Jane Killick's Blog, page 3

Assassin on pre-order

The final novel in my Freelancer trilogy, Assassin, is now available to pre-order at major retailers. In this page turning space adventure, Cassy is broken out of jail by Stephen when she is wrongly accused of a royal assassination. Can she prove her innocence, save the galaxy and get it together with Stephen at the end? Only a reader can find out!

Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook | Google Play 

You can pre-order the eBook at the links above, with other stories and the paperback to follow.

Expect the release date to be around mid-December

The post Assassin on pre-order appeared first on Jane Killick.

Have you checked out Prince’s Mission?

It seems I posted everywhere when my most recent novel came out, but neglected my blog. Doh! I’ve been so busy. So, if you missed it, here’s everything you need to know about Prince’s Mission, the second book of my Freelancer trilogy.

A spaceship captain must risk her life to save an entire planet.

Torn between her love for Prince Stephen and her love for her freelance career in space, Cassy lives her life in limbo. But when a madman hijacks her spaceship and burns all her valuable fuel, circumstances compel her to accept a job from Stephen. Her mission: spy on his brother James.

Going undercover on Prince James’s spaceship, Cassy travels to a planet on the verge of collapse. James, in covert negotiations with the ruling president, offers a radical solution to their problems, but the details remain locked out of Cassy’s reach. To discover them, she must delve deeper into the lives of the planet’s desperate population. But the horror of what she finds becomes overshadowed when she reveals the terrifying truth about Prince James’s future plans. Cassy must race across the galaxy and enlist the help of an old friend to stop a planetary disaster – unless James captures and kills her first.

A page-turning space adventure where action and intrigue fight alongside love and betrayal. The unmissable sequel to Traitor’s Code.

eBook: Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook | Google Play | Smashwords

Paperback: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones | Book Depository

The post Have you checked out Prince’s Mission? appeared first on Jane Killick.

The Inspiration Behind the Perceivers

I always wanted to write about teenagers with special powers. Those stories were the ones that I loved as I was growing up, from watching The Tomorrow People on television (the original, not the sub-par remakes) to reading books like John Wyndham's The Chrysalids.

It was something I avoided in my early writing because I didn't want to screw it up. It took me a long time to be ready, but after several practice novels, many writing courses and generally writing other things, I wanted to get serious and I wanted to write that book.

My dilemma was how to make this old, favourite idea up to date and fresh. I thought back at The Tomorrow People, I remembered the powers those children had and why they were so attractive. I loved them all, but wanted to anchor my story in the real world and to make the powers feel like they could be possible in a near future with just a tweak to evolution. So I disregarded both moving objects with their minds and teleporting themselves to anywhere on Earth (“jaunting” the show called it) because they seemed a step too far. In the case of teleporting, it can cause problems because whenever you have a character in danger there has to be a reason why they can't just teleport themselves away.

Telepathy seemed like it almost be real. The lives and thoughts we have inside our heads are so rich it's almost inconceivable that it is confined to our skulls. As an adult, I have come accept the reality that I am not telepathic, but as I child I always felt it should be possible. It's not too difficult to imagine that, in the near future, they could be people who develop this ability.

Taking my one central idea, I set myself the task of finding a plot. I wanted what I call a Fugitive-style story. The Fugitive is an old television show (adapted into an excellent film in 1993 starring Harrison Ford) in which a man, Dr Richard Kimble, is accused of killing his wife and goes on the run. The character is both searching for something and running away from something — he is trying to catch the real killer while staying one step ahead of the police trying to catch him. The lead character in Mind Secrets: Perceivers #1, Michael, is searching for the truth about his past at the same time as evading capture by Agent Carter.

I can't remember why I didn't give Michael telepathic powers. I think it was to do with the society in which he inhabits being too complex to explain. Of course, it isn't, there are always ways to introduce a reader to a scenario. But I decided he would have no memories so everything would be new to him. It also makes his past more intriguing.

