Richard Dee's Blog, page 89

My next project

I recently had a message from my editor; my manuscript for Survive would be back with me shortly! With all that had been going on in my life, I had almost forgotten that I was waiting for it.

To refresh your memory, here’s the working cover and the blurb.

 

Blurb

 

“What no man has seen before.”

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

Alysom is secretive about the details of the mission; when Jansen finds out the danger they are in, there is no turning back. Davis comes to see that Alysom is not the man his public think, he is controlling and arrogant.

When his behaviour results in disaster, Davis and everyone else must try to survive. Not just the savage planet they have crashed on, but also from Alysom himself. Finally, they must escape from those who will go to any lengths to protect his reputation.   

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

 

There’s a rough cut sample from the middle of the book here,

 

And here’s the opening few pages,
Chapter 1

 

The studio lights were blindingly bright. Even though I was used to the idea, it was a new experience for me and I was blinking in their glare. Today, I was on the other end of the camera, facing it instead of pointing it. I had forgotten just how much heat the lights generated. Sweat was running down my neck and back and I wondered if the make-up my face had been plastered with had streaked and run. Beside me, in her wheelchair, was Anisia, my wife – although the fashionable term had apparently become ‘life-partner’. Things had certainly changed while we had been gone.

She was also my recording engineer, which was how we had met. We had worked so well together that we decided to make the relationship more permanent. I for one felt no regrets, despite our present situation.

She was still getting used to the loss of one leg; fortunately, the chair was only temporary. Once her prosthetic had been finished and fitted she could start learning to walk again. And we could get off the surface of the planet, with its crowds and pollution, get back to our home in orbit. I wasn’t a big fan of Earth, I had become unable to cope with its crowds and the constant demands that mere existence made on your life. All the petty politics and jealousies, the point scoring that was no part of life in space, where you worked for the common good. The synthetic fibres in my clothes scratched my skin. I was used to cotton, you wore natural fibres in space, you didn’t want a static spark spoiling your day.

The floor manager, little more than a shadowy shape behind the camera, counted us in. “Four, three, two, live,” he said. The red lights came on over the cameras and the programme’s presenter, Brit Helles, walked into the lights. She had been standing behind the camera and in shadow. A tall, willowy figure, she stood slightly off to one side of us. She had been dressed to emphasise her legs, was that all part of the studio’s plan?

“Good evening, everyone,” she began, reading from the autocue over the camera. I wondered who had written her words, whose side they were on? “The news just recently has been full of the amazing story from the planet Qister-Alu, where the well-known explorer Ballantyne Alysom and the remnants of his team have been rescued. It seems that, over a year after they disappeared, they have performed one of the most amazing feats of survival.”

She moved to stand between us, the camera swung to focus on all three of us, at that moment I felt more nervous than I had at any time over the last year. I took Anisia’s hand, it shook slightly.

“We have the first two of the party to have been released from the hospital with us tonight,” she continued. “Ballantyne Alysom is still unconscious and listed as critical because of injuries sustained whilst on that planet. We must rely on the account of these two, husband and wife Davis and Anisia Jensen, the expedition’s official photographers for Galactographic! Magazine. Tonight, and over the next few weeks, they’re going to tell us the story of just how they came to survive the series of events that led them to being marooned on that savage planet.”

That was quite an introduction, now we had to tell our story to the masses who I knew would be huddled around their receivers. The broadcast was live on Earth and all the colonies, with the new  Q-E relay stations, there wouldn’t be an inhabited planet that couldn’t watch us, live. That was a new development, when we had left the transmission speed for a video to the outer planets was only as fast as the ship carrying the file. Now, Quantum Entanglement computers were sending video across the galaxy faster than light, using the instantaneous response of vibrating atoms in different places.

I knew that if Ballantyne had been aware of what was going on his temper would have got the better of him. He loved to be in control of the story and had tied us up with non-disclosure agreements before we had set out. As we had discovered, it was his usual practice, he wanted to be the centre of attention and the recipient of all the credit, well this one was out of his control.

Bearing in mind what had happened since we had set off, it was a good job he wasn’t around. We had been on the receiving end of more than one of his sudden temper tantrums. After we had finished with our story, there was no way that he would be able to spin or bluster his way out of any responsibility.

In the light of what I wanted to say, while I was waiting for Anisia to be discharged, I had spent a day with the top men at Galactographic! After they had seen the video highlights of our story the managers were happy to waive our agreement with Ballantyne, provided I just presented the video diaries we had salvaged. I was warned not to make any comments that didn’t have solid video evidence to back them up.

The lawyers representing Alysom were not so happy; were they ever? But as all of us that had made it back had come to accept, someone was going to have to tell the story that the whole sector wanted to hear. And, with the evidence that I had, I could back it all up. There was no need for conjecture.

I knew that it wouldn’t be a pleasant job, I was about to set off on a path that would destroy the reputation of the man who had made his name as a fearless explorer and generous philanthropist. A man whose face had covered a million children’s walls, whose books and video films had sold by the shipload.

The next few hours would almost certainly ruin him. In some of his more devoted followers’ eyes, it would make me seem like the bad guy. The trouble was, it had to be done. As long as I kept to the recorded facts I could hardly be held responsible for his words or actions.

Anyway, the dead demanded that I should do it; I could see their faces in my dreams and they screamed at me for their voices to be heard, and for justice. I had the proof to back up what I was about to say. Galactographic! had already seen the video logs I had kept in secret and the things that I had found, things that Ballantyne must have hoped would never be found. They were working on the official line; it wouldn’t be pretty for them either. It seemed that they were prepared to cut him loose and take the short-term pain.

Brit was still talking while I considered all this; Anisia must have sensed my mood and squeezed my hand.

“Davis, Anisia, we’ll shortly be asking you to tell us just what you’ve been up to while you’ve been away, but first, I think that a brief reminder of the life of Ballantyne Alysom, of his achievements, would be in order.”

