Guest post from Sharon C. Williams, author of 'Jasper the Amazon Parrot'

Hello readers! We hope you're staying healthy and sane during these crazy times. If not, pick up a book. It usually helps. (:

Today, we have a guest post from author Sharon C. Williams. She's here to talk about what it's like living with the main character of her book (hint: he's a parrot).

I live with my main character: The ride of a lifetime

Compared to the writers in my area, I come to the writing game late in life. I only started to write when my husband told a family friend that he felt I wrote well. She passed that on to me. I mulled that over for a few months.

Having two surgeries coming up soon I knew I would have a lot of down time. So, I looked around my house for ideas on something I could write about. Something that I could write a book around.

My eyes landed on Jasper, our Yellow Cheek Amazon parrot.  We rescued and adopted him in 1999 at the age of five. This was just a year after I started to rescue birds of any kind. At that point he had been with us for 10 years. 

Wanting to learn as much as possible about him, I started to research his home and what he would see. I wanted to better understand this amazing animal who was now with us. What I came across was the issues that plague this region. The more research I did the more I got a better understanding of what he could lose if he was still there.

That got me thinking. It lead me to want to write a book that was educational and entertaining for this age group. A book that would make them appreciate, learn and perhaps become advocates of the animals and what they face. Being an avid reader, since forever it seems, I was fortunate to come across books by wonderful authors who made my love for reading just grow. If I could accomplish that for children I would be very happy.

Inspired to try my hand at a children’s book for any future grandchildren, I made the leap and started with volume one to my Jasper, Amazon parrot series.

I had an advantage from the start. Being around Jasper as long as I have, and at this point it is 21 years, we have seen how intelligent and adaptable he is. But not only that, his ability to learn and grow is remarkable. I would not have known this prior to rescuing him. Also, I could not have possibly imagined how to write it.

Fortunately, inside my series are scenes that have actually played out with us. One certain situation in one volume has ants on Jasper. He has to figure out how to get rid of them without getting bit.

One day an ant crawled onto Jasper’s beak. First, he called for help. Then, he tried to figure it out. Watching him go through that gave me the perfect way to describe it to the tee.

Another example is how Jasper is around my other birds. While he is not a fan of some of them, if anyone or anything tries to mess with them he is all into your business. His mannerisms, time and time again, have given me insight into writing how Jasper takes care of his brother Willie in the series.

It’s little things like this that make this series special. I have actual insight into his mood and how he works things out. All I have to do is observe and pay attention. 

Living with my main character is a joy. Not many people can say this. It has given me an invaluable information that I could not possibly understand or view if he was not right by my side. 

It is only fitting that my book and series is wrapped around him. I could not ask for a better companion to help me write my books.

Want to learn more about Jasper the Amazon Parrot? 

Get the book on Amazon!

Listen to it on Audible! or iTunes!

Lastly, check out the author's website.

Happy reading,

Erin & Anna

Guest post from Luke Melia: author of 'Give Up the White Room'

Hello readers. 

Today we're sharing a guest post from Luke Melia, author of Give Up the White Room--a novel about a puzzle-solving young woman who struggles with agoraphobia and OCD.

Enjoy!

‘Talk me through the plan’
Portraying mental health in my novel Give Up the White Room  

Give Up the White Room is my first novel. Prior to publishing it in 2019, I had only written comic books, so a piece of long-form prose presented quite the challenge. On top of that, I chose to write about some difficult themes, as my protagonist Reya struggles with both agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. 

I portray these mental health issues in writing through Reya’s first-person narrative. As the reader, you see events from her perspective and, through her inner monologue, get a sense of how she processes the world around her. Reya uses her natural gift for solving puzzles as a way to approach her mental health. 

This is where Ivan comes in. Ivan is an essential character in the novel, maybe as important as Reya herself – in a sense because he is Reya herself. Ivan doesn’t exist – he’s a therapist Reya consciously creates as a way to self-medicate. She sees her mental health issues as a puzzle, and Ivan is part of the solution.

When we first meet Reya, she and Ivan are working on a plan to build her confidence to a point where she can leave the house, walk to a local shop, buy milk and come home. This might sound like the simplest of tasks, but for someone suffering from extreme agoraphobia, it presents a monumental challenge.

