Oh My God, Super Writer Fan Girl Overload *Explode*

Evening lovely readers 🙂

Well today has been a great day I have to say. As quite a few of you will know the fabulous J. S. Collyer launched her début novel at Fantasticon last weekend in Hull. ‘Zero‘ is a fantastic slice of space pirate rompage mixed with intrigue and adventure, tears and happiness… Suffice it to say Fantasticon went very well and J. S. sold quite a few of her copies, signed of course, while enjoying so many other things. She had her own Q and A session as well as a reading from the stellar novel, a scene from Star Wars to be snapped in, all encompassing VR and oh so very much more 🙂 Here she is below with her Zero table among fellow authors;

 

Well today I was thrilled to be able to attend her book signing in our home town of Lancaster (Hull was a little too far for me to attend 🙂 ). It was in the Novel Cafe (I kid you not; go for the cake, stay for the books) which was just the perfect setting in my own humble opinion. As some will know J. S is not only a great friend of mine but also my writing hero and I felt so happy by being able to attend alone. Look at the perdy lady with her best seller 🙂

Perhaps the best part of today was that J.S took time out of her schedule to talk to you personally; she exhibited both an in-depth love and knowledge of literature while also proving to have a friendly, approachable attitude and personality to any and all. She took her time to write personal messages to each of her readers and conversed greatly with them. Any objective observer of the atmosphere (so not me) could see that J.S is the embodiment of the exceptional writer and will be successful in everything she does. I personally can’t wait for her next publication. I was speechless and honoured at the message she left in my hard copy (you can’t sign an e-book 🙂 );

 

Thank you J.S for the wonderful day and also for the wonderful book, it will be on my multiple re-read list for a long time. Good readers, go and buy this book, you will in no way be disappointed!!!

On another smaller insignificant note I just want to say there is no flash fiction this week as I’m working on my second novel as we speak.

Thank you 🙂

Advertisement

Zero by (the always exceptional) J. S. Collyer

Hi lovely readers 🙂

As most will know I’m a bona fide fantasy nut; give me a World full of magic, swords, sorcery and adventure and I can be gone for hours. However, there are times where even I will branch out my literary interests and diversify to broaden my knowledge; also, who isn’t completely in love with Mr Darcy? 🙂 My first understanding of sci fi came from reading my mothers books. She had a fabulous series by the late Anne McCaffrey called The Tower and the Hive series; the first book The Rowan. I remember being taken by such strong female leads in a World where science and technology runs on the power of the mind. I love creative and original stories along those lines.

To which, Zero is the début novel from my wonderful friend, and admittedly my writing hero, J. S. Collyer. It’s a literary slice of ooey gooey space pirate cake that leaves you not only wanting but needing to know more, especially after your damn lucky eyes have taken in the epic ending. This is a multi layered piece rife with exceptional writing, adventure, in-depth character development, adventure and oh yes, lasers; but did I mention adventure? I was lucky enough to receive an advanced review copy and my goodness all I can say is: as soon as the sixteenth of August gets here buy this book, you won’t be disappointed.

Kaleb Hugo is a Service man through and through; he lives, eats, works and breathes that life like no other. He’s positive he’s the best, most focused soldier… until one fateful day he ignores the commands of his higher ups and moves the ship he’s in command of to attack a perceived weakness in the War. What came over him? To the public face Hugo is disgraced, demoted and hated; but in secret he is promoted to Captain of The Zero, a beat up space ship concealing more than just a dented hull; it’s a ship that can get under the radar and accomplish things most Service ships couldn’t. Hugo has to act as a contact for the Service, keep an eye on the missions and report back to his superiors. He didn’t, however, expect to find those on the ship that were loyal, steadfast and perhaps the only friends he could remember having. What would await them in their coming missions?

