An offer and a request in one: Many of you have followed the progress of War Over Dust over the months it’s been under construction. I’m now looking for readers who’d be willing to post a review of War Over Dust in exchange for a free copy in ebook format (I can provide .mobi, .pdf, …
Continue reading Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.
This short piece of dark fantasy puts a different spin on a popular theme, and carries it through with some dark humour. It’s a compact story, told simply but with great effect. We know as much as we need to about the characters and watch as the tension slowly builds to the denouement, which contains …
Continue reading A Night Shift, by Joshua Scribner: #BookReview.
Offering help for writers and language learners, this series of posts is a resource for all word lovers. This week’s words: Resign, Really, Dog eat dog, Yuan bei, ‘Resign’ belongs to an odd category of words known as contronyms. A contronym is a word that is its own antonym; a word that has …
Continue reading Looking for the Best Word? Tip #50
Blood Red Dust is on the shelves. War Over Dust has just appeared as a Kindle, available from your local Amazon. The launch for that will still officially be 2nd September at Fantasticon in Hull, but you can now obtain your copy as an ebook and get ahead of the pack. Maybe even read/review …
Continue reading Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.
Monday; the weekend over, a new week starting. Here, in Lydbrook, we’d had a pretty busy few days and were missing our usual walks in the Forest of Dean. The sky, alternately threatening and promising, made us wonder about our best option. The village has two very good, and reasonably-priced, pubs that serve …
Continue reading A Taste of Village Life
Offering help for writers and language learners, this series of posts is a resource for all word lovers. This week’s words: Fable, Assonance, sort of, back against the wall Fable – Roget’s thesaurus lists these alternative words: maxim, fantasy, fable, narrative. Under the sub-heading ‘fable’ are a further 42 replacements, including fiction, tale, …
Continue reading Looking for the Best Word? Tip #49
Translated from the original Italian, this melancholy novel captures the nuance and subtlety that can so strongly influence a young mind. The wrong thing said, the poor choice made, the misunderstanding never fully comprehended until much later, all act as controllers in the lives of those still forming. This is the story of two young …
Continue reading The Solitude of Prime Numbers, by Paolo Giordano. #BookReview.
The picture is a small version of a large image that's one of almost 400 I have on a site called Picfair.com. It's a place that sells photographs that can be used for any reason, at very reasonable rates. I'm hoping to earn enough from my work there to improve my website and to obtain …
Continue reading Creative #Writing #Contests Table Updated
At the moment, patiently awaiting the first view of the new book. While we wait, I thought I’d make a few comments about why I wrote ‘War Over Dust’. Actually, why I wrote that and its predecessor ‘Blood Red Dust’ and will write the one yet to come in this trilogy. Science fiction attracts writers …
Continue reading Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.
This is the first part of a four book series. I have a certain distrust of such books, if they fail to perform the function of a proper story in each volume. This one, it must be said, is marginal. The ending is ambiguous and designed to draw the reader to the next part, which …
Continue reading Red Desert – Point of No Return, by Rita Carla Francesca Monticelli, Reviewed.
Offering help for writers and language learners, this series of posts is a resource for all word lovers. This week’s words: Eager, Definitely, All talk and no action, Gigil. Eager – Roget’s thesaurus lists these alternative words: willing, active, fervent, excited, and desiring. Under the sub-heading ‘willing’ are a further 71 replacements, including compliant, inclined, …
Continue reading Looking for the Best Word? Tip #48
On Wednesday, I normally post a piece about progress on the current WIP. But we’re in a col there; War Over Dust is undergoing physical production to prepare for launch on 2nd September at the inimical Fantasticon 2017 in Hull, UK City of Culture. So, to fill the gap, I’m posting about my personal relationship …
Continue reading Why I’m Pretty Crap at Marketing.
Offering help for writers and language learners, this series of posts is a resource for all word lovers. This week’s words: Background, Aposiopesis, Almost, A clean slate Background – Roget’s thesaurus lists these alternative words: circumstance, concomitant, accompanying, distance, surroundings, rear, spectacle, knowledge, information, stage set, and ornamentation. Under the sub-heading ‘information’ are a further …
Continue reading Looking for the Best Word? Tip #47
Offering help for writers and language learners, this series of posts is a resource for all word lovers. This week’s words: Weather, absolutely essential, Sesquipedalianism, Natsukashii ‘Weather’ belongs to an odd category of words known as contronyms. A contronym is a word that is its own antonym; a word that has two opposing meanings! This …
Continue reading Looking for the Best Word? Tip #46
Offering help for writers and language learners, this series of posts is a resource for all word lovers. This week’s words: Cage. Anaphora. Extremely. Cage – Roget’s thesaurus lists these alternative words: stable (n), compartment (n), receptacle (n), circumscribe (vb), enclosure (n), enclose (vb), break in (vb), imprison (vb), lock up (n). Under the subheading …
Continue reading Looking for the Best Word? Tip #45
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Antidote to the Novel
Stuart Aken 