Today I’m delighted to be revealing not one, but two covers for Catherine Freguson’s Four Weddings and a Fiasco to be published by Avon Books in e-book and paperback on 16th June 2016.

Four Weddings and a Fiasco

Katy Peacock lives a life as colourful as her name.

As a wedding photographer, she spends her days making other people smile as she captures all sorts of fun and capers at celebrations that range from the wacky to the wild.

But her own life isn’t looking quite so rosy. Her mum is acting out of character, her menacing ex is back on the scene, and she is torn between two gorgeous men. And that’s before we even get started on the trouble her sister is causing . . .

As Katy weathers the ups and downs of the season, she revisits problems from the past, discovers new friendships and finds that four weddings and a fiasco have the power to change her world beyond measure.

A funny, feel-good read, perfect for fans of Lucy Diamond and Jenny Colgan.

You can order Four Weddings and a Fiasco on Amazon, or directly from Harper Collins.

You can find all Catherine’s books here and follow her on Twitter.

I am indebted to Charlotte Ledger from Harper Impulse and to Netgalley for an advanced reader copy of Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe by Debbie Johnson in return for an honest review. Published in e-book by Harper Impulse on 29th April 2016 Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe will also be available in paperback from 16th June 2016. It can be found with all Debbie’s books here.

My Review of Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe

Laura is still grieving for her husband, killed as the result of a tragic accident and so when the opportunity arrives to spend the summer working in a cafe in Budbury in Dorset, she decides to take it. Laura, son Nate, daughter Lizzie and aged Labrador Jimbo head off for a summer that will impact their lives for ever.

I have a confession to make. I have never read anything by Debbie Johnson before and, because there seem to be so many books based during a particular season in a cafe, I thought this would be an entertaining, lightweight read that I could forget as soon as I read it. It is indeed entertaining, but it is certainly not superficial and I absolutely loved it.

There are so many qualities to Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe. The setting is brilliantly described so that it took me back to my own visits to Dorset and made me want to return immediately. I may well be staying at the Lancombe Country Cottages Debbie Johnson refers to at the end of the book very soon!

The characters are typical of the cast one might expect in this kind of read, but that does not mean they are two dimensional. I found them all believable and realistic. I particularly liked Jimbo the dog who not only seems a character in his own right, but is also a highly effective catalyst for action. Laura’s first person account is totally engaging so that she feels like a friend rather than a character. I was desperate for her to find happiness and I think all readers, regardless of age or gender, will recognise elements of their own personality in Laura’s depiction. Indeed, I thought even the most minor characters had a depth to them that helped enhance the well plotted and entertaining story.

The emotions presented are so well done that I found myself smiling frequently, laughing aloud on several occasions and crying a few times too. Again, Debbie Johnson manages to avoid cliche even when food is seen as a healing property. There are some weighty themes presented with a clever hand in Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe – grief, friendship, family, relationships – all of which are satisfyingly explored. Even ageing and dementia are represented, giving depth to what might otherwise wrongly be dismissed (by readers like me who sometimes make judgements without having read a book) as a frivolous story. There is, in fact, a sense of classical literature as there is unity of time, place and action which serve to enhance the reader’s experience.

I found Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe a delightful, satisfying and well written read that I loved. I would recommend it to any reader who wants to understand emotions in a wide range of characters whilst enjoying the beauty of a wonderful setting. And even better – there are lots of wonderful recipes to try too!

Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe

The Comfort Food Cafe is perched on a windswept clifftop at what feels like the edge of the world, serving up the most delicious cream teas; beautifully baked breads, and carefully crafted cupcakes. For tourists and locals alike, the ramshackle cafe overlooking the beach is a beacon of laughter, companionship, and security – a place like no other; a place that offers friendship as a daily special, and where a hearty welcome is always on the menu.

For widowed mum-of-two Laura Walker, the decision to uproot her teenaged children and make the trek from Manchester to Dorset for the summer isn’t one she takes lightly, and it’s certainly not winning her any awards from her kids, Nate and Lizzie. Even her own parents think she’s gone mad.

But following the death of her beloved husband David two years earlier, Laura knows that it’s time to move on. To find a way to live without him, instead of just surviving. To find her new place in the world, and to fill the gap that he’s left in all their lives.

Her new job at the cafe, and the hilarious people she meets there, give Laura the chance she needs to make new friends; to learn to be herself again, and – just possibly – to learn to love again as well.

For her, the Comfort Food Cafe doesn’t just serve food – it serves a second chance to live her life to the full…

You can follow Debbie on Twitter, visit her website and find her on Facebook.

While My Eyes Were Closed by Linda Green is on my TBR and so I’m delighted to be featuring an extract from the book today in celebration of the paperback launch. Already available in e-book While My Eyes Were Closed will be available in paperback from 5th May 2016 from Amazon and directly from the publishers Quercus, Waterstones, WH Smith and all good book sellers.

While My Eyes Were Closed

One, two, three . . . Lisa Dale shuts her eyes and counts to one hundred during a game of hide-and-seek. When she opens them, her four-year-old daughter Ella is gone. Disappeared without a trace. The police, the media and Lisa’s family all think they know who snatched Ella. But what if the person who took her isn’t a stranger? What if they are convinced they are doing the right thing? And what if Lisa’s little girl is in danger of disappearing forever?