The other thing I needed was a villain. A bad guy. The “antagonist” as writers call it. One of my pet hates in fiction (mostly films) is that the bad guy is so often evil. I think this is a cop out. I like to think that in the real world there are very few people who are actually evil. There are many people who do bad things, but in their heads they must believe they are doing them for good reasons. Look any of the recent prime ministers of the UK (I'm British, so I'm picking on them, but they could be replaced with any world leaders) and you will probably find polarising views about the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron. But no matter how much you may disapprove of some of the things one or more of these people did in office, I don't believe any of them did so with a bad motive. Perhaps that makes me naive, but I believe that most people do bad things with the best intensions. At least, that makes for more interesting villains. So, over the course of Mind Secrets, I revealed who the villain is and why he did what he did so he doesn't seem to be a bad man after all.

I wanted to make sure the book had a decent end. I had just read Patrick Ness' The Knife of Never Letting Go and I thought it was brilliant — until the end. Because there wasn't an end. It just stopped. I was so angry. I had invested money in buying the book and time in reading it, I had got to know the characters and wanted to know what happened to them. But I was denied all that because the author wanted to leave a cliffhanger and get me to buy the next book. I was not going to do that. I intended to write more Perceivers books, but I didn't want to short change anyone reading the first one. So I hope it's a satisfying end which makes readers keen to read more…

The post The Inspiration Behind the Perceivers appeared first on Jane Killick.

Discover Mind Secrets for Free

Have you read the first book in the Perceivers series? If you haven’t, did you know you can get a copy of the ebook for free on many retailers?

Discover how teenagers with mind powers fight for the right to survive in the thrilling first novel of the Perceivers series.

Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook | Google Play

This deal won’t last forever – so click now. And don’t forget to read it!

Waking up without his memories and hunted by Agent Cooper, Michael finds sanctuary with a group of perceivers: telepaths who sense the thoughts and emotions of others. Drawn into their battle to stay free of the cure which threatens to strip them of their powers, he searches for the person who stole his past. As the tension between perceivers and norms erupts into violence, Michael pieces together the shocking truth behind the origin of their power. To save his friends from destruction, he must face Cooper and confront the painful revelations of his forgotten secrets.

A gripping science fiction thriller set on the streets of London, Mind Secrets takes an exciting and dangerous journey into intrigue, friendship and deception.

The post Discover Mind Secrets for Free appeared first on Jane Killick.

Traitor’s Code – out now!

Intrigue, adventure and love on the edge of the galaxy.

When a dying fugitive begs Cassy to protect a stolen code, she becomes custodian of a secret which could save humanity.

Cassy, a freelance spaceship captain, battles pirates and evades jail as she works to unravel the mystery of the code taken from the Fertillan royal family. Pursuing her, Prince Stephen of the Fertillan Guard delves deeper into her past and discovers someone protecting Cassy from behind the scenes.

Drawn closer together by the investigation, Cassy learns why the Fertillan royal family fears the secrets hidden inside the code and why the fugitive risked everything to steal it. Torn between her love for the prince and the promise of saving humanity, she must choose the dangerous path or betray her own conscience.

A page-turning space adventure with a twist of romance that fans of Farscapeand Killjoys will love.

Get the ebook…







…or the paperback

Amazon | Waterstones | B&N | Book Depository (ships worldwide)

The post Traitor’s Code – out now! appeared first on Jane Killick.

The Inspiration Behind Perceivers

I always wanted to write about teenagers with special powers. Those stories were the ones that I loved as I was growing up, from watching The Tomorrow People on television (the original, not the sub-par remakes) to reading books like John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids.

It was something I avoided in my early writing because I didn’t want to screw it up. It took me a long time to be ready, but after several practice novels, many writing courses and generally writing other things, I wanted to get serious and I wanted to write that book.

My dilemma was how to make this old, favourite idea up to date and fresh. I thought back at The Tomorrow People, I remembered the powers those children had and why they were so attractive. I loved them all, but wanted to anchor my story in the real world and to make the powers feel like they could be possible in a near future with just a tweak to evolution. So I disregarded both moving objects with their minds and teleporting themselves to anywhere on Earth (“jaunting” the show called it) because they seemed a step too far. In the case of teleporting, it can cause problems because whenever you have a character in danger there has to be a reason why they can’t just teleport themselves away.

