A brief writing update, and a look at some new art. If you're following along on social media, you'll probably be aware that I have put a pause on writing Legacy of the Gods for the time being while I work some things out. To put it simply: I burned myself out doing NaNoWriMo in 2023, writing over 30,000 words in just 30 days (yes, I fell short of the 50k goal). Then I had to re-plot the book...

Fresh from a live chat conversation with KDP support about the status of print pre-orders on Amazon for The Shadow of Arcadia, I thought I should update you on the situation. I know many of you were probably waiting for the print version to be available to pre-order through Amazon before ordering, but it is with great regret and profound disappointment that I announce this will no longer be possible.

It’s time to announce my next book launch! It’s been a long time coming. At least, it feels like it to me after so many delays. But I am pleased to announce that the fourth entry in The Augment Saga, and its second full-length novel, The Shadow of Arcadia, will be releasing into the world on Monday 15th July 2024. What’s more, you can pre-order it now!

That’s right, for the first time I’m putting out a call for ARC readers for The Shadow of Arcadia, the second full-length novel in the Augment Saga! With three books already under my belt, you’d think I’d have gotten this publishing stuff figured out by now. But the one thing I’ve always missed out on during the run-up to release is sending out ARCs. And the main reason for that is timing…

I’m thrilled to announce I now have some extra goodies available in my online shop. It all started because I wanted to do something else with the art I had been making to go along with my books. I already had the bookmarks, and someone said that the mission patch would make a great sticker. Plus, I’d spent so much time painting the art for my book covers and then slapping typography over the top that I really wanted to have something where the art itself could shine through…

It’s official: The Re-Emergence has been announced as one of ten finalists in the first annual Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship. Let’s celebrate! As you can imagine from this news, I am absolutely blown away. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that one of my books would get this far in a contest, but Seventeen is absolutely knocking it out of the park. This is the first year for SFINCS and it has been an absolute honour to be part of this new writing contest. There’s been so many great novellas in the running, and we’ve all been cheering one another on. It’s honestly been a fantastic experience…

First of all, I need to update you all on the progress of The Shadow of Arcadia. I’ve made no secret that I’ve struggled writing this book. It has absolutely been the hardest book I’ve ever written, and things have taken a lot longer than I wanted. The good news, however, is that the book is now away with beta readers! I’ve asked for around 3 months of turnaround time, so it’ll likely be January before I get their feedback to incorporate. As you can probably tell, this means the bad news is that the book won’t be coming out this year, something for which I feel I must apologise profusely.

The day has finally arrived. Here is the cover reveal for The Shadow of Arcadia. What a week it’s been! If you’ve been following my social media, you’ll have seen the daily teasers I’ve been putting up for this cover reveal, and it’s been really amusing seeing your reactions, and overall great fun. I worked hard on this cover, and I don’t mind telling you it was a nightmare putting together. It went through several iterations before I decided on this one, and the painting of it was some of the hardest I’ve ever had to do. The process has really stretched me as an artist and designer, and I feel like my powers have doubled since the last time we met, Count I’ve grown tremendously in both of those areas.

I am beyond thrilled to announce that I’ve finally reached the end of my second full-length Augment Saga novel, The Shadow of Arcadia, and it feels amazing! So mark your calendars! I’ve got something special for you all. I promised on my social media that I would do a cover reveal once the draft is done, and true to that promise, the cover art and blurb reveal for The Shadow of Arcadia will happen on FRIDAY 26 MAY - that’s 7 days from now. Keep watching my socials, as I’ll be posting a new graphic each day revealing just that little bit more of the cover. I’m very happy with the artwork I’ve produced for the book, and I hope you’ll join me in giving both it and the book the celebration they deserve.

Progress on The Shadow of Arcadia is still slow. I’m finding this to be the hardest book I’ve yet written, but I am still making progress. It is now past novella-length, and past the length at which I extracted it from the original draft of From the Grave of the Gods, but there’s a lot still to add, and I’m just shy of half the way through. As I write Part Two of the novel, I have a very clear picture in my mind of where it’s heading, and there’s a sequence which I am absolutely dying to write.

Launch day has come at last! The third book in the Augment Saga is now available to purchase. I am pleased to announce that The Flight of the Aurora: An Augment Saga Novella is out now and available to buy in ebook format from Amazon for £1.99, and in paperback from all retailers for £6.99. It is also available to read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited! From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all of you who have supported me in so many ways, whether that’s through pre-orders, reviews, sales, shares, likes, retweets or beta-reads. You’re all amazing, and I truly appreciate you…

Here we go again, another impending book launch! I am pleased to announce that the third entry in The Augment Saga, The Flight of the Aurora: An Augment Saga Novella, will be releasing to the world on Tuesday 20th September 2022. It is a real honour that so many of you have read and enjoyed my books thus far, and it is my joy and privilege to present this novella to you: another step in the epic sci-fi adventure that’s been rattling around in my brain for decades.

It’s hard to believe it’s already been a full year since the world was first introduced to Seventeen and the crew of the Qesh’kal, kicking off the epic story of The Augment Saga; a whole year since I became a published indie author! Since then it’s been a wild ride through many unknowns, with new experiences, new friends in the Writing Community, and facing new challenges; an emotional roller coaster of heartache, pride and joy, frustration and relief…

My next novella in the Augment Saga, The Flight of the Aurora, has returned from its beta reading phase and I am busy implementing the changes. I am immensely grateful to my beta readers for looking through my work and providing their invaluable feedback. Thankfully, there’s nothing major to adjust, so after another couple of editing passes, I’ll commence work on typesetting the thing - a process that ought to be easier this time around because I will be using my file for The Re-Emergence as a template.

IT IS DONE! I have finally finished the first significant draft of The Flight of the Aurora, the next entry in the Augment Saga. Hooray! This book takes place fifteen years after the events of From the Grave of the Gods, and continues to follow James and Angela on another adventure. This one is meant to bridge what will be a significant time gap between the first and second full-length novels…

For those of you have been following my social media for some time, you’ll already likely be aware of this news, but I have been given the marvelous opportunity to be involved in the Havering Literary Festival this year! I’m so excited to be able to both share about my work with readers and support my local libraries.

Thank you to everyone who took part in my recent giveaway which will see five Advance Reader Copies of my novel, From the Grave of the Gods, in the hands of the winners, who were chosen randomly from those who entered, and have now been notified…

Attention friends! I’m really excited about the upcoming release of From the Grave of the Gods on 1st November, and for those of you who have read its companion novella, The Re-Emergence, I’m sure you know how I feel. So as a sort-of countdown to release, I’ve decided to kick things off with an awesome giveaway!

The time has finally come… From the Grave of the Gods, the first full-length novel in The Augment Saga and follow-up to companion novella, The Re-Emergence, is finally being released to the world on 1st November 2021! What’s more, you can use the links to pre-order the novel right now.