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.

If you're a poet or someone who enjoys poetry, and in the Wirral area, then here's a forthcoming event for you. Technically, National Poetry Day will be held on the 3rd October, but this event will be held a day earlier to fit around other activity events within the venue. This open mic event will run from 3pm till 4.15pm, in the lovely surroundings of the Chatterbox Tea Room within Oxton Grange Care Home, 51 - 53 Bidston Road, Oxton, Wirral, CH43 6UJ. The venue is located half way along Bidston Road, offers full disabled access, and has a car park to the front of the building. Several buses service Bidston Road from Claughton or Birkenhead, and there are bus stops very close to the home.

To celebrate the annual Read an Ebook Week , for one week only all four novels my Artisan-Sorcerer Series will be on offer at 75% off their usual price.  Make the most of this massive discount while you can. Also on offer will be my other ebooks, at between 50% and 75% discount for one week only. Click this link to get your copies! Remember to use the discount coupon on each individual book page.

Rapid sketch of moorhens; 2016. I'm enjoying a spot of annual leave this week, which began with a lively and well-attended writers' event at Bebington Library on Saturday the 19th.  This featured members of Wirral Writers , Bebington Bards , the 3Ls Creative Writing Group and Riverside Writers .  I'm no longer a member of Riverside Writers due to constraints of time, but I had been invited to join in anyway. Due to there being so many writers and poets wishing to read, a strict time limit was imposed and so the audience only heard half of my 1,600 word story, Fame, which is about an obscure, ageing rock singer who has turned up on Facebook.  It's a story about reminiscing and unachieved ambitions which still tempt. My sister Evelyn came to the library event, and afterwards she and I travelled to my home with my friends Tim and Nigel, where we all socialised for a couple of hours and caught up on news. I've been generally tidying up the house.  It is now ...

Boathouse, Birkenhead Park. Saturday, 19th November will find me at Bebington Library, Wirral, when along with other writers I'll be reading one of my short stories.  The event starts at 2pm, so if you're in the area do come along. It's absolutely ages since I took part in a similar event, and I've yet to decide which story I'll be reading.  I've so many to choose from! I had my hair trimmed on Saturday, then decided to go for a walk round Birkenhead while I was there, reasoning that I'd be able to have a look for some new jumpers for the coming winter without hubby helping - which translates as him enthusing over monstrosities which only a neolithic troll might perceive as stylish. Great idea!  So I walked into the very first shop I came to, and who was the first person I saw?  Yes, Richard.  He was at the counter, buying the latest in Joseph Delaney's Spooks series. We both really enjoyed the Spook's Apprentice series, but didn't tak...

Fabian: An Artisan-Sorcerer Story out 09.09.16 I can now announce that the fourth novel in the Artisan-Sorcerer Series is now available in book shops the world over, in both paperback and ebook formats. I hope you all enjoy Fabian , and will consider writing a review on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble or your blog or social networking site.  We indie authors can always use a bit of help, you know! I'm already developing ideas for the fifth novel.  I already know how it's going to end and who is going to die.  I'm not quite sure how our heroes are going to arrive at that point yet, but it will come.  The process is like daydreaming.  I toy around with an idea and allow my imagination to go anywhere it wants to, sometimes prodding it along a little with 'what if' questions but not trying to force ideas in any specific direction as that tends to limit creativity.  In this way, I end up with a flexible plot outline without having written even ...

The first rose of 2014 The lawn already has a sprinkling of fallen rose petals.  The first rose to open was by the entrance to the grove.  This photo was taken from just inside the grove, which is approached down a narrow grassy path which turns sharply to the east-facing entrance.  Shade is cast by a towering contorted hazel tree ( Corylus avelana 'Contorta' ) and a wall of ivy.  Tucked next to the entrance is a small pond, which you can just about see half-hidden behind the ornamental grass in the lower left corner of the photo. Click on the images to view them larger. Within the Grove In the photo above, you can see where the circular lawn of the grove has been re-edged.  Bare soil is already disappearing under poppy seedlings and the allysum which I've since planted.  I also planted some French marigolds but they were eaten overnight by slugs and snails.  For the same reason, hostas don't survive long in my garden, which is a pity as ...

Tadpoles in May I'm really pleased with the new solar-powered fountain, which you can see working in the video above.  It's much stronger than the year-old one.  Do solar-powered gadgets have a life-span?  Last year's fountain has taken to emitting occasional squirts of water reaching 4" in height at the most.  I've thoroughly cleaned the filter and panel, and wiggled the wire to see if there's any obvious break, but no joy there.  Meanwhile the pond has begun growing an unpleasant crop of green algae, some of it bubbly, some of it fibrous; hence the new fountain, which shoots jets of water 24" high and should help to increase oxygen levels in the water, which should - in theory, at least - reduce the algae.     Green algae and tadpoles! (Click on the images to view them larger).   An adult frog basks in the pond. On Thursday, I'll be giving a talk at St James's Centre in Birkenhead.  This will be fo...

Discover the Artisan-Sorcerer series for 50% less than the usual price!  For one week only, many of my ebooks are reduced in price on Smashwords, not just the Artisan-Sorcerer series but others too. Smashwords describes the event like this:  " Read an Ebook Week is an international celebration of ebooks in which thousands of authors, publishers and retailers feature free and discounted ebooks to help promote the joys of e-reading to the world's readers. Each year, Smashwords authors are the most active participants, and our store features the largest selection of participating titles. It's a fun promotion, because the more the participating authors promote their involvement, the more readers then go on to discover new Smashwords authors. It's writers-helping-writers at its finest." Use the special Read an E-Book Week code found on each book's regular page on Smashwords . Make the most of this week-long promotion while it lasts!