An Extract from While My Eyes Were Closed

Your body realises you have lost your child before your brain does. The invisible umbilical cord between you snaps. Everything inside you goes loose and limp. Only then does your brain register what is happening. It kicks into action, trying to prove to your body that it is wrong. You do what it tells you, of course. You scramble in every direction. Pulling and pulling on your end of that cord. Hoping that if you pull hard enough, if you shout and kick and scream, if you can only get to the other end, you might somehow find your child still there.

When they are not. When it is clear that they have gone. That is when the guilt kicks in. You are their mother. You have a duty to look after them. And you have failed in that duty of care, therefore you are a failed mother. How can you be anything else when it happened on your watch? While your eyes were closed, for goodness’ sake.

That is when you start to shut down inside. One by one, your vital organs cease to function. It is hard to know how you carry on breathing, how the blood pumps around your body, because you are certainly not doing it willingly.

You wish that somebody would be kind enough to put you out of your misery. Until you realise that this is the price you must pay – to suffer in the way that your child has. You deserve nothing less for letting them down so badly. And so you live your non-existent life. And every day when you wake up, if you have been lucky enough to get any sleep at all, the first word you say is sorry. They can’t reply, of course. But you say it all the same. In the hope that somehow they will hear and forgive you. Even though you know you will never forgive yourself.

You can find out more about While My Eyes Were Closed and Linda Green on Linda’s website and by following her on Twitter. You’ll also find her on Facebook.

There’s also more about Linda and While My Eyes Were Closed with these other bloggers:

I absolutely adored The Wacky Man by Lyn G. Farrell as you can tell if you read my review here. Published today, 2nd May 2016, by Legend Press, The Wacky Man is available for purchase here.

Having so enjoyed reading the novel, I’m thrilled that Lyn G. Farrell has agreed to be interviewed for Linda’s Book Bag.

The Wacky Man

The Wacky Man was winner of the Luke Bitmead Bursary.

My new shrink asks me, ‘What things do you remember about being very young?’ It’s like looking into a murky river, I say. Memories flash near the surface like fish coming up for flies. The past peeps out, startles me, and then is gone…

Amanda secludes herself in her bedroom, no longer willing to face the outside world. Gradually, she pieces together the story of her life: her brothers have had to abandon her, her mother scarcely talks to her, and the Wacky Man could return any day to burn the house down. Just like he promised.

As her family disintegrates, Amanda hopes for a better future, a way out from the violence and fear that has consumed her childhood. But can she cling to her sanity, before insanity itself is her only means of escape?

An Interview with Lyn G Farrell

Hi Lyn. Huge congratulations on your debut novel The Wacky Man which is published today. Thank you so much for agreeing to answer some questions on my blog about your debut and your writing.

Firstly, please could you tell me a little about yourself?

I am a great believer in lifelong learning and in finding happiness in the smaller things in life. I am determined to learn Tibetan (at the moment I speak it very badly) though I think my guitar study is dying a death. I love reading, world cinema, singing, comedy and theatre though I don’t have time to do enough of any of those as I’d like – I need 7 hours sleep a night minimum. I’m learning to drive at the moment so a current little happiness is reversing around corners. I would love to visit Tibet and it’s my dream to write comedy into one of my future novels. Occasionally I get to my allotment to grow a few things and am envious of the beautifully kept plots all around the scruffy chaos of my own.  I also campaign on human rights and animal welfare. I think it’s important to use freedom responsibly as everyone has the right to a happy life.

My goodness – are you sure you have time to sleep with all that going on in your life?

When did you first realise you were going to be a writer?

Until I won the Luke Bitmead Bursary Award, I never thought of myself as a writer. I kept my writing secret for the longest time because I was learning how to write for the first seven years or so of working on The Wacky Man… At the Award ceremony my niece said ‘I didn’t even know you’d written a novel!’ because it was the first time she’d heard anything about it. So I suppose I’m only just now thinking of myself as a writer.

The Wacky Man is your debut novel. Please would you tell me a little about your journey to publication?

When I finished the book at the beginning of 2015, my mentor encouraged me to try the major agencies and I was amazed to get some personal responses back along with the standard rejections. However the feedback was ‘…really like your writing but the subject matter is too brutal’. By May 2015, when the last agency has written to say ‘no, and after ten years of work on the novel, I felt it was the end of the road for the book. A month or so later a fantastic academic job opportunity came up. Six weeks into the new job, I was notified by Legend Press that I’d been shortlisted for the Luke Bitmead Bursary Award. I’d applied a long time before and assumed that I’d not been successful so it was an incredible feeling to get the news.

What are your writing routines and where do you do most of your writing?

I don’t have a set routine as I work it around a full time job and some days I finish work and I’m shattered mentally. I like to wake early if I can; there is something magical about starting writing as fresh as the morning that has just started and I feel far calmer and less stressed than after work. However, sometimes my body won’t cooperate so I have to write in the evening or at the weekend.  I might write for only half an hour on a bad day. I just grab what time I can.

I write all over the place; in bed, at my ‘writing’ PC, on the sofa, on the bus. I write in notebooks and on the backs of envelopes and I’ll write in the margins of a book I’m using for research to get my ideas down immediately.

How did you get involved with the Luke Bitmead Trust?