‘Talk me through the plan’ is the second chapter of the novel and consists of a dense conversation between Reya and Ivan, during which I explore the meticulous extent to which she has to plan even the most basic activities. My aim was to give an insight into the depths of her mental illness and explore just how crippling agoraphobia and OCD can be. I was very conscious, though, that if I didn’t write it well it could easily come off as a boring slog in which a woman talks to herself for several pages about going to buy milk!

This chapter is so important to me as it shows how Reya thinks, how she plans, and how she perceives the world in a different way to most people. It’s key that the reader understands this early on so that later in the narrative the decisions she makes and the ways in which she approaches people all make sense.

Reya knows that Ivan isn’t real. She explains why she created him, and how it was a conscious decision to do so. From that moment on, I wanted the reader to see Ivan the same way that Reya does – as a separate entity. His purpose is to challenge Reya’s thought processes, so the two of them are able to look at the same situation from different perspectives. Reya’s is one of fear and emotion, whilst Ivan can take a colder, more methodical view.

As Reya’s therapist, Ivan insists on a level of professionalism in their relationship. However, he is the only ‘person’ with which Reya has conversed for the past six years due to her reclusive lifestyle – at times, their relationship slips into friendship, sometimes with Ivan even acting as something of a parental figure.

In establishing these elements of the story, hopefully I’ve written a chapter in which the two of them discussing the plan to go and buy milk is interesting, thought-provoking and an authentic but sensitive look at how Reya struggles with her illness.

Of course, this is only the beginning… when her plan goes awry, Reya retreats to the safety of her home, and that night when she sleeps discovers a boundless and magical place called the ‘shared Dreamspace’. There she can bring to life anything she imagines and has the opportunity for the first time in six years to talk to, connect and form relationships with a group of fascinating and eccentric individuals from around the world.

Reya and Ivan’s relationship grows increasingly strained as Reya becomes obsessed with this ‘White Room’, which Ivan does not believe exists… but if you want to know more about that, you’ll have to read the rest of the book!

Eager for more? Read Give up the White Room.

Happy reading,
Erin & Anna

Guest post from the future: Jim Wolfe on finding inspiration for 'The Making of Heroes'

Hello, beautiful literate people. You give us hope for the future.

Speaking of which, today's guest post came to us through a wormhole in the space time continuum (or something like that).

Historical novelist Jim Wolfe hails from the distant future, and we'll let him tell you in his own words about the inspiration behind his book The Making of Heroes.

For a long time I’d been wanting to write about Abigail Eastwind. But where do you start, with such a well known figure? Already there are novels, biographies and more than one H-Box production.

So for many years I wrote, as it were, around her, chronicling the V-Cities in all their magnificent glory. But always somewhere, to the back of my mind, figures, characters, backstories, incidents and plots were forming and - gradually - becoming more and more insistent on being recognised and recorded.

One day, I skimmered to the massive ruins of V-CityB. As usual, a guide was conducting a tour, conjuring images of the past with a wave of its hand. Sometimes it would morph - as VFs are wont to do - into the characters it was speaking about. The small group - there were maybe six of us - trailed along the curving passageways while around us the events of over 500 years ago were brought into shimmering, 3D life.

I knew most of it of course, having already written extensively about this period. So I wandered off.

After a few turns and random changes of direction I found myself alone. The air was slightly stale, but not unpleasant.

And as I walked I could hear the quiet, distant echo of my footsteps. I could easily have been the only person to go this way for centuries.

I fell into a reverie. And from the entangling mists of thought, pulled remorselessly into a fictional reality, a powerful figure emerged.

Spiker Gomez, padding along at that steady trot that eats up the miles. Going home with snared rabbits. And above, far beyond the sky, the planets indifferently clicking into place.

I had the start of my story. And the other figures, some - like Spiker - fictional, others - like both Allegra and Abigail - historical fact, began to assemble and take shape, waiting to come on stage and make themselves known.

Heroes, villains and ordinary people all caught up in the great flux of a tumultuous time.

I had my book. I had three. An epic.

Of course they found me: a guide fizzed into being and announced the last Skimmer of the day was about to depart. Back in mundane reality, I returned to my Dome and began to write.

Hungry for more? Take a trip to the future and read The Making of Heroes.

Just remember, there's no time like the present to crack open a great book.

Happy reading,
Erin & Anna

Second books and second chances: Guest post from Ant Richards, author of 'Damned If I Don't'

Well hello there. Long time no see. 

(Unless you were just on here yesterday, IDK, I promise I'm not a stalker.)