Brit Helles was a fan of Alysom, she had told us as much in the green room. I was pretty sure that she hadn’t seen all the footage that the managers had. She must have had an inkling though, she seemed determined to get her retaliation in first. I got the impression that she wouldn’t willingly let her idol’s reputation be tarnished by a mere cameraman and a crippled sound engineer. She had already mentioned his injuries and glossed over Anisia’s. While his were significant, they could hardly be used as a justification. Especially once the way they had happened came out.

~~~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed that.

Survive had its origins in a small piece of backstory in my novel Freefall. It’s all based around a location in that story and my description of it. I enjoyed inventing and writing about it so much that I wanted to find a way to tell you more about it. Survive is still set in the future, just not quite as far in the future as Freefall (I guess that makes it part of the history of the future?)

It’s been out for beta reads and had a few good comments (spoilers removed),

What a fantastic book!!! I love how while every book you write is technically the same genre, they are all completely different. Survive came alive from the first page, and really took on a life of its own. The characters were all well developed and believable, the story was saturated with the atmosphere, and the bad guy was someone that everyone has experienced at one point in their life! A lot of effort has been put into the research for the story, it comes across as real instead of patently fake. My goodness, that ending though! Perfect setup for a second book, which I sincerely hope there is one!

All in all, another fabulous read,

Awesome concept, fast-paced and something very different.

To my delight, my editor was equally happy with it, although as usual, her eagle eye spotted a lot of things I hadn’t noticed. Mostly these were inconsistencies in the second half of the story. Her comment, The opening section is very good – you just need to review the areas I’ve marked so they come up to the same standard (that sounds simple enough!).

In the end, I’ve decided to re-write a lot of the second half, So far, I’ve added about 6000 words and hopefully, I’m well on the way to achieving that. When I’m happy with the new version, I’ll send it back to her for another look. The cover designer is booked for September, I’m hoping that my working idea will be transformed into something wonderful.

While I’m following her advice, I’ve had a lot of thoughts on a sequel. While I was writing, I realised that the story, although at a natural end, was nowhere near complete. I had so many ideas, I did think of adding them to part two but that would have turned the book into a 200,000-word epic. There were so many avenues to explore that there was neither the room or the time to do them all justice. And I reckon that a second story; tying up all the loose ends, is a much better idea. It’s always possible that the story won’t be finished there, who knows what turns it will take? Could there even be a part three?

I hope that Survive will be published later this year.

In the meantime, I’ve sent off another manuscript for editing, more on that when it returns.

Don’t forget the Indie Showcase on Thursday.

The post My next project appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents, Mae McKinnon

Today on the Showcase, I’m pleased to be joined by author Mae McKinnon.
Chronologisitis

Sounds like something you’d catch after having worked on delicate hands and numerals for years and years, doesn’t it? But rather than it affecting diligent craftsmen working tirelessly, making delicate watches, it strikes down authors. Not all authors. Just some. And not everyone catches it to the same degree. Thank goodness.

How do I know?

Well. Not only do I have the pleasure (hah) to have it, but the term came into being after many years of complaining about the result with some fellow authors. We all knew what we were talking about, it was just that every time someone new came along, there came the need to describe the whole process. Wouldn’t it be much more convenient to have just a single word sum up all those things we kept repeating? As authors, surely words are what we do best? Inventing words stopped being a bad thing when school was over. We’re *supposed* to invent words. Be creative. So I did.

Oh dear. Are you now worried that your writing has Chronologisitis too? So sorry. It’s not actually a bad thing – in the end. It’s just an absolute and utter nuisance while you’re working on a story. Ok, and afterwards too – but the reader will never see that. Actually, the odds are good your reader will never even have the slightest idea, unless you tell them. I tend to share it around when I can. Most authors I’ve met only admit to it after you’ve known them for a while (presumably once they’ve realized that you’re as odd as they are), if at all. To many, it seems a strange thing that to write, you end up having to give up control, rather than encasing your characters in lead and making them dance as puppets on a string.

Who really knows. But a good place to find out if you know already know what it is, is to start is with your Muse and your characters.

 

Muses and Characters: if they…

Change their minds about what happened in certain scenes (or in extreme cases, the whole book) time and again.
Give you eight options to one plot or scene, two of which are only possible by changing the universe, three involve rewriting the whole story and at least one brings them back from the dead two whole books after they, apparently not, died – until you finally cave in and choose the one they wanted you to write the whole time but you didn’t because it *doesn’t make any sense* when you write it.
Never bother to tell you their stories in chronological order – so you end up having to scribble things as the literary equivalent to a patchwork quilt.
Are quite capable of waxing lyrically about their adventures two books further down, which haven’t been written yet, but are mum about what’s supposed to happen next.
Go on strike when you refuse to write that marvellous scene they just performed, even when it doesn’t fit, you don’t want it, and they were doing it just for laughs anyway.
And so on, and so forth…

If all those sound familiar, then there’s a good chance that you already know just what it means.

 

 

 

 

 

The sages say you should never laugh at a live dragon…

If you, by now, are blinking furiously, wondering what on earth you just read, there’s an equally good chance that you’re the type of author that decides to write a story, sit down and write said story, finish it and that’s that. Or the reader who thought that was how all stories were written. No worries, all ways are good (except the bad ones 

The Ninth Bridge

Today, I’m talking about a book that I’ve just finished reading.

 

Blurb.

Welcome to Bridgetown where gold flows like a river through the streets, into the pockets of the cunning and cruel. Nine great bridges span the river, and nine powerful individuals act as masters of the river, using the power and influence that comes with their title to their own ends.

At least until yesterday. Today the master of the ninth bridge is dead, his son missing and presumed eaten, and now all that power and influence are there for the taking. There isn’t a resident alive who wouldn’t try and claim that power for himself, and when the Mayor announces a competition to discover who will be the new Master of the Ninth Bridge, they will prove willing to climb over their neighbours to take the prize.

