Hornsea writer, Madeleine McDonald, a prolific short story writer was shortlisted in Fantastic Books Publishing’s flash fiction competition and her story appears in their latest anthology, Kaleidoscope, that was launched at the Massive Autumn Book Launch Event (MABLE).
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Hornsea writer, Penny Grubb, launched her new novel, Death By Column Inches, at Fantastic Books Publishing’s Massive Autumn Book Launch Event (MABLE).
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed a pseudonym. Penny says, “This book was first conceived before any of my private investigator series had seen the light of day. It’s very different and I was advised not to use the same name.”
The story of the book and its long journey from initial idea to launch is outlined in its launch video.
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.
At last, some three weeks later than scheduled, my first non-fiction commission is in the world and available for purchase.
I have always enjoyed history, but this was the history we never learned in school. In fact, it turns out the history we were taught in school was eons away from the stark reality of life for ordinary—and extraordinary—people who lived in the Tudor era.
I learned things that surprised me, sickened me, but also things that made me laugh. The experience of researching and writing such a book proved a steep learning curve. One I wanted to keep climbing. So, it will come as no surprise that I have signed contracts for two more books for Pen and Sword, the first of which is proving just as fascinating to research as the Tudor one.
For more details on the adventures of getting a book published, you can read my blog here: https://authorapriltaylor.blogspot.com/2023/09/schemes-mice-and-men.html
Crime and Punishment in Tudor England: From Alchemists to Zealots
You can find it here: https://bit.ly/3PLEM93 and here: https://mybook.to/Bt34P5
You can read more about April Taylor here:
Give me a three-part summary of what you will be doing, writing-wise, in the coming year.
Writing
Re-writing!
Creating new from old
Tell me more…
I have two novels on the go, both needing
reconstruction and some re-writing.
The first, ‘Dogdays’, is the final book in the Georgie
Crane, dog-whisperer trilogy. I would classify the series as ‘Comi-crime’ with
a few hard edges and a multitude of dogs.
The second work-in-progress is ‘Blackrigg’ a Gothic
comic fantasy, with fairies (!) set
amidst the dark, satanic mills. This one has broken out of its novella cage and
growed like Topsy when I wasn’t looking, hence the fine-tuning…possibly a
spanner might come in handy!
Tell me about a writing-related event from
last year:
2022 marked the 10th anniversary of our
local paper, the Hornsea Community News. Since issue 1, I have written a
monthly column about dogs, their behaviour, training and ancestry, covering
every aspect from the hilarious to the heart-rending,
That’s 120 articles, just waiting to be assimilated
into a book (provisionally titled: ‘This is your pack-leader speaking.’) Reader
feedback tells me there’s a ready market for dogology, so I’m hoping the seeds
of last year’s anniversary will yield a decent literary harvest.
Learn
more:
Please visit my Amazon author page.
Covers for the first two Granny Beamish comic fantasies
Covers
for the first two Georgie Crane novels, plus number three, coming in 2024
Learn more about Karen Wolfe here.
“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”
― A Room of One's Own
It's a well known quote, however room in one’s head is also vital, regardless of your gender.
Life is ensuring that many writers are struggling to find time to write. This won’t be news to our regular readers, and it’s not special to our part of the English east coast. The ongoing impacts of COVID combined with pressures of the cost of living, caring, (grand)children, all the usual house work, and the neverending mental load of personal health issues, don’t help the process of writing.
That’s not to say Hornsea Writers haven’t been busy. Joy is working away at her next installment of her Reighton Chronicles, Madeline’s stories continue to flow, Stuart has launched his next novel. Avril has signed with Pen and Sword. Linda released Forever House, and Karen, Penny and Shellie have their own projects that will see the light of day much sooner after this summer’s development.
Each week Hornsea Writers meets to critique work written during the week. It's more than a support group. The intention is to improve, practice and develop. Whether or not an individual author has something to share, it's worth the time to go. Authors write in different markets, so there’s always something to learn. Post COVID lockdown saw the regular writing group move from Wednesday evenings to Monday afternoons.
However, this wasn’t enough. Secretly conspiring between themselves to ensure that their own ambitions and projects continued, Hornsea Writers carved out time for themselves by meeting a second time every week.
It wasn't just a simple matter of turning up. Each writer
had to identify what it was that was getting in the way and make sure that that
did not come with them on ‘Trial Run Thursday’. With sunny views, a pen,
notepad, and a bottle of water to keep them company, and maybe someone
brought tea. The combined focus and support prevented individual writers wandering
down research rabbit holes, and stay on plot.
On Thursdays in summer Hornsea Writers now hold an in-person
writing sprint. Spirited away from phones, emails, distracting loved ones,
demands of housework, and anything else that disrupts committing words to page. The trial was a
success. The first meeting saw short stories, blog posts and articles drafted
out. Several months later those drafts are working their way through slush piles.
As it has developed, the time is used to plan and see the directions of our writing careers.It's an imporant part of finding words, finding direction and keeping focus.
Isn't it amazing what you can do when you're allowed (or, importantly allow yourself) the space to focus.
Shellie Horst is the author of several science fiction and fantasy short stories and also reviews for SFFWorld & The British Science FIction Association. Her story, My Little Mecha was longlisted for the BSFA Award as has her cover art for Distaff. You can follow her on your prefered social media, linktr.ee/shelliehorst or on her website: https://shelliehorst.com
Give me a 3-word summary
of what you will be doing, writing-wise, in the coming year
Tell me more
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Tell me about a
writing-related event from last year
Learn more about Joy here.
I have always enjoyed the challenge of telling a complete story within the discipline of a tight world count. It's up to readers to join the dots and complete what is left unsaid. This week Vine Leaves Press published my story below in their long-running 50-word micro-fiction series.
The Old Dog
His uncle left everything to charity and he inherited the cantankerous dog. It was old, with a weeping eye. He paid the vet’s bills and gave it food but no love. They lived in mute, reproachful companionship until the dog died and the man mourned a life of failed relationships.
Not only are the stories short, they are also short-lived. One a day online. Then it vanishes, replaced by the next offering. A smorgasbord of light-hearted, sombre, wise or witty stories. Yet come the end of the year, they will re-appear in anthology form.
In the meantime, fans of bite-sized fiction can sign up for their daily dose at https://www.subscribepage.com/vineleavespress
Madeleine McDonald
Not all authors sell their ebooks direct via the many e-retail outlets available as it can be a lot of work keeping tabs on individual outlets.
Linda Acaster uses the distributor Smashwords/Draft2Digital to gain access to Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Scribd. It works well, as Smashwords offers ePub format as well as mobi format for a Kindle.
And Smashwords runs a twice-annual Sale 😃
Until the end of July, Linda's titles via Smashwords are available half price - yes, 50% discount added at checkout. What could be easier? Do have a look.
Thinking about writing your own fiction? Linda's Writer's Guide does what it says on its cover - no waffle, ten full stories explained:
Reading A Writer's Mind: Exploring Short Fiction - First Thought to Finished Story
For readers who enjoy a quick shiver as the daylight fades, there's a choice of three Chillers:
Want to lose yourself in longer reads? The time-spanning Torc of Moonlight trilogy of a modern-day water goddess, takes you on a journey through Celtic Hull, Roman York, and Medieval Durham. History is mere inches beneath our feet. And it never truly dies.
Available as a single trilogy or individual ebooks.
Enjoy your reading!