Telepathy seemed like it almost be real. The lives and thoughts we have inside our heads are so rich it’s almost inconceivable that it is confined to our skulls. As an adult, I have come accept the reality that I am not telepathic, but as I child I always felt it should be possible. It’s not too difficult to imagine that, in the near future, they could be people who develop this ability.

Taking my one central idea, I set myself the task of finding a plot. I wanted what I call a Fugitive-style story. The Fugitive is an old television show (adapted into an excellent film in 1993 starring Harrison Ford) in which a man, Dr Richard Kimble, is accused of killing his wife and goes on the run. The character is both searching for something and running away from something — he is trying to catch the real killer while staying one step ahead of the police trying to catch him. The lead character in Mind Secrets: Perceivers #1, Michael, is searching for the truth about his past at the same time as evading capture by Agent Carter.

I can’t remember why I didn’t give Michael telepathic powers. I think it was to do with the society in which he inhabits being too complex to explain. Of course, it isn’t, there are always ways to introduce a reader to a scenario. But I decided he would have no memories so everything would be new to him. It also makes his past more intriguing.

The other thing I needed was a villain. A bad guy. The “antagonist” as writers call it. One of my pet hates in fiction (mostly films) is that the bad guy is so often evil. I think this is a cop out. I like to think that in the real world there are very few people who are actually evil. There are many people who do bad things, but in their heads they must believe they are doing them for good reasons. Look any of the recent prime ministers of the UK (I’m British, so I’m picking on them, but they could be replaced with any world leaders) and you will probably find polarising views about the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron. But no matter how much you may disapprove of some of the things one or more of these people did in office, I don’t believe any of them did so with a bad motive. Perhaps that makes me naive, but I believe that most people do bad things with the best intensions. At least, that makes for more interesting villains. So, over the course of Mind Secrets, I revealed who the villain is and why he did what he did so he doesn’t seem to be a bad man after all.

I wanted to make sure the book had a decent end. I had just read Patrick Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go and I thought it was brilliant — until the end. Because there wasn’t an end. It just stopped. I was so angry. I had invested money in buying the book and time in reading it, I had got to know the characters and wanted to know what happened to them. But I was denied all that because the author wanted to leave a cliffhanger and get me to buy the next book. I was not going to do that. I intended to write more Perceivers books, but I didn’t want to short change anyone reading the first one. So I hope it’s a satisfying end which makes readers keen to read more…

Articles on the Perceivers

Perceivers now on iBooks, Kobo, Google Play & Nook

by Jane

  At Last All my perceivers novels are now available as ebooks on iBooks, Kobo, Google Play and Nook, as well as Amazon. You'll find all the links you need on the Perceivers page. You may also like...

Making the Perceivers Covers

by Jane

  The raw photo that became the cover for Mind Control I knew that getting the right covers for the Perceivers series was going to be tough. The usual method is to find a picture from a stock photo site and manipulate to become part of a great cover. But not only...

Entering the Obsidian Rim

A friend of mine emailed me out of the blue earlier this year saying she was beginning a series of books with other writers and asking if I wanted to be involved. Well, I had my own series I was supposed to be writing, but when she said it would be space adventure with a little romance, I was immediately interested. I lovethis sort of stuff and thought immediately of Lois McMaster Bujold’s books, especially her books featuring a female protagonist such as Shards of Honor. Not to mention all the TV shows I devour such as Farscape and Killjoys.

I was in! Suddenly I had a deadline and people in the group I couldn’t let down. But this is what I wanted. It’s what I needed. I was writing again and it was brilliant.

Traitor’s Code is the third novel to be set in the Obsidian Rim universe and the first in my own Freelancer series. It’s available to pre-order now ahead of release on the 4thof June.

Intrigue, adventure and love on the edge of the galaxy.

Life Changes Took Over

I didn’t realise when I decided to do some work on my house how much it would take me away from my writing. Of course, I’d seen all of those Grand Designs programmes where it all goes horribly wrong, but I’d done my research and I believed could cope with any issues that would come up. I was, after all, only doing an extension and a bit of internal remodelling.

