Extracts From The Writing Of Stuart Aken

Exploring The World Of Artificial Intelligence

Stuart Aken started to delve into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) in the early 2010s when he began work on a novella, The Methuselah Strain, which featured androids designed to pleasure their owners in any way the humans wished. Realising that these androids could never be convincing substitutes for human companionship without an emotional aspect, Stuart considered the consequences.

‘Once emotion was a requirement,’ he notes, ‘self-awareness naturally followed. These artificial servants were built for profit. Their self-awareness and emotional capacity would be paramount to their owner’s experience and such qualities would quickly become sophisticated.’

In The Methuselah Strain, one of these androids is abandoned for a human partner, and then taken on by another android. The story explores how self-aware and emotionally intelligent androids react to this experience, and how it colours their views of the human beings who share what is now their world.

The Methuselah Strain was published in 2015. In a later trilogy, Generation Mars, Stuart takes the ideas developed in The Methuselah Strain and puts them in the context of the colonisation of Mars, following catastrophic climate change that has made Earth almost uninhabitable. In terms of AI, Stuart says, ‘Early in my research, it became clear that AI would be an essential component of the automated systems needed to establish a place on the Red planet where humans would be able to live in some sort of comfort.’

Although the AI in Generation Mars has been developed with very different aims from the AI in The Methuselah Strain, this story, too, explores the consequences of building entities with self-awareness and intelligence.

9 Short Extracts From The Methuselah Strain

In the heart of town, Randal sprawled on his bed next to LoCon in the TipTop NonStop Hip-Hop Pop’n’Shop Mall. Oblivious of the dawn, he dreamed recurrent fantasies of human female companionship; all that life now seemed to hold for him as a Sexual.

***

In an ancient stone barn, preserved as a picturesque relic overlooking town, the Prime Renegade stirred at sudden silence as rain ceased hammering the roof. Her movement rustled the dry straw of yet another temporary bed. Pulling her stolen fun-fur coat close about her, she considered the coming day and hoped, without expectation, it might bring some release from loneliness.

***

Randal woke for the second time, in his customary sweat, and covered it with a disposable t-shirt he’d worn for three weeks. It mattered not that it stunk and was tattered and torn beyond its intended daily life: no other human being had visited the Mall for years.

Life as Mall Manager seemed pointless, and demeaning.

***

‘But she ain’t real; can’t be. That Prime Renegade’s just a bogeyman, lurking out there threatening civilization. I mean, nobody really believes in her; especially not looking like that. It’s a horing rumour, put about by CenCon to make us think they’re horing wonderful.’

At Sports Emporium he stopped the trolley and viewed Hengst’s 2224 Olympic Gold one hundred metre sprint: 8.7962 seconds from start line breach to finish laser. He’d watched it a thousand times. The last Olympic sprint run by real men, and there was no doubt these men were real.

***

Luce knew Repoz held everything known to man but it was no place to find the type of man she wanted. Her ability to bypass security made such a hunt simple. But a technophobe or a natural wouldn’t make the use of technology that would leave the traces she needed. Once she’d identified the actual presence of humans in certain geographic locations, a physical quest was the only answer.

***

So, she crossed to the east, found the landing point for the Atlantic Seabridge, and walked, transtrolled and hopped freight monorails right across the ocean. Misnamed Greenland, she’d discovered, was mostly barren rock and more or less deserted. The remnants of the great glaciers now causing no more than a slow flow of grey river water. Iceland had no ice but plenty of volcanic activity and hot springs to bathe in with frisky natives.

***

Caution slowed Luce as she left the tree-lined lane. Without the vagabond cover of her old coat, she was aware of her vibrant femininity and felt vulnerable, in spite of her bodyguard. Though she hated labels, she knew she’d be marked by all and sundry as a Sexual. Earlier attempts to alter her appearance had made no difference and she no longer bothered trying to hide her appeal. That the Intellectual tag wasn’t so readily attached, in spite of her extraordinary mental abilities, sometimes peeved her. But she understood she presented a rare combination.

***

‘I want to be loved! And you, Monster, for all your muscular good looks, boundless energy and deliciously sensitive touch, can’t love me. Love, Monster, causes tears and laughter at the holodrome or theatre, when there’s anyone there; blocks throats with lumps, makes hearts race, inspires poetry in books. When did I last curl up with a good book?’

