Richard Dee's Blog, page 79

Rewind, a recipe, lamb steaks and fruit with courgette falafel.

This week, on the Rewind, I’ve chosen a meal idea from 2016, click the picture to get the recipe.

I hope you try this one, it’s delicious.

Meanwhile, I have released a Sci-fi Short Story,

The Hansar were the rulers of the Galaxy.
They currently had two problems, a particularly stupid race, and their own teenagers!!!
Find out how they dealt with both.

Have a great weekend.
I’ll be back on Monday with another Blog hop.

The post Rewind, a recipe, lamb steaks and fruit with courgette falafel. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents, Jim Webster

There’s a bit of a different feel to the Showcase this week. I first found Jim’s writing a while ago and was immediately entranced (I think that’s a suitable word) by his style and the depth of his imagination.

I’m delighted to welcome him to the Showcase, instead of the usual post, Jim has provided me with a short story, which I hope you will enjoy.

Wheels within wheels

If ever a man was an innovator, it was Stillitoe Cloudwiller. Others would have been happy to bask in the relative success of the aquatic tripod. After all, whilst this was limited to one prototype, it did at least work, came in under budget, and he managed to sell it and recover his investment. Many, more prestigious projects, have not managed to achieve even this.

But Stillitoe was an argumentative man prone to making
wild claims. Just as the aquatic tripod had been developed because of an
argument with the ferry company, the Commendable Monocycle came into being when
he had an argument with a pair of sedan chair bearers. He swore that not only
would he never hire them again, he’d give people a method of travelling swiftly
and in comfort that put them out of business. In reality such a method already
exists, the horse is reliable and the whole field of carriages, governess carts
and tack has been thoroughly explored over millennia.

Unwilling to tread the well worn path of equine
exploitation, Stillitoe set his mind to the consideration of some other method
of achieving his objective. His chance came when he visited the house of a
friend who was in the kitchen, tinkering with the turnspit over the great
hearth. It seems that his friend had devised a system whereby a dog would run
round in a wheel, which would turn the spit. This he demonstrated to Stillitoe,
only to have the mechanism break in some manner, so that the wheel came loose
and the dog propelled it enthusiastically around the kitchen.

This was all the inspiration a man of Stillitoe’s calibre
needed. This was his mode of travel that would render the sedan chair obsolete.
Still it needed work and he pondered long and hard. He decided that the person
travelling really needed to be seated, and that steering is easier if the wheel
is narrow. Eventually, after a lot of thought and discussion with friends, he
had his artisans build his Commendable Monocycle. In this the rider sat inside
the contraption on an inner frame. Pedalling caused the outer wheel to rotate,
and steering involved moving two handles that could cause one side or the other
of the outer wheel to twist appropriately.

The contraption was built and Stillitoe was the first to
ride it. Whatever one says about him, he has never been afraid to test his own
devices. He tried it on the Ropewalk early one morning and soon was bowled
along at a most impressive speed, swerving to avoid drays loading and
unloading.

He decided to throw caution to the winds and that
afternoon, when he had to attend a meeting in the Merchants quarter, he would
travel there on his monocycle. Unfortunately the Ropewalk was far busier than
it had been earlier in the day. Still he was also more experienced in
manoeuvring his vehicle and he managed to pass the length of the street without
accident.

Unfortunately what he hadn’t considered when designing
the monocycle was that streets are often liberally spread with the dung of
horses and other animals. This was picked up by the wheel and spread about
liberally. It normally fell of those behind him, but occasionally if forced to
go more slowly because of the press of folk, it would fall down upon him as he
pedalled. As an aside, this is why he added the ‘roof’.

The next problem he had to face was that the road climbed
uphill to the part of the merchant quarter he wanted to visit. Undeterred he
stood up on his pedals and gave it his all. He went up the hill faster than a
sedan chair, and did indeed arrive at his meeting on time. The effect was
rather spoiled because he was red-faced and covered in horse dung.

In spite of this he persevered. The monocycle had
performed well. He realised that with practice an accomplished rider could
tackle any incline and with the internal roof to shelter him, the rider need
not fear rain or random showers of horse dung.

He had his artisans start to manufacture the Commendable
Monocycle for purchase by the general public. To be fair the price was too high
for the ordinary working man, but it did appeal to those young men and women
who wished to travel to their offices at neck-break speed. He must have sold a
score of them, and then he found another market.

A lady enquired about purchasing one. She merely wished
to ride around Dilbrook to visit her friends. The area was level, the roads
good, and not only that, a host of dutiful gardeners would come running out to
collect the horse dung before the horse had even finished depositing it. She
just wanted her machine making a little wider. This would make it easier for
her to ride in a long dress. To Stillitoe this was merely an engineering
detail. He soon complied with her request and must have sold another score or
more to ladies who were still young at heart and who felt that the exercise was
to their benefit.

Society had taken his monocycle to its heart. Alas there
were fears it would lead to improper behaviour. What if young men and young
women took advantage of their newfound freedom to sneak off and meet each
other?  Stillitoe was soon to find an
answer to that. He joined to monocycles with a common axle so the young couple
were able to cycle sitting side by side on a bicycle.

Obvious they couldn’t attempt any familiarities through
the revolving wheels. Still some tutted at the liberties that could be taken,
so in a moment of genius he fitted a third, smaller wheel at the rear and a
chaperone could sit on this. This tricycle had the advantage that the chaperone
could see what was going on but not necessarily hear everything that was said.

