Wednesday 21 December 2022

The Last Georgia Pattison Mystery and harp seals...

Fledging a book is quite a process. Not just the enjoyable creating the story bit, but the sometimes less than enjoyable editing. Then more editing. And just another edit, until the author is sick and tired of seeing/reading/hearing about the wretched book.


I decided it was time to send my first serial detective, early-music soprano, Georgia Pattison, on her final adventure. Why? Because new writing avenues beckon. 2023 is already planned and there isn’t room for our intrepid heroine. There may come a time when I fancy bringing her out into the cold light of day again.

In Who Wants To Live Forever, Georgia gets what is possibly the biggest shock of her life. It leaves her conflicted enough to put everything good in her life on the line in order to find this particular killer. And she believes that all her past experience in helping DCI Hamilton find killers, has led up to this one case. It is the one she cannot walk away from.

If you would like to read more about why some authors are like harp seals, you can find my blog here:

https://authorapriltaylor.blogspot.com/2022/12/why-are-some-authors-like-harp-seals.html

If you would like to buy the book, you will find it here: https://mybook.to/RRGsWE

And if you would like to find out more about April Taylor:

You can find me on FacebookTwitter Amazon UK

Friday 9 December 2022

53 Words, No More, No Less

Winston, the Press 53 mascot

The small indie publishing house Press 53 runs a monthly writing competition, offering a different prompt each month and inviting short stories of exactly 53 words. I often enter the competition, for the fun of devising a new story within the word limit.

This is the first time I have won, with a retelling of the Philemon and Baucis legend. I’m convinced it would have been the husband who jumped in and asked the gods that the couple might die at the same time. Trust a man to go for the grand gesture. Whereas the wife would have asked for something more practical. 


Photo by David Tip on Unsplash

You can read my story here.


Madeleine McDonald enjoys the challenge of writing flash fiction. Her short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio and published in various anthologies. Her novels include the contemporaries Enchantment in Morocco and The Rescued Heart, and the historical A Shackled Inheritance.