I used to read ravenously. All the time. Now, since my brain went weird and I had a few mental breakdowns, I think I'm up there as one of the slowest readers in the world. A proper tortoise. I suppose it's why I've never read any of my own work. Anyway, that aside, I started reading FIELDS OF GRACE by Wendy Waters a while back and I finished it this week. I absolutely loved it. Now I try never to give much of anything away in my 'Book Reviews of Sorts' and that will stay the

Having just finished LIFE OF MAGGOT, and having not decided what to work on next, I'm going to take a wee bit of time out. One of the things I'm going to get back to is reading. I love reading, always have, but with my mental illness my brain has in effect been rewired to find it very difficult - impossible even, when I'm writing. It's a thing I want to stretch myself on, so that I can do both. Surely that's not a step too far? Anyways, I started a read whilst proofing Maggo

I might have mentioned I’m beginning a Masters in Celtic Studies at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David. I’m very excited; nervous too given the strange state of my brain and mental health since whenever. It’ll be a challenge, quite different to what it might have been before the breakdowns, but one I hope to enjoy. Already it’s got me doing things. Talking on the phone Sorting out online enrolment and IT access Taking mug shots of myself (for the ID Card you unde

Well this was a strange one for me. At times it dropped to a 2 star, then rose up to a 4 star and then ended overall as a 3 star for me. How to explain? At the beginning there was a bit too much 'tell' and not enough 'show'. This made the book difficult to read for me. It was kind of like being preached to by a preacher who desperately wants to be believed, but who isn't always convincing. But the writing was good, if bloody dark. Then when the 'show' took over it improved im

This year I released my first novel, ‘Nightjar’. It’s a fantasy, with more than a hint of dystopia, set in a feudal future and centred upon a Fae’s need to keep alive an immortal love. I was inspired to write the piece by the Iron Age landscape that surrounds where I live. In Sandy, Bedfordshire, there are hill forts and Roman Roads, low-lying land and an escarpment that rises up over what was once a shallow sea in the very distant past. As with most parts of England, there

The next few weeks my blog will be about the books I've read. Recently, of course. It follows on from my thoughts on reading Jean Teule's 'The Poisoning Angel' last week, and will include the likes of 'Norse Mythology' by Neil Gaiman, 'Folk' by Zoe Gilbert, and some shorts by Daphne Du Maurier. However this week my thoughts are with 'Rusticles' by Rebecca Gransden. I chose to read 'Rusticles' because (like me) Rebecca is a new, up and coming author without the backing and m

I enjoyed one of those wonderful events recently; you know the one, when you pick up a random book in the library and it turns out to be truly amazing. The book in question was 'The Poisoning Angel' by Jean Teulé; a donated book, and the library was in Sandy. It was a risky move on my part; a translated foreign work. Always a worry because they so often don't translate. There have been so many I tried and did not finish. Feeling brave, adventurous at picking it up, I opened t

Over the last week and two I have released my first novel out into the world. 'Nightjar' is a literary fantasy set in a feudal future,...

Those who know me realise my reviews are less a blow by blow account of a book (I don't like giving things away), and more a consideration of my own thoughts on having finished a piece. Today I'm doing Sci-Fi - an unusual event for me, usually sticking to weird literary and classics, some fantasy in there too. But Sci-Fi? It's a rare occurance, and I'd certainly never read VanderMeer before. In fact I'd never even heard of him before picking up 'Annihilation' on a whim in the

Sometimes, with some authors, when you finish one of their works you have to give it time to settle, let it 'become', before casting judgement, so to speak. Steinbeck is one of those authors. I love his narrative and prose, of that there is no doubt. Steinbeck takes you to where 'there' is. As @williamCKent (a friend on Twitter) who described on reading the Grapes of Wrath: 'I felt as if I needed to dump the dust from my shoes and was always hungry...' Quite perfectly put. St