This week, we've got a guest post from author Ant Richards. Learn about the process behind his new collection of short stories, Damned If I Don't, and decide if you're secure enough in yourself to crack it open....

They left the building hand in hand and walked towards Matt’s car; Mel blushing and Matt feeling like a million dollars.

‘This is my beauty,’ Matt announced, proud as they reached to where he had parked his car.

Mel was impressed at the sight, mainly for the wrong reasons. The car, a ’82 Ford Fiesta, had certainly seen better days. With a few small dents here and there, a few minor scratches and signs of rust around the wheels, it resembled its owner; juvenile, rough on the edges, with a European flair to it, defiant, rebellious, yet cute and loveable.

Matt opened the passenger door for Mel and invited her in.

‘So Mel, what do you think, the pinnacle of class and sophistication, eh?’

‘Reminds me of you,’ she replied all giggly.

‘It’s all I can afford at the moment,’ he had replied embarrassed.

Immediately, Mel pushed up the lock under the window and made as if she was about to open the door and get out of the car.

‘What are you doing?’ Matt feared his battered, little, un-American car had scared her off.

‘You see, I’m not sure whether I’m supposed to ride in the car or help you push it.’

"The Full Circle"

Running naked, splashing the warm foam of the recently crashed wave on the sand on a sunny summer morning is priceless. Accidentally stepping on a hole, you could have sworn wasn’t there and falling face first on the sand is, well, stupid. But that’s the way it ends. All the time.

Jimmy Kerr’s eyelids feel heavy, dry, and grainy. Nevertheless, he still makes the effort. As his eyes adjust to the dimly lit room, he sadly realises nothing has changed. Same dream. Same ending. 

Repeatedly and ruthlessly cruel.

Has another day passed?

Just an hour?

He couldn’t care less. There is no way of knowing, so why bother?

"The Sentence"

While wrecking my brains trying to complete what would become my debut novel In Your Dreams, finding the time, the inspiration, and basically, the will to continue writing, I came across loose ideas to add to the storyline.

As sometimes happens, they didn’t necessarily fit in with the original story I was working on, but after discarding a few ideas, I decided to keep some of them as they came along in my head. At the time, I had joined Wattpad, and then it occurred to me that it would be a good idea to turn these loose ideas into short stories. That way, besides being a good writing exercise, and a way to churn out more ideas to add to In Your Dreams, it could be a good way to showcase my writing to other Wattpad members, and start growing an audience in preparation for my first book’s release.

In Your Dreams was released in July 2014, and in between trying to market that title and life getting in the way, I continued developing these short stories. I must have had three or four by that time.

I then decided that this collection of tales could be my second release.

Working on these short stories I believe really helped develop my writing style, and taught me that there was no need for clever, complicated words to convey an entertaining and easy-to-understand message. It was a great learning curve that taught me that simple is usually more effective.

I explore various different genres with these stories, always however, keeping a few common aspects. In each story, irrespective of its genre, there is an element of dark humour, regret, false hope at times, but ultimately, a moment of lost opportunity. Oh, and the South East London element of some of my characters or locations. Damned If I Don’t, therefore, became a fitting title for these tales.

Life is a journey of opportunities, decisions, and tests. The means and tools are scattered throughout our life and it’s up to us to decide which we use or which we ditch. More often than not, we will decide on the outcome depending on what choices we make and what risks we take.

So, if you love short tales packed with romance, suspense, dramas, South East London gangsters, speakeasies in Spanish beach towns, bad decisions, even worse behaviour, a ruthless enforcer and a missing cell phone then you shouldn’t miss reading Damned If I Don’t. After all, what can possibly go wrong?

It’s available on Amazon in e-book and paperback format.

But hurry, you won’t always get a second chance.

Ant Richards

Why I stopped writing for four months - guest post by author Chris Bridge

Hello readers! 

Today we're happy to bring you this guest post from Chris Bridge, author of Girl Without a Voice. The topic is something a lot of writers can probably relate to.

Why I stopped writing for four months 

by Chris Bridge

One morning, nearly three years ago, I got up early, as usual, and began to write. My novel was called Long Lost then. Later it morphed into Girl Without a Voice. The story had been skipping along. I had an outline so I knew where I was going but not exactly how I was going to get there. I aim to write 1000 words before breakfast. That morning I remember I was way over my target.

I’d written quickly but with a sense of unease. As I wrote, a new idea crept into my mind and stayed there. It wasn’t what I ever intended to write. It was in none of the plans I’d drawn up. But it was perfect. It fitted everything and would add wings to the plot. This new thought suddenly seemed like a really good idea.

