Lilyana Shadowlyn presents her review of the Black Magick anthology here , awarding it five stars out of a possible five stars.

Joshua Gage has written a review of the Black Magick  anthology for Cemetery Dance online magazine. Read the review here.

 Kitchen Witch School member Heather Dewhurst gives an enthusiastic review of the Black Magick  anthology, edited by Raven Digitalis and published by Moon Books.

  The video above is an excerpt from the recent interview, mentioned in previous posts. In this segment, I talk about my contribution to the "Black Magick" anthology which is edited by Raven Digitalis and published by Moon Books.

  Here is the video, fresh from Moon Books, which introduces a few of the authors whose stories feature in the forthcoming Black Magick  anthology edited by Raven Digitalis. The authors in this film are: Jaclyn Cimminelli, Miranda S Hewlitt, Rhea Troutman, Raven Digitalis himself, and myself (Adele Cosgrove-Bray). We were interviewed by Rachel Patterson via a secure video link, on Monday January 6th. I hope you enjoy watching the finished video, and will help the anthology by sharing it as widely as you can. The book is due out on March 1st, and all the authors involved in the project are hoping readers will enjoy it. Can I ask you to please consider writing a review? Whether you post your review on Amazon, Goodreads, or your social media site(s), this would really help to promote the book. Physically publishing a book is only a small part of the task; the most important job is getting people to be aware of it, and every review can really help with that.

In Green Egg Magazine , Katrina Rasbold has reviewed the forthcoming Black Magick anthology of 13 horror stories. Read the review here:  Green Egg Magazine

Irene Well had written a review of the forthcoming Black Magick anthology, due out in March: Read it here:-  Black Magick review on Goodreads

I'm incredibly excited by this new publication, which has taken so long to come to fruition. Literally years lie between the planning and the forthcoming publication of this collection of 13 stories, edited by Raven Digitalis and published by Moon Books on March 1st, 2025. Take a look at the list of contributing authors:- 1. Candle Magic by Storm Constantine 2. Spanish Jones by Adele Cosgrove-Bray 3. 3:33 by Rhea Troutman 4. Entombed by Corvis Nocturnum 5. Fata Morgana by S.M. Lomas 6. Automatic Writing by Gabrielle Faust 7. The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe 8. Don’t Forget to Feed by Miranda S. Hewlett 9. The Night Everything Changed by Raven Digitalis 10. ReBound by Tracy Cross 11. Captured by Jaclyn M. Ciminelli 12. Red Gifts by Daniel Adam Rosser 13. The Iconoclasts by Mona Fitzgerald-King You can pre-order a copy now from Amazon using this link:- Pre-order Here! Black Magick will be available as a paperback and an ebook.

 Snap up my Artisan-Sorcerer novels and other ebooks 100% FREE - no hidden catches. This offer will end on July 31st 2022. Click here to get your copies . Or Copy & Paste this link:- https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AdeleCosgroveBray

  Today I discovered that the timer on my effectively prehistoric Kodak has died. When this tragedy happened I do not know. It passed away peacefully in the back of a drawer, its fate only coming to light when, of course, it was needed in a hurry. Now, a normal person would simply wait for a passing buddy to take aim with a camera so the required shot could be taken. This would have been much easier. Instead, as I needed to get the image emailed off sharpish, I had to improvise with the camera on my PC. First there was too much light coming in from the window beside me. Then, with curtains closed, there wasn't enough light so I created something of a homage to Heath Robinson with an assortment of spotlights and tinfoil reflectors. I had been asked to pose holding my books. That's easier said than done when one hand is needed to operate a computer mouse. And smile - but not so you end up looking as ridiculous as you feel while posing like this. Well, here's the result. Pleas...

Until the end of this month my books will be on sale. Read the first novel in the Artisan-Sorcerer series, Tamsin , for FREE. Other books are FREE too, and others have been hugely discounted. This is just my little contribution to those many people who are on lockdown at home while this awful coronavirus/COVID 19 rages around the globe. Or, if you're a keyworker like me, still going to work every day despite the virus, then you might enjoy reading something that's new to you. This offer is only available via Smashwords. Here's the link: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AdeleCosgroveBray You're invited to make the most of these bargains. Then, after you've read them, you could help by posting reviews either on Smashwords or anywhere else online. Reviews are really important to find new readers, so I'd appreciate it if you'd take the time to write a few lines of honest review.

According to this article , in 2019 just 26% of under-18s spent some time each day reading, and only  53% said they read books purely for pleasure. This is the lowest level recorded by the National Literacy Trust since 2005. Elsewhere in The Guardian , it was reported that, "According to a 2018 Author’s Guild Study the median income of all published authors for all writing related activity was $6,080 in 2017, down from $10,500 in 2009; while the median income for all published authors based solely on book-related activities went from $3,900 to $3,100, down 21%. Roughly 25% of authors earned $0 in income in 2017." As I've written previously , all writers have experienced a steady decline in book sales. There is so much free reading available online, including free books by the thousands just waiting to be downloaded. Consequently most writers, including traditionally published writers with established reputations and fan-bases, hold down conventional jobs as well. I...

