Richard Dee's Blog, page 81

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

When I was a small child, I was always told never to be
boastful, never to shout about my successes. I’ve tried to live by this advice
as much as possible, never show off or trumpet my achievements too much.

However, perhaps there are times when a little self-promotion
is permissible?

I’ve been on a blog tour for Life and Other Dreams, 21 blogs in a week.

It’s great to see them posted in various places on social media and on the bloggers websites. I’m sharing a few of my favourites here, with the names of the posters removed. But you can find them all by following the links below.

As an author, feedback is very important, it’s always nice to know what people think of the product of my imagination. And it’s often a surprise to see how differently they viewed something that I assumed would be seen in a certain way when I wrote it. And they also spot things that I never noticed when I was writing, little links, passages with multiple meanings and connections. All things that I must have subconsciously inserted.

We’ll start with



The Good,

Let me just start by saying I went into the book with no prior opinions or even knowing much about it and was so phenomenally happy with what I read.

The story concerns a man by the name of Rick/Dan, who experiences extremely lucid dreams of a life on a far off planet called Ecias, to the extent he begins to question which of these lives is true reality. Throughout his journey for the truth, both lives begin to fall apart and he has to deal with repercussions on both sides.

We essentially have 2 different intertwining stories that are both expertly written and meld into a fluid and near perfect dual story. Both have parallels which become more intense as Dan gets deeper into trouble. The story on Ecias could have easily been written as a separate book, as could the tale of Rick, but together they create a weird sublime beauty and one that questions identity and the human condition. The world which Rick lives in is so relatable and the small things such as the noise of an MRI scanner are spot on. While Ecias isn’t as relatable in terms of it being a fantasy place, it relatable in the sense of wonder and freedom it provides it’s inhabitants. They also have a logical and plausible reason for being on the planet.

Everything is so well thought out and every character is fleshed out to such great detail. I’d say there isn’t a badly written character anywhere near the book. Everyone feels like a real person and they act as such. The pacing throughout is impeccable and I found myself gripped. constantly wanting to know what would happen next and how everything fits together.  The mind puzzle element of the book is so deep and enticing, it’s hard not to get caught up in it.

It’s a book you think about long after it’s finished and one that truly belongs in the upper echelon of sci-fi, surpassing much of what has come before. It creates its own identity which is an amazing thing. It’s rare for a book to feel as fresh and new as this. I wondered part way through if it would be similar to ‘We Can Remember It For You Wholesale’ by Philip K Dick (which was later turned into the film Total Recall) but no. It went its own path and one that I’d say works better than that of Dick’s story. I like the fact that no proper comparison can be drawn, as nowadays there seem to be so many similar books with the same themes and plot devices. It is really nice to have an author write what they want and not just pander to what performs the best in the charts.

If I had one fault with the book, it would be that there’s a sequel. So, in theory, it’s not a problem with this story, but it affects the overall ending. What’s there is perfect. It ends in the most sublimely, strangely beautiful way which makes you truly think. By knowing there is a follow-up, some of the perfection is sadly lost. That isn’t to say the sequel won’t be great, it just feels unnecessary considering the perfection that is the ending of this book.

Needless to say, I would consider this book a must read and one that I would happily read again. I would go as far as to say that I consider ‘Life and Other Dreams’ a masterpiece of fiction and one I am so glad to have experienced.

or this one,

This book was brilliant!  I
wasn’t sure what to expect at first but I was soon drawn in to the story, and
fully immersed in Rick and Dan’s worlds!!  I really didn’t want to put it
down!

Honestly….the blurb says it all! I
don’t think I can expand much on it without giving anything away! What I will
say is that….even after reading the book, I’m still not entirely sure what’s
reality and what isn’t!

I really enjoyed the descriptions
of Ecias which made it really easy to picture the place that Dan and Vanessa
live and work, and really made me think about the fact that this could really
happen in real life in the future! There is so much we don’t know about the
universe, how do we know there aren’t place out there like Ecias!?

Rick and Dan are brilliant
characters which are interlinked through dreams….although overlapped by
reality! And it’s so intriguing to see how this plays out….Dee has done a
fantastic job!

Life and other Dreams is a fast-paced, well written easy and enjoyable read which honestly will have you hooked! I was so thrilled to get to the end, and find out there will be a sequel…….a sequel which I literally cannot wait to read!!  I NEED to know what happens next!!!

Or even this one,

I really enjoyed this one I thought that this was a very well written, and well crafted story with an excellent cast of characters!

The plot line was excellent and I thought that the author’s writing style for this one was perfectly suited.  He is very well matched to this genre and I would love to know where he gets all his ideas from!!

I thought that the story flowed really well and it was easy to dip in and out of and I read it over the course of a couple of days.  Really looking forward to the next book from Richard now!!

4.5 stars from me for this one rounded up to 5 stars for Goodreads and Amazon – very highly recommended and a complete treat to read!