I cannot begin to tell you all the things which are great about this novel, but I’ll give it a jolly good go anyway. J. S uses such literary diversity that simply pulls you straight into the Universe she has expertly created. I love the velvety feel of language such as ‘Hugo had admitted to himself long ago that Death was something he’d accepted into his life like a friend. Or a lover. It followed him like a phantom.’ Now before you ask yes this is from the first page. Heck it’s the first few lines. I didn’t want to give too much away about J. S’s stellar narrative. However, this is just a small example of what I love about her language use. Unlike many authors, she doesn’t try to make the language too archaic and stiff (don’t ask me why but some authors think stories are better like that) but she keeps it natural and flowing allowing the narrative to just slip into your subconscious and hold onto your interest for many hours before you even notice. She also has an uncanny ability to not alienate readers by being too scientific, if you catch me. She smoothly traverses into the science part of her science fiction in such a way that even someone as daft as me can understand it and thoroughly enjoy it. This is what makes her such a stunning writer.

The part of the novel I really liked however is that J. S. manages to reach into my chest and crush my heart into a million pieces (God how over dramatic does that sound?). I won’t give any details away but there is a part of the narrative that I’m not ashamed to admit brought a tear to my eye. The crew must endure a soul destroying time and the adversity which follows not only at the time but a year later as well. You can really feel the emotion in the writing which in turn forcibly drags your emotions to the surface and waves them in your face. It’s been such a long time since I’ve felt such a response to a book that it had me enthusing about its author. It’s incredible.

Please, please, PLEASE buy this book when you can. Not only will you be getting a jolly great read but you’ll discover a literary World you may never have experienced before. You’ll love every minute. I’m still going to buy a hard back copy of the book and beg J. S. to sign it, it’s just that great.

Thank you 🙂

We Have a Release Date…

Evening lovely readers 🙂

Well I’m very excited to say that my great friend J.S Collyer now has a release date for her super début novel Zero 🙂

 

Do you like science fiction? Do you like adventure? Do you like space pirates with lasers? I hear you all cry “What a daft question, of course we do.” Well then you won’t be disappointed with this excellent package of literary magnificence. The official book launch will be on the 16th August 2014 at the epic Fantasticon where J S Collyer will be signing copies, talking sci fi and just generally being quite frankly awesome. Luckily the eBook and paperback will be available on Amazon on the same day. I personally cannot wait. I do in fact have an advance copy for the purposes of reviewing it but there’s nothing like having a book written by one of your best friends officially on your Kindle. In having an advance copy I can in fact tell you that the novel is proving to be as fabulous as I expected and was it not that real life keeps interjecting I would be constantly reading this 🙂 Please keep your peepers peeled for my official review as I can promise it won’t disappoint: an awesome review for an awesome book I say 😉

In other news I can officially say that I have started my second novel while my first is being edited. As a bit of a difference I am not writing the sequel to my first novel, though I have that firmly ensconced in my mind, but another novel that I posted on here a while back. Then it was called Frozen due to it being about a blind winter fae archer but given the recent Disney outing I felt a title change was in order so soon there will be a post on my new Tears of Ice.

Thank you 🙂

*INCOMING* Excitement, Intrigue and Space Pirates

Evening lovely readers 🙂

I’m so excited for this post. Many who have read my posts before will know I mention one of my best friends J. S. Collyer quite a bit 🙂 She is an exceptional writer and loves to create fantastical Worlds of science and adventure. You can get little titbits of her creativity in the brilliant releases by the epic Dagda Publishers in the form of Tuned to a Dead Channel and All Hail the New Flesh. Her writing is known to be intricate with lovely velvety language use which draws you into her Worlds and refuses to let go. Her story in All Hail entitled Isaac Heights was particularly thrilling in my own opinion. You really don’t expect the ending and you’re left reeling desperate for more.

Anyway, I went off on a tangent there… The aim of this post today was to reveal that there has been a cover release for her forthcoming début novel. Zero is set to be released in August and promises to be an action packed space pirate romp full of explosions and LAZORSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! You know anything that J. S writes will be bordering on the epic with aspects of intrigue set to attract anyone. I for one am excited to read it and believe me when I say there will be a book review before you know it 🙂

Anyway, thank you for listening to me go on. Here’s the cover. Enjoy 🙂

The Pustoy by Phillipe Blenkiron

 

Evening lovely readers 🙂

Today I am thrilled to be able to bring you a review of the excellent The Pustoy written by Phillipe Blenkinron and released by the epic Dagda Publishers. Within the intriguing cover, as pictured above, is a poetic journey of dark dystopia, paranoia and the stark rule of the dictatorial upper echelons. We are treat to some intriguing prose depicting various emotions using wonderfully detailed aspects and language. You will not be disappointed by this collection.

