Wednesday 13th February, 2019

My Facebook and Twitter competitions have closed and winners have been declared. In fact, things got posted off today, as promised. I don’t know how I managed it but we did it!

Anyway, you can still order paperbacks from Amazon and get the ebooks from them or direct from Fox Spirit books (which I’m linking here):

  1. 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf [External Link]
  2. A Pack Of Lies [External Link]
  3. Fool If You Think It’s Over [External Link]

Plumtree Passage 3 has arrived for non-Patreon readers and can be found on the index page ([External Link]) and I’ve written Passage 6, which will go live for Patreon backers next Monday.

25 Ways [Not] To Kill A Vampire has limped a little bit further and the Snow Child noodling has remained silent since the last mention.

I think that covers everything I needed to update?

Wednesday 6th February, 2019

People who desirous of a hard copy of all three of the Elkie books could get their fix if they join in some fun on Facebook and Twitter. I have details here, which will give you links to hop in on the competition on your social medium of choice (as long as it’s one of those two). The competition closes on Saturday, which is a bit like saying it will run for the next three eras where social media is concerned but gives you plenty of time to join in.

If you want e-copies, don’t forget that the lovely Auntie Fox (Adele Wearing) and her feral team have been working through the Fox Spirit catalogue and making things available direct from the publisher. The Elkie trilogy direct links are as follows:

  1. 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf [External Link]
  2. A Pack Of Lies [External Link]
  3. Fool If You Think It’s Over [External Link]

Over on to Plumtree, passage 5 went live for my backers on Monday. Passage 3 will turn up for non-Patreon on the index page ([External Link]) next Monday.

25 Ways [Not] To Kill A Vampire is exactly 50% through the projected length (I have not killed 12 and a half vampires, or something) and it’s now 53,000 words long. It’s not coming out quite as I intended when I sat down to it first with things I was hoping to keep hidden coming out straight away. If it survives, once I’ve done the first draft, it may need some severe editing.

And I have a third WIP in which I am currentlyplaying with the time loop concept. Still technically a fantasy novella – or it will be if / when it’s done – but it’s got a distinct Groundhog Day idea behind it. Or has it? Etc. (Because, for some reason, I like to think I’m not obvious and am capable of subtlety.) Working title is “Goodbye, Snow Child”, so expect things to get tagged up appropriately around here!

Wednesday 30th January, 2019

Hey up!

Welcome to a week with Plumtree, Elkie, Future Fire and competition updates. Let’s start with all the things that intersect with my publisher Fox Spirit [External Link], for theming purposes.

The lovely Auntie Fox (Adele Wearing) and her feral team have been going ebook independent, which mean they’re selling ebooks direct, so anyone who has objections to Amazon can purchase without compromising themselves. They’re working through the catalogue so not everything is available, yet, but Elkie has made it! I’ve updated the published announcements for each of them but here are the direct links for the trilogy to you an extra click:

  1. 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf [External Link]
  2. A Pack Of Lies [External Link]
  3. Fool If You Think It’s Over [External Link]

Fool isn’t available as an ebook on Amazon (yet) so if you’re after an electronic fix of that one, you need to go straight to Auntie Fox!

For those who like hardcopies, I will be giving away two complete sets of the trilogy. These are “old” in that they don’t have my M-for-Mysterious rebrand on them (nor do the ebooks, because that redo will come later this year) but they are still deserving of an adoptive home. After a clever suggestion from Amber Fox, this will involve asking for your suggestions on how to kill werewolves – with one competition on Facebook and one on Twitter. I will be starting them Sunday (3rd) to run until end of Saturday (9th), to post things outh a fortnight today (13th). They will be UK & Europe only because of postage issues. Sorry to anyone further away.

Competitions are on topic because The Future Fire [External Link] is also running a competition for people to win a copy of HayleyStone’s weird west novel, Make Me No Grave. It involves commenting with some micro-fiction or poetry on the related blog post [External Link] but you can also play around on Twiter getting your micro-fiction right, if you so wish. You can find your way onto the relevant Twitter thread from here:

SOOOOOOOOOO… who wants to play a writing game?— Djibril al-AYAD (@thefuturefire) January 26, 2019

And on to Plumtree, currently the most visible of my projects. Non-Patreon-backers can read the prologue, first passage, second passage and epilogue and can get to them from the index page here: [External Link]. Backers will be getting passage 5 on Monday – after I’ve written it.

