FAQ

This Frequently Asked Questions section is based on the questions that Adele gets...well, asked frequently. 

What is the Artisan-Sorcerer Series about? 

A group of artists and crafts-workers share a house near Sefton Park in Liverpool, and together they create paintings, pottery, masks and other beautiful things.  Most of them hold down conventional jobs too, which is usual for many creative people.  A lot of the challenges my characters face reflect of the realities of contemporary life. However, they are also members of a secretive international magical order

The Artisan-Sorcerers come into conflict with River Dee selkies. The ruler over all ancient magical races is Mel ap Tewdwr, Prince of the fae, who lives in the affluent area of Caldy on the Wirral peninsula. The local selkies resent his hold over them, and our Artisan-Sorcerers find themselves ensnared in a territorial war.

Do the books have to be read in a particular sequence?

Each novel works as a complete story, but if you wish to read the Artisan-Sorcerer series in chronological order, start with Bethany Rose, then Tamsin and then Rowan and then Fabian - though that's not the order in which they were published.

You can also try some short stories featuring the Caldy fae and Dee selkies, such as Spanish Jones and A Wirral Otherkin Trilogy.  These loosely link to the series, as both the fae and selkies have roles in the stories. These short, independently published ebooks can be read in any sequence.

There are also some traditionally published short stories linking to the Artisan-Sorcerer series.  Seagull Inn, (pbs. Hadley Rille Books in their anthology, Ruins Terra), casts Rowan and Lydia in a ghost story set on Hilbre Island.  The Club, (pbs. by Dark Moon Press in Dark of the Night: An Anthology of Shadows), introduces Jason and offers a glimpse into his life not long before he met Rowan.  The Caldy fae feature in Old World Magic, (pbs. Hadley Rille Books in their Ruins Metropolis anthology).

Do you enjoy writing short stories?

I've been writing short stories for many years.  I enjoy the format.  It's something that can be completed in a relatively short span of time - a few stolen hours or a weekend.  So I decided to bundle some of these together into small ebook collections.  I did something similar for my poetry.

There are two free ebook anthologies available as downloads, which I edited: City Stories and Seaside Stories, which feature contributions from a number of other writers plus my own work.

Two of my very short stories have been published by Flash Fiction Magazine. These were Whatsername, a light-hearted piece about psychic twins, and Make Do and Mend, a horror story which was also made into an animated film by Michael Pillitiere. Other short stories have been published, too; the complete list can be read on the Bibliography page found in the menu above.

When did you begin writing poetry?

As a teenager, two high school friends and I formed a band, and I had a go at writing songs. The music project soon petered out, but meanwhile I had discovered that I enjoyed writing. Members of Leigh Writers Workshop encouraged me, and then a tiny magazine based in Warrington, called Pipes of Pan, published  poem and a short non-fiction piece of mine when I was just seventeen.

And then there's The Grumpets...

Yes; currently my only experiment into children's books.  It's about a young grumpet named Chip.  You don't know what grumpets are?  They're small, shy creatures who mostly live in compost heaps and do their utmost to avoid adventure.  Chip, however, has other ideas.

What advice would you give to new writers?

Read a lot, write a lot, edit mercilessly and persevere.

Write the story that you'd like to read; write to satisfy your own aesthetics.  Ignore fashions in literature.  Experiment.

Join a constructive, friendly writers group, where you can receive useful pointers to improve your writing. I chaired meetings of Riverside Writers, here on Wirral, for around fourteen years. We published anthologies and held public readings of our work - all great fun.

If you discover, after a while, that you don't enjoy writing, then try some other creative outlet. This is not a failure, but merely a pause on your own creative journey.

How do you feel about fanfiction and fanart?

I really enjoy seeing fanart based on my books. I simply don't have time to read fanfiction. Please don't send it to me as I'll only delete it unread.

However, if people wish to post fanfic or fanart online that is 100% fine with me as long as it's non-profit making and I'm acknowledged as the creator of the original ideas. 

Tell me about your paintings.

I was first attracted to watercolour painting through traditional Chinese and Japanese ink and water landscape paintings. I began painting in oils when at art school in Liverpool, back in the very late 1980s, when my main art influence was the work of Edward Burne-Jones, Gabriel Dante Rossetti and Vincent van Gogh. Yes, that's an odd mixture but there you have it! But for a long time following art school I hardly painted anything at all, being totally wrapped up in creative writing. 

After moving to Oxton, Wirral in 2015 I suddenly had much more space - and there was this back room which had excellent light for art so I turned it into a little art studio. It has become one of my favourite rooms and I spend a lot of time in there.  Painting is as important to me as writing.

For the past few years I've been sketching regularly in Birkenhead Park, most often in ink and watercolour, and using small, pocket-sized sketch pads. I've developed quite a body of work in this way, and the results can be viewed as slideshows on my YouTube channel.

Did you go to art school? Who taught you to paint?

I attended the City of Liverpool Community College in the late 1990s to early 2000s. Several tutors helped my work along, but I think it's fair to say that Vinnie Ruxton taught me the most about drawing. I still use techniques learned from him. Other tutors from that period were Hugh McAlister, Colin Bennett, Geoff Molyneux, Ian Herring, and Ian Cameron.

Painting... I really didn't learn to paint at art school. I was already painting before enrolling, and actually my painting skills deteriorated while there. Beyond picking up a few 'how to' technical prompts, a person can only learn to paint by first learning to draw, and then by continued, prolonged practice.

What do you do when you're not writing or painting? 

My dogs give me the perfect excuse to go for long walks in the park, woods or along the beach, and I usually do a bit of sketching en route. 

I listen to classical, jazz, and some rock. Favourites include David Bowie, Suede, Marillion, Ozric Tentacles, and Kate Bush.

Reading has been a life-long pleasure for me and my tastes are fairly broad. I also enjoy photography, pottering in my garden, Italian and Indian cuisine, and love browsing around antiques shops, flea markets, art galleries and museums.

How did your YouTube channel evolve?

The channel began as a way of storing photos of my pets. The resulting videos were very amateur and intended only for my own entertainment. Over time, I added videos about a broader range of subjects, mostly things which interest me. This is not how to run a proper, professional YouTube channel! You're supposed to lock onto one niche and stick to it, in order to work with the algorithm system, or so all the 'how to' videos tell me. Oops! 

I'm still learning about video making, and about how YouTube works, and I'm enjoying the challenge of developing what really is still a tiny channel, with a recent bit of help from VidIQ.

What equipment do you use to make videos?

My first investment was a better microphone than those in-built into my computers. Now I use a FiFine external mic.

My portable camera is an obsolete Kodak EasyShare C340, which has been a hard-working little gadget over the many years I've owned it. However, it is showing its age, and the clarity of its video lens isn't really good enough. Otherwise, I use the in-built cameras on my desktop or laptop computers.

I use Audacity for voice overs, and Canva for video thumbnails. Canva is a wonderful resource for any graphic designs, too. I've also been experimenting with Microsoft's Clipchamp, which is fun and very easy to use.