Then we had the bad,

Richard Dee tends to write sci-fi but I had never read any of his work, despite this being, I think, his twelfth book; as such, I leapt at the chance to review his latest, ‘Life and Other Dreams’, as part of a blog tour.

In it, we follow Rick, who in real life (present day England) works in advertising and is married to a nurse, Cathy. However, in his dreams he is transported to the planet Ecias, 600 years in the future, where he is Dan and married to Vanessa. But which life is real and which is the dream? When these two realities start to bleed into each other, Rick’s world and assumptions start to fall apart and questions must be asked.

It’s a familiar device, as any reader of SF and Fantasy will know – very PKD – and this is executed better than most writers’ attempts at it. On his website, Dee calls himself a world-builder – and he certainly is that. Dan-of-the-future’s Ecias is vivid and has a solid sense of place about it; more vivid than the London of Rick-of-the-present, which I’m certain is deliberate and equates to some clever writing on Dee’s part.

However, I was disappointed to find most of the characters quite two-dimensional, lacking the nuance and depth I look for, and which would have elevated this aspect of the book into the upper echelons. Even the main characters. The writing generally was very competent, but I felt that Dee rushed the finale (I imagine very tempting for any writer to do, towards the end of completing a novel!); the last 15% of the book threw previously unknown (and sometimes unneeded) information at us, there was a lot of unnecessary exposition and it was simply overwritten in places. It was an advance reader copy, so there are bound to be typos and grammatical / punctuation problems – I am sure that these issues will be tightened up in the final edit.

It needs tweaking but I enjoyed the read and look forward to reading others of Dee’s.

I’d give it 4*

Or this one,

‘Life and Other Dreams’ by Richard Dee is my first encounter with this author and I thought it was an okay read.
I mean, it was quite entertaining and it kept me hooked throughout, but it felt like there could be more to it.
I really enjoyed the chapters of Dan and Vanessa on Ecias as this world was best build in my opinion.
The storyline of this world, set somewhere in the future, was intriguing and fascinating.
It stood, for me at least, in a rather big contrast with the story of Rick and Cath, which I found a bit dull and weird.
Bland as it was for the most part telling instead of showing and abnormal because of Cath’s reactions.
I know she’s supposed to be overly jealous and controlling, but she was a bit too much for me.
I also didn’t experience these chapters as very interesting as it all felt rather as an ordinary life on earth for most of the time, nothing as exciting as Ecias.
I believe it’s supposed to be like that to show contrast and to confuse, not only Rick, but us too, when everything collides, but I’m no fan of the earth chapters.
I’m afraid I must say in general that I’m not satisfied with the quality of execution of this remarkable idea that Richard Dee had.
I think it has something to do with self-publishing.
In my experience it means the book didn’t had a good brush through from an (professional) outsider and for me that’s showing, sorry.
I however do want to know what’s going to happen with Rick/Dan after that huge cliffhanger by the end!

And as for the ugly, how about this awful picture?

(Although the cover’s quite good)

If you want to look for yourself, you can find all the stops on the blog tour here, with all the reviews.

https://jessicarachow.wordpress.com/2019/03/21/blog-tour-life-and-other-dreams-richard-dee/https://reviewsfeed.net/blog-tour-life-and-other-dreams-by-richard-deehttps://birdiesbibliotheca.com/2019/03/21/life-and-other-dreams-a-review/https://maitaylor567291325.wordpress.com/2019/03/22/life-and-other-dreams-richard-dee/http://www.booksarecool.com/2019/dreams-richard-energetic/https://indeboekenkast.wordpress.com/2019/03/22/rachels-random-resources-blogtour-life-and-other-dreams/https://behindthesentence.wordpress.com/2019/03/23/book-review-life-and-other-dreams/http://litflits.blogspot.com/2019/03/life-and-other-dreams-by-richard-dee.htmlhttps://bookslifeandeverything.blogspot.com/2019/03/life-and-other-dreams-by-richard-dee.htmlhttps://themagicofworlds.wordpress.com/2019/03/24/blogtour-rachelsrandomresources-rararesources-review-life-and-other-dreams-richard-dee-richarddockett1/https://rainnes.blogspot.com/2019/03/life-and-other-dreams-by-richard-dee.htmlhttps://ontheshelfreviews.wordpress.com/2019/03/24/blogtour-review-life-and-other-dreams-by-richard-dee-richarddockett1-rararesources/https://seansbookreviews.com/2019/03/25/life-and-other-dreams-by-richard-dee-blogtour/https://bertyboy123.wordpress.com/2019/03/25/thanks-to-rachelsrandomresources-life-and-other-dreams-by-richard-dee-blog-tourscifi/https://curledupwithagoodbook.co.uk/life-and-other-dreams/https://ayjaypagefarerbookblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/26/blog-tour-life-and-other-dreams-by-richard-dee/https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com/2019/03/26/life-and-other-dreams-richard-dee/http://worldgeeklynews.com/books/book-review-life-and-other-dreams-by-richard-deehttp://jessicasreadingroom.com/blog-tour-life-and-other-dreams/https://donnasbookblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/27/blogtour-bookreview-for-life-and-other-dreams-by-richard-dee-rararesources/https://www.jenabooks.com/sharing-a-new-book-life-and-other-dreams-by-richard-dee/

I hope that wasn’t too boastful for you, I’ll be back on Thursday with another Indie Showcase, see you then.