I’ll save updates on other projects for another week, when I may otherwise have less to tell you. See you soon!

Wednesday 23rd January, 2019

Hey folks! I have moved and, although I still have a few boxes to unpack, I’m back to having the brain-space to write. This now includes updating the web-site. Apologies for the month of silence but you must be used to me being a terrible correspondent by now.

ASIDE: Yes, this does mean we’re without a “what I learned from last year / what I intend to do next year” post. I’m skipping a year because I was without t’Internet when I should have written it.

In the process of moving, I discovered that I have two complete sets of the Elkie trilogy (not my very own author copies, just copies I have for events) and an almost complete set of the Fox Spirit [External Link] Fox Pockets. I have mentioned on social media the possibility of giving these away when I’m more organised. So, expect me to have rules for at least the Elkie giveaway set up by next week. I shall probably run a giveaway on Facebook and one on Twitter.

The Fox Pockets will wait until I’ve sorted out the complete set, because giving you a set with some missing would just be mean, right?

The 25 Ways [Not] To Be A Vampire limps on. I’m now about 50,000 words in, I more-or-less know how everything works out and where I need to go to do it – and I’m doubting whether it was a good idea to start in the first place, given no-one will ever read it or, if they do, like it. So, business as usual for a writer!

I also have another idea that would quite like to be written, please, so I may detour slightly or try juggling three WIPs at once.

And on Plumtree, non-backers can read the prologue, first passage and epilogue and can get to them from the index page here: [External Link]. Passage 2 should become available to everyone on Monday and I’ll update the index page at some point to point to that, too. Backers are currently up to passage 4 – and they have a vote to decide (some of) what I write for passage 5.

Pretty sure that’s everythig up-to-date… See you in a week!

Wednesday 28th February, 2018

I have somehow managed to avoid posting for a month. I’m not quite sure how I managed that. OK, I am. There have been a number of Tyranny [External Link] reruns.

Anyway, The Knight’s Daughter (accepted by The Other Side Books [External Link]), continues to be on track for a release in March. Towards the end of, I suspect, but I shall keep you posted. If you want a taster of what it’s all about, I have a page with the opening paragraphs of my Greenwood-themed novellas.

(The other two remain in editorial / I-ought-to-redraft-that-at-some-point limbo.)

And the collection of Alex & Conn stories (formally accepted by Fox Spirit Books [External Link] back in November) is on track to be out for or in October. So, if you want to know something about that, you can read the first chapter of the related novel 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf (same world, some of the same characters) and/or you can read the story that’s likely to be third in the running order.

As you may have realised, my current main WIP is also in the Fur-Skins world and I’ve now written two of the 25 Ways [Not] To Kill A Vampire and am working on number three.

In Under Smoke City [External Link] news, passage 10 came out on Monday.

Wednesday 17th January, 2018

Well, here we are another week on. And the times they are a-changin’. Or something.

Right. My first order of business is to shout about this year’s Sword & Sourcery – my club will once more be hosting a women’s HEMA event in September, this time for a whole weekend. Please do look it up if you’ve ever given any thought to waving a sword and you identify as a woman. You can find the Facebook event page here: [External Link]

In writing news, I’ve shuffled Feintheart down the list of things to do – I suppose it’s technically abandoned but I may get back to it at some point – so I can listen to May Greywolf – a name that might be familiar to anyone who has read the later two Elkie books. I blame it on the fact that she kept me awake into the wee hours a couple of nights ago. We’re only a little way into the first chapter and the working title is “25 Ways To Kill A Vampire” as of this morning because I’m nothing if not useless at naming things.

On which note, don’t forget that I have an anthology of Alex & Conn stories (short stories set in the Fur-Skins world but earlier on the timeline than Elkie’s story) coming out later this year from Fox Spirit Books [External Link]. While I mention that, I may as well also post a reminder that the Other Side Books [External Link] will also be publishing some of my work – the first of the Greenwood novellas – later this year, too. Dates when I have them.