My novel mentor, Clio Gray, told me about the competition and I was impressed to see a charity so dedicated to helping emerging writers. Thanks to Luke’s passion to help other writers, and his mother Elaine’s dedication to carry out his passion after he tragically died, I am now a published writer with lots of new friends I’ve made along the way. I am really looking forward to meeting future winners and I also hope that I can do something in partnership with the Trust at some point in the future.

How do you go about researching detail and ensuring your books are realistic?

My second novel involves such a lot of research on a particular kind of organisation. I’ve read about ten books, from personal accounts to academic explorations on the subject. I’m also reading a lot of newspaper, journal and blog articles online and talking to people who have experienced the things I need to know more about. I’m still finding out new things every day and that is for the first character. I’m now moving in to research for my second character and will repeat all the above processes. I find talking to people gives you the best research – they supply little details that you wouldn’t realise yourself. I’m a bit nervous about translating all this research into a novel because it’s such a different approach to my debut book.

Which aspects of your writing do you find easiest and most difficult?

I love jotting down ideas for the characters and writing passages of prose in that stream of consciousness, first draft style. I’m completely engrossed in my writing then and things just flow because I’m not thinking about where they’ll fit or whether I can include them as characters take shape in front of me I feel a real rush of excitement and achievement.

The hardest part is editing. It’s painstaking and slow and you have to be constantly on the ball to notice flaws with tenses or gaps in timing or plot. There are also, inevitably, times when the editor will say something needs to come out and you feel it will wreck everything you’ve worked so hard for (it nearly always has the opposite effect). The editing process makes the novel far, far better than the first draft, but you have to view it using the technical and systematic part of your mind and that level of concentration is exhausting, especially if you have just put in an eight hour shift at work. However, there were times when I really enjoyed using that side of my brain and I think learning those skills is invaluable to any writer.

I thought the title of your debut, The Wacky Man, had multiple interpretations. How far was this your intention?

It was written to have two interpretations but I’m intrigued if people have found more. One reader told me she thought it was drug related (perhaps because of ‘wacky baccy’) but that has nothing to do with the story.

The Wacky Man has a very striking cover, reminding me of Rorschach tests. How did that image come about and what were you hoping to convey (without spoiling the plot please!)?

That’s exactly what it is so it’s great that you saw that in the cover. It came about because of the brilliant graphic designer, Simon Levy. The cover conveys things hidden under the surface, things that can slip past unnoticed or that suddenly reveal themselves to you. I think it’s extremely clever and I love it.

I agree – it’s a fantastic image.

How did the character of Amanda evolve? Is she entirely fictional or does she have her origins in someone you know?

The character is based on events from my own childhood. We suffered extreme violence at the hands of our father so a lot of the depictions of violence come from real life. I was also a chronic truant who was too traumatised to continue at school. I really love your phrasing ‘has origins in’ because it’s very accurate in terms of this novel. I always wanted The Wacky Man to be fiction, to have that freedom in approaching the story. I think the two characters closest to real people are Amanda and Seamus, but my novel weaves fiction and history together to better help convey the consequences of abuse.

After reading The Wacky Man I felt I had a better understanding of humanity. What were you hoping to convey through your writing?

I hoped it would give a voice to battered children who are usually rendered voiceless about their horrific experiences. I also wanted to depict, with no holds barred, the raw brutality involved in battering a child, the lifelong consequences of it on that child and the way a traumatised child’s behaviour can be misinterpreted as bad or crazy. I hoped to highlight how reluctant we can be in a society to face these things head on, and how that makes it harder to help the children who suffer.

I think you did that utterly brilliantly Lyn.

Why did you choose to contrast Amanda’s first person account with the third person events in the alternate sections of the book?

I thought it would be more powerful if the reader is ‘sitting’ with Amanda who is damaged and crumbling, to feel they are almost trapped inside that room. That would have been impossible to keep up throughout the book. The third person events I felt were better than a long series of flashbacks narrated by Amanda. And also it helped me structure them chronologically. At this point I’m not sophisticated enough to play around with alternative structures in stories.

I had sympathy for, if not empathy with, Seamus. How far was this your intention well as developing reader empathy with Amanda?

It was important for me that readers empathise with Amanda, even though she is a pain in the arse at times and often lashing out. They can be angry or frustrated with her but I hope they keep hold of their compassion towards her and understand her complete lack of trust even in those who could help her. With Seamus, I’m not so sure; I definitely wanted him to be seen as human rather than a monster because it is fathers (and mothers), not monsters, who do this to their children. I see room for pity, because he can’t overcome his own problems enough to care for his children, though he does try on occasion. I am hugely satisfied if readers react to the novel in any way. I want them to feel any one of a range of emotions because I wouldn’t want to contrive the book so as to steer everyone towards a restricted set of feelings. I think I might react very differently to it when I read it again, especially as time passes on, so however readers react to it is valid.

How much did you need to rely on your background in psychology when writing The Wacky Man?

There may have been something unconscious filtering through my brain but on the surface, there wasn’t much at all. I studied psychology a long time ago and I wanted readers to feel the story rather than process it. I actually wanted something almost the opposite from the way these subjects are talked about in academia, with theories, statistics and charts and that objective, impersonal tone. I’m not criticising psychology in any way at all. I am passionate about research as it is crucial in order to better understand behaviour. It’s just that I wanted Amanda’s life to be felt in the gut rather than the brain if that makes sense.

