Welcome to my stop on Elaine Gunn’s The Silver Moon Storybook blog tour!

Many thanks to Kelly @ Love Books Group Tours for arranging the following interview with Elaine Gunn…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

Yikes, where do I start? Ok, I am a mum of three boys; I live just outside Edinburgh and am married to a hero called Angus. I’m trained in reiki and Dr. Hauschka therapy and run my holistic therapy business Something Lovely alongside my writing. The Silver Moon Storybook is my first published work; it’s a collection of seven original fairy tales with a feminist slant.

 Where did/do you get your ideas from?

I get most of my ideas from online media, I totally subscribe to that Facebook meme that goes about from time to time, which says “so it turns out that being an adult is basically just googling how to do stuff” – I get so much of my information on the internet! For example, my story The Strong Man was inspired by a brilliant TED talk given by the actor Justin Baldoni, where he talked about reframing our understanding of what masculine strength should be. It turned up in my Facebook timeline, and the next thing I knew I had come up with Dr. Cornelius’ Travelling Circus and its struggle with toxic masculinity. 

 Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

I didn’t set out to write about anybody in particular, but I suppose it’s inevitable that what is basically a download of your subconscious onto the page will reflect your own perception of reality to an extent. I suspect there’s more of me in each character than there is of anybody else. The character of the king in The Weaver did come from a very bizarre dream where Henry VIII saved me from a giant spider though. I’ve read a good bit of Phillipa Gregory in my time, and I’m guessing Henry VIII is about as accurate a symbol of the patriarchy as I can imagine. 

 How do you pick your characters’ names?

They don’t really have proper names – I am horrible at naming characters! I overthink it and try too hard to be clever with symbolism and double meanings, which I think ends up feeling contrived. By keeping it simple and letting the characters’ identities dictate what I called them in Silver Moon, I felt much freer to let them take me through the story themselves.

 Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

I just sit down and write. Usually I start with a theme I want to explore, then I come up with a core character whose experience is going to be central to the story. Once I have that, I just go with it and see what happens – some of my stories have ended up completely different from what I initially expected. My characters seem to have lives of their own!

 Who are your top 5 favourite authors?

This is a hard one – I love books and when I get the time to read (see above, re 3 kids and 2 careers…) I read loads of different authors, it’s difficult to pick favourites. I do really love Jane Austen, and I’ve had a lot of Stephen King on my bookshelves over the years. Georgette Heyer is a bit of a guilty pleasure, I often turn to her if I’m needing some happy fluff to cheer me up, and Neil Gaiman is a great one too. Oh! Hans Christian Andersen – I know I’m a grown woman now, but his fairy tales will always feel a bit special to me.

If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

It would have to be George Orwell; I read 1984 in my early twenties and it’s the only book I haven’t been brave enough to go back to learn more from as an older reader – I had a proper hyperventilating panic attack at the end of it. I’d ask him about the parallels I see in today’s society, and try to get a sense from him of how close to dystopia we actually are. Although I would probably need quite a lot of gin to attempt that conversation…

Were you a big reader as a child?

Yes. I was very introverted and had pretty low self-esteem. I retreated into books a lot – it was easier for me to immerse myself in imaginary worlds than to deal with the real one. I was a total bookworm and really into fantasy, fairy-tales and science fiction.

 When did you start to write?

I remember writing my first story in Primary 2 (I would have been 5 or 6 at the time), then I started keeping journals when I was about 10 or 11. I’ve been writing on and off since then, but never had the confidence to attempt anything for publication. It’s amazing how much writing experience you can gather in the world of work though; I have had to learn to adjust my style for reports, plans, terrible marketing campaigns etc, all of which have taught me how to be really tight and precise with my language.

 If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?

I would keep Mr Quincey P Jones alive at the end of Dracula – I always thought it was mean to kill him off, he was by far the warmest character in the book and deserved a happy ending. I was never very convinced of the whole “moral and racial superiority of Englishmen means they get to live” thing that Bram Stoker often got up to.

 Is there a book you wish you had written?

That would be a toss-up between two books. On one hand I have direct experience now of how amazing it is to have written a book that inspires children (one of my son’s wee pals has named her new gerbil Silvermoon) to think it would be great to have written Harry Potter. But also, I would like to have written Monty Hall’s Great Escape, because that would mean I’d have spent 6 months living like a hermit on the Applecross peninsula in Wester Ross, which is absolutely on my bucket list.

 If you wrote an autobiography, what would your title be?  

It took me about 6 months to come up with a title for Silver Moon; I nearly ended up having a workshop with some of my pals, I was absolutely stumped. I have no chance with this question! “Elaine, the Indecisive” or something…

 If you could invite any fictional character for coffee who would it be and where would you take them?

Erm… I’m not going to lie, it would totally be Jamie Fraser from Outlander. Somewhere deserted in the Scottish Highlands. I’ll bring a flask and a blanket.

 What are you working on right now?

I’m busy marketing The Silver Moon Storybook and working on getting some of Megan MacPhie’s wonderful illustrations up on my website for readers to download and colour in. I am also keeping my radar up for inspiration for more fairy tales, but I’m in no huge rush. Writing and self-publishing a book was quite an intense experience for me, and I’m trying to nurture myself in the aftermath.

 Tell us about your last release?

I released The Silver Moon Storybook in December 2018; I self-published as I had quite set views on how the book should look and feel, and I wanted to have total control over the creative side of things. The concept of feminist fairy tales was born out of my total frustration with some of the rubbish my kids were reading and watching on telly, and my disappointment with how a lot of female characters are portrayed in mainstream media these days. I wanted to write something that would examine gender roles in a way that would be accessible to children and perhaps their parents too. Fairy tales felt like a nice way to do this; apart from my own fascination with the worlds of dreams and fantasy, they open you up for all sorts of lovely metaphors, which I really enjoyed playing with.

 Do you have a new release due?

Not yet; maybe in a few years. I want to focus on my first book baby for a good while first.

 What do you generally do to celebrate on publication day?

I’ve only had one so far, but there was definitely a G&T involved! I was very nervous and felt quite overwhelmed, so spent quite a lot of time staring in disbelief at the stack of 2000 odd books in my garage. Next time I will try to come up with something a bit more interesting. 

 How can readers keep in touch with you?

I’m on Twitter at @Elaine_Gunn and my business page is on Facebook @somethinglovelydotscot. I also blog about writing, holistic therapy and feminism at http://somethinglovely.scot.

 Is there anything else you would like us to know?

I don’t think so. 🙂   

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions, Elaine 🙂

Blurb

The Silver Moon Storybook is Elaine’s first published work, a collection of modern fairy tales that weaves contemporary, progressive values and messages into seven magical stories. 

What darkness lies in the past of a little witch, cursed into the shape of a giant?

As the silver moon rises, who will save a magical unicorn, imprisoned in the castle of a tyrant, or befriend an enormous clown who roams the world alone? Can a humble weaver find the courage to face a terrible monster?  And what will be the fate of a powerful mermaid, at war with the world above her ocean? Join them and other enchanting characters in these haunting tales of illusion, discovery and love.

An exquisitely illustrated bedtime story for young readers (and perhaps some not so young), The Silver Moon Storybook weaves progressive and modern themes into touching fables full of the magic and shadows of traditional fairy tales.

Buy Link

https://www.somethinglovely.scot/product-page/the-silver-moon-storybook

YouTube Link

https://youtu.be/wvESoLGIOn0

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happy reading 🙂

Welcome to my stop on Julia Barrett’s My Sister Is Missing blog tour with RedDoor Publishing!