Finally, passage 7 of Under Smoke City [External Link] came out on Monday just gone and the first of the apochryphal stories comes out next Monday. (I got my dates screwed up a bit last week by forgetting to add 7 on.)

All caught up? Good. See you next week!

Wednesday 27th December, 2017

So I blinked, overslept a little bit and woke up to find out it was time for the end of the year post again. Don’t get me wrong, I was around for Christmas (Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it) but the last few weeks have been blurry, probably due to the long nights and not wanting to do anything but considering my own navel. I wish you all have a Happy New Year for Sunday night / Monday morning.

What I Learnt About Writing in 2017

Well, let’s get on with that annual tradition first inspired by Foxie (whose website is sadly no more). Here’s my stats for this year with last year for comparison:

  • Submissions = 7 (0, 2016)
  • Total pieces in circulation = 8 (8, 2016)
  • New pieces in circulation = 3 (2, 2016)
  • Rewrites = 1 (1, 2016)
  • Acceptances = 3 (1, 2016)
  • Published = 2 (3, 2016)

NOTE: These numbers do not include stories written for the website or published here. Attempts to rehome stories published here and elsewhere have been included.

This year’s submissions have been in three flavours. A couple of those items counted are actually submissions of long work A Fistful Of Feathers (first drafted in 2015) being submitted to potential agents. It’s not proving to be very successful, which suggests:

  1. It needs a rewrite,
  2. I should probably submit to more than a couple of people a year, and
  3. I should probably consider sending out something better.

More news on that next year!

Four of those items were requested of me. Well, sort of. The recently published Second Christmas Book of Ghosts from Michael S Collins (and his new ebook publishing company Other Side Books [External Link]) had a reprint of my story, The Girl From Yesterday. While he didn’t specifically ask for that story, he asked if I’d contribute a reprint and I sent along three stories for him to look at – including that one. The fourth incidence of a request was the collection of Alex & Conn stories – Auntie Fox / Adele Wearing of Fox Spirit Books [External Link] and I have previously discussed putting the short stories together and this year we started the process. Which also accounts for two of my acceptances.

The third acceptance, also by Michael S Collins, was for the more traditional unsolicited submission of The Knight’s Daughter to the Other Side Books. I first drafted that last year but finished off the basic version this year. I also sent the first drafts (something a writer should never do except, you know, when you do) of the other Greenwood novellas, because he might not be interested when it’s part of a linked theme. (These have not been accepted because not finished, not formally submitted, just drafts, etc.)

In wordage terms, I think we can say that my base line over the years I’ve been doing this is about 90,000 words. Some years I write more but I don’t think I’ve written less. This year I’m probably over 100,000, despite feeling like I’ve done nothing. My main problem in the last couple of years seems to be that I’ve had a few ideas that petered out and stopped or became a shorter work than I envisioned.

Writer, Editor, General Dogsbody

So, here are the plans are for the immediate future of my writing and editing career:

I am still looking for an agent (I may consider sitting on doorsteps and mewing woefully until someone opens a door). However, this takes time and concentration and I haven’t given it much of either as – as you all know – I have day job and dogs and actually want to spend some time writing. More news as and when, etc.

The folk-tale inspired works seems to have got out of my system but it may have left ideas for a return to the Fur-Skins world (but not with Alex, Conn or Elkie as a main character). However, that will have to wait until I’m done with the current WIP, which is only about a third of the way through.

And I’ve now taken on the challenge of having a public side project, which – weirdly enough – is currently being worked on more consistently than the main WIP. At the moment, said side project is Under Smoke City but, when I get to the end of that, I expect to pick up another side project to publish on my Patreon [External Link]. The key thing will be maintaining the trickle of work on the side project without letting it take over everything else.

Editing is unlikely to resurface any time soon.

The Ink Plan

Admitting to book numbers floundered last year as they were pitiful and unconnected to my donation to the NAS [External Link]. If / when I have numbers for 2017, I’ll add them together and do a post. However, I already broke things by getting a second tattoo. (Which does not prevent me getting a Journeymouse at some point, but the challenge element is kind of gone.)

