Mark Henwick's Blog, page 2
May 10, 2018
New book...
A new book.
Only cheating a little. The book is So Many Doors. It's a murder mystery set in an isolated outpost in Northern Rhodesia during colonial times. It was written by my late mother, Eileen Marguerite Henwick, in 1964.
It wasn't previously published and came to us as typewritten foolscap pages in a green binder. My sister got it onto computer and I edited it.
It is the hardest writerly thing to edit someone else's work. Half the time, I wanted to take the story in my direction. Of course, that wasn't the purpose, so I reined that in. The other difficulty was that the language of the 1960s, and the structure of novels then, wasn't what it is now. So I culled some phrases and old-fashioned punctuation and broke the book up into smaller, single scene chapters.
I think I've done it justice, and it is a very good murder story, using the isolation of the small community to raise the stakes in the hunt for the real murderer.
Here's the link and blurb:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CXRLG6L/
It’s October, 1948. Northern Rhodesia.
Having displeased his superiors, colonial officer James Lancaster is sent to Feira in the sweltering Zambezi valley, where he’s to replace the outgoing District Commissioner, Barnaby Drayton.
He’s been warned to keep his reports dull and unexceptional if he habours any hope for a better posting. There seems little chance of that: he arrives on the day Drayton’s wife dies, and he finds a tiny community torn apart with suspicion and hate.
The thermometer keeps rising, the rains hold off, tempers flare.
Father Bravachko and the clinic nurse say Elizabeth Drayton died of natural causes. The drums, muttering in the fevered nights, speak of a witchdoctor’s revenge.
Or is there a cold-blooded murderer on this remote and isolated station?
Only cheating a little. The book is So Many Doors. It's a murder mystery set in an isolated outpost in Northern Rhodesia during colonial times. It was written by my late mother, Eileen Marguerite Henwick, in 1964.
It wasn't previously published and came to us as typewritten foolscap pages in a green binder. My sister got it onto computer and I edited it.
It is the hardest writerly thing to edit someone else's work. Half the time, I wanted to take the story in my direction. Of course, that wasn't the purpose, so I reined that in. The other difficulty was that the language of the 1960s, and the structure of novels then, wasn't what it is now. So I culled some phrases and old-fashioned punctuation and broke the book up into smaller, single scene chapters.
I think I've done it justice, and it is a very good murder story, using the isolation of the small community to raise the stakes in the hunt for the real murderer.
Here's the link and blurb:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CXRLG6L/
It’s October, 1948. Northern Rhodesia.
Having displeased his superiors, colonial officer James Lancaster is sent to Feira in the sweltering Zambezi valley, where he’s to replace the outgoing District Commissioner, Barnaby Drayton.
He’s been warned to keep his reports dull and unexceptional if he habours any hope for a better posting. There seems little chance of that: he arrives on the day Drayton’s wife dies, and he finds a tiny community torn apart with suspicion and hate.
The thermometer keeps rising, the rains hold off, tempers flare.
Father Bravachko and the clinic nurse say Elizabeth Drayton died of natural causes. The drums, muttering in the fevered nights, speak of a witchdoctor’s revenge.
Or is there a cold-blooded murderer on this remote and isolated station?
April 30, 2018
Book trailer and new serial
My famous daughter, Jessica Henwick (Iron Fist, Game of Thrones, Star Wars), has taken some time out from filming the second season of Iron Fist to produce a book trailer for me!
It's for A Name Among the Stars, a new adult Sci Fi Adventure Romance. Have a look ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGW45...
A Name Among The Stars
And there's a sequel to the book starting.
ANAtS was written as a serial novel appearing on my blog weekly. The new serial has just begun. It's called A Threat Among the Stars, and episodes (2-3 chapters) will be posted every week on Fridays.
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2018/04...