If you're wondering why the ticket, pictured above, calls last night's event at Bebington Library "Valentine Stories" even though it's nearly a month late, it's because the original booking was delayed, apparently.  The event brought together members of four of Wirral's writing groups:  Riverside Writers , Wirral Writers , 3Ls and Ace of Scribes, (who don't seem to have a website). Once the good-sized audience had settled down with glasses of red or white wine, or orange juice, and a plate offering sliced Swiss roll and little sponge cakes had done the rounds, the readings began - and the next two hours were filled by a diverse and interesting collection of stories and poetry. Fellow members of Riverside Writers, Tim Hulme and Peter Hurd, both read stories.  Tim's also a member of the 3Ls, so he already knew many of the people there.  My contribution to the evening was Sally , a 1,000 word urban fantasy/comtemporary fiction piece ...

On Thursday 7th (tomorrow), I'll be amongst a group of writers who'll be reading some of their work to an audience at Bebington Library, Wirral.  Two other members of Riverside Writers, Tim Hulme and Peter Hurd, will also be taking part but I have no further details about who else might be. If I'm not mistaken, the event has been organised by the 3Ls .  I think the event starts at 7.30pm, and I have no idea if there's an entry fee.  My apologies for the rather vague information, but it's all I have!

Never underestimate a Jack Russell Terrier     It's a pity this photo didn't turn out better.  I've tried tweaking it but the image suffers from poor exposure.  I had been busy in the kitchen and decided to check up on our two Jack Russells.  They'd dragged a cushion off the couch and taken it onto the patio.  And there they were, contentedly sunbathing in comfort.  I didn't want them to stand up before I had chance to take the photo, so I quickly put the batteries back into my digi camera - it devours batteries if they're not removed - and snapped this on Auto.  Is that cute or what, hmm?   It is as well that they enjoyed the sunshine as it's poured with rain almost non-stop since.  The car park behind The Concourse was largely underwater last night as Tim and I arrived for the Riverside Writers meeting.  We discussed several versions of the proposed front cover for Seaside Stories, as this project is nearing complet...

Get ready for some great ebook bargains! All through July, the first novel in my Artisan-Sorcerer series, Tamsin will be at 50% its usual cost. Many other ebook titles will be at 25% their usual cost, while Spanish Jones and The Karens will be entirely FREE! All you have to do is visit Smashwords  then make your choice. A wide variety of ereader formats are available, and if you don't have an ereader you can download a free one from Adobe or Amazon, or download an HTML file which you can read on your usual computer. And when you've done that and read your heart out, how about writing a few reviews on Smashwords, or on your blog or forum - or will you take part in this forthcoming competition? Competition Time! Are you artistic? Create a web banner or some fanart based on the Artisan-Sorcerer series! Entry fee = NONE! Prizes = FREE EBOOK copy of the forthcoming 3rd novel in the Artisan-Sorcerer series,  BETHANY ROSE, for every contribu...

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!   

Photos from Parallel Dimensions 2011, which was the third annual F/H/SF event where authors share some of their stories with an audience.  This year's PD took place in a side room in West Kirby Library, Wirral. Adele Cosgrove-Bray Adele Cosgrove-Bray - and orb (or dust speck, take your choice!) Jon Mayhew  Mjke Wood  Peter Caton Tim Hulme     

Here's the poster for this year's Parallel Dimensions, which takes place on Saturday 10th December at West Kirby Library.  Doors open at 2pm, but be early to ensure a seat as previous PDs have been well-attended. This is the third Parallel Dimensions, so I think it's ok to call it an annual event now. FREE event!  Please pass on the image and the information.  If you have any queries, either leave a message here or email me.   

Wirral's annual Bookfest began today, with a chick-lit event at Bromborough Civic Centre with authors Lesley Pearse and Judy Astley.  Tuesday sees Professor Stephen Hawking at Birkenhead Central Library, talking about a replica Viking longship named Draken Harald Fairhair, which will sail to Wirral from Norway next year.  Wednesday brings Sir Andrew Motion, a former Poet Laureate, to Bromborough Civic Centre.  There are two events on Thursday 13th.  Elizabeth Williams, of the Gaskell Society, will give a talk at Bebington Central Library about the role of love in Jane Austen's and Charlotte Bronte's fiction.  The history of Birkenhead will be the subject of a talk by Elizabeth Davey at Upton Library. The event which interests me the most will be held at Wallasey Central Library on Friday, when Gavin Chapell will give a talk about the infamous Wirral privateer called Fortunatas Wright.  Personally, I suspect Wright might just be a pse...

Hot off the press - well, off the phone, actually - comes a date for the 3rd annual Fantasy, Science-Fiction and Horror fiction event.  Parallel Dimensions will take place on December 10th, 2011, at West Kirby Library, Wirral.  Doors open at 2pm. Participating authors have yet to be confirmed.  If you're an author whose work falls within the F/SF/H category and you'd like to take part, email me ASAP at ACBwrites@aol.com .  There is no payment for taking part but you are welcome to sell your own books and to hand out flyers.  The event gives people the chance to hear new, orginal fiction and to meet the authors.  Authors get the chance to read aloud some of their work before an audience. I'll post further news as things develop.   

Event poster.   Adele Cosgrove-Bray   Tim Hulme   Peter Caton   Dave   Peter   Audience participation from Helen Brickwood   Audience participation from Frank Hogan   Note:  The lovely photography exhibition which served as our backdrop is by pupils from West Kirby Residential School.