mark running down it. The deck was littered with broken glass.

I could smell burning plastic and ozone.  

So far, that hasn’t featured in any of my work. Maybe one day.

Let me know what you think about this week’s subject.

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.

Now check out all the other blogs in this hop by clicking below.

https://fresh.inlinkz.com/p/db24c46fd1c24f3bbc1b490220f099e4

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Hound Tor on Dartmoor

Back in the day, I used to join in a bloghop called Wordless Wednesday. In it, you posted a gallery of pictures based on a single topic, with no explanation except for the title.

I found some of these posts when I was going through my old blogger site and thought that I might share a few with you.

This is one of my favourite walking destinations on Dartmoor, I hope you agree that it’s pretty special.

I’ll be back on Monday, with another #Openbook blog hop.

I’m also taking part in a Bookfunnel promotion for my space opera Myra at

Bare Feet in June

Kick Your Feet Back! Add to your Library of Great Fantasy Reads in your Kindle Unlimited Subscription

Check it out, there are lots of great stories available.

All my publications can be found on my Amazon page, at

Author Updates

Follow Richard Dee and explore their bibliography from Amazon.com’s Richard Dee Author Page.

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.

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Man of Mystery The video

I’ve been persuaded to enter the video age.

Here I am, in person, reading a flash fiction from my short story collection, titled (somewhat imaginatively) Flash Fiction. Excuse the fact that my eyes are all over the place, I was trying to read from one screen while looking at the camera. My technique needs a lot of work. Not only that, I think I have a good face for radio!

To give you a little background, I wondered if I could write a compelling intro in less than 1,000 words with no dialogue. This one is only 661 words and sets up the story nicely. There are lots of places I could go with this, the potential for all sorts of mayhem.

I hope you enjoyed that, here’s a bit more information on the collection.

Explore the Worlds of Richard Dee… 

And get a taste of Science Fiction.

This collection of short stories will take you on a rollercoaster ride, you’ll learn how to plan a perfect murder, stake a claim on Pluto and mine asteroids.

Have you ever wanted to know how to travel faster than light, Christopher Padget can tell you. Or would you rather find out what happens when you’re able to, there’s an answer to that as well. (I hope you’ve packed for the journey)

There’s time travel, corporate misdeeds and an initiation ceremony that few survive.

Take a peak inside, there’s much, much more…

“Sci-Fi… fans are in for a treat.”

“Fantastic – A thoroughly enjoyable book of short stories”

I’m also taking part in a Bookfunnel promotion for my space opera Myra at

Bare Feet in June

Kick Your Feet Back! Add to your Library of Great Fantasy Reads in your Kindle Unlimited Subscription

Check it out, there are lots of great stories available.

All my publications can be found on my Amazon page, at

Author Updates

Follow Richard Dee and explore their bibliography from Amazon.com’s Richard Dee Author Page.

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.

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To be a Pilgrim?

Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.

Have you ever gone on a literary pilgrimage? If so, where and why?

To be honest, the idea has never really appealed to me. Not that I don’t have literary heroes, but to make a specific journey to see where they once lived doesn’t interest me. When I was in Stratford-upon-Avon, years before I ever considered writing, the queue to get into Shakespeare’s house was around the block, I was happy not to have to spend the day waiting to go in.

Confession time: I actually live about two miles from Agatha Christie’s house at Greenway, in Devon. But I’ve never been in the house or the grounds.

I’ve been past the estate when travelling on the River Dart and I drive past the entrance on a regular basis, yet I’ve never felt the need to go in and look around.

Not because I don’t admire Christie or love her work. I do, especially Miss Marple. I read many of the books whilst at sea and enjoyed the original BBC dramatisations (with Joan Hickson). They were a familiar part of television schedules in the late 1980s and early 90s.

I also have to admit that her brand of unorthodox sleuthing and her ability to see the significance in what others missed influenced the development of my own amateur detective, Andorra Pett.

So there is a definite connection, although obviously I’m not as famous as her. At least, not yet.

I digress (how unusual). I can’t really say why I’ve never been to visit, especially as it would involve me in little effort or take up much of my time. It certainly wouldn’t require a lot of planning or expense.

I think it’s a familiarity thing. In theory, I can go anytime, so I don’t.

After all, I can always go tomorrow.

Let me know what you think about this week’s subject.

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.

Now check out all the other blogs in this hop by clicking below.

https://fresh.inlinkz.com/p/2c9f2e76199048349dbc2acfd19f3401

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Experimental loaves

I do love to experiment with the food I prepare, the bread I make is no different. As well as trying new flours or techniques, I also like to try different flavour combinations in a standard loaf, just to see what I can create.

Here’re a couple of experimental loaves, just a plain dough with additions. One sweet and one savoury.