The competitors are driven, ambitious, and have years of connections, favours, and influence within the city to exploit to take the prize. Just imagine their faces if an upstart nobody from out of town was thrown into the mix. A Winters man, a family name almost as infamous as the town itself. As I recall, the last chap with such a name was burned alive in his own factory, but I’m sure this one will do a little better.

 

My Review.

I love a quest, a tale to get your teeth into. In fact, a lot of books are quests, whether you realise it or not. A quest can be undertaken for many reasons, family is as good a one as any.

Enter Marian Winters, the questee (is that even a word?) in this novel. His quest is simple, or at least that’s how it seems to begin with. It’s a matter of restoring family honour and fortune, atoning for the fact that he’s not the man his brother is and getting away from the bullying and trouble that accompanies his life in Smelton. He’s different and that marks him out. People have set out with less incentive. Faced with a choice that’s really no choice at all, what’s a questee to do?

Everything is set for an adventure.

He’s headed for Bridgetown, the location of the titular bridges. It’s known to be a rough place, he was warned to stay away, but a questee has to do… etc. He’s armed only with his wits and a vague plan, which almost instantly goes awry. He then faces a choice, go home in disgrace (always assuming he can get out alive), or set about a new challenge.

Cue the entry of the inhabitants of Bridgetown itself. Here Marc has spared no effort in making them quirky, likeable and frightening. All at the same time!

The characters perfectly compliment the setting. The dwellers in, above and under the districts of Bridgetown are interesting and brilliantly visualised, fitting seamlessly into the environment. Everyone seems to have a plan for Marian and he has to be careful who he trusts. Dangers abound and as our hero gets deeper into the town, he acquires some people to help him. A flamboyant woman and a master swordsman join in his quest, both come in handy when he’s faced by some of the villains.

There’s a whiff of magic as well, hints of gods and demons, dark powers and those who can wield them, as well as some very unsavoury practices. Also, and this lightens what could be a dark tale, there is some very well-placed humour, often when you least expect it.

The world building is great, instead of regaling us with pages of description, Marc introduces the town and its varied inhabitants by a clever combination of showing and telling. Basically, he gets Marion to explore, fulfilling his quest and telling us what he sees and does at the same time. I think it’s a better way and increases your enjoyment, Marian never knows what’s around the corner and you see it through his eyes. The action is relentless, all leading us up to the final twist and…, well no spoilers here, but it’s a crazy journey. For an alternative society it all works well and makes sense, there are no holes in the logic.

I spotted a clue, about half-way through that leads me to expect a sequel, the way the story ends makes me want one even more.

If you go to Marc’s website, you can find a companion to the book, a guide to Bridgetown. This gives some great backstory, a cool map (every quest should have one) and shows just how much effort has been put into creating the world and everything in it.

Five Stars from me, great work Marc and hurry up with the next one.

You can find Marc at https://mtownsendauthor.wordpress.com

On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/M.W.TownsendAuthor/

On Twitter at https://twitter.com/marctownsend3

Don’t miss the Indie Showcase, featuring another great author, back on Thursday.

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The Indie Showcase presents; Anna Chant.

Today on the showcase I’m pleased to be joined by author Anna Chant. Like all of us, she has a fascinating story to tell.

Thank you to Richard for hosting me on his blog. My name is Anna Chant and I am a historical fiction author from Torbay, South Devon.

It’s hard to say exactly when my writing journey began. Did it start a few years ago, when I started my research for the historical novel, which would eventually become my first published book? Or did it start way back in my childhood when I wrote a story called ‘The Journey of a Pound Coin’ which, according to my dad, was absolute genius? One certainty is, that I have always loved to write and had always dreamed of being a published author. I had tried submitting some children’s stories to publishers, but when it came to nothing, the dream got put on a backburner.

Something changed a few years ago. Perhaps it was turning 40 which did it, but I realised I could either spend the next twenty years talking about becoming a published author or I could get on and do it. I went for it!

 

 

‘Women of the Dark Ages’ was a series I never intended to write. Having a history degree and a deep love of medieval history, historical fiction was always going to be a natural genre for me, but my initial subject of research was a fifteenth-century Scottish queen. I love the research stage of writing. I view it as a treasure hunt and I never know what details I will turn up or how they will weave themselves into the books. But the treasure that the first hunt turned up, was totally unexpected.

In looking at the background to the Scottish monarchs of the time, I started clicking links on their ancestry. And if you start clicking links on Scottish monarchs, sooner or later you end up at one man – Cinaed (Kenneth) Mac Alpin. I am easily distracted and reading about the exploits of this man became far more interesting than my fifteenth-century queen. A new story idea stirred, a story of this king, the man known as The Uniter, set in a Scotland of Picts and Gaels. Told from the view of his wife, it could even become a series on Scottish queens. But as my research progressed, I met a major stumbling block. Nothing is known of this woman – not even her name. She might never have existed, except Cinaed had four children he could not have produced on his own!

 

 

That stumbling block became the inspiration for a new series. Many women of that era are forgotten and uncelebrated – I wanted to tell the stories of as many as possible! So, I wrote my story of Cinaed Mac Alpin’s wife, Kenneth’s Queen was published the following year and ‘Women of the Dark Ages’ was born. The unknown Pict woman has since been joined by five others, dotted over the centuries of Dark Age Europe – The Island Girl, Judith of Flanders, Eadgyth of Wessex, Adelheid of Burgundy and Basina of Thuringia.

I enjoy every aspect of writing. For me, the real challenge is the marketing. One of the most useless pieces of advice a new writer is given on writing is to start the marketing at least six months before publishing, to build up excitement in the book. That’s not to say it’s not good advice. The trouble is, most indie authors first read it when they have just published their book and are caught like rabbits in the headlights, with no idea of what to do next!