My Sister Is Missing is a gripping, highly emotional psychological thriller. Julia Barrett had me from the very first page and I found the whole story completely compelling.

Sisters Steph and Jess share a close relationship. They were both brought up by their mother after their father left when Jess was just five years old. However, they experienced very different childhoods from that moment on, despite living in the same house. Steph enjoyed a close relationship with her mother whereas Jess suffered abuse and neglect at her hands. We know that Jess blames herself for her father leaving, her mother blamed her too, but we don’t really know why for quite some time and the suspense is palpable throughout the story.

The story begins with Steph becoming a new mother to daughter Natalie. She has a dreadful secret she needs to keep from her husband, Adam, though. She believes he might not be the father of her daughter and she is convinced he will leave her or, worse, take Natalie away from her if he finds out the truth. So she disappears.

Naturally Adam and Jess are out of their minds with worry and a missing persons investigation is opened. Steph is high priority given that she has a newborn with her. This is an extremely tense part of the story. I could feel the panic rising as each hour passed and was praying they would both be found safe.

During the time Steph is missing Jess senses something off about Adam, more than worry about his wife and daughter, but she can’t put her finger on it. He is acting quite strangely and when we learn the truth his behaviour makes perfect sense.

Jess is also battling her own demons regarding her past and I became more and more intrigued with each page read.

Julia Barrett has created a very believable family who could just as easily be living next door. I think Steph’s struggle with her post-natal mental health is handled with honesty and sensitivity. I’m sure this story will help to raise awareness.

Jess’s story is quite heart-breaking and I loved that she finally confided in Matt.

Adam’s story is quite devastating. I did really feel for him.

This book highlights the fact that despite what we might face throughout our lives, things can always get better and we can move on from the past with the support of those we love, especially when we are open and honest with each other.

It is a must read for any psychological thriller fan and for those who enjoy a good police procedural. I highly recommend.

Many thanks to Anna at RedDoor Publishing for my ARC and for the opportunity to be a part of this blog tour.

Julia Barrett

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happy reading 🙂

Many thanks to Kelly @ Love Books Group Tours for arranging the following interview with Dan Proops…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

I’ve been writing for several years, and prior to that I was an artist, so I’ve always been creative from a young age, and arranged a solo art show when I was fourteen. Now I concentrate on writing. My time as an artist helps me to envisage scenes and characters, especially when it comes to descriptive passages.

Here’s a bit about the book. It’s a psychological thriller:

For seven years Adam has been tormented by the disappearance of his beloved sister Sarah. And then, with no warning he receives a letter from her. She refuses to meet but won’t explain why. Adam fears she’s in trouble and sets off to find her, but the harder he looks the more elusive she becomes.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

Usually my ideas derive from many sources, whether it’s a conversation with a friend about an interesting event or story. Also from reading fiction, articles in newspapers and watching films. An idea can come from anywhere and there are times when I’m actively looking for inspiration for a project, and sometimes I have multiple ideas and take some time to work out which one of them would make the most interesting novel. Once, I saw two old men arguing over a game of chess outside a café, and started a project with that as a first scene.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

I don’t actively base characters on real people, but after finishing a piece, I sometimes see traits my characters that echo personalities I’ve come across; and that can include friends. I once wrote about a friend’s issue with their damp; and they were a bit shocked that I’d used that in one of my characters’ houses; he seemed mortified, so I took it out! Sometimes friends don’t like aspects of their lives to appear in my novels, so I always check if they’re okay with that. And sometimes it can work the other way round. I left someone out of my memoir, and they said, ‘How come I’m not in there!’

How do you pick your characters’ names?

This is a great question. I can spend half a day running through lists of names. I’ll get about thirty, then narrow it down to ten, then the next day I’ll choose one from that list. I use a range of names from the very common to the more obscure ones, like Darius who’s a character in my debut novel.

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

About ten in the morning, I go to a particular café that I like, flick through a newspaper, then I read some fiction for an hour. After that I begin writing. I work for four hours, then I take a break and try for another hour.

Who are your top 5 favourite authors?

Orwell, Hanif Kureishi, William Golding, Hemingway, Herman Hesse.

If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

I’d like to meet Golding and ask about how he felt about getting rid of the opening chapters when asked by his publisher. In the original manuscript there was a nuclear apocalypse, before the boys ended up on the island. They agreed to publish the book without that beginning.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Yes. I read the classics like Wuthering Heights, and a biography of the Bronte sisters which was very exciting, and inspired some of my early short stories. I also read some Tolkien; I read The Hobbit, when I was twelve.

When did you start to write?

I wrote poems and short stories as a child, then painted for many years. I started writing full time, six years ago. I started with a memoir as I wanted to examine various passages of my life, and discovered facets of my personality that were only unravelled as expressed myself in the written word.

If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?

I loved Patrick Hamilton’s Slaves of Solitude. It’s dark book about some misfits sharing a boarding house in the 1930s. The book had an upbeat ending, which I wasn’t crazy about. So I’d probably have something calamitous at the end of that book. I sometimes write happy endings to my novels, but not often.

Is there a book you wish you had written?

A novel that I would love to have written is Orwell’s first novel, Burmese Days. He served as a policeman in Burma and the descriptions of the Burmese jungle are beautiful and evocative. I particularly like the protagonist, Flory, a vulnerable character who’s beleaguered with the racism of his members club; he struggles to find his footing as he’s close friends with a Burmese doctor.

If you could invite any fictional character for coffee who would it be and where would you take them?

I’d take Darcy from Pride and Prejudice to a coffee shop in Clapham Common, ply him with double espressos and ask how he remains so calm and aloof around women. I remember Colin Firth’s role as Darcy, and I was like. ‘ I need to be like this guy’. I tend to babble on, during a first date.

What are you working on right now?

I’m currently working on a new novel. I’m ruthless when it comes to editing, and can spend up to eight months perfecting a book. The first draft feels like having fun at a party, after a few beers, when you can say anything you want, without worrying about the consequences!

Tell us about your last release?

Here’s a brief description of the novel: for seven years Adam has been tormented by the disappearance of his beloved sister Sarah. And then, with no warning he receives a letter from her. She refuses to meet but won’t explain why. Adam fears she’s in trouble and sets off to find her, but the harder he looks the more elusive she becomes.

A Letter From Sarah is not autobiographical in the strict sense, but I was inspired to write it after falling out with my own sister.

I think that anyone who likes psychological thrillers, mystery, suspense would enjoy the book.

Do you have a new release due?

Yes, A Letter From Sarah, is being released on March 7^th 2019.

What do you generally do to celebrate on publication day?

I Invite good friends and colleagues to the launch, drink some beers, sign some books, then rush home to work on my current novel.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

Twitter is a good place to start. I’m on there quite a lot.

You can say hi to me on there any time.

@Dan_Proops

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

I’d really like to work on a film script as I really enjoy writing dialogue. It would be fun to be involved in a collaborative project; and to discuss ideas and plotlines with another writer and script editor. The guy who came up with the line in Jaws, ‘We need a bigger boat’, was a genius.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, Dan 🙂

Adam’s sister, Sarah, has been missing for seven years, but he hasn’t given up hope of finding her. He is a sculptor and lives with his bedridden father who is a bully and a curmudgeon.

One morning, as the anniversary of Sarah’s disappearance nears, Adam receives a letter from her and she is apparently alive and well, living in New York. Adam travels to Brooklyn to search for Sarah as he’s desperate to see her, but she seems determined to avoid him.