It was some years later, when the Scar laid siege to Oiphallarian, (A campaign described in maudlin detail by Jim Webster in his book ‘The flames of the city’) that Stillitoe thought to put his monocycle to some martial purpose. He first approached the various Condotteri captains offering to raise for them troops of monocycle riders who would ride through the ranks of their enemies with scythe blades mounted on the axles. It was pointed out, perhaps more gently than he deserved, that the Scar are nomad horse archers who ride fast and hardy ponies. It was unlikely they could be caught by even the most enthusiastic monocycle rider.

Stillitoe then contemplated modifying his bicycle but
realised that this was still not much faster than the monocycle. He then took
another tack, taking his tricycle and having a scattergun mounted between the
front two wheels.

The gun would be fired by the person sitting on the third
wheel. This looked promising but his first attempt to build something ran into
the problem that the tricycle as initially designed wasn’t really strong enough
to cope with the weight of a light cannon or even the recoil.

Still he called in friends and they sat up late one
night, designing, calculating, redesigning and recalculating, until by the
early hours of the next morning, fortified by a respectable quantity of ale,
they had produced a design for a tricycle that they felt could deliver.
Admittedly it needed three steam engines, one on each wheel, had a howdah in
the middle which was big enough to mount anything the heart desired, and needed
a crew of at least a dozen, six of whom were stokers. It was noon the next day
when Stillitoe left his bed and returned to his library to start calculating
how much his war tricycle would cost. He had just finished the process when he
received news that the Scar had been defeated by conventional means.

Still, Stillitoe felt it his duty to let people know what
was available.

Admittedly for the cost of building one war tricycle, it should be possible to raise and equip a thousand men-at-arms and pay them for a full campaigning season. But still, Stillitoe Cloudwiller is not a man to let petty details stand in the way of progress.

About Jim Webster

Rumour has it that Jim Webster is more probably sixty-something rather than fifty-something, his tastes in music are eclectic, and his dress sense is rarely discussed in polite society. In spite of this, he has a wife and three daughters.

He has managed to make a living from a mixture of
farming, consultancy, and freelance writing.

He lives in South Cumbria not far from the Irish Sea,
with the Lake District hills as his northern horizon. At the moment he is
writing fantasy which is on the cusp of becoming steampunk. He has a number of
protagonists (to call them heroes is to play fast and loose with the term) who
live in an area called ‘The Land of the Three Seas.’

This world is chronicled in four novels (available in paperback) and nineteen novellas.

His Amazon author page is at

https://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B009UT450I

but the books are on BookBub as well

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jim-webster?list=author_books

There are two blogs, https://tallissteelyard.wordpress.com/ where my out of control character, Tallis Steelyard, poet and raconteur tells tales drawn from a long life. (You’ve just read one of them here.)

The other blog https://jandbvwebster.wordpress.com/
is largely taken up with me talking about life in agriculture, occasionally
mentioning books, and sometimes ranting about the inanities of modern life.

If you enjoy ‘detective’ stories, or mysteries, then you
might well enjoy those novellas with the title ‘The Port Naain Intelligencer’.
They’re a collection, not a series, so like the Sherlock Holmes stories you can
read them in any order. But ‘Flotsam or Jetsam’ was first written.

The Tallis Steelyard stories all have his name in the title.
He insists.

Those that are collections of his anecdotes have ‘and
other stories’ at the end of the title. Otherwise, like ‘Tallis Steelyard, Six
men in a boat’ they’re just one story. That might be as good a place as any to
start with Tallis.

The first collection of his stories is “Tallis Steelyard,
shower me with gold and other stories.”

This contains stories such as ‘One truly exceptional bowel
movement’, ‘The dark arts of a poet’, ‘Card play’ and many more.

My thanks to this weeks guest for a great post. I hope you all enjoyed it.

While you’re here, why not have a look around the site? There are FREE things and a whole lot more, just follow the links at the top of the page.

You might also like to join my team. I’ll send you a bi-monthly newsletter, filled with news, updates and extra content, as well as more about me and my worlds. You’ll also get a free short story and offers on my novels. Subscribe by clicking HERE

If you want to be
featured in a future Showcase, where you can write about whatever
(within reason) you want, then please let me know. Use the comment box below
and I’ll get back to you.

You can catch up on
previous Showcase posts by clicking HERE

Don’t miss the Saturday Rewind, next Thursdays Showcase post, and my musings every Monday.

Have a good week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase presents, Jim Webster appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

What’s next? Work in progress.

As I said last time, it’s a relief to get the completed work
ready for beta reads, as a bonus, it’s got my creativity flowing again on the
other work I have started and not yet finished.

This week I’m talking about the part finished work in my portfolio, of which there are several pieces, all at varying stages.

One of the curses of being a writer, at least as far as I’m
concerned, is that ideas keep leaping into my head. While I’m seeing a story, I
will often catch a glimpse of a spin-off, some adventures that are only hinted
at, or a sequel, or even a prequel.

I know I keep on about this, what you need to understand is
that up to not so long ago, I couldn’t write ANYTHING, now it seems that I
can’t stop. The novelty of being able to write long passages or whole books
that make sense has not yet worn off.

Trouble is, the inspiration comes unbidden, I can’t always
sit down and write what I want, I have to go with what I’m given. Which makes
plotting a doddle, I don’t have to.