***

‘Does anybody live here? Anybody at all?’ Her call echoed from lifeless buildings, mocking her as it returned splintered and unanswered from a thousand gleaming surfaces. Ahead, stood the glittering crystal and chrome icosahedron of the Mall, perched on its seven hexagonal pillars of glass. The reference was not lost on her and she smiled at memories of the ancient comedy.

***

Learn more about Stuart and his writing HERE. 

 

Hornsea Writers At The Massive Autumn Book Launch Event: Stuart Aken

 

Hornsea writer, Stuart Aken, was featured more than once at Fantastic Books Publishing’s Massive Autumn Book Launch Event (MABLE).

He appeared in an Eco-Thrillers Spotlight where 4 of his books were highlighted — An Excess Of… and his Generation Mars trilogy. In the spotlight video he can be seen chatting to fellow author, Linda Nicklin, whose novel, Storm Girl, set in Yorkshire & Lincolnshire, is also featured.

Later in the event, Stuart’s fantasy trilogy, A Seared Sky, was featured, along with fantasy series End Of Empire by Alex Janaway and The Filey Chronicles by Janet Blackwell.

Don't be too quick to think that the participants were all seasoned recording artists who sailed through without a glitch. The video editor occasionally slipped in some entertaining outtake sections.

Stuart Aken – A prolific writer who won’t be pigeonholed

Prolific writer Stuart Aken says that being raised in a household without a TV was probably a factor in his becoming an avid reader, to the extent that he had read all the books in his local children’s library by the time he was 11. At this point, a formidable but far-sighted librarian named Hilda allowed him to pick an adult book on the understanding that she must approve it before allowing him to take it away.

He picked All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. Maybe it was a book Hilda had never read, or maybe she saw even at that early stage that Stuart was destined to become a writer for whom no topics were out of bounds. Whatever the reason, the 11-year-old Stuart was allowed to take the book away. It taught him that there was nothing he couldn’t read.

It wasn’t just reading that was an integral part of Stuart’s early life. He was in demand as a storyteller for friends and family, concocting tales that would later be acted out in games.

At 14 years old, for a school assignment, Stuart took a real event, fictionalised it and turned it into a tense mystery. It won a cup for the year’s best story. He looks back on this as his first real step on the road to becoming an author. Though blessed with a magical childhood, family tragedy dogged Stuart’s adolescence leading to a roller-coaster of upheavals for several years, the highs and lows of which have helped shape him as a writer.

As well as being a successful novelist, Stuart is also a talented photographer. His first publications were illustrated articles in the British photographic press. His first fiction publication was a radio play, Hitch Hiker, broadcast on Radio 4 in 1978. He had entered Hitch Hiker in the Radio Times Drama contest, and came third, the year the contest was won by Willie Russell of Blood Brothers and Educating Rita fame. Stuart was interviewed about the play by Tom Stoppard, and as a result was contracted by a prestigious literary agency. Sadly, Stuart’s work was considered too radical for the TV channels of the time (perhaps Hilda should have withheld consent for All Quiet on the Western Front until he was older). Stuart has since gone on to further competition success with his short fiction.

Building on his early achievements, Stuart has written numerous novels, novellas and short stories, notable amongst which are his fantasy and science-fiction trilogies and his novella, The Methuselah Strain.

 

 

In addition, he wrote a memoir about his tenyears with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, his recovery from which he celebrated by running in the GreatNorth Run.

 

Amongst Stuart’s works are two major trilogies; A Seared Sky and Generation Mars.

A Seared Sky is a fantasy adventure to rival The Lord of theRings.

Like Tolkien’s epic, A Seared Sky was several decades in the making, but has yet to be made into a series of blockbusting films; his fans live in hope.

When the Skyfire arrives early, Dagla Kaz sets out for the ancient homeland to harvest a new Godwood and exchange Virgin Gifts. He must lead his pilgrims hundreds of leagues over pirate-infested seas, across hostile lands, and return triumphant before the seared sky dies back to normality.

 

 

 

GenerationMars is a science fiction trilogy.

The story of Generation Mars begins in the near future, when climate change has made the Earth all but uninhabitable. The story unfolds to reveal the long-term fate of humankind.

 

 

 

You can check Stuart’s publications HERE: 

Stuart's latest novel, An Excess of... is an eco-romance / political / environmental thriller due to be released in October 2021.

Read more about Stuart, his life and his writing, on his website.