It makes perfect sense and is exactly what you’ve achieved I think.

If you could chose to be a character from The Wacky Man, who would you be and why?

I don’t want to be any of them. It’s too near the knuckle for me. I would have to write a new part, that of a fairy godmother who grants happiness to all and then the book would be ruined.

I agree – I loved the rawness of Amanda’s emotions and to have done things differently would have ruined the read for me.

If The Wacky Man became a film, who would you like to play Amanda and why would you choose them?

Molly Wright was excellent in The A Word, I think she’d do a fantastic job. And definitely Sarah Lancashire for the mother. I’m a super fan as are my family and friends. She is one of the best actors of our time, her talent is breath taking. I know you didn’t ask about that character but I had to tell you!

Do you have other interests that give you ideas for writing?

I have an allotment which gave me the opportunity to incorporate things about the way plants grow into Amanda’s anxious thoughts in The Wacky Man. I also kept a blog for three years about growing veg and I’m hoping to work a lot of that writing into my third novel. I am drawn towards people outside of dominant culture, especially those who are silenced easily. Ideas bubble away in the back of my mind so I make endless notes about things that interest me in the hope that I can return to them later.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to read?

I love reading novels of course. I have a back log, digital and physical that just keeps growing but I love having so many choices when I do sit down to read. I also read travel, history, political books, online news, articles and campaigns or anything on Facebook or Twitter that catches my eye.  Right now I’m reading ‘A diary of interrogations, about torture in Tibet and have literally just started Fifteen Dogs as well.

If you had 15 words to persuade a reader that The Wacky Man should be their next read, what would you say?

This is so difficult and the only thing I can say is: ‘Amanda will take you on a journey you need to witness. Please allow her to.

Thank you so much for your time, Lyn, in answering my questions. I absolutely loved The Wacky Man as a thought provoking and emotional read and feel honoured to have had you on Linda’s Book Bag today. 

About Lyn G. Farrell

Lyn G. Farrell is the winner of the 2015 Luke Bitmead Bursary andThe Wacky Man is her debut novel.
Lyn grew up in Lancashire where she would have gone to school if life had been different. She spent most of her teenage years reading anything she could get her hands on.
She studied Psychology at the University of Leeds and now works in the School of Education at Leeds Beckett University.

You can follow Lyn on Twitter and find her on Facebook.

I’m delighted to be taking part in the cover reveal for Polly James’s new novel Would Like To Meet which will be released by Avon Books in e-book and paperback on 30th June 2016. Would Like To Meet is available on Amazon, from Waterstones, W H Smith and Harper Collins.

Would Like To Meet

A hilarious, heart-warming read perfect for fans of Shirley Valentine and You’ve Got Mail.

Could the worst thing that’s ever happened to Hannah Pinkman also turn out to be one of the best?

She and her husband Dan have reached the end of the line. Bored with the same gripes, the same old arguments – in fact, bored with everything – they split up after a trivial row turns into something much more serious.

Now Hannah has to make a new life for herself, but that’s not easy. She’s been so busy being a wife and mum that she’s let all her other interests slip away, along with her friends. And when Hannah is persuaded to join a dating site, her ‘best match’ is the very last person she expects it to be . . .

A clever, funny and poignant novel about life after a long relationship, the importance of friendship, and rediscovering your identity.

You can find out more by following Avon Books and Polly James on Twitter and by visiting Polly’s website and blog.

I am indebted to Andrea Amosson for sending me a copy of her volume of short stories Told from the Hips after an initial approach to me from Kelsey at Book Publicity Services. Told from the Hips is available in e-book and paperback on Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Told from the Hips is a collection of nine pieces, although the Foreword by Claudia Martinez Echeverria is absolutely worth reading too, in order to understand more clearly the title and the presentation of male and female roles within Andrea Amosson’s writing. There is a feminist bent to the volume, but that is not to say that male readers would not appreciate them too, even if the women are much more prominent and well developed characters.

I really enjoyed these stories. Perhaps ironically, my favourite of all the entries was the shortest of all, FIERCE, written in homage to the author’s grandmother. With slightly different structure this one page passage would look like poetry and it certainly has the timbre and style of the most moving poetry. The language used is highly evocative and poetic at times and then quite prosaic and stark at others giving a balance to the stories that makes them easy to read and appreciate. I don’t usually quote from what I’ve read for fear of spoiling the read for others, but one line that really summed up the beauty of Andrea Amosson’s writing for me was from Rhizomatica: Rhizomatica doesn’t want to be a woman, she wants to be a book, and extends her arms like desperate lines of poetry seeking the light. I thought that was beautiful.

I loved the author’s South American Chilean heritage that resonates throughout (and I also appreciated the footnotes that defined one or two unfamiliar pieces of language). Although these stories have been translated from the Spanish, they have lost none of their beauty and power.

Told from the Hips is a collection I will return to several times as I think there are layers that I haven’t fully appreciated in just one reading. A lovely book.

You can find Andrea on Facebook and Goodreads and follow her on Twitter. She also has a website.

It has been my pleasure to feature Chris Tetreault-Blay on Linda’s Book Bag previously when he wrote about using NaNoWriMo as a stimulus to completing his first novel Acolyte. You can read that post here and buy Acolyte here.

