Richard Dee's Blog, page 84

My self-publishing method, part 2. What I write and where to find it.

Following the post about my self-publishing method, which you can find here, this post is more concerned with what I write, as opposed to how I publish it.

As I’m sure you know by now, I write Science Fiction, Steampunk and Cozy Crime with a sci-fi twist. Breaking the genres down a bit more, if you had to categorise them, or search for the main themes found in my stories, you could say they were:

Science Fiction, Space Opera, Man on a mission, Corruption and Industrial espionage, Crime thrillers, Chase, Love and Loss, Redemption, Cozy mystery, Alternative History, Victorian adventure.

And my influences?

Isaac Asimov, Phillip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Phillip Reeve, Agatha Christie, M.C. Beaton, to name a few.

As well as a convincing and entertaining plot, I’m obsessed with making the location and the technology seem real, there’s no place in my worlds for anything that isn’t logical or functional. Everything is based on as much fact as possible, just modified and stretched a little.

I was inspired by the first Star Wars films way back when. The technology in them, although far in advance of ours in some ways, was based on what was recognisable. It was all a bit scruffy and prone to breaking down. When Han Solo pushed the button for hyper-speed on the Millennium Falcon, he wasn’t sure if it would work or not. Leia even offered to get out and push, if it would help. Maybe not what you would expect from a galactic adventure, but for anyone who has ever owned an old car, it was certainly realistic.

Try this short story for an example of how I try to invent believable technology; The tale of Christopher Padget.

I firmly believe that one day, we will leave this planet and set out to explore, ‘to boldly go’ if you like. Maybe it’s why I was drawn to write Sci-fi; because in my mind, I could see the future me doing the things I write about. One day, a part of my DNA will stand on another planet and see a sunset that I never could. In a way, I’ll be there.

And when we head out, we will take all our vices, prejudice and faults along with the good bits about us as a species. Who knows what we will find?

Here’s my prediction, I reckon that, in ten thousand years, as far as the inhabitants are concerned, the Galaxy will be ‘boring’ and ‘civilised’. Who knows, maybe then we can try to figure out how to visit the next one? Perhaps all our stories in the future will be about the glorious past, when space travel was a novelty. But I’m sure there will be enough adventures on the way.

Or we might meet alien life tomorrow. Now aliens are something I’ve never written much about, I don’t really know where to start with them. I find the whole idea of alien life fascinating but daunting at the same time. There is so much more to be considered than when you to write about humanity, at least with us you have a clue as to our basic motivations. Aliens could have a different way of looking at all the things we hold dear, where to start? One thing I do hope, if we ever meet a race that has conquered space, is that it’s grown out of aggression. But then, I find it hard to believe that our planet could be a threat to them and unlikely that we would possess the one thing in all the galaxy that they need.

I’ve only written about aliens twice, and each time, I’ve cast them as…, well, why don’t you have a read and see? Here’s a short story about aliens.

I’ve tried to imagine a future filled with hope, which is not to pretend that bad things don’t happen. Of course they do, my heroes will not always win, that’s life, even interstellar life. But there is always the possibility, the hope, that next time, things will be better. I believe in the eventual triumph of good over evil, and through my novels, I want you to believe it too.

If you open one of my books, depending on which one, you can expect: –

Galaxy spanning adventures with Dave Travise or Miles Goram.

Here’s a quote from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Dr. Gillian Taylor: Don’t tell me, you’re from outer space.

Kirk: No, I’m from Iowa. I only work in outer space.

I love that quote, for me it sums up what my stories are all about. I like to think that I have ordinary people doing what to them are ordinary things, just doing them, as Kirk was, in space. To us, they are anything but ordinary, they are people on a mission, seeking justice, righting wrongs or simply in search of a quiet life. Through it all, they will still be people, in that respect no different in their aspirations than you or me.

I have the mundane as well as the amazing, there are all those planets to explore, each with their own characteristics and no, I don’t think that they’re all Earth-like. Some are, but some have no breathable atmosphere, or might be water or ice based. In the same way that places on Earth are dedicated to different things, I have manufacturing planets, garbage dump planets and everything in between, including those devoted to the supply of pleasure. Some of the inhabitants are rich and have spaceships, some are not and are happy with a horse and cart.

My characters are traders, journalists, captains of ships and industry, criminals and low-life wheelers and dealers. There’s corruption, corporate misdeeds, kidnapping, all played out on a larger stage, with all the attendant scope for excitement and adventure. What I’ve tried to do is construct, for the reader, a world of the future that they can relate to.

Stories include,

The Balcom Dynasty

The Dave Travise Adventures

Fantastic machines and a good cup of tea, my Steampunk world.

Steampunk is a throwback, a return to the worlds of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. My world is based on life in the 1850s, grown up. There is no oil, electricity is a novelty (referred to as “Statics”) and all the real work is done by steam engines, coal gas, intricate clockwork machines. And there are some pretty cool costumes as well.

That doesn’t mean you can’t have things; if our Victorians hadn’t slaughtered all the whales and turned to what was then known as ‘rock oil’, who knows what they might have become? My world has robots, cars, jet engines, all the creature comforts you could desire. The big difference is that things are done slightly differently to how we do them now. They’re all possible without oil or electricity, those things just make them easier. The sciences have also progressed in different directions; so that in some ways, they are more advanced than we are. As for the adventures themselves, well they’re what you would expect, we have power crazed megalomaniacs, strong women, soldiers with clockwork arms and bemused civil servants who are out of their depth. All the time trying to do normal things, stay alive, find love, right wrongs.

At the moment, there are two books in my Steampunk series, plus a third that’s in progress. There will also be a standalone, set in the same world, coming soon.

Devious criminals up against an accident prone and very reluctant amateur detective called Andorra Pett.

Andorra Pett is a lady wronged. And in true lady wronged fashion, she’s upped and left it all behind her. Accompanied by her best friend, who’s also feeling the need to get away, they’ve headed out to start again. Sounds like a familiar premise? Well, maybe it is, except that my twosome have left the confines of Earth behind and taken running away to the max. The Andorra Pett stories are set in the near future. In them, the Moon and Mars are settled and there’s a space station off Saturn, mining valuable minerals from the rocks that make up Saturn’s rings.

Surely that’s far enough for anyone who wants to get away? The trouble is, as we all know, you can run but you can’t hide. Not from your past, or from getting caught up in the events that happen when you least expect them.

That’s when you discover, as Andorra does, that you might just be cleverer than you realised. There are currently two Andorra Pett stories, with a third one half completed and a fourth in planning.

Coming soon

I have five books currently in production, the first one, Life and Other Dreams, will be released in March 2019. Click the picture to go to the pre-order page.

 

The other four are in edit and pre-production, they will appear when I’m happy with them, probably later in 2019. But I do have covers to show you. Three are novels, the fourth is a textbook (my world building course) in eBook format, including all the exercises and some bonus content.

Last but by no means least

We come to my short stories. These pieces are the lifeblood of my longer works. These are the backstories, the tales borne from my desire to explain, the ideas that woke me up in the night or had me scribbling notes in all sorts of places. I even typed one on my phone while waiting at a Blood Donor session when I just had to get the idea down before it was lost forever.

A few of them are available FREE on this site, just go to the FREE STUFF tab at the top of every page to see what’s currently on offer. There are Steampunk and Sci-fi tales and Flash Fiction pieces. There are also two collections currently available to purchase, one of each genre.

