Writing Magazine Feature

Wrap your eyes around a copy of Writing Magazine this December. It's out now and I'm in it! There's an interview by the lovely crime writer Adrian Magson, in which I talk about my forthcoming novel Those Rosy Hours at Mazandaran, what it takes to write one, and my top writing tips.

Goodreads Giveaway

Fancy winning a signed copy of my forthcoming novel? Ghostwoods Books have two copies to give away on Goodreads for the US, Canada and UK. Head on over and enter the draw.

Dedicated

It's been a strange few days since the cover reveal. So many very lovely comments and well wishes. Sometimes I am amazed at how something I dreamt up, staring into the screen like a scrying bowl, can go on to affect others in such a way. It is like releasing a slingshot. When it hits its mark you feel both amazement and wonder.

Today I wrote the hardest part of any novel: the dedication and acknowledgements.

I always feel a little sad at this point, because it is truly The End. 

There is nothing more to write after that, only the waiting period between now and release, with all the promotion that goes with it.

There is a lot of hope hanging on this story. It is a nervous time, waiting to see what reviewers will say. I try not to take anything too much to heart, even the good stuff, as there is always that fear that in accepting the praise you will find criticism harder to take. Better to keep your story as a private pleasure and then let it go. 

Rosy Hours has been an important book for me, as I finally feel that I have found my voice as a writer. Everything written before seems like practise now, and I'm not ashamed of admitting that writers are created not born - it does take practise, trial and error.

Anyway. Those to be thanked have been thanked, I have placed my heart between the pages and closed them again. 

I am in the early stages of my next novel and it seems that this new voice I have found grows stronger. I am pleased with what I have written so far, and this takes my mind off all that is to come in the months before Rosy Hours blooms (or withers) in the public eye. 

Characters are as real as any friend, as one group leaves another arrives. 

Intore Dancing

Went to an event on Friday where there was some first-class traditional Rwandan Intore dancing. Thought I'd share.

Samhain Cover Reveal

Pleased to reveal the cover for Rosy Hours - a Halloween reveal for a Valentine's release, very fitting for this dark story of love, lust and betrayal. The photograph of the girl was taken by the extremely talented Iranian photographer Babak Fatholahi. You can read about the process of writing Rosy Hours on this blog. Thanks to all at Ghostwoods Books for making this possible.

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UPDATE: My publisher did a live author chat with Cthulhu Lives authors John Reppion, Greg Stolze, E. Dane Anderson, Peter Tupper and Iain Lowson on Halloween night. At the end they did the cover reveal for Rosy Hours. You can head to 1:15:40 to catch that bit and hear my ego being mightily massaged. You can also find more info about the book on Ghostwoods' website.

Mortlock

How utterly awesome is this?

Black edged paper. 

That's not actually the reason I bought this book, just a bonus. A while ago I was planning a story with a character called Mortlock. No particular reason I thought of that name, but it was unusual and I wondered where I had gotten it from, so I did a Google search to see whether it had a meaning and whether or not anyone else had used it.

Jon Mayhew beat me to it. 

Josie is a knife thrower in a magician's stage act. 

Alfie is an undertaker's assistant.

They are both orphans and they have never met, but they are about to be given a clue to the secret of their shared past.

A past which has come to seek them out.

And while they flee for their lives, they must unravel the burning mysteries surrounding the legacy that threatens to consume them.

Curious to know what somebody else's Mortlock was like, I put it on my TBR list. The strange thing about our local Nakumatt is that every time I go in there I see a book I've been meaning to read. What with The Pinhoe Egg and now this, it's as though this Kenyan supermarket chain is inside my head, going through abandoned manuscripts and half-forgotten titles and then manifesting them on the shelf each time I go to pick up my groceries. 

This is perhaps the most grizzly YA novel I've read in quite some time. Gothic to a tee. 

She screwed her eyes tight shut as the cabinet toppled over with a bone-jarring crash. The false back of the cabinet splintered off, exposing Josie. She could see Ernie lashing out at the flapping ghul. A deep gash lined his scalp and blood streamed down his face, blinding him. His swinging fists could have laid any opponent low in a street brawl but the ghul bobbed and weaved in and out of the blows with ease. Ernie panted heavily, wiping the blood from his forehead. But the pause gave the crow its chance, and it darted forward, skewering Ernie with its long sabre of a beak. The big man's eyes bulged and he whimpered as the ghul pulled away. A disgusting squelch accompanied the strings of bloody gut that came away in the ghul's glistening beak. Silence fell as the foul bird jerked the gory load down its gullet, Then Enie's blood-chilling scream shook the theatre as the ghul fell upon him again, lashing with talons, ripping and tearing with its beak. Blood spattered the walls and mirrors and speckled Josie's face.

It's the sort of book I would have loved as a kid (and kids do, just look at the success of Horrible Histories), but I wonder at any adult who has the courage to read that out loud at bedtime. Still, I'm glad the option is out there.

It was a good read, and Mortlock himself didn't put in much of an appearance, but it's too unusual a name and too bold a title for me to use in the future. Plus, I doubt I'd have anything as cool as black-edged pages.

What is Literature For?