The book begins much as a novel does, setting the stage for a diverse narrative to follow. The beginning prose ‘Lev Solokov’ gives you a view of events from the point of view of a child. There seems to be an innocence flowing throughout the beginning, only interlaced with others cynicism but again said with innocence. You are introduced to the protagonist sat on a counter top watching the parents work in the kitchen. The parents indifference to the World around them:

“Dad put down the buttering-knife and strode

in to my Mum Lev Solokov, the new PM,

he read from the telly Well, he can’t be any worse

than the rest of ‘em”

shows a fault present within most societies nowadays: they can be worse than the rest, you only need to wait and see. This early insight into a sinister World is only confounded by the belief that science has cured the economic crisis: it shows what amounts to a witch hunt neatly dressed in political niceties. They claim to have developed a way to detect who had a soul and:

“Not only that, they had found a means

of detecting who didn’t have one.

These people became known as the Pustoy.”

Wham bang, thank you mam… Lets not feed certain people, lets hunt down those who are different… this fantastically written slice of prose pie seems to be the beginning of a dressed up murderer seeking their kicks within legal means. No one will miss those that they fear, those that are perceived to be different.

Now, I picked the beginning prose to go into because it is a wonderful example of setting the scene. You don’t know what is to follow as the very nature of prose poetry is to be as abstract as you like; one moment you could be explaining the environment, the next it could be going into the personal thoughts of a character; but you know that was is to follow will be a wonderfully descriptive dark World of fear, intrigue and misguided politics. The Pustoy will not disappoint in this respect. You are treat to an atmosphere full of literary delights to immerse in and given from many aspects, in depth characters attained while not a lot of personal history given and a protagonist that is questionable in his beliefs and undeniably human.

The thing that really blew me away about this book; aside from the cracking story, the passion written into every line and the ooey gooey language use (anyone that uses the line “They only ever ‘et tu, Brute’ you in the end” is an automatic favourite of mine): was the lay out of each individual prose. Mr Blenkiron had an ingenious moment when he decided to set out each individual prose in an abstract way. There seems to be chaos in each set reflecting admirably the chaos of the World the protagonist now finds himself in. For example,

“Think of nothing.
                                     A box holds empty.

Depthless space –

                          Transcendental blind,

                                                       the 1D implosion.”

Tell me truthfully, how fabulous is that single section? The language use is so exquisite it sends shivers down your spine and makes you feel like you’re rolling in golden caramel… AND is a great example of the previously mentioned chaos. The lines don’t follow the generic set out of a book, they’re almost like scattered thoughts of a person broken by society. This fantastic level of writing is never broken through the book so the intense World never fades. It continues and will stay within your psyche for a very long time.

Please trust me when I say that if you’re a fan of prose poetry, or even if you like a bloody good read, you need to pick up a copy of this book. You’ll be left reeling from its intensity alone and will wish that there was simply more to sink your literary teeth into. You won’t be disappointed.

Thank you 🙂

You NEED This Writer and a New #FlashForFriday

Evening lovely readers 🙂

Today I am able to write this post with a sense of excitement and wonder. Those of you that have read my previous posts will know that I mention one of my best friends and writing hero, J. S. Collyer, quite frequently (yes this is the perdy lady just above 🙂 ). Well today I’m thrilled to be able to say that her first novel is due to be released in August entitled ‘Zero.’ I can’t say enough good things about her writing (and not only because she’s my friend 🙂 ) and don’t really know where to start but I’ll give it a jolly good shot 🙂

