Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the internet, along comes this fool to update the world on his current writing exploits. Yeah, sorry about that. Well, buckle up, here’s the long and the short of where my writing currently is. There are 3 unpublished works in the pipeline and compared to the Tempest, Storm, Hurricane, and Tornado quadrilogy, these are all significant changes in genre.
“Running on Empty” is a completed manuscript of 73k words. This novel is a modern-day, three-handed telling of the lives, losses, hopes, desires, and fears of a group of people. The reader follows the main characters (some good, some goodish but flawed), their actions and their interactions. The story is a realistic telling of the challenges they face over a year. There are some (not many) explicit passages in this novel but it’s not all about the sex. I’m about to start the process of hawking it around Lit Ags.
Next up is “Pineapple” (formerly Bittersweet, formerly Collars and Cuffs), another completed manuscript, of 47k words. This novella is a modern-day, two-handed (alright, there’s a third POV which gradually creeps in later) exploration of people and their relationships. The story covers a span of over 50 years and looks at where lust ends and love begins, and what love (and friendship) means to different people. I shall begin querying Lit Ags on this very shortly.
And finally, in my ‘current’ status is “Lavender Hill“. This is a 68k-word, 4-part novel which is the start of a 3-book fantasy series. The tale starts in our modern-day world but quickly shifts to another realm. In readings I’ve given, Lavender Hill has been well-received and has been compared to Pratchett and Adams. The story features (amongst other characters) some ace Druids, belligerent trees, a staunchly feminist sorceress, a telepathic dog, and a young woman who works in a fusty old office in London. Lavender Hill has received some of the nicest, most delightful rejections from Lit Ags, so maybe this series is destined for self-publishing? We’ll see, there’s a lot more to write yet.