The post The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Saturday Rewind, Sourdough Crumpets.

A recipe from my baking blog, back in 2015, at the time I was baking commercially and had a lot of spare sourdough starter.

I didn’t want to just throw it away so I looked for ways to use it. Among other ideas, I stumbled upon a recipe for crumpets. Easy to make and very tasty.

In the end, I went on to sell loads of them and solve the problem. You can click on the picture to go to the original post.

The post The Saturday Rewind, Sourdough Crumpets. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase Presents, Chantelle Atkins.

What I Write and Where it Came From

Guaranteed, when
someone finds out you’re a writer, the first question they ask is; ‘so, what do
you write?’. For people who write in one, definable genre, this must be a
simple question to answer. You write Romance, or Historical Fiction, or horror.
For someone like me, who writes across the genres and perhaps even outside of
them, it’s one of the hardest questions.

I write YA. I also write for adults. My published books include a coming-of-age, a family mystery, a dystopian, and one that is probably best classed as contemporary women’s fiction? I’m also working on a series which will be six books, and has elements of coming-of-age, psychological thriller and crime thriller to it. So, I always end up saying, ‘well, a bit of everything really.’

One boy’s mission to find the good in people.
Twelve-year-old Elliot Pie lives a solitary life with his agoraphobic mother.
He is desperate to help her and he also wants to find out what happened to his Uncle Liam, who walked out one night leaving his dog and his car in the back garden.
While his mother sinks further into the darkness, Elliot finds comfort in people-watching. 
He is determined to prove to her that good people still exist and when a stranger is kind to him one day, a plan is hatched. A plan to save his mother. A plan that might help him find Uncle Liam.
Elliot’s collection of strangers all have stories to tell about human nature, but is he placing his trust in the wrong people? Or is the real danger closer to home?)

I would best describe
what I write as character driven. Because for me, it always starts with the character.
They show up first and start talking. As they talk inside my head, they start
to grow, and their story evolves and gets noisier and noisier. I start making
notes and by the time I actually start writing, I’ve got the whole thing there
in my head. And it was the character that gave it to me. The tricky part comes
later when I try and fit the story they told me into a category.

So, where does it come from? What influenced my writing when I first started and what influences it now? If I think back to when I first got addicted to writing, I was around 10 years of age and obsessed with animal stories. Watership Down, The Animals of Farthing Wood and that sort of thing. So, I wrote similar things. A few years later I had discovered The Outsiders by SE Hinton and the horror writer Stephen King. I’d say both these events started to influence my writing in a huge way then and continue to do so today. Another big influence when I was younger was The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger.

The Outsiders was a gritty story, told in the first person, with a raw and real writing style that totally absorbed me. The characters, to me, were incredibly real. I wanted to know them in real life, and of course, it soon occurred to me that I could create my own. Heavily influenced by SE Hinton’s tales of wayward teens I stopped writing about lost animals and started writing grittier, more character driven stuff. In fact, the six-book series I’m working on was first born during this time. I wrote a very early version of The Boy With The Thorn In His Side at aged 12. Also influenced by the shocking horror and memorable characters created by Stephen King, I created my own truly gritty and uncompromising tale.

‘I don’t have my headphones on yet, but the music is always there. I have a constant walking soundtrack to my life, you see. There is a song for everything.’
In the decade of Grunge and Britpop, 13-year-old music fan Danny is on a mission to deter unsuitable men from his beautiful single mother. With best friend Michael on board and first love on the horizon, things are looking good. But the good times are shattered when powerful nightclub owner Lee Howard sweeps Danny’s mother off her feet. Howard is a dangerous man who has twisted plans for Danny…Told from both Danny and Howard’s points of view, who is Howard and what does he ultimately want? As Danny seeks escape through music, he finds a loyal ally in troublemaker Michael, but are they making an enemy of a man who will be a thorn in their sides for years to come?

A dark and powerful drama about friendship, music and the choice between escaping or fighting back.)

As for now, I continue to be influenced by the characters themselves. I’m a classic introvert in that I love to be alone but find people endlessly fascinating. I love people watching and making up lives to go with people I don’t know. I still love Stephen King, SE Hinton and JD Salinger, and I still revisit those books that affected me and my writing so profoundly back then. I never plan to write about anything in particular. I just get these random people jumping into my head and making their voices heard. It does make it difficult when it comes to marketing, selling and explaining what I write, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think if those voices ever go quiet, I’m in serious trouble.

