One of my Artisan-Sorcerer novels' covers has been selected to take part in a 'cover of the month' competition. If you'd like to add your vote for 'Fabian', then please click on the link: https://allauthor.com/cover-of-the-month/21180/

 My poem, The Fox , has been published by After Midnight Literary Magazine. You can read it online here: The Fox

 

Friday 18th saw me cruising along the shroppie - the Shropshire Union Canal, if you like - departing from The Cheshire Cat, in Christleton, and sailing to the Crow's Nest winding point at Tattenhall. We sailed by lovely countryside, past masses of moored narrowboats and cruisers, and the kind of houses that you'd need to be made of stone not to feel envious of.  Everyone enjoyed the day, and even though rain was constant this did not dampen our spirits as we watched cows peering at us through hedges, saw various waterfowl swimming around, and peeped into mysterious-looking copses of mossy old trees.  The next day, I felt tired out. How can looking out of windows be so tiring? Answers below, please. Other news: While waiting for a few weeks to tick by before starting on the editing/rewriting process for The Sorcerer, (my 5th Artisan-Sorcerer novel), I've been compiling a collection of short stories that relate in some way to this series. Many of these stories have been publ...

The creator of this lovely illustration is unknown, unfortunately, otherwise I'd be the first to credit their work to them. My husband's a huge Dr Who fan, and has been since he was a boy. His favourite doctors were acted by Tom Baker and Patrick Troughton, though he's enjoyed watching them all. Anyway, I thought I'd share this dalek illustration, which reminds me of how much hate is circulating through the world right now. Blind hate, offering no honest solutions to anything. Telling willfully ignorant people what they want to hear in order to bolster their delusions. Rather then deal with their own self-hatred, they look for external scapegoats. Rather than acknowledge that a few billionaires hold so much power, they blame the vulnerable for their vulnerability, the poor for their poverty, the ignorant for their ignorance - all the while being breathtakingly, willfully ignorant themselves.  At least old Dr Who always tried to negotiate a resolution to conflict.  

As mentioned in recent posts, I've been experimenting with creating videos in an attempt to improve my skills in this area. This one was easier than anticipated, as Rowan's depiction here was very clear in my head. He's taking a stroll along the beach between West Kirby and Hoylake, and in the background is a close approximation of Hilbre Island. The video makes Hilbre look closer to the mainland shore than it really is, but this was the only way to get much detail into the image, otherwise the buildings would have looked like tiny pale blobs.  Rowan's wearing a second-hand dinner jacket bought from a local charity shop, and his jeans are the pair that his Aunt Lydia keeps trying to coax him to let her mend - to no avail, as Rowan likes them as they are. He's carrying the camera that Aiden bought for him. If you've never heard of Hilbre Island, then you can read about it and see photos here . And if you haven't a clue who Rowan is, then read the novel!

 Apparently, if I accept a free mic and use it to produce a five-minute video "of something interesting", I could earn up to $2000. Do I see a few cynical eyebrows raise in reponse? I hope so. I thought I'd share this latest in obvious scams, anyway. And so the email read: " Hi Art & Fiction by Adele Cosgrove-Bray, "I hope this message reaches you in high spirits.  Your content popped up in our suggestions as we explored similar topics, and we've just organized a Talent Moment Program, which is why we'd love to have you involved. "Might our involvement in acquiring an audio mic which is hand-made in California, USA make a difference for your work? As a condition, we anticipate that you will use this mic to record no less than 5 mins of something interesting. C urious to see the projects created by our past collaborators? Please visit this source:" And here they inserted a link. As I can do without a computer virus, it'd be a cold day i...

 Here is a very short video to introduce the Artisan-Sorcerer novels and short stories. The image was generated following a detailed description from me, and under my direct guidance.  The scene is of the lounge in the Artisan-Sorcerer's home. On the walls you can see one of Fabian's masks, and paintings by Bethany Rose and Jim. The bookshelves are crammed with books, CDs and DVDs, as described in the novels, and some of Bethany Rose's patchwork cushions are on the chairs. The chess board references the frequent games mentioned in passing in the stories. And you can also see Morgan with his two dogs.

 My latest tiny video about how to write a novel.