Blurb (spoilers if you haven't read A Name Among the Stars)
<spoiler>
Zara has returned to Kernow and is trying to get her head around the role and responsibilities of being Duchess Aguirre-Tremayne, thankfully leaving the resolution of the Hajnal Conspiracy to the Terran authorities. But a Terran warship en route to her old home planet of Newyan stops on a ‘courtesy call’ at Kernow, and Zara finds that the anticipated resolution is far from accomplished. She must visit Newyan, where the conspirators are still in power, and where she has serious charges laid against her. To survive, she will have to beg more assistance from Shohwa, putting the Xian Self Actuated Entity’s great secret at risk, which could in turn threaten the peace between the Xian Hegemony and the rest of humanity. Then, even before she has a chance to leave Kernow, an unexpected summons arrives. She can’t afford the diversion, but she owes her life to the mysterious beings that live in the oceans of Kernow, and she must honor their request for a meeting with her and Hwa, out in the deeps, where the Great Old Ones dream their strange and terrifying dreams…
</spoiler>
Enjoy!
It's for A Name Among the Stars, a new adult Sci Fi Adventure Romance. Have a look ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGW45...
A Name Among The Stars
And there's a sequel to the book starting.
ANAtS was written as a serial novel appearing on my blog weekly. The new serial has just begun. It's called A Threat Among the Stars, and episodes (2-3 chapters) will be posted every week on Fridays.
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2018/04...
Blurb (spoilers if you haven't read A Name Among the Stars)
<spoiler>
Zara has returned to Kernow and is trying to get her head around the role and responsibilities of being Duchess Aguirre-Tremayne, thankfully leaving the resolution of the Hajnal Conspiracy to the Terran authorities. But a Terran warship en route to her old home planet of Newyan stops on a ‘courtesy call’ at Kernow, and Zara finds that the anticipated resolution is far from accomplished. She must visit Newyan, where the conspirators are still in power, and where she has serious charges laid against her. To survive, she will have to beg more assistance from Shohwa, putting the Xian Self Actuated Entity’s great secret at risk, which could in turn threaten the peace between the Xian Hegemony and the rest of humanity. Then, even before she has a chance to leave Kernow, an unexpected summons arrives. She can’t afford the diversion, but she owes her life to the mysterious beings that live in the oceans of Kernow, and she must honor their request for a meeting with her and Hwa, out in the deeps, where the Great Old Ones dream their strange and terrifying dreams…
</spoiler>
Enjoy!
December 2, 2017
Bian's Tale book 1 on the blog
Another 'serial' on the blog.
The last couple of experiments with writing serials on my blog were well received. The results are now available on Amazon:
Urban Fantasy Athanate novella (25k words) : Change of Regime
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Regime-...
SciFi Adventure/Romance novel (107k words) : A Name Among The Stars
https://www.amazon.com/Name-Among-Sta...
Both of these came about as experimental writing for the blog, and as such, I tended to end episodes on a cliffhanger, to encourage people to return the following week. This worked well! I've had to take the episodes off the blog to avoid falling foul of Amazon's rules, but I left the comments up, as they're fun to read. :-)
There have been calls for another serial, but I'm not quite ready. What I'm doing instead is releasing my current work-in-progress in 'episodes'. This novel has not been written for serialisation and so does not end every episode on a cliffhanger (though there are some). I'm releasing a couple of episodes every week at the moment and I'm hoping the episodes won't quite catch up with the final book being ready for publication.
The novel is called Saigon: The Reach of Lies. It's book 1 in Bian's Tale. Those of you already reading my Bite Back series will need no introduction to Bian. For others, this follows a young Vietnamese girl, Bian, from her early life in 1890 Saigon to her role as Diakon (second in command) of the leading Athanate House, Altau, in Denver, Colorado. (You call them vampires, they call themselves Athanate, and they're not at all what the legends suggest).
Bian's Tale is Dark Urban Fantasy, with historical beginnings, in the detailed Bite Back world. Here's a link to the first episode on the blog (others available through the 'next' button at the bottom of each post):
http://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/11/...
The last couple of experiments with writing serials on my blog were well received. The results are now available on Amazon:
Urban Fantasy Athanate novella (25k words) : Change of Regime
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Regime-...
SciFi Adventure/Romance novel (107k words) : A Name Among The Stars
https://www.amazon.com/Name-Among-Sta...
Both of these came about as experimental writing for the blog, and as such, I tended to end episodes on a cliffhanger, to encourage people to return the following week. This worked well! I've had to take the episodes off the blog to avoid falling foul of Amazon's rules, but I left the comments up, as they're fun to read. :-)
There have been calls for another serial, but I'm not quite ready. What I'm doing instead is releasing my current work-in-progress in 'episodes'. This novel has not been written for serialisation and so does not end every episode on a cliffhanger (though there are some). I'm releasing a couple of episodes every week at the moment and I'm hoping the episodes won't quite catch up with the final book being ready for publication.
