New covers for four of my ebooks are now available.  Here they are:-   The image on the cover of Dark Tides   comes from one of my photographs of West Kirby beach.  It was a late summer evening and the tide was coming in, which is why there's a snaking rivulet of water over the shadowed sands.  Tides come in fast there as the Dee Estuary is very wide and flat, so there's nothing to slow the flow of water.  When we still lived in West Kirby I'd walk my dogs on the beach regularly, and we often go back with them now we're in Oxton, which isn't very far away. This cover uses one of my photos of the seaward side of Hilbre Island, where the Irish Sea pounds against the red Bunter sandstone rocks.  The rock pools around Hilbre and Middle Eye are always fun to explore.  You have to watch your footing, as the rocks are covered by slippery seaweed plus cockles and barnacles, but it's easily worth the effort.  Take binoculars if you want to...

Emily and Poppi by the pond. I received a lovely email from someone who had noticed I'd deleted my old LiveJournal blog.  He had enjoyed the philosophical debates which had unfolded there, and was disappointed that the blog was no more.  I hadn't updated my old LJ blog since opening this Blogger site so I was a little surprised at this, but we all like to be missed, hmm? I'd like to reply properly to this person, but I accidentally deleted the email.  I've not blogged much on philosophical topics for some time, even though philosophy is a dominant part of my life.  Maybe I should?  Meanwhile, back at Maison Cosgrove-Bray, I've been busy creating a garden pond.  Earlier this year we were invaded by a huge number of baby frogs.  Apparently frogs don't reach maturity until they're five years old, and until their first mature spring season they don't spend much time in ponds.  However, we also have a small population of older frog...

A bird in the bush... It feels weird going for a walk with only one dog in tow.  Even Emily keeps looking behind her and waiting, as if half-expecting Ygraine to emerge from behind a clump of long grass.  Emily's missing her life-long buddy too.  And the heap of old jumpers between the wall and my computer desk feels very empty.  Ygraine always snoozed there while I worked.  I have begun compiling short stories for the forthcoming sequel to Dark Tides , which I've called Dark Waters .  However, since planning these two short story collections I have re-released the two Amazon Shorts ebooks, A Wirral Otherkin Trilogy and Quiet Lives , thinking that as they were already in publishable condition it would be silly to leave them gathering dust on a shelf.  A bird in the hand..., etc.  Compiling Dark Waters, I realised that too many of the stories which I'd earmarked for that project already feature in those....

Dark Tides is now available on Apple iTunes at: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/dark-tides/id472904959?mt=11 Spanish Jones is available on Apple iTunes at: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/spanish-jones/id472906427?mt=11 You can also find both these ebooks on Barnes & Noble at: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/adele-cosgrove-bray I'm still waiting for these to be shipped to Kobo and Amazon, but that's in the pipeline.  They should also be available on Sony and Diesel within the next week or so.   

Enjoy!   

Several people have asked me why I've recently self-published two ebooks, Spanish Jones and Dark Tides .  In the past, I've been dead set against self-publishing.  Vanity publishing (where you pay a company to publish your book) is mostly an expensive dead-end, and self-publishing (where you DIY) requires much product promotion, can also be pricey, and in the past wasn't taken seriously.  The given wisdom was that people only self-publish when no-one will buy their book. Is that still true in 2011?  If readers didn't take self-published ebooks seriously, they wouldn't be buying them.  And they are, in ever increasing numbers, to the point that ebook sales are now apparently overtaking paperback sales. Producing an ebook can cost nothing but time if an author can create their own eye-catching front covers and do their own editing.  In my case, I went to art school where I studied art and design; I've worked as a photographe...

Dark Tides A Collection of Short Fantasy Fiction by Adele Cosgrove-Bray Nightmares from ancient myths glide through our thoroughly modern world. When selkies, faeries, old gods and young mortals rub shoulders, tensions quickly flare. Terrifying watchers, devious lovers, mischief makers, dangerous business partners - you will meet them all in Dark Tales. OUT TODAY! http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/90668  About the stories in Dark Tides … Liar : Can you separate fact from fantasy in these words from a born liar? New Year’s Day : Tom had always known that Louise would leave him. That’s what selkies do. So why did he marry her? Snack Time : A chance conversation has surprising consequences in this chilling tale which introduces Fabian, from the novel of the same name. Rebirth : After the closing of one door and before the opening of another, there is a dark journey to be made. Swap : Learn why the tidal River Dee never returned to ...

"Lie-zee Sandai Arrffta-noon, Oi Got Nah Toym-tah Warree...!" Well it's all right for some, snoozing the day away.  Unlike the rest of this household, I've been wielding the red pen on what was a 5,000-word story; so far I've cut out 500 words.  That's a lot of editing by my usual standards, but this may be because I don't write much sci-fi and  School is (more or less) a sci-fi story.  It's a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid, really, destined for inclusion in Dark Tides .  I was reading the submission guidelines for an anthology yesterday.  The requested subject matter sounded like my kind of thing.  The editors did not accept email submissions, and planned to pay $0.01 USD a word if they used a story, (which is not unusual, unfortunately).  So for a 1,000-word story they'd pay $10 USD.  At today's exchange rate, that works out at £6.33.  Deduct a third for UK tax, and that leaves £4.22.  Postage for a ...

This is an idea for an ebook cover. The design needs to be simple and bold, and also clear when viewed in an online catalogue listing when the images are around the size of postage stamps. Likewise, the wording needs to be concise and to clearly tell people what the contents are. The photo is one of mine, of course, and shows West Kirby beach at sunset. The subject of the photo needs to relate to the contents of the book, and several of the stories include oceanic and local references. Comments are most welcome!