The first draft of the 5th Artisan-Sorcerer novel is now finished.  Phew! What a protracted task that turned out to be. 50,000 words into the first manuscript, I decided that I disliked it - a lot. So I set it aside for a while - a long while. Having picked up the project again, I then threw away around 25,000 words, and then re-wrote much of what was left. And then, of course, I needed to write the rest of the story. I can't say much about the whys and wherefores of my decisions without giving away spoilers. Let's just say I'm happy with this version. When I've given it a month or so break without even peeping at it, I'll most likely find plenty to find fault with, but this is typical of any editing stage. There's a lot of work yet, editing, re-writing, editing again, polishing, etc. But it's on its way!  

 

  Click on the image to view it larger Here it is, the new banner for my Artisan-Sorcerer novels, designed partly with AI, (please read my recent post about this issue before spouting off!), but with a huge amount of guidance on concept design and imagery from me.The text is 100% my work, and this description has already been in use for a few years. From left to right are: Bethany Rose, Rowan, Tamsin, and Fabian. Bethany has one of her sketchbooks, Rowan has his camera, Tamsin's wearing her beloved ankh cross, and Fabian's... well, being Fabian. One of his masks is amongst the symbols tucked away in the border. In the background are the Palm House in Sefton Park, the Liver Buildings (Three Graces), and the Liverpool waterfront -- not without a bit of poetic/artistic license, as anyone with even a smattering of knowledge of the city will know that Sefton Park is definitely not on the waterfront. The park is just over the road from the Artisan-Sorcerer's shared home, though...

Out now, and available as a PDF publication from  HERE . Way back in the 1990s, Cyrkel Spynn was an independent goth zine run by Alan Miller, (or Crazy Alan Craw, as he was then known). This publication had featured several peices by me, plus plenty of other writers. The zine scene was a lively, wonderfully creative and quirky, low-cost way of sharing and exploring multiple subcultures. The internet plus the rising cost of snail mail pretty much killed that scene off, but all things change. Last year, I was in the process of updating some information and wondered if there was any lingering trace of Cyrkel Spynn floating around the internet. A quick search led me to the DMMG DisAssociation Music & Media Group webpage, (so new it was still under construction), where, with a lovely example of synchronicity, I read of Alan's plan to reboot the magazine. To cut a long story short, the newly published magazine is now available, and it really is absolutely packed with interviews, book...

Our Lives in Books, compiled by Bob Stone, will be available to buy on Amazon tomorrow. It features a whole raft of talented writers, from the well known to those who are published here for the very first time. And here is a preview of some of the illustrations included in it, made by The Raggy Rat. This publication features a non-fiction essay be me, and the theme of the entire contents is the love of reading. ASIN: B0H8YWPPBR ISBN-13: 979-818497960

 

  It's getting there, honest! There are 1.5 scenes to write, and the end will be reached. (And then there'll be endless edits and rewrites...) But progress on the fifth Artisan-Sorcerer novel is moving forward. I have the front cover waiting. Watch this space for the reveal. There are new covers for the others in the series, too. A publication date? I'm not going to rush this. The end of October, perhaps? Is that too optimistic? Time will tell.

Our Lives in Books , compiled and edited by Bob Stone, should be available on Amazon by Thursday July 23rd. One of my non-fiction peices, Reading is a Journey , is included in its pages, and I'm really looking forward to reading what everyone else has to say about their favourite novels. Here's the contents list: Click on the image to view it larger ASIN: B0H8YWPPBR ISBN-13: 979-818497960

 

  In recent weeks, I've been busy creating new book covers as I have almost finished writing the first draft of the 5th Artisan-Sorcerer novel. It's been tricky ensuring the details on the covers are right, that the figures look exactly like the characters in the story in my head, and that the covers, when viewed together, present a clear visual theme to prospective readers. I'm not ready to reveal the covers just yet. I need to sit with the designs for a while, waiting to make sure they're right. The image above is an older "explainer" graphic made on Canva, which I will need to update to match the new, improved covers. I've now pinned-up print-outs of the covers so I can patiently study them over the next week or so. There is so much to consider, such as text size, visual language, creating a visual hook, and so on. Back in my art school days I took two additional courses to my main Fine Art Painting subject: Design, and Critical Studies. The courses did...