I am still learning about that process. Social media is invaluable in promotion. It’s impossible to work all of these out at once. I started on Facebook as it was the platform I was most familiar with, before working out Twitter. Twitter allows you to reach a huge audience, but you are just one voice among millions. The one bit of advice I wish I’d had earlier about Twitter is the retweet group. There are several on Facebook, where you can post a link to your tweet and it will be retweeted by many others in return for you retweeting theirs. This vastly increases the chance of your promotion being seen.

What next? ‘Women of the Dark Ages’ is a long way from finished. After all, I have around 700 years and a whole continent to write about! But it is taking a break, as I start on a new series, entitled ‘The Quest for New England’. It’s planned as a trilogy, but already I have an idea for a fourth story. Who knows what direction it will take? Among all the challenges of being an indie author, this is one of the great joys – I can write where the inspiration takes me without always needing to know where it will end up.

 

For anyone wondering if they should write the book they have always dreamed of, here are some final thoughts. Hitting publish on that first book is exciting and terrifying. There will be challenges, there will be criticism and periods of no sales. But you get to throw your imagination wide, feel that thrill when you make a sale in Australia, knowing that someone on the other side of the world is reading your words and even better, read a review saying how much they liked it. You also meet the wonderfully supportive indie author community which has resulted in me being featured on Richard’s wonderful blog today! My advice? Go for it, hang on tight and enjoy the ride!

 

My books are available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback editions.

To find out more, take a look at my author page:

https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B01E46V162

https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01E46V162

I love hearing from readers and history lovers!

You can find me on:

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/anna_chant

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

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/annachant/

Website: https://darkagevoices.wordpress.com/

Thanks, Anna for your post. It’s always interesting to see how another authors journey started. 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.

The post The Indie Showcase presents; Anna Chant. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Build me a world

Today, my course in world-building goes live. Details of how you can find it are below, but first, a bit of explanation.

 

 

The course has been a long time in development, ever since I started jotting down ideas when I was writing my first novel, Freefall. Even though I knew what I wanted to say, I struggled with the writing the story, creating the world and fitting it all together. At one point I even considered giving up, it all seemed impossible. I stuck with it; by the time I had finished the story, I had come to realise that what I was doing was not the most efficient way. Although Freefall was a success, with some positive reviews, I doubted if I could be bothered to write another, even though I had other ideas.

I decided to see if I could come up with a better method of putting it all together. After Freefall was published in April 2013, I stopped writing, did a lot of reading, research and thinking. Eventually, I had the lightbulb moment, after that there was no stopping me. I knew that I had to write a book using the technique, to see if it was a valid method.

 

Ribbonworld, my second novel, was the testbed. Written in a month, it was actually my NaNoWriMo project for 2014. I was on sick leave from work, with time on my hands I put my ideas into practice. I wrote over 70,000 words in the month. It was all based on a single event (unconnected to Sci-fi in any way), the setting and story grew to accompany where it led me. I wouldn’t say that it wrote itself, using my method it was just easier to build than I could have hoped.

And the event that set it all off? I had been sent on a course by my (then) boss in November 2013. It was in the aftermath of Freefall, while I was thinking about how to improve the way I wrote. I was put in a hotel that was not perhaps the most salubrious in the area. If you had discovered a body in the bath, it would not have been a surprise. It was that sort of place. I wondered what you would do in such a situation, why it might have happened and how you could deal with it. Ribbonworld was the result.

And, judging by the comments it’s received, my idea was a good one.

The starkness of the icy side of the planet and the boiling lava of the hot side are so beautifully depicted I felt as though I was viewing them myself.

A very immersive book. From beginning to end you’re taken on a journey through a vivid, complex world that also speaks prominently about our own.

The writer is almost cinematic, describing the intricacies that keep the residents of the artificial environments alive and productive, providing even rain and gentle breezes.

 

 

 

And my personal favourite: The planet descriptions are one of my most favorite aspects of this book. I was transfixed with the beauty of it all. Mr Dee enraptures the reader with his poetic descriptions and the pictures he painted swirled in my mind deepening the stories impact as I read.

 

Ribbonworld is now available as a FREE download, just click on the cover for links.

 

As I wrote, I saw tweaks and improvements I could make to my method, shortcuts and better ways of explaining and creating. I originally published my thoughts on my website as a short series, attracting little attention. The original four posts grew into the topics that are covered by the course.

 

Meanwhile, the books kept coming, I was bursting with ideas, all based on a single thing, either an event, a dream or in one case, a comment I overheard. I started with that and let the narrative develop organically. I released Ribbonworld in 2015, one book in 2016, then four in 2017. I have ten stories on the go now, all set in different worlds that I’ve created. They’re at different stages of completion; they’re all based on a single concept, written using the system, which I’ve constantly refined.

In the meantime, I joined the Exeter Authors Association and with their encouragement, started presenting a short version of the course at literary events. I was delighted by the feedback it got, so I decided to make it into a full-blown learning resource, hosted on my website. My hope is that it will help peoples creativity, as it’s helped mine.

That was where the fun started, I’m a writer, not a website designer and I had to learn all sorts of new skills to set it all up and test it. I’m very grateful to all those who helped me get it to the stage it’s at now. Especially when it came to recording the video.

I’ve included exercises, to show you how my method works and get you thinking. For a small extra payment on top of the course fee, there’s the option of submitting the exercises to me for critique.

The course is not intended to be a static thing. I’ll be updating it as I think of new ways to do what I do. And in response to comments or suggestions. In that respect, it’s like one of my ideas, just a starting point.

There’s a Facebook page for the course at  https://www.facebook.com/rdeescifi which is intended to be a forum for course members and a portal for anyone who wants to add to the discussion.