Bio:

Chantelle
Atkins was born and raised in Dorset, England and still resides there now with
her husband, four children and multiple pets. She is addicted to reading,
writing and music and writes for both the young adult and adult genres. Her
fiction is described as gritty, edgy and compelling. Her debut Young Adult
novel, The Mess Of Me deals with eating disorders, self-harm, fractured
families and first love. Her second novel, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
follows the musical journey of a young boy attempting to escape his brutal home
life and has now been developed into a six book series. She is also the author
of This Is Nowhere and award-winning dystopian, The Tree Of Rebels, plus a
collection of short stories related to her novels called Bird People and Other
Stories. Her next book Elliot Pie’s Guide To Human Nature was
released through Pict Publishing in October 2018. Chantelle has had multiple
articles about writing published by Author’s Publish magazine and runs her own Community
Interest Company, Chasing Driftwood Writing Group.

Links:

Website/blog : https://chantelleatkins.com/

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/chantelleatkinswriter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chanatkins

Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/chantelleatkins/

https://www.instagram.com/chantelleatkinswriter/

Email Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/bVVbGD

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chantelleatkinswriter/

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chantelle-Atkins/e/B00J7ACVCY

Thanks, Chantelle, 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.

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 great week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase Presents, Chantelle Atkins. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

A book review, Never to be Ignored by H.A. Dawson.

She’s a good nurse
disturbed by dark recurring dreams.

Then a new patient asks for her by name . . .

Shona does her utmost to placate her charge. From professional necessity nurses must be neutral, but Shona’s patient Carmen has entwined her inside a cage of emotions. Carmen wants her missing son. Are her actions warranted? How will this impact Shona? She’s an innocent victim. When will she realise?

My thoughts

This is the first of this author’s books that I’ve read, and I know it won’t be the last. To begin with, there’s a strong story, well researched for accuracy. It’s also based on a plausible scenario, realistically and sympathetically described. Because the narrative rings true, the way the story is fed to us is perfect to build suspense, revelation follow revelation as it progresses.

We start off with Oncology nurse Shona, her boyfriend Justin and a dying woman’s plea. But just how much of the woman’s story is true and how much of it might just be her manipulating Shona? And why would she try to involve her?  Once Shona has decided to help, she’s swept along, deeper and deeper into the world created by her patient. There are all sorts of possible explanations for the things that Shona finds. As the tension builds, we start to get hints of a bigger story, connecting all the players like a spider’s web. A very clever plot, frighteningly realistic as it plays out.

The well-drawn supporting cast adds to the tension, not everyone’s side of the argument is unambiguous, some of it might be useful in solving the mystery, some might not. Again, the plot is woven to ensure that we are as caught up in the different ways of looking at things as Shona is herself.

As far as I’m concerned, the mark of a good thriller is in the way the atmosphere is developed as the plot unfolds. It’s not always necessary to have frantic action to create a feeling of impending danger. Less can be more, look at Alfred Hitchcock, he very rarely showed anything graphic in progress, preferring to let you decide what was happening. That way you could make it as spine-tingling as your mind wanted it to be. If you can chill and shock without resorting to anything explicitly frightening, you’re doing well.

This book’s author has learnt that lesson and applied it perfectly, the style of the narrative gives your imagination free rein to empathise with Shona as she battles her emotions to make sense of it all. Everything speeds up as we progress; until you can’t turn the pages fast enough to get to the next twist.

A very worthy Five Stars. It’s also great to know that it’s the first in a series.

You can find it here

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

The post A book review, Never to be Ignored by H.A. Dawson. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Saturday Rewind, Corned Beef Hash, with a twist.

Here’s another recipe from the archives, this one’s from 2017. Just click on the picture for an explanation, and a delicious meal.

I’ll be back on Monday, with a review, have a great weekend.

The post The Saturday Rewind, Corned Beef Hash, with a twist. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents, Charlotte Milne.

Thanks for having me on your blog, Richard. 

I’m 72 and wish I’d
done this publishing thing years ago when I could keep up with the techy
stuff.  But then I could never have
self-published, and I certainly didn’t have the courage or the knowhow to find
an agent or publisher before the days of ALLi, Amazon and Create Space/KDP. Not
only that, but there is so much knowledge
available now about the writing process, editing, self-publishing and
marketing. It’s been quite an eye-opener reading all the blogs and forums!
Thanks to everyone who so generously shares their help and knowledge.

I wrote at school. When I should have been doing prep or practising piano. Reams and reams of paper – I occasionally have an urge to purge, but some of it is not bad for a 15 year-old and I have fun re-reading it and not much purging goes on. I just loved writing stories and didn’t much care that nobody but me read them. I’ve been writing stories ever since—always with romance at the heart—between long bouts of career stuff, secretarial, administration and HR (called Personnel Manager in those far off 1960’s days) my own romance, marriage, children, grandchildren and just a few other time-consuming commitments along the way. Who doesn’t have those!