The novel is called Saigon: The Reach of Lies. It's book 1 in Bian's Tale. Those of you already reading my Bite Back series will need no introduction to Bian. For others, this follows a young Vietnamese girl, Bian, from her early life in 1890 Saigon to her role as Diakon (second in command) of the leading Athanate House, Altau, in Denver, Colorado. (You call them vampires, they call themselves Athanate, and they're not at all what the legends suggest).
Bian's Tale is Dark Urban Fantasy, with historical beginnings, in the detailed Bite Back world. Here's a link to the first episode on the blog (others available through the 'next' button at the bottom of each post):
http://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/11/...
June 6, 2017
Serials
Having experimented with writing a short story in episodes on the blog, I'm now working on a full serialised novel.
This is done, in its entirety, at weekends, and there should be updates every weekend. It does not affect the schedule on my main novels.
I've chosen to write in a different genre, so this is Sci Fi Romance, and the name is probably going to be "A Name Among The Stars".
I work hard to leave each week's episode on a cliffhanger, which gets me a fair amount of 'hate' mail, as shown below. :-)
"Wow! What a place to stop!!! I want more!"
"The story is fantastic and I want MORE! Your cliffhangers are becoming more and more diabolical."
"Way to keep the cliffhangers coming. I hate you. (Not really)."
Take a peek. First two episodes together:
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/05...
And the third:
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/06...
This is done, in its entirety, at weekends, and there should be updates every weekend. It does not affect the schedule on my main novels.
I've chosen to write in a different genre, so this is Sci Fi Romance, and the name is probably going to be "A Name Among The Stars".
I work hard to leave each week's episode on a cliffhanger, which gets me a fair amount of 'hate' mail, as shown below. :-)
"Wow! What a place to stop!!! I want more!"
"The story is fantastic and I want MORE! Your cliffhangers are becoming more and more diabolical."
"Way to keep the cliffhangers coming. I hate you. (Not really)."
Take a peek. First two episodes together:
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/05...
And the third:
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/06...
June 1, 2017
Change of Regime discussion
Hi All
A discussion thread about the latest novella has started in one of the groups. It's on:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Unless you're a member, you need to join the excellent group Girls, Guns and Grimoires:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
A discussion thread about the latest novella has started in one of the groups. It's on:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Unless you're a member, you need to join the excellent group Girls, Guns and Grimoires:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
April 23, 2017
Freebie scene - Tullah & Kaothos
For those who've read at least as far as Sleight of Hand and Hidden Trump, here’s a two part scene I sketched out about Tullah's first meeting with Kaothos.
Because the Bite Back series is told from Amber’s point of view, this would have had to be revealed in some kind of long discussion with Tullah, and there was nowhere to put it.
Obviously, if you haven’t read Sleight of Hand & Hidden Trump, this is a spoiler.
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/04...
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/04...
There's also some info in those posts on writing progress and the availability of the audiobook version of Angel Stakes (Real Soon Now).
Because the Bite Back series is told from Amber’s point of view, this would have had to be revealed in some kind of long discussion with Tullah, and there was nowhere to put it.
Obviously, if you haven’t read Sleight of Hand & Hidden Trump, this is a spoiler.
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/04...
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/04...
There's also some info in those posts on writing progress and the availability of the audiobook version of Angel Stakes (Real Soon Now).
March 18, 2017
Long Island Athanate and update
Vampires of the Caribbean
Released this week and made #1 on UF anthologies! Thank you!
Angel Stakes audiobook
*Still* one file needs fixing. Technical difficulties at studio. I’ll keep posting as it inches towards release.
Main books
Bian’s Tale, book 1 & Bite Back 6 progressing slowly. This was always going to be a disprupted week with the release of Iron Fist, featuring my daughter as Colleen Wing. :-)
Long Island Athanate
I started this as a little stand-alone Christmas present on the blog site to my readers, and have been persuaded to keep adding episodes to it. Now it's going to be a novella, but you can read it for free on the blog site. It's set in the Athanate world, but features only Skylur from the usual cast. It occurs immediately after Angel Stakes, and is set in New York.