Sarah’s letters arrive weekly, but she continues to remain elusive. Adam is perplexed by Sarah’s requests for secrecy, as is his father and his girlfriend, Cassandra.

He is determined to find her, whatever the cost to his wellbeing, health and sanity….

“Dan Proops’ writing has a clarity and immediacy which pulls you into the world of his characters, their conflicts and obsessions and refuses to let you go; quite simply, he makes you want to turn the page and that, to my mind, is the fundamental business of fiction.” – Mike Walker – Radio dramatist and feature and documentary writer

“An intriguing and addictive read. The writing is superb, as is his cast of beautifully drawn characters. I’d recommend this book to anyone.” – Rick Sky

“Dan Proops’ novel is a psychological white knuckle ride through the hopes and despairs of a man wrestling with truths, mirages, lies and visions. It is an exciting, heart-breaking, infuriating, teasing and disturbing read.” – John Hind, The Observer

happy reading 🙂

I have the pleasure of welcoming Nia Lucas, author of Love Punked, today 🙂

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

Hi, I’m Nia and I’m the author of ‘Love Punked’. I’m a rapidly-aging, half-Welsh, ginger calamity with an assortment of children, pets and other liabilities keeping me occupied. I’m also a Social Worker with teenagers and have been for about 20 years, which adds to the general air of chaos that clings to me. ‘Love Punked’ is the fourth book I’ve written but it’s the first one that I’ve published. My writing is a bit of a tricky one to park in a particular genre- it often crosses the lines between Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Romance, ChickLit and YA/NA and although it doesn’t make life easy, it hopefully means that a wider audience of readers will enjoy it than if it was sat firmly in just one camp! Set in the 90’s, ‘Love Punked’ follows the protagonist Erin through a life very much ‘less ordinary’ in a journey that makes the reader laugh, cry, snort and shout.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

I think it’s hard to pinpoint particular sources of ideas. ‘Love Punked’ is partly inspired by my own teenage years in the 90’s and several characters are influenced by people who were (and still are) in my life. The opening scene from ‘Love Punked’ involving a humiliating foam party incident are (horrifyingly) autobiographical, causing my mates who’ve read the book much amusement. As a Social Worker, I love watching people, observing their interactions and as a writer, I employ those skills when I’m out and about, to get ideas for stories. I’m also motivated to widen people’s awareness and challenge stereotypes where possible, particularly around young people who’ve had complex or difficult pasts. Two of ‘Love Punked’s protagonists are young people whose experiences of life as a young parent and a young offender are designed to challenge the reader in terms of their preconceptions about how those ‘types’ of young people react or behave. I am fiercely protective of my professional life as a Social Worker though- my writing might be influenced by my own views or experiences but I put my clients’ lives and experiences in a carefully sealed box and they’re not part of my writing.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

Some of my characters are most definitely based on a mixture of people from my personal life- I think it’s unavoidable really when they have been a part of shaping who you are! Plus, one of the best and lesser known benefits of writing books is that your mates spend hours pontificating on who or what particular parts of the story are based on. I like to mess with them, it’s one of the unexpected pleasures in life. I think writing allows you to live vicariously through your characters- you can right old wrongs or change outcomes with the tap of a keyboard. In ‘Love Punked’, Gio, Lees, Danny, Jay and of course Erin are all partial-mosaics of people that I’ve known or spent time with and many of my characters are people that I wish I’d known.

How do you pick your characters names?

In my family, people are rarely referred to by their ‘proper’ names, it’s always a contraction of their name or a nickname. Full names are only to be used when crimes have been committed or if priests are coming for tea. My Nana would verbally scroll through an entire Electoral Roll of mine and my Cousin’s names before she got to the right one and you’d bloody leg it fast if you were ‘full named’. I often choose names that have multiple contractions, it’s also a way of identifying particular relationships within dialogue (different characters calling each other specific nicknames). The characters in my books are often fully formed in my head before I name them too which means I have to ‘chew over’ names to see if they fit. Welsh names are a particular favourite of mine but I have written several books with characters who have Italian heritage and so I have to spend a while finding the right ‘fit’. Sometimes, I just pick names that I’ve always loved just because I can!

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

A character develops in my head, normally when I’m driving, walking or just daydreaming. Music is a big feature in my writing and I always listen to music when I’m thinking through a character. I’ll replay the character in my head, expanding their story and their identity for weeks, months sometimes, before I start writing. They can become quite preoccupying when I’m trying to work out their back-story. In the planning stage, my writing is character driven, not plot driven. Once I do start writing (and I write at night), I don’t plan the story fully. I am a ‘pantser’ not a ‘planner’ so the storyline can (and frequently does) take very unexpected turns as I write.

Who are your top 5 favourite authors?

My favourites are an eclectic bunch but I’m a comfort reader. I’m time-poor and rarely adventurous in my reading and it’s not something I’m proud of. Once I find somebody whose writing I love, I stick with them like chewing-gum on a bus seat and I’m a devil for the re-read. Caitlin Moran, Roddy Doyle, Sharon Penman, Philippa Gregory and Penelope Lively are my go-to authors. I have had a long-standing New Years Resolution to read more widely. 2019 will absolutely be the year I do it….it will…..honest….

If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

I blagged my way into the Writer’s Room at the Cheltenham Lit Festival last year. I sat, eating free cake and slack-jawed in awe, as Caitlin Moran sat not ten feet from me. I was unable to so much as smile in her direction but had I strapped on my Big Girl Pants and found the courage to ask her a question, I’d probably have asked, “How do you know when a book you’ve written is the best version it can be?”. It’s very possible that I will still be editing the first novel I ever wrote when I am eating jellied fruits in my nursing home…..I can’t seem to get to the point where I feel it’s ‘done’. Her advice would be very useful frankly.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Yes and I look back on those years of glorious, responsibility-free Sunday afternoons spent chilling with a book and I could wallop myself for not appreciating them more. I loved Paul Zindel, Jean Estoril, Tessa Duder and Dodie Smith in particular. Now, I spend my Sundays screeching at my family for their housekeeping misdemeanors (sounding scarily like my Mum) as they lounge about reading improving books* (*watching morons on YouTube).

When did you start to write?

I’ve always loved writing Social Work reports for work- it’s something my colleagues could never really understand but I loved the process of telling somebody’s story as clearly and with as much ‘life’ as possible, to do the clients justice. I dabbled a bit with a blog and with the odd article for things but I wanted to do something bigger. I’ve had chronic insomnia my whole life- it’s unusual for me to be in bed before 2am- and this time needed filling because honestly, there are only so many old episodes of Buffy, My So Called Life or The Gilmour Girls you can watch in the wee hours of the morning. ‘Lorna’ had been a character in my head for many years and I sat down one night, in February a couple of years ago and I just started to tell her story and the story of the people who shape and break her. I started to write and I didn’t stop. I wrote over 600k words in those extra hours of the day and the first draft was longer than ‘War and Peace’. The process was the most satisfying thing, I genuinely loved every tap of the keyboard, spinning every sentence. I wrote the rest of Lorna’s story in three and half books and then I got lost in a wormhole of editing, submissions and rejections. So I sat down and I wrote Erin’s story, over the course of a few weeks in early 2018. This was ‘Love Punked’ and this was the book that I chose to release first.

If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?

There are few travesties greater than Hermione and Ron ending up together. I’ve yet to get over it.

Is there a book you wish you had written?