This can mean more stories in the series that are written, new ideas for stories (I hesitate to say stand-alone as all the series started as such), or spin-off plots, using the same universe, with different times, setting or characters.

For example,

my Steampunk story The Sensaurum and The Lexis. While it is set in Norlandia, the story takes place at a different time to the Horis Strongman stories. Although those stories are used as a reference to help build the world and provide background, as far as the characters are concerned, it’s all history.

Or Survive, it’s
set on a planet that features in the Dave Travise universe, principally in Freefall, but it takes place several
hundred years before Dave’s time.

I don’t know about The
Sensaurum, but I definitely have a sequel to Survive, if I hadn’t decided that 86,000 words was enough for one
story, I could have just carried it on, making it into a real doorstep of a
book. I suspect that readers would prefer it in smaller doses, especially as
I’m (still) relatively unknown. I can always issue a boxset later.

In terms of my other work, I have a third Balcom story in progress and a third Horis Strongman steampunk adventure (hinted at in The Sensaurum). I don’t have titles for either of these yet as there is not enough of them written to suggest one. The third part of the Dave Travise story, called Promise Me, is nearing completion and will soon join the ranks of the beta versions. As a break from writing, I took an hour to do some concept work on a cover, this is what I came up with.

Andorra Pett also has two further adventures, taking the series
to five books. They are provisionally entitled Andorra Pett takes a Break and Andorra
Pett’s Lunar Adventure. Whether it will then be time for her to hang up her
investigating hat and settle for the quiet life she always craved, we’ll have
to wait and see. It’s always possible that her descendants might take on the
mantle (believe it or not, that thought occurred to me while I was typing
this).

There is also the second part of Life and Other Dreams to finish, I prefer not to call Wake me Up a sequel, as that implies closure and explanation, which I’m pretty sure will not be the case.

Meanwhile,

other possible plots abound. I have an idea to develop a short story I wrote ages ago into a novel, I can see glimpses of action past what exists but nothing definite yet.

Finally, I have a new hero, the disillusioned ex-soldier Dan
Jones (not his real name), who is working as a hit man for gang boss Fliss
Bauer. However, he feels that his boss is tiring of him and realises that he needs
to get away from her before he becomes surplus to requirements. He meets a
petty criminal, Lydia, in strange circumstances and mayhem ensues.

This one has the feel of a potential NaNoWriMo 2019 project about it, of course, it’s not up to me. November is a long way off, I might have had a completely different idea by then.

I’ll be back on Thursday, with a new Indie Showcase, see you then.

The post What’s next? Work in progress. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Blog Hopping, a new experience

Hello everyone and welcome to my first appearance on this (or any) blog hop. Please take a look around my website to get acquainted with what I do. My task today is to write a short post on a particular topic, not of my choosing. I hope I’ve done it justice. Find out below.

Here are the rules for this Blog hop,



Link your blog to this hop.Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.







And here’s the prompt,

If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?

It sounds great doesn’t it?

All that extra time; just think of what you could do. The
possibilities must be limitless.

So why am I reminded of Parkinson’s Law?

And the fact that it also applies to leisure.

To be honest, the prompt reminded me of a question I was asked in my job interview; before I went to sea in the Merchant Navy.

“How
will you spend your day, when the ship is in the middle of the ocean?” I was
asked. “You know that you will have 24 hours to fill.”

I
had been ready for all the questions about living on a ship, the separation from
home (in those days it was fairly total) and all the rest. But I have to admit
that I hadn’t considered this one.

“Eight hours work, eight hours recreation and eight hours sleep.” I replied, thinking on my feet.

The look on my inquisitor’s face suggested that I had the proportions wrong but he said nothing. When I joined my first ship, I found out why. I was wrong all right, yet in a strange way, I found that it didn’t matter. There was nothing else to do anyway.

I think you can guess where I’m going with this, it’s the same as thinking that you will have more time when you retire; because you won’t be spending all those hours either at work or travelling there and back, will you?

And
we all know how that works out, if not from personal experience, then with
someone we know or see. I do just as much, if not more now that I’m retired, if I had to go back to work
tomorrow, I wouldn’t have the time.  

The point I’m trying to make is that your life will always expand to fill the hours you have to live it. It’s Parkinson’s Law in action, whether that’s a good thing or not I couldn’t say. On a ship it’s all part of the deal, there is work to do and a limited number of people to do it. Ships don’t stop when it hits five p.m. so neither do you. Everyone accepts this and you all muck in until the job is done. You slept when you could.

I know that if I had an extra six to eight hours a day, despite any good intentions that I might have; to do more cooking, or walking or taking my wife out for lunch, I’d probably just waste it on watching box-sets and scanning my Facebook feed. After all, there’s never enough time to do that!

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts, please leave a comment below.

Here’s the link for the rest of the blogs on this hop,

please visit them and see what they have to say.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

You can subscribe to my newsletter or this blog with the buttons on the right.

I post here several times a week, tomorrow, I’ll be featuring news on my writing, Thursday is the day when I host an Indie author with something to say and on Saturdays, I put up a post from my archives, usually about cooking or one of my other hobbies.

I hope to see you again soon.

The post Blog Hopping, a new experience appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Saturday Rewind, Three Seed and Chickpea Bread.

