Authors Electric

Some time ago, my writers' group chose to share images of their working environment. Th ese were some of mine . I work in a room full of books, the greater part of them consisting of my late husband David's lifetime's collection of F antasy and S cience F iction. T his small collection sits just to the right of my computer, and the bits and bobs in front of the books hold very pers onal memories for me. There are two Walker Christmas bears dating from the years I was regularly published by Walker Books (any previously published Walker authors may recognise the se - the one on the left came in a kit).  Next to the cuddly bear stands a parrot whose significance I have long forgotten, but I do love him . And then there's a shad owy image of something I will now show you in more detail - yes, it's a pottery cat, and it could well be flying. It remi nded David of the flying/gliding kitten in my junior novel DRAGONCAT so he bought it for me. As you m i gh t kno...

Playing with images, I found this Chinese dragon, one of the many freebies we looked at (and rejected) as a base for a possible cover illustration for a story about a flying (well not flying exactly, more like gliding) kitten. This is the final cover of DRAGONCAT, designed by my techie expert David who'd never done such a thing before, but who was a very quick learner (unlike me). It was the only book I published without a previous publisher's blessing (the story was deemed 'too gentle', in spite of the fact it feaured a couple of knife-wielding thugs) - in other words, a selfie - and it felt like an achievement for both of us. Publishers' blessings still mean a lot, and mine have not been exactly plentiful in the last few years. Being published is always exciting, even when it's happening on a regular basis - seeing what began as a few ideas dancing a jig inside your head turn into a physical book comes close to giving birth. But being published (by someo...

It seems that to get classified as a ' publisher', by Waterstone's, rather than a writer, one needs to have at least twenty books out there as ebooks. Well, hey, I've currently got ten out of print books out there as ebooks, and I will shortly be adding more, including some which mainstream publishers rejected, so I might well reach that target some time in the next few months. ...and the tenth one The Enchanted Village So might I be classified as a publisher? No, although my husband, David, might, since he's set up the whole process, and like any good and honest publisher (do they exist?) he loves my work. Unfortunately, personal relationships enter into this, and so you might well - and quite reasonably - think he might be a little prejudiced in my favour. However, eight of these books were published by companies I had no emotional relationships with, and were all very well received and reviewed (the only time I had a bad review was for THE GAME, whi...

          The most cliched comment in the UK at present will almost certainly include the word 'ark', as we've had almost non-stop rain for about three months. As an introvert, I'm not the greatest fan of real summer, which, with its blue skies, sunshine etc, keeps pulling at me like an irritating child, but this greyness and endless rain is something else. However, it has made me concentrate on my latest publisher's brief - a challenge involving subverting some well-known and excellent texts. Work completed (or probably not - is it ever?) I really would like to sit in my garden (at present very soggy) and enjoy some sunshine.           My latest book - PRINCESS FROG - is just out, but I have yet to receive my author's free copies. Seeing and holding the actual book still feels like the culmination of the creative process, so what about ebooks where the words are everything and the material obj...

This week, I had a second picture book app - MORE - published by utales. It's a re-telling of the traditional story about a magic bowl which must be properly used, and the misfortunes of the greedy person who steals it. I've set my story in India, with a hungry small boy, a beggar woman who turns into a goddess, and a fat and greedy maharajah (it occurs to me that one could do a similar re-telling using a contemporary setting and a greedy banker). Setting it in India is the excuse for using all those wonderful Indian colours and patterns, and my illustrator, Claudia Fehr-Levin, has really gone to town on these. If you'd like to take a look at a sample, you can find it here.  Speaking of colour and all its delights, we went to the David Hockney exhibition yesterday, and I was gobsmacked - no, eye -smacked. The opening paintings didn't impress me so much (I've always preferred his drawings) but when we went further into the show and found ourselves drowning in...