Yes. ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ by Thomas Hardy. I would have spared generations of GCSE students the mind-numbing tedium with a complete re-write. There would be an ‘Eastenders-esque’ explosive revelation about Elizabeth Jane, Newson would have been absolutely gorgeous (think ‘Outlander’), Susan would have grown a pair and been far more feisty and the entire story would have been TEN PAGES LONG. I have never known something drag on with so many crazy swerves and this is from a woman whose first book was over 600k words long initially……

If you wrote an autobiography, what would your title be?

“What the f**k did she do now?”

If you could invite any fictional character for coffee who would it be and where would you take them?

Tess (of the D’Urbervilles). I would Social Work the bejesus out of that girl over a hot chocolate at Sketch in London. It’s one of my favourite places to go for a sit and a chat. The first time I saw the dinosaur-egg loos, I cried with laughter. I take all my mates who visit there, dragging them to the loos every time. I think Tess and I could sort out pretty much everything in a few hours to be honest and then follow it up with a club and kebab to shake off her Angel blues.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.

At eighteen, I worked in a Betting Shop for a few months. I learnt an astonishing amount of terminology, complex maths and betting strategies, becoming an expert at Yankee bets in the process. Within a few months of leaving the job, that complex knowledge just fell out of my brain. It literally packed up and left my cerebral cortex. It comes back in flashes but it was a valuable early lesson in ‘Use it or lose it’ when it comes to skill acquisition. I now struggle to help my 9-year-old with his maths homework.

What are you working on right now?

Before I wrote ‘Love Punked’, I’d written several other books. Those books follow the life of a protagonist ‘Lorna’ who, alongside the people in her life, has been in my head for years and years. Her story is precious to me but the books were RIDICULOUSLY long. Having re-worked, re-written and re-structured, I’m still editing those books. I’m not sure if I want to seek representation with them or if I just go straight to self-publish again. I’m hoping that the first book will be ready for release/submission in Summer 2019.

I’m also working on an entirely new book, with a really complicated protagonist whose journey changes every time I sit down and write her. She’s a real challenge (we don’t get on at times) but I’m really looking forward to seeking where her journey goes.

Tell us about your last release?

‘Love Punked’ was released in July 2018 on KDP via Amazon. It has been the most incredible learning journey for me- I’d never heard about Book Bloggers or BookTubers before that point and I only joined Twitter and Instagram that Summer too! From Day #1, it’s been rated 5* on Amazon which I’m really proud of.

”When her life is irrevocably altered by a post-Rave tryst on her mother’s floral patio recliner, Erin Roberts’ long-standing relationship with Humiliation takes her down a path that’s not so much ‘less well trodden’, more ‘perilous descent down sheer cliffs’. Armed with a fierce devotion to her best friend and the unrequited love for the boy she might have accidentally married at age seven, when Erin falls pregnant at sixteen, life veers off at a most unexpected tangent. Her journey to adulthood is far from ordinary as Erin learns that protecting the hearts of those most precious to you isn’t balm enough when your Love Punked heart is as sore as your freshly tattooed arse. Whilst raising football prodigies and trying not to get stuck in lifts with Social Work clients who hate her, Erin discovers that sometimes you have to circumnavigate the globe to find the very thing that was there all along”

‘Love Punked’, like all my writing, doesn’t fit neatly into a particular genre- the reviews on Amazon and GoodReads show that reviewers define it as a mixture of ChickLit, Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Romance and even YA/NA.

Growing up, I was desperate for heroines who looked, talked and behaved like me and I couldn’t find them. As a result, my protagonists may well always be redheads with Welsh heritage- I feel the strong need to represent us! Erin, the protagonist of ‘Love Punked’ is the feisty, daft, loveable but flawed best mate all we wish we’d had in our teens and twenties.

Do you have a new release due?

I’m hoping to release ‘Choices Shape, Losses Break’ in Summer 2019- watch this space!

What do you generally do to celebrate on publication day?

Self-publishing is a funny one- it’s a very quiet business really. Much of the celebration goes on inside your head or via Social Media- there’s no agents to congratulate you or Bridget Jones-style ‘Kafka’s Motorbike’ Launch Party. It’s just you and your computer and pressing ‘Upload’ is the most TERRIFYING thing I’ve ever done. I get invited to Book Clubs as a guest author for ‘Love Punked’ and for me, that’s the best celebration. Having people talk about the characters that lived only in your head for so long, is like the best treat ever. I love talking about Erin, Jay, Gio, Lees and the rest of them and every time I get a chance to talk to somebody who’s read and enjoyed it, I get a bit giddy.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

I’m on Twitter @BooksNia (www.twitter.com/booksnia) and I’m on Instagram @NiaLucasBooks (www.instagram.com/nialucasbooks). My author page on Facebook is ‘Nia Lucas Books’ (www.facebook.com/nialucasbooks) . I’m always happy to turn up at Book Clubs/Groups and I offer free e-copies to any reading groups that want to feature ‘Love Punked’ in their schedule! Just drop me a line.

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

Oooooh, yes, two things really. First, big thanks to anyone who’s read or reviewed ‘Love Punked’- it genuinely means a lot. The other thing is a bit preachy but it’s close to my heart. Reviews, those little Amazon stars, the little golden GoodReads sparkles , they mean EVERYTHING when you’re a self-pub author. People may not realise but points do actually mean prizes. The number of reviews you get correlates to your profile increasing in the website algorithms. One word, one line, it all counts. If you loved a book, hated it, set fire to it or cling to it weeping every night, PLEASE take a few seconds to leave a review. Every little helps! Many thanks for letting me ramble on, I really appreciate it!

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, Nia 🙂

When her life is irrevocably altered by a post-Rave tryst on her mother’s floral patio recliner, Erin Roberts’ long-standing relationship with Humiliation takes her down a path that’s not so much ‘less well trodden’, more ‘perilous descent down sheer cliffs’.

Armed with a fierce devotion to her best friend and the unrequited love for the boy she might have accidentally married at age seven, when Erin falls pregnant at sixteen, life veers off at a most unexpected tangent.

Her journey to adulthood is far from ordinary as Erin learns that protecting the hearts of those most precious to you isn’t balm enough when your Love Punked heart is as sore as your freshly tattooed arse.

Whilst raising football prodigies and trying not to get stuck in lifts with Social Work clients who hate her, Erin discovers that sometimes you have to circumnavigate the globe to find the very thing that was there all along.

happy reading 🙂

Today I am very pleased to welcome Martin Gore to Chat About Books, ahead of his new novel’s release, ‘ The Road to Cromer Pier ’, in June.

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

I’m a 62 year old semi-retired accountant and director. I’ve live in East Yorkshire since 1992 with Sandra, my wife of thirty nine years. We have two grown up children, and four grandchildren. Originally born in Coventry we moved to Kent for eight years, then moved to Yorkshire.

In 2000 I wrote eight chapters of a novel called The Road to Cromer Pier, but wasn’t convinced that it worked, and rather put it to one side.

I became involved in Amdram, as an actor in pantomime originally, and reworded songs to go in the show. Eventually I wrote my first pantomime in 2010, and have now written eight. The pleasure of hearing an audience laugh at what I’d written is just fantastic.

The group began to do comedy plays, and I wrote The Road to Cromer Pier up as a play, but it was heavily laden with characters and too unwieldy to really perform. To improve my skills as a writer, I undertook the Hull Truck Theatre Playwright programme, and in the course of which I wrote Pen Pals as a play. Again it was quite heavy with characters and I parked it.