If you've been reading this as it came out, here is the link for the latest chapters:
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/03...
If you haven't seen any of this story before, or you've missed a couple of episodes:
In the comments at the bottom of the latest post, I've put in a link so you can get all the first 13 chapters in a Word document.
Enjoy!
Released this week and made #1 on UF anthologies! Thank you!
Angel Stakes audiobook
*Still* one file needs fixing. Technical difficulties at studio. I’ll keep posting as it inches towards release.
Main books
Bian’s Tale, book 1 & Bite Back 6 progressing slowly. This was always going to be a disprupted week with the release of Iron Fist, featuring my daughter as Colleen Wing. :-)
Long Island Athanate
I started this as a little stand-alone Christmas present on the blog site to my readers, and have been persuaded to keep adding episodes to it. Now it's going to be a novella, but you can read it for free on the blog site. It's set in the Athanate world, but features only Skylur from the usual cast. It occurs immediately after Angel Stakes, and is set in New York.
If you've been reading this as it came out, here is the link for the latest chapters:
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/03...
If you haven't seen any of this story before, or you've missed a couple of episodes:
In the comments at the bottom of the latest post, I've put in a link so you can get all the first 13 chapters in a Word document.
Enjoy!
February 18, 2017
Update and the New York episodes
Update on Projects:
Angel Stakes audiobook
I’ve completed the checking of the audio files. Julia Motyka has a couple of little corrections to make and then all that remains is the Audible/ACX internal processes. I’ll keep posting as it inches towards release.
Bian’s Tale, book 1
Two of five sections are now with the editor. I’ve actually torn up my earlier versions of sections 3-5, as they simpy were not working. Having done that, strangely, writing has been easier. For some peculiar reason, it’s quicker to rewrite than to amend.
Others
Less than a month to the publication of Vampires of the Caribbean anthology, which contains Enzili, an Athanate short story set in 1790s on the British island of St. Mark’s. There have been some teasers on the Bite Back Facebook page, and more to follow.
Bite Back 6 – not a lot of progress this last couple of weeks.
New York episodes
I started this as a little stand-alone Christmas present on the blog site to my readers, and have been persuaded to keep adding episodes to it. Now it's going to be a novella, but you can read it for free on the blog site. It's set in the Athanate world, but features only Skylur from the usual cast. It occurs immediately after Angel Stakes, and is set in New York.
Below is a summary of the story so far (with links to the blog posts), in the order the episodes will appear in the novella.
Chapter 1
Julius and Livia
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2016/12...
At St Judes church, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Long Island. Introduction to Father Julius and Livia, the threat of Skylur’s arrival.
Chapter 2
Elodie
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/02...
Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Long Island. Introduction to Elodie. Her private investigator is abducted during a meeting.
Chapter 3
Elodie
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/02...
Greenpoint. Elodie background and illness. She speaks to Nathan.
Chapter 4
Julius and Livia
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/01...
Brooklyn waterfront. Julius meets Livia and they go together to Manhattan to face Skylur.
Introduction to Keensleigh (Were alpha) and Hinton (Adept community leader).
Chapter 5
Elodie
This week’s chapter
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/02...
Chapter 6
Julius and Livia
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/01...
Meeting with Skylur at his office penthouse in Manhattan.
Chapter 7
Elodie
Next week’s chapter
Chapter 8
Julius and Livia
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/01...
At the restaurant in Manhattan with Skylur.
And I guess 4 or 5 more episodes will be appearing over the next month.
Angel Stakes audiobook
I’ve completed the checking of the audio files. Julia Motyka has a couple of little corrections to make and then all that remains is the Audible/ACX internal processes. I’ll keep posting as it inches towards release.
Bian’s Tale, book 1
Two of five sections are now with the editor. I’ve actually torn up my earlier versions of sections 3-5, as they simpy were not working. Having done that, strangely, writing has been easier. For some peculiar reason, it’s quicker to rewrite than to amend.
Others
Less than a month to the publication of Vampires of the Caribbean anthology, which contains Enzili, an Athanate short story set in 1790s on the British island of St. Mark’s. There have been some teasers on the Bite Back Facebook page, and more to follow.
Bite Back 6 – not a lot of progress this last couple of weeks.