My characters seemed to think so too. I realized they had been heading for this confrontation for a long time. It was absolutely true to both of them at that moment. It was exactly what each of them would have done. So I wrote the scene.

When I read it back I was appalled. I’m a man who tends to write about women. Leah is not only my main character, she is my narrator, so I had written the scene from her point of view. I read it back and thought, you’ve no right to do that. As a man you can’t know enough to make the scene real. It could seem horribly gratuitous.

I re-read it and my doubts intensified. Every writer has their red lines. I’d crossed one of mine. I’d already saved what I’d written. I’d done this from habit before I read it over.  I didn’t delete it. But I shut down the computer and abandoned the more than 30,000 words I’d already written, all that planning and the extensive research.

I didn’t go back to it for four months. But when I read it through it came alive off the page. I was excited by the trajectory that lead to the scene, and then both moved and disturbed by the scene itself. It worked. It really worked. Women friends of mine agreed.

So much of what we do as writers exists in our imaginations. I think we have to be true to all the experiences we have had, and to all the observations we have made, and every story we have been told. Truth is the only red line. We are not confined by gender or by age but only by the way in which we have opened ourselves up to so many layers of experience and the way we stay true to what we think we know.

Nice, right? If that left you wanting more, here's the scoop on Chris Bridge's new book Girl Without a Voice:

Get it on Amazon

Visit the author's blog

Robbed of speech and ignored, Leah exists on the margins. Then Patrick arrives.

Bullied as a child by her siblings, Leah is so traumatised that she loses the power of speech.

Being mute has made her acutely observant, so years later she notices how her mother, Izzy, becomes energized the moment the funeral of Leah’s father is over. She soon learns that Izzy is searching for the son she gave up for adoption.

Patrick is found and Izzy is delighted. He soon becomes a frequent visitor. Leah is so enthralled by Patrick that she changes her usual look of long cardigan over men’s trousers for a more appealing, womanly look. The change is not lost on Patrick who responds in a very non-brotherly way.

Leah runs away to the only friend she has and, after regaining the use of her voice, enlists his help in discovering the truth about her supposed half-brother.

Their search leads them to Leah’s estranged uncle and a run-in with the cult of the Living Saints.

Can Leah convince her mother that all is not as it appears with Patrick?

Can she and her family rescue their mother from the religious cult and escape Patrick once and for all?

Happy reading,

Erin & Anna

Guest post from author Jeffrey Bardwell + GIVEAWAY

Knights, mages, countrymen - lend me your ears!

(Yes, I will use that line every chance I get.)

In case you need reminding, the giveaway for Jeffrey Bardwell's newest fantasy adventure - The Knight's Secret - is still in full swing. Scroll down to the end of this post to enter.

In the meantime, to get you excited for the book's release on March 5, here's a guest post from Jeffrey Bardwell on "magic and mob mentality."

Enjoy.

MAGIC AND MOB MENTALITY

by Jeffrey Bardwell

Sorcery, wizardry, magic . . . call it what you will, but such powers are rarely subtle in the realm of fiction, unlike the realm of reality where almost everything is hidden and obscured by misdirection. A powerful wizard with bristling beard and tall staff will rain fire from the sky. A street performer in a top hat will conjure flames from his fingertips. 

These are the polar ends from a gradient of effects of course. Nothing prevents a stage act from being bombastic or a wizard’s staff emitting a quiet glow in lieu of crackling flames. The result is the same among the gathered mob: awe and the persistent question, what just happened?

This awe is in part sparked by the unnatural quickness of the street performer’s nimble fingers or the wizard’s vicious attack. Much of the shock during and after magic is from the illusion of speed. People tend to fear what their eyes cannot follow, what their mind cannot perceive. 

One of the most fearsome creatures on the planet, but hardly the most deadly, is the viper. The coiled animal strikes with astonishing ferocity. Blink and you’re dead.

With their capes flaring like the hood of a cobra and poison magic dripping from their fingertips, wizards are the human vipers of their world. Such is the perception. 

But just like you can strike the head off a viper with astonishing ease, magic often has tremendous liabilities and disadvantages that lead to the ‘squishy wizard syndrome.’ A wizard caught unawares or temporarily bereft of magic is like an uncoiled viper: a weak and pitiable being.