Sunset at the Beach by Adele Cosgrove-Bray; oil on canvas; 2019. I finished this oil painting just this afternoon. It's my largest painting to date; you can see it here, balanced tentatively on my wooden French box easel, which is marketed as being portable though it isn't really, not unless you're willing to carry an attache-case-size tonne weight which requires a master of origami to unfold its various extendable bits, and which is guaranteed to spill the entire contents of its storage drawers over the floor in the process. Light Approaches by Adele Cosgrove-Bray; watercolour; 2019. I've begun looking for an easel which is genuinely suited to painting outdoors. It needs to be light but not so light it'll blow over with the first breeze. It needs to be suitable for both oils and watercolours, i.e. it needs to be able to offer vertical, tilted and horizontal angles. It does not need to have integrated storage, as a bag is more useful anyway. Try fitting sa...

Sailing Into the Light; Adele Cosgrove-Bray; watercolour, 2018 I do like a good, old-fashioned ghost story, with a solid plot and a strong atmosphere, and this week I've enjoyed two. The first was Pay the Ghost , a film starring Nicolas Cage, Sarah Wayne Callies and child actor Jack Fulton, who already has an impressive filmography despite his tender age. A quick scan of online reviews show this film earned lukewarm responses at best, but both Richard and I really enjoyed it - which only demonstrates, once again, how totally subjective reviews are anyway. With Pay the Ghost  you get the story of a father doggedly searching for his missing child. His research takes him into the realms of folklore and fictional magic. My other ghostly encounter this week came in the form of Cass Green 's novel, In A Cottage In A Wood. A tale set in a remote Cornish cottage in dense woodland, and a London party girl spooked by strange happenings - sure ingredients for an entertaining pag...

Rain over the Loch by Adele Cosgrove-Bray; watercolour; 2018.  Here in Wirral, we've been basking under a fierce summer. England's seen high temperatures in the past, of course, and the news is full of excitable fluff about today possibly becoming the hottest day on record - remembering that British weather records date back to 1659 in the form of diaries kept by amateurs, which are now known as the Central England Temperature series. The method of recording the weather only became more standardised in 1914, however, and so it's from this more recent date that the Met Office measures its statistics.     Life drawing by Adele Cosgrove-Bray. Prattling about sunshine gives the media something to talk about other than the looming disaster of Brexit. As the countdown to the current government's B-Day (pun intended) looms ever closer, they're still batting ideas around in increasingly desperate attempts to sort out the mess their own par...

Estuary Moon by Adele Cosgrove-Bray; watercolour; 2018. I've been busy decorating my art studio, stripping off old wallpaper, mending dents and holes with Polyfiller, (one and a half tubes' worth!), and then climbing up and down an ancient step-ladder in order to paint the walls with three layers of plain, pristine white. The job is not quite finished; one small wall needs a final coat of paint and its skirting board doing with white gloss, and the door frame needs white gloss too, but the end is in sight. Photos to follow once it's completely done! I've also been pulling out armfuls of forget-me-nots from our garden. There are supposed to be 74 official species of forget-me-nots, some of which are very pretty. Unfortunately, we're lumbered with horrible hairy things which self-seed prolifically and swamp all the other flowers and, once they've bloomed, flop over, turn brown and go brittle. Pull them out then and the spiny hairs cause a nasty rash. ...

Gentle Waves and Tranquil Days; watercolour,2018. Eagle-eyed regulars have already noticed that I've changed the name of my online merchandise store from Spooky Cute Designs to something more direct.  There was nothing wrong with the old name, as such, but had become rather misleading.  The store's earliest designs tended to be teddy bears wearing a witch's hat, or the ever-popular Beelzebear designs or similar, and while many of these items are still available, (printed onto T-shirts, bags, household furnishings, posters and more), the majority of the store's merchandise now derives from my art and photography, plus the range of items for writers which remains popular.  Therefore the old store name was misleading to new clients.  I only changed its name recently but sales are already improving. One of my nieces recently posted on Facebook that she was thinking of combining her two YouTube channels into one.  As I said to her, a hazard of having any kind o...

The exhibition at Seagrass Studios and Gallery, in West Kirby, Wirral, closes this weekend so if you wish to view my watercolour painting on show there - plus lots of other truly lovely art - then be sure to call in.  The gallery can be found on Acacia Grove, which is directly opposite the train station. Birkenhead Park sketch, and my painting (centre by lamp) in Seagrass Gallery These last few weeks, I've been busy writing Morgan .  Explained simply, there are three ways to write a novel.  One way is to plan everything in advance, making detailed notes which are then followed rigidly.  The opposite method is to plan nothing at all, to have a loose idea and start exploring this through writing and slowly discover where it might lead.  The middle way offers a compromise between these two extremes; the writer has a few notes which log important plot twists and outcomes, but which also leaves plenty of room for flexibility and improvisation. Each writer nee...

Heath in Summer; Adele Cosgrove-Bray, 2017. I have now bought kitchen paint.  I have yet to paint the kitchen.  Other things have been taking my time, such as writing Morgan: An Artisan-Sorcerer Story, and beavering away in my art studio. On the easel, with only its sky painted so far, is Liverpool Waterfront #5 , which is in oils.  But I'm already moving away from painting the iconic view of the city as seen from the River Mersey, and have been looking elsewhere along the river for material.  Oglet Shore, Speke is a watercolour of an often-overlooked little beach and meadow area close to the John Lennon Airport.  Local legend has it that George Harrison and the two McCartney brothers used to play here as small children, but then so did countless other kids and this isn't why I painted it.  I chose the area as it offers a contrast to other, more obvious sections of the Mersey.  At Oglet, you could almost be in the countryside - if it wasn't for...