That’s a bit more of an idea about what I do.

Up to now, I’ve ended up writing series, although that’s not by default, everything has started out as a single, stand-alone adventure. It’s just that as I develop the stories, I can see so much more that could happen, or has happened to my characters. And not only them, the peripheral players often get the chance to have adventures of their own, if I or my readers think that they are interesting enough and have a story to tell. Because a lot of my sequels have been prompted by readers comments or questions. Which is great, it’s nice to know that people are paying attention and asking me questions about my characters.

There are a lot more details on my Portfolio page or on my Amazon Author page. There are links to look inside the published novels and extracts from most of them. And on my Free Stuff page, you can find…, well Free Stuff. There are Short Stories and Flash Fiction pieces to show you what I do.

Not forgetting my shop, where many of my novels are available to purchase directly from me. And, if you’re quick, there’s 50% OFF, until Feb 1st. Just use code welcome1 at the checkout.

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

The post My self-publishing method, part 2. What I write and where to find it. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents, Adele Marie Park.

Today, my guest is a writer of fantasy, I’ll leave her to explain.

Hi, Richard, thanks for showcasing me on your blog.

My name is Adele Marie Park and I’m a fantasy/horror author living near the coast of East Scotland.

Originally I hail from the Orkney isles.
A small island called Rousay.

Stories of myth, magic, picts, Vikings,
and witches were all around me growing up. So, it’s no surprise that I chose to
become a writer.

Rousay is rich in wildlife. Selkies is a
term used in Orkney for grey seals. They are abundant on the island’s shores. I
used to sing to them as a child having been told they love music. They didn’t
budge which proves my singing can’t have been too bad.

Selkie lore is rich and there is a myth
in which they come ashore at night, slough off their skins, and become human.
This was one of the myths which inspired me to become a writer.

However, it would be my love of faerie lore that saw me self publish my first book Wisp.

My characters live in my head and at
times it resembles Piccadilly Circus in there. They each have their own unique
voice, some louder than others. They hail from imaginary worlds to the deep
south of America.

I was a child when I first fell in love
with the vampire myth and have never fallen out of love with it.

I leave you with a short extract from a
work in progress.

Thank you again, Richard for showcasing
my work today.

Love Song

By

Adele
Marie Park

Chapter
One—Andel – From Czech—meaning God’s messenger

Written
long ago, “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,”, but nowhere in that book
does it mention, thou shalt not suffer a vampire to live.

The
pavements were blue, softened by street lights which falling rain made fuzzy
around the edges. Perfect for a warm April night. Scents of petrol mingled with
exotic dishes from all over the world. Spices and chilies, herbs, and roasting
animal flesh.  The smell of onions permeated the tapestry of world cooking.
Cooked in oil, cooked in grease or boiled in vats of water.

Beams
of lights from shop windows pierced the night hues and spread their arms as if
they created a blanket to illuminate tempting glimpses of the night world.
Bodies thronged their way through this patched city jungle. Bunched together
like lemmings, avoiding the indigenous as they crowded around corners or slept
in darkened doorways. The visitors were blind, by choice, they invaded by night
and slunk away, back to their sun before the gates closed in the morning.

The
true heirs to this darkened world allowed the tourists to gather and why should
they not? For the choicest delicacies lived in their blood no finer vintage
than a tourist.

Ruled
by claw and fang the moonlight city, like its opposite, had leaders,
politicians, and Royalty.

A
couple staggers out of a darkened doorway illuminated by the flickering sign
above them. They embrace, hungry for other things but briefly as if they sense
the danger of lingering too long in a foreign land. Something follows them. The
law of the jungle dictates the rules here.

“Two?
Hmm, a choice tonight? Or perhaps not?” Andel cocked his head to one side. His
long black hair shone blue in the light flicker. It obscured his eye for a
second before he reached up with a pale, thin hand to render the offending
tress immobile once more.

“Let’s
eat?” Questioned the girl standing beside him, hands around her slender frame
as if she were cold.

Andel
gave her a bemused glance, his quick gaze taking in her stance. He rolled his
eyes toward the black sky. “Morrigan Le Fay, La Belle Dame San Merci. Look at
you! You do not feel the cold anymore. Remember?”

The
girl dropped her arms from her body as if they burned her. A half smile slid up
her face, twisting the mischievous features into a caricature. She shrugged her
shoulders then frowned. “They are escaping.”

Andel
needed no telling, but he allowed her to remind him. It was one of her human
traits, the need to point out the obvious.

He
turned on his heel and she watched; delighted with the way his garments flowed
around him like a shield. A second later, she followed him, their footsteps
echoing to those who could hear them. She followed his lead and would continue
for a long time. Her real name? It had not been a pretty one, not one to
remember well, so she had forgotten and went by the name he had given her.
Tara. He had said it was an ancient name to which she had replied that she
remembered a dog with the name once. But he called her many things, precious,
brat, child, and sometimes harder, uglier things when the rage came on him.

These
thoughts now lay as scattered as the newspapers which littered her path as she
spied their quarry up ahead.

The
couple had given in to their hunger and stopped in a most delightful place, an
alleyway.

Andel
chuckled softly under his breath. “I can smell a trap here, this seems so
easy.” He whispered.

Tara‘s
heightened senses picked up his slightest breath these days. She waited but
then with a twist of his head, Andel signaled it was safe to approach.

“The
routine!” He would shout at her for hours until satisfied she understood. Until
she knew a routine would mean the difference between life and death. So as he
came at the couple from the front, she descended on them from the rear.

Andel
had a wicked sense of humor, one thing which had drawn her to him and he to
her. He liked to play and he could do it well. His face was boyishly innocent,
his gestures, when he chose, were so non-threatening, they were laughable. It
was so as he approached the couple, clearing his throat and making apologetic
noises.

The
man turned first, a predator’s gaze filled his eyes as he watched a younger
male invade his territory. Andel held up his pale hands, and the male relaxed.
The female sensed no threat, wrapped up in what she thought was a protective
embrace.

Andel
produced a cigarette from his pocket, all the while walking softly towards
them, one hand still held in the air.

“Do
you have a light, please?” He asked. His voice full of culture, it spoke about
hidden things, old things, and so out of place here that it lulled them into a
false sense of security.

From
her vantage point, Tara waited to see Andel’s hand come down. That was her
signal, she had memorized it, but every night it was different. Sometimes Andel
would make her wait, out of sheer wickedness, his hunger differing from hers.
She shifted, a rebellious breath leaving her body.

The
male stared at Andel a long time as if he could sense something wrong with him.
He should have.

“Hey
where did you spring from?” The male said, not letting go his protective hold
over the female.

Andel
raised his dark eyebrows and smiled. The charm itself would pale into
insignificance beside him. A master at his craft.

“Over
there,” Andel said, jerking his head towards the back door of a restaurant.
“Non-smoking.” Andel shrugged his shoulders again, a gesture of helplessness
which all young used when faced with a bigger, stronger thing than they were.
It worked. The male relinquished his hold on the female and stood to face
Andel. As he reached inside his overcoat pocket, Andel’s hand came down.

As
Tara’s hand closed over the mouth of the female, the male dropped the lighter
with an exclamation and turned his head, just long enough for Andel to grab him
in a headlock.

Two
minutes later and the male was a gibbering wreck, held in the deadly grip of a
youth, who was not what he seemed.