To the weak, defenseless mob, ruled by their emotions rather than logic, the perception of danger is more powerful than reality. In the real world, this draws respectful crowds. The illusion of danger is titillating. 

In the realm of fiction, this draws fearful crowds. Let us examine a case study: magic—thunderous flames from the sky magic—is real and disturbingly close to home.

What if you suspected that your neighbor was a mage: a powerful being, a snake hiding in the grass? 

To an individual, this may be cause for reasoned response: empathy or introspection or caution. You question yourself. Surely this friend across the street whom you’ve known for years whose children frolic with your own could not pose any danger? 

But the fear gnaws on your mind. Suppose you tell your other friends. Whispers spread. The mob gathers.

To the mob, the accusation of magic is enough to stir fear. The perception of danger is enough to stir a response, and this is no reasoned response. Reactions are primal and instinctual and vicious. A mass of human snakes whose minds are more venomous than their fangs descend upon the nest of vipers. 

The mage is killed. The mage’s mate and brood are slaughtered, whether they share his powers or not. The mob is in a frenzy. 

The mage’s house is destroyed with torches. The raging flames are no less destructive for all that they do not rain down from the sky.

The mob is safe. It disbands. Only individuals remain to question themselves and kick the debris. 

Were these smoldering ashes really a threat to me and mine? 

Was he even really a mage? 

Did I dare assume otherwise?

Did I just make an entire family . . . disappear? 

What just happened?

WIN A FREE COPY OF THE KNIGHT'S SECRET

Delve into the plight of the mages in The Knight's Secret, the first fantasy adventure in The Mage Conspiracy series. Join a quest of self discovery, romantic entanglements, and political intrigue where lies cut deeper than any sword. Coming March 5.

Enter to win your free copy* of The Knight's Secret ebook today: https://www.instafreebie.com/free/JOu9b

* Five lucky winners will be selected at random and emailed their prize on March 5, 2018. 

Every entrant will receive a free sample of The Knight's Secret upon entering the contest.



May the odds be ever in your favor.
Erin and Anna

Guest Post by Frances Wasserman-Bildner

"I wonder the wonder, freedom of freedoms, play for you nightly and sing in the rain.

I pray for your ghosts to let you off lightly, lessen and get rid of your terrible pain." - Expressions of an Artist: The Whole Shebang

Hey bibliophiles! Today we have a guest post from author and artist Frances Wassermann-Bildner. She'll give us a short overview of her book Expressions of an Artist - a mash-up of painting, writing, and poetry. Sort of. I'll let the author take it from here....

Expressions of an Artist: The Whole Shebang

This book is not a novel, nor a book of short stories. It is a collection of writings and paintings. It encompasses the human condition by covering topics such as love, loss, living, fear, political, outsider and belonging. Each piece of writing is written automatically and quickly. The writing actually writes itself and the author is a vehicle for her work. The paintings are done in the same way. There are no preconceived ideas in either paintings or writings.

Although the work is produced this way, it does touch the subjects that we are all concerned with. This is because the artist/author is a product of the human condition and will therefore hold these subjects in her subconscious.

Some of the work is quite dark, all of it is filled with energy and emotion and an appreciation of life in all its facets. 

The book has been collated into these topics by a reader. One can easily dip in and out or read it cover to cover.

Here's an excerpt to whet your appetite:

Champagne Crystals

Champagne crystals, camaraderie, flight, bubbles in the air, bubbles everywhere, aeration, colour, sanguine moments. Spirit alive entering the gates of nirvana. Chrystal, veuve, what’s in a name, the purity, the semblance of a glass of champagne. Jockeys fly, horses neigh, the culmination of another day. Psychics, mediums, bursting through, who’s to say what’s you and you.

Anticipation, bubbles and expectation. I put my hand around your waist and tasted friendship. Not formed in haste. Champagne you asked, is it free, Champagne you queried for you and me?

Bubbles of life, love and laughter floating above the heavier matter. Champagne cocktails, chitter chatter. Corks that pop, love a lot, fizz in the air. Champagne everywhere, in the bath a glass between friends making many amends.

Get the book:

From Austin Macauley Publishers

From Amazon

About the author:

Frances Wassermann-Bildner has been painting and writing for many years. This book is the culmination of these many years. She was born in Buenos Aires and has lived in London and New York. These cities, their vibrancy and color have greatly influenced her work. She is also the founder of Creative Wiz Kids: a children’s entertainment company where children come to paint and dance and adults also come to have fun! She loves the honesty and immediacy of children and finds working with them extremely stimulating. Along with her artistic work, Frances has been running these groups for almost twenty eight years!

