This time I'm at Melanie Tushmore's blog. Why not pop over there, and find out what we were chatting about?

And we broke the $600 barrier. Details here.

Just a week to go until the main launch, and in the meantime, US folk can win a copy of A Series of Ordinary Adventures at Stumbling Over Chaos here.

Shortly after jhall1 linked me to this xkcd cartoon, I spotted that the pre-launch Kickstarter for A Series of Ordinary Adventures was fully funded. So if you liked the idea, but were hesitant about whether you'd really get your goodies, worry no more. Plus there's the possibility of bonus rewards if the project really gets going over the final 23 hours.

Link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/candlemarkandgleam/print-release-of-a-series-of-ordinary-adventures

Not long to the actual release either. It's all very exciting.

As many audiobooks as anything again this time...

( Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee )


( Willing Flesh by J.S. Cook )


( A Conspiracy of Violence by Susanna Gregory )


( Hidden by Katy Gardner )

A Series of Ordinary Adventures got reviewed on Insatiable Booksluts and greengeekgirl gave it 4.5/5.

Read what she thought of it in more detail here. I'm dead chuffed.

elin_gregory interviewed me over at her other blog today. Read what we chatted about and see more of my photos over there.

I really am all over the internet this week. Today I'm visiting Kay Berrisford. Go over there and say hello.

The final story in A Series of Ordinary Adventures is one that always makes me sniffle (in a happy way) when I reread it. 'The Footballer's Mistress' is set in an old Derbyshire mill much like one in the village where I grew up.

( Read on... )

Over to you. What ghost stories do you have to tell me? Any interesting building conversions near you that people need to know about?



Link to complete story list
Link to the Kickstarter page for the book's launch

First off I've been interviewed to day by the lovely charliecochrane. Go over there and find out what we were talking about.

Secondly, in searching out inspiring photos to help me complete my story for Lashings of Sauce, I came across this blog post about Ephesus. It brings back a lot of memories, and makes me keener than ever to visit again.

Continuing a run through of the stories in my upcoming collection, 'Seven for the Devil' is the second of my two novellas, and tells of Michael the double bass player in the pschobilly-tinged band, Cynical Waste. I wrote a lot of the story for a picowrimo challenge month, so some readers may have seen various zero draft extracts already.

( Read on... )

I haven't posted an excerpt for a few days, so here's one from the very beginning of the story: ( under here... )

Over to you. Do you like stories with musician heroes (I suspect there are a few readers here who do)? How do you feel about stories grounded in very definite locations? What makes a setting come alive for you?


Link to complete story list
Link to the Kickstarter page for the book's launch

It looks like I'm going to be all over the internet this week.

Firstly, I've got Part Two of my post on Female Friendships in Fiction at Women and Words here.

Secondly I've been slightly lax in promoting the Candlemark and Gleam giveaway for A Series of Ordinary Adventures on Goodreads here. US only for that one, but I may have other stuff planned for non-US folks later.

'Charmed by Prince Charming' is possibly the closest to real-world out of all the stories in my collection. It started out as a story for a British-themed anthology, and then rather outgrew the target word count. It's also the closest I come in this collection to a conventional romance plot, although the characters and their relationship are some way from conventional.

( Read on... )

Over to you. Shakespeare or fairy stories? Do you like one better than the other, or do you want both in your world?

Link to complete story list
Link to the Kickstarter page for the book's launch

Candlemark and Gleam, on my behalf (me not being based in the US for one thing), are using Kickstarter to generate interest in preorders for A Series of Ordinary Adventures, but maybe I've been assuming too much knowledge on other people's behalfs.

Kickstarter is a means of crowdsourcing: finding backers for a creative project over the internet, whether that's something small like the upfront money to make a book's first printrun less hasslesome, or something huge like an all day event. Payments are arranged through Amazon, but no money changes hands until after the project's deadline, and only then if a project has reached its funding target.

And the fun part is that funding a project can get you extra rewards on top of the project's main goal. So if you sponsor a book launch, not only can you buy the book with your pledge, but you can also get cool additional tie-in goodies based on the amount of your pledge (otherwise known as tiered rewards).

As well as the Kickstarter for the printrun of A Series of Ordinary Adventures (at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/candlemarkandgleam/print-release-of-a-series-of-ordinary-adventures), the other cool project you need to go look at is Angela Korra'ti's project to rerelease her fab novel Faerie Blood, which sadly went out of print when the publisher folded and to release for the first time the sequel Bone Walker. That project has reached its initial funding goal, but I think a lot of people reading here would like the books, and we're promised extra rewards if the project reaches new goals before its deadline.

So, go and explore. There are lots of other projects needing backing over there too.

Ask me stuff! Tell me about other cool projects I need to spread the word about!

Romance doesn't die after characters pass a particular age. Mr Singh and Mrs Ball are two passengers on a cruise holiday for the more mature traveller, and their story is a gentle exploration of class-snobbery, the insecurity that often lies behind such attitudes, and Greek Mythology.

( Read more... )

Over to you. Do you like reading stories about less likely romances? Do you have a yearning for more unusual settings? I have at least one more story planned that's set around an archaeological tourist attraction.

Link to complete story list
Link to the Kickstarter page for the book's launch

The first of the novellas in my collection, 'The Woman Who Hatched a Fairy’s Egg' is set in and around the small Yorkshire town of Hebden Bridge. Famous in past centuries for weaving and the wool trade, it's now known for writers, artists and lesbians. The writers were definitely there when I was at school in Sheffield, and the artists and lesbians were well established a few years later when I stayed overnight for a job interview.

( Read on... )

( And now an excerpt... )

Over to you. Some friends of mine are hoping to move to Hebden Bridge next year, and naturally I'm planning to visit once they're settled in. Does anyone have any tips for them or me about the local area? Is there anything you'd like to ask me about the story?

Link to complete story list
Link to the Kickstarter page for the book's launch

Moving on with my series of stories behind the stories, I'd like to tell you about 'Breaking the Silence'. I'm quite an active member of the Old Students Association for the school I attended from the ages of eight to eighteen, and I know the old buildings very well, including some that were mostly out of bounds to pupils. Such as the attics...

( Read on... )

Over to you. Do you attend school reunions? Do you have any dark school stories to share? Is there anything you want to ask me?

Link to complete story list
Link to the Kickstarter page for the book's launch

Kicking off a series of posts on the stories behind my stories, I present 'Hawks and Dragon'. This story was originally inspired by watching falconers at work outside an office complex, flying Harris Hawks to deter the flocks of pigeons and seagulls that roosted anywhere they could and raided the bins for food.

( Read on... )

Over to you. What fun facts can you tell me about hawks, dragons, or castles? Do you have any questions for me about the story?

Link to complete story list
Link to the Kickstarter page for the book's launch

Coming up over the next few days, I'm planning a series of posts about each of my short stories in turn. But first, here's the complete list of titles. Feel free to ask me about any of them.

Hawks and Dragon
Breaking the Silence
The Woman Who Hatched a Fairy’s Egg
Mr Singh Confronts the Minotaur
Charmed by Prince Charming
Seven for the Devil
The Footballer’s Mistress

And it's still all happening over at Kickstarter: link

At last, just in time to coincide with last night's LJ Outage, my short story collection is available for prerelease ordering via Kickstarter here.

More details via Candlemark and Gleam here, and also later on today right here, once I'm awake.

The condensed version of my Eastercon report is now up over there.