My career reached a crossroads in 2014, whilst I was Director of Corporate Services at Humberside Probation, which faced impending privatisation. I had the opportunity to take early retirement, at 57. I took the plunge, developing a second career as a non-executive director. I now have three such roles, with the NHS, a major Housing Association and UK Anti Doping.

I’m delighted with my decision as it allowed me the freedom to travel, and to indulge my passion for writing. As I already had two plays, which could act as the framework for novels, I set forth to work these up. Pen Pals was published in June 2016, and The Road to Cromer Pier will be out at the end of June 2019.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

Pen Pals was written from my direct experience in working at British Leyland car factories in Coventry in the seventies. I wrote it with the underlying purpose of explaining the origins of today’s austerity; class ridden management and militant unions at each others throats, which collectively caused the decimation of thousands of jobs in our country. But it is hopefully written as a human story of the lives and loves of the characters featured, so making it a believable and enjoyable work of fiction.

The Road to Cromer Pier is drawn from my childhood holidays in Cromer, and my fascination with musical theatre. Cromer is the nearest seaside town to Coventry, and my father was from Norfolk. Every summer we went there for a fortnight. Seven hours by bus! The book features the lives and loves of the cast and crew of the last full season end of the pier show in the world, and written with the full support of the Cromer Pier Theatre.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

As both books started their lives as plays I did draw on some cast members of my local Amdram group for my characters, although they probably wouldn’t notice it. Some of the characters in Pen Pals are drawn from my experience in British Leyland, particularly the union convenor.

The Welsh singer in the Road to Cromer Pier is the only one that I would say is directly associated with someone. She has a superb voice which fits the character really well. Maybe she will recognise herself when it’s published.

How do you pick your characters names?

VERY carefully. I try for slightly obscure surnames to avoid more obvious risks of mistaken identity. NEVER give father and son the same first name. I did it once with Bill Murgatroyd in Pen Pals, then realised that the reader would be confused, and changed the son’s name to James!

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

As I’ve written plays which I’ve converted to novels I’m probably very unusual!

Well I guess I find a topic which I know about and have a passion for as a starting point. It must be easier to write from personal experience. If I write a play I start with eight segments, one for each scene, eight to a play, and scribble what happens in each scene, with any ideas for sub plot, characters etc. No idea too daft at this time. When the frame is finished writing up the dialogue is pretty easy I find. Developing from a play to a novel rather continues that process a stage further I think. More characters, more expansion of the plot, fleshing out the bones so to speak. Given that a play is around fourteen thousand words and my books are over seventy thousand, that understates the length of the journey I suppose………
The Road to Cromer Pier however required a complete rewrite after I visited the theatre and saw the show once more. It is a quite outstanding show of West End standard and I just had to do it justice. That took me a year…..

I don’t write daily as I have no deadlines to work to other than those I impose myself, and I have my work commitments to manage. I’m writing to please myself, and as I’m an early riser I write quite sporadically but intensely. On a good day I’m so immersed in my writing that I suddenly find that a couple of hours have gone by, and I’ve almost been in another place. I write in silence, and have a writing shed in the garden, overlooking open fields. If I write on holiday I like to get up early and put myself in front of beautiful scenery. I finished one pantomime in an apartment with stunning views of Lake Como.

Who are your top 5 favourite authors?

I don’t actually read too much fiction, mainly biographies. I very much liked Arthur Hailey, because his subjects were so well researched and he really got under the skin of the particular industry that he was writing about.

I have read quite a few Nelson De Milles, Robert Goddard and Robert Ludlum too. I enjoyed Archer’s early stuff such as Kane and Abel, but tend to find that all of these writers become formulaic over time. If I’m on holiday I tend to write rather than read, a habit that I should change no doubt!

If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

I would probably say Joanne Harris. Although she is a successful writer she takes time to help developing writers. If you ask her a question on twitter she will always give you a reply. I’ve had several useful tips from her, and admire her for her willingness to help.
I’d probably ask her more about promotion of the work, as I’m a total novice at book signings and interviews. I suspect most authors are more comfortable writing their books than selling them!

Were you a big reader as a child?

I liked Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and that sort of book, but never really read as much as my mother wanted me to. I tended to play outside with my brothers, but was rubbish at sport really. I was always pretty good at creative composition mind…..

When did you start to write?

My love of creative writing started at school, but much more in the line of writing plays. I remember telling my mother that I wanted to be a Playwright when I was around nine year’s old. My father loved musical theatre, so I guess that’s where my enjoyment of live performance comes from. My creative side lay dormant for around thirty years, as I developed a successful career as a Finance Director, and my family grew up. We moved from Coventry to Kent, and then to Yorkshire during that time, so there was no time.

If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?

I get frustrated by books which don’t have an ending as such, just set up the sequel! I will NEVER do that to readers of my books!

Is there a book you wish you had written?

Well I guess we’d all say Harry Potter…..

Let me cheat and have a play. Calendar Girls by Tim Firth. A wonderful true story which brings you to tears of sorrow, but joy of the human spirit. It’s what I try to do when I write…….

If you wrote an autobiography, what would your title be?

Six and a half. Could do better……

If you could invite any fictional character for coffee who would it be and where would you take them?

I think I’d go for President Bartlett aka Martin Sheen of the West Wing, probably at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, which I’d love to visit as I love contemporary country music. I’m sure President Bartlett would have interesting views on our world as it is today, and Sheen is one of my favourite actors.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.

I sing with the Hull Hospitals NHS Choir, and we auditioned on Britain’s Got Talent at the Birmingham Hippodrome in front of Simon Cowell et al, getting four yesses. We didn’t make the semi finals but while I was on stage I had an idea.

As part of Hull City of Culture 2017, I founded a school’s project called Song for Hull, which resulted in a concert featuring the hospital choir, seven primary schools and an audience of nine hundred. The concert will repeat in 2020 with fourteen schools and an audience of eighteen hundred. I intend that it will endure and promote aspiration and self belief in our young people. Maybe the semi final didn’t matter after all!

What are you working on right now?

The Road to Cromer Pier has virtually completed an exhaustive proof reading process, and will be launched in late June, coinciding with the start of the 2019 Summertime Special Show in Cromer. I’m intending to undertake an intensive promotional campaign during the summer, so other projects are not the immediate priority.

I have refined the play version of The Road to Cromer Pier, which is now available to Amdram groups free of charge, so I’d love to see that getting performed. I’m also writing a pantomime version of Camelot in my spare time. I’ve been asked about writing a sequel to Pen Pals, but I’m not as yet convinced about that. I have another half written comedy play called All Inclusive in the works, and an idea for a novel called Last Hurrah, about a man retiring back to his childhood hometown.

Tell us about your last release?

I was delighted that Pen Pals has had such positive reviews, standing at a 4.5 rating on Amazon. I learned a massive amount in the process, particularly through the brilliant editing process by Alice Baynton.

As with my plays and pantomimes my pleasure is in the audience reaction. One reviewer of Pen Pals was adopted as a child, and said that I had captured the feelings of an adopted child towards a birth mother perfectly. That sort of comment really motivates me. aracersof thelives andlovess, which collectivelymr

Do you have a new release due?

I will be heading to Cromer for the opening gala night of the 2019 Summertime Special Show at the Pavilion Theatre Tfor the launch on 29^th June. The Road to Cromer Pier is about the lives and loves of the cast and crew of the Cromer Pier Summertime Special Show.