In 1991 my husband
and I had a rush of blood to the head and built our dream home on a Greek
island. He provided the loot and I provided the micro management. (Must move
that door 2 inches to the left.) Greek builders left a lot to be desired, but the
minutiae of design enthralled me, as does TV’s Grand Designs now. As we moved
in, I began a romance, Dolphin Days,
based in Greece, which over the next, wait for it, 26 years grew to 190,000
words, the protagonists moving between Greece, London and my home ground, Scotland.

Eventually the Romantic Novelists Association and my
wonderful editor Hilary Johnson persuaded me to lose 90,000 words (such agony;
so many sub plots lost, and characters amalgamated) but Hilary was greatly
encouraging and kicked me towards publication. Dolphin Days arrived IN PRINT and Kindle in December 2017. My book
pregnancy was long, difficult and nearly still-born on several occasions, but
Oh! The triumph of having given birth!

Here is a brief synopsis:

Artistic young antique dealer Melissa
fails to recover a precious Byzantine manuscript stolen from her in Greece.
Instead she finds herself accused of theft by wealthy architect Nicholas.

Struggling with financial disaster, a
dangerous attraction to an embittered Nicholas, and guilt over a family tragedy,
Melissa is determined to put the past behind her and sets out on a new career
in design and illustration.

But it seems that Nicholas has not only destroyed her career as an antique dealer; but that his unwanted interventions may wreck her new plans too.

Melissa is tempted to trade her talents and career for the security of marriage to kind, devoted David, but as she gets to know Nicholas better, her resolve wavers….

A word about marketing:  Uh?

If I had
realised what marketing meant I’d never have published. Friends, family and Richard
Dee’s Showcase to the rescue.

I know that you have to market your own
work, if you want anyone to read it.  But
an awful lot of us don’t want to, and if computers are not your default
environment, it is very difficult as well as horrible. The fact is, people like
me enjoy writing stories that I’d like to read. Is there anybody out there like
me? If so, please go to Amazon and take a ‘Look Inside’.

For someone of my age, reading and writing influences have
been, as you may imagine, a bit old fashioned. As a melancholic teenager I
adored Thomas Hardy. Later Mary Stewart, Georgette Heyer, Wilkie Collins, Jane
Austin, Dumas, Margaret Irwin, Tolkein, Elizabeth Goudge, M. M. Kaye, and
Dorothy Dunnett.  And a hundred others.

I love historical novels and biographies, fantasy (a bit),
thrillers, women’s fiction. Anything, really, except horror, gory anything,
erotica and sci-fi. (Sorry Richard. As a thank you for this slot I will buy and
read one of yours.)

As an unread, unpublished writer,
how on earth does one know if anyone will want to read your novel?  I was very reluctant to spend much money on
such an unknown quantity, so I used SelfPubBookCovers.com   This time around I have invested in a
professional cover designer, Jane Dixon Smith   www.jdsmith-design.co.uk as well as a structural editor and copy and proof editors.  And I think I’ll use a professional formatter
too! I’m incredibly detail obsessed and nearly lost my mind formatting Dolphin Days. Leave page numbering to
those who understand it.

This second novel, Come
in from the Cold, will hopefully be born about mid-summer. Here is a brief
description:

During World War 2, John Elliott, an
RNR officer on convoys to Russia from Scotland, is billeted on
nineteen-year-old Mhairi. After his children die in a bombing raid, John is
killed on convoy, leaving his wife pregnant. Mhairi is also pregnant, but by
John or by the rape of dangerous and manipulative Archie? Mhairi is suspected,
but not convicted, of Archie’s murder.

After the birth of her son, the condemnation
of the community and her violent father’s return from war combine to drive her
to a new life and loveless marriage.

In 2012, Annie Devereux, divorced and
humiliated as a barren wife, retreats to Scotland to research John Elliott, her
step-grandfather. Meeting David, a widowed father and grandson of Mhairi,
friendship and attraction develop as they search for answers.

David, still mourning his wife, makes plain he wants no more children; Annie is equally clear that she cannot conceive. Shocked to discover that she is pregnant by David and faced with a dilemma, she takes the unwise decision not to tell him. Discovering the truth shatters his trust in her. Their daughter’s birth and near-fatal illness brings pain and separation until mutual forgiveness leads to reconciliation.

The all important Links,



Contact Details:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/charlottemilnewriting/

email:     
 charlottemilne19@gmail.com

WordPress:  https://charlottemilne-author.blog/about/

Interviews:  http://www.lambertnagle.com/how-i-write-by-isabel-murray/

Dolphin Days is available from Amazon.

In the UK.  http://amzn.eu/0OjJiy8  

In the US.  http://a.co/75x1G3J

In due course, Come In From The Cold will be available from Amazon as well.

Thanks, Charlotte, 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.

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 great week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase presents, Charlotte Milne. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

I’m on tour from Thursday,

a writing update.

I thought I’d talk about writing this week. Looking back
over the past few posts, the last time I actually did that was on Feb 22nd,
when I let you into the workings of a new project.