“Just
take the money! Here take the fucking money!” The male said. Andel was watching
Tara, and he smiled at her.

“Oh,
we will thank you.” He said, the words hissing out of his mouth like acid rain.
“After.”

“After
what?” The male said and Andel smelt his fear. He was too hungry to tease much
more but he could not resist the gesture, it was one which had been born in
him. A flamboyance which had been present in his maker took a sinister turn
when Andel had been born.

“After
I make love to your soul.” He whispered into the male’s ear. The thick accent
wound round the unfortunate man’s senses like silken threads, paralyzing him
and rendering him unto Andel.

Tara
listened to Andel’s croon. A strange half known repetition of tones upon tones,
a love song for the dying, he had called it. Now she shook with longing as
Andel’s long canines pierced the man’s neck, allowing a gush of warm blood to
burst forth into Andel’s mouth. It would hit the back of his throat and explode
inside his stomach, burning for an instant pain then soothing, as it sped its
way around his beautiful body.

Hypnotized
by Andel, she almost forgot the female. So it was with a certain disappointment
she sunk her teeth in. The female had struggled and so Tara missed the quick
fix and her teeth tore through muscle and ligaments. Instead of purity, she
ended up with a mouthful of crap, which would make her sick.

“Tara!”
Andel roared as he dropped his body and flew over to where the female was
writhing on the ground trying to scream out of a torn throat.

“What
the fuck are you doing? What are you? Drink her now before she dies and you go
hungry!”

To learn more about my work here are my
social media sites:

https://www.facebook.com/firefly.fly.14

https://www.wordpress.com/firefly465.wordpress.com

https://twitter.com/Binky567

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16214999.Adele_Marie_Park

~~~~



Thanks, Adele 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, and my musings every Monday.

Have a great week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase presents, Adele Marie Park. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

New Year, New Feature, The anatomy of a novel.

It’s a new year and a new feature for this blog.

Today, in my first post in what I hope will be a new venture, I’d like to give you a behind the scenes look at the birth of a new idea. Who knows, it could even be the start of a whole series.

Regular readers will know that I usually write as it happens; as if I’m watching a film in my head. All that I normally need is an idea to set me off. From that, I get a sense of the beginning and I’m away. The plot unfolds as I watch the action on the screen just behind my eyes. I can pause and rewind it to make sure that I get everything down. The one thing that I can never do is fast forward, I never have any idea of what will happen before it does.

This idea came from a short piece that I wrote to include in my World-building course. It was only a few simple paragraphs, meant to illustrate a relationship, suggest a past connection and show how to use dialogue and description to create backstory, without writing pages of boring prose.

 

 

Here it is, exactly as I wrote it.

~~~~

The shot rang out and concrete was chipped by my head. “Come on,” gasped Lydia, grabbing my arm, “run!” 

I was dragged down the street, in and out of the shadows cast by the flickering lights, “keep your head down Dan,” she said.

“It’s just like on Gallix,” I managed to wheeze as, bent double; I followed her around a corner. Out of sight for a second we dodged into a dark alleyway. There were no more shots, but we could hear running feet and shouts.

“When we had to get away from Kalindra and her boys,” she finished while I tried to fill my lungs. “I had to save you then.”

“I thought that I saved you?” I replied.

“In your dreams.” We stood in the dark and tried to get our breath back, shrinking into the darkness as two men, guns held in front of them, ran past us. The blatant show of weapons reminded me that I was out of my depth here, far from my old stomping ground. They probably had the local law in their pockets, we were the outsiders.

 I was getting angrier and angrier with Fliss Bauer, back on Gallix. ‘It’ll be easy,’ she had said, ‘just get in and do this for me, it’ll wipe your slates clean’.

And we’d believed her. 

~~~~

The idea

was just to create the piece as an illustration, to get people talking, I never meant to use it in any other way than as an example of how to be effective in few words.

But then…, it happened. I think it was a result of my self-imposed ban on new material whilst I sort out my marketing plan. A bit like damming a river, the water just wants to get out somewhere else.

I started getting flashes of the lives of Dan and Lydia, of what had led them to that alley, of what they had done before, what they might get up to next. I couldn’t help it, I started writing the thoughts down.

Here they are, I’ve rearranged them into a kind of chronological order, although for once they didn’t come to me this way. I guess that it was because I had seen a mid-point in the narrative, all the action before it was available to my mind in any order. I don’t know, the more I try to explain it, to myself or others, the crazier I sound. It’s better just to go with it, accept it as normal for me and move on.

There are still gaps and places where expansion is required but I have enough to make a start. For some reason, I see it as very film noir, even though its very futuristic sci-fi. Think Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow meets Indiana Jones with a touch of the style of Casablanca.

Here’s my current version of the plot

Dan is a hitman, a contract killer working for Fliss Bauer. She’s a mob boss on Gallix, a rich planet. When we meet them in the extract, he had been sent by Fliss to assassinate Kalindra, a rival gangster who runs a prosperous but less attractive planet. Dan’s in the last chance saloon, having failed to kill Kalindra in a hotel on Gallix. Fliss regarded her unannounced visit as an insult, coming to Gallix was seen as a declaration of her intent to muscle in on what she regards as her home turf, hence Dan’s attempt.

Lydia is a small-time thief, who was at the hotel to rob the rooms. She ends up in Kalindra’s suite, not knowing who she is. She is working alone, she disrupts Dan, he is about to silence her but has no chance. They are discovered whilst arguing about who is going to do what. Lydia is against Dan killing Kalindra and tries to make him change his mind, while he just wants to get the job done. He’s quite willing to kill her as well, as long as it aids his escape. All he really wants to do is go for a beer.

There is a chase and they manage to get away, both claiming to have been the one to save the other. To avoid capture, they are forced to embrace and pretend that they are lovers, not criminals. Lydia also sends the chasers away with false directions.

Dan and Lydia get to safety, where they are met by Fliss, who is extremely annoyed that he has failed to finish off Kalindra. He blames bad luck, she sees Lydia with him and decides that it’s all her fault. She is going to kill her but Dan intervenes, pleading for another chance.

Fliss sends them to Kalindra’s homeworld; Fallop, to finish the job. It seems that she has lost faith in Dan. If Kalindra is killed they both live, if they get anything of value as well, that’s a bonus for them. Fail and they can never come home. Forced to work together, they set off.

And that’s where we came in, with the pair hiding in the alleyway.

~~~~

That’s as far as I’ve got,

although more details are coming to me all the time. I think it has the potential to develop into something, at least a short story, if not more.

Let’s recap on what we have; a chalk and cheese pairing, two people who work alone and have been forced to join forces to survive. I have an interesting premise, a pacifist thief and a hardened, cynical hitman who is starting to question his life and his boss. There may be a conflict, is Dan going soft because of Lydia, is there some attraction? Plus, I have two godmother figures, each with their own agenda. At stake is control of all criminal enterprises on both planets.

The question I’m waiting for the voices in my head to answer are about what happens after the extract.

Will Dan and Lydia succeed, how will they fare, will they stay alive?

Which crime boss will be left standing? Is there good in either?

Will Dan and Lydia fall for each other?

Will they succeed, and even if they don’t; what would that mean?

I reckon that there are at least 20,000 words of narrative in the notes that I’ve written above. Once I fill it out and get up to the point at which the extract takes place, I will just have to wait until I get the next bit.