Now Chris has a new novel, a sequel to Acolyte called The Sowing Season which was published yesterday 29th April, and as part of the launch celebrations he has agreed to be interviewed on the blog. The Sowing Season is available for purchase here.

The Sowing Season

March 1684

After witnessing her lover’s brutal ritualistic murder, Katrina Childs returns home a shell of her former self. Her only hope is of the child growing inside of her.

A mysterious old man appears in the village one night with a warning for her brother, Ewan: Protect Katrina and her child at all costs. Lucas Stamwell will return to claim them both.

March 2012

Jacob Crowe is living a simple life, surrounded by the tranquillity and protection that only Wildermoor can bring. Until the night that his wife is torn away from him by dark spirits, as he is stalked by a hooded phantom. Jacob is saved from The Reaper’s clutches by Truman Darke, who has returned to Wildermoor ten years after he was abducted by The Council of Eternal Light.

The Council’s plans for a new world enter the next terrifying phase as The Reaper grows his demon army, by setting his umbras free to claim souls to add to their ranks…and feast on those that are left. A process that He refers to as ‘The Sowing Season’.
DI Thomas Laing is forced to aid their case, having had to choose between his family and his future.

December 2012

As the planned apocalypse rapidly approaches, the Council’s own security is compromised by a rookie journalist interested in the whereabouts – and importance – of the mysterious Patient 29; a man said to be housed within the walls of St. Dymphna’s Research Facility.

To find the answers to save their future, they must all look to their past.

An Interview with Chris Tetreault-Blay

Hello Chris. Thank you so much for agreeing to answer some questions on my blog about your writing.

Firstly, please could you tell readers a little about yourself?

Certainly.  I am first and foremost a husband and a father; my writing comes a close third.  I live in Newton Abbot with my wife and twin children.  I am originally from Basingstoke but I moved to Devon 11 years ago this year after graduating from Staffordshire University.  I have a full-time job around which I plan my writing.  My first novel ‘Acolyte’, the first part of my Wildermoor Apocalypse series, was published last summer by Bloodhound Books, and in January I took the plunge and released my first self-published effort, ‘House Of Courtenay’.

When did you first realise you were going to be a writer?

I think it actually took me until the moment that I first received an email back from my eventual-publishers saying that they were interested in ‘Acolyte’.  Up until then, it had been more of an experiment.  NaNoWriMo 2014 provided me with the platform and motivation to turn my ideas into a bigger story, but I still didn’t have any plans for the book once it was finished.  It wasn’t until I had received a professional’s feedback that I seriously started thinking that I was good enough, to have written something which could potentially be released on the market.  Believe it or not, even now there are times that I hesitate to call myself a writer.

If you hadn’t become an author, what would you have done instead as a creative outlet?

Given the chance (and maybe a little more talent) I would have probably travelled down the musical route.  I am also a self-taught (bedroom) guitarist and a big heavy metal fan.  Before deciding to try my hand at writing fiction, my earliest work consisted of lyrics just waiting for the music to fall behind them.  Who knows, maybe one day they may still find the light of day.

The Sowing Season is the second in your Wildermoor Apocalypse trilogy after Acolyte. Why did you decide that you would write a trilogy rather than three stand-alone novels?

Because the story I was creating in my head kept growing and evolving, it naturally leant itself to being written over more than one book.  I envisaged the complete story in three clear parts early on.  I have always believed in the very simple method of creating stories that have a definable beginning, middle and end.  Each part of The Wildermoor Apocalypse represents these three stages; ‘Acolyte’ introduced the characters and the threat of The Reaper and The Council , and their plans to bring about the end of civilisation as we know it, ‘The Sowing Season’ is the transitional part of the overall story, helping to move the story from the past (1680s – 2002) to the characters’ present (2012).  The final part, ‘Rapture’, will focus mainly on the final days leading in to the planned apocalypse, as well as tying up loose ends from the very roots of the story by returning (in one way or another) to the past.

Your Wildermoor Apocalypse trilogy spans several centuries. How tricky did you find making it authentic and keeping a unity of authorial voice?

Very, it would seem.  Before I decided that ‘Acolyte’ was going to be a full novel, I started writing a short story called ‘The Pit of Harper Falls’, based on a little local history surrounding a place in Newton Abbot which I am very fond of (‘Devil’s Pit’, Bradley Woods).  From there, the religious undertones started to emerge and dominated the ideas behind the whole story, so I had to ensure that any historical, religious or scientific references were not only correct, but also had a rightful place within the story, not only at that certain point but within the trilogy as a whole.  Trying to think ahead to how one certain event may be able to be explained near the end of Book Three, for example, was a major challenge.  I think this will be my main obstacle when writing the final part, as I will have to ensure that it all still flows and fits to events that occurred three hundred years (or two books) earlier.

What drew you to horror as a genre and can you see yourself writing other kinds of fiction in the future?

Horror has always been a love of mine since the days of my early teenage-hood when I saw my very first horror film, which I believe may have been Halloween 5 (although  by then I think I had also discovered the Critters series).  It was only natural that the stories that grew within me would lean more towards this genre, I suppose.  I would like to try something new at some point in the future, when I believe that I have written all the blood and gore that I feel compelled to.  I am quietly working on a short story/novella which is more sci-fi than horror (and the first fiction that I started writing a few years ago), and would also like to put onto paper another idea I have for a Rocky-esque underdog-comes-good story.  Once I left Wildermoor behind, we will see where my imagination takes me.

