Book reading in Lockdown 2021 – Jan/Feb

Writing is going along steadily, but slowly. I’ve written a 5,000 word short story as a prequel to Double Identity which will become exclusive to newsletter subscribers. The draft of my next full-length thriller stands at just over 40,000 words, so about halfway. But in the lockdown I’ve been reading like a demon. That’s […]

2020 – Books I read and enjoyed

This is not a beauty contest or a selection. The list below contains just books I’ve read this year because I wanted to. Some made me catch my breath, others made me weep with joy or sorrow and others appalled me. But they all enthralled me.

I’m not mentioning those I read or part-read […]

Cryssa Bazos: The appeal of telling (historical) stories

Today’s guest is Cryssa Bazos, one of my fellow authors of Betrayal: Historical Stories. Cryssa is an award-winning historical fiction author and a seventeenth century enthusiast. Her debut novel,Traitor’s Knot, is the Medalist winner of the 2017 New Apple Award for Historical Fiction and a finalist for the 2018 EPIC eBook Awards for Historical Romance. […]

Writing Challenge Day 5: What inspired the book I'm working on

That’s an easy one – the readers!

No, really! I wrote The Girl from the Market after a suggestion in the Roma Nova Enthusiasts’ Group. Legend had it (in the earlier Roma Nova novels) that in AD 370 Julia Bacausa was a tough and fiery woman and Apulius a strong Roman of the traditional […]

Second-hand book stalls – author's friends?

Some authors don’t like second-hand book stalls, whether run as a businesses or for a charity fête. In fact, they hate them. The author gets no royalty nor secondary right nor anything. The books are toted around, exchanged or traded like a lump of former tree for a pound/euro/dollar or two – virtually free. I […]