‘Janet’s first love arrives out of the blue after forty years. Those were simpler times for them both. Sunny childhood beach holidays, fish and chips and big copper pennies clunking into one armed bandits. The Wells family has run the Cromer Pier Summertime Special Show for generations. But it’s now 2009 and the recession is biting hard. Owner Janet Wells and daughter Karen are facing an uncertain future. The show must go on, and Janet gambles on a fading talent show star. But both the star and the other cast members have their demons. This is a story of love, loyalty and luvvies. The road to Cromer Pier might be the end of their careers, or it might just be a new beginning.’

What do you generally do to celebrate on publication day?

I guess the truthful answer was that last time I spent most of it refreshing my Amazon author page and spreading the word on social media!

This time I plan to be in Cromer doing a number of book signings and talks with book groups, prior to the gala performance of the Summertime Special Show

How can readers keep in touch with you?

Website: www.martingore.co.uk

Twitter: @authorgore

Facebook: martingoreauthor

Email: martin@vega.karoo.co.uk

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

I’d be happy to take questions from book groups and arrange to meet them in Norfolk at the end of June after the launch, or in my home county of Yorkshire. Similarly I’d be happy to do signings in local book shops if proprietors would like to get in touch.

There is a play version of The Road to Cromer Pier, available free of charge to Amdram groups. Again feel free to contact me.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, Martin 🙂

Brenda Arkwright has been the Managing
Director of Murgatroyd Pens for much of her
working life. She is popular, personable and
competent. But Brenda has secrets.
When Jean Murgatroyd passes away in a
nursing home in the northern industrial town
of her birth, old wounds are re-opened. Events
from Brenda’s past, inextricably intertwined
with the Murgatroyd family, are coming back
to haunt her. Simultaneously, Jean’s difficult,
estranged son James seeks to regain control of
the family business.
Jean leaves a beautiful monogrammed pen to
Brenda’s daughter, one of only two that were
ever made. The person in possession of the other
was a mystery to everybody but Brenda and
Jean, but that person may now hold the future
of Murgatroyds in their hands..

Local author, Martin Gore, launches novel in tribute to Cromer Pier theatre

‘The Road to Cromer Pier’ – A Tale of Lives, Loyalty & Luvvies.

Childhood seaside holidays create long memories. Fifty years later, author Martin Gore’s second novel, ‘The Road to Cromer Pier’, brings fond memories to life in a contemporary novel about the lives and loves of the Cromer Pier theatre company.

“I’ve always loved musical theatre, so the lights and sounds of the Pier Theatre drew me in. We travelled by bus from Coventry every summer. My father was from Norwich, so choosing Cromer as the nearest seaside destination was inevitable. When I was nine, I told my mother I wanted to be a writer. She told me I’d better get a proper job, so I did. Now fifty years later I am semi-retired and living out my childhood dream.’

Eight pantomimes and two plays later, Gore published his first successful novel, ‘Pen Pals’. His second, ‘The Road to Cromer Pier’, is out in June, with support from the Pier Theatre:

“They showed me around the theatre, answered lots of questions and set up an interview with a member of the cast. I have tried to capture this background information in the book.”

But it wasn’t easy to write a fictional story about an iconic piece of British Theatre.

“Writing a fiction novel about a real place and show is very difficult. I have huge respect for the performers who tread the boards, night after night, in the season. It must require huge mental & physical stamina, and I wanted to do that justice. Having seen the Summertime Special Show, what stands out is the sheer quality of the show. This is a West End theatre standard of a show, with a big budget, and that needed to come out in the story too.”

So what’s the story about?

“The lives and relationships of the cast and crew of the show. The show creates strong loyalties, tested against the deep recession of 2008. Old enmities surface and relationships are forged in a turbulent period from the start of rehearsals, to opening night.”

The Road to Cromer Pier will be launched on Friday 29^th June, at the premiere of the 2019 Summertime Special Show, and available in paperback and ebook versions. Martin Gore’s website is www.martingore.co.uk and he is on Facebook, and Twitter @martingore

happy reading 🙂

Hi and welcome to my stop on Caroline Mitchell’s The Secret Child (DI Amy Winter Book 2) blog tour! 🙂

Many thanks to Agnes Rowe @ Midas PR for the opportunity to take part.

My review…..

I am always excited when there is a new book by Caroline Mitchell to read! They never disappoint and The Secret Child is no exception. This is the second book in the DI Amy Winter series and I hope there will be many more to come.

You could read this as a stand-alone, but I would recommend reading book 1 first as there are aspects of the story which follow on. This book does feature a different investigation though and this one was extremely chilling. I felt the tension throughout as Amy and her team race against time to save the lives of two children who have been caught up in one man’s determination to seek revenge. How can this man be who he says he is though, as he is supposed to have died in a fire years before! The team really do have a mystery on their hands and they have absolutely no time to waste in trying to figure it out before anyone else gets hurt.

An absolutely gripping crime thriller/police procedural by one of my most favourite writers. Very cleverly written, as always. Full of suspense and highly emotional. You can’t help but feel some empathy towards the kidnapper as his story unfolds, although his actions could never be condoned. I can’t even begin to imagine the suffering he endured as a child. I truly hope this sort of thing has never happened in the real world.

Amy Winter is one of my favourite detectives. She is passionate about her job, but struggles with the truth of her biological parentage and how it impacts on her as a professional adult. She is flawed and this makes her very real. Her quirks are quite understandable and make her very believable although I have no idea how I would feel/react in her situation. Her circumstances make her a very unique character, especially given that she is a detective. The whole concept is quite fascinating and I can’t wait to see where her story goes in Book 3.

I can see this series going from strength to strength and I’m very much looking forward to catching up with DI Amy Winter, and her team, again.

Many thanks to Caroline Mitchell for my ARC via Netgalley. I highly recommend!

DI Amy Winter knows evil. She’s lived through it.

Four-year-old Ellen is snatched by a stranger in the dead of night. Her devastated mother, Nicole, receives four identical phials and a threatening note in a familiar scrawl that chills her to the bone. But she always knew this would happen. She’s been expecting it for years . . .

According to the note, one of the phials is poisoned. Nicole is given a deadly challenge: if she drinks one, the sadistic kidnapper will notify the police of Ellen’s location. The sender claims to be Luka Volkov but Luka is supposed to be dead, killed long ago in a fire that haunts all those involved.

DI Amy Winter is still reeling from the discovery that she is the daughter of a serial killer, and her childhood trauma only makes her more determined to bring Ellen home. When another child is taken, Amy finds herself in a race against time. To rescue the children, must she seek help from the one person she wants to forget?

About the author…..

USA Today, Washington Post and International #1 Bestselling Author. Shortlisted by the International Thriller Awards for best ebook 2017. Over three-quarters of a million books sold.

Caroline originates from Ireland and now lives with her family in a village on the coast of Essex. A former police detective, she has worked in CID and specialised in roles dealing with vulnerable victims, high-risk victims of domestic abuse, and serious sexual offences. She now writes full time.

Caroline writes psychological and crime thrillers. The most recent, Silent Victim reached No.1 in the Amazon charts in the UK, USA and Australia. It has been described as ‘brilliantly gripping and deliciously creepy’.

Set in Notting Hill, London, her new DI Amy Winter thriller, Truth and Lies, is published by Thomas & Mercer.

Sign up to join her Reader’s club for access to news, updates and exclusive competitions and giveaways. http://eepurl.com/IxsTj

happy reading 🙂

Thanks in advance to all who like and share my blog posts throughout Lent and apologies in advance for not being around to share yours.

It will be weird not interacting with you all for a while, and it will probably seem like forever, but I’m determined to give it my best shot! Say hi in the comments on here occasionally, so I don’t feel completely out of the loop! 😉

Are you ‘giving up’ anything for Lent? I wish you lots of luck on your journey, if you are.

