DRUID

 Hi Guys,

Just to let you guys know that I am actually working and the first draft of DRUID is now complete and the revisions / edits are underway.

Druid is a basic urban fantasy and the tattoos are a part of the magic of the man - Krys Ingrim. In fact in this world all those with magic can only use it by shaping the gift within them through markings painted on their bodies - which makes it kind of tricky to hide what you are from the rest of the world if people know that secret! Of course the background to the story is that the secret gets out and the magical have to try and keep their heads down while battling a traitor within their own number and an international intelligence agency wanting to utilize their gifts. 

The story is set in Rotorua, New Zealand and the main protagonist lives not that far from my door. Just on the other side of the lake in fact - a place called Haumarana. So be warned, there are some Maori names in the work which are going to sound odd to non-kiwi ears. (The spell checkers didn't like them either - and some of the auto-corrections were hilarious! Haumarana for example they believe should be either maharani or amaranth - neither of which I'd ever heard of before.)

Meanwhile Freaksville is still in process. I've reached the final chapters and love the story but can't quite figure out what the ending is. (Oh the joys of being a pantster!) But I will keep working on it and I'm hopeful it will be out shortly.

As always I hope you're all doing well and keeping out of trouble - or not getting caught!

Cheers, Greg.

Byson Darious: The Man, The Myth The Unicorn!

 Hi Guys,

Happy New Year all. (Yeah, it's been a slow start to the year for me!) 

But I've been busy. Ever since I finished the first draft of Bound off around Christmas, I've been more or less head down in the book, editing and revising. A book that grew out to a hundred and seventy one thousand words! Every time I thought I was done, I realized there was just a little something more I needed to add. Still finally - yesterday - it's done.

Bound is a light-hearted epic fantasy about Byson Darious, an apothecary trying to live a simple life, but whose family seem to want to drag him into their own troubles - or get him to dig them out of them. And mixed in with that Byson has his own secret - that he has bound himself to a unicorn to gain a little more magic of his own. Naturally that has it's own unexpected consequences! But in the end, as the world is falling into ruin, it may be the very thing that's needed - naturally!

Anyway it's gone up and I'm glad. I'd almost begun to think for a while that I would never finish it. Now I can turn my thoughts to other things for a while - like getting the back yard cut back some more. A lot more. And solving the riddle of the ages - why when I threw out lawn seed on a patch of ground a few months ago, did only clover grow? I think it's magic! A curse. Or the cats did it - which is fairly much the same thing!

Also I have another pile of books in various stages of completion waiting for me to finally get round to finishing, and as usual I have no idea which I want to get to first. But I suppose there's no shortage of them to throw myself into. (That's a good thing, right?!)

Anyway I hope all of you are well and enjoying life in 2023. And as always be good or don't get caught!

Cheers, Greg.