All seemed well. The builders started building and I started work on my next novel. Any hiccups were easily sorted. When I pointed out, for example, that the space left for the back window was too small, it was simply a matter of checking the plans and removing a few layers of bricks. No problems at all.

The Wrong Department

Then came the letter from the council. It said that I was building without planning permission, that I would have apply for permission for my building work and if I carried on building there was a chance I would have to knock it all down again.

I was horrified, perplexed, furious, bewildered and upset. Because I had already applied to the council for permission. I had written to them with my plans for the building work and paid the required fee. They had written back saying that I could go ahead and they would need to inspect the work at various intervals to make sure it was up to standard. Surely, I already had the council's permission.

“Oh no, Madam, that’s from a different department.”

What?

“You had permission from the Building Control department of the council. But you need permission from the Planning Department of the council.”

But I wrote to the council. I got permission from the council. The council can't then turn around and saying I haven't got permission, because they were the ones who gave it to me in the first place!!

“But, Madam, planning permission is only granted by the planning department.”

But I checked and I don't need planning permission for such a small project. Don't you people talk to each other?

Apparently not.

My aim had been to build within permitted development, which doesn't require full planning permission when works are small alterations. However, hidden within the deeds to my house was a covenant which said full planning permission would be required even if the law changed (the permitted development rules were introduced after my house was built). It didn't say it in so many words, of course (that would be too helpful), it said it in a way which you would only know what it means after someone had explained to you what it means. It also didn't use the word ‘covenant', so even though I looked through my deeds to check if there were any covenants, I didn't find it.

What was left of the kitchen after knocking through to the dining room

So, despite doing everything by the book (I thought), I was suddenly plunged into chaos. I remember ringing my boss to tell her I was going to be late into work that day and bursting into tears on the phone. I was totally floored by the whole thing. Needless to say, I didn’t get any writing done that day. Or that week. Or that month.

I applied for planning permission through my architect (there went another £1000) and after two-and-a-half months of stress, the permission was granted.

You might have thought, this was it. But no. There was also the fun and games with the electrician.

 

Electrician causes sparks

The electrician comes to me and he says he’s been chatting with the plumber and there’s a problem with where I want the manifold (central pipework) for the underfloor heating. For technical reasons, it would be much better at the other end of the room, he said. I was a bit miffed about that, but if it couldn’t go where I wanted it, then it would have to be moved.

So the plumber comes to me and says: “I hear you want to move the manifold.”

I don’t want to move it, but I’m told I can’t have it in the original place.

“Because if you want it moved to the other end of the room, that’s a lot of extra work for me and it’ll cost you in extra materials and … wait … You don’t want to move it?”

The electrician had lied. He hadn't spoken to the plumber at all. He told me he'd spoken to the plumber when, in fact, he only spoke to the plumber after he had spoken to me. His plan was to get his way by telling the plumber I wanted it moved and telling me the move was thought best by him and the plumber.

I was furious. I stood in what was left of my kitchen (four bare walls with a sink sitting on a cupboard with the doors ripped off) and said I was going to sack the electrician. “Oh, no, no, no,” said the builder. “Getting rid of an electrician half way through a job is really difficult.” To be fair, the builder was right because if a new electrician took over he would need to sign off the safety of the work and would probably rip out the first electrician's wires to put in his own so he knew it was all safe. This would have cost me more money, and I would have the difficulty of finding a replacement electrician on short notice.

So I agreed to keep the electrician on after having words with him. I really shouldn't have.

“I'm afraid, the manufacturer of your integrated fridge door won't send it out because he's in dispute with the people who supplied your kitchen.”

It's still not over

The electrician continued to be a liability throughout the whole project. To be fair to the guy, his actual electrical work is fine; I have no problem with his actual wiring. But he created so many problems along the way that it was a nightmare dealing with him. For example, I had a lighting plan drawn up for the lounge, but he thought he knew best and convinced me to move the lights to a different configuration. A day or so later, I realised I’d been talked into something I didn’t want to do and I demanded the lights be moved back to where they were supposed to be. This caused more bother for everyone and expense for me. In fact, there is still a light in the wrong position to this day because he moved it and didn’t tell me.

