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Stay up to date with the day to day happenings of Colin here
A write good future
In true welsh tradition, I made a phone call on March 1st 2013 - St Davids Day. That phone call was to change my life for ever. I rang 'Authors Abroad,' a company well versed in doing school talks and workshops the world over. They have big names with them too; Alan Gibbons, Ali Sparkes, Mark Robson...the list goes on. They accepted me in with the group of about a hundred writers.
Authors Abroad, book writers in schools for their; Able Writers, a pre SAT's programme. This helps them with punctuation, grammar and spelling, so they can create a short story with all three elements in place. There's also Presentations and small workshops too. So, I was thrilled and a little scared to join. But I knew this was the one chance I was looking for to acheive my dream of becoming a complete writer.
So, I handed in my notice at the factory where I worked and...hoped for the best. April 29th 2013 I officially started work as a self-employed writer. Here's hoping that the future is kind.
Home ground
After I've finished House of Darke, I'm starting my new series of novels called Killian Spooks. I've mentioned this before, it's a supernatural series and I'm quite excited about it. I'm hoping to write it in five novels
I've had a brainwave to where it will be set. I'm thinking of putting it in the area where I live. I'm welsh and I live in South Wales in the Rhondda Valley. This is in the UK, for people who have never heard of it. The welsh valleys would be a great fit for the story location and, it would bring my birthplace to the media. Wales is nice. Great people, lovely landscapes and a fantastic rugby team.
Killian Spooks in the welsh valley's...sounds good to me. What this space.
Wizards' return
I'm in the process of hopefully reprinting my wizarding series from the mid 2000's. In 2005 I published my first series of books called; Wizards' Kingdom. This was initially going to be my first novel and, at the time I thought I was only doing one. It was so well received in book-signings that I did a second and eventually a third.
Wizards' Kingdom book 1 (2005)
The Obelisk of Ashmar book 2 (2006)
Jarrak's Darkness book 3 (2007)
In 2008 the publisher I used for these books went out of business...and that was that! There were pocket's of stock all over the place, but no new books were ever going to be reproduced. Until now!
I'm hopefully at the beginning of Wizards' Kingdom the return. I'm going to reprint the books with the help of Glenside Printing. They do all my printing now and I'm hoping that by Feb/Mar 2013, they will have printed the series again. They'll have new ISBN numbers and a slightly different cover, not much different to the cover's I have now, though. It's going to be exciting to tour with my old series and so finally all six of my books will be up and running again.
Tim C Taylor who does all my publishing on digital books, will do the same for my wizards series too. With 'The Hobbit' doing the rounds at the cinema's, it may be just the right time to get wizards back on the map.
What I'm working on now
This is to keep my readers up to date on what I'm working on at the moment.
My immediate project which I've been working on for the past year is called; House of Darke. This is my first venture into a genre called 'Steampunk.' The definition of Steampunk is really to do with nineteenth century steam powered machinery, but I think can also involve clockwork mechinisms too. Originally set in the wild west, but brought up to modern times in the eighties, the adventures can be animals and vehicles made of metal and run by steam or clockwork. Exciting eh?
Initially House of Darke is about a group of teenagers on a bike ride. They stop for a comfort break in the countryside, but a dense mist appears out of nowhere and they are stranded. They stumble along fields and eventually come across a sign; Darke House and beyond is a huge country mansion. But what lies within? Lord Darke is the evil landlord and things spiral out of control from there. The adventure is filled with my usual fast paced excitement and plenty of twists and turns. I'm very excited about this project.
I'm also working on a supernatural series of books, that are going to have the title of, Killian Spooks. I'm hoping this will take me into my biggest series yet. I'm planning on five books. The first will be called, Killian Spooks - The Ghosted Children. The second may be called Killian Spooks - Inside the Dark. Killian will be a teenager with supernatural powers and is called upon to help out lost spectres. It's an idea that I started a few years ago, but Crank Tech got in the way. Now after House of Darke, I'll finally have time to develop and finish the first book. I'm going to set it in ebook and paperback formats.
I've also got ideas for two stand alone sequels to my Crank Tech One series, but that is way off at the moment. On the back burner is a techno adventure called Deathtrap, I'll keep that quiet for now though.
If you want to ask me anything about writing then go to my contact page.
Special bookshop relationships
Being an author is hard work and enjoyable. But...once a book is published, then an author has to get it out there. There are places like Amazon.co.uk and Play.com to show your work off, on the Internet. But, you also have to hand sell copies and have a one to one with readers. There is only one way you can do this and, that is to actually meet your readership. I do this at writing circles, schools and libraries but, mostly at bookshops.
I do the odd independent book shop such as Cover to Cover in a place called Mumbles in Swanses West Wales UK (Sarah Rees is the wonderful owner). I also have a fantastic relationship with one of the biggest book chains in the UK. Waterstones.
Here are the Waterstones stores I've had the pleasure to book-sign at over the past eight years;
Swansea - Carmarthen - Cribbs Causeway - Bristol - Swindon - High Wycombe - Gloucester - Alton - Aylesbury - Slough - Trowbridge - Yeovil - Abergavenny -Weston-S-Mare - Chippenham - Bath - Reading - Hereford - Cardiff - Newport - Newbury - Basingstoke - Wells - Cheltenham - Cirencester - Worcester - Lakeside- Above-bar - West Quay - Market Harborough - Kettering - Banbury - Leamington Spa - Leicester High Cross - Witney - Taunton.
Without these shops and the staff of each one helping out and bringing coffee and sometimes biscuits, I would never have sold so many books. So, thank you Waterstones and the indie's especially Cover to Cover.
The Repository of Imagination
I've just published a novel called; Crank Tech One - DESTRUCTION, as you know if you follow my tweets, facebooks and this website. I've got exciting news that I'm published in ebook format by 'The Repository of Imagination,' strange title, I know.
Tim C. Taylor the publisher and he's also a writer himself, runs The Repository of Imagination and another publishing site 'Greyhart Press.' All his adult fiction is on Greyhart and the children's and teenage stuff is on his website called; www.ataleforatale.com which features my ebook Crank Tech One, under his Repository publishing name.
Crank is now in both paperback and ebook formats and Tim is helping me with sales in America and across the world. I enjoy writing books and doing book-signings in UK based bookshops, but I needed help in the digital world to promote my titles and obviously sell more books. Ebooks are here to stay and with this new relationship, Tim and I will hopefully move Colin R. Parsons into global status.
I enjoy writing novels, but I would also like to do it full-time. I can't at the moment, it doesn't pay enough as any author without a big publisher will tell you. I recently met Bryce Thomas of Rhamin fame and he still doesn't write full time and he's an award winning author.
So, Crank Tech One - DESTRUCTION is now published by Tallyberry Publishing in paperback and, The Repository of Imagination in ebook.