If you’re interested, click on the button to join up and get creative. The basic course costs just $25, or if you pay $40, you also get full email critiquing of the exercises.

 

 

Have a great week, don’t miss another Indie Showcase on Thursday.

The post Build me a world appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents, Alex Marchant

Today, the Showcase welcomes Alex Marchant, and she’s brought a friend. I’ll leave you both to it.

 

This Indie Author thing has been a bit of a rollercoaster for me so far.

I’ve always wanted to be a writer (that’s a bit of a cliché, isn’t it?) From always having my nose in a book, to my rivalry as an eight-year-old with C. S. Lewis (my horse-emperor and enchanted fireplace would beat his lion-creator and wardrobe hands down), to all the books I began writing (and rarely finished) during my teens – every one derivative of some writer I’d been reading: Cooper, Garner, Sutcliff, Tolkien, Le Guin, any number of animal or historical fiction authors, even George Lucas (another fantasy land, I guess – just one spread over numerous planets instead of a single world).

 

 

So I think I surprised my friends and schoolteachers by opting for archaeology – my other passion – when choosing my university course – and later career. But even then – perhaps strangely – the tool of my trade always seemed to be a pen, rather than the more obvious trowel.

It was when I was working on an excavation in Scotland that I realized it was children I actually wanted to write for – and when the idea for a first children’s novel came to me, fully formed – based on that site we were digging.

 

It was also soon after that I was hit by the long-term injury that ended my time in field archaeology, and pushed me towards a career in publishing instead.

Then, of course, life got in the way (another cliché?) and it took a big birthday and a reassessment of what I really wanted to be when I grew up to usher me back to writing. That Scottish book stayed on the back-burner though, as another idea came calling – my first completed timeslip novel, Time out of Time (which I hope to publish in 2019). It also revolves around an archaeological dig (this time in Surrey in south-east England) and won the 2012 Chapter One Children’s Book Award, a major boost to my confidence as a writer.

Back I went to my Scottish novel – but…. in February 2013 came the famous press conference that announced that, beyond reasonable doubt, the grave of King Richard III had been rediscovered in a car park in the Midlands town of Leicester.

 

 

 

Archaeology again. But this time combined with another interest that began in my teens – Richard III and the desire to restore his reputation, so damaged by Shakespeare and other Tudor-era writers.

 

 

 

 

 

Thus was born The Order of the White Boar. Two books in the sequence have been published so far – The Order itself and its sequel The King’s Man. Together they tell the story of the final three years in the life of King Richard, drawing on the earliest sources. They aim to catch the interest of children with an exciting tale of the real man before they’re exposed to the pantomime villain of Shakespeare’s play.

 

To my surprise, there weren’t (and still aren’t) any books telling that story aimed at my target age group (10 and above). One or two children’s authors have attempted some part of it through ghost stories or timeslip – which prompted me to abandon my previous preference for these genres and take on the challenge of traditional historical fiction. And it was a challenge for me – the daunting idea of immersing myself in the period in order to write convincingly from the point of view of someone from the fifteenth century.

Yet, before long I was almost more at home there than in the present – on the windswept moors above Wensleydale overlooking Richard’s home at Middleham Castle where much of the first book is set; in the teeming, filthy streets and alleys of medieval London, York or Leicester; on the great high roads that cut across the country; among the royal and noble ladies and gentlemen at court at Westminster.

 

I always planned to publish the books traditionally if I could – but in the back of my mind was the idea that I would publish them independently if need be to ensure they did the job they were written for – getting the word out about the real Richard III. And before long, I decided the time spent crafting individual approaches to agents and publishers who might not be aware of the market potential (there are many thousands of Ricardians worldwide) might be better spent learning the indie-publishing ropes.

 

 

So here I am, less than a year after taking that decision, with two books published, mostly 5* reviews on Amazon, and a growing programme of author events lined up (as many Richard III-related medieval festivals as I could cram into one summer, plus library events and literary festivals). It’s been quite a year!

 

And now, when I have the time to actually write, it’s on to the third book – following my young lead characters – Matthew, the former page, Alys, ward of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, and knight’s son Roger – as they navigate the dangerous days and months following the fateful Battle of Bosworth Field at which … but that would be telling; if you don’t already know the story of Richard III.

Many of my readers do know it, some don’t. My books seem to work for both groups – and that was the aim. Younger readers enjoy seeing life in the period through the eyes of children around their own age, and are gradually introduced to the real man whose story was so distorted in later decades. Older readers, who may be Ricardians like me, have found the books a refreshing take on a well-known story – or, if all they’ve known is the traditional tale based on Shakespeare’s fiction, they’ve had their eyes opened to a more accurate history.

Reviews so far suggest I was right to take the route I have in the books – a straight retelling of the history, but through the eyes of a young minor character. Matthew is sometimes on the inside of the story, sometimes the outside, and this allows often complicated events to be understood as they would have been at the time (or indeed, not really grasped at all). What has particularly pleased me is hearing from the wide range of readers who’ve enjoyed the books – people of all ages from eight to eighty-eight (well, eighty-five to be more accurate – one reader who was reminded by Matt of his own childhood, albeit perhaps not as far back as the fifteenth century…).

And that Scottish book? Well, I guess I’ll get back to it eventually…

 

The Order of the White Boar books are available through Amazon at myBook.to/WhiteBoar and mybook.to/TheKingsMan,

through Blurb at http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/8167813-the-order-of-the-white-boar and http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/8770224-the-king-s-man

and through Waterstone’s, the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre and the King Richard III Visitor Centre, Leicester, or via me.

My blog can be found at https://alexmarchantblog.wordpress.com

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

GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17175168.Alex_Marchant

Twitter @AlexMarchant84

And Matthew Wansford can be followed at @WhiteBoarOrder

