So, contracts have been exchanged, and it’s all official – Rogue Phoenix Press will publish ‘The Doe and the Dragon’. The book will be available both electronically and in print.
I’ve no news of a release date yet, but I’ve just finished the first round of edits. I don’t like this stage of the writing process, and it’s taken two long weeks of hard work. Every time I have a novel published, I swear to restrict myself to novellas in future!
‘Hammer of God’ is Phil McCormac’s tenth western; this hard hitting and gritty story is a worthy addition to his list of credits.
The theme is one of a good man wronged, and takes us breathlessly through the highs and lows the hero, Deputy Joe Hammer, goes through to bring the bad guys to justice.
After a fierce shootout in which Hammer and a fellow deputy are outnumbered but still slaughter all the gang against the odds, he moves to Mexico and joins a monastery. Trouble continues to follow him, and after several adventures Hammer is sentenced to hang for a murder he didn’t commit. He is wounded in another violent shootout, but at least has the comfort of a hint of a relationship with a rancher’s daughter…
The story is recognisably McCormac, with its tight style and theme of a man fighting for justice against the odds. It has a likeable but realistically flawed hero who manages to extract himself from several seemingly helpless situations to eventually triumph and win the beautiful girl. The pace pulls you along and kept me reading to the end, and ‘Hammer of God’ is yet another worthy addition to my ‘McCormac collection’.
Thank you to fellow Eternal Press author Sonnet Odell for interviewing me for her blog. The interview is here:
http://www.sonnetodell.com/sonnetodell/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=87&Itemid=13
Sonnet’s Eternal Press release is ‘Soul Market’.
I’ve heard this weekend that a publisher wants my historical fantasy novel, ‘The Doe and the Dragon’. It’s set in 5th century north Wales, and uses local and wider legends to tell a semi-historical story of the generation before Arthur. As usual, in case anything goes wrong I’ll wait until contracts are signed before revealing the publisher.
It’s a time and place that has always fascinated me – I even studied Dark Age Wales at university. I find the half century before Arthur is more fascinating than the period of the great man himself, with the break-up of Roman Britain and the Celtic re-emergence. It was a time of change, with civil wars and the establishment of Saxon and Irish kingdoms on the British mainland, and the beginnings of Christianity’s triumph over the old beliefs. And, of course, there are semi-magical names such as Vortigern, Ambrosius and Cunedda.
The countryside itself lends itself to fantasy writing, with hidden glens, cloud-covered peaks and stunningly-located hillforts. It seems that every stream and hill has a story associated with it.
I’ve tried to capture all this in ‘The Doe and the Dragon’.
While my name will be the one on the cover, as usual thanks are due to others whose help has been invaluable. Phil ploughed his way through my first draft and told me what did and didn’t work. Gianna and Cathy read a later version and in particular helped with the characterisation.
Finally, an acknowledgement to Emma and Peter, who walked countless miles – willingly, I think, particularly when we could find an ice-cream shop - through hidden valleys and over dramatic hillforts while I researched locations on our north Wales family holidays.
More to follow, including an outline of the main characters.
Black Horse Western author Phil McCormac sent me a postcard showing the Dark Hedges of Ballymoney in Northern Ireland. I’d never heard of them, but I almost did a double take when I saw the card – the hedges are almost exactly what I was thinking of when I wrote ‘The Wood’.
These trees lean over the road, with their twisted boughs and darkness. All that is needed is a line of skulls on sticks, and The Wood sits in front of you!
Here are some links for pictures:
http://www.archiemiles.co.uk/Images/Beech/am_Dark%20Hedges%20N.Ireland.%20jpg.jpg
http://www.photographyblog.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=85713
28 June is Gainna Bruno’s spotlight day on Coffee Time Romance.
There will be prizes and previews, and Gianna has invited me to talk about writing love scenes from the point of view of the opposite sex.
Here are a links to a couple of reviews of ‘The Shoot’:
By Gianna Bruno. (This was a preview, to be picky!)
By Seriously Reviewed, who gave the book a very pleasing seventeen out of twenty!
