Merry Christmas

First up, seasons greetings to all of you out there. And I hope that Santa is kind to you all, as you are kind to others.

For me, my Christmas present to myself is the completion of Pawn, 60k words in two weeks. I can't believe it's actually done already. But of course, now comes the less enjoyable part of writing, editing. So my hope is that Pawn will be published at this stage, early in January, and maybe if I really pull finger, Alien, in February.

And since I'm in a festive mood, a little hupour for the season. (Stolen I freely admit from another website).





One Christmas, a long time ago, Santa Claus was getting ready for his annual trip; but there were problems ...... everywhere.

Four of his elves were away sick and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular ones. So, Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule.

Then, Mrs. Claus popped in to tell Santa that her mother was coming to stay for Christmas; which stressed him even more.

After a while, he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and run away, heaven knows where to.

Then, when he began to load the sleigh one of the boards broke and several large toy-bags fell to the ground, scattering their contents all over the place. Needless to say, Santa was not in the best of moods.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and he went to the door expecting another problem. But when he opened it, there was a little angel with a great big Christmas tree that she had brought especially to cheer him up.

The angel greeted him very cheerfully, "Merry Christmas Santa Claus. Isn't it just a wonderful day? I have a beautiful tree for you. See, isn't it just the loveliest Christmas tree you've ever seen? Where would you like me to put it?"

Thus began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree!





Cheers, Greg.

Writing Furiously

Hi,

Just a quick update. In my last post you may remember that I said I had started on a new book inspired by the Micael J Bird miniseries 'The Aphrodite Inheritance'. I started writing that book 'Pawn', on the ninth of December, and as of this evening it's 46k and probably only has another 10k to go.

At this rate I expect to have the first draft completed by the end of this week (even with Christmas), and will start editing after that. I can't believe the speed with which the words are flowing off my keyboard or the way the ideas are flowing, but I'm extremely happy about it since I haven't felt this inspired in months.

My goal is to have it published in January, and then hopefully, return to all the other projects I have been meaning to finish. Wizard at Law 2 and Alien will be finished within the next few months, even if my fingers are only a few milimeters long by then. In the meantime, here is a copy of the draft cover and a short blurb to maybe wet your appetites.

Pawn is the tale of Rufus Hennassy, a normal enough man, minding his own business and trying to live a quiet life, when the ancient Greek gods, Aphrodite and Moirae start interfering in his life, turning it upside down in the most improbable of ways. As an entire galaxy of villains including his own family, try to kill him, all of course in the name of trying to find the stolen Rembrandt - Aphrodite in the Roses, the gods themselves go to war around him, with surprising consequences. And in the end the fate of all, the mortals and the gods themselves, will rest in his hands. The pawn will become the kingmaker, or breaker.

Cheers, Greg.

Busy Few days!

Hi,

Just to let you know that I haven't been completely bone idle these last few days. Yes I have been busy trying to set up this blog, and since I have the computer skills of your average five year old (monkey), that has taken some of my time away from writing. But I have been working at that too.

Alien, my next sci fi book is written and going through the rewrite / edit process. Wizard At Law Book Two: The Shimmering, is half written and I'm still struggling away at it. And Shavarra, my next fantasy is about eighty percent done.

Unfortunately for my writing I also just got a set of dvd's in the mail - The Aphrodite Inheritence, a miniseries from Britain 1979 that I remember watching as a kid with my father, and so naturally I had to watch that. Great story, some of the acting is a little stilted, and some of the people are actually wearing flares. Every time I saw that it just kept shocking me. But regardless Michael J Bird created a great story and it inspired me to start a new one myself. At the moment its about five or six thousand words long, it's called Pawn, and I'm really pleased with it so far.

So there may be some further delay in getting my next book out. (If I was a woman I could claim I was multi-tasking, but unfortunately as a man all I can really say is that I'm making a hash of things!)

I also started work on the cover for Shavarra, and if everything works correctly, it should be attached or part of this post. (Naturally I'd welcome any feedback on it.)

So that's where I am at the moment.

Cheers, Greg.

New Blog Host

Hi,

Just to advise those who read my blogs, because of problems with my old blog on Goodreads (it wouldn't link across to Amazon or Smashwords), I have set up a new blog here on Blogspot. I have transferred across my old blogs from Goodreads, so they can be read here.

Cheers, and be good or don't get caught,

Greg.

All The Stars gets good review

Good Review for All The Stars.

Hi Guys,

http://www.amazon.com/All-Stars-Grave-eb...