In such inspirational writing there isn’t just one set genre that can be used to describe the diversity within. I hear cries of ‘SCI FI, YOU KNOW IT’S SCI FI, SCI FI, SCI FI, SCI FI…’ Well this would be where you’re wrong. The utter genius and creativity within her writing suggests many intricate nuances that combine to make such yummy creativity emerge. Yes, some of her stories are set in the future but from my personal experience alone there has been thrillers, dystopian futures, dark horror and more evident in the Worlds she creates. She has such a mastery of language that really helps you to picture the story as if it were playing out in front of you. I can promise you are drawn into these Worlds and you will struggle to put her novel down until you have read the entire thing. Please, check out her blog with the link above, I can promise you won’t be disappointed. You can also find the synopsis for her novel here. As some will notice, it is being published by the epic Dagda Publishing. I have mentioned them a lot in previous posts too so please take a look at their catalogue of books to get even more literary goodies to wet your appetite. Neither will disappoint 🙂

And now on to my flash fiction. Today I decided to write a flash fiction that is set in one of the Worlds from my novel. I know this won’t make much sense as my novel isn’t out (yet 😉 ) but hopefully it will be understandable and enjoyable at the same time. Please enjoy 🙂

Gifted

Aria took a deep and steadying breath. She should be used to this by now but by the Lady it still made her skin crawl. She had too much flesh on show to begin with but this had never seemed to bother any but her. She adjusted her bard ‘robes’ as the great silver doors to the throne room opened. The fact they were referred to as robes was laughable; there were thin slivers of silver scales covering her nipples and very little else with almost translucent silver lace descending from her silver belt. Honestly, it would make little difference if they entered naked. Now Aria sighed. She was surrounded by her sister bards but only a few of them in the group were true seers and unfortunately Aria was the most powerful; this could be both a gift and a curse. She knew things about the others that she was not sure that even they knew.

The sultry music began and all started to sway towards the throne, their hips swinging in time to the seductive beat. Each had determination in their eye as one could be picked to marry the crown prince and have dominion over all the rest. It was not really a choice, more what was expected of you in this life. She almost wanted to laugh; of all the roles that Fate could have tasked her with within the realm of Death why did it have to be that of a Seer? Aria looked up to see piercing chocolate eyes staring at her. The King was sat atop the silver gem encrusted throne, a handsome man himself with only a few silver hairs adorning his ebony beauty but he was nothing compared to the prince. He had the softest rose coloured lips in creation, soft brown hair that looked tousled by the fragrant wind of Ollania, a strong chiselled nose and an intelligence in his eyes that called to the deepest part of her being. She could feel her heart begin to accelerate to almost painful levels and shockingly the large decadent hall, aristocratic revellers and even the King disappeared. Only she and the prince remained. She felt that he was looking deep into her soul to discover all of her secrets but she would willingly tell him them all for just one smile from his soft lips. Eventually however even he disappeared and Aria realised she was having a vision.

A silver haze overtook her sight and Aria was dumbfounded at the timing of this particular vision. Perhaps the prince had triggered it? Clarity was soon to appear however as the haze cleared to reveal the temple of the seers, her home since she was a small child, however everything remained in the black, white and shades of grey instead of the multifaceted hues she was used to. An older version of herself was stood in the centre of the spacious marble hall arguing with the prince, only now he wore the crown of the King and there seemed to be an evil blood red aura that shone in the monotone of his surroundings. Finally the prince withdrew a shining silver dagger and plunged it into the older Aria again and again. There had been no sound to begin with but the scream the older Aria emitted echoed throughout the temple and through her own soul. She knew that there were tears streaming along her cheeks at the sight of her own Death and she longed to look away but her vision was drawn to a presence in the corner. Stood there was a beautiful woman that looked hauntingly like the Lady, the creator of Aria’s universe. Alethea, the Angel of Death, had created their Universe after she Fell and had needed to bring those humans affected by her fall to a sanctuary. How did this woman look like her? She even had the beautiful ebony wings and the scythe. She too seemed frozen as if she were watching the scene in a vision, crystal tears streaming over her ivory skin, but as she did not seem to see Aria then she must be seeing it as a past vision far into Aria’s future. What could this mean?

