Looking for that unusual stocking filler!

My books and probably your last chance to pick up a copy from Amazon before Christmas.

The first two books in The Torc Trilogy.  Action adventure based on historical fact.

 

England 50 BC - A Celtic symbol of power and wealth, a Torc wrought from white gold, a trophy for a king. Luain Mac Lanis, warrior turned metal smith, is commissioned to make a magnificent Torc, but he knows nothing of the curse surrounding the strange metal. The only way to lift the curse is to offer the Torc to the Gods in a sacrificial ceremony. Two thousand years later the Torc is listed on the inventory of a sunken ship. Dr Orlagh Gairne, a leading archaeologist, is sent to work with Jack Harrington and his crew of salvage experts. It's Orlagh's job to identify the Torc and ensure its safe delivery to the National Museum, but the operation is not as straightforward as expected. Aided by his team of mercenaries and an historical expert, Jack unearths a wave of hatred spreading across Europe. With the past weaving tightly with the present, they must infiltrate the terrorists' lair in order to prevent a worldwide catastrophe.

Twelve months has passed since the traumatic events that almost claimed her life and Dr Orlagh Gairne is looking forward to a well-earned holiday. With her partner, Jerry, they jet off for the Aegean coast where they plan to make the most of the Mediterranean sun and visit the ancient sites of Anatolia.

The Phoenix Legion, still reeling from a humiliating defeat, have re-grouped and are now planning the next phase of their quest. They are in possession of the Belgae Torc, but this is not enough to ensure total power so they must rely on the druids and their connection with the spirit world.

Whilst searching for treasure in the Sea of Azov, Jack Harrington and his team make an unexpected discovery and with the past merging with the present are unable to avoid being drawn in to another deadly battle.

The Belgae Torc, Jack Harrington and The Phoenix Legion are far from her thoughts, but as Orlagh enjoys her holiday with the man she loves, these forces come together. Will she manage to avoid another conflict or will she become a victim of circumstances that are beyond her control?



The Witness is a psychological thriller, a stand alone novel, but the first of a set having characters and plots that overlap.

 

Landscape artist Josie MacDonald is coming to the end of her stay in Scotland. Whilst out on a painting trip early one morning she witnesses a horrific murder. Mr Mac, the deranged killer, is aware that she has seen him at work and sets out to kill her but Josie manages to escape by plunging desperately into the North Sea. Mr Mac, convinced that she has perished, discovers a few days later that she has survived and sets out to track her down. He follows her to London where he subjects her to terrible psychological torment as one by one her friends are drawn into the nightmare. Josie returns to Scotland in order to discover the truth where her worst fears are realised. With time running out and a killer on the loose she must survive long enough to bring their horrifying ordeal to an end.


Happy reading.

Update for December

I was talking to a friend at the weekend who reminded me that I have not updated my blog for some time and we began to discuss the importance of regular updates. I questioned the wisdom of this, blogging when there was nothing important to blog about. His reply was although I might think that I have nothing interesting to say, he as a follower often looked forward to catching up on the ordinary things that are going on in my life. The art of writing is of course making the ordinary sound extraordinary. Not always an easy thing to do.

Anyway, this is a potted review on things going on at the moment.

We have sold our house and are hopefully moving in January. We were looking to relocate in the Wessex, but have now discarded that idea and have found a lovely little house in a quiet village in Kent, our home county. We have been in our current house for 28 years and therefore have loads of stuff to sort though, memories of children growing up, things that we have not seen for over 20 years stored in boxes in the loft etc, etc, so as a consequence my writing has taken a downward spiral. I have a deadline of next Easter in which to produce my next book, the third part of the Torc Trilogy, but as I have only written 25,000 words that deadline seems unlikely. I need to have about 120,000 words and even with time off work over the Christmas period I probably will be unable to catch up. By this time I should have at least 50,000 words. It is difficult keeping all the balls in the air at once, beginning to pack up the house, dealing with lawyers’ enquiries, writing a novel.

Once over this little molehill and things are back to normal, the book will be completed and I will wonder what all the fuss was about.

To everyone reading this, my latest blog, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

 

Amazon reviews

Hello to everyone who have bought my books from Amazon. Thank you so much for showing an interest in my work and I hope you enjoyed reading my novels. Please could I ask you to leave a review on Amazon as I understand that reviews are highly regarded in the world of book promotion. The other thing of course is that it would be very nice to hear from you and indeed what you think of my work.

A short post about Royalties.

Wow, I have just received my annual sales payment from my publisher. It's nothing to get excited about, certainly not enough to retire on, but never mind. I get great satisfaction out of being paid for doing something that I really enjoy doing, (writing novels), and being paid for something that I did many months ago. I intend to market and promote my novels more in future, but the most important thing is to write the next one.

A blog about things.

It's time I wrote another blog. I should post photographs of my lovely holiday in France or update you with talk of my latest novel, but just for now I am going to ramble about stuff that is happening now. When my wife and I returned from France we decided that something in our lives just had to change, so our house is on the market, we have given notice to leave our jobs and we are looking to re locate in Somerset or Dorset. Such a dramatic change you might say, and you would be right, but there comes a time in your life when the humdrum ground hog existance becomes overwhelming and you realise that there are things that you want to see and to do. We are soon going to embark on an adventure that hopefully will turn out for the best. I am going to write the final novel in The Torc Trilogy and spend some time marketing my novels. This is what I want to do for the moment, but I will in the fullness of time I suspect have to look for a part time job, but all that is in the future and who can say what might happen. One just never knows!

Kindle price reduction

Great news.  At last I have managed to persuade my publisher to reduce the Kindle price of my book The Belgae Torc.  In the UK it will now be £2.99, with similar reductions in the US.
This is the first book in The Torc Trilogy.  The Gordian Knot, recently released, is the second part and is available from Amazon and to order from best selling bookshops.

Book Launch

The launch of my book The Gordian Knot was held at Whitstable Rugby Club on Saturday evening (2nd August). About 50 guests were invited and the evening went very well.

The table was full of research notes, edited manuscripts, advertising leaflets and hand written text that went to make up the final paperback.

Books piled up ready to sign

Both books in the Torc Trilogy, just one more left to write.
My speech notes can be seen on the left of the table.  The envelopes hold character profiles.  I raffled off two characters to help raise money for charity.  These characters will appear in the next book.

A transcript of an interview I did with Kimberly Eve.  It appeared on her blog; Kimberly Eve Musings of a Writer and also on Facebook.  It can be read on my website.

Artwork and ideas that went into creating the cover.  The Celtic or Trinity knot looks splendid against the black background of the book cover.

Some of my guests being bored by my speech!

Signing books.

Me 'dancing around' whilst speaking!