~~~~

Thanks, Alex 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, Alex Marchant appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Blog Tour, Absolute Darkness

Hello and welcome to the feature on Absolute Darkness, in association with Rachels Random Resources. First, here’s news of a great giveaway offer from the author.

 

 

An IMPORTANT note from the author:

#FORLINEARS puzzle: Please check out the virtual blog tour and you might find some embedded fun in the imagery.

(https://www.rachelsrandomresources.com/absolute-darkness) In fact, I dare you. Can you find the hidden puzzles that lead to an autographed book give away? First one to figure it out wins an autographed book. 

Here’s a list of all the participating blogs,

 

Now, let’s get down to my thoughts on the book.

 

 

Book Blurb

A thrill ride through time that will make you hold your breath.

Sitting by the campfire, Brandy admitted a secret to her friends. She swore she saw a ghost when exiting a cave earlier that day. Was she seeing things? Did they believe her? The next day, breaking a cardinal rule, she snuck back to the cave alone. No one knew where she was. What if she fell or was trapped? There would be no rescue.

For ten thousand years Alexander had kept the time streams of this universe safe from an eternal destructive force that continually threatened to tamper and destroy all. Locked in an unremitting battle, the two foes become sidetracked by an unexpected visitor. An entangled journey begins with chilling twists and turns until becoming locked into an inescapable death deep within a submerged cave.

Who will come out of the watery depths alive?

 

 

My Review

The eternal battle between good and evil rages on, it’s been described before, but never like this.

Well, this was a change from what would normally read. As it happens I loved it. There’s a lot of build-up to the meat of the story, we start with two threads that seem unconnected.

A wealth of atmospheric and factually accurate introduction takes us into the world of underground exploration, in caves and water. It’s clearly the author’s passion and she brings it to life. There’s something going on in Brandy’s world and it involves her friends Mark and Susan. The action is initially centred around the cave they’re exploring and what Brandy might have seen there.

Meanwhile, in another thread, the aforementioned battle is drawn between two other characters, it soon becomes apparent that the worlds are connected, the only question is how will they collide?

And when they do; about halfway through, it’s a real shocker, beautifully written.

The second half of the story describes what results. Now there are things that must be done. Will the plans succeed? There’s tension, pace and plenty that could go wrong, all cleverly wound together with a developing romance.

Overall, the world building is great, it’s plausible and well thought out. The expertise that the author clearly has is used to good effect, some of the descriptions are literally breath-taking. The ending provides a logical conclusion to the story, at the same time leaving things open for a sequel.

My verdict, a well-deserved 5 Stars.

 

 

Excerpt from Absolute Darkness:

Introduction: Brandy swore she saw a ghost at the entrance of a cave. Here she is sneaking back to the cave alone to try to sate her curiosity. Did she see a ghost? Or was it something else?

10 Unexpected rescue.

 

She only paused for one moment to consider the two rules she was breaking. She was caving alone and no one knew where she was. If she fell or had any trouble, there would be no rescue party looking for her.

“I’ll be careful,” Brandy told the air. “I won’t get hurt,” she lied.

Brandy descended the rope for the short drop. Her pack got caught on the rock lip for a moment and she had to negotiate it and herself through the small space. The hole was in the top of a dome room and opened up into a free drop for about thirty feet. She descended slowly and looked at the formations on the ceiling and walls. Her light played across rock curtains, stalactites stretching to meet stalagmites, and ribbons of wavy rock running along the dome sides. An ascender that was tied to her seat harness had come free and dangled. It swayed slightly and clunked against one of the ribbons of rock, called bacon due to the stripes visible in the rock when lit from the side; it made a melodic dong sound.

“Oops.”

She paused her descent by pulling the bottom bar of her rack up to pinch the rope. She held the bar tight with her left hand. With her right hand she reached down and grabbed the rope tied to the ascender and tried to reaffix the ascender to a loop on her seat nearness. The ascender fought back and refused to clip in; her gloved hand slipped and the ascender fell from her grip. It returned to its dangling position. She looked towards the ground; her feet were only four feet away from the floor. She dismissed the dangling ascender. It swayed and clinked against the wall.

Her light swept across the rock floor and cast long, wavering shadows. One shadow jumped out across the floor so quickly it caused her to start. The shadow hadn’t been there before, but it was now, and it was of a man lying on the ground.

Conflicting messages raced through her brain. “Scream.” “Run.” “Move.”

She yelped “Whaaaaa!” and tried to jump backwards, an impossible feat when hanging on a rope. Brandy started to spin. Her dangling ascender caught in a crevice in the wall. It clanked and the force of her momentum was caught short by it, yanking her backwards. Brandy’s left hand slipped off the braking bar; though her right hand stayed firmly gripped around the rope, it was not enough. She inverted at a 45-degree angle and the spinning caused her head to smack into a rock ribbon. The sound was not nearly as melodic as before. Stars danced in front of her eyes and her right hand lost its grip. She fell the last few feet to the ground. Luckily the ascender bit hard into the rock wall and halted her descent; her shoulders made contact first and not her neck. Not that she noticed; she was out cold.

 

 

Author Bio:

Tina O’Hailey (author of animation textbooks “Rig it Right” and “Hybrid Animation”, professor in animation, visual effects and game programming, caver and occasional mapper of grim, wet, twisty caves—if she owes a friend a favor or loses a bet—whose passion is to be secluded on a mountain and to write whilst surrounded by small, furry dogs and hot coffee) was struck by lightning as a baby.

 

 

 

 

 

Links:

Absolute Darkness: Virtual Blog Tour: June 28 – July 4

https://www.rachelsrandomresources.com/absolute-darkness

On Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Absolute-Darkness-Tina-OHailey/dp/1684330300

Preorder from the publisher. Use code: PREORDER2018 to receive a 10% discount!

