Having read through Mark Coker's free ebook, The Secrets of Ebook Publishing Success , it seems I'm already doing pretty much everything he suggests - with one main exception.  The front covers of Tamsin and Rowan didn't give quite enough information.  A browser needs to be able to know, at a glance, what the product is and if it's likely to be their kind of thing. So, after a bit of thinking, I've now re-worked the front covers slightly by adding a subtitle which reads simply, "An artisan-sorcerer story."  This lets a browser know they're looking at a series, that the series doesn't have a number and so can be read in any order, and also gives a minimalist description of what the book is about.  Having re-done the covers, I then uploaded new versions to Smashwords and Kindle.  Rowan is currently only available on Kindle, but the paperback version should be out within days.  After May 17th, Rowan will have completed its three month's e...

Read an interview with me by Rachel Cooper here.   

A rugged path leads to the summit of Caldy Hill. This morning promised a glorious spring day, and so I went for a walk over Caldy Hill.  My two dogs kept me company, of course, as the likelihood of any human member of this household being able to head out for a walk without taking Emily and Ygraine along too is pretty slim.  Not unless you'd want to endure hours of grumpy yapping and sad-eyed sulking, that is.  The light wasn't too good for photography, really - Wales, on the opposite bank of the River Dee,  was totally obscured by haze - but the golden-yellow gorse is looking too lovely for me not to attempt a few shots.  It's a pity readers of this blog can't share the gorse's perfume...  Think of warm honey, with a dash of sharp lemon and you'll have a reasonable idea of the fragrance hanging on every slight breeze.   Most of the trees here are deciduous and it's still too early in the season for leaves, but every branch is covered in...

Penny, Felicity and Joyce enjoying the spring sunshine. Last night I discovered a flavour which I hate even more than aniseed, and that is cardamom.  Big pods of the stuff were in the curry which I had been really looking forward to, as I love a good curry.  Then I was attacked by what surely has to rank as being amongst the most vile flavours on earth.  People like this stuff?!!   Wikipedia describes it as having a "strong, unique taste".  I agree.  It's also revolting; spectacularly so, even. Each to our own, of course.  This body of mine has always had a strange relationship with some foods, which seems to run contrary to average reactions.  For example, peppermint tea, which is supposed to settle upset stomachs, actually makes me feel nauseous.  Salad, beloved by millions, gives me excruciating indigestion, as do certain dark green foods.  Echinacea, which is supposed to boost the immune system, gives me spli...

The shape of sound demonstrated with salt. The plane is vibrated at a specific frequency. The waves travel across the plane and at someplaces they add together and at other places they cancel out. Where they cancel out, the salt sticks because there are no vibrations, and at other places it just gets vibrated away. "In the beginnning was the Word (vibration)..."   

Stolen from Heidi Ruby Miller's blog. Here are the rules:- 1. Go to page 77 of your current ms. 2. Go to sentence 7. 3. Copy and post the next 7 sentences as they’re written. No cheating. 4. Tag 7 other victims, er, authors. Heidi didn't tag me, but I'll join in anyway.  I'm that kinda gal. So, here's the prescribed extract from Fabian , which I'm currently writing the first draft of:- Rowan turned in his chair to face him.  "As sure as I can be.  The order's historical names were used in conjunction with the fact that we don't use any name at all right now.  Some of our personal first names were used, but no surnames.  A rough indication of this location was given.  It wasn't quite 'X marks the spot' but if a person knew this area well they could probably work it out." "Have you told the boss?" There, that's your lot.  I won't tag seven people specifically; you can decide for yourselves if you wis...

Karen's clones built a perfect world - and then they created Karsen... Can we overcome the prejudice between natural-born people and regenerated clones?  The Karens is a satirical look at gender politics, DNA cloning and the human condition.  A short ebook, published today!  Available from Smashwords   (in various format options) and Amazon  Kindle (ASIN B007JASKRY).   

Enjoy!   

Joe Betts-LaCroix: scientist, inventor and entrepreneur in biophysics, geochemistry and electronics. Joe went to Harvard to study biophysics and got a degree in Environmental Geoscience, published quantum tunneling research (Science) from his fellowship at Caltech, did Ocean Chemistry and built robots at MIT, founded OQO which made the world's smallest PC (Guinness, 2006), filed and sold scores of patents in thermal engineering, user interfaces, electronics miniaturization, cloud computing, wireless power and tunable antennas. He  is now working to bring Halcyon Molecular to fruition. This video presents ideas of how life-extension holds the potential to radically alter our ways of living. Aging is a disease of the body which science is - right now - in the process of curing. Consider our current lives:- school, work, relationships, kids, rush to save for retirement, rush to fit in some fun stuff, then get ill and die - assuming you've managed to avoid fa...

Emily, enjoying today's spring sunshine. Joyce, Felicity and Penelope pottering around the garden today. If you're wondering how the leather tuffet found its way onto the patio, ask the Jack Russell who has sat on it since mid-morning.  Never let it be said that Emily doesn't use initiative. Mum and Evelyn were here on Sunday, bringing some more of Mum's family history research with them, including some old photos.  I haven't had time to look at it properly yet.  Most of the loose notes concern the Caslin and Corrigan branches of the family.  There are also some letters from the Meaghers in New York State, America - the writer being Mum's second cousin who also has an interest in genealogy. This arrival synchronises neatly with my Aunt Mary's further researches into the McGowan family, which she mailed to me this week.  Much of this information is of too recent a date to share online, but Mary has done a lot of detailed research.  ...

I was interviewed by Morgen Bailey, and you can read it  here.   

The fourth annual Read an E-Book Week runs from March 4th to March 10th.  This Smashwords event gives readers a chance to pick up ebooks free or reduced in price, for one week only.  It also gives authors a chance to promote their work to a wider audience. The catalogue goes live at one minute past midnight on March 4 Pacific time, and expires 11:59pm on March 10. I will be participating in this too, and so you will be able to get copies of Dark Tides , Spanish Jones , Entering the Grove and Threads completely FREE.  Tamsin will be available at 75% of its usual cost. Click here to visit my Smashwords page to benefit from this week-long event. Use these codes at Smashwords checkout to get your bargains:- RE100 for Dark Tides, Spanish Jones,  Entering the Grove, Threads. REW75 for Tamsin. Note also that my ebook prices will rise following this event, so make the most of it!   

Smashwords: Smashwords to Distribute to Blio and Public Librar... : Smashwords today announced a distribution agreement with Baker & Taylor, one of the world's largest distributors of physical and digital boo...

Have you ever stopped to think about the origins of bread?  It's such a familiar food that we rarely give it much thought outside of buying more, or deciding which sandwich filling to use.  Bread is supposed to be one of the oldest foods known to humanity, dating back approximately 30,000 years when flatbread was made from starch extracted from pounded plant roots.  Grain-based bread apparently emerged around 10,000 BC, made by Neolithic peoples who used also used air-borne yeast, or yeast already found on the grains themselves, to make the dough rise a little.  If some of this dough was kept until the next day then added to a fresh batch, the yeast was passed on - as with sourdough.  The Gauls and Iberians figured out how to take foam off beer to increase the yeast content.  Elsewhere in Europe, grains were soaked in wine to access yeast.  Who was the first person to walk past a patch of wild grasses and think, "Hey, I can do s...