Hornsea Writers showcased at virtual event

At this time of year, several Hornsea Writers would usually be heading for Fantastic Books Publishing's FantastiCon convention. The pandemic has put paid to a physical gathering, but there will be a virtual event on 15th and 16th August where six new books will be launched.

Although no Hornsea Writer members have books launched at this event, their work will be showcased, so please call in and expect to hear from Linda Acaster, Stuart Aken, Penny Grubb, Shellie Horst and maybe more.

The virtual FantastiCon schedule is HERE.

The event will be streamed on Twtich TV HERE.

For mini reviews on each of FantastiCon 2020's launch books, click HERE.

Free Reads for #Covid-19 Isolation

How life can change in less than a month. Here at Hornsea Writers everyone is so far so good, and we hope all our readers are enjoying similar health.

Like other countries in Europe, in the UK we are getting used to life under lockdown: home-schooling, creating new routines, staying two metres apart while outside. But it still means an awful lot of time within our own four walls, and 24-hour television soon palls.

Reading has always been The Great Escape, and Hornsea Writers has some great free reads they want to share. Many people subscribe to Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited and here are a few offerings. Links go to the author’s Amazon page unless stated:

CRIME

Penny Grubb, winner of a Crime Writers’ Association Dagger, offers two sometimes overlapping series: the DS Martyn Webber Mysteries and the Annie Raymond PI Mysteries, both set firmly in the realities of modern UK policing. The first three Annie Raymond books are available as a trilogy under the title Falling Into Crime.

April Taylor writes Cosy Crime with a touch of acerbic wit in her Georgia Pattison Mysteries. Georgia is an early-music singer, so giving recitals in cathedrals and the mansions of the aristocracy are her bread and butter. Alas, there always seems to be a body involved. For music lovers all the Georgia Pattison books have links to the music mentioned. She has written a somewhat darker, psychic Crime, The Angel Killer, with a lead character who does not embrace his “gift”, plus a Sherlock Holmes pastiche and a collection of short fiction.

ROMANCE

Madeleine McDonald writes long and short fiction. Her Enchantment In Morocco is a heart-warming story of East meets West and the constraints and acceptance of traditions and modernity. Enjoy life in a sun-baked village where lemon trees overhang white-washed walls and olive groves offer shade to working donkeys.

Linda Acaster writes mythic fantasy and chillers, but also has two historical romances in Kindle Unlimited. There is the ‘sweet’ Mediaeval Hostage of the Heart set in 1066 on the English-Welsh borderlands, full of intrigue and derring-do, and the ‘sensual’ Native American Beneath The Shining Mountains set in a time when European encroachment was mere rumour.

SCIENCE FICTION

Shellie Horst was one of the principal movers behind Distaff, an anthology of eclectic stories from women writers. It has been very well received, not least for the cover art which Shellie created. Anthologies and collections are always good for readers short of time, enabling them to dip in and out. Be sure to read My Little Mecha which Shellie wrote, especially if you are currently home-schooling.

The SMASHWORDS Authors Give Back Scheme

It isn't just on Amazon where free reads are available. Smashwords is hosting a collaboration with many of its authors to help readers cope with the Covid-19 isolation.

Stuart Aken has all six of his titles listed on the site downloadable for free until 19th April. Scroll down his Profile page for direct links. There’s a choice of erotic romance, heart-warming romance, speculative fiction, humour, dark crime, and for those with a family member suffering from ME/Chronic Fatigue, his own ten-year experiences complete with helpful information.


All authors have other titles available, on Amazon and other retail sites, for prices as low as 99p/99c, not listed here. Check the links to individual authorpages below the header.

We wish our readers many hours of immersive reading as a much needed diversion from the  sombre reality of current day-to-day life.

Stay safe. Keep your distance from others, and wash your hands. It’s the least we can do to alleviate the pressure on our health services, no matter where in the world we live.

Hone Writing Skills Via Entering Competitions

There's nothing like setting ourselves targets - New Year's Resolutions or not - and the continued honing of our writing skills should be a priority. 

One of the easiest methods is to write outside of our comfort zones. It truly makes us think about sentence structure, characterisation, and speech patterns other than those used as a norm.

However, writers are often strapped for time, and so writing as an exercise can too easily be pushed down the workaday list of priorities. 

Writing specifically for competitions circumvents this by offering a targeted set of constraints: market, wordcount, theme, deadline. Writers merely need to add the creative spark.