Well, since then, I haven’t been quiet, far from it. It has just been one of those spells where I had other commitments. Unlike the Indie Showcase, which is an established feature, I try to vary my Monday posts, there are book reviews (I review for two blogger’s groups, as well as myself), and the odd recipe to tell you about. Dates are frequently arranged months in advance, occasionally they all come along at once, pushing talk about writing out of the way for a while.

The blogger’s group reference leads me nicely into news of Life and Other Dreams. It will be on a book blog tour of its own, from 21st to 27th March, with 21 blogs posting reviews and promotional spots. All organised by the wonderful Rachel Gilby; if you ever need a tour organising, she’s the one to speak to. Find her HERE

If you see any posts or tweets in your browsing, please share them around. It’s both exciting and nerve-wracking to anticipate what they are going to say about my creation.

Moving on, in association with a Facebook group that I
belong to, several of us are going to attempt to write a novel (or other
project) in April.

It’s not that hard, when you break it down, a first draft of
50,000 words is only 1660 words a day, reasonably do-able (as long as you have
the ideas). I’m approaching it in the same way as NaNoWriMo, which I have
managed four times now.

I have several projects that I could work on; the question was, which one should I go for?

In the end, it came down to the one that was freshest in my
mind. The book I’ve just launched is crying out, not so much for a sequel but
for a continuation. I don’t want to explain anything or reach a conclusion,
just carry on where the first story left off. Because there is so much further
that it can go. I have plenty of ideas for the next instalment, stuff that I
didn’t want to put in the first one as it was at a great point to stop. Without
giving too much away, things will continue, perhaps not in the way you might
expect. Since I wrote the first one, I’ve found so much more fascinating
research on the science behind the fiction, it’s time to incorporate it.

The sequel to Life and Other Dreams; called Wake me Up, is underway. This is a rough idea of the cover. As you can see, its a negative of the first one, which might give you a clue to where the story is headed.

We’ll have to see how I get on as April progresses, I’ll keep you posted.

In other news, I have finally finished the third Andorra Pett story, Andorra Pett and her Sister, which has been sent to my editor. Following on from Andorra Pett on Mars; which included the first chapter, Andorra is involved in more shenanigans, this time it’s personal! Look out for the novel later in the year.

To complete my roundup, I have several other finished novels. Survive, The Sensaurum and the Lexis, The Lost Princess and now Promise Me, the third Dave Travise novel are all just about done. These are in the queue for an edit and a beta read, if anyone’s interested in a first look (and they don’t mind reading an unedited manuscript), please get in touch.

My textbook on world-building is also ready to be unleashed on the unsuspecting public; when I can get around to giving it a final polish and uploading it.

In terms of novels underway but not completed; I have five, plus one short story which I intend to expand, and one idea. If I can get all them done, and manage to release one novel a year, I have enough work already to keep me going for more than ten years. That’s always assuming that I don’t have any more ideas in between. Judging by past performance, there’s little chance of that happening.

So that’s where I am, meanwhile, the Showcase returns on Thursday. Have a good week.

The post I’m on tour from Thursday, appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Saturday Rewind, Vegetables three ways.

We’re back in 2017 this week, looking at an alternative to potatoes and pasta.

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 Click the picture for the full post

I’ll be back on Monday, with an update on where I am with my writing. See you then.

The post The Saturday Rewind, Vegetables three ways. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents, Terry Spring.

One of the great things about the internet, is that you can chat to writers from all over the world. I’ve been lucky to meet a fabulous group of authors from Australia, several of which have already featured on the Showcase. Here’s another of them, please welcome Terry Spring

I’ve
always written. For some writers it’s a long hard road but my own journey has
been fun and enjoyable. I just love expressing my thoughts  and ideas and
this goes back to my childhood, since I grew up the youngest, by many years, in
a large family. No-one ever wanted to hear what I had to say, couldn’t get a
word in edgeways, so I wrote my thoughts . As I grew older, travel and history
became the passions that fed my writing.

Writing
has always been in my blood and I
devour biographies – I find people’s lives so fascinating. Among the books I’ve
ghost-written, the story of an English soldier who survived five years as a
Japanese slave-worker on the famous River Kwai bridge, another who interview
sex workers for their life-stories, and a naive lady caught up in an internet
scam, have been the most intriguing. Despite suggestions I write my own
biography, I prefer to write about other people but I enjoy sharing what I’ve
learned over the years and give talks at the Queensland libraries on writing.
There is so much information on writing and publishing these days and the
publishing world has changed so much  over the last decades – some say not
for the better.  So many people write and can’t bear the thought of
marketing their book. Years ago you could probably get away with it but these
days whatever publishing you do, one is expected to take part in the marketing.

I
was born and educated in London’s northern suburbs, but now live on Australia’s
Gold Coast.. Painting pictures with words is part of me, like the wording
through Blackpool Rock! Leaving school, I worked in various London offices and,
as a freelance journalist, interviewed performers of the day. In the sixties,
my articles appeared in music magazines and London papers until, in the
seventies, I migrated with my musician husband and family.

