Kate Kelly's Blog, page 26

The First Foxes

Last week the first titles from Curious Fox were launched, and I’ve been following their progress with a great deal of interest. The titles are: Hyperspace High by Zac Harrison (The first two titles in this series are now available – Crash Landing and Frozen Enemies) When John Riley gets on the wrong coach, he ends up at an elite academy on an enormous space ship, where his classmates are aliens, the food is disgusting, and the penalty for failing exams is harsh. Can he s...

A Change of Perspective

We all know that different people can watch the same event and yet perceive things differently. That is what makes us such unreliable witnesses.

And that got me wondering about my characters. They each have their own view of events - they each see the world in their own way.

So I wondered what would happen if I took an old story of mine - one that hadn't quite worked out but was still gnawing away at me not to ignore it - and told the story from a different perspective?

How different will that...

A Floor of Bones

Near where I grew up in Devon is a wonderful old National Trust house called Killerton. And in the grounds of this house is the Bear Hut - an old summerhouse tucked away among the trees. It is wonderfully rustic, wood and thatch and a ceiling of fir cones. It is called The Bear Hut because in the 1860's it was used to house a black bear brought back by one of the family from Canada. But one of the strangest things about this hut is this section of the floor. It is made up entirely o...

The Curious Fox Launch

Last Thursday I headed up to London for the Curious Fox launch party which was held at Dr Johnson's house - a wonderful old building tucked away among offices of glass and steel.

It's a while since I've been to London and the city looked amazing. I headed from the station out over Waterloo Bridge, lights reflected in the Thames and from one angle Big Ben was framed by the London eye. But what struck me most was the number of bicycles, racks and racks of them by the station and fleets of them m...

Weird Weather

As 2012 has drawn to a close there has been a lot of discussion in the media about the extreme weather we have seen.  The weather in this country has always been unpredictable.  Extreme weather events are certainly not unheard of, but this year has been a year of particularly extreme rainfall - and not on just one occasion.    This is a picture of my garden after the most recent downpour, shortly before Christmas. My garden never flooded before this year - for starters we l...

Signing my Contract...

What better way to welcome in the new year! 
2013 is going to be a big year for me. It is the year I am going to be published. At the moment I'm in the middle of the edits. Exciting stuff!

I've also set myself up a facebook page, as well as a profile on Goodreads, which you can find by following the links to the side of this page.

So Happy New Year to all my blog readers, and thank you for joining me on my writing journey. And extra special good wishes to anyone else who has a bo...

The Apocalypse? Or just another Christmas?

Will it? Won’t it? Will we even notice?

This isn’t going the be the first time we’ve lived through the end of the world – the Millennium – the eclipse – not to mention the various prophesies that come and go.

So enjoy your mince pies and mulled wine. Have a great Christmas everyone and (if we’re still here) I’ll see you all on the other side.

Reflections

It was calm down by the marshes and I spotted this heron, standing so still that there wasn’t even a ripple in the water around him.
 
It is a time to reflect as the year draws to a close, and for me 2012 has been momentous – I got a book deal! And next year I will see my book in print!

I have also been reflecting on the direction of this blog. When I started it was simply going to be a writing blog, on which I would chronicle my journey to publication. But I’ve found myself blogging abou...

Review: Ferney by James Long

Now this is an interesting book.

I met the author at a Literary event in Yeovil back in October and bought it, partly for that reason, and partly because the subject matter looked fascinating. This is a new edition of a book which was first published some 16 or so years ago. It is one of those books that took off through word of mouth.

And having read it I can see why.

Ferney is a love story, but it is also so much more. It is a story of old love, reborn and rekindled, generation after generatio...

The Wreck of the Minx

The coastline round here is steeped in history. The rocks that form the rugged cliffs and offshore ledges tell of a world of giant sea monsters and primordial forests. There are machine gun batteries and pillboxes that tell of a time of fear and war, and there are shipwrecks.

There are shipwrecks all round this coast, each telling a tale of tragedy and bravery, or looting and murder. Many of the wrecks are hidden beneath the waves, their only visitors fish and scuba divers. But some can still...