Diversity in Fantasy Novels

  This post has been compiled with help from the BristolCon 2016 panel ‘The Regiment of Monsters’. Are fantasy novels diverse enough? Many fantasy novels, especially the epic fantasy of the last twenty or thirty years or so, involves a white male human lead character. In fact, the entire cast …

Mostly Formatting

This week I’ve been mostly concentrating on formatting my novel. To be honest, it’s not been as horrendous as I thought it would be. But then I suppose I’ve been using Microsoft Word for years, even if I haven’t specifically been formatting books. Anyway, I’ve had a helping hand in …

The Call of Magic

“Magic is Chaos, Art and Science. It is a curse, a blessing, and a progression.” – Yennefer of Vengerberg  This post has been developed from the panel “Not just Hocus Pocus” at BristolCon 2016. Why are we drawn to magic? Fantasy books are hugely popular at the moment, but what …

Latest blog updates

I’m pleased to announce that I now have a completed book one manuscript, yay! So, now I’m moving towards self-publication. It’s going to be a bit of a learning process this first time around. As part of that process, I’ve made some updates to my blog, so that it now …

Tintagel: King Arthur’s Hall.

For the final post in my holiday series, I’m going to show you King Arthur’s Hall. It was built in the 1930s, in the village of Tintagel, and originally served as the headquarters for a social organisation known as the Order of the Fellowship of the Knights of the Round …

Novel progress update 

I don’t post that many updates about my own writing projects here, mainly because I don’t like to count my chickens before they hatch. Writing isn’t cut and dried, and I have started some projects that just haven’t got off the ground.  However, the end is now in sight for …