Category Archives: Books

Lost In Research

I really enjoy researching things. Not just because I like to have some basis in facts, even for fantasy novels, but because there are so many fascinating and interesting subjects. Recently, while researching medieval architecture, I somehow ended up reading about hunting birds. I’m not sure how I ended up on that topic, but that tends to happen while researching. Not that I’m complaining since the topics I discover always seem to be just as fascinating as the topics I start out researching.

After reading about hunting birds, I thought I’d better return to the task at hand and continue with my original research. It was going very well, at least for a time, and I worked my way through several articles until somehow or other, I once again went off track. Did you know that in 1457 a pig was charged with murder? I’m afraid to say she was found guilty and hung.

Once again, I closed down the articles I wasn’t meant to be reading and returned to the topic at hand. This time, I ended up wandering through articles about archery within minutes of finishing another few articles on architecture. At least this time I knew how I ended up there. It was the windows, the arrowslits. They were to blame.

Anyway, I finally managed to finish my research on medieval architecture, for now, and only went off track about half a dozen times. Well, maybe a few extra times than that. But who’s counting? I’m sure some of that information I stumbled on will be useful in the future.

Dragon Mage 1: Promise

Before I started writing ‘Promise’, I reread all the books of the Dragon Blood series and Dragon Blood Chronicles. It was nice to return to Amber, Kade and Ronan’s world and add more to their story. It was like visiting with old friends and catching up with them and discovering what they’ve been up to since we last saw each other. And since dragons are involved, I knew a lot would have happened.

As always, I had a lot of fun discovering where the story was going and what would happen to Amber. If you haven’t already, I suggest reading Dragon Blood Chronicles 2: Betrayed before beginning Dragon Mage 1: Promise. Events in that book have an impact on ‘Promise’.

The story picks up not long after the end of Dragon Blood 5: Mage with Ronan once more trying to draw Amber into his plans. Ones that he’s wanted to put into place for a very long time.

Dragon Mage 1: Promise, is now available if you want to learn what happens next for Amber, Kade and Ronan.

Cooking For Families With Allergies Update

In the time since Cooking For Families With Allergies first came out, Storm and I have continued to create and test new recipes. There have been some failures, some that took longer than others to create and ones we’re still trying to figure out. But there have been some successes as well and we’ve had plenty of fun discovering them. Not to mention enjoyed all the sampling needed to create and fine tune a recipe.

We have a list of recipes we’d like to recreate as gluten free recipes. Ones we’ve either had in a gluten form or ones we like the sound of. With how many recipes we have that we’d like to try and recreate, it should take us a few years to get through all of them. But in the meantime, we’re also likely to think of other ones we’d also like to try out. So, we have a lot more fun to look forward to in the kitchen with more recipes to test and enjoy. For now though, we’ve update the Cooking For Families With Allergies with the ones we’ve completed while we continue to work on other recipes.

Guardians Of The Round Table 6: Cursed Harp

We always try and research the ideas we come up with to see if they’re feasible. Sometimes, we need to get a little creative in how we go about researching those ideas. One of the scenes in Cursed Harp involved a character leaping from pillar to pillar in a dungeon, trying not to plummet into a pit below. To minimise spoilers, I won’t mention which character and I especially won’t mention whether or not they succeeded.

To create the pillar maze, we placed squares of white paper, cut to the correct size, strategically around our lounge room. Then proceeded to jump from paper to paper as we tried to cross the room. Somehow I managed not to fall to my death, but then I wasn’t under attack, and reached the other side of the room safely. I can’t say I was very graceful in my pillar jumping and there were a few close calls, but I did discover that it was possible to get from one side of the room to the other. And before you ask, no, we did not video my attempts because some things should never be shared and me flailing as I tried not to fall off the ‘pillars’ is certainly one of them.

If you want to discover who had to jump across a pillar maze and if they managed to successfully reach the other side, Guardians Of The Round Table 6: Cursed Harp is now available.