Gradually the scene receded from her sight and she found herself back in the middle of the bards, her eyes still locked to those of the prince. More crystalline tears fell over her soft skin. She now knew that this man, this prince with so much authority, was both her salvation and her damnation and she knew there was not a thing she could do about it…

Yahoo I Have a Deadline

Afternoon dear bloggers 🙂 Just a mini post today 🙂

I know what you’re thinking from the title of the post; yep she must be crazy. Won’t a deadline just add to the stress? Strangely yes and no. A deadline will spur me to work on my novel and try to perfect it to the best of my abilities. Have you never found focus in dwindling time? I’m so excited 🙂 Those who may read my blog will notice I haven’t posted anything in a long time. This is due to the fact that my baby girl is now three months old. She’s the most beautiful and perfect little girl you will ever see but my gosh it takes some energy looking after her 🙂 So, I haven’t had much time at all to do any writing. However, I’ve recently had dialogue with my editor who wants my novel by the end of May 🙂 So I have a month and a half to perfect it 🙂 Yay, somehow I feel more focused, more determined and so happy my writing is finally going somewhere 🙂

As to my novel the rewrite is going well. My main male character is now far more manly and powerful. The story flows far more smoothly and the characters now make more sense. Among the major changes I have also made a few minor ones. My main character was called Alyssa. I picked this name years ago before I had even met my boyfriend but since he picked the name Alyssia for our beautiful girl I couldn’t help but change it in my novel to Alyssia too. It’s a beautiful name and I hope in some small way a nice dedication to my firstborn. I really hope my editor will like my novel. I’m almost bursting with happiness 🙂

Anyhoo, back to the writing I go 🙂 I hope you’ve all had a stellar weekend 🙂

All Hail the New Flesh by Dagda Publishing

 Where to even begin with this book? As previously mentioned this is the new anthology from the epic Dagda Publishers. It contains within thirteen futuristic tales of dystopian Worlds and technology gone mad; and my God it’s a cavalcade of creative goodness that has your mind soaring from a mix of imaginative stories and language so delectable you feel full just from the one reading.

I had initially intended to speak of only one or two of the stories within but I now know that is a distinct impossibility. Many of the stories called out to me in various ways that has my mind returning to each tale again and again. You may think I am going overboard with my description but believe me, pick up a copy, you’ll be in my mind set before you know it.

I must begin with the story from one of my best friends and my writing hero. Isaac Heights by J S Collyer is such a fantastical journey of science and emotion that it’s hard to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. A perfect image of a young moralistic Dr, Jasper, struggling to establish himself in a mental institute for androids is painted before your eyes in such a way that you can almost physically see the moral dilemmas he finds himself in. In retrospect, his almost fateful meeting with one of the inmates perhaps was not best for his career. Would his morals be tested? Would his belief in equality be heard? Would the ultimate freedom for all be achieved? One aspect of this story I loved was that the language use, while detailed, didn’t serve to alienate the reader from the subject matter; the language was so well written that alienation from the narrative was in no way a possibility. If I take, for example, this description ‘She was one of the most early models before they’d refined the iris spectrum. Instead of the delicate sky-blue of the newer makes he’d worked with at college, her eyes were the colour of burnished bronze,’ how wonderful is that combination of language? You have the cold description of models and spectrums expertly meshed with the almost reverent description of colours. In turn, the story flows in such a creative way that you find yourself ensconced in the narrative and eager to find out the climax; and I can promise you in that you won’t be disappointed either. This is a wonderful story of technology, suffering, conflict and perhaps, in the end, misplaced trust.

I now have to move onto the exceptionally written At the End of the World, My Daughter Wept Metal by Eric Robert Nolan. Now first off, how great is that title? I am absolutely in love with concepts of literature that sound to be idealistic but turn out to be a wonderful description of the narrative itself. It reminds me greatly of the novel that the film Blade Runner was based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, another brilliant title. But sojourn into the random aside, I have to say this story perfectly establishes for you the struggles of genius when striving to cure the World of all ills. The protagonist represents said genius in the form of Jacob Farmer, a scientist determined to advance past his research into artificial hearts to create something that would cause Human kind to heal itself of all ills. Little did he know that essentially he was catalyst to a certain type of apocalypse… but I won’t give up any spoilers here. I strongly suggest that you pick up a copy as there are twists and turns here to fully engulf you and leave you literately sated afterwards. The language use here is also exceptional; for example look at the description the protagonist uses for himself ‘The point is this – I created thinking organs. I have a genius for mechanics that rival’s Strasburg’s own. (I am not a modest man.)’ How fabulous is that? The personality of Jacob really shines here through expert language use, from his belief in his abilities to the knowledge that one day he would do something great, all portrayed in a few sentences. The effects of this wonderful narrative are one of a well written story filled with achievement, love and inevitably sadness.