It’s important not too put too much of the extra ingredients in, about 15-20% of the weight of the dough is enough. Any more and the loaf won’t hold together, it might not even rise very well.

If the things you’re adding are wet or have a high liquid content, then you may need to reduce the amount of water in the dough.

The additions I tried were,

Apricot, Prune and Almond,








and Roasted Potato and Beetroot chunks.

I made a standard Olive Oil dough at 70% hydration and added the extras in the final knead. 50g each of chopped Apricots, chopped Prunes and Flaked Almonds here,

and 200g of chopped and roasted potato and beetroot here.

These pieces may be too large, but we’ll see how it proves.

After kneading they went into the oven to prove for an hour.

They both rose really well,

I shaped them into tins,

and they rose again while the oven heated up to 230°C

Thirty minutes later they were ready,

so a quick slash with my blade and in they went. I baked with steam from a pan of boiling water in the oven, after 25 minutes I took it out as the crust had formed. 

Another 20 minutes and they were done. The internal temperature was above 95°C meaning that the gluten had set.

Now I just have to be patient and let them cool a bit before slicing.

The fillings seem to be well spread, this is the potato and beetroot, 

and this is the Apricot, you can also see the edge of an almond or two.

They taste pretty good as well, perfect for sandwiches or toast.

What are your favourites? Let me know in the comments

Now all you have to do is enjoy it. I’ll be back on Monday with another blog hop.

Stay safe everyone.

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.

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The Audiobook has landed.

Way back in January, while life was still going along in the old normal, I started the process of getting some of my novels made into audiobooks.

The first one is now completed. Life and Other Dreams has been narrated superbly by Gareth Richards.

It’s a Sci-fi thriller with a twist and a simple question at it’s heart.

Where do your dreams take you?







I have a limited number of FREE codes for Audible users, for both the U.K. and U.S. sites. To get one, before I run out, just comment below and if I still have any left, I’ll send you one of them.

You can listen to part of Chapter One here.

Who are you when you dream?

Rick isn’t sure anymore…

Is he Rick, living in the here and now? Working a boring job, married to Cath.

Or is he Dan, living six-hundred years and half a galaxy away? Exploring an alien planet with Vanessa by his side.

Two worlds, one man. While he’s awake in one place, he’s asleep in the other.

Simple enough, until people from Dan’s world start turning up in Rick’s life.

Confusing? But then it gets worse. Dan is accused of a crime he didn’t commit. Ricks wife leaves him and both realities are falling apart.

Which life is real? Will either go back to how it was?

If you had a choice, which would you choose?

“a masterpiece of fiction”

“Fast-paced, edge of your seat stuff!”

I’m also taking part in a Bookfunnel promotion for my space opera Myra at

Bare Feet in June

Kick Your Feet Back! Add to your Library of Great Fantasy Reads in your Kindle Unlimited Subscription

Check it out, there are lots of great stories available.

All my publications can be found on my Amazon page, at

Author Updates

Follow Richard Dee and explore their bibliography from Amazon.com’s Richard Dee Author Page.

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.

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All by myself; or part of the crowd?

Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.

Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?

At first, I was just trying to get the story out of my head. I didn’t really think about writing a series, or even a second book.

As my writing developed, I had more ideas than I could fit into a single universe. New characters and situations flowed from my mind. I branched out. I went from only writing straight space opera to include steampunk and even an amateur detective series.

Each novel I wrote went the same way. I would type the end, then have a fantastic idea for another adventure with the same characters.

I now have four series, by which I mean more than two books in the same setting and timeline.

And the ideas kept coming, every book that I wrote started off as a standalone, yet most of them have sequels or prequels. If I haven’t written them yet, the ideas exist, the stories are in the queue. Some also have spin-off titles, featuring either the main players or minor characters who had a story to tell.

Some of THESE spin-off’s now have sequels of their own.

Before you realise what’s going on, the whole thing multiplies. While it’s true that not all my series are connected, there are lots of similarities in the technology and world-building between them. So, if you like one of my books (or series) and try another, you’ll find a touch of familiarity, the odd reference to what’s been going on elsewhere. Although the stories themselves, and their settings, are quite different.

While I love all my series, I like to think that any of my novels stands on its own merit, I’ve tried to make sure that they all can be read without needing to refer to any of the others.

And the advantage of writing several stories in a series, as far as I can tell, are this.

Write a stand-alone book and when you write another, there’s no guarantee that the people who enjoyed the first one will want to read it.

Write a sequel and create a series and (providing it’s good enough) the people who read the first one will almost certainly want to read them all.

If you can write a series where all the stories are self-contained, one where you can join the adventure at any point and explore in any direction, then you have the perfect recipe for attracting readers.

How about you, do you prefer series or unconnected stand-alone stories?

Let me know what you think about this week’s subject.