These two instances are, believe it or not, only ten per cent of the issues that I had. From scratches found on a bathroom cupboard at the last minute to my fridge door being held hostage after the kitchen retailer sacked its manufacturing team. It just went on and on.

I remember, on the day I moved back in, just standing in the bedroom with a bed sheet in my hand not knowing what to do with it. My brain had been so full of crisis after crisis that I had no capacity left to work out how I should make the bed. A friend who had popped by to make sure I was moving in ok, literally had to talk me through it. Or, rather, he pretty much made the bed for me while I stood there unable to do anything apart from pop a pillow in a pillowcase.

That’s a few months back now and I’m finally settled in. But it just took ages. There were months of de-stressing, followed by getting used to being in my home and eventually to being comfortable here.

So I want to apologise for those of you waiting for my next book. I never thought my house project would disrupt my writing as much and for as long as it did, even after I had moved in. Now that I’m settled, the plan is to get back to it. I already have a few chapters completed and I’m really excited about the project, especially now that I have a newly painted office to write in.

The former bedroom turned into an office. This was relatively simple as it involved “only” knocking out the fitted wardrobe, skimming the old artex ceiling, painting and a new carpet

Note on planning permission and what I should have done

For anyone who is thinking of doing a project on their house (in England, and probably the rest of the UK), I later discovered that I should have applied for a Lawful Development Certificate (as this page explains). It's basically a method of applying to the planning department of your local council to make sure you have the right to carry out that work and avoid scary letters from the council like the one I received.

The post Life Changes Took Over appeared first on Jane Killick.

Life Changes … or How My House Refurbishment Took Over

Builders start work on the extension

I didn’t realise when I decided to do some work on my house how much it would take me away from my writing. Of course, I’d seen all of those Grand Designs programmes where it all goes horribly wrong, but I’d done my research and I believed could cope with any issues that would come up. I was, after all, only doing an extension and a bit of internal remodelling.

All seemed well. The builders started building and I started work on my next novel. Any hiccups were easily sorted. When I pointed out, for example, that the space left for the back window was too small, it was simply a matter of checking the plans and removing a few layers of bricks. No problems at all.

 

The Wrong Department

Then came the letter from the council. It said that I was building without planning permission, that I would have apply for permission for my building work and if I carried on building there was a chance I would have to knock it all down again.

I was horrified, perplexed, furious, bewildered and upset. Because I had already applied to the council for permission. I had written to them with my plans for the building work and paid the required fee. They had written back saying that I could go ahead and they would need to inspect the work at various intervals to make sure it was up to standard. Surely, I already had the council’s permission.

“Oh no, Madam, that’s from a different department.”

What?

“You had permission from the Building Control department of the council. But you need permission from the Planning Department of the council.”

But I wrote to the council. I got permission from the council. The council can’t then turn around and saying I haven’t got permission, because they were the ones who gave it to me in the first place!!

“But, Madam, planning permission is only granted by the planning department.”

But I checked and I don’t need planning permission for such a small project. Don’t you people talk to each other?

Apparently not.

My aim had been to build within permitted development, which doesn’t require full planning permission when works are small alterations. However, hidden within the deeds to my house was a covenant which said full planning permission would be required even if the law changed (the permitted development rules were introduced after my house was built). It didn’t say it in so many words, of course (that would be too helpful), it said it in a way which you would only know what it means after someone had explained to you what it means. It also didn’t use the word ‘covenant’, so even though I looked through my deeds to check if there were any covenants, I didn’t find it.

What was left of the kitchen after knocking through to the dining room

So, despite doing everything by the book (I thought), I was suddenly plunged into chaos. I remember ringing my boss to tell her I was going to be late into work that day and bursting into tears on the phone. I was totally floored by the whole thing. Needless to say, I didn’t get any writing done that day. Or that week. Or that month.

I applied for planning permission through my architect (there went another £1000) and after two-and-a-half months of stress, the permission was granted.

You might have thought, this was it. But no. There was also the fun and games with the electrician.