Feeling really good at the moment. And All The Stars a Grave has been out for a week, and I just got my first review back for it.

"Fascinating story that slowly builds and builds. Unique and fresh story universe. You think you've figured out whats coming next and and it veers in a new direction that's more interesting than what you were expecting, and it does it again and again. Terrific plot lines and settings. Well written dialog and funny. Loved it.

I took off 1 star for some overly long dialog, while not uninteresting or clever, it was more than what was needed. Stuff a good editor would have cut much shorter.

I'll be looking for more from this author.

Good value, buy this book."

It's this sort of feedback that inspires me to keep on writing.

Cheers, Greg.

http://www.amazon.com/All-Stars-Grave-ebook/dp/B0069PH8LY/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

And All The Stars A Grave - Published

November 18, 2011

New Space Adventure Book Out

Hi Guys,

Just thought I'd let you know that after roughly a week of editing - and grief do I hate editing, I've finished off another book and published it on the kindle. That was three a.m. this morning, so I'm a little tired at the moment, but at least I've got the weekend to catch up.

The book's called - And All The Stars A Grave, which is partly a tribute to James Blish who wrote - And All The Stars A Stage, and he in turn I assume, got it from the bard. - Man this must be a great post - the cat's just thrown up all over me as I type! But I don't think she'll actually read the book so that's probably not too serious a criticism.

Anyway, back to the book. It's a space adventure set in the twenty fourth century, when mankind has reached the stars, only to become social pariahs among all the other races.

In to this setting Dr. Daryl Chalmers, a xeno-archaeologist - (if that profession ever becomes available I want to become one), is conscripted into an expedition to back track the final journey of the Calderonians. They were a race that left the local sector of space more then ten thousand years before, taking their entire population with them. They in turn it appeared, were chasing down another long since departed race, known only as the ancients, who were last seen a hundred thousand years before.

So Daryl must adjust to the idea of spending a year or more, on an alien military ship, surrounded by aliens of all forms, with only one thing in common, - they detest humans. But naturally that's only where the story begins.

I hope that some of you will read the book and enjoy it, and as always I welcome feedback, even if it's only about the cover and the blurb. (The blurb may be a little rough since I was writing it in the wee hours of this morning, but the cover is, I think, quite cool.)

Cheers, Greg.

http://www.amazon.com/All-Stars-Grave-ebook/dp/B0069PH8LY/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

Wizard At Law: Call Of The Wild

September 3, 2011

New Urban Fantasy Out

Hi Guys,

July ended on a sour note as you may have read in my previous post. However, August was remarkably improved, as early on during it I became inspired to write a new urban fantasy.

I don't know where the idea came to me from, certainly there's a little of The Dresden Files in it, and probably a little of a few other wizard series as well, but it occurred to me that while there seem to be wizard detectives around, there's no such thing as a wizard lawyer, and so Thomas Crow, Wizard at Law was born.

The idea is simple, that there live beside us and among us many magical people, wizards and warlocks and so forth who use magic, and wolves and gorgons and many more who rather are magic. Naturally these people want to remain unnoticed among us, and so they formed a powerful society called the Circle, and set up laws by which all the members must live. Now this is not new. What is new is that while laws need to be enforced, thus requiring agents and detectives and so forth, those caught breaking them need to be charged and tried. That requires a lawyer.

The book, actually a novella at 40,000 words, is the story of Thomas Crow's major case of the moment, the defence of a wolf by the name of Hermes, who transformed into his wolf shape in the middle of a crowded supermarket, thus exposing magic to the normals, and then savaged a mother and her small child in his frenzy.

I really enjoyed writing this, I must have since I stopped writing everything else and focussed completely on it, and also somehow wrote 40,000 words in only a month. I enjoyed exploring the world and slowly but surely fleshing out some of the details of it. And given the nature of the story, I fully expect to write a few more Wizard at Law stories over the comming year.

In the mean time, I hope that any of you who read the first book in the series, let me know what you think. And equally I am on the look out for new cases my wizard can defend. So if you have any ideas?

Cheers, Greg.

Another Month Slips By

October 21, 2011

Another Month Slips By

Hi Guys,

Just realised that October is nearly over and thought I'd better drop a note.

No new books released this month,I've been a little distracted between work, a veritable mountain of DVD's from Amazon, and Rugby World Cup - Go the All Blacks!