Assassins Of The Dead 4: King’s Request

I had no sooner finished the third book in the Assassins Of The Dead series, when I was making notes for the fourth book. Which seems to be a habit when it comes to this series. When I finally had the time to start writing it, I regularly wrote over three thousand words a day and even as many as five thousand as the story flowed onto the page. At times it felt like King’s Request wrote itself, surprising me with the direction it took. New characters formed, more of past events for old characters made themselves known and I couldn’t wait to discover where Meikah would end up next. And what choices she’d make.

Although the first draft was quick to write, what did take time was naming a bookshop. It took me half an hour. But I wanted to get it right. For now, the shop has barely been mentioned and seems to be of little importance. But who knows where the story will lead and what might or might not become important. I certainly don’t know and I’m discovering everything as I go along, enjoying learning what Meikah will do next.

King’s Request is now available on Amazon. I hope you enjoy discovering where Meikah’s adventures take her this time.

Plea Of The Damned 6: Forgive Me Dawson

When I finished writing the fifth book of the Plea Of The Damned series, I knew how book six would end. I could see the scene play out in my mind and wrote most of it then, having no idea how the characters would reach that moment.

It wasn’t until I sat down to write the beginning of the story I began to figure out how the characters reached that final scene. I wrote scene after scene, wanting to reach that moment when the two pieces could be joined. There were a few minor changes that needed to be made to the final scene and of course some details I didn’t know since I hadn’t written the proceeding scenes, but the majority of it remained the same. From the conversations to the actions, there was so much that didn’t need to be touched and that my editors also left as it was.

The Plea Of The Damned series has now reached its end and Jack’s story is done or, depending on how you wish to look at it, is just beginning. Plea Of The Damned 6: Forgive Me Dawson can be found at Amazon and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Flood

Occasionally I write short pieces, almost flash fiction in size. Not often though as ideas tend to flow and the story continues to grow. Here’s one of those smaller pieces, a small snapshot in time of a character with more than his fair share of responsibilities.

Dale hurried down the ladder from the loft he shared with his younger brother, drawn by the scent of freshly baked bread. The sound of rain was quieter in the kitchen as he helped himself to a slice of bread.

“You be careful out there.” His mother handed him a thick coat.

Dale shrugged into it, knowing it’d soon be soaked through. “I’ll bring the plough horse up to the house. We should have moved him yesterday, but I thought the rain was over.”

“We all did.”

Finishing the last of his food, Dale buttoned his coat before braving the pouring rain. Visibility was low and it was only that he’d been born and raised on this farm that he could find his way to the back paddock, head low as his eyes squinted through the rain. Stepping through the gate of the wooden fence he whistled, but the wind blew the sound back in his face along with the rain. When he called for the horse his words were also thrown back at him.

Walking forward, his boots sinking into mud, he scanned the paddock for the plough horse. He had to find him. Without him, they couldn’t plant their farm and have crops to sell at the market. Ever since his father had died he’d become the head of the house, trying to support the three of them. He had no idea what to do if he couldn’t find the horse.

A sound drew him onwards. He hurried towards the stream, each step a struggle. He heard it again, the frantic scream of a horse. Then he could see him, tangled in the branches of a tree caught in the swollen stream, which was now wide enough to be a river. The tree dragged at the horse and blood flowed from several gashes on the animal.

Dale plunged into the water. They needed the horse. Without him, they couldn’t survive. He tried to untangle the terrified creature. A log crashed into them, pushing them further into the stream. Dale grabbed at the mane, pulling the horse towards the bank, each step an effort.

Another log swept past, barely missing them and Dale stared at a man clinging to the log that turned and rolled in the churning water. The horse screamed and the man on the log went under.

Time seemed to stretch out, but it was only a few seconds. Dale’s cold fingers let go of the mane and he threw himself forward into the middle of the stream, swimming towards the man as he surfaced for a moment.

Dale reached the log, searching for the man, his fingers tangling in hair. He momentarily thought of the horse’s mane before he focused on rescuing the man. It seemed to take forever, but eventually they were stretched gasping on the bank, the rain still pouring.