Stay tuned; as the story develops, I will be posting updates. I might even make it into an episodic post, maybe once a month or so as the full tale reveals itself.

Next time, we’ll see how I’m getting on with fleshing out the plot up to the time we have already reached, where our heroes are hiding in the alley.

The post New Year, New Feature, The anatomy of a novel. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase Presents, Daniel Loebl

For this, the first Showcase of 2019, I have a short story for you from Daniel Loebl.

D. R. Lumiere is the writing pseudonym for Daniel Loebl. Daniel lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has written essays, short stories and plays.  

He has a blog at https://www.patreon.com/loebldaniel. 

His Amazon author page is here: https://www.amazon.com/D.-R.-Lumiere/e/B00G774WMM/

His Novel, The Toronovsky Collection, is available at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G626UQE/

Daniel’sFacebook page is here, reader’s comments are welcome: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012294333534

He is currently working on a second novel and a short story collection, of which Every Week, On Mondays is a part.

Every Week, On Mondays

By Daniel Rene Lumiere

It was a Monday evening in New York and I was stranded on a part of town I didn’t know. My dinner appointment was cancelled and it was getting dark. My phone’s battery was dead and it looked like it might start to rain at any time. The streets were empty. I had taken a wrong turn somewhere in my search for a subway station. I wandered through desolate streets with boarded up homes, trash bags waiting to be collected and the odd feral cat moving about. The humid air hung heavier than normal as I turned a corner into what looked like an empty lot. There was a building there, it looked likea narrow house with a tilted roof that had landed in the middle of an empty lot. A neon sign called ‘Open’. The door was open and above it, written in black letters burned on an ancient piece of oak, were the words: The Grisly Hand.

Rain began to cascade down. I climbed the steps to the entryway. A piece of paper with multiple dancing fonts proclaimed the imminent show by Mordar The Magnificent: Every week, on Mondays (two drinks minimum required). I thought I should just turn around and avoid the entire place. Part of my brain was screaming: This is New York. Better be Careful. If it could have screamed it in all caps, I am sure it would have.

I walked into the Grisly Hand. I noticed I was
holding my breath. This was in part because of fear but also because of the
strange smell that greeted me: stale beer, mixed with something wafting from
what turned out to be just an old deep fryer.

A bartender cleaned a glass behind the counter. Neon signs advertising beers and whisky dangled behind him at strange angles. The chairs at the bar were focused on a small, semi-circular stage at the back. Dim bulbs fell from the ceiling, only stopped by dusty, brown wires.  Every chair was taken by someone who looked very expensive. Everyone had their two beers on their tables. I walked to the bar and asked for a beer. The bartender handed me two full glasses: I had to fulfill my minimum. He said nothing as he took my money and did not give me back change. I wasn’t about to argue with him about it. I carried my drinks to the nearest table, away from the stage. A thin woman dressed in a liquid sparklywhite dress turned to look at me and smiled.

I smiled and raised one of my glasses half-way. She nodded and turned back to look at the stage. A gong rang. It was10:30 pm.

The lights in the bar didn’t change, but somehow the red curtain behind the stage seemed brighter, almost wet. A small man wearing a crumpled tuxedo stepped forward through the curtain. The paper stars glued to the curtain trembled in his path. Mordar was bald, had a wideblack moustache, and when he smiled he let us see the gold teeth that decorated the back of his mouth. I caught a whiff of whisky coming out of his mouth and nose, together with a stale, almost-had-a-cold scent.

He started on his act right away. It was easy to see why he performed at such a venue. He couldn’t disguise the thin copper wires needed to make some of the playing cards appear and disappear from different parts of his tux. He kept dropping the small red balls he tried to squeeze into his hands. He meant to do the trick where you juggle three or more rings separately and they end up all together in a chain, but he dropped one of the rings and when he bent down to pick it up he let out a loud and full belch.

The audience applauded with abandon. I touched
my hands politely to each other. After every half-done trick, The Magnificent
Mordar bent forward to thank his adoring audience.

I finished my first beer and started on the
second one. I hoped to be drinking what everyone else was drinking and see what
they saw.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed but the stage seemed brighter. Mordar stood as far forward on the stage as he could. He took a pair of white cotton gloves from his pockets and put them on. The audience gasped. A man laughed to himself. The woman with the liquid dress turned to me and nodded with squinty eyes. Mordar loosened his shoulders, ran his hands over his bald head, and let his arms fall to their sides.

Mordar squeezed a small painful scream. He closed his eyes tightly and aimed his gaze up toward the filthy ceiling where the beer signs hung above him. I raised my glass to take a drink and stopped midway. Mordar was suddenly taller. His head rose above the glued stars on the curtain behind him. But he wasn’t taller. He floated up away from the stage. One of his shoes almost tipped someone’s glass at their table. The audience watched in reverence. Mordar floated above us. He swayed slightly as he passed over each table. The hairs at the back of my neck stood up.