In sunny Sydney, I worked my way as a trainer, despite
the glass-ceiling , scripting and producing in-house training films for global
corporations and, one holiday, decided to get serious about writing. I undertook
a creative writing course back in England, at Oxford University. Apart from my
own novels and ghost-writing books for others, I pen occasional articles for
national and local papers. Some of my short stories have won competitions and
aired on Australian ABC radio. One became a ‘short movie’, and I had fun
re-scripting and producing it for the Sydney Tropfest Film Festival. 

Passionate about the past, I’ve uncovered a huge
family tree and have written an ebook offering tips on researching one’s ancestors. I’ve had six books
published and ghost-written another six in the last fifteen years. My novelTransported, –based
on an English convict,  was used as subject matter for 2010 International
Marketing students at a Queensland University and has been translated into
Portuguese. Lord knows what the Portuguese readers think of Australia after
reading about it in the 1800s; ( it’s moved on since then, honestly). This book
was followed by ‘A Tambo Girl’ set in the
Queensland outback in the Victorian era. Both books sell, amongst other
places, at the Australian Hall of Fame in Longreach, in outback Queensland,
mostly bought by tourists travelling through the dusty Australian roads, back
to civilisation.

Writing has always been in my blood and I devour biographies – I
find people’s lives so fascinating. I’ve ghost-written the story of an English
soldier who survived five years as a Japanese slave-worker on the famous River
Kwai bridge, another who interviewed sex workers for their life-stories and the
tale of a naive lady caught up in an internet scam. Despite suggestions I write
my own biography, I prefer to write about other people but I enjoy sharing what
I’ve learned over the years and give talks at the Queensland libraries on
writing. There is so much information available on writing and publishing these
days and the publishing world has changed so much  over the last few
decades – some say not for the better. So many people write and can’t bear the
thought of marketing their book. Years ago you could probably get away with it
but these days whatever publishing you do, one is expected to take part in the
marketing.

I have recently completed two eBooks in my “Our
Song” series, selling on Amazon, which are based on my research of two families
during World War Two. They’re set in both London and Sydney and required a fair
amount of historical research to set the scene. I have a few more books in the
series to write but can’t face sitting at the computer all day when the sun is
shining outside and a beach walk calls. Think it might be time for a long cool
drink.

There are so many stories to tell. I hope you enjoy writing some of them as much as I have. I’m just one person who’ is eagerly looking forward to reading them – there’s lots more of us out there!

Find out more about Terry Spring and her work on her website,

http://www.terryspring.com

And now, a short story from Terry.







SILVER SERVICE

In business circles, Harry Penderson,
Chief Executive of GEI, was a highly respected Australian businessman in the
world’s stock market. A tall, powerful man he was noted for mingling with the society
set; around Melbourne’s night spots, he was often seen and photographed with
celebrities and politicians.

From previous visits, Nick Papadopolous
recognised Harry and the five suited men as they opened the glass doors of his
St Kilda restaurant. One man appeared to be the Premier and he knew the others
as captains of industry.

Well after midnight, there were still a
few stragglers around – regular customers sipping coffee at the tables – but
the night was over. I’ve closed the tills
– another lousy night. ..only just made rent again this month. I’m tired. Why
should I put myself out for these bloody silvertails?

‘Sorry gentlemen we’re closed’ Nick said brusquely,
turning his back on the newcomers.

In a quiet voice, Harry addressed Nick’s
back. ‘Look, we’ve had a successful evening and I’d like to buy these guys some
food and champagne to celebrate. I realise its late but I’ll happily compensate
you for the extra trouble.’

‘Nope, were closed.’

Harry wasn’t put off easily.

‘Surely you could rustle up something?
There must be some cold meats in the fridge. I don’t care how much it
costs…just something simple and some wine.’

Nick was not about to be moved. He turned
and confronted the customer. In a loud voice he proclaimed ‘You may be a big
important man where you come from but, in this restaurant, I’m the boss. We are
closed for the night.’

He marched off, disappearing through the
kitchen door muttering, ‘Bloody suits. Come in here throwing their weight
around…’

Harry turned to the group of men, shrugged
his shoulders and, looking downhearted, they filed out of the restaurant.
Outside in the chilly night, Harry’s chauffeur appeared surprised. He jumped
out of the black limousine and stood at the kerb, ready to open the door. The
tycoon shook his head.

‘No, we’re not going yet – this guy
doesn’t want my money but there’s another restaurant over there. Let’s try
there.’

He crossed the road with the men walking
gloomily behind him. The lights of ‘The Green Onion’ were on but the place
appeared still and empty. They moved gingerly into the bistro foyer and a young
waiter approached. He greeted them in a lush Irish brogue.

‘Evening gentlemen.’

‘Are you still open? Could you provide us
some simple food and wine?’

‘Well sir, actually we are closed but I’ll
check with the chef. Please be seated.’

