I aten’t dead

Well, I finally got access to my WordPress account back after a complicated series of events, and now I need to learn how WordPress works all over again in order to modernise the site, which was already looking dated in 2019, which I will add to my list of… many things that are waiting for […]

2019 – The Year Of Finishing Books

Big news! The Duke Is Dead, the first book in a projected series of four (with added novellas, etc) which I have been co-writing with Irene Headley, is coming out in August 2019! The Duke Is Dead is a fantasy adventure loosely inspired by the events of the Wars of the Roses, featuring romance, court […]

Mostly for gamers

I assume quite a few of my readers are familiar with the Dungeons and Dragons alignment system. If not, it basically pigeonholes characters on two moral axes: good versus evil and law versus chaos. There are some odd wrinkles – there’s an ongoing argument, for example, about whether Chaotic Neutral can be a character with […]

December 1st Is Heavy Ice Day

Today my fourth book is officially launched. The paperbacks have arrived at Amazon, the last couple of last-minute spelling and grammar flubs have been corrected (though I bet there are at least a couple more hiding in there, and I apologise for that) and it’s ready to face the world. Many, many thanks are due […]

In which it’s not so much of a launch, more a confused hovercraft

Okay! So, I have been planning to launch Heavy Ice on the 1st of December. However, I haven’t been able to find a button on either Lulu or Amazon that says ‘make this book available on this date’, and it takes longer for the paperbacks to get listed on Amazon than it does for the […]

BOOK IS BELONG TO KITTY

My proof copy of Heavy Ice came. It has a new owner. No, really. Maybe I should get her a copy of The Good, The Bad and The Furry: The Brand-New Adventures of the World’s Most Melancholy Cat and Other Whiskery Friends instead?

Things I Already Know People Won’t Like About Heavy Ice

My characters aren’t speaking English and yet they sometimes make puns or mishearings that rely on English to work. I realise that a lot of people find this annoying, and all I can do is follow in the hallowed footsteps of Tolkien and say think of it as a free translation from the original. Requite […]

First Contact

So, Heavy Ice is lying fallow until I’ve got enough perspective to see the shape of it and turn it into a second draft, and I’m busy with research for the new thing. Well, I say ‘research’ – for every hour of’Exactly what shape was this particular building, and where can I find an etching […]

Fifty Shades Of Grey

I’m reading Fifty Shades Of Grey. It’s very weird. It’s basically all about how being into BDSM is just like being a vampire. It’s not a metaphor I’m immediately hostile to, because in my experience if your partner is into any kind of hobby or scene and in particular if that scene could possibly be […]

Requite, In Pie Charts

This is a comparison between what the heroine of my previous two books did with her time, and what the heroine of my present book does with hers. And one more: All pie charts from sporkforge.com.