Mordar came back down on the stage. He was covered in sweat. Mordar The Magnificent bowed once to his audience, took two steps back and disappeared behind the curtain. Everyone, as if responding to a silent command, got up and filed out of the Grisly Hand. On their way out, they put fat money rolls into a jar set up by the door. I put down as many bills as I had. I walked back out into the streets I had walked earlier, but I didn’t recognize them. I found myself smiling deeply and able to see deep into the lights all around me without fear. Without knowledge. In blessed silence.

~~~~

Thanks, Daniel 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, and my musings every Monday.

Have a great week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase Presents, Daniel Loebl appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Out with the old, New Year Resolutions.

This is my last post for 2018

Apart from wishing you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year, it’s traditionally a time to look back at what you’ve done over the last twelve months and to make some resolutions for the year to come.

So, what did I achieve in 2018, did it turn out the way I planned?

The answer to that is yes; and no, and does it ever?

After last year’s five titles, this year I only published one book, Andorra Pett on Mars. Behind the scenes, I worked on several more, had some new ideas and did a lot to try and improve my online presence. I also started The Indie Showcase and so far, I’ve hosted a collection of amazing authors, with many more to come. If you’re interested in appearing on the Showcase in 2019, please let me know.

In November, I successfully completed NaNoWriMo, with an 85,000 word Steampunk novel set in my Norlandian universe. It was unconnected to my other Steampunk novels, although some of the characters from those adventures do get a mention in passing.

I’ve been to some great events and met some fantastic people. I’ve presented my World-building workshop, given talks about my life and my writing, sold a few paperbacks and got some good reviews, even if a certain company insisted on removing them as fast as they appeared. I’m not going to whinge or whine about it, it is the season of goodwill after all.

I’ve appeared on several other great websites, either talking about my writing or featuring my short stories. I’ve managed to get a short story read out on the radio and got involved with book reviewing.

I’ve also changed my marketing strategy, with the help of some expert advice. As a result, I hope that I can look forward to 2019 being another year of increasing sales and visibility.

I have a new Novel

Life and Other Dreams is due out in March. I also have three novels and a non-fiction guide which are just about ready to publish, and enough ideas to finish some of the six or seven books that I have in planning or half-written.

Available on Feb 15th 2019. Click on the picture to pre-order

Coming in 2019

Now we get on to the New Year Resolutions. As I briefly mentioned a couple of weeks ago, starting on this website in January, I will be focusing on an idea I had recently. It’s for a new novel and I’m going to be telling you about its ‘journey’ from my head to the page. I’ll also be updating and consolidating a lot of my old posts on world-building, there will be book reviews and new Showcase posts as well, starting on Thursday. If you’re interested in appearing on the Showcase in 2019, please let me know, I have slots from late April.

Then there’re my works in progress, the part written sequels that I really must get on with. That’s another Balcom novel, another Dave Travise story, a Norlandian saga, the sequels to Life and Other Dreams and the unpublished Survive. Not forgetting another Andorra Pett mystery.

I’ve also been getting to grips with the new WordPress Gutenberg editor, from Thursday’s Showcase post I will be using it, so please bear with my learning curve. I’m also starting to dabble in paid advertising and do a little more marketing, we’ll have to see how that goes.

Thank you to everyone who’s supported me by viewing this page, buying or downloading one of my stories, taking part in the Showcase or by leaving a review, even if it did get the chop.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!!!!!!

The post Out with the old, New Year Resolutions. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Seasons Greetings

However you celebrate it, I wish you all the best.

We will be back on Monday 31st December, the Indie Showcase resumes on January 3rd.

There’s still some excellent FREE material HERE

The post Seasons Greetings appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents, Sally Cronin

This week, it’s my pleasure to welcome Sally Cronin to the Showcase.

Being an Indie Author

 

Thanks, Richard for your kind invitation to feature on your website today.

I am celebrating being an author for twenty years having written and submitted my first manuscript to an agent in 1998. My book was well received by seven publishers who all said the book was well written apart from some minor editing issues, but their concerns were about me. I was an unknown writer, 45 years old and they felt that I would be too hard to market. That was a very useful lesson as it was clear that even in the world of mainstream publishing, people buy people first.

It would have been easy to give up at that point and throw the manuscript in a drawer along with dreams of being a published author.  The self-publishing industry was in its infancy in the UK. It was however more established in North America, and I found a Canadian company that I paid to have Size Matters: Especially when you weigh 330lbs published. They also had an online bookstore which was international, so Amazon was far from the first.

I was lucky. The obesity epidemic was only just taking hold and weight loss stories were not as common as they are today. I also included the weight loss programme that I had created to help me lose 150lbs in 18 months, which added to the book’s content. I had been responsible for marketing in my previous careers, and I approached the task of promoting my book in the same way as other products and services.  I sent out press releases locally and nationally, also print copies of the book to radio stations both in the UK and in Spain, where I was living at the time, and I held a book launch back in Ireland where I had written the book.  I ended up in the local papers, a couple of nationals and women’s magazines which was very gratifying. I also approached local radio stations and that led to a career as a presenter for six years.

Twenty years later and things are very different.   Marketing of your book largely happens online and globally, thanks to the Internet, major booksellers such as Amazon, Kobo and Barnes & Noble, and the evolvement of books to digital copies, able to be read on a wide variety of devices.

Clearly, this has opened up the market to millions of books published every year, across a much wider spectrum of genres and sub-genres.  As a result it does make it much harder to have your own book noticed and to sell multiple copies. For the reader it has never been so good, but it does mean that being an indie author, comes with a great deal more responsibility than just writing the book. One of the key responsibilities is book marketing, a daunting task, especially for a first book, even more so if in a highly competitive genre.

Here are some tips that you might find useful.

You are competing on a number of levels with other authors when releasing a book amongst thousands of others within the same genre.  For example, immediately a reader hits the Fantasy button to view new releases, they will be faced by a page of covers. They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but we do. Everything from the imagery, colours, font, title, and use of taglines makes an impact. Do the exercise yourself by pulling up a page of fantasy books and run your eye over them. What stands out for you? What titles catch your eye, what makes you want to open the book and discover what is inside?

That is phase one… but phase two is equally important. On many online bookstores, you can read the first few pages of the digital format. So now open the book and read the text, and consider if it lives up to the hype on the cover.

This is your one selling opportunity and your book has to compete in this world.  This means that your text needs to be well-written, edited and formatted for ease of reading. If at this point you are unable to afford a professional editor, then consider using a creative writing tool that helps you edit the text. Then send your draft out to avid readers that you know will be honest with you, who can offer constructive criticism about plot and characters. First drafts are just that…..and are written to be revised.

There are a number of design tools to help you create your own cover, but there are also some talented people out there with stock covers that can be adapted for your own use, with different covers, fonts etc. It can be expensive to have a cover designed to order but if you look hard enough you can buy a great stock cover for £10 to £30.

Twenty years ago there was no Internet, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter or any other social media.  Most of your readers will be active on one or more of these online sites and that is where you need to go to find them.

This may seem daunting, especially if you are not currently active on any sites. I do recommend that you focus on two to begin with, Twitter and Facebook.  It will seem at first as though you are doing all the following, but within a few weeks of sharing interesting posts and sharing other’s comments and links you will find that you too are being followed.

Blogging is the third platform that I recommend. Not only to share your work but other author’s too, and it is where you will experience the generous nature of the writing community.

There are a great deal of sites devoted to sharing the most effective way to use social media and blogging to promote your books, and my advice is to check those out.

Take advantage of any offers to be interviewed such as here with Richard, or to guest post. It is a great way to connect with others.

Many bloggers offer free book promotion and I would like to extend an invitation to any author reading this who is not currently in my Café and Bookstore to get in touch.  https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/sallys-cafe-and-bookstore-free-author-promotion/

Also you will find my social media links below and if you follow me, I will do all I can to help promote your books.

Finally, being a published author is the most amazing and fulfilling experiences. It you do everything that you can to produce a well-written, edited and designed book, you are an author. Be proud of it.

About me

I have lived a fairly nomadic existence living in eight countries including Sri Lanka, South Africa and the USA before settling back here in Ireland. My work, and a desire to see some of the most beautiful parts of the world in the last forty years, has taken me to many more incredible destinations around Europe and Canada, and across the oceans to New Zealand and Hawaii. All those experiences and the people that I have met, provide a rich source of inspiration for my stories.

After a long and very happy career, I took the step to retrain as a nutritional therapist, a subject that I was very interested in, and to make the time to write my first book. Size Matters was a health and weight loss book based on my own experiences of losing 70kilo. I have written another eleven books since then on health and also fiction including three collections of short stories. I am an indie author and proud to be one. My greatest pleasure comes from those readers who enjoy my take on health, characters and twisted endings… and of course come back for more.

A selection of my books 

 

Links

 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sally-Cronin/e/B0096REZM2

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7979187.Sally_Cronin

My links for the blog and social media.

Blog: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpre...

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sally.cronin

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sgc58

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sallycronin1

~~~~

Thanks, Sally 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

There will not be a Showcase post next week, the feature will return on January 3rd.

Have a great week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase presents, Sally Cronin appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Optimising my website, work in progress

 

The Marketing push continues

 

 

There’s so much to do, even to optimise a simple thing like a single post on my website.

I can see now why I never get many views for my blog posts, I’ve been missing out on so many things which will improve my visibility. I thought that by using tags and categories I was being clever, that I’d conquered it. Take that google search!!!!!!

Which says a lot about my previous understanding of how it all works!

 

Focus keywords, Snippets, Alt-text,
Slugs and Metadata

 

These were just words of some foreign language. Until recently, I had no idea what any of them meant. Except for slugs, but then I found that wasn’t what I thought it was. Consequently, I was either not using them at all or not using them properly.