He ushered the men to seats in the foyer
and disappeared – only to return a few moments later.

‘For sure, we’ll open the kitchen. You
understand we can’t offer the full menu but we’ll do what we can. Come this
way, gentlemen.’

Harry and his group followed the waiter into
the empty restaurant and were seated at a table already prepared for the next
day.

‘What about a drink whilst you decide what
to order?’ The waiter proffered the wine list and cheerfully handed out menus.

Harry took charge and ordered bottles of
champagne. Meals were ordered and glasses drained as the men toasted their
successful take-over. When the food arrived, Harry ordered more wine and after
the plates were cleared away, port and coffee followed. The table of men had
been boisterous, laughing and talking loudly and appeared to have enjoyed their
meal. When the bill arrived, Harry placed his platinum coloured American
Express card on the silver tray.

The waiter looked worn out as he returned
for a signature on the document. For the first time Harry looked at the bill as
he raised his pen to sign.

‘Nine hundred and eighty dollars? Harry
exclaimed with raised eyebrows.

‘Yes sir’ the waiter replied. ‘Actually
you were drinking expensive wine sir.’

‘I’m not complaining.’

‘No sir, but it’s a large sum of money and
I understand your surprise.’

Harry smiled and said, ‘You don’t know me,
do you son?’ as the waiter shook his head.

‘Sorry Mr Penderson, I’ve only been in
Australia for a month. I’m sure I would know you if I had been here
longer.’  The young Irishman looked beat
and a worried expression.

‘No worries son,’ Harry replied laughing.’
We won’t chuck you out the country because you don’t know me. Look, it’s been
an excellent meal. I’ll sign this and give you a tip in a separate cheque. I’m
sure you want to close up.’

He waiter nodded wearily and thanked
Harry. Transaction approved, he returned the card and receipt and stood at the
door to farewell the group. Harry was the last out and handed the young man a
cheque.

‘Split it between you and the kitchen
staff.’

He waiter looked at the cheque and spluttered,’
But sir, it’s for ten thousand dollars!’

Harry nodded. ‘I can afford it son…but
before you cash it, I want you to promise to do something.’

‘Of course…anything…’

‘I want you to promise to go across the
road to ‘Silver Service Bistro’ tomorrow. Tell Nick, the owner, personally that
we came here after he refused to serve us. Tell him I gave you a tip and show
him the cheque…promise?

The waiter gulped and nodded. ‘Of course,
of course…I’ll do that…thank you again Mr Penderson.’

Harry chuckled, waved and stepped out into the cold night air, starting to chuckle loudly. The chauffer could still hear his deep throaty laugh from the back of the limousine on the drive home.

Thanks, Terry 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.

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 next Thursdays Showcase post, there’ll be a recipe in the Saturday Rewind and more of my musings next Monday.

Have a great week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase presents, Terry Spring. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

I’m not just a writer, Peanut Cookies.

We writers tend to get obsessive over our craft, if we’re not careful we could talk about it all day, every day. And not everyone wants to hear all the little details of plot, characters and marketing successes and failures. Nor do they want to be bombarded with a constant and incessant ‘buy my book’, refrain.

I try and keep away from becoming too narrow in what I post or share about myself. I want people to see that I’m not just a writer. I like to spend my time doing other things, one of which is cooking. Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), I’m a sucker for an ingredient that I’ve never seen or used before, and will often buy something and then see what I can do with it afterwards.

I spotted this, I can’t remember where now, and my thought process went into overdrive, it’s pretty readily available, somehow I had never noticed it before. Now I see it everywhere, in various brands and sizes.

I’ve tried cooking with peanut butter before, it’s great mixed with Sweet Chilli sauce to make a coating for chicken or pork, however, I’d never had much success using it in anything that was sensitive to the amount of liquid in it. Like biscuits. For one thing, peanut butter is too wet and you have to modify the other ingredients things to allow for that (if you can). So when I saw the powder, a whole new range of possibilities opened up.

My first idea was a peanut cookie. Now I know you can just add chopped peanuts to an ordinary cookie but I wanted to see what substituting some of this for the plain flour would taste like.

Ingredients,

175 g softened butter,

200 g Plain flour

50 g of the peanut butter powder,

90 g Caster sugar,

100 g roughly chopped salted peanuts

Method,

Cream the butter and sugar. Add everything else and work into a dough. Form the dough into a sausage and coat it with Demerara sugar. Wrap it in cling film and rest it for 30 minutes in the fridge Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Take the chilled dough and slice it into 2 cm discs, flatten them onto a baking sheet which has been dusted with more Demerara sugar. Keep them looking slightly rustic at about 1 cm thick.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, keep an eye on them, as soon as the edges start to brown, they are done. Take them out and let them cool for a few minutes before transferring to a rack.

The addition of the powder made for a very short pastry and boosted the flavour. The biscuits melted in the mouth and were very hard to resist. In the end, I didn’t bother.

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

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