New York episodes
I started this as a little stand-alone Christmas present on the blog site to my readers, and have been persuaded to keep adding episodes to it. Now it's going to be a novella, but you can read it for free on the blog site. It's set in the Athanate world, but features only Skylur from the usual cast. It occurs immediately after Angel Stakes, and is set in New York.
Below is a summary of the story so far (with links to the blog posts), in the order the episodes will appear in the novella.
Chapter 1
Julius and Livia
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2016/12...
At St Judes church, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Long Island. Introduction to Father Julius and Livia, the threat of Skylur’s arrival.
Chapter 2
Elodie
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/02...
Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Long Island. Introduction to Elodie. Her private investigator is abducted during a meeting.
Chapter 3
Elodie
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/02...
Greenpoint. Elodie background and illness. She speaks to Nathan.
Chapter 4
Julius and Livia
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/01...
Brooklyn waterfront. Julius meets Livia and they go together to Manhattan to face Skylur.
Introduction to Keensleigh (Were alpha) and Hinton (Adept community leader).
Chapter 5
Elodie
This week’s chapter
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/02...
Chapter 6
Julius and Livia
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/01...
Meeting with Skylur at his office penthouse in Manhattan.
Chapter 7
Elodie
Next week’s chapter
Chapter 8
Julius and Livia
https://henwick.wordpress.com/2017/01...
At the restaurant in Manhattan with Skylur.
And I guess 4 or 5 more episodes will be appearing over the next month.
February 9, 2017
Update
I've realised that I need to post here a bit more frequently!
I value my readers and I do post regularly on the Bite Back page on Facebook and the blog site on Wordpress.
Progress: I'm deep in the writing of Bian's Tale book 1 and Bite Back book 6. I am hopeless at predicting publication dates, but if I had to guess, I'd go for Bian's Tale in April 2017 and Bite Back 6 in the late summer.
In the meantime, there's an Athanate short story appearing in Vampires of the Caribbean, an anthology which will be published in March. It's set in 1790, on the Leeward Island of St. Mark's. Lol. I'll promote that on Goodreads and Facebook.
There's also currently a 'sidebar' story on the blog site. It started as a Christmas present for readers and they persuaded me to flesh it out. It's set in New York, and occurs at approximately the same 'series' time as Bite Back 6 starts. Only Skylur of the usual crew is in evidence. As this is appearing as episodes, it requires you to search for 'Julius' and 'Livia' to find the posts. I'll make a special post that links the other episodes into one, and publish that here.
Blog site is at: henwick.wordpress.com/
and Facebook site is at:
www.facebook.com/TheBiteBackSeries/
I value my readers and I do post regularly on the Bite Back page on Facebook and the blog site on Wordpress.
Progress: I'm deep in the writing of Bian's Tale book 1 and Bite Back book 6. I am hopeless at predicting publication dates, but if I had to guess, I'd go for Bian's Tale in April 2017 and Bite Back 6 in the late summer.
In the meantime, there's an Athanate short story appearing in Vampires of the Caribbean, an anthology which will be published in March. It's set in 1790, on the Leeward Island of St. Mark's. Lol. I'll promote that on Goodreads and Facebook.
There's also currently a 'sidebar' story on the blog site. It started as a Christmas present for readers and they persuaded me to flesh it out. It's set in New York, and occurs at approximately the same 'series' time as Bite Back 6 starts. Only Skylur of the usual crew is in evidence. As this is appearing as episodes, it requires you to search for 'Julius' and 'Livia' to find the posts. I'll make a special post that links the other episodes into one, and publish that here.
Blog site is at: henwick.wordpress.com/
and Facebook site is at:
www.facebook.com/TheBiteBackSeries/
April 26, 2016
Cool Hand audio
Bite Back book 4, Cool Hand, is now on audio at Audible.
http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fant...
It will also appear on Amazon and other retailers in a few days (schedule controlled by Audible, not me).
I hope you enjoy it.
Scheduling issues over the summer mean that the narrator, Julia Motyka, will start book 5 in September.
http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fant...
It will also appear on Amazon and other retailers in a few days (schedule controlled by Audible, not me).
I hope you enjoy it.
Scheduling issues over the summer mean that the narrator, Julia Motyka, will start book 5 in September.
