Huge savings on my short stories

A few years ago I decided to combine my three books of short stories into one edition. More economical to print and so more economical to buy. But that meant  I stopped selling the three separate books. Now, as I'm running out of stock of the 'combined' edition, I have decided to deeply discount the three separate books. So I'm selling the three of them -- Nana's Special Day and other stories, The Dolphin and other stories, and Quickies -- more than 70 of my short stories, worth $73.50 if bought separately, for the price of one: $24.50. To order: just email me your address and I'll send you online banking instructions and your books by return post. ('While stocks last' as they say.) 

Another library talk. Monday 26 November, 2018, 2.00 pm at Epsom Library.

Looking forward to another library talk at Epsom library at two o'clock on Monday 26 November.

As I find people always ask (amongst other things) 'Where do you get your ideas from?' I'm going to talk through the origin of each of my books.

 Epsom Library author talk

The new book is progressing. Slowly.

For the record: I'm still working hard on the book I started early this year, on 1 April to be precise. I suppose I'm about a third of the way into the first draft and I do now have a tentative title. Unlike my other books -- and most other books --  my story has not one but nine 'heros'; it's like writing nine novels in one which is a bit of a challenge. I'm having to do a lot of research and it's interesting to see how very helpful some people (and institutions) are and how some simply ignore my requests for background information.

A nice afternoon at Point Chevalier Library

Many thanks to Cristen and Ruth and the team at the Point Chevalier library, and the great turn out of people for my author's talk about 'My Marian Year' and my other books at the library yesterday (Saturday) afternoon. I enjoyed it very much. 

For the record: a new book

For the record: Early in the new year I had an idea for a new book. I thought about it for a while but didn't start as I was also very busy with the launch of The Fine Art of Kindness. Eventually I started it on -- of all dates, the first of April -- but it was a tentative beginning as I was not at all sure where it was going to lead. Now, towards the end of June, I'm still writing and I'm feeling good. It has no title yet but it feels as though it (whatever it is finally called) is my most ambitious opus yet. I'll see how I goes but at the moment it feels like I have at least a year's work ahead. Watch this space.

Murder in the (Takapuna) Library

Last Wednesday night (the eleventh of April) I and three other authors took part in the Takapuna edition of the 'Murder in the Library' series of events as part of the 2018 Ngaio Marsh awards for New Zealand crime fiction. It was well attended by the book-lovers of Takapuna and excellently moderated by Sarah Ell. My novel Six Murders? is entered in the competition but it is not really very 'crimey' -- it's a bit on the light and humorous side really -- whereas the other three authors were each, in their own different way, serious series writers.

Pictured at Takapuna Library, from left, Sheryl Beaumont, me, Carne Maxwell, Sara Ell and Mike Boushier

(Note: I'm a bit late posting this because we have been without power since last Tuesday night. We got restored this morning only because Newstalk ZB pointed out what Vector didn't seem to know: that as of Sunday morning there were still thousands of city streets out and  that the problems were not just limited to the 'fringes of Auckland' as Vector claimed. Once ZB pointed out to Vector what Vector themselves didn't know we had power restored in five minutes -- literally five minutes -- after being fed misinformation and waiting helplessly for five days.)  

 

Coming soon: MURDER IN THE LIBRARY

MURDER IN THE LIBRARY is an entertaining series of events for book lovers featuring the books (and their authors) entered into the 2018 Ngaio Marsh New Zealand crime fiction awards.
I'm now booked for the event at Takapuna Library (with three other authors) on the evening of Wednesday 11 April from six o'clock to talk about my popular novel Six Murders?

One Kindle FREE promotion ends; another is about to begin.

My Kindle free promotion of To The White Gate ended last (Sunday) night (New Zealand time). I was surprised how few people took up the offer given this book's popularity. However, a writer writes only to be read and I hope those unknown people who downloaded this lovely book go on to enjoy it (and review it I hope).
Equally as lovely and moving, in its own way, is my new novel The Fine Art of Kindness. It, too, will be available FREE from Kindle later this week. It's got no official reviews yet -- after all, it's brand new -- but informal feedback so far has been terrific. The free Kindle download will be available from 8.00 pm Thursday 22 March until 8.00 pm Monday 26 March (all times New Zealand). 

On a writer being suffering the indifference or even the scorn and contempt of the publishing establishment...

I found this and I like it.

Writing is a lonely life...

I love this quote from Ernest Miller Hemingway on receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1954: 'Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer's loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.' 

What publishers said about 'To The White Gate'

After fifty rejections -- from New Zealand publishers and agents in England, Australia and America -- I have decided to self-publish my new novel, To The White Gate. Anyone who read it loved it, and I got some very flattering comments from publishers, but no one was willing to take it on.

One publisher said:  

How can one make a well-written and interesting book such as yours a success in a marketplace where people are seduced by the glitzy, shocking, chocolate box 'pick me' factor alongside so much to read for free on the web. I can't say we have the answer, and fiction has always been an incredibly uphill struggle in New Zelaand where only cooking, sports and celebrity biographies sell consistently well.  

Another said:

The pace is like sitting in a garden in the sun, but that is the point. The writing is lovely. It is an effective, well-written novel. However, although it definitely succeeds on its own terms, the market for such a quiet, gentle book is relatively limited. As the book market is currently going through such a rough patch, we have to be particularly selective about what we take on and sadly we just don’t think your novel would be viable for us to publish.

About To the White Gate (the blurb):

In a park in an antipodean city in the 1930s a teenaged boy starts work as an apprentice nurseryman.

It's an idyllic world. Patient and unhurried, with a pace as predictable as the seasons. A miniature version of the pre-war colonial empire lying just beyond the park gates. But as secure as the park may seem it can't protect anyone, least of all Tommy, from the changing world outside.

There's a war coming. An unwanted baby and heartbreaking changes at home.

Through it all the park is a constant. A companion, a teacher, a home and a friend.

With it he grows, learning wisdom and patience, as the park brings him friendship, love, knowledge and family. Friendships that will take him far away from home; family that will nurture him throughout his life; and the knowledge to finally understand the park's mysterious white gate.

To The White Gate will be available from my website soon and from Amazon later.