Do you ever scare yourself when you write?

I think in the sense of being frightened of a character or scene that you put on a page, especially within the horror genre, as a writer you tend to become immune to a lot of the things that may shock or scare the readers.  What I will say is that at certain points so far, especially whilst writing ‘House Of Courtenay’, there have been moments that I have surprised myself as to how twisted my imagination can be.

Which aspects of your writing do you find easiest and most difficult?

I will definitely say that I find the beginning of a story the easiest time for me, letting my imagination just flow with no boundaries, and giving it time and space to lead me wherever it needs to go.  On the flip side, trying to hone and tame the story for it to reach its climax is something I tend to struggle with.  I am constantly thinking of new ideas of how to end scenes or even the entire story, when a new one will pop into my head and take me in another direction.  Coupled with this, the editing process is my least favourite part.  I struggle to want to let any of my story hit the cutting room floor and the more I read my manuscripts, the less confident I become about it (regardless of how great I thought it was to begin with).

What are your writing routines and where do you do most of your writing?

For my first three books, I tried to keep to the same kind of schedule, usually based on achieving a word count of around 1600-a-day.  I tend to spend my commute to and from Exeter each day going over plot lines, improvements, endings etc. in my head, so by the time my writing stint rolls around the next day I already have an idea of what part of the story I am going to try and attack next.  Most of my writing takes place in my car on my lunch breaks, though one day – success permitting – I hope to be able to acquire a more comfortable working space.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to read?

Naturally, I am a big horror fan and turn to anything by James Herbert as a form of escapism or even inspiration.  I am also an admirer of Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas series, of which I am currently reading the final instalment.  The character of Odd actually inspired one of the central characters in The Sowing Season –  Jacob Crowe – so I feel I owe a lot to Koontz for that.  Sometimes, particularly if I am exploring new ideas for a story, I embark on reading historical texts, anything I can find to strengthen my knowledge of the time or place that I wish to write about.

Do you have other interests that give you ideas for writing?

Music in a massive form of inspiration to me and has been for years.  When I was younger, I used to spend hours laying on my bed listening to music as stories – daydreams – formed in my mind, with the music providing a soundtrack to them.  I guess I still do that now, although when the stories form I have learned to write them down.

Which of your characters would you most like to be and why?

I have two answers to this, if that’s okay.  In terms of The Wildermoor apocalypse (‘Acolyte’ and ‘The Sowing Season’), when I first started writing them it was Truman Darke that really grabbed me.  I was really proud of how he turned out in ‘Acolyte.’  But as I wrote ‘Season’ I developed more of an affinity with Thomas Laing.  In the second book, you really learn more about Laing and get to see his human side – his struggle between wealth or power and his own family.

But if I had to pick a character to trade places with from everything I have written, one stands out way above the rest; Ackerley Patterson-Thorne, aka the ‘Trickerjack.’

For those who have not yet read ‘House Of Courtenay’, I will try not to spoil too much for you but to say that Trickerjack is suave and successful, but also manipulative and dangerous.  I imagine that there are so many layers to him that I have not yet explored, but who wouldn’t want the power of immortality?  Sounds like a winner to me.

If your books became a film, who would you choose to play Colin Dexler and why?  

That’s actually a tough one as I have never really thought of the movie version of Dexler, maybe because the character was already loosely- based on an actual person that I used to see walk the streets in Exeter.  A couple of the other characters have lived in my imagination as certain actors as I have been writing, but not Dexler.

If I had to choose, though, I would probably pick Robert Knepper (‘Theodore Bagwell’  from Prison Break).  Knepper is an actor who can make you feel sorry for him and hate him all at the same time, and is a natural at playing characters who may have a screw loose.  Both qualities are a must for Colin Dexler.

When can we expect the final part in Wildermoor Apocalypse trilogy?

I am planning to start work on it at some point before the end of this year, and hoping for a 2017 release.  For this one, I am hoping to spend the summer researching for a few of the plot lines.  I want ‘Rapture’ to be the most powerful, emotional and shocking of the trilogy so am going to take my time, not run to a tight deadline so much as I did on ‘Acolyte’ and ‘Season’ and give it as much attention as it deserves.

If you had 15 words to persuade a reader that a Chris Tetreault-Blay book should be their next read, what would you say?

“If you want something to challenge how you see the world, this may be it.”

Is there anything else you would have liked to be asked?

I don’t think so, thank you.  I have very much enjoyed answering these questions.  A great variety and some that really got my mind bending a bit 🙂

I’m pleased to hear it! Thank you so much for your time in answering my questions Chris.

Catch up with Chris on Twitter, Facebook and his website.

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I’m delighted to be taking part in the cover reveal for Tracy Buchanan’s new novel No Turning Back which will be released by Avon Books in e-book and paperback on 28th July 2016. It looks as if it’s going to be another stunner!

No Turning Back

You’d kill to protect your child – wouldn’t you?

When radio presenter Anna Graves and her baby are attacked on the beach by a crazed teenager, Anna reacts instinctively to protect her daughter.

But her life falls apart when the schoolboy dies from his injuries. The police believe Anna’s story, until the autopsy results reveal something more sinister.

