Devon De'Ath's Blog, page 5
December 7, 2018
Mind your ‘Thees’ & ‘Thous’
‘Nevermere’ opens with an ‘Ordeal by Water’ witch trial during the English Civil War in 1644.
While the rest of the book is set in the present day, repercussions from this action impact on the modern inhabitants of a small, Gloucestershire village. For the opening scene, I wanted to get a very genuine feel for the setting. The reader only spends one chapter in that timeframe, so it needed to stand apart.
At first, I found myself writing in ‘Thees’ and ‘Thous’ to such an extent that it became...
December 6, 2018
November 9, 2018
Around Ardenham
Regular readers will be aware that the fictitious town of ‘Ardenham’ from ‘Maria’s Walk’ is actually based on Faversham, my hometown on the Swale Estuary in Kent.
Maria herself was also inspired by a famous, real-life spectre known as ‘Diana.’ The book is dedicated to her. Maria’s character in the story is loosely drawn from a number of local speculations about who Diana may have been (albeit with much invention and embellishment to bring the plot to life).
Here are a few locations that inspi...
November 5, 2018
Lest We Forget
This Sunday we celebrate one hundred years since the end of the First World War.
I will as usual attend the memorial service in my hometown. Both my Grandfathers endured and survived the state-sanctioned mass murder on an industrial scale that was: ‘The war to end all wars.’
My paternal grandfather became a boy seaman at The Battle of Jutland, while my maternal one lied about his age and – despite a chest condition – went through the whole show in the trenches with The Duke of Cornwall’s Ligh...
October 31, 2018
Happy Halloween
To you and yours, a very happy Halloween.
[image error]
October 29, 2018
A Happy Monday
Well, if you’re going to start the week off right, waking up to the book review I found this morning is one good example of how to do it.
When I released my debut horror novel, ‘Maria’s Walk,’ I chose not to solicit reviews from anyone and just let the chips fall where they may. I’m an author in a number of different genres, but decided to let my horror work develop organically and see what sort of responses (if any) it received.
The following succinct review is from a reader in the US on Ama...
October 24, 2018
Heart of a Heroine (how one cup of coffee changes a woman’s life)
When you read the first couple of chapters from my debut horror novel, ‘Maria’s Walk,’ it becomes clear that Jack Foreman is one of the key protagonists. Here he comes, back home to Ardenham after the sudden death of his parents. An ex-minister, he’s lost his religious faith and has been struggling to make a go of ordinary life in the corporate workplace.
Then during a café breakfast, he has an unexpected encounter with Gabriella Wagstaff. She joins him for coffee and you know the sparks are...
October 23, 2018
Halloween Harvest
With a carved pumpkin lantern, the innards turned to pumpkin pie, and toasted, salted pumpkin seeds to feast on, I’m making the most of the harvest.
Do you have any Halloween traditions you especially enjoy and would like to share? Feel free to comment.
October 7, 2018
October 4, 2018
How do you solve a problem like Maria?
I simply couldn’t resist the obvious title to this post about my debut horror novel, ‘Maria’s Walk,’ because – despite being the name of a famous song from ‘The Sound of Music’ – it is also an apt description of the central issue faced by the book’s main characters.
For me, the story is a deeply personal one on a number of levels. Those who have read ‘An Interview with De’Ath’ (see the ‘About’ page) will know a little of my own history of spiritual evolution. There is certainly a lot of mysel...