What I Learnt About The Rest of Life

Dora and Rosie still fight over Dora not really being in charge. Dora is ageing disgracefully (Note to self: do not leave anything remotely edible or chew-able lying around) but will probably still be around after the nuclear holocaust along with the cockroaches. Finn’s paw cancer has only grown slowly this year but there’s now a second, very small lump on his other front leg. Diagnosis of this second lump would require a biopsy and I don’t think either of us can cope with that.

Work is going pretty well. They brought in David Stewart of Autism Success Formula [External Link] and the workplace is an even better place than it was before – for me, at least. Fencing is going pretty well and tai chi is as relaxing as ever.

Wednesday 13th December, 2017

Welp, I took last week off from the website and forgot to report a few things the week before, so, you know, really doing well at this correspondence thing!

OK, so unreported but with a post on the website, Fox Spirit Books [External Link] have officially agreed to publish the Alex and Conn short stories next year. This means the collection, provisionally entitled Dogs & Wolves, is in a holding pattern and we’re waiting to hear when the next window for landing will be. More news as and when.

Although I’ve not done a similar post for them, I’ve got a number of short stories being looked at by the Other Side Books [External Link], who have already accepted The Knight’s Daughter. Michael S Collins, the editor there, put together a Christmas collection of ghost stories last year that included my story Let’s Stay Together (one of those stories that never got a background post). Anyway, that story and a few others that haven’t been seen in a few years are being looked at for Other Side Books. More news, etc, etc.

Main WIP, Feintheart ceased for a bit and I’ve done my first keyboard tapping over it for about a fortnight today. It’s only a few hundred words but it’s definitely the “I Aten’t Dead” sign as there’s more bubbling away with it, I just need to get the words to come out. As it’s tai chi tomorrow evening and the work’s Christmas party Friday, it’ll be Saturday before we see much more.

On the plus side, Under Smoke City [External Link] rattles a long quite nicely. I work on it in chunks of various sizes when I’ve got a half hour or so and I’ve got ahead enough that I’ll be releasing an extra passage on New Year’s Say. (Passage 4 was released on Monday, Passage 5 will come out on Christmas Day, Passage 6 was ready a little sooner than expected.) If you have time, please do go have a read. Each passage is equivalent to a couple of pages of A4, so it’s not a long read. And it’s free! And let me know what you think. And back me if you think it’s a worthwhile project. And get involved if you want to have a say in where it goes.

Accepted: Dogs & Wolves

Fox Spirit Books [External Link] has officially agreed to rehome the Alex & Conn short stories as a collection – working title “Dogs & Wolves” – in October 2018. I’ll confirm an exact publishing date and title as soon as I have them!

As a reminder, the short stories are:

  1. Half-Breed (Short)
    Published: Twisted Tongue, Issue 11, 29/08/2008
    Podcast: Cossmass Infinities, Episode 5, 01/05/2010
  2. Heart’s Desire (Short)
    Published: Drops of Crimson, Volume 2, Issue 1, 01/11/2009
  3. Second Date (Short)
  4. Dog Handler (Short)
    Published: Title Goes Here, Issue 1.9, 02/09/2011
  5. The Grace of Wolves (Short)
  6. Three Swords (Short)
  7. The First Man (Short)
  8. The Last Kiss (Short)

Short story collection, horror / dark fantasy (in the Fur-Skins world)

Wednesday 5th July, 2017

I have been somewhat remiss in that I haven’t mentioned Edge Lit 6 and it’s coming up not this weekend coming but the weekend after. I shall be there (as member of the public and of the Fox Spirit [External Link] Skulk) and I’ve finally put up a link page for it.

Also coming up, and with a link page for significantly longer, I’ll be attending ChapterCon 2017 in Teddington (apparently that’s London) the last weekend in August. I also have some free reader tickets for that, so there’s a giveaway for those. I had originally posted that the giveaway would be for the whole of July but that’s a long time, so let’s make that until a fortnight today, eh? (Wednesday 19th July)

And, final update, option number one on last week’s list of projects won. Which I guess is why it came out number one on the list, although I didn’t actually think about it at the time. I am now about 4,000 words into a project that I have no idea how long it will turn out to be due to the weirdness of trying to capture a social media feed and make it sensible! As the working title is “Aurora”, I’ve now added that to the tags as it may come up a lot in the next few months to a year.