Across on his blog, member Stuart Aken runs a massive Resources page which includes a link to a substantial Creative Writing Contests Table, updated on a regular basis. Even better, many are free to enter; all offer prizes.

So what's stopping you?


If you've come to this post by chance and for ease would like more from Hornsea Writers delivered direct to your Inbox, add your e-address to the box at the top of the column. We promise you won't be inundated with daily emails.

Hornsea Writers at FantastiCon 2019

This year’s fantasy, sci-fi and gaming convention featured the works of several Hornsea Writers. 

Author Stuart Aken’s fantasy and sci-fi trilogies were on offer, as were Penny Grubb’s crime novels. Popular at the Fantastic Books Store were also the charity anthologies, several of which feature stories by Stuart, Penny, Linda Acaster, Madeleine McDonald, April Taylor and Elaine Hemingway, notably Dreaming of Steam, 666, The Dummies’ Guide to Serial Killing and The Forge: Fire and Ice.

For more detail see the illustrated account on Stuart’s blog.

Under a June Sun

Although the writers in this group blog about life, the universe and everything under the sun, a glance back to June two years ago shows four of them passing on tips both practical and philosophical for better living and crisper writing.

Stuart Aken takes a sideways look at English words and their many nuances. In this particular blog he appropriately explores the word ‘ambiguous’. Click here to read more.

Penny Grubb, in a prescient article (given the recent axing of a human bear-baiting TV programme) unpacks a quote from a famous writer and finds more than meets the eye. Click here to read more.

Linda Acaster reaching the climax of a marathon writing expedition as she writes ‘the end’ on her Torc of Moonlight trilogy, explores the many facets of editing. Click here to read more.

April Taylor takes herself to task as exhaustion sees her sleep for a significant proportion of a much anticipated holiday. Click here to read more.

Members Useful Self-Help Books

In the last of the short series on the wealth of information offered by members, here's a round-up of their useful self-help titles.

April Taylor was a chartered information professional in a previous life, and she's put her experiences to good use.

 Internet Research for Writers 

This short guide is intended to help solve the problems encountered by novelists researching on the Net. It includes sections on where to search, how to search, evaluating information found, staying safe and within copyright, using images, and a whole host more.

Cutting Through The Academic Crap: An Informal Guide to Writing Your Dissertation 

This is one of those no-nonsense guides which does what it says on the cover. It explains terminology used by tutors, the format and appearance of the finished dissertation, how to manipulate software and the likely problems the software will throw up. There is also advice on how to manage your project and your time. Nineteen 4* and 5* reviews can't be wrong.

 

 

Stuart Aken also brings his personal experience to bear, but in a very different context.

M.E. and Me - Chronic Fatigue: My Recovery After 10 Years 

Stuart charts his journey, and recovery, giving hope to other sufferers of CFS/ME. There's plenty of practical advice, and a useful list of hyperlinks in the ebook. It is also available as a paperback. A portion of the profits goes to the charity "Action for ME" which he considers was instrumental in pointing him in the right direction. The reviews from other suffers speak for themselves.

Penny Grubb may have been awarded a Dagger from the Crime Writers' Assocation but, wearing her non-dastardly hat, Dr Penny Grubb is a scientist and university lecturer, hence her book titles.

How To Be A Fantastic Writer

Where’s the best place for a novel to start? How do you tell? How to lift a scene that seems to drag? The included toolkits lead through it all to give the components needed for every stage of writing a novel. 

Preparing For Higher Education Study

Having been a part of academia since the 1980s, Penny has helped a vast number of students new to higher education study. Today, a higher proportion come not from sixth forms or after a gap year, but at an older age having worked in industry and with family commitments in tow.

The book, split into easy to negotiate sections, sets out what's needed, and how to upgrade necessary skills sets. It also contains a detailed study of a once notorious case of skewed thinking and manipulative writing that began with Mr J and his green fur coat.

Software Maintenance: Concepts and Practice

An academic best-seller in use in universities around the world. Published in two editions, it has the dubious distinction of appearing on a list of ‘Most pirated books’, which, sadly, means an updated 3rd edition will not be published.

The 2nd edition contains a detailed case study of the once notorious Therac-25 software bugs that visited death and injury on many people over several years.



 
Linda Acaster brings us back to writing creatively with an in-depth view borne of explaining concepts during several years facilitating a teaching course.