A frenzied media attack sends Anna into a spiral of self-doubt. Her precarious mental state is further threatened when she receives a chilling message from someone claiming to be the ‘Ophelia Killer’, responsible for a series of murders twenty years ago.

Is Anna as innocent as she claims? And is murder forgivable, if committed to save your child’s life…?

You can find out more by following Avon Books and Tracy Buchanan on Twitter #NoTurningBack and by visiting Tracy’s website.

I’m delighted to be participating in the paperback launch celebrations for Eden Gardens by Louise Brown which was published by Headline Review on 21st April 2016. Eden Gardens is also available in ebook. Eden Gardens is available from W H Smith, Amazon, Waterstones, directly from the publisher and from all good bookshops.

Today, Louise tells us all about one of her favourite characters – Pushpa.

Eden Gardens

Calcutta, the 1940s. In a ramshackle house, streets away from the grand colonial mansions of the British, live Maisy, her Mam and their ayah, Pushpa.

Whiskey-fuelled and poverty-stricken, Mam entertains officers in the night – a disgrace to British India; all hopes are on beautiful Maisy to restore their good fortune. But Maisy’s more at home in the city’s forbidden alleyways, eating bazaar food and speaking Bengali with Pushpa, than dancing in glittering ballrooms with potential husbands.

Then one day Maisy’s tutor falls ill. His son stands in. Poetic, handsome and ambitious for an independent India, Sunil Banerjee promises Maisy the world. So begins a love affair that will cast her future, for better and for worse. Just as the Second World War strikes and the empire begins to crumble…

This is the other side of British India. A dizzying, scandalous, dangerous world, where race, class and gender divide and rule.

Pushpa The Star of the Show

A Guest Post by Louise Brown

I adore Pushpa, the Bengali sex worker who becomes a domestic servant for numerous British people. She is wise, smart and caring, and although she’s suffered countless setbacks, she always bounces back, a bit bruised, but ready to move forward. I think her resilience is rooted in her early life; in the loving relationships with her parents and siblings. She carries that love with her, even when she is an old woman. And she repays it too, so that when everything is ruined, when her parents are dead, her sister drowned, and her brother disabled, it is Pushpa who comes to the rescue and saves what is left of her family. That she does it by working in a brothel is a measure of her determination and strength.

I’ve met many women like Pushpa in the brothels of Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi and Dhaka. They sell sex not only to escape poverty themselves, but to support entire impoverished families in the countryside. Their earnings buy food and shelter for ailing parents, for younger brothers and sisters, and sometimes for their own children too.  I wanted Pushpa to speak for these women – women who are strong despite their day-to-day humiliations and the awful stigma they face, and who find joy in an often difficult life.

About Louise Brown

Image Courtesy of Aimee Spinks

Louise Brown has lived in Nepal and travelled extensively in India, sparking her enduring love of South Asia. She was a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Asian Studies at the University of Birmingham, where she worked for nearly twenty years. In research for her critically acclaimed non-fiction books she’s witnessed revolutions and even stayed in a Lahore brothel with a family of traditional courtesans. Eden Gardens is her debut novel.

Louise has three grown-up children and lives in Birmingham.

You can read more from Louise with these other bloggers too:

I hadn’t heard of the Lou Malloy series of books by J. Frank James until I was approached by Book Publicity Services introducing The Run Begins, the prequel to the other books, to see if I would be interested in reading it and giving an honest review. Having read The Run Begins I had questions for J. Frank James which he kindly agreed to answer.

The Run Begins

Only 52 pages in length, The Run Begins reveals how Malloy came to live the life of adventure and crime that has spanned 7 books so far.

In this peek into the past, Lou Malloy is 18 years old and ready to take on the world. While his family is readying themselves for a big move to Florida, Lou decides that Florida is not where his fate lies and hops on the nearest boxcar to seek his fortune elsewhere.  When he finds that this is not as easy as it seems, fellow traveler Henry Lowe offers him the deal of a lifetime.  Help him rob a casino in Georgia and get a payoff of $15 million.  Lou happily joins in on the scheme and seals his fate forever…. AND THE RUN BEGINS.

You can find all J Frank James’ books in the Lou Malloy series here in the US and here in the UK.

An Interview with J.Frank James

Hi Jim. Thank you so much for agreeing to answer some questions on my blog about your writing  

Firstly, please could you tell me a little about yourself?

I have been writing as a writer of fiction since 2013 and before that I was published as a member in the law review of my law school and before that I was a photographer and reporter for the Gainesville Sun while going to school at the University of Flroida where I graduated with a degree in Journalism as well as in Advertising. There after I went to law shool and received a Juris Doctor degree. In addition to writing my books I also do all of my own covers since I am a sold artist.

I know you write under the name J.Frank James in honour of your father who was killed in WW2. How do you think he would feel about your success as an author?

To tell you the truth I don’t think about it much. I sort of take as it comes and leave it to the reader if I am successful or not.

When did you first realise you were going to be a writer?

When I was in college and worked at both the Florida Alligator as well as the Gainesville Sun, I liked the freedom to express an my thoughts and write a story.

How do you go about researching detail and ensuring your books are realistic – do you use your law doctorate much?

Yes, as I write a book I find it interesting to research the ideas as they come into my head.

Which aspects of your writing do you find easiest and most difficult?

