And the next book is….

The second book in The River and the Ravages series is well underway, and has progressed from being a nameless, amorphous thing to a book with 1) a title, 2) a description, and best of all, 3) a pre-order arrangement. Yes, pre-order is here. But let’s get to that in a moment. The title of book two is…drum roll, please….

The Tempest and the Turning.

I’m incredibly excited by this one. It’s been going great. But hey, I’m bias. You be the judge! The book blurb goes like this…

You can’t run from who you are…

Aaliya, a woman with blood on her hands and a past to bury, sets off on a journey across the heart of The Reach determined to start a new life.

By her side is her sister, Maddalena, a self-proclaimed sibling rescuer and unabashed political schemer, who’s determined to use her smarts to lead an easy life.

When they come across burnt ruins in a remote corner of the realm, it becomes clear the past is never buried, the present is far from safe, and their brittle plans have just been shattered.

As war looms and threatens to turn The Reach to ash, both must make choices about the power they hold and what’s worth fighting for.

In a world where storms rage and lives turn…where blades are sharp, words are sharper, and alliances the deadliest weapon of all…they are about to discover you can’t run from who you are.

Interested? Intrigued? The book will be available in April 2019…which probably seems like a long time away, but soon it will be Christmas, and then it will be Easter…you get the picture. Order your pre-order at https://www.books2read.com/u/mleXnB. For those of you who prefer a print copy, I’ll include the pre-order details for print soon.

Luck favours the prepared mind.

Still on the roller coaster

Find myself in a strange place between exhilaration and nervous as hell. Bear with me. Writing a book and launching it out into the world is not too unlike the feeling when I moved out of home. Couldn’t be happier but uneasy about the next stage. The pile of self-doubt only outdone by an extra crumb of  self-belief. It’s been incredibly hard work. Kind of like climbing the mountain with lead weights strapped to your ankles only to find at the top there’s another mountain to climb. But as Cheryl Strayed eloquently put it, “Writing is hard for every last one of us…coal mining is harder.”

There’s been some lessons along the way to completing a book:

• It takes time. Are there some solitary hours involved in this business…!
• Write what you want and what you love. You’re stuck with it for a long time.
• Ditch perfection. It’s no friend of yours.
• Approach the whole damn enterprise like a small child: curious, unburdened, full of possibilities.

And now here I am, and here you are. Still on the roller coaster. Ready for the big dip but hoping for the climb on the other side. And you’re wondering about that book I’ve written. I assure you it’s packed with sex, death, romance, violence, swords, tears, wit and wisdom and is quite simply an unforgettable addition to the fantasy genre.

So think of me hunched over my keyboard all day. Get hold of a copy of The River and the Ravages, give it a go, write a review. The God of Good Luck and Warm Fuzzy Feelings will shine down on your efforts. You can always resell it on ebay and buy beer.

Thanking you.

Save

Save

Save