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/sci-fifantasy/absolutedarkness

Author Blog:

https://coffeediem.wordpress.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/tohailey

Absolute Darkness Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/AbsoluteDarknessBook

~~~~

Don’t miss another Showcase on Thursday.

The post Blog Tour, Absolute Darkness appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents, Dedra L. Stevenson

Today on the Showcase, I’m delighted to welcome Dedra L. Stevenson, author and filmmaker.

Dedra, the Showcase is yours for the day.

 

Get a Real Job !

 

As I haven’t seemed to “make it big” as a writer, although I am considered a regional talent, and have two Master’s Degrees gathering dust on my shelves, one may wonder, “Why does she keep doing this?  Why doesn’t she get a ‘real’ job?”

 

There are several kinds of writers, but most fit into 3 categories as I see it: those who write as part of a “real job”, those who write as part of a larger project, and those who write because it’s part of their soul and writing (to them) is like breathing. I happen to be one of the latter.

 

Of course, I’d dearly love for one or all of my books to really catch on and become international best sellers.  I’m a human being, and would love the fame and fortune that would go with such an amazing occurrence, but even if that never happens, I’ll keep writing.  I’ll keep writing because I must, or I shall slowly die.

 

You see, I believe that each and every human being has been born with a secret ingredient, something bestowed upon you by your creator (whatever you believe that to be), and this secret ingredient is what you were born to do, something that makes you feel alive, something that makes you feel that you’re fulfilling your cosmic purpose.  I call it the Divine Spark, and that’s why my first non-fiction book will bear the same name. The Divine Spark is that little sliver of kinship to the Divine that we all have, the part of us that isn’t just interested in survival, wealth or carnal pleasures.  The Divine Spark is our higher self, the part of our being that connects us to the universe and creation.

 

When I was a free-lance journalist, I enjoyed journalistic writing.  It was fun to find creative ways to express thoughts on issues that needed to be addressed.  However, when I started writing The Hakima’s Tale: The Revenge of the Blue Jinni, my life changed. I wrote the first 40 pages in two days, longhand!  My hand simply couldn’t write fast enough. I was in heaven, enjoying an uplifting feeling that I hadn’t experienced since childhood.  Isn’t it amazing that when we’re children, we have the clearest understanding of ourselves?

   

 When I was a kid, I had slews of imaginary characters.  Perhaps they came to my imagination to comfort me during my long days of loneliness, as I grew up in a small town that didn’t understand me?  Maybe it was my broken home and tragic family circumstances that resulted in a very broken me?  I spent many hours in the school library and the public library, letting the stories take me somewhere else, somewhere I wasn’t alone, and I imagined many characters along the way.  They became my friends, my family, and my therapy, and I truly think it was this imaginary adventure that healed me and gave me the heart of a storyteller.

Somewhere between then and the time that I started writing The Hakima’s Tale, I lost my imagination.  I went to the University of Alabama, all the way through graduate school, got a Master’s in Library Science, got married, had a few “real jobs”, had my children, and took on a second Master’s Degree in Communication from Drury University in Springfield, MO.

After my middle son was formally diagnosed with Autism, I decided to devote most of my attention to raising my family, which made me feel good about myself, because family is the most important thing there is to me.  My health and my family are my greatest treasures, and anyone who sees me with my darling children or my wonderful husband, you can see clearly how much they mean to me.  However, …. there’s a place in your soul, a place beyond worldly things, a place in your consciousness, that if left empty, will eat away at your soul, and ultimately make you feel empty as a result. I couldn’t understand why I would cry, or feel so deeply depressed when I had so many blessings to count.

In my darkest hour, my imagination came back to rescue me once again. I remember feeling frustrated with all the immense popularity of books and films like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Exorcist, and all vampire related stories.  I remember wishing that there were characters out there that brought about some of the magic of Middle Eastern Folklore in a way that Western children would appreciate it, and that’s when Phoenix came to me.  Phoenix Kassim is the protagonist of The Hakima’s Tale, and she is charged with defending the human world from the attack of the rebel Jinn army led by their Master, the Blue Jinni, as they wish to take back the Earth and wipe out the scourge of humanity.

 

The Blue Jinni is the grand villain of The Hakima’s Tale, and his ultimate goal is to free the Earth from us, humans, so he doesn’t see himself as a villain at all, but a hero! In my opinion, that’s the kind of Villain we are missing, one that believes he’s doing the world a service. Also, I suppose you can say that the Blue Jinni represents that side of me that does wonder how much damage this world has suffered at the hands of mankind, and how much we all should be held accountable for that.   The Blue Jinni, as a villain, can say things that I can’t as Dedra L. Stevenson. Isn’t that the great thing about writing a villain?

 

 

 

A book signing in Sharjah, UAE.

 

 

 

 

In a world that’s had quite a large dose of sparkly vampires, Western based heroes, and Western lore in general, isn’t it about time to revive the East, or at least tell it in a way that Western children would enjoy?   Besides the Jinn are considered real by billions, so aren’t they are a much more tantalizing monster?  The Hakima’s Tale, in my opinion and in the opinion of the current fans of the trilogy, accomplishes all that.

Writing The Hakima’s Tale trilogy:  The Revenge of the Blue Jinni, The Rise of the Warrior, and The Dawn of Redemption filled that empty place in my consciousness, and made me feel that I was doing what I was meant for.  I felt complete, and until today, even after completing my short story collection, Tales of the Lantern, my courtroom drama Desert Magnolia (my most personal novel that’s been compared to the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird), and my first horror, The Skinwalker: Resurrection, each time I sit down and put pen to paper or my fingertips to a keyboard, I get that deeply satisfying feeling of being complete. I have found my Divine Spark, and now that I know what it is, I can never have enough, so please understand that writing is like oxygen to the writer who writes from the soul.  No “real job” will ever fill that void unless it’s a job as a paid fiction writer with complete creative freedom, so until that day comes, I’ll keep writing, and hopefully, all of you will keep on reading what I put out there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find everything I’ve done on www.dedralstevenson.com or www.dedrastevenson.com and you can follow me on social media (links are on my website) to see what I’m up to.  