Here’s a recipe from my blog, back in January 2016. It’s for a bread with a difference, made with added Chickpeas and mixed Seeds. A bit heavier than normal, but delicious. Of course, you could add a little paprika or garlic to the mixture, to give it even more flavour.

Click the picture for the recipe.

I’ll be back on Monday, with a new schedule for my posts.

Monday, Blog Hop with Open Book

Tuesday, News from Richard Dee

Thursday, The Indie Showcase

Saturday, The rewind.

I’m looking forward to my new Monday gig. I’ve been shadowing the hop for a couple of weeks to get a feel for their style. All the other blogs on the hop are well worth following too, full details of how you can get to them all will be up on Monday.

See you then.

The post The Saturday Rewind, Three Seed and Chickpea Bread. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase Presents, Nicky Moxey

Today’s guest is so much more than a writer, as you will see. Over to you, Nicky.

Nicky Moxey

I’d always expected that when I’d finally get round to writing a novel, it would be a science fiction one. After all, my shelves were groaning with SF; it was what I’d mostly read since I was a teen, and the short stories I’d written could all fit comfortably within the genre.

Then the focus
of my life changed when my (ex) husband asked what I wanted for my 50th
birthday, and I jokingly replied, a gold torc. He gave me a do-it-yourself torc
kit, a metal detector… My first job out of uni was as an archaeological digger,
and I’d kept in contact with the local Archaeological Unit even when I had to
stop and get a proper job (i.e. one that paid the rent). When I came across
something chunky and metallic about 18 inches down in a meadow (nearly blowing
my head off from the strength of the signal), I asked them to come over and do
a mini dig.

It turned out
to be a large rectangular lead sheet, lying flat on top of a destruction layer
– and no-one could give me any explanation as to what it was doing there. Over
the course of the next few months, I began to build up a picture of what had
been going on in that meadow. I was getting a lot of iron nails – hand-made
ones, possibly even made by the same person, because they had a quirky
triangular head. And bells; not the common sheep ones, but nice little
handbell-sized ones. Then there were the 12thC equivalent of welly boots – iron
patens, which when filled with wood and tied with leather like Japanese
sandals, were supposed to keep you out of the mud. Not very well, clearly –
there were quite a few of them, usually singletons, but some in pairs. I was
beginning to have the voices of men in my head, swearing as they slogged home
with wet feet…

But what men, and when?

As the weather closed in I retreated to the Suffolk Record Office, and tried to work out what I’d found. Nothing fitted; maps of the area going back to Tudor times showed a blank in my meadow. I’d kept very careful records of what I’d found where, and had mapped it all out. It was clearly a sizeable set-up; but what was it?

Then a
breakthrough – Canterbury Cathedral sent out a fund-raising leaflet for their
roof appeal, and included a description of roof tile manufacture. They
mentioned that it had been done this way for a thousand years, and gave the
standard dimensions. I went back to my records and checked that lead sheet –
YES! It was a roofing tile!

I knew that
there was a local priory, but the remains were clearly visible a good couple of
miles away from my meadow. But the weather was still vile, so I started to
research it. With great good luck, many of the priory charters were still
around, including some of the earliest, dating back to 1188. I read the
description of the original land grant, and frowned. That didn’t sound like the
known site at all! I copied out the grant, and went and stood in my meadow.
Alder grove there – yes! Spring there, with stream flowing that way – yes!
Major road through here – well, it’s a footpath now, but with some imagination
– YES! But why on earth was it in the wrong spot?

I started reading about the man who founded the priory, and became engrossed in it.

Wimer the Chaplain was born a stone’s throw from my house, the youngest son of a Saxon peasant farmer. He should have stayed a peasant, but pretty much on the 100th anniversary of the Norman invasion, here he was in the Pipe Rolls – the court accounting records of the day – acting as a personal secretary to the Earl of Norfolk. Wimer kept popping up in the records, his career doing very well indeed. In the 1170s he was working for the King, working as the local Sheriff to build Orford Castle and being made Rector of its church; then disaster struck, and he was excommunicated by Thomas a’Becket. He was bundled off to a tiny little priory in the middle of the Norfolk Broads to sort out their finances. Then the King had a purge of corrupt sheriffs, and Wimer was one of the few men left untouched by scandal – he was promoted to what was one of the richest jobs in England, the Sheriff of all Norfolk and Suffolk, in charge of commerce and taxes all up the fast-growing East Anglian coast.

There is a
record in the Pipe Rolls that raised the hair on the back of my head. The same
scribe wrote the records for years on end; but 1178 had a note written on top,
in a different hand – Wimer’s resignation letter. He’d left all his fortune
with the King, in case anyone wanted to sue him; he was going to go home and
found a Priory, in expiation of his sins. I think he wrote it himself…

So there I was;
three years of research had given me the bones of a nice little monograph that
I could publish. I went back to the founding charter and re-read it one more
time – and stopped dead as I recognised the names involved. The King’s MISTRESS
had given him the land – a cool 1000 acres, conservatively worth about £14M in
today’s money. Why?!

The monograph went out of the window. I had a mystery to write…

Sheriff and Priest

Sheriff and Priest is available as an ebook on Amazon:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

And
as a paperback here:

Paperback direct from the author

Wimer
has his own Facebook page

Wimer the Chaplain

And Nicky’s website is here.

https://nickymoxey.com/ 

Book 2 in the Dodnash Priory chronicles is due out in September 2019.

