I was prompted by a competition to write this short story. It didn’t win anything – in retrospect, it’s probably not story competition material, and I’m no expert in writing short fiction – but it means a lot to me for two reasons. Firstly, it was one of the few…
I’m delighted to welcome Roz Morris to the blog again, this time in a video interview about her new book Not Quite Lost, Travels Without A Sense of Direction which is published Monday, 2nd October 2017. Roz is one of the most popular guests I’ve ever invited here, and I…
I recently had an enquiry from an author who has written a fantasy novel, and was looking for fantasy cover illustration ideas. Epic fantasy is one of those genres where the audience has rather specific expectations of the kind of cover the book will have, so you either need to…
With a number of life challenges demanding my time over recent months, I have singularly failed to make sufficient progress on the first draft of Wargaming Campaigns, the book I have been promising to Pen & Sword for the last… ooh… four years! (A repeat performance, indeed, of my first…
Jessica Bell is an award-winning author and writing and publishing coach. Having admired her incredibly diverse achievements from afar, I was delighted to finally meet Jessica at London Book Fair earlier this year. In addition to her novels and poetry collections, and her bestselling Writing in a Nutshell series, Jessica Bell has…
As promised, this is the follow-up to the previous gallery post about Damien Hirst’s Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable. This post features images from the second part, which is being held in the Palazzo Grassi on the Grand Canal. I want to acknowledge the lovely Joanna Penn who first…
A departure for me: a photo gallery based on an art exhibition. But what an exhibition! I confess I have never been a fan of Damien Hirst, but his monumental – and I mean that most sincerely – Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable is a truly breathtaking outing…
Jane Dixon-Smith, known as JD Smith in the writing world, inhabits a space that almost exactly mirrors my own. By day, she’s a highly successful graphic designer, specialising in book jacket design. But in her spare time, JD Smith puts her fingers on the keyboard and taps out splendid novels.…
Many thanks to fellow south coast author Clare Flynn for agreeing to participate in my Author Insights series. I first met Clare online via the Alliance of Independent Authors (see link top right above) and subsequently discovered she now lives not far away in lovely Eastbourne, a place I know…
I’m delighted to welcome Pippa DaCosta to my online home. I first met Pippa at the London Book Fair earlier this year, where I was struck by her huge energy, enthusiasm, intelligence and good humour—she may not be very tall, but she is a towering talent, as her USA Today successes…