I’m not only a writer, I’m a filmmaker and a cookbook creator as well, and you can find out about my latest projects, a documentary called Just a Girl, and my upcoming international cookbook, Breaking Bread Around the World, that’s been based on the concept of preparing food from 30 different countries for the month of Ramadan, here in the Middle East! A percentage of the profits for that book will be donated to charities that feed the world’s needy. I haven’t forgotten the little ones as well, and my upcoming series, The Magic Carpet Series, will be a series of inspiring stories for the very young.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, it was The Hakima’s Tale that started all of this, and hopefully my life will produce many more fabulous works, as I know I’ve got hundreds more characters in my mind!  So, when you wonder what’s your Divine Spark, try to remember what helped you when you were very little. Somehow you always knew what you were, even back then. Forget the fears and doubts of adulthood and remember a time when you were sure of who you were.  As Mencius said, “Great is the human who has not lost his childlike heart.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My thanks to Dedra 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, Dedra L. Stevenson appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Half-time

It’s the end of June; halfway through the year! That’s a rather terrifying thought, perhaps it’s time to take stock.

This post is a bit of a mixed bag.  As things have been all over the place in my life, with several things going on at once, I thought that my post could reflect that. I’ve had a bit of a wobble, with various personal issues and it’s clear that I haven’t written as much this year as I did last. I was comfortably writing 40,000 words a month last year, I don’t think that I’m doing half that so far in 2018.

On the plus side, I’m a lot more involved in reviewing and promotional work, my emphasis seems to have shifted somewhat. I’ve still got novels in progress, two completed ones at varying stages of editing and production and ten(!) more in various stages of writing, it’s just that after publishing three books last year, I’ve gone on to other things. Including appearing at literary festivals and other events. I have a selection of my novels, short stories and other goodies on sale and I’m always amazed by how many people want to chat about writing, self-publishing and their love of books. And I usually manage to sell a few as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, I was guesting on the sofa at Crediton Literary Festival, talking about my amateur detective Andorra Pett when the question came, “Why do you write as a female?”

Up to that point, I hadn’t thought about it, I write what I write, as a male or female voice in first or third person, I just write what’s in my head. If the character happens to be female, well that’s what they are. As I don’t consciously plot what I’m going to write, it doesn’t matter.

I tried to explain that way of thinking to the questioner but I’m not sure that they could see what I meant. I think the idea of voices in my head telling me what to say got them a bit flustered. I then described the rich vein of material that a wife, three daughters and two granddaughters had provided, how they were all part of Andorra Pett. This seemed to be more a more acceptable concept, so we left it there.

 

Talking to other authors, I  get the impression that the voices in the head thing is not that unusual.

We also touched on the subject of actually getting the words down. I explained that as I can’t touch type, it was often a surprise to look up at the screen and see what I had written. Somebody asked if I had considered using any of the speech to type software that’s available. I said that I had, but that I found it hard to get on with, personally, I found it difficult and awkward. Then again, maybe that was me feeling self-conscious about talking to myself. But, if I can cope with voices in my head, talking to myself should be a breeze. I’ve decided to give it another go.

We will have to see how I get on this time. I’ve re-installed it and done the additional voice training; it appears to be a lot more accurate than I remember, as long as I speak slowly and clearly. It will be a new departure for me. But with over 600,000 words to write I need all the help that I can get. I’ll let you know how I get on.

The first thing I’m going to try it on is the prequel to Ribbonworld. It doesn’t have a formal title yet, but it will deal with the events that led up to Miles Goram being on Reevis, at the start of that adventure.

Next week, I’ve got my book bloggers hat on and I’m reviewing a book that a year or so ago I might not have chosen. Since I started reviewing for various blog tour hosts and review sites I’ve learned that there is no genre that I don’t like, so long as it’s well written and entertaining, the setting is unimportant.

 

 

Here’s a banner to get you into the swing, you can see what I thought of the book next Monday, meanwhile, there’s another Showcase on Thursday to look forward to.  Don’t forget, you can catch up with all the previous posts in the series by clicking on the tab in the title bar. And if you want to feature, just let me know.

The post Half-time appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase Presents, Judi Moore

Today on the Showcase, I’m delighted to welcome Judi Moore. And she comes bearing freebies, she has very kindly included a short story for you to download. You can find the button further down in the post.

 

Judi Moore: writing biography

I’ve been a professional writer since 1997 producing poetry; long and short fiction; and reviews of poetry, books and music. Between 2006 and 2013 I worked as a part-time creative writing tutor at university level. In 2016 I was commissioned to write lyrics for a 20-minute piece of music for choir, brass ensemble and percussion, which premiered in November 2017.

I have not, so far, hit the big time with my writing so I’ve been living on fresh air and steam for more than 20 years. And I’ve enjoyed every day of it. I love being steeped in writing: making it, reading it, reviewing and beta-reading, giving workshops.

 

 

I write a variety of stuff in a number of forms: fiction both short and long, poetry and reviews; the fiction is often set in the past, occasionally the present, sometimes the future. A reasonable grounding in history (one of my passions) enables one sometimes to spot a trend that might carry into the future. My novella Little Mouse is set in the past, 10 years after World War II. My novel, Is death really necessary? is set in 2038. Actually, they are sort of the first and third parts in a loose trilogy (although they also stand alone fine). Three people are urging me to get on with the bit in the middle, so … In addition to the holey trilogy, I have also published a selection of my better short fiction. As it has yet to attract a single review perhaps the stories aren’t as good as I thought! If you feel like voicing an opinion I am happy to send you a copy gratis, providing you aren’t too rude about them