I look forward to celebrating with you on Easter Sunday 😊

Take care & happy reading!

Kerry x

Interview with Judith O’Reilly…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

I’m a former journalist with the Sunday Times, Newsnight and Channel 4 News. I started off writing nonfiction – Wife in the North and A Year of Doing Good. Wife in the North was based on a viral blog about moving from London to Northumberland, while for A Year of Doing Good, I did a good deed a day for a year. They were both published by Penguin.

I originally brought Killing State out myself a year ago and I was very fortunate in getting in great blurbs from some very generous big name writers, it also picked up reviews in national newspapers and sold into WHSmith travel outlets in train stations and airports. Off the back of that success, I got an offer of a two book deal with Head of Zeus. The hardback of Killing State is out any day (jumps up and down in excitement) and book 2, Curse the Day, at the end of the year.

Killing State is action adventure with a political twist and launches a new hero called Michael North onto the scene. North is working for an extra governmental agency and is very good at killing bad guys. But when he is ordered to kill a female MP, he realises he can’t do it and that the only way to keep her alive is to help her find her best mate who has disappeared.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

I was a former lobby correspondent and political producer so the political context to the book comes naturally to me. Lord knows it’s an interesting time politically, and the book knocks things forward a year or so to a time when we’ve left the European Union and Trump’s America has pulled out of Nato – we’ve privatised the Army as a way of keeping up our defence spending.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

Someone said to me once that what writers don’t realise is that all your characters emerge you’re your own psyche – good and bad. If I look at my main characters, the hero is highly intuitive (courtesy of the bullet he took to his brain when he was a serving soldier). Well, we all like to think we are intuitive, don’t we? The main female character, the MP called Honor Jones, would go to the brink and beyond for her best mate and I have to say friendship is incredibly important to me. And the hero’s sidekick Fang is a stroppy teenage genius. I certainly wasn’t a genius but I went from being labelled precocious to pretentious when I was a kid basically because I read a lot of books, so I think I have a good handle on how she feels about stuff. Plus I have three teenagers of my own so I have any amount of research close to hand to help when I need to channel Fang’s obstreperousness and bad-ass attitude.

How do you pick your characters’ names?

Michael is probably a Catholic thing to do with the archangel Michael who is often depicted suited and booted as a warrior with a sword.

Honor (my female lead) is a good person and as difficult as she feels she has to be. You have to be careful with being too obvious with names because you want to cue up the reader subconsciously rather than with a huge neon lit arrow.

I’ve riffed on a couple of family names and I’m guessing that is because I’m used to and like the sound of them. I didn’t really think about it, but apparently members of my family were a bit surprised when they read the book.

Generally, names come quite easily. You play around with them, roll them around in your head a bit, ask yourself whether it feels right. The only habit I need to be careful about is sometimes you end up choosing a few names for different characters which all start with the same letter.

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

Work on the craft of writing all the time. Don’t ever be satisfied with what you write. Always try to be better. Work hard at it and then work harder. Accept the fact your caffeine levels are going to be way too high.

Who are your top 5 favourite authors?

Aaaargh, there are so many but if you nailed me to a wall.

Lee Child

Robert Harris

Margaret Attwood

James Patterson

John Le Carre.

Mick Herron.

Raymond Chandler

Philip Kerr

Martina Cole

Anthony Trollope

Dan Brown.

Did you say 5? I’m very bad at counting. Seriously, I think I’m dyscalculic.

If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

Really good question. It would be James Patterson and it would be how do you keep people turning the pages. I try to be aware of something they call ‘micro-tension’ – upping the ante, instilling conflict in emotions and ideas. It’s supposed to make you keep reading. That is what I am after. That ‘can’t put this down’ effect. I’m not writing literary fiction. I’m telling a story and I want you right there with me till I’ve told it.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Huge, enormous, weren’t we all? Twelve library books on the family’s tickets. Not to mention school library books. Easily a book a day. I was an only child. Books were everything. I’m terribly short sighted as a result, but a price worth paying. (The fact my kids don’t read like I do makes me want to weep. I mean, they play sport! Where did that come from? Not form 5ft 2inch, stumpy, bespectacled me let me tell you. I used to run away from the netball at school. I was so bad I was ordered off the hockey pitch the only time they let me play.)

When did you start to write?

As a kid, I had short stories published in the local evening paper and a story published in a kid’s anthology.

If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?

Well I know it would ruin a brilliant and tragic love story but I do think Cathy and Heathcliff should have got together.

Is there a book you wish you had written?

The Handmaid’s Tale. I studied in Canada for six months and discovered Margaret Attwood and read it years ago. Mindblowing.

If you wrote an autobiography, what would your title be?

I’ve already written two in a way. Both my nonfiction were effectively memoirs so Wife in the North and A Year of Doing Good (just the year you understand. I figure the rest of my life I can live it how I please.)

If you could invite any fictional character for coffee who would it be and where would you take them?

I would take Philip Marlowe for coffee. I’d be willing to overlook the fact he called me a dame and probably arrived hung over. He’d have to arrive first so I could make an entrance because that’s what dames do. I’d take him to a café called Flat Whites in Durham which has excellent coffee and oodles of atmosphere.

What are you working on right now?

Just in the last throes of editing Book 2. I’ve written it, just about to submit it, then the editor will get back with her suggestions. I’ll make the revisions then move on to research for Book 3. I’m ticking over ideas wise for Book 3 as we speak.

Tell us about your last release?

The synopsis reads like this:

Michael North, assassin and spy-for-hire, is very good at killing bad guys. But now his shadowy bosses at the dark heart of the British government have ordered him to kill an innocent woman – and North can’t bring himself to do it.

The woman is Honor Jones MP, a rising star in Westminster politics. She has started asking dangerous questions about the powerful men running her country. The trouble is, Honor doesn’t know when to stop. And, now that he’s met her, neither does North. 

There is lots of zeitgeisty jeopardy in it and bad guys and guns and nailbiting tension (I hope) and there’s also some really great women characters with strong dynamic relationships. Women who don’t take any rubbish from anyone, who seize control of their lives and refuse to let go.

Do you have a new release due?

Book 2 Curse the Day I haven’t really talked about anywhere yet but since you ask…

North (and his stroppy teenage sidekick Fangfang) is dragged into another adventure, this time, working alongside Mi5. He’s tasked to discover who is behind the leak at an important UK tech company and to keep the company’s founder safe – a woman who’s just been attacked in her own home. What could possibly go wrong? That would be everything.

(I’ve been told it’s a bit Killing Eve and a bit Lisbeth Salander from the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books)

What do you generally do to celebrate on publication day?

I am desperately dull these days. I have had big launch parties in the past but this time I am planning pizza with the kids. I’m part of a book group and I’d like to have a celebratory coffee with some of them if they can find the time. Maybe I’ll take the day off? I work seven days a week (not all day but every day). That seems a bit shocking now I’ve written it on the page. Does the world stop turning if you take a day off? Shall I find out?

How can readers keep in touch with you?

Please. I love that.

Tweet me @judithoreilly

Email me through my website www.judithoreilly.com

Sign up to the newsletter.

Or just email me at judith@judithoreilly.com

Some writers say writing is solitary and that’s a good thing. I can find it lonely, so if u read the book and u want to comment, reach out.