Reading A Writer's Mind: Exploring Short Fiction - First Thought To Finished Story

The book is distinguished from many in its field by reproducing ten of the author's short stories, in various genres, and explaining the rationale behind the choices made during the writing of each. Exercises, in the writing of full pieces of fiction, are included.


I'm sure you'll agree, what an interesting lot we are!

An Unexpected Tribute!

Delight can be infrequent in these troubled times, so Stuart Aken was both surprised and, yes, delighted, when he received a notice from his publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing, the other day. Attached was a link to a video produced by a professional in the TV industry. Ramon Marett from Adiq had wanted to try his hand at a book promotion video and decided to use Aken’s ‘Generation Mars’ series for the project.

The author posted it on his website, and you can see the result via this link.

Videos are a popular source of information for many potential readers, so he’s spread this one everywhere he can to get maximum benefit. He says it’s also had the effect of galvanising him into trying something similar for his other books! Watch this space.

The Joys of Re-reading

I’ve always been an avid re-reader, but it occurred to me how much more re-reading is possible now than it was when I first went back to revisit a William story and discovered the joys of adventuring through the same territory – discovering things I’d never noticed before, things I’d forgotten.

These days with so much available online at the click of a button, it’s not just books that are easy re-read candidates, but stories, articles, letters, random accounts of odd experiences; things that would rarely have been contenders for re-reading. And of course ‘Joys’ is not always the word. When a lot of time has passed, things can appear in very different lights. Attitudes change, cultures change, the written word dates along with everything else. Re-reading can be a salutary experience full of more surprises than seem possible.

My latest re-reading venture (other than my well-thumbed stack of favourite books) was this series of interviews I did some years ago with a diverse group of SciFi authors. 

Launching the Last Book in a Trilogy.

For the past three years, Hornsea Writers member, Stuart Aken, has written a novel each year for his Generation Mars series. The words ‘science fiction’ may put off some potential readers, but the series is much more about relationships and human potential; there’s even some romance in there. This year, he’s finished the trilogy with ‘Return to Dust’. 

The series follows the lives, trials and triumphs of a group of selected individuals, initially called the Chosen, sent to Mars to begin a human breeding programme in the hope of preventing the specie’s extinction on Earth due to catastrophic climate change. Scientific advances, and those in the technology that follows such progress, ensure they have success in their prime purpose. But it comes at significant cost and involves many battles.

There’s social struggle here, the consequences of greed and selfishness, the injustices of gender and wealth inequality, and the rewards of truth and compassion. The first two books, Blood Red Dust and War Over Dust, are based mostly on the red planet and deal with the setting up of a colony in difficult circumstances, the expansion such opportunities inevitably provide for the wealthy and commercially acquisitive, and the conflicts that inevitably occur when the profit motive envies the idealists. This final book looks at the threat of overreliance on technology and sees the settlers returning to an Earth much changed but at least habitable. Here they face new challenges and must deal with an enemy powerful enough to threaten the existence of all life in the solar system, and maybe the entire universe; an enemy they’ve unwittingly created.

‘Return to Dust’ is due to be launched in both digital and paperback versions at the science fiction, fantasy and gaming convention, Fantasticon 2018, in Cleethorpes, on 1^st and 2^nd of September. Stuart Aken will be there, helping on the bookstore and signing copies of the new book. He’ll also take part in a couple of on stage discussion groups relating to writing and the creation of fictive worlds. Why not pop along and join in the fun? You can get tickets here, or just come on the day and pay on the door. As Stuart would say, ‘Enjoy!’

For more information on the series, and the author’s other work, visit his website, here.

#WritersResources : Competitions, Names, Websites

Member Stuart Aken, author of many a title including the Epic Fantasy trilogy A Seared Sky and Sci-Fi Mars trilogy, keeps a mean website worth a look.

Included in his Resources page is an on-going and continually updated Competitions page, a list of First Names from around the world (10k+), and a selection of websites of interest to writers and to readers.

Let there be no calls for inspiration!

An insight into the lives of...

I’ve been lucky enough to interview some fascinating writers over the years. Counting back I find that five of them are fellow Hornsea Writers.

Click on their names for some surprising insights into the writing and lives of:

Stuart Aken

Linda Acaster

Shellie Horst

Elaine Hemingway

Joy Gelsthorpe 

Fiction Fired From Experience

From a Native American re-enactor

Does it help a writer to experience elements used in their novels?