Thanks for a great post. I hope you all enjoyed it.

While you’re here, why not have a look around the site? There are FREE things and a whole lot more, just follow the links at the top of the page.

You might also like to join my team. I’ll send you a bi-monthly newsletter, filled with news, updates and extra content, as well as more about me and my worlds. You’ll also get a free short story and offers on my novels. Subscribe by clicking HERE

If you want to be
featured in a future Showcase, where you can write about whatever
(within reason) you want, then please let me know. Use the comment box below
and I’ll get back to you.

You can catch up on
previous Showcase posts by clicking HERE

Don’t miss the Saturday Rewind, next Thursdays Showcase post, and my musings every Monday.

Have a good week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase Presents, Nicky Moxey appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

What should I publish next? Beta Readers Wanted, apply below.

Before we get to the good stuff, the details of the novels available for beta reads, let me update you on where I am, so to speak. I’d also like to talk a little about the importance of beta readers.

My April writing challenge is over, I have just under 30,000 words of a sequel to Life and Other Dreams in the bag. I can see the start of the story, all that’s needed now is to finish it off; when the characters tell me what they want to happen next.

As I told you before, the way I work is not what you might
suppose. I know that there are authors who plot the whole story out before they
ever commit a word to paper. I’m just not one of them.

However, when it comes to getting the finished story into a
state that can be sold, I’m fairly traditional.

I have an editor, which may come as a shock to many who
think that self-published authors don’t bother with things like that!

Mine likes to see my work as it progresses, so I will send them my first draft, incorporate their corrections and prepare a beta read version of the novel. This goes out to my beta team, who read it and comment.

Now you might be wondering at this point, what is the idea of a beta read?

After all, it’s not as if you’re getting the final version of the novel, it might still have errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation and formatting. Well, let me give you my take on the concept.

Beta reads give me a chance to see if my ideas are working. Very often, the people who beta read for me have read my other titles, so they will recognise my style. And the ones who haven’t, well they might like my work and read more of my back catalogue; or tell their friends about me and my work. And I make sure that I explain to everyone that this is not the finished article; so that people know not to expect perfection.

I talk to my beta readers a lot, I take notice of all the comments and suggestions. Often, they will give me ideas that I can use in my second draft. After I have re-written, the book goes back for another edit.

After that has been returned and I’ve corrected it where
necessary, I reckon the story is just about ready, I get it formatted for print
and it has a third edit, just to catch any errors that might have been missed.

I’ve been dithering about which novel to publish next, and time has gone by. I’ve been writing a lot and storing it all up, with the result that I have four novels that have completed stage one. So they are all just about ready for a beta read. The question is, which one should I offer? To solve my problem, I’ve decided to make them all available.

Two of them are parts of series, the others are new work,
although they may well become part of something more in the future.

I can sit on them for ages, while I decide what to do, or I can get them out there.

So, in brief, this is what they are about. I’ll leave it to you, please let me know which you think is the best one to get published next. I’ve included the latest ideas for the covers as well.

If anyone’s interested in a beta copy, just comment below and I can arrange a copy for you. I have .epub .mobi and .pdf versions available.

First, the stand-alone stories.







The Sensaurum and the Lexis,

this is a Steampunk adventure, set in Norlandia, several years after the events in my other Steampunk stories.

Artwork by 4Star Scifi and Pixabay

Jackson has lived in the Makewright Orphanage since his parents were killed in an accident. Now, he is selected to join a band of agents under the control of Sir Mortimer Langdon, investigating the murkier side of life in Norlandia.

In this tale, Jackson is thrust into action against a man who would use perverted science to take over the world. Using the latest fantastic creations of Steampunk technology Jackson and his friends must thwart The Master of Automata. 

(91,000 words)

Survive (the tale of Ballantyne
Alysom).

Another stand-alone story.

Artwork by 4Star Scifi and Pixabay

Ballantyne Alysom is Galactographic! Magazine’s most intrepid explorer, Davis Jansen is the cameraman he takes on his most dangerous expedition so far.

When things
go wrong and the survivors of the group are stranded on an unexplored planet,
Davis sees the real man behind the carefully constructed public face.

Now he has a choice, does the world need to know the truth? And which one’s story will they believe?

(87,000 words)

Next, the series.

While these stories are part of the universes of their series, they can be read without having seen the other parts.

The Lost Princess,

This is a novella, the prequel to Ribbonworld and Jungle Green.

The prequel to the Balcom Series

Where is Layla Balcom?

The most famous woman in the Galaxy, heiress to the Balcom empire, has
vanished. Has she simply exchanged her celebrity life for peace and quiet or
has the unthinkable happened?

In the midst of the search; where rumours and speculation are rife,
journalist Miles Goram thinks that he’s found the answer. A girl on the run
suggests that Layla could be a hostage, in a club where the rich indulge their
fantasies. It’s located on Dalyster, a corrupt and secretive world. A place
where his status as a reporter will do him no favours in his efforts to uncover
the truth.

Caught in a rivalry between politicians and businessmen, is his world about to fall apart around him?

(41,000 words)

Last, but by no means least, we have

Andorra Pett, and her Sister

The third of my Andorra Pett stories.

“When a sister hates you, then that really is the end of the world.”