My third choice is one of the stories that really had an effect on me; one of emotion and I will admit, almost a kind of fear. Taking direction by Samuel Barker is an effectual tale of loneliness, begrudging friendship and reliance on technology that borders on the extreme. We are introduced to the protagonist Ben, in his dark grey World of loneliness, and Derek his almost absent minded neighbour and occasional friend. He goes over to Derek’s house sometimes so that they can share coffee and Derek can talk of some of his inventions; at the moment he is intent on finishing a highly intellectual sat nav like device. They both make believe that Ben understands what he talks of as it relieves Derek of some of his loneliness too. What would happen if one was so lonely they were extremely susceptible to any power of persuasion? What follows is a tail of loss, obsession and at moments we are led to believe that there are aspects of the occult. Such wonderfully descriptive language is used that I am certain it will have individual effects on each and every reader; I personally was chilled after the climax, that kind of I-just-watched-a-horror-movie chilled but it may be different for other readers. I loved this descriptive section ‘”Ben.” I heard it again, so familiar, like a sheep’s bleat. But I was awake. I felt my body going rigid. Cold sweat formed under my arms… “Ben.” My heart seized up. It was Derek’s voice and it wasn’t outside; it was in the room, somewhere to my right. Close.’ Placed where it is in the narrative this served to begin that aforementioned fearful feeling and had my mind racing at the possibilities of the ending. What followed was highly intuitive, extremely creative and very thought provoking; a great story.

I have to now move onto the wonderfully written The Best Medicine by Jessica B. Bell. Again I will admit that this too started to provoke in me that same fearful feeling but this was quickly overridden by my sense of enjoyment at the well thought out story, brilliant language use and, much as the previous mentioned tales, fantastic character development. What would the World be like if it were ravaged by a disease so virulent that even loved ones became horrendously deformed, mindless enemies? Where would the search for a cure lead? This story expertly delves into the recesses of such a narrative that even from the beginning you are presented with a World left with no hope but only desperation and the will to survive. I felt that in a way I really connected with the story as the protagonist is a mother Hell bent on protecting her daughter at all costs. Having recently become a mother myself, and having the rampant imagination necessary for the survival of us writers, I could really project myself into this narrative and could easily feel the emotions that character felt as if they were my own. The part of the text that really stuck with me was ‘”Shhh!” Judy hushed her, holding a hand firmly over Helena’s mouth. The older woman’s heart was trembling in her chest, and her mouth was dry and cottony. She licked her lips and whispered: “We’ve got to get out of this house.”‘ This was just the beginning of some excellent descriptive language and I myself could feel the panic rising in me as if it were tangible. It only goes on to get better and you are ultimately left feeling satisfied with the excellent ending; one that presents sadness, loss and a twist so well written you are actually left smiling.

And lastly I want to mention the excellent Retrograde written by Seppo Kukri. This is one narrative that quite expertly melted my brain through twists, turns and language use so good you follow the story without being aware that you do; your brain is still five pages behind trying to gather up all the different detail. Now I can’t say much about this story in all without giving too much away. You are presented with a forgetful protagonist that knows he has to do something important, it’s why he is on the train, but he can’t remember what. You are eventually treat to his past and this part does actually flow so well it’s like water, even though there is literally a narrative twist on each page. A military operation left him as the sole survivor, having witnessed the gruesome deaths of his colleagues and experiencing a madness so deep no one believed him. A botched experiment on the operation had far reaching consequences that would last the rest of his life. You read and you start to think that perhaps the author missed something as a certain integral detail was different two pages before but they haven’t; this is an expertly written piece designed to leave your mind reeling while efficiently describing the unstable state the protagonist is in. I can’t even tell you much about the language without giving spoilers away. Just trust this is an exceptional piece.

