Authors Electric

This winter we've had one storm after another, each wilder than the last, and often combined with heavy rain (the Hollywood type where they throw buckets at windows so you can really see it on screen). But spring has arrived in Devon this week with trees everywhere bursting into pink and white blossoms in preparation for a summer of fruit. Blossom can be seen in its full glory at  National Trust properties  around the country, with several events planned to show the flowers at their best (see link for details). Even a walk through your local town might treat you to a show - or, on a windy day, maybe a shower? - of delicate petals from the trees in urban parks and gardens. Cherry blossom, in particular, is beautiful at this time of year, and is celebrated across Japan as Hanami  or "flower-viewing" - a long tradition dating back to the first century, when the emperor and his court would party under the flowering trees and write poetry as an aristocratic pastime. Hanami - M...

 'Tis the season of witches and wizards, spells and pumpkins... hopefully, everyone will be able to get out at Halloween to enjoy some trick-and-treating this year, too! The trees are turning gold, and the world does seem just a little bit more magical at this time of year. There might be a good reason for that enchanted feeling. Did you know that trees can communicate underground via their roots, and will even send help if one of their number needs nourishment or is threatened? This is known as the Wood Wide Web  and was the concept behind my 2000 novel SPELLFALL, where the trees in my parallel world of Earthaven are gigantic soultrees that bear magical fruit and seeds. Spellfall (first US edition) Their root system acts rather like the London Underground, and it's possible to travel around it in living capsules, operated by the trees themselves, known as 'organazoomers'. The soultrees and the Spell Lords who look after them can also use this root system to communicate...

Today is the winter solstice - the shortest day of the year for those of us who live the northern hemisphere - a time for reflection, fire ceremonies involving holly and mistletoe, and other pagan traditions now more commonly associated with Christmas. However you celebrate this time of year, it is also when newspapers start printing their 'best of year' lists. Not to be outdone, here is my author 'best of' 2016 (which might seem small and insignificant compared to everyone else's multi-book advances from major publishers, no. 1 best-selling supermarket titles, and research trips around the world on elephant-back, but then I am only 5' 4"). Empire of the Hare 1. Inspired by Brexit, I have republished my Library of Avalon Geoffrey Ashe Prize shortlisted story about Queen Boudicca's rebellion Empire of the Hare on my signature list for older readers. The publishing process took 12 hours rather than 12 months so if you're curious to know what B...

It's taken me rather a long time compared to other authors here, but I've finally tackled Createspace and created a print-on-demand paperback version of my Spellfall sequel,  Spell Spring ... yes, look, it's a REAL book! Reasons I am so late to the print-on-demand party: 1. Nearly all the books I've published indie so far have been reverted rights backlist titles, which have already sold x thousands of paperback copies while they were with their traditional publishers. I didn't see the point of producing a new print edition, while secondhand and 'new' copies of my backlist titles are still available on Amazon Marketplace and elsewhere for as little as 1p (plus postage). No way can a print-on-demand edition compete with that on price! 2. The cover looked tricky. Not only would I need to come up with a front cover design (a whole trick in itself), I'd need a spine of exactly the right width and a back cover with an ISBN barcode thingy  a...