Now it’s no good me spending this post telling you about how to optimise your website. I’ve only just scratched the surface myself. The only way to get things done, as I always used to say at work, is to learn to do them yourself, under supervision if possible. If that’s not an option, then by use of the best reference information you can lay your hands on. Once you have the basics, practice until your fingers bleed. It’ll feel strange for a while then, suddenly, you’ll be away.

I don’t have an expert sitting beside me, but I do have a very good source of information, there are lots of generous people who have gone through the same journey before me. I say generous because they have shared their experiences, left a wealth of knowledge and advice online to pick the best bits from. Like the book I mentioned last week, and all the blog posts that you find by using the very techniques you are learning.

 

 

At first, it seems like an uphill battle, like you will never get to the point where you understand it all. That’s the part where you give up or push through. I’ve chosen to push through. Once I’m a bit more comfortable with what’s going on as I write and optimise each new post I can go back. I can take a look at all my older posts and do the same to the best of them. There are three years of weekly posts to check, optimise and update, plus all the pages of information as well. That should keep me out of mischief for a while. And the other great advantage is, that if you do it and later find out that what you’ve done is wrong, you can keep changing it until it works.

Once you learn how it becomes an exercise you can do whenever you have a few spare moments. If you only have ten minutes, you can optimise a post.

And the writing of Cornerstone content continues, which I can use to pull everything together.

 

 

 

What’s next?

 

While I’m doing that, I can turn my attention to social media. There is a need for me to improve the way I use it, to advertise and showcase myself, to create interest and increase my visibility. I’m currently operating sporadically on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. But with few followers and little engagement. That also has to go on the list of jobs.

Referring to my list from last week, almost everything relating to new projects or half-written stories is now on hold. I have a back catalogue to promote and a presence to establish first. There is one exception, more of that later.

I need to show people that I’m about more than writing. I’m a pretty good cook and take some great pictures on my walks and coffee shop visits too.

 

In other news

 

My next release, Life and Other Dreams has had its first review. I sent out 25 advance copies at the end of November and I’ve spent the time since agonising over the reaction I was going to get.

 

 

As a result, I know that 4% of the people who have it, like it. Which sounds like a shampoo ad.

Pre-orders for Life and Other Dreams are now live, you can get the book on February 15th, full TWO WEEKS before the official launch Date. Just click here to go to the pre-order page.

Ribbonworld is also steadily climbing the rankings,

 

When I eventually get back to writing, I have three novels to edit, before I attempt to finish any of my works in progress. Once I’ve got to grips with the marketing, that’s where I’ll be.

 

It’s the last Showcase before Christmas on Thursday, then I’ll be taking a break. I’ll be back on Monday the 31st with a roundup of 2018 and a look forward to my plans for 2019.

Have a great Christmas everyone.

The post Optimising my website, work in progress appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents, Samuel Colbran

Welcome to another Showcase post, my guest today is fantasy author Samuel Colbran.

I found Samuel through a writers group in Australia, his subject matter intrigued me and it seemed to me that it was the sort of thing that needed more exposure. With twelve publications listed on his author page, anyone who likes his genre would be well advised to take a look.https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samuel-Colbran/e/B0728LW7NJ

 

With 31 years of creating, writing and storytelling as a hobby, Samuel thought it was time to fulfil a dream he only just acquired. In 2015, he quit his job as a chef of 17 years, due to several factors one being a full-time carer for his mother and the lack of creativity in his life.

Since then, he has accumulated many relationships in the writing world which have to lead him to become a mentor, public speaker, teacher, promoter of fellow authors and he also volunteers his time for various writing groups situated on the Gold Coast i.e. Gold Coast Novel Writers and Writers Activation. In 2017  he published  Lake Merrin, the first book of a five-book series entitled Journal of an Adventurer.

Not only is he working on Journal of an Adventurer; he has also published two short story series entitled FableLands and Tales From Favinonia.

 

 

I can recommend Samuel’s blog, at www.samuelcolbran.com. It’s a great read, full of wise words.

He can also be found here,

Facebook: Samuel Colbran – Author

Twitter: @SamuelAuthor

Instagram: @SamuelAuthor

Here’s a taste of Samuels’ writing, a chapter from Lake Merrin.

Journal Entry One

Twenty-third of Harvest, 1007 FK.

Within two weeks I will be on the front line, fighting an enemy that has powers beyond our imagination! It reminds me of a book I read in school—about the end of the Massacre of Magic, and the invasion of those Beasts and their shambling, rotten minions! I would never have thought we would stumble upon those creatures from history in Greywalker Reach. How could the Earl and his soldiers miss this? Earl Feo has a lot to answer for! The bloody border forts are just three days’ ride from Greywalker Reach!

Anyways, I’m beating a dead horse, or in this case, a dead Favinonian and dead people rising are just one of the problems I am dealing with. I cannot believe the assassinations, the rebellion and all those weird—

Mela’s grace, I do not have much time to write this, I cannot get distracted.

I survived Greywalker Reach. I am not sure if I will survive this war. But people need to know where it all started. That town, where I met my ‘family’, Lake Merrin.

Now we are heading to the war to end all wars. I regret so many things: friends dying, losing the love of my life, and most of all, meeting that monster, Zlata! At Greywalker I discovered where she came from. Holy Saints of the Trinity, save us!

I had the best start when it all began, just two years ago when I came to Lake Merrin. Back then I was a nobody, and all I cared about was money, women, and grog. Or was it grog, more grog, yet more grog, and paying for women? I was a wastrel—a scoundrel who only cared about himself and the next drink!

How things change. My story is one of growth, just as Favinonia has transformed over the last two years. From when I signed up at the Hall in Lake Merrin, to catching that rogue group, Bloody Coin, a so-called Charter of the Hall, to the uprising and finally to this horrific situation.

Should I start from when I first arrived in Lake Merrin? Or three months later when I finally got off my arse to sign up? By Jenell’s Book, I was lazy!

Back to the start then. Where was that? Oh yeah, having that quiet drink in that dingy inn, the Anvil and Musket on the docks of Lake Merrin …

 

 

1005 FK, Lake Merrin

 

What a beautiful day on Lake Merrin! That afternoon breeze from the shoreline is why I love this place, though the smells from the tavern downstairs can be a little on the nose.

Who cares? Time for my liquid breakfast! Splash some water on face and chest.

Now I just have to try not to wake up my ‘beautiful’ companion. She will only want me to spend more money on her. She can throw back grog even harder than me.

Why did I choose this place? Black mould, greasy windows and cockroaches as big as my fist. That is right—it costs only two silver slips a week. Cannot complain about the Anvil and Musket. What is a Musket anyway? Is it a different type of repeater crossbow?

Gently closing the door, I stumble down those rotten steps, and there is something putrid in the air. It is Bruce. I can smell him from the stairway that enters the common room. His fragrance is like torture to my disturbed gut; a mixture of sweat, vomit and ale so old it is rancid. At least he is working, not passed out in a booth. He is one of the reasons I need to drink my worries away.

As I walk up to crack stone bar, Bruce is spitting into a glass to clean it. “Greetings, good barkeep. Can I have your finest ale? Hold the roaches or rat droppings.” I hold back my laughter at myself. Today I am the soul of wit!

He looks up at me. Scratching his cauliflower ear, he grunts at me. “Oh—it’s you. Your rent’s due!”

