Acceptance: ‘Footholder’

I’m delighted to announce another novel acceptance!

‘Footholder’ (title under discussion) is a retelling of a medieval Welsh story from a collection known as ‘The Mabinogion’.  It’s about a king who needs to keep his foot in a maiden’s lap.  Despite that unusual premise it’s a wonderful story of love, power and war.  I can’t claim any credit for the plot but I hope my version does justice to my favourite Welsh tale.

‘Footholder’ is in the spirit and style of my previous Welsh-based historical fantasies, ‘Andraste’s Blade’ and ‘The Doe and the Dragon’.  My version focuses on the Footholder, Goewin.  I’ll give a brief synopsis and some background on the characters and locations in a later post.

‘Footholder’ is pure historical fantasy and a change from the horror I usually produce.  It does have one or two darker elements I think my horror background helped with, though.

Many thanks to several proofreaders, particularly Philip McCormac, who as usual read an early draft.  Phil’s suggestions appear in the revised version.  An acknowledgement also to my wife, who tolerated stunning walks around north Wales’ breathtakingly beautiful scenery while we looked at locations.

As usual, I’ll refrain from naming the publisher until contracts are signed, but it is a house I’m delighted to be working with for the first time.  Publication is tentatively pencilled in for 2015.

‘Footholder’ will be my fifth published novel, and my tenth stand-alone, including novellas and novelettes.  (My full publication list is here.)

And now, the editing process begins.  That’ll keep me quiet for a while!