Andorra Pett returns, artwork by Matthew Britton

Andorra Pett’s sister is in trouble, big trouble. Andorra hasn’t seen her for a while, they never really got on, then there was a falling out. Andorra’s in London on business when she gets a cry for help. As if she hasn’t got enough to deal with, all she wants to do is get back to normality. Just what has her sister got involved with? Why does she have to sort it all out for her?

When the chips are down, will family come first?

(63,000 words)

What do you think? I’d love to know which one you’d like to see published next. And if you’d like to read one of them, please let me know, there are a limited number of beta copies available. Once I have an idea of the running order, I can get publication organised. Meanwhile, I’m off to see what I can do about the half-finished work I have. More on that next time.

Don’t miss the Indie Showcase on Thursday, when I’ll be hosting another great author, see you then.

The post What should I publish next? Beta Readers Wanted, apply below. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Saturday Rewind, Hound Tor.

A change from cookery this week, here are a few pictures from a visit to Dartmoor, back in 2016.

Just click on the picture below for the full album.

I’ll be back on Monday, with news of a completed novel. Have a great weekend.

The post The Saturday Rewind, Hound Tor. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents; Richard Marman

My guest this week is an author with enough real-life adventures to keep him inspired for years. Please welcome Richard Marman to the Showcase.

I reckon I’ve led an interesting life, which is a great help if you want to be a writer because you’ve got exciting experiences for inspiration.

I was a military kid before moving to Australia. I went to six primary and three high schools, which I’d didn’t mind although I don’t think it’d suit everyone. I served for nine years in the RAAF, including a tour of duty in South Vietnam followed by over thirty years in civil aviation. I’ve survived a burning chopper wreck and a horror smash on the M25 — both due to the recklessness and incompetence of others — maybe I’ve still seven lives left.  

People often ask me if I fly light aircraft nowadays. Why would I after having flown some of the finest aircraft ever built?

I started writing seriously when I
left aviation in 2007 to attend the University of the Sunshine Coast in
Southern Queensland, graduating with majors in creative writing, graphic design
and visual arts all of which I apply to my creative endeavours.

My first four works:  The
Wealth, McAlister’s Trail, McAlister’s Way and A Tale of two Turtles evolved from university assignments.

The
McAlister Line is my showpiece series It started as
a stand-alone novel, but as JRR Tolkien said, the story grew in the telling to
a four book series, a sequel and three prequels with another in the pipeline.

I write what I like to read, so it’s
got to be fast paced with loads of stuff happening. I’m not a plodder when it
comes to reading. Initially I targeted a YA market, but although the
protagonists are teenagers heading into adulthood, I found my historical novels
set in the 1950s are more popular with baby-boomers who remember being kids
back then.

Here
are a few pleasing reviews:



McAlister’s
Way

‘Masterfully
handled and quite eloquent — Wonderful.’

‘I
like this book it covers issues that need to be addressed.’

2012 Australian CYA
writers’ awards judges

‘With
pirates and secrets set amongst the northern tropics, you’re in for a
delightful read. It has a really good sense of place and from the voice to the
detail. It’s a fast moving action story that will leave you wanting more’

Lauren Jones, Sunshine
Coast hinterland

McAlister
and the Great War

‘A
very good and well researched read. I enjoyed it very much.’

Squadron Leader Mark
‘Cowboy’ Willcocks, RAAF ret. Chief Pilot and CEO Fubilan Air Transport PNG

Dragon
Stalkers

Rollicking good tale funny as…..

Kevin Colbran, author

McAlister’s
Trail

‘A
decent read and a fun romp across the Southwest.’

Sandy Whiting for Western
Writers of America Roundup Magazine

While I love illustrating my own
stories, I’ve illustrated a number of works for other authors and enjoyed the
experience of bring their tales to visual life. My art style is eclectic. I’ll
have a go at any medium.

You can find information about my work
at www.richardmarman.com
and www.richardmarman.net.

I’ve been a nomad all my life and
still enjoy nothing better than travelling — in comfort. I’ve never been a back-packer.
I believe the success to a happy life is travel extensively, don’t take
yourself too seriously and avoid political-correctness wherever possible.

Although I write predominantly
historical fiction I have ventured into the wonderful world of fantasy with two
titles: The Wealth and Dragon Stalkers as well as illustrating Hannah Meets a Dragon for Rita Hayward. I
know there are a squillion fantasy and sci-fi fans out there, so here are a
couple of short Frogofferings just
for you.

The
Book

He had warned her about the book, and now of course the consequences
were dire and he was left to fix things. She had been a pretty girl, with
fetching dimples much admired
by young men, but that had all changed.

          I wonder what young
men will think of her now, he mused.  

He sat
at the kitchen table with the book open beside him while a small, brilliant
green frog hopped over the pages.

This will be tricky, his brain
kicked into overdrive. I know it works with handsome princes, but pretty
girls normally have to be asleep for a while. Anyway where will I find a prince at
this time of night, I’ll have to go to Denmark or England. Harry’s out of the
pictures now, while
George is far too young. Mind
you, nothing’s specifically mentioned about age.

He
picked up the frog, which chirped a particularly pathetic ‘ribbitt’ and
snuggled into his hand eyeing him rather sheepishly.

‘It’s nouse you looking like that,’ he
addressed the frog firmly, but not unkindly. ‘It’s too late to buy a plane
ticket, which means I’ll have to borrow your Aunt Edith’s broomstick, and you
know how I dislike using it. You should have thought of that before. So, now
you’ll just have to wait here until I can sort this out.’

