Can you hear that?
No, you probably can’t. But I can.
Tinnitus: ringing or buzzing in the ears.
That definition just does not do it justice in my case.
A concentration-shattering, perpetual whistling, more like. A shrill, hissing, sibilant, headache-inducing screeching that eases off to a whispering susurration at times.
Or maybe you can hear it. Continue reading
It’s a sunny day here in Luxembourg. The heatwave has eased, the rain has stopped, and it’s perfect weather for sitting out on the patio and pouring thoughts and words into my laptop.
I started looking through my Scrivener folder of “Unfinished Works“. More accurately, it should be called, “Started and Stalled“.
Some authors struggle to find ideas. I’m of the other type: story ideas constantly tumble through my mind, especially when I’m in the middle of redrafting a story. (I HATE redrafting.) So I type out a few notes in my “Unfinished Works” folder and get back to the task in hand.
(It also happens when I’m swimming, which is a terrible time to get an idea as my iPhone is not waterproof!)
Every now and again, I look through my Unfinisheds to see if there’s anything worth developing. It’s usually an unfulfilling task. I find sketches, first lines or paragraphs, or even whole chapters that lead nowhere I can follow – yet. Worse, I find the plots of movies and novels released AFTER I noted down the original idea. I really wish I had one of those author mind-reading gadgets! Continue reading
Here we go again, sliding past the year’s halfway point – the longest day (or the shortest day if you’re Down Under).
The Earth just clocked-up another 470 million km (282 million miles) – a half orbit of the sun – since a cold and snowy December 31st. And what’s changed? Continue reading
I’ve finally had to admit it. I’m over-committed.
I never planned to spam my blog followers with daily ramblings. Twice or thrice a month would suffice. But I’m down to one post a month.
So I changed the tagline in my posts to “An occasional blog”. Truth is good. (Unless, of course, you’re a politician of any persuasion.)
So why am I swamped? Continue reading
It’s been a long month.
Apart from the usual writerly stuff (you know, the stuff a writer thinks s/he’s going to be doing like… er… writing) authors across the world have been struggling with Amazon‘s widespread and apparently random deletion and blocking of reviews and trying to navigate the European Union’s new GDPR law.
Read on… Continue reading
Had a great time at the UK’s annual Sci-Fi and Fantasy Convention (Follycon) in Harrogate. Met some old friends and made some new ones. Learned a lot and had a few new ideas sparked. Delighted to say that my friend David Allan got his first publishing contract. Congrats, David!
The final part of my sci-fi trilogy (Janus Arrival: Journey’s End) was released on April 1st and sales are very satisfying. I’m already at work on my next book. Continue reading
Turning Worlds
So much catching up to do now my I’m back home! The world just keeps on turning, even if I’m not watching it. (Quantum physicists are invited to comment below on that observation.)
Distribution Channels
My novels’ distribution network continues to grow effortlessly! I use the Mention app to notify me if my name or my book titles appear on anyone’s web pages. No, it’s not an ego issue, it’s… professional… market awareness… all that stuff.
Anyway, Mention notified me that while I was on vacation, Continue reading
Some of you might have noticed a long silence from me.
Many will be grateful.
But now I’m back!
I just spent the whole of October on a road trip covering New England in the Fall and a batch of Canadian cities. Exhausted!
If you want to visit New England in the Fall, you just have to go in the Fall. And I highly recommend it. Stunning views!
Do note, however, that half the small-town New England service industry shuts down after Columbus Day. October is “out of season”. Er… “New England in the Fall”… Fall? You know, that period just AFTER Summer? A period that usually includes October? Ah, well. It’s their cash flow.
Anyway, it’s hard to blog while driving or striding through russeting forests. (Yeah, I made that word up.) So I took a blog vacation.
On my return, I had to catch up with all my snail mail (yes, people still use that in Europe, especially governments and other people wanting money from you). Then I surveyed my “TO DO” list. It was too long, so I set it aside and took up my “REALLY URGENT TO DO” list, which was a little shorter.
First up has to be a final revision of the last volume of my Janus Paradisi Trilogy: JANUS ARRIVAL. I hope to send it out to beta readers in a couple of weeks for editing and publication towards year-end.
Yes, I know Christmas is a lousy time to publish, but part two came out in April and I owe it to my existing readers to bring the saga to a conclusion soon. It will help them sleep at night, without worrying about how my oppressed characters are faring, out there in the deep beyond.
While I was away, I found praise winging my way on the InterWebs!
First up: A full-page article from Scifibook Review
If you like science fiction, you should be reading Sheron’s blog. I was delighted to see such a respected reviewer commenting favorably on my work. Many thanks!
Next: Another couple of particularly glowing 5-star reviews on Amazon. Writers love reviews, even if they aren’t all 5-star, so do a writer a favor and post a review of the best book you read this year, no matter who wrote it. Thank you on their behalf.
Oh, and a belated Happy Halloween to you all.
Whichever way you consumed your pumpkins (in coffee, beer, cheesecake, soup, sandwiches, cupcakes…), I hope you enjoyed them!
NEW MUST-HAVE PARADISI CHRONICLES RELEASES (details below)
As my regular readers know, my JANUS PARADISI series takes place in an open-source sci-fi universe. A what?
Essentially, a group of authors agreed on the backstory and main features of a time and place where all action will occur, then write their own stories within those parameters.
These stories can be from any sub genre (hard sci-fi, space opera, fantasy, romance, whatever), as long as they stick to the overall parameters, such as planet names and environments, technology, history, and so on. They can use other writers’ characters (with permission), usually giving them walk-on parts, or referring to great events in other writer’s stories. Continue reading
Beware Book Pirates!
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been running an Instafreebie promotion (where science fiction readers sign up to my newsletter and receive a free copy of my novel, “FACES OF JANUS“).
Then Google Alerts notified me that the novel was available on a few pirate sites. I checked and found that one site claimed not only to have my novels but also every anthology I ever was published in. Some charge for their copies (and keep the income). Others hand out copies for free. Forever.
I explored a few pirate sites’ extensive book lists. Some of these pirates claim to have as many ebooks as Amazon! Most likely, these were cover shots only and downloaders would get a nice virus instead of my book. (Be warned!)
As my free offer was limited in time and scope, I was at first unhappy about this. But I decided to ignore it, because… Continue reading