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.

Now check out all the other blogs in this hop by clicking below.

https://fresh.inlinkz.com/p/ca9dc7b35d504a028a6bac64354d6d9b

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Promise Me

Monday is a big day. The third Dave Travise novel, Promise Me, is released.

Since I first published Freefall, the covers have been updated, to reflect the fact that this is now a series.

Here are the original covers, including the one I never used for Promise Me.

And here are the new covers.

It’s funny how things turn out, when I first published Freefall, way back in 2013, I had no idea that it would form part of a series. I didn’t even think that I would write another book. The main character, Dave Travise was a trader with a past, coming to terms with his life and lost love while hauling cargo across the galaxy. I made him an enigmatic loner and hinted at why that might be.

Then people started asking me questions, “What does this part mean?” or “why did Dave do that?”

I realised that I needed to tell them more about Dave and why he was like he was. And thanks to the voices in my head, I had plenty of ideas. There were two ways I could go, I could tell everyone what he had done before the events of Freefall, to show what had led Dave to be where he was at the start of that story, or after it, to tell everyone what happened next.

In the end, I decided to go back to Dave’s early life (when he wasn’t actually Dave). From there, I took his story up to a point before Freefall started. It was probably the right decision, as I was to find out as the novel developed.

In Myra, we found out that Dave was a more complicated man than you might have realised. You came to understand his loneliness and cynicism, saw that he and Myra had had something special. Myra became the start of the series that I was never going to write.

Freefall, my first novel, was now part two of a series.

While I was writing about Dave’s past, I saw how his future might be. I saw how the things I was describing would influence his later actions.

Then other projects got in the way and I left Dave in limbo for a while. But I didn’t completely forget the universe he inhabited. Instead of more of his adventures, I wrote a spin-off, Survive, staring one of the characters mentioned in Freefall.

As had happened once already, a reader of both Freefall and Myra wanted to know what else had happened to Dave, before or since. Once again, I wondered. Could I fit another book in between the two or should I go for a story starting where Freefall ended?

In the end, I wrote Promise Me, which directly follows the events in Freefall. I intended it to wrap up Dave’s story, tying all the loose ends together, making sense of his life and leaving him in peace.

My mind had other ideas. Promise Me has an end, but it’s not the end of Dave’s story. As always seems to happen, there are still things he wants to do. And, as I said a couple of weeks ago, the period between Myra and Freefall has given me the chance to tell more of his story.

There will definitely be at least one more instalment in Dave’s story. When will it see the light of day? I couldn’t possibly tell you.

You can get the stories here,







Myra is currently on sale at 99p ($0.99).

Can changing your name change your life?

Meet Dave Travise, at least that’s who his identity chip says he is. An ex-Navy man on the run; somehow he’s ended up in a dead man’s shoes; on a new ship and on the wrong side of the law.

With no way to prove his innocence, he’s just got to play along and keep his head down if he’s going to survive. As if he doesn’t have enough problems, now he’s fallen for Myra, the engineer on his new home.

Pursued by criminal gangs and keeping one jump ahead of everyone, Dave and his new shipmates are going to need all the luck in the Galaxy just to stay alive.

Do we carry who we are with us, no matter what we’re called?

Can you ever forget, when everything makes you remember?

Dave Travise is a man with a past. And the way things are going; he might not have much of a future.
All he really wants to do is forget, but he’s reminded about what he has lost at every turn. His life is in a rut, until the day the person he was expecting to see isn’t there, because she’s dead.

 He finds out that she had a secret, he’s warned to keep his nose out.

Does he listen? Or could this be this the adventure he’s been looking for?

As he gets more involved, his world turns upside down, events take control of his life, and before he knows how, he’s at the centre of a Galaxy-wide conspiracy, pursued by everyone desperate to keep what he now knows from the people. 

Available from Monday

Break one promise to keep another, can there be a way to please everyone?

Dave Travise has promises to keep, a galaxy to search and no time to lose. The trouble is, most of the promises that he’s made contradict each other.

Why is there always more than one problem to solve at the same time? The authorities are on his trail and his girlfriend’s family are missing. If that wasn’t enough, he’s expected to mete out revenge on a man he hasn’t seen for fifteen years.

Pulled in different directions by the demands placed on him, friends become enemies and new allies appear. Once Dave realises that the only way to appease everyone is by doing what feels right, he may be surprised at what his efforts reveal.

In the end, there’s more than one way to keep a promise.

“a rollicking adventure ride filled with intrigue, murder, and quite a bit of mystery.”

All my publications can be found on my Amazon page, at

Author Updates

Follow Richard Dee and explore their bibliography from Amazon.com’s Richard Dee Author Page.

I hope everyone who reads this is coping and that your families are OK, please stay inside and stay safe.

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.

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