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

Yes, if anyone is reading this and they want to write a book. Don’t quit the day job or you put way too much pressure on yourself.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, Judith 🙂

Thanks for the interest. Judith x

Blurb

WHAT IF THE PERSON YOU’RE ORDERED TO KILL IS THE WOMAN YOU WANT TO PROTECT?

Michael North, assassin and spy-for-hire, is very good at killing bad guys. But what happens when his shadowy bosses at the dark heart of the post-Brexit British government, order him to kill an innocent woman and North can’t bring himself to do it?

The woman is a rising political star, Honor Jones, MP.  She has started asking dangerous questions about the powerful men running her country. The trouble is, Honour doesn’t know when to stop. And, now that he’s met her, neither does North…

AUTHOR

Judith O’Reilly is the author of Wife in the North, a top-three Sunday Times bestseller and BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. Judith is a former political producer with BBC 2’s Newsnight and ITN’s Channel 4 News, and, when she isn’t writing novels, she writes for The Sunday Times.  Judith lives in Durham.

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/2US2ilA

Many thanks to Kelly @ Love Books Group Tours

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happy reading 🙂

Welcome to my Flashback Friday feature!

On the first Friday of each month I like to have a little look back at the books I was reading during the same month in previous years, since starting my blog.

Here are my reviews from March 2018 & a link to an earlier March Flashback Friday post…..

#SilentVictim by Caroline Mitchell @Caroline_writes #BookReview #PublicationDay

Will To Live (Detective Kay Hunter crime thriller series Book 2) by Rachel Amphlett @RachelAmphlett #BookReview

#FlashbackFriday with @KFrenchBooks @mjamesfiction @TillyTenWriter @Helen_Bridgett @ChristieJBarlow @MTilburyAuthor

Have you read any of the above?

What were you reading this time last year?

Feel free to join in!

Kerry x

Welcome to my stop on Vanessa Robertson’s Death Will Find Me blog tour! 🙂

Many thanks to Kelly @ Love Books Group Tours for arranging the following interview with Vanessa Robertson…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

My name’s Vanessa Robertson, I’m from the Midlands but have lived in Scotland for the last twenty years. In 2015, I was a winner at Bloody Scotland’s Pitch Perfect event. Death Will Find Me is the book I pitched and is out now. It’s a crime thriller set in 1920 and is about a woman who, when her husband is murdered, has to prove her own innocence by finding the actual killer. In a wider sense, it’s about the way that even after the Great War – any war for that matter – the things that people had to do can still haunt them.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

All sorts of places – odd newspaper stories, conversations in the village shop, a podcast… I think writers are like sponges – we notice things and file them away at the back of our minds to ferment and one day a story emerges, often quite by chance. But ideas breed ideas and the more you write the more ideas seem to appear.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

No. Although my heroine Tessa has not-quite-a-love-interest who is named after a school friend of my brother-in-law’s. I’ve never met the real Bill Henderson, but I’ve always just thought it was the perfect name for my Bill who is a truly good and loyal person.

How do you pick your characters’ names?

The main characters generally appear with their names. As soon as my heroine came to me, I knew that she was called Tessa Kilpatrick. I have no idea where that came from. And her friend Hetty appeared out of the blue while I was writing a scene set at a party and I just knew her name from the start. For minor characters where I do have to think of a name I just work through my son’s school friends, old phone directories and so on.

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

I’m not organised enough to have anything you could call a process. I wish I did. I have a friend who is a meticulous plotter and I’m in awe of that. I tend to use Post Its to work out a plot and I turn that into a linear outline of about 5k words. And then the first draft is me telling myself the story and then the next draft is telling the story to my readers. It’s not the fastest and most efficient way of working but it suits me.

I’m about halfway through the first draft of the second Tessa Kilpatrick novel at the moment and I’m pleased with how it’s coming together.

Who are your top 5 favourite authors?

I can’t! I was a bookseller for too long, I might offend people!

If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

I’m very lucky in that my background in bookselling (my husband and I founded The Edinburgh Bookshop) means that I know a lot of writers but I’d love to meet Jilly Cooper. She’s such a consummate storyteller. Riders and Rivals in particular are impossible to put down. She does humour and romance and sadness so well, in the same chapter at times. If you can keep a dry eye when Sailor dies in Riders then you have no soul.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Absolutely. I was allowed to have my Young Adult borrowers ticket early because I’d read everything in the children’s section. Then I went through the YA section and was allowed my adult library card. That was a momentous day. I read widely and I do remember when I was about 14 that I’d added a DH Lawrence novel to my pile (probably to see why people had made such a fuss about Lady Chatterley) and the librarian raised her eyebrows at me and put it back on the trolley.

When did you start to write?

I wrote a lot as a child – I had a blue portable Remington typewriter that I used to bash what were almost certainly truly dreadful stories out on. Then I stopped in my early teens because I went to quite a bitchy girls’ school and it was best to keep your head down and not stand out. And then when I was an adult I wanted to write but didn’t think it was feasible – I felt I’d done the wrong degrees and so on, as though you had to apply for it like a job. Then I ended up owning a bookshop and realised that I was perfectly well-qualified, I just had to tell a compelling story and do it well. When we sold the bookshop I decided to devote more time to writing and here we are.

Is there a book you wish you had written?

I can’t think of any. I’d like to have written something hugely well-respected but I’m happy writing what I write. Obviously the royalties from something like Harry Potter or 50 Shades of Grey would be nice. But I don’t tend to waste energy on wishing I’d done things, I prefer to concentrate on what I am doing and what possibilities lie ahead. I’m beginning my writing career in my 40s and I don’t have time to waste on regrets.

If you wrote an autobiography, what would your title be?

I’d never be so vain as to write an autobiography. Maybe I could hire a ghost writer to do it and they could make me sound more exciting?

If you could invite any fictional character for coffee who would it be and where would you take them?

I don’t know about coffee but I wouldn’t mind taking Rebus out for a pint. His creator has a great sense of humour and I’d like to know if his creation does too. We’d go to The Oxford, obviously. And I would love to invite Rupert Campbell-Black out for a champagne-fuelled long lunch and see how utterly outrageous and indiscreet he was.

What are you working on right now?

I’m writing the second Tessa Kilpatrick book – currently untitled – and then I’ll be spending a bit of time on another project that’s on the back burner – a thriller set in the art business. And I have another couple of ideas… Maybe I do need to learn to write faster!

How can readers keep in touch with you?

My website is www.vanessarobertson.co.uk and if you join my readers club then you’ll receive the odd update, free short stories and so on. And I can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Ness_Robertson and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ness_robertson/

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, Vanessa! 🙂

Scotland, 1920.
Meet Tessa Kilpatrick; heiress and war-time covert operations agent.

Finding her husband – the feckless James – with another woman at a 1920s country house party, she demands a divorce. But when his body is discovered in a lonely stone bothy the next morning, Inspector Hamish Rasmussen sees Tessa as his only suspect.

Back in Edinburgh, links to another murder convince Rasmussen of her innocence. He enlists her help and together they set off on a pursuit that will bring Tessa once again face to face with the brutality of war as well as revealing to her the lengths that desperate people will go to in order to protect those they love.

Will Tessa be able to prevent a final murder or will she become the killer’s latest victim?

This book will be perfect for anyone who’s enjoyed the work of Catriona McPherson, Sara Sheridan and Jessica Fellowes. 

Book Funnell Link 

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/nkzqkoy5in?fbclid=IwAR3qIZZZqnHDKMWd3u50Jvp2rDFdcRKof80PnmIMMeBK5QaqvkIVfkk9Xow 

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/2T79REr

happy reading 🙂