Frances loves to travel and visit different countries, sitting in cafes and meeting people. She has two wonderful children, a lovely daughter-in-law, a grandson and another grandchild on the way. She plans on taking her grandchildren traveling when they are old enough!

And that's the whole shebang! 

Happy reading / writing / painting / living!

Until tomorrow.

Guest post by David Smith, author of Letters to Strabo

Hey faithful readers, 

Today's guest post comes from author David Smith, who recently published his fourth novel, Letters to Strabo.

I'm always fascinated by the names authors choose to give their characters. For example, I don't think J. K. Rowling gave any of her Harry Potter characters a name without putting an endless amount of thought into it.

Here's a little bit from the author of Letters to Strabo on how he chose names for his characters:

Letters to Strabo – naming the characters

Behind every great love is an epic story waiting to be told.

My fourth novel Letters to Strabo is both a love story and a coming-of-age tale, set in the late 1970s. It takes the form of a fictional odyssey recorded with disarming honesty by my protagonist, an innocent young American writer called Finn Black. 

His adventures, both funny and evocative, follow closely the itinerary taken by Mark Twain on his own tour around the Mediterranean a century earlier in: The Innocents Abroad. The novel is structured around the seventeen chapters of the ancient Greek Strabo’s great work: Geographica; a book that Twain quoted from extensively in his own tale. In Finn’s words:

"I researched how famous travel writers made their first journeys for a series of articles. It fascinated me how they all took something worthwhile out of that first experience on the road, whether they later became writers, journalists or even philosophers. It opened my eyes to all sorts of new possibilities I wanted that life. I wanted to get going, to write and make my fortune. Find out what had really happened to my pa and maybe find a bit more of that mythical free love I’d been missing, too.”

Finn’s full name is Adam Finnegan Black. The ‘Finnegan’ has dual meaning. It’s a nod to Mark Twain (Huckleberry Finn) but also to James Joyce ‘Finnegan’s Wake.’ There’s a connection between these two as Joyce once joked that the end of Finnegan (i.e. the word fin in French) was such a good Twain joke that it deserved a good wake (the Irish celebration before a funeral).

I gave Finn the first name Adam, because I’d already chosen the name Eve for his pen-pal Eve, the beautiful archivist he meets at Olana in the Catskills at the beginning of the novel. Their love story is the thread throughout the book, described through her Letters to Strabo. Adam is also referred to by his friend Ahmet, a boy that Finn meets in Turkey when he shows him a photograph of Eve: “’A very beautiful woman and a very beautiful name,’ he said. ‘You know Adam means man in Turkish so it is fitting.’”

Finn’s surname Black reflects the fact that his father Jerry Black was a descendant of the US Attorney-General Jeremiah Black. Finn refers to his surname at the beginning of the novel “Well as for Black, I fear that all too well describes the recent temperament of my heart. But so be it.” Finn spends part of the novel searching to find out what happened to his father, a professional diver, when he drowned in Alexandra in 1962.

Actually giving names to characters can be a lot of fun, almost a god-like activity. One of the themes running through the novel is Homer’s Odyssey, another Mediterranean journey often referred to by Strabo in his great work. 

So Françoise Circe, the french girl he meets in Spain and then journeys with to Paris and Venice is a reference to the witch Circe that Odysseus meets on the island of Colchys. She invited them all to a grand feast, but one of the dishes was laced with a magical potion which changed his companions into pigs – a word Françoise quite often uses to describe men she doesn’t like: “’Come on Finn, allons nous,’ she said. ‘I don’t like that ignorant man. He’s swine. He’s likes a PIG.’”

Finn also later meets two Italians in Naples: Galatea and Martino, whose nickname is Polifemo. The latter’s subsequent death at the hands of Galatea, in Finn’s presence, is a reference to the killing of the one-eyed giant Polyphemus by Odysseus; Galatea being the “milk-white” object of the giant’s desire.

Finally the girl Nicky that Finn meets on Mykonos while he is lying asleep and naked on a lonely beach after washing his clothes: “I was woken from my siesta by a beach ball landing on my head, quickly followed by the sound of girls giggling. I realized my carefully positioned towel had fallen off my waist. I was completely naked.” 