Pleased to see you too, Bruce. “I know, I know. Um, can I make it up later today?”

He has moved his intense scratching to his mangy beard, as he growls out a few more words. “Do I have to get Malik to talk to you again?”

That son of a motherless goat! Always the way, dragging more money out of me. What do I have in my wallet? Two silver slips and one hundred and twenty copper bits. “No Bruce, you do not! Here.” Two more notes went to my decrepit room! Damn, I need a job.

“My ale?”

As I watch him about to pour my amber liquid, something moves in the glass. Before I say anything, Bruce notices and just shakes it out. Jara’s hammer that is so wrong.

I think it just ran into another glass …

“Can I have a cleaner glass, Bruce? I believe two roaches were making babies in the bottom of that one.” He reaches for the glass that also has a shadow inside. “Um, can it be that one?” I point to a glass nowhere near the baby factories.

“Bloody stuck-up white-back!” Bruce growls.

I love being a half-breed, I get so many nicknames. He grabs another glass, pours, then holds up my glass of pure heaven in this world of Amsul, shoving his other hand in my face.

“Fifty coppers!”

What? So, if I had not refused the first glass, it would have cost me the usual ten coppers?

I hand over one large copper coin. Now all I have on me is seventy bits, to the Abyssus with you, Bruce. Need to not seem angry, need to ask something stupid.

“One thing, Bruce. What is a musket?”

He smiles, a bit of last night’s food still stuck in his teeth. A gust of rancid breath hits me. He pulls a weird weapon from beneath the counter. I assume it is a weapon— a metal tube, connected to a club. He points the tube at me.

“Do you want to find out what it does too, or are you going to piss off?”

No idea why he would point a tube at me when the club section of the weapon looks scarier. With Bruce’s oversized arms, my head would be cracked after one blow.

“No need!”

He puts the musket back under the bar as I walk away. I am not sure what it does, and I do not want to find out. Where to enjoy this weak-as-piss ale? Ah, next to my friendly neighbourhood drunk, Stinky Pete. Don’t know his real name as he seems to be asleep most of the time. But Stinky Pete is a great listener.

“Hey, Pete.” Sitting down in this booth, I can smell he has pissed himself again. Mela’s sacrifice, he is in a bad way this morn. “Do not need a hug from you today. I know we are the best of friends.”

Pete’s reply is quite fragrant, and so loud I can feel it through the soles of my boots. If it isn’t out one end, it is always the other.

“So, Pete, what should I do today?”

He coughs and burps for a change of tempo.

“Yes, I know—find a job.” After spending five years in the army to gain my citizenship, I want to move on from those dark days. Every job I go for now is just some simpleton job. I am better than that. Quaffing my drink again. “Pete, my friend, what am I going to do?”

He does take his time to answer, mouth fluttering as he lets out a huge breath. Great morning breath. I continue. “Well, my funds are not going to last me long, what with pissing off Bruce all the time or dealing with Malik and the Dock Boys.”

By his snoring, I know Pete understands.

“It is the same thing every day. Find a labouring job, only to have my pay claimed by the Dock Boys. Bloody Malik and his butt-monkey Jimmy always find out when I have money.”

Having another drink. That cleared the cobwebs. “As you know, Pete, they demanded my money to pay off the last loan with interest. Then Malik, in his element, turns around and lends the money right back to me so I can survive. Not much I can do.”

I can see Pete is pondering my last statement.

“You are right, Pete! Unless you are a knight, in the military, or a registered Adventurer, the law isn’t always around to protect you. They are allowed to carry arms. With a sword and armour, I wouldn’t have to put up with their nonsense.”

Pete shifts slightly and lets out a fart even worse than the last one. I drown my nose in the sweet elixir of my ale, draining it to the last drop. He finishes, and he should be proud of his eruption. I grab his pouch off his belt, and there is one silver slip inside, and a handful of bits, enough for two more ales and I will leave him the change. I am such a good friend.

“Pete, you have outdone yourself, shouting me a drink. I will grab you one as well, no need to worry!”

I am glad to be moving back to the bar, allowing me some fresher air. I do not call him Stinky Pete for nothing.

“Bruce, a couple more ales!”

“Sure.” I think he said sure; there was an ‘s and r’ in his grunt.

Turning around, looking at the mouldy place, glancing down I see a family of rats run in front of me. One day, I will live in a proper place, maybe with a beautiful woman to cook me dinner.

The ales arrive. “Thanks, Bruce. Keep the change!”

It is not like there is any, but it is better to pretend he is not ripping me off. Pete is still sleeping. Dropping his glass in front of him, I take a long draw on my ale. Even though he probably will not drink it, it was his money. As always, the best way to start the morning— an excellent lukewarm brew!

As I drop my drink on the table, I spy my ‘lady friend’ coming down the stairs. She looks at me and waves. What is her name again? Cin or Bel? Damn it.

“Hey there, handsome.” She grabs Pete’s ale and takes a long swig. “I woke up, and you weren’t there.”

Cin or Bel? She is staring at me. “Sorry, love, I wanted to come down and have some breakfast.” I shake my half-empty cup. “Have I told you lately how beautiful you are?”

Well, it is a stretch, with her acne and scabby skin, but she was cheap and warm. I think she is blushing, but I cannot tell.

“You are embarrassing me.”

“It is part of my charm.” As she walks off to her ‘pimp’ Bruce, I smack her arse. Turning back to Pete, I say, “Sorry about your drink, I will get you another one later. So, what were we talking about?”

Pete lets out a loud snore. “Oh yes, thanks, Pete. The Watch is out of the question, and I am never going back to the army. So, I could head west to the City States, join a mercenary band like my ‘dad’ was a part of. But again, that is too close to the army and those encounters I had with rogue groups.”

I can see Pete is uncomfortable about this. Me too. “So, the mercenary band is out, City Watch is out, the army is out. So, Pete, what is left?” He shrugs, I think. “Only one option—join the knighthood!”

Standing up, brandishing my cup like a sword, I laugh. Pete might be chuckling or heavy breathing. “Yeah, could you imagine that me being part of the Duke’s Knightly Order, you know—The Shields, or one of those holy avengers of the Orange Aspect of the Trinity? The followers of Jara, they do good protecting us from the minions of the Abyssus, but those knights are some stuck-up prigs.”

The creaky front door swings open (Bruce needs to oil that), and by Jara’s hammer, it is a Dock Boy. The rat-faced one—I am not sure what his name is, but he is always in that huge group that corners me. If we were one on one …

“Ah, it seems that it is time for me to go, Pete,” I say.

Hopping up, I send a rude sign to old Ratface, who sneers at me. “Wait till I get the boss!”

Turning back to Pete, hearing the door slam close, “You are right, Pete; the only answer is to become an Adventurer. I guess I’m off to the Hall.”

Jara, Mela, Jenell, what horrible timing for the Dock Boys to be looking for me. I thought I would not be seeing them all week. They have been thick as thieves with that rogue Charter of late, the Fellowship of the Sword. I hate that group of ex-Duke’s Shield men: Helmut and his thugs love killing people for fun and money. Especially that brute Roth with his oversized meat cleaver. I do not want to be on either gang’s list.

Running up those rotten stairs into my room, it would be best to duck out through the secret back exit. I am glad that there is a back door; I shouldn’t be caught by the Boys.