Thus the sorcerer departed mumbling something
about only taking her on as an apprentice because she was his niece, especially
after having similar trouble with Mickey Mouse all those years ago. 

The frog hopped onto the book entitled, Advanced
Magical Spells. Remorsefully she eyed the disclaimer beneath the title stating:

‘Beware of
side effects —
spells recommended for
experienced witches and necromancers only.’    

*

A
Frog Went A-Courtin’

‘My, my, aren’t you just the sweetest little frog,’
the handsome prince gushed. ‘Swam right into my hand, you really are friendly.’

            Yes, of course I’m friendly. I was a
beautiful princess once, until an evil witch turned me into a frog. Now just
one kiss, my darling, and I’ll be back to my old (young actually) self in a
jiffy — voluptuous and nubile beyond your wildest dreams.

            ‘What gorgeous, green eyes you
have,’ the prince crooned dreamily. ‘I was betrothed to a green-eyed princess,
you know? But she disappeared. I must admit I’ve never met her and they say
she’s a bit pushy and headstrong, spoilt and proud. But I’m an understanding
fellow, I’m sure we can work it out.’       

Oh, you dear, sweet boy. Yes, of course we can. Now plant one on me,
come on, just a little peck and I’m all yours — the hour-glass figure, the
ebony hair, soft milk-white skin, the emerald eyes and ruby lips — all yours!
Just kiss me, you numbskull, please. PULEEEASE! 

This simply sounded like a high-pitched ‘ribbitt’ to the prince.

            ‘He can’t understand you, of
course,’ a passing dragonfly announced haughtily. ‘They’ve lost the knack. It’s
progress, you see. There was a time when humans could chat away quite happily
with animals, but that’s all gone now. Too busy worrying about the future and
goodness knows what to be bothered with us lesser beings. Look at that arquebus
strapped to his saddle. He hasn’t even the decency to hunt with a crossbow anymore.’

The frog eyed the dragonfly.

‘Look what
evolution has done to me,’ the insect continued. ‘We used to be dragons!’ He
was in full swing now. ‘And just because we liked to carry off a virgin
occasionally, princes like Mr Fancy-Pants there came along, slaughtering us in
droves. Now we’re reduced to tiny creatures just to survive unnoticed.’

            ‘What
precisely did you have in mind for the virgins?’ the frog challenged,
temporarily distracted from the matter at hand.

‘Well, what use are virgins anyway?’
the dragonfly said dismissively.

‘Princesses are always maidens until
they marry their princes,’ the frog replied primly. ‘It wouldn’t do to behave
like tavern hussies.’

 ‘You didn’t sound so chaste a moment ago,’ the
dragonfly observed, rather harshly in view of the frog’s situation.

            ‘You
look so adorable, I’d like to take you back to the palace and keep you as a
pet,’ the prince purred.

‘Oh, please
do,’ the frog croaked, hoping for another chance to be kissed.

‘No, it
wouldn’t be fair to take you away from all your friends here,’ the prince
conceded. After replacing the frog in the water, he mounted his charger and
galloped away.

The charger,
like other chargers, wasn’t particularly bright, but he’d followed most of the
conversation and was secretly relieved, because had the princess been restored
her former glory, he would’ve had to carry her and the prince to the castle, which was half a day’s ride.

‘What
friends?’ the frog wailed in despair. ‘It’s a jungle out here. There’s a hawk I
have to dodge every day, not to mention that beastly pike lurking at the bottom
of this pond!’

            ‘I’m
truly sorry it didn’t work out for you,’ the dragonfly said compassionately.

‘And so you should be,’ the frog sighed.                   

Her tongue
shot out and snared the hapless dragonfly, gulping him down in less than a
heartbeat.

‘I would have
preferred a nice cup of tea and some jam tarts at the palace,’ she reflected
with a discreet, lady-like burp. ‘But as that’s not available, you’ll just have
to do, Master Dragonfly!’

 

For those who enjoy historical
fiction McAlister’s Way will be
available for a short time by subscribing to my website www.richardmarman.com don’t
worry I won’t bombard you with emails, although I plan some special offers in
the near future.

I was an adequate guitarist, but arthritis forced me to sell my beloved Fenders.  I took up ukulele playing instead and wrote an instruction manual which players find easy to follow and is selling quite well. Click the link below to hear a song I wrote which won second prize at the 2015 Sunshine Coast ukulele Festival.

And finally, an excerpt from McAlister’s Siege — Angela and Danny are trapped at Dien Bien Phu

It was nightfall before the last patient
passed through triage. Angela, who’d been on duty since dawn, had also worked
through half the previous night. It was only when Major Grauwin ordered her to
bed that she finally grabbed a few hours rest. But first she needed some fresh
air. The medical staff quarters were right next to the casualty wards and
Angela just wanted a few minutes away from the horror and misery of suffering
men.

As she stood by the barbwire overlooking
the aircraft pens lightning flashes blended with artillery explosions. The
rumble of shell blasts mingled with thunder to a point where Angela couldn’t
tell the difference.

Oh
Danny, I should have listened to you. How I’d love to be arguing the toss with
you somewhere — anywhere but here in this hell. But how can I leave these
stricken men now. Some aren’t any older than us, Danny.