She is named after Nausicaa the beautiful princess who almost steals Odysseus’s heart and leaves him a message: “Farewell stranger,’ he said. ‘Do not forget me when you’re safe at home again, for it is to me first that you owe a ransom for having saved your life.’”




About the author:

David Smith is a British author who has now published four works under the Troubador imprint. His first novel Searching For Amber has been described as "A powerful and notably memorable debut" with a review describing it as "masterly and confident" and another as "Extraordinary, poetic, enchanting, sublime". In addition to writing, he is currently CFO of a blue chip UK public company and lives near the South Coast in England with his wife and three teenage children.

https://www.davidsmithauthor.blog

Guest post by Peter Gray, author of Telemachus

Hey everyone, today you get to hear from a real author on this blog. I mean, I guess Anna and I are authors in that we co-author The Wood Between the Worlds, but today you get to hear from an author who actually has a book published. 

Peter Gray's novel Telemachus won first place in the 2016 Writer's Digest Self-Published E-book Awards, and the book has gotten great reviews. 

Here's what the author says about how this story came about:

To make a writer

by Peter Gray, author of Telemachus

Telemachus: how did it come about?

For someone who has spent a long career treating Thoroughbred horses - for everything from infertility to racing performance - the transformation to writer has been a long, unlikely and tenuous road.  

I started dabbling with a pen back in the Seventies, realized my talents weren’t exactly ripe, but doggedness convinced me to continue.  I have read a lot of fiction, but always with reservations about copying style or ideas.  It was my aim, if I was ever to succeed, to have a voice that would be distinct and not depend on anyone else’s ideas – even subconsciously. 

In the Nineties, I was approached to write some equestrian books for J A Allen, in London.  That was easy, as I was familiar with the subject matter.  But it wasn’t real writing, in my view, even if there would be a total of 12 books. 

I have a myriad of projects here I started but never managed to get an agent or publisher to read.  I took literature classes, but with a terrible determination not to be influenced by others. 

There were bits of encouragement.  An agent told me I had ‘a voice’; another could see seeds in incubation.  When my Dad died, I wrote some blank verse and they said I was a poet.  I’m not a poet.

Then Telemachus slipped into being; created in a moment of sadness, but fun.  It didn’t take long to write, perhaps longer to refine, but the story poured out and I enjoyed every moment.  I could laugh at my previously undiscovered imagination.

When finished, it was still just my bit of fun and no one else would want to read it.  Classified as ‘rubbish’ by members of my family, even my own children raised their eyebrows and tut-tutted.

I thought of putting it on Amazon, but was afraid I wouldn’t do it properly; needed an independent opinion by someone qualified who would be objective, truthful and professional about it.  But where would I find someone like that and how costly would it be? 

Then I came across a website that offered the whole package for a sum that looked inviting.  They would proof-read, edit, format, help with cover design, write blurbs, advise on marketing, place it on Amazon – all for a figure that was less than the cost of a professional edit.  I submitted a Word file on a Sunday afternoon and, incredibly, had a response within an hour.  The proposition looked ‘very promising’, they said.  

Two days later, I had a seven page free assessment that was glowing as well as comprehensive.  I sent this to two of my children and both screamed ‘fraud’.  Still, I decided to gamble and felt the book would be ready with an edit.  It was the best gamble ever; my work was published on Amazon within two months. 

The person responsible for the service had had a long career in publishing and certainly knew about books.  He has since been accused of fraud, but I owe him a debt of gratitude.  He died and was no fraudster, just a man trying to secure his family in the knowledge he was going to die – I suspect. 

It was my intention taking the book down if it got bad reviews, but, surprisingly, they were positive from the start.  People liked the quality of the writing, the intricacies of the story, the underlying mystery of it all.  But I was stunned when I got the report from the Writer’s Digest judge, which almost duplicated the publisher’s assessment and even went a bit further.  To be told ‘ – the depth of the allegory is astounding’ was unreal.  

Telling me it was ‘an achievement’ – and a winner for mainstream literary fiction - meant I had finally got to where I wanted.

Maybe I can call myself ‘a writer’ now! 

Now that you know the backstory, check out Telemachus by Peter Gray! 

Here's what one reader says about it: 

"The encyclopedia of useless detail" – fantastic.  I enjoy your prose, and the crafting that has clearly gone into this.  Your inner monologues are wise and astute, never boring.  The depth of the allegory is pretty astounding.  This is such a rare quality.  The parallels you draw with issues of divorce, child-rearing, leadership and community are beautifully done."

Until tomorrow.