Well, yes, obviously, but let's not get too carried away. Stuart Aken didn't actually travel to Mars before writing his SF novels, and Penny Grubb doesn't go around murdering people for her Crime fiction, though she does walk the mean streets of Hull and the other environments used for her settings.

Past lives, however, do figure large. April Taylor mines hers as a professional singer, as does Karen Wolfe as a dog training organiser. Interesting that both these careers have led to writing Cosy, or not-so-Cosy Crime.

Linda Acaster is a believer in hands-on research; her previous life included being a Native American re-enactor which led to her Beneath The Shining Mountains historical, and indirectly back to Dark Age Britain for her Torc of Moonlight trilogy. Getting close up and personal with her research is something she regularly blogs about. 

Catch her recent posts on a visit to the Jorvik Viking Festival, and Medieval Glazing using both horn and oiled linen.

YouTube is a mine of useful information for any novelist, as was proven during the UK's recent 'Beast of the East' weather episode which not only kicked off a good range of story ideas but led Linda to a video exploring the much worse mirror storm The Great Freeze of 1963. Despite the event not even being a lifetime ago, the lack of skyscrapers, the use of steam trains, the transport links, and people's mode of dress makes it seem almost a dystopian age, a far cry from the emerging youth culture of the Swinging Sixties that history usually highlights. 

And there's an entire novel in that observation alone.

Romance - All Hearts & Flowers? Not here!

Not long to go now. Bought your heart-laden greetings card? Eyeing which bouquet of red roses you can afford? Which bottle of sparkling to proffer?

Saint Valentine’s Day certainly gathers to itself all the cliches, but surprisingly enough Romance novels don’t. They never truly did, despite the epithet. Take a look at the selection written by members: not a hearts and flowers Romance among them.

Madeleine McDonald’s A Shackled Inheritance centres on betrayal, hypocrisy, and the evils of slavery. Stuart Aken’s Breaking Faith explores exploitation and control in and around the world of glamour photography, while Linda Acaster’s Beneath The Shining Mountains leads the reader into a nomadic life so different to our own, romanticised by television and derided by history.

Yet what all three authors bring is an exploration of human relationships – the aspect that fuels just about every fictional story ever produced. Even Watership Down wasn’t truly about rabbits.

So let's have a little truly satisfying Romance this week, shall we? Ah, why not.

Local publisher takes a shine to Hornsea Writers

Local publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing, published its first short story anthology in 2012. It was called Fusion and one of the Hornsea Writers, Stuart Aken, was invited to contribute.

Since then, Fantastic Books has published six short story collections and four of them feature stories from the Hornsea Writers. Stuart Aken was again invited to contribute in 2015 to Synthesis.

Horror followed a year later with the 666 anthology in which Stuart was joined by Linda Acaster as an invited contributor. The collection also included a story from Penny Grubb.

The most recent collection, a railway anthology, Dreaming of Steam, showcased four Hornsea Writers; Penny Grubb was invited to contribute and stories from Elaine Hemingway, Madeleine McDonald and April Taylor were included.

Fantastic Books’ current competition, Fire and Ice, closes at the end of February. If you feel up to producing a short tale that touches on dark, twisted and dystopian, why not follow this link and have a go. Fireand Ice Entries must be in by the end of February.

Lessons Learned and Resolutions Made

The Christmas cards are down, the trimmings dusted and packed away. After a mad twelve days of Festive conviviality surely follows a period of introspection and a serious redrafting of The Plan for 2018. A few members of Hornsea Writers share their thoughts before staggering back into the fray:

Joy Gelsthorpe:
I've learnt even more this year how useful it is to read work out loud.  It's not just the invaluable input from the group that ensues from the readings but reading my work aloud, even to myself, pushes me into neater expressions and avoidance of repetition. I'm now reducing my use of adverbs and am trying to use more powerful verbs instead.  As I keep re-drafting Book One of the quartet, I'm hoping to hear some good news from a publisher as its editor re-reads the first two chapters (fingers crossed).

Karen Wolfe:
I’ve had an editing epiphany. A revelation about the importance of word by word, line by line, paragraph by nit-pickingly punctuated paragraph, editing. Like a re-vamped room, first-draft prose is transformed by a good old tidy up. And like that room, hidden corners assume new dimensions. 

