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Ten year anniversary
Well, this is really hard to believe. My very first book: Wizards' Kingdom is ten years old. I remember getting my advance copies on July 13th 2005. I wrote this little beauty in 2004.
How it came about? My youngest son Ryan was falling behind in his english lessons - his teacher Mrs Hall, called my wife and I in to discuss his reading problem. Mrs Hall, now head teacher at the school, had proof-read all of my short stories, and loved them.
'Ryan needs to read more,' she said, 'he's doing what boys do; playing sports and video games, but if he continues not reading then, he's going to fall behind and his grades will drop.
'So, what can we do?' I asked.
'Write him a book,' she replied, just like that. 'Your short stories are great, and Ryan loves wizard's. So maybe it would be good to write him a wizarding tale?' she explained.
So that's exactly what I did. I wrote ten short stories (because that's all I knew how to do) and linked the character's and plot. It took me four months: edit after edit after edit. Low and behold...Wizards' Kingdom was born. I had to self publish because no-one was taking on wizarding stories at that time. The publishing market had been saturated with: Harry Potter, Disc World and many others. I was to say the least, naive at that time.
I didn't expect it to sell, but with the help of Borders bookstores, it did sell, and sold well. That led me on to book 2, The Obelisk of Ashmar and finally the last in the series book 3 Jarrak's Darkness.
Wizards' Kingdom since it's initial debut, is now traditionally published on kindle, audio and (eventually hopefully) foreign translation rights. The movie will be a natural next move and then world domination.
Happy anniversary Wizards' Kingdom.
In between time
This is a term I've just made up, although it may already be a thing. I think 'in between time' for me is; when you're in a state of channeling imagenitive thoughts. Right...what am I talking about?
As a writer there are the times when you sit down, write and think, obviously! But, there's a period - a kind of open thoughts time when your mind is processing all kinds of things. I'm writing this because it just happened to me. I got up early this morning for a toilet break and a glass of water, but when I went back to bed, I was in limbo.
I wasn't fully sleeping, and I wasn't totally awake either. In this 'in between time' which lasted about an hour: I found that I could set out plotlines, work on characters, descriptions, even dialogue, and get a real feel for the project I'm working on right now. My lids were closed and my eyes were in REM (rapid eye movement) but there was no distraction from any outside source. It's an uninterrupted void.
I'll expect lots of you creative types out there have experienced the same thing. It doesn't have to be about writing or art or the arts. It could be about anything really. But I love that period of the thought process, when I feel like I'm in a different universe. It's like tuning in a radio station, you hit the perfect spot and you're alingned with all of your imagination.
I just thought I'd share that with you.
Hay Fest 2015
I got a ticket to the Neil Gaiman event at the Hay Fest this year. It was an evening show, and I popped along for the day. First person I bumped into was Ali Sparkes - award winning children's author. We've met a couple of times over the years, and keep in touch on FB. To be fair she's lovely and always has kind words of support. She'd launched her new book Car-Jacked (Oxford University Press) at the festival and was going onto the Wychwood Festival, after a BBC radio interview (a very busy and popular lady). We talked briefly in the Artists Lounge...yeah I know, and she was heading to the Cathy Cassidy talk. I briefly said hi to Che Golden too, who happened to be with her, another popular children's author.
My event wasn't until 8.30pm that evening, so plenty of time to look around, and I did, spending the day perusing the various stalls and bookshops.
There were a few book-signings going on, so I asked an assistant if Neil Gaiman was doing one? 'Yes,' she said, 'in fact right now, next door.' I frantically grabbed a copy of: The Ocean at the End of the Lane (the only book left in the shop, and one I didn't have at home). The snake of a queue was long, as you can imagine, and slowly disappearing into a side door. So I trickled like a stream in a drought with the other eager fans - took quite a while. I got to Mr Gaiman and realised, why there were no books in the shop - they were all here. And...there, beside him, was a Mr Chris Riddell, who'd done a talk with Neil earlier...wow!
Later that afternoon whilst leaning against a tree, just taking it easy - I was handed free ticket's for a comedy show, on; of all things, climate change. The speaker was Marcus Brigstocke and guests included Steve Punt. So I thought, why not? It was free after all! The place was packed and the experience lighthearted, even though the subject matter was a serious one.
That killed an hour and I wandered around, grabbed a coffee and queued for Neil Gaiman. I met two lovely people in the queue - Kimberly Haddrell (a graphic designer) and Hugh Griffiths (a micro biologist) both from South Wales, my local area. You can't say you don't meet a mixture of people at Hay. They were lovely and we talked quite a bit in the hour we queued (to get good seats). They invited me to an event they are running, and I gave them info on the RCT BookFest 2015, to see if they could get involved with that.
Once we were allowed in and, because I was on my own, got to sit in an unoccupied single seat in the front row (about three metres from the stage). That hour flew by. Neil Gaiman is amazing. He spoke of his relationship with Terry Pratchett and the funny stories of their friendship. He also talked of his own work in books, and graphic novels. I was enthralled by his words and submerged in his readings. What a fantastic day.
What am I up to?
Hi everyone, just to keep you updated:
Killian Spooks and the Ghosted Children, is I'm assured - almost ready to go to print.
Death Trap (the story of Drake Banks who's been sucked into the video game of the same name) is being considered by Pegasus, the same publisher who produced House of Darke. They've requested the whole manuscript - if this is acquired, it'll be my ninth book.
Sparkling Books (my agent for the Wizards' Kingdom trilogy) are waiting for a German publisher, to see if they want my wizarding series translated into...paperback and audio in the german language.
Living Audio's Matt Brown is about to start work on the audio version of; The Curious World of Shelley Vendor. They've already produced the first Wizards' Kingdom book on: Audible-iTunes and other platforms.
I'm working on my new book - D.I.S.C. Direct-Interface-Shadow-Control, a YA novel. I've got a new publisher in mind for that one.
Then...Wizards Exile, a manuscript partly written - and finally Shadow Village (a collaboration with Steve Lockley).
So much going on!
Things have really gone a bit crazy lately. House of Darke is launching at Books&Pontyclun in South Wales on Saturday March 28th. This book is my seventh and I'm hoping that it will really be accepted by my reading fans. I've high hopes for it...wow!
Killian Spooks and the Ghosted Children is almost ready to go to print too - my eigth book. This one is a supernatural adventure, and will be a series.
I'm writing D.I.S.C. - Direct-Interface-Shadow-Control, which I'm not sure which direction to take at the moment. I've also submitted a novella to Pegasus Publishers: Death Trap...a waiting game on that one.
I'm waiting for a short story, 'Shady Close' to hopefully be accepted for an anthology - The Second Spectral Book of Horror Stories, by Mark Morris.
My first six books are all going to be audio books. Crank Tech One, and Wizards' Kingdom are already converted.
New book cover design
This is the fantastic cover design of my new novel - 'House of Darke.' Pegasus Elliot MacKensie Publishers Ltd, have done a great job with the design. This will be my seventh novel, and it's an exciting, thrilling and fast-paced adventure. It's a totally different look and I've had plenty of feedback already. Can't wait for launch day!