Looking around my room, what do I need? My sword is a definite, Jack too—my armoured vest, a must if I run into some more Dock Boys. Some knives, one in each of my boots, and another in my belt-sheath, and I am done. I feel like I am missing something. Oh yes, where is my slip pouch of sixty slips? That’s right—in with my dirty underwear. Glad I had the foresight to hide money; no one would look there!

Taking a deep breath, I open my door a crack to see if anyone is in the corridor. Good, it is empty. Only twenty steps down the hallway and I am out that back door.

It is terrific, this door is on the same level; it is a far subtler exit. Strange that I am using it for avoiding the Dock Boys instead of the usual wife or loved one worrying that their husband is cheating on them.

Heading down the even-more-rotten back steps, I make sure to miss the exposed, rusted nails and other deteriorating objects. The last thing I want is to be heading to the medical-shrine to have some Green Aspect treat me, even if they do excel at healing.

How should I reach the Hall? There are three back-alley ways from the Anvil to Route Street. This should be easy.

Once I hit Route, going to blend in; look like I belong to the afternoon crowd. Darting from the steps into the first alleyway.

I am glad of my scouting experience from the army. Otherwise, I would not have noticed the heavy breathing. Who is in this next alley? I take a quick look. A Dock Boy, a brute of a half-breed; he must have some dwarf in him. His dark, heavy beard and pointed ears are a dead giveaway.

What to do? Perhaps he is waiting for someone else. Bold is best!

“Hey, what are you doing here?’ I ask with an affable tone. “Doesn’t Malik have you lot on the docks every morning?”

He turns to me and bunches his shoulder. If he bunches anymore, he’ll rip his shirt.

“Oi, you stay right there.”

He starts sauntering toward me. Drawing my knife from my back sheath, I hold it in my fist. He grabs me, and my first instinct is to stab him, but I squash that thought, smashing him across the face with the pommel instead. As he drops to the ground, I step around him and run.

Only Ratface and that brutish Truth-spawn have seen me. Just one more lane and I’m blending into that morning crowd. By Mela’s grace, the second alley is clear. Maybe I should have killed that brute? Just keep focus. Nearly at the third lane.

Running into the last alley, I crash into another Dock Boy. I can smell the grog on him. He takes a lazy swing at me but then my army training kicks in. I duck and twist towards him, so I have a clear shot to knee him in his Jara’s hammers. He drops to the ground, clutching at his groin. I am nearly home free; Route is just a stone’s throw away.

As I peek out, I see only carts. Easy to blend in here.

Casually moving out from the alleyway, ducking behind a cart, then moving to another. Thinking I can chance it, I look around and, my luck, the Dock Boys, are out in force. I could still make the other back-alley course. Just need to get there quickly.

Someone calls out above the noise of the heavy footsteps and creaking cart’s wheels, “There he is, Malik!”

Why do they have such a hard-on for me today, I only flipped off Ratface. What day is it? Do I owe them money today? Have to make a run for it. Dodging left and right, I am a hair’s breadth away from the alley.

Coming out of the alley is Malik, flanked by eight thugs. Exit cut off, and more footsteps behind me. It is not my day.

~~~~

I hope you all enjoyed it. I loved the extract, it has the imagination of Tolkien but with the modern style of The Ninth Bridge by Marc Townsend, quirky and slightly off the wall, but great fun to read.

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, and my musings every Monday.

Have a great week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase presents, Samuel Colbran appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Marketing Part 2, my list of jobs.

A marketing update

Following on from last week; when I spoke to you about the need to do some marketing, I’ve taken the plunge and spoken to a marketing expert. In the past, I would have shied away from talking to one but I’m glad I did. We spent over twenty minutes discussing where I am (verdict; all over the place) and with their help, I now have a rough idea of what I need to do next. And an ever growing list of jobs that need to be done.

My major questions, in no particular order, were,

Which should I do first, restart my email list, improve my website to get more hits or update my KDP categories and keywords?

Do I need to change the book descriptions, categories and keywords?

What about my pricing, are my books too cheap, or too expensive?

Should I offer as much free stuff as I do (a novel and about twenty short stories, since you asked)?

Is there value in producing a box-set?

How do I improve my social media presence?

Should I tell people more about ME?

Is it worth setting up a shop on my website for direct sales?

Should I offer an exclusive title (or any title) as an inducement?

Should I make a portfolio to give away?

What about the launch of my next book?

~~~~

 

All pretty fundamental questions, and then; of course, there is the big one. What order do I need to do them in?

The answers surprised me, some of the things that I thought would be important are not, at least to start with. Another bonus is that I don’t have to do everything at the same time!

I have a strategy in place and a list of jobs that need doing. Now, it’s just a case of getting started. Unfortunately, there’s no instant solution (shock, horror). I’ve let things slide for five years, I have just got to be patient while I work to get them right, one step at a time.

 

A great resource

I have made a start on improving the visibility of my website. I’ve found a great guide, written by my Facebook friend My Random Musings (Deborah A. Stansil). Written in simple language and full of good advice, I can recommend it. In fact, I have, with a

review.

Optimise Your Blog Like a Boss: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Visible on Google

You can find it, along with my review, here.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Optimise-Your-Blog-Like-Boss-ebook/dp/B079WBV6G2

It’s actually written for the novice like me, I’ve done a few of the things it suggests, to make my content more visible to search engines. Hopefully, I’m discovering how to get more hits. I’m also busy writing more Cornerstone content, which should also help. Look out for those pieces, as I publish or update them over the coming weeks. Like I’ve said before, changing the way you do everything is a bit like turning a ship around, it requires patience, which I’m not renowned for.

 

In other news

 

 

 

 

The manuscript for The Lost Princess has been returned and it’s not quite as finished as I’d hoped it would be. There’s a substantial amount of revision and rewriting to do, which has pushed its release date back by a couple of months.

I have a horrible feeling that it’s turning from a novella into a full novel, which was never the plan, the trouble is, it seems to be one of those inevitable events that you can see coming but can do nothing about. The Lost Princess was only written to tidy the Balcom series up and use the backstory I’d written when I was researching and planning Ribbonworld. It was intended to be a free gift as part of the new marketing strategy, now it’s taken on a life of its own. As I haven’t currently got a marketing strategy, its no biggie. I want it to be right before I let it loose on the public.

 

 

 

Not only that, but my beta readers have also found a few problem areas in Survive, a new space opera which I was hoping to publish next year. It too will require a bit more work. There are two more items for my list of jobs.

I know I said that I was holding the writing of new material for a while; unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. The ideas come into my head unbidden, I have to write them down before they go. I have several half-completed sequels to all my novels and sequels to the sequels. I even have sequels to my spin-off projects. They all clamour for my attention, then there’s Christmas, family reunions and all the other sagas of reality to contend with. I really don’t need all the extra hassle and time commitments of marketing as well.

Because of all the competing pressures, time management will also need to be put on my list of jobs, perhaps I can write in the morning and do marketing in the evening?

And there’s another complication, I’ve been contributing a series of world-building exercises to a Facebook writer’s group. For one of them, I wrote a quick piece to illustrate how to set up an interesting past for a character, using a conversation and some action.

I’ve now seen how this could become so much more, at least a short story, possibly a novel. Why do I do this to myself?

Answers below, please.

~~~~

The Showcase returns on Thursday with another great author and I should have some more marketing news for you next Monday.

Have a good week.

 

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