Sorry for going on so long, I do tend to ramble a bit, but I just had so much to say about this wonderful book; and hopefully in a coherent manner. I have attempted to leave major plot points out while telling you of the stories so you can find out yourself about the brilliance of these new authors and what they can contribute to the literary World. Buy this book, you won’t be disappointed 🙂

And yes I too am published in here but it’s bad taste to write about my own work, especially when the genius of these above authors, not to mention the others in the anthology, is so plain to see 🙂

Thank you 🙂

Where Am I? An Update and a Smile Go a Long Way

Good evening lovely readers 🙂

Right about now seemed like a good time to flesh out where I am with my writing. So many exciting things are happening at the moment that it felt right to post about it. As mentioned in the previous post, the new anthology for Dagda Publishing is available from Amazon. All Hail the New Flesh is a collection of thirteen futuristic stories with a dystopian feel and a general theme of ‘technology gone mad.’ In this I have been lucky enough to have my short story Requiem chosen for publication; it’s a great honour and has been wonderful fuel for my creative fire. As I got overexcited and bought the kindle version this morning, a full review will be posted shortly 🙂

Next some wonderful personal news. Today I have had confirmation that I can get my novel professionally edited. The wonderful people at Dagda Publishing have agreed to edit my draft so I have the perfect version to send to publishers. I cannot begin to say how much I appreciate this as they are very busy with bringing out their fabulous novels and anthologies. I would in turn try to submit my novel to Dagda but I’m a self proclaimed fantasy nut through and through; give me sword and sorcery any day 🙂

And now to the blog news. I have to say that I do have a lot of rough copies of writing on here that I have stored for future use such as my novel idea Frozen. I do fully intend to carry on with this initial idea but as the paragraph above states I am concentrating on my original novel I Cast Magic Into the Darkness and intend to take this as far as I can. So in the meantime I hope you enjoy any posts I put on here in the future and for now take them as they are 🙂 Keep an eye out for improvements in the future.

And lastly I have a new #FlashForFriday in the creating which will be posted on here on Friday. It’s in reply to a flash fiction challenge my friend told me about where you have to rewrite a fairy tale and include a sub genre that wasn’t in the original. I am so excited in writing this and can’t wait for you to see what I have done. I hope you like it 🙂

Thank you 🙂

New Creative Yumminess

Good evening lovely readers 🙂

First I would like to apologise as I am currently typing this one-handed. My baby girl is going through a phase of refusing to be put down. So please forgive me if there are any typos 🙂

Next I am so excited to say that the new anthology from the epic Dagda Publishers is out tomorrow. That’s right, the 25th of January. All Hail the New Flesh is a collection of thirteen futuristic short stories with the general theme of ‘technology gone mad.’ I am so thrilled to say that my best friend and writing hero Jex has had one of her short stories accepted for publication. Isaac Heights is a thrilling bout of creativity about a newly qualified doctor trying to make it in a psychiatric hospital for androids. I myself have also been lucky enough to have my short story Requiem accepted for publication. The story follows my character Ana and her fight against the infestation of ‘Bots,’ a race of self-righteous machines bent on destroying Humanity. I can already tell you that you need to pick up a copy of this; it’s a must read and you may start liking some new authors along the way. A full review will be posted as soon as I have the book to read 🙂

Have you had a stab at flash fiction? As some of you may know I have had a couple of attempts so far entitled #FlashForFriday but now I have come across an exciting challenge that I am eager to write 🙂 This Flash Fiction Challenge requires you to rewrite a fairy tale but the twist is you must add a sub genre not originally contained within the story. The website gives you options of said genre and I hope I get sword and sorcery with my random number generator. Can you see why I’m excited? It will be a fine chance for me to flex my fantastical muscle 😉 The result of this challenge will be posted on here next Friday 🙂

I’ll leave you now as I really must get the little one to bed but I will finish off by saying check out the Dagda Publishing website. They’ve started a new feature on flash fiction and Jex’s ‘Caffeine Low’ is their first pick. It’s a great read 🙂

Thank you 🙂