I have been writing though.I'm half way through Thomas Crow's second novella, The Glimmering, and hope to have that ready for publishing in another month. I've also been pushing away at a couple of other novels bit by bit, which is why I haven't finished any of them - I really need to knuckle down and finish just one of them off. (If I was a woman maybe I'd be better at claiming that I'm multi-tasking my writing, but since I'm a man I'd have to say I'm just disorganised.)

The thing that I find shocking is how close it is already to Christmas. It seems not that long ago that this year was just begining. Now I suppose it's time to start thinking about presents and holidays and so forth. On the other hand though, the evenings are getting longer, the days are warmer, and the roses are comming into bloom, so I probably shouldn't complain.

And after that comes the end of year, holidays, sun burn, cold beer (and believe me there is nothing better then an ice cold beer or even a shandy on a hot summers day), and maybe some cards with the family. Who knows, I might even manage to squeeze in some writing as well!

Cheers all.

Third Times The Charm

July 25, 2011

Need to take a break from writing.

Hi guys,

Have just received one of the most hurtful reviews I've ever heard of for Maverick, and am feeling somewhat down in the dumps at present.

While I accept that my work is not perfect and there are some editting issues, I truly cannot accept that Maverick deserved that sort of beat up, least of all by someone who in his own words says he's read only four pages.

Never the less, my health is not good and I don't need the aggravation. So accordingly I have decided to take a break from writing.

To those who have read and enjoyed my books, a big thank you. To he who in his own words found them unreadable, please remember that Amazon kindle does offer the reader the option of a refund within seven days.

Oh, and if that person does choose to do a second review of someone else's work, I hope that he will kindly remember that the works he is critiquing are written by other human beings who put their heart and soul into their work.

Cheers, Greg.

Blog The Second

July 12, 2011

Blog The Second

Hi Guys,

Its been a month and I thought I'd write another quick note to let you know how I'm going.

First up Of Dark Elves and Dragons was published about a week ago, and is starting to sell a few copies, which I'm extremely happy about. Please do, even if you don't like fantasy, check out the cover of the book - I'm really proud of it.

The skull is initially a raptor skull taken from a photo in Morgue Photos, (I really do recommend that site and encourage people to visit).

http://www.morguefile.com/

I then bleached it, angled and stretched it a little with photoscape (a freeware program that as far as I'm concerned is every bit as good as photoshop). Then with paint (yes the simple MS version) I cut out the entire background, painted it black, before using a lens flare effect to the eye using photoscape again, and finally turning it into a powerpoint slide and chucking in the text.

As a complete non-artist I still found myself very proud of what came out. Heaven alone knows what I could have achieved had I even a dash of artistic ability!

So please do take a looksee and let me know what you think on my author site on Amazon.

Having completed Dark Elves, I'm currently sitting on my chuff, splitting my time between three more novels, two of which are in the first editting stage and one which still needs finishing, trying to decide which comes next. In the meantime my next season of Wharehouse 13 has arrived, and I'm starting in on watching that, while waiting for Haven season one to arrive.

So I may be a little less committed then usual in my writing for the next little while, and I might fall asleep at my desk at work too (Hopefully not in front of the boss!).

Anyway, cheers for now and as I constantly tell my cats, - Be good or don't get caught.

Greg.

My First Ever Blog (from Goodreads)

June 8, 2011

My First Ever Blog

Hi,

Greg here, and welcome to my first ever blog.

As you may know if you've read my author profile on Amazon kindle, I'm a keen science fiction and fantasy reader, have been almost since birth, and more latterly have become a writer. (More latterly means roughly the last fifteen years, although I only published my first book last year.)

This year has been a good one for me, writing wise. I decided to start finishing off some of the novels that have been sitting on my computer in various stages of completeion for up to a decade or more, and so published Maveric, an epic fantasy in April. Then in May I scrapped another novel which wasn't going anywhere (that hurt) and turned the prologue which was the best part of it and a complete story in itself, into a short story, The End. Its an apocolyptic fiction work. A few days ago I finished off Dragon, a sci fi space opera which was also published on the kindle.

Currently I'm working on finishing off Of Dark Elves and Dragons (a calculus primer!) and hope to have it out on the kindle within a couple more months. After that I don't know. There are more books I could finish off, but I'm also committed to starting the process of converting some of those kindle books into paperbacks through Amazon's Createspace.

In the mean time I'm really pleased that some of my books are selling, though I would really love to get some feedback about them. My aim is to become a professional author in time, and I figure the only way to do that is to listen to what my readers tell me.

Cheers for now, and to those who have read my books, I hope you enjoy them.

Greg.

http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-ebook/dp/B004XW6GHM/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3