Penny Grubb:
Completing the 2nd edition of my joint-authored ‘how to’ for writers of commercial fiction made me revisit a whole range of authors from Stephen King to James Herriot; Charles Dickens to Kurt Vonnegut,  reminding me how the works of others can revitalise the writer within. It also reminded me of some very useful tools for getting the next book underway. http://getbook.at/FantasticWriter

April Taylor:
I have learned that I cannot write four full-length books a year, though I managed three and one short. Neither can I plan a book to the nth degree because I end up in a writing cul-de-sac. But, the exercise of trying the planning route has emphasised what I already know: where to schedule the highs and lows to make a balanced book.

In 2018, the plan is to write the next Georgia Pattison full-length, Say Goodbye Now, as well as the first in the Gethyn Rees ‘Wars of the Roses’ series, Loyalty in Conflict, and a Georgia Christmas story. However, I shall not be glued to my desk and will explore developing into a human being rather than a human doing.

Stuart Aken:
It's been a busy year. A false start with Book 3 of the 'Generation Mars' series delayed progress, but all is now going well. Writing a novel each year has meant the shorter works have been neglected. So, once the current WIP is with the publisher, I'll be concentrating on short stories. I'll be enjoying life in the year of my 70th birthday, too!

Linda Acaster: 

Lessons learned? Plans that look solid on paper have a tendency to destabilise during the act of writing, especially across a series. But there is no such thing as a cul-de-sac, only a Plan B. With the multi-faceted 'Torc Of Moonlight' trilogy now out into the world, I'm looking forward to immersing myself in shorter works, different genres, and a first-person viewpoint. I shall be writing fiction somewhat less complex, and giving myself time to smell the flowers.


We hope you've enjoyed this quick waltz through members' priorities and eye-openers. Follow The Blog By Email - see the box at the bottom of this page - to have our weekly posts slot quietly into your Inbox.

Book Launches at #FantastiCon

It's that time of year again. 2nd-3rd September Fantasticon will be at the Hull Guildhall. Three members of Hornsea Writers will be launching their paperbacks, so if you want signed copies, download your tickets now.

Stuart Aken's War Over Dust is the second in his 'Generation Mars' series.

Two communities, one a democratic technical Utopia, the other an elitist commercial ghetto, compete to rule the future of mankind on Mars, long cut off from Earth. Which will prevail when violence overcomes diplomacy?

Can two people come together to re-assert the founding philosophy, or might there be a third way?

 

Penny Grubb's Syrup Trap City is the 6th in her Crime Mystery series set in and around Hull and focusing on private investigator Annie Raymond.

Annie is undercover on a routine job in the hospitality industry - except no job is ever routine.  The restaurant is being fleeced, certainly, but is that a cover for something far more sinister?

When she's betrayed, is it by someone far closer to home?

Linda Acaster's Pilgrims Of The Pool is the final in her 'Torc of Moonlight' trilogy of contemporary time-spanning Fantasies centring on the re-emergence of a Celtic water goddess.

Has Nick Blaketon calculated the lunar cycle correctly, or is that for another to determine?

Book 1 is set in Hull and links into a Celtic past. Book 2 is set in York where the pattern of Roman Eboracum lies beneath every street and house. Book 3 is set in Durham and concerns Mediaeval politics and pilgrimages while contemporary worries focus on hydraulic fracturing.

Join us in Hull at FantastiCon There are a number of authors attending and book launches on every side. Or try out the virtual reality. Or have a laugh over the retro board games. Or man a spacecraft. Or listen to the speakers and the musicians. As the organisers say, it's a doing Con, and there's plenty to do.

Hold the date for a Fantastic September weekend

Hold the date, 2nd and 3rd September 2017, for an amazing weekend in the UK’s City of Culture. FantastiCon 2017, the annual Sci Fi and Fantasy convention takes place at the Guildhall in Hull. Tickets are now on sale through Kickstarter. Follow this link and hit the Pledge button. 

Hornsea Writers will once again be well represented. Last year our own Stuart Aken launched the first of his Generation Mars trilogy, and the Fantastic Bookstore featured his earlier work as well as that of Penny Grubb and Linda Acaster who were only two of many local authors represented in amongst the Star Wars characters, the many full sized Daleks, the live music shows and the mind-blowing virtual reality demos.

FantastiCon is a ‘doing’ convention. All the activities are rolled into the very modest ticket price. You can even get kitted out with goggles and protective clothing and join the Nerf wars. Sign up now and come and say hello. You’ll find at least one Hornsea Writer at the bookstore at all times.