Writing a book for me is the easy part. I like to project myself into the book. It is sort of stepping into a room and looking around at everything that is inside. The hard art me to handling the marketing. That is the hard part because it takes a lot of time, time that I often do not have since I am still working in my consulting practice.

What are your writing routines and where do you do most of your writing?

I usually like to write at night or early in the morning when it is quiet. I have a office in my home where I tend to write as well as a house on the coast of Georgia where I spend a lot of time.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to read?

Westerns. I like it when the bad guys die.

Do you have other interests that give you ideas for writing?

For ten years my wife and I travelled a lot. Probably over six continents and probably 30 to 40 counties. Also, I liked to sail and I owned a power boat that I spent a lot of time in the Bahamas. I pull a lot of ideas from those experiences and also my years as a lawyer have been beneficial.

Please could you outline the differences and challenges of writing a crime series in your Lou Malloy books and a detective series in your Indigo Marsh book?

First off, the Lou Malloy series of books are more in the area of crime/adventure. As an agent of Homeland Security Lou comes in contact with a lot of evil people. Having spent fifteen years in prison himself, he’s seen the way of crime. That said, he is not devoted to getting rid of bad people and while he is doing it he makes a lot of money. So he isn’t just in it for the public service angle.

Indigo Marsh is more of a Sam Spade type of character. He is involved so much with solving crime as untangling one when it has occurred. He’s his own man, as is Lou Malloy, but they have different personalities and goals. Lou Malloy is motivated by money. Indigo Marsh is motivated by results. He also likes to solve a problem as opposed to eliminating it.

What made you decide to write a prequel, The Run Begins, to what is already a successful series, The Lou Malloy books?

I wrote The Run Begins to get the reader an insight into where Lou Malloy got his start. I also wanted the reader to know that Low was not like he was because he was from a bad home life. Lou Malloy is just a rough type of personality and I wanted to give the reader a look at that so they could better understand Lou Malloy as a character.

The Run Begins has a very striking cover. I know you are an artist as well as a writer so I wondered if it was one of your paintings and what you were hoping to convey (without spoiling the plot please!)?

The painting that I used for the cover is called ‘School’s Out’. Since I wanted to give the cover a sense of motion I thought the dolphns swimming across the cover would do that.

If you could chose to be a character from  the Lou Malloy series of books, who would you be and why?

Blue. He’s his own man and a really bad dude. I think I will build a book around his character soon.

If  a Lou Malloy book became a film, who would you like to play Lou?

Jeffrey Donovan

If you had 15 words to persuade a reader that The Run Begins should be their next read, what would you say?

A reader that wants to know why Lou Malloy is the way he is should read The Run Begins before going to Dead Money Run.

Thank you so much, Jim, for your time in answering my questions.

My Review of The Run Begins

This is a quick and pacy read with lots of action to tempt the reader into reading the first book in the Lou Malloy series, Dead Money Run. Action is rapid and sometimes violent. Lou’s character is well developed in a few pages as a young man who is constrained by his police officer father and who desires more from life.

Although this is an explanatory prequel, I felt that I probably would have gained more from The Run Begins had I read some of the other books in the series first. Much of the action takes place through dialogue with not quite enough detail for me to get a good feel for the quality of future books in the series. The Run Begins seemed more like a play script than prose to me at times and felt a little disjointed.

However, I liked the almost humorous endings to the chapters with their snappy and witty short sentences that really enticed me into the next part of the story. I also thoroughly enjoyed the closeness of family between Lou, his brother Sam and sister Susan which gave me more insight into Lou’s character too.

I think fans of the Lou Malloy books will find The Run Begins essential reading and it also works effectively as a stand alone read.

J. Frank James

Frank James has a passion for writing, and he certainly has the knowledge and experience to write realistic crime thrillers, thanks to his extensive background in law. Jim attended law school, where he was a member of the law review. He even went on to pass the state bar and started his own law practice that specialized in complex litigation. Jim’s experience in law helps lend credibility to his crime fiction books. He has also traveled extensively and gains inspiration for his crime thrillers from his travels. From observing other cultures and gaining new experiences, Jim is able to infuse new life into his books and develop believable characters that readers can identify with.

Frank James writes crime thriller novels that are gripping and suspenseful. In 2013, he began publishing The Lou Malloy Crime Series, which is expected to span 20 books. The series follows Lou Malloy, a hardened criminal who did 15 years in prison for the theft of $15 million, and his partner Hilary Kelly, a private investigator. The titles include The Run Begins, Dead Money Run, Only Two Cats, Blue Cat in Paradise, Rainbow Games, Two Birds To Kill, Last Flamingo, and Finders, Keepers. J. Frank James creates all of his own book covers. To learn more, go to J. Frank James Books

You can find J. Frank James on Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook.

Dead Money Run

Dead Money Run is the first book in The Lou Malloy Crime Series.

Lou Malloy learns of his sister’s death right before he is released from prison, having served 15 years for the theft of $15 million from an Indian casino. He wants two things: to keep the $15 million, which no one has been able to find, and to track down and punish whoever killed his sister.

Lou Malloy teams up with Hilary Kelly, a private investigator. In no time, Lou has found the hidden $15 million, recovered guns and ammunition hidden with the money, and murdered two low-level mobsters and fed them to the crocodiles.

As the body count rises, the story grows more complex and his sister’s death becomes more mysterious.

Buy Dead Money Run here in the UK and here in the US.