 

Electrician causes sparks

The electrician comes to me and he says he’s been chatting with the plumber and there’s a problem with where I want the manifold (central pipework) for the underfloor heating. For technical reasons, it would be much better at the other end of the room, he said. I was a bit miffed about that, but if it couldn’t go where I wanted it, then it would have to be moved.

So the plumber comes to me and says: “I hear you want to move the manifold.”

I don’t want to move it, but I’m told I can’t have it in the original place.

“Because if you want it moved to the other end of the room, that’s a lot of extra work for me and it’ll cost you in extra materials and … wait … You don’t want to move it?”

The electrician had lied. He hadn’t spoken to the plumber at all. He told me he’d spoken to the plumber when, in fact, he only spoke to the plumber after he had spoken to me. His plan was to get his way by telling the plumber I wanted it moved and telling me the move was thought best by him and the plumber.

I was furious. I stood in what was left of my kitchen (four bare walls with a sink sitting on a cupboard with the doors ripped off) and said I was going to sack the electrician. “Oh, no, no, no,” said the builder. “Getting rid of an electrician half way through a job is really difficult.” To be fair, the builder was right because if a new electrician took over he would need to sign off the safety of the work and would probably rip out the first electrician’s wires to put in his own so he knew it was all safe. This would have cost me more money, and I would have the difficulty of finding a replacement electrician on short notice.

So I agreed to keep the electrician on after having words with him. I really shouldn’t have.

“I’m afraid, the manufacturer of your integrated fridge door won’t send it out because he’s in dispute with the people who supplied your kitchen.”

It’s still not over

The electrician continued to be a liability throughout the whole project. To be fair to the guy, his actual electrical work is fine; I have no problem with his actual wiring. But he created so many problems along the way that it was a nightmare dealing with him. For example, I had a lighting plan drawn up for the lounge, but he thought he knew best and convinced me to move the lights to a different configuration. A day or so later, I realised I’d been talked into something I didn’t want to do and I demanded the lights be moved back to where they were supposed to be. This caused more bother for everyone and expense for me. In fact, there is still a light in the wrong position to this day because he moved it and didn’t tell me.

These two instances are, believe it or not, only ten per cent of the issues that I had. From scratches found on a bathroom cupboard at the last minute to my fridge door being held hostage after the kitchen retailer sacked its manufacturing team. It just went on and on.

I remember, on the day I moved back in, just standing in the bedroom with a bed sheet in my hand not knowing what to do with it. My brain had been so full of crisis after crisis that I had no capacity left to work out how I should make the bed. A friend who had popped by to make sure I was moving in ok, literally had to talk me through it. Or, rather, he pretty much made the bed for me while I stood there unable to do anything apart from pop a pillow in a pillowcase.

That’s a few months back now and I’m finally settled in. But it just took ages. There were months of de-stressing, followed by getting used to being in my home and eventually to being comfortable here.

So I want to apologise for those of you waiting for my next book. I never thought my house project would disrupt my writing as much and for as long as it did, even after I had moved in. Now that I’m settled, the plan is to get back to it. I already have a few chapters completed and I’m really excited about the project, especially now that I have a newly painted office to write in.

The former bedroom turned into an office. This was one was relatively simple as it involved “only” knocking out the fitted wardrobe, skimming the old artex ceiling, painting and a new carpet

Note on planning permission and what I should have done

For anyone who is thinking of doing a project on their house (in England, and probably the rest of the UK), I later discovered that I should have applied for a Lawful Development Certificate (as this page explains). It’s basically a method of applying to the planning department of your local council to make sure you have the right to carry out that work and avoid scary letters from the council like the one I received.

I moved house!

Just a quick note to let you know that I recently moved house which, I discovered, is a bad thing to do when you’re a writer.

My whole energy went into getting the place up and running and I’ve got very behind in my writing, not to mention keeping my website ticking over.

So I apologise for that. I’m writing a new series which I hope you’ll be excited about. In the meantime, my apologies for not keeping you updated. I am now getting around to getting my finger out in my new office in my new house and, with spring just around the corner, I’m aiming to devote more of my time to my readers.

Chat soon!