‘Pardon,
mademoiselle,’ a voice spoke quietly. Angela spun
around with a start. A friendly faced man stood beside her. He’d approached so
quietly, she was completely unaware of his presence until he spoke.

‘Forgive me,’ he said. ‘I didn’t mean to
frighten you, but do you think it wise to stand out here? Look at our smart
fellows. They keep their heads down and stay in the trenches or under cover.’

The man beside her was about forty years
old. Although there was nothing particularly remarkable about him, even in the
night’s dimness it was impossible not to notice his left arm was missing.
Angela had never met the man before, but she recognised him as Colonel Charles Piroth,
GONO’s artillery commander. He’d lost his arm when his unit was caught in a
Viet Minh ambush near Saigon back in 1946.

Pulling a pack from his uniform jacket
pocket, he single-handedly fumbled for a cigarette. He offered one to Angela
and, although she didn’t smoke, she accepted it anyway. She took his lighter
and lit both cigarettes, gagging when she drew her first lungful of smoke.
After that she just held the cigarette. Smoking was supposed to be
sophisticated and adult, but she didn’t think she’d make a habit of it. Mind
you she’d said that about alcohol, but now enjoyed a glass of wine from time to
time. She recalled that Danny, for all his vices, hadn’t succumbed to tobacco’s
addiction either.

‘Do you mind if I stay here with you a
while, mademoiselle?’  Colonel Piroth
said in a rather resigned, dispirited tone.

‘It will be my pleasure, colonel,’ she
replied sincerely. He appeared to be such a pleasant man although his face
looked wracked with pain and self-doubt.

They stood in silence for a few minutes
while Colonel Piroth dragged on his cigarette.

‘I couldn’t help them, you know. I’m
sorry,’ Piroth said softly, almost in a whisper as if talking to himself.

‘Help who, colonel?’

‘Our men at Beatrice and Gabrielle.
There were just so many targets and I had so few guns. I tried to meet all the
demands, but my crews were overwhelmed. If only I had more howitzers and
gunners to man them. I should have demanded more heavy guns when I had the
chance. We were just spread too thin.’

That was true. General Tan had ordered
many smaller Bo Doi diversionary
attacks before concentrating on Beatrice and Gabrielle in turn. The wily Viet
Minh general knew other GONO strong-point commanders would demand artillery
support to the detriment of Beatrice and Gabrielle’s defences.

‘I’m sure you did all you could,
colonel. No one could have done more.’

‘Thank you,’ he said even more vaguely.
His mind seemed to be drifting. ‘If you don’t mind me saying, you are a very
beautiful woman, mademoiselle.’

‘Not at all, colonel,’ Angela replied
with a smile. ‘No girl should mind if a gentleman calls her beautiful.’

‘I remember the beautiful girls of Paris
and Saigon walking or cycling past the cafes. Is it wrong to admire beautiful
girls, mademoiselle? Is it sinful?’

‘Not if you mean them no harm.’

‘Oh no, it made me happy that God
created such lovely creatures and I was privileged to witness their beauty. I
shall miss that.’

‘I can see nothing wrong in appreciating
beauty. I think we all do that. I’m sure those girls would be charmed to know
you admired them so. You are a Frenchman after all. I think it is expected of
you. I’m sure you’ll be back in Saigon enjoying the ladies before long,’ Angela
said with a smile.

‘Thank you, mademoiselle, but I don’t
think that will be the case,’ Piroth said as he finished his cigarette and
stubbed the butt into the muddy ground. ‘It has been my great pleasure to speak
with you.’

‘Come and chat any time, colonel. It’s
nice to talk to someone who isn’t wounded,’ she said then realised that Colonel
Piroth had endured life with only one arm for eight years.

‘I’m sorry,’ she stammered, ‘that was
thoughtless of me.’

‘Not at all, ma chère,’ Piroth said softly. ‘Au
revoir.’

As he walked away Angela was left with
an unsettling impression that he was so forlorn and guilt-ridden, his heart was
in the depths of despair and there was nothing she could do to cheer him up.

Angela’s assessment was correct. Colonel Piroth walked slowly to his command bunker and retired to his quarters. Sitting on his cot, he drew a grenade from his pocket and pulled the pin with his teeth as he held the weapon to his chest. Four seconds later his chest was blown to mush.

Thanks, Richard, for a great post. I hope you all enjoyed it.

While you’re here, why not have a look around the site? There are FREE things and a whole lot more, just follow the links at the top of the page.

You might also like to join my team. I’ll send you a bi-monthly newsletter, filled with news, updates and extra content, as well as more about me and my worlds. You’ll also get a free short story and offers on my novels. Subscribe by clicking HERE

If you want to be
featured in a future Showcase, where you can write about whatever
(within reason) you want, then please let me know. Use the comment box below
and I’ll get back to you.

You can catch up on
previous Showcase posts by clicking HERE

Don’t miss the Saturday Rewind, next Thursdays Showcase post, and my musings every Monday.

Have a good week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase presents; Richard Marman appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Price Drop

I’ve just discovered that Amazon (in their bizarre and infinite wisdom), have reduced the price of my Steampunk adventure “The Rocks of Aserol.” It’s now just 79p or $1.08. If you want “an old-fashioned adventure, where the good guys are likeable; the bad guys detestable, a damsel is in distress and the white knight is on his way to save her,” here’s the link, http://bit.ly/Rocks_of_Aserol

You can read more about my Steampunk journey HERE

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