There has been some interesting feedback on one of my facebook posts recently. The question I posed was ‘What would you do if you could go back in time and change one thing?’ and the comments that it received are quite diverse, sometimes personal and rather sad. There were a number that fitted the classic […]
Romance in Science Fiction
Romance in Science Fiction is quite a polarising topic, much like marmite. There is something about this particular genre that makes authors tend to shy away from overplaying the romantic angle. Although that’s not to say all SciFi avoids it, maybe it’s just the stuff that I’ve read (and please feel free to put me […]
Reavers
Reavers were something I developed as a way to explore the darker side of time; what happens at the end of your timeline. Death is not an easy subject to deal with, no one likes to see a character die – except for George RR Martin who seems to take incredible pleasure in offing his […]
Evil Villain Motivation (EVM)
I have come to a point in book two that I wasn’t expecting – my EVM is out of whack. Up until now, the story had been flowing quite nicely, everything was joining up as it should, and there were no serious deviations from the plan. Then along comes this really cool sub-plot that took […]
The Book of Deadly Names and the Alcázar of Seville
I first heard about the ‘Book of Deadly Names,’ when I was collecting research for another project (see my blog back in 2010). Back then I was looking for something old and demonic and the story of an old manuscript that documented some of the most deadly was too good a gift to miss. Allegedly […]
Daughter of lost time – Caitlin’s Story
So I’ve decided to write a short story for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which runs through November and requires me to write at least 15K words in 30 days. This will be the first time I have attempted to write something so quickly and I’m rather looking forward to the challenge. I have decided […]
Book 2 – The crafting begins
There is something daunting about finishing the first draft. For me, it’s the possibly the easiest part of the work, maybe because I’m following my outline (or not) and basically letting the story go where it will. That’s the best way I have found to get the through it. I’m not saying it’s by any […]
The name of the second book
So with the first book published and picking up five-star reviews and great feedback, I can now settle down and get on with writing the second. It’s an interesting challenge when you revisit the chapter plan that you slaved over a year ago. Some ideas, that made total sense back then, just don’t fit with […]
The End of Times – Eschatology
The second book is progressing well. Without giving too much away I have found myself looking into the myths and beliefs about the end of the world. The end of times is an anathema to the Oblivion Order after all their organisation is founded on the avoidance of Armageddon. The end times, or end of days, is captured in the […]
Newton, Apples and the Memoirs of Stukeley
I saw a comment on Amazon.com the other day; a reader had not enjoyed my reference to Newton and the apocryphal apple incident. It is a passing remark that the Colonel makes during a drunken evening: They both drank then to ‘an interesting death’ and sank into quiet contemplation of their own mortality and those they had […]