The Making of ‘Weird and Peculiar Tales.’

This was originally intended as a Facebook post but for various reasons has ended up as a blog post instead. Here is a little of the background to how Weird and Peculiar Tales came about. I first ‘met’ my co-author Paula around six years ago through an online writing site. We seemed to be pretty …

Friends of Friends and Facebook

This week has been so slow with connections, I wasn’t sure if it was my keyboard, mouse, laptop or just because there’s an R in the month. I received an advice in the spam email that someone in Moscow had accessed my account. I reported it, but for a moment it did make me think …

Book locations

A book blogger mentioned recently about running a series on books set in specific locations. It started me thinking about my own books, and the times and places where they were set. ABC Destiny The date is indeterminate but it follows the story of Delphine, the illegitimate daughter of an English member of the aristocracy, …

Communicating

The problem with being an ‘unknown’ author is that normally you don’t have a large team behind you with an enormous marketing budget. It reminded me of my previous career in banking when the dedicated small business centres were initially being set up. Head of the first and largest in the country at the time- …

Trust

Something a little different this week. Although I wasn’t brought up with technology from an early age, I have learnt the importance of being cynical online. If it smells like a fish, and swims like a fish it’s a pretty good bet it is a fish. Of course, it could be a mermaid but that’s …

Book Fairs and Book Covers

Have you ever heard the expression ‘I don’t know anything about art, but I know what I like?’ I think it was originally intended as a mickey-take for someone who didn’t understand the Hoi Polloi snobbishness of ‘good art’ and was intended to make them feel foolish. Research showed that surprisingly the quote was published …

Books and Twitter and a little bit of everything

I know I said I might do a character interview but there’s been so much happening on the book and podcast front, I thought it better to delay it for a week. By coincidence, two items this week relate to books and lockdown, and two to foxes. In the Summer, Nikki Vallance did a series …

You should write a book

How many times have you heard that? After all, it’s easy, right? You put some words down on paper or laptop, find a publisher, or self-publish and sit back waiting for the royalties to roll in and make you rich. Easy, peasy. Er no, not quite. Anyone who has seriously tried to publish a book …

Handyman Wanted. Part 5

I know, I know, don’t nag me 😀 This was intended to be a one or two part short story but seems to have taken on a life of its own. If you’ve been following, you’ll know that a young handyman responded to a peculiar advert to utilise his skills and renovate a remote property. …

Handyman wanted. Part 4

Everyday life has a way of weaving itself into my stories. A friend bought and renovated a bar in Malta just in time for the virus lockdown. With sanity slowly resuming, attempt number two was made to launch the grand opening, only to discover the electrics kept cutting out although they had previously been no …