“Thank you, how can I ever repay you?” The man held out his hand.

Dale took the offered hand. “Anyone would have done the same.” He paused to catch his breath. “Come back to the farmhouse. We’ll get warm and my mum can make us something hot to eat.”

They struggled to their feet and as they passed the part of the stream where the horse had once struggled, Dale felt his heart sink.

His heart was still sinking a month later as he hoed rows by hand, his brother following him with a basket of seeds. He stopped to run his arm across his forehead as his gaze travelled over the land still untouched. They’d be lucky to get a quarter of the paddock planted, and there’d be none for the market. Replacing the plough horse would be impossible.

Dale turned his head at his name being called. His mother frantically waved him over to the farmhouse. Beside her stood a stranger, a grey-haired man. Dale shared a look and a shrug with his brother before the two of them trudged to the farmhouse.

The man stepped forward, throwing his arms around Dale who froze, sending a questioning look to his beaming mother. “Ahh, sir?” He pulled away.

“Thank you. Thank you.” The man clapped him on the shoulder as his other hand drew out a bulging money pouch. “There’s no price I could put on my son’s life, but let me offer you a small token all the same.”

Dale took the pouch, the weight of it in his hand lightening the weight of his worries. He met the man’s gaze. “Thank you.”

Compulsive Directive

Once I’d written the start of Compulsive Directive, I had to set it aside for a bit to go on with other projects. When I returned to the story, eager to continue writing it, the words flowed and the bulk of it was written over two days. That first draft might have been quickly written, but coming up with a name was another problem altogether.

Sometime the name for a story comes with the idea. At other times, the name comes before the idea and I’m left wondering what kind of story would go with the title that came to mind. Other times I discover the title as I’m writing and on a few occasions, titles are suggested to me by early readers such as my editors. But this story was an effort to name. None of the titles I came up with seemed to fit. I was about to go with a name I wasn’t completely happy with, since the story had gone so long unnamed, when I finally figured out what to call it. It involved rewording a character’s comment, which still kept the same basic information after the edits, but I finally had a name for the story.

Compulsive Directive, a post apocalyptic sci-fi short story, is now available on Amazon and will soon be available at other retailers.

Dragon Mage

It can be a lot of fun returning to a series after not having written in it for some time. This year I started a series that will pick up where Dragon Blood left off with new adventures for Amber. Before beginning Dragon Mage 1: Promise, I read over the Dragon Blood series to reacquaint myself with the characters and events of the books. Before writing this series, which I’ve wanted to write for some time, I needed to write Dragon Blood Chronicles 2: Betrayed since the events in that book have an impact on the events in Dragon Mage. I wanted to make sure there’d be no contradictions by writing the stories around the other way since the events of Betrayed happen well before the events of Promise. Maybe there wouldn’t have been any problems writing Betrayed afterwards, but I didn’t want to take the chance.

As yet I have no set date for when Promise will be released, but I have made a great deal of progress on the series and hope to release the first book this year. Amber, Kade and Ronan will be back soon with new enemies to face, old ones to hunt down and new places to explore. I can’t wait to share the stories with you, especially with those of you who said you’d love to read more books about Amber.

Rosie’s Rangers 5: Wanted

There were so many times while writing Rosie’s Rangers 5: Wanted that the characters surprised me and headed off in directions I didn’t expect them to go in. That is one of my favourite aspects of not planning stories. I get to discover where the story is going and enjoy learning what will happen to the characters and what choices they’ll make. Occasionally that means adding to or rewriting an earlier scene, but it is always worth it for the enjoyment of all those twists and turns and unexpected scenes that keep me writing and wanting to learn what will happen next.

There are certain things I know about Rosie’s past and what was in store for her in the future, but I don’t know everything and I certainly didn’t expect all that occurred in this book. I hope you enjoy learning more about Rosie’s past and some of the effects it’s had on her life as much as I’ve enjoyed discovering them too. Rosie’s Rangers 5: Wanted is now available.