Review: TRAITOR IN THE ICE by KJ Maitland, published by Headline Review

ISBN: 978 147 227 5479 There are times when you pick up a book and just know you’re in the hands of a brilliant story-teller.  Karen Maitland is an old friend, but don’t let that get in the way of things. She has been a writer of superb stories for some years, first of all … Continue reading

Breaking Paragraphs – Student Help 3

This is the transcript of my latest video. In this I am talking about splitting paragraphs into their constituent sentences. By doing this, you can see where a paragraph is going wrong, where sentence structure is poor, and more easily see how to fix things! When sentences are embedded in their paragraph, it’s difficult, often, … Continue reading

Review: AMNESIA by Michael Ridpath, published by Corvus in May 2017

Trade Paperback: 9781782397564  at £12.99 ebook: 9781782397571  at  £5.99 Okay, I have a confession to make here. I hadn’t heard of Michael Ridpath when he first started writing. I was a lowly author of three or four books, and it was my sister-in-law who persuaded me to pick up a copy of THE MARKET MAKER … Continue reading

Christmas Giveaway!

This year has been busy, very busy. I’ve published Rebellion’s Message, and Blood of the Innocents, while also writing the first in a new Crusaders series, a second in the Blackjack, Bloody Mary series, and two other books that will hopefully hit a shelf near you in the coming year. Oh, and planning a new historical, a … Continue reading

Review: SPARE ME THE TRUTH

Tomorrow I’ll be putting up a review of my year for 2015, running through my favourite books of the year, but I have one problem. One of the books I read was stunning, was thrilling, and I should have mentioned it … except I couldn’t, really. The damn thing wasn’t published last year! Caroline Carver … Continue reading

Writing Discipline

As a follow-up to yesterday’s Top Ten Tips on NaNoWriMo, I thought I ought to add a response to two of the comments I’ve received. The two points that were raised both relate to discipline more than anything else. First, another writer was a little concerned at my point 7. She pointed out, quite rightly, that she was an … Continue reading

WINTER SIEGE by Ariana Franklin and Samantha Norman

WINTER SIEGE Published by Transworld Books, ISBN 978 0 857 50147 9 It is not often that I have time to try out a new writer. I don’t have enough time to read, apart from anything else. I’m still trying to catch up with Karen Maitland’s books, with Susanna Gregory’s, with the latest Paul Doherty’s … Continue reading

More Money Musings – and Publishing

A little more about money, since apparently everyone is interested in authors and their incomes. First, although people seem to understand the simple principle that “advances” are only interest free loans against future income, there is still confusion about how much authors get paid. I think it’s fair to say that the vast majority of … Continue reading

Musings on Writing – and Money

It is so tempting, having heard that a second very senior policeman from the Met has decided that his career is better off curtailed, even though he doesn’t see that he did anything wrong, to launch into a long spiel about the newspapers. But I won’t. I have interests in the story, which I’ll explain … Continue reading

A Moderate Moorland March

There are few things better than getting away from the desk and enjoying a ramble over the moors. That’s what I’ve been doing this weekend. My brother Keith and I left on Friday to go for a little wander over Dartmoor, hoping that the weather would be kind to us. It certainly wasn’t last time. … Continue reading